Category: Wireless

A man in New Mexico is suing Verizon Wireless over a series of harassing phone calls made by Verizon bill collectors last year. The man, Al Burrows, says the calls were concerning a relative’s unpaid cellphone bill. When he hung up on one of them, the disconnected Verizon rep called back, said she knew where Burrows lived, and added, “I am gonna blow your mother fucking house up.”

“Verizon Rep Threatens To Blow Up Man’s House Over Unpaid Bill” [Sante Fe Reporter]

Ryan McBride wrote:

PatientKeeper has worked fast to make its physician software available on whichever smartphones or mobile devices doctors like to use. So it makes sense for the Newton, MA-based firm to expand its menu of mobile applications this month to the iPad, Apple’s hot new tablet computing device.

The company develops software that automates a physician’s duties, such as viewing patient data from electronic records systems, ordering prescriptions or lab tests, and recording charges for services. Some 23,000 clinicians use the software, which they can access on smartphones, laptops, PCs, and now the iPad, says company CEO Paul Brient.

The company, founded as Virtmed in 1996, was renamed in 2001 after the mobile app called “Patient Keeper” that a Texas physician developed for Palm Pilots, Brient says. The firm purchased that Palm app, which he says had an early “cult following,” about a decade ago. The firm has since gone on to support apps for smartphones such as BlackBerry devices, Windows Mobile phones, and the iPhone.

When developing software, PatientKeeper targets areas that make a physician’s workday easier and more productive, Brient says. This physician-centric product strategy sets PatientKeeper’s programs apart from most healthcare software systems, which are usually designed to automate tasks for a specific unit of a hospital such as a radiology lab, emergency room, or billing department. The firm’s unique approach in healthcare, which has changed and evolved over its 14-year history, has attracted about $84 million in venture investments.

Traditional healthcare software—including electronic health records (EHR) and computerized physician order entry (CPOE)—have failed to gain mainstream adoption among U.S. physicians. Many complain that the software makes them less productive than standard paper-based systems, and that doctors themselves don’t get rewarded for spending the time and money to adopt the technology. Brient says PatientKeeper has focused on software that not only makes doctors more productive but also improves their use of healthcare IT systems like CPOE.

“Our approach has been that if you want to get someone to adopt technology, you have to …Next Page »

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Filed under: Sedan, Technology, Audi, Luxury

One day, we’ll be able to have wireless internet access from nearly every point on the globe. And while many cities and towns are making efforts to offer free wireless service across a broad range, automakers are now looking to bring WiFi connectivity to cars. Audi is on board, and it has just announced that the 2011 A8 will be available with factory-installed in-car wireless hotspot.

The WLAN hotspot is located within the rooftop antenna, and passengers can connect to the internet via any laptop, netbook or new-age tablet, like the Apple iPad. Audi says that the network is capable of speeds up to 7.2 Mbit/sec and that WAP2 encryption is on hand in order to securely transfer data. Audi claims that this is the first such factory-installed system, although other automakers offer WiFi connectivity with dealer installed accessories.

The new A8 is already packed to the brim with the latest and greatest in automotive technological achievements. Things like the automaker’s second-generation MMI control interface, the integration of Google Earth and an impressive LED lighting system up front set it apart from other vehicles in the class, and the addition of wireless internet will only strengthen the appeal to prospective buyers. The full details are available in Audi’s press release, after the jump.

[Source: Audi]

Continue reading 2011 Audi A8 available with factory-installed wireless internet hotspot

2011 Audi A8 available with factory-installed wireless internet hotspot originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 24 May 2010 08:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Want to change the track or adjust the volume on these wireless flOw iPod speakers? Simple. Just pick them up, turn them over or give them a shake, and the deed is done thanks to accelerometers housed within. More »










IPod – Shopping – Consumer Electronics – Audio – Business

Ryan McBride wrote:

Sonus Networks (NASDAQ:SONS), a Westford, MA-based provider of telecommunications network products, says that its director and CEO, Richard Nottenburg, plans to step down from his posts by March 2011. Nottenburg, a former Motorola executive who has helmed Sonus since June 2008, will help the firm’s board find his successor, according to the company. He’s led the company through a corporate restructuring plan, which included the layoffs of 50 employees in December 2008 and 93 workers in August 2009, cutting its overall work force by about 14 percent. The plan helped reduce the company’s annual loss from $116.2 million in 2008 to $4.9 million in 2009.

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Turn off your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, everyone! Well…not quite yet. Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have successfully used LED lights to transfer wireless data to a laptop at a speed of 2Mbps. More »










Bluetooth – Wireless – Data Communications – Chinese Academy of Sciences – Business

The president and a vice-president for CTIA, a lobbying organization for the wireless industry, spoke recently with CNET about why they think the FCC should leave their members alone. The vice-president, Chris Guttman-McCabe, is a lawyer and as such his answers are useless. President Steve Largent, however, actually has a couple of candid moments during the interview.

When Marguerite Reardon at CNET asked the men whether or not wireless carriers should have to warn customers when roaming charges go through the roof, Guttman-McCabe first blames consumers–“It’s not as if [they] don’t already have a lot of information about usage at their fingertips”–and then says it could be technically hard as well as expensive to implement. Largent, however, goes all good cop/bad veep and says:

I don’t know how I want to say this, but I guess you could say that the carriers may not have always been very sensitive to some of these billing issues. But I don’t think they are sitting around hoping customers will run up a $10,000 bill. And often if customers go over some kind of limit, many carriers will alert the customer or call them. I think in general when issues are brought to the carrier community’s attention, they respond.

Okay, most of that was a plea to trust wireless carriers because they’re good guys, but I think it’s interesting to see the president and CEO of CTIA admit that carriers haven’t been “sensitive” to “these billing issues.”

He goes on to argue that if consumers raise enough hell, carriers will change their policies, and thus the system works and the government should stay out.
The journalist points out that actually the carriers only changed early termination fee rules after getting slapped with lawsuits and being threatened with new legislation by Congress and the FTC. Largent says:

There was some public pressure applied from consumer groups. And the industry responded. But there never had to be any new regulation implemented. I think the same could happen with Net neutrality. When there has been public pressure to change something, the industry has reacted.

Read the full interview at CNET.

“CTIA honchos dish on FCC regs (Q&A)” [CNET]

A woman has sued her wireless provider for $600,000 for outing her as a cheater to her husband. After the they added internet and TV services to the woman’s previously single-user cellphone bill, the wireless company began sending the husband a unified bill, which included several hours long conversations to an unknown number. The husband walked out, and the lawsuits began.

The woman’s attorney claims that the wireless company is responsible for the breakup. The wireless company says that they’re not, as the husband would have eventually found out anyway.

The best way to not have your affair uncovered is to never have one in the first place, but it does raise an interesting question about the privacy concerns that arise from merging different customer’s bills together without their express consent. Users in the DSLreports forums are already getting into it.

Toronto woman sues Rogers after her affair is exposed [The Star via DSL Reports] (Thanks to Jim!)

Thanks to John Schultz for the heads up on a recent article on 4G in the Minneapolis Star Tribune (Race is on again in Twin Cities for faster wireless networks).

According to the article, there may be some good news for folks in the Twin Cities…

To keep up, Verizon Wireless, AT&T and Sprint are or soon will be installing faster, higher-capacity 4G (fourth generation) networks in the Twin Cities. By late this year or early in 2011, they will make Web browsing by phone as fast as using a wired connection.

There are some serious unknowns that might postpone any real celebration. We don’t know the price of the subscription and we don’t know the prices of the new 4G-enabled phones/devices. But it’s coming and that’s good news. The benefits of 4G included faster browsing, which is always better but also added functionality – such as videoconferencing and greater online interactivity.

Another unknown is plans for 4G in rural areas. However I happened to be talking Mark Hamilton from TTM yesterday. They have an ARRA application in (Round Two) to build middle fiber that would support 4G; other projects such as Southwest Minnesota Broadband Group could also help with 4G in rural areas.

Luke Timmerman wrote:

The University of Washington’s president, Mark Emmert, has been talking about making the state’s biggest institution of higher education an “entrepreneurial university.” While Emmert is on his way out, the startup fire was still burning bright yesterday when I was on campus to serve as a judge for the UW’s 13th annual Business Plan Competition.

There were 32 teams assembled at the Husky Union Ballroom with a rich variety of ideas for wireless technology, consumer goods, media, biotech, and cleantech businesses. These young people looked the part, with visual aids and prototypes at the ready. They were eager to make eye contact, hand out cards, and deliver the proverbial firm handshake. Beyond the essential body language, I found almost all of the teams I questioned were ready to provide specific answers about the market they were addressing, how their technology differs from their competitors, why customers would want it, and how this can become profitable. And these aspiring entrepreneurs were truly from all over the world, and that diverse experience showed.

Here are snapshots of four companies that struck me as interesting. You can see a list of the Sweet 16 finalists here.

—Envitrum. This company from UW won the grand prize at the UW’s Environmental Innovation Challenge earlier this spring. It turns crushed glass from a landfill or recycling center and packs it into a renewable brick building material. These bricks made from crushed glass can be manufactured at large scale for 10-15 cents each, compared with 20 to 25 cents for a conventional red brick, says Renuka Prabhakar, co-founder and CEO. The EnVitrum bricks hold heat better than conventional bricks, and they help builders rack up points toward getting their buildings stamped with the precious LEED certification for green buildings, she added.

EnVitrum will have to pass a key test in getting ASTM certification to show it has all the right properties. I asked Prabhakar how these bricks might hold up in an earthquake. That will depend more on the mortar that holds the bricks together, says Prabhakar, a mechanical engineering student. If it can pass the material certification standards, the EnVitrum bricks could be on the market within a year, she says.

—Mobee Sign. Mobile phones are truly global devices now, but e-commerce isn’t taking off everywhere. In the Middle East and Northern Africa, many merchants are set up to use PayPal to collect payment for their goods and services, but consumers are afraid to hand over their credit card online, says Omar Nesh Nash, a co-founder of this company from Seattle University.

So Mobee Sign is developing a way for consumers to buy stuff online, through their mobile phone, without having to enter their credit card. The merchant has to get …Next Page »

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I’m already a firm believer in the iPad 3G and its no-contract data plans, but AT&T’s released the nitty gritty details, in case you wanted to check the fine print. Pretty much the same, but a few new bits. More »