Where’s the MAC Modem Driver For S60 Phones?

Tommi over at his S60 blog brings us the good news that Nokia has stepped up its activities to bring better support of N-Seires phones for Mac users. What I am still missing and constantly keep looking for is USB modem support for S60 phones. I am close to consider buying a Mac notebook when my current computing equipment needs replacement but this is one of the few things that still keep me from really doing it.

Some will say, pah, not needed, just use Bluetooth to connect to the phone. Good idea, but not fast enough anymore for HSDPA phones such as the N95. Anyone aware that USB modem drivers for the MAC exist for N-Series phones and I just did not find them so far?

Another theoretical approach might be to have a virtual machine running with Windows XP inside and install the drivers there!? Anyone tried this before? I haven’t the slightest clue if it’s possible. Even if it is would it be possible for Mac applications to use a dial up connection running in the virtual Windows XP? Any news and hints welcome!

Amazed By The Wifi Mesh of MIT’s One Laptop Per Child Project

Last week I had the enormous pleasure to have been invited to MIT’s Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts to take a look at their activities and in particular the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project. Walter Bender gave an intro and a hands on demo of the laptop and as you can see on the picture on the left he had all the eyes and ears of the audience.

Olpc_sm
It’s difficult if not impossible not be amazed by any part of the project and the green/white prototypes of the laptop and its software. As somebody who looses a word or two every now and then about communication and networks, I was especially interested in the Wifi Mesh network implementation and what kids can do with it. Communicating with each other, playing, painting pictures etc. etc. and of course get access to the Internet if a gateway is in reach of just one of the laptops forming a mesh network. Individual laptops act as a mesh node even when they are switched off. Great stuff! Details about the OLPC project in general and about the mesh implementation (complying to the current draft of 802.11s as much as possible) specifically can be found here.

The 3GSMWorldCongress Has Been Rebranded

Heike Scholz over at "Mobile Zeitgeist" is at the pulse of the time with her report that the 3GSMWorldCongress has been re-branded by the GSM Association into the "Mobile World Congress".

It’s an interesting move but I still haven’t figured out the real reasons for it… I think it’s more than just a new marketing strategy. Has there been a struggle about the rights to the name? Anyone?

Removing "3GSM" from the name of the conference opens up a number of interesting possibilities for the congress to develop in the future. The official statement for the re-branding is:

"The GSMA is rebranding the 3GSM World Congress and its sister event in
Asia to reflect their role encouraging the development of compelling
new mobile services for end-users."

I am not quite sure how the re-branding will help that goal!? Anyone? By removing "3GSM" from the name the congress might open up potentially for other technologies to be also present. We saw a bit of this already this year with a number of people showing WiMAX at their booths.

Another possibility for the name change could be that the GSM Association now considers GSM and UMTS to be the world’s dominant wireless standard implying that it’s obvious that a mobile world congress can only be about this technology!?

Whatever the reasons are I am sure it’s more than what they say in their official statement. Comments welcome.

WiMAX Waves

Lately, I’ve stumbled over statements like "Our WiMAX product supports 802.16e Wave 1 and 2 feature sets". It’s mentioned a lot but nobody goes into the details of what kind of features the different "waves", or versions, actually contain. So I’ve done some research on my own. I still don’t have all the details, but at least some clues.

From an article on "Mobilehandsetsdesignline":

"…The Wave 1 feature set focuses on single-input, single-output antenna systems and basic mobility.


On the heels of
Wave 1 will be Wave 2 certification testing. In addition to Wave 1
backward compatibility, Wave 2 focuses on advanced antenna array
features such as multiple-input, multiple output (MIMO) arrays and
using space-division multiple access (SDMA)-based beam forming. Wave 2
will most likely begin testing in late 2007 or early 2008. …"

And from "Informatm":

Wave 1 mobile WiMAX certification will embrace products in the 2.3GHz and 3.5GHz profiles. Wave 2 certification will then feature 2.5GHz products, and products with smart antenna capabilities like MIMO and beamforming.

In 2.3GHz the Plugfest tested channelization in the 8.75MHz range
for the Korean WiBro profile and 5MHz and 10MHz for the rest of the
world.

In 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz frequencies the channelization was 5MHz and 10MHz and in 3.5GHz the 7MHz profile was also utilised.

And finally, here’s a link to an Intel presentation where physical layer (only) functionality of wave 1 and wave 2 devices are described on the final two pages.

Is anyone aware of an official and published full list of wave 1 and wave 2 functionalities on all layers? If so, please let me know.

Blackberry meets Lederhosen

Starting the week in Boston, I flew over to Graz in Austria for the second half of the week to attend a wedding. It was a traditional wedding which means people were asked to attend in traditional costumes. Interesting to see that some (I spotted at least three) brought their Blackberries along to check their eMail every now and then. Blackberry meets Lederhosen (traditional leather pants)! I have to admit I was quite surprised by this, as people using mobile Internet access and people wearing Lederhosen usually have quite opposing views when it comes to technology. Interesting how the Internet and tradition start to melt.

Yes, Virtual COM Ports Are Fast Enough For Broadband Wireless Internet

Virtual_com_port
A couple of weeks ago, I speculated if virtual COM ports for mobile phones connected to a notebook via a USB cable are fast enough for broadband wireless Internet connections over HSDPA or EvDO Rev. A, B, etc. While some tests suggested that it could work, I wasn’t able to deliver final proof as I didn’t have a broadband mobile at the time. Now I’ve had the opportunity to run a real test with a Motorola V3xx, a category 6 HSDPA device capable of speeds up to 3.6 MBit/s. With download speeds around 2 MBit/s at the location I tested it, it shows quite clearly that virtual com ports do not have the speed limitations of their serial ancestors. The Motorola driver even announces a maximum transmission speed of 12 MBit/s. As shown in the initial post linked above, however, this value is pretty much meaningless. Anyway, it’s good to see we haven’t hit a limit here in a similar way as in Bluetooth, which can barely keep up.

How To Survive With Free WiFi in the US

Here I am in Boston and thanks to no data roaming agreements and use of different frequencies for UMTS my 3G mobile phones are pretty much useless. Well, pretty much but not quite as my N93 has Wifi on board which works over here just as well as back in the old world. So before I started my recent trip to Boston I was not quite sure how well free and municipal Wifi would keep me connected. After having been here for a couple of days, here’s what I experienced:

Free Hotel Wifi

Before coming over I searched the net if there are any hotels which have wireless Internet access included in the room price. While you would not find such a thing in Europe, there are actually a number of chains in the US that do this. A quick search came up with BestWestern and DaysInn hotels. It’s important to check that Wifi is  available in all rooms or at least in the room you reserve. Otherwise, "Wifi available" could also mean that you can only surf in the lobby. I decided to stay in a DaysInn hotel as the room rates are around 75 dollars a night including Wifi. I double checked availability by calling the hotel before making the reservation and was not disappointed. The Wifi signal in the room was strong and the bandwidth with about 400 – 600 kbit/s good enough for VoIP, web surfing, business and of course, blogging.

Wifi on the Go

Salemopen
I like to check my eMail and my favourite news web sites every now and then while I am on the move so the next crucial thing was whether there were enough open Wifi hotspots along my path to keep me connected. I toured Salem, Portsmouth and Boston and was never disappointed. Many coffee shops along the route offered free Wifi. Salem was the most noteworthy city with free Wifi almost at every corner. This might be due to the SalemOpen.Net initiative started back in 2004. Well, it paid out to get me as a customer as the local coffee shops sold more to me than if there had been no Wifi around. I also noticed that many restaurants and coffee shops offer free Wifi without advertising it at the door. Some of them seem to do it intentionally as their Wifi network name (SSID) is usually the name of their business. Others just seem to have put a Wifi access point in place without doing anything and I encountered "linksys" access points more than once. Well, thanks for the ride.

While small businesses seem to have caught the idea of offering Wifi to their customers as an incentive to come and stay, bigger businesses like for example "Borders Books" only offered paid Wifi. Well, looks like they don’t need the moving elite to buy books from them. Also, I found directories of establishments offering free Wifi like this one a good thing to get a first idea of what’s available where you go but it’s impractical to plan your trip around the locations that are listed.

Summary

All in all I am quite happy to see that the idea of open and free Wifi for customers has taken hold in the U.S. (or at least here in Massachusetts) and much more so than in Europe where this phenomena is not yet wide spread. Also searching for free Internet access before sitting down somewhere is a charm with a Wifi enabled phone or PDA. If I lived here, however, I’d still take a service contract from one of the wireless operators, as hunting for a hot spot is definitely not something I would like to make a habit out of.

Who’s On Air At 1900 MHz in Boston For A EU Mobile?

I am back in the U.S. after 8 or 9 years of absence, reflecting my first impression over pancakes at Denny’s. Glad to see that since my absence GSM networks have sprung up here as well and my triband phones pick up both Cingular and T-Mobile U.S. just fine.

My German T-Mobile prepaid SIM card works just fine for both incoming and outgoing calls and even GPRS (no comment on costs though…). T-Mobile’s network around Boston has EDGE activated but since the cost for my roaming SIM card is prohibitive I rather not make any speed tests. Strange that Cingular still runs on GPRS, no EDGE in sight here.

My E-Plus (KPN) prepaid SIM card is also able to attach to both the T-Mobile and Cingular networks and incoming calls work fine. No GPRS though and outgoing calls are blocked. I already knew from their Web site but I would have liked to be positively surprised.