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AT&T + Napster delivering nothing I would pay for, years later

Not sure they are even bothering with this …

AT&T, which already lets Napster subscribers transfer music from their personal computer to their cell phone via a cable or a storage card, said it would sell Napster music directly on its phones for $7.49 for a bundle of five songs, or $1.99 for a la carte purchases, beginning in mid-November.[News.com]

Silicon Alley Insider has the most consise version which they’ve very adeptly recycled from previous attempts at this mobile download BS:

…yet again, consumers are being asked to spend more to purchase something on their phone than they would if they bought it anywhere else. In this case [Napster] and AT&T are charging $7.49 for 5 songs: That’s a 50% markup over what it would cost to buy the songs via iTunes…

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N-Gage looks towards user-generated content

This sounds very cool…

In an exclusive interview with Develop, Nokia’s games boss Mark Ollila has revealed that the company is hard at work on multiple cross-platform games for its revamped N-Gage platform.

Earlier this year it emerged the company was developing a new game in association with studio RedLynx which could be played on both PC and mobile and used Nokia’s SNAP technology as its connectivity backbone. That title, Project White Rock, reportedly boasts hundreds of lines of recorded dialogue suggesting it is a more traditional, possibly MMO-like, game experience for multiple players.

But Nokia also has another such title in development, Ollila explained – one which features a user-generated content element.

‘For one of the titles we are working on we are looking at the possibility of letting players create a game and sharing that experience with others,’ he explained adding that the decision to create games that work across both mobile and PC is part of Nokia’s larger plan to build community around its rebirthed N-Gage service.

[develop

I can’t imagine there will be Mac love here, but regardless Nokia is feeling very progressive to me these days and that’s a very good thing.

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The Mobile Web: WebKit, Safari and the S60 browser

Web Browser for S60

I am sitting on a plane en route to the Web 2.0 Summit writing this on my N800, enjoying my time to write some things wihout distraction… aside from the guy in 11B reading this over my shoulder!

About two weeks ago, Tommi at the S60 Applications blog asked for feedback on the Nokia Beta Labs program. My initial thought is that it’s really a solid idea which enables the feedback loop via the blogosphere and certainly on the applications blog comments. I posted something similarly on Tommi’s site but now that some time has passed it seems that perhaps the focus could be on altering the existing status more rather than pushing out the new. Don’t get me wrong – I’m an applications junkie just like most of you, but I would like to see some renovation before building more.

When I attended the Evening with S60 event in NYC, I was told (incorrectly now) that the S60v3 FP1 browser would be released within 30 days to other S60v3 devices which was great news. I saw a massive spike in traffic after my update on this news which confirmed I was far from alone in looking for this type of update. Nokia, with the exception of Maps, seems to require a new unit to get what become device standard features (of course right after you) purchase your phone.

Of course, a long time has now passed and we’ve yet to see a release. Instead, we heard about the widgets which will be coming in FP2 probably in Q1 2008. Not to take away from widgets (I think I’ve seen the light a bit for very task specific information), the browser now seems a bit limited in one very key area thanks to some healthy competition from both the iPhone as well as Nokia’s own N800 . The iPhone has enabled a VERY rich use of tabs which make maintaining simultaneous activities online possible. The S60 browser can also do multiple tabs and actually does them quite well. There is NO WAY TO MANUALLY OPEN A NEW WINDOW.

The hack I’ve found for this is silly, and takes longer than I would like to get going, but has now become a part of my browsing process on the N95-3.

  • You first have to set the window preference to allow pop-ups. This will allow ads to pop up or under … no way around that I know.
  • Once this is on, you visit a site that forces links to spawn in new windows. My choice for this is the m.twitter.com site as it’s mobile optimized and loads very quickly. I can get a few windows going right away and move about my business. I usually maintain 3-4 tabs now…
  • Once you have a second, third or even fourth window open, you can press 5 to see your tabs and then using the nav key move either left or right to select which site you want. Pressing the center key selects and opens a more full view. From the tabbed view, you can use the left soft key to see th options for tabs which let you close either the current or all other tabs you have open.

The browser is the perfect candidate for a quick beta release through the labs. Many devices do not have enough RAM to browse in this manner (yet) and it’s probably more power user than mass feature, but isn’t that who’s visting and using the beta labs anyway? We should not have to wait for a Firmware release (which we all know wipes the device fresh) or worse, a new device to get such aseemingly small adjustment. This really should be something we just have in devices like the N95-3, N95 8GB, N81, N81 8GB, E90 and as well as future devicess that have enough operating RAM to make this possible – which should cover all N and E-Series moving forward, right?

The iPhone has really turned the mobile browsing experience up on its head. Regardless of their true capabilities, all mobile devices are being compared to the iPhone. The fact that the same engine is used in S60 and the iPhone makes this even more open to scrutiny.

The N800, which does not share the webkit engine, can go toe-to-toe with the iPhone even defeating it with some complex sites, but requires a second purchase. This is great for both Nokia’s bottom line (as well as non Nokia handset users) It is admittedly far more enjoyable to browse on the larger screen, it’s not something you always want in your pocket.

There are some great mobile web applications and services which have sprung up seemingly overnight to support the million plus iPhones… How many S60 devices are there? Considerably more…

A device like the N95-3 should not be hamstrung by a missing feature like this. The game has changed a bit now and we need to look how others are doing things and what can be learned to improve what we have and what’s to come.

Love to hear your thoughts here…

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This iPhone Lockdown is Ridiculous!

iphone-lockThis has nothing to do with the Applications issue…

The iPhone is a completely locked device. Both the device itself as well as the SIM card from AT&T are locked. Of course, hackers have broken these things, but if you don’t want to have to break it to “fix it” you are pretty much out of luck in enabling features that are quite common for phones today.

Currently the iPhone does not support MMS or DUN and AT&T’s SIM is locked and prevented from offering these services to another device should you switch devices for the day (or longer). You can choose to have AT&T deactivate this SIM and activate a new (and different) SIM card for your other devices but this is both ridiculous and cumbersome since you would have to reverse the process in order to then use the iPhone. There’s nothing you can do except pay more money to use features most any other smart or feature phone offers. If you want the iPhone this is how it is. If you want another device in conjunction, AT&T is more than happy to sell you an additional line … and data plan!

I tend to use a lot of devices. I enjoy being with a GSM carrier so I can move between devices as the mood strikes me and usually choose the device that suits the need for that day or a particular trip. The Nokia N95-3 is an awesome (and open) device and the phone I currently want to be able to take full advantage. While I can use the 3G services AT&T offers on the phone with the iPhone SIM inside, I cannot send (wonder if I can receive) an MMS or use the phone as a bluetooth modem for my laptop or internet tablet. This is something I have long done (and paid for the privilege) with previous devices before the special iPhone plan was created. This special plan by the way includes unlimited data! I know even unlimited is limited (xxGB) in the TOS, but I should still be able to use (or even pay more if I must, to use) the device I want on the network I am paying to access.

I’m very frustrated by this situation and am not about to pay for a second phone plan or cancel the iPhone one and give AT&T and Apple the satisfaction of an ETF (~$170). I just want my 3G service in the N95 shared with my personal network of devices and when I want the iPhone for the day I am more than happy to deal with EDGE and WiFi. Is there an actual logical (not because Steve Jobs said so) explanation behind why this is impossible?

I’ve heard that PAN works with a Blackjack and iPhone SIM, but there’s no support for PAN in the Nokia’s that I’ve found… There’s a very interesting proxy access hack for the iPhone that seems like it would work on the N95, but there’s no proxyserver application that I’ve found. GNUBox looks promising, but is unsigned and rather complex to deal with.

Image found on Google… borrowed from ZDNet.

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Google gets it – Acquires Jaiku

Google hearts Jaiku

Yesterday, Jaiku announced that they are being acquired by Google! This is fantastic news – Congratulations to Jyri, Petteri and the hard working Jaiku team!!

I don’t think I’ve been shy about my usage of Jaiku on this blog (or elsewhere) and I was stoked to learn that Google sees the value inherent in what they have to offer. As our lives become increasingly more connected via mobile, Jaiku’s vision of presence with your contacts makes great sense! The integrated contacts application for S60 devices greatly enhances your communication potential since you know whether the person you might call or text is available and perhaps even where they are. Add in Lifestreaming and you get a very rich picture of what your friends are doing!

As soon as I heard the news I began to consider the other components in Google’s building mobile social net. They’ve got GrandCentral which can streamline your calling… but it has yet to integrate contacts with Gmail let along offer a sync option. Grandcentral can also not forward SMS messages but perhaps there’s a way to connect that with a (needs to be released) direct message capability in Jaiku. There’s a very exciting road ahead given the rumors of the mobile Google OS and Jaiku could easily play a very substantial role to connect you with your contacts and define your rich online presence.

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Nokia N95 or Apple iPhone?

The iPhone and Nokia N95 are constantly compared these days as they represent the über device from both Nokia and Apple. Aside from this detail they really target very different audiences. The iPhone is a more mass oriented unit while the N95 goes for the higher end prosumer mobilista. The gadget lust associated with the iPhone however, has attracted plenty of geeks and potentially higher end users… Since I have both and have extended experience using them over a good amount of time, I thought I’d share my views on how they stack up.

Smartphone or Feature Phone?

As reluctant as I was perhaps initially to say this, the iPhone is not a smartphone. It is however, a truly fantastic feature phone and one that all phones and handheld devices will be measured against based on some fantastic software engineering. The browser is amazing to use and media playback is outstanding. If you are an iTunes user it does not get any easier to sync your photo, video and music content. Apple has also made it very simple and straightforward to sync your contacts, calendar and bookmarks. Bookmarks are of particular interest given how strong the browser experience really is.

The N95 is able to do all that I’ve mentioned so far with the iPhone, though configuring sync takes a bit more effort and it’s not possible on Mac to sync bookmarks… PC Users can use Nokia’s PC Suite. That said, the N95 really takes it up a notch with regard to applications. While this is a particular sore point for the iPhone community after the latest firmware release, the latest iPhone apps still did not compare to what can be done with the N95.

At the basic level of things, the iPhone can only send SMS messages to a single recipient; disables the ability to forward an SMS to another person and offers no MMS. I tend to email pics over MMS, but it’s nice to at least have the option of receiving an MMS message which has happened more than a few time with family picture sharing. The iPhone can also only use purchased tracks from iTunes as ringtones. The N95 can do it all here including using any sound file you like for a ringtone.

Marketing can really create the perception that something is more than it is and it would be hard to find fault in the Apple strategy which to date has been executed flawlessly. Because Apple is targeting a mass audience they have developed the popular perception that the iPhone is everything that you need in a beautiful simple package. They are right too — assuming you fit in the demographic set. Nokia on the other hand has taken a very different approach with their devices in general and more specifically here in the US where the carriers tend to own the relationship with the consumer. The current Open campaign has had a few bigger impressions (spreads in the NYT) but is for the most part a more targeted approach designed to appeal to the more intense mobile user. The best way I can sum this up is something quite a few of the mobile blogging community has shared:

The iPhone is for consuming content, while the N95 is for creating it.

Another way might be to say one is for passive use (predominately reading) while the other is far more active (sharing back). The N95 can of course be used to consume content and does a very good job, though when compared to the Apple ecosystem it falters a bit. This is not to slight the Nokia effort, but more to compliment the Apple one. When you control the entire flow, you can do special things not available to someone working with a number of different components from different parties. The N95 does have some very cool tricks. Using the video center application, you can browse, download and view video from a variety of sources like YouTube and beyond. The upcoming release of Flash Lite 3 will support .flv files which means we’ll be able to view video on a web page. Of course the iPhone can do this today – but only for h.264 content.

The N95’s 5MP Camera and flash shoot gorgeous still and 30fps video at a very high resolution. Nokia likes to say DVD-Quality which is a stretch in my opinion, but the results are seriously good and something that plays very well on a large screen. Out of the box, the N95 is ready to post fullsize (EXIF included) images to Flickr as well as video to Vox. With the addition of third party apps you can post content to an array of sites which enables you to live blog or lifestream as you go. The iPhones 2MP camera takes pretty good shots in well lit environments, but no video and when you choose to send a picture, the iPhone automatically forces things to scale to 640×480 and simultaneously strips the EXIF data out.

Speed baby, Speed!

While I am sure we’ve all heard the line that the cost to the battery of 3G did not make sense for the iPhone, it’s hard to ignore if you live in a covered area. Having now truly experienced 3G(UMTS) and even 3.5G(HSPDA) it’s hard to go back to EDGE which is simply pokey by comparison. Both the N95 and iPhone have 802.11 G WiFi connections, but when you download or stream content over 3G on a train or in a car,you start to expect more than what you can get from WiFi. Of course if you really just want to be able to glance down and see that the latest email is in your inbox, EDGE is just fine.

The N95 can also be used as bluetooth modem for your laptop or Internet Tablet if you like which is something that cannot be said for the iPhone. It’s when you start to really explore online or transfer larger files that you really want the speed.

Webkit does not equal Safari…

While both the N95 and the iPhone use webkit as the core engine for their browsers, the iPhone has pushed things much closer to a desktop experience. The focus on enabling tabbed browsing really makes the iPhone infinitely more useful. I usually leave a tab open to Gmail and another to Jaiku. Links from email (I also use POP and IMAP) open in a fresh tab which does not disturb existing sessions. Safari on the iPhone is also smart enough to restore my tabs if it should happen to crash – or even if you restart the device. The N95 cannot open a second tab or window even though the N95-3 has enough RAM to enable multiple window surfing, it is not possible – yet. Perhaps a candidate for a future beta labs release….

The Full Internet Myth

Sure you can choose to browse the full version of a sites on either device, but the best (as in most efficient use of your time) is still through the mobile web. This is my opinion of course, not a fact, but I’ve spent enough time reading on the small screen to believe that a mobilized site can deliver the meat of what you want / need without the BS associated from the larger view. Aside from vastly improved load times on EDGE, fewer system resources are used to render the page as well so it can really seem quite speedy.

The iPhone does offer some slick tricks with the screen rotation and tap zooming but I tend to only take advantage of that on a WiFi connection as it’s annoying to wait when on the go.

Open or Closed?

The iPhone was hacked to enable applications, but it seems destined to be a hack for the time being (once the latest firmware is again hacked) rather than being an open system for applications and owner freedom. While I enjoyed using AppTapp to download and play with the applications that were available to iPhones, they were in no way competitive with the current roster of applications for the S60 platform. Sure some of this can just be based on the maturity of S60 over the few months old iPhone system, but it really comes down to how both companies view their devices.

The proper path to develop for the iPhone is through the Safari browser which currently limits you to online only services without local storage, access to basic phone features like contacts or calendar let alone more advanced ideas with presence or easy access to the phone’s data connection. There is no current API for more serious development.

On the N95, it is quite easy to add applications that suit your need. I regularly snap pictures and videos and as noted above usually opt to lifestream them to flickr on the go using a variety of tools. Zonetag can access my location data which can be shared along with the EXIF data in the full scale image as it uploads. I run a version of Gmail built in Java that gives me a very similar experience to the fuller web version (archive, delete, spam, tag views and search…). Jaiku integrates with my contacts to share presence status and enables me to easily maintain contact within my social network. I use Handy Weather to download forecasts automatically every few hours and use the information as my screen saver so at a quick glance I get an idea of what tomorrow will be like. I can choose from a selection of mapping applications that can take advantage of storing content locally on a memory card and using the GPS features as I like. There are countless other examples.

Beyond applications, the N95 is sold as an unbranded unlocked device while the iPhone is sold only with a contract for ATT service. An unlocked and unbranded device means you get to choose what you do with it and what (GSM) carrier you want. If you travel, you can easily swap the SIM card for another and pay local rates or use a pre-pay if you want. You make a plan decision on the iPhone during activation and need to stick it out for the term of your contract. I was already and ATT customer so it was not a big deal, but this is something to definitely consider…

What device is for you?

I am asked frequently which is better and that’s a really hard call because it really comes down to how you think you might use the device moving forward. The iPhone’s strength is that it offers an easy way to do more than most people have ever considered on a handset. Advanced users may soon see past the UI beauty and yearn for more power and there’s only one way to go there. I’m hoping that Nokia is paying enough attention (as I believe they are) and makes a few adjustments through either the beta labs or just directly in future firmware to the browsing experience which is the only current weakness in the N95-3.

For now I am still actively using both, though with a single SIM card I have to decide daily based on what I think I need. The N95 is currently in my pocket …

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Thinking the Mac MS Office Product Manager’s need to think of a better reason to upgrade…

This sounds like a complete non-event…

Microsoft’s next release of Office for Mac, due in January, will include business features that PC users have taken for granted for years.

That will include the ability to set up out-of-office messages, according to a preview in Microsoft’s Office for Mac team blog.

‘With Entourage 2008, you now have the ability to configure your out-of-office settings,’ said Andy Ruff, program manager for Entourage, the counterpart of Outlook in the Macintosh version of Microsoft Office.” [CNET News.com]

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Nokia responds to new iPhone pricing… with MOSH? Apple sticks it right back… to the early adopter?!

Techcrunch reports on an interesting adwords response by Nokia to the latest iPhone news and pricing. Of all the things Nokia could have offered, MOSH seems an odd choice. Their pitch is that you can salvage your lost $200 with the free content offered by the MOSH social sharing network. Sorry to say I’m not feeling that …

When I actually did a search for the same terms I found an ad from Apple which was even more frustrating!

iphone price drop - Google Search

That might be a bit hard to read, but it says – Congrats, Late Adopters iPhone drops $200. Now you get all the iPhone for 2/3 the price and links to store.apple.com. This is like salt in the wound for the early adopter while I was initially bummed by the price cut news, this makes it infuriating! I’m a big boy and made the choice to stand in line and have fun with the rest of the faithful on iPhone day. I can handle a price change or even a new product, but for the price to be cut so drastically so quickly and then to have it rubbed in my face like this by Apple is just wrong.

I’ve tried a few more searches (refresh) since capturing that screenshot, but neither Nokia nor Apple’s ads are showing for me which says they’ve either reached their threshold for cost or someone noticed and had things removed immediately.

Update — Searchengineland snagged a shot with both ads running head to head.

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Nokia to integrate Twango into S60

This is great news from Nokia on how they will use the Twango assets and technology, though I wonder what this means for Mosh…

“‘We are going to integrate it with our S60 platform,’ Stephen Johnston, senior business development manager at Nokia, said in a speech to a trade fair in Helsinki.

When asked about social networking and the role of communities in Nokia’s future he said: ‘It’s really going to be the underlying layer, across everything.'” [CNET News.com]

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Video Search…Results are still being tabulated

I saw that Truveo re-launched today…

“Last night, Truveo relaunched as a consumer video search destination. Emphasizing branded content (including branded channels), it may be the most comprehensive video search site on the Internet. The site also has a host of personalization and social media features (user favorites, what’s hot, etc.). Truveo CEO Tim Tuttle contrasts the site with YouTube (which is also indexed on Truveo) as a place where branded content is presented in an environment that is favorable and friendly to professional content producers.

Tuttle also says that the organization and presentation of content on Truveo avoids the ‘noise’ that one finds on many video sites and thus enables people to get to the videos they may want faster. For example, a search for ‘Harry Potter’ on YouTube might yield scores of videos and montages put together by fans mixed with content from professional producers. Truveo calls out the professional content, while also presenting the fan content. Compare YouTube and Truveo search results for ‘Harry Potter.’ Many people will watch and enjoy the fan videos, while others just want to see the professional clip or interview.” [Search Engine Land ]

Sounds good to me … I searched for Nokia N95:

Videos that match your query: nokia n95 - Truveo Video Search

I don’t see one professional video in the bunch. I see two from me (orange cat) taken with a Nokia N95 a few video blogs by Phil Campbell and Ricky Cadden and some “other.” If you look closely you can see the tab we are on by default is Top Ranked. I call this to your attention because when I last checked my own videos, the cat outside stuff was viewed less than 1000 times (by Blip’s count) without a rank. When I look at my YouTube videos I see my N95 Walkthrough has over 33,000 views and 100 rankings (3 stars). My Viddler Browser video has over 83,000 views, Google Maps over 49,000 and the N95 Jaiku beta video over 33,000 views. Get the picture? Viddler seems absent from the results all together actually but I don’t understand why a much more viewed (and relevant) video from YouTube would not show up, while my test samples from the N95 camera (the cat outside) makes it twice as a top ranked result.

I did the same search on Blinkx:

nokia n95: Blinkx Video Results

Interestingly Steve Garfield’s iPhone unboxing (with size comparison to N95) is listed first and I saw that was actually posted today. Blinkx, it seems is leading with the most recent as an indicator of relevance which is the default search sort.

These two video search sites work totally differently and lead you to completely different results. If you are searching for something specific it seems you might be better with “the google” or simply making the rounds on the video sites you know and love to use. Search is still working…

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Xohm is coming… um, ok?

Xohm is Coming

The Internet is on the verge of another revolution. Coming in Spring of 2008, Xohm promises to bring fast, secure and smart wireless access to cities, enabling the possibility of a whole new range of high-bandwidth applications and uses. Xohm also will expand the Internet experience by partnering with the best companies in the industry to enable a new class of devices with Internet capabilities. Beyond just laptops, the vision of Xohm is to empower PMPs, video cameras, MP3s and more with Internet access. [Xohm]

Sprint officially announced Xohm as the brand for their pending WiMax service and I’m left feeling like they got taken by their brand guys.

WiMax — It’s all about the X factor!! Yeah, that’s it and if we make it phonetic it’s going to be all web 2.0-like and even though it looks more like Ohm than Zoom, we’ll call it Zoom for that extra hip flavor.

Sprint uses the expression SprintSpeed today which seems like it would have been the most obvious choice since WiMax is a 4G data connection (read speed) than anything else. Sure you can do VOIP, but that’s a data service too. Why complicate things with another brand which actually pushes the Sprint name as a tag (WiMAX from Sprint) rather than part of the branded service? I guess perhaps their agency would not have made that much money on that deal…

SprintSpeed works for me. I know who it’s from (where I can buy it) and I know what it means (fast data). I don’t really even need to know it’s WiMAX! Most consumers will buy direct from Sprint anyway while the more advanced elite users will bring their own WiMAX devices to the network. To this second set, the network more utility, than branded service… Maybe I’m crazy here, but simple works the name does not

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Where’s the personalization Sprint?

NY Times Advertisement - what no personalization?!

Seeing ads like this one from Sprint on the NYT make me wonder why they would not simply pay the (presumed) slightly higher CPM to take advantage of registration data for readers. I don’t live in San Francisco and am not on the west coast. Seeing an ad for regional info out of my region does not engage me in a way to want to take part, but instead pushes me away from the ad.

In a case like this where I am forced to view the ad since it’s an interstitial, it really makes me wonder whether the team working on this is just asleep at the wheel. The headline seems smart enough “Forecasts are faster at SprintSpeed” but then this concept falls flat even more quickly by not pre-poulating the right geography.

Partly shady indeed…

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HP – Search over Mobile Ads

It’s hard to argue the logic here… Without really knowing where and what (consumer vs. business vs. enterprise) was marketed I can’t comment in any detail over the planning. The current on-deck stuff has remained limited and the more advanced users more likely to be traveling off-deck into the mobile web of their own terms. As with all things though relevance is the key variable which is why search remains a solid online marketing channel.

Hewlett-Packard’s worldwide media director controls a budget of $829 million and is a big fan of nontraditional media. HP, for example, is devoting 70% of its back-to-school budget to online and viral messaging. Yet Mr. Berg is frustrated by the limitations of mobile-web advertising; marketers who push out ads rather than allowing users to opt in; and strategies that overlook the most important consumer need in mobile marketing: search.

‘We’ve had experience with advertising on the deck of some phone carriers — just didn’t work out for us,’ Mr. Berg said. HP also tested off-deck ads on the mobile web and came to the conclusion that search, at least for the time being, is the way to tackle the new media.

Tangible search terms

‘I would much rather spend the money on the search terms than the advertising because I can track it, I can understand it, I can tweak it based on consumer needs,’ he said.

The key, he believes, is for marketers to realize people are using their phones for information — and smart advertisers will market around that rather than simply pump out a steady stream of ads. He said HP’s latest mobile strategy, which is set to roll out next year, will be based on the thinking that the mobile phone is a utility for consumers.

‘I have a number of concerns about the push technology. One of the big ones is there’s going to be a huge backlash by consumers if we start to push text messages or voicemail messages, and that’s going to lead immediately — immediately — to legislation against this type of activity,’ he warned. ‘Right now you have the do-not-call list. That could possibly get more stringent, in my opinion, if marketers tend to go overboard in push technology in mobile phones.’ [Advertising Age]

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And we thought Yahoo was moving in a new direction…

Though somehow I doubt this is where we thought they’d be heading …

“In an increasingly rare collaboration with Hollywood, Yahoo has signed a production deal with the company behind reality shows such as Temptation Island and Joe Millionaire.

The Web behemoth’s nonexclusive first-look pact with Rocket Science Laboratories will likely focus on short-form video that offers a degree of interactivity. The companies also are examining the possibility of migrating whatever content the deal yields back to the television platform. Neither would disclose any current projects being developed.” [CNET News.com]

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Friday Fun – Intel Rocks Hard

My former agency and colleages at McCann and MRM have produced a few funny videos for Intel on Hardware Security. Christopher Guest directed and Dan Finnerty of the Dan Band (seen in “Old School” and “Starsky & Hutch”) sings.

There’s some good I.T. Manager humor woven into the lyrics! While the videos are clearly fun, hardware security is serious business. There’s a companion site to the videos below which manages to keep things at a higher product level until you decide to deep dive into the greater Intel.com site.

With permission, I’ve reposted the videos on Viddler. Feel free to add your comments and tags!

You can rely on soft solutions…or you can rock with something a whole lot harder.

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Disney buys Club Penguin for $350 Million!

My kids are still way to young to explore on Club Penguin, but I checked it a few months ago after a parent at school mentioned their older child enjoyed some time online there. The site is pretty simple, and involves some guided chat and interactions (read safe) options as well as quite a few options for parents to spend more money. There are no ads and it’s a reasonably priced subscription service at $6/mo.

“The company also announced on Wednesday it had purchased kids’ virtual world Club Penguin for $350 million in cash plus up to $350 million more depending on the Web site’s earnings in 2008 and 2009.

Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger said he expects the acquisition to immediately begin contributing to the company’s bottom line.” [CNET News.com]

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F.C.C. enabling 700Mhz

While this does not fill all of Google’s requirements for participation, it does make the future look good on this pending bandwidth.

“The F.C.C. did not approve a provision that would have required the winner of the auction to sell access to its network on a wholesale basis to other companies. Google favored the rule as a way to hasten competition and innovation in the cellphone industry, a market it is considering.

While the language of the ruling has not been made public, it appears that any company that buys the new spectrum will have to leave it open to devices it does not approve or control. If, for instance, Verizon were to buy spectrum, consumers would have to pay Verizon for access to its network but they could use devices of their own choosing on it.

At present, the carriers decide what devices are used on their networks and therefore control many of the services and software available to consumers. The carriers contend this lets them control the quality of the customer’s experience.” [New York Times]

Whether Google bids or not in the end, the network will be available for the consumer which is excellent. Google wanted the option to bid and lose which would let them win either way with access to the network at a reduced price (not 4 Billion) and offer their services even if there was a toll to get there.

The way things are leaning now, you the consumer will be able to buy any compatible device and use it as you like which is quite different from today. Subsidized devices are going to have to get more interesting or go away with this new model. If I can get more on an open system than I can with a subsidized and (usually) limited device I’ll choose the more open system any day.

This is great news for Nokia who sells unlocked higher end devices and should open the door to greater opportunities for marketing. Whether they walk through that door of course is an entirely different question.

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Sprint, Google in pact for WiMax mobile Web

An interest bit of news from Sprint and Google…We already know that Sprint and Nokia are working on a device for the WiMax network and now a Google Powered mobile portal is in the mix as well.

: “Sprint Nextel said on Thursday it would develop with Google a new mobile Internet portal using WiMax wireless technology to offer Web search and social networking.

Sprint’s WiMax for high-speed wireless and its services for detecting location will be combined with Google tools including e-mail, chat and other applications.”

[News.com]

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Why did Nokia acquire Twango?

I read another piece this am on the Twango acquisition and it’s got me wondering what the hell Nokia is really thinking here. Between Mosh and Twango, they will now own two separate social sites. Actually, if you count the Loudeye acquisition and Music Recommenders, there are three – though MR is not really that social.

According to the Mashable post:

The plan is to provide a seamless integration of Twango on both the Internet and on your cell phone. This will make room for a new way for people to share content and stay connected. With the ability to share photos, videos, Twango’s availability in an integrated, cross-platform existence will offer access to friends and their content, as well as a way to organize and manage your own content. [Mashable]

If you think about this for a moment, there are already a few building blocks in place. Nokia has a web upload capability that can send content to Flickr and Vox, though not yet to Twango. They have Lifeblog which captures everything you do (pictures, video, sms and mms) and can sync with both your desktop (on Windows) or send to TypePad.

For $90 Million – hell let’s say $20 Million – you’d think Nokia would want to develop a service or symbian application to send amd sync content from your device to ANY service you might want to use. It’s easier to maintain contact and activity on a social network than it is to move — especially when you’ve got content and a conversation with an audience. As of this moment, there is little to no incentive to use Twango over Flickr for images, YouTube/Viddler/Blip for video and I did not see how it would make for a good place to blog.

If Nokia’s tag line is Connecting People, why are they going out of their way to develop new stand-alone services, rather than working with what’s already present and being used by communities globally. They could really just focus enabling the experience from Mobile to web and back. From a user perspective, I would much rather have an application or service that could talk with everything else I use to make it simple for content to go back and forth. This would make it easy for me and easy for my friends to stay in touch. We already know Facebook is working on the connection with the desktop and Jaiku, Facebook and even Plaxo offer ways to have content from other syndicate-able sources appear in your profile, but no one has come up with way to link with your mobile.

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Wired Confirms Second Life is More of a Time and Budget Suck Than Marketing Channel

Second Life Logo

I’ve never gotten Second Life…. It has little appeal and is frankly boring to me. That said it seems enormously popular and I’ve had clients who’ve expressed interest in being there so I’ve spent some time checking it out.

Wired published a great piece today on the experience and experiments… Some highlights:

Then there’s the question of what people do when they get there. Once you put in several hours flailing around learning how to function in Second Life, there isn’t much to do. That may explain why more than 85 percent of the avatars created have been abandoned. Linden’s in-world traffic tally, which factors in both the number of visitors and time spent, shows that the big draws for those who do return are free money and kinky sex. On a random day in June, the most popular location was Money Island (where Linden dollars, the official currency, are given away gratis), with a score of 136,000. Sexy Beach, one of several regions that offer virtual sex shops, dancing, and no-strings hookups, came in at 133,000. The Sears store on IBM’s Innovation Island had a traffic score of 281; Coke’s Virtual Thirst pavilion, a mere 27. And even when corporate destinations actually draw people, the PR can be less than ideal. Last winter, CNET’s in-world correspondent was conducting a live interview with Anshe Chung, an avatar said to have earned more than $1 million on virtual real estate deals, when Chung was assaulted by flying penises in a griefer attack.

Sounds like a place I want my brand to be interacting with the people…

Joseph Jaffe, the marketing consultant who advised Coke on its in-world presence, dismisses the notion that such efforts might not be worthwhile. “The learning is now,” Jaffe says. “You are a pioneer, and with that comes first-mover advantage” — that chestnut from the Web 1.0 boom. And the paltry numbers? “This is not about reach anymore. This is about connecting. It’s about establishing meaningful, impactful conversations. So when people ask, ‘Why Second Life?’ I ask ‘Why not?'”

Jaffe logs on to show off Coke’s Virtual Thirst pavilion, which was created by Millions of Us, a Bay Area company that does in-world builds. He’s a close match for his avatar, Divo Dapto, a trim little figure clad in roll-up jeans and a red-on-white Virtual Thirst T-shirt. “You never know who you’re going to meet,” Jaffe says as Dapto soars toward the Virtual Thirst pavilion.

The Coke build is expansive, elaborate, and of course empty. But Coca-Cola has a plan. It’s sponsoring a contest to create a Virtual Thirst vending machine that it hopes will become ubiquitous in Second Life, just as Coke machines are everywhere in real life. Jaffe professes to be overwhelmed by the number of entries, which he characterizes as “well north of 100.”

Suddenly, another avatar materializes. “Ah, there you go,” Jaffe exclaims. “Someone’s just arrived! I think she’s from Japan.” As he speaks, Dapto starts air-typing in the weird way that Second Life avatars do, trying to chat up the new Japanese girl. She looks around, then teleports someplace else.

You might wonder what Coke is doing in such a place. “It had a lot to do with hype,” admits Michael Donnelly.

Well north of a 100 entries? I can only imagine what the budget was and the cost per entry…. How’s the ROI on that spend?

“Companies say, ‘It’s an experiment’ — but what are they learning?” Tobaccowala asks. “Basically, they’re learning how to create an avatar and walk around in Second Life.” Which is fine if that’s what you want to do. Just don’t expect to sell a lot of Coke.

Exactly. People catch on quickly and don’t repeatedly seek out experiences to involve themselves with ads. Might I be bold enough to suggest that companies take the time to get it right in real life before moving on to virtual worlds…

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