Thats the name of my new blog. Yeap, I have a new one which will be all about technology in general. Check out my latest post called Information Here, There and Everywhere.

And I will be keeping this blog for wireless technology only.

“This is a non-wireless related post.”

From the title you might have figured that I am not a Twitter user (just yet). I actually did make an account to see what it’s all about, and I still don’t get it.

I am sure alot of you remember the Twitter race between CNN and Ashton Kutcher, with Ashton becoming the first to have 1 million followers on Twitter. And yesterday I read an article saying that Queen Rania of Jordan has a twitter account too where she writes updates on her life and what happens in her country. Also, I found that the cook Jamie Oliver has one too.  This has become alot like when Facebook first came out. But this time Twitter seems to be more easier to follow since not much can be done other than write/read other people’s updates and somehow comments can be added (I don’t understand that part yet). 

Following up on the lastest news, lastest recipes, people who are in the public eye sounds like a logical reason to use it.  But other than that I don’t see much use out of it. Maybe I need to get used to it. Or maybe its just not my thing.

Guess my Twitter update should say: “To Tweet or not to Tweet”

Yesterday I attended a webinar called  ”Wireless Backhaul Gets Ready for 4G” hosted by Telecommunications. I have never given this topic much thought before and didn’t know much about it.

In the webinar, two telecom experts answered questions related to the use of Ethernet, microwave connections or a hybrid of both for wireless backhaul. 

Today I looked more into this and found an article on CED magazine (here) that talks about some of these backhaul solutions. The article asks this question:

Why do wireless operators rely on TDM services, and why haven’t they shifted to an Ethernet/IP infrastructure?

Most of the current systems are using TDM T1 connections and since data services are on the rise and the need of high speed and more bandwidth is vital for the success of such services, efficient backhaul solutions are needed which includes the use of Ethernet. At the end they came to this conclusion: 

“For wireless service providers who require TDM services to be transported in their native format, due to the latency, jitter, availability, and efficiency issues mentioned previously, a hybrid TDM/Ethernet platform provides the optimal wireless backhaul solution.”

For detailed information about this you can check the webinar and the article, both links are posted above.

I have been away for a while and noticed that LTE and the iPhone are still the most talked about topics. Isn’t there anything new?

What do you think is the hottest wireless topic at the moment?

Nokia announced recently in this press release that its developing a smart home platform called the Nokia Home Control Center. It is aimed to povide consumers with the ability to control their home devices via a cell phone or a PC:

Consumers can monitor and control their electricity usage, switch devices on and off, and monitor different objects, such as temperature, camera, and motion. In future, entire systems within the home can be connected to the Nokia platform, including security, heating, and ventilation systems.

So instead of having remote controls for each device, you will have one control platform that can understand how each device works regardless of manufacturer. However, what I do wonder now is, how many people already have some sort of smart systems installed in their homes? Do you have smart curtains that shut when you say shut curtains? How far till we actually see these systems adapted regularly in homes with affordable prices?

The solution will be demonstrated at the Nokia World event in Barcelona, Spain, on December 2-3, 2008 and is expected to become commercially available by the end of 2009.

Its finally here, well not really here but in the US for now. T-Mobile unveils G1, Google’s first Android cellphone manufactured by HTC. An article and video presented by BusinessWeek presents the new phone with some of its features here. The G1 phone is considered a cross between the Sidekick phone and the iPhone; it has a touchscreen, a slide-out Qwerty keyboard and Wi-Fi.

What I like about the concept behind Google phones is that they can be manufactured by different cell phone manufacturers and look different based on culture, location and profession as the article states:

“Motorola, LG and Samsung are expected to launch Android models worldwide in 2009. And their Android-based phones may look vastly different from each other and the G1. Europeans may get a slider with a 12-key keyboard that they favor. Japan may get a phone with built-in mobile TV. There could be special phones for doctors or for lawyers.”

Since Android is an open source software, developers can easily develop Android applications and post them on the Android online application store. I think that by the time that Google phones become more widespread anyone who has knowledge in Java programming (the language used to develop the Android applications) would be interested in developing applications for their own cellphones. I sure would be.

How many times have you walked into a cafe with your laptop and tried to find a place thats near a power socket to plugin your laptop charger? Imagine not having to have all those cables lying around to charge your cellphones and other wireless devices. Well, this article by CNN talks about a technology that might just change that…

Wireless Power Transmission is a concept that allows wireless device batteries to be recharged without the need of cables.. in other words, wirelessly. 

“Wireless transmission of electricity makes use of some basic physics. Electric coils that resonate at the same frequency can transmit energy to each other at a distance.”

Following the work done by researchers at the MIT last year, Intel demonstrated this concept on a 60-watt light bulb and was able to glow it from an energy source 3 feet away with only a quarter loss of energy, Intel’s chief technology officer, Justin Rattner said: 

“Intel is in the early stages of trying to modify a laptop to accept wireless power. One challenge is figuring out how to prevent the electromagnetic field from interfering with the computer’s other parts.”

According to the article this technology has a long way to evolve before it becomes a commercial product. Something I would sure be looking forward to..

Yesterday a friend of mine asked me this question: “Why does Wi-Fi use unlicensed spectrum whereas WiMax, GSM and other cellular networks use licensed?”. That was a good question which I haven’t thought of before. I thought briefly and realized that I couldn’t come up with one answer. Could it be because of:

• Wi-Fi operates on that specific frequency band that happens to be for free (2.4GHz)?
• To make Wi-Fi a more cost effecient network so that more users can benefit from it (since licensed networks costs more)?
• Since it operates in a small range, it doesn’t need to be licensed?
• To make it easy to deploy?
• High level security is unneeded, since unlicensed networks is unprotected by the government and do not have the authentication and security that licensed networks have?
• The technology itself won’t work on any licensed frequncies?
• The government?

After noticing I gave too many answers, I knew that there must be a better clearer answer to that, so I decided to look it up..

At wikipedia they say: “The regulations for unlicensed spread spectrum enabled the development of Wi-Fi, its onetime competitor HomeRF, Bluetooth, and many other products such as some types of cordless telephones.”  So I guess that means that if it were to operate on a licensed frequency it wouldn’t of have developed the way it currently has.

In the mid 80’s the FCC made the unlicensed spectrum available and many countries followed as well which now allows the technology to be used anywhere in the world regardless of service provider and manufacturer.

At WiMax.com an article called Licensed or Unlicensed Spectrum: What are the options? shows the differences between licensed and unlicensed frequencies, the different frequency bands and their usages and some of the technologies used to prevent interference in unlicensed networks.

After reading a couple of other articles I noticed that some of my answers are valid reasons to why Wi-Fi took advantage of the unlicensed spectrum and perhaps there is no one reason for it. Do you have anything else to add?

Yes I am still here.. Didn’t forget about my blog…. I know I said in my last post to be on the look out for new things but unfortunatly it has been a very busy time since then and I couldn’t write.. And now I will be on vacation soon so I guess I’ll be back after that..

Its been exactly one year since I started my blog.. Before I created it, I used to write about these topics and send them as emails to my friends and contacts who were interested in technology. Then the idea of putting it all in a blog and sharing it with everyone came out and I am so glad I did. I love wireless technology, I love telecommunications and being able to share and write about it is now something I love to do. 

I’d like to thank those who gave me this great idea of having my own blog and would like to thank all my readers.. Always stay in the look out for the next post

The Wireless Corner… Happy One Year!

                                                                                                                     Tara

Instead of waiting in line to buy a bus ticket, a movie ticket, pay for groceries.. ect,  just tap your cellphone on a smart tag and your payment is done. While wondering which movie to watch at the movies just tap your phone on the tag of the movie’s smart poster ad and you’ll recieve the information you need about the movie. Touch another NFC enabled cellphone and share music, business cards and photos. All that is going to be possible using a technology called Near Field Communication or simply, NFC. (I talked about it briefly in a previous post).

NFC – Near Field Communication is a wireless technology that operates in the range of 4 cm on an unlicensed frequency band with data rates around 300- 400 kbps (about half the speed of bluetooth). The cool thing is that it works by tapping the mobile device with another NFC enabled device or smart tag and a connection is established immediately (in about less than 0.1 sec) to share data, access information, make payments.. ect. Due to its small range its rather secure and for making large payments the user should enter a password for authentication before the transaction occurs. This video on YouTube demonstrates some examples on what this technology can do. NFC is still being tried in many countries and devices that are NFC- enabled are expected to increase in the next couple of years. (Nokia recently announced  the Nokia 6212 NFC cellphone).

So the next time you’re at a vending machine and don’t have coins in your pocket for that candy bar, just take out your cellphone..

Here is one way you can do that. Some of you might already be aware of this, but a good way to save up power is through your cellphone charger. People usually charge their cellphones while sleeping and you might think that once the cellphone has been fully charged no power is consumed (your charger starts cooling off too). Well, you’re wrong.

Charlie at Nokia conversations wrote in his lastest article that

” normal Nokia chargers draw about 150mA power when just plugged in and not charging a device (when the charger is on standby). ”

Compared to having billions of cellphones and chargers out there, thats alot of wasted power. Therefore, its best to unplug your charger once your cellphone has been fully charged. According to the article, Nokia is working on new chargers that will produce zero waste..

Keith Shaw from NetworkWorld demonstates the new portable GPS device called the GPS Snitch in this video. The device provides two-way communications between the GPS satellites and  also has a GSM radio that allows two-way communications with servers so you can follow around anyone with this device in their vehicle as long as there is GSM coverage. Interesting..

I once read an article that refered to both a mobile carrier and operator in the same paragraph. And since then I was unable to get an answer to whether there is a difference between the two. As I understand, a mobile carrier is a mobile operator. I don’t remember where I read it so I can’t reference it now however, if there is a differenece between the two could you please let me know what it is?  

Nokia announced in its recent press release the Nokia 6212 Classic which is an NFC-enabled cell phone. I haven’t heard much about NFC before so I looked it up on wikipedia.

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a wireless technology that allows communications between devices in the range of 10 centimeters. You might think of Bluetooth but with a shorter range and a faster set-up process. According to the press release NFC will simplify and speed up the way people interact and exchange information:

“With the Nokia 6212 classic, people can swap items like business cards or calendar notes by simply tapping their handsets together. With ever-increasing device functions and services available, ease-of-use is essential. One way to keep things simple is NFC.”

And according to wikipedia, NFC can be used in many applications such as mobile ticketing, mobile payment and blutooth pairing. I recommend reading both links for more information about NFC.