Category: Uncategorized
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The Road to 5G Starts With Home Broadband
This year’s MWC is all about 5G and IoT, with some handset and wearable launches. Wireless carriers and infrastructure vendors are starting to launch limited Gigabit broadband pilots to bring 5G class connectivity to residential users. While European telecoms have been focusing on deploying Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and Fiber-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) broadband in most cities, in many […]
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Tips for MWC attendees
It is that time of the year again. The Mobile World Congress (MWC), the biggest technology exhibition and conference in the world, starts in Barcelona tomorrow. This weekend thousands of delegates, exhibitors, press, security and service personnel, are arriving in the Catalan capital city for the event. Some of the main activities have already started. Today, […]
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Bike2Work project got half a million people out of their cars
Approximately 300 companies in 12 European countries became cycle-friendly in 2015–2016, bringing over half a million commuters on their bicycles. Courtesy of Bike2Work “Since the 20th of February, 2017 any of these companies, governmental or non-governmental organizations can get certified for being Cycling Friendly Employer (CFE)! ‘With our project partners we delivered this scheme that […]
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Catalan Researchers Use Bacteria to Recover Smartphone Metals
Researchers at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) have discovered a method for recovering copper, gold, aluminum, and platinum from discarded mobile phones by employing bacteria. The system is more efficient than melting PCBs and almost emissions free. This idea entails using the metabolic activity of certain microorganisms (essentially bacteria) to regenerate the agents that […]
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Patent Litigation Expected to Soar in 2017
There has been a surge in patent litigation in the past five years, fueled by the accumulation of patents by Non-Practicing-Entities (NPEs) or Patent-Assertion-Entities (PAEs), commonly known as “patent trolls.” Of the over 7,500 patent trials and appeals filed in 2015, patent trolls filed 66.9% of all patent lawsuits. The new Trump administration could be […]
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Airbnb still at odds with Barcelona City, who call its new rule for hosts “a joke”
After Barcelona City Council conducted inspections and imposed sanctions on illegal tourist rentals in the city, Airbnb responded by announcing restrictions on multiple listings in the downtown area. Map of Airbnb Listings in Barcelona (Dec. 2016) — Source: Inside Airbnb In its press release, the company said hosts located in Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella (Old City) district would only be […]
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Virtual Reality Market To Grow When Hardware & Content Cost Less
What will the tipping point be for mass adoption of virtual and augmented reality? This year’s Mobile World Congress has some clues. The potential growth of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) won’t be realized until there is more content available. People are not jumping to buy VR headsets and, despite the efforts of some […]
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Buying a Diesel Car Today is Selfish and Irresponsible
We all know that pollution, like tobacco, kills! We also know that diesel fuel is extremely dirty. Unfortunately, until a few years ago, the automobile industry had deceived us into believing that diesel was as clean or cleaner than gasoline. Volkswagen, the German automaker caught installing cheating devices to pass emissions tests, went as far […]
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How to improve Europe’s haphazard recovery of plastic waste
Inconsistency, confusion and lack of common standards all contribute to low recovery, but the solutions are many and would push Europe quickly toward circular economics. When you finish a yogurt, do throw the plastic pot in the trash or the recycle bin? For some cities the pot is trash, for others it’s recyclable, and for […]