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Mobile Linux: Powerhouse Foundation Formed
We all know the mobile handset is totally fragmented. Sure there’s a standard – it’s called Nokia – but everyone who isn’t Nokia isn’t very happy about that.
Vodafone, Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications and Samsung Electronics have today announced that they hope to change that. They’re getting together to embrace mobile Linux to “create world’s first globally adopted open mobile Linux platform.”
They’re intending to form an independent foundation whose primary focus is the joint development and marketing of an API specification, architecture, supporting source code-based reference implementation components and tools. Pretty comprehensive sounding, but only time will reveal the level of independence afforded to the foundation.
While we understand that they ‘intend to leverage the benefits of community-based’, we’re not really sure where their aims of proprietary development fit in to this. It is after all supposed to be an Open project.
Who’s in? Who’s out?
It’s not surprising to see that Nokia _aren’t_ part of it. Vodafone have for a long time been concerned that, when asked, their subscribers say they have, for example, a Nokia handset rather than a Vodafone service. Nokia also dominate with Symbian.
Also coming in the ‘Obviously’ category, is the lack of Microsoft. They’ve been desperate for years to try and become accepted as the mobile platform of choice, but despite a few successes haven’t managed it. Today’s announcement combined with the strength of Symbian will give them a bit of a kicking.
The other major who’s missing is Sony Ericsson.
Beyond the handset makers, it’s interesting to include NTT DoCoMo. Vodafone and NTT DoCoMo were competitors in the Japanese market – up to the point that they sold Vodafone Japan to Softback back in April. Now that barrier is removed, we’re sure that they’ll love to get closer to DoCoMo to learn the lessons of how they’ve made content such a success in Japan.
Symbian supporters two-time them
Both Samsung and Motorola have in the past sold handsets that use the Symbian OS, but since Nokia have been tightening their clutched on Symbian, it’s likely that they’re becoming increasingly nervous of using it.
The idea of being in control of their own destiny – at least to the software platform – will be much more appealing.
What’s driving this?
Mobile operators are always looking at finding ways for more people to sign to their networks, so decreasing handset costs while maximising features is of the utmost importance for them. This is made clear by Kiyohito Nagata, Vice President and Managing Director of NTT DoCoMo’s Product Department
Open is the new proprietory
Clearly being ‘open’ (the interpretation of which is highly variable) is quite the trend in mobile, with Nokia open sourcing their s60 browser a couple of weeks back.
Much excitement is being generated by those companies already using Linux in their handsets. In a ‘don’t forget we’ve been doing this for ages’ way, Yoshiharu Tamura, Executive General Manager, Mobile Terminals Business Unit, NEC Corporation expounded , “As one of the leading pioneers with almost two years of experience shipping Linux-based mobile phones, we are delighted to participate in this initiative. We expect the foundation activities will accelerate further expansion of mobile Linux application developer participation, as well as global market growth of 3G mobile handsets.”
Not to be left out from showing off, Osamu Waki, Managing Director of Panasonic Mobile Communications, plugged like mad, “Linux sits at the core of Panasonic Group’s software strategy, and to date we have shipped nearly 8 million Linux based handsets in the highly competitive Japanese market.”
15 June, 2006
Microsoft Debuts LifeCam Webcams
Microsoft has slipped out a pair of branded Webcams designed to offer tight integration with their hideously popular Messenger service.
Their first foray into the wonderful world of Webcams, Microsoft’s new LifeCam Webcams are designed to be the perfect match for the updated version of MSN Messenger, now called Windows Live Messenger.
Rather like Apple’s iSight and iChat, you might remark – and you’d be right, except that these Webcams have none of the sleek design flair of the Mac offering.
Show me the cameras
The cheaper of the two cameras, the VX-3000 is a fairly bog standard affair, offering bottom-end 640×480 video with a 1.3-megapixel camera for stills.
Its big brother, the VX-6000 promises to deliver hi-def video recordings up to 1280 x 960 pixels and still photos interpolated up to 5MP, but remember, interpolated just means ‘small image blown up large by software’ so don’t go expecting to produce high quality large prints from the Webcam.
Both cams also come with built in mics, a wide angle lens to let social butterflies fit their vast armies of chums in frame and built-in cheesy video effects like falling snowflakes or twinkling stars.
Simplifying your video experience. Or something
Microsoft is claiming that their new cams are going to “dramatically simplify the video communications experience.”
Apparently, this will be achieved by the inclusion of a button on top of the camera that launches buddy lists on-screen and a new dashboard application built into Windows Live Messenger that lets users pan, tilt and zoom the Webcam without having to remove their buttocks from their computer chair.
Here’s Microsoft’s Consumer Productivity Experiences Executive Vice President (who dreams up these job titles?) Tom Gibbons to explain how LifeCams are part of a new initiative by his company to tie in hardware products to Windows Live services.
“Microsoft Hardware and Windows Live are defining that movement with a new approach to integrated products and services that give consumers the power to have a richer digital communications experience and make everyday events extraordinary,” he waxed, lyrically.
The first two LifeCams (more are planned) are expected to appear in Blighty in August, with pricing set at $50 (£27, €40) for the VX-3000 and a decidedly upmarket $99.95 (£54, €80) for the VX-6000.
Microsoft
14 June, 2006
BBC World Cup Website Woos Football Fans
According to Internet research firm Nielsen/NetRatings, the BBC Sport Website is the most popular online source for World Cup news in the UK, with over 1.3 million footie fans visiting the site in the first week of the tournament.
With more than half of all footie fans choosing to visit the BBC Website, there must be glum faces at Sky Sports, whose online World Cup offering attracted four time less traffic than the Beeb.
Not surprisingly, there was a spike in traffic on Sunday, as surfers followed England’s half-arsed win over Paraguay online, with a similar peak the week before as troubled England fans tuned in to find out about Wayne Rooney’s final metatarsal injury scan.
“Traffic during the week peaked the day after the first game with over 1.1 million sports fans going online,” said Alex Burmaster, European Internet analyst at Nielsen/NetRatings.
“The large audience figures for the weekend shows the major advantages the Internet has in on-demand content,” he added.
The BBC Sport Website includes new features to keep punters coming back for more, with player ratings and virtual replays accompanying the live streaming video of every match shown on their TV network.
Ben Gallop, editor of BBC Sport Interactive cranked his chuffed-o-meter up to ’11’ and enthused, “We’re delighted with the audience figures we’ve seen for the first few days of the World Cup.”
Goal! And crash goes the server!
Some office bosses may not share his joy though, as we predicted the BBC’s decision to show England matches online could see WANs and LANs collapsing in a heap under the strain as office staff tune into the footie.
Mike Hemes, country manager for UK and Ireland at Packeteer, reckons that the bandwidth-busting footie action could cause big problems for IT managers, commenting: “It is likely that millions of workers will log on to watch matches due to faster Internet connections at work than at home …this will generate a huge surge in network traffic, eating into the bandwidth available to run business-critical applications effectively.”
Licence fee warning
Elsewhere, the BBC has warned firms who let staff watch the World Cup on their office networks that they could be hit with a hefty £1,000 fine if they do not hold a TV licence.
Legally, a TV licence is required for any device that is “installed or used” for receiving television broadcasts, so that a networked PC used for streaming games needs a licence as well as the gogglebox at home.
“It doesn’t matter how you’re watching, if you are watching a live match you will need a licence,” insisted a finger wagging TV Licensing spokesperson.
Hinting at dark, omnipotent powers, the spokesperson added: “We know exactly which unlicensed business premises to target.”
BBC World Cup
14 June, 2006
Microsoft Soccer Scoreboard: World Cup Scores Live To Desktop
If watching the World Cup on TV, online or down the pub wasn’t enough, Microsoft can help you stay up to date with goal-by-goal action.
They’re providing a little app (3.5Mb) for Windows users called Microsoft Soccer Scoreboard. We’ll forget that to the rest of the world outside the US, the game is called Football, and focus on what it can do.
When you’ve downloaded it (after proving that you have ‘Genuine Windows’), the setup is minimal – choose your team; set how transparent you want the app to be; decide if you want automatic or manual data updates and specify an option RSS feed.
It’s a looker
It’s an attractive looking piece of software, which is slightly more that a one trick pony. The next match in your teams group will be shown, as is the current top four positions of the Group with the cumulative totals. Both of these have the option to view full details, which refreshes the screen in a scrollable window.
Scores of other matches scroll across the bottom of the window in a CNN stock price style.
Not missing a trick, they offer you the ‘opportunity’ of clicking on a link, taking you to MSN for further details.
If you specify an RSS feed (Digital-Lifestyles, natch), the headlines from these are intermittently scrolled along the bottom too.
There’s also a compact mode that only displays the particular match that’s being played.
Use-by date
This software does have a use-by date. Clearly you’re not going to get any information updated after the World Cup ends on 9th July, because …. there’s no more matches being played.
Following this you’re going to have 7 days to obsessively click around the historic match information imagining ‘what if?”
Most refreshingly, on 31 July, the software will prompt you to uninstall the software.
Microsoft Live
Microsoft Live is something that Microsoft pushing really hard. They see it as a way to try and claw back some the gain that Google has had. This is being lead by 13 June, 2006
Sony Alpha A100 dSLR: Brief Look
We had our hands on the Sony Alpha A100 last week, Sony’s first step into the Digital SLR (dSLR) market.
We’ve known for a while that Sony and Konika/Minolta would be producing a dSLR, following Sony’s purchase of the traditional SLR company. The A100 is the first product of the deal.
Sony tell us that they see the market for dSLR’s growing by 30% over the next year, which is lucky as the compact digital market appears to be stagnating. They’ve got grand plans for this market, with their stated ambition to be ‘challenging for the top position’ by 2008.
The key message from Sony with the whole of the Alpha range is “We want to make you a better photographer.” Highly appealing to those who may be scared off by crossing over from a compact camera to the SLR world.
What’s Hot
Sony have brought their own CCD technology to the party, giving a 10Mpx image, but it’s not full-frame (the sensor isn’t the size of a full 35mm film frame). They’ve combined this new CCD with anti-shake features seen on the Konica Minolta Dynax/Maxxum 5D, which stabilises the sensor instead of the lens element. Sony have labeled this Super SteadyShot.
The new Bionz image processor also adds a lot like the Dynamic Range Optimiser, which balances light levels between subject and background when taking photos into the light from a dark place.
A feature brought over from the Konika/Minolta includes EyeStart. Two sensors just below the viewfinder detects when the camera is brought to the eye and prepare the camera to start shooting.
As with previous cameras, Sony are working with Carl ZeissThe SLR lenses from Konika/Minolta will fit the A100, so the brave might be able to pick up a bargain or two buying them second-hand, quite likely when there have been 16 million of them sold worldwide.
First impressions
These are all based on the brief time we had with it. We plan to do a more in-depth review in a few weeks time.
First impressions are that of a quality camera. The battery grip is solid and comfortable, giving the impression that handling it over an extended period wouldn’t be tiresome.
The materials used vary over the body depending on the function and need. It’s with interest that we saw that the material around the shutter button was highly reflective providing a good feel, and we assume, reducing the risk of the area wearing excessively.

Sony Alpha A100 test shot – See the whole set at original resolution
When taking photos, small things like the solid sound that the shutter makes after you press the shutter button, as it raises out of the way to expose the CCD, also reassures you that it’s quality.
On the back of the body is a 2.5″ Clear Photo LCD which provides a very wide viewing angle, useful for showing off your recently taken shots. We can also confirm that Sony’s efforts to make the screen viewable in sunlight have been successful.
Sony claim that all of the commonly used functions are placed on dials, close to hand on the body, rather than burying it within on-screen menus.
Showing that the camera is a transition between Konika/Minolta and Sony, the storage on the camera is the size of compact flash. Not wanting to appear lacking in their support for their own format, Sony provide a converter to support Memory Stick.

Sony Alpha A100 test shot – See the whole set at original resolution
The lenses that come with it, especially when the two pack is considered, give good value, but as is so often the case with bundled lenses, we wonder if these will be cast aside after a short time. Although appearing to be competent, small differences from after-market lenses like the mountings being plastic, not metal, give pointers to the build quality.
Our only reservation is over the quality of the photos taken. Initially they looked great, but when zoomed to full screen we were alarmed to see the pixilation of the image. We’re not sure if this was down to the camera we used being on some strange settings or if the camera has a problem. We’ll know more when we get our hands on it for a longer period.

Sony Alpha A100 test shot – See the whole set at original resolution
Pricing and availability
The Alpha A100 is keenly priced
£599.99 – Body only
£699.99 – Body and 18-70 Lens
£849.99 – Body,18-70 and 75-300 Lenses
Sony are quoting that the whole kit and caboodle will be available in July 2006.
12 June, 2006
Anti-DRM FlashMobs Hit Apple Stores
Saturday saw anti-DRM protests at eight Apple stores across the USA organised by DefectiveByDesign, who are running an on-going ‘Campaign to Eliminate DRM.’
The protests took place between 10am and noon, where those involved got dressed up in brightly coloured HazMat (hazardous material) suits, stood outside the shops carrying placards and handing out leaflets.
They argue that it is unreasonable, among other things, that purchasers of music tracks on iTunes are not able to resell their music once they have finished with it – a right they previously had when they used to buy physical media.
Where as to most people DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, Defective By Design label it ‘Digital Restrictions Management.’ Their particular beef with Apple is that, because of the use of DRM, Apple are locking-in people who buy music tracks at the iTunes store.
It’s the first time we’ve heard to a flashmob being used for anything approaching useful.
Being online-types there’s loads of media to look at whether is be photos and a number of videos from Chicago and San Francisco.

List of Apple stores affected
Apple Store – 1 Stockton St, San Francisco, CA 94108
Apple Store – 679 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Apple Store – 4702 NE University Village Pl, Seattle, WA 98105
Apple Store – 100 Cambridge Side Place, Cambridge, MA 02141
Apple Store – 767 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10153
Apple Store – 160 Walt Whitman Rd. Huntington Station, NY 11746h
Apple Store – 6121 West Park Blvd. Plano, TX 75093
Apple Store – 189 The Grove Drive Los Angeles, CA 90036
DefectiveByDesign call to arms
12 June, 2006
Nokia N80: Screen and Browser Set To Stun
The dream of effortless – and easy to see – mobile Web surfing has taken a step forward with the release of Nokia’s N80 smartphone. The new device is rapidly garnering praise for its stunning screen which takes the stress out of Web browsing and picture viewing.
With a resolution of 352 x 416 pixels and the capacity to display 262,144 colours, the N80 leaves behind some of its N-series brothers and outdoes most QVGA (that’s Quarter VGA or 240×320 resolution, to you) devices.
The holy grail of mobile screens is full VGA – a massive 480 x 640 pixel resolution. The first full VGA device, Sharp’s 904SH, has already been launched in Japan and though there’s no release date as yet for the technology over here, it’s just a matter of time. Until then the N80 is causing industry commentators like 3G.co.uk to proclaim it the best display they’ve seen on this class of phone.
The increased density of the display makes the interface more crisp and easier to read and Nokia have taken advantage of this by utilizing vector graphics to sharpen up icons and fonts, reducing the blockiness associated with lower resolution devices.
The browsing experience is enhanced by Nokia’s new Mini Map feature. Mini Map allows full HTML Web pages to be navigated by clever use of multiple, semi-transparent windows, offering different views of the page. The phone also utilizes the impressive S60 browser recently covered which now sports a visual history feature and RSS support.
The N80 is pretty sharp on taking pictures too. With a 3.2 megapixel camera built-in, the N80 can deliver stills at 2048 x 1536 pixels, substantial enough to challenge regular digi cameras. Video recording is good at 352 x 288, the same resolution as the N70 and N90, and a VGA camera is mounted on the front for video calls.
The N80 is bursting at the seams with impressive features including connectivity in just about every standard going (UPnP, Bluetooth 2.0, 3G,Wi-Fi), playback of music files (WMA,MP3, AAC, AAC+) and integrated video-sharing and blogging tools. With all that and the eye popping display, the N80 might be the phone of the moment.
9 June, 2006
Mobile Consumers Are Lapping Up Convergence
Sad but (supposedly) true: a new study by Nokia has found that over one in five mobile owners said they’d find losing their phone more upsetting than their wallet, credit cards and – unbelievably – even their wedding ring.
Tempted though we are to find those people and give them a reality-introducing slap around the face with a wet fish, the survey does reflect the growing importance of mobiles in everyday life.
Clicking ticking mobiles
Nearly half (44 per cent) of mobile owners now use them as their primary camera – 68 per cent in India – with over two thirds predicting that music-enabled mobiles will soon rule the world, replacing MP3 players like iPods.
It doesn’t look like a good time to invest in Timex stocks, with the study finding that seventy two percent of mobile users no longer own a separate alarm clock – and nearly three quarters use their phones as their main watch or clock.
Nokia commissioned the research in 11 countries around the globe to discover people’s attitudes towards current and future mobiles, and generally found that people *heart* the things the planet over.
Such is the love for mobiles that users want to see them integrated even closer with their lives, with 42 per cent wanting their phones to be able to chat to their home networks, printer, PC, stereo, TV and mobile devices.
Curiously, 72 per cent of Saudi Arabians also wanted their fridges to be included in this network.
Surfing on the move
Mobile surfing continues to rise in popularity, with over a third (36%) of respondents browsing on their mobiles at least once a month, with Japan going for it big time, with 37% going online daily.
“The results strongly demonstrate that people are buying into the idea of convergence – they really do want one device that does it all, from taking quality images, to storing their music collections and operating a digitally connected home,” commented Tapio Hedman, senior vice-president of marketing, multimedia at Nokia.
Nokia
7 June, 2006
Google Spreadsheets Heads Into Excel Territory
Google is ready to shove its size nines deep into Microsoft territory with the launch of a free Web-based spreadsheet program, Google Spreadsheets.
The new program will allow people to view and simultaneously edit data online while conducting what Google describe as “in-document” chat.
This new spreadsheet product looks sure to put the heat on Microsoft, who have long ruled the roost with their desktop-based, spreadsheet app Excel long being the de facto office tool.
Google’s announcement comes hot on the heels of their purchase of Writely, a Web-based word processor, and puts them in direct competition with the Redmond mob who are busy prepping their new online-focused Windows Live and Office Live services.
Launching in beta form today, Google Spreadsheets supports the import and export of documents in the .xls format used in Excel and the .csv (common separate values) format, although it is not yet compatible with many of Excel’s more powerful features – the program can’t, for example, create charts or serve up control menus by right clicking on the screen.
Jonathan Rochelle, the Google Spreadsheets product manager, explained that the new service will be able to handle several hundred formulas used to manipulate data in Excel, but it won’t be able to handle more complex functions like Excel macros.
He explained that the program’s main goal is to make it easier for family, friends or co-workers to read and work on the same spreadsheet from different computers at different times, letting authorised users add and edit data without having to keep sending e-mail attachments back and forth.
“When people want to share and collaborate, we think this product fits in well,” he added.
Users must have a Google account to use the new service, which will initially only be offered to a limited number of users.
Google
6 June, 2006
N-Gage Online Game Purchase Launched
Nokia took a step into the world of online content delivery today with the launch of a new Website specialising in downloadable games for its N-Gage device. Gamers can download time-limited demos of games such as One and Pathway to Glory before purchasing at between 19.99 and 29.99 euros.
The shop, is a significant step for the company allowing them to deliver games directly to customers, an achievement not always matched in stores. It could also pave the way for online games downloading services, perhaps the gaming equivalent of Apple’s iTunes?
The process? All that is needed is to identify the game that you’re interested in, pay for it, download it to your computer, then load it on to a spare memory card to your N-Gage.
The N-Gage has not had an easy time. The first version was launched to widespread derision due to its ‘unique’ side-talking feature, which forced users to speak into the side of the device, instantaneously transforming them into raging doofuses. A succession of model changes followed, culminating in the more sensibly configured, 7710, or N-Gage QD as it’s more often known as..
While the concept of side-talking may fuel nerd in-jokes for some time to come (see sidetalkin) Nokia are determined to develop the N-Gage platform to create a multi-player, mobile gaming community which can connect via a variety of devices. The N-Gage platform for multiple devices was announced at the E3 trade show in Washington last month and will roll-out in early 2007.
“As we move forward with our next generation of mobile gaming, we continue to offer N-Gage owners easy ways to get games,” said Jukka Hosio, Director, Global Sales, Multimedia, Nokia. “The N-Gage platform is recognized worldwide for its high-quality mobile gaming content. By making these games available for download over the internet, we’re making it easier for N-Gage owners to find and purchase new games.”
Gameshop
6 June, 2006