Qualcomm has brought out a second version of its Gobi software defined radio which can switch between CDMA EV-DO and UMTS HSPA cellular networks to connect to 3G mobile Internet services. The new Gobi is called the Gobi2000, adds new radio frequencies, faster connect speeds, better GPS and support for Windows Mobile 7. Gobi2000 is now sampling and will be bundled into laptops launched in the second half of 2009. Qualcomm says that it has deals with seven of the world’s top 10 notebook manufacturers for Gobi.
The US Senate has scaled back the amount of cash it will use to stimulate investment in broadband, slashing $1.5 billion from the $9 billion proposed for broadband buildouts. It has also begun the critically important step of fine-tuning the language which governs who gets the tax credits for build outs. The original language made it look like the big US RBOC Telcos could just apply for these tax cuts for continuing what they are already doing. The new wording more tightly targets benefits for building out in rural and underserved areas.
That Swedish wi-fi bus company Icomera continues to sign up bus routes where it can deliver wi-fi, adding internet access (as well as real time vehicle tracking) on the Arriva owned Green Line express coaches between Luton Airport and Central London in the UK.
In the US the digital switchover had another hitch when it was realized that manufacturers had stopped making DTV adaptors and although they have restarted production lines last month, stores are currently running out of devices. So the US now has its switchover delay ratified, soon it will have the money to pay for coupons, but it cannot yet deliver the goods on DTV. The Consumer Electronics Association reckons that there are around 3 million or more adapters in stock but there is already a waiting list way beyond 3 million devices. So retailers expect to run out of devices by the end of February. Who planned this again?
MySpace is planning to put advertising overlays over the bottom of some of the vast number of music videos that are viewed on the site. The overlays will usually allow viewers to buy the music they are listening to or jump to the artist’s homepage. The new system comes out of the long term deal MySpace has had with Auditude, audio finger printing software which it also uses to identify copyrighted audio on its site.
Freeview, the New Zealand version of DVB-T transmitted digital TV has just past the delivery of 200,000 receivers sold, with 38,442 added in the last quarter 2008. Already 13% of New Zealand homes now have the service two years after its launch. The UK has now well over 50% of homes on a similar service of the same name. Also there is a HD version in NZ, which has now reached 53,522 HD-capable receivers sold, says MHEG5 interface group Impala.
Norway says that it will cease its legal actions which had been pending against Apple over the issue that it protected its tracks with its FairPlay DRM which would only run on a single hardware platform, Apple’s. Now that Apple is offering DRM-free tracks Norway has no reason to pursue Apple, says consumer mediator Bj’rn Erik Thon speaking to AFP news.
NDS says that it will be providing Philippines DTH supplier Mediascape’s Cignal TV service, with a complete end-to-end pay-TV broadcast system including Videoguard conditional access, the MediaHighway middleware platform and its own EPG software.
Now that the UK’s Channel 4 TV channel has been banned from joining the Kangaroo combined streaming service with the BBC and ITV, it is going ahead with its own VoD PC streaming service, CatchUp, which it says will complement its current TV VoD service, 4oD. It will go live in March offering Adobe Flash video streaming.
Nokia says that it will scale back handset production at its Salo, Finland factory and close its research unit Jyvaskyla. This is being blamed on the worldwide decline in demand for mobile phones.