Cingular 2125 Multimedia Phone Deal

The Cingular 2125 is a Windows Mobile smartphone that is lightweight and ultra-thin. Would you believe just 4 oz. in a package that measures 4.6" x 1.8" x 0.7"? Its form-follows-function package is a cross between a candy bar style cell phone and a Pocket PC or PDA.

This phone looks like it has a huge color display and it does. The display measures 320 x 240 pixels and shows over 262,000 colors. That size and color resolution is just what you need for reading Microsoft Pocket Outlook email documents including Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Windows Pocket Explorer provides HTML support for mobile Web browsing. MS Windows Media Player 10 plays video and MP3 files for entertainment on the go. A stereo headset is included with the phone.

You'll also like the larger display to view those sharp digital photos you can take with the 1.3 Megapixel camera built-into the Cingular 2125. Resolution is an impressive 1280 x 1040 pixels. You also have the opportunity to use this camera in video capture / camcorder mode to make short video clips.

Sync your data with your desktop or notebook computer with the included MS ActiveSync software and USB cable. The 2125 runs on Cingular's EDGE network for high speed data downloads. MSN Instant Messenger comes built-in, as does support for SMS text messaging and multimedia messaging.

All this processing power on the go is provided by Windows Mobile 5.0 with a 200 MHz Texas Instruments OMAP 850 processor. Built-in memory is 64 MB and you can expand memory capacity with a miniSD card. This is a quad-band GSM phone that also includes Bluetooth communications for hands-free conversations.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Managed IP Services Becoming The Network Strategy in Demand

An announcement this week that two major players in Managed IP Services are joining forces is a telling indicator of change in the telecommunications field. Network World ran the announcement that Netifice and MegaPath are merging into one entity focused on IP services for business. The new Netifice will soon be the largest U.S. company in this field.

So why is this important? It's another sign that the communications infrastructure is migrating from a circuit switched architecture to packet based communications. Not just any packet switched protocol, mind you. IP or Internet Protocol is expanding is scope. Switched Ethernet based local area networks running Internet Protocol have become the defacto standard, pretty much pushing all other standards into obscurity. The sheer economy of scale has made Ethernet, Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet networking the only cost effective choice in all but the most unique applications. It's pretty hard to find a computer that doesn't come with an RJ-45 connector for 10/100 Ethernet. It's even harder to find one with another standard, unless it is something with a very short range, such as USB or Firewire. Now, IP is moving beyond the LAN edge and steadily swallowing up the WAN or Wide Area Network connections as well.

Consider your options for communicating beyond the borders of your corporate campus or even your storefront. If all you want to do is connect two distant locations together, a T1 line will do the trick at a reasonable cost. This is point to point communications. Chances are that you'll use a router on each end that connects to your location's LAN on one side and the T1 line on the other. But what if you want to connect a dozen or a hundred locations together? You can certainly order as many T1 private lines as you want and create your own WAN. That gives you the ultimate in control, privacy and, unfortunately, high cost.

A more reasonably priced solution leverages the power of private networks built by companies like Netifice and MegaPath along with that great public communications infrastructure known as the Internet. The private networks, almost exclusively built on fiber optics, link to points of presence in major cities. Dedicated private lines provide the last mile connection to your locations. ATM and Frame Relay networks have long provided this type of service, but now most networks are adopting IP and their standard protocol.

The Internet is certainly the largest IP network in existence. It is becoming thought of as a public utility, much like electric power and natural gas. Except that the Internet is loosely regulated compared to government regulated utilities. Anyone can easily access the Internet at a bargain price, but your privacy and security are left up to you. Frankly, the Internet can be a scary place to be conveying sensitive business information.

This is where managed IP services step in. One important application is the VPN or Virtual Private Network. Basically, a VPN encrypts and decrypts your private information so that it appears to be indecipherable gibberish to anyone eavesdropping over the Internet. In essence, the public network becomes your private network. Of course you are sharing this public network with many others, but they don't know anything about your data and you don't know anything about theirs. As long as you buy enough bandwidth to ensure the transfer rates you need, VPN will give you one huge network with access just about anywhere on Earth.

Another application for IP-based services is enterprise VoIP. Voice over IP is potentially a huge cost saver for businesses with dozens to hundreds of phones and phone lines. It can go bad very easily when you try to be your own phone company and don't provide for all the nuances of bandwidth, jitter, latency, priority and packet error rates that wreak havoc on voice calls and video conferencing. A managed IP network ensures that the WAN network is robust enough to support VoIP as well as electronic data transfer.

T1 Rex has been proud to offer network services from both Netifice and MegaPath through our expert telecommunications team at Shop for T1. The new, larger, Netifice will provide an even greater range cost effective managed IP services available to small, medium and larger companies. You are invited to have a no-cost review of what telecom services will work best for your business and save you the most money. Simply provide some basic contact information and what you are interest in using our quick inquiry form at T1 Rex.

Samsung MM-A880 Multimedia Phone Special

The Samsung MM-A880 is a cell phone with a digital camera that gives you an easy way to make prints. It's also streaming multimedia viewer that gives you access to on-demand TV and streaming music through the Sprint PCS Vision service. You like it already, right? Here's something else you'll really like.

The MM in Samsung MM-A880 stands for multimedia. This is the new standard term for cell phones with video and audio capabilities built-in. The trend is toward one mobile device that you use for voice communications, messaging, web access, capturing photos and videos, playing music and viewing streaming multimedia clips.

Sprint's multimedia content service is known as Sprint PCS Vision. This is an add-on service with plans that let you browse the web or send and receive email send picture mail or video clips, and a deluxe plan that offers video and audio from providers like NBC, The Discovery Channel, The Weather Channel, FOX Sports and others.

Even if video on the go isn't what you are looking for in a cell phone, you may want to consider this phone for its digital camera capabilities. First of all, the 1.03 Megapixel camera takes still photos with much greater resolution than the VGA quality digital camera that is standard in most camera phones. That gives you nice, clear pictures that look great on the larger than usual color main display of the A880. Your display actually measures 1.14 x 1.43 inches and can show over 262,000 colors. Certainly those snapshots will be fun to send as picture messages, but with this level of resolution you probably want to make prints of the better ones. This is where the Samsung MM-A880 excels. It has PictBridge software that lets you print pictures directly from your phone.

Other features of note include the ability to use your digital camera in video capture mode to make short videos up to 15 seconds long. The camera's LED flash also acts like a movie light. Advanced voice activated dialing requires no pre-training. You can go completely hands-free for conversations by turning on the built-in speakerphone.

The Samsung MM-A880 is built into a clamshell case about the size of a business card and less than an inch thick. The shell is tinted a very subtle frosty lavender color as opposed to the ubiquitous silver tone. Also somewhat rare is an external display that has the same 262,000 colors capability as the main display. All this in a 3.5 ounce package.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

All RAZRs Pink, Black, Silver and Grey

The hottest cell phones right now are the Motorola RAZR designs. Hottest of the hot is fittingly the Pink RAZR. So what's behind this love affair with the Motorola RAZRs?

The V3 RAZR, nicknamed the "Razor", was introduced as a unique advance in technology. The most startling breakthrough comes from the anodized cast aluminum shell. Most cell phones have cases, or shells, made of high impact plastic. They are also about an inch thick. By using aircraft grade aluminum, the shell can be made much thinner and still retain its rigidity and resistance to breakage.

Another component of cell phones that adds to the thickness of the case is the keyboard. You need the keys to be as minimal as possible but still be easy to push reliably. The Motorola RAZR takes a new approach to the design of the keyboard. You can tell just by looking at it that these keys aren't the usual little pushbuttons. In fact, the entire keyboard is a chemically etched film that is ultra thin compared to individual buttons. Combine this thin switch matrix with the aluminum chassis and you have a cell phone that is only 0.5 inches thick.

The original Motorola V3 RAZR is in a silver colored anodized aluminum case and runs on the Cingular Wireless network. In addition to its slim profile, the razor is equipped with a VGA quality digital camera that includes 4x digital zoom, a large 2.2 inch color main display to show those photos, ability to view MPEG4 streaming video, speakerphone, voice driven menus and long range Bluetooth communications. Mobile Web browsing, text messaging, multimedia messaging and instant messaging capability are all built-in.

The Motorola V3 RAZR cell phone has quad band GSM network capability. GSM is the cellular network most available outside of the United States, giving the RAZR worldwide operational capability.

When the Razor was redesigned to work on the Verizon Wireless network, it was also upgraded to the V3c. Verizon uses a cellular network with a different protocol called CDMA or Code Division Multiple Access. Basically this is an all-digital system that allows cell phones to share channels by using different digital codes to distinguish them. Verizon also assigns some channels to support broadband data using a technology called EV-DO or Evolution Data Only. This odd sounding acronym supports a powerful wireless data network that serves broadband Internet at burst speeds up to 2.4 Mbps and typical downloads at 700 Kbps or so. That's equal to or better than many wireline DSL and Cable Internet services.

Verizon's big interest in deploying its EV-DO network is to enable video on demand for your cell phone. Their VCAST service lets you download news, weather, sports and music video shows to your Motorola RAZR V3c. It's a little like having TV shows available on a cell phone. This is the "3G" future of mobile devices that will also be Internet, video, music and voice communications phones.

Another upgrade to the Motorola RAZR V3 when it became the V3c is an improved digital camera. VGA quality cameras, like the one in the original RAZR and RAZR Black, are great for taking snapshots and short video clips that will be viewed primarily on the camera or sent to friends to view on their cameras or computers. The V3c has a 1.3 Megapixel camera that improves picture resolution to the point where you can get decent prints from your camera phone photos. So who needs a separate digital camera anymore?

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Cellular Internet Challenges DSL and Cable

Wireless Internet running on the cellular phone networks has matured to the point where bandwidth, coverage and prices now represent a serious challenge to wireline broadband services. Consider that you can now get T-Mobile Internet Unlimited running on their EDGE network with unlimited data for $49.99 a month, one has to wonder if the days are numbered for the low end DSL and Cable Internet services.

Clearly, this is not what you hear touted in the poplar press. There's still a notion that cost sensitive consumers are finally starting to abandon their 56K dial-up services in droves, in favor of adding DSL to their phone lines or Cable Internet bundled with Cable TV. What's sneaking up without so much fanfare is the steady upgrading of cellular base stations to assign more and more channels to always-on data service. For their part, the cell phone companies are pushing their new video and music on-demand services enabled by the upgrade in available data bandwidth. To them, the big revenue growth will come from entertainment and information services they can get cell phone users to buy as upgrades. Aircards and data service for mobile computers seem like an afterthought. Or are they?

Right now you can upgrade your computer to get Internet service from a cell phone network. What you need is an available PC Card slot. Those come standard on laptop computers, but you can get adaptors for your desktop model. You plug in what's called an aircard. This is a radio transceiver designed to work on one of the cellular data network standards: EDGE or EV-DO. In effect, it's a cell phone on a PC peripheral card that works like a modem.

The lowest cost service is T-Mobile's Internet Unlimited with MyEmail. You pay a monthly access fee of $49.99 for unlimited data on the T-Mobile USA Network. That gives you instant access to your email and Web browsing with full Internet access. The Sony Ericsson GC89 Cellular and WiFi PC card to let you access the network is available free after rebate when you order it with T-Mobile Internet service. EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution) gives you download speeds up to 274 Kbps with this card when you have a strong signal from an EDGE enhanced cell tower. Otherwise, the system gracefully falls back to a lower speed standard, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) running at data rate of 30 to 80 Kbps.

Verizon offers a higher speed cellular Internet service called EV-DO (EVolution-Data Only) with download speeds of typically 400 to 700 Kbps and bursts up to 2.4 Mbps. When outside of the EV-DO network coverage, the system automatically provides 1xRTT service at an average of 60 to 80 Kbps. For $79.99 a month, you can have access to the Verizon Wireless EV-DO network using an Audiovox PC5740 PC card that you can get free with a service order.

Some new laptop computers like the Sony Vaio VGN-T350P and the Panasonic CF-18 and CF-29 Toughbooks come with cellular Internet capability built-in. All you have to do is activate a wireless service contract and you have wireless broadband Internet to go.

Up till now, these cellular Internet services have been promoted to mobile professionals who need Internet access wherever they happen to be. But consider that these data rates are not all that different that you get in practice from many DSL and Cable Internet services. Consider also that most people use their computers at home for reading email and browsing the Web, not high bandwidth video services. Further consider that many people are dropping their landline phones in favor of using just their cell phones and you have a perfect storm brewing for disruptive technology change.

Typically when people move, they have to establish new phone service with the phone company, perhaps including DSL service for broadband Internet. Or, they skip the DSL and get Cable Internet with or without Cable TV service. Then they set up a Wi-Fi network so they can still use their laptop computers without getting tethered by network wiring. How soon will it be until the light goes on that says: "Hey, if I get cellular Internet I can have wireless Internet access on my computer and carry it with me to the park or my favorite hangout that doesn't have a Wi-Fi hotspot. I don't need to order a phone line because I already have my cell phone and I don't need DSL. I'm getting satellite TV, so I don't need Cable either."

Cellular internet may soon completely blow away satellite Internet service. Two-way satellite broadband is very expensive, has long latencies and can be interrupted by bad weather. With cell towers popping up in more and more remote locations and more base stations getting EDGE or EV-DO capability, if you can use your cell phone in a location, chances are that you can get cellular Internet service too.

The other fierce wireless competition is Wi-Fi hotspots, which are common in sit-down restaurants and coffee shops and are now being embraced by many communities. Download speeds are faster than cellular broadband, but hotspot coverage still is spotty and likely will continue to be. But why not take both? Most laptop computers now have Wi-Fi capability built-in and the GC89 aircard even includes Wi-Fi access up to 54 Mbps. When you are in range of a Wi-Fi hotspot you can enjoy faster speeds. Everywhere else, you have cellular Internet access that is likely more than adequate.

Consumer fascination with sub-Megabit per second DSL and Cable Internet services, both of which have reliability issues in addition to oversubscription, may soon wane in favor of cutting the cord with Wi-Fi and cellular Internet. The future for phone and cable companies is in 100 to 1,000 Mbps fiber optic lines to the home that will enable high bandwidth applications like HDTV on demand. But they better get moving on this faster than they have been... before newer wireless technologies grab this market also.

Sony Ericsson GC89 Cellular Aircard Special

Mobile professionals, here's the must-have service for your notebook computer. It's cellular broadband and it's now available at a attractive prices.

Cellular broadband is exactly what you need to be able to access the Internet just about anywhere you happen to be. You probably have one or more favorite restaurants or coffee shops where you can relax with a beverage and get some work done using WiFi Internet service. That's great for researching information, checking your email and even entering orders or other customer data without having to trudge all the way back to the office. But wouldn't it be nice to be able to access your databases and order entry pages right at the client's office? Or in your car?

Wi-Fi hotspots are great, but coverage is spotty. You can't count of being able to connect unless you can get to a known hotspot. WiMAX will have much better coverage, but don't hold your breath for this service. You'll turn blue before it gets here in a year or so. Dial-up Internet? Oh, please.

Cellular broadband runs on the same cellular networks that provide your cell phone service. T-Mobile is one of the largest cellular carriers in the country and has reliable coverage for both voice and data in nearly every populated area. Technically, T-Mobile uses the GSM transmission standard, the most popular in the world. The Internet data service that runs on the T-Mobile GSM network is called GPRS for General Packet Radio Service. The enhanced version is called EGPRS or EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution). GPRS provides data rates at 30 to 80 Kbps, which is better than dial-up. EDGE provides about a 4x improvement or up to 274 Kbps maximum.

A feature of the popular the Sony Ericsson GC89 cellular aircard is that it is EDGE compatible so you get the fastest rate in areas where you can receive EDGE transmissions and GPRS service automatically in all other areas where you can get a signal. Older designs only had GPRS capability. A bonus feature of the GC89 is that it is also a Wi-Fi access card. When you are at a Wi-Fi hotspot or near your company's wireless access point, you can connect up to 54 Mbps. Both the 802.11b and 802.11g protocols are supported.

The Sony Ericsson GC89 plugs right into a PC Card Type II card slot. It gets power from the PC. There is a very small antenna you can flip up to get a stronger signal, if needed.

Does this sound like what you need for remote access? If so, check out the selection of aircards currently available at Cell Phone Plans Finder. You'll also find a huge selection of smartphones and cell phones at very attractive prices.

Get Two Free Samsung A950 Cell Phones

The Samsung A950 is that cool phone you see on TV where people are downloading music through the Verizon VCAST Music service option on the Verizon Wireless network. In addition to music downloads, you can also watch TV-like video on demand. You get fresh entertainment, sports, news and weather shows ready for you to download and watch whenever you wish.

In addition to streaming TV and music with VCAST, The Samsung A950 gives you a 1.3 Megapixel print quality digital camera with flash, 4x zoom, and a self-timer. You can also make your own 15 second video clips in camcorder mode.

How about playing your own tunes? You bet. Use the built-in stereo MP3 player with cool front-mounted jog wheel dial and an expandable memory slot.

Go hands free with Bluetooth headset capability, voice dialing and built-in speakerphone. Standard text messaging, multimedia messaging and email capability are also available. With the A950 you are ready to communicate or be entertained. Or both.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Samsung A970 Two Megapixel Camera Phone Deal

Is it a cell phone or a camcorder? Yes. The Samsung A970 video phone does double duty as a clamshell style flip phone on the Verizon Wireless network and an easy to use digital camcorder.

What makes this phone completely different from its peers is the unusually high resolution digital camera and the cool swivel viewfinder that let you easily turn your cell phone into a handy camcorder at a moment's notice.

Your digital camera in the Samsung A970 is capable of print quality still photos with it's 2.0 Megapixel resolution. That's a full 1600 x 1200 pixels. It also has LED flash and 2x optical zoom. Plus it shoots videos. Sure, other cell phones can capture short video clips somewhat awkwardly, but the A970 has two features that make video capture a pleasure.

First, the camera is built into the hinge of the phone so that the lens points sideways when you are using the phone to converse. The large color display does something amazing. It swivels 90 degrees so that it faces you when you point the camera lens toward your subject. Now you have a device that more closely resembles a real camcorder.

Another video capture feature is that the length of your movie making is limited only by the size of the available memory. Not the relatively small memory that is part of the phone's circuitry. You have expandable memory capacity using plug-in microSD/ TransFlash memory cards.

Those features alone make this a unique and highly useful cell phone. But the Samsung A970 offers so much more. This phone is VCAST enabled for the Verizon Wireless EV-DO broadband cellular network. VCAST lets you watch on-demand TV shows including news, weather, entertainment and sports features. They download quickly and look fantastic on the large color main display capable of showing 262,000 colors.

Another built-in communications technology is Bluetooth. Just clip a cordless Bluetooth headset on your ear and you can converse without having to hold the phone to your ear. Other hands-free capabilities include a built-in speakerphone and voice activated dialing. Just speak a name that's in your phonebook and the A970 will dial the number for you. No pre-training is needed.

If that's not enough capability, your Samsung A970 cell phone also includes a MP3 Player with stereo sound. Now take your tunes with you on one of those plug-in memory cards.

Of course you also get standard SMS text messaging, multimedia messaging, instant messaging, email and Web browsing capabilities included in the advanced technology of the A970. This phone has all the personal technology you need, all in one small package.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Samsung T809 Review and Deal

The Samsung T809 is a slider phone that's nearly as thin as the clamshell Motorola V3 RAZR phone. In this very cool package, you'll find all the latest technology weighing in at only 3.3 oz.

So, what's so cool about the Samsung T809? First of all there's the slider feature that lets you minimize the dimensions of your phone when you aren't taking or making calls. Then there's that big color display measuring 320 x 240 pixels and able to show over 262,000 colors.

A display so fine is just what you want for showing the high resolution pictures you'll take with the built-in 1.3 Megapixel digital camera. It has digital zoom and can take up to 15 multi-shots to capture all the action. You can also switch to camcorder mode to take your own videos on the spot.

Want to take your tunes with you? You can with the MP3 music player in the T809. Listen privately on the stereo headset that comes with this phone or share the beat with the twin stereo speakers built into the case. Transfer songs from your PC with the included USB cable.

OK, back to work. You have calls to make. Only problem is that you need your hands free to get some other things organized. No problem. You have a choice of using the built-in speakerphone, or clipping a Bluetooth headset on your ear and conversing in private.

At other times you'll want to communicate via messaging. The Samsung T809 lets you send and receive text, picture and video multimedia messages. You also have SMS text messaging available. Plus Yahoo!, AOL and ICQ instant messaging all come built-in. There's even a WAP 2.0 browser for mobile Web browsing.

Other features of interest include quad band GSM worldwide network compatibility, expandable memory capability using the microSD/TransFlash memory format, and up to 300 minutes of talk time.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Servers as Steam Engines

Electronics and heat. They go together like a horse and... Well, there's a reason they call it waste heat. Sometimes it seems like you're feeding the servers to watch them cook. First you have to pay for all that electrical energy going into a data center. Then you have to pay for more electrical energy to suck the heat out of the data center. Seems wasteful to say the least.

Well, that's the state of the art today. Just like your head gets warm when you're active, all those processors and their ancillary circuits get warm when they think. Electronic brainpower just streams thermal energy. It's not very efficient, either. You can get a good burn from a microprocessor that isn't all that smart. Start bunching them together in closed equipment racks and you've got yourself an electronic furnace.

So far all this heat rejection has been handled by fans and blowers within the equipment and racks, aided by rooftop air conditioners. But, friends, we're headed for a meltdown. Haven't you noticed that you really can't stand to set a laptop computer on your lap anymore? The same thing is happening on a larger scale in the server rooms. Temperatures are going up, and up.

Why? The driver is speed. If digital circuits were perfect, they'd hardly consume any power at all. A perfect switch is on or off. When it's on, there is only a slight heat generated by the low resistance of the junctions and interconnections. When the circuit is off, it is open and shouldn't draw current at all. In practice there is a tiny leakage current through the semiconductors. But that's not what's cooking us out. The problem is that electronic switches do not change states instantaneously. They actually transition from off to on to back off again. It's more of like turning a light dimmer up and down, rather than flipping a light switch.

The losses occur every time there is a transition. When transitions are few and far between, like in a digital watch, a little button battery can provide all the power you need. But speed things up to, say, a few Gigahertz and you've got yourself a digital hand warmer. Or lap warmer.

With more and faster electronic brainpower being packed into smaller and smaller rack spaces, the heat problem is escalating. The latest racks are now turning to liquid cooling. Water is more dense than air and can carry away more heat. IBM and Hewlett Packard are offering water cooling as an option for their server racks. Other companies are running refrigerant lines right through the racks. It's like you cool your food and drinks at home in a fridge.

The most exotic plan yet seems to be the liquid carbon dioxide cooling system announced by British company Trox. Now, mind you, carbon dioxide boils at around 200 degrees below zero so it needs to be kept under pressure to remain a liquid. Spring a leak and you'll get dry ice which will evaporate into carbon dioxide gas but won't drown your processors.

I don't think it's going to stop there. The circuit frequencies and component density are surely going to keep increasing as IT companies feel the need for speed. At some point we'll be in danger of a real meltdown, with server racks scorching their way into the Earth toward China. Or toward us if the servers are already in China.

Perhaps we can learn something from the nuclear power industry. They don't just pull out the control rods and watch the water glow. They're doing something useful with all that pent up energy. The heat generated by the nuclear reaction boils water, producing steam that can be used to heat buildings or turn generator turbines. The water systems both cool the hot core and convert otherwise wasted energy to steam heat or electricity.

So, how long will it be before some enterprising startup announces the invention of the steam rack? The electro-inferno of blazing hot processors running at umpteen Gigahertz will be cooled by vaporizing water under pressure. The resulting steam will then be harnessed to generate electricity or, maybe like the old days, run lines of machine tools. As the water gives up its heat and condenses, it will be channeled back into the sizzling electronic racks for another round.

Now we if could only figure out how to run electronic circuits on coal, both our computing and energy problems would be solved... although there is that small matter of environmental pollution.

Cellular Service Goes Up, Up and Away

You can get a pretty good idea on the availability of cell phone service in a particular area just by counting the silver spires sporting panel antennas. Some cities have forests of steel trees, and buildings that do double duty as brick and mortar cell towers. But not in North Dakota. It's just too rugged with too few people per mile to justify the cost of putting up a quarter million dollar cellular base station in many places. What to do? Send in the balloons!

A new and novel approach to wireless phone coverage is the balloon-borne flying cell tower. It's not really a tower at all. Actually it's an electronic pack the size of a toaster. They are easily lofted by 6 foot balloons, much like the radiosondes that weather stations have used to measure the atmosphere since the 1930's. At altitudes of 100,000 feet, they are well above the airlanes and will coast across the state at 30 miles an hour or so. Essentially you get a 100,000 foot cell tower without 20 miles worth of steel and the land it would take for all those guy wires. At that height, you only need 3 base stations to cover the state. Of course those are moving base stations, so you need to keep 9 balloons in the air at all times. Some will be going up, some coming down and others drifting across the sky.

So just who is coming up with this idea? It's a joint project between Extend America, a North Dakota Wireless Internet Service Provider and Space Data Corporation of Chandler, Arizona. Space Data has actually been using a system of this type to track oil company vehicles and monitor oil wells in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and New Mexico. They've launched thousands of balloons with electronic packages over the last year in all types of weather.

How soon can we expect to know if mobile relays in the stratosphere will work for North Dakota? As soon as this summer, with tests underway anytime now.

If all this sounds vaguely familiar, you may remember I wrote about a similar system in development called the Stratellite by GlobeTel Communications. One difference is that Stratellites are based on dirigibles that can be maneuvered, rather than free floating balloons. A Stratellite has small electric driven propellers and solar cells for power so it can hover in place to transmit wireless broadband Internet and cell phone signals.

Yet another approach uses low orbiting satellites to provide cellular service from above. Iridium has just such a constellation available, but satellite phones are expensive and much larger than the little flip phones we like to keep in our pockets.

Telecommunications services got their start by burrowing in the ground to get from place to place using copper wires. Those wires are being replaced in some cases by buried fiber optic cables with higher capacity, but more and more by wireless cell towers. Mobility and the demand for coverage everywhere are helping the next generation of cellular stations get off the ground, literally. Perhaps in wireless communications, the sky really is the limit.

Pigeons With Camera Phones. Is Anyone Safe?

Smile. Look at the Birdie. Ohhh. What just hit me in the eye? I've been faked out by a camera phone toting pigeon. Worse, while I'm reaching for a handkerchief to clean the "fallout" from my eye, that little birdbrain is sending my picture to its blog so everyone can enjoy my humiliation.

Well, it's not like we weren't warned. Alfred Hitchcock had the drop on the agenda of these birds even before most of us were getting dropped on. His prophetic conspiracy theory formed the basis of the 1963 movie "The Birds." Sea gulls, pigeons... you've got to keep an eye on all of them. Just not from underneath.

OK, perhaps this is getting a little carried away. After all, the pigeons I'm referring to were actually recruited for a scientific project to study pollution over San Jose. Rather than just send the pigeons out over the city and see how much they cough when they get back, researcher Beatriz da Costa is loading up the birds with electronic backpacks. You've seen the World War II movies where one soldier has a giant radio set strapped to his back? That's about the scale of it. Except these are pigeons. Also, technology has advanced enough in the last 65 years so that you can fit a lot of electronic capability in a pack small enough to be lofted by a medium size bird.

Beatriz da Costa is a researcher and Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California at Irvine. She and two of her students, Cina Hazegh and Kevin Ponto, came up with the bird "brain" idea of turning pigeons into miniature U2 spy planes and flying them over San Jose. Each bird will carry an electronic pack that contains a cell phone, GPS receiver, carbon monoxide & nitrogen dioxide sensors, plus a digital camera slung around their neck.

The way it will work is that 20 of these pigeons will cruise the skies over San Jose, California carrying their electronic packs. Apparently they do know the way to San Jose. While in flight, the air quality sensors will automatically transmit pollution levels as text messages to a blog in real time. The blog will be in the form of an interactive map. Since the data telemetry from pigeon pack to Internet blog is all automated, the birds are expected to have time to snap aerial pictures using the cameras slung around their necks. Those photos will also be messaged and posted to the birdy blog.

Is this for real? Seems so. The experiment was published online in New Scientist under the title of "Pigeons to set up a smog blog." The wireless winged armada is to be released at the Inter-Society for Electronics Arts annual symposium in San Jose this August 5.

According to New Scientist, researcher da Costa is hoping that one of the outcomes of this bold experiment is that it will inspire others to invent new ways of monitoring the environment. It's a noble goal, perhaps even a Nobel goal, but I can also see some opportunity for mischief if the birds decide to have a little fun with the project.

"Hey Polly, plop that guy on the bike and I'll get your picture for the blog."

"Scooter, those people on the roof don't have any feathers on. Let's make a centerfold for today's postings."

Things may also get out of hand if the experiment is successful and duplicated nationwide or even worldwide. Privacy? Ha! You can kiss that old fashioned notion goodbye. That bird on the power line is snapping your picture right now. His sensitive chemical sensors can smell the beer on your breath and he's blogging on it as we speak. There's no place to hide. Every branch has a stool pigeon. Skip a day filling the bird feeder and .... Wait. Why are all those birds landing on the roof? Are they setting up their own ad-hoc wireless network? Why are they all looking this way? OK. Very slowly now, let's make our way from the school to home. Whatever you do don't make any quick moves and don't laugh at their ringtones. They hate that.

Like I said before. We've already been warned.

Sony Ericsson Z520a with Bluetooth Headset Free Deal

The Sony Ericsson Z520a is an upgrade to the venerable Z500a cell phone. This tiny flip phone weighs just 3.3 ounces and is smaller than a standard business card. It fits neatly in the palm of your hand, yet is packed with the latest in technology.

Take Bluetooth communications, for instance. Bluetooth is the short range wireless technology that lets you clip a small Bluetooth headset on your ear and talk without having to hold up the phone or deal with pesky earphone cables. It's terrific when you want to keep your hands free but carry on a conversation. Another feature that lets you do this is the built-in speakerphone. Turn it on and everybody at your end can listen and talk.

Your Sony Ericsson Z520a has a VGA quality digital camera with a 4x digital zoom. It's just right for taking and sharing those photo opportunities that pop up without warning. Keep your Z520a handy and you'll always have a digital camera with you to capture the moment. This camera also works in camcorder mode, letting you record video clips up to 60 seconds long.

You get two displays on this stylish flip phone. The main display inside is capable of showing over 65,000 colors. Another color display on the outside of the phone shows important information while the Z520a is folded shut.

How about messaging? You bet. You can send and receive standard SMS text messages or multimedia messages. AOL Instant Messenger is also built-in for your convenience.

You might think that all this technology running in such a small package would suck a battery dry in no time. Not so with the Sony Ericsson Z520a. This powerhouse gives you up to 540 minutes of talk time. That's up to 9 hours! Standby time is an equally impressive max of 400 hours or 16 days.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.

Pink Razor Cell Phone at a Discount

This beauty is packaged in an exclusive pink anodized aluminum shell. That makes it ultra thin like the original RAZR V3 and RAZR Black models that preceded it. The pink razor phone is the chic high technology accessory that is at home in pocket or purse. It has all the functionality you need for making power deals, capturing photo opportunities, and chatting at length with friends and family.

The pink Motorola razor phone has two vibrant color screens. The main display shows over 262,000 brilliant colors. It's perfect for watching streaming multimedia or viewing the pictures you take and share with the built-in VGA quality camera featuring 4x digital zoom. The smaller external color display shows important information while your RAZR Pink is folded shut.

This RAZR is truly a world phone, ideal for the international traveler. Its quad band GSM communications capability let you use it on compatible networks worldwide.

The Motorola RAZR V3 Pink is so gorgeous you'll love showing it off. But how about those times you want to talk but keep your hands free? Easy. Clip a Bluetooth headset on your ear and you can converse wirelessly without others even being the wiser. With Bluetooth, there are no pesky cables to get tangled. When you want to include a group at your end, simply switch to the built-in speakerphone and everyone can hear and speak.

Other valuable features include voice driven menus, PC synchronization to coordinate calendar and contact information, text messaging, mobile Web browsing, email and instant messenger support.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.