Samsung Shows the Way for WiMAX Handsets
By Brad Smith
January 6, 2006
[EMAIL PROTECTED] DIRECT
LAS VEGAS--The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) could be subtitled "The
Future is Now." And if you think mobile WiMAX is in the future, Samsung is
making it real at CES.
The Korean handset manufacturer is demonstrating a handset, the M8000, at
its CES booth. The handset actually uses the Korean version of mobile
WiMAX, called WiBro. Korean carriers plan on commercial launches of WiBro
this spring and summer.
Some U.S. carriers are looking at WiMAX, including Sprint Nextel, although
no decision has been made whether or not to use either the fixed or the
mobile versions of the wireless broadband technology.
Samsung also had on display its high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA)
handset, the zx20, which it expects will be the first such phone for the
UMTS technology. No announcement has been made, but Cingular is the only
carrier in the world to have HSDPA in its network, with the technology in
use in 16 cities using PC cards. Cingular has been demonstrating HSDPA
downloads with 3.6 Mbps data rates, although the typical downlink speeds
are 400 to 700 kbps.
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CES: New WLAN chips take on video, voice
News Story by John Cox
JANUARY 05, 2006 (NETWORK WORLD) - Chip makers are showcasing their
next-generation wireless LAN chips at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)
this week, with many of the silicon advances focused on dealing with
multimedia.
Though many of these vendors are targeting residential applications, the
advances in quality of service and performance, as well as the ability to
better handle streaming media such as voice, will affect corporate
wireless deployments.
The biggest name in chips, Intel Corp., will later this week unveil more
details around the next version, code-named Napa, of its Centrino mobile
package of chips and firmware. Last fall, Intel officials said Napa will
feature the company's first dual-core mobile processor and improved memory
and wireless chip sets, but it didn't go into details. Industry observers
have speculated that that the Napa wireless chip set, called Golan, will
include WiMAX, a standard for broadband wireless.
In the meantime, Intel is preparing to ship the current Centrino version,
called Sonoma, sometime in the first quarter of 2006. Among other
wrinkles, Centrino will incorporate Intel's own 802.11a/b/g chip set.
Users can expect scores of laptops emerging by year's end to feature the
Sonoma components.
Atheros Communications Inc. is demonstrating a new Multiple Input/Multiple
Output (MIMO) chip set at its CES booth. The new XSPAN products will be
able to deliver up to 300Mbit/sec., with enough range to blanket a typical
home. MIMO uses, among other things, multiple transmitters and receivers;
the Atheros chip set will use three of each.
Broadcom Corp. unveiled what it says is the first Wi-Fi chip set designed
for video phones. The idea is a mobile or desktop phone, designed with the
Broadcom technology, can be used for phone calls that combine voice with
high-quality streaming video of the two callers.
The chip set packages together a Broadcom VoIP processor, its 802.11b/g
WLAN chip and a chip designed for video processing.
The package supports high-resolution video standards such as H.264 and
H.263, as well as video rates up to 30 frames per second. The WLAN chip
set supports the Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) quality-of-service protocol, which
gives priority to voice and video packets.
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OFFICIAL: Google Video Marketplace and Google Pack
Posted Jan 6th 2006 7:04PM by Brad Hill
According to emailed press releases timed to coincide with Larry Page's
CES keynote this afternoon (4pm Pacific U.S. time), Google will satisfy
day-old rumors by announcing Google Video Marketplace, and Google Pack.
Video marketplace is (or will be "soon") an expansion of Google Video,
incorporating content from CBS, NBA Basketball, and several other
first-wave providers. A directory will make content easier to find than
the current hunt-and-peck near-random experience of Google Video. The
press release indicates, without offering details, that the Video
Marketplace stores will be Web-based, as opposed to the client-driven
iTunes Music Store. A new software player will also be availalbe, though,
that will offer frame-by-frame viewing and other advanced features.
Clearly, Google Video Marketplace is meant to compete with iTMS's video
portion, and is inspired by the suddenly growing on-demand video market.
CSI and Survivor are two CBS programs that will be offered. The NBA will
provide every game on the schedule, including post-season--24 hours after
the conclusion of the game. (It'll be interesting to see whether
time-sensitive video content sells.) Music videos from Sony BMG. Charlie
Rose interviews. Classic cartoons. Promises of new content added daily.
Some kind of iPod and PSP compatibility will work. No prices are divulged
as of this post.
Google Pack is a bundling of Desktop, Earth, Talk, Toolbar, Picasa, and
other non-Google programs including RealPlayer (!), Trillian, Adobe
Reader, Firefox, and Adobe Reader. Included is a shell that manages
installation, uninstallation, and updating. Very much as Windows does for
OS updates. Google Pack isn't exactly an operating system, but it sure
wraps a lot of day-to-day functions into an easy package.
Google Pack is for XP only.
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Google Earth in Cars?
Posted Jan 7th 2006 11:15AM by Brad Hill
there is mention of a development project with Volkswagon that would put
Google Earth in cars. I know no details, but it seems to me that if merged
with GPS, Google Earth could offer a real breakthrough in car mapping.
Operating on the desktop, Earth offers users drive-throughs of driving
directions. After an uneven experience testing a Garmin GPS unit in my
car, I'd be very interested in an Earth-enhanced device.
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