The Raw Feed
Where technology and culture collide

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

An unannounced Palm cell phone code-named "Zepplin" sports a feature called co-locating WiFi and radio. Trouble is, NOBODY HAS EVER HEARD OF IT.

Phill said...: This may be the ability of a terminal to talk to another terminal and/or act as a repeater without a WiFi HUB/Router, thus allowing people to share files, communicate, etc. using WiFi in a location (like an airplane) that does not otherwise have WiFi.; Wednesday, December 19, 2007 8:26:00 AM
Anonymous said...: While I wouldn't put it past marketing to try to trademark an existing application, that's called an "ad hoc" network and is already supported by all WiFi devices. My guess is that it's just something banal like a custom ASIC that has a CDMA and WiFi chipset combined - something no user should directly care about but may result in better battery life or a lighter handset.; Wednesday, December 19, 2007 1:42:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Maybe it means that it is simultaneously locating wifi and radio signals?; Wednesday, December 19, 2007 3:11:00 PM
Anonymous said...: Sorry to shatter your techie dreams, but has anyone thought that it might be literal: Co-location radio and Wifi means, being able to house in the same device both technologies.; Thursday, December 20, 2007 4:34:00 AM
Anonymous said...: The red flag is the "co-location" of a specific term like Wifi (clearly an 802.11 variant) with a non-specific term like "radio" (is this the Wifi radio, the cell phone radio, the GPS radio, or an AM/FM radio?). I wouldn't get too excited until the latter is disambiguated.; Thursday, December 20, 2007 5:04:00 AM