Mark Wilson developed a stammer as a result of Parkinson’s disease and went from being a confident and witty communicator to being fearful of socialising in his regular circles for the dread of becoming ‘stuck.’

But the announcement of his daughter’s engagement and a looming father-of-the-bride speech spurred him into action, and after being referred to speech therapist Mike Richards at the NHS trust in Weston-super-Mare he can now speak perfectly with the help of an iPhone app.

The app itself is a very clever little program which uses a smart speech therapy trick.

Quite often people who stammer report that they can sing perfectly well and also talk or read in unison without difficulties. The DAF app, therefore, delays the sound of the speaker’s own voice by a fraction of a second, so that when it’s heard by the speaker the brain is tricked into thinking it is talking in harmony with someone else.

“To me it sounds in my ear as if the device is repeating what I say back to me, but to the listener, it just sounds as if I am speaking perfectly normally,” he said.

“It is a minor miracle and has given me my old self back again.”

According to Mike, DAF does not help everyone that has a stammer however it is successful for around one third of those who try it.

A miracle? Well it is if you are a part of that one third, and if not, well it is definitely something to talk about.

With the wedding speech successfully tackled, we wish the Wilson’s an app-illy ever after.

Rattner announced Intel had been working closely with China Mobile on a project entitled Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) which is essentially a base station in the cloud.

On stage, Rattner even demoed a prototype LTE base station powered by multicore Intel Architecture (IA) and showed how effective TD-LTE base station processing could be on software, using vector engines in Core i7 like digital signal processors.

“We achieved very good performance,” Rattner said adding that it was rather remarkable how much computational ability could be crammed into a PC shell compared to a large base station.

Throwing down the gauntlet, Rattner also announced, “We’re looking at building routing equipment and switches.” Cisco and co, you have been warned.

The goal, said Rattner was to eventually replace the custom and costly base-station hardware used on cell towers today with a fully programmable and far more cost-effective, software-based PC alternative.

“The time is now to start building multi core and many core applications,” he said.

And without further ado:

So, AT&T Mobility is finally set to commercially launch LTE services across five markets this weekend, throwing its hat into the oncoming LTE battle that is currently dominated domestically Verizon Wireless. (Sorry MetroPCS.)

(I only half kid with the use of the term “finally” as I still vividly remember an AT&T executive speaking at a 4G World event a couple of years ago basically saying the carrier was in no hurry to roll out LTE services as its plans for HSPA+ would take care of its mobile broadband needs. This plan was quickly pushed aside following Verizon Wireless’ rapid LTE rollout plans and AT&T Mobility has managed to throw up a LTE network in a relatively short period of time.)

Now, we will finally see a head-to-head battle between the nation’s two largest wireless operators using what is in essence the same network technology. Let the marketing hype begin!

Verizon Wireless to this point has done a tremendous job of getting across the point that its “4G” network is somehow superior to that of its competitors as well as to its own 3G network. Well done Verizon Wireless.

Now, it will be up to AT&T Mobility to somehow convince customers that its new LTE-powered “4G” network that should be the equal to Verizon Wireless’ is in fact superior. There are several ways AT&T Mobility could do this, including coverage claims and network capabilities.
For coverage claims, AT&T Mobility will obviously be at a disadvantage as its network will initially be limited to but five markets. (I am shaking my fist at you Atlanta, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Chicago!) While Verizon Wireless has spread its LTE love to more than 140 markets across the country since its launch less than a year ago.

AT&T has said it plans to cover around 70 million people by the end of the year, which would be a good number if Verizon Wireless was not on track to cover close to 200 million potential customers by the same deadline.

This leaves network capabilities as perhaps AT&T Mobility’s only ace-in-the-hole.

With both networks using basically the same LTE technology in the same spectrum bands, this will be a tough point to prove. Sure, AT&T Mobility initially might be able to throw around some faster network speed claims as its network will be relatively bare of customers while Verizon Wireless is now serving a couple million. But, that will only get you so far.

AT&T Mobility will likely continue to press the fact that its LTE customers could have access to faster speeds when not actually on the LTE network as compared with Verizon Wireless customers (HSPA+ vs. EV-DO), but that sort of takes the wind out of LTE sail. (Hey everyone, our LTE network is so awesome because when you are not on it you will get faster speeds then those morons over at Verizon Wireless! LTE Rocks!)

I think the bigger challenge connected to this will be that some AT&T Mobility customers already think they are on a “4G” network with those HSPA+-powered mobile devices, and any sort of marketing that now claims the carrier has a “better” 4G network could be a tough pill to swallow. I am not saying that people will run from AT&T Mobility in protest, but I would not be surprised to see an increase in the number of Motorola Atrix 4G devices coming into AT&T Mobility stores with “excess” damage caused by the throwing of said devices against concrete walls or using them to make stunt ramps.

I know marketing departments are filled with sharp people that know just the right way to make me want to buy the latest and greatest product, only to then make me feel like an idiot once that product falls out of its return period as something even later and greater is now available. But, this whole “4G vs. 4G” issue that it appears AT&T Mobility will have to tackle could be touchy. (I am guessing any marketing folks that are reading this have already figured out a whole plan of attack for such an issue that includes a subtle way of calling me an idiot, and making me feel like a loser for whatever new thing I purchase moments after I purchase it. Those people are good.)

So, while I excitedly look forward to my first interaction with AT&T Mobility’s LTE network as well as the operating metrics provided by the new offering, I am really most anticipating the marketing blitz that is set to be unleashed. Let the battle begin!

OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:

–So, Google recently picked up 1,023 patents from IBM, which was on top of some 17,000 patents it expects to pick up through its pending $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. I am guessing all of these patents will be placed into Google’s current patent stash that must number in the millions.

What are the chances that just one of these is somehow related to a technology that is actually useful and not just entertaining? Like why I can’t stop playing “Angry Birds.”

–I attended a couple of industry events this week and thus was able to take in some of pricing habits of hotel Wi-Fi offerings. And if you think the price wireless carriers are charging for mobile broadband access is out of control, what hotel’s charge for their computing services is criminal. One hotel in Houston wanted to charge conference goers $50 a piece for a Wi-Fi connection, while a hotel in Las Vegas was charging guests $1 per minute to access the Internet through a business center desktop. I now apologize for ever insinuating that wireless carriers, or loan sharks, are charging too much for their services.

I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at: dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.

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Running on the Medfield Atom iteration, the tablet is expected to feature a 1280 x 800 touchscreen display along with GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, 3G and even Intel’s wireless display technology Wi-Di, which can beam content from one screen to another wirelessly.

The tablet will be based on the Red Ridge reference design, which was demoed at IDF running Android 3.2 Honeycomb.

Courtesy of CarryPad

Word is that while most of the work customizing Red Ridge was done by Intel’s engineers, there’ll be a much higher level of collaboration with Google’s team of software boffins to ensure future versions running Ice Cream Sandwich will gel well with upcoming Atom releases.

Intel says the native development kit for x86 processors has already been released to developers with an emulator set to emerge before the end of the year.

At its BUILD conference in Anaheim, California on Tuesday, Microsoft showed off an early developer preview of Windows 8-based prototype PCs powered by Snapdragon processors with Gobi connectivity to the eager crowd.

Luis Pineda, senior vice president of product management, computing and consumer products at Qualcomm said it was his firm’s “priority” to “work with the developer community to optimize the Snapdragon and Gobi-powered platform for Windows 8 to provide an unparalleled mobile user experience.”

It was also a first demo for Qualcomm’s pre-certified multi-mode module 3G/4G LTE Gobi connectivity product line. Adding an extra connectivity kick, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors also bring dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and FM radio connectivity through Qualcomm Atheros’ WCN3660 combo chip.  The firm says the WCN3660 will be the first in a series of 802.11n wireless LAN solutions to fully support Windows 8.

“We want to make Intel architecture the platform of choice for smartphones,” said Otellini briefly showing off a mysterious Medfield based reference design phone which he claimed to already be available to Intel partners and customers. Medfield is the next generation Intel Atom chip which Intel believes will boost its chances in an ARM dominated cellular space.

Otellini called the move a “significant step” and said smartphones on Intel silicon would start coming to market in the first half of 2012.

The Intel chief then welcomed Google Android premiere, Andy Rubin, to the stage for a somewhat uncomfortable exchange.

After missing his cue and standing on the stage in stunned silence for several moments, Rubin recovered to note that Google and Intel’s design teams continued to work together to optimize a range of products.

“We’ve optimized a lot of our products for Intel architecture,” he said, though previous efforts have not centered around the smartphone space.

With the continuation of the “strategic alliance” Rubin said Google would now “work very closely to make sure Android is as optimized as it possibly can be for Intel Architecture,” a statement that can be interpreted somewhat ambiguously.

Rubin concluded by noting he was “very excited” to be at IDF and “very excited to be working closely with colleagues and engineers from Intel.”

He then briefly held the Intel reference design smartphone aloft before making a rapid retreat from the stage.

Fielding questions from journalists in a Q&A session after his keynote, Otellini said Nokia’s desertion had only put a minor dent in Intel’s plans to crack the smart phone space, despite years of failure.

“We finally got it right,” he told the assembled crowd, adding “We lost six months because of Nokia but we’re back up and running, so watch this space.”

The comment was the harshest public criticism of Nokia’s decision to dump the jointly developed MeeGo operating system in February of this year.

Otellini insisted, however, that the platform still had life in it.

“MeeGo is alive and well in our embedded systems,” he said. “It is the OS of choice for the automotive industry and we are working with hardware vendors around the world to optimize it for tablets and phones. Everybody likes open and that was the value proposition of MeeGo from day one.”

To those cynics who doubted whether Intel would ever truly crack the smartphone nut, Otellini had this to say:

“The smartphone business is not established in terms of who is going to win and who is going to lose, good products on good platforms can shift the industry.

The Intel chief pointed to how quickly Android had changed the smartphone space and proclaimed he liked his company’s chances to finally succeed, though no specific dates for hardware release were given.

And without further ado:

Wait, is it Friday? What the hell? What happened to Wednesday?

Not sure if I am like the rest of you, but short work weeks are somehow the most awesome and most frustrating things ever invented by the Dalai Lama. As such I both love and hate these four-day work weeks with a passion I usually reserve only for breakfast.

I think the awesomeness of a four-day work week is pretty self-explanatory, so won’t go into those details. However, the frustrating-ness of it is hitting hard as for the life of me I can’t remember anything that has happened over the past four days.

Did someone try to buy someone?

Did some government agency declare something was wrong with something?

Was a new smartphone – or 20 – launched?

Did someone lose something?

B. L. A. N. K.

One thing that sort of rings a bell is that someone – Motorola, maybe Samsung? – launched a new LTE device with Verizon Wireless. Six-million-dollar-man-something or other? What sort of name is that?

I am sure whatever it is (was) that it’s a lovely device with lots of great features that will somehow not get lost in the pack. Or maybe it will. I really am in a bit of a fog.

Regardless, this brings up the pertinent fact that no one should ever launch or unveil something they want people to remember during a four-day work week. That’s like trying to propose to your girlfriend during a Justin Beiber concert.

Now, for those that are looking to make less of an impression – you know those companies that are trying to hide some interesting information that they legally need to disclose, but really don’t want anyone to know about it – well then four-day work weeks are tailor-made for such subterfuge. They are like having four Friday afternoons all in a row.

Have an executive that crashed the corporate jet into a hotel pool trying to impress his friends?

Have a few billion dollars that need to be written off because your idea for a glow-in-the-dark handset antenna did not pan out as you had hoped?

A company party got out of hand and the head of HR managed to lose the company’s 401K program in a cock fight?

These are what four-day work weeks were made for.

Looking to show off your latest and greatest mobile device widget that is the key to whether your company makes it until next week?

Not so much.

So for those companies out there that managed to waste a perfectly good four-day work week and not air out all that dirty laundry, shame on you. These things are precious and should not be wasted.

And for those companies that for some reason thought this was a good week to announce or launch a new product that needed to succeed or your kids would mutiny, shame on you as well.

OK, enough of that.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. And now for some extras:

–Speaking of trying to get attention for yet another new mobile device, I think the folks at Sonim are onto something here.

Sure, their devices are not the sexiest, but I think we can all relate more to having a phone drop out of our pants while suspended 100 feet in the air or accidently dropping our precious mobile device in an industrial blender then hitting “puree” more than the need to have quicker access to social networking services or the need for the latest Android operating system.

–And finally I would be remiss if I did not offer my greatest thanks and good luck to RCR Wireless News’ backbone and soul Tracy Ford, who is on her final day here before joining the fine folks at PCIA. For some reason Tracy hired me as an editorial assistant in the previous century and put me on my path to wherever it is I am today. (So you can blame her for the mess that has been my reporting/writing over the past 12 years.)

I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at: dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.

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Sitting on a panel of executives at Intel’s Software day in San Francisco Thursday, Evans said the confusing chaos of companies all trying to jump on the cloud bandwagon reminded him of competitive cattle.

He also described Linux as “cool and hip,” while coining the phrase “hip with the cloud.”

“Cloud needs some sense of sanity and compatibility,” he said, deploring the all-in, me-too attitude companies were taking towards the space.

RedHat seems to want to offer some of that sanity and sense of cool, with Evans adding his firm was both “modern,” and “fleet of foot.”

“We have huge appeal,” he boasted, explaining “Our view is open, and open is the winning hand, it’s a beautiful thing.”

It is indeed. In fact, we’re getting a little teary eyed at the thought. Kumbaya … and quit hogging the bong, Evans.

“Intel is not new to software,” said Fisher noting that most people were very familiar with many of the tools Intel provides the marketplace both in terms of open source and proprietary software offerings.

“Going forward we continue to invest,” he said adding that it was “critical to the success of our platform,” and that users wanted “much more compelling experiences,” in terms of media and graphics on all their digital devices.

Intel, said Fisher, was committed to delivering “compelling solutions to the end user,” and would continue to make critical acquisitions – like WindRiver and OpenHand – to up the ante.

Security, said Fisher, was “absolutely foundational,” going forward, and one of the key reasons Intel bought Macafee. The firm says it is committed to delivering secure platforms through both hardware and software optimizations and would continue to invest in security with more  acquisitions centered around security software.

The main value add for Intel software, said Fisher, was that the chip giant’s architecture remains consistent across all devices from servers to handheld devices, something the GM said was “very, very valuable” to software developers. The fact that the company also continues to bill itself as a port of choice is also important, Fisher pointed out, as Intel collaborates with so many different companies.

The company says it’s still making strides in terms of power management – optimizing power and performance through software – and beefing up its software marketplace for developers

“Intel is very well known as a hardware company, so how do we bring in innovative software people?” Fisher asked, answering that the solution lay in developing a culture around being a software person. “We’re really working as a company to develop a desire in software developers to join our company,” he said, revealing Intel’s software recruitment quest.

“We’re moving aggressively to bring in the software capabilities and talent to push our platforms forward in the market,” he explained.

Fisher said Intel was still fully committed to Meego, and that the firm was also “very open to other companies participating and shaping the next generation of the open platform,” as well as also being “very deeply engaged in open platforms.”

The executive would not be drawn into commenting on whether Samsung might be that “other company,” but speculation remains rife.