Category: Wireless

WiFi has the best thing that has ever happened to the wireless generation. Adding to this is the all new Airnergy Charger. This charger uses up energy out of the WiFi areas and converts it into usable electricity. The device has a little battery inside it that charges itself up in any WiFi zone. Being able to harvest electricity with a high enough efficiency, it has charged a BlackBerry from 30% to full in about 90 minutes, using nothing but ambient WiFi signals as a power source. Unlike solar chargers which also kind of perform a similar function, the Airnergy can charge itself even during the night, all thanks to the Wi-Fi proximity.

[OhGizmo]

Bruce V. Bigelow wrote:

There was a lot of tech news from Las Vegas last week, and it wants to get out. So we’re setting it free now.

—Dazzling examples of the latest innovations of tablet computers, e-book readers, 3D-TVs, netbooks, and many more electronic devices were introduced at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which ended yesterday in Las Vegas. Avondale Partners analyst John F. Bright predicted that connectivity would be a prevailing theme, which proved to be true.

—Another theme at CES was the emergence of San Diego-based Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM) as a force in consumer electronics. Qualcomm has traditionally been a B2B company that supplies wireless chipsets used in devices stamped with other brand names. As an example, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chip is inside the new Nexus One Android phone, which was revealed just before the show by Google and HTC. But CEO Paul Jacobs outlined Qualcomm’s rising influence in the first CES keynote address by a Qualcomm executive. In an account prepared by CNET’s Erica Ogg, Jacobs said the company believes that all consumer-related technology devices are going to be connected. In his report of Jacobs’ speech, San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Mike Freeman highlighted “Swagg,” a new wireless gift card and transaction application that Qualcomm plans to roll out later this year.

—Len J. Lauer, who was previously employed as the chief operating officer at Qualcomm, was named CEO of Memjet, a private company developing innovative color printing technology. Argonaut Private Equity of Tulsa, OK, is a major investor in Memjet.

—The San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. (EDC) found work for Dave Titus, a co-founder and managing partner of Windward Ventures, a San Diego venture capital firm that was becalmed, so to speak, by the market downturn. Titus was named as the EDC’s new managing director of strategic initiatives.

—San Diego-based Verari Systems, which provides blade server racks and related data storage technology, was the subject last week of an asset sale that took place under a “general assignment for the benefit of creditors.” That’s a legal process that enables Verari to avoid a bankruptcy liquidation, and allows Verari’s secured creditors to avoid the trouble and cost of foreclosure.

—Carlsbad, CA-based Dot Hill Systems (NASDAQ: HILL), which provides data storage equipment, announced plans to acquire Cloverleaf Communications, a privately held software developer based in Woodbury, NY. The deal enables Dot Hill to expand its access to the market for cloud storage and storage virtualization. Dot Hill said it is paying about $12 million for Cloverleaf, which got some $43 million in venture capital support.

—Qualcomm announced plans to start manufacturing 28-nanometer chips, skipping the 32-nanometer technology that most chipmakers are adopting as the new standard size of microcircuitry patterns printed on semiconductors. Qualcomm’s existing technology makes chips with microcircuits that are about 45 nanometers apart. Qualcomm said it is working on the project with its foundry partner, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

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Looking back, it’s clear we didn’t do justice to Sprint’s introduction of its Overdrive mobile hot spot product — such is the problem of holding a late-night event at CES, when your audience may be distracted from blogging or writing in the moment, as they say.

Overall, it was a boffo product announcement, hitting all the big-time notes (silly comedian Frank Caliendo, star turn from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, over-the-top after-announcement party food from celebrity chef Mario Batali) but most importantly it delivered a shipping-now, easy to use and understand product in the form of the Overdrive pocketspot from Sierra Wireless, which combines 3G and 4G connectivity into an in-your-pocket package. At $99 for the device and $60 a month for the data plan — same as most standalone 3G aircards — the Overdrive is a no-brainer decision if you are a road warrior who spends any amount of time in Sprint’s already operating 4G markets.

In our brief bit of hands-on testing at CES (the Sprint folks were kind enough to lend us an Overdrive for evaluation) we found the Overdrive incredibly simple to operate — just push one button and BOOM, as Caliendo would say in his trademark John Madden imitation, your WiMAX-enabled Wi-Fi hotspot was up and running. And even in the challenging airwave atmosphere of the Las Vegas Convention Center, we were able to live-Tweet the FCC chairman’s talk, via the Overdrive sitting in our suit jacket pocket. Nice.

Not to be outdone, pocketspot veterans Cradlepoint were showing their latest wares in a suite in the Wynn — while not yet available the company’s “Project Tablerock” mobile hotspot with docking station will likely be an extremely attractive choice for Clearwire users, since it features a portable WiMAX modem that becomes your home modem when you drop it into its two-antenna charging/docking station.

According to Cradlepoint folks who showed us the Tablerock unit, the docking station antennas give the unit a significant reception boost — never a bad thing when it comes to wireless connectivity. Look for the Tablerock and maybe more (!) pocketspot modems for Clearwire and its partners as the first quarter of 2010 comes to a close. (Bad phone-cam picture of Overdrive and Tablerock side by side follows.)

Sprint’s Overdrive by Sierra Wireless, left, and Cradlepoint’s Tablerock, in the wild at CES.

P.S.: Our always reliable pal Maggie Reardon covered the Sprint event for C/Net, tapping away at her laptop while everyone else ate Batali’s food.

At CES, there is a somewhat standing tradition of having the incumbent FCC chairman show up for a Q-and-A chat. In the recent past, this has mainly amounted to CEA chairman Gary Shapiro lobbing fairly meaningless softball questions to Michael Powell and Kevin Martin, the two FCC chairs during the Bush administration. Anticipation was high last week in Las Vegas for something more substantial, given that Shapiro’s politics are definitely not typically aligned with the current FCC chair, Julius Genachowski.

Instead of the usual puffball session, Shapiro asked some admirably tough questions — and Genachowski gave as good as he got, never appearing nervous and in the end (at least on this judge’s card) winning the impromptu “Brawl in the Hall” by having an well-thought answer to each of Shapiro’s queries.

While I don’t have a lot of quotes to share — I was watching and listening trying to get the “feel” of the exchange more than the exact words — the thought did occur to me that this FCC has more projects underway in less than a year than the Powell and Martin tenures did, combined. When GOPers like Shapiro or do-nothing FCC commissioner Robert McDowell, or the ostensibly bipartisan Shapiro (ed. note: see comments below from Shapiro, who asserts he is not a Republican; we have changed the post to reflect this) act indignant about the current FCC’s one-month extension of the deadline for delivering the national broadband plan, it behooves us all to remember why we need a plan in the first place — because the two previous, GOP-led FCC tenures basically let the country’s communications regulatory infrastructure go to rot.

Already, the current FCC is moving forward with stimulus fund dispersals, the national broadband plan, a network neutrality proceeding, and an effort to find more wireless spectrum for broadband — among other tasks. What’s refreshing about listening to Genachowski is to realize that unlike his immediate predecessors, the title of FCC chairman does not seem to be his life’s pursuit; instead, he is treating his position as the leader of an active clan of folks who want to move this country’s communications infrastructure back into a leading position — and who aren’t afraid to include views from all sides of the political spectrum in doing so.

“One of my main goals at the FCC is to turn it into a 21st century agency,” said Genachowski to Shapiro, with nobody in the audience missing the punchline — that it’s not there now, thanks mainly to the inaction of those who held the same office directly before him. Genachowski also had a good line (sorry, no exact quotes here) about how he was encouraging folks at the agency to try things and suggest things that might fail or be the wrong approach — sort of like how Silicon Valley operates, where you learn lessons from failures and move on, rapidly in search of the next answer.

The bottom line? The FCC seems in pretty good hands under Genachowski, who seems at ease with the tough technical and legal issues before him, and who has the gravitas to speak carefully and cautiously — maybe too cautiously for some who would prefer more direct action, but in the political minefield that is the FCC, it’s a trait to be admired.

For a nice, long interesting chat with the chairman — minus Shapiro’s politically motivated agenda — tune into his visit with Om and Stacey at GigaOM HQ, also last week. Visiting top bloggers for an open-ended, live broadcast Q&A — if you need any proof how different the new FCC is from the recent past, it’s hard to get clearer than that.

Those clever people at Sigma have just announced the arrival of NeoVue, a wireless streaming platform that will let you watch stuff from your small-screened gizmo (laptop, phone) on a bigger-screened gizmo (telly.) Yay! [Wireless Developer’s Journal]

Wireless power has gone from lab prototype to working product in a little over 18 months, and Haier stuck MIT’s WiTricity into a TV along with WHDI wireless video for complete wirelessness. Complete. Wireless. Ness.

Sure, there’s a big power unit on the wall, radiating (totally harmless) RF into the back of the TV, which has a coil inside to receive the juice. It only delivers full strength if it’s parallel, so you have to plan ahead and somehow setup the TV in front of the wall that has the power module. Because of all the hocus pocus, the TV itself is a chunkster, and that power transmitter is no slim jim either.

Still, the idea is a good one, and the promise—as both MIT and Intel work their asses off getting wireless power up to snuff—is real.

WHDI is a lot further along in development. Wireless HDMI isn’t exactly household, but the tech is now supported by basically all of the biggest CE companies except Panasonic. I’m not going to buy this Haier TV—it might not even be for sale this year—but it’s a concrete sign of what’s to come.

Owners of the EOS-1D Mark IV, EOS 5D Mark II and EOS 7D can now wirelessly beam photos from their camera to the computer with the WFT-E2 II A Wireless File Transmitter, WFT-E4 II A Wireless File Transmitter or WFT-E5A Wireless File Transmitter (respectively). Can also be used to fire up to 10 cameras simultaneously. Units are priced at $700. [Canon]

Jabra, suppliers of goods to people who like to jibba jabba, has launched a pair of of gizmos that use Noise Blackout technology to cut out annoying non-verbal umska when you’re on the move. Cruiser, above, and Extreme, below.

Both devices use a pair of microphones each, digital signal processing and automatic volume control to reduce background noise by as much as 24 decibels. The Extreme, which comes with two different sizes of eargels (one for you, one for the Shrek you’re with, I guess), will be available this month for $80, while the Cruiser costs $100.

[Mobile Burn]

LAS VEGAS — Even as AT&T publicly dodges responsibility for the well publicized iPhone congestion woes, the company Wednesday spelled out in detail how it is trying to alleviate the problem: By massively beefing up its “backhaul” to cellular towers, putting in 13,500 new T-1 lines and 238 DS-3 optical connections in New York and San Francisco alone.

AT&T Chief Technical Officer John Donovan also said the company added 2,000 new cell sites over the past year, with 900 of those in New York City and another 850 in San Francisco, two cities where iPhone woes were felt the strongest. AT&T’s “aggressive backhaul project” is ongoing, Donovan said, and will target Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Charlotte, N.C. and Miami in the coming year. While the T-1 lines can bring fast relief in the form of approximately 1.5 Mbps of bandwidth in each line, the DS-3s are workhorses, adding 45 Mbps or so with each fiber connection.

Donovan’s comments were part of Ma Bell’s developer summit held here at the Palms Resort Wednesday, where AT&T also announced plans to add a wide mix of new smartphone handsets including Android-based devices from Motorola and Palm OS devices, alongside plans to make it easier for developers to build web-style apps and widgets for midrange or “feature” cellphones. All that pending activity, however, means that Donovan and AT&T’s technical crew will be working overtime to get the network in shape for the expected continued expansion of mobile data use.

By adding to backhaul — the description for the bandwidth being brought from the core network to the cellular radio towers — AT&T should be able to alleviate some of the iPhone congestion problems. But AT&T still has some concerns about its available wireless spectrum, which Donovan said is at a premium.

While AT&T will be able to use its recently purchased 700 MHz spectrum assets for its planned move to Long Term Evolution (LTE) in 2011 (where he said AT&T will also use its dormant AWS spectrum for LTE uplink traffic), for the next year or so Donovan must make AT&T’s 3G network stable on its existing holdings, which range from about 25 MHz to 50 MHz in most markets. Upgrading its 3G network to HSPA 7.2 technology will help some, though not much since the balance of AT&T’s devices aren’t compatible with the newer, faster service that will be coming online soon.

“If you do the math [on the cell site expansion] we’re burning through spectrum pretty quickly,” Donovan said. “I’m restless about it, but I’m not losing sleep… yet.”

A big ol’ chart from AT&T: Wireless data ballooned more between the second and third quarter of 2009 than most of 2006 and 2007 combined, or close to 7000 percent over the last couple years. That’s a little crazy.

Here’s a peek into the not-too-distant future, when you can stop paying the cable companies for both TV and internet: a new router that lets you set up a wireless network that pulls data from a 4G cellular data connection.

Netgear’s got two new routers that connect to 3G or 4G: one that also has a built-in DSL modem (DGN2200M) that the cellular connection will act as a backup for and one that doesn’t (MBRN3000). The former drops in April for $179, while the latter arrives in March for $149. Now all you need is a 4G wireless account through a provider that will be able to handle your entire household’s bandwidth. Yeah, not quite, but it’s nice to know this is here. At least, in the meantime, there’s the adequate-for-some-stuff 3G.

NETGEAR Introduces New Wireless Routers to Connect to High-Speed 3G/4G/WiMAX Cellular Networks, with Unparalleled Features and Proven Worldwide Performance
CES Innovations Award-Winning Router is First to Integrate 802.11n Wireless, ADSL2+ and 3G/4G/WiMAX for Dual WAN Capability with Failover Protection

LAS VEGAS – January 6, 2010 – NETGEAR®, Inc. (NASDAQGM: NTGR), a worldwide provider of technologically innovative, branded networking solutions, today announced two full-featured new routers for connecting to 3G/4G/WiMAX cellular networks. The 3G/4G Mobile Broadband Wireless-N Router (MBRN3000) combines 802.11n wireless with connectivity to a high-speed cellular network via an external 3G/4G/WiMAX™ modem. The second router is the Wireless-N 300 Router with DSL Modem – Mobile Broadband Edition (DGN2200M), which not only combines 802.11n wireless and support for 3G/4G/WiMAX cellular connectivity, but includes a built-in ADSL2+ modem as well, making it the industry’s first Wireless-N router to enable a DSL connection along with a 3G/4G/WiMAX failover option.

As evidence of its industry-leading features, the NETGEAR Wireless-N 300 Router with DSL Modem – Mobile Broadband Edition (DGN2200M) is an honoree in the Home Networking category of the Consumer Electronics Show Innovations 2010 Design and Engineering Awards, the industry’s highest accolade. NETGEAR will introduce its new products at two press events today in conjunction with the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. See today’s press release, “NETGEAR Introduces New Solutions at Consumer Electronics Show To Enable Any Media on Any Screen, Anywhere at Anytime” at http://www.netgear.com/About/PressReleases/en-US/2010/20100105a.aspx.

The award-winning Wireless-N 300 Router with DSL Modem – Mobile Broadband Edition (DGN2200M) is the first wireless-N router in the retail market to offer a dual Wide Area Network (WAN) option for a failover 3G/4G/WiMAX Internet connection in case of DSL outage – ideal for small businesses that need a reliable backup Internet connection with zero downtime. Competing routers do not offer failover; are regionally focused with limited mobile operators; have shorter wireless range; are limited by how many wireless devices can connect simultaneously; or are without the capabilities of a full-featured router. The Wireless-N 300 Router with DSL Modem – Mobile Broadband Edition addresses all of these issues, and sets a new bar for features and performance combined in a single router.

Both new NETGEAR mobile broadband routers can be used as a primary Internet connection in situations where no connection to a DSL, cable, fiber, or satellite network exists. By plugging an external 3G/4G/WiMAX modem into the new NETGEAR routers, customers can quickly set up a fixed or mobile Wi-Fi® hotspot virtually anytime, anywhere, with the ability to share a single high-speed cellular subscription with multiple Wi-Fi enabled devices such as a PC, iPhone™, iPod Touch®, PSP®, etc. The routers are ideal for mobile professionals, emergency response teams, construction crews, satellite offices and rural locations – wherever the group needs to quickly set up an Internet connection with both wireless and cellular connectivity options, and avoid expensive access charges or searching for Wi-Fi hotpots.

“At NETGEAR, we listen to our customers to determine what new features and technologies we should integrate into our products to address their individual lifestyles and business needs. And while connecting via DSL, cable, fiber and satellite broadband are always viable options, high-speed cellular networks are growing at a phenomenal rate,” said Som Pal Choudhury, NETGEAR’s senior product line manager for advanced wireless products. “Our new routers offer customers the performance of Wireless-N with the flexibility of connections via DSL or cellular networks, along with a lengthy set of features unique to NETGEAR products catering to the home and small businesses. At NETGEAR, we strive to offer our customers more networking choices, with more differentiated features, to support their increasingly connected lifestyles and business needs.”

Proven Compatibility

Cellular network connections for routers are becoming increasing popular in many countries as backup for DSL, as the cellular networks already offer speeds close to, or even exceeding, wired options. Cellular networks also offer an alternative option in locations where there are no high-speed wired Internet connections available, or satellite connections and wired options are too expensive.

The new NETGEAR mobile broadband routers are compatible, scalable and rigorously tested with top cellular carrier networks worldwide. Because mobile networks are unique to every country, both new NETGEAR routers have been proven with over 50 3G/4G/WiMAX USB modems from different manufacturers, across a number of top tier cellular networks worldwide. This gives flexibility to end customers to switch from one cellular provider to another at any time.

A Unique Combination of Features

The new NETGEAR mobile broadband routers share many unique features not previously bundled into a single device, including:

•Auto-detection capabilities for customers to select their country and the cellular service provider name for a hassle-free, plug-and-play setup.
•Live Parental Controls and content filtering for homes and small businesses, to make the network safer, more reliable and productive. Powered by OpenDNS®, this centralized rich web filtering solution protects any device on the network, including smartphones, PCs, gaming consoles or any Internet-enabled device from a single web-based interface – and absolutely free to NETGEAR customers.
•Stateful Packet Inspection (SPI), VPN (Virtual Private Network) pass-through and Denial of Service protection.
•Guest networks (multiple SSID) capability to enable customers to set up multiple wireless networks within a home or small business. This is especially useful for setting up a dedicated network for guests to give them access to the Internet, but not other resources and files on the network.
•Automatic Quality of Service (QoS) for reliable video, voice and gaming.
•A broadband usage meter to ensure accurate measurement of download Internet traffic (via DSL and/or cellular networks) with customized alerts when close to the monthly bandwidth threshold, to help avoid excess usage charges.
•Push ‘N’ Connect with industry standard Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) for securely connecting devices at the touch of a button.
•On/off switches for both power and Wi-Fi to help customers conserve energy.
•A compact sleek casing with LED indicators that can be viewed at any 180-degree angle, which can be positioned horizontally, vertically or even wall-mounted.
•Optional car power charger and a battery pack for complete mobile usage.

Wireless-N 300 Router with DSL Modem – Mobile Broadband Edition (DGN2200M)

The CES Innovations Award-winning Wireless-N 300 Router with DSL Modem (DGN2200M) is an 802.11n wireless router with dual Internet access options: to a DSL network via a built-in ADSL2+ modem and to a high-speed cellular network via an external 3G/4G/WiMAX USB modem. It is the first wireless-N router in the retail market to offer customers an automatic DSL-to-3G/4G/WiMAX cellular failover feature in case of a DSL outage, critical for businesses. During an outage, its integrated DSL modem temporarily routes Internet traffic to the secondary cellular broadband network via the external 3G/4G/WiMAX modem. When the backup cellular option is not in use, the router can be used to share a USB storage device thanks to the integration of NETGEAR ReadyShare®, which provides fast and easy access for any computer in the network to access a single external USB storage device. The Wireless-N 300 Router with DSL Modem – Mobile Broadband Edition has been rigorously tested and proven for compatibility with top DSL and cellular carrier networks worldwide.

The Wireless-N 300 Router with DSL Modem – Mobile Broadband Edition (DGN2200M) will be available worldwide in April 2010 at an MSRP in the U.S. of $179. Photos and other information are at http://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/WirelessNRoutersandGateways/DGN2200M.asp

3G/4G Mobile Broadband Wireless-N Router (MBRN3000)

The 3G/4G Mobile Broadband Wireless-N Router (MBRN3000) for consumers and small businesses unites 802.11n wireless and access to cellular networks via an external 3G/4G/WiMAX USB modem. It offers features that are nearly identical to those of the award-winning Wireless-N Router with DSL Modem (DGN2200M), but does not have an integrated DSL modem. It is designed for those customers who need only a WAN connection to a high-speed cellular network. It has been proven for compatibility with a broad range of cellular carrier networks worldwide. The 3G/4G Mobile Broadband Wireless-N Router (MBRN3000) will be available worldwide in March 2010 at an MSRP in the U.S. of $149. Photos and other information are at http://www.netgear.com/Products/RoutersandGateways/3GMobileBroadband/MBRN3000.aspx

Backed by a one-year warranty and 24/7 technical support, the new NETGEAR routers will be available worldwide via leading retailers, direct marketers, e-commerce sites, and value-added resellers. A universal car power adapter is available separately. A list of compatible 3G/4G/WiMAX USB modems and mobile service providers is found at http://www.NETGEAR.com/3G.

The lovably named Case-Mate Hug is an inductive charger for the iPhone that allows you to just plop it on the charging mat rather than fiddling with cables like a monkey. Are you a monkey? You’re not a monkey.

The Hug is a two part inductive charger, including both a fairly normal-looking (if kind of heavy and industrial) case and a slightly-larger-than-iPhone charging mat. It’s a lot like the Powermat, but about half the price. The idea is to keep your iPhone in the case at all times, and then lay the encased iPhone on the mat instead of plugging in a cable. It works pretty well, and Case-Mate says it’ll charge your iPhone in about the same amount of time as primitive cables, but these things are kind of dumb at the moment. You still need to leave it sitting in a specific place, and it still needs to be touching the actual mat, so it’s not really that much better a solution than just plugging it in. On the other hand, Fulton, who makes the tech, plans to put them in public places like airports—which would be pretty awesome, we admit. The Hug be available in a couple weeks (before the end of January, at least) for $90. [Case-Mate]

D-Link’s little wireless N router can create a Wi-Fi point, or add one to a wired network. The dual-band Rush uses a 4×4 antenna design to push stuff at 600Mbps, supposedly with the best range of any D-Link router.

They’re both shipping later this year, though D-Link’s not exactly being forthcoming about the price.

The D-Link® Rush™ (DAP-1560) is D-Link’s fastest, most far-reaching and most secure wireless device yet. It takes home networking to a new level of performance for homeowners who demand the fastest streaming possible of high-definition content, such as movies, HD video and photos. There is no need to replace the home router – its unique 4×4 antenna design helps boost the power of any existing 802.11 a, b, g or n router with up to 600Mbps* speed and greater signal coverage.

The dual-band selectable device transmits in 2.4GHz wireless band for applications such as surfing the Internet or in 5GHz wireless band for HD media streaming, online gaming and large data file transfer. The latest D-Link AP can also be used as a wireless client to Ethernet-enabled media devices such as video game consoles, Digital Video Recorders (DVR), and Digital Media Adapters (DMA) for seamless access to the Internet.

The D-Link Wireless N Pocket Router is an ideal travel companion featuring multi-mode functionality. It can be used either as a wireless router to create an 802.11n Wi-Fi network anywhere one is needed, or as an access point (AP) to add Wi-Fi to an existing wired network. It is small enough for travellers to carry with them, includes a travel case for convenience and SharePort™ technology to enable users to share USB devices. The device also can be used to connect an Ethernet-ready device, such as a desktop PC or Xbox 360®, to a Wi-Fi network for increased flexibility and convenience.

Lightweight and compact with its own travel case, the Pocket Router is small enough to carry while traveling and sets up easily to share an Internet connection or connect to an existing wired network in a conference room, hotel room or anywhere a Wi-Fi network is needed. It delivers powerful 802.11n performance and offers the latest wireless security features to help prevent unauthorized access.

[D-Link]

The majors may’ve all banded together last year to create a wireless HD standard, but ProVision Communications has stepped out with its own with the AXAR1500 system which streams to AXAR and Wi-Fi TVs, PCs and phones.

It differs to normal wireless HD devices in that the AXAR system picks up the content from a Blu-ray player, PVR or HD set top box and sends wirelessly to a TV, PC or phone, instead of using the wireless network to do both the sending and receiving of the signal. A separate AXAR receiver will need to be bought for each TV, and the video will be encoded in H.264, with up to two streams supported.

ProVision is a relatively unheard of company, but has worked with Toshiba and TV networks in the past, with the AXAR system likely to be licensed out to OEMs. The English company is showing at CES, having won a competition with the government-sponsored UK Trade & Investment group.

A range of 900ft is boasted by ProVision, which sounds like an awful lot—maybe your neighbours will be able to pick up the signal too? The Axar system will supposedly be incorporated in TVs by the end of the year, presumably with Toshiba picking up the technology. [ProVision via UKTI]

After Google secured a place in mobile advertising with a $750 million purchase of AdMob, there’s talk that Apple has purchased Quattro Wireless, an AdMob competitor, for $275 million. What’s Apple getting into now?

This feels like a continuation of what we saw happening during the LaLa deal when suggestions went around that Apple stole the company from under Google’s nose as retaliation for Google’s purchase of AdMob. Geez. At the rate this is going, someone will be crying soon, but at least we know that Apple is definitely starting to take the Internet seriously now.

As far as speculating over Apple’s motivation beyond simply slapping Google across the face, this would seem to be a move to gain control of the mobile advertising platform on the iPhone. Beyond that, perhaps there’s motivation for ad placement within apps, or maybe the entire thing is all about a new product. Whatever the deal is, here’s hoping we find out more soon. [All Things D]

Bruce V. Bigelow wrote:

The other shoe dropped today with regard to Len J. Lauer, who announced his resignation before Christmas as Qualcomm’s chief operating officer, which is ostensibly the No. 2 executive post at the San Diego wireless giant.

Lauer was named as the president and chief executive officer of Memjet, a privately held company developing innovative color printing technology. A spokeswoman says Lauer plans to remain in San Diego as the first CEO to preside over Memjet’s related companies, which includes Memjet Home & Office, Memjet Labels, Memjet Photo Retail, and Memjet Wide Format. The company is controlled by Argonaut Private Equity of Tulsa, OK.

It’s a curious move, to say the least. Before joining Qualcomm three years ago, Lauer had served in various roles at Kansas City-based Sprint since 1998, including chief operating officer, a role he kept after Sprint merged with Nextel. He was previously the president and CEO of Bell Atlantic-New Jersey, and had spent more than 10 years with IBM.

Why would Lauer, a telecom and infotech industry veteran, jump to a company holding 2,600 patents related to “breakthrough color printing technology?”

In a prepared statement relayed by Memjet spokeswoman Kay Paumier, Lauer explains: “I’ve seen small companies disrupt big industries before and I believe Memjet has the potential to change the printing industry. I’m excited to bring my operational and technology commercialization expertise to Memjet, which is on the verge of commercialization. The opportunity to lead this up-and-coming organization at such a significant point in its development is a unique and thrilling opportunity. Although my recent experience is in the telecommunications field, I spent almost a decade at IBM. This is really about new technology for me.”

Paumier says Memjet is incorporated in Ireland, but has operations in many countries, including the United States, Australia and Singapore. Paumier says Memjet’s U.S. businesses are located in San Diego and Boise, ID.

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It looks like a thumb drive at first glance, but AirStash is actually a pocket-sized media server that can wirelessy expand the memory of your iPhone or iPod touch.

Apparently, the files are stored on an SD card that you insert into the device—giving you the ability to expand capacity when needed. I assume AirStash will be compatible with more devices that the iPhone and iPod touch, but we won’t know the exact details until it is officially unveiled at CES. Personally, I wouldn’t be all that thrilled about having to keep track of another device because I went with an 8GB iPhone, but I am all for technologies that reduce the need for a set amount of internal storage. [AirStash via Engadget]