Technology360

Polar Sees Long-Term Appeal of 700 MHz Spectrum

As the distance between customers spreads further apart, the case for wireless service becomes even stronger to ensure that Internet access remains available to all service areas. Dave Dunning of Polar Communications noted that wireless service is a good investment because it results in little stranded investment, one of the primary problems for wireline deployment in rural areas. ¶ Most rural carriers have been offering high-speed wireless Internet access (HSI) in their service areas for quite some time. Wireless Internet is advantageous in rural areas, where dense forestry often makes it expensive and technically difficult for telcos to provide conventional wireline broadband . While wireless voice and Internet services are not new to most rural telcos, Polar Communications (Park River, N.D.) touts itself as the first company in the United States to provide HSI through a repeater site on the 700 MHz frequency. ¶ In 1998, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reallocated licensing areas in the lower 700 MHz band from cable television providers, rural telcos, particularly those in the western United States, were given a unique window of opportunity to bid on spectrum that would accommodate advanced service offerings. The 700 MHz band opened up a new broadband wireless access market that enhances the non-line-of-sight or near-line-of-sight...service needed to overcome obstruction from trees. ¶ Since few incumbent TV broadcasters west of the Mississippi River operated on the C-block of auctioned spectrum-TV channel 54 (710 MHz to 716 MHz) and channel 59 (740 MHz to 746 MHz), telcos would not have to pay to relocate the incumbent broadcasters, or to wait until the broadcasters' 2006 deadline for vacating the frequencies. Polar immediately jumped on the bandwagon. ... TechNewsWorld link

XM radio seen launching 'wearable' device - analyst

XM Satellite Radio Holdings...next week is expected to unveil a "wearable" device, marking the satellite radio industry leader's latest effort to woo audiences to the nascent format, analysts said. ¶ A spokesman for...XM declined to comment beyond saying a major product announcement was planned for Oct. 26...with...Delphi Corp. ¶ "XMSR is also likely to announce its wearable device next week. There is a good shot this 'Walkman' type device, in the near term, will differentiate XM's hardware from Sirius," a rival satellite radio system, said Kit Spring, analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus in a note for investors. ¶ He said such a device would "also get investors thinking about future combinations of IPOD/TIVO-like satellite radios, which would increase the value of the monthly subscription." ¶ A radio industry executive said the device was believed to be a satellite-radio receiver with headphones that also had a hard drive enabling users to download XM content. ... Reuters link

Here's a story on this from Ars Technica. XMPod? XM Radio may introduce wearable receiver. It says:

"Competitor Sirius Satellite Radio also has wearable devices in the works, although they are not scheduled for release until late summer, 2005. Details about this particular device are scarce, although there is rumored to be a hard drive included for subscribers to save content for later listening. One barrier both XM and Sirius will need to overcome with a "satellite Walkman" is that of spotty reception. While both services have repeaters located in major metropolitan areas, coverage is good, and service is available in out-of-the-way areas, the need for good line-of-sight might cause problems in some areas.
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--Dennis

Live digital TV arrives on mobile phones

TV addicts need never again be far away from their next digital telly fix, thanks to a chip being developed by Texas Instruments (TI) for mobile phones. ¶ The company has unveiled what it claims is the wireless industry's first single chip capable of capturing broadcast signal and so bringing digital TV to mobile phones. ¶ Codenamed Hollywood, the chip will receive live digital TV broadcasts using new television infrastructure being developed for mobiles. ...¶... The chip will support emerging digital TV broadcast standards for the wireless industry. While no single standard is likely to be used worldwide, TI said it believes that the most prevalent standards will be those that are open and non-proprietary. ... vnunet.com link

Satellite Radio: Wave of the Future or Niche Play?

...Experts at Wharton and elsewhere say there's little doubt that satellite radio will eventually become big business. The question, though, is when. ...¶... Meanwhile, neither satellite radio provider is profitable; both companies burn through cash and frequently raise capital on Wall Street. For the second quarter ending June 30, Sirius reported a net loss of $136.8 million on revenues of $13.2 million. For the same quarter, XM lost $166 million on revenues of $52.9 million. ¶ At this stage, both XM and Sirius are building out their programming. XM has deals to broadcast college football games and recently signed Stern rivals "Opie and Anthony," whose broadcast is positioned against the so-called "shock jock" during morning drive time and resides on a premium XM channel. ... Knowledge@Wharton link

A World of Information

Available for download: This episode examines the world of information, communications, the media, technology and it's effects on society and culture through interviews with scholars, United Nations officials, media critics and TV News professionals. The subjects discussed are: 'The Digital Divide'; 'Bridging the Divide'; 'Who Owns the Media?' -- the battle over media ownership; 'Whose Information Is It?' -- the controversy over international copyright law; 'What's the News About?' -- the state of American journalism; 'The Impact of Images' -- the media's impact on culture; and 'The Futures of Communication'. ResearchChannel link

Multimodal Multitasking Is Multicomplex

With all the different technologies and applications being crammed into mobile phones, it's making some realize that the technical issues may be even more complex than already expected. ¶ Everyone knows that as more features are crammed into new phones, it makes the technology more complex, but it's beginning to look like the level of complexity may go well beyond what some expected. The "holy grail" for the wireless industry was supposed to be software defined radio... -- which would allow a radio to adjust to the available wireless connection offerings, and reconfigure itself to match the "best" connection. ¶ That works great when you just need a single wireless connection, but runs into problems when you need many different wireless connections at the same time. Handsets have their core cellular connections, but you can find (sometimes with a little digging) handsets that also offer Bluetooth, GPS, FM radio and Wi-Fi. Add to that TV reception, ZigBee and a version (or maybe two) of UWB technology, and there are an awful lot of radios that could be found in a single handset -- many of which you may want to use at once. ... TheFeature link

Join the Podcasting Revolution

Another story on podcasting: Feed Your iPod Fresh Daily Content. Podcasting is like TiVo for your iPod. iPod + broadcasting = podcasting. Listen to web broadcasts anywhere, anytime. Podcast-receiving software makes it easy to have fresh new content delivered to your iPod automatically… around the clock. ... G4techTV link

Sky launches Freesat digital TV

BSkyB has launched a free digital satellite TV service which offers 140 channels for a one-off fee of £150. ¶ The service, Freesat from Sky, is being seen by many as an attempt to rival the success of Freeview, the equivalent service for digital terrestrial TV. ... BBC link

An HDTV Primer: What you need to know to buy your first HDTV

Ken Nist has put up a site, An HDTV Primer, with a good array of information for HD and DTV buyers. Thanks to Ralph Hogan for the tip. --Dennis

Can You See Me Now?

Thanks to voice-over-IP, videoconferencing--the eternal technology of tomorrow--once again appears to be on the verge of success. ¶ You don’t hear much about videoconferencing any more, and for good reason—decades of unfulfilled promises have left most people a little jaded. Still, over the last year I’ve seen some surprisingly high-quality performance from gear selling for under $1,000, and last week when Polycom, the world’s leading videoconferencing vendor, introduced its first software-based PC videoconferencing package, called PVX, I decided the topic deserved another look. If Polycom, which had long eschewed software-based videoconferencing systems, now believed that the installed base of computers was powerful enough to handle two-way video without a pricey dedicated box attached, then maybe a true consumer videophone market was ready to fly. ... Technology Review link

Also see Polycom announces desktop videoconferencing software, a story about PVX, in Computerworld. --Dennis