The Telecom Digest for October 18, 2010
Volume 29 : Issue 280 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
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Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 15:16:13 -0700
From: Thad Floryan <thad@thadlabs.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: AT&T to open tech center in Palo Alto
Message-ID: <4CBA242D.5010709@thadlabs.com>
This is from the City of Palo Alto:
http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=18634
AT&T to open tech center in Palo Alto
by Sue Dremann, Palo Alto Online Staff
Saturday, October 16, 2010
AT&T is setting up a multimillion-dollar technology-development
center in Palo Alto in a race to snag the Bay Area's brainiest
mobile-technology developers' ideas.
The collaborative work center could launch a wave of financial
support for local businesses and inventors, as entrepreneurs,
equipment providers, businesses, employees and venture
capitalists join to work on new mobile-communications products.
AT&T is not alone in its efforts to capture innovative ideas
locally. Sprint Nextel has planned a grand opening for its
tech-development center in Burlingame on Oct. 25; Verizon
expects to open a center in San Francisco in mid-2011,
spokespersons for the companies said.
AT&T's Palo Alto headquarters will focus on consumer products
and mobile applications, such as for Apple's iPhone and
Google's Android, according to Peter Hill, vice president of
ecosystem and innovation.
Using a "speed dating" model, software developers can pitch
ideas in 8 to 12 minutes to company executives. Selected
ideas will receive backing and assistance to get the products
developed and to market quickly, spokesman John Britton said.
The company hopes to review as many as 400 proposals per year.
Local venture capitalists hailed AT&T's move.
Silicon Valley venture-capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield
and Byers and Sequoia Capital will partner with AT&T to help
identify potential developers and might invest in the firms.
"This isn't something we've seen from AT&T in the past. ... It
reflects a positive shift in thinking that will be a strategic
advantage," Matt Murphy, partner at Menlo Park-based Kleiner
Perkins Caufield and Byers, said.
Jim Goetz, general partner at Sand Hill Road venture firm
Sequoia Capital, agreed.
"Through the innovation centers, AT&T is embracing the 'valley'
culture. They're positioning themselves where ideas are being
generated," he said.
In Palo Alto, initially more than a dozen full-time employees
will work with developers on three to five projects. Fifteen to
20 temporary employees will be required for each project, Hill
said.
On Wednesday, he said a pared-down version of the innovation
center has been operating out of a temporary location since
August. AT&T is in the process of signing a lease on a 10,000
square-foot undisclosed location in Palo Alto. The new center
is scheduled to open by early 2011.
In addition to Palo Alto, AT&T will open "innovation centers"
in Plano, Texas, and Tel Aviv, Israel. The three sites together
will provide AT&T with a nearly 24-hour workday for development,
John Donovan, AT&T's chief technology officer, said.
AT&T wants to tap into the strengths of each area: Palo Alto's
focus will be on applications and consumer-products development;
Plano will focus on industry-application prototypes from
automotive to education services and Tel Aviv will work on back-
office systems.
"The innovation centers will help us enhance collaboration and
dramatically accelerate the velocity of innovation, taking
ideas from concept to reality in mere months as opposed to
years," Donovan said.
Silicon Valley companies Cisco Systems of San Jose and Juniper
Networks of Sunnyvale plan to provide infrastructure and will
collaborate in the centers, according to Britton.
Hill's background includes leading the development of three-
screen applications (integration of television, personal computer
and wireless devices) for AT&T and its U-verse TV.
AT&T has also created a virtual innovation center, where
developers can test their products on the AT&T network. The
website offers open-source product-development technologies and
a way to share ideas. Developers can build, test and certify
applications without having to travel to an outside facility,
Hill said.
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 18:19:28 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: iPhones for Toddlers
Message-ID: <p06240850c8dfd547a552@[192.168.180.230]>
Toddlers' Favorite Toy: The iPhone
By HILARY STOUT
October 15, 2010
THE bedroom door opened and a light went on, signaling an end to nap
time. The toddler, tousle-haired and sleepy-eyed, clambered to a
wobbly stand in his crib. He smiled, reached out to his father, and
uttered what is fast becoming the cry of his generation: "iPhone!"
The iPhone has revolutionized telecommunications. It has also become
the most effective tool in human history to mollify a fussy toddler,
much to the delight of parents reveling in their newfound freedom to
have a conversation in a restaurant or roam the supermarket aisles in
peace. But just as adults have a hard time putting down their
iPhones, so the device is now the Toy of Choice - akin to a treasured
stuffed animal - for many 1-, 2- and 3-year-olds. It's a phenomenon
that is attracting the attention and concern of some childhood
development specialists.
Natasha Sykes, a mother of two in Atlanta, remembers the first time
her daughter, Kelsey, now 3 1/2 but then barely 2 years old, held her
husband's iPhone. "She pressed the button and it lit up. I just
remember her eyes. It was like 'Whoa!' "
The parents were charmed by their daughter's fascination. But then,
said Ms. Sykes (herself a BlackBerry user), "She got serious about
the phone."
Kelsey would ask for it. Then she'd cry for it. "It was like she'd
always want the phone," Ms. Sykes said. After a six-hour search one
day, she and her husband found the iPhone tucked away under Kelsey's
bed. They laughed. But they also felt vague concern. Kelsey, and her
2-year-old brother, Chase, have blocks, Legos, bouncing balls, toy
cars and books galore. ("They love books," Ms. Sykes said.) But
nothing compares to the iPhone.
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/fashion/17TODDLERS.html
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:44:34 -0700
From: Steven <diespammers@killspammers.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Happy anniversary cellphone!
Message-ID: <i9ddd1$1v6$1@news.eternal-september.org>
On 10/15/10 4:22 PM, Thad Floryan wrote:
> In my case getting a cell phone in 1992 was a necessity after an
> automobile "incident" on I-280 along the San Francisco Peninsula.
>
> L-o-n-g story short, the thermostat spring in my car broke on the
> hottest day of the year (during Summer) and the car overheated. I
> thought I'd play safe and pull up into one of the rest stops before
> San Mateo for water, restroom and telephone facilities because car
> traffic along I-280 is akin to German autobahns and waiting along
> the narrow shoulder flanking a hill seemed neither safe nor wise.
>
> Wouldn't you know it? Rest stop was simply a scenic outlook from
> the hilltop with NO water, NO toilets, and NO telephone. I was
> really getting dehydrated after several hours before a CHP officer
> pulled into the rest stop and called AAA on my behalf for a tow.
> Luckily for me, the CHP officer had water that I could drink.
>
> That evening, back at home, I called my best friend who worked at
> HP Labs (Palo Alto CA) asking for advice and here's what we did.
> The next morning we went to the Cellular One store in Palo Alto
> that served HP (I recall it was at California St and El Camino)
> and arranged for me to buy the Motorola Micro TAC Lite on HP's
> discount plan which still placed it around US$700 IIRC. A pic
> of it is herehttp://thadlabs.com/PIX/Thad_cellphones_1.jpg.
>
> The advantage of having a cellphone immediately because obvious.
> I could be reached at one number anywhere in the "civilized"
> portion of California (even Grass Valley way in the boonies), and
> I had a method of calling for help when needed.
>
> "A luxury, once sampled, becomes a necessity." -- Anon
>
In 1984 GTE made Bag phone available for any employee that wanted to
purchase them, I believe it was a Panasonic. When I got it the set was
configured for Mobil Net, It came with 100 minutes; way before the time
when you get minutes, I know what now, it was new and everyone started
calling everyone they knew and the time was gone. Even then I really
did not like to use telephones because I was on them all day, I just
saved mine. The second day after I got the phone we were on a remote
job site in the middle on no where and a car came flying past us on a
dirt road and the next thing we see is dust as the car went over the
roads end. We called 911 and then went to what happened. The CHP as
well responded fire. To see the least the CHP was really surprised as
never seen a portable phone before. Over the years I used that phone in
some of the remotest parts of the state and it worked, as you said even
in Grass Valley and Brownsville, today my Digital phone works fine in
that area, but is spotty in Brownsville and most of the rest of the Yuba
Foothills, I mess the days if the high power phones, thank god for Ham
Radio.
--
The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today?
(c) 2010 I Kill Spammers, Inc. A Rot in Hell Co.
***** Moderator's Note *****
I think Ham Radio will regain much of the popularity it once held:
with the Internet now little more than an advertising channel where
even the most trivial of ftp tasks has been dumbed down to the point
that even football jocks can have a facetube page,
technically-inclined youth will, once again, turn to the airwaves.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 21:51:11 -0500
From: rpw3@rpw3.org (Rob Warnock)
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Happy anniversary cellphone!
Message-ID: <zYqdnUENgZkC-SfRnZ2dnUVZ_v2dnZ2d@speakeasy.net>
Robert Bonomi <bonomi@host122.r-bonomi.com> wrote:
+---------------
| >***** Moderator's Note *****
| >Since AMPS ran at about 800 MHz, a quarter wave antenna would have
| >been about 3.7 inches high. Of course, the first cellular antennas
| >were much longer than that, with the now-famous "coil" in the middle
| >that told everyone the car contained a cellular phone.
| >
| >Electrically, useless. For marketing, a stroke of genius.
|
| I believe that , electrically, they were a "5/8 wave" antenna ...
| if so, that would have given 3db of gain.
+---------------
The "5/8" was for pattern shapping, but for impedance-matching reasons
it was usually implemented almost as a 1/4-wave end-feeding a 1/2-wave
with a phase-reversing coil, also called a "phased colinear vertical
dipole", which made them closer to 6/8 == 3/4 in actual length:
http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/antennas/extended_vertical/five_eighths_vertical.php
...
The maximum level of radiation at right angles to the antenna is
achieved when the dipole is about 1.2 times the wavelength.
...
When used as a vertical radiator against a ground plane this
translates to a length of 5/8 wavelength. It is found that a
five eighths vertical has a gain of close to 4 dB.
...
For most applications, it is necessary to ensure that the antenna
provides a good match to 50 ohm coaxial cable. It is found that a
3/4 wavelength vertical element provides a good match, and therefore
the solution to the 5/8 wavelength antenna is to make it appear as
a 5/8 radiator but have the electrical length of a 3/4 element. This
is achieved by placing a small loading coil at the base of the antenna
to increase its electrical length.
Later designs moved the base-loading coil to the intersection of the
base-fed 1/4-wave and the end-fed 1/2-wave above it, which allowed a
small amount of further radiation pattern tuning [and also helped with
rigidity of the antenna, to avoid the "sway" common to antennas with
base-loading coils].
+---------------
| Which equates to about a 40% larger service radius at any given signal
| strength.
+---------------
If you say so. It was certainly a significant increase, whatever the value.
+---------------
| IIRC, but I haven't worked with such antennas for long time, the
| coil had an effect on the radiation pattern, concentration more of it
| closer to parallel to the 'ground plane', thus providing some additional
| 'effective' gain in the horizontal direction.
+---------------
Actually, it was more the 5/8 length that tweaked the radiation pattern
desirably low; the coil was more for impedance-matching and/or phasing
of the two colinear sections.
-Rob
Rob Warnock <rpw3@rpw3.org>
627 26th Avenue <URL:http://rpw3.org/>
San Mateo, CA 94403 (650)572-2607
***** Moderator's Note *****
It's funny how, now that the "loading" coil in the middle of the first
cell antennas has served it's function of "loading" a cellphone into
everyone's pocket, that "more efficient" design of yesteryear has been
replaced with nearly-invisible low-profile radiators on cars with
built-in cellphones. I mean, for sure, who wants to get caught with a
coil in their antenna? That's so - Twentieth Century!
Better watch out, gentlemen: that "low angle" radiation might get
through the car's thin skin and make you forget your dad's advice to
take long-winded explanations with a grain of salt.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2010 21:00:04 -0700
From: Richard <rng@richbonnie.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Re: Happy anniversary cellphone!
Message-ID: <fnskb654cvma4642gejn9tkfghohajs519@4ax.com>
On Sat, 16 Oct 2010 21:24:52 +0000 (UTC), danny burstein
<dannyb@panix.com> wrote:
>When did "they" make the decision to get rid
>of the pseudo dial tone?
One cellphone still gives a pseudo dial tone: Jitterbug, marketed to
people who are cellphone-phobic. www.jitterbug.com
In their user manual
http://www.jitterbug.com/Phones/pdfs/HowToGuide.pdf
they state:
>Placing A Call
>Dialing manually:
>1. Open your Jitterbug. You will hear a dial tone to indicate
>that there is service available. If service is not available,
>there will be no dial tone and you will see “No Service” on
>the Outside Display.
You can even call the operator to manage your phone's phonebook.
Presumably, she can update your phonebook remotely.
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2010 21:16:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Rudy Valencia <rudyvalencia@gmail.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Please identify this hold music
Message-ID: <2638c9da-2457-41ce-8520-dba323c2028d@j25g2000yqa.googlegroups.com>
Hello.
I'm trying to identify the hold music I recorded at
http://rudyvalencia.com/instrumental.mp3 and I'm hoping the people
that read this could help.
I've heard a longer version than the 30-second snippet here, and I'm
trying to find it.
I would appreciate it if I could at least know the name of it, or even
better, if I could know how to obtain the longer version somehow.
Thanks in advance.
Rudy Valencia.
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2010 00:26:19 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: EPIC Alert 17.18
Message-ID: <p06240855c8e02afcdd9b@[192.168.180.230]>
| E P I C A l e r t |
| Volume 17.18 September 14, 2010 |
Published by the
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Washington, D.C.
=======================================================================
Table of Contents
=======================================================================
[1] EPIC Challenge to Body Scanner Program Progresses in Federal Court
[2] Ralph Nader and EPIC Urge Senate Hearings on Airport Body Scanners
[3] EPIC Files Suit for Documents Regarding Google/NSA Partnership
[4] Google Settles Buzz Lawsuit, Announces New Privacy Policy
[5] Questions Remain about Future of Iraq Biometric Databases
[6] EPIC's Marc Rotenberg Named to ICANN Advisory Committee
[7] News in Brief
[8] Upcoming Conferences and Events
...
http://www.epic.org/alert/epic_alert_1718.htmlhttp://www.epic.org/alert/epic_alert_1718.html
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2010 11:31:34 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: The Zombie Network: Beware 'Free Public WiFi'
Message-ID: <p06240861c8e0c4f04bf5@[192.168.180.230]>
The Zombie Network: Beware 'Free Public WiFi'
by TRAVIS LARCHUK
October 9, 2010
It's in your airports, your coffee shops and your libraries: "Free
Public WiFi."
Despite its enticing name, the network, available in thousands of
locations across the United States, does not actually provide access
to the Internet. But like a virus, it has spread - and may even be
lurking on your computer right now.
Wireless security expert Joshua Wright first noticed it about four
years ago at an airport.
"I went to connect to an available wireless network and I saw this
option, Free Public WiFi," he remembers. "As I looked more and more,
I saw this in more and more locations. And I was aware from my job
and analysis in the field that this wasn't a sanctioned, provisioned
wireless network, but it was actually something rogue."
Free Public WiFi isn't set up like most wireless networks people use
to get to the Internet. Instead, it's an "ad hoc" network - meaning
when a user selects it, he or she isn't connecting to a router or hot
spot, but rather directly to someone else's computer in the area.
Though it doesn't actually provide Internet access, the network has
spread across the country thanks to an old Windows XP bug.
...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130451369
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=130451369&m=130458685
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=130451369
***** Moderator's Note *****
I STILL can't decide if it's a joke.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2010 11:31:34 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org.
Subject: Spammers Use The Human Touch To Avoid CAPTCHA
Message-ID: <p06240862c8e0c6d8be6d@[192.168.180.230]>
Spammers Use The Human Touch To Avoid CAPTCHA
by NPR STAFF
October 17, 2010
Try to buy some concert tickets or create a new e-mail account, and
you're usually confronted with a puzzle of sorts.
A box appears with a distorted word - that sometimes isn't even a
word - and you have to re-type it. If you tilt your head or squint
your eyes, you can usually just make it out.
That's the point, of course. The puzzles are called CAPTCHAs, and a
human can decipher them but a computer can't. It's a way to thwart
bad guys from, say, creating hundreds of fake e-mail addresses to
spam you from. Or buying up all the tickets to that concert you want
to see. But the spammers have found a low-cost, low-tech way around
the device - human beings.
Spammers and mass-ticket purchasers have outsourced CAPTCHA solving
to teams of low-wage workers in places like Russia and Southeast
Asia. Many of them don't even speak English. They don't have to,
according to Stefan Savage.
...
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130594039
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=130594039&m=130625578
***** Moderator's Note *****
Not to put too fine a point in it, but -
I TOLD YOU SO!
THIS is what "One laptop per child" leads to: the electronic version
of wetback labor. Cheap, disposable, inexhaustible supplies of froggy
litttle native children waiting to do the bidding of the Great White
Hunter who gives away free candy, free firearms, and free computers.
There is, of course, a catch: the dentist isn't free, the ammunition
isn't free, and the network isn't free. Nothing, in the final
analysis, is free when the Great White Hunter tosses it off the back
of the coffee truck.
Someone once said that any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic. The Internet is, to the poor people of
the third world, a Sorcerer's Apprentice which will turn into yet
another vehicle destined to run over their hopes for a better future.
Bill Horne
Moderator
TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly to telecom-
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