Glenn Fleishman has good coverage of an FCC rule change and HomeRF.

European sales of HomeRF equipment account for some of its strength, as the standard is compatible with the DECT protocol for cordless phones, unlike Wi-Fi.

I can't profess to know anything about the DECT protocol, but DECT cordless phones in Europe tend to operate in the 1.9GHz band, not the 2.4GHz band that HomeRF and Wi-Fi occupy.

12:53:47 AM | Comments:

Infoworld: VMware server upgrade enables consolidation of apps on one server.

ESX Server 1.5 is aimed at data centers and can support up to 64 concurrent virtual machines, up from 30, said Diane Greene, president and chief executive officer at VMware. It also can now address up to 64G bytes of RAM, up from 4G bytes of RAM in ESX Server 1.1, and permits each virtual machine to use up to 3.6G bytes of RAM.

What the heck is VMware Server used for?

12:29:31 AM | Comments:

Infosync: Siemens licenses Nokia's Series 60 handset software.

12:25:06 AM | Comments:

CNET: Dashed hopes for dashboard electronics.

The "Telematics" vision was destined for failure, everything that they're offering are things that consumers do not perceive a need for.

These are the automotive electronics that consumers can be sold on:

1. Cellular handsfree systems. Bluetooth is going to make it practical to build handsfree systems into every new car. The system in the BMW 5-Series in the one to emulate, it has steering-wheel controls and directory navigation is integrated with the in-dash display.
2. MP3 players. Ideally disk-based with a large display, able to rip CDs directly and bulk-transfer over Wi-Fi. The Rio Car is a fine starting point.
3. Back-seat babysitters, aka video entertainment systems.
4. Navigation systems. Seems like everyone I know with a new $35k+ car has a navigation system. I don't get lost often enough to need one, but it seems that many consumers do (or perceive that they do).

12:24:00 AM | Comments: