IT Wireless Tools

The end of desktop browsers?

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:59:57 -0500

For nearly 15 years, the Internet has been defined by the words and graphics that show up in World Wide Web browser windows. Mosaic, Mozilla, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, Firefox, and more have come to be the interfaces through which users meet the information stored on the Internet. With the rise of smartphones and mobile Internet devices, however, desktop browsers may have finally hit the end of their long run at the top of the Internet heap. Research into the way people are using portable devices to reach the Internet indicates that shifts are happening, but they're shifts from desktop and laptop browsers to wireless device browsers that bring a rich browsing experience into the palm of the user's hand.

For more on mobile browsers:
Read the hands-on analysis at WirelessWeek

Handling tricky net deployments

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:59:57 -0500

Sometimes, you know, it's just hard to make a wireless network happen in a particular location. Interference from nearby networks, structural barriers to radio energy, high-risk security concerns--all of these can make for a very difficult installation. You can try improving your WLAN deployment practices, but there are times when new technology is the answer. It's critical to pick the right WLAN partner, and for a growing number of customers the right partner is Ruckus. Ruckus' beam-forming technology can make secure, high-performance deployment possible in environments that border on the impossible.

For more on a Ruckus wireless deployment:
- Read the case study at NetworkWorld

Palm Foleo is no more

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:59:58 -0400

It was a short season for the Foleo. As Summer began, Palm trumpeted the development of the wireless companion. Last week, as the days grew shorter and the air more crisp, a Palm blog announced the end of the Foleo just days before it was to have shipped. The reasons given for the Foleo's demise were sensible (Palm's need to focus on a single, new OS and platform), and the door was left open for a future Foleo, but enterprise Palm users should plan on another companion in the meantime.

For more on the end of the Foleo:
- see this story from DailyTechRag

HP smartphone flood

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 06:59:58 -0400

HP's been known for it's very capable iPaq for quite a while, but it's not a company that you usually think of when it comes time to buy a smartphone. HP wants to change that, and it's starting with a pair of new smartphones that bear the name iPaq. The iPaq 600 and iPaq 900 come with the operating system and features customers have come to expect from HP and adds new features like large screens and a navigation wheel (on the iPaq 600). These aren't necessarily hip competitors to the iPhone, but they represent HPs hope for the smartphone future.

For more on the two new iPaqs:
- see this DailyTechRag article

Surging active RFID

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 06:59:58 -0400

There's no doubt that RFID is big and is getting bigger when it comes to managing inventories in enterprises both large and small. Now comes word that active RFID---which uses a battery-powered tag for active data transmission--is the fastest-growing segment of the market. According to IDTechEx, a UK-based consulting firm, active RFID will grow from about 13 percent of the market to over 26 percent within the next 10 years. Healthcare is the vertical pushing the active-RFID envelope the most, but the biggest driver may simply be that active RFID devices and systems are becoming more and more capable as time goes on.

For more on the active RFID surge:
- read the news article at NetworkWorld

BlackBerry blues continue

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 06:59:57 -0400

For a problem that was supposed to have been "unambiguously solved" the BlackBerry outages have been strangely persistent. While RIM was able to find the reasons for the massive outages that struck earlier this year, a continuing string of smaller service breaks have occurred in both RIM's network and the AT&T EDGE network. The most significant questions (aside from how to keep the network up and running) are how much downtime BlackBerry users are willing to tolerate--and whether the existing outages have already passed that point.

For more on BlackBerry's blackouts:
- read the complete article at eWeek

Look to Kentucky for public/private wireless

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 06:59:56 -0400

When trying to figure out how to divvy up the spectrum freed up when U.S. television goes digital in 2009, the FCC looked at working examples of shared spectrum operation. They found a model they liked in Kentucky, where a public-private partnership has raised computer literacy and ownership by huge margins during the last four years. That partnership is the basis for the proposed plan in which the band will be auctioned to commercial providers who'll then turn its use over to public service agencies in case of emergencies. It might just be the plan that allows emergency workers to keep communicating when things go very, very wrong.

For more on the Kentucky experience:
- read the feature article at eWeek

Get ready for Google wireless

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Google has made no secret of its desire to get into the wireless communications market. With the concept of a small-capitalization spectrum auction put forward by the search-engine giant, the pieces are starting to come together with Google's announcement that it has set aside $4.6 billion for the FCC auction of the 700 MHz spectrum. If Google gets spectrum, will it bring out its own Google phone or act as a broker for scores or hundreds of small companies with innovative ideas? For that answer, we will have to wait.

For more on Google's $4.6 billion spectrum plans:
- read this story at DailyTechRag and this Editor's Corner
- see this press release
- read the news story at CIO-Today

Phones finding phones

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:01:38 -0400

A new service for GPS-enabled phones will allow registered phones to find one another via SMS-based functionality and a free application. Vito FindMe, the no-cost application for Windows Mobile devices with GPS built in, allows registered users to alert one another with location information when queried. Vito FindMe doesn't have all of the features of the Sprint/loopt service, but it's free and doesn't require service from any particular provider.

For more on FindMe:
- see this press release
- read the whole story at eWeek

Bargain-basement mayhem

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:01:37 -0400

Wireless security is challenging enough when dealing with assaults developed one at a time by enterprising criminals. Now, though, PandaLabs has found a do-it-yourself Trojan kit for sale at cut-rate prices on a number of different websites. While coping with new security problems resulting from higher speeds adds one layer of difficulty to the security staff's job, a tool like Pinch, placed into the hands of hundreds of potential attackers, adds an added level of complexity to the dangerous mix.

For more on Pinch:
- read the news article at eWeek