Welcome to 007!
January 1, 2007
Here’s to wishing you all
a
safe & prosperous
New Year!
2007, the Year of
Mobile Convergence
Track Santa!
December 25, 2006
Ahh, those lovely guys at NORAD are on the ball again this Christmas by putting the tax payer’s money to good use & tracking Santa as he whisks his way across the planet!
Christmas a time of remembrance
December 24, 2006
Christmas in the Southern hemisphere is quite different to those of you in the North. For starters, it’s summer here this time of the year, so no snow or cool weather.
Christmas for me is the plethora of wonderful stone fruits that abound this time of year, especially the cherries and mangoes, It is also the hot lazy afternoon plunges in the pool and then settling down with an ice cold drink in the warm evenings that are backgrounded by the hum of chorusing cicadas.
Christmas is also a time of thanks and remembrance.
This Christmas I’m especially thankful of the men and women of the coalition armed forces (that include Australian troops) that are stationed in or around the word’s troubled spots who are doing the thankless jobs of keeping us safe back home. Whilst many may argue the pointless debate of why they shouldn’t be there, the fact remains they are there and therefore those individuals and their families back here with us should be fully supported by us.
Whilst you spend time with your families and friends this Christmas, remember those that died to keep what we have taken for granted today.
Further more, support those organisations that look after the families and loved ones left behind. In Australia one such organisation is Legacy http://legacy.com.au/
Merry Christmas……. Lest We Forget.
Pricing for Nokia N95 – due 1st quarter 2007
December 22, 2006
Ring Nokia has a link to a Malaysian press release about pricing and availability for the Nokia N95. No release date or month stated, but they are quoting first quarter of 2007, so still a bit to wait for what I think will be the phone of the year for 2007 🙂
Posted by Shane Williamson.
Mobile Virtual Keyboard…. but watch your fingers!
December 22, 2006
A few years ago I spoke at an event here in Sydney where I was asked to talk about where mobile technology was heading. I tried to show the audience how I believed that mobile technology would interact with its surroundings more, rather than the device trying to do everything itself. I showed a picture of a keyboard that appeared on a table when the device was placed on it (Microsoft had already demonstrated this technology) and the mobile device screen was projected on a wall.
Soon after in 2005, the movie "The Island" was released and it demonstrated a Nokia projecting it’s video call screen on a wall or was interacting with a wall screen. I still believe this will be the nirvana of mobile technology, through interacting seamlessly (& wireless) with other technology.
So for Christmas I want one of these 🙂
The Itech Bluetooth Virtual Keyboard (US$180.00) – Full size wire-free QWERTY keyboard projection at the touch of a button!
Thanks to Softpedia for the links
Posted by Shane Williamson.
Technorati Tags – mobile – mobile accessories
Windows Live Search for Mobile (Beta)
December 18, 2006
Windows Live Search (WLS) has expanded their mobile search interface to some other Java enabled & Windows Mobile devices. The service has the right idea for mobile users with features such as predictive text insertion and retaining previous search entries, but the Java interface is a bit unwieldy for an inexperienced user as it can be confusing.
WLS gives the user the ability to enter in an address/location and.
- get driving/walking directions to another address/location
- find the nearest business, restaurant, post office, movie theatre etc
- view maps of a particular address/location.
The good news is that it does show Australian maps and some local information, but the user must enter the full Australian address including the country name or the service defaults to US locations. For instance, I tried to get directions from my house to an address in Newport NSW Australia, but as I only put in the street number, name and suburb it defaulted to Newport Rhode Island in the US. This can be frustrating, but with correct data entry the results are impressive especially the driving directions & maps.
The mobile versions of WLS and Google Search are showing that the big boys don’t want to miss out on winning over the mobile user. As both services are quite close in functionality the winner will be the one that gives the best user experience.
My recommendation is to wait till the application and search algorithms are adapted further for mobile usage, but if you are adventurous and want to try this out now, then use your mobile’s QR Code reader on the code below to go directly there
Posted by Shane Williamson.
Swapping content on mobiles – the irony.
December 15, 2006
Emarketer has this piece on a survey of UK 6 to 13 year olds who admit that they use the Bluetooth functionality of their mobile devices to swap music content on their mobiles. Of course there’s the proverbial music industry representative quoted…
Jim Davis of Sony BMG told New Media Age, "It depends whether you view this in a half full or half empty glass perspective. The results demonstrate a strong appetite for music and, as content owners, we need to provide access to music so that fans can enjoy it."
Davis has an overly politically correct response to the issue, but considering the massive backlash the music industry has had from users of its content against the ridiculous measures of hunting down individuals and prosecuting them to make an example out of them (let’s not forget Sony’s root-kit fiasco too).
The article is clear in that young users of technology will use it to the fullest of its capabilities to keep up with their peers. Children’s social interactions today involve technology deeply. If companies who market to these young technologists are not keeping up with the trends these groups are involved in then your product or service will be replaced quickly by one that does.
The issue is NOT solely about Digital Rights Management (DRM), the issue is about providing technology that allows users of any age to interact richly with their communities of interest. In other words, listen to what your customers are saying about why or how they use your products services in a particular manner and act on it in a positive way.
The irony of this article is that I have been working in a company for over a year now that has a patent on the ability to legalise the swapping of mobile content on mobile devices and do you think we can get anyone to invest in it here in Australia? Guess we are off to the UK 🙂
Posted by Shane Williamson.
When I worked at Microsoft over 5 years ago, one of the roles I had early on in my career there was as a technical leader for the product support group. We had a saying that was used a lot in the training we did for new support staff which was that "The customer is king". Whilst the catch cry didn’t always meet support staffs objectives in customer service, it was paramount to how the support people would interact with customers on a daily basis. It was a reminder that the reason they were being paid to sit in those seats was because of the person at the other end of the phone line.
It is a shame that in today’s electronic age with faster Internet access, multi-touch points to communicate and being an always-connected society, that it is still a surprise to me when I receive good customer service. How can so many businesses in this peer-rated world of ours, conduct interactions with existing and potential customers in so poorly a manner?
Even back then I felt that Microsoft was a thought leader in the systems they put in place, so that customers could interact with them. Whilst there were many failures, the important factor was that they constantly talked to the customers to see what was working and what wasn’t.
In this day and age, my brand loyalty is measured in how and if the vendor I’m dealing with makes me as an human being feel like an individual and have a positive experience. Once I feel like I’m either being slotted into a restrictive stereotype or being dealt with as an inferior, I enthusiastically rebel against that brand. I rebel by not just choosing to NOT purchase, but to actively verbalise to any and all who will listen about the negative experience with that brand. Thereby letting others I am in relationship with share the experience.
Businesses today have only two choices in their chosen markets and that is to quietly ignore or openly converse with your markets.
If you are a business with an online presence today, then you better have employed people who are managing those entities who know that today’s Internet is about proactive interaction not passive dormancy. Do you have services in place that foster conversations between you, your potential and your existing customers?
Doc Searls has a post about an initiative he started called "Project VRM". The VRM stands for Vendor Relationship Management which is a reciprocal of Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The site describes accurately how "relationship" in CRM have become an oxymoron today and there needs to be a new approach in how companies have the potential to have real relationships with both potential and existing customers. (Something I present & consult on is that a company can have a relationship with an individual who is not a purchasing customer. This individual may purchase OR may influence someone else to purchase. A lot of companies today have no idea about this)
I’ll be keen to see how this project evolves and will highlight further progress on this blog.
Posted by Shane Williamson.
Water on Mars!
December 7, 2006
Whilst going through podcasts on my mobile today I saw an amazing video from NASA of evidence of water flow on Mars within the last 10 years. I had to watch it twice and check the date wasn’t April 1st 🙂
The scientists are using the huge amount of satellite photographs that have been taken of Mars over the last few decades and comparing them with recent ones to view any visual differences on the surface. Using this technique they discovered a very unusual anomaly on the surface of one the craters. According to the video it looks like water has built up behind the ice on the walls of the crater and then ejected out onto the surface.
Watch the JPL report and sign up for their podcast feed which includes both audio and video content.
Posted by Shane Williamson.
Bluepulse has announced via their blog, of a new version of their social mobile application which has been enhanced with the following features…..
First of all, create your Place – Fill out your profile and add your funniest/coolest/craziest photos and videos.
Then socialize with anyone else with a Place on bluepulse:
- Text friends
- Chat with groups
- Send party invites
- Visit friends Places
If that’s not enough, bluepulse also gives you access to hundreds of free, fun and useful widgets for your phone. Email, Blogger, Flickr, HotOrNot, Weather, Horoscopes, Webcams… The list goes on!
Bluepulse is a clever concoction of many mobile applications rolled into one. Head over to their website to see the full list of features http://www2.bluepulse.com/explore/
Well done Ben and the guys at Bluepulse for their great work on this product so far!
If you want to try Bluepulse on your mobile, point your QR Code reader here…
http://get.bluepulse.com
http://get.bluepulse.com
Posted by Shane Williamson.
Universal Convergence 