Archive for October, 2006
fredflare.com | lipstick ballpoint pen
fredflare.com | lipstick ballpoint pen: a must have for a James Bond girl.
A P R E S S . C O M : Practical OCaml
A P R E S S . C O M : Practical OCaml: I learned real programming using OCaml. That’s a really great language. It just lacks some useful libraries.
Microsoft’s Windows Live Barcode Disrupts PWC Space
Microsoft’s Windows Live Barcode Disrupts PWC Space:
This is probably one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, news stories for the physical world connection industry
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Companies in the physical world connection space should take this launch seriously.
Microsoft is saying, “we want to be the key player in the 2d code scanning space”.
It is my opinion, that Google must introduce a 2d code scanning application and 2d creation application quickly to keep their lead.
2d codes will be more valuable than keywords in the physical world.
From MS Tech Today Windows Live Barcode launches
“Windows Live Barcode is a set of services that transfer information between various media (PCs, billboards, magazines etc.) and handsets via Quick Response Code (QR Code), a two-dimensional barcode.
Install decoder software on handsets and capture QR Code via a built-in camera.
The QR Code is a two-dimensional barcode. It contains a considerably greater volume of information in both vertical and horizontal directions than typical barcode in one dimension
It provides a new method for people to exchange information and enjoy various online services on handsets. Windows Live Barcode aims to enhance handset utility and provide you with more convenience and flexibility.”
Find it time consuming to input long phrases on a handset’s tiny keyboard? Want to make full use of your handset? Try Windows Live Barcode. Windows Live Barcode is a new way to avoid repetitive input, store more information, and enjoy better handset services within seconds
How are companies that are relying on 2d code scanning affected?
p.s. There’s a special message in that 2d code I created for the people who should take Microsoft’s announcement seriously
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Verizon Embeds Flash
Verizon Wireless said Wednesday that the multimedia Flash technology, which enhances graphics and enables rich video and animation on PCs, will be embedded in applications made for Verizon Wireless cell phones. Verizon is the first wireless carrier in North America to embed Flash Lite, the companies said.
“Flash Lite for Brew“, developed by Adobe and Qualcomm, beefs up graphics and animation for Verizon’s “Get It Now” downloads, explains C/Net. Qualcomm’s Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) development platform is similar and competitive with cellular-based Java applications. A preview release of the Flash Lite 2.1 Update to Flash Professional 8 is available for free download, enabling developers to create, preview and test Flash Lite content and applications.
The Weather Channel today announced the launch of its first Flash Lite downloadable application. The subscription service delivers detailed forecasts, animated radar and satellite maps, severe weather alerts and national severe news including hurricane coverage.
Verizon’s “Get It Now” service includes games, ring tones and other applications such as news and weather. The technology will initially work on four Verizon Wireless phones: The LG VX9800, the Motorola Razr V3c and V3m, and the Samsung SCH-a950. Flash Lite will be available on additional handsets in the coming weeks, Verizon said.
Nokia has integrated Macromedia Flash technology into the Series 60 Platform. Macromedia and Nokia will also provide integrated mobile development tool sets that will enable developers to more rapidly and efficiently create compelling Flash content for mobile devices, while leveraging their existing expertise and brand assets.
Macromedia’s Flash Player for Pocket PC provides a slick interface. Developers who want to create standalone projectors for easy distribution of their content can get Standalone Macromedia Flash Player.
Unlike the J2ME platform, where any developer can upload and execute software on any supported handset, BREW applications must be digitally signed. Java ME devices implement a profile. The most common is the Mobile Information Device Profile (Midlet), for cell phones and PDAs.
Openwap.org has news on the latest open source Midlets
for Java phones like
Daisyphone (right), is a java applet that can be downloaded free to cellphones or PDA. It lets you create collaborative public media. Individuals can compose their own sampled sound, then upload it to a public sound sculpture.
The tempo is set by the speed at which a ‘radar arm’ rotates around the daisy. You place notes on the petals of Daisyphone and choose your instruments from the stamen. People are given different colours.
How about a giant umbrella on Waterfront Park that visualizes “city cloud” status and acts as a collaborative art project:
- The umbrella handle, resembling a small tree trunk, is created from 1,000 recycled cell phones. They randomly ring with bird and animal songs.
- The umbrella would be 25 feet in diameter and composed of 2,000 LEDs, changing colors depending on node activity in the city cloud.
- Electro Luminesent wire (ElWire) would delineate 32 sectors and “sweep” like a radar
- A java applet, based on the Daisyphone (right), could be downloaded into cellphones or laptops to create a collaborative musical composition as the radar sweeps around the umbrella.
- A picnic table under the umbrella provides shelter.
Viacom Outdoor has a permanent network of Bluetooth-enabled poster sites on the London Undergound. Tube users can download content on to their mobiles using Bluetooth devices housed inside the interactive posters.
WiFi in combination with collaborative, interactive, projects might reflect and extend social connections.
Multiplayer Wireless Games and innovative wireless projects might be free in public areas.
One Percent for Art is a program that designates one percent of the capital cost of government construction projects for public art. Many city and county governments have found that a percent for art program is a good investment.
In 2005, the City of Portland and Multnomah County mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of their Percent for Art ordinances. It’s administered by the Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC). It also receives grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts and private donors.
Some agencies have public art programs, too. Portland’s TriMet created one in 1992 in anticipation of the westside MAX light rail. The program became permanent in 1997. TriMet’s public art program has added vitality to the regional transit system. The Portland Mall renovation project has allocated
approximately $750,000 to fund the Mall art program.
Java-based (J2ME — Java 2 Micro Edition) is used by New York’s Virtual Guide with the Voyager 2.0 development package making it compatible with a wide variety of operating systems and mobile devices.
I believe that a public art component is essential for city clouds. It sets a tone of collaboration, promoting understanding, diffusing tensions and enhancing productivity.
The Wireless Athens Zone has developed hundreds of mobile applications. Each year, they select a theme to anchor its investigation of mobile media. Students and faculty collaborate with industry leaders to produce prototypes around this theme.
Embedded MP-3 Virtual Tours. I hear bird songs, whales and
“To see the world in a grain of sand,
And heaven in a wildflower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.”
- William Blake
DailyWireless has additional pointers permanently linked on the left column under “Metro Art”. Those links include;
ArtBeat, Artbots, Burning Man, Eyebeam and
Rhizome, Coin-operated, Cockeyed, Chunk 6-6-6, Harmony Central, JSyn, Lego Mindstorms, Luminesent Wire, mms2web, PortlandPublicArt, Spectropolis, SLop, Urban Tapestries, Unmediated, VJ Central, Video Synths, WebJam, WebJay, Wireless Art and Wisdom of the Elders.
Ajaxian » Google Image Labeler: Collaborative Tagging Game
Ajaxian » Google Image Labeler: Collaborative Tagging Game: must watch video.
And another ten things…
And another ten things…:
A Palladium Class uber mega-value reader submits his own “Ten Things” list, based on his perceptions from life in the supplier space. It’s a bit harsher than my take from the investor’s point of view, but then again investors typically can be more selective in their exposure and don’t rely entirely on telcos for their subsistence. Read it and weep.
“Conclusion: Sell the rat bastards (aka the carriers) what they want to buy, especially all this IMS crap…
WHY ?
- The carriers don’t know what the f*&k they are doing anyway (AT&T thinks one HDTV channel over ADSL2 is enough for America);
- There is no more money in voice (how much was your long distance bill last month? If it was greater than $3, you’re being taken);
- There is no money in services (any 18 year-old in the Valley is a better new business development manager than any of the telcos have);
- If NBC can’t make any money in television why do the telcos believe they can?;
- There is no money in transport (especially long haul);
- There is little or no money in access (but let’s spend $5-8K per new sub on FTTH, the carriers will just screw their stock holders later – bondholders please note);
- There is little or no money left in mobility (it’s all about the phone anyway);
- The carriers’ customers all hate them (no brand loyalty in telecom);
- All their efforts at customer control (except political) have failed/will fail;
- And even when they actually buy something they want us to finance it on our books!”
UPDATE: A Platinum Class mega-value reader writes in with the following observation:
“Reading this I could not help but think that this guy is extrapolating future telco by starting from present telco. I think future telco will be anything but an iteration/variation of present telco.
Witness Iliad and their 300k wifi hostpots that popped up overnight in France – it gave Iliad a national SIP-based mobile network (a nasty one, probably, but nonetheless a network).
Morph this into a larger Wimax version (Iliad has the only French license) and you could get an almost decent national mobile voice network. Best of all: access capex is done by the end user (sort of like Skype, whose 100+ million users are the voice switching infrastructure).
This probably means that for incumbents to survive, they need to change into something they are not right now (e.g. could a tier 2 voice operator suddenly become a global SIP operator, i.e. a better/new/improved Vonage)?”
Spot on, though my question remains, does “future telco” evolve out of the current incumbent morass, or does it happen from outside, as with Iliad? To use a mass extinction metaphor, do the dinosaurs evolve into creatures which can survive (birds), and/or is it the nimbler, more adaptable small mammals which inherit the earth?
