The super-talented Tim Green, editor of Mobile Entertainment Magazine, demonstrates his credentials on the floor. Nice moves Tim:
Archive for the ‘People’ Category
True Mobile Entertainment from Tim Green
Friday, December 18th, 2009Orange launches LG’s £500 Touchscreen Watchphone
Thursday, August 20th, 2009Want a phone in your watch?
Of course you do.
Here’s what the LG Touchscreen Watchphone looks like:
Gorgeous.
The handset goes on sale next week (27th August) in the Orange store by Bond Street Station in central London. It’ll set you back 500 quid. You can buy only one each. Expect them to fly off the shelves.
A small price to pay for:
a) The bragging rights
b) The exclusivity
c) The wickedly smart James Bond technology
To make a voice or video call – in true 22nd Century fashion – all you have to do is ask it nicely. The combination of voice activated command, VGA camera and Bluetooth technology mean you’ll never have to raise a finger to make a call again… just turn your wrist and talk away. The handmade timepiece is designed with the image conscious in mind too and features eight different watch faces – one to suit your every mood or crime-fighting outfit.
More pictures on the Orange blog announcement.
I’d like to see a Wakoopa for my mobile handset
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009I didn’t bother signing up for Wakoopa when I heard about it a while ago. I thought it was a cool concept — track the desktop applications you’re using (along with ‘web applications’) and then publish the data to let you track what your friends are using.
Now and again I’ve found myself on some obscure blog post from 2005 only to discover a genius application for uploading screenshots or something like that.
Indeed I think that’s how I came across ImageWell (uploads screenshots via FTP) and Mailplane (run Gmail / Apps as a proper application) and more.
I didn’t sign-up initially because, well… so much of my desktop usage is browser based. Looking at the applications I have open at the moment, it doesn’t really make for shocking or surprising reading:
* Safari
* Firefox
* Microsoft Word
* Skype
* Mailplane
* Spotify
* ImageWell
* MarsEdit
* Terminal
* Adium
* TweetDeck
Hardly earth shattering, eh? But then… you never know. So I signed up this afternoon and I’ve added two chaps already, Geetarchurchy and Ricky Chotai. Aside from the basic ‘what’s he using that for’ thoughts, it’s really quite interesting. I can see how this will/would really help with discovery of new applications.
Which brings me to the subject of this post. I’d really like to see something like this for mobile handsets. I’m sure the Wakoopa creators are considering something like this. Of course it wouldn’t work very well on an iPhone in real time (no background apps on an iPhone… yet) but it would work reasonably well on Android and Symbian.
Nokia’s already doing this with the upcoming Ovi Store (just WHEN is it actually, actually launching?). Peer-to-peer recommendations. I should, theoretically, be able to see what my Ovi friends are buying/using/consuming via the Ovi Store. I’m looking forward to seeing how people react to that feature, I think it’ll be a winner.
I certainly find the iPhone application discovery process a little bit haphazard at the moment — indeed, it’s positively lonely when you’re sat looking at the App Store on your iPhone. I tend to hear more about applications when I’m not actively browsing, when I’m out-and-about or when I’m working. That’s fine, but it’s not necessarily when I’m most receptive to looking at new things.
I can imagine opening up the App Store on my Nokia with the intent of finding out what my friends have checked out recently.
I’m hoping that once all the kinks are worked out, the Ovi Store will reinvigorate the desire to install new apps… We shall see.
Originally published on Ewan.net and automatically republished here on Mobile Industry Review. View the original post.
My Google Latitude is now live to the world
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009People I know from London keep asking me, “Are you in San Francisco?” and, people from San Francisco keep asking if I’m in London.
The where-are-you question is very, very relevant in the context of business so I’ve been trying to solve that with the use of a Where Am I function on my personal site, Ewan.net.
I was previously using BlogLoc for this function… but it was getting a little bit annoying having to manually update every time I remembered.
So instead I’ve decided to try out Google’s Latitude facility. Latitude allows you to see the locations of your friends on a Google Map (either on your phone or online) and it works pretty well.
Recently the Google Latitude team announced that they’ve added a public ‘badge’ facility that you can place anywhere on the web to show off your current location. This definitely isn’t for everyone, especially if you’re a little bit suspicious or concerned about your privacy. But I like the concept myself and I thought it was worth a try. Google have been particularly direct with their warnings — which I heeded — so I haven’t displayed by actual street level GPS location. Instead I’ve displayed my general ‘city level’ location.
Here’s what it looks like on the blog:
Nifty.
If you’d like to do the same, get your Google Latitude Public Location Badge here.
Originally published on Ewan.net and automatically republished here on Mobile Industry Review. View the original post.
T-Mobile UK’s Hey-Jude video sing-a-long in Trafalgar Square
Monday, May 18th, 2009Would you like to see thousands of people singing ‘Hey Jude’ together in London’s Trafalgar Square?
Yes? Good. Because that’s what T-Mobile UK have cooked up for your delectation. It’s the next in the series after the rather amazing T-Mobile ‘Dance’ at London’s Liverpool Street Station that saw hundreds of apparent commuters all of a sudden break into a series of co-ordinated dance moves. Brilliant advertisement, compelling viewing. If you haven’t seen it, take a few minutes and check it out here:
And here’s the Hey Jude one in Trafalgar Square:
The good looking girl who appears now and again, singing in tune, is popstar Pink.
I think.
I’ve been wondering all about this particular video after I kept seeing it playing on all the electronic screens around the London Underground/Tube. Know I know.
I’m pretty impressed at T-Mobile UK’s advertising geniuses. The first video, The Dance, definitely underpins the company’s ‘Life’s For Sharing’ message — and, whilst the ‘Hey June’ one does too (load of folk, all singing-along mostly out of tune), I think The Dance is going to remain their most compelling ad for some time.
Originally published on Ewan.net and automatically republished here on Mobile Industry Review. View the original post.
Vodafone’s ‘App Store’: Mobile developers respond
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009I just published Vodafone’s news regarding their ‘app store’ initiative — and I’m already getting questions and reaction in from developers.
Here are some quotes right off the press from some mobile developers. (I have removed names).
- “I’d like to know how much of my revenues they’ll demand.”
- “I like the ease of billing and the potential of micro-payments.”
- “I suspect they’ll take 30% just like Apple / Nokia etc. I hope it’s not more than that.”
- “It’s just another App store – we WILL develop for it, obviously, but only because I’m yet to see which store will capture the minds of consumers.”
- “I very much like the concept. Especially if one SDK works across a number of MNOs. That would be really cool.”
- “Is this too good to be true? It sure looks like it.”
- “If they were REALLY thinking of developers, they’d be finding a way to reduce the amount of work we need to do across the various mobile programming languages. Perhaps they are, I can’t quite work it out yet.”
- “Interesting, interesting… that’s all I have to say until you tell us more, Ewan.”
I’m aiming to have more information soon! If you’ve got a comment or opinion, drop me a note — ewan@mobiledeveloper.tv.
(I regularly tap up people for live reaction — if you’d like to be on that list, add me at ewanmacleod@gmail.com on Google Talk or ewanjmacleod on Skype.)
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Originally published on Mobile Developer TV and automatically republished here on Mobile Industry Review. View the original post.
Time to visit a Vodafone UK store
Monday, May 11th, 2009It’s that time again.
I am off to visit a Vodafone store to find out what’s going on with my five lines. I’m going to change around some of the price plans and decommission the lines I don’t need.
I’ve also finally recognised that I don’t actually use 3,000 mobile minutes per month, nor do I need unlimited landline minutes. That, plus 500 texts per month. This harks back to a time when Vodafone insisted on charging 12.5 pence (inc VAT) per text and a whopping 35p (plus VAT) per minute to talk to someone on another mobile network here in the UK.
Crazy.
Things are better. We’ve moved on. Whilst a lot of the old price plan penalties still exist, the pay monthly plans are a lot, lot more modern — for instance, £25 gets you 600 minutes to anyone and unlimited texts.
I’ve been mentally sticking my head in the sand every time the Vodafone bill hits my back account. Last month it was 600+ pounds. That’s just silly.
Now I’ve got a few days spare before the meetings begin in earnest, I’m going to sort this out.
It’s possible to do this on the phone, but I can’t easily visualise the lines, the price plans and so on — and I don’t want to waste the time of their expert customer services people.
I would use their online account management facilities but, as everyone on the planet knows, Vodafone UK’s online service is more or less bollocks. It looks to me as though it’s held together with a string of Oracle databases and some sellotape.
I’m able to browse the phone numbers of the lines on my account. I’m also able to see it’s related price plan. But if I try to change anything, I get an error message.
This error message has been particularly effective at preventing me from doing anything to my account for a good few months.
So it’s off to a store. I’ll let you know how I get on.
I might even pick up a new G2.
Originally published on Ewan.net and automatically republished here on Mobile Industry Review. View the original post.
The new Mobile Developer TV logo is coming soon
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009I’ve had a few people ask me why I’ve kept Mobile Developer TV with the default run-of-the-mill Wordpress theme at the moment. The answer is simple — I’m still working out the design. I’ve begun collating some super content and I wanted to get it up and out to the planet whilst I waited for the design to be complete.
If you’re interested to see what we’re playing with, you can check out the demonstration logos (and weigh in with your comments) at this url.
I used 99designs.com to commission an identity for Mobile Developer TV. I’ve long been fascinated with the concept proposed by 99designs. Here’s how it works; You commit to spending a particular amount of money (say $200). You publish your brief and 99designs take your money. Then designers from all over the world compete for your business by submitting their designs.
Very cool indeed.
We’ve had 66 entries in total so far. You can see which ones I’m favouring at the moment by checking out the star-ratings on each. I’d welcome your perspective!
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Originally published on Mobile Developer TV and automatically republished here on Mobile Industry Review. View the original post.
