Industry News

Vidyo Demos Multipoint Video Conference at ISE

  • PDF

Vidyo at ISE

Vidyo shunned the video conferencing hall at ISE for the attraction of showing their multipoint video conferencing software on the Hall 2 stand of a traditional AV distributor, Comm-Tec.

As Comm-Tec played host, the company that hopes to disrupt the incumbents of conferencing—the Cisco/Tandberg, the Polycom—gave demos on Amazon's new Kindle Fire.

The company showcased the latest platform support for its VidyoMobile™ HD video conferencing software client: Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) running on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smart phone. This new Android mobile platform will be part of a live, multi-point, global video conference connecting an extensive variety of endpoints on iOS and Android mobile devices including the Kindle Fire, laptops, and a 6-screen VidyoPanorama system.

Read more...

Casio and Visible Light Communications

  • PDF

Casio VLC

Casio showed a prototype of a visible light communication system using smartphones at CES.

Visible light communication (VLC) transmits digital signals by flashing light in frequencies visible to the naked eye. VLC has potential applications in many fields including augmented reality (since it can use a wide range of light-producing sources including monitors, LED lighting and signage, and because it can be read from a distance without impacting people or electronic equipment).

Casio has been a member of the Visible Light Communications Consortium since it was initiated in 2004.

Read more...

The Next Future Trend: Wearable Devices?

  • PDF

Will the smartphone stop ruling the small screens to instead become the behind the scenes "hub" powering the next generation of wearable computers?

wearable pcAccording to the New York Times, both Google and Apple are secretly working on wearable devices-- with the aim to boost the smartphone business, of course.

Google is reportedly hiring specialists from Nokia, Apple and engineering universities as researchers at the secret Google X labs work on wearable peripherals sending and receiving data to and from Android handsets.

Meanwhile NYTimes sources say Apple is prototyping wearable devices-- such as a curved-glass voice controlled (Via Siri) iPod wrapping around the wrist.

There is no mention of when such devices will hit the market (if at all), but some researcher speculate wearable computing will even appear as glasses with built-in displays within the next 10 years.

In the meantime, it is more than realistic to expect the occasional Dick Tracy-style wristwatch computer to grace the market in the (very) near future.

Go Wearing Your Computer on Your Sleeve (NYTimes.com)

GSMA Releases European Mobile Observatory

  • PDF

The GSMA launches the European edition of the Mobile Observatory report outlining the state of the industry, including the development of competition, innovation, services and technologies in the continent. 

EU“The Observatory’s findings show that the mobile industry is a critical business sector in Europe," the GSMA says. The European mobile industry is currently larger than pharma and nearly the size of aerospace, with total 2010 revenues reaching €174 billion (1% of total European Economic Area GDP). 

The industry directly employs 370000 Europeans and induces the employment of a further 1.3M, and contributes €83BN in taxes (€65BN of which from mobile operators).

Read more...

WikiLeak's Hall of Shame

  • PDF

"Mass interception of entire populations is not only a reality, it is a secret new industry spanning 25 countries," claims WikiLeaks: The Spy Files. "It sounds like something out of Hollywood, but as of today, mass interception systems, built by Western intelligence contractors, including for ’political opponents’ are a reality.

SpyFilesWikiLeaks is releasing a database of hundreds of documents from as many as 160 intelligence contractors in the mass surveillance industry.

It's important to note the difference between mass surveillance and security: security involves blocking access to outsiders while mass surveillance depends upon gaining access to a large number of individual communication devices and networks.

For example, software that allows intelligence operations to take pictures without your knowledge, read and alter messages, and track your location. Software that allows your phone to be used to record and upload data-- even when in standby mode--including your location, any images on your camera, and any recordings of conversations.

Seen in the left-hand column of their Spy Files web site, WikiLeaks list of "contractors" includes many of the West's famous security and telecom companies.

Unfortunately, as well as revealing the security vendors, this list creates a "shopping list" for any government looking to take control of their telecom networks.

Go The Spy Files, WikiLeaks