Archive for December, 2006
Qualcomm’s draft-n
As you may have seen, Qualcomm has acquired Airgo and is now releasing its draft-n compliant 802.11n chip, it will be presented at CES, I’ll tell you more about it from there !
Meraki raises 1m$
Just had to report it quickly in case you missed it, Meraki raised 1M$ from google. Meraki created an open source (based on OpenWRT) access point called “Meraki Mini” and sold 100$ (50$ during beta). Google found their approach interesting as a relay to their google hotspot project, just as Fon did “La Fonera”.
Connecting non-PC devices on a HotSpot ?
I’ve seen quite a few news on wnn this week (here and here) stressing the fact that as of today if you were to buy a WiFi VoIP phone, iit’s more than likely that you wouldn’t be able to use it from a regular Hotspot. Why? Simply because there is usually no web browser to let you log in ! And even when there is one, chances are that using it to type a login/password from your tiny phone keyboard is going to be a real pain…
Here is an idea I had to make it easier : I though about using http://www.connecting-things.com as a global device database including APIs that could be used by WISPs authentication services to check if the device that just joined a HotSpot is a PC or something else … and apply according rules (i.e. a mobile phone just goes through directly, so does a PSP…). Better than devicescape solution that requires some software installed on the device.
In order for this to work it’s clear that the database should be easy to fill and the business model could be revenue share on voice (Skype…).
What do you think ?
Technorati Tags: hotspot, internet+of+things, wifi
Windows CE on a model aircraft remote control
The remote has a half-vga touchscreen and dual processor for precise stick movement response. When Olivier presented me WinCE he indeed stressed that the OS is doing true realtime, which means that when you have a hardware interrupt, you can be sure that within a millisecond the running program will be suspended to take the proper action.
Ready for CES
Just took the plane tickets for both Franck (WaveStorm’s CTO) and I for CES in Las Vegas. We’ll arrive on Jan. 06 and will stay until the 12th. I just registered for a press pass (the guys at CES seem pretty demanding about proving that you really are part of the consumer electronics business… hey come on what have I been talking about and selling for the last few years … 
). Anyway i’m sure this show will be great as it’s its 40th anniversary… yes it’s that old !
Anyway if you’re around and feel like taking a beer with me… drop me an email (alex @ mobitrends.com)
Technorati Tags: CES, consumer electronics show
The future of mobile phone
Thanks Techdigest for pointing out those amazing video from the Nokia World Conference. The MMIs are really amazing but I’m still wondering if this level of complexity can really be grasped by regular users…
Better than Nikko’s helicopter
I used to gaze in front of Nikko’s mini-helicopter but yesterday I was stuck in front of this news about the latest Wowwee tay : a radio-controlled butterfly ! Wowwee are the creator of the Robosapiens product line and thus have shown quite an astonishing know-how in robotics … this toy looks great, I’m looking forward to getting the hand on one and let my cat chase it
