Hasta La Gadget!

The Philips Hue Connected Light Bulbs lets you set the mood—or not—with a digital app to control the color and brightness of the bulbs with just a few swipes.

A couple of years ago the Commodore 64 was reborn with upgraded specs (although the company behind it seems to have folded now). This year it’s the Sinclair ZX Spectrum’s turn to get an update. Actually it’s more of a downgrade. A company called Elite Systems has acquired the right to make officially licensed Bluetooth keyboards that look like the Spectrum. Yep, just a keyboard. Maybe tinkerers can cram a couple of Raspberry Pis in it.

Elite Systems already ported a collection of ZX Spectrum games to iOS, so this keyboard should be the best way to play those games. The image above is not of a mockup, but it’s not a prototype of the Bluetooth keyboard either. That’s an actual Sinclair ZX Spectrum next to an iPad, but Elite Systems says that there’s no better way to visualize what their final product will look like anyway.

The company has set up a Kickstarter for the keyboard, but I’m not going to bother sharing the fundraiser’s video here. Let’s just say they need to hire some PR guys. Pledge at least £50 (~$80 USD) on Kickstarter to get a Bluetooth ZX Spectrum as a reward. Or, head over to eBay UK, where you can pick up an actual ZX Spectrum for about the same price.

Ofcom, the U.K. counterpart to the U.S.’s FCC, has commenced the largest exploration of “white space” frequencies the world has ever seen. Google, Microsoft, Spectrum Bridge, and upwards of 17 other private and public organizations over the next six months will test a wide variety of white space applications, including rural broadband delivery, HDTV broadcasting, […]

It’s taken almost eight months, but AT&T has at last finalized its deal to purchase $1.9 billion worth of spectrum from Verizon. The agreement, first announced back in January, allows Verizon to unload a good chunk of its 700MHz spectrum, which AT&T will in turn use to improve its LTE service for 42 million customers across 18 different states. And that’s all she wrote, folks. If you’re curious to see whether your state is covered, all 18 of them are listed in the press release below. Be warned, though: you’ll also need to watch AT&T do a victory lap over how fast its network is.

Filed under: Wireless, Mobile, Verizon, AT&T

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Amazon may not be happy with just piggybacking on other wireless carrier’s signals for Whispernet-style offerings, as Bloomberg has heard it’s trying out technology that would let it create its own wireless network. The technology used in the tests is from Globalstar, which is seeking to convert its spectrum — intended for use by satellite-connected devices like the Global Phone pictured above — for strictly ground-based use. The report points out a letter from Globalstar technical adviser Jarvinian to the FCC indicating it was helping a “major technology company” assess the performance benefits available earlier this year. The usual people with knowledge of the situation have filled in the blanks, however whether the tests are continuing or if Amazon will ever make real use of it is unknown. If things do move forward Amazon would hardly be alone in its efforts with Dish Network’s similar push to use spectrum it owns for LTE. If Globalstar really can do LTE / public WiFi better we’re ready to hear about it, although hopefully it will connect to more hardware than just some future Kindle Fire 4.

Filed under: Wireless, Amazon

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Source: Bloomberg