Neal's Admin.Notes.

Nextel A-GPS Service Down

So here I am driving to New Jersey last Saturday in search of a gate for my dog only to realize my trustworthy and all knowing Nextel- Motorola GPS / i830 color phone was not working !!. Arrrgh. Here I was stuck..lost in NJ with no clue on how to get where I was going or how to get home after. luckily I drove around for an hour or so till I came across some familiar territory to find my way back ( Oh yeah....Petco didn't have the gate in stock...they only sold it online...go figure . Thinking my phone was malfunctioning, I had Nextel overnight me a replacement. Monday night...here I am, stuck in Brooklyn with no GPS ( yes, I don't know why I didnt check it before I leaped from Manhattan into Brooklyn ) !!! Apparent after some serious questioning , Nextel / Motorola has a network and software issue affecting GPS on their key phones.

So its July 31st, they seem to have fixed the network, but working out the logistics on getting the software updated on the phones... I guess I will just have to rely on good ole Expedia, or Mapquest to get me to where I'm going.....hmmmm, how about Atlantic City ! If you have a Nextel phone that utilizes the A-GPS (Assisted Global Positioning Satellite) service , you can check their site for updates on the situation...

New York Group Plans Redunant Telecom Wirelessly

The Alliance for Downtown New York proposes a wireless backup plan for telecommunications .For $10 million, the Alliance proposes building a laser and microwave system that would sit on top of five of the tallest buildings in the area and have line of sight from most offices. The system would relay to two other locations, one in Manhattan and one probably in New Jersey, in the event of a loss of service.

The idea is that companies unable to bear the enormous costs of building their own similar backup systems could piggyback on the Alliance’s, which would be vendor neutral to phone companies. This might make businesses who locate in the area less concerned about being cut off from telecom in the future, come what may, although real estate agents think it won’t make a practical difference: rents are cheaper and that attracts tenants.

Guess what. The Alliance is a pet project of my boss here, and it has been for decades now. Its something he's been wanting to do for a while now, he's approached us ( Net Admins ) for something smiliar in-house, but we've shot it down just because wasn't the "right" move at the time, but hey to be directly involved in something this big is way cool :) What do you think ?

Another pet project that has been a tremendous success is the implementation of free wifi solutions downtown Manhattan. The network had become one of the busiest of its kind in the world.

Best Wi-Fi Signal Finder Yet

Chrysalis previews their WiFi Seeker, a keychain sized device for instant Wi-Fi signal finding: Chrysalis sent me a demo unit of its just-unveiled WiFi Seeker, which they designed to differentiate 80211b/g networks from other devices. Two previous Wi-Fi signal finders fell short in ways the Seeker does not.

The Kensington WiFi Finder is relatively large (credit card sized) and scans before displaying the results instead of a constant active scan—but it can tell Wi-Fi from junk.
WFS-1 from SMart ID is much cooler offering a no-industrial-design-intended box with instant scanning—but which "hears" all 2.4 GHz signals the same.
Push the button on the WiFi Seeker and it scans briefly, often under a second, before displaying a signal strength in zero to four LEDs. Keep the button held down and it’s a Wi-Fi dowser, allowing you to move around and see immediate response to different signal strengths. It’s more directionally sensitive than the WFS-1.
Chrysalis will sell the device starting in June for $29.95. Earlier, PC Tel has said they would make the device available to their customers, so one presumes that Chrysalis can sell custom branded versions of the device.

Bluetooth: In or Out?

Will Bluetooth be dead by the end of 2005? Intel is pushing for a new wireless USB standard, called WUSB. The goal is to design a wireless standard that’s faster and more reliable than Bluetooth.
WUSB is being set up as a counterpart to 802.11, handling the device to device transfers WiFi doesn’t cover; like the movement of audio and video files between PCs and cameras, MP3 players and such