"Working group experts” from the fields of consumer electronics, medicine and chemistry convened in March on fashioning a global certification standard for wearable devices before TUV Rheinland formally launched its certification program on Friday (CD July 8 p10), said Simon Hung, a spokesman for the German-based provider of technical and safety certification services, in an email Wednesday. Manufacturers seeking to have their wearable devices certified under the program will submit their products to a testing “protocol” that will “evaluate the products from an end user’s point of view” regarding safety, functionality and ease of use, Hung said. “TUV Rheinland will launch a tailor-made logo for this service,” he said. The key words, “Smart Wearable Device,” together with TUV Rheinland’s logo, “could be presented on the product’s label and other artwork,” he said. Asked whether any products have yet landed certification, Hung said: “We are working on the first project from a famous IT brand,” and discussions are underway with “many manufacturers and solution/platform providers in this field.”
"Working group experts” from the fields of CE, medicine and chemistry convened in March on fashioning a global certification standard for wearable devices before TUV Rheinland formally launched its certification program last Friday (CED July 8 p5), said Simon Hung, a spokesman for the German-based provider of technical and safety certification services, in an email Wednesday. Manufacturers seeking to have their wearable devices certified under the program will submit their products to a testing “protocol” that will “evaluate the products from an end user’s point of view” regarding safety, functionality and ease of use, Hung said. “TUV Rheinland will launch a tailor-made logo for this service,” he said. The key words, “Smart Wearable Device,” together with TUV Rheinland’s logo, “could be presented on the product’s label and other artwork” to differentiate it from the competition, he said. Asked whether any products have yet landed certification, Hung said: “We are working on the first project from a famous IT brand,” and discussions are underway with “many manufacturers and solution/platform providers in this field.”
Sony landed FCC confidentiality through Sept. 10 on a new model of Bluetooth wireless stereo headphones, said equipment authorization filings Monday at the commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology. Compliance testing on an engineering prototype of the MDR-XB950BT headphones was completed June 12 at UL Japan labs, the filings show. When queried about the headphones’ availability, Sony spokeswoman Maya Wasserman said in an email: “We have not announced anything at this time."
On July 2 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
On July 1 the Foreign Agricultural Service posted the following GAIN reports:
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) told the FCC in reply comments it’s “well qualified” to be a certified frequency coordinator for Business/Industrial Land Transportation (B/ILT Pool) frequencies in the 806-824/851-869 MHz and 896-901/935-940 MHz bands. In May, the Wireless Bureau sought comment on AAR and National Frequency Coordination (NFC) requests to be frequency coordinators (http://bit.ly/1lvJEXa). Replies were due Monday in docket 14-75. The NFC application met with resistance from public safety groups.
House lawmakers introduced two bills last week to modify communications law. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., introduced the Cell Phone Freedom Act, HR-4952 (http://1.usa.gov/1oazYWx), which “would prevent government agents from accessing the smartphone kill switch feature without either a court order or the express permission of the device’s owner or primary user,” Griffith said in a statement (http://1.usa.gov/1qC2XU0). It has been referred to the Judiciary Committee and has no co-sponsors. Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., joined with Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., to introduce HR-4969. It has not yet been posted online but it would direct the FCC “to extend to private land use restrictions its rule relating to reasonable accommodation of amateur service communications,” according to its longer title. That bill has been referred to the Commerce Committee.
House lawmakers introduced two bills last week to modify communications law. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., introduced the Cell Phone Freedom Act, HR-4952 (http://1.usa.gov/1oazYWx), which “would prevent government agents from accessing the smartphone kill switch feature without either a court order or the express permission of the device’s owner or primary user,” Griffith said in a statement (http://1.usa.gov/1qC2XU0). It has been referred to the Judiciary Committee and has no co-sponsors. Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., joined with Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., to introduce HR-4969. It has not yet been posted online but it would direct the FCC “to extend to private land use restrictions its rule relating to reasonable accommodation of amateur service communications,” according to its longer title. That bill has been referred to the Commerce Committee.
The low-power FM community is gearing up for an upcoming FCC public notice identifying mutually exclusive (MX) groups among the pool of applicants that filed for new LPFM construction permits during the 2013 filing window, community radio organizations said. Petitions for reconsideration also are pending concerning dismissed applications that were the focus of a large number of objections, an FCC official said. The Media Bureau has said there was an unprecedented number of objections to many applications (CD June 16 p10).
The rights afforded to copyright holders are aligned with “laissez-faire capitalism” and shouldn’t confer the sense of a “monopoly” on content creators, said George Ford, Phoenix Center chief economist, in a paper Wednesday (http://bit.ly/1qwlwZI). It responded to claims by some conservative copyright scholars who believe current copyright regulations are antithetical to free market capitalism, said a Phoenix Center news release (http://bit.ly/1pOqNMR). Some conservatives are divided over whether copyright is a traditional property right or a government privilege (CD May 14 p11). “A landowner has a ‘monopoly’ right over his or her land, but this ‘monopoly’ right conveys no real market power,” wrote Ford. “The term ‘monopoly’ in the context of copyright is merely referring to an exclusive property right over an item with possibly thousands of close substitutes,” he said. “Its use does not imply the presence of market power."