The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion by Berkeley, California, to strike an argument CTIA made in a reply brief in the group’s challenge of the city’s cellphone warning ordinance for RF emissions. Instead, the 9th Circuit allowed the city to file a surreply brief within 14 days of Thursday's order (in Pacer). CTIA argued no FCC finding or regulatory determination has found cellphones to be dangerous, and the ordinance is an unconstitutional attempt to usurp FCC regulation of cellphones.
LG doubled-down on sound quality in its latest phone due for release Sept. 6. The LG V20, the first smartphone to hit the market with Android’s Nougat operating system out of the box, also will be first with the ESS 32-bit hi-fi Quad DAC (digital-to-analog converter), said an LG announcement Thursday. The Quad DAC up-samples music that’s saved on the phone or streamed -- along with video soundtracks -- for playback through “compatible wired headphones,” said LG.
Michael Kors Holdings wants to become the “fashion leader” in “high-growth” smartwatch and wearables, CEO John Idol said on an earnings call. Its smartwatch will run on the Android Wear platform, he said. “The touch-screen device allows you to see your social media updates, texts, emails and call alerts, use voice controls to access services via Ok Google, track your fitness and much more.” The company also will debut a line of “smart jewelry,” Idol said Wednesday.
Newer smartwatches with cellular connections that free the device from the smartphone could be a major driver for the next generation of smartwatches, said NPD analyst Eddie Hold in a blog post. “The freedom to completely untether from the smartphone could become the next logical ‘killer use’” for smartwatch owners, allowing them to go sans phone during activities, he said Wednesday. Service fees stand in the way of the rise of the cellular-equipped smartwatch, Hold said. “Success will no doubt be related to the correct balance between service fees and how important the untethering aspect of these devices proves to be.”
FirstNet hired as senior law enforcement adviser, Mike Bostic (see 1608110033), a 34-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department. Bostic said in a blog post that cooperation is key to FirstNet’s success. “If I had one wish it would be that all of public safety could put down their personal preferences and do what is right for a nation of public safety officers that have been poorly served by our current states of technology,” Bostic wrote. “Solving our technology problem has never been about the technology, it is generally about governance and the lack of mutual cooperation. We have a chance to change the face of our technology on a system we control.”
Fossil Group CEO Kosta Kartsotis said smartwatch technology will improve, with smaller devices having longer battery lives. Displays on smartwatches will shrink, “which will enable them to fit on a female brand,” and they’ll become untethered to smartphones at some point, he said on a Q2 earnings call Tuesday. “A huge amount of innovation and technology is going to make these products even more compelling to more brands.”
The National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Wednesday blasted a critical article about FirstNet in the September issue of The Atlantic. “The prize for the most wasteful post-9/11 initiative arguably should go to FirstNet,” the article said. “FirstNet is in such disarray that 15 years after the problem it is supposed to solve was identified, it is years from completion -- and it may never get completed at all.” The article was by Steven Brill, founder of The American Lawyer and Court TV. NPSTC disagreed with the claims in the article. It's “far from reality,” NPSTC said. “As most public safety officials know, in addition to being inaccurate, the author failed to capture public safety’s longstanding advocacy efforts and hard work toward a dedicated, reliable mission critical wireless broadband network. In fact, there is not one single quote or testimonial from a public safety representative in the story.”
The FCC Wireless Bureau modified a station licensed to New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to use its 218-219 MHz spectrum to launch positive train control (PTC). The MTA needs to implement PTC for its Metro-North Commuter Railroad, the order said. Amtrak also can benefit when it uses the same track, the bureau said. MTA also can give New Jersey Transit “access to sufficient spectrum to deploy PTC in seven northern New Jersey counties,” the order said. Metro-North is one of the busiest commuter railroads in the U.S., providing more than 275,000 passenger trips on an average weekday within its service territory, the bureau said. Congress required Amtrak, and many commuter and freight railroads, to deploy interoperable PTC systems as part of the 2008 Rail Safety Improvement Act.
NTIA plans a workshop Sept. 1 on potential IoT benefits and challenges and the government's role in possibly helping advance those technologies. In a notice to be published in Thursday's Federal Register, the agency said it will post on its website a detailed agenda on the workshop, with several panels and speakers. The workshop, open to the public and scheduled for 9 a.m.-3 p.m., will provide input to the Department of Commerce's upcoming IoT green paper, the notice said. The meeting will be at the Patent and Trademark Office, 600 Dulany St., Alexandria, Virginia. In a blog post last week, Angela Simpson, NTIA deputy assistant secretary-communications and information, said (see 1608020060) the agency also is planning to launch a new multistakeholder process to help consumers better understand IoT products that support security upgrades -- building on a June request for comments on IoT benefits and challenges and one last year on cybersecurity.
Motorized window treatment company Somfy joined the ZigBee Alliance at the promoter level and will get a seat on the board, said the alliance in a Tuesday announcement. Somfy, which also makes automated outdoor extensions, gates and garage doors, joins board members Comcast Cable, Itron, Kroger, Landis+Gyr, Legrand, Midea, NXP Semiconductors, Philips, Schneider Electric, Silicon Labs, SmartThings, Texas Instruments and Wulian.