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Facebook is finally drawing me in …

I’ve actively updated my status on Facebook for a long time, but really only casually participated even though I’ve added applications, pages and have several hundred friends. I’ve looked at Facebook more like AOL 2.0 than a place I really look to spend time, but recently a few things have happened that have gotten me to pay much more attention.

Many of the people I interact with are people I have known in person for a long time either from high school or college and more recently, work. In other social spaces, my friends tend to be virtual first though I’ve met quite a few people in person as well. The number of recent connections from old friends has greatly enhanced my desire to participate on Facebook. I know that’s the point, but I’ve had an account for so long yet really not had much discussion with long time friends until the past 6 months or so.

What really got my attention though was when I posted some pictures this week from my recent business trip to Dubai. As a long time Flickr user I have resisted Facebook photos. The people tagging is very cool, but there are many more features in Flickr and the focus in much more pure.

The recent pictures I posted received more comments on Facebook than I’ve ever gotten on Flickr and the fact that the people talking to me are mainly (some virtual buddies too) people I know adds more value to the conversation. Not to take anything away from my virtual friends of course, but sharing the experience with people I’ve known for a long time really does create a richer personal experience.

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Mobile Data Travel Tip – Manual Network Selection

There seem to be two Operators here in Dubai (DU and Etisalat) and while both offer voice service only Etisalat seems to have data. It took me a while to figure this out actually and for most of Monday I was convinced that my phone was dropping into some sort of limbo state when the carrier switched to DU.

I am using a T-Mobile Blackberry SIM in my E71 and N82 while here and I found that regardless of which phone I was using the data service would simply die on DU. I though the issue was Blackberry related and so I switched over to the BB, saw it work and then would switch back. It was not until Tuesday morning though when the BB actually switched over to DU and then I realized what was happening … Once I manually selected the network I wanted data returned and messaging has been very reliable since.

In a related note, I was hoping to get access to the Etisalat HSDPA hispeed network but it seems they have vastly overpromised what is really here. While the site claims they offer 7.2 Mbps, I have been seeing between 100 and 500Kbps which is less than I get at home on the ATT system. Disappointing for sure, but the coverage is quite consistent at least and it works everywhere but on the elevator in our hotel. I switched the N82 over to UMTS only (yes I know it’s not HSDPA) but just think the speed is over-promised. In the N78 (with hispeed activated) which I also have here I am seeing similar network performace. I supposed it is possible that the ever sucky and limited TZones data service is forcing me to second class over the more expensive internet service, but that’s all I get on this TMO SIM.

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Passing through Frankfurt … Heading to Dubai

I am currently sitting in the Lufthansa lounge in Frankfurt on my way to Dubai for business … Had a wonderfully smooth flight to Frankfurt last night – thanks to the Lufthansa 747 and Ambien!

While this is my first time in Germany, I unfortunately won’t get to see much more than the airport. I’ll be in Dubai on business for a few days and looking forward to my first experience in the Middle East!

Curiously I was pre-selected for security (SSS) on the way out of JFK last night. I’m wondering just how random that might have been given my last minute ticket purchase combined with my recent search history in Google. I even used Google Saudi Arabia recently … I’m not saying they’re watching me or anything, but the guy at the Lufthansa gate mentioned my name popped up in homeland security …

My cell is dead for the moment. I’m waiting for my company to tell TMO to activate international. Have to see what kind of connection I get at the hotel once in Dubai for VOIP calls home. I’m sure that will be fine, but it’s a tad disconcerting to be in a place without phone service – at least Boingo is here keeping me connected along the way.

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Want to make a VOIP call from 30,000 feet?

Andy Abramson figured out an awesome work around for the alleged VOIP lockout on the American Airlines Wifi service which launched this week. The best part is that it’s pretty damn simple and can be done by anyone once you are connected. Using a new service called Phweet he connected to a Joanna Stern from Laptop Magazine who was in the air using AA’s Gogo Wifi.

Phweet using flash in the browser to connect two twitter users who’d like to have an actual conversation. Instead of exposing a phone number, it enables a VOIP call by connecting tweet’s to the Phweet web service. I actually received a phweet last night on my commute home, but had connectivity issues (thanks for the missing tower in west chester, ATT) so I was unable to try it directly. Signing up for Phweet is simple – just use your existing Twitter credentials.

This is great news for anyone looking to actually use a network connection the way it should be used – open and unrestricted. I really don’t want to hear everyone making phone calls in the air, but at the same time no institution should be restricting how the net is used. I would imagine as a result of this, we are going to see some new VOIP implementations based on flash …

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Google Reader Mobile adds Settings

Screenshot0066

I’m not sure when this kicked in, but you can now adjust a few key pieces in Google Reader Mobile. I use the iPhone edition which works great on the S60 and Nokia Tablet browsers and have been reading through all my feeds, rather than starting in one of my folders (as seen above). With a few clicks, you can now set which folder to start browsing and adjust whether links open in new windows (yes please) and whether the Google Mobile Proxy handles things to manage the page load. I’m still experimenting with the mobile proxy … I go back and forth preferring the full sites most times, but find that for quickly following up on something it’s hard to beat the smaller page.

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Windows makes mobile networking hard!

I’m sure this is not news to anyone who’s a long time mobile worker, but man does Windows make mobile connectivity a complete pain in the ass! When I try to use either DUN or Joikuspot (wifi) to connect with my phones I am forced to reconnect or repair the connected repeatedly during the course of an attempted session. Why does windows even have repair as an option?!

On my Mac it literally just works. If there’s a connection glitch because of low signal from the mobile, I can just simply reconnect. There’s no need to repair because there’s nothing actually wrong with the connection.

With the Nokia Tablet it also just works. I can use either wifi or DUN to get online and as I’ve blogged many times before I do this daily in both directions on my commute. Today I decided to use my work laptop, something I do much less frequently and am just amazed at how poorly Windows plays here.

I’ve had issues on various hotel and client site wireless networks as well so I know it’s not just the mobile connectivity thing I’m trying now … At least with joikuspot I can reconnect, when I’ve used DUN, the connection seems to get stuck when it needs to reconnect. Nothing like spending more time trying to connect than actually being online.

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Ralph Lauren Mobile – live but needs a lot of work!

As noted earlier this week, Ralph Lauren has started to launch a mobile marketing campaign and site.

Ralph Lauren Mobile - RL-QR

Unfortunately my experience with the site is still not good. In theory, RL wants to push a mobile lifestyle site with content and shopping. In experience, this you get:

RL Mobile

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I have a similar screenshot for the Quicktime file as well. Neither will also play on the iPhone (I only expected the Quicktime to work but tested both). As you can see the site is also poorly optimized for various screens:

The best looking of the bunch is the Intro / About page:

08/14/2008

The main navigation could be much better if the images expanded based on browser detection:

08/14/2008

photo(3)

There are also way too many clicks to do most things with reliance on the back button or a click on the home link which forces you to re-load the main page rather than presenting a simplified navigation in the footer to let someone just get to another section of the site with minimal fuss. To begin shopping I had to select RL Classics, then the RL Classics Shop, then choose a selection of options from either Men or Women (which could have easily been a level higher). Once I choose Polos I was presented with this:

photo(5)

I thought the iPhone would be an easy fit for RL Mobile as they are both essentially luxury goods, but the sheer lack of attention to details like auto-fitting the page makes browsing and shopping quite tedious. I honestly just expected the iPhone to work well given all the attention and likely overlap with the RL target audience …

I did like that (as you would also expect) you can choose colors appropriately for shirts and then was pleasantly surprised to see the photo change and the model wearing the color shirt I’d just selected. The close-up pictures of the color swatches make it easy to see what you’re getting as well. Why do I have to keep zooming each page though to make this work! every click and subsequent page load requires this adjustment!!

08/14/2008

08/14/2008

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The only section of the site which is optimized is the shopping cart, though that is handled by Usablenet directly. I’m not sure why the rest of site can’t be as optimized in the same way as these pages and unfortunately I can’t see too many people making it this far.

photo(6)

08/14/2008

I can’t imagine too many people wanting to spend time here with the experience I’ve just had. Sorry, but that’s my honest opinion. It’s not fun or informative. The multimedia features are seem like they are broken, yet work fine on the desktop side and there are far too many page loads with too little payoff.

Unfortunately with mobile, you need strong content and design to maintain someone’s attention in such a small space.I’d like to see this succeed actually as mobile should really be a strong consideration for a brand. The RL Mobile experience seems like it has good intentions but a very poor execution.

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Nokia Chat Updated

Nokia Chat

Nokia Chat was updated today and I installed the latest version while walking to the office. Both the Service support and Applications files are new so be sure to update both. If you are looking to do this directly from your device, you can use the mobile link.

I honestly can’t tell if there’s anything new here other than some bug fixes. The N78 has not been added to the compatibility list yet, so no FP2 just yet…

Update – I can’t recall seeing this previously … Seems perhaps Send to a Friend was added in this version – or I just missed it last time. Makes sense either way.

Nokia Chat - Send to a Friend

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Mobile Multitasking

I know this is not the mainstream pattern by any stretch but just a sample of how I tend to use mobile technology.

On my walk to the train tonight I fired up Sportstracker and captured my speed and distance, while listening to some tunes over A2DP which logged up to Last.fm via Mobbler. I maintained an active chat with my friend Serko via Nokia Chat and also cleared a few emails. I even stopped into Jaiku to reply to a thread. Serko was able to see my status live update as I passed through Bryant Park (love the Location broadcasting) in Nokia Chat.

This morning I had a pretty similar walk to the office though instead of chat, I snapped a few pics which synced to my walking map in Sportstracker.

Now on the Train home, I’ve added the Nokia N810 on which I am typing this post … Music, chat and email all rocking.

The E71 is my current workhorse of a mobile and it easily handles the multitude of simultaneous requests I make. Devices like the iPhone restrict multitasking because only email and music work when not serving as the active applications. I realize my uses are not the usual case but how long with the growing base of power iPhone users stand to be limited. Background notices are not solving the challenges the power user will need to have resolved. The mobile experience has evolved into far more than a simple communications platform. We are computing, creating, collaborating as well.

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E71 Recommended Accessory – JAVOedge Stereo Adapter

One considerable annoyance of the E71 is the 2.5mm headset connection which makes using your high end headphones impossible… at least without an adapter.

I had an adapter from a few years ago when I ran into a similar situation with the Treo. That adapter unfortunately was only dual-mono which works fine for calls but definitely impacts the listening experience for music. A quick trip to google and then Amazon (via mobile during the commute) led me to the JAVOedge 2.5mm to 3.5mm stereo adapter. Don’t be put off by the fact that this is actually a Treo accessory… It works great on the E71!

Here are a few shots for perspective:

Amazon is selling a 2-pack for $4 plus shipping. I have one in my car and one in my bag and am definitely ready to rock.

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Nokia Email Gets Ready for Primetime

I originally wrote this post about a month ago… The screenshots are from my N95. I’ve been using Nokia Email daily on my E71 for a few weeks and it works great in conjunction with Mail For Exchange which handles my work account.

Nokia recently invited me to test their new email application and I have been very pleased with what I see so far. While Nokia Email is clearly a beta with some rough edges, I can see that a great deal of thought has been put into this effort.

You start by configuring your account via the web site which then sends you a personalized sms. The link sent opens a download for a pre-configured new mail suite. After entering your password to confirm, the system is up and running.

Nokia Email inbox

Open Message folders

There are some settings worth noting which are definitely new if you are coming from the S60 mail client. The most important one for me that you can actually download the full message in the background – not simply the header which is how mail has worked previously. You can tweak the scheduling of when the push messaging occurs. By default, delivery is set to push all day every day. You can adjust the days and intervals if that’s too much for you … or your device’s battery.   Speaking of battery, there is a very handy option which lets you define a threshold on low power for when push should stop. I am currently going for it in this test and have mine set to stop at 5%.

Download options settings

I really like that Nokia Mail is set to auto-start which means if you turn your phone off, mail will immediately resume when you turn it back on. As I mentioned Nokia Mail is not really a single application, but more of a suite of tools. The main benefit to the suite approach seems to be that each module can be open on its own much like a full mail client works on your desktop. This lets you maintain constant views into various folders and also lets you drop back to your inbox while composing a new message.

Multiple pieces running Compose

From the looks of things Nokia has actually taken their Enterprise Intellisync solution and packaged it for the consumer. Instead of requiring an installation from IT in the server room, you simply submit your existing mail credentials and the Nokia mail engine takes care of the rest. Currently this supports POP3 and IMAP accounts from the usual ISP and hosted accounts. I tried my work address which works through Mail for Exchange and after a few moments of trying to resolve the backend, was told that Nokia Mail does not yet currently support corporate messages. I signed up to be notified when it does as I believe the Nokia Mail solution represents a very strong future for messaging regardless of your class (N or E) of device.

Send via intellisync

There are a couple of gotchas worth mentioning….

  • You must share your credentials with Nokia directly as their servers intermediate the mail services.
  • You can currently only set up a single account per device. In order to configure a second email address you need to either define a new account on the web or remove your current email address from the existing config. Either case requires a fresh install …
  • I do not see any advanced account settings. I use GMail as my email base, but send as my domain and in a typical mail client, I can adjust how my address appears regardless of how I connect to the server.
  • Currently the service supports S60v3 and 3.1 which means you need to have a relatively recent N or E series. The N78 runs FP2 and is not yet supported. As this seems based on Intellisync which is used on ESeries it might be a while …
  • There is not way to navigate your IMAP folders. As a result, there is also no way to subscribe to certain folders if you use server side filtering. This would have actually really bothered me a few years ago, but GMail has me pretty focused (ahem trained) on my inbox.
  • Push is still not perfect. I have seen a few stops and these do not seem to resume from a forced sync. The fix so far has been to use the “reset email folders” command found in the advanced settings. This is beta remember … A power cycle also seems to fix things.
  • I had a heck of a time getting Nokia Mail to perform an initial sync. After finally trying a proxy-less ATT connection mail started to come through. I can’t confirm whether this is ATT or the iPhone SIM yet. I will try to test with my BlackBerry T-Mobile SIM as well.

One teaser … HTML support is coming! I have yet to see it but have been told it’s coming for the full release. I’m hopeful that this will be considerably more than the attachment.html method we currently use.

If you are interested in checking this out, you can sign up for the beta as well … Please let me know what you think!

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Boingo Mobile Updated

boingo mobile

Boingo Mobile has been updated across platforms. If you use a Nokia Handset (N or E Series), Nokia Tablet or a Windows Mobile Handset it’s worth checking out the new download.

I’m still waiting to hear back from Boingo and Nokia on the E71 bug before installing this version … Even so I find Boingo to be an indispensable travel companion. The Tablet and my laptop auto-connect when in range which is killer. You have to run the app on the Nokia handset, but that’s not an issue as I don’t leave wifi scanning on anyway.

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HSDPA has arrived in Northern Westchester!

HSDPA at the house!!

I go away for a few days and AT&T lights up Northern Westchester!!

I have been waiting for what feels like a very long time to see 3G or 3.5G on my phone. This am, I saw it activate briefly, but I had so few bars I assumed it was the low signal notice rather than actual coverage. I’m seeing a very active fluctuation still from EDGE to HSDPA, but it’s looking very good!

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Ralph Lauren almost makes it mobile

08/12/2008

This ad on the back of New York Magazine caught my eye as it’s carrying a QR Code not quite the same size as the Polo logo. A quick snap and I was at the Ralph Lauren mobile site which as you can see here is not yet ready for visitors. Good effort, poor execution.

08/12/2008

Update – Just got an IM from someone working for Raplh Lauren and was told the magazine ran a bit earlier than expected. The site should be up tomorrow and will apparently be the first time a retailer has done such a substantial mobile promotion. I look forward to checking it out!

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JoikuSpot Premium – 40% off

The Nokia Software Market just sent me a note with a 40% discount on JoikuSpot Premium and I’ve gone for it.

JoikuSpot is an awesome tethering application that greatly enhances the capabilities of your mobile devices. I’ve found it always works when DUN is giving me issues and the Premium Edition ups the ante even more.

“Premium Edition comes with VPN so you can access corporate intraweb and email. All network access protocols are supported in Premium Edition. There is no forced default landing page in Premium Edition. [Nokia Software Market]

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Enjoying the Digital Olympics

If you live in the US, the NBC Olympics site is really an excellent way to keep tabs on athletes and events. I can’t quite figure out how they determine what makes it to the site in video vs text, but the coverage has been excellent for the major events. I re-lived last night’s amazing 400 Free Relay this morning and plan to watch quite a few more events this way as the week progresses.

If you are on the go, Mippin, has created an excellent mobile aggregator of all the Olympic information. It’s really a great showcase of what they do and delivers a very useful tool for the Olympics as well.

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Sometimes bad things happen from good intentions

I’ve been using Boingo for a while now and have successfully traveled across the country and most recently to Toronto. Boingo has enabled easy connectivity from Airports, Coffee Shops and hotels on my laptop, phones and Nokia Tablet. There have been occassional glitches in connecting but I’ve found that one of the devices I’m carrying has always been able to connect without issue.

On the return this week from Toronto, I noticed that my E71 was not allowing me to use Wifi and I tried restarting the phone but things still failed. Checking the Access Points I discovered a serious error in the way Boingo had been scanning and adding AP’s on the fly:

When Boingo network discovery goes wrong

Yes, that’s 149 Access Points! I’m not sure what the realistic limit is for a handset, but this has made using Wifi impossible. I can’t manually select an AP like the one at my parent’s beach house (where I am now on vacation) and there does not seem to be any way to select multiple APs to delete them en masse. I’m hoping I don’t have to reflash my E71 but I am not sure how else to clear this mess.

Update – I reached out to Boingo with this and it’s a confirmed serious bug. Working to resolve it …

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Mobbler updated – Now Supports Last.fm Streaming!

Mobbler is a seriously cool application for the Last.fm enthusiast using an S60 device. It’s been the best way to share what you are listening to within your phone’s media player and has just received an awesome update to actually stream radio back from Last.fm. I recommend installing this immediately!

Mobbler streaming on the E71

This is the first app to stream on S60 that I know of and will be a great addition in my mobile music toolkit. I tested this on the E71 with the BH903 Headset and the controls even work which is a very cool bonus feature! hat tip – Symbian in Motion

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