Carmen Nobel

City officials last week cut the ribbons for a 40-square-mile Wi-Fi network in Tempe, Ariz. The WAZTempe network will provide wireless Internet access to Tempe businesses and residents, with a separate private network for municipal workers, who will use it for both voice and data transmissions. Tempe is using mesh networking equipment from Strix Systems.

In a nod to voice over Wi-Fi, Symbol Technologies Inc. and Avaya Inc. are teaming up to combine Symbols wireless LAN hardware with Avayas IP phone software. The software integration targets customers in markets such as manufacturing and health care who need to use handheld devices for phone calls across a WLAN. It comprises Symbols […]

Cell phone technology company Qualcomm last week announced a contract with chip maker Samsung Electronics, which will provide both technology and manufacturing services to Qualcomm. “Our foundry agreement with Samsung will provide an additional source of supply and assist us in our strategy aimed to ensure capacity to support existing and anticipated business growth in […]

Cisco Systems Inc.s Linksys division last week announced new Wi-Fi hardware that offers throughput and data transfer rates that rival Fast Ethernet, albeit with proprietary technology. The WRT54GX4 Wireless-G Broadband Router and WPC54GX4 Wireless-G PC Card are based on the third generation of MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) chip sets from Airgo Networks Inc. The […]

Cingular Wireless is set to announce the rollout of a push-to-talk service that goes beyond the capabilities of a traditional walkie-talkie. Launching Monday, the service will include a “convert to cellular” feature that allows a push-to-talk call to be converted into a regular voice call, allowing groups of participants to be converted into a regular […]

BlackBerry customers and industry observers remained hopeful, concerned and in the dark Thursday, following a court ruling that could lead to the shutdown of BlackBerry service in the United States. Research In Motion Ltd. maintains that the company has tested and readied a legal technical workaround just in case the judge goes through with an […]

Cisco Systems Inc.s Linksys division is offering new Wi-Fi hardware that offers throughput and data transfer rates that rival Fast Ethernet, albeit with proprietary technology. The WRT54GX4 Wireless-G Broadband Router and WPC54GX4 Wireless-G PC Card are based on the third generation of MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) chip sets from Airgo Networks Inc. The chip sets can […]

BlackBerry prospects blackened this week as a U.S. District Judge rejected Research in Motion Ltd.s request to delay an ongoing patent infringement case, but RIM officials continue to insist that everything will be OK. While a worst-case scenario for RIM means a potential shutdown of BlackBerry service in the United States, RIM officials insist that […]

Research in Motion Ltd. and Verizon Wireless last week introduced the first BlackBerry handset to run on the carriers high-speed Evolution Data Optimized network. Dubbed the BlackBerry 7130e, it is also the first BlackBerry that can work not just as a phone and e-mail device but also as a cellular modem for a laptop computer. […]

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan unveiled the first working prototype of the $100 laptop last week at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis, Tunisia. The $100 laptop is a joint project of the MIT Media Lab and the One Laptop per Child association, which plan to distribute the computers to schoolchildren in underdeveloped […]