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The contributors:

Ewan MacLeod is the gaffer, the boss, the big cheese, the head hocho, Mr Big and he’s back from the island.
Dan Lane’s blog is at http://invalid.name. He’s CTO at Howler Tech.
Ben Smith is a management consultant. He has a blog, but anything worth reading is contributed here.

Sites mentioned in the podcast:

Stuff Ewan took to the Conrad Rangali island:

The Polycom Communicator USB speaker-phone for Skype.
A Private Mobile Network from the nice people at Teleware.
An Iridium satellite phone.
Solio and Freeloader solar chargers.
A Dell M1330 ultra-light laptop.
An Apple Macbook Air slim laptop.
A Nokia E90 communicator smartphone.
A Pure Digital Flip Ultra with underwater case.

Yahoo’s mobile development platform.

Orange’s ‘animal 35′ tariffs now with fair-use data.

Phones discussed in pricing segment: 6220 Classic, E71, E66, N82, E90, Blackberry Bold, N96 versus HP 2133 Mininote.

Unlimited Drinks Dublin – 10th July.

Things of the week:

Agile Messenger for iPhone.
Aiptek mini DV HD camera.
AGPS – speedy assisted GPS locks.

We’re really keen to get your feedback on the podcast – please let us know in the comments or tell Ewan – ewan@smstextnews.com.

Whilst it’s rather complex (bordering on arousing, for a geek like me) technology, it’s actually very simple to operate.

Want a mobile network? Heh! Simple! You just switch it on. Wait a few minutes for it to finish it’s boot sequence and bish bash bosh, you’re live with your own mobile network.

There’s been a significant amount of mail in from people asking for pictures and video. Video is coming shortly but in the meantime, there are the photos.

No wonder it scared the chaps at the Maldives Customs counter… it does look rather futuristic.

That’s me returned back to Blighty. A buggy whisked me from the SMS Text News villa to the seaplane. The seaplane took me through a timezone (-1) to Male and that’s where I stood sweating and every so slightly panicking about whether or not I’d be able to get this Private Mobile Network (PMN) unit back from the Maldives Customs easily.

Well it turns out it was a simple formality. I handed over my half of the chitty and one of the chaps brought out the PMN box.

Right.

It’s that simple.

I whisked over to the Thomson Fly premium counter and checked in. Then an Airbus whisked me to Gatwick.

Cue more panic at UK Customs. If the Maldives Customs Service didn’t like my PMN, what of their ‘how many mobile phones have you got’ British counterparts?

I walked through the Green nothing-to-declare counter — everything I had with me was legal and woosh. No problem.

No ‘can I see inside your box?’

No ‘is this your mobile network, sir?’

Perfect.

So I am now ready to test out the Private Mobile Network unit properly. For all those who have been emailing me and accosting me on instant messenger to show off and use the unit, I say ‘Standby’. It’s going to be good.

I’ve also got a substantial amount of content to publish, including a look at Blue Mobile from Blue Systems — a brilliant real-time market data service for mobile devices.

There’s also a lot to get moving. We’ve got the SMS Text News Awards fast approaching. That’s going to be an interesting one. If you haven’t nominated your company, product or service, do. It’s not some staid boring know-nothing set of awards. We’ve put a heck of a lot of thought into it. There’s also no ceremony. We’re not doing tables and black ties and slightly-ok-food. But there is a hhh-yougeeee party.

We’re in the midst of the DeviceAnywhere Developer Roadshow. In fact I’m due to pop up to Newcastle to meet one particular mobile developer and innovator soon.

And the guest list is growing for our intimate social gathering that is Unlimited Drinks Dublin, coming soon, very soon. Next week in fact — the 10th of July. If you’d like to come along, the details are here.

Tons moving.

It’s good to be back in the centre of mobile diversity.

Mundhu, the Spokesperson to the President of the Maldives has sorted it.

I had a continuing nightmare over the last week and a bit with my prized ‘private mobile network’ test unit from Teleware stuck in Customs at Male Airport, here in the Maldives.

The nightmare, it turns out, is all of my very own making.

Yes. Totally my fault.

If I’d notified the Maldivian Government that I was coming, I’d have sailed through Customs with the unit. The trouble is, up until now, I’ve not been entirely sure how to do notify the Government. I spoke to the UK Maldives Embassy a few times prior to departing the UK but that was only to ask advice about whom to speak to. They suggested I talk to the Telecoms Ministry regarding permission. I tried… but didn’t get a response.

I should have emailed the UK Embassy with my details and made it clear what I was planning on doing and when I was arriving. My bad.

I talked to H&K. Although they no longer work with the Maldives Government, they have good contacts. Gaylene talked to Tim who sent me Mundhu’s details.

I sent off a text to Mundhu with my issue and received a call from him 120 seconds later.

“Send me the details and I’ll sort it,” he said.

Obviously I feel rather stupid for not notifying the Government. Communication, eh? That’s the whole basis of SMS Text News! Chalk that up as a learning experience.

Gahh. If only I’d done this a few days ago, eh?

Hopefully the item should be released from Customs today or tomorrow and I’ll see if I can get it shipped over here to the Conrad Hotel for Sunday. That’ll give me a day or so to test it out on the island before I head back to boring London.

Thank you Mundhu and thank you Mr President!

Aye, it’s no good. Despite the initial valiant efforts of Aisha at the Ministry of Information, I’ve heard nothing from the Customs folk, nor Aisha herself. That’s the end of the day here in the Maldives. The end of the day on Thursday heralds the arrival of the Maldives weekend. So nothing’s gonna be happening until Sunday. (Pick up the background to this story here.)

And then I leave on Monday. Arse.

I actually sat at the bar in The Conrad this afternoon waiting for the 5pm arrival of the Seaplane. It arrived. Folk got off it. The pilot got out and stretched. Luggage was unloaded. No big carboard box though. No Private Mobile Network unit…

So the focus of my stress now shifts. It’s all very well being sat in the sunshine with the waves lapping at the shore, but I’m sure you’ll agree, when you’ve got 20 grand’s worth of Private Mobile Network sitting in Male Airport Customs, with lots of hoops and shite to jump through to get at it, there’s not much relaxing going on.

My next concern now is how I get hold of the unit to get it back to London and, one hopes, normality. (I will obviously be able to test the unit properly in London).

I’m told be various smart folks here at The Conrad Hotel who are in the know, that, it should be quite easy to pick up the unit on my way to my flight.

I hope.

That’s going to be a nerve-wracking experience.

“Hi, my flight is departing in 20 minutes, can I just pick up my illegal private mobile networking equipment from you?”

“Eh?”

“I present to you my chitty of record that you gave to me 2 weeks ago when you took it off me.”

“Errrr.”

“So my flight’s departing and I need to take this back with me.”

“This is no problem, sir,” I hope will be the response, “Here is your unit, thank you for your understanding.”

I HOPE.

I’m mentally preparing myself for something perhaps closer to reality:

“No sir, sorry sir. You can have it back. In fact, here it is. But you can’t take it out the airport until the Customs CEO signs your chitty.”

“Right,” I respond, “And where is the Customs CEO?”

“Belgium, sir,”

Right.

Do you get on the plane and leave it? Bearing in mind that I’ve signed a contract with the Teleware chaps to take care of their equipment. I can hardly go leaving it sat in it’s (well protected) box next to all the contraband alcohol at Male Airport’s Customs room, can I?

Perhaps I extend my stay. That would be OK if I could guarantee it would actually arrive on Monday or Tuesday. But prohibitively expensive all the same.

I tell you what would be REALLY annoying: The unit arrives first thing on Monday morning on the plane that I’m due to leave on. Gahh!

I would thus welcome your opinions on the way ahead…

I called up the Ministry of Information this morning. Somebody answered! I was put through to a lady who then put me through to Aisha, who listened to my issue.

“It really doesn’t take a week!” she replied, after I explained that I was waiting for Customs to contact her Ministry.

“Ah really?” I said, allowing myself to feel a slight feeling of hope.

The centrepiece of the Desert Island Challenge was Teleware’s Private Mobile Network unit. It’s a yellow ruggedised box about the size of a small hamper. Open it up and you’ll find a cord inside. It’s got a ton of battery power, but you can also plug that cord into a power source. Switch it on and you have an instant mobile network, 500m squared. The units are typically deployed in disaster zones or — literally in the middle of nowhere. Think, for example, an oil exploratory team in the middle of Siberia. Of course, the technology can be deployed in more conventional settings too.

Everyone I’ve spoken to has reacted with some surprise and excitement at the possibility of seeing just how one of these things works. We all know, don’t we? We all ‘get it’. Plug it in and woosh, yeah, small mobile network. No biggie.

But it’s seeing it work. I had some pretty smart experiments and tests planned. The PMN (“Private Mobile Network”) test unit comes with four JCB ToughPhones (made by Sonim) so I was going to see if I could get some of the staff here to each take one and see if we could call each other via our very own mobile network. I planned video. I planned audio. I planned lots of photos and some wicked editorial.

In fact, I was hoping to place the unit in the business centre of the Conrad Rangali Island Hotel where I’m based for this feature. If you plug the PMN unit into an IP connection, bish bash bosh, it will connect back to the Teleware service in London and… theoretically, I’d be able to make calls to the UK — to anywhere — via my JCB ToughPhone connected to my own mobile network. Neat.

All this scenarios are eminently possible. We know they are. I just wanted to prove it. To document it, to show it working.

Circle back then, about one and a half weeks. My PNM unit was held by Customs at Male airport and the management here at the hotel have been jumping through various hoops to try and see if I can get the unit released to test.

I tell you, a photo of the PMN unit sat in a bit of sand surrounded by palm trees.. I’d have been brilliant.

Aisha at the Maldives Ministry of Information reckoned that she might be able to speed things up. She needed a fax with the details. Interesting that they’re still in fax mode. I think if I was having this kind of issue in the UK, we’d probably be doing it by email. I got on the phone to Elvis, the PR manager for the resort here. He was out on a photoshoot — there are, understandably, a lot of publications coming to the Conrad here now and again for shoots. I reckoned all Aisha would need was a copy of the fax we’d previously sent to the Customs Service. Elvis agreed. I phoned Rena in the hotel office who sent off the fax and called Aisha to confirm she received it.

Now we wait.

Tomorrow — Friday — is the holy day in the Maldives. Saturday also comprises the weekend. Things start once again on Sunday and Monday.

My challenge? IF Aisha is able to triumph and the Customs Service are able to release the unit, it’s not all good news yet. Male Airport is a 30 minute flight by seaplane. Round the corner, it ain’t. So the next trauma will be getting the unit here.

We shall see.

(The photo above: My Iridium Sat Phone – more on that soon)

Cover me in marmalade and call me Susannah!

I was sat in the Dhoni (the boat) the other night with Marcus, the Director of Operations for The Conrad Rangali Island.

“It was you I saw in the bar this morning wasn’t it?” He asked.

“Errr,” was my initial response.

“With the M1330 and the Air?”

Wow. I didn’t think to expect to encounter any geeks in the Maldives.

Turns out Marcus is a big fan of Dell and Apple. In particular Dell. I was privately hugely impressed that he didn’t even bother naming the brand of Dell. He simply called it the M1330 — their ultralight range.

He asked me how I found it.

“Well,” I told him as we bounced up and down in the inter-island Dhoni heading from one island of the resort to the other, “It’s shit hot.” Or words to that effect.

The Dell M1330 is the workhorse of a global nomad. Your Apple Air is fancy. It’s really slim. It gets looks of admiration … but when it comes to processing power, it does its best.

But sometimes you just need a Windows machine, as I do, often. And the Dell XPS M1330 is a piece of genius.

Here are some pictures:

I won’t bore you with exact specifications — they’re entirely configurable on the Dell site — other than this overview: For 589 UK pounds you can have an ultra light M1330 with a gig of RAM, 120 gig hard disk, T5750 Dual Core Intel Processor, gorgeous 13.3″ screen (1280×800) and more. Just amazing. And it’s got an SD slot, 2 USBs, an HDMI port and a proper monitor-out port. If you need a bit more oomph, you can top up the processor to a 2.6Ghz 8,000 series Dual Core, knock up the hard disk to 320 gig, boost ram to 3 gig (an extra 35 quid, would you believe?), add an nVidia 128mb graphics card and a few other enhancements and you’re still only talking 1,170 UK pounds. Right on. That’s including VAT!

The Apple Air is wider — and a bit slimmer. But not by much. You’d struggle getting the M1130 in a fancy Steve-Jobs-style-envelope but it’s a workhorse. A real beast.

I’ve been putting the M1330 through a heck of a lot of use whilst here on the island. I’ve been using it for a lot of blogging — perhaps one of the most demanding uses of a machine in my care. That is OODLES of web browsing and image processing along with video and audio encoding. I used the machine to comfortably process and record my podcast submission for Podcast 10. I’ve filled up a substantial amount of the hard disk with bucketloads of videos and photos that I won’t use — I’ve been deliberately annoying it. And it’s still standing. Battery life is excellent — 3 to 4 hours depending on how horrid you are to the machine and the screen brightness.

And one more thing.

You know, I was about to write that it doesn’t have a CD drive. It does. I just looked. Seriously, I spent a few minutes the other day looking to see and couldn’t find it. It’s on the right. An 8x DVD writer. Genius. I never knew!

I’d seen the M1330 before. I’ve seen a few folk using it and my dad had one of the first but I’d never been hands on with it before.

It’s precisely the kind of machine you want when you’ve got work to do and you’re on a desert island. Or on the train, the bus, or you’re moving often and you don’t want to be messing around with large ‘desktop replacements’.

Thank you to Dell for loaning us the M1330 for the Desert Island Challenge. And thank you to Marcus, Director of Operations for the Conrad here, for validating my geek existence with his question.

If you’ve got any questions about the Dell, let me know – ewan@smstextnews.com.

I have been snorkeling. Probably one of the only times that I don’t take my mobile phone with me when I go out. Sad, but true.

But you’re the same, right?

I did, however, take The Flip. In fact, if I’m totally honest, The Flip is the major reason that I agreed to snorkeling in the first place.

If you haven’t snorkeled before — or gone diving — then a unique experience awaits. The biggest trauma I had was learning that when I stick my head underwater, I can still breathe.

That and the sharks.

They have sharks in the Maldives.

“Little baby tiny ones that you just have to tap on the nose to get’em to go away,” my friend Angus told me a few weeks ago.

Riiight.

I took my Flip and I placed it into the water-tight container and turned it on. Then I arsed about with my snorkel and mask for a few minutes whilst being gently buffeted by the little waves.

The Flip gave me purpose. If I hadn’t had that, I’d have spent the time panicking about breathing underwater, I reckon.

I set about filming stuff. So much stuff, fishes and coral and such, that when I came back in, I discovered I’d recorded just over a gig of video!

Standby. I’m going to upload some shortly.

The ease of use of The Flip is fantastic. I’ve seen one Japanese tourist with a specialised watertight case for his fancy camcorder. The real problem is getting the footage off the camcorder without an array of leads and arsing about. I love how you just ‘Flip’ out the USB connector from the device and plug it in, then watch your videos. Really, really smart.

As I’ve commented before, The Flip shouldn’t exist. It shouldn’t have been allowed to exist. Nokia, in particular — along with Sony Ericsson, Samsung and LG — shouldn’t have let the market open up. One of the chief benefits of having a mobile handset, apart from the usual guff, is that you can take pictures and video with it.

The mobile networks and the handset manufacturers have been spectacularly shit in this regard. I kid ye not. I’ve stood in front of representatives from them all and found myself shocked at the total lack of understanding.

Only a month or so ago I was at the LG Secret launch. It’s a beautifully designed handset, it really is. 5 megapixel camera and an uber-uber-good video camera with, if memory serves, 120 frames per second capabilities.

Great.

Getting the footage OFF the device is a total and utter arse. This issue is the first one I put to the UK Marketing Director. He’s a smart chappy but he readily admitted that it’s not a priority and, to paraphrase from memory, it won’t be a priority for quite a while.

Meanwhile The Flip has come along and eaten everyone’s lunch.

Want to take video, easily? Get a Flip. Don’t bother with anything else and especially not your mobile handset. Chances are it was designed by a team who simply DO NOT GET IT or are unwilling to GET IT because of market dynamics. Obviously, your average mobile network would rather you transmitted your 1gig video of your snorkeling adventure via their data network to Youtube. So they’re rather likely to frown upon any manufacturer coming along and making it reaaaaally simple for normobs (“normal mobile users”) to be able to take video and send it to Youtube or friends and family easily.

Incidentally, it would cost me about 7,500 UK pounds to transmit the videos I took the other day on the Fllip via my T-Mobile connection, right now, here in the Maldives.

I just used the hotel’s complimentary internet connection. What a shame.

But, big up The Flip. If you haven’t got one, do consider a purchase. You can find them on Amazon.

I don’t hold with James Whatley’s viewpoint. James, our uber-mobile correspondent (who’s currently heading to the Glastonbury festival to get very muddy and try out some technology there for us) doesn’t like The Flip.

He especially doesn’t like it because it doesn’t do live. He wants to be able to stream, a la QIK.

I don’t really want every bit of footage captured to be streamed to the planet. I’d like to edit. You don’t want to watch 30 minutes of me arsing about in the water, do you?

The other viewpoint — expressed by Dan Lane, uber-mobile geek and SMS Text News podcast contributor — is that having a Flip makes good sense when you’re out and about — at a festival, for example. Because taking footage on the Flip doesn’t wear down your battery on your mobile, rendering you contactable by your friends.

These opinions and more, by the way, you can hear on Podcast 10.

And so to my final point. There I was, 100m off shore, trying to take a video of a rather colourful fish and wondering why The Flip wasn’t playing ball. In the end I stood up. I was rather surprised to find that the water came up to my thighs. Heh. I stood up, opened up the watertight container and then read the ‘battery low’ message.

Ahh.

For some reason I’d got it into my mind that The Flip is powered by USB. It’s not. It takes 2xAA batteries. A quick trip to the hotel shop and I’m now good for another 2.5 hours worth of footage. Right on.

I called up the Ministry of Information this morning. Somebody answered! I was put through to a lady who then put me through to Aisha, who listened to my issue.

“It really doesn’t take a week!” she replied, after I explained that I was waiting for Customs to contact her Ministry.

“Ah really?” I said, allowing myself to feel a slight feeling of hope.

The centrepiece of the Desert Island Challenge was Teleware’s Private Mobile Network unit. It’s a yellow ruggedised box about the size of a small hamper. Open it up and you’ll find a cord inside. It’s got a ton of battery power, but you can also plug that cord into a power source. Switch it on and you have an instant mobile network, 500m squared. The units are typically deployed in disaster zones or — literally in the middle of nowhere. Think, for example, an oil exploratory team in the middle of Siberia. Of course, the technology can be deployed in more conventional settings too.

Everyone I’ve spoken to has reacted with some surprise and excitement at the possibility of seeing just how one of these things works. We all know, don’t we? We all ‘get it’. Plug it in and woosh, yeah, small mobile network. No biggie.

But it’s seeing it work. I had some pretty smart experiments and tests planned. The PMN (“Private Mobile Network”) test unit comes with four JCB ToughPhones (made by Sonim) so I was going to see if I could get some of the staff here to each take one and see if we could call each other via our very own mobile network. I planned video. I planned audio. I planned lots of photos and some wicked editorial.

In fact, I was hoping to place the unit in the business centre of the Conrad Rangali Island Hotel where I’m based for this feature. If you plug the PMN unit into an IP connection, bish bash bosh, it will connect back to the Teleware service in London and… theoretically, I’d be able to make calls to the UK — to anywhere — via my JCB ToughPhone connected to my own mobile network. Neat.

All this scenarios are eminently possible. We know they are. I just wanted to prove it. To document it, to show it working.

Circle back then, about one and a half weeks. My PNM unit was held by Customs at Male airport and the management here at the hotel have been jumping through various hoops to try and see if I can get the unit released to test.

I tell you, a photo of the PMN unit sat in a bit of sand surrounded by palm trees.. I’d have been brilliant.

Aisha at the Maldives Ministry of Information reckoned that she might be able to speed things up. She needed a fax with the details. Interesting that they’re still in fax mode. I think if I was having this kind of issue in the UK, we’d probably be doing it by email. I got on the phone to Elvis, the PR manager for the resort here. He was out on a photoshoot — there are, understandably, a lot of publications coming to the Conrad here now and again for shoots. I reckoned all Aisha would need was a copy of the fax we’d previously sent to the Customs Service. Elvis agreed. I phoned Rena in the hotel office who sent off the fax and called Aisha to confirm she received it.

Now we wait.

Tomorrow — Friday — is the holy day in the Maldives. Saturday also comprises the weekend. Things start once again on Sunday and Monday.

My challenge? IF Aisha is able to triumph and the Customs Service are able to release the unit, it’s not all good news yet. Male Airport is a 30 minute flight by seaplane. Round the corner, it ain’t. So the next trauma will be getting the unit here.

We shall see.

(The photo above: My Iridium Sat Phone – more on that soon)

Last Monday, your intrepid reporter — that’s me — arrived on the ground at Male Airport at just past 9am local time.

By 10am, my Private Mobile Network — 20,000 pounds worth of technology and telecommunications brilliance, loaned to me by the nice people at Teleware — had been impounded by the rather blank-looked but nice people at the Customs table at Male Airport.

They didn’t know what it was. I explained. They weren’t buying my explanation — or, since I didn’t have the right paperwork (i.e. ANY paperwork) from the hotel, they impounded the device. I got a receipt.

Elvis, the PR Manager at the Conrad Rangali Island, the hotel I’ve chosen for the Desert Island Feature, has done a huge amount of cajoling and persuading. They’re not having it at the Customs Authority though. Oh no.

They now need to go and speak to the Ministry of Information and Communications to get advice.

And that takes a week.

A week.

Seven days, they’ve advised Elvis.

That isn’t good enough.

I don’t believe that it takes the Maldives Government 168 hours to do anything. Surely with one man in control, they can make decisions quicker than this?

The moment any right-minded chappie looks at the letter I wrote explaining what the Private Mobile Network does and that I am only aiming to test it will say ‘yeah, fine’ in a second.

That’s what I reckoned.

So I picked up my phone. I’ve been very good. I haven’t phoned anyone so far. I’ve been minding my Vodafone 10 pounds per minute (that’s a friendly dig) rates.

But today, I vented forth.

I knocked up ‘Maldives Government Press Office’ into Google. Ah hah. There’s a website about the long serving President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Astonishingly there’s a section about the press office there with no contact details.

Eventually I found the Maldives Customs Service phone number.

“Press Office, please?” I asked.

Nada. Eventually I was put through to a lady who spoke English. I explained my issue.

“Everybody’s gone home,” she told me. (I’m paraphrasing)

“What? Everyone?”

“Everyone in management.”

I looked at the clock here. 3.59pm.

“What about the Chief Executive, can you put me through to him?” I asked, hopefully. I just need to speak to a can-do-chap or lady, I thought.

“No, he’s in Belgium.”

Right.

“This is urgent, what’s the mobile number of one of these managers?”

:: fumbling ::

I got the number. I called. It rang… and rang… and rang… no answer.

Ok.

Next. I started think about chatting to the Organ Grinder. Let’s go to the top.

Hold on though, ‘the top’ is at home. Every single agency I called didn’t answer. The phone rang and rang and rang. Sleepy Maldives, eh?

I know. Who’s always available to take your calls? The public relations specialists.

Enter Hill & Knowlton. You know them, right? H&K. One of the world’s heavy hitter Public Relations agencies who took quite a bit of stick when they announced they were going to represent the Maldives a while back. Protests. There were protests outside their lush office in Soho Square. More details on the protests at Sourcewatch.

I phoned Gaylene who runs Digital at H&K.

“I’m calling from the Maldives,” I said, “I’ve, er, got a problem with Customs.”

Not your average PR enquiry, I know. She promised to connect me to the person who manages the Maldives reputation. Quickly please.

I can feel the inner MacLeod burning with annoyance. I’m feeling minutes away from running a DONT BRING ANYTHING TO THE MALDIVES EXCEPT YOUR SWIMSUIT AND BUCKETLOADS OF CASH campaign. Remote working the Maldives? Don’t bother Desert Island Challenge? You bet it’s a challenge, and so on.

I’m annoyed I’ve waited more than a week for the Maldives Customs to do anything. The Private Mobile Network is exactly as it says on the tin. How are you meant to be able to remote work in tourist-heaven Maldives when you risk the blank-but-nice Customs Officials impounding your equipment?

I’m mostly annoyed that it seems after 4pm, everyone is asleep. Or in Belgium.

Seriously, I’ve tried all the key important telephone numbers of the Maldives State and no one’s answering…

If you’re reading, your excellency, President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, my number is +44 7769 658 104.

Apologies for the occasionally-poor sound quality this week – the SMS Text News outside broadcast unit suffered a technical fault and I’ve done what I can to clean it up… we’ll replace the battery next week. In the meantime, enjoy its ‘authentic’ charm.

Listen now using the player below or see the links below for other options:

Episode link and feeds:

[Link] Direct link to this episode’s MP3 to download
[iTunes] Subscribe or listen in iTunes
[RSS] Subscribe via your feed reader or another podcatcher

Episode ‘warm-up video’:

Podcast images:

Ewan – hard at work

Dan – Not enjoying himself quite as much

—-

The contributors:

Dan Lane’s blog is at http://invalid.name. He’s CTO at Howler Tech.
James Whatley’s blog is here. He works for SpinVox doing clever social media stuff and also writes their blog. Sometimes he writes for SMS Text News and you can read all of that stuff right here.
Ben Smith is a management consultant. He has a blog, but anything worth reading is contributed here.

Sites mentioned in the podcast:

Nokia’s E71 is here and E66 is here.
Dan’s self-build phone is here.
Krystal’s Canadian mobile data article is here.
Unlimited Drinks Dublin is here.
Nokia’s SportsTracker is here.
E71blog.com is a blog. About the E71.
Salling Clicker is genius.

We’re really keen to get your feedback on the podcast – please let us know in the comments or tell Ewan – ewan@smstextnews.com.

I was out today in the midday sun, taking pictures of the various products we’ve been given to check out in desert island conditions. I wore a hat to keep the sun off and some long shorts, but I negated to think about my arms. They are, as a result of the prolonged exposure, not looking too good now. But the photos are pretty good.

I almost lost the MacBook Air to a freak wave. I had it perched precariously on the side of a set of stairs and it was nearly unseated by the momentum of a gentle yet thoroughly powerful wave (precariously, because it’s my own… I didn’t dare put the Dell Ultralight on the stairs).

I’ll be publishing a big gallery of images shortly. Meantime, here’s the Air:

… and a shot of the SMS Text News desert island (Conrad Rangali Island):

However that’s a good few quid a minute at least on my standard network choices — Vodafone, o2 and T-Mobile.

My first look-up was Jajah… but they don’t seem to have support for the Maldives.

I’m going to take a look at RebTel. Trouble is, since I’m roaming, there is going to be a cost for using the phone whether I’m calling or receiving. And I don’t have a localised sim for the Maldives. Yet.

The other option I’m considering: Truphone. Ah hah. Yes. There’s free wifi here… Oh… and Skype, too.

Do you have any suggestions on a service I could use from the hotel’s landline to make calls back to the UK?

The machine is massively overheating and it’s not doing very well at all in these conditions, despite brilliant air conditioning, the fan won’t stop whirring away. In fact, the machine’s performance appears continually impaired — because of the heat.

I’ve restarted it a few times just in case there were some runaway background processes hogging the memory (unlikely, I know, on an Apple), but that had no effect.

Whirr. Whirr. Whirr.

You know I brought a Dell Ultralight with me? It’s handling it fine.

I spent a lot of time doing some product testing yesterday. In particular, I tried charging my Nokia N90 from a solar power source. Genius. It worked brilliantly. All I had to do was stick the power source in the sun and woosh, the red light came on and the N90 started charging. A must. An absolute must if you’re on holiday (or stranded on a desert island, with wifi or cellular connectivity).

I also noticed that the emergency kit here in the villa is unique. I will do a piece on that.

I’ve got full Iridium signal, so I’m about to test that out. I did a QIK video via the WiFi connection earlier. I’ll get that up soon.

And, I’ve had a ton of emails from people asking for pictures. Have no fear. There are some coming.

Your two heroes on this occasion — that’s me, and my other half, Hetty — obtain our baggage and hunt for the huge box that we sent through outsize baggage at Gatwick.

One suitcase contains the usual holiday (or ‘vacation’) gubbins — swimsuits, shorts, sun tan lotion. The other suitcase is jammed full of electronic wizardry. Think sat phones, think laptops, think copious network cables, think five different mobile handsets and ancillary leads and cables.

Jam-packed. A customs nightmare waiting to happen.

I stood at passport control as I saw the suitcases arriving on to the conveyor belt and hoped that no one in the Maldives associated multiple mobile handsets with those of a suspect character.

There was a degree of waiting around involved for the big box. Huge box. Maybe 75cm x 75cm. (So huge, in fact, that it wouldn’t fit in the first car that came to pick us up to take us to the airport. That Mercedes was dispatched back to base and a transit minibus substituted instead.)

Eventually the box arrived being pushed by the knees of a slightly bored looking baggage attendant. He came out an emergency exit door and was, I think, surprised at my yell of triumph as I surged forward — a one man surge — to retrieve the package.

I stuck it on the trolley and hoped for the best as we hit the customs/security queue.

They’re very hot on contraband here in the Maldives — as one might expect for a muslim country. No pornography, no alcohol and the like. So instead of a relatively benign customs experience, absolutely all luggage was being scanned prior to exit. In the queue, I wondered just what your average customs agent would make of my Teleware Private Mobile Networks system. That’s what was in the big box.

Strictly speaking, there was no need for me to send the large cardboard box. The Private Mobile Networks system actually comes in a ruggedised bright yellow container that, I reckon, might pass for hand luggage on most airlines.

I didn’t want to ship it in its container though. Didn’t want to get it scuffed. Profuse thanks go to Lesley and her team at Teleware who agreed to lend me the device in the first place.

My aim is to try it out on the desert island here and take some pictures and video of it actually working. There’s been huge interest when I’ve told people that I’m ‘taking my own mobile network’ to the desert island. Everyone wants to know how it works. I shall not disappoint.

There is, however, a temporal issue.

When I arrived at the customs desk, the suitcases passed without interest.

However I think it was incumbent upon the customs officer to ask me what was inside the large cardboard box. They’d scanned it already. Nothing interesting. No alcohol, etc.

“It’s a private mobile network,” I explained, “I’m testing it for my publication.”

The customs lady wanted to know if I had paperwork. For what, I’m not entirely sure. I don’t know if she was, either.

“Do you want to see inside?” I asked. She nodded, handing me a knife and some tape.

I opened up the box and dug around in the white foamy bits for the big yellow container. The Private Mobile Network, you see, comes in a yellow container. That’s it. You just literally plug it in. It’s brilliant.

Out came the box and I placed it on the examining table as bewildered holidaymakers strolled by, already overheating.

I opened it up. I smiled as I opened the lid — there were four of Sonim’s JCB ToughPhones carefully placed in shaped foam inside the lid. Smart.

The bottom half of the device is simply flat. It looks to me like all the equipment is actually integrated into the bottom half of the case — no lose or spare parts to jiggle about. Instead there was a power switch and a cable lead.

Genius. The idea with one of these things is simple. You rock up to the middle of nowhere. Siberia, or some desolate tundra, somewhere… you plug this into a power socket (and, if you’d like back-haul, plug it into an internet connection) and woosh, you’re live. Simple as. This is what I wanted to test out.

Sadly the customs lady wasn’t entirely sure what to do.

Her colleague enquired as to the value of the item.

“20,000 pounds,” I said. That’s a rough guess. (You’d need to talk directly to Teleware to get a specific quote for your project.)

I wondered if, actually, the customs chaps didn’t seem to have an issue with me bringing the technology into the country. Good.

Turns out, after a few more minutes worth of conversation and the involvement of the on-site Conrad Hotel organiser, that the customs chaps don’t really mind. They need a letter from the hotel explaining what I’m going to do with the device and that’ll waive customs duties.

Right on!

Elvis, the PR here at the hotel, is busy sorting out the paperwork. I shall shortly be able to bring you footage of this device working. It’s going to be brilliant.

Ahoy!

Hello from the Conrad Rangali Island!

(Photo via the iPhone)

Just 10 hours separate the United Kingdom — Gatwick Airport, to be precise — and the collection of islands known as the Maldives.

Why am I here?

Well, I do need a break. It’s been a long time since I relaxed. Total relaxation won’t be entirely possible though, as there’s work to be done.

Yes! There’s work to be done. We’ve been given a veritable trove of mobile related equipment to test out, play with and put-through-paces in a ‘remote desert island setting’.

Just how does your everyday common-or-garden equipment manage under desert island conditions? It’s a real concern for me. I don’t say that lightly. I need to be connected. I can’t — very easily — be disconnected from the internet. It’s not a mental thing (I really enjoy switching off), it’s a business thing. My work dictates that I must be within a few hours of a decent internet connection and, so does the work of a lot of people nowadays.

I was keen to explore the feasibility of working remotely — and also seeing what kind of technology you really do need to have with you when you’re remote.

I say ‘remote’ — the Conrad hotel has 100% cell phone access and complimentary wireless internet across the island — but, irrespective, how best do you stay in touch with work? And what do you do when your iPhone’s battery runs out? And what’s the best machine to take with you to a desert island? All this and more, we shall be exploring.

And, er, we’ll be taking a look at the complexities of importing shit hot brilliant technology and the, er, trials and tribulations therein. More on that shortly.

Vodafone whacked me over a USB modem stick to use on the way to and from the Desert Island. (I’m given to understand that GRPS doesn’t quite work in the Maldives – so I’ll be using this one on the way to and from the airport in the UK.)

Next month, starting June 16th, we’ll be bringing you SMS Text News live from a desert island in the middle of nowhere.

I’m going to be exploring the possibility of working remotely. I’ve emailed Iridium to see if they can lend us a satellite data system to enable us to produce the site. The hotel we’re using will have internet but I’d like to prove a point and detail just how easy it is to get connected literally anywhere.

If you’ve got any ideas for products and services we should look at for this feature, mail me!