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Sierra Wireless Acquires Cradlepoint

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Congratulations to my new favorite tech gadget company Cradlepoint for today’s acquisition bySierra Wireless. Sierra Wireless expands their product offerings from wireless data cards and embedded modules which provide connectivity to mobile networks from PCs.

My Cradlepoint PHS-300 also called a “Personal Wi-Fi Hotspot” is used to connect my Nokia N95 GSM device to the faster EVDO Rev A network. Rev A uplink connection is a zippy 1.8 MBs, in contrast to the GSM carriers in the US who top out at 700 kbs. The N95’s Wi-Fi radio makes this solution possible. Many mobile devices are beginning to ship with a set of three radios: CDMA or GSM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It’s liberating to choose the best network for connectivity and have the compatibility problem solved by a Wi-Fi bridge. Adding mobility to the solution, the PHS-300 is battery-powered with a battery-life of 2 hours.

Cradlepoint PHS-300

Pat Phelan telecom distruptor and entrepreneur of CubicTelecom first alerted me to the Cradlepoint as the right solution for capturing and streaming video over US CDMA networks.

The deal is good news for Cradlepoint and good news for Sierra Wireless who now face stiff competition from Qualcomm’s Gobi in the embedded mobile broadband connectivity market. Cradlepoint is well positioned to continue innovating with SWIP’s resources and SWIR expands it’s product suite.

When asked about continued support of USB modems which compete with SWIR like the Novatel I own, Gary Oliverio, vp of marketing, said,

Our mission is to make sure we support as many handsets and modems as we can…we’ll be the Mobile Broadband Router division of SWIR, and will remain intact as an organization. Of course, we’ll continue to innovate with new clever products, features, and ideas!

The current list of supported cards and devices is as follows.

Compatible Cards

  • Sprint: Novatel U727, Novatel U720, Sierra 595U, Franklin CDU-550, Franklin CDU-680 & EX720-with adapter
  • Verizon: Pantech UM150, Novatel 720U, Sierra 595U & V740-with adapter
  • AT&T: AT&T USBConnect 881, Sierra AirCard 881U & Option GT Max 3.6 Express (with adapter)

Compatible Phones

  • Sprint: LG Musiq,Motorola RAZR V3c, Motorola RAZR2, Motorola Q (Not Q9c), Palm 700w, Palm 700p, Palm 755p, RIM Blackberry 8703e, RIM Blackberry 8830, Samsung A920, Samsung i830, Sanyo Katana 2, Sanyo M1
  • Verizon: LG VX7200, LG VX8000, Motorola RAZR V3c, Palm 700p, RIM Blackberry 8703e
  • AT&T: Motorola RAZR v3xx, Motorola Q v9h, Samsung SGH-A707, Samsung Blackjack

The PHS-300 was the perfect solution for increasing upload speeds by using the EVDO Rev A network and enhances the quality of streamed video as I produced during CTIA last week. The last remaining piece to the puzzle is use of an external mic. This solution is being addressed by Nokia and I’m hoping to report on it very soon.

Check out the press release for the details – Sierra Wireless Announces Acquisition of Cradlepoint, Inc. (pdf)

Sierra Wireless Acquires Cradlepoint

Published by:

Congratulations to my new favorite tech gadget company Cradlepoint for today’s acquisition bySierra Wireless. Sierra Wireless expands their product offerings from wireless data cards and embedded modules which provide connectivity to mobile networks from PCs.

My Cradlepoint PHS-300 also called a “Personal Wi-Fi Hotspot” is used to connect my Nokia N95 GSM device to the faster EVDO Rev A network. Rev A uplink connection is a zippy 1.8 MBs, in contrast to the GSM carriers in the US who top out at 700 kbs. The N95’s Wi-Fi radio makes this solution possible. Many mobile devices are beginning to ship with a set of three radios: CDMA or GSM, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It’s liberating to choose the best network for connectivity and have the compatibility problem solved by a Wi-Fi bridge. Adding mobility to the solution, the PHS-300 is battery-powered with a battery-life of 2 hours.

Cradlepoint PHS-300

Pat Phelan telecom distruptor and entrepreneur of CubicTelecom first alerted me to the Cradlepoint as the right solution for capturing and streaming video over US CDMA networks.

The deal is good news for Cradlepoint and good news for Sierra Wireless who now face stiff competition from Qualcomm’s Gobi in the embedded mobile broadband connectivity market. Cradlepoint is well positioned to continue innovating with SWIP’s resources and SWIR expands it’s product suite.

When asked about continued support of USB modems which compete with SWIR like the Novatel I own, Gary Oliverio, vp of marketing, said,

Our mission is to make sure we support as many handsets and modems as we can…we’ll be the Mobile Broadband Router division of SWIR, and will remain intact as an organization. Of course, we’ll continue to innovate with new clever products, features, and ideas!

The current list of supported cards and devices is as follows.

Compatible Cards

  • Sprint: Novatel U727, Novatel U720, Sierra 595U, Franklin CDU-550, Franklin CDU-680 & EX720-with adapter
  • Verizon: Pantech UM150, Novatel 720U, Sierra 595U & V740-with adapter
  • AT&T: AT&T USBConnect 881, Sierra AirCard 881U & Option GT Max 3.6 Express (with adapter)

Compatible Phones

  • Sprint: LG Musiq,Motorola RAZR V3c, Motorola RAZR2, Motorola Q (Not Q9c), Palm 700w, Palm 700p, Palm 755p, RIM Blackberry 8703e, RIM Blackberry 8830, Samsung A920, Samsung i830, Sanyo Katana 2, Sanyo M1
  • Verizon: LG VX7200, LG VX8000, Motorola RAZR V3c, Palm 700p, RIM Blackberry 8703e
  • AT&T: Motorola RAZR v3xx, Motorola Q v9h, Samsung SGH-A707, Samsung Blackjack

The PHS-300 was the perfect solution for increasing upload speeds by using the EVDO Rev A network and enhances the quality of streamed video as I produced during CTIA last week. The last remaining piece to the puzzle is use of an external mic. This solution is being addressed by Nokia and I’m hoping to report on it very soon.

Check out the press release for the details – Sierra Wireless Announces Acquisition of Cradlepoint, Inc. (pdf)

CTIA 2008: GoMo News on Wheels!

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Another CTIA has come and gone. What a great week! It’s been a great pleasure to work with Bena Roberts at GoMo News these last couple of months and bring GoMo News on Wheels! to life along with creating and launching GoMo’s new look in time for “the conference formerly known as 3GSM”. The new logo and site have been well received by GoMo’s readers and clients which is happy news.

For GoMo News on Wheels! we went from zero to a great production in one month. That’s astonishing. And it was hectic. We couldn’t have done it without the help of a number of people.

GoMo News on Wheels! was an ambitious undertaking. The idea required the right devices to capture quality video, software that could stream the video live and be fault tolerant in the inconsistent environment of the mobile network. We needed enough bandwidth to transfer video at 30 frames per second. And beyond this we planned to record interviews not the 30 to 60 second clips that most people record. In short, we pushed all the parts of the technology to it’s limits and beyond. And of course, we needed wheels.

What made GoMo News on Wheels! a success were our sponsors and technology providers. And I’d like to introduce you to them and reveal their heroic contributions.

First was Nokia. We put in a request with a very short response time for 3 to 5 devices adequate for capturing the videos. The newly minted Social Media Communications group, namely Charlie Schick and Ray Haddow responded quickly and I received 3 brand new N95 8GB-4s. The video quality is amazing and the automatic light and image adjustments made it possible to capture the SnapNow demo. I spoke with Mark Squires about the new team he leads and Nokia’s own social media production.

Next, we needed the software and service for streaming. I spoke to a couple of service providers, but Flixwagon stepped up immediately. They understood the production, our goals and shared my excitement and enthusiasm for putting the mobile industry in motion. To support us Flixwagon provided the SIMs we needed to access ATT 3G network. The whole Flixwagon team was amazingly responsive. Here are the highlights of their heroic efforts in support of GoMo News on Wheels!

  • Sarig Reichert traveled to Las Vegas just to ensure our successful capture of interviews
  • Xen Mendelsohn brought the production to the attention of the company and did lots of hand holding with me even when it was 11PM in Tel Aviv
  • Flixwagon’s developers went into overdrive to develop an updated client for us, and to producethe sexy hot event page for CTIA

That’s an amazing level of support from a tiny startup who is busy creating the bleeding edge solution for Social Media. You guys rock!

And then there was the late night technical service call to the RV by Cradlepoint’s Gary Olivero, founder and VP of Marketing. Gary wasn’t only gracious in the party atmosphere, but kind when responding to a user issue. I love this product and will expand on it’s capabilities in a future post. Gary was scheduled for an interview but Cradlepoint’s success at CTIA prevented us from finding a time to talk. Thanks, Gary!

 

We are thrilled to be supported by pioneering companies including: JumpTap, MCN, Smaato,Airwide Solutions and SnapNow.

Finally, GoMo News on Wheels! would never have been conceived had Paul Smith of mPulse not shared a meal with me following the Insiders by Dealmaker Media. Paul and mPulse put GoMo News “on Wheels.” Paul has been a source of inspiration, collaboration and humor when it was needed most. The RV was provided by mPulse, as well as the spark that launched GoMo News on Wheels!

Check out all the videos at http://www.flixwagon.com/cita/

CTIA 2008: GoMo News on Wheels!

Published by:

Another CTIA has come and gone. What a great week! It’s been a great pleasure to work with Bena Roberts at GoMo News these last couple of months and bring GoMo News on Wheels! to life along with creating and launching GoMo’s new look in time for “the conference formerly known as 3GSM”. The new logo and site have been well received by GoMo’s readers and clients which is happy news.

For GoMo News on Wheels! we went from zero to a great production in one month. That’s astonishing. And it was hectic. We couldn’t have done it without the help of a number of people.

GoMo News on Wheels! was an ambitious undertaking. The idea required the right devices to capture quality video, software that could stream the video live and be fault tolerant in the inconsistent environment of the mobile network. We needed enough bandwidth to transfer video at 30 frames per second. And beyond this we planned to record interviews not the 30 to 60 second clips that most people record. In short, we pushed all the parts of the technology to it’s limits and beyond. And of course, we needed wheels.

What made GoMo News on Wheels! a success were our sponsors and technology providers. And I’d like to introduce you to them and reveal their heroic contributions.

First was Nokia. We put in a request with a very short response time for 3 to 5 devices adequate for capturing the videos. The newly minted Social Media Communications group, namely Charlie Schick and Ray Haddow responded quickly and I received 3 brand new N95 8GB-4s. The video quality is amazing and the automatic light and image adjustments made it possible to capture the SnapNow demo. I spoke with Mark Squires about the new team he leads and Nokia’s own social media production.

Next, we needed the software and service for streaming. I spoke to a couple of service providers, but Flixwagon stepped up immediately. They understood the production, our goals and shared my excitement and enthusiasm for putting the mobile industry in motion. To support us Flixwagon provided the SIMs we needed to access ATT 3G network. The whole Flixwagon team was amazingly responsive. Here are the highlights of their heroic efforts in support of GoMo News on Wheels!

  • Sarig Reichert traveled to Las Vegas just to ensure our successful capture of interviews
  • Xen Mendelsohn brought the production to the attention of the company and did lots of hand holding with me even when it was 11PM in Tel Aviv
  • Flixwagon’s developers went into overdrive to develop an updated client for us, and to producethe sexy hot event page for CTIA

That’s an amazing level of support from a tiny startup who is busy creating the bleeding edge solution for Social Media. You guys rock!

And then there was the late night technical service call to the RV by Cradlepoint’s Gary Olivero, founder and VP of Marketing. Gary wasn’t only gracious in the party atmosphere, but kind when responding to a user issue. I love this product and will expand on it’s capabilities in a future post. Gary was scheduled for an interview but Cradlepoint’s success at CTIA prevented us from finding a time to talk. Thanks, Gary!

 

We are thrilled to be supported by pioneering companies including: JumpTap, MCN, Smaato,Airwide Solutions and SnapNow.

Finally, GoMo News on Wheels! would never have been conceived had Paul Smith of mPulse not shared a meal with me following the Insiders by Dealmaker Media. Paul and mPulse put GoMo News “on Wheels.” Paul has been a source of inspiration, collaboration and humor when it was needed most. The RV was provided by mPulse, as well as the spark that launched GoMo News on Wheels!

CTIA 2008 Roundtable with Mobile Messaging 2.0

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Some may think that GoMo News on Wheels! would be enough activity for one conference, but who could resist participation with a talented group of mobilists and colleagues.  Not me.

Tuesday April 1st I’ll join a few of the Mobile Messaging 2.0 bloggers to lead a Roundtable on the topic:

Web 2.0 comes to Handsets — New Issues and Upside for Monetizing the Mobile Web

Below is a sampling of the participants involved in discussing mobile advertising.   Read more about the event at Mobile Messaging 2.0.
BREAKOUT GROUP FACILITATORS:

Debi Jones, Founder of MobileJones and Managing Editor: Mobile Messaging 2.0, US Editor: GoMo News
Paul Ruppert, Founder, Global Point View Ltd, and contributor to industry blog, Mobile Messaging 2.0
Oliver Starr, Editor-in-Chief GTDTimes and Founding Editor Mobile Crunch
Peggy Anne Salz, Publisher and Analyst, msearchgroove.com

ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS AS OF 3.25.08 –

Steve Bratt, CEO, W3C (World Wide Web Consortium)
Kaj Hagros, VP of Market Development, Airwide Solutions
Dom Tolli, VP New Services, Virgin Mobile *
Laura Marriott, President of the Mobile Marketing Association
John Styers, CEO of Mobilco, former MD for Sprint Media Networks
Nick Lane, Informa
Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Reporter
Mickey Alam Khan, Mobile Marketer
Andy Miller, CEO, Quattro Wireless
DeWayne A. Nelon, CEO, Avot Media
Rob Adler, CEO, Go2Media
Pared Reitzen, CEO Mobile Storm
Bob Bilbruck, MD, Mobiltain
Ameen Ahmad, VP, SnapTell
Darlene McNeill, Founder of DarlaMack.com and contributor at Mobile Messaging 2.0
Linda Barrabee, Yankee Group
Monica Allevan, Wireless Week
Jack Philbin, Vibes Media President and Co-founder
Jonathan Steuer, VP & GM of Media/Entertainment and Technology of Inococulture
Johan Van Mielo, Mobilityminded
Alli Seo, Aving
Li Coffee, Aving
Debra Wayne, TelecomWeb
Glenn Kiladis, Digit Wireless
Alice Cuneo, Advertising Age
John Puterbaugh, Nellymoser
Tony Rizzo, 451 Group*
James Brehm, Frost & Sullivan*

* new additions

CTIA 2008 with Social Media Sizzle

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In less than a week, CTIA 2008 kicks off in Las Vegas. The conference is self-proclaimed as the largest wireless conference in the world. Some might argue that “the conference formally known as 3GSM” is bigger. I’m not sure. What I can say for sure is that the big boys from the wireless industry are getting together in the desert, and this uptight overly formalized event needs a big dose of Social Media.

CTIA is an organization primarily representing the America’s carriers by a bevy of lobbyists and lawyers. It isn’t the free wheeling environment of SXSW, and certainly not the event where social media practitioners preach to the converted. All of which I believe makes it the idea event to go all out with social media and indy production. So, next week in Las Vegas Bena Roberts, founder and chief editor of the awesome blog GoMo News and I, as the newly appointed US Editor for GoMo will bring a compelling social media experience to the conference.

We kick off with an invitation only party Sunday night, March 30th at the Hard Rock Cafe to unveil our mobile video broadcast studio. An RV brightly marked will cruise up to the Las Vegas Conference Center and pick up our interviewees who will be whisked away from the saturated towers serving the CC. We’ll set up to stream from the RV and go live with a variety of pioneering people and innovative companies along side the big brands that fuel mobile content and services.

Watch GoMo News for all the up to date information on where and how to watch the broadcasts. The Sprint EDVO Rev. A network with it’s 1.8MB upload capability will provide the bandwidth we need and a couple of Nokia N95s will be the video capture devices. How are we using N95s on a CDMA network? I’ll reveal that during the week. In addition, Flixwagon is a sponsor of GoMo News on Wheels! and will be used as the service to stream from the device, store the videos and alert Twitterfollowers or Flixwagon fans that a new video is LIVE.

The interviews and product demos are designed to be informative and conversational. Our audience will be invited to join in with their own questions through chat during the broadcast. We want to encourage respectful participation and exchange. Ask your own questions, and I’ll pass along as many as I can. As a preview, Tuesday, April 1st between 9:15 and 9:30 AM I’m interviewing Louis Libin, who serves as Chairman, Political Conventions Communications Committee. The Committee is responsible for coordinating all the wireless users for the Democratic and Republican Presidentials Conventions and events surrounding the conventions. The users include the broadcasters, Law Enforcement, the organizing committees and others.

We start March 30th approximately 9PM Mountain Daylight Time, MDT, (GMT -7). See you there.

We are grateful to GoMo News on Wheels! sponsors: Flixwagon, mPulse, MCN, and Smaato. And to the GoMo News Blender sponsor JumpTap.

CTIA 2008 with Social Media Sizzle

Published by:

In less than a week, CTIA 2008 kicks off in Las Vegas. The conference is self-proclaimed as the largest wireless conference in the world. Some might argue that “the conference formally known as 3GSM” is bigger. I’m not sure. What I can say for sure is that the big boys from the wireless industry are getting together in the desert, and this uptight overly formalized event needs a big dose of Social Media.

CTIA is an organization primarily representing the America’s carriers by a bevy of lobbyists and lawyers. It isn’t the free wheeling environment of SXSW, and certainly not the event where social media practitioners preach to the converted. All of which I believe makes it the idea event to go all out with social media and indy production. So, next week in Las Vegas Bena Roberts, founder and chief editor of the awesome blog GoMo News and I, as the newly appointed US Editor for GoMo will bring a compelling social media experience to the conference.

We kick off with an invitation only party Sunday night, March 30th at the Hard Rock Cafe to unveil our mobile video broadcast studio. An RV brightly marked will cruise up to the Las Vegas Conference Center and pick up our interviewees who will be whisked away from the saturated towers serving the CC. We’ll set up to stream from the RV and go live with a variety of pioneering people and innovative companies along side the big brands that fuel mobile content and services.

Watch GoMo News for all the up to date information on where and how to watch the broadcasts. The Sprint EDVO Rev. A network with it’s 1.8MB upload capability will provide the bandwidth we need and a couple of Nokia N95s will be the video capture devices. How are we using N95s on a CDMA network? I’ll reveal that during the week. In addition, Flixwagon is a sponsor of GoMo News on Wheels! and will be used as the service to stream from the device, store the videos and alert Twitterfollowers or Flixwagon fans that a new video is LIVE.

The interviews and product demos are designed to be informative and conversational. Our audience will be invited to join in with their own questions through chat during the broadcast. We want to encourage respectful participation and exchange. Ask your own questions, and I’ll pass along as many as I can. As a preview, Tuesday, April 1st between 9:15 and 9:30 AM I’m interviewing Louis Libin, who serves as Chairman, Political Conventions Communications Committee. The Committee is responsible for coordinating all the wireless users for the Democratic and Republican Presidentials Conventions and events surrounding the conventions. The users include the broadcasters, Law Enforcement, the organizing committees and others.

We start March 30th approximately 9PM Mountain Daylight Time, MDT, (GMT -7). See you there.

We are grateful to GoMo News on Wheels! sponsors: Flixwagon, mPulse, MCN, and Smaato. And to the GoMo News Blender sponsor JumpTap.

CTIA 2008 with Social Media Sizzle

Published by:

In less than a week, CTIA 2008 kicks off in Las Vegas. The conference is self-proclaimed as the largest wireless conference in the world. Some might argue that “the conference formally known as 3GSM” is bigger. I’m not sure. What I can say for sure is that the big boys from the wireless industry are getting together in the desert, and this uptight overly formalized event needs a big dose of Social Media.

CTIA is an organization primarily representing the America’s carriers by a bevy of lobbyists and lawyers. It isn’t the free wheeling environment of SXSW, and certainly not the event where social media practitioners preach to the converted. All of which I believe makes it the idea event to go all out with social media and indy production. So, next week in Las Vegas Bena Roberts, founder and chief editor of the awesome blog GoMo News and I, as the newly appointed US Editor for GoMo will bring a compelling social media experience to the conference.

We kick off with an invitation only party Sunday night, March 30th at the Hard Rock Cafe to unveil our mobile video broadcast studio. An RV brightly marked will cruise up to the Las Vegas Conference Center and pick up our interviewees who will be whisked away from the saturated towers serving the CC. We’ll set up to stream from the RV and go live with a variety of pioneering people and innovative companies along side the big brands that fuel mobile content and services.

Watch GoMo News for all the up to date information on where and how to watch the broadcasts. The Sprint EDVO Rev. A network with it’s 1.8MB upload capability will provide the bandwidth we need and a couple of Nokia N95s will be the video capture devices. How are we using N95s on a CDMA network? I’ll reveal that during the week. In addition, Flixwagon is a sponsor of GoMo News on Wheels! and will be used as the service to stream from the device, store the videos and alert Twitterfollowers or Flixwagon fans that a new video is LIVE.

The interviews and product demos are designed to be informative and conversational. Our audience will be invited to join in with their own questions through chat during the broadcast. We want to encourage respectful participation and exchange. Ask your own questions, and I’ll pass along as many as I can. As a preview, Tuesday, April 1st between 9:15 and 9:30 AM I’m interviewing Louis Libin, who serves as Chairman, Political Conventions Communications Committee. The Committee is responsible for coordinating all the wireless users for the Democratic and Republican Presidentials Conventions and events surrounding the conventions. The users include the broadcasters, Law Enforcement, the organizing committees and others.

We start March 30th approximately 9PM Mountain Daylight Time, MDT, (GMT -7). See you there.

We are grateful to GoMo News on Wheels! sponsors: Flixwagon, mPulse, MCN, and Smaato. And to the GoMo News Blender sponsor JumpTap.

CTIA 2008 with Social Media Sizzle

Published by:

In less than a week, CTIA 2008 kicks off in Las Vegas. The conference is self-proclaimed as the largest wireless conference in the world. Some might argue that “the conference formally known as 3GSM” is bigger. I’m not sure. What I can say for sure is that the big boys from the wireless industry are getting together in the desert, and this uptight overly formalized event needs a big dose of Social Media.

CTIA is an organization primarily representing the America’s carriers by a bevy of lobbyists and lawyers. It isn’t the free wheeling environment of SXSW, and certainly not the event where social media practitioners preach to the converted. All of which I believe makes it the idea event to go all out with social media and indy production. So, next week in Las Vegas Bena Roberts, founder and chief editor of the awesome blog GoMo News and I, as the newly appointed US Editor for GoMo will bring a compelling social media experience to the conference.

We kick off with an invitation only party Sunday night, March 30th at the Hard Rock Cafe to unveil our mobile video broadcast studio. An RV brightly marked will cruise up to the Las Vegas Conference Center and pick up our interviewees who will be whisked away from the saturated towers serving the CC. We’ll set up to stream from the RV and go live with a variety of pioneering people and innovative companies along side the big brands that fuel mobile content and services.

Watch GoMo News for all the up to date information on where and how to watch the broadcasts. The Sprint EDVO Rev. A network with it’s 1.8MB upload capability will provide the bandwidth we need and a couple of Nokia N95s will be the video capture devices. How are we using N95s on a CDMA network? I’ll reveal that during the week. In addition, Flixwagon is a sponsor of GoMo News on Wheels! and will be used as the service to stream from the device, store the videos and alert Twitterfollowers or Flixwagon fans that a new video is LIVE.

The interviews and product demos are designed to be informative and conversational. Our audience will be invited to join in with their own questions through chat during the broadcast. We want to encourage respectful participation and exchange. Ask your own questions, and I’ll pass along as many as I can. As a preview, Tuesday, April 1st between 9:15 and 9:30 AM I’m interviewing Louis Libin, who serves as Chairman, Political Conventions Communications Committee. The Committee is responsible for coordinating all the wireless users for the Democratic and Republican Presidentials Conventions and events surrounding the conventions. The users include the broadcasters, Law Enforcement, the organizing committees and others.

We start March 30th approximately 9PM Mountain Daylight Time, MDT, (GMT -7). See you there.

We are grateful to GoMo News on Wheels! sponsors: Flixwagon, mPulse, MCN, and Smaato. And to the GoMo News Blender sponsor JumpTap.