N-Gage Revisted

This weekend, I almost succumbed to my lingering desire for a Nokia N-Gage and bought one; however, I didn't -- I'm stuck to which one I should buy (plus, I don't really need another phone). The QD has better usability, looks better, but lacks Tri-Band (I couldn't use it in the States) capability ... if the QD would have been Tri-Band, too, I would have bought it long ago.

Anyway, I'm not a big gamer -- but I DO play games a few online games -- My father is a Black Hawk Down & Joint Operations maniac (Yes, my father, you heard right). I haven't paid for one of these games -- as they generally come out in the states before Europe, my father ships them out to me ... he calls me on Skype to play all of the time. As I said, while not a big gamer, it's fun to occassionally gut my father with a K-Bar or shoot him in the head -- we have a grand time taunting each other over Skype as we play (Where are you you little shit he says....). When we're on the same team, we coordinate our attacks -- straight forward and good stuff -- opposite sides of the world, but in virutal space, right there duking it out with the best of them side by side ... Hold on, this is going somewhere ...

Back to the N-Gage -- the device has been knocked, but it's starting to get its due props because of games like Pathway to Glory and its online gaming capabilities. If I were the Marketing Director at N-Gage -- I'd go full throttle on online/multi-player gaming over GPRS/EDGE & Bluetooth (Ad-Hoc Gaming). This is where the device excels over other dedicated gaming consoles ... you won't catch me playing games at home against the computer, but put me against other humans -- be it silly games like Sumo Volleyball or Black Hawk Down, and I'm down to waste a few minutes of my valuable time -- Nokia, if you're listening .... there is your niche, your beachhead -- what are you waiting for ... ???

Week In Review

This week was a rather dull one ... just a few comments on how Skype would make a killer app on smart-phones; how I am basically the last person on the planet to read Crossing the Chasm. As a side note, if you're interested in this topic, my colleague will be discussing such issues [among others] in his blog, The Marketing Booth, which he has just set up -- check it out. And speaking of him, I'm still whopp'n him in Sumo Volleyball 42 - 15 .... is there anyone!?!

Additionally, I briefly dropped some news about Wikipedia's rapid growth (not to mention, I should have included something about the growing popularity of screencasting - which is what I'm gonna learn next) and the screencasting software to help you do it.

Finally, I discussed the growth of Jellingspot -- which I think I'll expound on a bit next week from a "what it can do" view-point.

And I shouldn't miss, the Czech geeks (F5 if it doesn't load up the first time) who seem to be giving New York and Milan a run for their money on the modeling front. Prague always has had its fair share of models. I'm just a bit peeved I wasn't invited to take part in the photo taking, but then again, kinda seems like it was a sausage fest ;-)

Movie Previews Coming to Your Phone...

The deal is done, and Jellingspot Data Server will be rolling out to Palace Cinemas soon in Prague, as another Jellingspot enabled store in our Novy Smichov pilot project. We're pretty stoked, as this will basically be our first commerical implementation where movie previews will be sent over Bluetooth to Jellingspot client enabled phones. In addition to getting movie previews for free, Jellingspot users will be able to download the cinemas weekly movie schedule (and they can take it with them, or send it via MMS/SMS to their friends, etc...), movie screen shots, ads popcorn/drinks, etc.... some good stuff.

What is even cooler, is that the existing Jellingspot locations will host some of each other's content -- so, when you're eating at Gyros-Gr.Com, you can watch movie previews from Palace Cinemas ... kinda of an Ad-Hoc internet of sorts. What we may even end up doing is connecting these servers via Wi-Fi, so that you can play multi-player games on Jellingspot, against people at other Jellingspot locations -- we plan it, but it's way down the line.

Right now, we're fighting with getting our solution on Windows still -- the Bluetooth stack development we're doing is kicking our butts -- it's working, but we're trying to hunt down a major bug -- we simply can't release a Windows version until it's squashed. Wish us luck ...

Yes, we've been quiet lately ... but as Gandalf noted,"It's the deep breath before the plunge." Here is a splash screen (to be added) to a newer version of the Jellingspot client eventually coming out -- our little viking (no name yet) will be part of our "logo" -- a new webpage is shortly behind .... stay tuned!

And, while I'm involved in Jellingspot -- I have no problem mentioning that a somewhat "near" competitor, Hypertag, has gotten some good press lately, too... We look forward to going head-2-head against them, once our invasion of England begings ... stay tuned!

Google Ads (Bluetooth, Symbian, Wi-Fi)

Aaaah, I have joined the ranks of the Google Bloggers who thrive in the selfish spirit of Capitalism! By this, I mean I have added Google Ads (as you can see to the right: Bluetooth, Symbian, Wi-Fi, Ringtones, Phones) to my Blog -- it's all about the dollah, dollah billz ya'll! ;-) In all seriousness, why not -- I might find something cool while reading my own blog .... I just hope the current ads which are funky go away soon, and I get "spidered" ads (Bluetooth, Symbian) on my site soon!

Distributive Knowledge & Wikipedia

Most of you should be familiar with Wikipedia ... it's by far one of the more interesting "community" efforts going on in the internet world. Basically, it's an online encyclopedia which anybody can add to (which is cool, as you will see) and delete from (which can be bad, as you will see). In short, it can be a Ph.D student adding some important information about the mems of a cell, or an intellectual Dilettant flexing their stupidity and ruining the hardwork of others (ok... you can kinda see my attitude toward Wikipedia in someways, but I'm not bitter :-X) ... whatever the case ...

There is a cool screencast presentation making its way around the internet about how far Wikipedia has come, with using an ultra specific example of Wikipedia's Heavy metal umlaut page.

Is "distributive" knowledge "more powerful" than that of specialists in the field? We hear the hots on distributive computing (and its power), but do human brains work in the same manner? You make the call ...

Str8 Skype'N, Dawg...

It turns out that I was a "late bloomer" on the Skype tip (yeah, I know, I'm supposed to know what's up, right?) ... I have been using it for about 6 months, while others I know much longer (when did Skype launch its first version, anyway?). Whatever the case, I dropped a whole 10 Euros for 10 HOURS of PC-to-Phone talk time (to my family back in the states) .... it's funny, as I can talk for 1.7 cents per minute, while I'm charged probably a tad more if I want to call my next door neighbor in Prague (via the nortorious Cesky Telcom, the monopoly of monopolies). Too bad I can't use Skype to PC here (prices for calling Czech hardlines aren't bad, but mobile phones shoot up to almost 20 cents per minute) ... Whatever the case, I'm gonna invest into a wireless version of a Skype handset for my house when I can find one here (one day) ....

I also noticed, on the wireless front, that Skype has a Pocket PC version of their software -- I was so stoked, until I tried installing it. It is for PPC 2003, while I'm running 2002 on my F-S LOOX (yeah, yeah, read the webpage better). I was set to go Skype full-time .... I keep sending Skype feedback to let them know they REALLY need to get their client software onto the Symbian platform -- just imagine Skype on your Symbian phone ... with an unlimited data plan (from one of the 2 (out of 3) carriers in the CZ who offer such a plan, I'd be there) ... Skyping for life ... it'd cut down my other costs -- which is why its not gonna happen anytime soon (come on Skype, I'd get it ported -- just open up a community so people can make their own clients like Jabber does in the IM market!).

You'd only add a 100 million more clients over night ....

Cliche Reading & Upselling Smartphones...

So, this weekend I started reading Crossing the Chasm, thanks to the advice of my colleague. The book has been around a while, and is a staple of the IT/Marketing community -- just the same, the book rocks. Highly recommend if you want a clear picture of the market segments and technology adopation life-cycle divisions in the IT industry ... who jumps on the bandwagon first (innovators & early adaptors), where the big cash is (early & late majority), and who simply to avoid like the plague (laggards) .... good stuff .... I'm probably one of the last people on the planet to read it, but just the same .... which leads me to ....



Upselling to Smartphones .... I was in my carrier's store over the weekend looking at their new offerings (minus the Nokia 9500 ... seems like the same phones from 2 years ago). I asked the sales assistant about the Nokia 9500, "What can this phone do?" Now, don't be afraid, I'm the phone master :-) ... but, I wanted to see what she told me. She simply said, "It has 802.11b and Bluetooth, plus a keyboard for easy typing...." -- that was it. Wow, I was sold. There seems to be NO training of sales assistants in such stores (don't worry, in the US, it's even worse -- when I asked "Which phones have Symbian on them, the salesguy just gave me a blank stare -- not having a clue).

Which is my point -- there seems to be NO effort on the part of the carrier to up-sell to Symbian/Smartphone phones .... for many of the executives, it's all about voice ... these old timers should be regulated to the dust bin of history, and not "leading" wireless companies. I *do* understand voice is their main money maker, but once the market is saturated (as it is in most countries already), you can't really "earn" more -- you only have 24hrs a day, so in theory, nobody can talk MORE than this (plus, with a population limit, you can generally go over that).... but with DATA --- Ooh, those beautiful 1s and 0s clicking off and on -- you can really rack things up. But, what data is gonna be racked up on an old Nokia monochrome screen with a "GPRS" connection? Really, it's silly ... the carriers should be pushing Symbian/Smartphones like mad -- a nice (and simple) marketing scam might be:

"Sign up for Package XYZ (voice minutes), PLUS GPRS/EDGE packages, and get this super duper Nokia 6630 or 9500 for price XYZ -- with these phones, you can DO: A B C D E F G .... simple. But, it's as if they make no effort at all.

The key to driving data services is first having people in the market who can USE them ... sure, if you don't have applications or services, nobody can use them .... however, if you "build it" (ie... customer base), they will come (content providers) .... it all seems logical to me ... which is why I probably don't run a carrier.

Week In Review

Well, this week was rather boring -- I didn't enlighten much (good comments by Bryan, though) ... I set up the Blog, dished out some URLs to some sexy Czech (up and coming) models, let you in on the Sumo Volleyball secret, and briefly discussed the N-Gage and how it was short-changed by the media and by its own marketing team. The rumor mill churned that Nokia was closing the N-Gage shop, but now Nokia has come out and REJECTED that rumor and said it stands fully behind the N-Gage platform (You go Nokia!). Great stuf ....

We were also introduced to an article by theFeature's Mike Masnick about Mobile Marketing, but pointed out how non-carrier based solutions are short-changed. In the coming weeks, without too much shameless self-promotion, I'm going to attack this topic a bit more -- so, stand by... Have a good weekend, see you (maybe) at the hospoda!

P.S. Ooh, I added a Moblog link, too -- check the right-side menu...

Moblog Added...

On the side menu of my blog, you'll see a new link to my "Moblog" -- here, I will occassionally post pics from my camera phone (but my P900 sucks -- it refuses to send email to the blog email address -- throws some error -- I have to revert back to the Nokia 7650, which I'm too lazy to do -- so, if anybody sends the first pic, go for it -- I'll test it tomorrow my time -- time to sleep). As you can see, all you have to do is send a pic from your phone, via email, to the following email address: davidstennett.blog1@tamw.com -- then, it should show up on my moblog at davidstennett.textamerica.com. I'll leave it open, unless some morons start spamming it with vular photos (hot chick pics welcome, but they must be original -- and taken from a camera phone -- no stupid digital cam pics or stealing porn off the net) ... in that case, I'll moderate it. So, post away ...

It generally works like this:

Text in subject line will be shown like the "title" of the pic (above the pic) ... any text in the body will go below ... but, you can write as much as you want ...

Go for it!

Sumo Volleyball Update...

I'm now currently leading the series against my colleague David (too many Davids, I know) ... 24 wins to 11 loses .... who wants some! :-)

Mobile Marketing Revisited

Yesterday, I was not able to post as I was (and still am) suffering from some kinda bug in the gut -- my colleague said that I must have contracted salmonella from the tomatos I had for lunch yesterday (I HATE tomatos, but I ate 2 yesterday just to force myself to try them) .... all joking aside, I slept for 14 hours yesterday (after I got home from work), and had an "interesting" night with the cold shakes, a bout with the porcelain god, and dehydration -- god I love mysterious sickness! I feel much bettr now, though ... I know you wanted all of these details.... ;-)

Anyway, over on the theFeature.com the other day, resident contributor Mike Masnick was discussing Mobile Advertising, a theme I'm all too familar with being involved in the field myself -- it's worth reading, to be sure.

I don't want to comment on this topic too much, simply because I haven't been impressed with all the discussion around this topic, as it generally hovers around using carriers, tyrants whom I normally don't want to interact with unless it's vitally important. Much of the talk around mobile advertising centers around either SPAM SMS or LBS (Location-Based Services) ... the former being not very effective (hence its limited use), and the latter simply not up to speed yet (and costly for those who want to use it). The talk of non-carrier based solutions, like here, here, here, or here are almost never mentioned (a conspiracy, or just ignorance?).

Since I've put my money and mouth on the latter (non-carrier based solution), I don't think it's fair for me to discuss the carrier based solutions fairly (I have a bad taste in my mouth from dealing with carriers in the past, regarding an IM solution my company used to sell) ... whatever the case, it's an area that is going to heat up quick -- but, as I noted, watch how the non-carrier based solutions are ignored ... that will be changing soon...

Sumo Volleyball & Nokia N-Gage

If you're an ICQ user, you'll occassionally notice an ad for "Sumo Vollyball" which will let you square off head to head (or fatbody to fatbody) in a ruthless match of gravity defying matrix like volleyball. There is no better way to start a Monday morning than by starting it off playing this fine multi-player game. This morning, I dominated my colleague David, but he's still leading the series by a comfy margin. I'll keep you posted ....

Which brings me to multi-player gaming (for mobile phones)... last week saw all news releated sites mentino that Nokia's N-Gage had dropped off UK Retail Charts organisation ELSPA list of what's selling hot .... it's selling so bad, I guess, that it's almost a no-show. Well, this isn't surprising ... considering the first N-Gage REALLY took a beating (some of its criticism was justifed, while other parts were not). Look, the first N-Gage was a STEAL as a phone -- Symbian Series 60, with Bluetooth (which supported the headset profile among others) MMC card slot, MP3 player, Tri-Band (works pretty much everywhere in the GSM world) ... from a phone perspective, it was great. Of course, everybody knows that sidetalking killed the first version, along with a lot of undeserved bad press, but the second N-Gage QD fixed most of those problems (but it removed the MP3 Player software and more importantly for me, the Tri-Band support) ... but kept much of the rest of the baby as it threw out dirty bathwater. However, pundits still attacked it ...



Sure, some other mobile game consoles are better at gaming, but what gaming pundits failed to realize, was that the N-Gage WAS (and still is) a revolution -- its multi-player capabilites via Bluetooth or online (next version REALLY needs to support EDGE and maybe "3G", if they come out with a 3rd one -- which I hope they do) GPRS connection was awsome. Forming ad-hoc Bluetooth gaming circles rocks the house, plus playing online is cool -- Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft are just starting to get the hint on their normal gaming consoles -- Nokia really struck the first blow.

Whatever the case -- this subject has been beaten to death already. See you on Sumo Volleyball (I'm user "dawggy")...

Where is my crystal ball...?

In 2003, I was making some crazy predictions about Java on the wireless front. While most people didn't even have an opinion about mobile Java, there were some calling it DEAD back in 2002-2003 .... well, in 2003 I was interviewed about Java (J2ME) on the wireless front by the ultra cool tech investigator Joachim Bamrud for theFeature.com ... you can see what I had to spray back in 2003:

Java Time!

It seems, my prediction has come (pretty much) true ... Java has grown up a bit (however, it's still not where it *should* be) ... I know in North America, ringtones and wall paper still make the most, but Java games are starting to do well ...

One thing about my comments, is that it's hard for them to be wrong since I didn't give specific numbers on WHERE the technology should be -- god I'm smart. I know, that if it weren't for the carriers, it would be higher, but only now are they trying to open up other revenue streams outside of voice and SMS (in Europe) ... while N. America is far behind (generally) in the wireless race, they've caught up fast and I think will PASS slow Europe to the data cruch this year ... time will tell!

Setting up the Blogggggggg........

Well, I have held back for a while starting a blog, but the amount of mis-information and plain'ol stupidity about technology in general is driving me nutz (most of it is not from Bloggers -- more like "mainstream media" -- you know, the dorks who majored in "Journalism" (wooohhhhhh) and now "telling us" what's "hot" and "what's the future." jEsUs .... somebody has to stop them! Bloggers of the World: Unite! This is my small part in the guerrilla campaign against those tech 'tards.

This blog will be focused on dishing out dirt (and I hope sound information) about technological happenings in the world, with a specific emphasis on what's going on in Europe (and to some extent, what's going on in the Czech Republic -- Prague -- where I'm currently stationed). My main interests are OOP (Java, .NET, etc...), wireless technologies (GSM, 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, RFID, Point Servers, LBSs, etc...), general technologies (hardware, software), and their application to society in general (kinda like the "Philosophy of Technology" -- how they distort, help, or hinder our every day lives...

Basically, I'm one nerdy son of a beeyotch, and I'll be bringing you some nerdy thoughts that I think you'll find helpful if I'm not too lazy to post. I also (so I like to think) like to pretend I know something about economics and business in general, so I might get on the mic on that stuff, too (as it relates to technology).

So, sit back and enjoy the ride -- I might even dish out some dirt about what's going on in Prague: technology, women, and beer (and here, here, and my favorite here).