June 2014

New tech links LTE and GSM networks

In the hunt for more spectrum to speed up mobile networks, Vodafone and Huawei Technologies have successfully tested a technology that lets LTE and GSM share the same frequencies.

The speed of future mobile networks will depend on the amount of spectrum mobile operators can get their hands on. The more they get, the wider the roads they can build.

One thing they can do to get more space is to reuse frequencies that are currently used for older technologies such as GSM and 3G. But that isn't as easy as sounds, as operators still have a lot of voice and messaging traffic in those older networks. That traffic isn't going away for a long time, irrespective of the level of competition from Internet-based services.

However, using a technology called GL DSS (GSM-LTE Dynamic Spectrum Sharing) Vodafone and Huawei have shown a way to allow GSM and LTE to coexist. GL DSS lets Huawei's SRC (Single Radio Controller) give GSM a higher priority during periods of heavy traffic, ensuring that voice calls get though unharmed. But the SRC can also provide more room for LTE when users aren't making calls, allowing for better throughput, the vendor said.

Wireless Data Traffic More Than Doubled in US in 2013

The total amount of data handled by wireless carriers in the US more than doubled in 2013, an increase driven in large part by video traffic. US carriers saw 3.2 exabytes of data traffic run across their networks, the CTIA said in its annual report on the US wireless industry.

An exabyte is 10x18 bytes or, put another way, a billion gigabytes.

The figure represents a 120 percent increase from the 1.5 exabytes carried in all of 2012, the group said.

The data refers to traffic carried over licensed spectrum. With 336 million subscriptions in the US, that figure works out to an average of 801 megabytes per subscriber line per month. A large proportion of that data was video. That's an average of 563 megabytes per subscriber line per month.

US customers spent 218 billion minutes per month talking on their wireless devices, which works out to an average of 650 minutes per month per line; sent 153 billion text messages per month, or 457 messages per line; and 10 billion multimedia messages, or 30 per line.

4G Americas: Number of 4G LTE Networks Reaches 300

Wireless network operators have launched 109 new commercial LTE mobile broadband networks around the world in the 12 months since June 2013. That brings the number of 4G LTE networks up and running to 300 in 107 countries, according to the latest data from 4G Americas.

4G Americas anticipates 350 new LTE networks will be launched in 2014. In addition, nine LTE-Advanced networks have been commercially deployed in seven countries, with 4G Americas expecting that will reach 40 by year-end 2014.

Commenting on the rapid pace of LTE deployment, stated, “In five years, since the first launch of LTE by TeliaSonera in 2009, there has been explosive growth in LTE network deployments as the entire ecosystem -- operators, vendors and stakeholders combined -- progress the technology,” said 4G Americas’ President Chris Pearson in a press release. “As LTE becomes the foundation of the wireless landscape, LTE-Advanced is the evolutionary step for increased speed and network capacity. We are beginning to see activity around LTE-Advanced including initial launches and devices.”

4G Americas also released some other statistics regarding global LTE deployments:

500 total commitments to LTE deployments by mobile operators to date;
LTE connections are forecast to surpass 2.3 billion by 2020 (Informa Telecoms & Media WCIS+);
23 LTE-TDD and 264 LTE-FDD networks, with an additional 23 networks with both LTE-TDD and FDD;
10 radio spectrum bands used for LTE today ranging from 700 MHz to 2.6 GHz.

Amazon Dials Up a New Use for Its Cash

Online retailer Amazon.com is expected to reveal its first smartphone, featuring a display designed to respond to users' eye movements and capable of displaying three-dimensional images.

The device is Amazon's first foray into the highly competitive market dominated by Samsung Electronics and Apple. The handset business can be very unkind; once-highflying brands like Nokia, Motorola and BlackBerry have seen their market share erode.

Amazon invited developers, media and others to its event. Amazon will enter the fray with a powerful partner. AT&T will be the exclusive carrier, according to people familiar with the Seattle company's plans.

The arrangement extends Amazon's relationship with AT&T, which also provides wireless service for Kindle tablets and e-readers. The move could help AT&T attract new subscribers at a time of intense competition among wireless carriers.

Apps let parents control children’s usage of electronic devices

Parents struggling to get their children away from smartphones and tablets for meals, homework, exercise and other activities can arm themselves with new apps to remotely block access to the devices.

Usage of smartphones and tablets among children has tripled since 2011, according to Common Sense Media, a San Francisco based non-profit that studies the effects of media and technology on young users.

A new app called DinnerTime Parental Control, for iPhone or Android smartphones, enables parents to restrict when children can use their smartphones and tablets. “The price of entry level smartphones and tablets have come down a lot, and as a result, more and more kids have their own individual devices,” said Richard Sah, co-founder of DinnerTime, based in San Mateo (CA). With the free app, parents can pause activity on a child’s Android smartphone or tablet so that they can focus on things like homework, exercise and family time.

Once a device has been paused, all functions on their device are blocked, including the ability to text and play with apps. DinnerTime Plus, another free app from the company, lets parents manage the apps their children use and to views the apps they are using in real time. Parents can also purchase detailed reporting, which outlines how much time kids spend on certain apps, and how often they used them.

Are smartphones the best medicine?

The explosion of medical devices and apps that integrate with smartphones has the potential to transform the healthcare system by allowing doctors to collect information about patients in real-time.

The marketing research firm Research2Guidance projects the global business in “mHealth” technology will grow 61 percent from 2013 to rake in $26 billion in revenues by 2017.

While healthcare providers and doctors are enthusiastic about the technology, federal officials are grappling with how the apps fit in with the broader regulatory system that is intended to protect patients. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is charged with overseeing of all medical devices in the United States, including apps that integrate with smartphones.

Lawmakers including Reps Michael Burgess (R-TX) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) had criticized the FDA’s approach to mHealth technology, warning a heavy regulatory hand could slow innovation and prevent useful tools from reaching the marketplace. In response, the FDA said it would use its discretion to avoid regulating the overwhelming majority of mHealth technology, because it poses only minimal risk to consumers.

Catching Your Breath: The Latest Wearable Measures Respiration, Too

A San Francisco startup has developed a wearable device that monitors breathing patterns and a mobile app that suggests adjustments, promising to allow users to control stress levels or otherwise improve their states of mind.

Or as the press release says in a cereal-box-worthy claim, Spire helps people “have a balanced and focused day.”

But the product arrives in a cluttered wearables market where similarly vague wellness assertions have yet to translate into broad consumer demand.

Spire resembles a smooth gray stone, if smooth gray stones came with belt clips. It slips on near the hip and measures respiration by tracking abdominal movement. The smoothness and consistency of breaths as well as the inhalation-to-exhalation ratio can reveal periods of tension, relaxation and focus, the company says. If users take shallow breaths for an extended period -- while, say, grinding through a story on deadline -- the iOS app might remind them to take deep breaths, clear their mind or release tension.

If it sounds more like a yoga teacher than a doctor, that’s no accident. As with most wearables, the company hasn’t earned approval from the Food and Drug Administration, so it can’t make medical-grade diagnoses or weighty health claims.

A new pilot helps battle hepatitis C with health IT and telemedicine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a new pilot program to help use telemedicine to fight HCV, develop new treatment tools, and get them in the hands of providers to try and stem the tide of HCV infections.

With an eye toward tackling these challenges, CDC funded programs in Arizona and Utah to implement Project ECHO, a telemedicine approach to shore up primary care capacity for treatment of HCV in areas with a shortage of HCV specialists.

Weekly videoconferencing enables primary care providers to collaborate with specialists and present patients with HCV infection. These sessions promote the active exchange of clinical information, spur advice and lead to mentoring situations that help inform patient-management practices.

Youtube To Launch Music Service Amid Indie Dispute

YouTube will launch a new subscription music service, the company acknowledged after being dragged into a public dispute over royalties that will result in the blockade of some independent artists' music videos.

The Google-owned video site said that it is "adding subscription-based features for music on YouTube" and that "hundreds of major label and independent artists" have signed on. The paid service -- to be launched soon -- will likely allow playback of videos without ads and allow for offline playback on mobile devices.

The people familiar with the matter also confirmed that a small number of independent artists who had not agreed to new deal terms will have their videos blocked in some countries starting in a few days, even on the free version of YouTube.

YouTube will block the music videos so users of the test version won't be confused about which content they can access for free and which features require payment, the people said. Allowing free streams of music by certain artists while not offering them on the paid service would erode the value of the paid plan, one person said.

The move also adds pressure on those labels to sign, because not being on YouTube altogether will result in less advertising revenue and exposure.

Journo-startups that appeal right to readers

If you spend any amount of time around freelance writers, you’re familiar with the litany of complaints. Most publications don’t pay well. Publications that do pay well expect freelancers to do so much reporting up-front, before they’ve accepted a piece, that it makes pitching a financially risky prospect. Enter the freelancer-founded collective journalism startup.

Deca, a new nonfiction platform created by an international collective of magazine writers, is based on the premise that freelance writers know what readers want and what makes a great story, at least better than staff editors do.

Deca, which will publish stories that are “shorter than a book but longer than an article,” joins longform-oriented startups like Atavist and Byliner in selling original content as individual Kindle Singles. Each Deca member agrees to write one story per year and to edit another. This commitment to editing each other is another way of circumventing more traditional magazine structures, in which editors edit and writers write, with few opportunities for switch-hitting.

Within Deca, each story idea must be approved by two-thirds of the collective, and before publication each piece must be green-lit by three-fourths of the collective. For each $2.99 Kindle Single they sell, Amazon keeps 30 percent and 70 percent goes to Deca. Of that 70 percent, 70 percent goes to author, 5 percent goes to the editor, and 25 percent goes back to the Deca general fund. That means writers can expect $1.46 -- roughly half of the sale price -- for each Kindle Single sold. And everything that’s in the collective kitty gets distributed equally among members at the end of 2014 -- meaning even its lowest sellers reap a bit more of the benefits.

Benton

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