Wireless Tech Chat

The New York City public school system has been on record for a few years as being against students carrying/bringing cellphones inside the school building. However, times have changed, and kids rely on cellphones just as much as their parents do. This has been an incredibly controversial issue, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg firmly against schoolchildren having cellphones and parents groups saying that kids need them because that is an important method to keep in touch with them.

Depsite the City Council allowing kids to have cellphones, many city education officials are not completely sold on them. However, they may relent a little bit with the idea being brought forth by the Education Department’s chief quality officer, Roland G. Fryer, is looking to implement a program to give cellphones to students and reward them with free minutes if they do well in the classroom.

The idea is to motivate students to do well, but a number of officials and other interested parties have expressed their concerns that this incentive program will only have students concentrate on getting the phone and the minutes and not really learning the material being taught to them.

This certainly is something that needs to be investigated further and possibly tested in a controlled environment. Obviously, most families can afford to give their school-aged children cellphones, but the kids do have to learn to use them responsibly, which is not always easy to put across. Can a program like this work? The old “carrot on a stick” theory keeps popping up here.

For some of the latest and coolest gadgets, check out our sister blog Gadget Dose.

[Via New York Times]

One of the more exciting areas that wireless technology has found increasing usage is in the hospital setting, where wireless network access, VoIP telephony, and devices and applications used to treat and care for patients.

Facilities such as Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago are leveraging wireless technology such as in portable heart monitors to keep tabs on patients at all times while allowing them the ability to leave their rooms and move around the building, with the permission of their caregivers.

In addition, patients, caregivers, and visitors are better able to access the Internet wirelessly to view information and, in the case of patients, allow them to occupy their time a little more productively than staring at the ceiling or at the television in their rooms. Plus, doctors and other hospital staff can use their PDAs and other monitoring devices anywhere within the building, which gives them the flexibility to access information and respond at any time.

Of course, this technology does not come cheaply, but hospitals will have to adapt in order to better care for their patients.

[Via PCWorld]

Due to a serious lack of funding, Missouri is the only state in the U.S. that virtually has no wireless 911 service to speak of. And with people being more mobile, as well as the growing trend of ditching landline phones, it is essential that our local portfolio of services include wireless 911.

At this point, there is no system set up to fund wireless 911 in Missouri. There’s been talk of adding a fee onto a cellphone user’s monthly bill, or a fee on tires or batteries. In addition, the state legislature has yet to vote on any kind of measure, either.

Basically, the system lies dormant, and unfortunately it will likely take something catastrophic for someone to sit up, take notice, and get something done. I have to believe that most Missourians would not mind a small fee out of their pockets to fund this essential service, but time will tell if someone will take the initiative and
understand that this is a necessary evil.

[Via Quincy Herald Whig]

I ran across this article the other day about T-Mobile’s HotSpot @Home service, which basically allows you to use both cellular network and WiFi connections with a compatible cellphone. The inference is that if you purchase this service, you could very will likely get rid of your landline phone.

That got me to thinking that with all the advances of cellphones over the past couple of years, and with the availability of WiFi-enabled phones as well as VoIP service through your computer, has the time come for us to ditch our traditional landline phones that we have relied on since the beginning of time?

If you asked me this question even a year ago, I would have told you no, it’s not time yet. I didn’t trust that my cellular service would be available in every nook and cranny I go, and that WiFi and VoIP service can be spotty more times than I liked to see.

However, my thinking has changed. I’m an AT&T customer (formerly Cingular), and I don’t travel as much for business as I used to, but I haven’t had any troubles getting a signal for quite a while now. (I’m sure AT&T is happy to hear that, but let’s not throw them a parade, either!)

In addition, I have a Skype account, which I don’t use that often, but it is available to me at any time I want to use it, and I haven’t experienced much difficulty with it. Of course, VoIP still has a ways to go in terms of consistent connectivity, but it’s much better than it was a year ago. And let’s not forget WiFi-enabled phones, which are getting increasingly popular and their designs, once clunky, are now getting more sleek and streamlined.

Plus, let’s not forget the most important factor–cost. Traditional phone service is still costly, and we all know you can get a good cellular service plan at an affordable price. In addition, there’s the issue of portability–you literally can carry your home phone with you at all times anywhere you want. You can now do away with multiple phones and multiple phone bills and so on.

So, the time may be right for me and others who think alike to get rid of our landline phones. Yes, you get better call quality with a landline phone, and we did grow up with them and are used to them, but it could be time to change. I’m still wrestling with the decision, but I am moving ever closer to ripping the phone off the wall and replacing it with a picture.

How about you?

[Via Tennessean.com]

OK, OK, with all of the hubbub over the iPhone comes word of an “accusation” from Duke University, who says that the proliferation of iPhones in and around the campus are jamming part of its wireless network.

According to the university, it seems that about 100 to 150 iPhones have been registered on the wireless network, and it appears that their use has been freezing the system for up to 10 minutes at a time.

It’s gotten so that Duke has contacted Apple to analyze the problem, and the company says it will look into the situation and advise the university as to how to correct it. The device accesses through AT&T’s Edge network or through a WiFi signal. When a hotspot is unavailable, it automatically switches to the Edge network but continues to check for a hotpsot.

Adjustments may be made on the network to accommodate the iPhone which, no doubt, a fair number of Duke students have already purchased (or will be purchasing) before classes start next month.

If it’s not one thing, it’s another…

[Via Yahoo! News]

New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) says it is moving forward to authorize cellular service in all of its 277 underground station within New York City. Plans call for a contract to be signed in the next few months.

This whole process began nearly two years ago, but negotiations with a number of wireless providers have been stop-and-go,
but things should get on the right track (pardon the pun!) fairly soon. It remains to be seen who may end up as the premier
service provider, but we should have a better idea in the near future.

[Via New York Post]

Claiming it to be the first of its kind in the nation, Boston’s police commissioner has announced a new text messaging system that will allow for the sending of anonymous tips to the police.

According to Commissioner Edward F. Davis, a tipster would dial CRIME (27463) and enter the word “tip”. The tipster then gets a message from the tipline to call 911, and then another message that asks for details on the incident (date, time, place, etc.). The tipster is also prompted to describe the type of incident by typing in a letter choice–A for violent crime, B for drugs, C for gang activity, or D for other.

The department stresses that all text messages are anonymous. Although the system is geared toward convincing younger people to send in information if they see something that would require a police response, anyone can (and is encouraged) to use it.

Other cities, including New York and Los Angeles, are experimenting with a similar system, but Boston is the first to actually put one in place.

[Via Boston.com]

If you watch TV (and who among us doesn’t?), you no doubt know what the Nielsen Ratings are. If your favorite show has a high Nielsen rating, it’s going to be on the air for a while to come. If it doesn’t, then it won’t–simple as that.

This week, the Nielsen Company has launched Nielsen Wireless, which is a service that will track how cellphone users use their devices to access content, such as the web and streaming video, among others. According to most estimates, there are currently 230 million cellphone users in the U.S.

The company says it will begin marketing its service to wireless carriers and mobile content providers, and will also look to sell it to potential clients such as traditional media vendors, agencies, and advertisers.

An example of the type of data Nielsen Wireless will be providing includes information that for the first quarter of this year, 25 percent of 18-24 year olds used their cellphones to connect to the Internet. In addition, data reveals that nearly half (46 percent) of the audience that views mobile video is at least 35 years of age or older. This is a bit of a
surprise, because the conventional wisdom was that mobile video was being targeted more toward a younger demographic.

In any event, it will be interesting to see if the cellphone companies as well as mobile content providers will opt to get the Nielsen Wireless service and subject themselves to the whims of the ratings system.

[Via AdWeek]

No one ever said the mobile entertainment business was going to be easy.

Amp’d Mobile has just filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and there is no guarantee that the less-than-two-year-old company will be able to get back on its feet. Various reports indicate Amp’d is over $100 million in debt, including $33 million owed to Verizon Wireless for using its network and $16.4 million to Motorola for cellphones.

At this point, it doesn’t appear they will be able to generate enough business in the near future–mobile entertainment, while certainly worthy of the “coolness factor” badge–just doesn’t seem to be appealing to the public on a mass scale. Most cellular service subscribers want to be able to place and receive calls consistently and are not that overly wild about watching video their phone handsets. Yes, Amp’d Mobile’s “Lil’ Bush” cartoon series did generate some buzz in the past year, but apparently not enough to have caused a public stampede to purchase their services.

Amp’d Mobile has about 200,000 customers but also has a high (7% to 8% percent) montly turnover rate, so the chances for the company to emerge from Chapter 11 on a growth pattern remain dicey at best.

[Via Seattle Times]

ESPN is getting into the cellphone game again. If you remember not that long ago, ESPN ventured into the cellphone arena by having their own line of phones manufactured and offering exclusive content to their subscribers. This was at a time (2005-2006) when it seemed that everyone was jumping into the cellphone/branded content game, and the sports network thought it could bring in a healthy revenue stream by going mobile. They thought wrong.

Suffice to say, ESPN Mobile was a spectacular failure. Subscriber projections never came close to expectations–the company thought that their many of their viewers would drop their existing cellphone plans and switch over to ESPN just to get sports-related content such as highlights, statistics, and so forth. Well, it didn’t happen, and ESPN Mobile shuttered its doors early in 2006, but they did say they would seek to offer their content to an existing cellular service provider as an add-on.

This week, ESPN and Verizon Wireless have inked a deal whereby subscribers to the VCast service will now have access to game highlights, up-to-the minute scores, and other related ESPN content. Will this create a fairly fluid and consistent revenue stream for ESPN? It’s too early to speculate at this point, but time will tell if Verizon Wireless subscribers who don’t already have the VCast service will plunk down the $15 a month to get it.

[Via Reuters]