Mike Elgan's blog

Now American Airlines to censor Wi-Fi

Mike Elgan — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:20:35 -0400

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- I told you October 3 that Delta Airlines planned to filter out "inappropriate" Web sites for in-flight Wi-Fi. Now American Airlines announced plans to follow suit. Why the rush to censor when no abuse has yet been reported?

American acted after complaints from both flight attendents and passengers, although not a single case of a passenger viewing "innappropriate" Web sites has yet been reported.

New threat to Wi-Fi: light bulbs!

Mike Elgan — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:13:30 -0400

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- Wireless technologies like WiMAX and LTE are supposed to bring us the speed of Wi-Fi (or better) with something approaching the range of existing wireless broadband, which could replace the need for Wi-Fi hotspots. Now, Wi-Fi back at the office is under threat, too: from light bulbs!

Why you'll never own a 3D cell phone

Mike Elgan — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:01:37 -0400

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- The Japanese telecom operator KDDI unveiled recently a research prototype of a 3D cell phone screen. It's cool technology, but you won't see it on your phone for, well, probably ever.

Delta to censor in-flight Wi-Fi

Mike Elgan — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:31:23 -0400

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- Even domestic flights on at least one airline will be like traveling to China or Saudi Arabia in one respect: Internet censorship. Delta Airlines plans to block what it considers inappropriate Web sites from passengers using its in-flight Wi-Fi.

HP to ship touch screen consumer smart phone

Mike Elgan — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:21:13 -0400

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- No, I'm not kidding. The Wall Street Journal reports that HP is secretly planning a new iPaq smart phone with touch screen and keypad. The Windows Mobile phone will hit Europe within two months!

The report also says the phone will be released worldwide "later." Gosh, thanks for the details!

How about spending that $1 billion to FIX mobile broadband?

Mike Elgan — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:44:34 -0400

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- The GSMA and 16 major IT and mobile companies are planning to spend $1 billion to convince you to use cell phone data (mobile broadband) instead of Wi-Fi. Instead, why don't they just use that money to make mobile broadband better or cheaper?

New software auto-calculates your carbon footprint

Mike Elgan — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:12:35 -0400

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- A UK company has created a mobile phone application called Carbon Diem that uses GPS to track your carbon footprint. The GPS tracks the speed you're moving at, and from that information, the software figures out if you're walking, driving or in a train or airplane, and estimates fuel use accordingly.

New book, blog focus on coffee shop digital nomads

Mike Elgan — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 01:50:07 -0400

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- Two authors plan to launch on Tuesday a new blog about digital nomads who'd rather work at places like Starbucks than office buildings. They plan to publish a book on the same subject next year. Both the blog, and the book, are called "Coffee Shop Office."

Mobile broadband beats Wi-Fi in UK

Mike Elgan — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:59:04 -0400

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- An amazing wireless milestone has been reached in the UK: More people away from home are connecting to the Internet via cell phone wireless -- mobile broadband -- than Wi-Fi. Just one year ago, Wi-Fi was far ahead. Is the U.S. next?

Wi-Fi always had the advantage of speed. But as mobile broadband gets faster, and carriers more agressively market upgraded plans and services that can be accessed over mobile broadband, more people everywhere choose to connect over their cell phone's data connection.

Cell phone alarm clock listens to you sleep

Mike Elgan — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 15:07:51 -0400

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. -- A new cell phone alarm clock application uses "statistical analysis" to figure out the best time to wake you up. After installing it, you place your phone under your pillow and the software uses your phone's microphone to listen to your sleep patterns.

Called HappyWakeUp, the software is based on sleep research at two Finnish universities.