Archive for Software
by Ewan Spence
October 3, 2008 at 7:31 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, Obama, Politics, Privacy, Social Networking, Software, iPhone, iPhone 3G
You have to hand it to the US Democrat campaign. Their recently released phone book application for the iPhone is a master-stroke for the Obama campaign. The message of change that he is promoting to the electorate now has a delightfully new mobile component.
Writing a new phonebook application is a popular past-time for developers on PDA platforms (just count the number of alternatives on the Palm Pilots), this app has a different message to deliver – Vote For Me. And it does it in a very effective way. By listing your friends in the order of importance in the campaign (ie those in states where the vote is close are listed to the top), it not only gives users the feeling of engagement in the political campaign, but it also ‘calls back’ to the campaign HQ and lets them know how many calls have been made (but not passing over any contact details).
It’s a lovely little idea, and one that seems to fit with the ‘fresh air’ that the Obama candidacy is trying to portray. This is one of the most social applications I’ve seen in a long time. It takes your own personal relationship with people, and then leverages that to help someone else. No matter where you are on the political spectrum this is a cute idea.
Why stop when you’ve made an impression on the voter. It also takes positioning info and points you to a local campaign organisation or events that are nearby. Sometimes it’s not the message that counts, it’s the delivery.
You can be sure that future campaigns around the world will use similar tools, especially when they are looking to do grass roots motivation, so the politicisation of the phone is now here. Whether any of them will make a practical difference to the result remains to be seen, but for now, hats off to the Democrats. Now if they would ship this for a phone that has a wider user base in the swing states…
Download the app yourself from the iPhone App Store.
by Ewan Spence
March 13, 2008 at 9:54 am · Filed under SDK, Software, iPhone
It’s taken some time, but finally the SDK has been released for Apple’s iPhone. While there are bound to be conversations around what can or can’t be done, the locked down distribution method or the costs involved (all topics I’m sure we’ll be discussing here over the next week or so). What intrigues me most about the third party applications that are going to be made available is the fact that they will only be allowed to run in the foreground.
That’s an incredibly limiting constraint. For a long time the Palm OS had this limit, firstly because the Dragonball Z processors could only handle 4 threads in total on the original Pilot 1000 and Pilot 5000 devices, but as the technology increased through Moore’s Law, Palm developers were continuing to fake it, and try to find ways around the legacy thread limit. It meant that if you were in an Instant Messaging client, the simple matter of switching away to check your email dropped your connection to the IM system, a potentially disastrous result, and not something that should have been happening in PDA’s and smartphones in the 21st century.
And now Apple is going down the same route,
In this world of always-on, always connected, internet aware devices, the potential creativity of developers in using a mobile device is going to be subdued. Yes we’re going to see a lot of games, a lot of applications that pull info from the internet, but are we going to see anything drop dead gorgeous when they will only work when on display? I don’t think so.
And I’m pretty sure that even if developers manage to find a way to get round the problem, Apple, being the gatekeepers to the official distribution system, will quietly delete from the catalog any application that seeks to push their arbitrary limits.
Does Apple know best about its iPhone and the rapidly growing eco-system around it? Or should someone who has purchased the ‘jesusphone’ have the right to do whatever they like with their device? I always side with the later, so the release of the SDK, while welcome, is far from the final step in the process.
I hope this limit is lifted before the SDK release and distribution system becomes official.
by Ewan Spence
December 17, 2007 at 9:36 am · Filed under GPS, Software, Usage + Usability, WIMM, mobile social networking
While we’ve all focused on messages that get to you while you are mobile, I thought I’d point out another sort of mobile message – the message that comes from a mobile, to a recipient. And with the flexibility of a computer in your pocket, Nokia’s Sports Tracker (currently in beta) is yet another signpost to the future and what Web 2.0 and mobile can do for messaging.
The application on the handset is very simple. It takes a record of your location using either a bluetooth GPS or (on phones such as Nokia’s N95) the built in GPS. From this lots of info can be derived… your speed, average pace, height and a bundle of other stats from your trips you make. The N95’s built in accelerometers even help with a pedometer coming into the mix. Just hit start and stop at the relevant times. This of course is great for people who perhaps are doing jogging for fitness, or taking long cycle rides (like myself) but it also has a bundle of other uses; two examples…
Vegas the Dog. He’s mentioned a lot in Nokia keynotes on this – his owner strapped an N95 to his dog collar and started to record the walks that Vegas made. Not just where he went as an owner, but where Vegas went when he was tearing round parks, in trees, and after chickens. Where once complicated machinery and gadgets were needed to analysis the habits of the canine, now a simple phone can manage it all.
The second use is when I travel abroad and my family wants to know where I am. Nokia’s Sports Tracker can upload your route to a social network website (http://sportstracker.nokia.com/) where you register as a user, invite your friends, and share where you’ve been with them through the mobile component. All very Web 2.0, but it clearly answers the question “Where’s Dad?†when he’s off bouncing around conferences on the west coast. If I’m feeling particularly ‘open source’ I can turn live tracking on and give a constant “Ewan is here†report.
(Hmm, that might be something to consider for running in the background come prom night….)
So let’s not be blinkered to straight text messages coming into a handset as being the vanguard of mobile messaging. Modern communication is two-way, and the data we can provide is but limited to the sensors we can add to a mobile device.
by Ewan Spence
November 23, 2007 at 10:47 am · Filed under ARPU, Apple, Communication, Convergence, Devices, Google, Instant Messaging, Mobile Tech, Openmoko, Platforms, Software, Symbian, iPhone
The launch of Android, and the Open Handset Alliance (primarily with Google and over 30 other partners) has prompted a huge amount of discussion around the internet, from Telecoms Analysts, Industry Watehrs, Developers and enthusiatic bloggers. That’s been reflected here on Mobile Messaging 2.0.
So what exactly is the impact of this in the mobile space? Debi Jones and I sat down to discuss that very topic in our latest podcast.
Google, Android and the Implications - MM2.0 With Debi Jones and Ewan Spence:
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by Ewan Spence
November 1, 2007 at 7:10 pm · Filed under Apple, Software, iPhone
By any account, there are over a million iPhones out there from Apple, and a huge number of them have been cracked open to get round the locks both on third party software and the SIM lock (to allow the device to run on any network around the world). Hard numbers have, until now, been hard to come by, but now Nicholas “Drudge†Penree has partially solved that query. He is the man behind AppSnap – a web based application that gives users read/write ability to the main file system in the current firmware. This allows other apps, including a generic application installer, to be placed and run on the iPhone.
With over 150,000 downloads, Penree feels that this represents around 100,000 devices. Add in a touch of windage, and that’s almost ten per cent of iPhones sold that have been cracked open. This isn’t a few hackers trying out a few things and kicking the tyres. And I very much doubt that every single user of a cracked iPhone is some uber-power user.
This is the community making a very loud statement about what they want to do with their device, that they paid for with their money. I find it amazing that, post-sale, any company would seek to limit what a person can do with their own property – even to the point of reaching into a device and switching it off permanently.
To a certain extent Apple is now trying to head this off at the pass by promising an SDK in February 2008, but really this should have been communicated at the launch of the device. Building a smartphone OS is a complicated business, and giving everyone the keys is going to expose every single flaw in the device in short order. One obvious one is that as a Linux based device, every application will be allowed to run with root privileges. I’m pretty sure that a full firmware upgrade will be needed before February, which will rework loopholes and gaps (such as root access) before the SDK arrives. I suspect a large swathe of developers are currently trying to make the brand new mobile OS habitable for hackers, while at the same time holding them up with a slow leak of PR friendly about turns.
Apple, normally pride themself on being the master of the message and spin, have really dropped the ball on the iPhone.
by Russell Shaw
October 3, 2007 at 7:46 am · Filed under Software
I’m becoming real fond of Veeker, a new free service that lets you send photos and video from your mobile device as attachments.
Not only that, but Veeker can forward these files to mobile devices. During this process you have the option of adding your own tags.
That screencap from one of the Veeker website’s internal pages gives you an idea of the GUI as well as the capabilities of this extraordinary utility.
Here’s just one of many cool real life scenarios I have been using Veeker for:
1. Take pix with my new BlackBerry Curve.
2. Upload them from my Curve to my PC-based Veeker account.
3. Give some of these images some Photoshop love.
4. Repost them on previously referenced PC-based Veeker account.
5. Redistribute them to friends’ mobiles, as well as back out to my BlackBerry Curve to make people think I am a better snapshooter than I really am.
Actually I am not all that bad a photoshooter….
by Ewan Spence
September 21, 2007 at 7:26 pm · Filed under Carriers, Communication, Devices, Events + Conferences, GSM, Instant Messaging, Mobile Applications, Mobile Email, Mobile messaging 2.0, Nokia, Ovi, Podcasts, SMS, Software, mobile social networking
As mentioned in our previous post from Tech Crunch 40, Debi and I sat down to talk about the five companies who won through to present on stage - namely Cubic Telecom (www.cubictelecom.com), Yap (www.yapinc.com), Trutap (www.trutap.com), Ceedo (www.ceedo.com) and Loudtalks (www.loudtalks.com).
There’s a lot to discuss, from business model, geographical challenges (both in distribution and acceptance), the might of the carriers and the handset manufacturers, and all the issues that a start-up in the mobile are going to have to deal with.
MM20 at Tech Crunch 40, pt 2:
Play Now |
Play in Popup |
Download
by Imran Ali
September 5, 2007 at 5:39 pm · Filed under Instant Messaging, SMS, Software, iPhone, touch screens
A few hours ago, Apple updated its iPod line for the hoiday season, with new nano and classic models. Most significantly, the range saw the addition of the iPod touch; essentially an iPhone, without the phone!
However, the iPod touch is significant for mobile messaging; though the iPhone includes a cute iChat-esque text messaging application, it lacks a native iChat (or other instant messaging) client.
Despite the inclusion of wifi browsing capability in the iPod touch, it also lacks iChat and IM, even though it would make for a great IM device in the home and at wireless hotspots (such as Apple’s newly announced partnership with Starbucks!).
Perhaps Apple will address this in future iterations of the iPhone and the iPod touch, letting innovation in its flagship models filter down to more affordable models. In the meantime, we’ll have to be content with third parties, such as meebo and random user hacks…
Oh and maxing out at 16Gb?! C’mon, put a hard disc in there already!
by Russell Shaw
September 5, 2007 at 9:45 am · Filed under Software, mobile social networking
Here’s a “well, duh” for you. I’d bet a good number of you like to take photos with your phone.
Here’s a second “well, duh”- I’d bet a good number of you like to forward these photos to your friends, and then hear back from them about what they think.
Now there’s a site that expands those horizons. It’s called Phoja, and it is an absolute blast.
Part Flickr, part social network, Phoja operates like this:
You register. Note: the registration captcha is a bit PITA (sorry, not referring to the bread) but after a few tries you’ll get it right.
Take a photo, or two, or three, with your cellphone’s camera.
Point your phone’s web browser to Phoja, log in, and post.
Once your posted photo is public, you’ll see an interface for your creation. There, your fellow Phoja users will be able to comment away.
My only, and I do mean only, complaint w/Phoja is that when you submit a photo, you cannot submit explanatory text as well. For now, you’ll have to sneak the explanation for your photo in the title.
FYI, Phoja works over the wired Web as well.
Uh, remember the wired Web?
by Debi Jones
August 29, 2007 at 5:28 am · Filed under Apple, Devices, Events + Conferences, News, Nokia, Software
Kari Tuutti, Nokia host for the launch event says, “The story for today is the convergence of the Internet and mobility.” The event is titled The Fourth Screen.
Three aspects to the event.
* The press conference featuring Nokia executives.
* Entertainment panel.
* Demo Area to “experience” today’s new products
Nokia CEO, OPK is the first speaker. “To bring the full experience of the Internet and mobility to people around the world. It is about single purpose devices like camera phones, music phones and bring those together with the Internet.”
Gives a history of the evolution of Nokia’s company history. “These are social devices.” What people are buying is more than hardware. They are buying the experience that connects to the information.” “We have begun to expand our business beyond devices and extended to software and services.”
More than 900 million people are using Nokia to connect…We are transforming Nokia into an Internet services experience company. A big part of the experience is the UI.” He makes mention of network communities repeated.
First up Nokia devices: interacting with media, friends and community. A concept device was presented which included a iPhone like touch screen complete with scrolling photos.
What’s The Future: “Freeing the Internet” “Freeing it from the desktop.” Gives an example of real time weather updates to continue a golf game by knowing that a storm was temporary.
Converged Devices: Nokia sold 40 million units. Expect the total market to reach 120 million units this year.
Main Messages: Simplicity, Personal, Social, Internet services: Flickr, Communities, Music, YouTube = The Fourth Screen
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