AVNotes breaks through onto 3 mobiles
May 18, 2006
Whilst working at Hutchison I met a great Australian software-as-a-service company called AVNotes.com. They had already ported their web based product to work on mobile devices. So it was great to see from last week’s CeBit here in Australia that they are finally going to be on Hutchison’s walled garden as a small business product.
From ITWire’s article
Hutchison Telecoms has launched, on its 3G network, a real-time, multi-user communication package aimed at SMBs with up to 50 employees, and a job dispatch application.
It is a web-based hosted application that enables businesses to access shared email, contact and calendar information via 3G mobile handsets. Features include: group calendar and scheduling; shared address book and contacts; messaging (email, SMS and instant messenger); shared file and image manager.
AVNotes have great, easy to use solutions, for small businesses. Especially for those wanting access to their information whilst away from their office.
I read here on ITWire that a version of their product will be launched in June for Hutchision 3G Australia subscribers for around AUS$1 per day.
AVNotes was one of the first Australian companies I met whilst at Hutchison, that got what 3G was all about. They had already ported their product across to mobile when I first met them and had done a great job of demonstrating how they understood what people wanted access to whilst they were mobile.
Key factors for developing for mobile devices that AVNotes demonstrate are,
- Right information at the right time: knowing what information your subscribers will need access too
- Easy access: Creating an easy to use interface and incorporating shortened menus and usability of the devices .
- Light data usage: Just because you have a fat data pipe doesn’t mean you have to abuse it by creating heavy graphic interfaces. Ensure you have options that can filter heavy data use, but allow flexibility for users to change for their requirements.
AVNotes has extended their product family a long way since I first came across their product a couple of years back and are testament to deploying as a software service platform company.
Great to see momentum locally on small business 3G applications.
Congratulations to the AVnotes.com guys!
MobileTV experience failing with greedy carriers
May 1, 2006
I’ve commented before that if carriers jump the gun and get greedy by releasing inferior Mobile TV services the user experience will be negative.
Mobile TV is about technology standards such as DVB-H & DMB. It is not about using existing infrastructure with hyped marketing.
This report linked via Putting People First shows the early pains being experienced by early adopters and if carriers are not careful will pay in the long run in getting these people to return to properly deployed services.
A looking glass into Flickr
April 26, 2006
Steve Rubel over at Micro Persuasion has this link to a great way to browse through Flickr photos called……..
Flickr Leech – http://www.houserdesign.com/flickr/
Nokia PC Suite updated to version 6.8
April 24, 2006
Nokia has updated there PC Suite software for synchronising their devices with PCs.
The latest version has a new music utility called Music Manager, that makes it very easy to update the music on your device. The transfer rates of all media files to and from my N90 are substantially improved as well.
Highly recommend updating.
Technorati’s – State of the ‘Sphere
April 20, 2006
David Sifry’s Alerts blog has an update from Technorati’s logs showing the Blogosphere is growing both in size and power of reach.
Sifry’s summary states:
- Technorati now tracks over 35.3 Million blogs
- The blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months
- It is now over 60 times bigger than it was 3 years ago
- On average, a new weblog is created every second of every day
- 19.4 million bloggers (55%) are still posting 3 months after their blogs are created
- Technorati tracks about 1.2 Million new blog posts each day, about 50,000 per hour
I’ve hilighted the important fact that addresses the criticism that is still being put forward by those that still hold on to the belief that it is just a fad.
Guidance for star gazers
April 18, 2006
Doc Searls has a link to one of his favorite sites for getting the latest news on what is about to hit the earth..
I notice there are no survival tips for "What if…." listed anywhere on the site. 
Technorati Tags – space – blogosphere –
A Blog on Web 2.0 sites
April 18, 2006
Stumbled on Webosphere today that showcases various Web 2.0 sites…….
From the site:
Webosphere is a new blog focused on detecting and reviewing new web 2.0 products and companies, latest news on RSS technology and Internet.
One of the sites it links to is ZoomClouds that allow you to tailor make your own Tag clouds and add them to your site. Very cool stuff.
3G’s next makeover – IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)
April 13, 2006
I wrote this for the AMIA Mobile Content Industry Development Group April ’06 Newsletter…..
It is probably all Vinton G. Cerf’s fault, who is now the Chief Internet Evangelist at Google, when he turned up to do a keynote at the Internet Engineering Task Force conference back in 1992 wearing a t-shirt that stated “IP on Everything”. The geeky statement back then has become an established visionary statement from “the Father of the Internet” of how our world accesses information today.
3G was designed from the ground up to incorporate services that were after thoughts in previous generations of telecommunications. One such after thought was digital data services. Data services are now woven tightly into the 3G service structure making it a seamless component that is a core functionality used by 3G users worldwide to do things such as download multimedia content.
Using high speed data services within 3G is causing a dramatic change in the way people are perceiving and ultimately using their mobile phones. Even the term “mobile phone” is defunct now with the devices utilising converged services such as listening and watching media, video talking, playing multiplayer games and mobile broadband data transfers for business users. As 3G services are utilised further there is a need to extend the functionality to incorporate customer’s needs as well as build in better Quality of Service. One such system that develops this process in 3G and other wireless networks is the IP Multimedia Subsystem or IMS.
Developed as a universal standard, the IP Multimedia Subsystem is essentially a platform that bolts into a carrier’s mobile network and enables them the ability to deploy richer, primarily session oriented, Internet style services for their customers. Of course, a major component for carriers to deploy IMS architecture is they gain a higher level of control of their existing services resources enabling, in some instances, a more cost effective deployment.
For the techie readers, here is a description of IMS from an Ericsson Whitepaper that includes some much needed three, four & five letter acronym delectables,
The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) standard defines a generic architecture for offering Voice over IP (VoIP) and multimedia services. It is an international, recognized standard, first specified by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP/3GPP2) and now being embraced by other standards bodies including ETSI/TISPAN. The standard supports multiple access types – including GSM, WCDMA, CDMA2000, Wireline broadband access and WLAN.For users, IMS-based services enable person-to-person and person-to-content communications in a variety of modes – including voice, text, pictures and video, or any combination of these – in a highly personalized and controlled way.
To get an idea on what this is all about, here are some of the proposed applications that people will be able to use on an IMS enabled network.
- Presence Server – a service that monitors the presence status of all users thereby giving the ability to see if that user is in a ready state to receive or interact with information from another user.
- Push-to-talk / Push-to-view – user can click on a button to talk with friends or click to view an event straight away. Think Star Trek communicators!
- Content/video sharing (“whiteboard”) – now that mobile devices can take pictures and videos, this will entail the ability for people to share these collections as soon as they are created. People will be able to interact live with these files.
- Wireless Instant Messaging – incorporating presence functionality, people will use instant messaging to access other services. When you see your friend is available for a game of chess you can start up a game knowing their status states they are just as bored as you.
- Voice/Video over IP – as convergence with other networks progresses this will become key in delivering voice & video over the most cost effective route.
These base services can be built into yet other richer hybrid applications including cross platform integration, such as PC based products. Overall the subsystem gives the carrier a new development layer that they or trusted 3rd parties can develop solutions on.
So, just when you thought your mobile device couldn’t possibly do more than you currently needed it too, IMS comes along and makes the world a better place for one and all. Though just remember that the next generation of mobile users will be taking this technology in their stride. If my 3 year old daughter can now use my Nokia N90 to take a video today, what will her generation as mobile users be doing tomorrow?
– ims – 3g – IP Multimedia Subsystem –
Blog Intro: S60 User Experience Blog
April 3, 2006
Blog Name: S60 User Experience
Blog Type: Multi-Blogger – Part of the S60 group of Blogs
Tags: symbian, series60, S60, mobile
The S60 User Experience Blog is a great edition to the S60 Blog site. As I’ve recently purchased the Nokia N90, which is a S60 system, I have been trawling the Blogosphere for informative sites such as this.
S60 User Experience is aimed at the developer community, but it’s Blogging style is technically pitched high enough that the average technologist can gain a lot from it. Most of the Bloggers on it are from Nokia, but the site is not restricted just to Nokia devices.
Some of the recent articles on the site are addressing most of the core issues around usability such as, the user interface, user centric design and even cultural usability factors.
Worth syndicating if you or your company develops for S60 devices or interested in one of the key aspects .
in 2005 Nokia became world’s largest camera manufacturer!
March 29, 2006
Missed this when it first came out …. Engadget has this piece about how Nokia overtook Canon & Sony last year as the world’s largest camera manufacturer.
Now that’s a lot of citizen journalsits running around the planet!
Considering the brilliant work Nokia has done with the optics on mobile devices such as my Nokia N90 I recently obtained, the dedicated digital still & video camera market is really threatened.
Universal Convergence 