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 Here is a splash screen (to be added) to a newer version of the Jellingspot client eventually coming out -- our little viking (no name yet) will be part of our "logo" -- a new webpage is shortly behind ....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!
4 comments:
David,
With reading about Jellingspot, thinking about the MMC kiosks, let alone the MMC+content vending machines in Japan the more I think about it - mobile media is about context. However waiting for an mmc transfer at a kiosk isn't exactly fun or convenient - Jellingspot may hit the sweetspot.
http://bryanrieger.com/2005/01/contextual-content-distribution/
Hey Bryan,
Well, there are a few solutions out there (and have been for a while) they use IrDA (fun standing in line) and generally send generic (simply) content ... a little more powerful solutions allow you a little choice ...
Jellingspot, on the otherhand, requires one to have our client application which gives you a bit more flexibility (especially in regards to our fServer service). What we're doing isn't necessarily new -- but, where we are different is that we're a software solution -- which means, that, you just install on your PC, add the USB Bluetooth dongle, and you're up and going -- while most other solutions are tired to hardware ... in addition, since Jellingspot is a platform, anybody can write services for it (games, home appliance control, interaction with telematic enabled cars, etc...). Hypertag and Wideray are pretty much "stand in line and get content" related, while Bluepulse is much more dynamic (but expensive and cost to use it) ... we're gonna fill all the gaps.
Being able to extend these servers by writing specific services for them will definately make them more tempting for content developers and businesses looking to take advantage of them.
The 'stand in line' issue with many of these mobile media services is really less than ideal, that's what's so compelling about a Bluetooth/Jellingspot offering. The software install could be a bit of a challenge however as so many people are weary of installing anything on their computers or devices.
I'm assuming the install could take place on first connection to the server? When I attempt to connect it would send me a BT message asking me to install the software. Also, how does the bt passkey issue work on subsequent connections to other servers in the same location?
Bryan, another good point -- we too view using a client application as a sort of barrier to mass adoption -- we know that the "innovator" and "early adoptor" class have had no problems ... and even the "early majory" don't seem to have a problem installing it -- they are using SMS WAP push to do so (cost a whole 25 cents) ... it just pushes the URL to them, and their phone goes and gets the client application. In the near future, you will be able to alert the server that you want a client, and it'll send one -- but doing isn't that easy. And remember, besides the fact that a client gives you about 100 x more power, we also like this method because nobody is bothered with spam (we can easily write a service to just spam the hell out of everybody who walks by, but we wouldn't like it and it's bad business in our opinion). The ideal scenario, of course, is to have Nokia, etc.... just pre-install our browser. And keep in mind, the browser itself will be open source, so people can embed the ability to talk to a Jellingspot bundled with their own application ... we want to be as open as possible -- open platform (for the server), and open source for the clients.
As for the BT Passkey -- this is just a security manager issue with the BT stack itself -- for Jellingspot this won't be an issue ... there won't be any services to exploit without our client application... so nobody is gonna be able to connect to our server, and say use the OBEX profile, etc... because these services/profiles won't exist.
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