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FCC Chairman Dreams of Free Mobile Internet for All Americans

by Darren Murph, posted Aug 21st 2008 at 1:20PM

Just over a year ago, we were all making bitter beer faces at FCC chairman Kevin Martin for not going along with a delightful sounding "free Internet" plan. Now, it seems the main man's tune has changed. During a recent interview, Martin stated that there was a "social obligation in making sure everybody could participate in the next generation of broadband services because, increasingly, that's what people want."

He's reportedly looking to attach a free mobile broadband requirement to the AWS-3 spectrum that's set to be auctioned next year, which would require the winner to allocate 25% for gratis access. 'Course, we wouldn't get our hopes us for this to actually go down like it surely is playing out in your mind just now, but we won't fault you for dreamin'. [From: USAToday via phonescoop]

The iPhone Has One Touch Screen -- the DMedia Phone Has Two.

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jan 9th 2008 at 12:03PM

2 Touch Screens, GPS, and WiMax Inspire Cell Phone Lust

Add dMedia to the list of companies that have caught WiMax fever. The company's next-gen WiMax-based cell phone, the F200, is sure to inspire gadget lust in even the most hardened of cynics.

Now that WiMax -- the next-gen, wide-area wireless network -- is beginning to catch fire across the globe, companies like dMedia are rushing to get innovative products to the market that will take advantage of the new mobile broadband technology.

The F200 is candy bar styled phone with dual touch screens that have standard cell phone call and end buttons and a directional pad. The screens can operate independently or in conjunction with each other, meaning you can use the built in GPS on the top screen to get turn-by-turn directions, while browsing the Internet or placing a call on the bottom screen over WiMax or a standard GSM or EDGE cell phone network such as AT&T or T Mobile.

In addition to GPS, the F200 features an electronic compass and a G sensor for aiding in navigation even when GPS satellites are unavailable, such as when driving through a tunnel.

Of course, the phone also has the standard features you'd expect on a high end phone -- Bluetooth, two-megapixel camera, etc. Pricing or launch date are not available, but dMedia claims to have a working prototype, though it was only showing a mock up at CES.


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The 'WiMax' Computer Revolution is Upon Us

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jan 8th 2008 at 5:30PM

Asus Joinst he WiMax Party
Well the OQO wasn't alone for long. At a joint press conference with Sprint and Intel yesterday Asus announced that in 2008 it would be launching several laptops with WiMax capabilities, including an update of the popular sub-notebook the Eee PC, though adding WiMax requires using Windows XP instead of Linux.

WiMax is the next generation wireless network technology championed by Intel. Sprint is building out its nationwide wireless broadband network based on the service called Xohm.

In addition to the Eee PC, Asus will be adding WiMax to its Ferrari branded gaming notebook, the multimedia focused, sub woofer equipped M50, its R50A UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC), V1 business laptop, and F8 mainstream laptop.

The laptops should all be available by mid year just in time for the commercial launch of Sprint's Xohm network, which Atish Gude (Senior VP of Mobile Broadband Operations at Sprint) said should launch in late April early May. "This is the year WiMax becomes reality," he said. And judging by the partners jumping on the WiMax bandwagon he may be right.

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OQO's Tiny PC Is First Computer On Sprint's New Wi-Max Network

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jan 7th 2008 at 11:50AM

OQO Updates Its Tiny PC, Becomes First Device on Sprint's New Wi-Max Network

You may not be familiar with the OQO 02 but the company is making some big announcements today regarding its pre-UMPC UMPC (Ultra-Mobile PC). This tiny little device is a getting trio of upgrades that make the miniature Via-powered Windows computer even more lust worthy.

First up is a 64-gigabyte SSD (Solid State Drive). The 64-gig of Flash won't hold your massive collection of illegally downloaded movies, but it will make loading the bloated Vista and other applications dramatically faster. Then the company has fit the diminutive device with a sunlight readable screen, so when it warms up and gets sunny you can take this bad boy to the park and check your e-mail while everyone else does the things you're supposed to do in a park.

Lastly, and certainly not least, the OQO 02 now has Wi-Max, a 4G wireless technology that is just now beginning to see the light of day in the U.S. OQO has partnered with Sprint to make the OQO 02 the first device capable of running on Sprint's Xohm Wi-Max network. Xohm should average download speeds between 2 and 4 megabits per second, more than 2 to 4 times the speed of Sprint's current EVDO network. At speeds like that, streaming high-quality video over the air shouldn't be a problem, and, at last, thank goodness, the difference between access on your home PC and your mobile phone or mobile-broadband-capable computer won't be all that discernable.

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