Motorola's Handset Business On The Brink?

from the going,-going... dept

Anybody that's followed the fortunes of Motorola's mobile-phone unit over the years knows it's been a story of ups and downs. The company has had a number of blockbuster hits over the years, like the StarTAC and the RAZR, but hasn't been able to fill in the gaps between them with other successes. Now, Phone Scoop is reporting that the company is preparing to lay off up to half its staff. In addition, the company will only release a dozen devices this year, and it's dropping the Windows Mobile platform, favoring Android instead for its smartphones. The writing has been on the wall for Motorola for a while, as it struggled to follow up the iconic RAZR with another hit. Coupled with the current economic slowdown, it looks like Motorola's handset business could be headed for the deadpool, unless a buyer emerges for it. Perhaps that should be "buyer" -- there's been a lot of talk that Moto would have to pay somebody to take the business off its hands.

Filed Under: handsets
Companies: motorola

It's Like Bluetooth, But Without All The Pain

from the all-hail-progress dept

The Bluetooth wireless communications technology has become commonplace these days -- almost in spite of itself. While Bluetooth can be exceptionally useful for short-range communications, it can also be an enormous pain to use, in particular because of the pairing process users must go through to connect devices for the first time. Enter the new TransferJet standard, which is being backed by a number of digital camera makers who want to simplify the transfer of images and video. TransferJet can operate at speeds up to 357Mbps, 100 times faster than Bluetooth, and it doesn't require any pairing, it simply kicks in automatically and begins transfers when a compatible device is placed within 2 millimeters of the "transfer area" of a receiving device, like a PC. The cumbersome pairing process from Bluetooth has been replaced simply by proximity -- the thinking is that if a device like a camera can be placed within 2mm of a receiving device, the owner is okay with the transfer. While obviously this sort of security doesn't work in every scenario, it's good to see engineers learning from the usability foibles of previous technologies.

Filed Under: bluetooth, transferjet

Mixed Decisions Concerning Police Searches Of Your Mobile Phone On Arrest

from the legal-or-not? dept

A year ago, we had a lively discussion around here concerning the legal question of whether or not police could search your mobile phone if you are stopped for a traffic violation. It seems that the question is far from settled. Declan McCullagh details two separate lawsuits in which judges came to opposite conclusions about the rights of police to search mobile phones or other devices on persons being arrested. It's clearly allowed to search through physical belongings -- but when it comes down to digital belongings, it's not at all clear. It comes down to the same issue being debated concerning laptop searches at the border. Traditional law concerning such searches assumes that what you have on you is stuff you purposely chose to bring on that trip. However, in a digital age, where your devices "keep everything" the opposite is true. You automatically bring everything and only exclude that which you purposely choose to leave out. Thus, the old laws don't really make much sense and could lead to some dangerous and highly questionable scenarios. Hopefully, the courts will recognize this before too long.

Filed Under: mobile phones, searches, warrants

What Would Pushing Back The Digital TV Transition Mean?

from the on-hold dept

As the deadline for the shutdown of analog TV broadcasts and the transition to digital draws closer, calls for a delay in the switchover grow louder, thanks largely to poor management of the converter subsidy program and inadequate education. But while consumer groups and politicians fret over the few million people who will need converters but haven't gotten them, Kevin Fitchard over at Telephony Online has a nice roundup of the wireless and mobile companies that will feel the effects of any delay in the transition.

The reason for the digital switchover is to free up the 700MHz spectrum that's used by analog broadcasts. The spectrum's low frequency gives it great propagation characteristics for mobile broadband, while the sheer quantity of it the TV broadcasts occupy translates into a lot of capacity for next-generation mobile networks. Also, keep in mind that the government has already auctioned off the licenses to this spectrum, so companies like Qualcomm and Verizon Wireless, which have already shelled out billions of dollars to set up shop in it, will have to push back their investments and rollouts. This could have a carry-on effect on consumers. For instance, Cox Communications bought 700MHz licenses in many of the markets in which it offers cable TV service with the intention of setting up its own mobile networks, introducing new competition for incumbents. One other group that stands to lose out if the transition is delayed: public safety agencies, which were allocated 700MHz spectrum in order to build interoperable, unified communications systems. This transition has been pushed back for years; it's important now that the hard deadline stands, and that the vast amount of spectrum used by the analog broadcasts -- broadcasts that relatively few people rely on -- can be refarmed and put to a more valuable use.

Filed Under: conversion, digital tv, impact

Group Wants A National Ban On Yakking While Driving

from the no,-there's-nothing-else-going-on dept

As the nation gears up for the inauguration of a new President and Congress and state and local governments laying out their legislative priorities for the coming year, one group says that in addition to pressing issues like the economy, legislators should take up a nationwide ban on cell phone use while driving. They've trotted out the usual rhetoric, equating yakking while driving to drunk driving in an attempt to evoke an emotional response, but ignoring some salient facts. First, while it's hard to argue that driving while talking is completely safe, it may not be as big a risk as some of these groups would lead us to believe. Second, the laws are very hard to enforce and don't automatically decrease the number of accidents. Instead of adding another law narrowly focused on one particular behavior, why not more stringently enforce existing traffic laws dealing with dangerous driving? Laws already exist covering all manner of unsafe driving; perhaps a good way to make the roads safer would be to increase enforcement of them and work to clamp down on all types of unsafe driving, rather than single out particular ones.

Filed Under: driving while yakking, laws, regulations

Texting Making Today's Youth All Thumbs

from the opposable dept

There's been a lot of talk about how the rise of text messaging is affecting people and how they communicate. We've seen reports about texting's impact on families (verdict: not clear), on the English language (verdict: it's safe), and on students' grammar (it's okay too). But one more area texting is having an impact: young people aren't using their index fingers as much. Apparently because younger people are using their thumbs to text all the time, it's become the digit of choice for activities like ringing doorbells. So will index fingers go the way of the appendix and become some extraneous appendage unneeded by modern man? I just tried typing this post with only my thumbs, and based on that, I think they, and their six other friends, are safe for some time yet.

Filed Under: kids, texting, thumbs

China Finally Issues 3G Licenses

from the not-sure-we-really-believe-this,-but-oh-well... dept

Chinese authorities have apparently finally issued licenses for mobile operators there to operate 3G networks, following years of delays. The country had been talking about getting 3G going since 2003 or so, but its tech protectionist bent saw it forced to take delay after delay until it could finally get its homegrown TD-SCDMA standard into acceptable working condition, while 3G networks built on existing, widely accepted industry standards flowered elsewhere in the world. It's great that China's offered up an alternative to the WCDMA and CDMA2000 standards, and one that might not carry some of the same intellectual property burdens as those two, translating into lower costs. But by this point, any such benefit the standard might offer has been rendered fairly meaningless by the long delay in getting it to market -- meaning China's protectionism will probably have done more to hurt the country's position in technology than to help it.

Filed Under: 3g, china