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T-Mobile customers have been waiting for what seems like years for the cell service provider to give us a 3G data network.  Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and AT&T have had 3G networks for quite some time, giving us mobile broadband access to the Internet.

T-Mobile has finally started the rollout of the 3G network, starting with New York City.  The new UMTS/HSDPA network will appear in other markets as the year goes on, hopefully in Portland where I could get access to it.  Currently, according to Om’s post, there are only 4 handsets available for T-Mobile’s 3G network.

However, thanks to the Nokia Blogger Relations program, I have a Nokia N81 8GB.  I would *love* to use this phone on a 3G network here in the States.  It won’t work on AT&T because they use a proprietary HSDPA network.  My hope was that T-Mobile’s network would be compatible with this Nokia phone.  Unfortunately, it’s not, because like AT&T, T-Mobile has chosen to “lock-in” customers by also employing their own proprietary 3G network.

This means that handset makers such as Sony/Ericsson, Nokia, and others who want to build a 3G handset are going to have to make 3 versions.  One for the Europe market, one for AT&T’s US network, and now one for T-Mobile’s 3G network.

This also means if I have a handset that works on the 3G network here in the States and I travel to Europe, I won’t have 3G access to the European network.  *Shrug*

At OSU, I’ve been a part of the Grassroots Learning Project.

There’s another university launching a podcasting effort that I wanted to spotlight. Virginia will soon be developing podcasts for the university community.

Welcome UVA!

Story Link

Adam Curry’s company has launched a service called PDN. What does it mean for the average podcast? It means there’s an easy way to host your podcast online. They pay for bandwidth and hosting and just insert a few ads here and there.

For those who want to get up and running, this is a great new resource.

Link

A couple of fellows across the pond have launched a Podcasting magazine (well e-zine) aimed at both listeners of and producers of podcasts. It looks pretty promising and I’ll bet more publications of this type will follow!

Link.

According to this article in the Pittsburg news paper…Educators are looking to technology to reach out to students, especially in higher grades.

How can you use technology, specifically podcasts, to better your presentation and further engage audiences? If you want ideas, please email me.