GPS system threatened by signal interference

Bruce Buls

Bruce Buls

The battle between makers and users of GPS equipment and a proposed wireless broadband system has heated up. The controversy stems from a conditional waiver granted by the Federal Communication Commission in January to LightSquared, a privately held company, for the terrestrial use of the mobile satellite spectrum (MMS) immediately adjacent to the frequency band used by GPS receivers.

LightSquared wants to establish a network of 40,000 ground stations to broadcast extremely powerful broadband wireless signals that could severely disrupt GPS signals, according to the Coalition to Save Our GPS, which represents a wide variety of industries and companies. In a statement on its website, the coalition states: “LightSquared plans to transmit ground-based radio signals that would be one billion or more times more powerful as received on earth than GPS’s low-powered satellite-based signals, potentially causing severe interference impacting millions of GPS receivers — including those used by the federal agencies, state and local governments, first responders, airlines, mariners, civil engineering, construction and surveying, agriculture, and everyday consumers in their cars and on handheld devices.”

A Technical Working Group including representatives from LightSquared and GPS manufacturers ran a series of tests with more than 100 GPS devices over a five-month period following the FCC’s action in January. The TWG’s report was filed with the FCC on June 30. The official comment period ended Aug. 15.

According to the coalition, “TWG’s test results conclusively demonstrate that LightSquared’s initial proposal would cause harmful interference to all types of GPS receivers tested.”

The Coalition also disputed LightSquared’s claims that using only the lower portion of its proposed MMS band and the use of filters on GPS equipment would solve any potential interference problems.

 

Workboat.com

 

AT&T streamlining individual messaging plans August 21st, leaving unlimited as the sole survivor

Do not adjust your computer screen, because the screenshot you’re seeing above is real. Confirmed by multiple sources, we’ve exclusively learned that AT&T — the protagonist of choice — is trimming its individual messaging packages from two to one on August 21st. The remaining survivor? The Messaging Unlimited plan for $20, which means the $10 bundle that offers 1000 messages is riding into the sunset. If you aren’t keen to do much communicating within 160 characters, you’ll be left with no other choice besides the pay-per-message option at twenty cents each (thirty cents for MMS). Fortunately, the Family Unlimited Messaging is left unscathed, continuing to offer all-you-can-eat texts for $30. Tend to do only an average bit of texting and looking to move to Ma Bell? Our friend, you’d best be making that transition before the end of this week.

Update: And just like that, AT&T has confirmed this report. A spokesperson for the carrier provided the following statement, while also affirming that “current customers can keep their texting plans even if switching handsets.”

“We regularly evaluate our offers and are making some adjustments to our messaging lineup.

Starting August 21, we’re streamlining our text messaging plans for new customers and will offer an unlimited plan for individuals for $20 per month and an unlimited plan for families of up to five lines for $30 per month. The vast majority of our messaging customers prefer unlimited plans and with text messaging growth stronger than ever, that number continues to climb among new customers. Existing customers don’t have to change any messaging plan they have today, even when changing handsets.”

[Thanks, Anonymous]

via:mobile.engadget

MetroPCS will begin transition to VoLTE early next year

US carriers were quick to acknowledge their allegiance to Voice over LTE (VoLTE), a 4G VoIP-related technology first demonstrated in February. Ever since that time, however, talk of deployment plans have been replaced by crickets. MetroPCS was the first to break the silence, as CEO Roger Linquist announced at this morning’s quarterly earnings call that his company’s “planning to begin introducing VoLTE-capable handsets early next year to move voice as well as data traffic to [its] LTE network.” The outfit’s wasting no time making the full transition to 4G, as it’s already begun migrating its SMS and MMS services to this service. An increasing sense of urgency is likely hitting the company hard, as implementing VoLTE will ease some of the burden of its limited spectrum by devoting more bandwidth to 4G. What’s better, the anticipated timeframe may even allow MetroPCS to beat Verizon to market — which has also targeted 2012 as a launch date for its equivalent service — as well as AT&T, currently aiming for a 2013 takeoff. No matter what, we’re ecstatic to soon be flooded with more HD-clarity calls than we care to take.

PhoneScoop

Connected Planet
Engadget

Review: BullGuard Mobile Security 10 For BlackBerry v10.0.233

Do you remember my post on the ZeuS trojan? With the issue of the ZeuS Trojan BlackBerry variant targeting BlackBerry devices, I set out on a mission. My mission was to seek the antivirus/security softwares that are capable of defending your BlackBerry from this and other malware. One such software is BullGuard. Check it out…

I sent out emails inquiring who had the virus definitions for the ZeuS, and the only one who responded was BullGuard. I thought it would be a great idea to do a review on this product and let you see how it works. I didn’t test the antivirus for good reason, but I did show the definitions from BullGuard. BullGuard has had the definitions and able to detect and remove the ZeuS trojan since the end of September 2010! It detects the trojan before it’s installed.

Customer service is fantastic through email. The live chat isn’t as helpful, but through email they are fast to respond and are very precise with answers and assistance. The app itself installs quickly, and with a key you have after purchase, you set it up and you’re ready to go. The nice thing about this app is that you have a dashboard to send commands and view your device.

The BullGuard Mobile Security 10 if you look closely, is very similar to SMobile security Shield, and if you look at the screens, you’ll see Junos Secured. Junos Networks is the company that acquired SMobile Systems. BullGuard includes the following for the device through the app:

• Antivirus and Antispyware with real time detection and removal of viruses and spyware via direct download, SMS, MMS, e-mail, Bluetooth, and infrared.
• Antitheft: Look and wipe remotely, track your phone via GPS (I can tell you that when you click on the larger map, it’s very precise).
• Parental Control: Monitor your child’s calls, text messages, and photos.
• Firewall
• Spamlifter: Block calls and messages
• Basic Backup: Contacts and Calendar
• Forgetfulness: If you forgot where you placed your phone, you can log in and have the sound alarm so you can find your phone.
• Support: Free support 24/7

Blackberry SMS 101: Setting SMS options in Blackberry OS 6

In my slow but purposeful exploration of options in OS 6, I’ve come to something I didn’t really notice in older OS builds. While there were SMS options previously, it appears that there are plenty more this time around. There appear to be a few experimental ones, too, that can make life a little more convenient. Let’s take a look at how you can customize your SMS experience.

We’ll start from the top, where you can set what you’d like to do with text-only messages. That is, if you’re replying to an MMS, or accidentally hit “Send MMS,” you can have it actually send as an SMS if you select the Always SMS option. I’m not sure if that makes a big difference, but for those who get charged per-KB for MMS it might.

The next option is a visual one. You can choose to have your SMS display in bubble format — that is, in the same way as the iPhone, wherein your messages are on one side of the screen and the other party’s are on the other. Or you can have it in stripe format, wherein everything starts on the left side of the screen, but yours and the other party’s messages are striped with different colors.

Then there are a slew of yes/no options. I always uncheck the Press Enter Key to Send option, because I always slip and hit the button. You can also set the delivery report here, which is nice, but now that I’ve used BBM for almost four years I find it almost useless. Sure, it lets me know when it’s delivered. If I don’t see the D next to the check mark, I know the recipient is out of cell range. But without an R for read option, I’m just not impressed.

At the bottom there are a few seemingly experimental options. You can reject anonymous messages, or you can reject advertisements. I’m not sure how those filters work. I haven’t checked them, because I haven’t received spam SMS on my BlackBerry. I have, however, received plenty on my T-Mobile phone, so I can see the desire for such an option. If you get random spam SMS, give this option a whirl.

 

via:bbg

An Interview with a BlackBerry User from South Korea

I just got off the phone with my friend Ted, a former expat who has lived in South Korea for a couple years and he gave me an update of what it was like owning a BlackBerry in the country. South Korea is an interesting market – known as one of the more protectionist, yet tech savvy countries, Koreans love mobile culture and BlackBerry has been a tremendous success in the region. Ted got his first BlackBerry in August of 2009, owned one right up to a Bold 9700 in August of 2010, and he has a few interesting anecdotes about the state of BlackBerry in Korea.

While we don’t have specific numbers on unit sales, from a purely observational standpoint, BlackBerry blew up in South Korea shortly after launch. You can always find a young Korean in a nightclub with a BlackBerry in hand these days, and the form factor seems to be a big hit with both male and female demographics. According to Ted, “it’s all about the form factor”; so much so that the feature set isn’t of much importance. Koreans were willing to give up some of their most prized mobile phone features, such as DMB, in order to own a BlackBerry.

Just like North America, much of BlackBerry’s success in South Korea can be attributed to BBM. Instant messaging is very popular in Korea, and the fact that BlackBerry came with an IM client that acted like an exclusive club for your friends was a hit with the country’s youth. According to Ted, Koreans aren’t really interested in email, which you would think would spell doom for the BlackBerry brand. Most mobile interactions are through SMS, and since the QWERTY keyboard worked well with Hangul (Korean language), the BlackBerry fit nicely into the local mobile culture. Of course, there were a few setbacks. Apparently, early adopters found it difficult to receive messages from their carrier, because they were sent in a form, possibly MMS, that didn’t work well with the OS the device shipped with. These kinks were worked out and the device sales kept trucking.

Around March of 2010, BlackBerry App World launched in South Korea. Ted says that while there were a ton of apps available for other platforms, the BlackBerry offerings were pretty sparse. One of the few apps available included the free Korean Subway Maps app, which was decent but nothing spectacular. While we don’t want to speculate on why the Korean developer community was lacking, it’s worth noting that many users weren’t signing up for data plans. Again, we don’t have any concrete data, and this is purely from observation and meeting other BlackBerry users. Perhaps with all the latest announcements of new ways that developers can port their apps to BlackBerry, some of that iPhone and Android love will spill over to the BlackBerry Platform.

It looks like if RIM is going to continue to succeed in Korea, it should consider some region-specific updates to their devices. It would be awesome to see a DMB-enabled BlackBerry, as well as an official Cyworld app for BlackBerry (the Facebook of Korea). With a little more region-specific focus, RIM could see an even greater boost in their sales. It may also generate some buzz in the developer community and boost the number of companies writing apps for the platform.

 

 

Organizing your inbox’s main Messages list

(Originally posted on the Inside BlackBerry Blog)

A little while ago, Ty talked about easy email setup tips for your BlackBerry® smartphone. Today, we’re going to go over some of the different options you have when organizing your main messages list on your BlackBerry smartphone.

If you have multiple email accounts on your BlackBerry smartphone, you have likely noticed two things:

1. Each email address account on your BlackBerry smartphone has a separate icon.
2. Emails from all your accounts also appear within the main messages list. If you are on a BlackBerry® Enterprise Server, these messages will also appear within this list, as will SMS/MMS texts and other notifications. This enables you to have all notifications accessible from one central messages list.

BerryBuzz Updated to Version 3.2 with More App Support

BerryBuzz is an incredibly popular app that lets you customize LED notifications for a wide range of apps and device features. The app is really helpful in that it lets you keep your phone on silent and with a single glance you can see what sort of messages you’re getting. Recently, the app was updated to version 3.2 with the following:

• BerryBuzz settings can now be opened right from the homescreen icon
• Added support for Visual Voice Mail
• Added support for IM+ Lite
• Added support for SBSH Calendar Pro
• Storing license key in backup file and prefilling the activation screen after restore
• Moved ‘My Contact LEDs’ and phone group to the top
• Merged SMS/MMS into ‘Text Messages’ on OS 6.0
• Fixed group expansion state not correctly persisted
• Fixed support for multiple contact lists
• Fixed support for contacts from AT&T address book on BlackBerry Torch 9800
• Minor changes to settings screen
• Fixed reboot (battery pull) needed after initial installation
• Other minor bug fixes

T-Mobile Getting The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 In Graphite Grey & Smoky Violet Colors

Today, T-Mobile announced the upcoming availability of the BlackBerry Curve 3G – delivering a practical yet functional phone to help manage the hectic pace of work and play. This approachable BlackBerry provides customers with the advantages of high-speed 3G Web browsing on T-Mobile’s blazing-fast 3G network, Wi-Fi connectivity for voice and data, access to BlackBerry App World, GPS and visual voicemail to stay connected on the go and navigate their busy lives.

Available in two finishes, smoky violet and graphite grey, the stylish Curve 3G provides balance to life with dedicated exterior media keys, pre-installed social networking applications and a range of messaging options, including personal and Exchange email, BBM, SMS, MMS, and IM. The Curve 3G features the popular touch-sensitive optical trackpad and a full-QWERTY keyboard for easy navigation and responsive typing.

BlackBerry Users in UAE Get Free Smartphone After Shutdown

Some BlackBerry users in the United Arab Emirates will get to choose a new, free replacement smartphone as a result of the U.A.E. government’s decision to suspend data services on Research In Motion’s smartphones, mobile operator Etisalat announced on Tuesday.

On Sunday, Etisalat was told by the United Arab Emirate Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) to suspend BlackBerry services providing e-mail, Web browsing, instant messaging and social networking from Oct. 11 until the services are in line with the country’s telecommunications regulations. However, if an acceptable solution is provided before then, it is possible the services will continue uninterrupted, according to an Etisalat FAQ.

Currently, Etisalat offers a number of different BlackBerry packages to its users, so the replacement phone will depend on the user’s service level. For example, subscribers to its Unlimited Global will get a free new phone. However, subscribers to its cheaper packages will have to pay extra to get the most advanced phones.

Replacement phone users can choose from an unspecified version of the iPhone, the Samsung Galaxy S, Sony Ericsson’s Xperia X10 mini and mini pro, as well as a number of Nokia phones.

Etisalat’s users can also get up to 550 local voice minutes per month free.

Each existing BlackBerry package will also get a corresponding base package, which includes data and SMS (Short Message Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) messages.

To qualify for the offers, users will also have to sign up for a 12-month contact, according to Etisalat.