According to a German article in Heise Security researchers in Europe's dedected.org group have published an article during this year's Chaos Communications Congress (25C3) how to eavesdrop on DECT transmissions by using a PC-Card costing only EUR 23. There are hundreds of millions of terminals, ranging from telephones, to electronic payment terminals, to door openers, using the DECT standard.

Read this article for more information.

Just after we have received Sony Ericsson’s press release we received another one from the Open Handset Alliance. Next to Sony Ericsson, 13 other companies made the same move: AKM Semiconductor Inc., ARM, ASUSTek Computer Inc., Atheros Communications, Borqs, Ericsson, Garmin International Inc., Huawei Technologies, Omron Software Co. Ltd, Softbank Mobile Corporation, Teleca AB, Toshiba Corporation and Vodafone.

New members will either deploy compatible Android devices, contribute significant code to the Android Open Source Project, or support the ecosystem through products and services that will accelerate the availability of Android-based devices. With these commitments, the Open Handset Alliance will continue to drive greater and faster innovation for the benefit of mobile users and everyone in the industry.

Is this relevant for CAT-iq. Yes in my mind it is. A platform like Android (and Symbian, Windows Mobile and don't forget Apple iPhone) could be used for CAT-iq products as well. Realize what that would help application developers. They can develop the same applications for mobile and other ce/ict products and CAT-iq products.

Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford used this morning's opening keynote address at the Symbian Smartphone show in London to call on developers from across the computing and software world to focus on the new Symbian Foundation platform. "The eco-system is now bigger than Symbian," Clifford said.

He described the Symbian Foundation as being aimed at attracting developers who had previously been put off from developing for the mobile industry due to complex terms and conditions and licensing issues. "We used to live in an 'either / or' world. Either free code but a small mobile footprint or pedigree, or proven software at a cost. The Symbian Foundation combines both and doesn't require a trade-off for developers." Although the platform is not expected to be up and running until the first half of 2009, Clifford said that "the DNA for the foundation code" is already in place and running on new handsets. Symbian's main shareholder Nokia is currently in the process of buying out the other shareholders in the company to create the Symbian Foundation, which is set to compete with other open-source mobile platforms such as Google's Android. 

Commenting on the ten-year anniversary of Symbian's inception, Clifford said that the number of Symbian smartphones shipped surpassed the 200 million mark earlier this year and is on track to reach 250 million by year-end. He said Symbian is used in over 250 different handsets; the most recent - the Samsung I7110 - was unveiled yesterday and will be available in selected markets next month. Among the new announcements by Symbian and its key partners at the show were the Symbian Analysis Workbench (SAW), a visual analysis tool aimed at making it easier for Symbian developers to fix defects and optimise code, and ARM Profiler for Symbian OS, which claims to deliver high performance and reduced power consumption for Symbian-based devices. ARM and Huawei have also joined the Foundation, taking total global membership to 52 companies.

The consumer is being confronted with many many products that should be easy to use without any difficulties.

However the reality is that 'simple to use' is often just a phrase.

I found an interesting blog about usability, called uselog.com. As you are involved in the development of new products, just have a look at this blog. 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the US regulator, has approved the HTC Dream, the first handset based on Google's Android mobile platform. The filing hints at a November 10 release and T-Mobile USA is set to be the first operator to offer the device. According to an AFP report, a spokesman at Deutsche Telekom - T-Mobile USA's parent company - confirmed earlier speculation that the operator will launch the device but declined to comment on launch dates. It is expected, however, that the operator will launch the device in time for Christmas. Seen as a competitor to Apple's iPhone, the Washington Post reports that the HTC Dream will feature a touchscreen, Wi-Fi, a BlackBerry-style 'jogball,' a Safari web browser, and Google applications such as Gmail, Maps, and YouTube.

In a separate development Google has released a new beta version of the Android Software Development Kit (SDK), version 0.9, and hinted that the platform will be coming-out of beta mode soon. Google wrote on its official Android blog: "The beta SDK that we're releasing today is the first big step on the SDK's road to compatibility with 1.0. Since this is a beta release, applications developed with it may not quite be compatible with devices running the final Android 1.0. However, the APIs are now pretty stable and we don't expect any major changes." New applications in version 0.9 include an alarm clock, calculator, camera, music player, picture viewer, and SMS/MMS messaging.

In earlier blogs we discussed about the possibility to deploy Android, Symbian, Windows Mobile in future CAT-iq products. So far the DECT hardware vendors went for a low cost solution, and developed their own propietory OS. Also the used hardware for these devices are low cost and couldn't handle mobile OS's at all.

With future products in mind hardware vendors can do both; develop low cost 'CAT-iq phones' on one hand and develop 'CAT-iq communication devices with extended specs like mobile phones' on the other hand.

The question is who dares to start first with this new type of products.   

Sometimes you see something which is so funny, mind boggling and interesting, even if there is no direct link to CAT-iq, that is should be mentioned.

Yesterday I saw a Pleo. Pleo is the first truly autonomous Life Form capable of emotions that allow personal engagement. Developed, produced and marketed by Ugobe.

UGOBE ’s multidisciplinary team has blended engineering, life sciences, philosophy, and artistic design and developed a unique set of core technologies. The company’s unique products, known as Life Forms, intend to blur the line between technology and life.

By integrating three disciplines—organic articulation with sensory response and autonomous behaviors—UGOBE aims to revolutionize robotics and transform inanimate objects into lifelike creatures. Inspired by its dream, the group coined the word ‘UGOBE’, which translates to: “You! Go and Be!” a creative reworking of Descarte’s “Cogito ergo sum”—“I think, therefore I am.”

At Redesignme, you can find another product/service application for CAT-iq. It's ideas is from the same innovator as the cat-entrance (see previous article in this blog).

This idea has to deal with health and weight in combination with online services. This is the idea.

It is obvious that the healthcare industry is working on these sort of products/services. And yes there is even an alliance for these companies, called the Continua Health alliance.

This is their aim: 'Imagine products so intelligent they help manage one's health at home. Imagine an alliance of the finest companies joining forces to improve the quality of people's lives. Imagine highly integrated systems that seamlessly work together.' This is their site.

CAT-iq would fit perfectly in this alliance, but they have chosen Bluetooth!!??

AN opportunity for DECT Forum to contact them and make them aware of CAT-iq. 

As this great summer continues, the amount of rain has resulted in some problems with my roof. It needs to be repaired.

So what do I do, I search in the yellow pages and find someone who can repair my roof. 

With Google maps I can do it as well. Start Google maps on my mobile, and it automatically locates where I am, based upon the location of the GSM base stations. Then I search for roofer (or dakdekker in Dutch), and automatically I get the nearest roofers as result, including address and phonenumber.

This could also be possible with a CAT-iq home communcation product (don't call it a phone!!).

However this requires that the product has an operating system that supports apps like Google Maps.  

Broader collaboration between Symbian and Google at either the application or operating system level is possible in the future, Symbian's CEO said Wednesday.

"We have a good relationship with Google," Nigel Clifford said at a Tokyo news conference."In fact Symbian was one of the first mobile platforms to put their applications such as Google search and maps," he said as he showed his mobile phone.

Google is about to compete head-to-head with Symbian in the cell phone space with the launch of its Android platform and Symbian is reorganizing to meet that challenge.

Is this potential cooperation relevant to the CAT-iq market?

It might be. Google and Symbian together are strong both in mobile and the desktop, so potentially in the home as well; fixed mobile convergence.

You can find the full article about Symbian and Google here.