Vicky Lalwani

Sheraton New York has been mesmerized by Microsoft and have adopted the Surface application in their lobby.

Take a look at the clip below.

I came across this article, on The Big Chair, that was written earlier this year - and I laughingly agree with Conrad Walters on this following extract from the article:

10 things that won’t change in 2008

1. Google will still have access to more information about you than your mother has.
2. The DVD drive on your computer will still be ideal for holding your first cup of coffee while Windows Vista loads.
3. Internet filters will still require children to help their parents view the websites they want.
4. Spammers will still exploit the inverse relationship that exists between IQ and greed.
5. Social networking sites will still be the best place for identity thieves to refine their craft.
6. People will still visit Second Life trying to discover if there’s something to do other than to see if there’s something to do.
7. YouTube will still be the definitive source for guidance on how to train cats to flush a toilet.
8. Mobile phones will still come with a choice of 200 ring tones, none of which anyone wants.
9. Broadband in rural Australia will still involve paper cups and string.
10. Video iPod users will still squint into postage-stamp screens and convince themselves they’ve enjoyed watching something.

Mark Cohen bought this article to my attention. It states that LimitNone, a company that developed an application, about a year ago, would allow users who use Microsoft Outlook to export all its contents into Gmail.

Back in 2007, LimitNone demo’ed the software to Google’s senior executives and were assured by Google that they would not roll out a competing product, but would instead work with LimitNone to roll it out.

However, all that changed when Google produced its own Google Email Uploader, an app similar to LimitNone’s gMove.

Originally LimitNone’s app was called MY GRATE, but on Google’s recommendation they renamed it to gMove.

“Google claims its core philosophy is ‘Don’t be evil’ but, simply put, they invited us to work with them, to trust them — and then stole our technology,” said Ray Glassman, CEO of LimitNone, in a prepared statement.

LimitNone claims the damaged to be worth US$1 Billion

Don’t be evil eh?

At first I was a bit sceptical about the Foxtel contractors turning up between their proposed hour of 7am and 12noon. It was 9:45am, and I had decided to call up Foxtel. After waiting for about 5 mins, I got through to a representative who confirmed that the contractor is due to come out today and will call an hour before arriving.
 
My intercom buzzes at 10:30 and it was the contractor (though he didn’t call me and hour before arriving). I wasn’t going to complain - he walked on in and checked my TV and set it all up in about 10 mins.
 
Since he had replaced the smart card with a new one, he had to call Foxtel technical support to make the change. At first I thought he would have his special number to get straight through to a support representative - wrong! He had to wait for 20 mins (a taste of their own medicine) before he could get someone at their technical support end to activate the card.
 
25 mins later, and he started his demo on how to record, pause live TV, schedule a record, and record a series of episodes. All in all, within 40 mins I was up and running with IQ2.
 
Am I pleased? Very much so.
 
Is it worth the money? Very much so.
 
So let me explain why:
 
1) Pause live TV.
You know the times when you are focused on watching something on TV but the other people around you just want to talk or if your mobile phone goes off, well I now do one simple thing - hit the pause button. That pauses live TV broadcast, and the room is silent to finish the conversation. Once you’re ready, hit the play button and you are back onto watching from when you paused.
 
If there are ads in this program that have been recorded in the background while you have it paused, you can simply fast forward through them (eventually you will catch up to live broadcast if you keep forwarding).
 
2) Recording TV
I love watching the F1, but I love sleeping even more. Given the time zone differences, the European F1 races are broadcasted here between 11pm and 2am. I simply hit the record button the scheduler and I can watch it at my own ease on Monday evening after work. And since you can watch the local HD channels through IQ2, I can record it at even better quality. I can keep my recordings for as long as I want, understanding that it takes up hard drive space.
 
3) Planning my TV from work
Foxtel has an online TV guide where you can register online and link your Foxtel account with your online profile. Therefore from work, I can log on and select what I want my IQ2 box at home to record while I am at work or remind me when I am at home.

4) HD channels
While there aren’t many channels on HD yet, all the local channels are available and the same with Discovery, National Geographic, BBC, Foxsports and ESPN. I never had IQ before, so not having to buy a seperate HD box is a bit of a relief.

The above 4 points are worth the extra $20 a month for me.

An article I read during the week on SMH boasted Microsoft’s Surface application which is being used at a bar in Las Vegas.

Microsoft, together with Harrah’s Entertainment, allows it’s users to use Surface to order drinks, watch You Tube Videos, play touch type games and even flirt with other users.

Being all touch screen, there is not input devices besides your fingers that are required for the interaction. Each of these touch screen devices go for US$10,000

The system is smart enough to record behavioural patterns and can be used, for e.g., to track a user’s gambling habits.

Another application that was used in this Las Vegas bar is called Mixologists. Through touch screen selection, the user can create a cocktail with their choice of alcohol and send the order through to the bartender (that would be something I’d love to see at the bars in Sydney).

Harrah’s claim that they are trying to make systems more networked. So if you order a drink at a bar, and later use of the touch screen applications down at the casino, it will remember your profile and offer you the same drink again.

After making a deal with YouTube, Harrah’s entertainment systems allow people to access YouTube videos to watch on their touch screen devices.

Flirt, is another application used on these devices and it allows users to text or video chat, take and email pictures and exchange contact details - another dimension to meeting people in a bar.

Playing games, seeing the bar menu, getting local information, etc, are some of the unlimited capabilities of this system. You can only but imagine what sort of applications bars, casinos and retail shops can add on to this.

A few companies have signed up to this idea, including some casinos (imagine playing roulette on this!) as well as hotel groups such as Starwood Hotels and Resorts in conjunction with T-Mobile.

One thing I remember reading ages ago, was that if you put your mobile device (or camera) on the table on the Surface application, it will attempt to connect, via bluetooth (or otherwise) and be able to access content from your phone such as pictures taken and so on.

A brilliant concept, and a new way of digital interaction on your finger tips (literally!)

To view some videos by Microsoft, have a look here:

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/videos.html

Ok, so the big news is out and everyone knows of the iPhone 2.0 (3G). Currently I have a Nokia N95 - it seems to have most of the features of the iPhone aside from the all touchscreen lcd and the thinner dimensions.

Infact the camera on the N95 is superior at 5mp, while the iPhone stands at 2mp. They both support 3G, wireless, bluetooth et al.

But then I read of another competitor - which oddly enough launched the same day as the iPhone (bad timing). It’s the Samsung Omnia i900.

It runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro, and has a few features that stand above the iPhone. The camera on this is 5mp, it is capable to work on 3.5G while the iPhone is 3G max. Further, the Samsung is capable of recording video which I don’t think the new iPhone can.

But here is where it boils down - price! We know that the in the US the price for the iPhone will be from US$199. But prices here in Australia are still pending to be released. Samsung haven’t released pricing for any country just yet - I think they were waiting to see what the iPhone would go for.

What would you do? Get an iPhone, get the Samsung or stick with the N95? Or can you suggest an alternative?

With the new announcements of the Foxtel HD+ pricing, it has convinced me to get the new IQ2.

I have been reading about it for a while, and since I have been on a standard box, I think IQ2 is next on the agenda. So I’ve ordered the box and they’ve scheduled an appointment on the 20th June for the upgrade.

It comes with all local Free to Air channels with HD - as well as a few selected channels that are already broadcasting in HD. This includes ESPN, FoxSports, Discovery, BBC and National Geographic.

Sure, those channels are the least that I watch, but given that I am already on the platinum package, I can simply add $25 to the monthly package and get a new box with the above packages - and have 2 free movies HD movies per month.

On top of that, (once Foxtel sets it up in the future) I can get ‘On Demand’ via the Ethernet port through my Bigpond cable.

The downside is that I apparently need to have a phone line in order to use the On Demand movies - which doesn’t bother me too much.

I have pictured myself in front of the tele all weekend after the 20th June.

In a recent article that I read on the SMH and after further discussion with Chris Elson (New-Media Sales Head at Dialogue Communications), it would seem mobile internet still has a long way to go before it is widely accepted in Australia. And when I say Mobile Internet, I don’t mean browsing the internet on your laptop while you’re mobile - but actually using that piece of technology in your pocket to get on the internet.

Now immediately the first thing that’s hit your head is - “Data Charges”!!! Yep, many people are afraid of that and so they should be. Carriers charge us an atrocious amount either for the data downloaded or time spent.

Let’s assume for the next 5 mins that using your mobile phone to go on the internet was free (like it is for me), what hold’s people back from actually using it?

1) Education
There is no way to explain to someone how to use their web browsers on their mobile phone. Sure, there’s the Nokia manual - but seriously, how many of you have read that? People who advertise for their products saying go to www.something.com/mobile surely don’t explain how to actually put the URL into their phone for a layman. Is it because there are way too many phone models and different operating systems to explain how it’s done? Maybe - Modu Mobile will solve that issue.

2) Content
Google.com is my mobile browser’s homepage. I search for restaurants, answers to questions that get my nerves, read the news and it’s ideal for when I’m on the go. But is that all? Do the carriers provide the general people with a reason to go onto Mobile Web?

Network Carrier 3 has their 3Planet which syndicates content from various sources, such as RSVP, RealEstate, and so on. I don’t have a 3 anymore, so I’m not sure what they charge. And Vodafone has Vodafone Live - which I personally haven’t used because the would probably charge me for anything I click on (see, again no education on the pricing of their content)

Telstra tried their new WotNext website - which I must say is pretty cool, but hasn’t yet lifted off compared to YouTube or other popular video sites. The website allows the general public to put up videos that they’ve taken. If a Telstra mobile user downloads the content on their phone ($1 per video), then the user who put it up get’s 50% i.e. 50c for each download.

So, I though I’d give it a go. Chris and I went through one of the tunnels in Sydney during the time when he hired an Aston Martin V8 Vantage. I put the video on WotNext, and so far we’ve earned $35.00

I’m assuming that those 70 people who downloaded our video know what they’re doing or are oblivious to the fact that they got charged a $1 for each download.

SMS 28576 to 19 WOTGET (19 968 438) (note: you’ll get charged $1 by your carrier - don’t say that I didn’t tell you!)

3) The Premium Services
Ok, now this actually get’s on my nerves. Have you ever seen that stupid bunny on the tv singing to a carrot? That tune is bloody annoying… but when you start to read the fine print, you begin to notice how much that service actually costs you.

$4 to sign up, + $4 for each message sent and receieved - and they send you the top 5 ring tones per week.

So let’s do the math for the first month - $4 to sign up, + 4 X $20 per week (for 1 ringtone that is automatically pushed to your phone each weekday). That’s $84 per month - which is more than my phone bill!!

Oh, and if you need to stop your service that’s another $4 to send the word ‘STOP’ to their premium number.

Premium service providers are making money because they target the teens and those unaware until their first bill. But will general companies that want to sell their product ever realise that Mobile could be the next big thing in the coming future?

To end off, I’ll leave you with this line that I read from 160 Characters:

“A wise man once said that there are three ways to lose money: The fun way, which is women. The fast way, which is cars. And the certain way which is to invest in the mobile industry”

Modu Mobile comes across as the next generation for the mobile users.

It’s a small little device (smaller and lighter than an ipod nano) and will be made to fit into ‘jackets’ that would exist in mobile phones, pda’s, and laptop – the ad even shows that it goes into cars and MP3 players!

In essence then, Nokia and other mobile phone makers would make cheap mobile jackets, which allow people to change the look for their phone more often while still maintaining the data on the modu.

Essentially it means for the mobile carriers that people will come in more often to change the ‘skin’ of their mobile handset instead of turning up after their contract expiry.

Soon this will be used in GPS systems for up to date traffic info, in home speaker systems as your music player, in your laptop for wirelss internet and so on. It uses GPRS but future versions could be 3G compliant.

Check out the ad at http://www.modumobile.com/

On the 22nd January 2008, my best friend, Chris Elson, got one of his birthday presents a day late. The present cannot be simply bought from a gift shop and nor can it be exchanged for an iPod. Instead it’s a newspaper article worthy of exposure and influence in the Mobile industry and future growth of consumer mobile.

The Australian IT has written about Chris in the Ambition section, where people appointed in market influencing businesses are talked about. In this case, the article described his recent position at Dialogue Communications where Chris was appointed as the New-Media Sales Head in the Sydney office.

Chris and I met in 2006, where he was a client at the company I used to work for (Wiliam). A few months after our initial meet, he was offered a role at Wiliam and at half past 6 on his first day you would have seen the two of us and the MD crack open a bottle of wine on the boardroom table. Next thing I knew, I was hypnotised by the magic of cocktails through Chris’ recommendation and suave taste for the combination of fruit and alcohol. Several bars near our office in the city were experimented with, and only a select few made a lasting impression.

Chris and I played fairly strong roles at Wiliam where his strong skill in sales and my technical jargon helped bringing in business and growing existing clients. Together we worked well, and of course generated revenue – but more importantly introduced most if not all of the people at Wiliam experience the ruthless force of the Miami Fist (a cocktail co-founded by Chris Elson and Miles Sowden). “Lead by example” - as we sometimes say.

In 2007, Chris and I departed Wiliam but the friendship never wore off. Today we cross paths when walking to work every morning. Though on most Tuesday evenings you can catch us at our mid way point from work for a cocktail evening at Pier26 - where I’m sure Chris won’t hesitate to sign your copy of the Austrlaian IT!

Read the Australian IT article by clicking here