Hasta La Gadget!

Both the FCC and the Oakland Police Department have made it clear to AT&T that their brand new radio system doesn’t play well with the carrier’s 2G cell towers, and that because of this they’ve got to shut them down. The Oakland Police Department recently spent a reported $18 million dollars on a radio system that now appears to be having trouble communicating with police and firefighting vehicles when they come within a quarter mile of AT&T’s 2G towers. Needless to say, there are at least two sides to this story as far as who is to blame for the interference.

AT&T was informed of the problem some time last week and has “partially” disabled 16 towers. Also needless to say, only a collection of the company’s oldest phones with mobile data will be affected – so says AT&T. Interestingly enough, the Oakland Police Department has reported failures in “hundreds of buildings” that they’re not sure are affected by AT&T’s towers at all. According to SFGate, “the night President Obama visited Oakland in July, police radios went down [throughout the city], although after the president had left town.”

David Cruise, Oakland’s public safety systems adviser spoke up this week about the situation, saying that more cell towers besides AT&T’s may be to blame.

“Our investigation is continuing. This is not the end of it, for sure. There are plenty more issues we’re looking at. We’re working on plans to remove all of them.” – Cruise

Cruse added that a list of cell phone towers owned by various companies, particularly T-Mobile, would be under investigation as well. AT&T spokesperson John Britton added to the talks that they never meant to do any harm.

“AT&T would never do anything to jeopardize law enforcement. This spectrum has been out there since the 1990s. Thursday or Friday was the first time we were notified by Oakland. We reacted quickly.” – Britton

Have you been affected by the shutdown, Oalkand residents? Let us know in our comments section below!

AT&T 2G towers shut down by Oakland police is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Remember the CB radio handset for mobile phones? The first time we saw them it seemed as if they were only available in Japan. Well, bring out your trucker hats, because ThinkGeek just got some in stock.

The handset plugs into the 3.5mm jack of mobile phones and has a built-in mic on the cord, along with a on/off and volume dial and a mute button. You can also use it as a speaker, but why do that when you can use it to pretend you’re a detective or a member of the Resistance?

ThinkGeek is the M20, bring $20 (USD). Over and out. 10-11. 12-13. Copy-paste.

The fractious on-again, off-again love affair between NTT DoCoMo, Fujitsu and NEC has taken another turn. After dissolving a partnership to build a common LTE platform that included Samsung and Panasonic, the trio have rekindled their love over a candlelit dinner. The gang are stumping up the cash to bankroll Access Network Technology, a venture to build, wait for it, LTE platforms for smartphones and tablets, with each party bringing its own R&D and IP knowhow to the table. There’s no word on how jilted lovers Samsung and Panasonic feel about the team-up, but we wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t shed a private tear and think about the good old days.

Continue reading NTT DoCoMo, Fujitsu and NEC rekindle love and LTE partnership, Samsung and Panasonic left in the rain

Filed under: Cellphones

NTT DoCoMo, Fujitsu and NEC rekindle love and LTE partnership, Samsung and Panasonic left in the rain originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 07:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Being a DJ at radio station can be an embarrassment of riches. And really, who’s going to listen to you complain about having too much music to listen to? Santa Monica’s terrifically wonderful public radio station KCRW is looking to take a little bit of the pain of finding new music for its DJs, with the launch of MALCOLM, a site that lets artists submit their music for consideration — a nice attempt at continued outreach in a medium so dominated by charts and major label interference. Bands can create profiles with images, bios and social media links, alongside up to three tracks. MALCOLM serves as a bit of a social network for the station’s DJs, letting them share tracks and interact with profiles, alerting artists via email when someone has commented on or rated their listing. More information on the service, which borrows its name from KCRW’s old internal record filing system, can be found in the press release after the break. Interested bands can submit songs in the source link below.

Continue reading KCRW launches MALCOLM music service to help indie bands in need

Filed under: Internet, Software

KCRW launches MALCOLM music service to help indie bands in need originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 19:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Yes, we’ve seen an XBee radio interface with RC robots before, but Quantum Robotics’ open-source Xbee handheld controllers have enough gimbals, push buttons and toggle switches to leave us starry-eyed. The Q2 and Q4, both open for funding on Kickstarter, use a XBee wireless transceiver to transfer data and a Parallex Propeller to act as the main processor, and both models put most controllers to shame with a ton of options. While the Q4 uses four PlayStation-style joysticks, the Q2 sports two RC gimbals, and both can be modified to add extra functionality based on the project at hand. Clearly, the more complicated the robot, the more fun these controllers are — take a look at the Q4 interacting with a hexapod and a robotic arm in the video below.

Continue reading Q2 and Q4 Xbee controllers have the gimbals to handle your most unwieldy robotics projects

Q2 and Q4 Xbee controllers have the gimbals to handle your most unwieldy robotics projects originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 06:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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