The first major 3DS system update will be made available in North America on Monday, Nintendo of America (NOA) said. By installing the free update via wireless broadband, 3DS users will gain access to a free Internet browser and the Nintendo eShop containing new downloadable content, NOA said. The browser will have “the capability to show 3D images on sites specifically designed to show 3D images,” it said. Initial content available for download to the handheld game system from the eShop will include Pokedex 3D, an application that will enable users of the 3DS to see Pokemon characters in 3D. Nintendo will offer the old Nintendo Entertainment System game Excitebike, remastered in 3D, as a free download until July 7 to anybody who installs the system update, NOA said. Coming Virtual Console content available in the eShop will include the Game Boy games Super Mario Land, Alleyway and Radar Mission. New content will be added to the eShop on Thursdays. The system update will also give DSi and DSi XL users the ability to transfer most of their previously downloaded Nintendo DSiWare games to the 3DS, NOA said. Not becoming available Monday, however, is the previously announced short-form video service. That will follow “in the near future” via download of a free application that NOA said will enable 3DS users to view specially selected video content, including 3D movie trailers, comedy clips and music videos automatically received when the device’s SpotPass feature is activated. Separately, NOA said “there soon will be 25,000 locations” where 3DS users will be able to get free Wi-Fi access. As of Tuesday, a deal with real estate company Simon Property Group will provide 3DS owners with complimentary wireless connections at almost 200 Simon shopping malls in the U.S., NOA said. Device users can also access hotspots at more than 1,000 Best Buy stores and, through an expanded deal with AT&T, 3DS users will have access to almost 24,000 AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots, NOA said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a technical amendment to its regulations by revising the list of user fee airports to reflect the recent user fee airport designation for Dallas Love Field Municipal Airport, in Dallas, Texas. User fee airports are those airports which, while not qualifying for designation as international or landing rights airports, have been approved by the Commissioner of CBP to receive, for a fee, the services of CBP officers for the processing of aircraft entering the U.S., and the passengers and cargo of those aircraft.
Tribal carrier Gila River Telecom endorsed consultant Alexicon’s proposal to have broadband equipment categories included in high-cost loop support algorithms and to include middle-mile cost as a transmission cost (CD May 12 p11). The carrier said this in ex parte notices posted to the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation regime dockets. Gila River said about half of the residents on the reservation are unemployed and barely half have high school educations. “Approximately 84 percent of GRTI’s local telephone subscribers currently qualify for the Lifeline and Link Up programs, including 91 percent of GRTI’s elderly subscribers,” the group said. “Mobile wireless voice coverage is spotty in places through the Gila River Indian Community. In addition, 4G service is not available.” The telecom company said it’s delivering Internet service at a minimum speed of 1.5 Mbps for $52.90 per month. “The high cost of this service is due largely to GRTI’s high middle mile costs,” Gila River said. “The broadband adoption rate in the Gila River Indian Community is approximately 22 percent, which is higher than most other Tribal lands but significantly lower than the national average.”
Funding, jurisdiction and governance issues and state and local regulations are among the challenges of early deployment of regional 700 MHz public safety networks, state and local public safety officials told us. Many jurisdictions that received the initial 22 early deployment waivers granted by the FCC are proceeding on their own, initiating procurements, negotiating and implementing interoperability plans and participating in certification and compliance testing protocols, they said.
On May 26, 2011, the fiscal year 2012 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill was introduced in the House after being reported by the House Appropriations Committee. This bill would provide funding for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as other DHS agencies.
Nintendo of America is slashing the price of its DS Lite by $30 to $99.99 in the U.S., effective Sunday, in the latest pre-E3 price-cutting move by a videogame hardware manufacturer. NOA didn’t give a reason for the timing of the move, saying only the system “has never had a price drop” since shipping in June 2006. It had slashed the price of the Wii console by $50 to $149.99 as part of the introduction of a new hardware SKU it shipped May 15 (CED May 5 p12). Earlier this year, Sony Computer Entertainment America cut the price of the standard version of the PSP handheld system by $40 to $129.99 (CED Feb 28 p5).
GENEVA -- Some power line telecom gear already on the market and future development of industry specifications for systems using frequencies above 80 MHz may adversely affect a critically important aeronautical instrument landing system, or hobble broadcaster and scientific use in bands up to about 400 MHz, said participants Thursday at an ITU forum on the co-existence of power line telecom (PLT) systems and radiocommunication services. New high-data rate systems that use or may adversely affect frequencies in the HF, VHF, and UHF bands are being introduced into the market, they said.
The largest combination of radio stations in many years likely will be approved later in 2011 and perhaps with few FCC conditions, agency and industry officials predicted based on the Media Bureau review so far. Cumulus in March agreed to buy Citadel in a $2.4 billion deal to form a company with more than 550 radio stations in about 120 markets. Last week, the companies said the transaction should be approved and offered more reasons, which an opponent of media consolidation said sweeten the possible public interest benefits. The transaction and another deal for $500 million may spur a small renaissance in the previously moribund market for radio station mergers and acquisitions, a consultant predicted, although a broker isn’t so sure.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a technical amendment to its regulations by revising the list of user fee airports to reflect the recent user fee airport designation for Naples Municipal Airport, in Naples, Florida. User fee airports are those airports which, while not qualifying for designation as international or landing rights airports, have been approved by the Commissioner of CBP to receive, for a fee, the services of CBP officers for the processing of aircraft entering the U.S., and the passengers and cargo of those aircraft.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued an updated version of its fact sheet on ACE e-Manifest: Truck capabilities, including information on filing an e-Manifest and on the e-Manifest process and benefits.