Category Archives: Wireless Connectivity

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A whole new world of location based services …
The advances that we are creating in computing devices, and in wireless connectivity, are setting the course on where the human race will be in the not-to-distant future. We are slowly evolving into a multitude of ever-connected people, continuously interacting throughout the day with the communities that we are members of.

I believe that some of the biggest enhancements to the human experience are going to appear as a result of the combination of location based services, and augmented reality. It is when we merge these two that we will start to see some incredible enhancements to how we relate to each other, and the world around us.

Image the day that you leave your house, wearing your computer and it’s augmented-reality goggles, and begin to experience the sensory enhancements that it can create. The computer will constantly be determining your location, and augmenting your senses with new forms of “awareness.” You will hear audible notifications of issues related to you – both near and far. A friend has come on-line … another friend is less than a mile away from you. You will also be able to see “virtual” signs and art in your goggles which “overlay” the world around you. These will be signs left by friends, and other people in the communities that you interact with. We have not even begun to see what is coming …

Location Services Coming Slowly. But study says they’ll generate big profits [allNetDevices Wireless News]

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Where is my family? My friends? Location services will tell …
This is a company that is really on the right track … Wherify Wireless … in creating innovative new hardware and software solutions. They are creating a hardware device (estimated to be
Their premise is that parents want to know where their children are. People want to track pets that might get lost. Various people will want to track other people who might wander away. There are, of course, a number of implications to this type of service. I predict that there are going to be numerous services that appear like this one, and that the real breakthroughs in this market will occur when standardized hardware, and software, appear on the market. There are some reasons why I predict that Wherify will have a great tactical business, but will have to make significant shifts as we move forward in time:

1. I don’t like their business model, since it begs to be “broken” in the future. They are counting on their proprietary hardware solution to tie people to a service that they will charge for on a monthly basis. Being in the hardware business is a tough market, especially when the functionality that they are creating is going to be standard parts of the upcoming PDAs and wearable computers. When all of our mobile devices have wireless connectivity, and GPS capabilities, we’ll be able to provide this capabilites ourselves.

2. The second part of their business model that I don’t care for, is that there is the possibility of privacy concerns. Do you trust Wherify? Do you trust who they might provide your data to? How secure are their storage facilities? Might a “break-in” to their servers provide some access to where your children are? This type of locatin service does not require a centralized service, although there are some benefits. My team and I are working on this type of service, using commodity PDAs, GPS, and CDPD modems, to provide the same kinds of capabilities … without anyone else monitoring where we are. We are creating a much more distributed solution … almost peer to peer. To me, the success of this market will occur when the devices are standards based, and readily available. Along with this, software will appear on the market which allow the unit to talk directly to your own home monitoring system … or to an organization of your choice!

3. I also wonder about the various issues … this service introduces some very wild situations!
I want to track my friend … I buy an account and toss the unit in their jacket pocket. Or I attach the unit under their car. The ability to “slip” one of these devices into someone’s clothing or transportation opens up a whole new world of PI and detective work!

In any case, I am now on a mission to talk with a wide range of vendors at Comdex about these devices, and the possibilities surrounding them …

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Multiple wireless solutions will be the answer …
I agree completely with this study! As I have continued my research into wearable and mobile computing, and the requirements of wireless connectivity, it has become apparent to me that I will want numerous options for speed and mobility. High-speed 802.11b or 802.11a will be what I want in hot spots, and even for quick peer-to-peer networking. When I go roaming in the metro area, I’ll then be willing to use lower-speed cellular technologies. If I really venture out to the edges of the techno-universe … I’ll fall back to satellite …

Public WLANs Essential for 3G: Study. Says public WLAN, 3G operators must cooperate [allNetDevices Wireless News]

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An innovative wearable from Panasonic …
This is a very innovative wearable computer from Panasonic. I have not yet been able to obtain the pricing information, and the CPU power is a little limited, however the concept and design are very innovative! I would like to get one of these units for testing and evaluation … the remote display concept is very good for applications that they describe!

Panasonic unveils laptop with 802.11b-connected LCD display: Neat idea, but let’s hope they did it right. If there’s no encryption (forget plain old WEP) between the laptop itself and the LCD, decoding the stream of data should be trivial. Panasonic said they had law enforcement officers in mind when developing this unit, so data transmission should be made more secure than useful.

[80211b News]

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More flawed business models in the wireless world …
I know that people will sometimes scoff at my observations and thoughts of the wireless evolution (revolution?) however this is one that I have seen coming for a long time … and predicted. To me, the model that Metricom created was not going to be sustainable. Their proprietary approach attempted to “control” the standards, hardware, access, and infrastrcuture … a very costly proposition. I never could see how they thought they would drive costs down, and membership up. Instead, the adoption of standards like 802.11b, and getting out of the hardware business, could have provided an “out”. I have heard good things about their service, but they are now down and out. Likewise, I believe that MobileStar and others in the 802.11b business have been following a similar model … slightly better, but still flawed models. They are looking to install and own 802.11b infrastructure which again is a very costly model. I truly believe that a “public” infrastructure is developing which is going to catch a lot of people by surprise!

Metricom files for bankruptcy. Metricom, the makers of the Ricochet wireless Internet service, files for bankruptcy protection but intends to keep its 41,000 wireless subscribers online for now. [CNET Tech News]

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Like Ricochet, is the future of MobileStar already known?
There are, IMHO, some serious flaws in the business models of the current wireless providers. This is becoming more and more evident as 3G roll outs are done, and not done. The costs of constantly upgrading the wireless infrastructure are extremely high, and without the ability to defray these costs, the ROI in a quickly evolving market and industry are just too high.

This quote actually demonstrates the flaws of their business model … one which is tracking closely to the same cellular model:

“But like 3G and other wireless technologies, Wi-Fi must find backers at a time when investors have little appetite for tech start-ups. Mr. Kaiser is trying to raise $30 million in new funding for MobileStar, which he says has enough cash to operate at current levels for four to five months.”

IMHO, MobileStar is already seeing the flaws that are also hitting those looking to deploy 3G wireless solutions as promised.

Elliot Spagat writes in great detail about MobileStar’s plans, and commentary on the rest of the industry, in today’s Wall Street Journal: unfortunately, the article is not publicly linkable, available only on their subscription site. A brief summary: MobileStar has received additional financing and hired a new CEO. Both WayPort and MobileStar are sitting on large cash stakes. MobileStar is now stating that roaming agreements would be premature in this nascent industry; this sounds more like a winner-take-all argument, and they are in the catbird’s seat with more active locations than any other national provider. MobileStar apparently has the contracts for JFK, San Francisco International, and O’Hare (Chicago) airports. A formal roll-out with advertising of the Starbucks network is planned for later this year.

[80211b News]

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A good analysis of 3G …
This is yet another good article on the state of 3G wireless solutions. I too believe that this will become one of the many wireless solutions that people will be using with their wireless devices.

When I put on my wearable computer (or when it’s on me because I put my clothes on!) I know that I’ll be using several wireless technologies at the same time – 802.11b for high-speed/close range, Bluetooth for peer to peer/close range, and some sort of cellular for PSTN voice communications and low-speed data.

I still think that 3G will be too little, too late for real useful digital data communications …

Analysis of 3G cellular, Bluetooth, and 802.11b, dismissing hype and making a fair assessment of prospects

[80211b News]

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Yeah … right … 3G is going to be the solution …
I have long said that 3G looks like it’ll be too little, too late. These companies are looking to invest billions of dollars to provide kilobits/sec of digital data access! What a joke. I have yet to hear a good story about how this is all going to happen in time. My belief is that the “parasitic networks”, like the 802.11b networks, will be here far sooner …

FCC Delays 3G Allocation Study. Will cause delay in U.S. spectrum auction [allNetDevices Wireless News]

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Bluetooth confusion continues …
I met with the President and CEO of a Bluetooth development company the other day. I was really impressed at his perspective, and our agreement, of the potential of the Bluetooth market. It’s funny how so many people see the “conflict” between Bluetooth and 802.11b … and yet this executive doesn’t see any!
Bluetooth is a very cool wireless solution for certain applications. Most people don’t understand the various bandwidth limitations, and understand the Bluetooth profiles that have been defined. I’m impressed that Bluetooth is getting closer, and looks like a great solution for ad-hoc networks. I’m going to do more investigation at Comdex … I want to understand the costs and capabilities. I have also found that the SDKs and developer tools are very thin at this point … I really can’t write the Bluetooth applications that I want to yet … 😉

Survey: IT Managers Want Bluetooth. But often confuse it with WLANs [allNetDevices Wireless News]

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More early experiments of Mirror Worlds …
For those of you who have not read the book Mirror Worlds by David Gelernter, this description by Dan Gillmor starts to fit the bill. Gelernter writes about software systems which allow the real-time observation of almost anything on earth, anywhere, at anytime. And the ability to zoom into business and personal processes that are automated to see what is really going on from the macro-scale to the micro-scale. I agree completely with Gelernters basic premise that this type of software is inevitable … and I can see many ways that it is starting to appear …

Dan Gillmor: “Imagine, for example, that you’re looking at a map of major Bay Area highways. The map is embedded in a PC spreadsheet or Web browser. Every 30 seconds, it updates the average traffic speeds noted by road sensors at various locations along those highways. I saw such a map earlier this week in Mountain View, at the offices of KnowNow.” [Scripting News]