What is 4G really?

T-Mobile claims the largest "4G" network in the country. Verizon's launching its "4G" LTE network later this year. And Sprint loves talking about "4G" WiMax. Thing is, none of these networks are actually 4G. Not by a long shot.

Who decides what's 4G?

There's like a bajillion massive, international organizations that jockey for position to dictate a lot of what technology standards look like. When it comes to 3G/4G, there are a few major groups at play:

• The International Telecommunication Union is a United Nations agency that, among other things, sets international standards for telecommunications. This group ultimately decides if a wireless technology is 3G or 4G or, like, 9000G. To be considered 4G, a network technology has to meet a set of specs known as IMT-Advanced.

• 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) is a group of telecom standards bodies that originally got together to develop the technical specs for a 3G network. This group developed the standard for UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications), which GSM carriers use for 3G data transmission. They're also the cats behind LTE, the next-gen wireless network that GSM carriers like AT&T will migrate to. (I highly recommend reading our CDMA vs. GSM primer now if you haven't, BTW.)

• If you've ever bought a router, you're probably familiar with the number 802.11. What that weird string of digits refers to is IEEE 802.11, the set of standards for wireless local area networking, and the working group that defines them. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers does a lot of things, and one of them is set technical standards. What's relevant here is that a subset of these governing geeks, the IEEE 802.16 working group, standardizes Wireless Metropolitan Area networks—what you know better as WiMax.

None of these "4G" networks is really 4G

Right now, every major carrier in the US is touting a "4G" network that's either available or being rolled out. Sprint is pushing WiMax. AT&T and Verizon are pushing LTE (Long-Term Evolution). T-Mobile is pushing HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access Evolved). They're all faster than the "3G" speeds than we're used to, with WiMax and HSPA+ delivering consistent, real-world speeds of anywhere from 3Mbps-12Mbps today. But a rep for the ITU told me flatly, "The fact is that there are no IMT-Advanced—or 4G—systems available or deployed at this stage." Calling their newer, faster networks "4G" is "completely marketing" by the carriers, says Gartner analyst Phil Hartman.

The ITU has actually just decided which technologies are officially designated as IMT-Advanced—"true 4G technologies" in its eyes—after looking at six candidates. The winners:LTE-Advanced (LTE Release 10)and WirelessMAN-Advanced (aka 802.16m aka WiMax Release 2). In other words, the next versions of today's LTE and WiMax. Despite sharing the names, and being developed by the same groups as their predecessors, the for-serious 4G networks will be "pretty different" at a technical level, says Hartman.

If you think top speeds of 300Mbps for LTE and 72Mbps for WiMax are impressive, true 4G makes them look downright pokey. Today's 4G is "not anywhere near what the 4G experience will be in 10-15 years," says Hartman. You're talking about speeds of "up to a gigabit a second" in a wireless LAN, and 100Mbps for fully mobile applications. In other words, true 4G is a massive leap, not a dainty skip forward. There's also little things, like full capability for voice in LTE-Advanced, which there's no standard for in the current LTE spec.

The goal of true 4G is to create a superfast, incredibly interoperable, basically ubiquitous global networks. What we've got now and in the very near future is pretty good, and definitely better than what we've had. But they're no 4G.

Discover more than 3 million Google eBooks from your choice of booksellers and devices

Today is the first page in a new chapter of our mission to improve access to the cultural and educational treasures we know as books. Google eBooks will be available in the U.S. from a new Google eBookstore. You can browse and search through the largest ebooks collection in the world with more than three million titles including hundreds of thousands for sale. Find the latest bestsellers like James Patterson’s Cross Fire and Jonathon Franzen’s Freedom, dig into popular reads like Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken and catch up on the classics like Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and Gulliver’s Travels.



We designed Google eBooks to be open. Many devices are compatible with Google eBooks—everything from laptops to netbooks to tablets to smartphones to e-readers. With the newGoogle eBooks Web Reader, you can buy, store and read Google eBooks in the cloud. That means you can access your ebooks like you would messages in Gmail or photos in Picasa—using a free, password-protected Google account with unlimited ebooks storage.

In addition to a full-featured web reader, free apps for Android and Apple devices will make it possible to shop and read on the go. For many books you can select which font, font size, day/night reading mode and line spacing suits you—and pick up on the page where you left off when switching devices.

You can discover and buy new ebooks from the Google eBookstore or get them from one of our independent bookseller partners: Powell’s, Alibris and participating members of theAmerican Booksellers Association. You can choose where to buy your ebooks like you choose where to buy your print books, and keep them all on the same bookshelf regardless of where you got them.

When Google Books first launched in 2004, we set out to make the information stored in the world’s books accessible and useful online. Since then, we’ve digitized more than 15 million books from more than 35,000 publishers, more than 40 libraries, and more than 100 countries in more than 400 languages. This deep repository of knowledge and culture will continue to be searchable through Google Books search in the research section alongside the ebookstore.


Launching Google eBooks is an initial step toward giving you greater access to the vast variety of information and entertainment found in books. Our journey has just begun. We welcomeyour feedback as we read on to the next chapter.

Google Docs Now Syncs With Microsoft Office

Google has transformed one of its acquisitions into Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, a new tool that lets users simultaneously edit an Office doc via the cloud.

Launching in beta today, Google Cloud Connect is an add-on for Office that syncs documents, spreadsheets and presentations from Office 2003, 2007 and 2010 with the “Google cloud.” In other words, it takes data on the desktop and makes a backup copy in Google Docs, gives it a unique URL and constantly syncs the data with anybody else that might be sharing the same document.

The technology behind Google Cloud Connect derives from DocVerse, a productivity tool that Google acquiredearlier this year that lets multiple users collaborate and edit Microsoft Office documents.

Originally, DocVerse was just focused on syncing Word docs with each other so that users could collaborate. Here’s what we originally wrote when we first reviewed it:

“This sidebar is where all of DocVerse’s magic happens. You can invite friends and colleagues to collaborate on any documents. As you and others make edits, those changes are synced to the cloud. In addition to a hard copy, the plug-in automatically saves a web-based version of the doc that others can see to make collaboration easy.”

Cloud Connect doesn’t take away any of that collaboration functionality while adding Google Docs to the mix. A business team can edit a document from either Microsoft Office or Google Doc

s simultaneously. Google Docs also saves all of the revisions, so if someone messes up someone else’s edits, it’s easy to revert them.

Today’s launch is all about getting Office users to slowly switch to Google Docs. The search giant wants people to switch from Office to the cloud, which eventually leads to Google. By dipping their toes into the waters of Google Docs via their business colleagues and friends, loyal Office users will get used to Google’s offering and eventually discard Microsoft’s productivity suite for good. At least, that’s what Google hopes.

Does Google’s plan make sense? Yes. Will it actually work? Probably. Is Cloud Connect a win for users? Absolutely.

Disaster Recovery Tip #42

It's not about a plan. It's about a culture.

Is your company really prepared? Be honest. If you're reading this, my guess is that you take recovery planning and disaster recovery very seriously. But what about the rest of your company? What about your community? What about your family? To be truly prepared you need to create a culture of preparedness that extends beyond the basic continuity plan, phone tree and emergency kit.

Preparedness must permeate the culture of your organization.

In a recent article, Dave Miller, President-elect of the National Emergency Management Association discussed the individual's role in emergency management and provided some insight into the need for creating a "culture of self-reliance linked to a sense of community." Check out the full article here. It's a good read.

Disaster Recovery Tip #41

Achoo!

It’s hard to believe, but flu season is right around the corner. Officially, flu season doesn’t begin until November, but now is the time for your business to take steps to ensure your employees are protected.

Flu related absenteeism is a huge issue for business owners and can cost employers thousands of dollars in lost revenue and productivity. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends getting a flu vaccine in the months of October and November to prevent an outbreak. Additionally, the CDC has created many useful tools for businesses to encourage their staff to take preventative measures.

Click here to download the CDC’s Tool Kit for strategies to prevent flu in the workplace. To track the flu outbreaks in your community, click here.

Disaster Recovery Tip #39

You're Not Alone.

There’s an amazing number of organizations that provide assistance before, during and after a disaster.

Unfortunately, most of us are unaware of who they are and what they can do to help. For example, did you know that the Small Business Administration has provided $47 billion in disaster loans? Did you know that 80% of SBA disaster loans are made to individual homeowners and renters…notbusiness owners? Amazing, right?

Like most things, education is half the battle. The links below will take you to several organizations that can assist you and your company in the event of a disaster. Remember, when faced with a disaster, you’re not alone.

• SBA: Disaster Assistance
• Catholic Charities: 100 Years of Service, Advocacy and Convening
• FEMA: Apply For Assistance
• FEMA: About Disaster Recovery Centers
• DisasterAssistance.gov: Access To Disaster Help And Resources
• About Citizen Corps
• Ready Business: Prepare. Plan. Stay Informed.
• The Institute For Business & Home Safety's DisasterSafety.org
• PrepareMyBusiness.org

Mobile Phones from 1964

By 1964 there were 1.5 million mobile phone users in the US.

No, really. That's not a joke. It comes directly from a report by the Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project. (And got to me via Atlantic magazine technology guru Alexis Madrigal.) In fact, the first landline-to-mobile service was offered in St. Louis in 1946! Now, granted, we're talking about a radio-based system of car phones which were such energy hogs that headlights noticeably dimmed when people used them. But still. Mobile phones.

http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Teens-and-Mobile-Phones/Introduction/Introduction.aspx

http://gizmodo.com/5661414/this-is-what-a-mobile-phone-looked-like-in-1964and-there-were-over-a-million-of-them

Outstanding Service Brings National Award

TOP SCORE

MedCom Professional Services Incorporated Wins CAM-X Award of Excellence

MedCom Professional Services Incorporated of Levittown, PA has been honoured with the exclusive 2010 Award of Excellence for the third consecutive year. The award is presented annually by the Canadian Call Management Association (CAM-X), the industry's Trade Association for providers of call centre services including telephone answering and message delivery. MedCom Professional Services Incorporated was presented with the award recently at the CAM-X 46th Annual convention and Trade Show held at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV Independent judges are contracted by CAM-X to evaluate message services throughout Canada over a six-month period. The criteria for scoring include courtesy, response time, accuracy and overall service to their clients. If the company scores 80% or better in ALL categories, they are presented with the coveted Award of Excellence. The program is now in its 21 st year.

"Participation in the AOE helps create a focus on service quality that runs levels deep throughout an organization and not just during the program period, but each and every day of the year. This translates into satisfied customers and allows everyone, at all levels, to take pride in their personal participation as well as in the company as a whole. And in a service industry, nothing builds employee confidence more than positive feedback from satisfied customers." says CAM-X President Gary Blair. "We congratulate MedCom Professional Services Incorporated for their achievements." Founded in 1964, CAM-X began as a national trade Association representing live answering services. The Canadian Call Management Association now encompasses companies across Canada offering specialized and enhanced operator based services including: call centres, contact centres, inbound telemarketing (order entry), paging, voice messaging, emergency dispatch, 'fax, and internet services among others.

Now a three-time winner MedCom Professional Services Incorporated earned the Silver Award for three consecutive years. CAM-X extends its congratulations to the staff of MedCom Professional Services Incorporated on their proven Top Score quality service to their customers.

MedCom achieved the Top Score of 97.7%. Nearly 93 answering services across North America competed in this award program.

T-Mobile Claims Right to Censor Text Messages

T-Mobile told a federal judge Wednesday it may pick and choose which text messages to deliver on its network in a case weighing whether wireless carriers have the same "must carry" obligations as wire-line telephone providers.

The Bellevue, Washington-based wireless service is being sued by a texting service claiming T-Mobile stopped servicing its "short code" clients after it signed up a California medical marijuana dispensary. In a court filing, T-Mobile said it had the right to pre-approve EZ Texting's clientele, which it said the New York-based texting service failed to submit for approval.

EZ Texting offers a short code service, which works like this: A church could send its schedule to a cell phone user who texted "CHURCH" to 313131. Mobile phone users only receive text messages from EZ Texting's customers upon request. Each of its clients gets their own special word.

T-Mobile, the company wrote in a filing (.pdf) in New York federal court, "has discretion to require pre-approval for any short-code marketing campaigns run on its network, and to enforce its guidelines by terminating programs for which a content provider failed to obtain the necessary approval."

Such approval is necessary, T-Mobile added, "to protect the carrier and its customers from potentially illegal, fraudulent, or offensive marketing campaigns conducted on its network."

It's the first federal case testing whether wireless providers may block text messages they don't like.

The legal flap comes as the Federal Communications Commission has been dragging its feet over clarifying the rules for wireless carriers. The FCC was asked in 2007 to announce clear rules whether wireless carriers, unlike their wireline brethren, may ban legal content they do not support. The so-called "network neutrality" issue made huge headlines last month, when Google, along with Verizon, urged Congress not to bind wireless carriers to the same rules as wireline carriers.

EZ Texting claims it will go out of business if a judge does not promptly order T-Mobile to transmit its texts. T-Mobile accounts for 15 percent of the nation's wireless subscribers.

A similar text-messaging flap occurred in 2007, but ended without litigation, when Verizon reversed itself and allowed an abortion-rights group to send text messages to its supporters.

Is the notebook dying?

Yes. You can scream all you want, but yes, the notebook is dying.

First it was the death of the netbook, and now analysts are piling on Best Buy's CEO remarks about iPad cannibalizing laptop sales by 50%.

Morgan Stanley notes that notebook's year-over-year growth has been negative for the first time ever this August. They have gone as far as saying that: "Tablet cannibalization"—chiefly by Apple's (AAPL) iPad—is at least partially responsible."

That growth is negative doesn't mean that notebooks are not selling anymore. We don't even know if the pattern will keep going on for 2011, although chances are that it will. But there is a pattern now, one that is completely new. Right now, the laptop market is not growing anymore.

In fact, growth has been steadily decreasing since March—even while new, faster, cheaper laptops have been introduced since then. The incoming September numbers show another 4% decrease. That's one of the reasons why manufacturers like Dell, Samsung, and HP are racing to get their own tablets in the market before Apple becomes unstoppable in this new computing world. If you think that HP wasn't thinking about this trend when they bought Palm, you are seriously mistaken.

The end of the laptop

So, are tablets the end of the laptop? Perhaps it is too early to tell now—even with the loud and clear numbers—but yes, yes they are. Eventually, it will happen. New computing formats have been replacing old computing formats since the beginning of the information era. Just a few years ago, some people couldn't believe the desktop market was going to become stagnant. But it did, and today many people only use laptops.

The same will happen with tablets.

Laptops will not disappear. Not now, not right away. Like the desktop, they will survive for years on different industries and enterprises. Eventually, however, I'm sure they will vanish completely except for a very few specialized niches, just like they have disappeared for many workforces who have moved from traditional computer platforms to smart phones. Gene Roddenberry was right.

So what will happen with the keyboard, you ask? I can't type on a tablet! Well, I write for a living, so I understand that concern. I know I will keep using keyboards until new input methods replace them.

But now think about the immensity of people who, unlike you and me, don't touch a keyboard at all or touch it just barely, to send "hey, see you at 5! LOL! xxxooo" mails or write Facebook messages or chat with contracted words and emoticons. Think about the majority of people who, outside their work offices, never touch and don't want to touch a keyboard. Think about the amount of the huge amount of blue collar workers who don't use computers in their work, just depend on their phones to communicate. Think about the increasing number of office workers who have moved from desktops and laptops to their smart phones. And in addition to all those, think about that big majority of consumers who don't give damn about computers.

For those people, tablets are indeed the future. Because that's really all their need in their digital lives: A way to easily get their entertainment, communicate with others, and access their memories. And as tablets evolve, connecting to cameras, camcorders, smart phones, printers and AV systems, becoming hubs rather than just the end of a chain, that future will come even sooner than expected. Full Article via [Fortune]