April 27, 2005
SAT-Nav applications to proliferate
Very interesting story regarding the future launch of the Gallileo satellite navigation system - BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Sat-nav looks to smart ideas
Analysts believe the value of the Galileo-enhanced business - equipment and services - could be worth well in excess of 10 billion euros a year by 2020, as sat-nav functionality wheedles its way into every corner of modern life...
and this telling littel snippet:
Small companies... must wake up now because in four years, they will have to move their businesses in a new direction for Galileo - Christian Stammel, Galileo Masters
It covers an excellent synopsis of what it will mean for the consumer and what possible applications there will be for small and medium size businesses.
Posted by Paul Goodison at 03:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 11, 2004
Multiple SIM cards in one Mobile Phone
Multiple SIM cards in one Mobile Phone
Dina ponders:
...So each person would have to carry two SIM cards - and replace them as appropriate depending on whether they are making a personal call or an official call. Or carry two phones. And each person would have separate mobile phone numbers for personal and official calls.Makes no sense to me !
Makes me wonder whether there are any cell phones with two SIM card slots, without the phone having to be turned off each time you want to swap.
Totally agree. Would really like to have two SIMs in my phone but can only have one so I choose to use it with a work SIM in it. Ideally I could simply switch to my personal SIM and do so much more!!! As I commented on Dina's blog, Orange in the UK have a Line 2 option but this doesn't fulfil my needs. Does anyone know of any solutions?
Posted by Paul Goodison at 10:14 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
November 02, 2004
BT all in one handset
BT's all-in-one phone to debut next year - silicon.com
mobile handsets that can make mobile, internet and landline calls. The handsets will include Wi-Fi and traditional mobile technology, enabling users to make cheap calls by connecting to wireless hotspots when out and about or through their landlines with Bluetooth when at home
I had been predicting that this type of technology would make it mainstream for quite a while - better late than never. I am not entirely sure how these proposed BT handsets will work but I think the whole idea is generally a good one. Personally I would like to see my mobile phone switch to using a landline connection when I am in my house and reveert to mobile elsewhere...
Posted by Paul Goodison at 10:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 03, 2004
Text Auto-replies for the Masses
BBC NEWS | Magazine | 'Just text P-A-U-L to this five-digit number...'
I wonder whether this will catch on? The ability to allow the general public to make use of the technology to auto-reply to txt messages sounds interesting but outside of a business context I'm struggling to think of a use for it. Maybe I'm too old to be part of the txt generation? Thoughts anyone?
Posted by Paul Goodison at 08:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 09, 2003
Low Tech Video Phones
BBC NEWS | Technology | 'Low-tech' video phones fight back
While its always worth looking forward, sometimes its worth looking at what you have. Article from the Beeb on the use of existing analogue wired technology to make video calls. While it looks expensive, as the article says, if operators ensure that standards are not proprietary, then all will benefit.
Posted by Paul Goodison at 10:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 08, 2003
CCTV by Mobile
BBC NEWS | Technology | CCTV comes to mobile phones
A new security service hooks up private CCTV cameras to the net and sends a text message to a mobile if something moves.
Home owners can watch the live pictures from their mobile and alert the police if someone is attempting a break-in.
The images can be seen on standard GSM mobiles, instead of sophisticated third generation (3G) video phones.
I had been waiting to see something like this appear although I thought Orange were going to get there first with an affordable self installation kit. This is a more professionalised service rather than a DIY affair. Mind you having said that my browser doesn't seem to like their web pages for some reason. Perhaps the BBC artice is hammering their server?
CCTVsafe does look like an interesting solution to those of a secuirty concious nature.
Posted by Paul Goodison at 11:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 05, 2003
Use your mobile as the kitchen sink?
BBC NEWS | Technology | Mobiles 'to replace handheld PCs'
Gadget lovers could find that their mobile phone fulfils all their needs in the very near future.
So says David Levin, head of phone software firm Symbian, reviewing the firm's future prospects.
He said the falling cost of putting extras, such as cameras, into handsets would mean big changes for the consumer electronics market.
I think the vision is true. Whether Symbian lead it is another matter, especially given Motorola's decision to pull out of the Symbian partnership.
My (or rather my Wife's) new phone has a camera (BTW no one has suggested a good moblog approach :( )poyphonic ringtones and games. My colleague has an Orange SPV which gives him the PDA functionality, top games, a MP3 player (though not a camera) In an ideal world (and where I had more money!) I would like a mobile that does all of the above and more. A combination of phone PDA, Wifi synching and Internet connection (not just GPRS or 3G) and of course Bluetooth accessories like a headset. I'm never going to afford circa £500 though, so wait I must. Just as the operators will to work out how to make mre revenue from such products and making them mainstream
Posted by Paul Goodison at 10:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 29, 2003
Moblogging
Anyone recommend how I can go abut integrating moblogging into MT? I've just got a delightful camera phone (a Sagem MY X6) and I think it would be good to make use of it!
Ideas on a postcard or the comments section!
Thanks!
Posted by Paul Goodison at 09:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 26, 2003
Exploding Mobile Games
BBC NEWS | Technology | Mobile gaming 'set to explode'
This is good news for mobile phone companies, which have become increasingly desperate to find ways of getting more money from their subscribers.
They're not the only ones!
Good to see coverage of the Games week. We as a team are going to ECTS this week, on Friday and are also popping into the Playstation Experience. Anyone fancy meeting there in the ECTS bar?
Posted by Paul Goodison at 11:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 13, 2003
Mobile Content & The Semantic Web
Mobitopia - Tuesday, August 12, 2003
There's an interesting article on The Failure and Future of Mobile Content in Brighthand by Ted Ladd, in which he describes four popular myths about why he thinks it's failed so far, and where it's going in the future -
The "myths" are:
1. It's a technical problem
2. It's a management problem
3. It's an economics problem, or no cash post-crash
4. It's a bad experience
Now I'd argue with calling most of those myths, but the second half of the article is more interesting. Here he discusses the future of mobile content and describes four generations of mobile content
- First generation: Same but smaller
- Second generation: Alerts
- Third generation: Exclusively mobile
- Fourth generation: The Disappearance of Mobile Content
A breakdown of these generations is reasonably straightforward; the first generation was about trying to reproduce existing web information in a more managable format for smaller screens and limited input capabilities; the second is about using mobile devices as glorified pagers to alert people to content that could only easily be accessible from a desktop; the third is generating mobile specific information, things that are only really relevant to a mobile environment; and the fourth being where the difference between mobile and other environments has for the most part dissappeared.
What's going to help moving to the next generation?
One way that this conundrum might be resolved is to use proper semantic markup, XHTML and RDF for the content and CSS for the presentation layer. Danny Ayers has an example of how this approach would be useful for complex queries here, his example is "has anyone Dan Brickley knows blogged about IM recently?" This is the sort of query that'd be possible to evaluate manually but a nightmare programatically unless one had decent semantic data to work with.
And that Ladies and Gnetlemen is the magic of links. This being a human one that I kind of knew but hadn't made. Although RDF could be used by machines, it can also be used by other devices to communicate more effectively with humans...
Posted by Paul Goodison at 09:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Mini TV in your mobile!
Gizmodo : Sanyo's TV cellphone
First Samsung, then NEC, now Sanyo has a prototype of a cellphone with an integrated digital television tuner. The new phone has a 2.2-inch organic electroluminescent display, two built-in digital cameras, 128MB of internal memory, and we think (it's hard to tell from the translation) that it can function sort of like a TiVo and save up to 30 minutes of television programming.
Interesting idea. Not sure how practical though... I wonder if we will see this in the UK. Presumably it would be able to receive Freeview?
Posted by Paul Goodison at 08:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 08, 2003
3G Licenses, Innovation and Charm
BBC NEWS | Business | DoCoMo shows 3G pick-up
Seen as a pioneer in the mobile telephone industry, DoCoMo's success in getting customers to sign up to 3G services is being watched closely in Europe.
Mobile companies worldwide have spent huge sums on setting up ultra-rapid 3G services, which allow subscribers to surf the internet and send audio and video clips using their handsets.
But consumer appetite for the new services has been lukewarm so far, stirring fears that mobile operators may have difficulty recouping their investment.
ntl was at one time bidding for a 3G licence in the UK. One of the best decisions it took at the time was to withdraw. it would have been catastrophic, considering the price, the ability to innovate and the problems the UK 'new' entrant Hutchison have been having.
Personally I would really like to go and indulge myself in 3G but with prices still high (though reducing), the technology unstable, (low battery life, difficult to connect, etc) I think I shall have to wait.
What will no doubt prove more interesting is when one of the current incumbant operators enter the field. Particularly Orange as they are always innovative in their use of technology.
Posted by Paul Goodison at 10:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 05, 2003
L8R to formal language
BBC NEWS | UK | Txt means goodbye to 'hello'
Tracy Blacher, MSN marketing director, said: "What is interesting is the speed that language is being modified by the adoption of new technology."
Should we worry? Should we fret? Is a Clockwork Orange around the corner?
I adore language especially those rarely used words in the English language. While txt abounds we lose some of that subtlety, some of the complexity, the richness of the communication. To describe a full back's run into the line, jinking to a try as 'coruscating' (Stuart Barnes commentating on Sky Sports on Iain Balshaw) reminds me just how much this would cost us.
Maybe technology around the corner will counteract this trend. I hope so.
Posted by Paul Goodison at 12:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 04, 2003
Silly Pastimes
iWire: We don't evolve, we.. revolve
6) At all times remember that a MOB is just fun.
And people say I have strange hobbies...
Posted by Paul Goodison at 09:56 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 22, 2003
GPS and the Web
When Will We See Geeplogs? from "The Merging of GPS and the Web"
Cagle also talks about a new language to be submitted to the W3C, the GPSml markup language, which would be used to describe, routes between two locations. For more information about GPSml, you can visit this Chaeron Corporation webpage.
One means to encode routes is the GPSml markup language, to be submitted as a note to the W3C later this year. In this XML-based system, a GPSml document consists of one or more collections of three principal types: a waypoint, a route (a named collection of waypoints), or a track (which combines locations with a time coordinate).
One component of this waypoint would be an identifier which could be associated with a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).
With such a URI, you could effectively assign to that location an application that will run when the location is referenced in some manner (you get within five feet of that node, for instance). This application could be a Web service, retrieving contextual information about the location.
Of course, this kind of information and services could potentially be used by marketers.
Even without knowing anything about you, a marketer could read the identifier being transmitted to Web services giving GPS information for the device and develop a profile showing [your shopping habits.]
Finally, Cagle thinks that we'll soon see geeplogs (short for GPS-logs) through the use of the RSS specification."
[These geeplogs will contain] public GPS contexts that can be queried about a given area. [They] will be the GPS equivalents to blogs, in which a person could narrate a specific tour with his or her relevant commentary, possibly with photographs or video feeds.
This sounds really cool. Being able to provide information tailored to a location or provide information on a route via mark up language.
From a marketing perspective it gives all sorts of possibilities to offer goods and services relevant to that space and person within that space. If you tie this into other web services perhaps you could suggest nearby stores which sell woolly hats when its snowing?
My personal desire for this idea is to be able to provide more detailled information about a locality especially its history (and to a lesser extent tourist type info). It would make some experiences much richer for me. (Not all - real life doesn't always need augmenting!) It could also provide interesting service when you are travelling too.
Posted by Paul Goodison at 02:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 07, 2003
Improve your memory with a mobile phone
Gizmodo : Cellphones improve memory - but only for men
Cellphones improve memory - but only for men
Category: Cellphones
So there might actually be some positive benefits to getting exposed to the electromagnetic fields emitted by cellphones. In a study that almost seems like it could have been sponsored by the cellphone industry, researchers at Bradford University discovered that exposure to cellphone radiation actually improved short-term memory function -- but only in men.
You can hear it now, "Hello! Yes, I'm on my mobile. Yes. Trying to improve my memory!".
Shame I can't post using SMS or voicemail - I could do with improving my attention span.
Posted by Paul Goodison at 04:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 04, 2003
Study: Wi-Fi users still don't encrypt
What they found was that users checking their e-mail through unencrypted POP connections vastly outnumbered those using a VPN or another encrypted tunnel. Only three percent of e-mail downloads were encrypted on the first day of the conference, 12 percent on the second day. (The company says it counted all VPN or tunneled traffic as e-mail).
That means the other 88% could easily be intercepted by eavesdroppers using commonly-available tools, compromising both the e-mail and the user's passwords.
Additionally, 84 out of the 523 users monitored were configured to allow ad hoc networking, and 74 were configured to automatically connect to the access point with the strongest signal strength -- a default mode that could leave a laptop prey to a rogue access point.
This is very worrying. People need to understand the risks they run when they don't encryptusing wireless networks, esepcially if it takes off. We have had some instances of malicous use of wireless networks for bandwidth theft (i.e. leaching off of someone else's broadband connection) and I expect it is relatively easy to access their PCs etc as most access points are configured for networking rather than simply connection sharing.
I hope the new wireless encruption protocols are secure and perhaps more importnaly easy to use for unexperienced consumers than the current batch.
It is certainly a concern for any services I am involved in developing.
Posted by Paul Goodison at 11:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack