From editor@telecom-digest.org Mon Feb 9 15:00:12 2004 Received: (from ptownson@localhost) by massis.lcs.mit.edu (8.11.6p2/8.11.3) id i19K0Cb12350; Mon, 9 Feb 2004 15:00:12 -0500 (EST) Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 15:00:12 -0500 (EST) From: editor@telecom-digest.org Message-Id: <200402092000.i19K0Cb12350@massis.lcs.mit.edu> X-Authentication-Warning: massis.lcs.mit.edu: ptownson set sender to editor@telecom-digest.org using -f To: ptownson Approved: patsnewlist Subject: TELECOM Digest V23 #64 TELECOM Digest Mon, 9 Feb 2004 15:00:00 EST Volume 23 : Issue 64 Inside This Issue: Editor: Patrick A. Townson The Pornography Industry vs. Digital Pirates (Monty Solomon) Social Networks: Will Users Pay to Get Friends? (Monty Solomon) Shorten TV Season? Rules Shifting at Networks (Monty Solomon) Recording the VCR's Swan Song (Monty Solomon) For Better HDTV Displays, It's All About the Chip (Monty Solomon) Yours Not So Truly, J. Goodspam (Monty Solomon) Thorny Issues Await FCC. as It Takes Up Internet Phones (Monty Solomon) Will the Election be Hacked? (Monty Solomon) Online Search Engines Help Lift Cover of Privacy (Monty Solomon) Re: Building a Voice-Driven Application (Nick Landsberg) Re: "No Internet Voting" (Nick Landsberg) Re: Telephone Service Surcharges (John Levine) Bluegiga Integrates Wireless Bluetooth, GSM Technologies (PressRelease) All contents here are copyrighted by Patrick Townson and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using -any name or email address- included herein for -any- reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to the recipients of the email. =========================== Addresses herein are not to be added to any mailing list, nor to be sold or given away without explicit written consent. Chain letters, viruses, porn, spam, and miscellaneous junk is definitely unwelcome. We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime. Geoffrey Welsh =========================== See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer; other stuff of interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 22:17:37 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: The Pornography Industry vs. Digital Pirates By JOHN SCHWARTZ THOUSANDS of Web sites are putting Playboy magazine's pictures on the Internet -- free. And Randy Nicolau, the president of Playboy.com, is loving it. "It's direct marketing at its finest," he said. Let the music industry sue those who share files, and let Hollywood push for tough laws and regulations to curb movie copying. Playboy, like many companies that provide access to virtual flesh and naughtiness, is turning online freeloaders into subscribers by giving away pictures to other sites that, in turn, drive visitors right back to Playboy.com. When Mr. Nicolau is asked whether he thinks that the entertainment industry is making a mistake by taking a different approach, he replies: "I haven't spent much time thinking about it. It's like asking Henry Ford, 'What were the buggy-whip guys doing wrong?' " The copyright rumble is playing out a little differently in the red-light districts of cyberspace. That neighborhood is increasingly difficult to confine, what with a fetishwear-clad Janet Jackson flashing a Super Bowl audience of millions, and Paris Hilton making her own version of a "Girls Gone Wild" video. Professional peddlers say they are hard pressed to compete. Still, the business of being bad is very good, especially for the biggest players. Though the industry has felt a financial squeeze during the economic slowdown, it nonetheless has sales of as much as $2 billion each year, said Tom Hymes, the editor of AVNOnline, a business magazine for the industry. And the pornography industry, which has always been among the first to exploit new technologies, including the VCR, the World Wide Web and online payment systems, is finding novel ways to deal with the threat of online piracy as well. The mainstream entertainment industry, some experts say, would do well to pay attention. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/business/yourmoney/08porn.html *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, New York Times Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 22:27:33 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Social Networks: Will Users Pay to Get Friends? Social Networks: Will Users Pay to Get Friends? By BOB TEDESCHI The idea behind "social networking" Web sites like Friendster, Tribe.net and LinkedIn is almost the opposite of the old Groucho Marx joke: they attract people who want to join a club eager to have them. But as the popularity of such sites has taken off, the big question for investors in new technologies is whether social networking sites can ever make a lot of money by connecting friends of friends in mini-networks of trust, whether for dating, business or maintaining acquaintances. For many, the buzz over social networking sounds a lot like vintage Internet hyperbole from the late 1990's. "I'm having a real problem finding a business model here," said Nate Elliott, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "It feels like the early days of the Internet, with sites like Globe.com saying they'll aggregate tens of millions of users, then find a way to monetize them. That's not the way to run a business." The creators of such services strenuously disagree, arguing that in contrast to the hundreds of dot-coms that bombed, they have clear plans for generating revenue. But those plans could be short-circuited by Internet giants like Yahoo and Google, as well as by established players in the online jobs and dating categories, whose turf most social networking sites seek to occupy. Indeed, as the more popular dating and jobs sites like Match.com and Monster.com quickly add networking features of their own, sites like Friendster face the challenge of how to differentiate themselves - beyond boasting that they are, for now, free. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/09/technology/09ecom.html *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, in this instance, New York Times Company. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 8 Feb 2004 23:30:30 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Shorten TV Season? Rules Shifting at Networks By BILL CARTER February 8, 2004 When NBC recently invited Donald J. Trump to move into its most exclusive neighborhood on Thursday night, the network's competitors immediately recognized the momentousness of the programming maneuver. For the sake of finding the best location for Mr. Trump's new reality series, "The Apprentice," NBC broke with a two-decade tradition of offering its four best comedies in a row on Thursday night, the night of "Friends" and "Cheers" and "Seinfeld," the night that has generated the most advertising revenue by far for any network. Now that "The Apprentice" has become the most successful new show of the season, NBC executives have announced that they plan to bring it -- as well as Mr. Trump -- back in the same 9 p.m. time slot in the fall. NBC's decision to overturn its "must see" comedy strategy for a reality show is only the latest sign that the playbook that has governed prime-time programming since the days of radio is in the midst of its most substantial revision. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/business/media/08TUBE.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 00:16:59 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Recording the VCR's Swan Song By DAVID POGUE PREDICTING the future of technology is a fool's game. Still, every now and then, you recognize that a product is so obviously superior to what came before it, the writing is on the wall in block letters big enough for Mr. Magoo to read. The graphic elegance of the first Macintosh spelled the demise of DOS, the crisp sound and compact size of the CD unmistakably suggested the vinyl record's decline, and the convenience of the digital camera set off a tailspin in film sales that continues today. Don't look now, but another machine you probably own is on its way out: the VCR. Its disruptive successor is the cheap set-top DVD recorder. Now, the phrase "cheap set-top DVD recorder" may strike you as two oxymorons in one. First of all, in this era of flat screens that are only two inches thick, the last place you'd set a set-top box is on the top of the set. (Nominations are welcome for a better term that distinguishes these TV-room DVD recorders from the ones that you attach to a computer.) Second, there's that bit about "cheap." Everybody knows that set-top DVD recorders are expensive. The best ones include a hard drive for TiVo-like flexibility but cost $600 and up. DVD-only models start at $400 or so. Logic and pundits have long maintained that the VCR's funeral rites won't begin in earnest until DVD-recorder prices fall below $300 -- and now they have, led by Gateway's AR-230 and a few rivals from lesser-known companies. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/technology/circuits/05stat.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 00:17:46 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: For Better HDTV Displays, It's All About the Chip By ERIC A. TAUB BACK in the dark ages of high-definition television -- about four years ago -- HDTV pictures suffered in quality. The problem was not with the technical standard, but with some of the digital television sets that were sold. "The weakest link in the HDTV chain was the display," recalled Joe Flaherty, a CBS senior vice president for technology who was one of the people responsible for instituting digital high-definition TV. "It was like Mark Twain's comment that Wagner's music is better than it sounds." The biggest sets at the time, supersize rear-projection monstrosities priced around $10,000, used conventional cathode-ray-tube technology to create images. As a result, the high-definition pictures were not very sharp and had some problems common to big-screen TV's in general: inaccurate color registration and pronounced "hot spots" that limited where viewers could sit and see the picture. Today, consumers have a much wider and better choice of display technologies in HDTV models, some of which are priced considerably lower than those available a few years ago. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/technology/circuits/05howw.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 00:22:04 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Yours Not So Truly, J. Goodspam By LISA NAPOLI PURPOSES L. XYLOPHONIST sounds like my kind of man. Unique. Creative. Focused, with a hint of formality. There is no way to be certain that Mr. Xylophonist is, in fact, a mister. Actually, it is a pretty safe bet he is not a person at all. The fact that his name appeared in the return line of a piece of unsolicited e-mail almost assures that he is not. Mr. Xylophonist wrote trying to sell some pamphlet about maximizing profits on eBay. Or maybe that was what Beiderbecke P. Sawhorse was pitching. It was definitely not the one from Marylou Bowling; she wrote to tell about "Government Free Cash Grant Programs." Then again, that might have been from Elfrieda Billman. As for Usefully T. Medicaids and Boggs Darrin, they both wrote about cheap drug sales, no prescription needed. (Of course.) Alongside those missives from friends and that drudgery from the office is a cast of e-mail characters with fantastic names promising all manner of stuff for sale. Frequently the promises are bogus; virtually all of the names are, too. Though it seems impossible to imagine the unwanted e-mail known as spam as anything but a nuisance, there is something creative about these return addresses -- even if they are being used for untoward purposes. On Web bulletin boards, they are sometimes draw admiring observations. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/05/technology/circuits/05name.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 00:26:55 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Thorny Issues Await F.C.C. as It Takes Up Internet Phones By STEPHEN LABATON WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 - The effort to write the rules for Internet telephone service begins this week, and whether it succeeds may ultimately come down to a matter of money. On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission is set to consider approving a notice of proposed rulemaking, the first step in a lengthy process of writing regulations for Internet-based phone services. The commission is also set to issue a final decision on a petition by one of the new Internet phone companies, Pulver.com, which has asked the commission to rule that it does not need to pay interconnection access fees to phone companies for any calls made and received between computers through Internet connections. http://nytimes.com/2004/02/09/technology/09rules.html The Issues Before the F.C.C. By THE NEW YORK TIMES February 9, 2004 The Federal Communications Commission plans this week to begin considering rules for new Internet telephone systems, a process that could have a lasting economic impact on the telephone, cable and computer industries. Here are some of the major issues that new rules would need to address and some of the related industry petitions pending at the F.C.C. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/09/technology/09rules-side.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 01:14:40 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Will The Election be Hacked? A Salon special report reveals how new voting machines could result in a rigged presidential race -- and we'd never know. By Farhad Manjoo Feb. 9, 2004 | A few weeks after Election Night 2002, Roxanne Jekot, a computer programmer who lives in Cumming, Ga., began fearing demons lingering in the state's voting machines. The midterm election had been a historic one: Georgia became the first state to use electronic touch-screen voting machines in every one of its precincts. The 51-year-old Jekot, who has a grandmotherly bearing but describes herself as a "typical computer geek," was initially excited about the new system. "I thought it was the coolest thing we could have done," she says. But the election also brought sweeping victories for Republicans, including, most stunningly, one for Sonny Perdue, who defeated Roy Barnes, the incumbent Democrat, to become Georgia's first Republican governor in 135 years, while Rep. Saxby Chambliss upset Vietnam veteran Sen. Max Cleland. The convergence of these two developments -- the introduction of new voting machines and the surprising GOP wins -- began to eat away at Roxanne Jekot. Like many of her fellow angry Democrats on the Internet discussion forums she frequented, she had a hard time believing the Republicans won legitimately. Instead, Jekot began searching for her explanation in the source code used in the new voting machines. What she found alarmed her. http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/02/09/voting_machines/ ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2004 09:40:43 -0500 From: Monty Solomon Subject: Online Search Engines Help Lift Cover of Privacy By Yuki Noguchi Washington Post Staff Writer Sitting at his laptop, Chris O'Ferrell types a few words into the Google search engine and up pops a link to what appears to be a military document listing suspected Taliban and al Qaeda members, date of birth, place of birth, passport numbers and national identification numbers. Another search yields a spreadsheet of names and credit card numbers. "All search engines will get you this," O'Ferrell said, pointing to files of spoils he has found on the Internet: Medical records, bank account numbers, students' grades, and the docking locations of 804 U.S. Navy ships, submarines and destroyers. And it is all legal, using the world's most powerful Internet search engine. Cybersecurity experts say an increasing number of private or putatively secret documents are online in out-of-the-way corners of computers all over the globe, leaving the government, individuals, and companies vulnerable to security breaches. At some Web sites and various message groups, techno-hobbyists are even offering instructions on how to find sensitive documents using a relatively simple search. Though it does not technically trespass, the practice is sometimes called "Google hacking." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24053-2004Feb8.html [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: And it is all perfectly legal, as it should be. As we used to say to the movie studios and music producers who would put their stuff on the public web then whine and cry when people would link to them, **do not put your stuff on the public internet if you do not want it to be seen.** Remember how a big issue several years ago was whether or not someone had the 'right' to link to another site? Hollywood wanted all the advantages of putting their crap out on the sidewalk or in the front yard for people to see, but then complained when 'the wrong people' (in their estimation) took what was on display, etc. All anyone has to do is make a web page or a directory unviewable, or fix it so you have to go through *their* front door and pay their admission fee, etc. But no, it was easier to whine and cry about it and throw their weight around with the government authorities trying to stop it from happening. Should there be any government 'secrets'? Personally, I do not think so; after all the government is *supposed to* represent you and me. But if there has to be secrets, then if you or I can go to a public library and look up the very same thing (albiet many hours later), then I think it is particularly obnoxious to hide the very same information from the great know-it-all, the computer. Just my opinion. PAT] ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Subject: Re: Building a Voice-Driven Application Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 23:41:43 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet Alex Smith wrote: > Hello all, > I am venturing into the telephony world and even though I have briefly > dealt with CTI and H.323, I am still a newbie. I'd like to build an > application that would allow me to buy apples from several grocery > stores. (This is a hypothetical but representative example, please > bear with me). I want to place a telephone call to a number, enter my > pin, navigate through some voice prompts that will allow me to select > a particular grocery store, then select a variety of apples and enter > the amount of apples (weight) I'd like to buy using the phone keypad. > Finally I would also like to leave voice instructions for the grocer > on how to pack my apples (paper or plastic). The app would "look me > up" using my pin number and store the packing instructions as a > soundbyte along with the other order parameters in a database. > From a high-level architectural perspective, what hardware and > software components would make up my stack? For the sake of the > example, assume small volume (personal use). I am looking for > high-level architecture rather than product names even though Open > Source/GNU/etc suggestions are welcome. > My limited understanding tells me I need a CTI server. Do I need a > PBX? Other components? If I want to parse the voice instructions (i.e. > speech recognition) in order to extract "paper" or "plastic", how > doable is that? > Any URLs or books that go from slow to complex with architectural > examples are appreciated. > Insight LLC Well, I'm only familiar with the "high-end" market for this type of thing, and then only because I had to troubleshoot performance problems on one such product. There are products out there which can do both speech recognition (ASR) and also text-to-speech (TTS). The two products I can recall off the top of the head are Speechworks and Nuance, but these software products are generally sold to resellers who put them on a particular computer or board and then sell it to you. (There are other products on the market which I don't recall, so please, don't take this as an endorsement of either of these two products.) You have to provide a "grammar" to these beasts if you have esoteric things you want to interpret, but grammars for things like numbers, dates, etc. are usually built in. A simple grammar to parse something like "paper" or "plastic" is almost trivial to write, unless you want to handle regional dialects or other languages at the same time. There is also a technology (language?) called Voice-XML with which you can write scripts which parse either the voice utterance or the DTMF the user entered and take (if-then-else) actions based on that. There are several vendors which use this now, but most of their customers are large service providers who want to charge $$$ for accessing you horoscope or something like that. ("Please speak your zodiac sign") Given your example of "apples", you would then have to script the VXML to do something like: "Please speak or say 1 for Granny Smith apples, speak or say 2 for Macintosh apples..." or alternatively ask for the name of the particular apples they were interested in, in which case you would have to program the words "Granny Smith" and "Macintosh" into the ASR grammar. I suggest doing a search on VXML or Voice XML on the web. The VXML stuff can run on either Windows or Linux (or other Unix variants, it's Java-based), and the speech recognition and sythesis software also can run on Windows or Linux. These machines/boards have to be hooked into something which can do call-control (like a PBX). (Note that if you have a small universe of possibilities you can probably get away with just playing recordings rather than speech synthesis, and you probably do not need VXML.) Also note, that the speech recognition facilities, no matter what the hype, are limited. If your application is something like: "Speak the name of a company and we will provide you the current market quote", then you can expect the speech recognition to grind away for a not-insignificant time trying to match your utterance to the name of a traded company. Hope this gives you a start. "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch ------------------------------ From: Nick Landsberg Subject: Re: "No Internet Voting" Date: Sun, 08 Feb 2004 23:59:00 GMT Organization: AT&T Worldnet Dave Close wrote: > The problem with the proposed military system and many other net > voting schemes is that there is no auditability. No one, not even a > computer, can detect and prove a fraud without that ability. Voting > via the Net may happen, but many of us won't support it until there is > a method for conducting an audit. > > Dave Close, Compata, Costa Mesa CA +1 714 434 7359 > dave@compata.com dhclose@alumni.caltech.edu > "Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't > mean politics won't take an interest in you." - Pericles > [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But what I said was about the same > thing: Run the new system in parallel with the old system *at least* > for one cycle using the usual audit procedures on the paper system > to validate the computer system. And if turning the whole thing loose > on the general public is too difficult at first, then overseas > military would make a good subset to practice on. PAT] Audit trails are important in many things, both computer related and not computer related. The telephone companies, for example, want to know which technician changed the settings on their switch in case the switch takes a Phase 5. Banking institutions also need simlar information to reconcile possible accounting discrepancies. Unfortunately, audit trails and voter privacy may be at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to computer voting. Is it enough to know that Patrick Townsend cast a vote in order to ensure the accuracy of the tally? Probably not. If this is the case, then Patrick's actual vote must be recorded. But then Patrick loses his anonymity! Once Patrick loses his anonymity, then all sorts of *BAD THINGS* may happen when (not if) someone finds out the way Patrick voted. (I'm probably preaching to the choir here.) As to running the systmes in parallel, well, if someone was determined to undermine the system (hack it), and knew that it would be running in parallel for some length of time, then they would not hack it until the the parallel running was suspended, would they not? Security, accuracy, and convenience may well be at the extreme points of a triangle and the resultant solution will be to compromise all three (a little, hopefully), in order to come up with a workable system. "It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious" - A. Bloch [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But there are already people who know if you voted, and to the extent that they need to know, how you voted. What do you feel government agencies like the Board of Election Commissioners (to use the Chicago name) are for, if not to try and govern and manage elections and have some honesty behind them? Aside from being sworn to absolute secrecy (even to the extent of no office gossiping) with *severe* penalties for violating that trust (losing their job and their source of monthly welfare would be a total disaster for most of them, to say nothing about *maybe* going to jail); most public servants -- or do you pronounce it serpents? -- find elections and the results to be a terrible bore. They've got their jobs and could really care less what you think of the higher ups you voted for. Nah, I would not worry that a handful of public servants knew how I voted if their job duties required it. And if the *Chicago Democratic machine* runs a relatively honest Board of Election Commissioners (not talking now about individual judges or the candidates, etc) then almost anywhere does. PAT] ------------------------------ Date: 9 Feb 2004 01:20:18 -0000 From: John Levine Subject: Re: Telephone Service Surcharges Organization: I.E.C.C., Trumansburg NY USA In article you write: > Thought c.d.t readers might find this list of surcharges fascinating. There are indeed a lot of taxes asssessed on phone service but the doublespeak is quite fascinating: > Network Access Surcharge Primary Line - (EUCL) $6.50 > Monthly charge assessed on each line within the household. This charge > compensates for the Local Telephone Company's cost of installation and > maintenance of the components that link your home to the telephone > network. > Network Access Surcharge Secondary Line - (EUCL) $7.00 (when applicable) > Monthly charge assessed on each line within the household. This charge > compensates for the Local Telephone Company's cost of installation and > maintenance of the components that link your home to the telephone > network. English translation: this is the part of the local bill that's regulated by the federal FCC rather than the state PUC. We (the phone company) keep it all. > Carrier Cost Recovery Charge (CCRC)* 1.4% > A monthly surcharge in order to recover costs the Company incurs with > regard to Telecommunications Relay Service, national number > portability, and federal regulatory fees. The surcharge is assessed on > long distance (Dial-1, Card, P800 and SB T800) state-to-state and > international charges. English translation: We don't like paying taxes, and TDD sounds kind of virtuous, so we're going to pretend that paying this charge is your responsibility rather than ours. We (the phone company) keep it all. > Local Number Portability (LNP) $0.43 > Covers the cost of providing residential customers with the ability to > retain, at the same location, their existing local telephone numbers > when switching from one local provider to another. English tranlation: We phone companies moaned and groaned so much when the FCC mandated LNP that they let us add a line to the bill that looks like a tax but isn't and has only the most tenuous relationship to the actual cost of upgrading the network for LNP. We (the phone company) keep it all. Regards, John Levine johnl@iecc.com Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies" Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Sewer Commissioner "A book is a sneeze." - E.B. White, on the writing of Charlotte's Web ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2004 13:52:46 +0400 From: Editor Subject: Bluegiga Integrates Wireless Bluetooth and GSM Technologies PRESS RELEASE NETWORK http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com Integration of GSM and Bluetooth technologies in M2M systems increases flexibility and decreases costs of data communications Espoo, Finland - Feb 9, 2004 (PRN): Bluegiga Technologies, a provider of wireless local area networks and M2M communications systems based on Bluetooth technology, today announced a design reference confirming the support of Bluegiga's embeddable WRAP THOR Bluetooth module for Nokia 12 GSM module. Bluegiga WRAP THOR and Nokia 12 form the first reference design in the market to enable the developers of machine-to-machine (M2M) systems to extend their GSM-based remote management systems with cost-efficient wireless Bluetooth functionalities. With Bluetooth technology, remotely monitored M2M systems are controllable and configurable over Bluetooth links, using either smart phones like Nokia 6600 based on Symbian Series 60 platform or laptop PCs. Routing the entire data traffic of a monitored site via Bluetooth links into a single device with an uplink to the GSM network helps to minimize the costs of remote operation. "The design reference is perfectly in line with our strategy to develop comprehensive communication solutions based on wireless Bluetooth technology," said Tom Nordman, General Manager, Bluegiga Technologies. "Nowadays autonomous information systems seldom require on-site monitoring. The integration of Bluegiga and Nokia products introduces a smooth and cost-efficient solution for remote M2M monitoring." Targeted to device manufacturers and application developers, the design reference includes three separate components; a Bluegiga WRAP THOR Bluetooth module, Bluetooth Java Application Programming Interfaces for the Nokia 12 GSM module, and hardware reference designs. The Bluegiga WRAP THOR is a robust, configurable Bluetooth module optimized for embedded applications. It enables device manufacturers (OEMs) to easily add a secure and robust wireless communication element in both new and existing applications. The Nokia 12 is a compact and intelligent GSM module for M2M applications and other wireless solutions. A Nokia M2M Platform compatible product, the Nokia 12 GSM module can also act as a cellular modem or be remotely controlled via text messaging. With support for Java's technology, location services and offering a wide range of data bearers, the Nokia 12 GSM module makes application development more cost effective and faster. Hardware reference designs are available from http://www.bluegiga.com. About Bluegiga Technologies Bluegiga Technologies provides wireless local area networks and M2M communications systems based on Bluetooth technology. Bluegiga WRAP Access Servers integrate Bluetooth-enabled devices as part of a corporate network. Bluegiga WRAP THOR Bluetooth modules are robust, lightweight and flexibly embeddable. Software configurable for versatile integration, Bluegiga products are ideally suited in enterprise proximity access, telemetry, remote monitoring and cable replacement applications. Founded in 2000, Bluegiga is based in Espoo, Finland and privately held. Bluegiga products are globally available via a network of qualified distributors, original design manufacturers and system integrators. For further information, please visit http://www.bluegiga.com. Java and all Java-based marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Bluetooth is a registered Trademark of Bluetooth SIG, Inc. For more information, contact: Bluegiga Company Contact Mr. Tom Nordman, General Manager Tel: +358 9 4124 0450 Email: tom.nordman@bluegiga.com Website: http://www.bluegiga.com Bluegiga Agency Contact Mr. Ile Knnen, Netprofile Finland Tel: +358 9 6812 080 Email: ile@netprofile.fi Editor & CEO Press Release Network editor@pressreleasenetwork.com http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com ------------------------------ TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various telecom forums on a variety of networks such as Compuserve and America On Line, Yahoo Groups, and other forums. It is also gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. TELECOM Digest is a not-for-profit, mostly non-commercial educational service offered to the Internet by Patrick Townson. All the contents of the Digest are compilation-copyrighted. You may reprint articles in some other media on an occasional basis, but please attribute my work and that of the original author. Contact information: Patrick Townson/TELECOM Digest Post Office Box 50 Independence, KS 67301 Phone: 620-330-6774 Fax 1: 775-255-9970 Fax 2: 530-309-7234 Fax 3: 208-692-5145 Email: editor@telecom-digest.org Subscribe: telecom-subscribe@telecom-digest.org Unsubscribe:telecom-unsubscribe@telecom-digest.org This Digest is the oldest continuing e-journal about telecomm- unications on the Internet, having been founded in August, 1981 and published continuously since then. Our archives are available for your review/research. We believe we are the second oldest e-zine/ mailing list on the internet in any category! 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End of TELECOM Digest V23 #64 *****************************