U-traveller Model T1/T2 GPS Tracker

Product Introduction
1.
Main Features
Non built-
design,
forever.
1) Non built-in battery design,DON’T replace battery forever.
SMS.
2) Fully support owner checking and operating GPS tracker by SMS.
technology
global.
3) Can position even no GPS signal, with unique patent technology in the global.
4) Use independent intellectual property rights AGPS technology to quicken
speed.
positioning speed.
peers.
5) Price is the lowest in the industry peers.
2. Product Pictures
3. Product Specification
1) GPS Features
Channel:Paralleled 20 Channels
Sensitivity:<-162dBm(2 times then other products)
(
products)
TTFF: Cold start 45s, Hot start 3s(Positioning more rapid)
rapid)
(
Shenzhen TBIT Technology Co., Ltd
Fix Accuracy: <10m
Speed Accuracy: 0.3m/s
2) GSM Features
Frequency: GSM 900/1800/800/1900
Maximum transmission power: 1W
3) Main Features
Dimensions:85mm×52mm×14mm
85mm×52mm×14mm
85mm×52mm×14m
Operating Voltage: 12V/24V
Maximum Operating Current: < 250mA(12V)
Standard Operating Current: < 15mA(12V)
Operating temperature: -20 °C ~ +70 °C
Humidity: 20 ~ 95%
4.
Contrast Model T1 with T2
U-traveller model T GPS trackers are applicable to car(12V/24V) and motorcycle
(12V/24V)
Two model of U-traveller Model T GPS traces: U-traveller Model T1, U-traveller
Model T2, distinctions as below:
Function
U-traveller T1
U-traveller T2
Function Descriptions
Vibrate Alarm Yes yes The system auto alarm if the car
was touched in the arm state.
Vehicle moved alarm yes yes Cross border alarm system occurs
if the car was illegally moved to
surpass certain distance in the
arm state.
SMS Control yes yes Check the car, set parameter,
address auto-reply by SMS.
ACC Detection no yes Detect car ACC signal.
Oil cut & power off no yes By SMS command or backstage
command to cut (or recover) car
oil-way.
Car locking detection no yes Detect the owner locking then
function auto-enter arm state; detect the
owner unlocking then auto-enter
disarming state.
5.
Product Interface Specifications
Cable( lines)
1) Power Cable(2 lines)
Color
Red
Description
Positive pole, Connects car 12V/24V
Shenzhen TBIT Technology Co., Ltd
Black
Negative pole, connects earth wire or bonding
Cable( line)
2) Function Cable(2 line)----- only apply to Model T2
Color
White
Purple
Green
Brown
6.
Description
ACC detection
Oil cut and power off
Locking detection cable
unlocking detection cable
Components
Components
U-traveller T1 U-traveller T2 Host 1 yes yes Power Cable 1 yes yes Function Cable 1 no yes Only T2
Oil cut relay 1 no yes Only T2
Velcro 1 yes yes Body use
Certification 1 yes yes User manual
7.
Num
Remarks
1 yes yes
Warranty card included
Contact Us
Website:www.tbit.com.cn, www.utraveller.net

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The model S GPS tracker

Main Features
1、 Fully support owner checking and operating GPS tracker by SMS, search the car
in the internet.
2、Can position even no GPS signal, with unique patent technology in the global.
3、Oil cut & Power off:(This function should be scheduled)
4、Notify the owners of warning message(vibrated alarm、power off alarm)
5、Built-in battery,can work without battery, easy to hide.
6、Search the car in the internet(Positioning、monitoring、historical track、data
statistics)
7、Small size, easy to install.
8、Price is the lowest in the industry peers.
Product Specification
1For car (9V-30V)、
2For motorcycle(12V)
For electrocar(30-50V)
Function introduction
1、 SMS checking:
Through the cell phone to locate、
tracking、
query status、
query
:
parameters、set parameters almost all of operations. The Position description in
Chinese will send to the owners.
2、Vibration alarm:In arm status, if somebody shakes the motorbike, the device
:
will send the SMS to the owner.
3、 Cross-border alarm:In arm status, the car removed to surpass certain
:
distance will report the alarm. And the alarm will send to the platform and the
owners.
4、Online Checking:
Check where your car/motorcycle is online through three
maps.
5、 Web alarm:Speeding alert、zone alert,web pop-up alert.
6、Data statistics:Speeding statistics、Mileage statistics、the number of alarm
statistics.
7、 Remote controlling oil and circuit:you can control the oil and circuit via the
unit by SMS in anywhere and anytime.
(This function should be scheduled)
Product specification:
specification:
1、GPS Features
Chipset:SiRF StarIII(GSC3f/LP)
Receiver: L1(1575.42MHz)、C/A(1.023MHz)
Channel:Paralleled 20 channels
Sensitivity:<-156dBm
TTFF: Cold start 60s, Hot start 3s
Fix Accuracy: <10m
Speed Accuracy: 0.3m/s
2、GSM Features
Frequency: GSM 900/1800
Maximum transmission power: 1W
3、Main Features
Dimensions:75mm×52mm×20mm
Operating Voltage: 9V~24V(clairvoyant Model S);36V~50V(Ears Model S)
Maximum Operating Current: <800mA(12V)
Standard Operating Current: <10mA(12V)
Operating temperature: -20 °C ~ +70 °C
Humidity: 20 ~ 95%

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Speed-of-light experiments give baffling result at Cern

The neutrinos are fired deep under the Italian Apennines at Gran Sasso

Puzzling results from Cern, home of the LHC, have confounded physicists - because it appears subatomic particles have exceeded the speed of light.

Neutrinos sent through the ground from Cern toward the Gran Sasso laboratory 732km away seemed to show up a tiny fraction of a second early.

The result - which threatens to upend a century of physics - will be put online for scrutiny by other scientists.

In the meantime, the group says it is being very cautious about its claims.

"We tried to find all possible explanations for this," said report author Antonio Ereditato of the Opera collaboration.

"We wanted to find a mistake - trivial mistakes, more complicated mistakes, or nasty effects - and we didn't," he told BBC News.

"When you don't find anything, then you say 'Well, now I'm forced to go out and ask the community to scrutinise this.'"

Caught speeding?

The speed of light is the Universe's ultimate speed limit, and much of modern physics - as laid out in part by Albert Einstein in his special theory of relativity - depends on the idea that nothing can exceed it.

Much of modern physics depends on the idea that nothing can exceed the speed of light

Thousands of experiments have been undertaken to measure it ever more precisely, and no result has ever spotted a particle breaking the limit.

But Dr Ereditato and his colleagues have been carrying out an experiment for the last three years that seems to suggest neutrinos have done just that.

Neutrinos come in a number of types, and have recently been seen to switch spontaneously from one type to another.

The team prepares a beam of just one type, muon neutrinos, sending them from Cern to an underground laboratory at Gran Sasso in Italy to see how many show up as a different type, tau neutrinos.

In the course of doing the experiments, the researchers noticed that the particles showed up a few billionths of a second sooner than light would over the same distance.

The team measured the travel times of neutrino bunches some 15,000 times, and have reached a level of statistical significance that in scientific circles would count as a formal discovery.

But the group understands that what are known as "systematic errors" could easily make an erroneous result look like a breaking of the ultimate speed limit, and that has motivated them to publish their measurements.

"My dream would be that another, independent experiment finds the same thing - then I would be relieved," Dr Ereditato said.

But for now, he explained, "we are not claiming things, we want just to be helped by the community in understanding our crazy result - because it is crazy".

"And of course the consequences can be very serious."

resource:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15017484

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Droid Bionic scavenger hunt kicks into full gear

Motorola and Verizon are sending eager smartphone buyers on a scavenger hunt across the Web for one of the fall’s hottest new devices, the Droid Bionic.

The company recently launched an augmented reality scavenger hunt app — available through the Android Store — that gives players a chance at winning one of 192 smartphones. The app directs players to use their smartphones or tablets to chase down components.

The smartphone is supposed to be another credible competitor to Apple’s iPhone 5, along with the newly revealed Samsung Galaxy S II. Verizon’s been fairly mum on the specifics of the phone, but did launch a Facebook page confirming a few attributes of the device.

According to the page, the phone has 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of memory, plus the ability to print wirelessly and act as a “webtop” via an application that seems to let users view their phone on an external screen.

Rumor has it that the phone will be released on Wednesday, Sept. 8, but Verizon has not confirmed that date.

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Sprint files suit to block AT&T, T-Mobile merger

Sprint Nextel on Tuesday filed a complaint in federal court aiming to block AT&T’s $39 billion bid for T-Mobile.

The suit follows the Justice Department’s lawsuit filed last week, also trying to prevent the merger between the nation’s second- and fourth-largest wireless carriers.

Sprint Nextel said in its suit, filed in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, that AT&T’s proposed merger with T-Mobile would violate antitrust laws. By taking legal action, Sprint creates a record of its objections to the controversial merger and gains another platform to fight against the transaction.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Rebecca Arbogast said the suit is also significant because “it would keep the challenge alive in court even if DOJ were to drop its case against the merger.”

The lawsuit filed by Sprint, a staunch critic of the deal since it was announced last March, was assigned to Judge Ellen Huvelle, the same judge who will hear the Justice Department’s suit against the merger.

Sprint has consistently argued that the merger would hobble its business and effectively end its ability to survive on its own.

“With today’s legal action, we are continuing that advocacy on behalf of consumers and competition, and expect to contribute our expertise and resources in proving that the proposed transaction is illegal,” said Z. Haller, Sprint’s vice president of litigation.

Justice officials last week argued that the merger would create a duopoly in the cellular market that would lead to fewer choices for consumers, higher bills and less innovation in the thriving market for smartphones and other wireless devices.

AT&T criticized Sprint’s suit. AT&T argues its deal will mean more consumers will get its broadband mobile services. Sprint and consumer groups argue that the merger will create a duopoly wireless landscape that will inevitably lead to higher prices and fewer competitors.

“This simply demonstrates what we’ve said all along – Sprint is more interested in protecting itself than it is in promoting competition that benefits consumers,”AT&T said in a statement. “We of course will vigorously contest this matter in court.”

AT&T has said it will continue to fight for its merger. It hopes to reach a settlement with Justice, but says it will defend the deal in court if there’s no agreement.

AT&T will have to pay an estimated $6 billion in cash and spectrum assets to T-Mobile if the deal isn’t complete by September, 2012. But according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company may not have to pay that penalty if conditions and costs associated with the deal exceed $7.8 billion.

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Mobile Communication Technology

Mobile communication technology is a term that is basically given to the technology used as the communication mode for the portable devices such as cellular phones, laptops, palmtops, digital assistants, global positioning systems, wireless card payment systems etc.

There are many technologies that are used in communication of these devices such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), GSM services (2G and 3G), GPRS, Bluetooth, Virtual Private Networks, dial up modems etc. Using these technologies, one can easily communicate from office, home, car and even while traveling. Using the web or WAP services to access internet either on phone or laptops is known as mobile computing which is also considered as a part of mobile communication technology.

Some of the foremost technologies that are used in the field of Mobile Communication can be listed as:

1. GPRS: General Packet Radio System is a mobile technology that uses GSM services for data communication. It is mainly used for providing the data services on cellular devices. One of the drawback of GPRS service was its slow connectivity, but with the coming up of 3rd Generation of GSM, the speed limit has been increased and the data transmission has become quite fast. GPRS holds a unique feature by which a user can very easily transmit the data while making calls.

2. EDGE: Enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution or EGPRS is a technology having the faster data transmission rate as compared to GPRS. If the EDGE network is not available in some places, then there GPRS service is used as a replacement of EDGE.

3. Wi-Fi: Wireless fidelity is the technology that uses wireless technology communication for the data transmission; previously Wi-Fi was only used with laptops and palmtops but now-a-days it is also used with modern cellular phones that have Wi-Fi services. The benefit of using Wi-Fi technology is transmission speed as it can support up-to 100 Mbps.

4. Bluetooth: Bluetooth is a technology that is used for the transmission of data between devices in a small range of 100 meter. The network formed from by Bluetooth devices is known as Piconet. The Bluetooth technology can be used to create connections between multiple devices resulting in machine to machine communication. At one time, seven devices can communicate via Bluetooth.

5. GSM: Global System for Mobile communications is a technology used for digital cellular networks used for second generation technology but later it is succeeded by 3G to increase the speed of circuit switched network. GSM network works on different frequencies for 2G and 3G.

• 2G GSM network operate in 850 Mhz or 1900 Mhz frequencies.
• 3G GSM network operate in 2100Mhz frequency

Key features of 3G are video calling, video download, transfer the large amount of data at a very high speed.

Apart from these, there are many other technologies such as VPN which is used to access external networks by a secured channel.

The benefit of mobile technologies is that it makes our life very easy as we can access data resources and services from any part of the world. But at the same time, it faces certain problems as well such as network problems, security issues and cost of data services. But with advance in technology, these problems are gradually decreasing and mobile communication technology is making our life very easy

Christa Joe is the author of this article. She has been demonstrating her writing skills by writing the articles for mobile software development companies like Q3 technologies from last two years. She is also used to write good articles for custom application development.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6531358

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How Does a Wireless Access Point Work?

Wireless networks have been available for quite a number of years now, and prior to their introduction the only option available for Local Area Networks was through the use of copper, twisted pair cabling. A Wireless Access Point is used in a Wi-Fi network as a central hub, to allow wireless client devices to connect through to a wired network. The WAP authenticates wireless clients and then relays data between other wireless clients and also devices on the wired network. A Wireless Access Point will often be connected through a router or switch to make the connection or interface with the wired network.

Wi-Fi networks support the IEEE 802.11 standard for passing data traffic using radio frequencies as the physical medium, within allotted frequency bands. Such networks are often referred to as a WLAN, which stands for Wireless LAN because of the localized area in which the wireless network operates. Some WLANs can operate without the need to use a WAP in a peer-to-peer configuration which is termed an "ad hoc" network, but these are inefficient and problematic.

Some of the early Wireless Access Points only supported a few clients (typically 10-30), but most modern WAPs support up to 254 wireless clients using a whole Class C network range or sub network of a larger Class A or Class B range. Most Broadband routers and gateways designed for the home user now have wireless as an option to wired connection. These routers effectively have a built-in wireless access point and DHCP Server for automatic allocation of IP Addresses. The SSID (Service Set Identifier) is normally configurable and is used to identify your wireless network from other networks in range. Most wireless clients in Desktop or Notebook computers will often use Microsoft's Wireless Zero Configuration to find all available wireless networks and allow a user to connect to a preferred Wi-Fi network.

In a corporate environment, several Wireless Access Points may be used to allow hundreds or thousands of clients to connect to the corporate network through the wireless environment. Each WAP will need a wired connection to the LAN and WAPs are normally positioned so as the wireless signals overlap, allowing clients to have mobility and roam between different Access Points. To ensure full coverage within a large area, a wireless site survey will need to be conducted to ensure each WAP is positioned in an optimum location to ensure total coverage. You can look at it a bit like the Cellular system used within our mobile phone networks.

Whether you are setting up a WAP for a home network or corporate network then security should be a big consideration. Wireless networks work by sharing the frequency space amongst all clients in a similar fashion to a wired LAN. Instead of using CSMA/CD, WLANs use CSMA/CA (Carrier Sensed Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance. The fact that it is a shared environment and that the radio signals are propagated within an area means that any wireless client within range can detect and connect to that network. A number of security standards have been developed for use with Wireless Networks and WAPs over recent years.

Authentication and Encryption are the key to securing a WLAN via a Wireless Access Point. One of the first standards was known as WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) which used either a 64-bit or 128-bit encryption key and provided limited security. This was often sufficient for most home WLANs but certainly not strong enough for the corporate environment. Along came WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) and then WPA2 which used much stronger encryption algorithms and IEEE 802.11i specifies the use of WPA2.

If you are setting up a Wireless Access Point to create a home network, or using a Wireless Router with built in WAP, then configure a unique SSID that will identify your network and check which security standards are supported and select the most secure. For example, if your device supports WEP 64-bit, WEP 128-bit WPA and WPA2 or WPA with PSK then implement WPA2.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6533465

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Why LEDs Are Becoming the Lighting of Choice for Boaters

Ask any group of boaters what their biggest gripe with their boat is, and it's a safe bet that the cost of fuel and electricity use are close to the top of the list of complaints. It doesn't matter if you have a small sailboat of a large cruiser, you're going to need electricity, and the only way to get it is to generate it onboard yourself. This means boats must use generators, batteries, solar panels and wind generators that take up space, add weight, use fuel, or are simply unreliable. As more and more electronics make their way onboard our vessels, the need for power only grows. This growth in power demand tends to lead to boaters having to install more batteries, larger capacity generators, and burn more fuel to maintain energy reserves at a safe level. Worse, despite having all these new electronics onboard, more often than not they are used only sparingly as boaters find themselves having to literally ration that use of electrical power in order to maintain a practical balance between fuel consumption and time on the water.

One of the best additions to the boaters array of electrical devices, however, has the potential to have a direct and beneficial impact on all of this power management complexity and annoyance. Since boaters first began retrofitting LEDs into existing onboard light fixtures, the potential for LEDs to produce significant reductions in onboard power usage has been to overwhelming to ignore. Although LEDs were first installed by DIY'ers and were of dubious effectiveness, LEDs have quickly improved in output and light quality and now surpass most halogen and fluorescent marine lights in color quality, efficiency, longevity and light output. Even better, the small size of the LED and its ability to operate on direct current without any need for ballast or special transformers makes it an ideal lighting solution for the oftentimes space challenged confines of a boat.

With the growth in popularity of LEDs within boating circles, aftermarket manufacturers were quick to jump into the fray and begin offering LED lighting products capable of directly replacing the traditional incandescent fixtures on boats. Whether it's an entire fixture to be replaced, or simply a bulb, there are now likely several LED options available that will fit the bill. Easy to install, lasting for in some cases up to ten years, LEDs have certainly come into their own as far as the boating community is concerned. Sure there are holdouts, but more often than not, once they see for themselves just how effective the light output and energy savings from LEDs really is, they come down off the fence in short order.

LEDs are so much more efficient than incandescent bulbs because they produce light in a totally different way. Rather than heating a filament to produce light, which results in most of the electrical energy being wasted as heat, LEDs produce light through a process called electroluminescence. Rather than go into long and complicated explanations, suffice it to say that in an LED, electricity is fed to a specially coated type of semi-conducting material, which sort of rearranges the electrons and then emits them as photons, which is more commonly known as visible light. Since this process does not rely on electrical resistance to literally heat a filament until it is hot enough to emit light radiation and heat, it is much more efficient as little electrical energy is wasted. Instead, little energy is required to produce electroluminescence, and more of the energy is emitted as light. Even better, since the process only works one way in an LED, direct or DC current is the native type of power for an LED. This means no ballasts, inverters, or converters are needed to power an LED. In most cases, LED marine lights instead use solid state electronics to manage the flow of electricity to the LEDs. These electronics are known as LED drivers and are very compact and durable. LED drivers work to keep a steady current level going into the LED and allow a wide variety of voltages to be used, usually anywhere from 9 to 50 VDC. For boaters with 12 or 24VDC electrical systems, this means that hooking up LED lights can be as simple as screwing in a bulb or wiring in a light fixture.

Although the cost of an LED fixture is higher than an incandescent, the allure of the LED remains great due to their extreme efficiency and long life-span. If you consider that an average cruiser can use up to 70-100 amps just powering all of its lights, and that LEDs can cut that use by three quarters, it's clear there's a lot of savings in fuel use to be had. Additionally, when you realize that a typical halogen boat light rarely lasts more than a season or two, and that LEDs can last for up to ten years, the savings in bulb replacements alone can pay for the LED fixture in short order. Particularly with exterior illumination, like with spreader lights, LEDs quite simply make the halogens that came before them obsolete. Consider the Magnalight 40 Watt LED Light bar for instance. Compact, drawing only 40 watts, and using only 3 amps, this light produces 3,600 lumens. This is as much light as 4-5 50 watt halogen lamps that would normally need at least 12-16 amps to provide the same performance. Better, the LEDs are sealed, impervious to shattering, and produce very little heat. Add in that the LEDs will last for at least 40-50,000 hours or more as compared to the halogens 500-1500 hours, and you have what is commonly known as a no brainer decision.

Although LEDs remain a bit more expensive than incandescent bulbs, the savings in power and maintenance costs are simply too significant to make their initial cost a valid or prohibitive consideration. Long life, significant savings in energy and fuel consumption, and all around better lighting quality is making LEDs the new lighting of choice for boaters of all stripes regardless of whether they have a weekender or a long range full on cruiser.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6508160

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Enterprise Backup and Recovery

Backing up data and being able to recover it in an acceptable time frame are both crucial to planning your backup infrastructure.

Factors affecting a backup solution -

* DATA
* BACKUP SOFTWARE
* BACKUP SERVER
* INFRASTRUCTURE
* BACKUP TARGET
* BACKUP MEDIUMS

Do you want to be able to do a full backup, incremental or differential?

Backup is not really about backup, it is about restore! Backing data up is an insurance policy!

Understand the backup window and restore performance that you might need.

From autoloader to tape library's, VTL (Virtual tape library's) and beyond! There are many different options and lots of vendors, as is common these days where business IT is concerned.

There are many ways to skin a cat springs to mind!

There are uncertainties in the market where the term Autoloader and Library is actually concerned, and you should know that the Autoloader is being phased out and being changed for a more scalable device which starts with fewer drives but has room to add more.

If you are suffering from a lack of capacity, a lack of performance or both, or inadequate restore performance it is time to think about a new solution to provide a continuation of your "insurance policy".

There are lots of different players where backup solutions are concerned:-

Software to consider:

* SYMANTEC
* QUEST

Hardware To Consider:

* QUANTUM - Tape solutions, D2D, Encryption, advanced management and software suite.
* OVERLAND - NAS, Tape solutions.
* NETAPP - Multi protocol, Wealth of functionality - de-duplication, application aware snapshotting, replication, thin provisioning to name only a few!
* DELL EQUALLOGIC - Stable and popular appliance for SMB which is an iSCSI RAID system with replication and thin provisioning.
* DOTHILL - Kings of R & D, high capacity and high performance RAID systems with a great story to tell.

For a chat about your backup, restore and IT requirements please visit

A backup solution can be expensive but it is quite simple to work out exactly what specification will suit your needs by understanding what your recovery point objective is and what your recovery time objective is.

RTO - How long is acceptable for the recovery of a backup.

RPO - How old can the data be before the recovery time objective is no longer achievable.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6505902

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For health IT firms, regulatory questions abound

As Reston-based AFrame Digital looked to bring its wrist watch health monitor to market, the company thought it might be exempt from the Food and Drug Administration’s more arduous clearance process.

Still, chief executive Cindy Crump turned to the agency for guidance.
“The FDA came back to us with the determination that it is a change in fundamental technology for this type of device, so they said we would need to go through the . . . FDA clearance process,” she recalled.

AFrame Digital’s device was ultimately given the green light and the product has been sold to several assisted living and rehabilitation facilities. Many other companies also hope to capi­tal­ize on such trends in health technology.

But regulatory questions abound as companies and public agencies alike contend with the rising role that portable devices, Web-based computing and other fast-evolving technologies play in people’s care.

From smartphone applications that count calories to for-medical-use-only products like AFrame’s monitor, such devices have complexity and expectations that vary wildly. So where will regulators draw the line?

“In the near future, we plan to provide draft guidance for public comment prior to finalizing, which will provide clarity for manufacturers as they continue to develop innovative, health-related mobile apps,” an agency spokeswoman wrote in a statement.

“By providing predictable, flexible and sensible oversight of certain mobile medical technologies, FDA hopes to promote innovation, while protecting public health,” the statement said.

Bradley Thompson, an attorney at Epstein, Becker & Green, represents a group of corporations and nonprofits called the mHealth Regulatory Coalition. The group is asking the FDA to identify those products that are subject to regulation based on how they function, how they are marketed and how they interact with other health products.

“A lot of people who put money into this innovation say, ‘Look, I’ve got to know am I buying into a regulated article or am I not?’ because the pathways to market can be very different,” Thompson said last week at the Health IT Congressional Symposium, hosted by the TechAmerica Foundation.

Nevertheless, there is risk. Patients have to rely on health care software and devices to transmit information both accurately and securely so as not to compromise the quality or privacy of care.

“FDA is, to their credit, I think trying to look at how to approach these technology areas to allow innovation and protect the patient,” Thompson said. “That’s a classic conundrum. That’s not new. Everything FDA does is balancing innovation against the patient’s safety.”

But at last week’s symposium, Merrill Matthews Jr., a health ethicist and visiting scholar at the Institute for Policy Innovation, said the pace at which technology evolves may be too quick for the regulatory agency to stay in step.

“The FDA plays a critical role out there, certainly with medical devices that are going to have a strong health input,” Matthews said. “Having said that, I don’t think anyone has ever accused the FDA of being a fast-moving organization.”

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Tech firms lead stock climb, Apple earnings up, iPhone tracking draws scrutiny

LEADING THE DAY: Tech companies led the way Wednesday as stocks climbed to their highest levels since 2008, The Washington Post reported.

Strong reports from tech stalwarts such as Intel, IBM and Apple could be good indicators for the rest of the economy, signaling that other companies are in the position to make investments in equipment and technology.

Apple earnings: In an earnings call yesterday, Apple reported $24.67 billion in earnings, up 83 percent over last year. Record-breaking sales for the iPhone made up for lower-than-expected sales of the iPad. Apple COO Tim Cook, who is the company’s acting CEO in Steve Jobs’s absence, said iPad sales were low because of supply problems.

Looking ahead, Cook said that the disaster in Japan would not affect Apple’s supply chain, though he did forecast its effect on the Japanese economy would lower Apple’s revenue by about 1 percent. He did not comment on speculation that the iPhone 5 will launch in the fall instead of the summer.

iPhone tracking:Several members of Congress have called on Apple to explain a tracking file in its 3G devices. The file was found by two researchers who were looking for a way to visualize mobile data.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has written a letter to Apple asking for more information on why the company is collecting the information. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) issued a statement saying he is “deeply disturbed” by the report, The Hill reported.

An FCC official told Politico that the the agency is looking into the matter.

Nokia, Microsoft sign agreement: Finalizing their agreement from last month, Nokia and Microsoft have officially signed a definitive contract to put the Windows mobile platform on all Nokia phones. The agreement was signed ahead of schedule.

In an interview with All Things Digital’s Ina Fried, Microsoft phone head Andy Lees said, “We’ve gotten to where we have gotten to faster than we thought. Now we know who is exactly writing each piece of code.”

Amazon tablet: Amazon has long been rumored to be working on a tablet, and a report from the tech blog GDGT speculates that Samsung is already working on the project. In the report, Engadget founder Peter Rojas makes a well-reasoned argument that the company could be the only one who can take on Apple’s iPad, working off of its existing customer base.

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Japanese nuclear crisis boosts interest in at-home radiation monitoring

Some people are so concerned about the possibility of harmful radiation from Japan they have started their own do-it-yourself backyard radiation monitoring system — just like weather-watchers — except these folks are equipped with handheld Geiger counters and a strong distrust of the government.
“There’s a hunger out there,” said Tim Flanegin, who runs the Radiation Network Web site from Prescott, Ariz. “People are telling me they can’t get any information from the government and they don’t believe what’s coming.”

Flanegin’s network uses hand-held Geiger counters connected to laptop computers and his own software program to generate an online map with radiation levels displayed by members of the volunteer group.

“It’s a grass-roots effort and we have a lot of good citizens doing their patriotic duty,” Flanegin said.

So far, they haven’t turned up anything unusual.

Flanegin sells Geiger counters on his Web site that cost anywhere from $260 to $1,200 each. Originally designed for rockhounds to identify gems and minerals in the desert Southwest, Flanegin sold out his entire stock last week.

Mark Krubsack, a 56-year-old retired IRS agent, uses an older radiation counter to explore abandoned uranium mines in the mountains near his home in Fresno, Calif. After the nuclear accident in Japan, he bought a new Geiger counter and hooked it up to a personal computer. He checks the readings several times a day and posts them online. Krubsack said he doesn’t trust the information he’s receiving from government health or environmental officials.

“I believe they have an agenda not to cause panic or concern and I don’t think they provide accurate information,” Krubsack said. So far, he hasn’t seen anything unusual, though.

“This is hopefully once-in-a-lifetime thing. There’s not a whole heck of a lot of things I could do about it. I tried to get potassium iodide pills, but they were all sold out,” he said, referring to the compound that can block certain harmful effects of radiation on the thyroid gland and is being given to residents of affected areas around the earthquake-damaged nuclear plant in Japan.

Krubsack is part of a network of radiation watchers led by Chris Smolinski, who runs a home-based electronics business called Black Cat Systems out of his Westminster, Md., home. Smolinski also builds and sells portable Geiger counters. But he doesn’t share the anti-government views of some of his clients.

“There are all sorts of people who think there are government conspiracies about everything,” Smolinski said. “I think the [radiation] data is completely accurate. I’m just curious.”

Some experts say these hand-held devices aren’t sensitive enough to pick up radiation from the nuclear plant in Japan and that people might be wasting their time and money.

“I think that people who are out to go and get hysterical will fulfill their mission,” said Ed Morse, professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California at Berkeley.

Morse says that the devices might confuse people who will find small amounts of background radiation in ordinary things like kitty litter, salt substitutes or granite countertops.

To detect the kind of nuclear isotopes produced by nuclear fission requires a device that can sample large quantities of the air over time and then analyze the results in an accredited laboratory. Morse and other experts say these small Geiger counters might come in handy if you live next to a nuclear plant, but not if you are trying to detect radiation from far away.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency runs its own network of 124 air monitors to detect radiation called RadNet. Results are posted online. The Energy Department also maintains the capability to detect tiny quantities of radioisotopes that might indicate underground nuclear tests, according to a statement by EPA officials last week. One of these detectors in Sacramento picked up a small quantity of the isotope xenon-133 “approximately one-millionth of the dose rate that a person normally receives from rocks, bricks, the sun and other natural background sources,” said the EPA statement.

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Verizon has a new iPhone? Not really.

Meet the new iPhone - somewhat the same as the old iPhone.
Powered off, the Verizon Wireless version of Apple's iPhone 4 that's now in stores differs only at the margins from the AT&T model that's been available since last summer: The Verizon model has one extra black line on its outside edge, a bigger ring/vibrate switch and no SIM card slot.

The software on the Verizon iPhone also offers few differences from what's on the AT&T iPhone. At its introduction last month, Verizon touted a WiFi sharing feature that's more capable than the single-computer tethering option AT&T provides - but AT&T is supposed to get the same feature within days.

Bigger variations surface in Verizon and AT&T's pricing. Both charge new and renewing customers the same for the phone itself - $199 for a model with 16 gigabytes of storage and $299 for a 32GB model, with two-year contracts required - but their service plans don't match up.

AT&T sells voice, messaging and data separately, and you can spend considerably less on AT&T for more restricted service - $54.99 a month buys you 450 minutes of anytime calling at $39.99, 200 megabytes of data at $15, and no texts included. Then again, adding a more realistic 2GB "DataPro" option and a $10 bundle of 1,000 messages brings AT&T's iPhone cost to $74.99; upgrading to unlimited texting pushes it to $84.99.

Verizon, meanwhile, offers only one, unlimited data plan for $29.99 (though it reserves the right to brake the access of customers it considers overusers). Its 450-minute calling plan costs $39.99; you can buy bundles of individual messages, as at AT&T, up to $20 for 5,000. Or you can pay $59.99 for 450 anytime minutes plus unlimited messaging, the recommended entry-level plan on Verizon's site. Your monthly bill will run at least $69.98, with unlimited texting bumping the total to $89.98.

(Comparable combinations of unlimited smartphone data and texting, plus 450 minutes of anytime calling, costs $79.99 from Sprint and T-Mobile.)

AT&T and Verizon charge $20 extra for tethering and WiFi hotspot capability, respectively. But AT&T's option doesn't add to the 2GB cap of the required DataPro plan, so it can quickly inflate your bill with overage fees of $10 for every extra gigabyte.

The biggest difference is outside the phones themselves - the network they're on. Many people have been yearning for a Verizon iPhone mainly because AT&T has had so much trouble keeping its iPhone users connected - they've had calls drop or been unable to get online at all, even while their iPhones show four or five bars of a 3G signal.
AT&T counters that its system allows you to talk and surf the Web at the same time, while Verizon's technology doesn't permit that. You can also use an AT&T iPhone in many more countries overseas, albeit at steep roaming rates.

Verizon has a much better reputation for network capacity and performance. Will that reputation survive the iPhone's arrival? We won't know for sure until weeks or months from now, when problems have had more time to surface.

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Obama touts plan to get wireless Internet to 98 percent of U.S.

MARQUETTE, MICH. - In this remote snow-swept college town rejuvenated in part by Internet commerce, President Obama outlined a plan Thursday to create similar economic stories through the expansion of super-fast wireless Internet connections.

Speaking at Northern Michigan University, Obama said he would use $18 billion in federal funds to get 98 percent of the nation connected to the Internet on smartphones and tablet computers in five years.

To get there, the federal government will try to bring more radio waves into the hands of wireless carriers to bolster the nation's networks and prevent a jam of Internet traffic. He said he hoped to raise about $27.8 billion by auctioning airwaves now in the hands of television stations and government agencies.

And with that auction money, the government would fund new rural 4G wireless networks and a mobile communications system for fire, police and emergency responders. The remaining funds raised - about $10 billion - would go toward lowering the federal deficit over the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office has said the deficit will climb to $1.5 trillion this year.

First outlined in Obama's State of the Union speech, the plan is part of a push to reshape the nation's infrastructure of deteriorating roadways and manufacturing plants into one with high-speed railways and high-speed Internet networks that the president said are essential for the United States to compete in the global economy.

"To attract the best jobs and newest industries, we've got to out-innovate, out-educate, out-build and out-hustle the rest of the world," Obama said in his speech.

The president chose to visit Marquette because of the town's success in attracting commercial partners such as Intel to build a mobile broadband network based on WiMax technology on the university campus. Northern Michigan University partnered with towns nearby to expand cell towers so elementary schools, police and residents could also access wireless networks fast enough to access streaming videos without a wired connection.
Experts say Obama's plan is ambitious and complicated and relies heavily on the participation of cautious television broadcasters, who are loath to give up their greatest asset: spectrum.

Specifically, $10.7 billion would fund a new public-safety network so first responders from various emergency services can communicate on one system, sending video files and e-mails during disasters and national security threats.

The administration also plans a one-time allotment of $5 billion from a federal phone subsidy to expand wireless broadband in rural areas. About $3 billion would go to a government research program that would develop methods for using mobile Internet access for emerging technologies and for health, education and energy applications.

The plan does not detail how much money it would return to broadcasters who give up airwaves in voluntary "incentive auctions." The administration has promised that those television broadcasters would get a cut of the proceeds but hasn't offered more details.

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iPhone 4 owner sues Apple over cracked glass case

iPhone 4 owner Donald LeBuhn filed a class action lawsuit against Apple early this week, claiming the company is misleading customers about the strength of the glass casing on the iPhone 4. LeBuhn is asking that Apple reimburse the plaintiffs in the case for the cost of the phone and any repairs.

LeBuhn said that his main problem with Apple is that it markets the glass as being super-durable and scratch-resistant -- a claim he says his personal experience disproves.

Apple has not yet commented on the lawsuit; we'll let you know if it does.

The lawsuit, reported by the LAWeekly, focuses on how the iPhone's glass housing handles when the phone is dropped without a case. LeBuhn said his iPhone shattered when his daughter dropped it from a height of about three feet while sending a text message.

"Months after selling millions of iPhone 4s, Apple has failed to warn and continues to sell this product with no warning to customers that the glass housing is defective," LeBuhn wrote in the lawsuit.

This is the second big stink raised about shattered glass on the iPhone 4. In October, complaints surfaced that small pieces of matter that got trapped in iPhone 4 sliding cases made the iPhone 4 more prone to cracking. Reports of the problem became so widespread that the tech press dubbed it "Glassgate," and a research firm called SquareTech released figures that the latest model of the iPhone broke 82 percent more often than the iPhone 3GS.

Apple reporter Johnny Evans called those claims into question when they surfaced in October, saying that the numbers were reported in a way that made them seem more significant than they were.

"Described as '82 percent' of course this sounds like a big deal, but in reality it means 3.9 percent of 20,000 iPhone 4 owners reported a cracked screen rather than 2.1 percent of 20,000 iPhone 3GS owners," he wrote.

Glassgate, unlike its predecessor Antennagate, never came to very much, as the problem was not nearly as widespread. With this lawsuit, however, more people may come forward with casing issues.

Sound off: Have you had trouble with the casing on your iPhone 4?

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$20 a month for Verizon iPhone hotspot

Those who want to use their iPhone as a hotspot will have to pay $20 a month, according to Verizon.

In an interview with Macworld, Brenda Raney, executive director of corporate communications, said that the hotspot feature will come with a $20-a-month-fee, the same as current Verizon smartphone owners pay for tethering.

The iPhone will be able to connect to up to five devices and the hotspot will have its own monthly allotment of 2GB of data.

For every addition gigabyte over the limit, Raney said the company will charge an additional $20.

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'Talking' cars may someday warn of crashes and save lives

A new crash warning system that allows vehicles to "talk" to each other more than 900 feet away was demonstrated for federal officials Tuesday, marking a significant step in efforts by the government and automakers to put advanced communications technology in cars.

Using specialized WiFi signals that are emitted 10 times every second, the technology senses when a collision is imminent and alerts a driver through flashing red lights and beeps.

In the demonstration in the parking lot near RFK Stadium, the system notified a driver when it detected another car speeding through a red light in an upcoming intersection, of several cars blocking the highway ahead, and of a car zooming up from behind.

A report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in October reported that such "vehicle-to-vehicle" warning systems could address nearly 80 percent of reported crashes that do not involve drunk drivers.

"This technology has the potential to save a lot of lives," said Peter Appel, administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration at the Department of Transportation, after riding along for the demo.

The technology, if successfully developed, could become mandatory in 2013 when federal officials are scheduled to decide whether to require such systems.

In the absence of such a requirement, the first challenge may be overcoming a basic chicken-and-egg problem. If other people don't buy the systems, they will be nearly useless. In that case, persuading the first consumers to purchase the technology may be difficult.

Implementation of the system would require the nation's automakers, normally competitive, to agree on how such systems should work and what kind of information they should share. So far, nearly all the major automakers have joined a consortium to set standards.

Ford, which conducted Tuesday's demonstration for federal officials and the media, is expected to announce during this week's Washington Auto Show that it will invest more in the technology. The Department of Transportation has already spent more than $40 million on the technology, with an additional $36 million slated for more research, officials said. Research by the government and automakers is supposed to be finished within two years.

The warning systems, however, face technical challenges.
The WiFi signals between cars are sent via a channel allocated by the Federal Communications Commission. Engineers are trying to cope with "channel loading" when there are more than 100 cars within the 300-meter radius, officials said.

Moreover, there is some fear that hackers could fool the systems into thinking that others cars are in the area - setting off alarms and snarling traffic. The automakers must ensure that the signals vehicles are receiving are actually from other cars. Setting up electronic certifications also has to be done in a way that addresses the concerns of privacy advocates and does not identify specific drivers.

"We don't want people to feel there is some tracking device on the car," said Michael Shulman, a technical leader for the project at Ford. "But we have to make sure the other car you're sensing is not some guy on an overpass with a laptop. So there are obstacles, but we think we have ways of overcoming them."

Some cars already have limited radar devices that can detect obstacles in the front, as well as those in the blind spots missed by mirrors. Such systems can cost $1,000 or more.

The advantage of the WiFi technology is not only that it is far cheaper - possibly adding as little as $100 to the cost of the car - but also that it can detect other vehicles much farther away and in all directions, officials said.

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