Xeni Jardin posted this notice on the tech blog, BoingBoing:
Some quick notes from a conference call that just took place, hosted by the FCC about how to coordinate resources and
personnel from internet/wireless private industry to help get communications networks up and running in in gulf states.
Lack of communications systems has been identified as a critical issue holding back aid, missing persons, law
enforcement, etc. in crisis areas.
FCC personnel are working throughout the weekend to coordinate these efforts with private industry, with wireless
technology groups, FEMA, and state governments in Mississippi, Louisiana, etc.
One of the challenges they face in this effort is fact that the coordination effort involves multiple layers of
bureaucracies — also, that there has been no central point for directing available assets offered by private industry.
Participants on the call included folks from Cisco, Intel, and wireless organizations.
Another challenge: working with FEMA and local governments to ascertain whether it is more immediately effective to
get old systems up and running, or create new temporary ones. Depends on tech behind communications system in question.
COMPANIES WITH TECH ASSETS AND/OR HUMAN RESOURCES TO DONATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AID IN KATRINA-IMPACTED AREAS SHOULD DO
THE FOLLOWING
FCC Chief of Staff Dan Gonzales (dan dot gonzales at fcc dot org) says FCC needs the following information from would
be tech donors BY NOON EASTERN ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 3.
1) identify the provider (name of your company or group)
2) identify assets you are willing to commit
3) state clearly what assets you are technologically capable of providing (IP? data? voice?)
4) what your logistical requirements are to bring that to the affected area.
5) can you bring generators? if so what size? capacity? power levels?
SUBMIT THIS INFORMATION TO
PART-15.ORG (they have an online submission form to collect this data)
or wireless@part-15.org
contacts: Michael Anderson (wireless@part-15.org) 630-466-9090, and Claudia Crowley (ccrowley at gmail dot com),
817-292-0230.
FCC coordinating tech aid for Katrina disaster
Wireless demand is high and growing
In a wrap-up of the happenings at the Networld+Interop conference held this week, this eWeek article concludes that wireless is here to stay. Customers are demanding more wireless networks, more ubiquity, higher speeds, voice over wireless, video, etc. Bruce Van Nice of Trapeze Networks equates it to the early days of wired Ethernet, "There was a groundswell of deployments," as companies adopted the technology expecting some, sometimes unclear, benefits. This upswing is spawning new companies and business models that challenge existing thoughts about connectivity.
Review of the UTStarcom F1000, Vonage's first WiFi phone
Peter Rojas from Engadget got his hands on the new Wi-Fi Voice over IP phone for use with Vonage. He reviews the phone's design, setup, call quality and especially takes a look at its practicality - should you ditch your regular cell phone? Nah. The F1000 is still in beta. In fact, the entire concept of a dedicated Wi-Fi phone is in beta. We will probably see the most progress in this area with phones that can auto-switch between cellular and Wi-Fi. But for now, hardcore VOIP users should check out the UTStarcom F1000 and see if it fits your needs.
Welcome to Cinematical
Movie goers and technologists might enjoy knowing about our newest sister site Cinematical.com. With the growth of digital cinema technology and the potential of wireless screen delivery, you can be sure that "films" will be a growing part of the media revolution. To see all of our 75 weblogs here at WIN, look for the complete list about halfway down the right-hand column on this blog.
AOL Jumps into Broadband Phone Services
AOL said that this is the month it will roll out Voice over IP phone service to some of its members. The service may be incorporated into AOL's Instant Messenger (You know AIM. It's like Skype for text.) The new system will use analog telephone adapters to hook your old-school phone into their new VoIP service. The AIM tie-in will incorporate users "buddy lists" so users will know when buddies can be called up. AOL CEO Jonathan Miller said that this move will help the entire VoIP industry become well known. No word yet on pricing or where the first rollouts of the service will take place.
SOCALWUG Meeting Tonight - Panel: Wireless in Business
As many of you know, I co-founded and run the
Southern California Wireless Users Group along with
Frank Keeney. We have been running these meetings since early 2002.
Our meetings are held on Thursday's at the end of the month and tonight's the night!.
For the first time ever, SOCALWUG is co-presenting a meeting with a remote location. This month, we have joined forces with the Association of Internet Technology Professionals of Los Angeles (AITP-LA) to bring you a panel presentation of wireless experts occurring on this night in Culver City, CA.
We will have two-way videoconferencing established allowing the panelists and guests from both locations to interact with eachother. Attend the meeting live in Culver City or Pasadena, or attend virtually over the Internet!
A panel of wireless experts will discuss current happenings and trends in the industry, plus first-hand looks from folks who work with wireless on a daily basis.
Panelists are,
Humphrey Cheung, Editor, Tom's Guide Publishing LLC
Joseph Hsieh, CEO, Wireless Hotspot Inc. (Swifi)
Mike Outmesguine, CEO, TransStellar, Inc., and Chairman of SOCALWUG
H. Daniel Richards, 1st VP Wireless Solutions, Countrywide Financial
For meeting times and directions: Visit SOCALWUG Pasadena, Visit AITP-LA Culver City
If you can't come in person to either location, watch it Live over the Internet in streaming video via http://www.socalwug.org. If you missed it, the video will be archived forever on the SOCALWUG site.
Continue reading SOCALWUG Meeting Tonight - Panel: Wireless in Business
Welcome Poker Players
Another destination on the Weblogs Inc. Network! Poker players and fans will find the latest headlines and insights in the world of poker on our newest sister site pPlayer.com. To see all of our 70 topical weblogs here at WIN, look for the complete list about halfway down the right-hand column on this blog.
In-flight VOIP Calls Successful: Sky Skype
Here's a first-hand account of using Skype Voice over IP to make a phone call from 30,000 feet high over the
Atlantic. Edward Vielmetti writes about receiving a call made
through the Boeing Connexion airborne internet service on SAS Airlines. The caller,
Valdis Krebs, made the call using a Mac Powerbook with the built-in microphone and
speakers.
Bypassing the promise of in-flight cellular and
skipping the high cost, per-minute charges of Verizon Airfone service, this will spark more debate over whether people
should be
allowed to talk to those not sitting right next to them on the plane.
Blogging the DEMO Conference
15 companies are revealing and demonstrating their latest innovations at the 15th annual DEMO conference. If you are interested in some really cutting-edge technology, check out coverage of the conference happening right now at BloggingDemo.com. Our publisher, Jason Calacanis, and a couple of staff bloggers are putting up audio, video, and text impressions of the exhibition demos. It's a high-tech conference covered in high-tech style.
The VOIP Security Alliance Begins Now
The VOIP Security Alliance announced today the formation of
the alliance itself, made up of companies and individuals leading the convergence of voice and data.
VOIPSA hopes to bring awareness to security issues through research and testing.
They are are seeking community participation for upcoming research
projects.
(via Engadget)
Unravelling Telecom Merger-Mania
Engadget does a nice summary of the freakishly complex
history of the AT&T, AT&T Wireless, Cingular, SBC merger-mania going on over the last few months. From the 1984
breakup of AT&T into myriad baby bells and seemingly back again, Peter Rojas writes up the major points on a
demerge/merge timeline.
The NY Times covered the merging trend a
few days before the SBC/AT&T announcement, tracking the breakup of AT&T into 7 regional Baby Bells and
subsequent mergers creating 4 regional companies (they include a
nice graphic of the process.)
And as an aside, today the WSJ gives a
comprehensive history of the company
AT&T, starting in 1876 with Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone. Now that's history!
Bellster P2P VoIP Creates Free Calling to Regular Phones
Jeff Pulver, founder of VoIP service, Free World Dialup, has begun a
new project called Bellster. The concept is to create a peer-to-peer voice
over IP service that terminaties IP telephony calls through people's home PCs and personally owned telephone lines.
It's a communal spirit that reminds me of the white bicycle
plan during the free-love era in Amsterdam. But this time you are letting people use your phone: I make calls for free
using your phone line, you make calls for free using my phone line… All. Over. The. World.
Share and Enjoy!
New Site for Crisis Relief over Wireless - www.crow.net
I pulled an old domain out of storage to act as a single point of information and reference for the continuing
Post-Tsunami Reconnect effort. Until now,
information was posted on at least 4 different websites (socalwug.org,
wifi-toys.com, The Wireless
Weblog, & Bloggers without Borders) plus a mailing list
(socalwug discussion). The Crow.net website still
needs a lot of work, but the essential information is there. Plus the name and acronym happens to coincide with my
overall goal of helping people using wireless.
Crisis Relief over Wireless - visit www.crow.net
Mike O on WTR about Wireless Disaster Relief
Today I was interviewed by the morning zoo (Jim Sutton, Marlon Schafer, and Steve Stroh) at Wireless Tech Radio. We talked about wireless technology and how it can help after a crisis, specifically with the Indian Ocean tsunami. Download a roughcut MP3 recording of the 20 minute interview, or click below to go to the site for an audio archive of the whole show when it's available.
Additionally, I am heading to the WCA working meeting (Day 2, Thursday Jan 13th, 7:00am) to discuss how wireless technologies can help the tsunami relief and rebuilding effort. I'll post here with an update on that meeting.
Post-Tsunami Reconnect - Update for 1-3-05
In the last few days I was contacted by an outdoor wireless equipment vendor that may donate equipment (in addition to SmartBridges!) Also, volunteers have contacted me from wireless installation companies. These various individuals plan on travelling to the region and we will aim to supply them with hardware to install. I received notice that one company will donate their RF analysis services with topographic tower autocad analysis.
More people in the affected region have asked us about our effort and have are developing plans for deployment with us.
Folks from other relief efforts have contacted me about working together. Everyone is getting their plans developed for the best results.
Finally, I spoke with Calif. Air National Guard and USAF military personnel today about transporting the equipment into the region. They are optimistic, but space may be a factor for some equipment.
And many thanks to all for the kind donations! We will use the funds to buy cables and connectors to configure the equipment (unless we get donations from one of the many distributors in this realm.)
