項莊舞劍，意在沛公。
看到大夥一同舉起左手秀出的叉叉記號，標示著永遠的夥伴。這是從看到香吉士離開海上餐廳之後，第二次流下眼淚。
─ 記於兩週年之夜
NEW YORK – Broadcom has quietly shut down its digital TV operations, including offices from Toronto to Pennsylvania to China. The closures began earlier this week (Sept. 19), EE Times has confirmed.
More than 100 of Broadcom’s DTV engineering and marketing staff based in Toronto and a team of more than 30 employees in Yardley, PA., have lost their jobs.
An internal company memo stated that Broadcom plans to exit the DTV and Blu-ray business, according to industry sources.
Broadcom neither confirmed nor denied the decision.
Asked to confirm the move, a Broadcom’s spokesman initially said he was not authorized to speak. Several minutes later, he replied with an official “no comment” response from the company’s management.
Broadcom’s DTV operation had a checkered history of acquisitions.
It acquired its DTV team in Toronto, former employees of ATI’s digital TV division, from AMD in 2008. Broadcom’s DTV team in Pennsylvania, consisting of ex-Nxtwave Communications staff who developed the first VSB demodulation chips, was initially acquired by ATI in 2002. That ATI‘s digital TV division later became part of Broadcom.
Broadcom offers a range of single-chip solutions compatible with NTSC, the ATSC digital standard and the digital cable television spec.
Broadcom is said to have been steadily losing DTV sockets to two Taiwan-based consumer chip companies, MediaTek and Mstar, that have grabbed the lion’s share of mid- to low-end of the digital TV markets. The Taiwanese companies have been aided by Japanese TV giants, who are seen as more willing to outsource mainstream TV manufacturing to Taiwanese ODMs.
Meanwhile, Japanese and Korean TV vendors aren’t giving up their own high-end digital TV SoC sockets, effectively shutting out Broadcom.
The impact of Broadcom’s decision to close its DTV and Blu-ray chip businesses remains unclear. The market is already buzzing, however, with Broadcom’s competitors busily working to grab whatever Broadcom is likely to leave on the table.
EE Times – News & Analysis (more comments here!)
Google 官方部落格：Supercharging Android: Google to Acquire Motorola Mobility
Larry Page 的聲明中提到：
Our acquisition of Motorola will increase competition by strengthening Google’s patent portfolio, which will enable us to better protect Android from anti-competitive threats from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.
TechCrunch: Google Buys Motorola Mobility For $12.5B, Says “Android Will Stay Open”
Google / Motorola Mobility 併購案 Conference call 實況轉播：Live Blog: The Google/Motorola Acquisition Conference Call
裡頭其實已針對許多質詢，包括以後的 Android 生意經營策略，買了 MOTO 後所可能產生的聯盟伙伴競爭關係等等問題，作出回答。
Android 盟軍夥伴祝賀詞：Quotes from Android partners
（HTC 小彼得 周永明：哈哈哈，股價重返千元指日可待~）
前幾天才在感嘆台灣沒有一家手機公司出得起 50e 買下 InterDigital，眼看要給三爽咬去…。沒想到，今天 Google 大神花了 125e 美金現大洋，現大洋啊啊啊～
業外人士可能會想：不知是先前出太低價沒搶到 Nortel 專利見笑轉生氣，還是 Android 這個生意真的太重要太有賺頭，不然 125e 還溢價 63% 買一家過去幾年做的手機市場評價一般般的沒落公司，這真的是遠遠超乎一般人在做買賣時的想像了。
業內人士就會覺得：就感心～ 這種行動才叫做挺！光喊話是擋不住 Apple 的專利攻擊的。（就拿這次新聞事件中提到的前五大 Android 夥伴，把他們手機業務的營收加一加看有沒有超過 125e？）（喔，以後 Google 有 Motorola 品牌喔？ㄟ… 反正 Android 該開放的都開放了啊，何況我並沒有把 Moto 的聰明機放在眼裡耶…）
個人倒是有個小小感想 ─ 專利權濫用之惡，莫過於此。當初立意的良善，保護弱小創作者的美好初衷，現在照樣淪落成為有錢有勢的市場巨頭才玩得起的競爭手段。定在人類文明史上留下一筆。
Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s second-largest maker of mobile phones, is examining InterDigital Inc.’s patent portfolio after being approached to make a bid, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Samsung is looking at the patents along with Apple Inc. (AAPL), Google Inc. (GOOG) and other potential bidders, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. InterDigital, which holds patents related to mobile technologies used to transfer information, said last month that it hired bankers as it considers a sale.
InterDigital’s engineers invented some of the technology for high-speed mobile phone networks now used by the world’s biggest handset makers. The King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based company may fetch more than $5 billion, according to analysts at Algorithm Capital and Dougherty & Co. Eastman Kodak Co. (EK) and other companies also are selling their patent portfolios.
Should Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung pursue a bid, it would vie against Apple and Google to purchase all or part of a portfolio of about 8,800 patents on inventions used in devices ranging from the iPhone to Google’s Android-based handsets and Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM)’s BlackBerry. Smartphone sales are forecast to almost double to 1.1 billion in 2015, according to Gartner Inc., based in Stamford, Connecticut.
‘Pretty Risky’
“InterDigital has a lot of key patents,” Lee Seung Woo, a Seoul-based analyst at Shinyoung Securities Co., said by telephone. “The fight between Apple and Samsung is getting serious, so if the assets go to Apple, it could be pretty risky for Samsung. To hedge the risk, Samsung could go ahead with bidding, although they may have to pay a big premium.”
Samsung is involved in patent lawsuits with Apple since the iPhone maker sued the South Korean company in April, saying the Galaxy devices “slavishly” copied its products.
InterDigital has gained 73 percent since July 18, the day before it disclosed plans to explore a sale. The stock rose $8.75 to $71.96 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Samsung fell 2.2 percent to 833,000 won in Seoul trading today.
Apple and Google are weighing possible bids, a person familiar with the matter said last month.
Jack Indekeu, a spokesman for InterDigital, declined to comment. Adam Yates, a U.S.-based spokesman for Samsung, didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Smartphone Supremacy
During the second quarter, Apple and Samsung became the top two makers of smartphones. Their shipments trumped those of Nokia Oyj (NOK1V) for the first time, research firm Strategy Analytics said last week. Apple’s iPhones accounted for 18.5 percent of global smartphone shipments, followed by Samsung’s 17.5 percent and Nokia’s 15.2 percent, according to the research firm.
Samsung ranks second behind Nokia in terms of overall mobile-phone shipments.
Evercore Partners Inc. (EVR) and Barclays Capital will “explore and evaluate potential strategic alternatives” that may include a sale, InterDigital said last month.
Google, whose Android operating systems runs smartphones that compete against the iPhone, lost in a bid for Nortel’s $4.5 billion portfolio to a group that included Apple and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) InterDigital’s patents in cellular technology are “deeper and stronger” than Nortel’s, InterDigital Chief Executive Officer William Merritt said in April.
By Jeffrey McCracken / Bloomberg
WiMAX 曾是全球矚目之 4G 行動通訊技術之一，也可成為開發中國家寬頻上網的一種替代方案。政府幾年前 M-Taiwan 及 WiMAX 產業政策推動計畫，也促進台灣成為 WiMAX 終端設備重要供應商基地。然而新世代通信技術與標準與時俱進，互相競爭，推動全球主要電信營運與系統設備業者在 4G 時代相繼投靠 LTE 陣營，預計 2015 年全球 LTE 用戶將達數億，而 WiMAX 僅可達數千萬用戶之規模。對於台灣未來電信營運商之 4G 通信技術將如何推進，與現有 WiMAX 電信營運商及上下游產業的未來發展是什麼，此時應是審視 WiMAX 產業政策之執行成果、與決定未來方向的最佳時機。
當初政府推動 WiMAX 到現在所面臨之挑戰，乃是任何新技術推廣所必面對的二大經典挑戰：技術不確定與市場不確定，這也是過去幾十年科技產業競爭的常態本質。當初政府有魄力推動 WiMAX，值得肯定，也想藉此跳脫過度依賴硬體設備代工製造思維。但全球營運商最終投向 LTE，連最初大舉投入的英特爾也拔營退出，這都只能說是科技產業不確定性之實例。此可分產業二大方向：上下游晶片、終端設備製造，與電信營運商來檢討。
在 WiMAX 電信營運方面，國內 WiMAX 網路建設時，主要 3G 電信業者均觀望而未投入，目前六家營運商只擁有四萬餘用戶，造成頻譜利用率過低與公眾資源的浪費。反觀對岸大陸，全球最大規模營運商「中國移動」一舉扛下 TD-SCDMA 國家電信政策之重責大任，台灣 WiMAX 的營運，當初以中華電信之營運規模與經驗實力，應是推動 WiMAX 政策的最佳角色，卻沒有國家政策力量去要求中華電信支持。
政府協助推動 WiMAX 實驗網，營運商卻各有盤算、難成氣候。基本上營運商渴望低成本與高品質的寬頻技術以提升其投資報酬，如今 3G 網路面臨不敷使用的壅塞窘境，而 WiMAX 營運商擁有頻譜資源，應與傳統 2G/3G 電信業合作，解決技術與資金問題。在此呼應電腦公會理事長王振堂對總統建言，鬆綁政策以推動國內 WiMAX 營運商整併，在適當時機協助其轉向 LTE 試驗布建；另外檢視可釋出之頻譜，鼓勵 3G 營運商追上歐美 FDD-LTE 布建腳步。在兩岸經濟協議（ECFA）下，台灣在 4G 產業推廣的技術除了歐美的 FDD-LTE 標準，也可包含中國所倡導的 TD-LTE，擴大台灣電信業的市場腹地之可能，借助中國大陸的影響力增加在國際標準力量的平衡，兩岸合作雙贏、創造商機。
在上游晶片與下游終端設備方面，都已達一定的成果，上下游業者都了解目前 WiMAX 為利基型產品。聯發科技晶片研發投入，當初是以長期投入的角度支持 M-Taiwan，其市場成果有限已在預期，但公司同時建立了 OFDMA、MIMO 等技術基礎，也培養出許多技術人才，參與國際標準的製訂，在此基礎上繼續投入 LTE 之產品研發，算是已有相對的準備。從科技產業之投入的長期研發而言，WiMAX 可算是達到推動技術往前進的階段性目標，下游終端設備業者也各有一定的市場占有率。就晶片設計與終端設備而言，這個成果是可接受的。
由經濟部推動 WiMAX 產業政策之執行在現在應已達階段性任務。展望未來，要回歸正常跟隨國際技術標準推進之主流趨勢，加速轉進 LTE 之新機會。現有 WiMAX 營運商應利用已得頻譜資源，尋求在 LTE 時代可能之 4G 新營運模式。無線寬頻技術及其使用普及率，實屬一個國家是否為先新進科技國之國力指標。台灣身為 IT 科技時代全球重鎮之一，在此階段應把 WiMAX 之階段性任務告一段落，開始對 4G-LTE 加速推動，期能因此促使產業上下游與電信營運商，提供全國民眾高速無線寬頻科技帶來的最佳服務與用戶體驗。
已發給 WiMAX 營運商的頻譜，若不做充分利用，等於是用政府資源建的高速公路，卻沒有車子在路上。國家資源浪費，莫此為甚。此乃政府經濟發展與科技、通信政策各部門應共同承擔的責任。科技發展之最終目的，也在於提升人類生活，期望有關部門不辱使命，不要讓台灣民眾的資、通訊科技使用落後到像廣達林百里董事長說的「和菲律賓差不多」。
（作者是聯發科技董事長。本專欄由台灣科技界領導人輪流執筆，每兩周的周一見報，希望促使台灣科技能量再躍升、擴散。）
經濟日報╱蔡明介
Computers and the internet are changing the nature of our memory, research in the journal Science suggests. [See: Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips]
Psychology experiments showed that people presented with difficult questions began to think of computers.
When participants knew that facts would be available on a computer later, they had poor recall of answers but enhanced recall of where they were stored.
The researchers say the internet acts as a “transactive memory” that we depend upon to remember for us.
Lead author Betsy Sparrow of Columbia University said that transactive memory “is an idea that there are external memory sources – really storage places that exist in other people”.
“There are people who are experts in certain things and we allow them to be, [to] make them responsible for certain kinds of information,” she explained to BBC News.
Co-author of the paper Daniel Wegner, now at Harvard University, first proposed the transactive memory concept in a book chapter titled Cognitive Interdependence in Close Relationships, finding that long-term couples relied on each other to act as one another’s memory banks.
“I really think the internet has become a form of this transactive memory, and I wanted to test it,” said Dr Sparrow.
Where, not what
The first part of the team’s research was to test whether subjects were “primed” to think about computers and the internet when presented with difficult questions. To do that, the team used what is known as a modified Stroop test.
The standard Stroop test measures how long it takes a participant to read a colour word when the word itself is a different colour – for example, the word “green” written in blue.
I don’t think Google is making us stupid – we’re just changing the way that we’re remembering things…
Dr Betsy Sparrow / Columbia University
Reaction times increase when, instead of colour words, participants are asked to read words about topics they may already be thinking about.
In this way the team showed that, after presenting subjects with tough true/false questions, reaction times to internet-related terms were markedly longer, suggesting that when participants did not know the answer, they were already considering the idea of obtaining it using a computer.
A more telling experiment provided a stream of facts to participants, with half told to file them away in a number of “folders” on a computer, and half told that the facts would be erased.
When asked to remember the facts, those who knew the information would not be available later performed significantly better than those who filed the information away.
But those who expected the information would be available were remarkably good at remembering in which folder they had stored the information.
“This suggests that for the things we can find online, we tend keep it online as far as memory is concerned – we keep it externally stored,” Dr Sparrow said.
She explained that the propensity of participants to remember the location of the information, rather than the information itself, is a sign that people are not becoming less able to remember things, but simply organising vast amounts of available information in a more accessible way.
“I don’t think Google is making us stupid – we’re just changing the way that we’re remembering things… If you can find stuff online even while you’re walking down the street these days, then the skill to have, the thing to remember, is where to go to find the information. It’s just like it would be with people – the skill to have is to remember who to go see about [particular topics].”
By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News
作者 Dave McClure 是個天使基金的投資人，閱歷豐富，有興趣進一步瞭解的請至 Master of 500 Hats 看看。
Happy birthday, dear Global System for Mobile Communications! 20 years ago today, on July 1 1991, the world’s first GSM call was made by Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri. The historic call used Nokia gear on GSM’s original 900MHz band. Today GSM is all grown up and ruling the world — connecting 1.5 billion people in 212 countries and serving 80% of the planet’s mobile market. GSM gave us a number of firsts. It was the first fully digital cellular system using TDMA to cram more information into less spectrum and provide better sounding, more reliable calls using less power. It introduced the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM), the idea of switching handsets at will (something carriers have sought to subvert by locking phones), and the reality of international roaming. Short Messaging Service (SMS) was first launched on GSM networks, along with packet data (GPRS and later EDGE), which made internet access practical on mobile devices. Eventually, GSM expanded to the 400, 800, 1800 and 1900MHz bands and evolved into WDCMA-based UMTS (3G) and later HSPA and HSPA+, followed by LTE (4G) networks. So next time you’re at the coffee shop sipping on that latte while uploading that video to YouTube at 10Mbps using your LTE phone, remember to be thankful for that first GSM call 20 years ago — that’s when the mobile revolution really started.
SOURCE: First GSM call
