Thursday, July 26, 2007
AT&T Video Share
After the wedding of my daughter last Saturday our family dispersed all over the world. The young couple flew on Monday to the Bahamas for honeymoon, the rest of the family on Wednesday to Montreal, and I travelled already on Sunday to Chicago to participate at the IETF#69. The idea is that we all will re-unite in Ottawa, ON on Sunday.
In the Palmer Hilton I get USA Today delivered each morning and today I found an interesting article: "Phones let you reach out and show someone - New AT&T Video Share devices send live video".
My first thought was that AT&T finally invented video telephony, or re-invented it, because video-telephony was demonstrated first by Herbert Eugene Ives in New York 1930, the first commercial service was between Berlin and Leipzig 1936, and then re-invented by AT&T as Picturephone in the early 1960.
But at a second glimpse it is more Push to Video. During a voice conversation you may add a one-way video stream to show the other side where you are - provided you have 3G UMTS/HSPDA coverage (EDGE does not work), and both parties have a special phone (Samsung 717, 727 or a LG CU500).
The bottom line in USA Today:
AT&T Video Share
Requires Video share phone and 3G network access: monthly plans start at $5 for 25 minutes
Pro: Lets you view live video stream over your cell phone while continuing a voice conversation. Simple operation.
Con: One-way video. Video quality is mediocre and sound is poor. Expensive service.
I want to add an additional Con: the problem is still unsolved what you do if you call your wife, and tell her you are still busy in a late meeting and she wants you to turn your video on.
BTW: I have since four years a 3G videophone (both ways), tried it out once and never used it again.
In the Palmer Hilton I get USA Today delivered each morning and today I found an interesting article: "Phones let you reach out and show someone - New AT&T Video Share devices send live video".
My first thought was that AT&T finally invented video telephony, or re-invented it, because video-telephony was demonstrated first by Herbert Eugene Ives in New York 1930, the first commercial service was between Berlin and Leipzig 1936, and then re-invented by AT&T as Picturephone in the early 1960.
But at a second glimpse it is more Push to Video. During a voice conversation you may add a one-way video stream to show the other side where you are - provided you have 3G UMTS/HSPDA coverage (EDGE does not work), and both parties have a special phone (Samsung 717, 727 or a LG CU500).
The bottom line in USA Today:
AT&T Video Share
Requires Video share phone and 3G network access: monthly plans start at $5 for 25 minutes
Pro: Lets you view live video stream over your cell phone while continuing a voice conversation. Simple operation.
Con: One-way video. Video quality is mediocre and sound is poor. Expensive service.
I want to add an additional Con: the problem is still unsolved what you do if you call your wife, and tell her you are still busy in a late meeting and she wants you to turn your video on.
BTW: I have since four years a 3G videophone (both ways), tried it out once and never used it again.
Labels: video telephony
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Wedding of Kathi on 20.07.2007
I proudly announce that on Friday, the 20. 07. 2007 my oldest daughter Katharina married Mario Reitl in Hietzing, Vienna, Austria.
Next day, on Saturday, the church wedding took place in Hausleiten, Lower Austria
The new and happy couple after the wedding.
Congratulations.
More pictures can be seen at Slide.
Next day, on Saturday, the church wedding took place in Hausleiten, Lower Austria
The new and happy couple after the wedding.
Congratulations.
More pictures can be seen at Slide.
Labels: Infomational
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Sigbritt, 75, has world's fastest broadband
From The Local
A 75 year old woman from Karlstad in central Sweden has been thrust into the IT history books - with the world's fastest internet connection.
Sigbritt Löthberg's home has been supplied with a blistering 40 Gigabits per second connection, many thousands of times faster than the average residential link and the first time ever that a home user has experienced such a high speed.
But Sigbritt, who had never had a computer until now, is no ordinary 75 year old. She is the mother of Swedish internet legend Peter Löthberg who, along with Karlstad Stadsnät, the local council's network arm, has arranged the connection.
"This is more than just a demonstration," said network boss Hafsteinn Jonsson.
"As a network owner we're trying to persuade internet operators to invest in faster connections. And Peter Löthberg wanted to show how you can build a low price, high capacity line over long distances," he told The Local.
Sigbritt will now be able to enjoy 1,500 high definition HDTV channels simultaneously. Or, if there is nothing worth watching there, she will be able to download a full high definition DVD in just two seconds.
The secret behind Sigbritt's ultra-fast connection is a new modulation technique which allows data to be transferred directly between two routers up to 2,000 kilometres apart, with no intermediary transponders.
According to Karlstad Stadsnät the distance is, in theory, unlimited - there is no data loss as long as the fibre is in place.
"I want to show that there are other methods than the old fashioned ways such as copper wires and radio, which lack the possibilities that fibre has," said Peter Löthberg, who now works at Cisco.
Cisco contributed to the project but the point, said Hafsteinn Jonsson, is that fibre technology makes such high speed connections technically and commercially viable.
"The most difficult part of the whole project was installing Windows on Sigbritt's PC," said Jonsson.
What I always say - FTTH is the ultimate solution
(as a first step I dropped Windows and moved to MAC OS X)
and maybe I also get this speed when I am 75.
A 75 year old woman from Karlstad in central Sweden has been thrust into the IT history books - with the world's fastest internet connection.
Sigbritt Löthberg's home has been supplied with a blistering 40 Gigabits per second connection, many thousands of times faster than the average residential link and the first time ever that a home user has experienced such a high speed.
But Sigbritt, who had never had a computer until now, is no ordinary 75 year old. She is the mother of Swedish internet legend Peter Löthberg who, along with Karlstad Stadsnät, the local council's network arm, has arranged the connection.
"This is more than just a demonstration," said network boss Hafsteinn Jonsson.
"As a network owner we're trying to persuade internet operators to invest in faster connections. And Peter Löthberg wanted to show how you can build a low price, high capacity line over long distances," he told The Local.
Sigbritt will now be able to enjoy 1,500 high definition HDTV channels simultaneously. Or, if there is nothing worth watching there, she will be able to download a full high definition DVD in just two seconds.
The secret behind Sigbritt's ultra-fast connection is a new modulation technique which allows data to be transferred directly between two routers up to 2,000 kilometres apart, with no intermediary transponders.
According to Karlstad Stadsnät the distance is, in theory, unlimited - there is no data loss as long as the fibre is in place.
"I want to show that there are other methods than the old fashioned ways such as copper wires and radio, which lack the possibilities that fibre has," said Peter Löthberg, who now works at Cisco.
Cisco contributed to the project but the point, said Hafsteinn Jonsson, is that fibre technology makes such high speed connections technically and commercially viable.
"The most difficult part of the whole project was installing Windows on Sigbritt's PC," said Jonsson.
What I always say - FTTH is the ultimate solution
(as a first step I dropped Windows and moved to MAC OS X)
and maybe I also get this speed when I am 75.
Labels: Internet Access
PEI (Pigeon Enabled Internet) is FASTER then ADSL
From Ami Ben-Bassat's Blog
This is a bit old, but still good
A New Israeli test confirms: PEI (Pigeon Enabled Internet) is FASTER then ADSL
"Never underestimate a pigeon carrying a memory card, hovering above your head, ready to download"-yossi vardi
Will B2P (Back to Pigeons) save an endangered technology? On Friday, March 12, 2004, a group of several dozen Internet addicts from Israel and abroad, gathered in the large grass field of the OHALO Center near the Sea of Galilee. The purpose of the gathering was to try and improve Wi-Fly - pigeon-empowered wireless internet and to confront this technology against ADSL. The participants sent 3 homing pigeons to 100 km distance, each carrying 20-22 tiny memory cards containing 1.3 GB, amounting in total of 4 GB of data.
the full story is here.
This is a bit old, but still good
A New Israeli test confirms: PEI (Pigeon Enabled Internet) is FASTER then ADSL
"Never underestimate a pigeon carrying a memory card, hovering above your head, ready to download"-yossi vardi
Will B2P (Back to Pigeons) save an endangered technology? On Friday, March 12, 2004, a group of several dozen Internet addicts from Israel and abroad, gathered in the large grass field of the OHALO Center near the Sea of Galilee. The purpose of the gathering was to try and improve Wi-Fly - pigeon-empowered wireless internet and to confront this technology against ADSL. The participants sent 3 homing pigeons to 100 km distance, each carrying 20-22 tiny memory cards containing 1.3 GB, amounting in total of 4 GB of data.
the full story is here.
