MEX: The PMN Mobile User Experience conference (Conference Blog)
MEX is the strategy forum for pioneers of mobile user experience
London, 6 - 7th September 2005

Mobile Business Forum '05
Berne, 5 - 7th September 2005

Memory, Memory, Memory

The biggest enemy when creating Flash Lite content is not performance, but running out of memory. I touched on this already in various places throughout this article, and it really is most likely the issue on which you'll spend most of your debugging time. First, you need to realize that file size is not equal to memory used. File size is an important indicator, but it is simply not the same as how much memory your movie needs to run.

from Best Practices for Porting Flash Animation to Mobile Phones

Via Weekly i-mode Business Newsletter

Jérôme showed me yesterday the new Nokia Mobile Search. On his UMTS phone iit was really quick. Chapeau!

To the free download

Geominder for Series 60 phones

Geominder allows you to create location-based reminders that stay attached to physical locations.

When arriving at a marked location, Geominder can play an alarm and display a stored text note or a voice note previously associated to the location.

A location-based reminder can be much more convenient than standard time-based reminders - for example:

• "When I arrive at the office, remind me to review next week's schedule"
• "When I pass supermarket, remind me to buy vegetables"
• "At home remind me to call Dave"

Geominder can improve your life in many other ways and scenarios, which are only bounded by your imagination!

Geominder uses mobile network's cell id information and doesn't require an extra GPS device. Mobile Network cell id information is free of mobile operator charges and depends on the cell antenna geographic distribution which is usually suited for most common day-to-day uses (for example home - office - shopping). No mobile operator fees are involved in using Geominder.

Via 37signals: Location-based reminders with Geominder

Mobile Research

The Mobile Device Database Solution
The Mobile Device Database is a comprehensive collection of data for each device on every carrier. Mobile Research has a team dedicated to researching every device in your market, in detail. Device data is gathered from actual devices by our researchers using in-house profiling tools and processes. The Mobile Research device profiling process provides the Mobile Device Database with an unprecedented level of accuracy and scope. The XML formatted data is designed and presented in a format that is easy to parse and load into a relational database server for programmatic use. Mobile Research continually adds new mobile devices as they hit the market, enabling subscribers to support new handsets immediately. Mobile Research will continue to expand the scope of data that is available for each device as devices become more complex and as the market embraces new mobile media types.

In what relation does this stand to WURFL? Anybody?


Via Russ

Visual Dictionary (mode mobile)

Flickr Mobile Search / Visual Dictionary / Universal Translator
Flickr the photo sharing website has a Mobile version of its site, its a nice interface for viewing the flickr website on a mobile phone, though its lacking a lot of features. One of these features is a tag search. So ive written a Flickr Tag Search for mobile devices.

As originally suggested by Phillip Torone of Make magazine, the search could also be used as a communication device, or visual dictionary, i.e say you were in a place where you didnt know the language and needed to ask for something you could look up a picture of the thing you required and show it to them, and hopefully they would understand. After all a picture is worth a thousand words right?

Get Started: Mobile Search / Visual Dictionary / Universal Translator. Theres also a PC version at the same URL, to change to PC mode just click the "change to PC mode" link. The difference between the two pages is that the Mobile version just returns 3 images at a time, and when you click the thumnail image, it takes you to a slightly larger version of the image, whereas the PC version returns 20 images per page, and clicking the thumbnail image takes you to the large version of the image on the Flickr.com website.

See also:
EXCELLATRONIC COMMUNICATIONS

I would like to know more about OneReach. Does anybody know more about it?

One Reach: Blog tool wins innovation prize (BBC, 22.6.05)

The winning software, called OneReach, draws on the current interest in blogging. The tool gives travellers access to blogs specific to the area they are in so they can find useful information and tips. It also creates a map which allows family and friends to follow their exact progress while they are away from home. The tool relies on GPS (Global Positioning System) and requires a smartphone.

[...] For Iain Rosarius from BT, one of the judges of the competition, the key was to see how OneReach was different from other blogging tools on the market.
"I was impressed by the enthusiasm of the team and by the fact that is was very topical, using RSS and location-based software," he said. "It also had some very slick tools. For example if you arrange to meet up with someone, your phone will send you maps of how to get there," he said.

theSpoke: OneReach

Via ifeedyou

This was something to expect. Ringtones never had what it needs to stay. They are transitory per definition - people can now finally look out for the "real thing".
From Forbes: Ringtones fall flat

"There is a shift toward monthly offers rather than one of sales, and more teenagers want music on their phones as opposed to just a ringtone," said Canalys analyst Chris Jones.

We hear a lot about triple play - TV, broadband and telephony services - in Switzerland from both Cablecom and Swisscom. When do we hear about quadruple-play? And I would already be happy with a different data play with broadband and mobile in one neat package at an affordable price.

See also:
About the risks of IPTV

Hence IPTV—a sort of last-ditch charge by a cornered beast. For by switching to fast, new internet-based networks, telecoms companies will also be able to catch up with their cable rivals by offering entertainment, internet access and voice services over their networks. Better yet, those telecoms firms that also own mobile-phone subsidiaries might outdo their cable rivals by adding cellular service, to create a “quadruple-play bundle”.

[...] But in the telecom's nightmare scenario, customers may simply sign up to their huge bandwidth and then use it not to buy the services touted by the telecoms firms but instead to obtain independent or web-based services, such as Skype for making calls or (when the service is launched) Netflix for downloading movies. Can the telecoms firms do anything to stop that?

Mobinet Index 2004

The latest Mobinet study reports 41 percent of global wireless phone users expect to be regular or heavy users of data services by 2005. The index looks at current and planned usage of wireless data services such as mobile e-mail, games, music downloads, photo messaging or news updates. The reported surge in user demand represents a four-fold increase in the past year and shows that these new services have reached a "tipping point" in terms of mass-market levels of customer interest and acceptance.

To the PDF (L.C.)