A Journey to the Levant
While waiting for my train to arrive, I noticed a Tattoo in Hebrew behind her ear. Tattoos are not common in Japan, let alone visible ones.
I Just had to take a Photo, which she agreed to without hesitation.
Meaning of Tattoo – מופלא (Moofla) is: Wonderful, Exceptional, Mysterious.
Cisco has finally announced their pull out from the WiMAX business . Hardly surprising, as in the past two yeas, since Navini Networks acquisition, Cisco were not very successful with this new Wireless business.
Not sure if it was because the technology didn’t fit Cisco business, or just failure to execute. But, I can’t remember even one meaningful deployment from Navini (Cisco) .
The reason I am writing this post is to remind everyone that Alvarion was supposedly the first runner for Cisco’s WiMAX ambitions, when in the last minute (well, this is what newspapers preferred to portray), Navini was acquired. I am sure many people in Alvarion are happy today that it turned out this way.
As previously reported, Israeli Startup Altair Semiconductors was supposed to Supply chips to Willcom’s XGP network .
XGP was never a world-wide standard, but Willcom’s attempt to keep PHS alive. It now looks like XGP (or Advanced PHS) will not be deployed.
Willcom announced today their plan to file for bankruptcy (See Japan Times and NYT for more details) after a steady decline of their customer base.
I don’t know what kind of commitments Altair Semi received from Willcom, but I certainly hope their WiMAX and LTE business will be more successful.
I failed JLPT Level 2 test.
Now, it may seem something that one would not want to share on a blog or brag about. But, the thing is, I DID NOT STUDY AT ALL for the test. In the 9 months since I arrived to Japan I attended maybe 20 hours of formal Japanese lessons.
Considering the above, the results I got are quite impressive.
Kanji/Vocabulary – 38/100
Reading/Grammar – 80/200- Very surprising, considering I couldn’t really read the text
I am mostly proud of Listening test results: 64/100
As I was parking the car last night, the rain turned into sleet, which later that night turned to Snow.
Obviously, I went out early in the morning to take photos. Here they are:
In one of the photos you can see Mejiro (bird) on a tree
On the same day UQ WiMAX announced the installation of the 5000th base station , they also announced the availability of WiMAX Repeaters.
As any other wireless technology the biggest issue is Coverage. Or rather, how to provide the best coverage with lower costs. A repeater is a good solution to extend a cell (when more bandwidth is not needed).
A PDF from UQ [JP] shows 3 different repeaters and usage. Graphics are quite bad , but I’ll ignore it this time.
UQ WiMAX announced today [JP] installing the 5000th WiMAX Base Station.
Very impressive, but it will be more interesting to read about UQ making money than spending.
Last year’s report indicated 27,000 users , which can’t really justify installing 5000 base stations.
This was the second time I experienced the Japanese New Year, but this time it felt stronger.It may be related to the fact that now I actually live in Japan, while previously we were visitors.
Here are 3 photos of the traditional Japanese New Year Food:
All photos taken with Nikon D90, Nikkon 50mm f/1.8 Lense
I love my Kindle.
I read more, especially on business trips. I do all I can to carry less when I travel, so carrying a book always seems to me like a burden. With Kindle, I could eliminate the problem. Fixed (rather small) size and weight and can carry many books.
Yesterday, I was surprised to find that not all Kindle Books are available to me, since my kindle is associated to my Japanese address. I am thinking very hard, but still can’t find a reason.
If I can purchase the book (Hardcover) from Amazon and ship it to Japan, how come I can’t buy the Kindle version and receive it over a Wireless connection?
Alvarion’s CEO, Eran Gorev, publised a message to Alvarion Shareholders.
I feel compelled to share the message as I find it entertaining:
As you know, I assumed the role of President and CEO on December 7, 2009. After working in high tech for many years, I have come to admire Alvarion for both its technology and the business it has developed.
Message starts with “As you know”. Press release was in Sep. 2009 , while he joined as CEO on Dec. 7th. It would have been nice if he could publish this letter closer to the date he joined Alvarion. The second excerpt of the quote above is more interesting since it tries to do two things:
1) Show that Eran Gorev is Experienced (he is)
2) Alvarion has good technology and Business (mostly correct)
But, I just don’t like the way it was phrased. Does it mean that if one does not have the experience Eran has, it is difficult to appreciate Alvarion?
As we enter a new year, I want to take this opportunity to reiterate our commitment to creating long-term value for Alvarion shareholders. We will work with renewed energy to successfully capitalize on the opportunities and meet the challenges, with our dual focus on profitability and growth. We look forward to sharing our progress with you during the year.
No comments on this part. Just I wish he could write more:
Anyway, I think the next Earning Conference Call is going to be interesting.