We covered OpenBTS here. That was an FOSS based cellular implementation. The only problem? You have to be in a cellular free area to use it. (licensing/piracy issues for most in the US.)

Well fear not. We bump up against something slightly different will some folks over at Village Telco. The Village folks have married FOSS mesh networking AP with telephony for a FOSS based wireless telephony solution. That solution they call the Mesh Potato. They also have another effort to write code that is loaded right into the cell phone so that every phone becomes a mesh router.

Between the two techniques they open up some real possibilities. This is yet again why we at Third Pipe/Tightway has been advocating open frequencies on some bands. The point is this type of technology has the ability to usher in autonomous selfrouting wireless data/voice transmissions. The People build the network by their mere participation in the network itself.

More on their efforts here. Its a good read.

We have been harping for a while it would be nice if one of the old guard bands from the 700mhz auction (eg old analog TV) were Open Sourced and free to use. Now I am sure you are saying to yourself why the heck for?

Well how about Open Source cellular service? And ladies and gentlemen there is even a project to do it! OpenBTS. The interesting thing is, it does not take millions to implement. Most of the components are cheap or free. The radio xmtter is a Open Hardware project sponsored by the FSF. Essentially its a computer controlled power amp. Call management is handled by another Open Source project — Asterisk. Wrap some cabling and ISP support and you have Open Source Cellular. Its already been proven operational at this years Burning Man event. Its running on the island of Niue.

More details here and here

Downside? Well one, unless you are in an area with no cellular service, you can’t operate it. The reason of course is interfence with the current incumbent carrier that has the space. That is why we need an Open Commons area for technologies like this to be experimented with. . We need it now!

Well do, it is being worked on now. Fact it looks to only be a port of an already existing PBX platform called FreePBX. I have implemented FreePBX and it works great.

But a $100? Yep. The key to the cost angle is a little product called Sheevaplug. We covered that here. Sheevaplug wraps an entire server into nothing larger than a fattish wall wart form factor. What PlugPBX is going to bring to the table is a prebuilt config so that the install is pretty much drop and drag via a SD card. Then all you have to do is config the FreePBX component and you are done.

But a $100? To get technical well it will cost a little more. You would need to acquire a compatible phone set or two. And most likely you will need a 4 or 5 port hub if you don’t have one now. So maybe $300 for 2 phone sets and a hub and cables. That is more than most small businesses require when they start out.

For the road warrior/ full time RVer/ realtor/ auditor I envision a slightly different set up. USB WiMax for connectivity, the Sheevaplug for the server, and a ethernet VoIP handset. The whole setup weighs mere ounces in the computer bag. Arrive at the new location, plug in, hook up and be managing calls in minutes. Why? Save money of course. Unlimited VoIP plans are relatively cheap, <$20. As opposed to unlimited cellular plans going for >$50. Use the cell for when you are really mobile, the plugPBX when you are parked. Maybe even cross connect the voice traffic between the cell and the PlugPBX with Google Wave.

Website here.

And that is? For the DIY crowd, Gluster-FS is what. Don’t want to lose all that Video you have stored? Well bend an ear. If you have built your own PC or server once or twice this should only be a minor step up in your repository of tricks.

What is Gluster? For those in the Linux know, its like VLM write large for the ‘Net in a way. It permits one to take your RAID array for one server and provide the transparent methodology for back up on a mirror system in real time. A nice technique that used to take an advanced degree in Network, time and patience 5 years ago. Gluster automates most of this.

Are there folks this is probably not worth doing? Well if you already have RAID duplication using a hardware card you probably won’t care so long as your total storage requirements are fairly static. The other issue is one of cost. You have to add another system. (Haven’t tried this VM yet.)

For everyone else go here. A nice Linux How-To is provided.

Over at Consumerist, this little tid bit is being passed around –

From: ATTCustomerCare Date: Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 2:52 PM Subject: RE: FW: AT&T Facebook - More… To: Simon [redacted] <[redacted]@gmail.com>

I believe you can make phone calls over wifi - but it would be done through the Skype application, I’ve spoken to some customers while using it.

From a reader’s email. Now I have heard of CSR’s from say Macy’s suggest a customer go over to Amazon or Overstock because they have the item that Macy’s did not. Commendable service. But wait! What is different here is that this particular person is a paid for customer of AT&T. So the advise is no ‘help’ at all. The guy can’t use the network for which he paid for. (I assume he is paid up on his bill.)

Makes sense as to why AT&T is so upset about the Verizon map ads.

Linky
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You probably don’t know it or not but Verizon and Microsoft have had a fairly tight relationship. Even when I was there this was true. But now! This rates the equivalent of a technological rape –

Verizon has unilaterally updated user Storm 2 BlackBerries and other smartphones so that their browser search boxes can only be used with Microsoft Bing.

The move is part of the five-year search and advertising deal Verizon signed with Microsoft in January for a rumored $500m.

Verizon pushed the search change over its network two days ago, the company has confirmed with The Reg. “We’re a proud supporter of Microsoft’s Bing search engine,” a company spokesman tells us. “On a couple of select smartphones (Storm 2 the most prominent), we’ve changed the [Verizon Wireless]-supplied web menu to make Bing the default search engine.”

The issue in my mind is not the selection of search engine. That is only a peripheral problem. The core issue is the nanny state mindset of Verizon to think they can do anything they want on YOUR property. Or have they not been watching the drift by the FCC for a open device policy. Part and parcel with that is ‘keep your hands off’ somebody else’s CPE.

I wonder how they would feel if I changed the default gateway routes on their routers?

Linky.

From to distributors, to customers hands, till root was unveiled on a Droid smartphone took less than 2 weeks! The moral? Telcos we have been telling you the walled garden is dead. That same concept applies to the CPE that you deploy –

A rooted Droid means the user will have administrative rights and the ability to control every aspect of the phone, not just those that Motorola or Verizon have provided access to. A person will be able to download widgets that allow them to overclock their processor or install themes that dramatically change the appearance of their phone. Cyanogen offers custom builds that truly customize a device and provides easy access to hidden features.

For instance, why does the lower-end Droid Eris have multitouch while the high-end Droid doesn’t? Because Motorola and Verizon decided not to implement pinch-to-zoom in the Droid, even though it has the capability to do so.

Now that the Droid is “rooted,” in modder lingo, it will be easy for someone like Cyanogen to simply turn on pinch-to-zoom in a custom build.

While today marks a great feat in the Android community, rooting a phone does involve risks. If you have no idea what you’re doing or what unlocking is, you might run the risk of bricking your phone (making it useless) or disabling essential features. Needless to say, unlocking will probably void your warranty and might put you in violation of the carrier’s terms-of-service agreement.

But now that the Droid floodgates have been opened, it’s only a matter of time until we see the Droid doing some really cool stuff.

What is particularly galling about the case of the Droid is that the unit itself was designed with an Open Source tool kit. So did the likes of Verizon really think that they could really keep the thing lock up? If that was the thinking man I have a whole sheaf of bridge titles up for sale.

The other aspects of these attempts at CPE capture is that the opportunity for garage level development is stymied. The next killer ap for Droid could come from a bunch of freckled faced 12yo with a boring afternoon ahead of them. Sometimes being bored can be a call for inquiry and inspiration.

Linky.

An interesting piece over a Wired on a company called Mushroom Networks. Mushrooms uniqueness is that their product can take 4 wireless services and seamlessly integrate the data streams. –

“Because of the diversity of the cards, you don’t get the patchy up and down of wireless cards,” Mushroom Networks CEO Cahit Akin said. “It smooths out the experience.”

portabella-bbna141Run a single ethernet cable from the second-generation Portabella to a wireless router and you’ve got internet for an entire tour bus, construction site or outdoor concert.

That means Willie’s friends Pancho and Lefty don’t have to worry about using too much bandwidth as they try to escape the police, and Willie Nelson doesn’t have bandwidth caps always on his mind if he’s listening to new music online.

Willie’s a big catch for the upstart, San Diego-based company — and a heavy user. He averages 200 days a year on the road, including the just-finished Farm Aid concert. And that means his team is constantly uploading new media to his website, and keeping in touch with friends and family. And they seem happy, having ditched the satellite connection just like they ditched petroleum for bio-fuel.

Now this little device has a limited appeal but if you need it you NEED it. A prime example is what is relayed in the Wired article, the ability to unattended handoff from one wireless network to another. So charter bus companies that want to offer WiFi to the passengers can do so. The Google Street View folks might find this a useful piece of kit as well. Bottom line, it has it niche.

The particulars on the Portabella 141 are here.
HT: Wired.

GCOS was announced back on 7/7. I have held doing an instant comment due to lack of time and a need to assess the situation. Bottom line, it will be a mild success in certain areas. But a block buster, I think not. But lets do the obligatory announcement coverage shall we –

It’s been an exciting nine months since we launched the Google Chrome browser. Already, over 30 million people use it regularly. We designed Google Chrome for people who live on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. However, the operating systems that browsers run on were designed in an era where there was no web. So today, we’re announcing a new project that’s a natural extension of Google Chrome — the Google Chrome Operating System. It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be.

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks. Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Because we’re already talking to partners about the project, and we’ll soon be working with the open source community, we wanted to share our vision now so everyone understands what we are trying to achieve.

Why the downbeat Dog? Experience. Look there are several ‘OS in the Web’ systems now. Desktop Two, g.ho.st. Even an FOSS variants YouOS (since shutdown) and eyeOS. This concept has been around for 3-4 years. It has a niche. But the idea is not how people generally utilize their computers. The one thing that has made the PC successful all these years is it near universal malleability to tasks. To achieve that has generally required a broad access to the hardware/OS interface. OS in the Web tends to limit that capability for security reasons.

Beyond that there are other considerations. Developing an OS separate from the Android effort is probably a long term mistake. You duplicate efforts across a broad swath of code base. Microsoft did this with the business/consumer OS divide and they ended up with having to do a downstream merge anyway. This effort also misreads the consumer intent. OS in the Web makes the correlation that people want their web presence quickly. No. People want their access to their applications that access their data quickly. That is why we believe the ‘instant on’ virtual application stack is the proper course. Instant on web presence is just one of many such applications. People want choice.

Will this be a flop? No, just because it is Google. There are many niches where this makes sense — high security areas, kiosk applications, call centers, etc. On cell phones? I would tend to doubt it. Lets just wait and see.

Linky.

Solid Oak is seeking an injunction against the Chinese developer of Green Dam, Jinhui Computer System Engineering Inc, but its chances of gaining satisfaction must be reckoned to be fairly slim.

So, it’s no surprise it is also seeking injunctions against US PC vendors who follow Beijing’s directive that any machines they ship in China must carry the software.

“They are stealing proprietary copyrighted material from us, sending it over to the US and saying, ‘We want this on all the computers you send us’,” Solid Oak president Brian Milburn told Reuters. “Just because we are a small company doesn’t make the theft of CyberSitter any less [wrong].”

Milburn told Reuters he had been tipped off via an anonymous email. “We found actual proprietary code areas within the Green Dam program itself which are incredibly suspicious because they use our proprietary encryption methods. There’s a lot more to it than just a list of bad words.”

Heinous if true. Not that it would cause the Chinese much heartache. Even if Solid Oak were to when a class wide injunction here in the US the Chinese would just use internal suppliers like Lenovo to meet their needs and continue to use the pirated components.

But very rapidly the bamboo curtain is falling again.

Linky.