Technically Speaking

I have never seen an IP phone that looked military spec  until now.

“Elektrobit, commonly known as EB, introduced two new VoIP phones designed for the military: the Field Phone and Desktop Phone.

Announced at Eurosatory, a military trade show held in Paris, these new VoIP phones are pretty impressive. They’re both very rugged, able to withstand the trauma of field work, but they’re not just muscle.”

Read more here

I wonder what NASA will focus on if it isn’t a return trip to the moon.

“Nasa has begun to wind down construction of the rockets and spacecraft that were to have taken astronauts back to the Moon — effectively dismantling the US human spaceflight programme despite a congressional ban on its doing so.

“You can have your pick of ANY T-Mobile cell phone but the catch is you have to subscribe for the family package”

Keeping a nation wide cellular network up and running must be a huge challenge.  Just billing for all the usage must take an enormous amount of computing power.  Looks like AT&T is having an issue in parts of Florida.

“Some AT&T 3G wireless customers in the panhandle, Jacksonville and Gainesville are unable to use data on their devices, but still have voice capabilities. Our techs are working to fix the problem and get to the root cause.”

Read some user reactions here.

What, really?

“Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket effectively scared an entire generation away from boot camp. However, a new tactic being considered by the US Navy may completely change our perception of boot camp: video games. In the latest issue of Navy Times, Navy Surgeon General Vice Admiral Adam Robinson (he does sound important) suggested that games like Wii Fit and Dance Dance Revolution could help “newcomers to the military service build up the endurance they need to get in shape safely.”

According to the report, today’s recruit requires much more work to get into “fighting shape” than in the past. With America’s youth becoming increasingly sedentary, the US Navy has observed an increasing number of injuries suffered during boot camp. Recruits are “not used to the amount of standing and running that comes in recruit training,” the report indicates. Games would theoretically provide a more approachable, familiar solution for physical activity.

However, don’t expect games to completely replace current recruit training techniques. The US Navy is simply looking into the possibility of augmenting its current regimen with fitness games. Additionally, there’s no timetable in place for when games would be introduced into the military. Still, we’re eager to see if the boot camps of the future will look less like the one in Kubrick’s war movie and more like … this.”

From joystiq.com

Netflix now supports the streaming of some videos in HD.  The HD picture is very impressive, it is steps above a DVD in terms of quality.  I was able to go full screen on my 24 inch monitor with very little artifacting.

Above is a capture of the HD stream of Lost.

When you start playing the movie, it is in standard mode and it started buffering the HD stream.  It takes about 10 seconds to switch to the HD signal on my 5Mb download internet connection.  There appears to be an intermediate step between standard  mode and HD, the picture gets progressively better until the HD starts.

When ever you move the ‘play head’ on the time line you need to buffer the stream again.  For some reason this happens even if you go forward to something that has already been buffered or when you go back 10 seconds.  This is an area that could use improvement.

If you see this “Format: DVD, Blu-ray and streaming (HD available)” you know that the selection can be viewed in HD.  I have not found a way to get a list of selections that can be streamed in HD.  This could be because I do not pay for Blu-ray disks.

The Netflix HD streaming picture quality is excellent and I am sure they will be adding more and more streaming  HD capable titles.

As someone that uses GPS all the time this is great news.

“Despite fears last year that the Air Force wouldn’t be able to afford many more GPS satellites, a massive $8bn upgrade is being planned for overhauling the satellites, replacing each of the 24 satellites over the next decade.”

Read the rest here

Verizon says a Massachusetts man won’t have to pay the balance of an $18,000 cell phone bill his son racked up when he connected his phone to a laptop to get Internet service.

Dover resident Bob St. Germain tells The Boston Globe newspaper the telecommunications company has told him it’ll no longer try to collect the charges.

Bryan St. Germain ran up the charges over six weeks in 2006. He says he didn’t realize a two-year promotional offer allowing free access had expired.

Verizon Wireless says it cut the phone bill in half before sending it to a collection agency but it considers the remaining balance uncollectible.

Bob St. Germain says he’s glad Verizon has dismissed the charge but it remains on his credit report.

Verizon says such cases are “exceptionally rare.”

From the AP

“The first 4G phone ever to be released, the HTC EVO 4G, announced back in March, has finally been given a release date of June 4. Along with the release date, Sprint has provided information on phone plans and pricing. From Engadget: ‘Unfortunately, there’s a downside to all this: customers will be paying a mandatory (as confirmed to us by Sprint reps) $10 per month “Premium Data add-on” on top of their plan — ostensibly for the privilege of enjoying WiMAX when they’re in a Sprint 4G market — and the 8-device Wi-Fi hotspot feature runs an extra $29.99 a month”

You can read the announcement on the Sprint site here.

Looks like congress was worried about the costs of starting a telework program – without factoring in how much money it would save and how much productivity would increase.

“A Congressional Budget Office estimate that the 2010 Telework Improvements Act would cost agencies $2 million this year and $30 million between 2010 and 2015 contributed to the bill’s failure to pass the House, according to a public policy organization.

The CBO report and a general feeling the bill might cost too much held it back from receiving the two-thirds vote it needed to clear the chamber last week, said Katie Corrigan, director of Workplace Flexibility 2010, a public policy initiative at Georgetown Law School. Corrigan’s group and other participants in a New America Foundation event Thursday on the future of workplace flexibility have been promoting the cost savings and productivity benefits of telework and other workplace flexibilities, but their efforts have not translated to legislative action.”

Read the rest here