T-Mobile has begun rolling out its nationwide 4G LTE, launching the new mobile broadband service in seven cities this week. The provider is expected to launch in more locations soon. While CEO John Legere calls the network “smoking fast,” it remains to be seen how T-Mobile’s offering will compete in the expanding 4G marketplace. However, since T-Mobile is relatively late to the market, it may have some advantages. Continue reading T-Mobile Starts Nationwide 4G LTE Launch in Seven Cities

Researchers are now reporting staggering data speeds, moving at 99.7 percent the speed of light through recently created fiber cables. This is an important move towards creating very low-latency data transmissions. Normally, optic fibers transmit using beams of light, but that doesn’t mean the information actually travels at light speed. In fact, it typically goes about 30 percent slower than that on average. Continue reading New Cables Offer Blazing Data Speeds, Near Speed of Light

In an example of Big Data’s growing influence, New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection requested help in cracking down on restaurants illegally pouring cooking oil into sewers. It called upon the city’s Office of Policy and Strategic Planning, “a geek squad of civic-minded number-crunchers.” Using public data, they were able to track illegal dumping with 95 percent accuracy. Continue reading New York Geek Squad: Big Data Helps to Improve City Life

In the latest example of the rise of sensor news networks, John Keefe, the editor of WNYC’s Data News Team, conducted a project in which WNYC members bought temperature sensor hardware and reported their findings in an effort to predict when cicadas were to start their annual ascension above ground. Vast amounts of public data were gathered through inexpensive sensor hardware — a trend that’s been gaining steam. Continue reading Cicada Tracker is Latest Example of Sensor News Networks

The University of Strathclyde in the UK has created the Intelligent Lighting Centre (ILC), a consortium comprised of researchers from several universities, to investigate ways to transmit Internet communications using LED lights. The research focuses on using the flickering of LED lights to transmit messages using visible light rather than radio waves, Wi-Fi signals, cell signals or cables. Continue reading Li-Fi: Using LEDs to Transmit Data at One Gigabit Per Second

Stanford mathematics professor Gunnar Carlsson’s startup Ayasdi uses topological data analysis to better understand huge sets of data. While other companies focus on handling queries, Carlsson’s approach analyzes the shape of data and identifies patterns and clusters. These clusters help people to understand the larger picture of the big data analysis, as the clusters can represent segments of customers or patients, for example. Continue reading Ayasdi Uses New Topological Approach to Big Data Analysis

Health professionals gathered Thursday for a panel at the Digital Health Summit to talk about “Why Healthcare Has Its Head in the Cloud.” Unlike many other industries that have been quick to adopt cloud connectivity, the health industry has noticeably lagged, said Don Jones, from Qualcomm Life who moderated the discussion. Panelists discussed the benefits of accumulating data in the cloud for more in-depth analysis and expanding preventative potential. Continue reading CES 2013: Healthcare Professionals Won Over By the Cloud