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Bluetooth + WiFi + GSM = Wanda

Posted by timothy on from the go-anywhere dept.

nackrm writes "CNN is reporting on the latest from Texas Instruments seen recently at the Cellular Telecommunication and Internet Association (CTIA) conference in New Orleans. They've managed to jam these three techs into one chip. Soon we'll be seeing the techie equivalent of a swiss army knife."

130 comments

  1. Which ties in quite nicey with... by djkitsch · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm sure some of you have read this on Wired, regarding 'Dick Tracy' watches - this seems like something which might move us even closer to the reality :-)

    --
    sig:- (wit >= sarcasm)
    1. Re:Which ties in quite nicey with... by namespan · · Score: 2, Funny

      I was thinking more of an "Electronic Thumb"... :)

      --
      Libertarianism is rich wolves and poor sheep playing gambler's ruin for dinner.
    2. Re:Which ties in quite nicey with... by Oculus+Habent · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually, a Bluetooth watch could be used with a cellphone in a pocket or on a belt. It would be an interesting "handsfree" way of using the phone.

      --
      That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
    3. Re:Which ties in quite nicey with... by Tumbleweed · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think an electronic "middle finger" would be more fun...

    4. Re:Which ties in quite nicey with... by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1
      I don't like butterscotch, but I do like vanilla. You don't see friggin holy wars over pudding, though, do you?

      You would if you didn't eat your meat.

    5. Re:Which ties in quite nicey with... by eversunsoft · · Score: 1
      I like the idea suggested in the article. Talking through a Bluetooth headset, while browsing the net on the device.

      Another possiblility would be to integrate VoIP capabilites, through the Wi-Fi connectivity. Depending on mobile signal strength, or something like monthly minutes used, calls could be routed automatically to the best alternative.

      related blog entry

    6. Re:Which ties in quite nicey with... by Turbyne · · Score: 1

      They already have FRS Radio watches. The thing is pretty cool, but with FRS radios at 2/$35 I doubt they'd sell too many.

      --
      ~A'Ëq'i4d)^'$ÊSÈòB
    7. Re:Which ties in quite nicey with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you don't eat your meat you can't have any pudding. How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?

    8. Re:Which ties in quite nicey with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Meat Pudding, DAMMIT!

      mmm.... candied duck strips....

  2. Bluetooth by DJ+FirBee · · Score: 4, Funny

    I thought bluetooth had went the way of 100base VG, betamax, bernoulli drives, .sea compression, BeOS, 8 track, and SACD.

    Now that I hear this, I think, maybe this is just what the technology needs to become uber prevalent.

    HA HA I AM KIDDING !!!!

    It will still be a distant 47th to IR connectivity.

    1. Re:Bluetooth by hygelic · · Score: 1

      Except it doesnt depend on that line of site thing.

    2. Re:Bluetooth by giberti · · Score: 5, Informative

      I recently bought a blue tooth phone and a Palm T with blue tooth and have been enjoying the freedom from AvantGo. It isn't fast like a desktop, but it gets the job done. Its also nice to keep my contacts/calendar in sync between the palm and phone so if I don't want to lug the palm around, I'm not lost.

      And line of site is a pain with IR.

      --

      AF-Design, web development.
    3. Re:Bluetooth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      you can't be serious...

      the essential difference between bluetooth and IR is that iR own't keep a connection if you don't keep perfectly still.

      IR has even failed on me due to my switching on or off my desk lamp...

    4. Re:Bluetooth by aallan · · Score: 1

      I thought bluetooth had went the way of 100base VG, betamax, bernoulli drives, .sea compression, BeOS, 8 track, and SACD.

      You haven't been to Europe lately, have you?

      Al.
      --
      The Daily ACK - Eclectic posts by yet another hacker
    5. Re:Bluetooth by Ponty · · Score: 1

      They're still using Bernoulli drives?

    6. Re:Bluetooth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They use and develop all kinds of stuff. That stuff may not be able to kill people, but it's still cool. Imagine that! Technology that doesn't destroy stuff but instead is used to create stuff! These Europeans must be crazy!

    7. Re:Bluetooth by DJ+FirBee · · Score: 1

      I lived in Holland all of last year.

      Did not see it there either. Although bluetooth was the last thing in my mind while living in A'dam.

      Still, my powerbook has IR today.

    8. Re:Bluetooth by Ponty · · Score: 1

      As long as it adheres to the Bernoulli principle, I'm happy!

    9. Re:Bluetooth by radish · · Score: 1

      Did not see it there either

      That's because Bluetooth uses a special invisible ray we call "radio waves". These crazy things are even able to transmit information right through solid objects! Surely the wonders of science will never cease. ;-)

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

    10. Re:Bluetooth by radish · · Score: 1

      It will still be a distant 47th to IR connectivity.

      Then I guess I'm weird - I use IR every day and am hoping to switch to bluetooth any time now...

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

    11. Re:Bluetooth by rossifer · · Score: 1

      I *hate* synching across IR. Say I'm stuck with a desktop system at work and am not allowed to bring my laptop from home (it happened at my last job). And for the love of Pete, don't jostle the table while I'm doing an IR synch!

      With bluetooth, I have my phone in my jacket pocket, the headset at hand, PDA around somewhere, and my laptop on my desk. All talking to each other, no muss, no fuss. Alternate work setup #1 puts me in a park (with good GPRS coverage), laptop on lap, phone in jacket pocket, headset discreetly left at home (phone bill expensed :).

      Though many devices had IR through the years (I loved my HP48), it simply never became ubiquitious (few desktops, even today, ship with an IR transceiver). Bluetooth simply has the momentum to overwhelm the aging also-ran medium of serial I/R with all of its warts (line-of-sight, high power consumption, extremely short range, microscopic usable bandwidth for the frequency being used, etc.).

      Regards,
      Ross

    12. Re:Bluetooth by DJ+FirBee · · Score: 1

      Could be cause it aint there as well.

      How many devices have IR and how many devices have Bluetooth ? It may change but for now the standard could so easily go the way of Betamax.

      Maybe in Germany .... perhaps if I scouted all around europe I could have found some bluetooth devices.

      Or perhaps you just like Bluetooth because you don't want to believe that you bought a lemon.

    13. Re:Bluetooth by radish · · Score: 1


      I see people using BT headsets every day on the way to work. Of the 20 people in my office, I'd guess 10-12 have BT enabled phones. I know 2 or 3 people who use BT to connect their PDAs to phones. The laptop I am typing this on (a work machine, not personal) has BT built in. Ericcson put BT in most of their phones now, as do Nokia. I could buy a BT card for my PDA, a USB BT dongle for my PC, etc.

      I can only assume you were too busy looking in one kind of window in A'dam to look in any other kind. Mind you, I can understand that ;)

      --

      ---- Den ene knappen er powerknapp, den andre er Bender voice knapp "Bite My Shiny Metal Ass"

  3. sounds fishy to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    well, it does.

    1. Re:sounds fishy to me by xanthus · · Score: 1

      Would that be "A Chip Called Wanda"??

      --
      Why do I never get a fortune in my fortune cookies?
  4. Not one chip! by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The submitter didn't even RTFA. WANDA (there's the link that the submitter was too lazy to give you) is at least 7 chips.

    1. Re:Not one chip! by glenkim · · Score: 2, Informative

      Not quite. CNN says that it's all on one chipset. So CNN is also to blame for misreporting.

    2. Re:Not one chip! by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 1

      One chipset != one chip. The article is a little poorly written since it starts off talking about TI's single-chip cell phone announcement which is unrelated to WANDA but that's still no excuse.

    3. Re:Not one chip! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      chipset != chip

    4. Re:Not one chip! by bob_dinosaur · · Score: 1

      "Chip" and "Chipset" are different words, and have different meanings. Chip = one physical package. Chipset = group of related (possibly interdependent) chips. Before you blame CNN learn to use a dictionary ;-)

  5. GPRS, 2.4Ghz interference myth? by Ken@WearableTech · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What about GPRS? Is that part of the GSM Chipset? Also this article talks about Bluetooth and 802.11b "just don't like each other" I use both right on top of each other and have never had any trouble. Is the 2.4Ghz interference real or a myth?

    1. Re:GPRS, 2.4Ghz interference myth? by Wesley+Felter · · Score: 4, Informative

      WANDA has GPRS.

      802.11/Bluetooth interference is a problem for some wireless chips and not a problem for others; it's not clear why.

    2. Re:GPRS, 2.4Ghz interference myth? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      my office has 802.11b routers every 50ft and my bluetooth cell phone gets great range

    3. Re:GPRS, 2.4Ghz interference myth? by mosch · · Score: 1

      I use Bluetooth and 802.11b/g on top of each other without issue.

  6. Prediction by kirun · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We'll be seeing phones with this fitted... ooh... five minutes after everyone's bought a camera phone?

    --
    I'm scared of numbers that can't be written as a fraction. It's an irrational fear.
  7. New product idea! by B3ryllium · · Score: 0

    A combination Cellphone/PDA/Dildo. ... naw, I wouldn't buy one of those. Not even if it had a vibrate mode. Eww.

    1. Re:New product idea! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, but that's not a good place for microwave transmissions.

      Unless of course you want a kid with two heads, 6 fingers, and no legs...

    2. Re:New product idea! by jclendenan · · Score: 1

      This one does have it...

      Wanda spec sheet

      The only thing that'll keep me from getting it would be the underpowered ness of the processor to operating system. Make it efficent and u got a customer here!!

    3. Re:New product idea! by B3ryllium · · Score: 1

      At least with no legs, they'd have guaranteed income.

      I once heard of a girl in Saigon who made $3,000 a day ... spinning. Just spinning.

  8. a fish called wanda by fiiz · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bluetooth + WiFi + GSM = "a fish?"

    I knew we had fish genes in tomatoes, but now in silicon chips? What else could the codename possibly allude to? (wait...you know the movie right? for those of you who were too young, there's a classic 1988 movie "a fish called wanda")

    Seriously, how are they coming up with those acronyms?

    Ok, you can get back to posting intelligent comments, now ;-p

    --

    yours ever, fz.
  9. Bluetooth and Wifi not playing nicely? by tupps · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I noticed that in this article that the guys at TI were having problems getting Wifi and Bluetooth to play nicely with each other. Which is coincidently is what Apple stated as a problem they had in the dev of the 12 and 17 inch notebooks which have integrated bluetooth and wifi. I wonder if ti need seperate attenaes for Wifi and Bluetooth?

    --
    Go out and get sailing!
    1. Re:Bluetooth and Wifi not playing nicely? by labratuk · · Score: 1

      I don't think they've really integrated Bluetooth and WiFi, they've just put the two into the same machine.

      --
      Malike Bamiyi wanted my assistance.
    2. Re:Bluetooth and Wifi not playing nicely? by lpret · · Score: 1

      What about the HP 5455? It has both wifi and bluetooth. I can't find anything in it that says that it can't run both, so perhaps they were able to overcome whatever issues there are/were?

      --
      This is my digital signature. 10011011001
    3. Re:Bluetooth and Wifi not playing nicely? by essaunders · · Score: 1

      If my memory serves, the Ti books use two antennas. Both for reception of 802.11, one for Transmit. I remember reading 'the other is used for Bluetooth'. I may be wrong, but this makes sense.

    4. Re:Bluetooth and Wifi not playing nicely? by Ponty · · Score: 1

      TiBooks don't have bluetooth built-in.

    5. Re:Bluetooth and Wifi not playing nicely? by dan+the+person · · Score: 1

      The AuBooks do

      (they make them from aluminium now and the 12 and 17" models have bluetooth built in)

    6. Re:Bluetooth and Wifi not playing nicely? by Ponty · · Score: 1

      Yea, I know, but the guy speculated that a second antenna in the TiBook may have been used for bluetooth. I didn't want someone to go and get one and be disappointed that his new Mac didn't have built-in bluetooth support.

    7. Re:Bluetooth and Wifi not playing nicely? by dan+the+person · · Score: 1

      Hmm well it's been a long time since i did chemistry at school....

      You got it right cept no one calls the new ones AuBooks or AlBooks.

      Maybe now that AlGore is on the board the name AlBook will take off?

    8. Re:Bluetooth and Wifi not playing nicely? by tupps · · Score: 1

      I remember reading that Apple uses the same antenna in the screen for both bluetooth and Airport, not seperate.

      --
      Go out and get sailing!
  10. Anywhere access... by Justen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have been waiting for this for quite a while.

    The idea of "anywhere" access isn't new. Almost every wireless company has included it in their .com business plans at one point or another. But there has always been a reality that it just isn't all that realistic for a single protocol. That is, it isn't very cost-effective to utilize a wide-area terrestrial wireless network when you are sitting five feet from an wi-fi base station.

    I think that this card will bring mobile warriors a bit closer to the idea of truly affordable anywhere access.

    justen

  11. Why GSM? by mrklin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Seems like the technology is aimed toward wireless data so why GSM? Why not GPRS, 1xRTT, 3G, etc, instead?

    1. Re:Why GSM? by The+Ape+With+No+Name · · Score: 1

      Simple, there are wireless networks in other countries.

      --
      Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
    2. Re:Why GSM? by Czernobog · · Score: 2, Informative

      Simple. GSM is used almost everywhere in the world. It's the most widely available mode of celular telephony.
      Exceptions include Japan, South Korea and the US.
      Pretty much everyone else uses GSM.

      --
      /. Where the truth
    3. Re:Why GSM? by jquirke · · Score: 1

      These days "GSM" can include the various 'spin-off' technologies that define GSM Phase 2+, such as GPRS, EGPRS (EDGE), HSCSD, etc.

      In this case GPRS is also included within the GSM definition.

    4. Re:Why GSM? by taweili · · Score: 2, Informative

      Because GSM is the most widely deploy standard in the world. What's in GPRS/1xRTT/3G? It's data!!! Expensive and low speed 2.5G/3G data. Combining WiFi with GSM, you get a 3G killer. Who needs to wait for 3G to realize while you can get WiFi data today in cheaper price and much higher bandwidth?

    5. Re:Why GSM? by Cato · · Score: 1

      GSM is widely available in the US from Voicestream/T-Mobile, Cingular and AT&T Wireless. It's not available in Japan, but that's just about the only country where it isn't. There are two GSM operators in South Korea, see http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_kr.sht ml.

  12. Interference? by onthefenceman · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Does anyone know anymore about the antenna design on this chip? It seems to me that would be pretty difficult to engineer. The GSM is a secondary issue, but I know that Bluetooth and WiFi in close proximity can interfere with each other considering they're closer to the same frequency.

    --
    Have you seen my stapler?
    1. Re:Interference? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      BlueTooth and most WiFi both use the 2.4GHz unlicensed band, but Bluetooth frequency-hops whereas Wifi does a wide frequency spread. You'll get interference during those times when your BT hop sequence "lands" in your Wifi channel. This situation will improve with BT radio 1.2, which is capable of adapting its hop sequence to avoid frequency areas which are noisy.

  13. Power requirements... by craenor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Like to see what the power draw on this chip is. WiFi is a power hog. Something like this sounds like it would be pretty ideal for portable computers.

    *goes back to actually read the story now*

    Craenor

    1. Re:Power requirements... by jagnich · · Score: 1

      TI's 802.11b chip takes something like 30% less power than others, which should help.

      But I'm still not sure that means you can take it home for a weekend and still have power Monday morning.

  14. Article at infoSync by cemysce · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here is another article about TI's WANDA.

    1. Re:Article at infoSync by cemysce · · Score: 2, Informative

      ... which stands for Wireless Any Network Digital Assistant.

    2. Re:Article at infoSync by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HP is the power! TI is bad!

      I think TI may own weapons of mass destruction. We should kill all employees.

  15. Confused, chipset? by LinuxInDallas · · Score: 1

    This guy talks about TI cramming these three into "a single chipset" but then we hear that TI has crammed the functionality into one chip. Wouldn't the word chipset imply that there was more than one chip? Technically you can have a set with one element but what's the use of calling it a chipset if there is only one chip?

    1. Re:Confused, chipset? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A set can consist of one element.

      By calling it a chipset they directly imply that additional support chips are not necessary. Whereas this is not always the case if it's on a single chip.

  16. holy crap! by SweetAndSourJesus · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm sitting here with my bluetooth-enabled laptop, pda, and phone, and you're telling me it's all obsolete now?!?!?

    Damnit!

    --

    --
    the strongest word is still the word "free"
  17. Thumb a lift by djkitsch · · Score: 4, Funny

    But who wants to thumb a lift to Barnard's star? Or is your name really Ford Prefect?

    --
    sig:- (wit >= sarcasm)
  18. Re:pathetic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Homer: What are you doing! That putter is to you what a bat is to a baseball player! What a violin is... to the... the guy that...the violin guy! Now c'mon! Give your putter a name.

    Bart: What?

    Homer: C'mon, give it a name.

    Bart: Mister Putter.

    Homer: D'oh... You wanna try a little harder son? C'mon give it a girl's name.

    Bart: Mom.

    Homer: Your putter's name is Charlene!

    Bart: Why?

    Homer: It just is, that's why! Now this, is a picture of your enemy, Todd Flanders. Every day, I want you to spend fifteen minutes staring at it. And concentrating on how much you hate him, and how glorious it will be when you and Charlene annihilate him!

    Bart: Who's Charlene?

  19. Re:Cool by Blaine+Hilton · · Score: 1

    Built in microwaves, sounds interesting. When I look at something it becomes toast warm and good to eat. Then again it could probably do more damage then poking somebodies eyes out.

  20. Bloody brilliant, but... by Mac+Degger · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Now this is exactly the featurte set I wanted, but what do those idiots do? They put PocketPC on it. Sigh...guess I'll have to wait another couple of months for this kind of thing running PalmOS.
    But by that time, I'll want one with OLED or E-Ink :)

    --
    -- Waht? Tehr's a preveiw buottn?
  21. Accelent� Systems Designs New Tri-Wireless PDA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Accelent® Systems Designs New Tri-Wireless PDA Concept Design For Texas Instruments As An Independent Omap(TM) Technology Center

    http://www.accelent.com/TMRG5.ASP?PAGE_ID=791

  22. Many refer to chips as Chipsets such as ... by adzoox · · Score: 1
    The new Sony Core processor that is to go into the PSX3 is called a "chipset" yet it is one chip with multiple cores and multiple functions such as graphics and broaband all on one chip.

    The white papers of all Motorola G4 processors refer to the G4 chip as a chipset due to the Altivec and Interger + cache implementations.

    --
    Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
  23. GNU Radio by cosmosis · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think this is a cool development of TI, but the real future is software definied radio and the GNU Radio project, which is a general purpose computing device that can operate on any frequency - all determined by software, not hardware.

    Planet P Blog

    --
    www.enthea.org
    1. Re:GNU Radio by rossifer · · Score: 1

      Eventually, maybe. Perhaps, someday, within the next five years or so, we'll have a really, really broadband antenna, along with a really, really broadband amplifier and A/D/A converter for less than $10 so that your software can control it.

      And then you'll have your software determined radio for the masses.

      While we're waiting for that to happen in a single chip design so we can put it in a cell phone form factor, we can at least read up on current events and see that TI has, right here and now, made it more likely that future GSM cell-phones and PDA devices can support bluetooth and wi-fi without being bigger, with equivalent power consumption, and for about the same cost of manufacture as current phones without those features.

      The pie in the sky ain't always what it seems.

      Regards,
      Ross

  24. Single Chip BT is Good by JakiChan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Ti coming out with a single-chip Bluetooth solution is a Good Thing. I remember seeing more than one article saying that if they squeeze Bluetooth onto a single chip it would drive prices down, which would hopefully lead to more BT enabled devices. The chips would be cheaper and it would be easier to put on a device.

    I hope that's the case. Just having my Powerbook talk to my T68 is handy...I'll get a headset eventually, and throw in a BT enable PDA and it's all good. In theory you could dial your phone from the PDA, speak on the headset, and never take the phone out of your pocket. And as nice as syncing my phone's phonebook with my PIM it will never be as nice as being able to dial from the PDA. Oh, and it would mean I could write an app to have my PDA notify me when my phone gets a page, since the SMS notification on the T68 is it's biggest flaw (at least to me).

    --
    "Where quality is like a dead stinking rat - you just can't miss it."
    1. Re:Single Chip BT is Good by addaon · · Score: 1

      Can you use a bluetooth headset with the powermac? I'd buy both a powermac and a bluetooth phone this week if I could switch a sound stream source from one to the other easily.

      --

      I've had this sig for three days.
    2. Re:Single Chip BT is Good by JakiChan · · Score: 1

      Not at this time. The Apple BT software doesn't support the headset profile. I don't know if it's possible for it to do so.

      --
      "Where quality is like a dead stinking rat - you just can't miss it."
    3. Re:Single Chip BT is Good by Cato · · Score: 1

      You can do the dial-from-PDA-talk-on-headset thing today with a T68, Palm, Bluetooth card and Bluetooth headset. It can be quite convenient, but only works for outgoing calls so it's not very practical.

  25. American media won't report it yet! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look overseas for the truth!

    It crashed on the kuwait border so they couldn't hide it!

    How many more young Americans are dying hellish deaths for big oil and big profits tonight?

    1. Re:American media won't report it yet! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For every Iraqi you kill there will be a family that hates America. And more terrorists. Enjoy.

    2. Re:American media won't report it yet! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes it's true. Watch the news, you dolt.

      Your cheaply engineered piece of crap helicpoter crashed! HA-HA!

  26. Re:pathetic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Her name is Tuxina and she may be a little overweight, but she's certainly not STUFFED!

    You unsensible moron :'-(

  27. Re:You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They're fighting this war on drugs? Wow! If someone had told me, I would've joined the Navy!

    (Mmmmh... free drugs)

  28. Re:FIRST CASUALTY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's great news!

    Guess I'm going to celebrate that with an EUROPEAN (read: real) beer!

  29. Bluetooth + WiFi + GSM = Way out of poverty by dark-br · · Score: 1

    With WiFi, the poor can take advantage of the many wealth-building opportunities provided by the Internet, ranging from multi-million dollar gifts from Nigeria to sure-thing casino accounts to free university diplomas.

  30. Actually... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually the excuse the americans used when they blew up a bunch of canadians in afghanistan was that the pilot was so hopped up on synthetic speed that he was a little jumpy...

    They give the pilots a juicy cocktail of uppers before combat flights to highten their senses (well it's supposed to anyways...), then to get to sleep fast when they have the chance they give them a nice cocktail of downers.

    So actually if you want to fight a war on drugs join the airforce.

    1. Re:Actually... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      So actually if you want to fight a war on drugs join the airforce

      Not this "war", slaughter is more like it.
      The war on drugs like pot etc...
      How much has that cost?
      Who won?
      How much will this Iraq shit cost? Who will pay the bill?
      Tax us into the poor house baby. Thanks Big OIL we love you.

    2. Re:Actually... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dork! Don't you think the government guys did some kind of calculation to make sure the war stays profitable?

      Relax. Enjoy the bombings and watch the weak Europeans cry.

  31. The techie equivalent of a swiss army knife... by dcuny · · Score: 2, Funny
    Soon we'll be seeing the techie equivalent of a swiss army knife.
    Oh, you mean a sonic screwdriver?
  32. Techie Equiv of swiss army knife? by MobileC · · Score: 1

    Is a swiss army knife.
    Register

    --

    Fran
    :):):)
    1st 1st Poster of the new Millennium!

  33. Re:FIRST CASUALTY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, offtopic but still true. :-)

  34. It's not a Single Chipset by ceranta · · Score: 5, Informative

    Looking at the site and TI press releases it's clear that WANDA is a reference design for a Tri-Wireless platform, which includes GSM/GPRS, WiFi, Bluetooth. It uses the OMAP processor/dsp (one chip), Bluetooth single chip (one chip), WiFi single chip (one chip), and the Baseband/Radio (three chips).

    So, that's 6 ICs right there. Not a Single Chip, but a Single Chipset.

    Since there is integration across the board, there are less worries about spectrum bashing (esp with WiFi and Bluetooth) since they can allocate the spectrum efficiently and properly.

    And it's a Concept Design ... we all know how well concept designs work in real life.

    1. Re:It's not a Single Chipset by ceranta · · Score: 1

      TI info site here: TI LINK

  35. Re:FIRST CASUALTY! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    By the way: It was _NOT_ shot down! It crashed! It's like in Gulf War I, where most Americans where killed by friendly fire. Hehehe. It must be embarassing to be an US soldier.

    So, given enough time, the Americans will prove how dumb they really are (especially the armed forces) and kill themselves.

  36. we got your ip # by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    we know who you are
    we know where you are
    .
    .
    .
    .
    and *you* are next on the list!

    have a nice day, asshole.

  37. A Good Model? by saddino · · Score: 1

    Combining competing technologies is an unique salvo in your typical market share battles. Along similar lines, some high end DVD players now come with both SACD and DVD-Audio decoders.

    So the question is, will the average cellphone purchaser pay extra for the convenience, or do cost-sensitve buyers always end up tilting the market towards one technology?

    Now somebody needs to build a unified J2ME and BREW platform...

  38. at least by radon28 · · Score: 1

    now there are even more benefits to "wanda"ing around.

    *ducks*

  39. Form factor by rf0 · · Score: 1

    I'm just wondering how big the actual form factor for this would be. Personally I would like it to be at least down the CF size so that way I can put in in my Zaurus and have it work as a phone. However I get the horrible feeling the battery life will last about 5 minutes

    Rus

    --
    Cheap UK and US VPS
  40. AirPort Deluxe for macs by xombo · · Score: 1

    Maybe apple could make an airport deluxe that will integrate these things, I know the newer powerbooks have bluetooth built in, but it would be nice for people like me who don't have bluetooth included on their powerbook.

  41. ummmm by djupedal · · Score: 1

    I'd suggest looking for another pop icon, perhaps better suited. DT, despite the video-watch, was all about 'tracing' clues to neighborhood bad guys...how old school is that?

    Flash Gordon, on the other hand, in his pursuit of evil, could move freely about the Universe (when not imprisoned on Planet Doom), and sported a ray-gun. Me thinks Flash is more the hero we need for tech stuf, not some guy in a trench coat & Fedora that thinks women are a PITA.

  42. Bluetooth missile by milosoftware · · Score: 1, Funny

    I have a very vivid image of Saddam sitting behind a Gates powered laptop that goes:

    "New hardware found: US Laser Guided Missile"

    And then asks for DirectMedia 8 to be able to get a live cam view

    --
    Musicians don't die. They just decompose.
    1. Re:Bluetooth missile by mars9820 · · Score: 0

      and now you are still wondering why your laptop is crashing?....BOOM....

  43. Linux Drivers by molli123 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    thinking about 22MBit Wireless Chips that are at least not currently supported, I don't see, why I should buy something like this if I can't use it using Linux, Micha !

  44. I want one to swap out my TiG4's airport card!!! by otis+wildflower · · Score: 1

    lemme know when I can get a version that works with the TiG4's lame antenna and has OS X drivers...

    Yeah yeah, I could use my only pccard slot for a wifi board, but fragile protuberances are to be avoided, especially considering the abuse I inflict on laptops..