With surveys showing that three out of four drivers believe hands-free technology is safe to use, “Americans may be surprised to learn that these popular new vehicle features may actually increase mental distraction,” the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety said Tuesday (http://bit.ly/1nc22fb). New research it commissioned suggests developers “can improve the safety of their products by making them less complicated, more accurate and generally easier to use,” it said. “While manufacturers continue their efforts to develop and refine systems that reduce distractions, AAA encourages drivers to minimize cognitive distraction by limiting the use of most voice-based technologies.” Using specialized equipment designed to measure reaction times, University of Utah researchers “evaluated and ranked common voice-activated interactions based on the level of cognitive distraction generated,” it said. The research team used a five-category rating system, similar to the scale used for ranking hurricanes’ strength, it said. It found the accuracy of voice recognition software “significantly influences the rate of distraction,” it said. Systems with low accuracy and reliability generated a high level (category 3) of distraction, it said. Composing text messages and emails using in-vehicle technologies (category 3) was more distracting than using these systems to listen to messages (category 2), it said. “The quality of the systems’ voice had no impact on distraction levels -- listening to a natural or synthetic voice both rated as a category 2 level of distraction."
The International Trade Commission voted to open an investigation into a complaint that Samsung smartphones and tablets and the Samsung and Qualcomm processors built into those devices infringe Nvidia patents, the ITC said Monday (http://1.usa.gov/ZPS8Wk). Nvidia filed the complaint Sept. 4, seeking an exclusion order and a cease and desist order, the commission said. The complaint named Samsung Electronics America and its Korean parent as respondents, along with Samsung Telecommunications America, of Richardson, Texas; Samsung Semiconductor, of San Jose; and Qualcomm. Samsung corporate declined comment Tuesday. The opening of the investigation “is just the next step in the ITC procedure,” Qualcomm spokeswoman Yelena Tebcherani said in a Tuesday email, without commenting on the merits of the Nvidia complaint.
An August FCC order (http://bit.ly/1piyXhm) making technical changes to agency rules for new Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs) is for the most part effective starting Nov. 5, said a notice published by the agency Monday in the Federal Register (http://1.usa.gov/1rdAukI). “In addressing petitions for reconsideration of the First Report and Order in this proceeding, the Commission provides MBAN users with additional flexibility to enable the implementation of technical standards being developed for MBAN devices, and clarify and modify portions of its rules to facilitate the coordination, deployment, and use of MBAN systems,” the FCC said. The FCC approved initial MBANs rules in May 2012 (CD May 25/12 p1). MBANs allow caregivers to monitor and log data from patients with chronic diseases, FCC officials said then. The Office of Management and Budget New must review the modified information collection requirements in the order, the FCC said.
The FCC is right to penalize companies like Marriott International for intentionally interfering with Wi-Fi networks (http://fcc.us/1rRzKH2), said Scott Bergmann, CTIA vice president-regulatory affairs, Monday. “CTIA supports the FCC’s efforts to stop the illegal use of jammers,” he said. “We encourage the FCC to keep imposing high fines against those who market or use these illegal devices since they may cause significant issues for consumers, as well as for public safety and first responders.”
All 800 MHz licensees that have not completed physical retuning should get started “expeditiously,” the 800 MHz Transition Administrator said in a quarterly report, posted by the FCC Friday (http://bit.ly/1Elv7KF). The administrator is overseeing the ongoing 800 MHz rebanding. “A delay in the completion of an implementation task by a licensee that has a downstream impact on other licensees ... can have a cascading effect and cause delays for other dependent licensees and, in some cases, for an entire region,” the TA said. The TA reported progress in the last area to start retuning, radios located in areas along the Mexican border. More than half of these licensees have a Frequency Reconfiguration Agreement and are getting started, the TA said. The report addresses the quarter ending June 30.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler circulated an order and FNPRM Thursday that “puts forth major changes to modernize and streamline the Commission’s rules and application processes for Cellular Service licensees,” said Wireless Bureau Chief Roger Sherman in a blog post. The order would transition site-based cellular service to a geographic-based licensing regime, which “would bring the Cellular Service into greater harmony with other mobile services,” including PCS, 700 MHz and AWS, Sherman said. The FCC would be able to eliminate or revise a large number of filing requirements, reduce licensee filing burdens by more than 60 percent and “eliminate barriers” to deployment of advanced services, Sherman said. The FNPRM would propose and seek comment on additional issues relating to cellular service reform, including technical changes “that could foster the deployment of wider-band technologies” like LTE, he said. Those changes will satisfy a recommendation in the FCC staff’s commission process reform report by “reducing regulatory burdens and fostering the development of new generations of Cellular Service across the country,” Sherman said (http://fcc.us/1vlVcTf).
A device that prevents drivers from accessing text, email and Internet functions while driving will be available in Target stores starting mid-November, supplier Access2Communications said Friday. Called the TextBuster, the device is a small “brain box” module that plugs into a vehicle’s fuse panel below the dash and works in tandem with a smartphone app that sends a blocking signal to the user’s phone automatically, every time the user enters the vehicle, it said. The TextBuster will disable the data functions of the driver’s phone when the ignition is turned on without interfering with inbound and outbound calls or with GPS functions, it said. Two versions will be available, one for cars manufactured since 1996, another for older cars, it said.
NTCA said nearly 20 of its members were among those that submitted short-form applications to bid in the upcoming AWS-3 auction (CD Oct 2 p5). “This represents approximately one-quarter of all applications filed, demonstrating yet again the commitment of small telcos to providing state-of-the-art communications services for the benefit of rural America,” the group said Thursday.
FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel repeated her call for a national prize to go to someone who can find a way to make the use of spectrum below 5 GHz 50-100 percent more efficient over the next 10 years. Her comments came in remarks Thursday to the Marconi Society Anniversary Symposium. The winner would get 10 MHz of spectrum. “This is no small prize,” Rosenworcel said. “If the winner can find a way to use spectrum 50 or 100 times more efficiently, that 10 megahertz of spectrum could do the work of 500 to 1,000 megahertz of spectrum using today’s technology.” Rosenworcel said U.S. spectrum policy must entice federal agencies to give up spectrum rather than punish them if they don’t. “We need to find ways to reward federal authorities for efficient use of their spectrum so that they see benefit in commercial reallocation rather than just loss,” she said. “As part of this effort, we should consider a valuation of all spectrum used by federal authorities to provide a consistent way to reward efficiency.” The U.S. needs more Wi-Fi, Rosenworcel said: “It is time to give unlicensed spectrum its due.” Rosenworcel made similar comments at a Mobile Future Forum Monday (CD Sept 30 p1).
The FCC got the rules right for mobile in the 2010 net neutrality order and shouldn’t reverse course now, Mobile Future officials said in a series of meetings at the agency. “The 2010 open Internet principles grasped this uniqueness, and wisely gave wireless network operators the ability to manage their networks optimally rather than adopting a one size fits all approach,” Mobile Future said. “Changing the approach to mobile broadband at this stage would open the door to a raft of unintended negative consequences for consumers and for the open Internet itself.” The group released a copy of an ex parte filing on the meetings Thursday.