Digital-Lifestyles

Mobile

Things that aren’t static

  • Nintendo DS – Big US Ad Campaign Due

    Its efforts to spread the word about the innovative, touch- and dual-screened Nintendo DS may reach Biblical proportions, and will certainly be the largest launch program ever for a Nintendo product, as well as the first outside of Japan.

    Pre-launch television ads for the Nintendo DS started on Oct. 25. And in fairness, a new level of sophistication incorporating voice recognition, wireless features allowing multi-user play using one DS game card, and the PictoChat chat function catering for up to 16 simultaneous users, has been brought to the handheld game console market.

    A series of three provocative ads presents a static-filled screen with a female voice-over inviting viewers to interact with two blue boxes on the screen, while MTV have produced a custom ad featuring the stars of Wildboyz using the Nintendo DS wireless features.  In December, Nintendo will run ads on more than 5,000 movie screens, and to add the icing to the cake, Nintendo DS is being featured on the multi-city Nintendo Fusion Tour.

    While Nintendo DS goes on sale in the US on 21 November and in Japan on December 2nd, Europe must wait until early 2005. It will sell at $149.99 (~£84, ~€122) and comes bundled with a playable demo of Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt.

    Before the end of the year, Nintendo DS users will be able to enjoy the following eclectic mix.  Super Mario 64 DS, Madden NFL 2005, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 2005, The Urbz: Sims in the City, Spider-Man 2, Ping Pals, Feel the Magic XY/XX, Rayman DS, Asphalt Urban GT, Ridge Racer DS, and Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits. In addition to this more than 120 games remain in development for Nintendo DS around the world. New games will come from 100 different companies, while Nintendo itself is developing 20 titles.

    Ben Hur won the chariot race and Spartacus ended up being crucified – how will Nintendo DS and Sony PSP fare in battle?

    Nintendo

  • Treo 650 Launched by PalmOne

    PalmOne Treo 650A finer, mellow blend of phone and PDA, PalmOne launched the Treo 650 in the US yesterday. There are changes on the outside and changes on the inside – some cosmetic, some ergonomic, and some fundamentally technical. I’d be happy to ditch my current phone if I won this in a raffle!

    PalmOne plans to make two versions of the Treo 650. A dual-band version will support CDMA/1XRTT cellular networks, used by Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless. A quad-band version will run on GSM networks, used by T-Mobile, Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless. The GSM model will also support AT&T’s EDGE, a higher-speed data network. But built in Wi-Fi support is still missing as is, we understand, support for PalmOne’s own add on WiFi cards. We expect this is bowing to pressure from cellular providers who are terrified of Voice over WiFi eating their high-charging services for breakfast.

    The Treo 650 has a higher-resolution screen – 320 by 320 pixels compared with the Treo 600’s 160 by 160 pixels.  It’s faster with a 312MHz Intel processor compared with the Treo 600’s 144MHz Texas Instruments chip, while memory capacity remains the same at 32MB.  An improved VGA camera can record video as well as still images and should work better in low-light situations. Storage is provided by Flash memory enabling expansion. The Treo 650 has a removable battery, which gives up to five hours of continuous digital talk time and over two weeks of standby time

    A new e-mail application, VersaMail supports Exchange Server 2003, POP3, IMAP4, and SMTP, so 650 users can now connect remotely to corporate networks to get e-mail. Furthermore, built-in Bluetooth Wireless Technology allows you to wirelessly synchronise with Bluetooth-enabled desktop or laptop computers.

    Software applications include Documents To Go 7 with native MS Office support allowing you to View and edit Word and Excel documents, an audio player for MP3s, and the new palmOne Media suite from Zire 72.

    With all that improved technology on the inside, simple ergonomics have not been forgotten. The 650 has an improved backlit QWERTY keyboard with larger, flatter keys, and strategic button placement for easier one-handed access. 

    A touch too far might be the vanity mirror for self-portraits, while a community service to movie and theatre buffs might be the hardware silent switch. Sprint will be the first carrier to offer the smart phone from mid-November, and pricing is expected to be in the $400 (~£217, €312) to $500 (~£271, €390) range.

    PalmOne Treo 650

  • QUICPay Using RFID in Tokyo Taxi Payment Trial

    News reaches us that a Japanese credit card company, JCB International, is starting a two-month trial in November of a contactless payment system using mobile phones.  It’s called QUICPay and the guinea pigs will be taxi drivers in one of the world’s busiest cities, Tokyo. The exercise makes sense in Japan where it has been found that people use cell phones more than they use credit cards, and the Kanachu Hire taxi company will make contactless payment history.

    QUICPay will be tested with NTT DoCoMo mobile wallet service handsets that are embedded with Sony’s FeliCa IC chip.  When the phone is presented within ten centimetres of the QUICPAY RFID (Radio Frequency ID) reader, it will determine the balance stored on the customer’s chip, automatically deduct the fare and reset the chip’s balance.  The QUICPay (“Quick and Useful IC Payment”) amount will then be billed to their existing credit card just like any other card purchase.

    QUICPay can skip the authorisation process because it can instantly determine the balance that is available on the chip. The great thing about this system is its immediacy.  How often have the seconds turned to minutes and the minutes multiplied while you waited for the shop assistant to move heaven and earth to finalise your card transaction? In contrast to this a QUICPay offline payment transaction can be done in seconds and what’s more, no signature is required. 

    While this trial is using only phones, it will be possible to embed the chip in a credit or other plastic cards in the future. If the experiment is successful JCB hopes to introduce the technology to convenience stores by 2006.

    As far as we’re aware, there is no ‘keep the change’ option on QUICPay, so if the system becomes universal and moves us ever closer to a cashless society we’d better find another way of tipping.
     
    Other mobile phone-based payment systems such as SimPay are being actively pursued. What isn’t clear is what transaction fees the handler will remove. Given it is all electronic, one would hope they would be negligible.

    JCB International

  • Clothing Mounted Computer Sensors Discussed by MIT

    How would you like some magic fabric that you could use to make, and remake useful objects depending upon the job you neededon a given day? A wallet might inform you that you have run out of money, a belt might tell you that the pollen count is low, or a hat might tell you that the sunburn index if high.  The wallet, the belt and the hat will be the same set of patches used in different ways on different occasions. 

    The New Scientist Magazine reports on a system of computerised fabric patches developed by engineers Adrian Cable, Gauri Nanda and Michael Bove at MIT’s Media Lab (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Each patch contains a functional unit of the system – a microprocessor and memory plus either a radio transceiver, a sensor, a microphone, batteries or a display. It’s like intelligent Lego or transformers – you can put the patches together in different ways to create a variety of information-providing or environment-sensing objects.  You can then pull it apart and put it together again to perform an entirely different function.

    In order to remain waterproof, the circuit board inside each patch is first coated with a hard transparent resin and then padded with a thin layer of foam before being housed in the chosen fabric. It can be populated with a variety of components, from Bluetooth transmitters to a cut-down PC motherboard, reports the New Scientist.

    The dressmaking exercise continues as the patches, which can be square or triangular, are joined using Velcro. Wires from the circuit board are attached to silver-coated contacts in the Velcro so that data and power can flow from between modules.
     
    To make a bag that prevents people forgetting things, Nanda and Cable have incorporated a sensor module in the bag’s handle that detects when the bag has been picked up, indicating that the owner might be leaving, says the New Scientist. This triggers the reader to check through the objects the computer module has been programmed to look for, and it uses a voice synthesiser module to warn the owner if items are missing.

    All Grandparents should get this bag for Christmas!

    New Scientist – Smart fabrics make for enhanced living

  • Diagnosis of Patients in Transit via Video Link Trailed in Japan.

    Imagine the advantages of being able to send high-definition video of a patient from an ambulance to a hospital via cell phone. It will happen nation-wide in Japan from next April.

    A collaborative project by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the Tsukuba Medical Centre Hospital, and the Tsukuba Fire Headquarters has developed such a system that can do just this. Simply at the flick of a switch, paramedics will activate the system to enable a hospital doctor to examine a patient via remote control video camera using the new technology that has made it possible to compress high-definition image data sufficiently to allow its transmission via cell phone.

    According to national statistics in Japan, it takes an average of 21 minutes to transport an emergency patient to hospital.  These high-definition images though, will make it possible for doctors at the receiving hospital to give critical, timesaving and appropriate advice to paramedics, with obvious positive implications for the survival prospects of the patient. 

    To implement the system, ambulances will need to be modified to carry a video camera, laptop computer and special antenna, and AIST say the system will be tested in the city by the end of the year and will go on sale nation-wide in April.

    This is the first time we have heard of video from a moving vehicle being used for medical diagnosis and treatment. Fixed-location use of video is now becoming common place, in deed a story in News.com this summer highlighted the importance of being able to avail of expert instructions remotely, when cardiac surgery on a patient in Guam was led by physician, Dr. Benjamin Berg in front of a computer screen 3,500 miles away at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu. He dictated the procedure to a less experienced colleague, monitoring every move with a high-resolution video camera.

    AIST already has a track record in using technology to advance medical practice, having developed a therapeutic robot seal called PARO in collaboration with Microjenics. In February 2002, the Guinness Book of Records acknowledged the PARO robot as the most therapeutic robot in the world. AIST has licensed all PARO’s intellectual property rights to its affiliated venture company Intelligent System (ISC), who plan to introduce the robot to nursing homes for the elderly.

    News.com –  Digital Agenda Broadband (24 page PDF)
    JCN – AIST Develops Therapeutic Robot Seal

  • Pocket Streets 2005 Now for Smartphones and Pocket PC’s

    Microsoft Pocket Streets 2005Microsoft recently announced Pocket Streets 2005 as a stand-alone product, although it still remains a component of their Streets and Trips 2005 package. There are two separate stand-alone versions ¯ Pocket Streets 2005 for Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs, and Pocket Streets 2005 for Windows Mobile-based Smartphones.

    If you own a Smartphone, you can toss away the compass since the Smartphone version now has GPS support. Previous versions of Pocket Streets only had GPS functionality in the Pocket PC version. If you are looking for routing and driving directions though you will still need to consult Microsoft Streets & Trips or Microsoft MapPoint.

    You can generate directions and maps for Pocket Streets using the 2004 or later versions of MapPoint, Microsoft Streets & Trips, and AutoRoute, or you can download Microsoft’s maps of major cities. Pocket Streets 2005 includes more than 300 maps of North America and more than 275 maps of Western Europe, as well as Microsoft ActiveSync 3.7. New maps are available for Australia, Brazil, and Greece, but these will only be compatible with Pocket Streets 2005.

    This is an ideal companion for any tourist visiting a city for the first time.  You can locate the nearest ATM or service garage, in fact Pocket Streets has an extensive in-built list of bank ATMs and public transportation sites. You can customize maps with personal points of interest, and a new measurement scale feature is expected to determine the distance between locations more accurately.

    Two useful features will help the more absent-minded traveller. Pocket Streets 2005 opens with the most recently used map already loaded, and you can search for destinations and addresses by using only partial names.

    Pocket Streets is currently only available in English, but you can download maps that are in any language. It will sell for an estimated retail price of $24.95 (~€19.63). 

    Pocket Streets 2005

  • Epson’s P-2000 Multimedia Storage Viewer announced

    Epson P2000Designed as a replacement for Epson’s P-1000, the imaginatively named P-2000 has higher capacity storage, a faster interface, two memory card slots and the ability to view, store and playback photos, videos and music.  If you are still nostalgic about the black and white photos taken in the back garden with the Brownie camera, just think of the multi-sensorial memories your kids will have.

    Powered by a lithium ion battery, the P-2000 features a 40GB hard drive that can store thousands of photos, sparing the next generation the task of transferring all those unlabelled photos from plastic bags and cardboard boxes into albums. The built-in memory card slot supports Compact Flash Type I and Type II and Secure Digital memory cards, allowing you to transfer files quickly without having to connect to a computer.

    Budding amateur film-makers can zoom and rotate images, create a slideshow with music and share images on an NTSC or PAL television screen, monitor or projector using an optional third-party cable. And surprise, surprise, you can also print directly to supported Epson printers.

    Epson have a long tradition in LCD technology having introduced the first LCD digital quartz watch over 30 years ago, in the early 1970’s.  The 3.8″ Epson Photo Fine LCD screen displays images up to 8.9 megapixels and supports JPEG and RAW image file formats, MPEG-4 and Motion-JPEG video files, plus MP3 and AAC audio files. The P-2000 connects to Macs or PCs using a USB 2.0 interface for transferring photos, videos and audio files.

    The Epson P-2000 display offers three colours per image pixel and a higher density of 212 pixels per inch, compared with one colour per pixel and 80-100 pixels per inch on a typical digital camera display. This gives it the ability to display up to 262,144 colours and an impressive, high-resolution image.

    The Epson P-2000 will be available in early November for a price of $499 (~€395).

    Epson

  • Mobile vs Web gaming

    Games on mobiles are not new, neither are multiplayer games, but Macrospace have teamed up with Certus to go a step further, by allowing players to compete in real-time using their mobile phones with not only other mobile users, but also PC users via their web browser.

    Global mobile to mobile, Web to mobile gaming creates a whole new multiplayer dynamic. Designed for the more casual gamers, Macrospace hopes to attract a broad range of people who are already familiar with web-based games, but who may not yet appreciate the gaming potential of their mobile phone. The new games, developed in partnership with Denmark’s Certus, use powerful server-side technologies to create a robust multiplayer platform that is simple for even novice users, and three have been launched for openers.
     
    Multiplayer Four-in-a-row challenges you to get four counters in a row before your opponent, while the multiplayer version of the timeless game of strategy, Multiplayer Reversi, allows you to challenge your friends anytime, anywhere in real-time.  Finally, Multiplayer Battle Ocean encourages you to sink your opponents’ fleet of ships before he sinks yours. Players can also chat to each other seamlessly between mobile and Web.

    The games can be played across any Java-enabled mobile or Web platform, and they have been specifically designed to work across 2G, 2.5G and 3G technology, using turn-based gameplay that suits the technical limitations of existing handsets and networks.

    Most importantly, for player kudos, Macrospace multiplayer games utilise global ranking and high scores, allowing users to view other players’ scores and select opponents of a similar skill level. They can also create a permanent username, circumventing the need to create a new one for every game they purchase. It’s a real virtual community affair as Certus’ technology allows operators and portals to run tournaments and create competition leagues.

    People used to miss bus and train stops because they fell asleep or were engrossed in a good book, now it will be because they are preoccupied with multiplayer global intrigue on the tiny screen.

    Macrospace
    Certus

  • TI to put DVB-H in Single Chip

    Texas Instruments have just announced they will be building a single chip that will that will allow cell phones to receive digital television broadcasts over a wireless network.

    Currently if a mobile phone manufacturer wanted to do this they would have to include three separate chips – a TV tuner, a signal demodulator and a channel decoder, but the TI chip, codenamed “Hollywood”, includes all this functionality already.  “Hollywood” will support two emerging digital and open TV standards for the wireless industry – the European, DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld); and the Japanese Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting – Terrestrial (ISDB-T).

    Texas Instruments say that the chip will be able to receive a live TV broadcast at up to 30 frames per second, twice the rate that some of today’s top notch phones display video clips.

    While the chip is already being trialled, manufacturers probably won’t receive samples until 2006, pushing commercial deployment to 2007.

    It’s unclear if users will watch TV on a tiny mobile screen.  Furthermore, it is not yet known which mobile phone manufacturers will provide the phones, although Nokia, who announced last year that they are going to put television tuners into all their cellphones, (having already done so with the 7700) could be a contender.

    A time might come when we forget what the mobile phone is really for.  We’ll be so busy playing music and video games, taking photographs, or watching TV that receiving a call will become an irritating nuisance.

    Texas Instruments

  • SCH-250 5Mpx Phone from Samsung Released

    Samsung, the world’s third-largest handset maker has today released the world’s first camera phone with 5-megapixel resolution in Korea. In conjunction with Japan-based camera specialist Asahi Pentax, Samsung have devised a camera module specifically for the mobile phone.  Poor quality mobile pictures will soon be a thing of the past  – a mere grainy memory.  Besides the incredible resolution, the SCH-S250 also includes the first QVGA display (240×320)) in a mobile phone that supports 16.7 million colours.

    Your average mobile-wielding sulky teenager considers built-in cameras with picture resolutions of less than one megapixel passé, but the SCH-S250 will raise their little technical antennae.  The 5-megapixel camera features a high-quality CCD sensor, 1/1000-second shutter speed, and QVGA  (Quarter VGA)video recording. The unique “stretch” design protects the display and camera lens when not in use. 92 MB of built-in memory can store up to 100 minutes of high-quality video, but less than 18 still photos at full resolution. Additional storage can be added and a  32MB auxiliary memory is included as standard. And the people at Samsung and Asahi Pentax didn’t stop here – an MP3 player and TV output round out the features.

    This little phone could be used as your portable office as it also includes a text-to-speech function allowing the phone to “speak” to-do lists and incoming text messages.

    Furthermore, South Korea’s top mobile carrier, SK Telecom, has said it will introduce 10-megapixel camera phones produced by Samsung by the end of this year. The SCH-S250 price will be announced next week, so it is hard to predict yet how soon the kids will be fighting over it in the schoolyard.

    Mobile operators love high resolution photos, as transferring them takes lots of bandwidth and there for cost the user considerably more than low res pictures.

    Samsung