Author: Martin

Home Automation

Ever since I started thinking about mobile one of my favorite train of thoughs has been how to check how things are going at home from the mobile device, get the coffee machine going before I come home or to check if the lights are out. It’s no longer speculation now, it’s been done! Check out bwired.nl. Not sure who’s behind this project but the guy has wired is house top to bottom, webcams everywhere, gas and power meter cabled, phone system, GPS enabled PDA shows his location when he’s outside, etc. etc. And on top he has a mobile web site to check things out with the mobile phone. Via SMS or voice server, lights and other things can be controlled remotely. The website shows power, gas, water consumption, streaming videos from the camera, etc. etc. etc. in realtime. Cool stuff. Envy creeping up here…

Telco 2.0 in 2008

Lots of blogs with web 2.0 and mobile web 2.0 predictions for 2008. But what’s happening in the telco space and how is it influenced by web 2.0 and mobile web 2.0? The Telco 2.0 blog features a number of interesting predictions for 2008. Some time is required for reading the whole thing but if you work in telecoms it’s a must read.

Some things that ring back here:

  • "Voice gets absorbed by the Internet borg" : Yup, 95% of my calls are either pure VoIP or at least contain a "non-telco" VoIP leg to make it cheaper. Mass market is very close.
  • "Emerging market voice and messaging isn’t just cheap and cheerful, but dangerously different": Yup, operators will struggle to replicate their voice success of Telco 1.0 in the new world order once IMS makes it out of the lab.

Microsofts Future in Wireless?

Most high end mobile devices these days seem to be equipped with some sort of ARM processor. They are fast, cheap, power optimized and highly embedded. These days, however, the status quo seems to be challenged by Intel who tries to establish the x86 design in the mobile world with their Mobile Internet Devices (MID) initiative. This could have a number of interesting consequences:

  • It looks like Intel is betting on Linux as an OS for those devices and not on their traditional relationship with Microsoft. I guess their main reasons are that Windows Mobile requires an ARM platform while Linux happily runs on pretty much everything, including ARM and x86.
  • Linux is a lot cheaper to use (no royalties) and can be easily extended inhouse without having to ask anyone.
  • Linux has a large developer community. A lot of software already written for Linux (without a GUI) needs no or only small changes to run on x86 based mobile devices. Software does not even have to be cross-compiled as would be the case for devices using an ARM processor.
  • Using XP or Windows Vista for a Mobile Internet Device seems to be out of the question due to the huge amount of processor and memory requirements.

So where does this leave Microsoft? With Visa and XP too big and Windows mobile to closed / too limited / too expensive they have a gapping void in their product portfolio. Also, they do not build and sell their own mobile devices but leave it to third party companies such as HTC to develop devices using their OS.  I would not be surprised if many of them can’t wait for Google’s Android. Tough times ahead for Microsoft in mobile…

Jaiku and Twitter From A Different Perspective

2007 seems to have been the year of microblogging with Twitter, Jaiku, Pounce and others. Within a few months of their appearance these services have become hugely popular for a variety of uses. While most people use it to communicate with their friends I was intrigued with the possibility to easily include thoughts, ideas and the latest infos on my blog. So I registered to both Jaiku and Twitter to see how that could be done.

As you can see on the left side of this blog page I decided on using Jaiku for this purpose in the end. The reason was simple: The flash based plugin for my blog integrates nicely into the design and has nice graphical effects. The Twitter plugin on the other hand looks a bit colorless to me, pretty static and there are reports that it blocks the page from loading when the Twitter server is down or heavily loaded.

Posting a new note is super simple. A click to the Jaiku bookmark in my browser, typing in the message and a few seconds later it is on my blog. Very nice!

Quite quickly I also started to link to friends in both Jaiku and Twitter and it’s quite interesting of keeping up to date what they are doing this way. Again I prefer Jaiku as it allows to start conversations on a topic which Twitter doesn’t do. Maybe that’s just the reason why some prefer Twitter, just statements, no conversation (at least in theory).

Are you on Jaiku or Twitter? If you like to connect my alias on both is ‘mobilesociety’.

Latest Flickr Mobile Phone Camera Statistics

Back in May I discovered that Flickr is producing ongoing statistics about the camera models being used for taking the pictures that are uploaded to their site. They also have a section dedicated the mobile phones with built in cameras. At the time, the N73 was a rising star, surpassing all other mobile phones within a matter of weeks.

Now, about half a year later, the statistics look a bit different. The current hot shot is the Nokia N95 followed, at some distance, by the iPhone! The Nokia N73 follows in close pursuit. The Sony-Ericsson K800i and K750i follow the pack. Interesting how quickly things change and that the dedicated camera phone of SE// are still not the front runners? I wonder if that’s got something to do with not having Wifi on board? But then, the N73 doesn’t have Wifi either!?

Let’s Prepare for 3GSM / Mobile World Congress 2008

Good preparation is everything, especially for the 3GSM / Mobile World Congress in Barcelona 2008. I am sure there will be lots of events happening in and around the congress/exhibition and as always it will be a bit difficult to keep track of all of them and select the interesting ones. This is why I thought I’d open a Wiki for everyone to share information about events, parties, job offers/seekers, apartment sharing, etc., etc.

It’s open for everyone, no registration required for editing. If you like the idea, bookmark the site and check regularly. If you know of an event or if you are the event organizer, consider leaving a note and link on the Wiki. If you organize an event but don’t want to create a web page for it feel free to create a new page on the Wiki for the details.

I already have one job seeker whom you might be able to help out:

Booth Hostess / Event Organizer

A friend of mine is looking for a job as booth hostess,
event organizer, or similar during the congress. She’s fluent in English,
French, Italian and German. She’s a proficient Internet and wireless
technologies user so she’ll be able to represent your company in a professional
manner. For her resume, please send me a quick email to gsmumts (at) gmx.de

Oh yes, and before I forget the Wiki has RSS feeds for new and updated pages which makes keeping track easier.

If you like the idea, please spread the word on your blog, by eMail, word of mouth, etc. 🙂

Mobile Browsers Should Include Transcoder Selection

I get a lot of web links lately on my mobile phone either in web pages, Twitter, Jaiku or via eMail. Sometimes I would like to take a look at these pages right away on the mobile instead of with a computer later-on. What usually keeps me from doing that is that the links point to full web pages which often overload my mobile web browser. Some people are nice and send their links via esyURL, which detects if the link is accessed from a mobile browser and then transcodes the page accordingly. But that’s the exception rather than the norm. So what I would need is a way to control it myself. Mobile browsers could offer a menu when clicking on a link with a special button (thing right mouse button on a PC) with a list of transcoders such as Mowser, Google and Mippin that return a mobile friendly version of the page behind the link.

Not difficult to do at all. Who will be the first one?

The Prepaid Wireless Internet Wiki is Evolving

As many of you know I am a frequent traveler in Europe and finding ways to stay connected while on the move has become sort of a passion. 2007 was definitely the year when prepaid SIM cards for accessing the Internet via GSM and UMTS networks became fashionable. At some point there were so many offers out there that it was difficult to keep track. So I started the Prepaid Wireless Internet Access Wiki to put down my knowledge and to invite others to do the same.

It has worked very well, the Wiki has been growing ever since. I even found some hot tips myself: France, not really on the afterburner in the mobile domain now has two prepaid Internet access offers and I am using one of them on a daily basis when I am in the country. And in Germany, my AldiTalk SIM card has been replaced by a Congstar SIM as the network operator makes all the difference. This is the power of the web! Sharing information and getting good tips for it in return. Thanks to all of you who keep the Wiki updated. Looking forward to the next tip!