LightSquared Prospects; FCC Chair Wants Interference Cleared, Hits Back at GPS

[ps56k]

x-post to Garmin, etc -

LightSquared Prospects; FCC Chair Wants Interference Cleared, Hits Back at
GPS
http://www.gpsworld.com/wireless/lightsquared-prospects-fcc-chair-wants-interference-cleared-hits-back-gps-11787
June 15, 2011 By: Janice Partyka
Wireless Pulse, June 2011
LightSquared Prospects Dimming. Concerns by government and the private
sector about GPS interference from LightSquared’s proposed wholesale LTE
service accelerates. Government experts just reported that interference
with GPS occurred in high portions of LightSquared's spectrum bands and
little in the lower spectrum. The National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board’s
tests showed that some GPS receivers lost signal strength while others
were fully disabled by LightSquared's signal. FCC Chairman Genachowski,
under fire for granting LightSquared a conditional waiver, has reiterated
that he will not permit LightSquared to begin commercial service without
first resolving concerns about potential interference to GPS devices.
Genachowski hit back at the GPS community in a letter to Sen. Charles
Grassley, "It should be no surprise to anyone involved in the LightSquared
matter that the company was planning for some time to deploy a major
terrestrial network in the spectrum adjacent to GPS.” Members of the
National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board have stated that they and the GPS
community were not properly notified when the FCC removed the limit on the
number of base stations deployed on this spectrum. And so it goes on. (See
also LightSquared, FCC Rebuttals Distort Record.)
Getting Intimate. Mobile phones are the most personal computing devices.
How personal? iPass conducted a study of 3,700 mobile employees at 1,000
enterprises worldwide. Sixty-one percent of these mobile workers sleep
with their smartphones and 43 percent of those within arm’s reach. It gets
worse. 58 percent of those that sleep with their phones at least
occasionally, check it during the night. Not surprisingly, almost a third
of mobile workers say their relationship with their smartphone causes
friction with their partner. I’d say.
Frienemies. In a newly extended agreement, Google will continue to provide
archrival Apple with map and search capabilities. This kills rampant
rumors that Apple will have a home-grown mapping database ready in the
near term. In March, AppleInsider discovered an Apple job listing for an
iOS Maps Application Developer to “radically improve” Apple’s
location-based services. Even for Apple, a mapping database will take time
to develop.
App Stores Aren’t the Holy Grail. App developers whose marketing strategy
starts and ends with getting onto app store “shelves” need a reality
check. With more than 200,000 apps on Google’s Android Market and 350,000
on the Apple store, it is hard to stand out. According to Distimo, 20
percent of free applications and 80 percent of all paid applications have
been downloaded less than 100 times in the Google Android Market,
worldwide. Ninety-six applications have been downloaded more than 5
million times, with Google Maps the winner, with more than 50 million
downloads in the Android Market.
Traffic Targeted. Navteq will begin delivering its traffic services in
Transport Protocol Expert Group (TPEG) standard format to enable
location-targeted traffic services with radius search capabilities and
user authentication and session management. The format allows more
targeted data to be delivered in smaller file sizes.
Mobile Advertising Flying High. Many of the location content providers are
counting on monetizing with mobile advertising, and things are looking
good. AdMob is receiving more than 2.7 billion mobile ad requests daily,
spanning more than 80,000 mobile applications and websites. Now they are
introducing ads for tablet formats. Ad Mob was purchased by Google last
year for $750 million.
Snippets
Nokia is ending the confusion of its dual names by killing the Ovi brand.
Ovi maps, Ovi e-mail, Ovi music, Ovi store, and other Ovi products will
continue to operate under the Nokia brand name.
Industry-backed Future of Privacy Forum is launching a new
ApplicationPrivacy.org website to help developers create their own privacy
policies. Location privacy concerns have so far been focused on the big
players like Apple and Google, but app providers have a critical role.
Firefox for Android now includes a “do not track” tool that signals all
web pages, images and advertisers that the user doesn’t want to be
tracked.
Taipei officials are ordering Apple and Google to offer free seven-day
mobile app trials in alignment with Taiwan’s Consumer Protection Act.
Google is raking in more than 97 percent of U.S. mobile search spending.
Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing share the remainder.
Monetizing with Nothing. The Inside Virtual Goods report estimates $1.6
billion dollars was spent by game players on virtual goods last year and
is predicting a 40 percent increase in 2011. There is a gender factor.
MocoSpace, mobile entertainment provider, reports that although the
percent of male players (53 percent) is only slightly higher than female,
men account for 90 percent of all virtual goods purchased in their games.
Can you lend me your sword, sir

[Alan Browne]

Post by ps56k
x-post to Garmin, etc -

LightSquared Prospects; FCC Chair Wants Interference Cleared, Hits Back at
GPS
http://www.gpsworld.com/wireless/lightsquared-prospects-fcc-chair-wants-interference-cleared-hits-back-gps-11787
June 15, 2011 By: Janice Partyka
Wireless Pulse, June 2011
LightSquared Prospects Dimming. Concerns by government and the private
sector about GPS interference from LightSquared’s proposed wholesale LTE
service accelerates. Government experts just reported that interference
with GPS occurred in high portions of LightSquared's spectrum bands and
little in the lower spectrum. The National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board’s
tests showed that some GPS receivers lost signal strength while others
were fully disabled by LightSquared's signal. FCC Chairman Genachowski,
under fire for granting LightSquared a conditional waiver, has reiterated
that he will not permit LightSquared to begin commercial service without
first resolving concerns about potential interference to GPS devices.
Genachowski hit back at the GPS community in a letter to Sen. Charles
Grassley, "It should be no surprise to anyone involved in the LightSquared
matter that the company was planning for some time to deploy a major
terrestrial network in the spectrum adjacent to GPS.” Members of the
National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board have stated that they and the GPS
community were not properly notified when the FCC removed the limit on the
number of base stations deployed on this spectrum. And so it goes on. (See
also LightSquared, FCC Rebuttals Distort Record.)

As an other poster has pointed out on a couple occasions it will be
supremely ironic if quality and safety of the GPS signal is better
outside the US than inside the US due to Lightsquared distortion of reality.

[Gene E. Bloch]

Post by ps56k
x-post to Garmin, etc -

LightSquared Prospects; FCC Chair Wants Interference Cleared, Hits Back at
GPS
http://www.gpsworld.com/wireless/lightsquared-prospects-fcc-chair-wants-interference-cleared-hits-back-gps-11787
June 15, 2011 By: Janice Partyka
Wireless Pulse, June 2011
LightSquared Prospects Dimming. Concerns by government and the private
sector about GPS interference from LightSquared’s proposed wholesale LTE
service accelerates. Government experts just reported that interference
with GPS occurred in high portions of LightSquared's spectrum bands and
little in the lower spectrum. The National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board’s
tests showed that some GPS receivers lost signal strength while others
were fully disabled by LightSquared's signal. FCC Chairman Genachowski,
under fire for granting LightSquared a conditional waiver, has reiterated
that he will not permit LightSquared to begin commercial service without
first resolving concerns about potential interference to GPS devices.
Genachowski hit back at the GPS community in a letter to Sen. Charles
Grassley, "It should be no surprise to anyone involved in the LightSquared
matter that the company was planning for some time to deploy a major
terrestrial network in the spectrum adjacent to GPS.” Members of the
National Space-Based PNT Advisory Board have stated that they and the GPS
community were not properly notified when the FCC removed the limit on the
number of base stations deployed on this spectrum. And so it goes on. (See
also LightSquared, FCC Rebuttals Distort Record.)

As an other poster has pointed out on a couple occasions it will be supremely
ironic if quality and safety of the GPS signal is better outside the US than
inside the US due to Lightsquared distortion of reality.

On the hopeful side, there was a piece on NPR news a couple of days ago
abut the LightSquared interference with GPS.

With any luck, a publicity storm will develop that will prevent the
catastrophe.