In what may soon prove to be a sign of the times, Verizon announced Thursday that it would be using LTE (Long Term Evolution) as it’s fourth-generation wireless technology, aligning it for the first time with AT&T and European carriers.

Up until now, Verizon Wireless has been part of a different crowd, backing technologies based on Qualcomm’s CDMA standard. LTE would be a departure from this and would move Verizon to the global GSM standard.

What does this mean for you and me? In the short term, nothing. Verizon isn’t suggesting that they’re going to roll out a new GSM network and scrap their current CDMA, but instead that they will take baby-steps (think 2010, 2011) to move into the LTE standard. In the long term, this means a lot, and I’m very excited about the potential. And that potential starts with the obvious – handsets galore. Companies like Nokia, that has long been weak in CDMA and Apple could offer products on Verizon’s network without having to completely change their product-line. Considering that Nokia is the world’s #1 mobile phone manufacturer, this might leave many thinking “about time.”

~geek

I think that everyone knows the networking industry is tough, but who would believe that a company like Linksys might move to the more profitable phone sex market to improve their bottom line? A misprinted toll-free number on a product from Linksys led to a sex-talk chat line, promising “nasty girls” for just $2.99 a minute. Nice… and Happy Holidays.
~geek

There’s a lot of talk this morning that the Apple iPhone customers in Germany can “purchase” an unlocked iPhone for an additional 600 euros. The move comes on the heels of a temporary injunction against German wireless carrier T-Mobile, which is by law prevented from selling a handset locked to a single wireless network.Apple is also required to offer unlocked iPhones in France after a six month period according to local law, which may push the company to offer the iTunes unlock in that country. The iPhone will be released in France on Thursday, November 29th.

As someone that’s ruled the iPhone out because it won’t work with Verizon, my carrier of choice, I’m wondering how the iPhone evangelists will take this news.  Especially those that have jailbroken their phone in the US only to find that it voids their warranty and causes endless hassles when Apple does decide to update their software to muck with the hackers.  Of course, on the other side of that coin – isn’t it nice to know that Apple can “remotely” jailbreak their equipment?  Someone was planning ahead!

~geek 

I’ve been readng with some interest all the rumors coming out about Stuart Scott, Microsoft’s former CIO.  For those of you that have been living in the dark, Scott was recently released by Microsoft only two years after hiring him in 2005.  What’s unique about this situation is that Microsoft has publicly said:

“We can confirm that Stuart Scott was terminated after an investigation for violation of company policies, and have no further information to share.”

Of course, the rumor mill is churning about the myriad of different reasons that could have triggered this and the one with the most sticking power seems to be that Scott was having an affair with one of his subordinates, and perhaps that woman received positive reviews and/or a promotion because of her relationship with Scott.  Definitely possible, although it seems somewhat unlikely to me that it would have been handled like this and not as a structured settlement with Scott’s resignation.  Leads me to wonder if it’s not an issue business ethics, such as accepting bribes, favors, or something outside the norm.

What seems weird to me is how many people have come out suggesting that “we” the public deserve to know the whole story, and I’m not sure that I agree with that.  What’s happened, especially if it’s of a personal nature, is between Microsoft and Scott – what gives “us” the right to know anything more than he’s left Microsoft under unfavorable circumstances?  Even that means that his business life is fractured and the chance of him getting another opportunity like this is likely gone.  With a wife and seven kids – whose right is it to know anything more?  My thought – give the man some space, save him whatever small amount of dignity he has left.

~geek

I have to admit it – I love the TiVo logo.  It only somewhat looks like a television to me, but like Kleenex it’s become an integral part of my life.  Unfortunately, I don’t always like what TiVo, the company, does, and this post is going to talk a little about how they’re planning to sell consumer viewing habits and how it might ultimately affect you and your family.  Of course, not everything is a bad, and the “promotional pricing” that they’re pitching seems to be a good deal for everyone.

Not surprisingly, I have an opinion about Google’s new Android phone operating system and their Open Handset Alliance, and as much as I don’t want to admit it I believe this is great for the consumer and even better for the phone manufacturers.  Why?  Because, finally the phone manufacturers can spend less time working on creating an OS for their phone and put those investment dollars into making their phones better telephones.  Add in to that some additional functionality on even the most generic of phones and you potentially end up with an exploding smart-phone revolution that significantly improves the end-user experience.