Communication Breakdown
Communications from the world of, er, communications. And other stuff.
Monday 29 September 2008, 11:29 AM
Google stands up for gay rights
Here's an interesting blog post from Google's Sergey Brin, in which he announces a company stand on the issue of gay rights in California.
Although Google does not usually comment on social issues, Brin is outraged by Proposition 8, which would see the abolition of the right of same-sex couples to marry.
...it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.
IMHO, this is a commendable stand for Brin and Google to take. Sometimes such things need to be said. Well done!
Although Google does not usually comment on social issues, Brin is outraged by Proposition 8, which would see the abolition of the right of same-sex couples to marry.
...it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love.
IMHO, this is a commendable stand for Brin and Google to take. Sometimes such things need to be said. Well done!
Monday 29 September 2008, 11:20 AM
New Blackberry strongly resembles Nokia E71
Images and first-look reviews of the BlackBerry Javelin are starting to creep out. This would be the successor to the Curve.
Now, I use a Nokia E71 - a very fine phone in my estimation, but a device that tends to elicit comments along the lines of "Oh, is Nokia making BlackBerries now?". Fair enough comment, but to my eyes the Javelin looks like RIM's been taking design tips from Nokia. The device does look remarkably like the E71, except slightly fatter. Oh, and without 3G. But with a better camera.
Funny old world...
Now, I use a Nokia E71 - a very fine phone in my estimation, but a device that tends to elicit comments along the lines of "Oh, is Nokia making BlackBerries now?". Fair enough comment, but to my eyes the Javelin looks like RIM's been taking design tips from Nokia. The device does look remarkably like the E71, except slightly fatter. Oh, and without 3G. But with a better camera.
Funny old world...
Friday 26 September 2008, 5:10 PM
BBC squares up to operators over iPlayer
Next Wednesday the BBC and Nokia will be launching the iPlayer on the N96, as a kickoff for the media player's eventual availability across a variety of phones.
At yesterday's Westminster eForum on mobile regulation, the Beeb's mobile "controller", Matthew Postgate, said the broadcaster was "the content provider that has had the deepest engagement with network operators". "We have been sitting down with network operators to see how it could be enabled on 3G [and] will be making announcements regarding which operators will enable it on 3G," he added.
Oh to be a fly on the wall at those discussions!
I should, at this point, make the disclosure that I benefited from a BBC scholarship when I did my journalism degree, and therefore benefited substantially from the licence fee. However...
I find it hard not to think the BBC is starting to extract the urine, just a little. On fixed-line networks, the iPlayer had a large effect in terms of congestion - not nearly as overwhelming as some reports suggested, but very significant nonetheless. The client will probably have at least as great an impact on mobile networks. It's not hard to see why operators might be slightly outraged, as they - like their fixed-line counterparts - are generally doing data as a flat-rate proposition.
Should the BBC have to help pay for its traffic, or for network upgrades that might ease the flow? I'm not so sure about that - I think it would be a dangerous precedent - but the organisation does seem to be pretty blithe about the effect services like iPlayer have on networks. What's the solution to this? Damned if I know.
The other side here, of course, is that of competition. Is this where the licence fee should be going? Should you pay the licence fee if you use iPlayer, on the PC or the mobile? If not, why not? This is all a deeply uncomfortable discussion. One advantage of the licence fee is the commercial independence it gives the BBC - useful on an ethical basis, at times, but also undeniably distorting to the market. I know I wouldn't even bother trying to set up a rival service to the iPlayer on handsets.
Also at the event was Scott Beaumont of the mobile content company Mippin. He has a vested interest, but what he said contained a grain of truth: "iPlayer… changes the dynamics increasingly for the ISP. The amount of traffic mobile operators will be asked to handle for relatively little reward is going to be astonishing."
These issues will not go away, and I hope the BBC really is constructively engaging with providers. One way or another, this will have to get sorted out.
UPDATE (Friday October 3rd): So much for the Wi-Fi lock. Check out this hack, which makes it possible to run the iPlayer over 3G (and on the E71, which is not supposed to be supported). By the way, a half hour programme equals about 40MB of data usage, just for future reference.
At yesterday's Westminster eForum on mobile regulation, the Beeb's mobile "controller", Matthew Postgate, said the broadcaster was "the content provider that has had the deepest engagement with network operators". "We have been sitting down with network operators to see how it could be enabled on 3G [and] will be making announcements regarding which operators will enable it on 3G," he added.
Oh to be a fly on the wall at those discussions!
I should, at this point, make the disclosure that I benefited from a BBC scholarship when I did my journalism degree, and therefore benefited substantially from the licence fee. However...
I find it hard not to think the BBC is starting to extract the urine, just a little. On fixed-line networks, the iPlayer had a large effect in terms of congestion - not nearly as overwhelming as some reports suggested, but very significant nonetheless. The client will probably have at least as great an impact on mobile networks. It's not hard to see why operators might be slightly outraged, as they - like their fixed-line counterparts - are generally doing data as a flat-rate proposition.
Should the BBC have to help pay for its traffic, or for network upgrades that might ease the flow? I'm not so sure about that - I think it would be a dangerous precedent - but the organisation does seem to be pretty blithe about the effect services like iPlayer have on networks. What's the solution to this? Damned if I know.
The other side here, of course, is that of competition. Is this where the licence fee should be going? Should you pay the licence fee if you use iPlayer, on the PC or the mobile? If not, why not? This is all a deeply uncomfortable discussion. One advantage of the licence fee is the commercial independence it gives the BBC - useful on an ethical basis, at times, but also undeniably distorting to the market. I know I wouldn't even bother trying to set up a rival service to the iPlayer on handsets.
Also at the event was Scott Beaumont of the mobile content company Mippin. He has a vested interest, but what he said contained a grain of truth: "iPlayer… changes the dynamics increasingly for the ISP. The amount of traffic mobile operators will be asked to handle for relatively little reward is going to be astonishing."
These issues will not go away, and I hope the BBC really is constructively engaging with providers. One way or another, this will have to get sorted out.
UPDATE (Friday October 3rd): So much for the Wi-Fi lock. Check out this hack, which makes it possible to run the iPlayer over 3G (and on the E71, which is not supposed to be supported). By the way, a half hour programme equals about 40MB of data usage, just for future reference.
Thursday 25 September 2008, 12:25 AM
What Sony Ericsson's up to: Part II
Following on from the announcements referred to in Part I, here's the lowdown on the future tech we got shown by Sony Ericsson, plus a bit more analysis.
Project Capuchin - Now we're talking. Essentially a blend of Flash and Java, the idea with Capuchin (the SDK came out late August, roundabout the same time as the SDK for the X1) is to help developers easily create new apps, new uses for existing apps and even customised themes. Saw a demo. It looks awesome. It'll work with Symbian, Windows Mobile, other manufacturers' phones... well, "We are currently looking into the possibilities of how to share Capuchin with others".
Capuchin will work in the C905, which comes out in a month. Then, all subsequent SE phones. If you're wondering where the name comes from, by the way, it's a rather lateral-thinking reference to both coffee (cappuccino, Java, geddit?) and Tamarin, which is the name of an Adobe (Flash, geddit?) open source project and also the name of a relative of the Capuchin monkey. Phew.
Hanashi - Currently available in beta form, this is all to do with IMS, which is one of the classic telephony-related solutions-in-search-of-a-problem. Basically, it lets you invite someone into a data session, like instant messaging or photo sharing, even if they're not online on their phone. It'll send them an SMS, which they can use to join the conversation. Not thoroughly useless by any means, but hardly resolving a burning issue for most mobile users at the moment. Who knows, maybe it's the future. What do I know?
Near Field Communications - Oh lord, not again. Yes, it can read business cards, change your phone profile as you enter a meeting room, etc. Yes, it's big in Japan. But it's been around for a while, and Western Europe is still hardly clamouring for it. Right now it costs $2-3 to stick in a phone, mainly because it uses 30MHz and needs a big antenna. SE predicts it'll only cost $1 to stick in a phone by 2011. But only if it takes off. Apparently "it will take time for people to adapt".
TransferJet - Hello, ultrawideband. This'll be for transferring hi-def video etc from capturing device to PC, or from phone to phone. At a distance of 3cm, this Sony tech will give you burst speeds of 560Mbps and a sustained 375Mbps, apparently. And you don't have to pair the devices, because the necessary proximity provides the security. Eh? Isn't this what WiMedia et al are doing? And might that be why no other phone manufacturers have signed up yet?
Virtual phones technology - Truly impressive software-based 3D surround sound tech. It's been in Walkman players for 5 years, apparently. But don't be fooled by the name – that's headphones it's referring to. There are "no firm plans yet" to put it into SE phones. Why not? Nobody had the faintest idea, or at least they weren't letting on.
Future phone designs - We met the lovely design team, who're doing a terrific job repackaging what are essentially incremental enhancements on the same camera and music phones. They have also come up with two of the most splendidly horrific and tautologous words I've encountered in recent times: "Trendencies" and "Archistructure". Thanks for that!
Business-plan-wise, SE wants to do more in China, India and of course the US (that'll be your X1 right there). Latin America's been good this year, apparently. Margins are, however, tight these days. And the economy means consumers are less keen to replace their phones. Fair's fair though – this is an industry-wide nightmare, and not SE-specific. The company has a great product lead in Rikko Sakaguchi, who recognises user experience as the killer app, as it were. The iPhone may have had something to do with that, but again, SE is not alone in having to catch up to that particular beast.
I'll leave you with a quote from company president Dick Komiyama: "You may be wondering where we are going as Sony Ericsson, but believe us we are going in the right direction".
I really hope so.
Project Capuchin - Now we're talking. Essentially a blend of Flash and Java, the idea with Capuchin (the SDK came out late August, roundabout the same time as the SDK for the X1) is to help developers easily create new apps, new uses for existing apps and even customised themes. Saw a demo. It looks awesome. It'll work with Symbian, Windows Mobile, other manufacturers' phones... well, "We are currently looking into the possibilities of how to share Capuchin with others".
Capuchin will work in the C905, which comes out in a month. Then, all subsequent SE phones. If you're wondering where the name comes from, by the way, it's a rather lateral-thinking reference to both coffee (cappuccino, Java, geddit?) and Tamarin, which is the name of an Adobe (Flash, geddit?) open source project and also the name of a relative of the Capuchin monkey. Phew.
Hanashi - Currently available in beta form, this is all to do with IMS, which is one of the classic telephony-related solutions-in-search-of-a-problem. Basically, it lets you invite someone into a data session, like instant messaging or photo sharing, even if they're not online on their phone. It'll send them an SMS, which they can use to join the conversation. Not thoroughly useless by any means, but hardly resolving a burning issue for most mobile users at the moment. Who knows, maybe it's the future. What do I know?
Near Field Communications - Oh lord, not again. Yes, it can read business cards, change your phone profile as you enter a meeting room, etc. Yes, it's big in Japan. But it's been around for a while, and Western Europe is still hardly clamouring for it. Right now it costs $2-3 to stick in a phone, mainly because it uses 30MHz and needs a big antenna. SE predicts it'll only cost $1 to stick in a phone by 2011. But only if it takes off. Apparently "it will take time for people to adapt".
TransferJet - Hello, ultrawideband. This'll be for transferring hi-def video etc from capturing device to PC, or from phone to phone. At a distance of 3cm, this Sony tech will give you burst speeds of 560Mbps and a sustained 375Mbps, apparently. And you don't have to pair the devices, because the necessary proximity provides the security. Eh? Isn't this what WiMedia et al are doing? And might that be why no other phone manufacturers have signed up yet?
Virtual phones technology - Truly impressive software-based 3D surround sound tech. It's been in Walkman players for 5 years, apparently. But don't be fooled by the name – that's headphones it's referring to. There are "no firm plans yet" to put it into SE phones. Why not? Nobody had the faintest idea, or at least they weren't letting on.
Future phone designs - We met the lovely design team, who're doing a terrific job repackaging what are essentially incremental enhancements on the same camera and music phones. They have also come up with two of the most splendidly horrific and tautologous words I've encountered in recent times: "Trendencies" and "Archistructure". Thanks for that!
Business-plan-wise, SE wants to do more in China, India and of course the US (that'll be your X1 right there). Latin America's been good this year, apparently. Margins are, however, tight these days. And the economy means consumers are less keen to replace their phones. Fair's fair though – this is an industry-wide nightmare, and not SE-specific. The company has a great product lead in Rikko Sakaguchi, who recognises user experience as the killer app, as it were. The iPhone may have had something to do with that, but again, SE is not alone in having to catch up to that particular beast.
I'll leave you with a quote from company president Dick Komiyama: "You may be wondering where we are going as Sony Ericsson, but believe us we are going in the right direction".
I really hope so.
Thursday 25 September 2008, 12:22 AM
What Sony Ericsson's up to: Part I
Things have not been going swimmingly for Sony Ericsson of late. They barely broke even in the second quarter of this year, have had to lay off thousands of workers, and are struggling to introduce something groundbreaking into the market. It's no Motorola situation, but it's pretty bleak stuff nonetheless.
Or is it? Over the last couple of days, the manufacturer invited a bunch of hacks, yours truly included, over to Copenhagen in Denmark and Lund in Sweden to check out its various new initiatives. And my, how many there are. Let's see:
PlayNow Arena - Download games, themes, wallpapers and music direct to your phone! From global artists (the presentation showed Jordin Sparks) to "your best local artist" (here the presentation showed Alice In Chains' Dirt album, so this bit may only be relevant to residents of Seattle, 16 years ago)! Big labels signed up (Universal, EMI, Warner, and obviously Sony BMG)! DRM-free! 320Kbps! Supported by lots of handsets soon! Currently only available in the Nordics, but launching in the UK soon! Not to be confused with Nokia's Ovi! Also not to be confused with...
PlayNow Plus - Music subscription cum social networking service! "Breathtaking web-inspired graphics"! Launching in Sweden this year on a single device, with 1000 best-selling songs preloaded! Coming to the UK next year, at some unspecified point! When you leave the service, you get rewarded with DRM-free versions (DRMed up to the eyeballs otherwise, sorry) of your 300 most-listened-to tracks (so why stay?)! Operators will love it, because they get to sell the data tariff to support it (what, flat-rate?)! Er...
The desktop-side client for all this is Windows only. Mac soon, hopefully. Linux... fat chance. So, here we have SE taking aim at iTunes (good luck) and Ovi (itself hardly a resounding success thus far). I may be coming across a little sarky here, and if so that's because none of this stuff is terribly new. It is, however, worth a shot - SE does do UI quite well, it's known for being a music-phone company and frankly, if anyone in the legacy mobile industry can make this work, it's SE. So, good luck. Next!
The Experia X1 - Ostensibly why I went to Scandinavia these last days. I finally got to play around with the damn thing – I've seen non-functioning units plenty of times this year, thanks to SE's possibly unwise decision to announce it back in February, when it was barely out of the concept stage, which led to lots of press speculation about delays. The screen's gorgeous. The panels idea (nine home screens in one! w00t!) is kinda useful but also kinda confusing. It's certainly the coolest WinMob phone I've seen in ages, and its build is pretty awesome, but intuitive is not really the word. More than worth a play-around though.
What worries me about the X1 is SE's lack of commitment to Windows Mobile. While this is certainly understandable in some ways, it does mean developers are unlikely to target the device until SE at least announces another WinMob handset to show they're serious. Even worse, the SE execs speaking at this event were super-noncommittal about the enterprise market as a whole. They sure want to sell to it, but they've not got any plan beyond the X1 – and even that they're pitching somewhere inbetween the consumer and business markets. I'm not really sure where they're going with this, and not sure they're sure either.
Android - "A lot of opportunity", but apparently SE is "not in a position to do this at the moment". Something to do with SE being an "important part of the Symbian Foundation". Makes sense, but then why mention it?
Join me in Part II of this post for some of the future tech stuff we got shown...
Or is it? Over the last couple of days, the manufacturer invited a bunch of hacks, yours truly included, over to Copenhagen in Denmark and Lund in Sweden to check out its various new initiatives. And my, how many there are. Let's see:
PlayNow Arena - Download games, themes, wallpapers and music direct to your phone! From global artists (the presentation showed Jordin Sparks) to "your best local artist" (here the presentation showed Alice In Chains' Dirt album, so this bit may only be relevant to residents of Seattle, 16 years ago)! Big labels signed up (Universal, EMI, Warner, and obviously Sony BMG)! DRM-free! 320Kbps! Supported by lots of handsets soon! Currently only available in the Nordics, but launching in the UK soon! Not to be confused with Nokia's Ovi! Also not to be confused with...
PlayNow Plus - Music subscription cum social networking service! "Breathtaking web-inspired graphics"! Launching in Sweden this year on a single device, with 1000 best-selling songs preloaded! Coming to the UK next year, at some unspecified point! When you leave the service, you get rewarded with DRM-free versions (DRMed up to the eyeballs otherwise, sorry) of your 300 most-listened-to tracks (so why stay?)! Operators will love it, because they get to sell the data tariff to support it (what, flat-rate?)! Er...
The desktop-side client for all this is Windows only. Mac soon, hopefully. Linux... fat chance. So, here we have SE taking aim at iTunes (good luck) and Ovi (itself hardly a resounding success thus far). I may be coming across a little sarky here, and if so that's because none of this stuff is terribly new. It is, however, worth a shot - SE does do UI quite well, it's known for being a music-phone company and frankly, if anyone in the legacy mobile industry can make this work, it's SE. So, good luck. Next!
The Experia X1 - Ostensibly why I went to Scandinavia these last days. I finally got to play around with the damn thing – I've seen non-functioning units plenty of times this year, thanks to SE's possibly unwise decision to announce it back in February, when it was barely out of the concept stage, which led to lots of press speculation about delays. The screen's gorgeous. The panels idea (nine home screens in one! w00t!) is kinda useful but also kinda confusing. It's certainly the coolest WinMob phone I've seen in ages, and its build is pretty awesome, but intuitive is not really the word. More than worth a play-around though.
What worries me about the X1 is SE's lack of commitment to Windows Mobile. While this is certainly understandable in some ways, it does mean developers are unlikely to target the device until SE at least announces another WinMob handset to show they're serious. Even worse, the SE execs speaking at this event were super-noncommittal about the enterprise market as a whole. They sure want to sell to it, but they've not got any plan beyond the X1 – and even that they're pitching somewhere inbetween the consumer and business markets. I'm not really sure where they're going with this, and not sure they're sure either.
Android - "A lot of opportunity", but apparently SE is "not in a position to do this at the moment". Something to do with SE being an "important part of the Symbian Foundation". Makes sense, but then why mention it?
Join me in Part II of this post for some of the future tech stuff we got shown...
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