Dude! You have download this app. I was at Darla Mack’s site last night and stumbled upon the s60 tips site and found that there was an accelerometer shipped with the N95. It looks like Forum Nokia released code to access it. What do you do when you have access to a device with an accelerometer? Well, make fun stuff!
Lightsaber for N95 – Hidden Accelerometer
28 01 2008Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: accelerometer, darla mack, lightsaber, nokia. s60, starwars
Categories : Uncategorized
Nokia buys Trolltech, Mobile Linux Platform and tools provider
28 01 2008http://www.nokia.com/A4136001?newsid=1185531
WOW! Nokia is really heating up the valley these days. Nokia’s push to not only be a player in mobile but in web as well is not all rhetoric, they are acting on their words. I’ll give full disclosure here, I’m a Nokia snob, have used a nokia device since 1997 as my primary phone, even when I was at Disney and Danger, I just couldn’t stop using a S60. Perhaps the threat of Android/Access/Palm and Moto steering towards Linux mobile platforms is was inevitable that Nokia would jump in the race, after all don’t they dominate 40% of the handset market. I’ve been following Trolltech since a UI project I worked on with TMOUS back in 2005. Good for Nokia for acquiring a local valley company, and they are getting a well experienced team and toolset to develop on the Linux platform, this should definitely help Nokia hit the ground running in a plan to supplement the s60 roadmap and beyond.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: access, android, linux, nokia, palm, s60, trolltech
Categories : Uncategorized
Android Campfire Discussion
24 01 2008The folks at Android sent me an invite to a small gathering of thought leaders from the Valley. The scene was that of a Boy Scout overnight camp out, with fires (simulated) and even a mess tent, provisioned with food an goodies. The discussion was lead by Android Advocates (which has a little too much of a Mormon Elder feeling to it, Evangineer is much better), it was actually a great group of people, largely developers with questions on roadmap and details of support of their applications. The discussion covered from concerns of operators limiting access to the APIs to security (my question). I definitely feel that these discussions are good for the project and hope that someone from Android was taking notes, because the issues discussed are real issues that developers encounter today and they hope Android is watching out for them.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : Uncategorized
WhereWednesday is Born!!!!
24 01 2008www.wherewednesday.com
I’ve been kicking around the idea to start a Location Based Services community in Silicon Valley since the Summer of 2007 and finally I’ve found the time and effort to do it. This group got its inspiration from MobileMonday (www.mobilemonday.net) an open community for mobile. I’ve organized and founded the Seattle and Los Angeles Chapters of MobileMonday and have been gathering people to evangelize mobile since 1999.
Location Based Services is again gaining a buzz and I wanted to form a group that didn’t only focus on Location for Mobile but for Web apps as well. There are many interesting applications for both mobile and web that it merits a group for those with interests and passions for the sector.
Mapping data and location data are finding their ways into some of the most interesting applications and this group is a forum to share, debate, inspire and network in the community.
We are planning our first gathering soon so keep posted.
MISSION
WhereWednesday is a open group for those in the Location Based Services realm. Our slogan is, “If your App has a Map, you are welcome to join.”
The group is focused on users of Mapping Data, Application Developers and Location players in both web and mobile.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : Uncategorized
Disney MVNO Again?
23 01 2008If it doesn’t work the first time, try it in Japan. I think this time Disney did some business case work for Japan. mDisney, the mobile content arm of Disney Internet Group does an enormous amount of business in Japan in content, try ~90% of total global revenue. I have to say that it is cultural, Disney does well in the land of Hello Kitty, Pokemon, and Purikura (another phenomenon in Japan). Disney content is “キュート” (cute), it is still questionable how compelling the content is to motivate a change of operator. The play here is to provide high end ex(c)lusive devices. Will it survive, probably not, Disney should stick to making consumer devices and selling them retail to Disneyphiles and stay away from providing services. And so it goes….
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : Content, Mobile News
What is Web 3.0?
22 01 2008I came across the term web 3.0 lately and now its boggling my mind on what it will be. My friend Raj Singh says Web 1.0 + Web 2.0 = Web 3.0, lol, if it were only that easy Raj. I did come across a few articles of people waisting time pondering this cosmic conundrum. Here’s some thought equity from Wikipedia and others:
Web 3.0 is:
- The web experience in 3D
- The 3rd decade of the Web 2010-2019
- Completely removing markup from all data, leaving data in pure RDF, RSS, XML etc
- Web 1.0 = Read Only, static data with simple markup
- Web 2.0 = Read/Write, dynamic data through web services
- Web 3.0 = Read/Write/Relate, data with structured metadata + managed identity
- Always connected
From my perspective here is what Web 3.0 will require:
- data stores to be moved completely back to central storage on a mass scale
- data will be accessible from any platform, terminal, mobile, auto, tv etc
- better UIs for all services
- gateways into the web will resemble appliances
- Robots controlled from the web will read our email, do the wash, and shop. (I can dream can’t I, btw I have always loved robots and remote controlled toys my entire life, there’s a reason I became a Mech E)
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Categories : Silicon Valley
MVNO Experiments
20 01 2008So 2007 saw the demise of a couple MVNO experiments. Disney Mobile and Amp’d both shut their doors to world in the midst of a growing mobile sector. It’s rare to hear in the news about companies failing due to bad management, the finger is always pointed to a bad business sector or inferred culpability on the model. MVNOs are not bad models, we have many successful ones in the industry today, Virgin, Boost, Net10, Movida, and the list goes on, just visit Walmart to see. I was in LA working for one of these MVNOs and was very close to the others when they were just emerging into the market. There are a few key elements necessary for success; understanding your demographic, affordable price plans, device pricing , and prepay. While Disney focused on the Tween and Suburban Mom they failed to see that Moms are the CFO of the house and that although having a family friendly service, pricing was the driver for demographic. Disney as a reseller couldn’t compete with the family plan offerings of AT&T and Verizon. Amp’d catered to the active and hip youth, but failed to realize that that demographic doesn’t have the income to pay their bills and are still fairly irresponsible financially. The successful models all have low cost devices and prepay in common. The prepay guys are doing well, and there is little risk in providing a service where users don’t get a subsidized device and pay upfront their usage. Go ahead and buy the device and credits, you loose the phone or talk too long , the MVNO still gets paid. Also, a major demographic that is ripe for the prepay MVNOs is the unbanked, whether you are a young teen, sub-prime credit user, or immigrant without papers, you can still get a service, and those demographics are huge.
Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: amp'd, disney, mvno, prepay, unbanked, virgin
Categories : Uncategorized
