In the wake of Hitachi’s announcement of creating the world’s smallest and thinnest RFID tag, Malaysia’s FEC International (a company owned and backed by the Malaysian Government) announced its own RFID achievement yesterday.

They have launched the MM Chip, The World’s Smallest multi band Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) microchip with in-built antennas. Manufactured at an estimated US$50 Million, it was developed under the 2 year old ‘Malaysia Microchip Project’.

The RFID tag is not as small as Hitachi’s latest chip but has the functionality of running at 4 multi band frequencies making it viable internationally. While Hitachi’s chip is expected to launch in 2 years, the MM chip is readily available for commercialization now.

Full Specifications

FEC International Sdn. Bhd.
MMC Chip Brochure Download

The battle over Cisco vs. Apple over the iPhone name is finally over (for now). The deadline for the law suit ended today with an official statement that both parties have reached an agreement. Within the terms of agreement, both companies will have the right to use the name.

Here is the Press Release from Cisco’s website:

Cisco? and Apple today announced that they have resolved their dispute involving the “iPhone” trademark. Under the agreement, both companies are free to use the “iPhone” trademark on their products throughout the world. Both companies acknowledge the trademark ownership rights that have been granted, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark. In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications. Other terms of the agreement are confidential.

It seems like a vague statement without any financial settlement being discussed. It is a good assumption to think that Cisco has negotiated an agreement to get royalties of some sort from all proceeds of the Apple’s iPhone sales. However, it is hard to determine without further confirmation. Not sure what “Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability” means… does that mean that we’ll see some sort of Cisco Apple collaboration or will the Apple iPhone have Cisco’s VoIP technology in the future?

It looks like eco friendly WiFi will soon become a reality - in Europe. Romanian free hotspot provider cfree wireless is proposing a certification standard that determines how eco friendly a hotspot provider is. It is currently free for anyone to join as long as several requirements are met:

1) All wireless equipment complies with RoHS (2002/95/EC) and WEEE (2002/96/EC) EU directives

2) There are no signal boosters over the default manufacturer settings

3) The hotspots will not interfere with the 2.4Ghz wave spectrum

Cert drafts and official requirements will soon be posted on their site.

Site [cfree.ro]

Whisher gives you the chance to be part of a community offering free WiFi services. Launched last month at Demo 2007, its main competitor is FON, and in fact, founder Ferran Moreno was part of FON until he left just before the official launch.

Where FON offers you the chance to share your WiFi with their own tweaked up router (Fonera), Whisher gives you the ability to use your current WiFi connection/ router by just installing their software application. With the Whisher software, you will have full control over your settings and it’ll even leave your current router settings alone. WiFi owners will have the ability to manage and see who is connected at any time with the ability to switch to a private mode (basically disabling the system) and to create a closed group of communities e.g. groups relating to friends and family. While on the same network, you chat locally or easily mark the files you want to share and initiate peer to peer transfers without any size limits.

I am personally not a big fan of sharing my WiFi network (that I pay monthly for) and I can’t see how it would market itself outside of residential areas. A large proportion of common public places have already been catered for by hotel and restaurant hotspots e.g. Starbucks, McDonalds etc. Yes some of them use T-mobile, AT&T or other networks and charge for them but I can’t see where Whisher can target it in cities or public establishments around these areas and whether those around them would even bother. My point is that most public places who would want to offer WiFi, would probably want to profit from it as well — therefore jumping on the established T-mobile and other big networks that may offer you a piece of the revenue. I can’t see many public places offering free WiFi (not yet anyway and not without a catch). It may be different in Europe or Asia and I can’t speak for them there although it would be interesting to see what the percentage of residential vs. public establishments have signed up for this.

I noticed one thing when I was browsing their site, security was not mentioned (or mentioned very obscurely). I do strongly suggest that they talk more about it as it does factor into how many will sign up for it. With security fraud and identity theft being a commonplace nowadays, it would comfort people to know that there is some sort of security mechanism in place (and how good it is).

The big question is … how reliable would the WiFi network be? I am a firm believer of “you get what you pay for”, and since you’ll be getting WiFi for free, the WiFi owner is in no obligation to give you support, nor a stable and secure network. With that, it would probably cut most of the business users out of the equation. Bandwidth or data quality may be an issue e.g. in a case where I would want to use VoIP while the owner or some other person using the network is currently downloading multiple files resulting in a poor connection.

As of date, there are 80 users within the USA, 10 in the United Kingdom and more worldwide. Although it does not take my fancy, it may still be useful for some. Other alternatives include Google Wifi, T-Mobile, AT&T and Boingo.

Product Page [Whisher]

It’s black, fits in your shirt pocket, offers 10-20GB storage and allows sharing of digital files via USB, Bluetooth or WiFi. It’s called DAVE, which stands for Digital Audio Video Experience.

Mobile telephony is undergoing a multimedia revolution, and the DAVE mobile content platform will provide even more fuel for the growth of new music and video services over mobile networks,” said Patrick King, senior vice president and general manager of Seagate’s consumer electronics business unit. “Products using DAVE technology will enable digital content, whether for business or entertainment use, to be stored, moved, and connected in ways never before possible. Mobile carriers can use this technology for creating value from their investments in high-bandwidth networks, and mobile handset manufacturers have another tool for turning the multimedia phone into the center of the mobile consumer’s digital life.

Battery life is up to 14 days on standby and 10 hours of continuous use. The little device comes in at 3.5 x 4.7 x .47 inches (61 x 89 x 12 mm) and weighs only 2.5 ounces (70 grams). Sorry, because it is so topsecret, there aren’t any pictures of it available yet. However, you could sit through Robert Scoble’s podcast (below) to have a glimpse of it.

Here are some ways of how DAVE could prove useful:

* Makes upgrading mobile phones easy - storing content on a DAVE-based device makes upgrading a mobile phone fast and easy. Simply pair the device to the new handset, and start enjoying digital content on the new phone in just minutes.

* Turns the mobile phone into a DVR/MP3 powerhouse - consumers can now download video from mobile phone networks; grab music from online, mobile, or PC libraries; load audiobooks or GPS data; and use all of that data as needed when on-the-go. The 10GB version will make 2,500 songs or 21 hours of video available to mobile consumers all the time, anywhere.

* Increases use of mobile entertainment networks and data services - with massive storage capacity, mobile network operators can now offer consumers the opportunity to download and enjoy large media and data files. With video files downloaded to products based on the DAVE platform instead of streamed through the mobile network, video can now be delivered without latency or coverage issues. DAVE-based products will also enable new business models for high-bandwidth networks, such as try-and-buy content, that offer real value for consumers.

* Enables mobile lifeblogging and other social networking applications - the ability to record massive video and photo files on the mobile phone, edit and annotate content, then upload to social networking sites such as YouTube or MySpace is now mobile and spontaneous. Consumers can also use the DAVE technology features to share the content with other mobile phones, PCs, wireless-enabled cameras, or even other DAVE mobile storage devices.

Seagate plans to launch DAVE devices through Telco and Cell Phone providers starting the second quarter of this year. Oh, did we tell you that DAVE technology will be Open Source ? Yes, I believe that has made all of the developers out there smile.

Via [Scobleizer] Press Release [Seagate]