The ZigBee Alliance ratified 3.0, opening the door to improved communication and interoperability among IoT products, it said Wednesday. ZigBee 3.0 extends from the physical to the application layer, the nonprofit alliance said. The alliance also said it's collaborating with EnOcean Alliance to develop an open, global specification for energy-harvesting wireless communication technology for interoperable, self-powered IoT sensors. The effort will bring together EnOcean equipment profiles for sub-GHz networking with ZigBee 3.0 in the worldwide 2.4 GHz band, called “the key to the consumer market” by EnOcean Alliance Chairman Graham Martin. It will provide a foundation to bring data to IoT frameworks of other industry initiatives and facilitate interoperable communication from the sensor to the cloud, they said.
The United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers told the FCC it should approve rules that protect workers from RF radiation. Sources of emissions on a rooftop “often are not obvious and usually are not properly marked or defined as danger zones by warning signs,” the union said. “In many cases, for aesthetic reasons, transmitters or antennae are hidden by building elements that can obscure their presence yet not reduce the risk of serious harm to unsuspecting workers. Our members are left unaware and unprotected from the physical and mental harm the wireless antennas produce.” The Nov. 20 filing was posted Wednesday in docket 13-84.
The FCC should reject Twilio’s calls for clarification that messaging services should be regulated under Title II of the Communications Act (see 1510130040), the Free State Foundation said in reply comments. “The wireless messaging services market is competitive and consumers have choices not only among messaging services provided by wireless carriers but among wirelessly-accessible IP-based alternatives, including instant messaging, social media, and email,” FSF said. “Title II regulation would saddle messaging services with special burdens and unnecessary costs and put them at a competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis those alternatives.” Replies are due Monday in docket 08-07.
The Consumer Technology Association urged the FCC to make changes to equipment certification rules aimed at keeping commission-certified labs in business. CTA endorsed the thrusts of petitions for reconsideration or clarification by the Telecommunications Industry Association and Motorola Solutions. CTA urged the FCC to clarify the path for re-qualification of test labs in nonmutual recognition agreement countries that were either accredited or listed under Section 2.948 of agency rules. CTA also encouraged the FCC to establish a two-year transition period during which Section 2.948-listed labs would be allowed to submit data in support of certification applications. “The Commission should act promptly to ensure that the dynamic consumer technology industry continues to have access to a sufficient quantity of FCC-recognized laboratories that help ensure that consumers have the most innovative, safe, and reliable technologies available at market speed,” CTA said in docket 13-44.
One in 10 U.S. broadband households plans to buy a smartwatch by mid-2016, a Parks Associates report said Tuesday. Smartwatch adoption in broadband households grew from 4 percent at the start of 2014 to 7 percent now, Parks said. Analyst Harry Wang noted smartwatches are especially popular in broadband households with children, due to family-oriented uses. Smartwatches also have “significant health applications,” Wang said.
On average, cellphone users received 5.5 unwanted calls monthly in 2015, Whitepages found in its annual “State of the Unwanted Call” report, said a news release from the company. Fraudulent scam calls increased by 55 percent in 2015 over 2014, and spam calls rose 22 percent. Of 1.2 billion calls scanned, Whitepages found 6.7 million were unwanted, with 74 percent of those unwanted calls categorized as spam and 26 percent as scams. The No. 1 scam of the year -- which grew by 248 percent in 2015 -- was the IRS scam, where someone calls claiming a consumer has a tax issue. The other biggest scams included "lucky winner," extortion, tech support and phishing. The top reported spam calls came from telemarketers, debt collectors, robocalls, and surveys, it said. Whitepages tracked 1.2 billion calls scanned since April through an app called Whitepages Caller ID to create the report. Another firm counted 980.8 million U.S. robocalls in November (see 1512100023).
A spokesman for the National Radio Astronomy Observatory said Tuesday nothing is unusual about NRAO’s decision to give wrist-worn activity monitors to its staff, even though the monitors are an interference threat to the observatory’s sensitive telescope (see 1512140030). “These devices were provided to employees as part of a program to promote health and wellness among our staff,” the spokesman said. “Our employees have received guidance on their use when near our antenna sites from our interference engineers. Our employees are aware of the importance of avoiding interference to our sensitive telescopes and are accustomed to avoiding the use of numerous electronic devices, not just Fitbits, at our observing sites. This is a well-established practice that dates back to our observatory's founding.”
BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk downgraded Verizon from buy to neutral, despite continuing growth and industry-leading low churn. “Despite all these positive dynamics in wireless, which represents over 80 percent of Verizon’s EBITDA, its stock has done little over the past 2-3 years and it is increasingly difficult to see how our outlook for the company could improve further to deliver upside to existing investor expectations,” Piecyk wrote investors Tuesday. He also expressed concern about Verizon’s overall wireless network strategy: “Verizon management appears to be digging in their heels on a wireless network strategy reliant on small cell densification and the future use of higher-band spectrum, even though Verizon does not own that spectrum and it has largely been considered to be unusable for mobile communications. This adds risk to estimates.” Verizon shares closed up 10 cents Tuesday at $45.55.
The AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America and National Women's Law Center delivered 15,000 petition signatures to the German Embassy Tuesday, asking the country's government to press T-Mobile to abandon a company policy that silences workers who speak out against sexual harassment, a CWA news release said. The German state owns about 32 percent of Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile's German parent. In August, the National Labor Relations Board found T-Mobile guilty of violating the rights of a T-Mobile employee who no longer works there. Since T-Mobile had to withdraw employee gag order policies only at its call centers in Maine and South Carolina, the release said, the rest of T-Mobile's 46,000 employees don't know these nondisclosure agreements violate U.S. labor law. "No one should have to decide between keeping their job and staying safe," AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler said. "But that unfortunate choice is put to working women under T-Mobile's current practice of silencing workers who come forward with sexual harassment claims. Today we are calling on the German government as a major stakeholder to hold T-Mobile accountable and demand they protect workers' rights and women's equality." T-Mobile didn't comment.
Representatives of Mercedes-Benz USA and parent Daimler expressed “enthusiastic support” in a series of meetings at the FCC for an agency proposal to expand vehicular radar use throughout the 76-81 GHz band. “By adopting that proposal, the Commission will advance international efforts to harmonize the spectrum allocation for vehicular radar, promote the development of innovative new automotive safety technologies, including next generation driver assistance, and provide an essential foundation for the development of autonomous vehicles,” the auto executives said, according to a filing in docket 11-90. The FCC sought comment in a February NPRM. The docket has been quiet since the FCC took comments earlier this year, with only one other filing since April. The companies said the commission was right to propose that the use of the spectrum fall under Part 95 rules. “Vehicular radar technologies enable critical safety of life applications, including collision prevention, lane keeping assistance, and blind spot detection, among other safety features,” they said. “Part 95 licensing will provide vehicular radar with primary status and protect it from harmful interference."