Technology Briefs - June 3 - June 9
The Latest Headlines:
- Court: Consumers Can Keep Cell Phone Numbers
- NHTSA: Vehicle Data Recorders Have Glitches
- Airborne Unveils New Tracking Service
- Nextel Expanding Wireless Walkie-Talkie Service
- NHTSA: Vehicle Data Recorders Have Glitches
Court: Consumers Can Keep Cell Phone Numbers
A federal court ruled Friday that cell phone users should be allowed to keep their numbers when they switch to new providers, the Associated Press reported.Consumer advocates said not being able to keep phone numbers is one of the biggest barriers preventing more wireless customers from seeking out better prices with other providers.
In addition, the lack of portability harms small businesses and self-employed people because when switching carriers they lose numbers known by their customers, AP said.
The Federal Communications Commission is requiring wireless carriers to provide "number portability" by Nov. 24, AP said. Transport Topics
NHTSA: Vehicle Data Recorders Have Glitches
Vehicle data recorders, which function like black boxes in airplanes, have numerous technical problems that can hinder crash investigations, according to study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.Some trucks have recording devices, but it remains a controversial subject because of liability and privacy concerns.
In 2002, NHTSA tried to analyze post-crash information from 684 vehicles equipped with data recorders, but in 40% of those cases, the data was not available.
Technical problems, such as bolts that required special tools for removal, and software problems were largely to blame in these problem cases, NHTSA said.
Augustus Chidester, a crash investigator with NHTSA, said automakers should decide on standards so that recorders are more accessible and include the same types of data, making it easier to analyze an accident.
Data recorders are now in an estimated 25 million vehicles in the United States, the Associated Press reported. Transport Topics
Airborne Unveils New Tracking Service
Airborne Inc. on Wednesday unveiled "Airborne Tracking Tasks," a service allowing customers to track shipments in real-time on their computers using Microsoft Outlook.The company said once a tracking task is created in Outlook, a Web service retrieves updates from Airborne's shipment database automatically and sends it to that task. This eliminates the need to open a Web browser, Airborne said.
The service is free, the Seattle-based company said in a release. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
Nextel Expanding Wireless Walkie-Talkie Service
Nextel Communications Inc. said June 2 that its nationwide wireless walkie-talkie service would be available to more than 50% of its markets by June 16.Nationwide Direct Connect is expected to be available in all markets in August, Nextel said in a release.
The company said customers would be able to connect in less than a second between any of its markets by using the push-to-talk button located on the side of every Motorola phone offered by Nextel.
The company said 170 million direct connect calls are make each day. Transport Topics
(Click here for the full press release.)
