Although we hate to link to a press release, we feel its safe to make an exception for this one as it contains the full text of a letter sent from Google to the FCC. In it, Google seems to hint at how it might revolutionize wireless technology in America even more than the iPhone:

In a filing with the FCC on July 9, Google urged the Commission to adopt rules for the auction that ensure that, regardless of who wins the spectrum at auction, consumers’ interests are served. Specifically, Google encouraged the FCC to require the adoption of four types of “open” platforms as part of the license conditions:

* Open applications: Consumers should be able to download and utilize any software applications, content, or services they desire;

* Open devices: Consumers should be able to utilize a handheld communications device with whatever wireless network they prefer;

* Open services: Third parties (resellers) should be able to acquire wireless services from a 700 MHz licensee on a wholesale basis, based on reasonably nondiscriminatory commercial terms; and

* Open networks: Third parties (like internet service providers) should be able to interconnect at any technically feasible point in a 700 MHz licensee’s wireless network.

Today, as a sign of Google’s commitment to promoting greater innovation and choices for consumers, CEO Eric Schmidt sent a letter to FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, stating that should the FCC adopt all four license conditions requested above, Google intends to commit a minimum of $4.6 billion to bidding in the upcoming 700 MHz auction.

Bulletpoint #2 to “utilize a handheld communications device” seems the most interesting as rumors have long swirled that Google had a skunkworks dedicated to building some sort of mobile device. Buying some spectrum would allow Google to bypass the traditional byzantine world of obsolete wireless carriers and their aged, incompatible wireless protocols. But is being cash-rich and high-tech darling Google enough to jolt the FCC out of languishing in the status quo?

If you thought the iPhone redefined the relationship between Silicon Valley and the U.S. cell carriers, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet:

The venture capitalists L. John Doerr and James L. Barksdale have joined an investment group that is promoting a plan that would open a portion of the radio spectrum for both uses, through technologies flexible enough to support both next-generation wireless Internet devices and public safety emergency communications.

The plan is being put forth by Frontline Wireless, formed earlier this year by Reed E. Hundt, the former Federal Communications Commission chairman. Frontline Wireless is one of several potential bidders for spectrum in the 700 MHz band, used until now by UHF television, that is being opened up by the move to digital.

Mr. Hundt said that Frontline had begun building an investor group, which would ultimately include large banking partners, to participate in the auction. Significantly, the company’s first public investor was K. Ram Shriram, an early Google investor and board member and managing partner of Sherpalo Ventures.

American technologists have often complained about the poor status of domestic cellular and broadband technologies, often accusing them of holding back the great internet revolution. As the old saying goes, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

Rather than continuing to complain, Silicon Valley has decided to pursue what it does best which means they’re just going to have to do it themselves. In the end, why would the incumbents contribute to their own demise? It was nice that Apple could work out a deal with Cingular/AT&T;but its a whole new ballgame when tech companies like Apple have obsoleted them out of existence.

You have all probably already read hundreds of “analyses” of Apple’s new iPhone. But what they all left out is why Apple’s device is so revolutionary.  As Ajit Jaokar so rightly points out, this has nothing to do with the slick technology in the phone itself:

The first supported carrier will be Cingular. Supported carrier? Since when did devices support carriers? Carriers support devices. Not the other way round! Hence, is the tail now wagging the dog?(Not necessarily a bad thing IMHO!)

According to a WSJ email alert:

Verizon is in advanced talks with YouTube to bring the popular Web site’s videos to cellphones and television sets, in what would be a landmark link-up between telecom and Internet video.

If you thought bringing YouTube to Comcast posed a problem to your TV remote we can’t even begin to imagine navigating on your cell phone.  On the other hand, most YouTube content is perfect for the 2 inch screen on your mobile. Too bad none of us here at BBB use Verizon.

Isn’t it amazing how wireless carriers still don’t get that the open nature of the internet is what makes it so popular?

We know that we just got through trashing cellphones just in time for CTIA but this article should warm the hearts of our wireless industry readers:

Some 51 percent of all 10-year-olds in Britain own a mobile phone, but that figure rises to 91 percent by the time children hit the age of 12, according to a survey.

[...]

On average, 11- to 17-year-olds send 9.6 text messages a day, almost three times as many as their parents and makes or receives on average 3.5 calls a day. Adults make or receive 2.8 calls and send 3.6 texts on a daily basis.

While the U.S. cellphone market is always technologically stuck in the Paleozoic era it is always worth remembering that even the limeys have more advanced wireless tech than we do. One day we might eventually catch up but it is this kind of social upheaval that have many investors betting big on wireless. [via Unwired]

For those of you in LA for the CTIA madness, we have a little wireless update. And we do mean ‘little.’

Bad ideas are legendary in the cell phone world but this one takes the cake:

The technology allows people to record a TV program on their mobile phone and then watch it later, on the train on the way to work, for example. The TI package also provides “picture-in-picture” capabilities, allowing a person to watch a prerecorded program and also track a live sports event in a smaller, on-screen window.

Picture-in-Picture? On a two-inch screen? Are they serious?

Unfortunately, while watching short clips on your cell when you are bored seems like such an obviously good idea, competing tech standards, hardware incompatibilities and wireless provider micro-management, tv-on-cell has largely been stillborn. Even the cellphone industry press is skeptical of the huge numbers projected by the vendors.

Who needs the FCC when you have Verizon Wireless?

A Verizon Wireless content-guideline document, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, shows that the company has developed a long list of restrictions, including off-limits expletives and curse words, highly specific rules for how much bare skin models can show, and a ban on any derogatory references to Verizon Wireless itself.

Isn’t it funny that while the left hand slaps Google and Yahoo on the wrist for censoring search results in China, the right hand quietly censors us? Is censorship somehow OK when implemented by corporate rather than government overlords? We must have missed the memo on that one.

The walled-garden approach to content that the these wireless carriers are pursuing will completely backfire as people rush to get their uncensored internet content.

Thanks guys, and remember not the let the door hit you on the way out.

Sprint is announcing today that they are making available downloadable feature-length films to certain phones:

Among them are “One-Eyed Jacks,” the Marlon Brando-Karl Malden Western, as well as “Angel and the Badman” with John Wayne. Other titles include “Night of the Living Dead” and the most recent—“Short Circuit” from 1986.

“This is what we could get rights to quickly,” said Dale Knoop, Sprint’s general manager for multimedia services. He said the company and MSpot are in negotiations for more current content, but declined to say which studios are involved.

Now we could make fun of the terrible movies, but that is simply too easy. Instead we are going to wonder who would pay money to watch a two hour movie on a two inch screen.

What does this mean for you?

Updated: IEEE standards body has approved the 802.16e standard and with that, what is commonly known as Wireless MAN or WiMAX has gone mobile. (More information here.)

It means the death of the cellular phone companies. Remember you heard it here first.

Cell phone cameras are starting to make things interesting:

The smallest of Britain’s five mobile phone network operators said on Tuesday that customers could now use their mobile phone to make a 30 second video and upload it onto a “See Me TV” channel for others to view.

Each time a clip is downloaded by one of 3 UK’s 3.2 million customers, the performer gets paid one penny.

A penny is not very much but don’t bet on the economics staying the same for long. Sure they will all be short crappy movies but that’s the most you can tolerate on a tiny two inch screen anyways. Disposable content for disposable devices, a perfect match.

The New York Times reports that the partnership between Motorola and Apple is finally bearing fruit:

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 29 - Apple Computer and Motorola plan to unveil a long-awaited mobile phone and music player next week that will incorporate Apple’s iTunes software, a telecommunications industry analyst who has been briefed on the announcement said on Monday.

The development marks a melding of two of the digital era’s most popular devices, the cellphone and the iPod, which has become largely synonymous with the concept of downloading songs from the Internet or transferring them from compact discs.

This will be an interesting experiment in convergence: will people buying iPods decide instead to buy a cellphone with iPod-like features and/or will cellphone users want a cellphone with iPod features? BBB experts tend to think that such a device will be a failure. The iPod sells well because of its inimitable design that focuses solely on music playback. Cellphones are inherently complicated and unsavory. Combining these two just results in yet another franken-phone that no one likes.

Jack of all trades, master of none. Now if only motorola could make decent cellphones before trying to cram an iPod into one of them.

The BBC is continuing its campaign to discover how to reach its audience in a post-broadcast world.

The BBC is selling classic episodes of “Doctor Who” and “Red Dwarf” for viewing on mobile phones, anticipating that fans of cult science fiction are often among the first to adopt new technology.

The BBC has been pursuing many different technology initiatives at once, in a hit-or-miss approach. While not all of the BBC’s new projects will result in a windfall of profits they are clearly ready to position themselves for a world in which broadcast TV is rendered irrelevant by internet-based on-demand downloads. The BBC is smart to pursue Sci-Fi geeks first as they are more than willing to be the guinea pigs to work out all the bugs of the new cell phone TV architecture.

Long live Dr. Who!

Now that the internet has become more than just a fad, cities are realizing that cheap access to broadband is a great benefit. Unfortunately the FCC has ruled recently that the incumbent telecom companies do not have to share their copper wires with competitors. But there is a loophole: Wireless.

Philadelphia is inching towards realizing its WiFi dream, a dream that is shared by other cities like San Francisco. Today the word has come that Hewlett Packard and Earthlink are two companies that have been shortlisted for building out a Philadelphia-wide WiFi network, beating out groups that include AT&T;-led consortia.

Many cities will be jumping on the WiFi bandwagon and the trend couldn’t come at a better time for ISPs like Earthlink who will now lose access to millions of customers because of the FCC ruling.

The St. Petersburg Times has a hilariously written article that equates someone using your open access point to being a hacker. In short some guy saw a man “furtively” using his WiFi connection and called police.

Police say Benjamin Smith III, 41, used his Acer brand laptop to hack into Dinon’s wireless Internet network. The April 20 arrest is considered the first of its kind in Tampa Bay and among only a few so far nationwide.

“It’s so new statistics are not kept,” said Special Agent Bob Breeden, head of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s computer crime division.

But experts believe there are scores of incidents occurring undetected, sometimes to frightening effect. People have used the cloak of wireless to traffic in child pornography, steal credit card information and send death threats, according to authorities.

For as worrisome as it seems, wireless mooching is easily preventable by turning on encryption or requiring passwords. The problem, security experts say, is many people do not take the time or are unsure how to secure their wireless access from intruders. Dinon knew what to do. “But I never did it because my neighbors are older.”

In any large city you can turn on your laptop and find half a dozen freely available hotspots at any given time and I can also reasonably assume that you are not instantly trading in kiddie porn, stolen credit cards or plotting the destruction of Western civilization. Wireless is everywhere and we constantly use it.

This man knowingly left his access point open and calls police when someone is using it? Between all of us here at BBB, we’d have gotten the death sentence by now for all that “free” wireless we’ve “hacked” into by just turning on our laptop.

“Honestly your honor, my powerbook connects to the first wireless network it sees automatically.”

“Likely story young man,” the judge said just before he threw away the key.

According to a News.com article, Vonage is now testing new routers which will free VoIP subscribers from computers and landlines:

With the special router and handset, individual customers would be free to roam about their home or office, untethered from a modem or phone jack and without a connection to a laptop or desktop computer.

This is the equivalent to having a wireless handset that you probably already have in your house except that the phone is automatically routing the calls over the internet rather than a phone line (but you don’t need to be tethered to a computer with internet connection). This means you can buy one for grandma.

Already in Asia, you can buy cellphones with WiFi so that you can make cell calls over an internet connection rather than using precious minutes. Only a matter of time before cellular goes the way of the Dodo. Time to evolve people (that means you have to stop dragging your knuckles now).

While Motorola and Apple have been playing a now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t game with iTunes mobile, Gizmodo has finally managed to snag some screenshots. Now I know what you’re thinking: you think that this is the coolest thing since sliced bread. Unfortunately the history of wireless corporate incompetence in the USA is legendary and we humbly predict that Motorola will turn iTunes Mobile into something akin to what “Gigli” was to Sony. Remember folks, you heard that here first.

Speaking of wireless…

Did you know that most new cars are equipped with built-in Bluetooth. Since you were probably to busy to pay attention all the other times we’ve mentioned this, having wireless data tech built into your car makes your car just as hackable as your phone. The good geeks over at F-Secure went about trying to hack a Toyota Prius in an underground bunker.

However a mobile worm infecting a car is a thought that one cannot let go easily, and even as we knew that the car cannot be infected, this was something that just has to be tested in real life.
If for nothing else than for the reason of getting to test out one very cool car.

Even you’ve gotta admit that’s pretty fucking cool.

The pesky thing about those of you who don’t absorb knowledge like BBB is that there are all those annoying acronyms out there. It’s like when you’re not looking they’re fucking like rabbits and producing new acronyms some of which stand for other acronyms! Like Paris Hilton would say (if she was capable of speech) “Its, like, so confusing!”

Well, we have good news for you. Two of your favorite wireless technologies are combining into one:

This week the Bluetooth people adopted UWB as a future fast connection. What not many people have spotted is - the big winner in this could be UWB. Sure, Bluetooth is a slow protocol for headsets, and UWB is, potentially, much much more. But Bluetooth is established. It’s in phones and regulators understand it. If Bluetooth likes UWB, that could really be a major factor to convince the people that are blocking UWB - operators and regulators outside the US - that UWB is safe to use.

If you have no idea what all that meant then you should just give up now. The future is going to be ruled by 13 year-old girls who can text message each other faster than you can speak.

Despite all the bumps in the road with carriers and Apple, Motorola is finally starting to release the new audio technologies for cell phones:

The No. 2 maker of mobile telephones is set to unveil a service called iRadio that will let users download pre-selected audio content from a range of providers on their home computers, dump it on their cell phones and listen to it on their car stereos.

Intrepid readers readily informed us how to hack our brand-new PSPs to surf the web. Our site doesn’t look so bad on the hidden Sony browser.