Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Google’s persistent interest in ensuring that the US’ 700MHz spectrum would give rise to a network open to any and all devices reinforced its belief that carriers can and should be nothing more than the proverbial “dumb pipes” — leave the content and hardware to the people who know how to do it and don’t necessarily have a vested interest in the carriers’ bottom line. That attitude foretold that it had some interesting ideas up its sleeves (this is Google, after all), and while it’s never been entirely clear what those ideas are, Android’s “please use it, it’s free” attitude certainly plays a role. Here’s another piece of the puzzle: rather than be tied down to any one carrier, why not keep changing carriers in real time based on whomever’s going to give you the best deal? A new patent filed by Mountain View’s finest proposes exactly that, bringing together heterogeneous technologies — “community-wide” networks like WiFi and WiMAX along with GSM, CDMA, and so on — and an “auction system” that would let the user select (or allow the phone to automatically select) the best deal at the moment depending on their needs (available features or minimum speeds, time limits, and so on). It’s an amazing idea that totally turns the contract concept on its head, and it’s an idea that carriers would fight to the death. We’re not seeing it happening, but hey, Google, we like the cut of your jib.

[Via textually.org and New Scientist]

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Filed under: Cellphones

We’ve been getting scattered reports that Apple’s shiny new toy might not be snagging as many bars as it should for a lot of users. In our own tests, we’ve noticed the iPhone 3G fairing poorly in spots where other 3G devices exhibit strong signals, and the Apple support forums are alive with displeasure over what might be a widespread issue. We’re curious to know what you — the reader — are experiencing. How’s your mileage with the new phone? Let us know in the poll below.

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wireless, Networking

Shortly after hearing TiVo’s top dog speak of a “whole home model” to reduce the amount of STBs required for entertaining individuals in various rooms, along comes Time Warner Cable’s chief executive talking up some innovation of its own. We’ll be frank — we’re not entirely sure what Glenn Britt is getting at here, but through a broken series of quotes, we’re led to believe that the carrier is prepping some “equipment” that will easily bring internet content to TVs. Not like there isn’t a perfect solution for this quandary already, but we digress. Specifically, he mentions a ” new wireless cable modem that will allow you to network everything in your house,” which is about as broad / vague as you can get. Nevertheless, it’s enough to keep us watchin’, though we can’t say our expectations are extraordinarily high. [Disclosure: Engadget is part of the Time Warner family]

[Via eHomeUpgrade]

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Filed under: Transportation, Networking

BMW has started testing an IP solution for its cars that uses standard ethernet to connect car components to the central computer. The testbed could potentially lower costs: if not due to the physical component cost, then as a result of the IPv6 protocol’s future-proof design. BMW even feels satisfied that the IP network can cope with safety features, which may be undermined somewhat by the inevitable attempts at high-speed LAN parties in the back seat.

[Via Autoblog]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Wireless, Networking

DARPA’s latest initiative is far from revolutionary — we’ve seen a number of installations aimed at improving communication in times of war — but the Wireless Adaptive Network Development (WAND) project looks to “exploit commercial radio components, rather than custom ones,” to “keep soldiers linked with each other on the battlefield.” Essentially, soldiers would be equipped with $500 handheld radios that would form far-reaching ad hoc networks that could “shift frequencies and sidestep interference” to make communications more pervasive and more reliable. Interestingly, WAND is reportedly set to be demonstrated as early as January of next year, but there’s no telling how long it’ll take for the project to become fully operational.

[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of SOCOM]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Networking

Word that Brett Favre broke the NFL’s touchdown pass record shot around the world pretty fast today, but if Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology has anything to do with it, you’ll be hearing about such things even faster in 2015, when the group and several private companies intend to launch a next-generation optical network with peak data-transfer speeds of 10 gigabits. Although similar projects are underway in both the US and Europe, the Japanese effort has some heavy-hitters behind it, including NTT, Fujitsu, KDDI, Hitachi, Toshiba, and NEC. The system, which will cost a projected $260M over the next five years, will be able to support 100 billion devices but still maintain those gaudy transfer rates, even for mobile users. No word on when the tech will hit the States, sadly, but here’s hoping.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!