Lowell Conn
Sun

The Blackline GPS Snitch makes an interesting stocking stuffer.

A self-contained tracker that requires no installation — just turn it on and hide it in the vehicle — the device monitors vehicle movement and can send notification via e-mail or text message to a mobile phone when it detects your car leaving a pre-defined area.

It’s a good way to rest peacefully knowing your child can’t steal your wheels. But, when you’ve permitted use of the family car, log on to the website at www.gps-snitch.com to track it in real time. If your child is in a region fraught with the solicitation of illicit substances, you’ll know. If your child is hanging out with kids you’ve warned them about, you’ll know. And if your child has crossed the border with said substances in the company of said kids, you’ll know about it — even if you don’t want to.

Too much knowledge can be a bad thing — this device should probably be used with discretion.

$400 US; visit www.blacklinegps.com.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Anne-Marie Lamonde
Sun

After contemplating the recent Vancouver Sun article regarding the decline in scholarly reading caused by electronic overload, and in recognition of the fact that e-mail behaviour is the No. 1 culprit for creating workplace anxiety, I have listed a few simple steps to lessen the anxiety that comes from being (and being perceived as) continuously “plugged in.”

These steps, in part, retrieve actions that were once taken with snail-mail, and are an attempt to lessen today’s acculturation to the instantaneity of electronic mail.

1. Choose a time for e-mail activity. Select a reasonable time of day to read and respond to e-mail and decide on the amount of time you wish to dedicate to this task (e.g. 7 a.m.-9 a.m.)

2. Save responses to draft. If your time for responding does not fit in during reasonable hours, to avoid filling your colleague’s mailboxes at any hour, save your e-mail in the “draft” folder to be sent the following morning during working hours. This has the added bonus of reviewing responses that may not read right.

3. Limit your e-mails to essential information. Lengthy, fervent thoughts can be saved for the face-to-face human contact usually reserved for meetings either during working hours or over coffee, lunch, or dinner. (Romantic long-distance relationships included.)

4. Be efficient. Write salient points and separate ideas into new paragraphs to allow the reader to scan the e-mail quickly. This allows the reader to prioritize items, i.e. when to respond, and what to respond to (important points vs. interesting points.)

5. Avoid sending urgent e-mails. Matters that require immediate attention are probably best handled in person or over the telephone. This entails fighting the urge to use the “urgent” priority button.

6. Avoid multi-tasking online. Try not to interweave e-mail activity with other online tasks as you will find yourself doubling the time spent on doing each inefficiently.

If you take these steps, but your colleagues do not, you may always smile sweetly when asked, “Did you get my e-mail?” and respond according to step 1, “I don’t check e-mail after 9 a.m.”

I hope these ideas lend themselves to developing your own approach to limiting electronic activities so that you can retrieve the wonderful world of “slow.”

Anne-Marie LaMonde is a doctoral student in the faculty of education at UBC.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

USA Today

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — Google  has started testing a long-awaited radio advertising service that represents the Internet search leader’s most elaborate attempt yet at expanding its financial clout beyond the Web.

The test announced Thursday will help sell advertising on more than 700 radio stations in more than 200 U.S. metropolitan markets. Google hopes to eventually sign up more than 5,000 stations, according to documents shown potential advertisers.

For now, at least, Google will lag well behind other radio advertising placement services like Softwave Media Exchange, which says it has enlisted more than 1,500 stations with a combined daily audience of more than 9 million listeners.

Thursday’s announcement didn’t specify how many advertisers are involved in the early radio tests nor set a timetable for opening the service to all comers.

Google is betting its technology can do for radio what it has already done for the Internet by automating the process for selling and distributing ads to an audience where the messages are most likely to pique consumer interest. As it does on the Web, Google plans to charge a commission for helping radio stations sell ads.

The Mountain View-based company signaled its intention to expand into radio advertising in January with a $102 million acquisition of dMarc Broadcasting. Since then, Google has been working to make the service compatible with a system that already serves millions of Internet advertisers.

The Internet ad platform has turned into a gold mine, with Google’s profit this year expected to approach $3 billion — nearly a 30-fold increase since 2002. The company makes virtually all its money from short, written ads posted on the Web, raising worries among some analysts about Google’s lack of other moneymaking channels.

As part of its expansion efforts, Google also is trying to help newspaper and magazine publishers fill some of their unsold advertising space. Google’s early efforts in magazines have had little impact. The company just started working with 50 of the nation’s largest newspapers.

Google appears intent on pouring far more resources into the radio service, with management openly discussing plans to employ about 1,000 workers in the division.

Peter Wilson
Sun

It’s 11:38 p.m. You’re at home and the phone rings. That contract you’ve been working on all day is now ready for your signature.

How do you get that contract signed and get it back for a midnight deadline?

Or you work in the human resources department and you have to get everyone to sign off on a new sexual harassment policy.

But you’ve got 2,000 employees and if you send out a memo and have everybody return it you’ll need an entire new filing cabinet just to handle the paperwork, to say nothing of keeping track of it.

The answer to these dilemmas is using e-mail to either gather or apply secure electronic signatures, said Mike Gardner, CEO of Vancouver-based Recombo Inc. His company’s new Waypoint 2.0 — which integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Salesforce.com — lets companies do away with the old pen and ink method of signing documents.

Using a secure digital signature you could whip that document back before the deadline or get all those harassment memos signed and returned electronically, said Gardner.

“A secure digital signature has the full legal weight of a regular signature,” said Gardner, who added there is some confusion on the matter in Canada because what’s known as a digital signature — not the secure digital signature used by Waypoint — can only be issued by authorities listed by the Treasury Board Secretariat.

“Actually, the Treasury Board Secretariat doesn’t list anyone as certification authorities yet,” said Gardner.

But under federal PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act) legislation, he said, the secure electronic signature is allowed for commercial use.

The question that is always asked by those unfamiliar with secure electronic signatures, said Gardner, is just how do you know that the person signing electronically is really who he or she purports to be.

To confirm digital identities Waypoint uses eIDverifier from Equifax Canada

If you’re a potential user, you will provide eIDverifier with personal information and will then be asked a series of questions based on private financial information stored by Equifax Canada which only you should be able to answer.

Once your identity is established you’re issued a public key (something akin to your bank card number) and you create your private key (the equivalent of the PIN for your bank card) which acts as your password.

Using that private key you can sign documents and have them accepted — depending on limitations in various jurisdictions across Canada — as legally valid.

“We’ve been focusing on the leasing market because leasing is a great area where lots of transactions are happening, particularly on commercial leases where you generally have a master lease and then you have a series of sub leases underneath the master,” said Gardner.

He said that using secure electronic signatures speeds up commerce significantly.

“These days you negotiate entire deals over e-mail. You’re back and forth with the document over e-mail and then, at the 11th hour somebody says okay now we’re complete with this agreement, could you just print it off and fax it to me.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Sun

Palm Treo 700wx, $400 with a three-year contract with Bell Mobility, or $200 when a voice plan and minimum $60-a-month e-mail & Internet data feature.

This smartphone from Palm uses Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system and Bell’s high-speed network and is aimed at the mobile workforce, especially those who really need something fully integrated with Microsoft offerings. Also includes a 1.3-megapixel camera, integrated Bluetooth 1.2 for communicating with headsets, car kits, computers and printers, and an expansion slot for more memory.

PANASONIC LUMIX FX07, LIMITED EDITION DIGITAL CAMERA, ABOUT $550.

Every so often we like to tease you with products that are only available in Japan or Korea. Not that this model of the Lumix FX07 is any different inside, or in its photographic capabilities, but, hey, it sure is dramatic on the outside — with a number of different exterior looks available in editions of 500 in the Japanese marketplace. Sure, the FX07 comes in different colours in North America, but nothing like this. And, just to make it even more worth having, it comes in a paulownia wood box, so that the person you give it to (likely yourself) will feel all that much more special.

SAMSUNG HL-S5679W LED LIGHT-SOURCED, REAR-PROJECTION DLP HIGH DEFINITION TV, $4,300.

If you’re at all up to date, you’re going to be using LED lights on the tree this Christmas, and so why not be the first to use them to provide the illumination for your HDTV? Red, green and blue high-powered LEDs sequentially fire to produce, according to Samsung, smooth, stable colour. And since DLPs need to have a lamp replacement, another advantage is that the LED light engine provides longer life. Oh, and in case you even knew there was mercury in this kind of TV set, this one is mercury-free.

THERMOHAWK TOUCHLESS INFRARED THERMOMETER IN 200, 400 AND 400L MODELS, $40, $50 AND $90 US RESPECTIVELY.

You might well ask yourself “just what the heck am I going to do with an infrared thermometer?” Well, if you like to modify your computer with a special case, or you’re the kind of person who fools with the innards of computers, then this will identify hotspots on cases and on motherboards. There’s no contact needed. Just point the ThermoHAWK at the spot you want to measure and press the test button. You can find this device online at places like ThinkGeek.com and FusionTank.com.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Colin Perkel
Sun

TORONTO — Citizens of countries such as China and Iran are about to be handed a powerful Canadian-made tool designed to undermine authoritarian efforts at stifling the free flow of information.

Called Psiphon, it’s a small computer program that allows people in non-democratic places to beat the local thought police and access forbidden websites at minimal personal risk.

“All we’re doing is allowing people to access the Internet at a standard that’s provided in uncensored locations like Canada,” said Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab Project at the University of Toronto.

“We wanted to make it something that authorities would have a difficult time discovering.”

The concept is simple.

People in uncensored locations such as Canada install Psiphon on their home computers. The program is free, easy to set up, and small at about 1.5 megabytes.

They then send connection information by e-mail or phone, along with a user name and password, to people they trust in the countries subject to censorship.

The person in the foreign country connects through a secure, encrypted connection to the uncensored computer and surfs the Web without hindrance.

More than 40 countries are now engaged in Internet censorship. China, for example, rigorously blocks access to information on the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, as well as to other politically sensitive sites, with what’s been dubbed the Great Firewall.

The Psiphon service can be downloaded from the Internet at http://psiphon.civisec.org.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Providers add new features, branch out to cellphones, auto market

Peter Wilson
Sun

A year after satellite radio launched in Canada the initial buyer frenzy is over.

With some 300,000 subscribers to Sirius Canada and XM Canada, the urge to splurge on hundreds of channels of commercial-free music and talk — brought on by years of regulatory dawdling — appears to have dwindled.

But that doesn’t mean the excitement is over.

“Last December just smoked because people were rushing in to get satellite radios, due to pent-up demand,” said Wynne Powell, president of London Drugs, which sells both the Sirius and XM brands.

“So last year’s figures were probably over-inflated, but we do think we’re going to have a strong Christmas again, just more orderly,” said Powell. “And people do seem to like to buy them as a Christmas gift.”

Particularly enticing this year could be receivers that allow users to add their own MP3s, and record satellite radio shows.

To add to the mix, entire new markets aside from retail plug-and-play are in the near future:

– Cable companies like Shaw will likely offer satellite radio packages — as a premium service — within the next year. And it may also be offered by satellite TV companies eventually.

– Satellite-ready vehicles from automakers like Toyota, Honda, GM, Ford, Chrysler and Nissan are either on the road or about to hit it.

– XM Canada already has a deal to have its programming carried on cellphones, and Sirius might follow.

And, despite ominous predictions that satellite radio is facing a threat from the seemingly omnipresent iPod juggernaut, industry analysts Yankee Group foresees continued adoption in Canada.

“At the moment, I’m sticking with my forecast of a total user base of just under 2.4 million by the end of 2009,” said Jeff Leiper, Yankee Group’s Canadian research director, who plans to revisit his prediction after the Christmas sales figures are in.

He said that holiday sales would depend on whether or not those who are already subscribers recommend satellite radio to their friends.

Judging by subscription figures released recently, Sirius Canada — with 200,000 paying subscribers — seems to be the clear winner over XM Canada with just under 130,000 subscribers (91,000 of whom pay for their service).

However, that’s more than a little deceptive, since the Sirius numbers (which include the claim that they represent seven out of every 10 units sold at retail) are as of late November this year, while XM’s date from the end of August.

“We’re happy with how we’re doing, and good numbers are good numbers, whether they’re for Sirius or for us,” said XM Canada president Stephen Tapp. “It means that the category is healthy.”

Powell confirms that, at least at his 64 London Drugs stores across Western Canada, the seven-to-three ratio in favour of Sirius is correct, possibly because of the type of people who buy the product.

“It’s people who travel a lot, like truckers or any travellers, especially those who go into remote areas like Grande Prairie or Gibsons or even Prince George,” said Powell, who added that outside of the Lower Mainland Sirius’ coverage is better.

“I feel sorry for XM because I think their service is very challenged to provide sufficient signal in the areas that want to buy the product.”

Sirius Canada CEO Mark Redmond said he attributes the lead to a combination of content — including the lure of the offerings of CBC, a part owner of his company — marketing, and better coverage.

“The only reason XM was ahead of us in the States was that they launched before us there,” said Redmond. “From day one, we said that under no circumstances are we going to be less than 50 per cent of the market, and we want our unfair share above 50.”

However, XM’s Tapp said that he expects what he sees as his company’s superiority in the automotive market to even things out.

“We have under contract the makers of approximately 60 per cent of the cars sold in this country,” said Tapp. “That includes General Motors, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Suzuki, and another one we’re negotiating with.

Sirius’ Redmond challenges this, saying that the automotive playing field will be more like 40 per cent to 40 per cent, when all the deals are signed and in. (The other 20 per cent involves vehicles that offer either service.)

Since Sirius Canada is a private company, there are no figures available as to how it’s doing financially, but XM Canada, actually Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., had a loss of $103 million for its first year ending Aug. 21, although revenue was up 46 per cent to $3.4 million in its final quarter.

CSR shares (TSX: XSR) have plunged from their IPO price of $16 a share to close Thursday at $7.65, although that’s up from the yearly low of $6.19.

Although neither Sirius Canada nor XM Canada will say exactly what will happen with cable and satellite delivery of their services, they are both highly interested in the new market.

Shaw Cablesystems President Peter Bissonnette said that his company would definitely be asking the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission — which has already approved Rogers Cable in the East — for the right to carry satellite radio offerings, and will sell it at a discretionary price.

“No pricing at this time, as we need to review the overall radio carriage strategy,” said Bissonnette.

Ontario-based consultant Michael Urlocker, who specializes in what are known as “disruptive innovations,” says the iPod is a particular threat to satellite radio.

“Unfortunately, the problem that satellite radio was built to solve, which was ‘Give me lots of music in my car,’ has been solved by the iPod,” said Urlocker. “So the satellite providers could continue to try to solve that problem, but they will get increasingly nowhere doing that.”

Arguments that the iPod, which plays MP3s, offers less quality of sound, don’t wash with Urlocker, especially if the music is in a car where road and other noise is a factor.

Not unexpectedly, Tapp and Redmond disagree on whether the iPod is a threat.

“The iPod is essentially one-dimensional. You have to program it. There’s no surprises. There’s no sense of discovery. It’s not live, and it’s just music,” said Redmond.

Tapp, whose company offers a similar receiver, the SL100, said that in its entire history iTunes has generated $1.5 million in revenue, while satellite radio could well generate $1.8 billion in 2007 alone.

[email protected]

SATELLITE RADIO IN CANADA

$14.99 a month from both providers with deals, depending on length of contract, etc. Cost of radios is subsidized.

Sirius Canada had 200,000 fully paid subscribers as of mid-November 2006.

XM Canada had 91,200 paying subscribers as of Aug. 30, 2006. Another 30,000 do not pay.

The Yankee Group predicts the number of subscribers in Canada could reach 2.4 million by the end of 2009.

Canadian subscriber profile, according to the Yankee Group, from its 2006 technologically advanced family survey:

27.5% are also digital cable subscribers

45% also subscribe to satellite TV

25% have two MP3 players, far above the national average of 10.3 per cent.

Big 3 Heaviest areas of subscribers are Ontario, Alberta and B.C.

40% are from what Yankee Group calls “early mass adopters”.

AOL CANADA ADDS ANOTHER CHOICE

As if there weren’t enough competitors in the music business for the likes of this country’s two satellite radio operators, now AOL Canada has stepped in with yet another alternative.

AOL Radio, with more than 170 stations of commercial-free music is now online at www.aol.ca/radio

And the channels — which range from hip hop to Workout Songs to One-Hit Wonders to jazz and classical, and include Japanese pop, Bollywood sounds, and African music — are all free.

AOL Canada said the music is ideal for those who want to listen in an office setting.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

After problem-filled five years, new computer operating system goes on sale

Gillian Shaw
Sun

After five years and numerous delays, Microsoft’s long-awaited “Vista” operating system is launching for businesses today, with the consumer version slated to follow on Jan. 30.

As the culmination of development and testing unprecedented in scale, the software giant is staging a massive kickoff for Windows Vista and for updates to its core business products Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007.

“For us it is by far the biggest thing we have done since 1995m when we launched Windows 95,” said Jill Schoolenberg, general manager of Windows for Microsoft Canada, which will be holding a launch event in Toronto while Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer and other company executives will be celebrating at the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

Unique to this launch is the level of testing and feedback that went into the creation of Vista and the business software updates, with more than five million beta versions distributed around the world.

Microsoft tallied one billion user sessions — that is one billion sessions in which the company sat down and worked customers through the product — in the lead-up to today’s launch.

“It is completely unprecedented for the industry,” Schoolenberg said.

Nearly $7 billion US went into the development of Vista, which had its start before the company made a significant upgrade to its XP operating system in 2004. While Microsoft has a lot at stake in the new releases, with Vista and Office accounting for about 90 per cent of the company’s profits, analysts don’t expect to see an immediate shift among business users to the new software.

Consumers, though, are expected to embrace the new operating system, with Microsoft mitigating the missing of the Christmas computer sales market with a promise of a Vista upgrade for Christmas buyers.

In its predictions issued Wednesday, market forecasters IDC projected the number of the new operating systems will hit 90 million units in the coming year, led by strong demand on the consumer side. IDC projected Windows Vista Home products will account for 90 per cent of the new Windows operating systems used by home users. By comparison, Windows Vista Business and Windows Vista Enterprise are expected to account for 35 per cent of the new Windows operating environments among business users.

“After a long wait, the adoption of Windows Vista will take place almost immediately among consumers, while businesses will follow a decidedly more conservative adoption curve,” Al Gillen, research vice-president for system software at IDC said in a release.

Borrowing from Apple’s keen attention to ease of use, the new Vista has seen an improvement in graphics and presentation, as well as in search capabilities. Security is a huge issue, both for business and home users, and it is one that Microsoft, with its history of security vulnerabilities and patches, has promised to deliver.

Security also receives special attention in the new Office software as businesses and corporations face regulatory and compliance issues, coupled with growing cyber and other threats.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Technology: Wireless high-speed Internet access for whole city

Jim Jamieson
Province

Vince Cavaliere may be reading this story online today, using his new wireless high-speed Internet access in Kamloops.

The veteran realtor will be one of the first — and most eager — customers as Kamloops launches a wireless network that covers about 80 per cent of the city’s area.

“I think it’s fantastic for Kamloops,” said Cavaliere. “I think you’re going to see this in every major city in Canada in the coming years. I have up-to-the-minute information access on all new listings placed on the Multiple Listing Service network, not only in Kamloops but anywhere in Canada.

“I can get zoning information. I can go to anyone’s website. As a realtor, that gives me a lot of powerful information,” he said.

As part of a public-private partnership with service provider On Call Internet Services, Kamloops will join a list of Canadian cities with a metropolitan wireless “WiFi” network that includes Victoria and Toronto, but not yet Vancouver.

Nine access locations have been constructed to provide WiFi connectivity to laptops and other compatible devices. An additional 14 “hot spots” for wireless Net connectivity have been provided by private businesses for a total of 23.

The service costs $3.50 per hour, $14.95 per day or $40 per month and offers download speeds of about two megabits per second — roughly equivalent to a consumer-wired Internet connection.

Cavaliere said he has been using a wireless air card from a major telecommunications provider that is costing him about $100 a month.

With the new Kamloops service, he figures he’ll save at least $60 a month and get faster speeds.

Jeff Putnam, business and client services manager for the City of Kamloops, said the city wants to retain and attract knowledge-based workers and businesses.

“Kamloops has always been known as a resources-based town, but now we’ve got a huge university,” he said. “We’re really focused on knowledge-based workers.”

Putnam said the city expects a strong return on its $106,000 investment over the duration of the three-year partnership arrangement. On Call will run the business and handle the equipment maintenance, he added.

“The business case is really strong,” he said. “We only need 125 monthly users to break even.”

The service is really aimed at mobile individuals and won’t be a viable alternative to Shaw Cable or Telus Corp.’s wired high-speed Internet service for more than a few Kamloops residents.

Putnam said the range of customers expected will be from local consumers to visiting business people to city employees — such as meter readers, city inspectors and firefighters — who will be able to ditch their cellphones.

“With our workers, we’re going to save a lot of money on cellphone use because we’re going to be able to use VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol or Internet telephone technology) that will save tens of thousands of dollars in the next couple of years.”

Instead of cellphones, the workers will communicate via headsets linked to WiFi equipped handhelds or laptops at virtually no cost.

As for Vancouver, a city-hall staff report on a metropolitan wireless network is to go before city council in December or January.

WHAT YOU NEED FOR WIFI INTERNET SURFING:

To connect to a wireless “WiFi” hot spot, you need a laptop or other portable-computing device that is wireless capable. Most newer computers — PC or Mac — have this technology built in. But if your computer is older, an external or internal card can be connected to provide reception. Most wireless devices find hot spots automatically.

Though some hot spots, such as in coffee shops, are free, many require fee for service. Expect to encounter a registration screen and be asked for a credit-card number.

Be cautious when using hot spots. Security experts advise the minimum is up-to-date security software and a firewall. If you’re transmitting sensitive information, encryption is also advised.

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

Showcase plants firm’s flag in Telus territory

Jim Jamieson
Province

Bell Canada planted its corporate flag deeper in Telus’s backyard yesterday. It announced it had won the contract to provide information technology and communications for Vancouver’s expanding Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The cash value of the deal wasn’t released, but the contract includes overseeing the infrastructure installation for the current major expansion and continues for 15 years after the project is completed in 2009.

The partnership for Toronto-based Bell with the Vancouver Convention Centre expansion project dovetails nicely with the $200-million deal it won two years ago to be the 2010 Olympics communications provider.

“This is massive, as far as the impact on our company,” said Charles Brown, president, Bell Western Region. “What the Olympics does, what this facility does, is show the whole marketplace that Bell is a significant player. This is going to be a technology showcase and it’s going to be very high profile.”

Brown said Bell plans to continue its expansion into Western Canada, which began about six years ago.

He said the telecommunications company currently has about 2,200 employee and receives more than $1 billion revenue in Western Canada, but expects to employ 4,000 people by 2010.

Russell Anthony, president of the Convention Centre expansion project, said Bell Canada’s Olympic partner status, including supplying services to the international media centre, which will accommodate 14,000 journalists — wasn’t a factor in its being selected.

“We had an independent process,” he said. “It was based on a long-term view.” Anthony said Bell was very aggressive in its bid.

“They were prepared to do a lot of research as to what it would take to make us best in class,” he said. “Also, their support is ongoing. In addition to the equipment they will put in now, they’ve got a refresher program so when new technology comes up, they will use it in the building.”

Bell Canada will supply the full range of its services, from high-speed Internet to wireless to broadcast video to satellite in the centre.

Paul Williams, director of Strategic Solutions for Western Canada, said the company will install 16 kilometres of fibre-optic cable in the building and is capable of installing new strands through conduits on an as-needed basis.

“We will have redundant fibre going into the building, one coming into the new facility and one into the existing,” said Williams. “The system is designed so one side can carry both if one goes down.”

Bell Canada will also offer such innovative services as radio frequency identification and a portable communications pod.

PRESENTING THE POD

Call it a router on steroids.

That’s what Bell Canada plans to roll out for the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre when the current expansion is completed in two years.

Called a “communications pod,” the 22-kilogram device will take the 100-gigabit-per-second ethernet feed from Bell Canada and be able to split it 144 times.

Bell Canada currently has a prototype for the suitcase-sized device and expects to have it available to offer such applications as video conferencing and broadcasting.

© The Vancouver Province 2006