Happy New Year!

Just quickly dropping a line to everybody to have an excellent New Year's celebration! Don't forget to set some positive New Year's Resolutions for 2006 ... and of course, enjoy the night responsibily but have loads of fun!

I have brought back a few bottles of Absinthe for friends and family ... the Green Fairy should wreck some havoc tonight in the Sea-Tac area for sure! ;-)

All the best in 2006!

David Stennett

Ipod Nano Misery Continues...

The misery doesn't stop -- to add photos to the Nano, I must now install yet ANOTHER application -- iPhoto, just to add freak'n photos to my Ipod -- how retarded is that? What if I go to my friend's house, and want to take some pics from his computer to add them to my device? Sure, I can, but I have to install iPhoto on his computer -- if that's not retarded, then I don't know what is. So, I have to install to large, processor hungry applications, iTunes, iPhoto, just to manage my Ipod? Am I the ONLY ONE??? that finds this tedious? My old Creative device -- plug it into the USB, open, drag/drop, unplug ... go ...

I was under the impression Apple was supposed to be all about usability -- guess not. They're worse than Microsoft now ... I almost feel like taking the Nano back! (it does play music well, though ... I give it that much)

Hey, Apple, let me copy/drag/paste into the Ipod, and I'll give you some props ...

I sold out to Apple ...

I have just purchased an Ipod Nano (2GB) ... I was VERY set on not buying Apple's products, mainly because they're more proprietary than than anyone else on the planet ... but, that "Best Buy" giftcard I received for Xmas helped me knock the price down to where I figured I'd just give it away if it sucked. It's most certainly living up to "sucking" status -- gotta install iTunes, Quicktime, iPhoto, iThis or iThat just to get the freaking thing working (as of writing this, I still don't have it working). Doesn't seem I can just copy/paste music into the damn thing -- I have to use the software ... this is just silly. Damn you Apple, damn you to hell!

It does look nice and is small (why I got it -- iRiver charges too much for 512mb devices ...) ... I wanted something I could use at the gym, and Apple has filled a nice market niche -- but this setup deal sucks ...

Back in the USSA ... you don't know how lucky you are, boy!

Well, I've been quiet for quite a while, mainly because I was doing lots of last minute work before my trip back to the states. I've been back for a week already, and I managed to make it to a Seattle Mobile meet-n-greet, where I met some pretty savy mobile cats, that included the Seattle Mobile founders David and Mario. I've already made quite a few trips up and down the PACNW, hitting up the big malls, and having some low-key meetings with mall property managers about deploying Jellingspot. My first thought that comes to mind is that mobile has come a LONG way in the US since I first returned from Europe back in 1999 for a visit. Back that, analog phones were still all the rage ... now, it seems, most people are using GSM or some varient, where you can send SMSs (Texting, as in the UK, it's called here in the US). I've even manged to con some girls I know into "texting" me mainly (I hate phone calls generally, as they're intrusive). They're getting hooked.

However, there is still a LONG way to go. While a lot of people are wearing Bluetooth headsets, I see that Motorola still maintains a large monopoly on the phones being sold at carriers, and these phones straight suck. There is a commerical on TV or the radio every 2 seconds for the Motorola Razor, but that phone stinks. You can't do much with (from a Jellingspot, or just Java/Flash perspective) ... it's being pitched as the next best thing next to sliced bread, but man, it's a laughing stock in Europe. I briefly tested the Razor for a few days (psuedo tester for a friend), and I couldn't stand the phone. I've been lucky enough to be carrying around and testing a new HTC Wizard, and that's a real phone (although Pocket PC Windows Mobile edition is straight buggy and lacks a lot of features ... can't even Bluetooth a picture to a friend -- have to use IrDA or MMS/Email -- stupid) compared to the Razor. In fact, it's light-years ahead of anything else out there really, minus the few Nokia Series 60 phones floating around out there. Motorola must have a monopoly on the network equipment sales to the carriers, and so they're pushing their crappy phones via this blackmail method -- that sucks. :(

Whatever the case, hang in there USA -- things are getting better ... rumor has it that Nokia is gonna start aggressively pushing their products there (not sure how...) ... and Sony-Ericsson is eye-balling the US market more aggressively, too. Let's hope -- because Motorola hasn't impressed me at all thus far and the US mobile market is suffering because of it!

Jellingspot White Paper: Cinemas / Multiplex Theatres ...

Well, I'm gonna be making a series of website changes to the Jellingspot site this weekend, again, I hope -- I have started by adding a new white paper to the Jellingspot website, targeted at Cinemas / Multiplex Theatres (Warning: .PDF 350kb). I'm sure the white paper can be improved (you ever re-read your own work so much you get sick?), but I think it clearly makes its point why Cinemas / Multiplex Theatres can benefit by using Jellingspot (I stayed away from the Open API stuff, not to mention complex high-level speak about how Jellingspot is a platform that acts more like a container and services are like EJBs [which we call .jsbs or Jellingspot Service Beans] ... but, I digress ...).

I will soon publish another for Gaming Stores, so stay tuned.

[ Technorati Tags: Jellingspot Advertising Cinemas
Marketing mobile ]

The world of Venture Capital ...

Well, I have been taking casual glances at VCs again after more than a year of completely ignoring them. Doing some pretty extensive research the last week or so, I found a cool site called Ventureblogs, where many links to the industry's most vocal VCs can be found (heavyweights like Mark Cuban, David Sifry, etc...). I have read over quite a few of them, and let me state outright some of these guys just don't get much of anything. I'm not gonna call any guys out, but it's painfully clear that Web Bubble 1.0, and the new coming-to-a-town-near-you Web Bubble 2.0 are the direct result of these slick and sly masters of money manipulation and outright hob-dob crookery. Just big words coming out of my mouth? Maybe, but check them out yourself.

I *did* enjoy reading the insights of folks like Steve Hall, Roger McNamee, and Jeff Clavier among others ... they seemed to know what they were talking about (at least not talking out of their asses) and had a good sense of humor about the industry. I'm sure there are many more out there worth reading, if you know of them, please let me know.

Having said all this - I do understand that these guys demand (and deserve) a ROI for their investments -- generally in the form of a M&A (merger & aquisition), or a a full-blown IPO. Therefore, this means generally they do not need to really get the "technology" for technology's sake, but only that they can see a clear path to ROI. However, what's difficult to deal with sometimes is explaining the hidden human-technology interaction factor (or, in short, the "WOW" factor) that, much of the time, many of them do not get because they themselves do NOT use technology outside of email or a mobile phone.

I've heard lots of negative things about our technologies in the past, be it our older IM technologies we brought to the mobile world, or with our current Jellingspot Data Server. Maybe it's just me, but I remember one clear example that proves this point in someways -- SMS. Back in 1999 when I moved to Europe, SMS was starting to move, but was by far not crazy like it is today. I would make the main argument about bring additional SMS services to customers to drive new business models and new ecosystems, but marketing managers and financial gurus at the carriers would shoot me down and say, "SMS isn't that big, it's too difficult to use for most, and people can just use voice." A few years later, SMS is a super billion dollar industry, and most carriers are pushing it hard. It seems tech people are always ahead of the people who just look at the bottom-line (they don't seem to see anything else around them). I've heard the same arguments against Jellingspot at times from VCs, but that defiant rejection is slowly turning as more and more location-marketing/POS systems hit the market and people are actually using them (not to mention some of my competitors have pulled off funding).

Which brings me back (getting off topic a bit) to the VCs -- yes, I'm looking again, so if you know any bright folks out there who are into the VC business, I'm more than willing to throw down with them verbally to discuss Jellingspot if they have an interest in this very promising market. However, I will still continue to avoid VCs who generally, with their first question, ask, "What is the projected ROI?" You're already showing yourself to be an ass, so it's best you don't waste my time (or yours).

Flash Lite: Revisited

Well, I have been reading all about Flash Lite again lately. My main motivation for doing so is because my good friend (and marketing genius) just landed a primo job at Smashing Ideas, a Seattle-based interactive marketing agency, that among many things, is focusing on bringing interactive Flash Lite content to mobile phones for their customers. I believe he might be working on this in the near future, and as he's familar with Jellingspot, I now seem to have additional motivation to bring a Flash Lite service to Jellingspot.

Now, blogger Bryan Rieger (who appears to be moving his blog again) has been discussing Flash Lite for a while, since he and his wife are Flash developers. To make a long story short, bringing cool Flash Lite content to mobile phones with Jellingspot seems to be something down the immediate road we'll think about. Instead of using our static banner rotation service Adpusher (see demo) on Jellingspot, we'll create some "Flash" service where multi-media Flash banners will be viewed. Won't be that difficult of a service to create, so maybe we'll start on it in the next month or so. The problem is just finding Flash enabled phones ... it's just not a standard run-time environment yet like Java on phones. I guess it's coming, it's only a matter of time.

We'll see how it goes -- currently improving the UI on Jellingspot, which of course, you can download and use for free right now.

[ Technorati Tags: Jellingspot Advertising Flash Lite
Marketing mobile ]

The Fear of Technology ...

There is an interesting (ok, not really ... ) article today on CNN's website that tries to give some kinda of "Technology for Dummies" overview of how technology, wireless in particular, has "changed" and/or will continue to change society. Without being a complete twit, I am always amazed how sensationalist American "main stream" media outlets tend to be in regard to EVERYTHING, but even technology? Being a stalwart American living in Europe, I can't help but gag everytime I read something from American "main stream" (read, idiotic and generally misinformed ... among other things) media ...

Europe has been much more wireless than the USA for at LEAST the last 5 years, and I just don't see people addicted to the internet (minus freaks like me, that I digress) ... "shooting up" on every corner wherever a Wi-Fi hotspot can be found. Currently, I have a PDA with Wi-Fi and a mobile phone with a GPRS connection, which means I can get pretty fast to very fast i-net access almost anywhere in the Czech Republic ... I tend to check my email if I'm out for more than a few hours and I'm standing around waiting for a Tram or something, but I just don't see it. The problem isn't really technology, the problem is a sedentary life-style. Americans are just fat slobs who generally just sit around around watching TV (if you think it's just the USA, however, think again .. most W. Europeans are even bigger, so don't believe the hype) ... at least in the CZ, people are out always playing football (Soccer), or something ... they just don't watch TV like Americans.

Of course, I won't get into the details of why I think Amiks watch so much and are lazy (overworked, under "vacationed", and over consumed???) ... but these articles from outlets like CNN just tend to reinforce the idea that Americans really DON'T know anything, since they never pay attention to anything beyond themselves.

Now, don't get me wrong ... Technology DOES have a sort of crippling effect ... if you want to read how Technology has changed the human soul, check out Ernst Juenger's Storm of Steel ... I won't spoil the book. But, think of it this way ... today, some over-weight slob jamming away to 50-Cent can be eating away on a Subway sandwich in some control room 500 miles away and completly BLOW to smithereens a group of ancient Arthurian knights on horse back (if they existed), whose every ounce and fiber of existence was to be honorable and chivalrous. I think that makes my point ... obviously, we all know which side you'd WANT to be on in your sub-conscious, but let's be serious -- nobody wants to take a 500lb. laser guided bomb for the team.

Anyway, I'm a bit off topic now -- but, I think you get my point -- technology has its goods and bads, but in the case of this article, it's nothing but fish-wrap (in regards to the scare mongering).

Apple's New Video IPod

Yawn ....

Apple released, finally after everybody else on the planet, a video playing version of its popular IPod PAP ... now it's entering PMP (no, not pimp ... Personal Media Player ... even if Apple is denying it) status .... as I posted eariler, it's almost laughable how Apple gets big headlines for releasing new toys that other people have been making for a while. What I *do* like is that Apple has forged a few deals to bring TV shows to the IPod's screen, allowing you to purchase for $1.99 TV show episodes... that's actually kinda cool, I guess if you think people watching idiotic TV shows on the run cool (minus the Simpsons of course) ... but, as I noted, others have been doing it for a while, and doing it in a much cooler fashion using TiVo.

Of course, Apple's IPod is pretty slick in terms of size (but then, again, only a 2.5" inch screen, so what should you expect?) ... not to mention, Apple's probably illegal deal with Samsung has given them a slight advantage in getting new memory goodies (hence smaller devices) ... putting them (seemingly, innocent until proven guilty!) into the same bowl as Microsoft, who Apple fanatics like to bash as a bully .... whatever the case, if anybody can help mobile video get popular, it's gonna be Apple.

Way to go guys ...

[ Technorati Tags: Apple IPod Mobil Video
Tivo mp3s ]

6th Sense

Well, 6th Sense Communications has decided to jump into the location-based "personal networking" market, going toe-to-toe with the likes of Nokia Sensor and Mobiluck. If you don't quite remember, let me refresh your memory ... "personal networking" is where you generally search for and then, once found, interact with other people in your immediate area, generally via Bluetooth wireless technology on your mobile device, to send messages, pictures, etc... basically, taking the art of flirting to the mobile-tech level.

However, whereas Mobiluck is free to use (once you purchase the software), it's my understanding from the quick blub about 6th Sense on Windows For Devices, that you can get the software for free, but you must pay for data services to use it (ie... you are making server requests via the carrier). In other words, what seems to happen in their own words is this (from Windows For Devices):

"6th Sense says its approach differs architecturally from similar applications such as Nokia's Sensor and MobiLuck, in that it is client/server-based rather than peer-to-peer. By having much of the processing done on a remote server, the client application can be made smaller and simpler. Additionally, new features can be added on the server, without having to upgrade the client. Also, security is improved because no user data is exchanged over Bluetooth, the company adds."

The article goes on to say:

"On the other hand, one disadvantage of the client/server approach used by 6th Sense is that communications between the server and the mobile phones running the 6th Sense app incur over-the-air data transfer charges."

If you're still not following, basically, this is what happens:

You sign up for an account online ... and you store all of your information there. Then, you fire up your client application you have on your phone ... which I'm guessing (I will download it and play with it later) has some kinda unique ID for your profile in it or something ... then, when you search your location with the client (using Bluetooth technology), it can find other profiles .. and if you want information about that profile, you have to fire up your 3G/GPRS connection to get it (this is where you run up data charges).

I won't pass judgement on this take just yet (gotta try it first), but it's an interesting way to do what can be doing with simple P-2-P applications. I can see the good and bad (as the article indicates, too, above) pretty quick ... interesting to say the least. I suggest you all download it and let me know ... I'll do the same.

[ Technorati Tags: Bluetooth Mobiluck Nokia Sensor
6th Sense Social Networking ]

RSS Feed Read'n ...

Recently, one of my good friends has recently just obtained a new job where he gets to actually USE technology (he was in a very traditional sector before) ... I hinted that he might want to read RSS feeds so he can quickly read what's going on in the industries he is working in as information about new products, services, etc... is released. He didn't know anything about RSS, so I sent him to Wikipedia (which is always so slow!) to read more about it (Atom/RSS/OPML, etc...). Having done that, I recommended that he download Omea Reader, since I work for the company that makes it, so I could help him learn it quickly since I use Omea Pro on a daily basis, not to mention it's free. However, we quickly ran into a problem ... he needed to install the .NET Framework in order to use Omea Reader, and he did NOT have permission to install anything like that on his computer. He would have to put in a request to the admin to do it. What a bugger! But, this presents a problem which I'm sure he's not the only one to have run that course. What to do?

Well, get a browser based RSS reader of course! I then recommended Bloglines (although I personally don't have any experience with it, as I use a rich client) ... but then somebody else told me about Pluck. I haven't had a chance to crash test the two, but Pluck is pretty impressive, easy to use (a plus for novices), and free (at least for now). Plus, they have something cool called Shadows (I won't discuss that, since I don't know enough about it yet, but basicaly you can create your own personalized search engine ... more about it later when I play with it.) integrated into it.

Whatever the case, web based RSS clients are pretty useful, but if you wanna read off-line, there will be a need for rich clients, too, with off-line functionality. I guess it just depends what you need.

The Importance of Roaming

Recently, on my trip to the US, I was pretty surprised that I was able to connect to a GPRS connection and send/receive MMS outside of my "native" mobile area (the Czech Republic). That surprise wore off quickly, as I remembered that Vodafone actually purchased the small mobile carrier I was using (Oskar) recently ... this purchase, which I didn't think was a big deal at first, automatically gave me access to all Vodafone networks and the networks of carriers they have agreements with. Wow, pretty freak'n cool! Last year, when I travelled outside of the CZ, I had to just "give up" my GPRS connection at the border, but it seems those days are long gone (sure, I could have switched to T-Mobile then, but I was happy where I was for the time being).

I guess sometimes, it's cool when a large company gobbles up your smaller one .... :-)

Back from the PDC ...

Well, first off, I made it back ALIVE. I don't know how many of you have ever been in a plane that aborted landing on the first attempt, but let me tell you, if you want a sure way to crap yourself, this is it. As if flying 10 hours from LA to Amsterdam wasn't bad enough, the KLM Boeing 747-400 I was flying on decided to trick all of the passengers at the last minute, by jacking the jet-engines to full-throttle as we came over the runway to go screaming back up into the sky ... everybody in Business Class (where I was :-) had the look for SHEER HORROR on their faces ... I don't know how mine looked, but I counted to 15 and figured if I wasn't dead by then, it'd be ok ... after about 30 seconds of full-throttle going up at 45 degrees and then leveling out, the Capitan came on and said some plane hadn't managed to make it off of the run-way yet, and it was dangerous for us to land as we might rear-end it ... at least the guy was honest -- as we did a loop to come back around to land and he said, "Flight attendants prepare to land" -- everybody started laughing, since he had just said that about 10 minutes prior ....

Anyway, enough small talk ...

Microsoft's PDC, from a mobile stand-point, wasn't all that interesting. There was almost NOTHING there in regards to development stuff --- no specific SDKs for Bluetooth development ... nothing (Note: I didn't manage to see about 30% of the booths, so maybe there was something there I missed). They had some propaganda booths showing MS Mobile devices (I even played with the HTC Universial), but outside of this -- when I started pressing them with development questions in regards to Bluetooth development, seems they didn't really have anything to offer (however, I did land a Windows Mobile 5.0 Developer Eval Kit with VS .NET 2005 Beta 2 on it ...). Symbian is still far ahead in regards to SDK "openess" (although Symbian SDKs suck). Whatever the case, not much else to report ...

Off to Microsoft's PDC ...

Well, I'm off to Microsoft's PDC in Los Angeles this week ... while this is a developer's conference, I hope to find some interesting development tools and technologies relating to the Compact .NET Framework and Bluetooth. Wish me luck on this 9/11 travel day (great) ....

Over-Hyped Apple Ipod Nano ... now in stores ...

Ok, I'm gonna get thrashed for this, but I stand by my guns that Apple's portable music line, iPod, is both over blown (in terms of feature set) and over-priced (for equal players). Case in point, everytime Apple release a new player, such as happened today with the iPod Nano, it hits the airwaves hard, like no other portable music player. It even gets mentioned on CNN everytime something new about it comes out. I don't know if this is just paid advertising or what (I don't think so), but it is almost annoying everytime I hear something about Apple (who have a large chuck of the portable music market in the USA, but not in Asia or Europe ... and who were late into the market, and certainly haven't out innovated iRiver or Creative.

Hats off to the Apple Marketing Team -- I think nobody on the planet is as good as them as producing so much hype and driving so much interest out of products that have existed for some time.

Back to the Nano ....

It does, unlike the Shuffle, seem pretty cool -- small form factor, thin, and with 4GBs of space, it seems Apple may just have launced a REAL death blow to the other portable music player makers ... unlike prior hype, maybe Apple is for real this time. Guess I'll have to buy one to find out :-)

Omea 2.0 Released ...

JetBrains' Omea version 2.0 has now been released. This is the ultimate integration information environment. If you're an RSS and Newsgroup junkie like me, this tool is essential. However, it also indexes all of your local emails and files, so you can find stuff quickly (better than Google Desktop) ... it even indexes ICQ and Miranda messages (which are then searchable). Plus it does a whole bunch of other things (for organizing this information -- you can link info, categorize info, etc...). Check out its demo to get a small taste of what it can do.

New Jellingspot Website... Kinda

Well, I posted up some fragments (yes, I know, pretty freak'n cheesy) of the new website ... my designer doesn't get back until next week, and I don't want to wait anymore (I would have it all up, but I lost most of it in a HDD crash ...). Anyway, check out the main Jellingspot page -- you can even see our flash demo (but this animation is older -- the newest one was lost -- I'll update it once Alexander gets back from his vacation). It's pretty much the same as the latest, but he doesn't moonwalk in the new one (so, enjoy, it won't last for long). Obviously, I could have waited, but I guess this website is a rolling upgrade, so be pateint while stuff changes for the next few weeks (still). It shouldn't look like this (current) site much when it's all done. But, I've been doing blah, blah, blah, so long, so enough ... enjoy.

Spamming solutions causing backlash ...

Well, some may consider it complaining, but I have warned about the alternative location marketing solutions out there that just spam ... the backlash is starting to grow:

http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2005/08/009681.htm

This is why solutions that use a client-side appilcation like Jellingspot (and I think Wideray and Bluepulse to some extent ...?) are needed, and not just spamming solutions.

Location Marketing: BlueCasting

Well, seems like the market for location marketing solutions is starting to offer up lots of choice .... this "spam" solution (ie... as far as I know, no client is needed ... it just sends you stuff) from BlueCasting -- the guys who have been in the news lately for spamming people in London with Coldplay material from their new CD -- offers yet another similar soluton to Wideray, Kameleon, Hypertag, Futurlink, and the like ... it's good to see more people in the field, but as I noted in a previous post, I'm a bit nervous about these spam solutions -- there is a back-lash growing against them, I just hope Jellingspot is not caught in the cross-fire.

I wonder, will spamming win over "client" solutions (after all, if people dont' have a client app, how can they use it?) ... or, will there be some middle-ground I don't see, or will everything migrate to a client (let's just call it a browser) type solution? From a power and usability perspective, I'm betting on the latter.

Download page ...

I've added a simple download page for the Windows version at:

http://www.jellingspot.com/downloadserver.htm

You can still nab the Linux version at the previous link, but I believe one of its internal licenses has expired, and I don't have the tools to update the license ... you'll have to wait until Frank gets back (so, in other words, the Linux version is worthless right now).

In the last 3 days since I made the link available to the public in my blog, there have been 22 downloads of the Windows version -- not bad for something not really made known yet -- I'm still holding out on the new website before I go live with everything, but my early adaptors and blog readers can get a taste now ... I also enjoy getting feedback. You can debate, discuss, or bash Jellingspot in our fora, too ....

www.jellingspot.net (community website) ....

Once the new website is up, I promise not to post so much about Jellingspot (since the product has taking over my blog lately) .... I'll return back to other things ... however, until then, just put up with me. ;-)

System Requirements for Jellingspot on Windows ...

It seems a few sites have posted about my blog entry, as downloads for the Windows version of Jellingspot are starting to move quickly (the blog was really intended for my early adaptor audience, but Ooh, well!). Please note, that THIS IS STILL BETA SOFTWARE, so please report bugs if something crashes.

System Recommendation:

- Windows XP with SP2
- 256mb RAM
- Pentium 3 or 4, or AMD Athlon

We HAVE had it working on non-SP2 boxes, but everything has been optimized for SP2 boxes ... there still seems to be some problems between Pentiums and AMDs, but recently we "fixed" that (we hope) ... so, if you're using something older, let us know (if it works or crashes). We have NOT yet tried it on other Win32 platforms (Win2000, Win98, etc...). If there are enough requests, maybe we'll try to optimize it for those platforms, too, but as of now, good luck -- Win XP is our targeted platform.

You can read the requirements for the Linux distro here.

Jellingspot for Windows: Go Get it!

Well, I have been promising the Windows version of Jellingspot for a while ... what has been holding me up is the new website, since it is pretty cool ;-) However, my designer has bolted for a 3 week vacation and our server just "happen" to crash right after he did, loosing all of the cool stuff, and so we have to wait until he gets back (I know, I know ....) before we can go live with the new site (since he has all of the newest animations, graphics, etc..). However, I have promised so much, I am having a hardtime beliving myself .... so, without any further ado, you can download Jellingspot for Windows here.

Download the Jellingspot-1.61.5.exe ... if you have any problems, then email us at info [a-t] midletsoft [d-o$t] com ... The Linux version is also there for anybody brave enough to install it, along with BlueZ, etc... go for it.

For the Windows version -- don't forget the license key in the license.txt file ... once you open the console (see the icon created on your desktop to start it), put the license in the "license space" there. Again, if you have problems, email. It has some content by default (you can delete it). You'll need a USB Bluetooth dongle and a Symbian Series60 phone (with the Jellingspot client) to use it. Feel free to use it however you see fit (in your shop, office, etc...) -- this does NOT come with the super powerful fServer service (not yet). Just the good'ol fashioned Adpusher and TextBroadcast services at this time.

[ Technorati Tags: Bluetooth Marketing LBS Jellingspot Proximity Servers wireless advertising retail ]

FuturLink: Another Competitor

Well, doing my occasional competition scan for Jellingspot, I ran into FuturLink, a Spain based company basically following on the heels of Wide-Ray (who just scored another around of financing .... 10 million USD!). First, I must say, I really like FuturLink's website and presentation ... things could always be better, but for the most part the visuals are good and the site is good at helping novices understand what their technology can do (Way to go guys!). I was actually happy to see another player in the field to help location-marketing grow.

My only concern is, that as our competition continues to grow (generally with large rounds of funding), they will move the industry more and more towards the "spam the hell out of everybody" philosophy, which is really a bad idea (and you see it out there already, people complaining about it). As our solution is opt in with a client-side application (our weakness -- however, or solution is more powerful), we ensured we would not spam people; however, it seems our competition doesn't care (at least, it seems that way, as many of them refuse to state you need some client side application to use their solution). I don't mind the competition, I just don't want to have to compete against party-poopers --- people who will DESTORY the industry before it has even bloomed.

Whatever the case, I wish FuturLink well ... see you on the battlefield!

Roaming & Pillaging

It seems the stink from carrier pricing schemes in regards to roaming charges is starting to be smelt by everybody, because in Europe the EU is starting to investigate such charges and will make a list public of what people are getting charged when they're roaming (since it generally remains a mystery to customers who roam) -- with the goal of helping people select the better carrier when they are roaming (I guess).

I remember back in 1999, when I went back to the Seattle area with my GSM phone from Prague -- OMFG. GSM was available (by VoiceStream at that time) ... even if nobody knew what it was ... and with my pre-paid SIM card (with about 20 dollars credit), I could generally manage to send SMSs to friends in Prague (and they to me) for a 2-week stay, and I generally had credit left. It seemed, everytime I came back, I could do less and less. What's worse, I used up 10 dollars of credit in like 5 minutes on a train in Germany -- the "neighbor" of the Czech Republic. I dn't know if it was Deutsche Telkom murdering me or if it was the Czech carrier I was using (I'm guessing a little bit of both). All I know is after I used up all my credit, added more, I REFUSED calls from abroad -- they were simply too much. To this day, I still do -- even if I have a contract from a different carrier ... prices for calling are STILL out of this world (SMS'ing is a bit more reasonable).

What I find funny is it has taken so long for people to say something (Europeans are generally used to getting screwed by their Socialist governments, so it's nothing new -- I still find it funny that I pay "by the pulse" to make public calls from HOME!) -- but what is worse, is that mobile carriers act more like cartels -- the prices they have generally ARE because of AGREEMENT between them all. Sure, they have different programs, but when it comes down to it, calling "per minute" isn't much different nor is "per SMS" pricing -- only their packages and promotions differ. Unless it's regulated (which, lets be honest, NEVER WORKS) somehow, the prices will remain the same. Carriers know that Euros go SOUTH during the summer (warm), so prices go up -- it's basic economics (supply and demand, but in this case, supply never runs out -- just demand increases). I don't know the roaming charges in Norway, but I'm guessing Italians visiting Oslo pay less than Norweigans visiting Rome .... just a guess.

The only "true" way to let market forces dictate pricing would to be have a SIM card that could connect to ANY carrier at anytime .... that way, you might use carrier XYZ during the weekend, ABC during roaming, and QRS during weekdays -- all because of better pricing. The technology is there -- it's just locked when you're in the "native" area of your SIM card -- the EU should just force "open sims" -- that'd be fun :-) (obvioulsy, carriers would charge more to open sims than to "customers" -- so, maybe there is no hope?)

Ooh, the new Jellingspot website is getting there -- you guys (I hope) won't be disappointed -- hang in there -- I'm slow! But, the Windows version if ready for you guys :-)

Servers Migrated...

Ok, I've migrated the midletsoft.com, jellingspot.net, and jellingspot.com servers to new boxes ... they're ready to be beat to death now. Now, this long 4th of July weekend, I will work on finishing the new websites and I hope by the end of next week (next weekend max) you'll see what I hope is the beginning of a new period in mobile content exchange ... time will tell. Get ready for the fun to start ...

Silence is a virtue, except if the UN takes over ICANN

I know I have been quiet, but the Windows version of Jellingspot is done, the new site is almost ready to go, and then it's "go live" time! Yippie! So, hang in there ... once we've launched, I'll post more.

In the meantime (and on a whole other note), here is a VERY good (and very important, please read) article about the impending (possible) take over of ICANN by the United Nations ... CEO Elliot Noss of Tucows drops the hammer:

READ HERE

5GHz Computers?

Well, I just had to bring this to your attention -- while you probably won't see this in Wal-Mart anytime soon, check it:

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20031230/

Clocked at 5GHz at -190 c .... you go boyzzzzzzz..... ;-)

Jellingspot for Windows ...

Just a quick notice, if any bloggers out there want to try out the Windows version of Jellingspot, write to info {at} midletsoft {dot} com, tell us the hardware you're going to use (which of these phones, BT USB device, and type of processor you have), and we will send you the link. We'll go public with the link soon, but need to finish the new page -- in the meantime, some of you guys can crash test it if you want ... the more feedback, the better. This will only come with the AdPusher and TextBroadcast services ... the more powerful fServer service will have to wait (few bugs to work out on the Windows version -- you can always try the Linux version if you want to test this service...)

Consider yourself a pre-Beta tester if you ask for the link ... so, be nice if you have problems .... report them.

Surgical Sales vs. Community Development ...

Recently, I had a very good discussion with a pretty successful Sales guy about ways which Jellingspot should be pitched (since the Windows version will be on the site shortly...) ... naturally, being a sales guy, he's of the opinion that starting with large organizations who can thus push the product down the chain is the way to start, whereas my vision is to build a much larger user base and pick of smaller sales as the community grows and once the user base is larger, then hit up larger franchises, etc...

Both have their goods and bads and I'm not blind to them. For starters, being an unfunded company, getting a few (but large) customers would really help with accelerating development since their initial investment goes toward building and improving the product. Consider it "seed money" from them ... you give them a competative advantage ... a change agent as it's called, they tend to invest into you (since you're doing them a favor, even if your technology isn't mainstream ... doesn't generally matter, since these types of customers are of the Innovator class anyway). The problem with this approach is that you can then become slaves to these few companies, and while making money, the product itself can become neglected, and eventually, some other similar product with more vigor might surplant you. Having only time and an extremly large amount of my personal time involved in our product (no investors to pay back...), I'm not in a hurry to be enslaved (however, a few big customers also help nab additional customers ... kinda a bowling pin approach -- hit the first head right, and other customers/pins begin to fall).

The second approach (which I favor) is the "community" approach, which is to build up the user base FIRST and worry about the money later. Obviously, Jellingspot works fine ... it's not a concept technology but something people are using everyday now ... the problem is, it still needs some polishing and some new features we have planned just haven't made it in yet (time/resources...) ... our goal (soon) is to simply make it available to the community to use it .... period. We'll make steady improvements, but while the community uses it, we'll get feedback, and can make necessary changes when needed. The more people that use it, the better ... if people are using it, there is more reason for locations to install it, etc.... the chicken vs. egg argument is always coming up, and the best way to really get to the chicken or the egg is to get users. This also quickly helps you dominate (from a user perspective) the market ... just imagine now: You go to some location, each "big customer" has their own point server solutions (Jellingspot, Bluepulse, Kameleon, etc...) .... that is essentially 3 different client applications you have to have on your phone ... even being a phone geek, I'm not sure I'd even install 3 different ones. Since Jellingspot is not tied to any specific hardware solution, it would be foolish for us to ignore the greatest distribution tool on the planet (the Internet) to spread Jellingspot around the planet. This is what we're gonna do. Unfortunately, this industry is still in its infancy ... there is not going to be any compatibility between solutions (mainly because they're all a bit different ... however, if something gets similar, we'd be willing to make our application cross-compatiable ...) anytime soon, so expect a lot of cools things from different people, but expect to have a few apps on your phone until the industry consolidates itself ...

It's gonna get exciting soon ... stay tuned!

Nokia Sensor ...

Well, it seems Nokia is always doing something last, but since they have the hardware and a massive market, looks like their Sensor application might just move "toothing" (P2P Proximity Social Interaction) into the mainstream. Unfortunately, they don't have the app for my N-Gage or 7650 so I can test it ... which doesn't make munch sense (maybe they're trying to drive new phones?), but IMO this is the kinda application that can really change how people interact. Just the otherday, some 13 year old girl was bluejacking everybody on a tram in Prague (I of course accepted the incoming .jpg ... it was the X-ray of Homer Simpson's brain) ... normally I'm the one doing it to everybody else, but this time I got it... seems like this sorta thing could become fun with such an application ....

Of course, I have already written about these apps before ... MobiLuck, CrowdSurfer, ProxiDating, and even my own (started, but not finished) P2P Proximity applications have been around for a while, but seems Nokia just might have the power to make it mainstream. Looks like we'll find out ... now if I can only get it working on my 7650 (Yeah, I know, I'm old school ... but Nokia (here comes the catch) doesn't make a S-E P900 client ... guess I gotta test it some otherway.

[ Technorati Tags: Bluetooth Nokia Sensor
bluejacking Social Networking ]

Bluetooth vs. UWB: No more ...

While I never really believed the hype some corners yapped about (whether it was Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth vs. wUSB, Bluetooth vs. [Add Technology]), this is good news for both Bluetooth and UWB in particular and the industry as a whole:

I am excited to inform you that the Bluetooth SIG will be announcing its intent to work with Ultra-wideband (UWB) developers to combine the strengths of both technologies. The uniting of WPAN will enable high-speed applications, reduce fragmentation and bring organizations together for the greater good of short range wireless technologies. The ultimate goal is to work towards an architecture that allows devices to take advantage of UWB data rates for scenarios requiring that speed while maintaining backward compatibly with both existing Bluetooth devices on the market and future products not requiring the higher data rate.

Joint development between Bluetooth technology and UWB is the fastest and most economical pathway for both technologies to meet the future demands of manufacturers and end users. This collaboration of technologies will allow manufacturers to maintain existing Bluetooth core values like low power, low cost and unique ad hoc connectivity. At the same time the WPAN user experience will be improved by offering applications with higher data rates, which will make new scenarios and enhancing existing scenarios possible. Bluetooth wireless technologys brand equity, market penetration, and technical and organizational maturity will allow UWB to skip costly time-intensive obstacles in technology and market development by joining forces with a technology that is past that stage.

We are aware that challenges still exist - two UWB technologies, the need for global regulatory approval, as well as interference, interoperability and testing protocols - but, we are certain that this architecture is the best move for the wireless community as a whole. Not only do companies want to leverage investments in Bluetooth technology, but 250 million consumers have also made an investment in Bluetooth technology and will want those devices to work with future high data rate WPAN products.

The SIG and its over 3,400 members should be proud of their past accomplishments and look towards future ones. This public announcement will be the first step in a process to make this effort, and its benefits, a reality. The past has shown that the Bluetooth SIG members and staff can work together successfully to further the technology through programs and initiatives like the new qualification program and testing tools. We will continue to work together in coming months to estimate the timing and requirements necessary to achieve these cooperative goals. As our first priority we will keep its members abreast of all major milestones that occur related to this work.

Sincerely,

Michael Foley Ph.D.
Executive Director

-----------------------

Not Earth shattering, but it does give hope to extend Jellingspot to every single PC on the planet with (eventual) native support for wireless technologies compatiable with our technology.... that can't be a bad thing, can it?

[ Technorati Tags: Bluetooth UWB wUSB
Zigbee Wi-Fi ]

Alive and well .... in GPL Hell

Yeah, it has been a few weeks since my last post ... just busy as heck. First, the Windows stuff is done. It's working (small bugs, I hope releasing it to the public will help us tune things a bit) ... we will release it to some pre-Beta early adpators soon (people who have been waiting for a while) ... I've just been writing some "copyright" stuff for some of the open source stuff we've written (which works with some GPL components we've used). I need to make sure all of the GPL software stuff we've used to get Jellingspot working on Windows has all of the proper disclaimers, copyright info, etc.... and we need to comment, add our copyright info, etc... to those things we've written from scratch. All of it will be released once we go public. Let me say from the outset that the GPL community is pretty wacky ... I've never seen so many zealots in one place. My original view of the GPL community as a "take a penny give a penny" bunch was completely warped ... many of the people in that community (not the stuff we're using, thank god) are nothing but bullies and vultures ... the GPL is more like a pyramid scam than anything. But, I digress.

Also, we're exploring running Jellingspot from a CD (with a Linux distro), so that you can pop in a CD on your Windows PC and use Jellingspot (if that CD boots into that Linux distro ran off that disk) ... I've been reading bunches, but if anybody knows some good distributions to use for this, drop me a line! Basically, we wanna make some image availble on our website, so you can just burn that Linux image to disk, and go ... otherwise, Linux is worthless for most people, since they cannot install, re-compile the kernel, etc... it's crazy (however, our larger customers have dedicated system admins for this, so it's fine -- but, you definately cannot conquer the world riding on the back of Linux). Speaking of Linux, this is why it will NEVER be usuable like Windows, because it's basically open source -- it's meeting the needs its individual developers, not REAL users (ie... the masses) ... I've seen "little" improvement in the last 7 years or so on usability ... pretty poor if you ask me.

Mobile Music & I-Tunes Theory

I'm what you call a regular user of Real's Rhapsody ... my brother pays for the service, and I generally log in and use his service while he's sleeping (since I'm +9 hours ahead of him) .... toward the end of my work day, I generally get a " *Ping* User has logged in from another location" followed by an IM from him saying, "Get off my Rhapsody." It's a pretty cool service ... he pays I think 9.99 USD per month or something and can listen online to any (900,000 choices) song as he wants. Seemingly, it's much better than iTunes, as you get some pidly 30 music previews then gotta pay 99 cents per song in some crappy ACC format. Real allows you to burn Rhapsody songs for 79 cents (not sure what format, probably Real's).

Anyway, what is INTERESTING is that no client side application (a dumb downed version) has been made for PPC or Symbian based devices ... with EDGE/3G pretty much starting to hit a slow stride, I most certainly wouldn't mind draining a bit of my device's battery to pick any song I'd want to listen to on my phone/PDA ... why not. You don't even need a lot of space to stream songs ... Maybe it's just me but that would be pretty cool. Who the hell (besides Apple freaks) want to buy some over-priced Mp3 player and then pay 99 cents per song? Sure, people are doing it, but I bet if Real had their own player with such a service (and say, Bluetooth in their player to connect to a phones's GPRS/EDGE/3G connection), that'd be awsome and would murder Apple on the spot (ok, not murder, as Apple's marketing folks are awsome).

Again, all of this goes back to Platforms (Windows/Symbian) vs. Hardware (Mac/iPod) ... Nokia didn't learn much with the N-Gage (hardware, instead of a platform), it seems Sony with the PSP is gonna go pretty much the same route ... one day, maybe they'll all get it right. This is why I'm still crossing my fingers for Symbian. Time will tell.

[ Technorati Tags: Bluetooth Mac iPod
Mobile Music Mp3 Players ]

10mb to 2GB email via SMS...

Not all that interesting, but might have been something cool for Hotmail to do to sell "premium" email accounts ... Czech protal Seznam.cz has been offering free email accounts for the last 6-7 years .... you get a simple 10mb account (available via POP3 or IMAP, however....) for free just by signing up. Well, they've up'ed the act and offer premium accounts that come with 2GB of storage and allow you to send 13mb attachments.

The cool thing about it, is that they just didn't upgrade all 4 million of their users ... if you wanna upgrade, you gotta send a Premium SMS for 3kc (about 13 cents USD) to get it activated. It's obvious they're not trying to make extra money off this, but it's a good way to upgrade only those who WANT the space. Even though I don't use my Seznam account all that much, I sent my SMS -- it costs basically nothing and I'm juiced with 2GB now.... how cool is that.

Compare that with Microsoft's Hotmail Plus premium account $19.95 USD per year .... you basically get the same storage (2GB), ok, fine ... but you gotta pay with credit card. There is nothing impulsive about that, and I'm not keen on giving them my credit card -- they should just charge a premium SMS (and lower their price abit, since they'll never compete with Google's gmail) ....

It just goes to show that many US tech companies are still very primative when it comes to mobile technologies ... in the Czech Republic, you can join almost any online chat, make donations, etc.. all via premium SMS ... it's an old technology, but allows for impulse buys and is generally easy to use ... not sure why people haven't jumped all over it yet. Strange.

Jellingspot in Action

Well, today I was doing my rounds at the Novy Smichov Shopping Center where we have our Project Novy Smichov under full steam with our Jellingspot Data Server ... I decided to make a quick video (Mp4 Format) of a Jellingspot in action with my P900 ... so please excuse the video quality .. you can't see much, but you can hear a cool "bling" (kinda like the "bling" in Monthy Pyton's film "The Meaning of Life," if you know what I'm talking about...). Once we go live with our 5th store (Palace Cinemas is on deck ... see title graphic), we will make a more professional video you can actually see. This video just shows our Adpusher service in action -- basically, once you connect via a phone with Bluetooth (and our client application), ads will rotate on your screen (in this case, game screen shots from JRC Gaming, one of our customers) ... you can save these ads to your phone's inbox and MMS/Bluetooth/IrDA them to your friends ... or whatever you want.

Also, for those of you out there who haven't noticed much activity on the Jellingspot website, it's because a new website is under construction ... our super bad ass designer Alexander fires me a few new samples every few days ... here is the latest sample. It has all kinds of little flash enhancements all over it, but it's not too robust -- so, we'll see. We want to launch it when we have the Windows stack complete, which I can say is basically done. Once everything is in place, we're gonna come all at once -- and it's coming soon, so stay tuned.

[ Technorati Tags: Jellingspot Proximity Servers Gaming
Bluetooth Marketing ]

PSP & Ad-Hoc Gaming

Well, it seems talk about the Sony PSP has blown all over the place ... and for some reason I just don't get it. I mean, from a gaming point of view, it's just following the same "curve" of gaming consoles getting better from a (mainly) graphics point of view ... having owned an Atari Lynx back in the OLD SKOOL days (it rocked by the way, Blue Lightning was all that, and a bag of peanuts), it's not like it's getting "more portable" -- seems just the opposite. What seems to be happening (like with phones and PDAs) is a convergence of technologies ... so, instead of just a gaming console, you can now listen to MP3s, movies, surf the web ... it's not really doing anything special or new. Worse, in the case of the PSP, is that most of these "cooler" functions are hacks ... seeminly not intended to be open ... people are bragging about hacking the PSP to use IRC, etc... that's cool if you're a geek (hands up!), but is it really gonna impress the Early/Late majority? Why in Godzilla's name didn't the PSP just come with a browser option pre-installed (like Opera or a dumbed down Firefox), movie player, etc.... why does everything have to be hacked? Seems like a rather stupid move on Sony's part ... if your device can do it, why limit it?

Then there is talk about playing against other people -- which I think is cool, but the N-Gage has been doing it for 2 years ... and now, all of a sudden, it's a big deal? (granted, if you can play via Wi-Fi through your network against somebody playing on their LAN at home, that's an improvement) All of the hype just doesn't excite me ... I'm not really seeing innovation -- I'm just seeing technologies being mixed (which I like by the way) into one device ...

Does this mean that, PSP 2 might include a GSM module, so you can make phone calls? The days of propritary systems are coming to an end (anybody ever heard of a PC?) ... there needs to be an open platform on such devices .... and then we can go crazy. The N-Gage had the opportunity, but chained themselves to one game deck .... the PSP is essentially the same ... somebody, BIG, needs to come out and "license" a platform (Microsoft, are you listening?) that works one multiple phones .... do what the N-Gage failed to do, and rule the world...

Anyway, whatever the case -- backing up real quick to Ad-Hoc gaming -- the N-Gage has been doing it, the PSP is now doing it (with a different standard ... sound familiar?) ... what's next? Ad-Hoc gaming is gonna be big -- MARK MY WORD -- Nokia is pushing it hard on a "dead man walking" device (clemency would be the N-Gage jumping back as a platform) ... Sony will eventually start pushing this feature harder as well or its fans will. In fact, what I'm saying now has already been spoken about in a bit different form by others (Russell Beattie's comments HERE come to mind for starters).

Anyway, hype is good, but too much is a big turn off ... especially for the larger markets -- you can't hype up a device that you've gotta hack. That's rule number #1. Do you think Paris Hilton is gonna hack her own? However, get that out of the way, and somebody is gonna (actually, already is) make a lot of money.

[ Technorati Tags: Wi-Fi Sony PSP
Ad-Hoc Gaming Proximity ]

The Horror of Moving

Well, you can see I haven't posted much lately -- OMFG, moving is getting harder and harder as I live over here in Europe ... mainly because 1. the longer I'm here, the more stuff I accumulate, and 2. I'm getting older (28), so lifting 200lb boxes just aren't tossed around anymore like paper (yeah, right) ...

Having lots of computers and tech toys in your flat is cool, but when you have to move them ... that's when the sucking begins. And then once you move in, there is the issue of buying MORE stuff ... a lot of tech toys I've been eyeing are now on hold as I pay back Mr. Creditor for lending me money to purchase more furniture, etc...

The good news is, I had cable broadband plugged back in the DAY I signed the contract -- so naturally, the first thing I had working in my flat was my computer on the net... I am such a geek.

Anyway, I've got a load of unpacking and cleaning to do still, so it may be a few days before I start posting meaningful (I hope) comments again ... in the meantime, looks like Europe and North America are starting to get some good weather, so those of you there go out and enjoy it!

Phallic Technology

Today's post isn't about wireless technology, but wired -- more specifically, about switches (and I'm not talking networking technologies). What in Hades am I talking about? The Pomlazka. The preferred weapon of choice that Czech males utilize against their female counterparts to celebrate Velikonoce (Easter/Ostara). On Velikonoce, any fair young maiden is fair game ... a whack on the butt to help her get pregnant. The pomlazka represents the phallic symbol, the "ribbons" symbolizing the regenerative force in nature (ie... sperm). While most Czechs seemingly don't know these details (I'm not only a wireless freak .... I do have other hobbies :-), what they DO know is that on Easter they get to chase women and whack'em. It's fun, too ... you can do it in packs ... or, sniper style. Whatever the case, if you're lucky enough to find a female walking around (they're not stupid, they know what day to stay indoors), and you whack her, she's supposed to give you a colored egg in return (obviously a return fertility symbol). Of course, whacking people is generally done in villages, where people at least know your family -- don't try it in the big cities, as I did ... I didn't get an egg in return, I got something verbal.

Whatever the case, Christian, pagan, or any other variety in between, but sure to send the folks you like a "Happy Ostara/Easter/Velikonoce" via SMS (see, the wireless bent to this post) -- Spring time has arrived, it's time to pull the sandals out from their long winter hibernation ...

Ad-Hoc Social Networking: Jambo

I have obviously plugged the Ad-Hoc Social Networking application scene out there a few times (and even threw my own company's hat into the ring) -- MobiLuck, ProxiDating, CrowdSurfer -- up until now have all been Bluetooth wireless technology based solutions. However, Jambo Networks is the first (that I know of) solution that uses Wi-Fi to search for and interact with other Jambo users with this wireless standard.

As with the previously mentioned Bluetooth solutions, the premise is still the same: Network with people in your immediate area (in the case of Wi-Fi, other people can be more than 100m away): get their interests, find out their marital status, and basically find an easier way to hook up with somebody (either for personal or business reasons) in your immediate area.

My problem with Wi-Fi vs. Bluetooth in these ad-hoc solutions is that phones are not Wi-Fi enabled generally, and therefore you're more dependant upon PDAs (which I guess is fine) or notebooks. Not everybody has a PDA or Notebook, but almost everybody has a phone. Additionally, those with notebooks are generally not going have their notebooks up and running while walking down the street or hanging out at a bar or club. Therefore, wide spread use is going to be a bit more limited (in their demos, they have a university as an ideal spot, and to this I agree ... in the library it would be useful, or to hook up with all of those fine chicks in your Computer Science classes, if you know what I mean ... :p).

Let me know if anybody can download it -- what I hate MORE THAN ANYTHING is to go to some site, and then have to sign up before I can get any application (I think) ... I won't be signing up anytime soon ...

[ Technorati Tags: Bluetooth wi-fi Jambo
Ad-Hoc Proximity ]

ADSL or Cable?

Well, I'm moving into a plusher flat, finally, after 2 years of living in a human hamster box (38m2) ... so, I may be a little quiet the next few days, as I'll be moving and migrating my Cable connection over to the new flat ... you'd be amazed how hard this can be.

In Prague, the real estate people are just now getting a clue on how to sell flats via "Ooh, this flat has bandwidth." Generally, before I go see a flat, I know which street it's on so I look up the address on cable provider's site to see if I can get broadband over cable ... it's not so easy, as it's not available everywhere -- so, I generally LOOK for flats on such streets (doesn't mean the building/house has been wired up, though). If I don't see cable, then I have to back up to ADSL -- and I can generally only check this if I have the phone number of the flat (or one in that building) ... a common run through looks like this:

Me (in mangled Czech): Does this flat have cable?

Realitor: It has SAT TV.

Me: No, no, I don't care about TV -- I need cable Internet.

Realitor: Why, you have a phone for Dial-up

Me: Dial-up sucks ass (ok, I don't say that) ... No, dial-up is very slow, I need a broadband connection

Realitor: What's that?

Me: Does this flat have cable?

You get the drift ... now, ADSL is also available, but it's more expensive and slower (and, while available pretty much everywhere, that's still not always the case).

Prices look like this:

Cable: 3mbit Down / 512kbit up = 1500kc (about 67 USD)

ADSL: 1mbit Down / 256kbit up = 2000kc (about 90 USD)

Both generally have a 15-20 GB data limit per month ....

3 times slower and 1/4 more expensive -- f--k that.

This thus means, unlike people who look for flats first, and then worry about that stuff later, my main criterion is: Can I get Cable or ADSL here ... if I can't, no matter how nice and cheap the flat is, they're not getting a sale -- ADSL only flats must be a good deal ... if it has cable, it has a good chance of getting taken by me -- that's just the way it goes ...

Proximity Content Distribution: Kameleon

Well, I was gonna mention these guys a few weeks ago, but just haven't had the time ... it seems like "Proximity Server" solutions are now a dime a dozen in the race -- however, NONE have taken any signifant leap forward in becoming mass deployed. Kameleon is another player who utilizes Bluetooth wireless technology to send out"push" URLs of content. In other words, although they require, like previous solutions, the use of a specific client-side application to receive content, they do nothing more than send out "WAP Push" like URLs of content related to the specific location, and then via your GPRS/EDGE/3G connection, you download the information. Can this then be called a point or proximity server, since it doesn't do a whole lot of serving? Well, that's another issue altogether.

Basically, it works like this -- you see their logo on some billboard (say, some poster promoting the new release of an albulm from your favorite artist) ... you fire up their client application on your phone, and a URL is pushed to your phone via a small "tag" like device hidden in the billboard ... you then click on that pushed URL and your Opera / Native brower opens up on your phone / PDA and you're transported (via GPRS/EDGE/3G) to content relating to that poster -- MP3 sample clip, discography, or a link to buy tickets to their concert coming to town in a few weeks. It's a nice concept. The carrier-tyrants will love it -- it'll help drive up data use on their networks, advertisers will love it, because it gives a more dynamic feeling to their brand/product ... but, will users like it? Will they want to pay those GPRS/EDGE/3G costs to down load a 1mb or so clip? It'd cost about 1 dollar in the Czech Republic -- I know more in the USA and the UK. People generally aren't all that thrilled to PAY for advertising sent to them ... but, as data plans move down in price, and "unlimited" plans come into being (and become cheaper), this just might have a future. Note, I believe Nokia's solution which I previously discussed works in a similar fashion.

Check out Kameleon's site ...

[ Technorati Tags: Bluetooth Wireless Kameleon
Symbian Proximity ]

CeBIT & Skype: Brass Balls

I'm not going to summerize what's going on at CeBIT (I completely forgot about CeBIT this year -- so, I guess I'm not going ...) but, one post that caught my attention came from Niklas Zennström, CEO and co-founder of Skype ... check out his bold statements: He's got big brass balls ... Now, I thought Jellingspot might make carriers pay for their in-your-face hubris, bullying, and insolence to humanity -- but, looks like Skype is gonna kick'em into the dirt. Just imagine, using Skype via Jellingspot ... that'd be a cool service ... not just notebooks at Hot-Spots, but your mobile phones, via Bluetooth wireless technology, using Skype (and a location's internet connection) to make phone calls ... Hey, Niklas, give me a call ... let's bury the carriers once and for all (unless they get a more cooperative attitude and stop screwing content and applications developers in the mobile world) ....

[ Technorati Tags: Skype CeBIT Jellingspot
VoIP Tyrants ]

Skype on Symbian: The Killer App

Gotcha! At least, all you RSS feed readers ... I WISH Skype worked on my Series 60 Symbian phone, but as of yet, it's still a no go. I have written them a few times pushing the idea ... if it works on my brother's Pocket PC 2003 powered Dell Axim, why couldn't it work on my N-Gage or P-900, or at least my business partner's Nokia 6630? After all, if bandwidth is the only consideration (my hypothesis), the 6630's EDGE/3G connection should suffice. Here in the Czech Republic, 2 of the 3 carriers offer EDGE, so I have a download rate (not sure on the upload, actually) in theory of 100 - 150kbps, certainly enough for Skype. If Skype wanted to take over the world, getting a client on Symbian, even if it's not as fancy as its desktop brothers, would certainly be the first step in doning so. Skype, what are you waiting for man? If you're not in the know-how to get it done, open up your communication protocol Jabber style, and let the community do it for you ...

Now, would Skype last on your phone -- who knows, carriers most certainly would try to protect "their interest" (but then, at least in the USA, we could sue the hell out of them for blocking the Skype port) ... check out this Oskar (carrier in the Czech Republic) document, which shows you which ports your GPRS/EDGE connection can acess. Obviously, Skype isn't on phones yet, but seemingly, if I try to connect via my EDGE connection (connected to my notebook via Bluetooth wireless technology), can I still access skype? I don't have an EDGE phone, but I'll ask business partner if he can get access via T-Mobile's connection in the Czech Republic -- if not, that's whack. BTW, does anybody know which port Skype run over?

Anyway, in the next few days, I might just set up a petition for people to sign to pressure Skype to go Symbian -- who is with me? :-)

Update: T-Mobile isn't offering EDGE in the Czech Republic until April -- so, I'm gonna have to wait -- anybody else out there have an EDGE connection they can test (via a notebook or something) to see if your carrier will let you use Skype?

[ Technorati Tags: Skype EDGE wireless
Symbian Pocket PC ]

Using Omea Pro

If you are a information junkie like me, then you probably own a RSS reader, newsgroup reader, use Google a lot, and subscribe to a load news listservs, etc.... if so, then you REALLY need to check out Omea Pro (Disclaimer: I work for JetBrains ... but I'm responsible for ReSharper :-) ) Bias aside, this tool rocks: period. With Omea Pro, you can read/search in your RSS/Atom feeds, Newsgroups, Outlook emails, favorite (bookmarked) webpages, instant messages, and even local files -- and instantly find them. You can even link resources together (associate an IM with an Email, for example), so you can always keep track of your info, heck, it even has an integrated Bloglines tool that allows you to import your subscriptions!

Look, Omea Pro just does way to much for me to blog about -- download a 30-day evaluation copy for free. You can get a "lite" version of Omea ... called Omea Reader, for free (RSS/Newsgroups reader) ... you won't be disappointed.

If you're an early adaptor, try Omea Pro EAP -- the Early Acess Program release. This version rocks the house with a lot of other cool features (create annotations and clippings of webpages, and then organized them into Omea)

Basically, if you have hoards of info, this is THE tool you need to help you manage it - after using it, you'll be hooked. How much you wanna bet?

[ Technorati Tags: RSS Feeds Google Bloglines
organizer Omea Pro ]

'Proximity' (Bluetooth) Social Interacation...

Well, it seems like Peer-2-Peer (P2P) -- or maybe it should now be called Person-2-Person -- proximity social interaction technologies/tools via Bluetooth wireless technology have yet another player in the game. Small Planet's CrowdSurfer follows on the heels of pioneer MobilLuck, and recent addition ProxiDating. The modus operandi of CrowdSurfer is basically the same as MobiLuck and ProxiDating: You install a client-side application on your Bluetooth enabled device (Symbian, Pocket PC, Palm, etc...). This client application allows you to add information about yourself (Single, Male, 28, Hobbies -- basically different types of information that might help you meet somebody interesting - or - get you laid), and then makes that information available to folks within a 10 - 100m area (that's about 30ft - 300ft .... or a football field, to all my fellow Americans out there) that are running a similar client application in search mode.

So, just imagine -- you walk into a bar, your fire up your application, and search for other users ... your phone rings/vibrates, you see that a user "Lisa" is running the same software, you download her profile (if she's allowing it), and it says, "Female, 21, romantic walks, expensive dinners, etc..." and it has a picture of some fine ass chick ... you can basically send her text messages (she's somewhere around you, but you haven't a clue, and neither does she) ... she checks out your profile, thinks you're cute, and sends you a text message (remember, all via Bluetooth -- FREE!) -- meet me by the bar downstairs, I'm blonde, belly ring, tat on the back, and carrying a white (pocket) dog. You get there, and BAM!, you already know a bit about her (that she is gonna break your wallet) ... doesn't matter, you're the man -- no need to drink a few shots before going up to some girl sitting at the end of the bar -- now you can geek your way into her life.

Pretty cool, huh? There is still hope for me yet ...

[ Technorati Tags: Bluetooth Wireless Dating
Symbian Proximity ]

Beer Moblog

Ok, I think I'm gonna have a new theme once in a while for my Moblog, and the first theme is beer. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't drink that much -- but when I do...ooh, heavenly bliss ... Living in Bohemia, you don't just drink beer -- you drink gold in liquid form. I don't supposed you'll see a whole lot of beer shots from me, but when I have a cold/warm (yes, depends on the beer and bar!) one, I'll try to take a pic -- so you can see -- if you get bored, do the same and upload it to my Moblog -- try to name the type of beer and get a pic of the label -- let's see how many we can get :-)

If you're not of drinking age reading this, well, then, snap your favorite drink anyway ... or snap your pa's beer in the fridge.

I bought a N-Gage QD and got jacked! (Part III)

Well, I got my return number to send my QD back; however, I found the "Certifed Nokia Partner" store that actually had the covers -- same color, and original -- check this out, 80kc (about 3 bucks) for a back cover and 3 bucks for the entire FRONT cover with new screen ... (and I could buy them seperately, but since I had a girlfriend of mine get them for me, I couldn't be sure on the color, so I bought both). So, it set me back 6 dollars -- would have cost me 10 just to send it back to England. Looks like I ain't gotta do that now -- w00t, w00t!

So, I have a QD now, wat up! It was so bloody cheap, I couldn't help myself (I'm a whore for Symbian phones) -- Anybody up for a global match of Pathway To Glory? ;-)

Flash Lite: Redux

Well, a few weeks ago, I said I'd comment on Flash Lite. I haven't felt like commenting on this topic, simply because I'm rather ignorant of the whole technology outside of creating fancy little graphics for webpages (and I don't do that anymore myself -- having never been good at it (check out the www.jellingspot.com title header for a sample -- anyone out there wanna improve it? :P ). In the mobile world, I'm a rather big fan of Java (or was, until I started finding that companies like Nokia, for example, had utterly gutted out socket connections in most of its Java enabled phones ... had to move to C++ to get those features). This isn't for any other reason than my partner is a Java Guru and I work for a premium Java Tools provider, so I know something about Java (but I don't program IN Java -- see the difference?) However, I am aware Macromedia makes "Enterprise" web application type software such as Cold Fusion, so you know they're doing more than just aninmation type-software.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, it was spreading all over the net, that thank god, it was gonna displace dismal Java (mobile Java, generally based on J2ME/Personal Java) because Java is "too hard" (ie... it requires more brain power to be an OOP programmer than a basic "scripting" langauge writer -- it what the feeling was anyway) -- and Flash Lite was the savior of the mobile world, as things could be written much faster.

All of this may be true ... Blogger Bryan Rieger dropped some verbal bombs on the whole thing, and being a Flash developer himself, they're well worth listening to. However, I just can't see (with my limited insight into the technology of course) Flash doing much more than sending nifty greeting cards (as it does now on the net), or some simple games (keep in mind, my favorite Sumo Volleyball, which ICQ seems to have murdered, was in Flash). This is all fine and dandy, but Java (and more so C++ Symbian/PCC/Palm) have real meat and potatos inside ... as I asked the rhetorical questions previously: Can Flash Lite access the native system's features? Such as the phone book, or Bluetooth radio, or store information onto a memory card? If yes, then I think Flash Lite could have a bright future ... but, from what I know, this isnt' the case -- it's not meant to do that, so why all of the talk about "replacing" Java, when it doesn't even come close to doing what Java does (or can/could do, if phone makers didn't gut it out).

It's obvious, people got ahead of themselves -- many of the time, people with no programming experience do that (I won't mention them here, cough...the entire commerical technology media, cough...) ... while others, kinda just go along with the crowd, I'm more inclined to be critical (not negative -- as I hate them types) ... show me the money I guess.

Having said that, can all of the Flash Gurus out there somehow port mini Pac-Man (I got to levl 4) and mini Pong to my phone? Sure, my eyes are blown out playing these two all day, but on a phone, wouldn't they just be so cute?

Ooh, one more thing -- Bryan also mentioned that, if Flash Lite were on most mobile phones -- especially as it relates to Jellingspot, then Flash ads/games/etc. could be distributed over Jellingspot -- Maybe there is more to this Flash stuff just yet ... ;-}

[ Technorati Tags: Bluetooth wireless Jellingspot
Java Flash Lite ]

I bought a N-Gage QD and got jacked! (Part II)

Well, I called GAME yesterday and talked to customer service -- in all fairness, their people were EXTREMLY friendly and sympathetic to my plight ... my choices: 1. Send it back and get a new one, or 2. Get a complete refund. I told them I'd try to find some cheap cover here, as my time is worth more (going to the post office, boxing it back up, etc...) than the 20 bucks ... but, alas, I can't even FIND a place in the entire CZ that has one in stock, and I'm not about to order one and wait 3 days ... I may as well send the bloody thing back!

So, it's going back ... now I have Pathway To Glory sitting here and can't play it (not that I'm a big gamer) -- sure would be nice if the N-Gage PLATFORM were open, so I could pop it into my other Series 60 phone and play it ... no, that'd be asking too much.

I bought a N-Gage QD and got jacked!

So, to make a long story short, I ordered a N-Gage QD from GAME in the UK ... the price was right, about 100 bucks less than what I could get it for here in Prague, and this WITH a game (Pathway To Glory) ... I get the box from the post office 5 minutes before it closes, on the box it says "If security seal has been broken do not accept it..." blah, blah, blah -- the package's seal hasn't be broken, so... I get home, open that bad boy up -- N-Gage, got my Pathway To Glory game .... open up the N-Gage box, get the console, see the battery, put it in -- put in the fake SIM card they give you so you can play it ASAP -- look for the back cover -- NO WHERE TO BE FOUND!

Can you believe that? I start back tracking, going into a panic attack ... double checking to make sure I'm not an idiot ... even read HALF of the manual .... NO BACK COVER TO MY N-GAGE! Some jerk must have jacked it in the "shipping" department, before it went into the box -- I guess that's how things go in the UK nowdays -- no more British Empire, now I know why.

I called GAME, but of course, they were closed ... I'll call tomorrow and yell -- I'm sure they'll want me to send the whole thing back -- what a nightmare. We'll see ... I'll be posting on this again real soon. If they don't hook me up ASAP with a back-cover, I'm going on a anti-GAME Jihad against them .... putting them in my cross-hairs for an online beating -- this is just wrong (some jerk probably said, "Hey, this box is going to the Czech Republic, let's jack his back cover cuz I broke mine"). Whatever the case, they better fix it!

More soon ... have a nice weekend, I know I won't!

MobiLuck on MS Smartphones ...

MobiLuck's cool proximity based Bluetooth P2P client now works on Microsfot Smartphone powered devices. This is good news -- first on Symbian, now on MS Smartphones. MS Mobiles.com has done a pretty good overview of MobiLuck's technology.

While I can't see a very good business plan behind such applications (somebody, like us at Jellingspot, are going to have a free one soon anyway), the idea behind the technology itself is pretty cool IMO -- some people laugh at it now, but I remember the laughs about the Internet (internet dating, etc...) ... never fear, eventually, the nay-sayers will be on the bandwagon -- you innovators at MobiLuck (et alia) pay them no attention ...

Moblog Updated (23/02/2005)

VISIT MY MOBLOG

AdSense (Part II) & Screencasting

Just noticed AdSense is now, F I N A L L Y, pushing Bluetooth and other relevant ads related to the content of my site. About freak'n time!

I'll try to get back to posting on a regular schedule ... the poblem is time, and more importantly, having something interesting to say (unlike this post) ... I'm getting there... in the meantime, check out Rob Harwood's Blog, especially his cool 60 second screencast of a "HelloWorld!" example in IntelliJ IDEA.

I think I'll be doing some screencasts soon, myself, on a number of things -- maybe even go full time on my blog with ONLY screencasts (forget about Podcasting... Screencasting will be the real deal!)

Skuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt! & Flash Lite

Forgive me for not writing all that much this week, but I'm in "burn out" mode -- I'm as of now managing development for our UIQ and Java Jellingspot client, trying to get JDS working on Windows, re-working a new website (and its content), moving websites to new servers, making brochures for our Novy Smichov pilot, and basically going KUuuurazy! I want to comment on Flash Lite, as it's the buzz word from last week (and this week) because of all of the wireless / tech conferences going on, but it might take me another day or two to get to it. If you're interested in this subject, Blogger Bryan Rieger is giving it some attention, as is Justin Everett-Church. Stay tuned, I'll get to it myself ...

[ Technorati Tags: Bluetooth wireless Jellingspot
Java UIQ Flash Lite ]

Proximity Content Distribution: Jellingspot

(Disclaimer: I'm co-owner of the company that makes Jellingspot)



In our discussion of proximity content servers, we briefly scanned over some of the current companies in this growing industry (albeit it's still just a small blip on the technology industry overall radar screen). We reviewed Wideray and Hypertag, which seemingly have built systems arourd IrDA (Infrared) solutions (with possible Bluetooth solutions in the works), while Bluepulse and Nokia have built larger systems dependant upon carrier networks, Bluetooth technology, and other additional services that make deployment a bit more expensive (although, it seems, much more robust). All solutions, including Midletsoft's Jellingspot (Yell-ing-spot), require a client side application to access their respective solutions.

Where Jellingspot differs from the others, is that it's not coupled with proprietary hardware. Jellingspot is first and formost a software platform that works either on Linux or Windows (and eventually Mac). So, from this stand-point, there is litte barrier to adopting it ... it can be deployed on existing infrastruture with very little overhead. Pop in a Bluetooth USB device, install the server (make sure it has Java and a Web browser), and you're off to the races. Since it uses Bluetooth technology, it has the same reach as Bluepulse's or Nokia's Bluetooth solutions, and a farther reach than the IrDA solutions.

Administration of Jellingspot is done via a web console, which means that if your Jellingspot box is connect to the net, you can do admin to it from anywhere on the planet (ditto with the others previously mentioned). Nokia's solution updates its modules via GPRS, and it seems Wideray and Hypertag do, too. Since Jellingspot is installed on a PC, admin can be done via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS, RJ45 -- it's simply about getting access to the web console.

See Admin Console Here

Once at the web console, you can simply create new text messages with its built in wizards, add form (phone) fitting graphics (for the adpusher service) -- which can be screen shots, coupons, etc... or, you can use the more powerful fServer service, which allows users to browse menus and download files/videos/pictures from marked folders.

Videos & Trailers
Doom3
Short Doom3 Trailer

From an extensibility stand-point, Jellingspot offers an open API for developers to write their own services (called Jellingspot Service Beans [.jsbs]), Wideray also seems to offer some kind of development kit for $2500 big ones. Jellingspot will be free for developers.

Jellingspot's weakness may lay in the fact that it is NOT based on its own hardware ... while your author doesn't have anything in mind at this time, I'm sure those of you out there reading this will be able to comment on why exactly being based on open platforms is not as good as being on proprietary hardware (maybe from a QOS stand-point -- but, if your PC breaks down, you can just re-install Jellingspot on a new PC -- if your Wideray box breaks, you have to get a replacement).

Anyway, there is really too much to discuss between ALL of these solutions -- the best thing to do is to go to each website and READ what they have and ask questions -- that's the only "objective" way to learn about the proximity content server industry -- an industry which is going to be coming to your local shopping mall or tourist office very soon. If you have specific questions about Jellingspot, shoot.

Please checkout:

Bluepulse: http://www.bluepulse.com
Wideray: http://www.wideray.com
Hypertag: http://www.hypertag.co.uk
Jellingspot: http://www.jellingspot.com

[ Technorati Tags: Bluetooth wireless Jellingspot
Proximity Servers Symbian Mobiles ]