Tag: USB

Should mobile carriers charge a premium for tethering your mobile phone to your computer?

01/09/2011 Laptop, Notebook and Netbook Computers, Smartphones No Comments

Article

BBC News – Mobile web users at the end of their tether

My comments

This article is pointing to a common practice amongst most US and European mobile-phone carriers concerning the tethering of mobile phones.

What is tethering?

This is where one uses a mobile phone as a wireless 3G modem for another computing device like a laptop computer or a tablet. It can be done wirelessly using a Bluetooth link or the phone operating as a wireless router when certain software is run. On the other hand, it can be done simply by connecting the phone to the PC using a USB cable and running a driver set on the PC.

Why tether than use a separate modem

Tethering has an advantage over using a separate modem to service a device’s data needs. Here, one doesn’t have to manage different data plans for each device – the mobile phone, the tablet computer or the laptop. Instead, they can work with a larger plan that is shared amongst all the devices.

Laptop users also benefit from tethering. This is because, unless they have a 3G-enabled laptop, they only need to think of one device i.e. the mobile phone rather than making sure they have a 3G USB or ExpressCard modem with them.

The common practice with mobile carriers

Most of the US phone carriers like AT&T or Verizon, as well as some of the European carriers treat the tethering as a distinct “wireless-modem” usage compared to using a phone for integrated Web browsing. Here, they insert premiums for this usage in to their tariff charts for this kind of usage and the US carriers even implement software to discourage tethering unless the user subscribes to a plan that specifically allows tethering.

My experience with Telstra

I have maintained a mobile phone service with Telstra since 1997, working through six subsidised-handset contracts over this period.

Last year, before I went to Sydney, I went to a Telstra store to ask about my data options with respect to my then-current phone contract, Here, I asked about whether I should tether my handset to my laptop or buy a 3G “stick” either as an extra service on my bill or as a prepaid service. They suggested that I consider tethering and increase my plan’s data allowance and I had paid for the extra data allowance.

Here, Telstra offered lower-allowance data plans as part of their mobile phone plans but allowed customers to “buy on” more data allowance. Here the tariff charts don’t discriminate between using your phone as a modem for another device and using the phone as its own Internet terminal. This is although they sell a range of 3G “sticks” and “MiFi” devices alongside the mobile phones.

I didn’t need to do anything to the phone to enable tethering and was able to be sure it worked on a “utility” laptop that I had and was intending to take to Sydney. This was before I was lent the Dell Inspiron 15r laptop which I reviewed as part of the trip. Here, I had made sure that the Inspiron had the necessary drivers for the phone before I had left.

Recent steps with some European carriers

Some European carriers have taken the same step that Telstra has been doing for the many years. That is to modify the tariff charts to remove the distinction between tethered (modem) and handset-specific data.

It is to cater for the reality that the same device uses the same bandwidth whether it is for its own use or another device’s use.

Tethering can benefit the carrier as well

Mobile-phone tethering provides a financial benefit for the carriers as well as a utility benefit for the users. Here, it allows the carrier to see increased per-service revenue. Typically this can be brought about by customers increasing their data allowances in the same way that I did – buying on extra data capacity to their plans where the tariff chart allows.

This is although most customers don’t “burn up” their call or data allowances that they pay for. Rather, if they anticipate extra use, they would increase the allowances. One reason is to allow the customers to budget for a predictable amount for their communications.

Tethering and the Internet-enabled car

When one starts to think of Internet-based infotainment like listening to Internet radio while driving or Internet-driven synchronous traffic-status updating for navigation systems, one would think of how they get the data to the vehicle.

I had touched on this previously in the article about Internet radio in the car and have mentioned that tethering a mobile phone to a vehicle’s infotainment system would be one of the pathis. Infact it may be a logical path as Bluetooth is used to facilitate handsfree calling in the vehicle.

Conclusion

What I would see is that tethering shouldn’t be treated different from phone-specific use and that users should be aware of this as an alternative to operating separate modems and accounts.

Lost data on USB drives–can even affect individuals and small business

19/08/2011 Data security, Hardware setup No Comments

Articles – From the horse’s mouth

Press Release | Kingston

My Comments

I have had a look at the Kingston press release about the security of data held on USB flash drives and found that it was based on a Ponemon Institute study commissioned by Kingston. The main factor that I had observed was that the survey was based on data that represented the “big end of town” – the larger companies and government departments who typically handle a lot of high-stakes company and customer data.

Here I still find that small businesses and individuals are as at risk from removable-media data theft as are larger organisations. Most of these users would consider secure data storage as storing the confidential data on a USB memory key or external hard disk rather than on the computer’s hard disk. Here, they would keep that memory key or external hard disk locked in a desk drawer, filing cabinet or safe when the data is not needed. If the data isn’t changed or viewed often, like a valuables inventory, the USB memory key or external hard disk may be kept at a bank’s safe-deposit facility.

As well, the typical USB memory key can be attached to one’s keyring that has their house, car and business keys on it and a lot of these users may take advantage of the fact. These key rings are often at risk of loss due to absent-mindedness that can be common amongst us or theft as has been known to happen in the UK and Europe where houses have been broken into in order to steal the keys for powerful or expensive cars that are parked at these houses.

Of course, it is not just government and big business who handle or are responsible for “high-stakes” ultra-confidential data. Small businesses and individuals can also handle this kind of data, whether they provide services to these entities or not.

For example, I had provided technology assistance to a “one-person” business who valued fine art, antiques and collectables. This involved the handling of data relating to the collectable items and who owned the collectable items, as I commissioned newly-bought computers or trained her in computing techniques.

As well, individuals may need to keep copies of information pertaining to personal medical and legal issues where there is a strong emotional link. This information may be considered of high value where it concerns individuals who are in the “public eye” and the tabloid media are hungry for any bit of information about these individuals in order to run that exclusive “scoop”.

A common reality that this “enterprise-focused” article misses is that the typical small-business owner or personal user chooses and purchases their own computer hardware from retail. This is compared to larger organisations who maintain a dedicated IT team who is responsible for purchasing and maintaining the computer and communications technology for that organisation.

For this class of user, I would recommend that they use removable storage that is made by respected brands like Kingston, Verbatim, Sony or SanDisk. It may be worth knowing that some of the good retailers may resell these good brands under their own labels, usually in the premium end of those labels.

I would also recommend that you investigate the use of security-enabled encrypted USB memory keys. Here, I would look for those units that have continual software support from the vendor. This is important if you change your computing platform like what Apple hopes use do or move to newer versions of our current operating systems.

As well, you should make sure that you have good desktop security software on your computer. You could even get by with free programs like AVG or Microsoft Security Essentials. Even Macintosh users should make sure they run good anti-malware software on these computers especially as software threats are targeting this platform as well.

It is also worth making use of strong passwords or other data-locking options that the operating system or USB security software may provide for the confidential data. This may work in conjunction with the common practice of keeping the removable media under lock and key such as in a locked filing cabinet or safe.

What I fear is that a lot of press concerning data security tends to be focused at the big end of town and smaller users tend to be forgotten about. As well, a lot of the good-quality data-security options are often designed and priced out of the range of the small business operator or consumer even though there is a need for this level of data security amongst some of this class of user.

Possible improvement ideas for the new microUSB-based external-power standard for mobile phones

27/10/2009 Mobile Computing No Comments

Introduction

As part of the “green ethos”, there has been a rethink concerning powering portable battery-operated devices from external power supplies. One issue that was raised was running a device continuously from a battery charger when the battery was charged. Similarly, every time someone bought a new portable device or upgraded their existing portable device, they would receive an AC adaptor or battery charger as part of the delivery. If they replaced the previous device, they wouldn’t be able to use the external power supply devices that was used with the previous device on the new device unless it was made by the same manufacturer or, in some cases, part of a particular series of devices.

This has led to the idea of powering or charging personal devices via a standard “microUSB” connection that would be use also for wireline-based data transfer. This allowed for a “one-size-fits-all” connection so that the user keeps one external power solution (AC-powered charger, car charger, etc) for their device even if they upgrade the device to a newer model. This avoids the need to junk AC adaptors and car chargers during a phone upgrade, although most of these power supplies are often stored in drawers around the home.

It has also led to devices using “pronounced” visual and audible alerts to let their users know that the battery is fully charged from an external power supply. This is with a view to encourage users to disconnect the device from the external power supply once the battery is full.

External-power-supply operation mode

There are other reasons why we may keep a device plugged in to an external power supply beyond the time required for battery charging. One common reason is part of a practice that has been commonly practiced since the 1960s primarily with portable radios, portable tape recorders, pocket calculators and other electronic devices that were commonly used with disposable dry cells. This is to run the device and use its primary functions from the external power supply, thus conserving battery runtime and allowing the user to use those functions that would compromise the battery runtime, like using the device’s lighting or fast-winding tapes in a portable tape recorder. In some cases, people connect their portable devices to car adaptors that plug in to a vehicle’s cigar-lighter socket so that the device can work from the vehicle’s electrical system while they are under way in the vehicle.

If a phone or other device that is being charged is meant to signal when the battery is full, the device should also have a user-selectable option to simply run from the external power supply rather than the battery when the battery is full and “fall over” to the fully-charged battery when the external power supply is turned off or disconnected. This mode could allow a user to run the phone from the external power as a way of conserving battery runtime and would be more relevant to smartphones and phones that can work as media players, GPS navigation units or handheld games consoles like my Nokia N85 or the Apple iPhone. The message could say “Battery full, Running on external power” as an alternative to a “please disconnect external power” message. As well, the device could show an “external power” icon like a “plug icon” that indicates it is running on the external power. It can also lead to "power-source-dependent” operating modes like the display being brighter and always on when connected to external power.

There could be an extension to the new micro-USB power-supply standard to cover external battery packs that supply power to devices either from common “AA, C or D” batteries or high-capacity rechargeable battery packs. These could signal to the device that they are an external battery pack and the device works as if on its own batteries when they are connected. This would lead to regular battery-mode operation like the display lighting up on demand; and could allow for “power-only, no charging” behaviour if the internal battery is full. It can also allow for the battery-level gauge to show a battery-level reading for either the internal battery or the external battery pack or a “combined” battery-level reading for both battery packs.

Self-powered multi-port USB hubs

I have tried using some self-powered multi-port USB hubs as battery chargers for my Nokia N85 mobile phone but sometimes the phone will treat the USB hub simply as a data uplink rather than a battery charger. I have also seen similar “hit and miss” behaviour with the Apple iPhone or recent-issue Apple iPods.

What needs to happen is that these hubs need to support “battery charger” / “power supply” mode when nothing is connected to the upstream (computer) port and the only thing connected to them is their AC adaptor. They would then need to provide the full power requirement for each of the ports and behave as if they are a power supply. They could switch off power to ports that don’t have anything connected to them so as to conserve energy. The AC adaptor would also have to be rated to provide the full power to each of the ports.

This is because a 7-port self-powered USB hub can appeal to being used as a “charging bar” for multiple personal-electronics devices, thus avoiding the need to use a powerboard to power many mobile-phone chargers.

Similarly, this idea can lead to the development of integrated “power-only” USB hubs that can be built in to various objects, including furniture and vehicles.

Speaking of vehicles, I may have mentioned this before, but there needs to be a reference design for a USB 2.0 or 3.0 self-powered multi-port hub that can work in an automotive environment. This involves support for a reference 5V 2.3A DC power supply circuit that can work from either a 12V or 24V DC power supply like what is found in a vehicle. The reference design should support power regulation so it can handle a “rough” power environment such as power “sags” and “surges” that occur when the engine is started. As well, it could support the concept of “ignition-switch control” where devices could be put in to low-power mode or turned off when the driver removes the key from the ignition switch.

Conclusion

Once these factors are looked at, they can allow us to provide better use of the new standards for operating our smartphones and similar devices in an optimum manner.

Buffalo ships world’s first USB 3.0 hard disk drives this month – Engadget

09/10/2009 Hard disk storage No Comments

Buffalo ships world’s first USB 3.0 hard disk drives this month | Engadget

My comments on this article

What has pleased me about Buffalo releasing the world’s first USB 3.0 external hard disk is that they have taken a “systems” approach to getting the standard off the ground. This is through supplying a USB 3.0 PCI-Express interface card for use with recent-issue desktop computers with a vacant PCI-Express x1 slot on the motherboard as well as, of course, the necessary cables.

It may appeal to those of us who like to take apart and put together desktop computers a lot and are likely to build “homebrew” server systems. But wait for 6 months to a year and the USB 3.0 sockets will appear as part of the next generation of motherboards and be integral to laptop computers and other small-form-factor systems.

Mobile Industry Unites to Drive Universal Charging Solution for Mobile Phones ~ GSM World

19/02/2009 Network hardware design 2 Comments

 

Mobile Industry Unites to Drive Universal Charging Solution for Mobile Phones ~ GSM World

My comments on this standard

This will hopefully eliminate the clutter of mobile phone chargers that exist in most households and the worry concerning lost mobile phone chargers leading to mobile-phone downtime.

The standard can also allow a self-powered USB hub to be re-purposed as a “charging bar”, which would be a boon to the food, beverage and hospitality industry as well as householders. I had heard mention during ABC 774 Melbourne’s coverage of the Victorian bushfire crisis of a pub which was being used as a relief centre having its tables covered with phone chargers. This setup, like most homes and offices, would have one or more powerboards with three or four chargers plugged in to each powerboard. The different chargers would only be able to fit particular phones. A self-powered USB hub working as a charging bar would be able to service 4-7 phones from one power outlet. That would be enough to cover all the phones used by people sitting or standing around an average dining or bar table used in most cafes, bars and similar places. Larger tables like picnic benches, banquet tables or standard tables pushed together can be catered for with a few 4-7 port hubs powered from one standard powerboard.

This also leads to a smaller physical footprint for charging multiple phones and less need for powerboards for this purpose.

Another problem this will also solve is the common problem caused by two or more “wall-warts” plugged in to a double power outlet or powerboard. Here, you have the “wall-warts” not being able to be close together without one of them falling out or making poor contact with the AC supply, thus leading to erratic operation or damage to the charger, mobile phone or AC supply.

Once this interface standard is implemented on mobile phones, this can encourage other personal-electronics manufacturers to use the same connection for powering or charging devices like VoIP phones, MP3 players or digital cameras.

Another improvement would be to simply design innovative power supply concepts without having to factor in different voltages or plug types in their design. Examples of this could include pocket solar panels for personal-electronics devices or powerboards that have built-in USB hubs for low-voltage power supply to gadgets.

Yet another benefit would be that the same socket on the one device can perform two different functions – power supply and data transfer. This is a bonus not just for end-users but for people designing these devices, because devices like mobile phones have fewer holes to be catered for in their design. In fact, an MP3 player or mobile phone could just have a standard “headset” jack for analogue audio sent to and from headsets and a micro-USB socket for external power and data transfer.

The only company whom I think will keep away from the standard or postpone its implementation would be Apple. This is similar to how they treated UPnP and DLNA standards – if it wasn’t created by them, they are not in a hurry to implement it.

Look forward to fewer chargers and adaptors filling our drawers or cluttering our powerboards!

Adding Optical Drives to Non-Computer Devices Using USB – What Can Be Done?

05/02/2009 Computer setups, Network hardware design 1 Comment

The typical network-attached storage, electronic picture frame or printer is now equipped with a USB host port, typically for connecting USB flash drives and other similar devices. Even a lot of boomboxes and clock radios which have a dock for an iPod have a USB host port so they can play MP3 files held on a USB flash drive. But what about connecting a USB-attached CD or DVD drive.

This could allow, for example, a typical network-attached storage to work like the RipFactory RipServer and “rip” audio CDs to the hard disk so they can be shared to DLNA-compliant media clients. Similarly, those CDs that we “burn” photos on to for sending to other people or viewing on our JPEG-compatible DVD player can be viewed on an electronic picture frame or select pictures can be printed from these discs using an “all-in-one” printer or the pictures that are on these CDs can be copied on to a network-attached storage so they are available on the home network. Approved DVD-playback software could be installed in an electronic picture frame so that one can turn it in to a personal DVD player by adding an optional DVD-ROM drive. Similarly, an MP3 player that doesn’t have a built-in optical drive could become a CD player once a CD-ROM drive is connected to it. The same holds true for such players that have a built-in optical drive but the optical drive has failed, thus extending the useful lifespan of these devices.

The main problems about this is the ability for these devices to support optical drives as part of the USB Mass-Storage device-class specification. Then there is the issue of providing enough power at the USB socket to support a “single-cord” USB optical drive of the kind sold as an accessory for portable computers like laptops or netbooks. This is because the USB cord in these drives is required to supply power as well as data. The power-supply problem can become more intense with devices such as electronic picture frames that are built to a limited size budget and have to work from internal batteries or an external power supply.

If this is implemented, the idea of an “add-on” optical disk drive for the likes of network-attached storage units, electronic picture frames and “all-in-one” printers that the user can buy at a later date can extend the value of these devices through their working life.

Consumer Electronics Show 2009 Comments

12/01/2009 Consumer Electronics Show (January - Las Vegas USA), Trade Shows, UPnP AV / DLNA media-playback hardware), UPnP AV / DLNA media-server hardware No Comments

Kitchen / laundry appliances, building control and security

Unlike the Internationaler Funkaustellung 2008 in Berlin, this show hasn’t headed towards exhibiting kitchen / laundry appliances and building control / security devices. But a show like this could head down that direction under various mandates like the “green” energy-efficiency mandate and the “smart home” mandate.

The main reason that this has been put off is because of the financial downturn in the US where many of these companies who rely primarily on the “new building” market are simply not selling many of these devices, therefore cannot afford to spend on this kind of activity.

Windows 7 Goes Beta

This has meant a major milestone for Microsoft in having Windows 7 legitimately enter the public beta stage. It has allowed the blogosphere to talk about improvements to the way Windows will be working under this operating system.

One major improvement will be the Device Stage where there will be an integrated user interface for all of the peripherals that the computer benefits from. It doesn’t matter whether the device is connected by a USB or other peripheral-connect cable or is accessed over a wireless peripheral link or the IP network the computer is a member of. This interface will provide access to the standard tasks for managing the device as well as any manufacturer-specified tasks for that device.

Another highlighted connectivity improvement is the Windows 7 “Home Group” which simplifies how a home network is set up and represented. This also includes any “non-computer devices” like network media players, network-attached storage units, games consoles and IP cameras.

Large colour bit-map display as a preferred user-interface display for “fixed” consumer electronics

Previously, we have seen “fixed” consumer-electronics devices like stereo / home-theatre equipment, computer network equipment and similar hardware having either a vacuum fluorescent display, monochrome liquid-crystal display, monochrome LED display or lately an OEL display as their user-interface display. Such a display would take up a small area of the device’s front panel and typically show textual information. If they show graphical information, it would be a low-resolution display which represents a “current-function” icon or a bar-graph representing a quantity like sound level.

Now manufacturers are supplying some of their devices with high-resolution colour LCD or OEL displays. Examples of this include the D-Link DIR-685 Wireless-N router / electronic photo frame / UPnP Media Server; Linksys’s Network Home Audio products and Linksys’s new media-focused DLNA NAS boxes. This has been because of high-resolution colour LCD modules of sizes up to 17 inches becoming more cost-effective.

This has allowed the “fixed ”consumer-electronics devices to have a user interface that is very similar to that provided by the coolest portable devices. It has also allowed manufacturers to look towards equipping their devices with touchscreens and iPod-style “spinwheels”. The user-interface menus on these devices are starting to have the same kind of experience that is accepted on the latest set-top boxes or portable media players.

It will certainly make those monochrome user-interface displays look so tired and “yesterday” as far as product user-interface design is concerned.

SDXC – the next-generation high-capacity SD card

The standard SDXC card can hold up to 2Tb, and being part of the SD Card lineup, be available in the three physical card sizes available for these cards. This iteration of the SD card would primarily appeal to portable devices like laptops, DSLRs, HD camcorders, etc. Could the SD card be the replacement for the hard disk especially in small portable computers like netbooks or as a large firmware storage for electronic devices?

The only limitation about this technology would be that SDXC cards wouldn’t be able to be read in the existing SD or SDHC devices.

LCD TVs – 7mm thick, Plasma TVs – 8.8mm thick

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/4159682/Worlds-thinnest-television-unveiled.html

Thinner flat-panel displays based on the common large-screen technologies are appearing. This will allow for improved consolidation for the display unit, thus allowing also for lighter sets and reduced “bill-of-materials” costs for this class of electronics. Manufacturers can allocate more room for extra functionality and there will be less of the overheating that occurs in these sets because of improved airflow over the chassis. This also leads to improvements in operational efficiency thus reducing the accusation about the large-screen flat-panel TVs being as inefficient as a 4-wheel-drive “Toorak tractor”.

MoCA being launched to the consumer

Mostly this will manifest in the form of “Ethernet-Coax” bridges in a similar form to the common “homeplugs” which are simply “powerline-Ethernet” bridges. Read more about MoCA in this article in this blog.

US-market TVs equipped with Netflix and similar service

In the US, Netflix and similar video-on-demand companies are “buttering up” to the “brown-goods” companies to integrate support for their service in their TV sets and similar devices. Similarly, some TV manufacturers are moving towards providing mid-range and premium equipment with built-in large-screen Internet viewing functionality. This will typically require the TVs, PVRs or set-tops to have Ethernet ports or WiFi connectivity.

If a customer wants to use this kind of feature, they should use the wired means (Ethernet, MoCA, HomePlug) rather than WiFi because this will provide increased reliability with these services.

An ideal feature for these sets would be to have DLNA / UPnP AV functionality with “Play-to” support. This can allow one to view or listen to their own media library whether it is held on their own PC or network-attached storage unit. It is more so because a lot of the NAS units pitched at the home market are being equipped with DLNA server functionality.

Linksys DLNA-compliant music systems and NAS boxes

1 music system with CD player, 1 network music system and 1 network audio receiver, all able to be controlled by a Linksys WiFi remote controller. Linksys is also selling “media-optimised” DLNA-compliant NAS boxes, one of which has a memory card slot for “dump to NAS” ability and a colour LCD display.

The “dump to NAS” memory card slot featured on the mid-range and deluxe units could come in handy with digital-camera memory cards and SlotMusic cards by making the content that exists on these cards available to the home network at all times.

Premiere of USB 3.0

The first few devices will be out, mainly in the form of external hard disks. Could this be an alternative to eSATA as an external hard-disk connection? Could it work as a “fat pipe” for a WiFi-N network adaptor.

The situation will be the same as what has happened with the launch of USB 2.0 where it will be available in a “retrofit” form for existing computers. This option will then end up being available as part of computer hardware introduce from next year onwards.

Premiere of eCoupled

Fulton Innovation had officially promoted the eCoupled inductive power-coupling system, providing it as an alternative to corded power for portable devices. They had set up a proving ground at the CES for wirelessly charging mobile phones, cordless power tools and remote controllers.

This technology will benefit portable entertainment and IT devices by achieving a standard wire-free power source for these devices. They also had proven the idea of “parking” a remote control on a set-top box or TV set so it can be charged quickly. It could allow for the TV or set-top box to perform required tasks like shut-down whenever the remote is parked on or removed from the unit.

USBCheck – First Line of Defense Against Bad USB Ports

01/12/2008 Computer building and repair No Comments

USBCheck – First Line of Defense Against Bad USB Ports

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My Comments on USBCheck:

This device is one that I would consider important for anyone who is building or repairing computers such as building that dream gaming rig. It allows them to check if each of the USB ports are wired properly, thus making sure that the installation is going to work properly and to plan before they put the side panels back on the computer’s case.

In a similar vein, a person who has taken apart a USB hub to build it in to something else can make sure that it is wired up properly as far as the USB infrastructure is concerned. All that is needed is more USB hubs and 5V 2.1A power-supply circuits (working from 12V – 24V DC or 110V-250V AC) in “short-form” versions for thos of us who want to build custom USB hubs or add USB hub functionality in to existing devices like desk lamps.