Totally Unplugged

New mobile security threats emerge

06/12/07

Mobile phone capabilities are growing by leaps and bounds — and so are mobile security threats.

Microsoft’s mobile strategy set to pay off

04/10/07

The biggest news from the recent CTIA Wireless 2007 show: After years of mostly talking about mobile applications and content, the industry is finally acting. And, lo and behold, Microsoft is positioned to cash in.

How to be a more creative IT professional

02/12/07

Good news: You don't have to be a sorcerer or even a genius to come up with brilliant ideas or inventions. According to Professor R. Keith Sawyer at Washington University in St. Louis, the latest research shows that you have a much better chance of being creative than previously thought.

Are you ready for the mobile extranet?

11/09/06

With access to more than 2 billion people worldwide, mobile phones increasingly feature color screens and GPS navigation, and mobile TV is just around the corner. The advertising, transaction-handling and customer service possibilities are endless.

A giant step for enterprise wireless LANs

09/04/06

Fixed-mobile convergence has been touted for years. At times it sounds more like science fiction than practical business solution. There is, nonetheless, reason to take another look. The key components finally are coming together: VoIP, Wi-Fi handsets, W

Steering 802.11n between the icebergs

06/26/06

The draft 802.11n standard for next-generation wireless LANs failed to garner the 75% of votes required for adoption at last month's Task Group N meeting. This was expected. Many diverse companies have a stake in this standard, and it would have been a bigger surprise had the draft won a supermajority on the first ballot.

Wireless and the great indoors

04/17/06

With mobile phone service available in more than 210 countries, blanketing most major cities, you might think rural areas are the top priority for extending wireless coverage. You would be wrong. There is an urgent need for better wireless coverage much closer to home. In fact, it's inside the home - and all other buildings.

802.11n reaches the starting line

01/30/06

Standards are crucial to telecom market growth. But we should have no illusions about the standards-setting process. Vendors will always try to manipulate the system for their own advantage. The only way to create a standard to which everyone will adhere is to ensure the process is open and fair.

Get ready for mobile marketing

11/07/05

The main takeaway from the recent CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment show is clear: Your cell phone is about to become a handheld information and entertainment center. The implications for companies are potentially huge. The mobile phone is positioned to become the dominant e-commerce platform.

The well-connected laptop

08/22/05

Now that laptop users have been given a taste of wireless, it's likely that users will demand ubiquitous access, and the technologies to make it happen are finally coming together. But there are some important technical and business challenges the industry must addresses.

Apple not switching to Wintel

06/27/05

If there is a casualty of Apple's strategic switch (besides IBM), it is the myth that Apple exists merely to provide an alternative to Microsoft and Intel. Apple's mission is, and always has been, to develop and sell innovative products at a profit. Jobs compared Intel's technology road map with Apple's product road map and saw a match. It's that simple.

Looking beyond 3G wireless

04/18/05

The mobile phone industry finally is launching long-awaited 3G wireless services - and already a potentially huge problem looms.

Blogosphere vs. mainstream media

02/14/05

Blogs will complement rather than replace traditional media. They can provide links to multiple sources and a place for readers to contribute immediate feedback. Blogs are not better than the mainstream media, but they are different. And if that extracts additional value from the mainstream media or helps keep them honest, then more power to the blogs.

Wireless innovation or intimidation?

11/22/04

The Wi-Fi Alliance insinuates that some vendors are misrepresenting products as conforming to a standard that probably won't be finalized until 2006. That's a red herring. The real problem is that products conforming to the 802.11n standard won't appear until 2007, but products offering the advantages of 802.11n technology are available now.

Wireless insecurity rising

09/06/04

Today, anyone can create a wireless network or wirelessly extend an enterprise network using inexpensive wireless routers and client adapters from major retail chains. But making it easier for hackers to access enterprise data is by no means the only security risk that companies face. Individuals intent on stealing music or uploading porn prefer to borrow someone else's network. And unauthorized wireless nodes can cause interference to authorized nodes, disrupting network operations.

Beware the machine-to-machine hype

07/05/04

Eventually, the industry will develop machine-to-machine solutions that satisfy the needs of broad market segments. But counting 1 trillion things that could be connected to networks, and predicting that today's tiny wireless machine-to-machine market will be tomorrow's behemoth, won't help us get there.

Camera phones are here to stay

04/12/04

Last year, more than 75 million camera phones were sold worldwide. Are they just a consumer fad, or do they have the potential to be a useful business tool?

IM expands its enterprise reach

01/26/04

The demand for more powerful ways of keeping in touch continues to grow - even as users complain about loss of privacy. However, the two are not mutually exclusive. More powerful means of keeping in touch also can provide more powerful controls. With wireless IM, we can be in touch precisely where we want, when we want, with whom we want and in the mode we want.

Coming to a handset near you

09/22/03

I come not to tout The Next Big Thing. I come to tout The Next Small Thing: mobile video. It's easy to dismiss mobile video as a solution in search of a problem. But take a closer look and a different picture emerges.

Debunking the hot-spot hype

07/21/03

Yes, there is a very nice niche market for Wi-Fi hot spots in airports, business-class hotels and convention centers. But as a substitute for 3G wireless, Wi-Fi doesn't stand a chance.

Wireless security not an oxymoron

06/02/03

Wireless LANs became the industry's laughingstock when reports surfaced about "parking lot attacks" on corporate networks. Now, WLANs are shaping up as the battleground for enhanced security products that could lead the way for the entire network industry.

Another episode of 'FCC Knows Best'

03/31/03

The attitude of Powell's FCC boils down to this: Industry won't move forward unless pushed, and consumers can't be trusted to make the right purchasing decisions. This FCC-knows-best philosophy, if applied to the 'Net, could lead to a cyberspace version of Ma Bell.

Scale grid computing down to size

01/27/03

Grid computing captured imaginations by creating 'Net-based virtual supercomputers out of hundreds of thousands of existing computers. But like many big ideas, grid computing is fraught with challenges, and the best opportunities might prove quite different from what pioneers envisioned.

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