Carmen Nobel

Even in the midst of the biggest spectrum auction in U.S. history, the Federal Communications Commission is considering allocating a slew of additional frequency bands for new wireless services. Although the move hasnt dampened enthusiasm for spectrum already being sold, critics say the FCCs rush to heap more airwaves on the auction block is adding […]

Palm Inc. is set to bolster its operating system and is working with several companies to improve its wireless capabilities and in turn transform its handheld devices into electronic wallets. Groupe Ingenico and VeriFone Inc., the latter a division of Hewlett-Packard Co., are working with Palm, of Santa Clara, Calif., on a secure e-wallet application. […]

Nobody is more mobile than a frequent flier, so airlines are trying to keep up with the wireless trend. But while several are offering simple things such as access to flight data, the companies are hedging on real mobile commerce applications like selling tickets via cell phones. “The two primary items offered via wireless now […]

As cell phones become major conduits for wireless data applications, users and Web consultants are urging vendors to build voice recognition into their offerings. Vendors are starting to get the message. “Its hellishly difficult entering data on the phone,” said Richard Barnwell, CTO (chief technology officer) of Zefer Inc., a Web integration company in Boston […]

The annual Palm developers show used to be about companies clamoring to build applications for the Palm OS platform. Now, Palm Inc. is growing up and realizing that developers need to support other technologies such as Bluetooth and Java as well. For starters, that means keeping the industry updated on plans for the Palm OS […]

A pair of wireless silicon manufacturers are working to solve one of the headaches facing the Bluetooth technology. At issue is the radio frequency on which Bluetooth operates—its the same one used by wireless LANs based on the 802.11 specification. When an 802.11 connection collides with a Bluetooth connection, transmission errors often occur. Intersil Corp., […]

Lucent Technologies Inc. last week announced a USB client for its Orinoco line of wireless networking products. With the device, which is basically a radio transceiver plug-in, users can connect a desktop or laptop PC to a wireless LAN by plugging the device into a spare Universal Serial Bus connector and installing the software drivers. […]

NTT DoCoMos $9.8 billion investment in AT&T Wireless Services Inc. will give the Tokyo company a foothold in the United States and should help the Redmond, Wash., company create global services. With the deal announced last week, DoCoMo bounces back from its failed attempt earlier this year to break into the U.S. market when the […]

Motorola Inc. and Lutris Technologies Inc. are teaming up to jump-start development of wireless business applications for Motorolas forthcoming iDEN handset. The two companies this week will announce a deal to bundle Lutris open-source Enhydra application server with Motorolas Software Developers Kit for iDEN (integrated Digital Enhanced Network) handset. Developers will then be able to […]