Skyhook Sues Google over Patents and Pressure

Bloomberg reports Skyhook Wireless has sued Google over two separate matters: It's no surprise to me that Skyhook might maintain it has patents that Google was violating for deriving location from Wi-Fi signals. Skyhook goes way back, when Google wasn't even showing ads on its search results, and Skyhook was still developing its initial database. The suit reportedly alleges four patents were violated.

However, the other charge in the suit is more surprising. Skyhook says that Google threatened Android handset makers Motorola and Samsung in a way that I didn't think was even possible.

Android is an "open" operating system in name only. Sure, you can get the source code and mess around with it, but there are no mainstream generic Android phones that work on any carrier, and no carrier-sold phones are simple to crack open and do what you will.

"Open" refers to a carrier's ability to modify the phone's software to its will, not the consumer or developers'. In fact, many Android phones come with garbageware installed on the phones' home screen, with no way to remove it.

Skyhook alleges that Google's Android chief, Andy Rubin, specifically pressured Motorola by stating that with Skyhook's technology on board, Motorola phones would be in violation of "Android licensing terms." Strange, for an open system. Samsung apparently also was pressured to remove Skyhook's software.

Update: I've read the lawsuit about Google interfering with business partners, and the specific issue at stake for Motorola and (ostensibly) Samsung was the use of the "Android Compatible" brand and program; without this certification, a vendor can't participate in the Android Marketplace, among other things.

Apple recently removed Skyhook Wireless technology from new versions of its iOS operating system, and is gathering location information itself. But no threats were alleged.

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White Space Spectrum Rules Should Please Dolly Parton

I've always wanted to put the country-music sweetheart into a headline: Dolly Parton, megachurch pastors, and theatrical promoters object to white-space spectrum rules proposed by the FCC in 2008, that would allow unused television frequencies in any market to be employed for Wi-Fi-like networking with far higher signal strength. The low-frequency spectrum can also penetrate walls and obstacles far better than the 2.4 and 5 GHz ranges used for unlicensed Wi-Fi.

The opposition from that group was related to wireless mikes that rely on low-power use of frequencies that could be affected by new white-space gear. Other opponents to white-space rules included broadcasters concerned about interference, and owners of expensive licensed frequencies.

The FCC's new rulemaking, due out next week, will apparently address these concerns, while also removing some cost obstacles for producing the gear.

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NY Cable Firms Provide Limited Park Wi-Fi as Part of Franchise Renewal

Very interesting story out of New York City: Cablevision and Time Warner Cable agreed to spend $10m to build out Wi-Fi in 32 city parks as part of the requirements for renewing cable franchises in the city. The country is divided into thousands of cable franchise zones, in which local bodies negotiate with cable firms to allow monopoly or limited competitive access to rights of way and other resources in exchange for typically a gross-revenue fee, public-access and government channels with budgets and facilities, and other add-ons.

While franchise boards are prohibited by law, regulation, and court decision from considering broadband and VoIP service as a condition of renewal--only the FCC can regulate broadband, and voice is a separate state regulatory domain--this is a neat twist. The NY negotiators figured out that they can require broadband to be offered.

The New York Daily News (a competitor to Cablevision-owned Newsday) reports that the service will be available for 30 minutes free each day to users, and then charged at a rate of 99 cents per day.

Many New York parks have free Wi-Fi through various business districts and other sponsorship, such as Bryant Park.

WiFi Salon at one point had the contract to provide service in several parks, and had planned to use sponsorship as the driver. That deal with city parks ended in late 2008.

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Broadcom Opens Linux Drivers Up

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel.wireless.general/55418">Broadcom has released its Linux 802.11n drivers as open source code: Drivers for several current chips are part of the full-source code release. This may seem obscure for wide consumption: why should you care what the relatively small market of people using Linux on a laptop do?

It's actually a big market. Versions of Linux are used on hundreds of millions of digital appliances, in which an "embedded" form of the operating system is used (one designed to be limited and robust to carry out a specific set of tasks, like driving digital video recorder).

Atheros went open source on a set of its drivers in 2008; Broadcom, for competitive reasons, may have needed to join them in 2010.

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Wi-Fi Data Collection for Location Expands

Excellent report on the state of Wi-Fi data collection and how it's continuing to expand: Google doesn't collect Wi-Fi from Street View (at least in some countries) following its data acquisition debacle, but Android does. And iPhones. And trucks driven by Skyhook Wireless. And other sources.

Bob McMillan at IDG News Service runs through how it works, the current efforts, and where privacy concerns lie. In general, publicly broadcast information is hard to contain, but McMillan examines the connection between collecting millions of SSID and MAC association by location and making this available in easily retrievable form, as Google does.

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Row 44 Raises Money for Expansion

The in-flight broadband firm is yet to launch commercial U.S. service with a carrier, but just took in $37m more in funds: Row 44 launched itself several years ago as a Ku-band in-flight Internet provider for airlines that would make use of the many gains in antenna and receiver technology since Boeing's failed Connexion effort was designed, launched, and cancelled.

In the intervening years, the company signed up Southwest Airlines, but has yet to launch service commercially; it snagged Alaska Airlines, only to lose it to Aircell's Gogo Inflight Internet. Alaska made perfect sense for Row 44, given that Aircell cannot provide over-water coverage for Alaska and Mexico routes offered by the airline.

However, Aircell agreed to add many sites in the state of Alaska, and will at some point deploy in Canada via a partner as well.

Row 44 had a dilemma, from what I heard. It lacked the cash on hand to build out Southwest's service, and Southwest wasn't inclined to be the backer. With the additional money, I expect we start seeing Southwest Wi-Fi in the near future.

Aircell recently crossed 1,000 planes outfitted and in the air, and 2,000 is likely by the end of 2011. Row 44 has catching up to do, but it still has unique advantages for over-water and international flights.

OnAir was once a significant competitor in this market, but frittered away its huge lead time, and has only a handful of operator networks focused on mobile service (texting and email) rather than Internet access.

(Row 44 needs to spend a couple of dollars on its Web site. The press release and news sections are out of date.)

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Washington, DC, Puts Free Wi-Fi on Mall

The National Mall in DC gains free Wi-Fi: The AP says it was a joint effort between the US Department of Agriculture, the Smithsonian Institution, and the DC city government. Cisco donated hardware; Level 3 backhaul.

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