Wireless Tech Chat

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]

American Airlines says it will launch an in-flight WiFi service within the next two years. The carrier just signed an agreement with AirCell to provide passengers with 801.11a/b/g broadband connectivity within its aircraft.

Testing is set to begin next year, but no specific date as to when the service will go live has been extablished.

The service will be offered on a pay-per-use model. JetBlue is about to offer a similar service, so it could be that airlines are investigating whether in-flight WiFi will provide a steady revenue stream. The Connexion by Boeing system was shut down a while back, so time will tell if WiFi on a plane will succeed.

[Via Mobilemag]

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]

Commuters in parts of the Bay Area are in line to be the recipients of a new WiFi network that will give them information such as real-time traffic reports and weather updates as they make their way to their destinations behind the wheel.

If approved by the various municipality and county boards (at a cost of $150 million dollars to be underwritten by the likes of IBM, Cisco Systems, among others), the network will cover every city in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, which equals about 1,500 square miles. It will be accessible to all households, businesses, and emergency response agencies such as police and fire departments.

Transponders will be placed in about 40 different locations tretching from El Camino Real to San Francisco. Here’s the key question: How will drivers view this information? Will it be sent to their cellphones, or will they have to have a special viewing screen placed inside their vehicles?

This is an important consideration because there are many complaints about drivers being distracted by being on their cellphones and/or sending text messages while they’re driving. This sort of system could be the cause of numerous accidents caused by careless drivers. It might be worth testing this system under all types of conditions before deploying it to the masses.

[Via ABC7News.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]