This is not about people innocently using a lot of data on an unlimited plan. This is a plan that offers unlimited phone data (and, so far, they really do mean unlimited) and 7 GB of high-speed tethered data. (After that, it's automatically throttled.) People in question are very aware of that 7 GB cap because they are installing special apps to circumvent its enforcement. The apps make tethered data look like phone data. That's not innocent and not OK.
...are already quite common. That's nothing new. Fully automated subway trains have been deployed all over the world. I recently rode one in Barcelona (the new L9/L10) and it was quite nice. That should be (relatively) uncontroversial. Busses navigate extremely complex environments. Subway trains navigate remarkably simple, controlled environments.
I hope this is obvious to most people here, but reading some comments, I'm not sure, so...
The issue is that a typical Facebook page has 150 links on it. If you can shorten *each* of those URLs in the HTML by 100 characters, that's almost 15KB you knocked off the size of that one page. Not huge, but add that up over a visit, and for each visit, and it really does add up.
I've been paying very close attention to URL length on all of my sites for years, for just this reason.
I was at the T-Mobile/Google launch event last week in NYC, and had a chance to try this. I also have an iPhone.
First, this is not a Google-made app, it's called ShopSavvy and it's from a third party. It will come preloaded on the T-Mobile G1, though.
It's neat. It's very easy to use and returns simple links to product reviews and prices from multiple online sources.
vs. the iPhone:
Barcodes on the iPhone are NOT slow. They ARE unreliable, because the iPhone has a fixed lens that simply cannot focus on something up close.
The G1's "improved optics" is an auto-focus lens that can focus on things up close. That's why this works. It's very slow, though.
"Improved access to image scans" is bullshit. It's the same in Android as the iPhone or any smartphone, at least for something like barcodes.
MANY smartphones have a high-res camera with auto-focus lens and can run third-party software like this (which has existed for a while). It's nothing new. It's only in the news now because Google chose to feature it during their press conference and demo session at the event in NYC last week.
Also, the whole 1D vs 2D thing is beside the point. 1D is the type that's printed on all products at any SHOP, so of course it's the type that a SHOPPING application is designed to scan.
I thought I would prefer matte, but got talked into a Sony XBRITE (glossy display) laptop a few years ago after hearing rave reviews and being impressed in person. I liked it well enough, but wasn't sure it was really that much better.
I replaced it with a Fujitsu with a matte display, and immediately regretted it. The matte display was SO much harder to see in nearly all lighting conditions. It was practically unusable.
I just ordered a new Sony last week with an XBRITE glossy display. I will never go back to matte on a laptop.
Oh... the none-name corporate parent of TJ Maxx and Marshalls... why the heck didn't the author just say so? I mean seriously... how many people have ever heard of that company name? It's hardly a tech company, either, so it's not like Slashdot is some unusual audience where TJX is a company on the tip of everyone's tongue.
The Wildseed Identity phone was innovative in many ways; putting the keypad on top was just one. Unfortunately, Wildseed never really got off the ground on their own. I think AOL snapped them up.
One correction to the article: WCDMA definitely is used as a primary voice channel. It's not data-only like EVDO technology. That's why WCDMA phone specs often have separate talk times listed for GSM vs. WCDMA modes.
I doubt the cost of electricity is even part of the equation for most places this is being considered. I imagine the market for this is something like an intersection in the middle of nowhere, where the cost of running power lines to that location would be even more. It would also be ideal for a state park, where they might not want to spoil the land by running power lines where they don't need to.
The headline is misleading. This is not "TV on cellular". This is DVB-H technology, and the whole point of DVB-H is that it's NOT over the cellular network.
Sending content like *live* TV over cellular networks is horribly inefficient, because it's not a broadcast medium. Every data connection on a cellular network is 1-to-1 (even with 3G), so three people on the same tower watching the same live TV show would use 3x the bandwidth. Not cool, especially for something as bandwidth-intensive as high-quality video. If watching live TV over 3G networks ever took off that way, the shiny new 3G networks would simply grind to a halt. That's why Verizon's much-vaunted VCast service does NOT include *live* TV.
That's why for *live* TV, the carriers are all turning to technologies like this (DVB-H) that actually *broadcast* live TV streams in separate spectrum so it doesn't clog the 3G networks. It's vastly more efficient.
If you saw "DSL speeds" in an ad, it was most likely (at least I hope) for Verizon's BroadbandAccess service, which is based on CDMA EV-DO technology. The other carriers offer service based on very different technologies that are - at the moment - dramatically slower.
You can expect roughly "dialup" (~ 40-100 Kbps) speeds with all of the other carriers. Only Verizon can offer you anything close to DSL speeds at the moment.
That will change in a couple of months when Sprint launches the same EV-DO technology as Verizon. Then a couple of months later, Cingular will launch their high-speed network, based on WCDMA/HSDPA technology.
When Sprint and Cingular launch, hopefully we will see some price competition, so now might not be the best time to buy, if you can hold out.
All of these services, by the way, only work in select metro areas. No wireless carrier has high-speed data available throughout their whole coverage area yet (not even close).
Wow - where to start - the original bit is just wildly irresponsible in making the assumption that this is RFID.
- This is basically NFC, AKA "contactless" technology. It is VERY different from RFID!
- RFID is designed to be used with small, ultra-cheap tags and long-range (several feet) readers, so you can "scan" a whole shipping pallet of products in one pass. It's designed for logistics, not personal ID cards or e-commerce.
- NFC/contactless has a MUCH shorter range - like 2cm. It's the same technology used in the smartcards that already allow access to countless office buildings, transit systems, and university buildings on the US. You know - where you can leave the card in your wallet, but you basically have to press your wallet against the pad for it to read it.
- NFC/contactless cards (and phones) are already in very widespread use in Japan, with great success and no major security issues to date.
I mean c'mon people - we're talking about a huge bank here - do you really think Chase is that stupid to deploy a technology so insecure that people's "wallets" can be secretly "scanned" from across the room?
I don't just have blind trust in companies to be smart, of course... but fraud is a major concern for any financial institution, so to think they would put RFID in your credit card is just ridiculous.
I've seen layered LCDs before. They have them installed at the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. On the lower level, they have a really cool interactive exhibit where you can browse their 3D database of famous spaceships from the history of sci-fi. It definitely uses some kind of multi-layered display (I assume LCD.) It looks extremely cool and sci-fi-ish, but like everyone else, I'm not sure what the real practical applications would be other than sci-fi...
"But Apple has the good sense not to try to cram OS X-mini onto the iPod hard disk. Instead a much simpler, special purpose OS does the job simply and well. But cram Windows-mini onto a hard disk, and well, you've wasted a lot of space for no real valid reason."
But it's not "Windows-mini", it's Windows Mobile, and it IS a special-purpose OS. Windows Mobile is based on Windows CE, and it's a wildly different OS from full-on Windows.
"Plus the delicious treat of viruses headed your way as a brand new target sits there and says, 'Attack me, please.'"
Actually, to date, there has not been a single real virus found for Windows Mobile. The same cannot be said about its chief competition these days - Series 60.
Ahem... it does not run on "air", it runs on "wind". Big differece. If it ran on "air" you'd think it worked by burning oxygen, etc., which is definitely not what it does.
...sorry, I meant to note that my math on CDMA subscribers included Nextel customers, since they will be moved to Sprint's CDMA network following the merger of those companies. But CDMA still has more subscribers than GSM even not counting Nextel.
Actually, it's not. Korean CDMA is the same as US CDMA, and the lower band (800 MHz) is the same. You can actually use many Korean phones on Verizon's network if you know the right settings. And with a little hacked firmware, even the caller-ID and text messaging can be made to work.
Now, the advanced features are incompatible, such as web, photo messaging, and video, but that's no different than Sprint vs. Verizon here in the U.S., and it's just a software issue. The basic CDMA protocol, and even the more advanced EV-DO protocol, are the same in both countries.
And you're wrong about GSM overtaking CDMA. GSM and CDMA are both doing very well and will both continue to have huge market share into the forseeable future. Looking at the top-10 carriers, GSM only has about 60 million customers, while CDMA has over 80 million. With CDMA EV-DO beating the pants off GSM (and even first-gen WCDMA) in terms of data speed so far, I don't see CDMA fading away as you say.
My problem with the spectrum auction model is it encourages companies to buy up spectrum only for the purpose of keeping it from others companies. If you own the spectrum you should be forced to put it to use within N years by X% of the public in that area, otherwise it reverts back to the FCC.
The FCC has exactly those kinds of network build-out requirements in nearly every spectrum license it issues.
Does anyone else find it curious that this extremely anticipated and sure-to-be-talked-about moment in television just happened to prominently feature the brand names of two very large companies with very deep pockets for advertising and sponsorship?
Not only that, but the timing is fascinating... FedEx is gearing up for holiday season, and H&R Block is gearing up for tax season. It's a crucial time for both companies, and the perfect time for am aggressive advertising ploy from both companies.
I wonder if this could possibly be a coincidence, or if perhaps Jeopary is following the lead of The Apprentice in shameless brand placement...
If that is true - if Google's system has had a design flaw limiting it to 4.3 billion pages until now - then that is a really huge weakness, risk, and vulnerability that the company has had until now.
Thinking back, they must have known about this for a long time - before they went public. If that's the case, did they disclose this weakness/risk to inverstors in their S-1? If not, did they break the law by not doing so?
But for those of us in the west, there's news, too, such as Nokia yesterday announcing a faceplate accessory that adds this feature to one of their phones:
Don't confuse this new NFC-based technology with passive technology like the gas-station keychain things, or touch-based transit passes, campus ID cards, etc. This is different, because it's active and dyanamic - it's integrated with the phone.
That means it can serve multiple purposes. It can be your cash, credit card, debit card, bus pass, driver's license, and work ID all in one. Then you can download a Java app to the phone that will let it replace your grocery dicount card, too. It really can replace your whole wallet - not just a credit card. That's what's so cool about NFC systems like FeliCa.
What I find really interesting is that Gmail performance is obviously account-specific. I can attest to this personally.
I get over 3,000 spam daily. My Gmail account is 48% full, and that's all spam. I don't use Gmail for file storage or anything like that.
I don't try to attract spam; this is not some special "test". I just really like my current email address, which I've had since '96....and GMail is generally a painful experience for me. It's incredibly slow with endless timeouts. It's been like this *consistently* for over two weeks now. My connection is fine - all other sites are speedy as heck.
So why is Gmail so consistently slow for me, but so consistently fine for others? Doesn't that defy the general logic about properly load-balanced web apps?
It's almost like Google has some kind of intentional, active throttling in place for the more demanding accounts...
Slashdot Mirror
This is not about people innocently using a lot of data on an unlimited plan. This is a plan that offers unlimited phone data (and, so far, they really do mean unlimited) and 7 GB of high-speed tethered data. (After that, it's automatically throttled.) People in question are very aware of that 7 GB cap because they are installing special apps to circumvent its enforcement. The apps make tethered data look like phone data. That's not innocent and not OK.
...are already quite common. That's nothing new. Fully automated subway trains have been deployed all over the world. I recently rode one in Barcelona (the new L9/L10) and it was quite nice. That should be (relatively) uncontroversial. Busses navigate extremely complex environments. Subway trains navigate remarkably simple, controlled environments.
Why do I care about the color of the satell... oh, you meant "rogue". Kinda hilarious typo.
I hope this is obvious to most people here, but reading some comments, I'm not sure, so...
The issue is that a typical Facebook page has 150 links on it. If you can shorten *each* of those URLs in the HTML by 100 characters, that's almost 15KB you knocked off the size of that one page. Not huge, but add that up over a visit, and for each visit, and it really does add up.
I've been paying very close attention to URL length on all of my sites for years, for just this reason.
I was at the T-Mobile/Google launch event last week in NYC, and had a chance to try this. I also have an iPhone.
First, this is not a Google-made app, it's called ShopSavvy and it's from a third party. It will come preloaded on the T-Mobile G1, though.
It's neat. It's very easy to use and returns simple links to product reviews and prices from multiple online sources.
vs. the iPhone:
Barcodes on the iPhone are NOT slow. They ARE unreliable, because the iPhone has a fixed lens that simply cannot focus on something up close.
The G1's "improved optics" is an auto-focus lens that can focus on things up close. That's why this works. It's very slow, though.
"Improved access to image scans" is bullshit. It's the same in Android as the iPhone or any smartphone, at least for something like barcodes.
MANY smartphones have a high-res camera with auto-focus lens and can run third-party software like this (which has existed for a while). It's nothing new. It's only in the news now because Google chose to feature it during their press conference and demo session at the event in NYC last week.
Also, the whole 1D vs 2D thing is beside the point. 1D is the type that's printed on all products at any SHOP, so of course it's the type that a SHOPPING application is designed to scan.
I thought I would prefer matte, but got talked into a Sony XBRITE (glossy display) laptop a few years ago after hearing rave reviews and being impressed in person. I liked it well enough, but wasn't sure it was really that much better.
I replaced it with a Fujitsu with a matte display, and immediately regretted it. The matte display was SO much harder to see in nearly all lighting conditions. It was practically unusable.
I just ordered a new Sony last week with an XBRITE glossy display. I will never go back to matte on a laptop.
What the heck is TJX? I've never heard of it.
(checks article)
Oh... the none-name corporate parent of TJ Maxx and Marshalls... why the heck didn't the author just say so? I mean seriously... how many people have ever heard of that company name? It's hardly a tech company, either, so it's not like Slashdot is some unusual audience where TJX is a company on the tip of everyone's tongue.
This has already been done:
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=513
The Wildseed Identity phone was innovative in many ways; putting the keypad on top was just one. Unfortunately, Wildseed never really got off the ground on their own. I think AOL snapped them up.
One correction to the article: WCDMA definitely is used as a primary voice channel. It's not data-only like EVDO technology. That's why WCDMA phone specs often have separate talk times listed for GSM vs. WCDMA modes.
I vote for Jason Porritt's design. Much better than the others.
I doubt the cost of electricity is even part of the equation for most places this is being considered. I imagine the market for this is something like an intersection in the middle of nowhere, where the cost of running power lines to that location would be even more. It would also be ideal for a state park, where they might not want to spoil the land by running power lines where they don't need to.
The headline is misleading. This is not "TV on cellular". This is DVB-H technology, and the whole point of DVB-H is that it's NOT over the cellular network.
Sending content like *live* TV over cellular networks is horribly inefficient, because it's not a broadcast medium. Every data connection on a cellular network is 1-to-1 (even with 3G), so three people on the same tower watching the same live TV show would use 3x the bandwidth. Not cool, especially for something as bandwidth-intensive as high-quality video. If watching live TV over 3G networks ever took off that way, the shiny new 3G networks would simply grind to a halt. That's why Verizon's much-vaunted VCast service does NOT include *live* TV.
That's why for *live* TV, the carriers are all turning to technologies like this (DVB-H) that actually *broadcast* live TV streams in separate spectrum so it doesn't clog the 3G networks. It's vastly more efficient.
No details are emitted so ... this would certainly be a good place to start.
Nice typo! "emitted" is basically an antonym of "omitted", (which I assume - and hope - you meant,) so.. yeah, nice one.... Now please correct it!
If you saw "DSL speeds" in an ad, it was most likely (at least I hope) for Verizon's BroadbandAccess service, which is based on CDMA EV-DO technology. The other carriers offer service based on very different technologies that are - at the moment - dramatically slower.
You can expect roughly "dialup" (~ 40-100 Kbps) speeds with all of the other carriers. Only Verizon can offer you anything close to DSL speeds at the moment.
That will change in a couple of months when Sprint launches the same EV-DO technology as Verizon. Then a couple of months later, Cingular will launch their high-speed network, based on WCDMA/HSDPA technology.
When Sprint and Cingular launch, hopefully we will see some price competition, so now might not be the best time to buy, if you can hold out.
All of these services, by the way, only work in select metro areas. No wireless carrier has high-speed data available throughout their whole coverage area yet (not even close).
Wow - where to start - the original bit is just wildly irresponsible in making the assumption that this is RFID.
- This is basically NFC, AKA "contactless" technology. It is VERY different from RFID!
- RFID is designed to be used with small, ultra-cheap tags and long-range (several feet) readers, so you can "scan" a whole shipping pallet of products in one pass. It's designed for logistics, not personal ID cards or e-commerce.
- NFC/contactless has a MUCH shorter range - like 2cm. It's the same technology used in the smartcards that already allow access to countless office buildings, transit systems, and university buildings on the US. You know - where you can leave the card in your wallet, but you basically have to press your wallet against the pad for it to read it.
- NFC/contactless cards (and phones) are already in very widespread use in Japan, with great success and no major security issues to date.
I mean c'mon people - we're talking about a huge bank here - do you really think Chase is that stupid to deploy a technology so insecure that people's "wallets" can be secretly "scanned" from across the room?
I don't just have blind trust in companies to be smart, of course... but fraud is a major concern for any financial institution, so to think they would put RFID in your credit card is just ridiculous.
I've seen layered LCDs before. They have them installed at the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. On the lower level, they have a really cool interactive exhibit where you can browse their 3D database of famous spaceships from the history of sci-fi. It definitely uses some kind of multi-layered display (I assume LCD.) It looks extremely cool and sci-fi-ish, but like everyone else, I'm not sure what the real practical applications would be other than sci-fi...
"But Apple has the good sense not to try to cram OS X-mini onto the iPod hard disk. Instead a much simpler, special purpose OS does the job simply and well. But cram Windows-mini onto a hard disk, and well, you've wasted a lot of space for no real valid reason."
But it's not "Windows-mini", it's Windows Mobile, and it IS a special-purpose OS. Windows Mobile is based on Windows CE, and it's a wildly different OS from full-on Windows.
"Plus the delicious treat of viruses headed your way as a brand new target sits there and says, 'Attack me, please.'"
Actually, to date, there has not been a single real virus found for Windows Mobile. The same cannot be said about its chief competition these days - Series 60.
Ahem... it does not run on "air", it runs on "wind". Big differece. If it ran on "air" you'd think it worked by burning oxygen, etc., which is definitely not what it does.
...sorry, I meant to note that my math on CDMA subscribers included Nextel customers, since they will be moved to Sprint's CDMA network following the merger of those companies. But CDMA still has more subscribers than GSM even not counting Nextel.
Actually, it's not. Korean CDMA is the same as US CDMA, and the lower band (800 MHz) is the same. You can actually use many Korean phones on Verizon's network if you know the right settings. And with a little hacked firmware, even the caller-ID and text messaging can be made to work.
Now, the advanced features are incompatible, such as web, photo messaging, and video, but that's no different than Sprint vs. Verizon here in the U.S., and it's just a software issue. The basic CDMA protocol, and even the more advanced EV-DO protocol, are the same in both countries.
And you're wrong about GSM overtaking CDMA. GSM and CDMA are both doing very well and will both continue to have huge market share into the forseeable future. Looking at the top-10 carriers, GSM only has about 60 million customers, while CDMA has over 80 million. With CDMA EV-DO beating the pants off GSM (and even first-gen WCDMA) in terms of data speed so far, I don't see CDMA fading away as you say.
My problem with the spectrum auction model is it encourages companies to buy up spectrum only for the purpose of keeping it from others companies. If you own the spectrum you should be forced to put it to use within N years by X% of the public in that area, otherwise it reverts back to the FCC.
The FCC has exactly those kinds of network build-out requirements in nearly every spectrum license it issues.
Does anyone else find it curious that this extremely anticipated and sure-to-be-talked-about moment in television just happened to prominently feature the brand names of two very large companies with very deep pockets for advertising and sponsorship?
Not only that, but the timing is fascinating... FedEx is gearing up for holiday season, and H&R Block is gearing up for tax season. It's a crucial time for both companies, and the perfect time for am aggressive advertising ploy from both companies.
I wonder if this could possibly be a coincidence, or if perhaps Jeopary is following the lead of The Apprentice in shameless brand placement...
Whoa - wait a minute...
If that is true - if Google's system has had a design flaw limiting it to 4.3 billion pages until now - then that is a really huge weakness, risk, and vulnerability that the company has had until now.
Thinking back, they must have known about this for a long time - before they went public. If that's the case, did they disclose this weakness/risk to inverstors in their S-1? If not, did they break the law by not doing so?
This is old news in Japan. It was announced back in June:
http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=888
But for those of us in the west, there's news, too, such as Nokia yesterday announcing a faceplate accessory that adds this feature to one of their phones:
http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=994
And Motorola recently announcing a U.S. trial of this technology together with MasterCard:
http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=973
Don't confuse this new NFC-based technology with passive technology like the gas-station keychain things, or touch-based transit passes, campus ID cards, etc. This is different, because it's active and dyanamic - it's integrated with the phone.
That means it can serve multiple purposes. It can be your cash, credit card, debit card, bus pass, driver's license, and work ID all in one. Then you can download a Java app to the phone that will let it replace your grocery dicount card, too. It really can replace your whole wallet - not just a credit card. That's what's so cool about NFC systems like FeliCa.
What I find really interesting is that Gmail performance is obviously account-specific. I can attest to this personally.
...and GMail is generally a painful experience for me. It's incredibly slow with endless timeouts. It's been like this *consistently* for over two weeks now. My connection is fine - all other sites are speedy as heck.
I get over 3,000 spam daily. My Gmail account is 48% full, and that's all spam. I don't use Gmail for file storage or anything like that.
I don't try to attract spam; this is not some special "test". I just really like my current email address, which I've had since '96.
So why is Gmail so consistently slow for me, but so consistently fine for others? Doesn't that defy the general logic about properly load-balanced web apps?
It's almost like Google has some kind of intentional, active throttling in place for the more demanding accounts...