February 2005 – Page 5 – Digital-Lifestyles

Skype and Motorola Form Partnership

Motorola and Skype make eyes at each other and form a partnership Motorola and Skype Technologies have announced their intention to jump into bed together on a saucy co-marketing collaboration that will provide greater connectivity options and access for Skype’s 25+ million registered worldwide users.

Both companies are hoping that this technological romp will explore exciting opportunities for both companies.

Motorola’s strength in advanced mobile technology, mobile devices and accessories, should prove to be the perfect love match for Skype’s rapidly-growing global user base and rich voice and messaging communication tools.

The first baby born out of this union, will be the co-marketing of freshly optimised Motorola ‘Skype Ready’ companion products, such as Bluetooth headsets, dongles, and speakerphones, as well as delivery of the Skype Internet Telephony on selected Motorola mobile devices.

Motorola and Skype make eyes at each other and form a partnership Liz Altman, vice president of business development, Motorola Mobile Devices, was clearly happy with the relationship:

“By making Voice over IP truly mobile and easily accessible, we can make communications seamless for consumers as they travel throughout the environments of their day – at work, at home, in the car, or out in the world.

“With over 68 million downloads of their client in the last 18 months, we believe Skype is a natural fit with our vision of simple and seamless connectivity for our consumer customers around the globe.”

And Niklas Zennström, Skype CEO and co-founder was also enjoying the experience: “Our alliance with Motorola is a major step forward in delivering the Skype experience to a whole new base of mobile device and accessory users”

Motorola ‘Skype Ready’ companion products are expected to be available in the first half of 2005.

3GSM World Congress 2005

“Join us for the mobile industry’s greatest event and help define the future” Last year marked the passing of an incredible milestone, 1 billion GSM subscribers. Now the pervading message of the industry is to reach the ‘next billion’. This will be achieved via lower costs of basic communications and by delivering compelling, easy-to-use and valuable data services. The 3GSM World Congress is an essential forum which brings the mobile community together and sets the agenda for the global mobile industry’s future. Here’s to the next billion subscribers!
Cannes, France http://www.3gsmworldcongress.com/2005/default.asp

MobileKeeper: Mobile Phone Data Backup ‘Over The Air’

MobiComp Mobile Keeper If you’ve ever had your phone stolen, left it in a cab or, like a colleague of ours, managed to send it spinning down the u-bend whilst attempting a tricky feat of toilet-based multi-tasking, you’ll know the pain of unexpectedly parting company with your phone.

Although losing a phone is not only an inconvenience, losing the stored messages, photos and personal data stored on it can be irreplaceable – so forgetful, crime-attracting drunks should be delighted by the release of media is generated on mobile phones, this type of application will become even more useful.

Created by MobiComp, a leading mobile computing and wireless solutions provider, the Symbian-signed, MobileKeeper client-server solution enables operators to guarantee safekeeping of increasing volumes of valuable information stored on subscribers’ phones.

MobiComp Mobile Keeper Working as extended storage for the mobile device, the application offers “over the air” data backup for the mobile device allows storage and recovery of contacts, calendar, tasks, SMS, MMS, ring tones, images, videos, J2ME applications and anything else you can fit on your phone.

MobileKeeper’s main functions include ‘ Keep It’ (replicates all/defined information), ‘Get It’ (recovers all/part of stored data), ‘Explore It’ (works as a File Explorer allowing to keep, get, move, delete items) and Profiles (allows the user to define several profiles for storing/recovering/scheduled backups).

The application relies on open standard technologies, with a client-server architecture, and Web services layer for integration with the mobile operator infrastructure.

MobileKeeper is currently on trial with a number of European mobile communications operators.

With the advent of longer pub licensing laws in the UK, we suspect there may be a growing demand for this kind of product.

Mobile Keeper

i-Mate Preloaded Skype on Smart Phones

iMate tie up with Skype Skype has announced a partnership with i-mate, industry innovators of wireless device solutions.

i-mate will launch the first dual-mode wireless mobile handset preloaded with Skype software and demo it for the world at 3GSM in Cannes from Monday 14th February through Thursday 17th February.

The new i-mate PDA2K and PDA2 handsets will come preloaded with Skype’s award-winning software, allowing users to fire up Skype and get phonin’ as soon as they’ve wrenched the unit out of the box.

The handsets, expected to retail at a wallet-draining price of $850 (€660, £455), are enabled in dual modes – GSM/GPRS and Wi-Fi – and both use the Windows Mobile Pocket PC Phone Edition.

The two companies worked for several months to integrate the software with the handsets and have provided a solution that will, in some circumstances, enable calls made over GSM and GPRS technology to be free, while others will be subject to small charges.

Skype users can call other Skype users for jack diddly squat, while another service, called SkypeOut, enables users to call to public-switched telephone networks for slightly more than two cents a minute.

The VoIP market is currently growing faster than Billy Bunter’s waistline on Bun Eating Day, with businesses and individuals keen to get a slice of the cheap call action.

The Skype service is already making noticeable inroads into traditional phone traffic, with more than one million users on the Skype service at any given time.

The peer-to-peer software is available on Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Pocket PC platforms and is the fastest growing voice communications offering worldwide with over 67 million downloads, since its launch in August 2003.

So the program is a hit. Everyone wants it. But how are they going to make money out of something they’re giving away for free?

It seems that Skype’s solution is to create an income stream through licensing their software on to other platforms.

Skype
iMate

Industry Giants Stick it to Viagra Spammers

Pfizer and Microsoft go in hard with fake online Viagra sellers In a litigious pincer movement, Pfizer, makers of the anti-impotence drug Viagra, have filed lawsuits against two online pharmacies selling the drug, while Microsoft has sued the same two pharmacies and the firms that promoted the Websites via email.

It’s the first time Pfizer and Microsoft have teamed up for such an action in a move that should prove mutually beneficial: Pfizer’s civil suit may curb the illegal sale of generic drugs while Microsoft’s legal action is aimed at reducing spam.

“We want to take back our inboxes,” said Aaron Kornblum, Microsoft’s Internet safety enforcement lawyer. “Spam can lead to fraud, it can lead to identity theft and, in this case with Pfizer, it can lead to possible physical harm.”

Pfizer has taken action against CanadianPharmacy (cndpharmacy.com) and E-Pharmacy Direct (myepharmacydirect.com) for allegedly selling unapproved drugs – claimed to be Viagra – to U.S. citizens.

Despite their name, the exact whereabouts of the people behind CanadianPharmacy is unclear.

Kornblum said orders for cndpharmacy.com were received by a computer server in New York that relayed the information to a call centre in Montreal. The drugs were made in India and then mailed back to rumpy-pumpy seeking customers using a US freight forwarding company.

Pfizer took action after receiving complaints from shareholders who wrongly assumed that the company was responsible for the daily deluge of Viagra-related spam cascading into their inbox.

Levine said that Pfizer was also concerned about the safety of advertised products being sold online, although he conceded that he was yet to receive any reports from disappointed customers (or their partners).

In the notoriously nefarious world of Web identities, it’s open to question whether this action will succeed or not.

Dodgy Internet trading companies can move physical and virtual locations faster than Casanova on steroids, but many suspect that this legal move is more about firing a warning shot over the bow of Web based spammers.

With Viagra-based bulk emailing currently accounting for more than 14 per cent of all spam (Commtouch Spam Lab, 2004) we live in hope that this action may reduce the amount of emails bearing the title “VIAGRA”, “v1AGRA” AND “V*GRA” etc arriving in our in boxes.

But we’re not holding our breath.

Microsoft, Pfizer to tackle fake Viagra sales (Reuters)
Microsoft and Pfizer fight fake Viagra spammers (Guardian)

MPAA Wins Court Case Against BitTorrent Site, LokiTorrent

MPAA gets Heavy with BitTorrent Despite surviving last year’s pre-Christmas BitTorrent blitz, the LokiTorrent site was finally closed down by a Dallas court yesterday.

The Website’s operator, Edward Webber, put up a valiant fight, with its front page featuring a counter, detailing the amount of donations it had received towards its budget of $30,000 per month in legal fees.

The site’s homepage has now been replaced by a slightly distasteful back-slapping MPAA (The Motion Picture Association of America) notice boasting the caption, “You can click, but you can’t hide”.

It’s not unusual for file sharing sites to be closed down, but what’s really alarming file swappers, is that LokiTorrent has agreed to turn over the server’s user logs – and with over 750,000 registered users distributing more than 35,000 movies, songs and other items, this could leave thousands of users open to prosecution.

BitTorrent has become hugely popular in recent years because it can deliver large files faster than other file-sharing technologies. BitTorrent software has no built-in method for finding files, and users rely on tracker Websites such as LokiTorrent that act as directories.

These tracker sites compile links to digital goodies that are being shared online as “torrents,” the format used by the BitTorrent software. The links connect users to the Internet addresses of the people supplying copies of the file.

Although it’s notoriously difficult to trace users of swapping sites, the advent of broadband makes it considerably easier to track down heavy users, with a specific IP number often being associated with a particular connection for many months.

This latest prosecution is only part of MPAA’s aggressive anti-piracy strategy, with the company dishing out lawsuits like confetti. A second wave of lawsuits against BitTorrent tracker sites in the US has been announced, along with more lawsuits against individual file sharers.

They’ve also filed more notices asking Internet providers to shut down eDonkey servers on their networks and lawsuits against four Websites that sold file-sharing programs.

No matter how many lawyers get fat pursing piracy cases, it’s clear that they’re unlikely to put an end to the practice, with super-clever techie kids creating new technologies as soon as one becomes unworkable.

NFC First, Nokia 3220 Brings Contactless Payment and Ticketing

Nokia welcomes you to the high tech world of contactless payment and ticketing The world’s first Near Field Communications (NFC) product for payment and ticketing will be an enhanced version of the already announced Nokia NFC shell for Nokia 3220 phone.

Near Field Communications (NFC) may sound like something the Borg use to transmit their evil plans to each other, but in fact it’s a new short-range wireless system for electronics, mobile devices and PCs.

Whereas Bluetooth and Wi-Fi have a range anywhere between 33 feet and 300 feet, NFC only works much closer to home. A mere eight inches, in fact, which makes it great for conducting local transactions, like buying travel tickets.

Here’s how it works: a consumer’s payment credentials, such as their debit and credit card details/transport tickets, are securely stored in the integrated smart card chip of the Nokia NFC shell.

Users sporting the new phone can then make local payments by simply touching a point of sales device or ticket gate with their phone. Fast, quick and efficient (if it works, of course).

Naturally, the Man from Visa is visibly purring with excitement, “Visa is always looking for exciting, first-rate innovations that advance the field of contactless payment and we are pleased to join forces with Nokia in this pioneering effort,” said Jim Lee, senior vice president, Product Technology and Standards, Visa International.

“The development of the Nokia NFC shell serves as a natural extension of Visa’s contactless card and phone programs around the world. Moreover, it aligns well with Visa’s commitment to enabling payments anywhere, anytime, through any device.”

The first NFC-based public transport ticketing trials with Nokia 3220 mobile phones will be taking place within the local bus network in the city of Hanau, near Frankfurt, Germany, with the Nokia NFC shell for payment and ticketing promised for mid 2005.

Nokia 3220
Nokia NFC demo
Nokia NFC
Near-Field Communications
NFC Forum

Xpress Audio Messaging – Podcasting Tool from Nokia

Nokia Audio Messaging If you’ve ever wished that your answerphone message mumblings could have a bit more pizzazz, Nokia’s new 7710 handset. Xpress audio messaging could become another tool in the podcasters arsenal, enabling podcasting on the move, without a PC. It will all be down to the power of the audio editing software. We’re keen to get our hands on it to see if our hunch is confirmed.

For the straight messaging, Nokia clearly hopes that this will give them some leverage in the highly competitive – and lucrative – youth mobile phone market:

“Nokia Xpress audio messaging enables operators to differentiate their service offering from competitors, by utilizing existing infrastructure,” explains Juha Pinomaa, Vice President, Mobile Phones, Nokia.

“For consumers, Nokia Xpress audio messaging combines ease of use, affordability, and adds a personal touch to greetings, congratulations, or allows to share a special moment like a grandchild’s first words.”

Recorded audio messages can be sent to all MMS-enabled GSM handsets and stored and replayed as easily as any other multimedia file, and Nokia will be introducing support for legacy phones within its MMS solution.

The Nokia Multimedia Application Gateway will also enable sending audio messages to phones that do not support MMS, therefore letting even more people hear your pre-recorded masterpieces.

Nokia is so far, the only MMS infrastructure provider to offer legacy support specifically designed for audio messaging. The new audio messaging menu will be integrated in several Nokia handsets introduced in 2005.

Nokia

UK LLU – OTA Say, “Could do Better”

OTA: Local Loop Unbundling Lagging Behind The Independent Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator (OTA) has issued an update on their progress of ‘local loop unbundling’ (LLU – the process of opening BT’s exchanges to competitors).

The speed of unbundling, or in this case lack of it has a direct effect on the range of competitive broadband providers, and therefore the speed of services that can be provided and their cost.

To date, some 31,000 lines have been unbundled, but the OTA update reads: “Good. But could do better.”

There are reports of variable performance in some operational areas, with performance lagging behind the OTA Key Performance Indicator, ‘Right First Time’. This snappily monikered indicator checks to see if services are being delivered in time to meet customers’ expectations.

The OTA has set a target of 75% with actual delivery being variable at 50-60%. This target rises to 85% in the near future.

The number of lines unbundled has grown from 12,000 in May 2004 to 31,000 lines unbundled by 31 January 2005.

Once again, this falls behind the OTA target, which had specified 50,000 unbundled lines by February 2005.

The Telecoms Adjudicator Scheme is successfully underway, with 14 companies signed up, and encouraging noises about investment commitment, have been heard.

LLU price reductions were implemented from 1 January 2005, and there are more price reductions on the horizon.

Despite all this, LLU operators continue to experience operational problems and variable delivery performance isn’t doing wonders for the operators’ marketing plans.

The Adjudicator’s update tells it like it is: as the orders keep rolling in, operational performance is the key to success for LLU.

Independent Office of the Telecoms Adjudicator
Ofcomwatch comments on it.

Nokia 7710 Widescreen Multimedia Smartphone Released

Nokia’s hotly awaited new multimedia smartphone, the Nokia 7710, has started shipping in Europe and Africa.

Stuffed full of innovative design and smartarse features, the tri-band Nokia 7710 (GSM/GPRS/EGPRS 900/1800/1900), is billed as a blend of smartphone, phone, camcorder and PDA (a “smartcamPDAphone”, if you will).

It’s quite a chunky beast, dominated by a wide, (640×320-pixel) high-quality touch screen with 65,536 colours.

But they’ve stuffed a lot in there: the device includes a full Internet browser (with Flash6 support), an integrated music player with stereo audio, video playback, streaming and recording, a megapixel camera (1152×864 pixels) with 2x digital zoom and FM radio with Visual Radio client.

There’s up to 90 MB internal memory available to users, and its memory slot can accommodate anything up to a 1 GB MultiMediaCard (MMC).

Naturally, such a smartypants device comes with an extensive suite of personal information management software, with support for real-time push email, an antivirus and a VPN client.

Nokia 7710 Depending on the sales package, some mobile media applications and services will be pre-installed on the 128 MB MMC, including Mobipocket Reader. This e-book reading application, already popular on Palm/Pocket PC platforms, gives the user access to thousands of titles including current bestsellers.

Bloggers are supported by Nokia’s Weblogging mobile feature. This lets users instantly publish their (sick bucket please) “life experiences” on the Web, adding pictures and text from their Nokia with ease.

The Nokia 7710 runs on top of Symbian OS with handwriting recognition and pen input. The connectivity options for the Nokia 7710 include a Pop-Port connector with USB and Bluetooth wireless technology for data transfer and PC synchronization.

With other applications available from third party developers (such as Time Out City Guides and the powerful WorldMate weather/traveller program), this sees Nokia shoving their size nines into the competitive world of PDA/smartphones.

It’s a fantastic package, but we will wait and see how it competes with the highly-rated Palm Treo 650 smartphone, which is expected to be released in the UK shortly.

Nokia: New Products and Strategic Alliances Announced