Mike Slocombe

PDA Shipments Notch Up Record High in Q2, 2006
Like the Black Knights in Monty Python’s ‘Holy Grail,’ PDAs are refusing to be beaten, despite almost monthly declarations of their impending obsolescence.
Far from shuffling off into that big technology dustbin in the sky (or, more likely, some landfill site somewhere), Personal Digital Assistants managed to register the highest PDA shipment total of any second quarter on record.
The new research from Gartner saw PDA shipments totalling 3.7 million units in the second quarter of 2006, up 2.7 percent from the second quarter of 2005.
Much of the growth is coming from GPS-enabled new kids on the PDA block like Mio Technology, Motorola and Danger Research, while old boys like Research In Motion (RIM), Palm, Hewlett-Packard and Dell all saw steadily declining shipments.
When it comes to PDA operating systems, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile kept pushing ahead with 54.2 percent of PDA OS shipments, followed by RIM OS with 22.5 percent of the market and Palm OS with 13.4 percent.
“The ongoing integration of WAN technology into PDAs, and the marketing push of these devices by wireless operators has produced most of the growth compared to one year ago,” said Todd Kort, principal analyst in Gartner’s Computing Platforms Worldwide group.
Although shipments are up, revenues are down, as Kort explained: “The average selling price of PDAs fell by 6 percent from one year ago to $373, mostly due to aging product lines, the increasing impact of wireless operator subsidies and relatively few new PDAs being launched thus far in 2006.”
This explains how worldwide PDA end-user revenue fell by 4.1 percent last year to $1.38 billion in the second quarter of 2006.
The report breaks down PDA shipments by manufacturer, Q2 2006 shipment estimates, market share and 2Q05- 1Q06 growth.
Research In Motion 830,720 shipments, 22.5% market share, -1.1% growth
Palm 470,458 , 12.7%, -26.7%
Hewlett-Packard 382,653, 10.4% -15.1%
Mio Technology 303,377, 8.2% 65.4%
Nokia 163,600, 4.4%, -40.5%
Others 1,545,596, 41.8%, 27.8%
It’s worth noting that these totals don’t include smartphones, such as the hugely popular Palm Treo phones (which shifted 656,000 units over the same quarter) and BlackBerry 71xx (467,000 units excluded), but include cellular PDAs, such as the iPAQ 69xx and Nokia E61.
Which rather makes the results a bit confusing to our eyes.
Gartner
7 August, 2006
Boxon MP3 Player Bolts On VoIP
When it comes to convergence, we’re always on the look out for shiny new smartypants devices, even if we’re not always totally convinced about their usefulness.
A good case in point is the new Boxon VoIP gadget from Korean electronics manufacturers Hyunwon (who are better known as Mobiblu).
As the name suggests, the Boxon is an MP3 player a VoIP telephony system built in, letting you plug it into any Internet-connected PC and start talking for free.
To get chatting, simply slam the player into any available USB port on a desktop or laptop PC, and then the (unspecified) VoIP software should automatically load up on the host computer.
Of course, the idea of a converged MP3 player/VoIP device isn’t a new one – in fact, we wrote about a very similar device, the Ezmax EZMP4200P VoIP MP3 Player, way back in March 2005.
The wave of disinterest that followed that particular product announcement suggests that perhaps the public aren’t quite yet ready to shell out for VoIP MP3 players that need to be plugged into a computer before you can start chatting.
As a MP3 player, the Boxon looks to be a fairly middle of the road affair too, sporting a 1.71-inch full colour OLED display, with e-book reading, video playback, photo viewing, and an English-Korean dictionary.
We’ve no idea if (or when) this thing is going to be arriving in Europe, and we can’t say we’re particvularly bothered either because, well, it’s a rubbish idea, isn’t it?
Mobiblu
7 August, 2006
Goggles 0.9 – Google Maps-Powered Flight Sim
We love it when people adapt Google Maps to create fun new applications, and the “Goggles Flight Sim” is one of the best we’ve seen for a while.
Created by London designer Mark Caswell-Daniels as a piece of viral marketing (it’s working, Mark!) for his Flash-scripting talents, the flight sim uses aerial images loaded in from Google’s mapping service.
After selecting your city from a drop down list (which currently offers London, New York, Paris, Toyko and Washington DC), you find yourself in charge of a cartoon biplane flying over a rolling landscape created by seamless Google Maps images.
The controls are pretty rudimentary, with keyboard arrows controlling direction and height, letting you sweep and soar around cities – and plunge earthwards in a kamikaze crash if you feel so inclined.
There are – not surprisingly – some rough edges, the most annoying being the inability to climb very high.
Without an accompanying map overview or sign-posted landmarks, this means it can be hard to work out where you are, which can be rather frustrating (we found that following railway lines or major rivers usually got us to the centre of cities in the end).
Still, as an office timewaster it’s second to none, and well worth a go.
We emailed Mark about his flight sim and he told us that it was still in beta at the moment, and that it wasn’t actually meant to be released quite yet.
He explains, “a mate interpreted ‘don’t tell anybody about it’ as ’email all your friends with a link’ so the cat got out of the bag before I finished it!”
Still, Mark acknowledges that, “all publicity is good publicity,” and we’ll look forward to playing with the finished version soon!
Nice one, Mark!
www.isoma.net/games/goggles.html
7 August, 2006
Why I love the Palm: Conclusion
For a self confessed, gimme-gimme-shiny-new gadgets nutcase like me to be using a phone several years old speaks volumes of the strengths of the Treo 650.
It’s not a perfect phone by any means, but after trying out various Nokias, Pocket PCs, Motos, Sony Ericssons and other wannbe contenders, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Treo remains the best smartphone on the market.
It’s not for everyone of course, but after a recent weekend in Wales, I realised that I had in my possession the first smartphone that was actually clever enough for me to leave my laptop at home.
Despite being out in the wilds of lovely Cymraeg (with ne’er a wisp of Wi-Fi in the air), I was able to download images for approval from a client; download, edit and send off a Word doc; surf the web; chat with some friends on IRC; send and receive a ton of email; download weather forecasts; read RSS feeds; play some games; update my blog; send text messages; take pics and a few silly videos and, of course make and receive calls – and the Treo performed faultlessly throughout.
If I’d have taken my Windows Mobile phone I dare say I would have been very well acquainted with stylus (and the reset button) by this time, but the Treo’s fabulous one-handed operation and rock solid performance made it a practical laptop replacement.
The future
After Palm decided that it wasn’t worth the outlay to re-jig the Treo to fit incoming European regulations, there sadly won’t be any more 650s shipping to the UK, although there still should be plenty about – especially on ebay.
In the US, Palm has already released the 650’s successor, the Treo 700p, but it looks like us here in Euro-land are going to have to wait till around Christmas for an updated, antennae-less Treo to appear. Possibly.
Palm has remained tight-lipped about their European product roadmap, with the web rife with rumours of both Windows and Palm new models going under ggroovy codenames like Hollywood, Lowrider, Nitro and Lennon.
Vodafone UK, however, have recently confirmed that they will be launching a Windows Mobile 5-powered 3G UMTS Treo at an unspecified date, but we’re not interested in that.
We want a much needed fix of new Palm gadgetry, running a Palm OS!
4 August, 2006
An Assemblage Of Strange USB Speakers
We can always rely on Brando to come up with quirky, bizarre and sometimes near-scary products, so we thought we’d take a look at their latest range of USB speakers.
As ever, they didn’t disappoint.
Hello Kitty
First off is their new “Hello Kitty” USB speakers, which their website insists that we’ll all be “fascinated” by.
Sporting a speaker wedged in the back of Kitty’s over-sized head, the units can knock out a neighbour-untroubling 12w per channel.
There’s not much chance of Kitty (resplendent in, “lovely pink clothes and ribbon”) shaking her ass with much bass either, as the speakers can only muster a frequency response of 200Hz-20KHz.
The 12×7.9x7cm USB powered, Plug and Play speakers also come with volume up/down and mute controls in the supplied cable, and are compatible with Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP, Mac OS 9.0.
Hello Kitty USB speakers, $48
Mouse speakers
If you thought the Hello Kitty speakers were a little odd, then take a look at Brando’s ‘USB Little Mice Speakers.’
This bizarre circular construction has a speaker lurking under each mouse’s head, which lifts up to reveal a blue LED light, which also illuminates the little rodent’s eyes.
Output is listed at a mere 3W, with a control unit built into the cable providing mute and volume options.
Mouse speakers, $29
Where did you get those ears from?
Looking like the sort of thing that may glow an evil shade of red late at night and try and murder you in your bed, Brando’s Bear Speaker and Radio comes in the shape of a scarily featureless yellow bear with speakers in its ears.
Powered by USB or 4 x AAA batteries, the bear has an FM radio and can be hooked up to MP3/CD players or your laptop (we’re sure it’ll look a treat next to your £2,000 Sony laptop).
They don’t even bother mentioning the frequency response or power output, but if you’re bothered by these kind of things, you’re clearly already looking in the wrong place.
Bear Speaker + Radio, $15.
Apple sounds
Wrapping up this round-up of oddball speakers is Brando’s Foldable Apple Speakers.
Designed to work with iPods and mobile players, this strange looking creation (available in lurid lime green or dazzling red) starts life looking like a mutant apple, before a fold out design reveals two 1W speakers in each half of the apple.
The lo-fi 200Hz-12KHz speakers can be powered from the USB port or by installing 4x AAA batteries in the base, with an on/off control, rotary volume control and DC input slapped on the top of the 114x71x55mm construction.
Brando’s Foldable Apple Speakers, $16.
Never mind the Kitties
We’ve no doubt that all of these speakers are going to sound unutterably crap, but some may argue that’s a small price to pay for looking so, err, individual.
We tend to agree, because we like Brando. They cheer us up.
3 August, 2006
iBlueTube Valve Amplifier For iPods
Prestige-hunting iPod owners keen to get one up on their mates need look no further than this rather remarkable iBlueTube valve amplifier, available from Japanese tech company, Thanko.
Hard core audiophiles with deep pockets have long appreciated the smooth sound created by old fashioned vacuum tubes, and we have to say that our heart always skips a beat whenever we find ourselves bathed in the warm glow of a set of valves.
The iBlueTube certainly has the looks to stand out, with its triangular form sporting a blue-glowing horizontal valve at each end, encased in Perspex.
The iPod docks in the centre of the mains powered unit, with the power being supplied via a disappointimgly dull looking, hefty black external power block.
Bundled with the package is a selection of adapters for accommodating different iPods and a credit card sized remote control for controlling playback.
At the back of the unit there are twin speaker outputs, USB, AC in and TV and PC connectors with a curiously entitled ‘Electricize’ switch which we assume is just a standard power on/off control.
The 295×130×68mm valve amp pumps out a modest 2 x 12W output, with a frequency range of 20Hz – 30Khz (+0dB -3dB), and a claimed 80dB signal-to-noise ratio.
There’s no speakers included in the 42,000 YEN (approx £200) price tag, but Thanko recommend hooking up a pair of JBL CONTROL 1X speakers.
Much as we love valve amps, we have to say that we’re not convinced punters are going to be able to tell the difference when the source is a humble iPod playing back MP3 files – most of which will probably be recorded at a fairly low sampling rate.
As many a beard stroking hi-fi hugger will tell you, you’ll only get real hi-fi when you’re using the best source components available, and we certainly wouldn’t put an iPod up there with Linn Sondek turntables and Cyrus CD players.
If you’re looking for real hi-fi, we’d couldn’t recommend an iPod/iBlueTube as a cost effective option, but if you’re just after sommething that looks as cool as feck and is sure to draw admiring sighs of admiration, the iBlueTube could be for you.
The iBlueTube should be available via Thanko’s Website from early August.
Thanko (Japanese)
3 August, 2006
Sony GPS-CS1 Tracker For Digital Cameras And Camcorders
Sony Electronics have announced a groovy new GPS device that lets you add time and location information to pictures and movies captured with their digital still cameras or camcorders.
The GPS-CS1 is a small (9 cm / 3.5 in) and light (2 oz) cylindrical device that clips on to your belt loop, backpack or handbag while you’re out and about.
Whether you’re travelling to the Seven Wonders of the World, or just wondering where to buy your next house, our new GPS device can track your journey,” enthused David Johns, product manager for digital camera accessories at Sony Electronics.
“Adding a geographic context to your digital images helps organize and make use of your photos in entirely new ways,” he added, sagely.
How it works
The Sony keeps a rolling record of your GPS location as you wander about, and on your return you can upload the data to your PC via the supplied USB cable.
After you’ve then transferred your photos to the same computer, the supplied GPS Image Tracker software can do its stuff and synchronise your pics with the latitude, longitude and time readings from the GPS-CS1 device.
With each image now the proud possessor of a GPS location stamp, it’s possible to work out exactly where every photo was taken (assuming that the camera and GPS clocks are in sync of course).
Armed with this info, users can fire up the new Picture Motion Browser software that comes with the latest Sony cameras and camcorders, and see their photo locations as push pins on an online mapping website, powered by Google Maps (we’ve no idea if this software will also be made available to non Sony users.)
The GPS-CS1 GPS device will be available next month for around $150 through the usual Sony outlets and at their website www.sonystyle.com/retail
Sony GPS-CS1 specifications
GPS device type 12 channel
Object image JPEG file (EXIF 2.1 or later)
Power • One AA battery (Alkaline or NiMH)
Recording time around 10 hours (Alkaline) or 14 hrs (NiMH)
Communication USB 2.0 Full-speed (at USB 1.1 speeds)
Dimensions 36 x 87 x 36 mm (1.4 x 3.4 x 1.4 in)
Weight (no battery) 55 g (1.9 oz)
Software GPS Image Tracker, Super Mapple Digital Ver.7 for Sony (both Windows only)
2 August, 2006
Online Banking In The UK Leaves Customers Short-Changed
UK banks may be gleefully reporting big fat profits every quarter, but new research from eService provider Transversal claims that online customer service from Britain’s banks has sunk to an all time low.
Their study found that fifty per cent of the major banks surveyed were so rubbish that they were unable to answer a single one of ten basic customer questions asked via their websites (these questions were based on typical customer enquiries about credit card offers, borrowing and mortgages etc).
A minority of banks, however, achieved excellent results, revealing the growing gulf between the best and worst performing banks.
Taken as a whole, the sector registered a lamentable average of 2.5 out of ten, managing to answer just 25 per cent of common questions.
Although this looks like an utterly abysmal score, things have actually got worse over the past year, with only two banks scoring nul points in 2005, and the sector mustering up a mighty average of three questions answered.
Despite 56 per cent of Brits now using online banking, these results suggest that banks are more interested in increasing profits by closing down High Street stores than serving their customers, with further cost-cutting measures seeing call centres shunted offshore into unknown foreign lands, often increasing customers’ frustration.
No email contacts for customers
As if to wind up their customers further, sixty per cent of bank websites didn’t allow consumers to contact them via email, forcing them to ring up and face the horrors of ‘on hold’ phone music.
Of the forty per cent that bothered to provide an email address, there was clearly no rush to answer their customers’ questions, with the banks taking a leisurely average of 22 hours to respond.
The fastest response was a still-casual 8 hours – a whole working day – while the slowest was a massive 69 hours: enough time, the report noted, for the beleaguered customer to hop on a plane and travel to the offshore centre to ask the question personally.
The study also noted that only half of the major banks troubled themselves to provide a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) page, and in many cases these were lurking in dark corners of the site, and not clearly marked for users.
A summary of the overall 2006 average banking results is as follows:
Average number of questions answered online: 2.5 out of 10 (2005 findings: 3)
Percentage of companies that responded to email correctly: 40% (2005 findings: 55%
Average email response time: 22 hours (2005 findings: 17 hours)
Percentage with customer FAQ pages: 50% (2005 findings: 60%)
Percentage with customer search: 60% (2005 findings: 40%)
Transversal
2 August, 2006
Rural WiFi Boost From Ofcom?
UK regulator Ofcom is looking at plans to introduce high speed Internet access to broadband-starved remote areas by boosting the power of Wi-Fi signals.
Talking to the BBC, James Saunders, chief marketing honcho of Wi-Fi suppliers, The Cloud, welcomed consultation from Ofcom, adding that the turbo-charged Wi-Fi could, “provide great opportunities in rural areas that are currently without broadband. It makes it much more possible to put up a wireless network.”
Current limitations on the strength of Wi-Fi signals in the UK makes it prohibitively expensive to provide coverage to sparsely populated rural areas, but cranking up the power would make it possible to reach far more users without breaking the bank.
The bigwigs and boffins at Ofcom are currently mulling over the pros and cons of three proposals.
The first would see wireless signals (which are restricted to a tenth of the power permitted in the US) in all parts of the UK; the second would see the power increase limited to rural areas only; while the third option would include a balance of the first two plans, backed by a code of collaboration to minimise signal interference.
City networks
Although most UK towns and cities offer outside Wi-Fi access through hotspots in cafes, pubs and libraries, city-wide seamless networks are yet to be established.
Known as mesh networks, these let Wi-Fi’d folks roam freely from hotspot to hotspot without any interruption to their Internet access.
Although such networks are already starting to roll out in the US, the restricted Wi-Fi transmission levels in the UK mean that mesh networks would currently be prohibitively expensive in the UK.
Selina Lo, chief executive of home Wi-Fi antenna firm Ruckus explained, “With lower power you have to use a lot more access points to form the network.”
“A typical network will have hundreds or low thousands of access points. If you have power limits, these nodes have to be closer together and you need a lot more nodes,” she added
Ruckus, who are currently working with Google to test a free mesh network in Mountain View, California, have developed a new Wi-Fi antenna to help home users connect to city networks.
“People running city networks know that the Wi-Fi in customers’ home equipment is not powerful enough to do an outdoor long range connection….our device is designed to bridge that connection,” said Ms Lo.
Interference
Although boosting Wi-Fi signals looks to be a top notch idea, it’s not without its drawbacks in urban areas, where US hotspot operators are already experiencing “significant” interference between suppliers.
Despite this, Saunders said The Cloud was committed to making mesh networks happen in the UK in the future, but warned that, “a number of factors are needed to make mesh networks economical”.
The company is, however, already working with the Corporation of London to deploy a mesh network in the City.
The Cloud
Ruckus
Offcom
1 August, 2006
One Laptop Per Child Programme Claims 4 Million Orders
Yesterday, a spokesperson for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programme revealed that Nigeria, Brazil, Argentina, and Thailand have all tendered commitments to purchase one million Linux laptops through the ambitious US-based programme.
As we reported back in November last year, OLPC aims to distribute millions of Linux-based laptop computers to needy children in developing countries around the world, all for free.
The Linux-based laptops come with their own power sources (including wind-up) and offer a dual-mode display, which gives users a full-colour, transmissive DVD mode and a secondary black and white reflective and sunlight-readable display at 3× the resolution.
The hard-disk free machines – still in the ‘concept’ stage – will be powered by a 500MHz processor and 128MB of DRAM, and come with 500MB of Flash memory.
Sporting four USB ports, the laptops will be fitted with wireless broadband that allows them to work as a mesh network.
This means that each laptop will be able to talk to its nearest neighbour and create ad hoc, local area networks for sharing data and connections.
The OLPC has stated that it will begin production when it has paid-for orders for between five million and 10m laptops, and plans to have units ready for shipment by the end of 2006 or early 2007.
Nicholas Negroponte, head of the OLPC project and former director of MIT Media Labs also sees the project as a means to promote the mass adoption of Linux.
So far, AMD, eBay, Google, Nortel, Red Hat, and a number of other technology companies have all signed up to help support the project
Not everyone is so enthusiastic about the project though, with India’s Education Secretary Sudeep Banerjee describing it as “pedagogically suspect,” adding that the country needed to put teachers in classrooms before worrying about buying laptops for students.
(To be honest, we had to look up what ‘pedagogically’ meant, and can tell you that it means “In a didactic manner”)
One Laptop Per Child
1 August, 2006