Where is Mobile Net Access?

Yesterday, my 10-year old son was asking me questions about the radio in the car. As I was explaining to to him the different channels and frequencies (AM/FM) he then asked, "so where is the access point?" Good question I thought to myself. Where is the access point for the in-vehicle entertainment system? I am sure he implied WiFi access point.

So I showed him and explained where the antenna was embedded in the glass windshield and in the rear glass window. Then I started thinking, what he really meant in his question was the WiFi access point for the car. In his life, everywhere he goes there is free WiFi as long as you are within range of the 'access point'. At least that is his perception of it. His laptop computer, PSP, DS, netbooks, PS3, and almost all these devices that he deals with at home and school on a daily basis all have built-in WiFi capability.

This is definitely one question I equate to "Where are the flying cars?" that I had in my head since I was around his age. It's the 21st century and we still do not have them. Therefore, I hope in the next 20-30 years that mobile net access does not turn out like the visions of flying cars has for my generation, a vivid imagination and elusive dream.

At least for the ubiquitous mobile net access everywhere, the technology hurdles are not mechanical in nature. We already have all the components available to make this happen. The companies and governments trying to solve this problem keep running into techo-political wars. It's all just techno-politics and battles now.

Call Any Phone from GMail

Google released a new capability of GMail, calling any phone from within GMail yesterday, 08/25/2010. Call Phones from Gmail. So I got around to trying it out today, 08/26/2010. I am impressed.

Google's web applications and services are just becoming stickier.

The Patent Parts of the Oracle vs. Google Android Lawsuit

This article is a nice diversion pertaining to the patent details of the Oracle vs. Java/Android lawsuit, "The Oracles vs. Google Patent Lawsuit Demystified". This one made me chuckle. The five alleged patent violations are questionable and appear to fit the frivolous category.

Oracle lawsuit against Google over Java and Android

This one was sort of expected after Oracle acquired Sun. So now we know what Oracle's true intentions are for Sun's Java technology. When I first saw this news my initial reaction was one of disgust. Then after reading quite a few articles, opinions, and various other blogs I came to the point that this was anticipated. It just took a while after the Sun acquisition.

On a related note, Oracle also is canceling OpenSolaris which was announced in the same week. So as for Oracle's open source support, we now know which way the winds are blowing with Oracle at the helm of Java. Not to mention the JDK 1.6 fiasco a last month with Eclipse which was an early warning shot. "Oracle's Java lawsuit undermines its open source credibility" has a well written perspective on these recent events.