Most Nokia devices in Europe already come with a bar code reader. The N95 comes with a reasonable one, but there are plenty of 3rd party apps, especially for Symbian devices.
QR codes are great for pushing complex information into your phone, forget scanning in a business card - just snap the QR code and have a vcard on your device instantly.
With Google pushing them on print ads, everyone and his mother having a camera phone, phones with good mobile browsers, I think the time is right for these to take off in a big way.
Of all the phones I've use - and I've used most of them - the iPhone has the best UI. No doubt about it. It, as they say, just works.
But, sadly, the UI is a trade off against everything else. I won't list all the ways in which the iPhone is deficient in the current mobile market - but trading them all off against the UI *and* and £230 price tag is lunacy.
Would you use Vista if it cost £230 more than Ubuntu? It's prettier and easier to use?
No? Didn't think so.
I've no doubt Apple will sell a fair few of the things, and I've no doubt that the promised 3G version will be a spectacular improvement. Similarly, by 2009 I expect all smart phones to be colloquially known as "iPhones" just as all MP3 players are "iPods". But right here, right now, the N95 and any other high cost phone blows the iPhone away in terms of functionality and price.
Re:What would be cool...
on
Talking iPods
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Just like Shazam - http://www.shazam.com/music/portal - dial 2345 from your phone, hold it to the speaker, receive the text title of the song and an option to purchase it as a ringtone or song.
720p is 25% better. For NTSC, 720p represents a 50% increase in quality.
On my 92 inch projection screen, I can see every hair, folical and acne scar on a movie star's face. Honestly, I'm so blown away by a good PAL disc that I'll wait until whatever comes after HiDef.
Come take a look at http://originaltrilogy.com/ - these are real fans who've taken the original Laserdiscs(!) and created DVDs with ALL the original content in them.
Spent a couple of evenings scanning in my books, it then went and got all the details from Amazon etc and I ended up with a nice database of all the books.
It was a bit slack on some of the old and obscure stuff - but if it's in an online bookstore, it will usually pick it up.
I haven't tried it for CDs or DVDs - I use DVD Profiler for that.
There's a used DVD shop near me. Most new movies cost around £5 (~USD$9). I think the most I ever paid was was £7.50 (~USD$14) for the Extended Special Edition of Fellowship of the Rings.
And, I can sell back any of the discs I no longer want. New releases are usually there a few days after they're released.
Screw putting money into the movie studios' paws - give it to local businesses instead!
Make games that are fun - not a chore. Games that can be picked up again after a week or month without having to releasrn the ABAXYA button combo. Games that *gasp* are fun.
DRM isn't about geeks. It's about the lowest common denominator.
Case in point. I complained to a fairly senior manager at my company that putting DRM on mobile phone ringtones and games was a nasty thing to do. "What happen when the customer changes phone? They won't be able to keep any of the stuff they've paid for!"
"Ah," said the manager, in velvety tones, "They won't care. The average kid changes his ringtone every 2 weeks. The average game isn't likely to last more than 2 months. By the time customers change devices - they've gotten bored with the content they've purchased. We've never had any customer try and transfer a protected ringtone from one device to another."
And that's when it struck me... he's right. Most people will be happy "renting" DRM'd products because their attention span is so low.
For geeks it's a big deal. We want to know we can always use something we've paid good money for. But the average customer is part of a disposable culture that celebrates throwing away unfashonable goods.
DRM is to the software business what changing specifications is to the hardware business. I can't use my ISA modem in my PCI motherboard - I can't play last year's songs on this year's iPod.
It's a complete corporate solution. Push email, intranet (not internet) browsing, address book lookups.
Let me tell you, I loved my Treo and I nearly had kittens when I got a P910i. But they all fell back in the draw when I realised they weren't as simple to use as a Blackberry.
It's the same reason why I love my TiVo - it just works.
And I can SSH (http://www.idokorro.com/imssh.html) and VNC (http://www.idokorro.com/imssh.html) if I want to.
In my business, email and voice are like life itself. And Blackberry offers me that with no fuss.
Go on - try one for a week and see if you don't go back!
Seriously - if you're interested email me. Tryfen@gmail.com
I'm posting this mesage right now from my Blackberry.
Let me tell you why I'm a firm BB convert after being a Treo and P910i owner.
I'll give you a clue - it's the same reason why I don't have Linux On The Desktop... Can you guess what it is?
Everything works straight away with no aditional software or configuration needed.
With no random downloads from Sourceforge, today I have....
Interogated my corporate address book. Got the friends name and details added to my device. Had those details wirelessly synchronised with my server. Set a whitelist for tem so their email messages are automatically pushed to me (no polling the server every 15 minutes) Typed this message, saved it, had it automatically backed up. Copied the contents of an SMS and sent them as a fax.
In short - all the things I need to do my work without me having to install or configure a damn thing. No searching and paying for WiFi access points - GPRS coverage is pretty much universal in Europe. No gimicks to distract me - no MP3 player or space invaders. Although there are thousands of Java Midlets available.
Can you see what I'm getting at? An all singing all dancing P910i is great for showing off with - but a Blackberry cuts straight to the chase and let's me get to work.
I might do away with my PDA if someone will invent a cellphone with good PDA functionality in it... or rather if I could take calls on my PDA, I'd throw away my phone.
Three choices for you...
Blackberry
Treo 600 / 650
Bluetooth headset for the phone in your bag
Personally, a Blackberry on a corporate BES is the ultimate productivity tool. Look up contacts from your active directory, browse the intRAnet, wireless synchronisation of memos, calendar items and contacts.
Palm and win.CE devices have more freeware - but Blackberrys are more useful.
Slashdot Mirror
Most Nokia devices in Europe already come with a bar code reader. The N95 comes with a reasonable one, but there are plenty of 3rd party apps, especially for Symbian devices.
I favour Quickmark from http://www.quickmark.com.tw/, although i-nigma from http://i-nigma.mobi/ is fairly good.
Here's a good generator of QR codes, available in PHP or Perl
http://www.swetake.com/qr/index-e.html
QR codes are great for pushing complex information into your phone, forget scanning in a business card - just snap the QR code and have a vcard on your device instantly.
With Google pushing them on print ads, everyone and his mother having a camera phone, phones with good mobile browsers, I think the time is right for these to take off in a big way.
Of all the phones I've use - and I've used most of them - the iPhone has the best UI. No doubt about it. It, as they say, just works.
But, sadly, the UI is a trade off against everything else. I won't list all the ways in which the iPhone is deficient in the current mobile market - but trading them all off against the UI *and* and £230 price tag is lunacy.
Would you use Vista if it cost £230 more than Ubuntu? It's prettier and easier to use?
No? Didn't think so.
I've no doubt Apple will sell a fair few of the things, and I've no doubt that the promised 3G version will be a spectacular improvement. Similarly, by 2009 I expect all smart phones to be colloquially known as "iPhones" just as all MP3 players are "iPods". But right here, right now, the N95 and any other high cost phone blows the iPhone away in terms of functionality and price.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender's_Game
If you haven't read it - it's about training children to become future leaders through video games.
£5 or US$10e red+nokia+phone+charger/pid/857657
http://www.edirectory.co.uk/pf/880/mia/d/hand+pow
Plenty of other models on the market.
Symtorrent http://symtorrent.aut.bme.hu/ is a Bit Torrent client designed specifically for S60 phones. N70, N95 etc.
Make sure you have a generous data plan, though!
http://cryptome.org/tomlinson-mi6.htm
Just like Shazam - http://www.shazam.com/music/portal - dial 2345 from your phone, hold it to the speaker, receive the text title of the song and an option to purchase it as a ringtone or song.
t
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_subject
PAL DVDs are 576p.
720p is 25% better. For NTSC, 720p represents a 50% increase in quality.
On my 92 inch projection screen, I can see every hair, folical and acne scar on a movie star's face. Honestly, I'm so blown away by a good PAL disc that I'll wait until whatever comes after HiDef.
Come take a look at http://originaltrilogy.com/ - these are real fans who've taken the original Laserdiscs(!) and created DVDs with ALL the original content in them.
Top stuff for any fan.
I use Readerware.
Spent a couple of evenings scanning in my books, it then went and got all the details from Amazon etc and I ended up with a nice database of all the books.
It was a bit slack on some of the old and obscure stuff - but if it's in an online bookstore, it will usually pick it up.
I haven't tried it for CDs or DVDs - I use DVD Profiler for that.
HTH
T
The only thing they did wrong was breaking the 11th commandment.
Thou shall not get caught!
Amstrad sold a PC with a MegaDrive (Genesis) built into it.
m puter_1/amstrad_megadrive_computer_1.html
http://assembler.roarvgm.com/Amstrad_megadrive_co
There's a used DVD shop near me. Most new movies cost around £5 (~USD$9). I think the most I ever paid was was £7.50 (~USD$14) for the Extended Special Edition of Fellowship of the Rings.
And, I can sell back any of the discs I no longer want. New releases are usually there a few days after they're released.
Screw putting money into the movie studios' paws - give it to local businesses instead!
The people who make this odious software have contact details.
http://www.xcp-aurora.com/contact.aspx
Let them know how much you love them!
Nokia 1100.
Does nothing but voice and SMS.
Costs ~£20 on PAYT. That's ~USD$40.
If the US had gone down the GSM route - without messing around with the band allocation - you wouldn't have this problem.
Over here is "Socialist Europe" I can buy a phone direct from the manufacturer and use it on any network, if that's what I want to do.
Instead you have half-a-dozen incompatible phone standards, poor coverage, restricted phones and dreadful service.
Sometimes cooperation and capitalism go hand in hand.
Buffy - great story, familiar characters, easy controls, logical puzzles.
Lego Star Wars - great story, familiar characters, easy controls, logical puzzels.
Puyo Puyo - pretty graphics, easy controls, logical puzzels.
Make games that are fun - not a chore. Games that can be picked up again after a week or month without having to releasrn the ABAXYA button combo. Games that *gasp* are fun.
TR
*Who is not my mother - you sicko!
http://www.vodafone.co.uk/simply
Just to say - you can disable JavaScript in the Blackberry.
Browser -> options -> Browser Configuration -> Support JavaScript
You can also switch on/off image rendering, tables, flash, svg, stylsheets etc.
T
Hand in your geek badge. If you don't get references to the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce or Bad Wolf you shouldn't be playing on Slashdot.
DRM isn't about geeks. It's about the lowest common denominator.
Case in point. I complained to a fairly senior manager at my company that putting DRM on mobile phone ringtones and games was a nasty thing to do. "What happen when the customer changes phone? They won't be able to keep any of the stuff they've paid for!"
"Ah," said the manager, in velvety tones, "They won't care. The average kid changes his ringtone every 2 weeks. The average game isn't likely to last more than 2 months. By the time customers change devices - they've gotten bored with the content they've purchased. We've never had any customer try and transfer a protected ringtone from one device to another."
And that's when it struck me... he's right. Most people will be happy "renting" DRM'd products because their attention span is so low.
For geeks it's a big deal. We want to know we can always use something we've paid good money for. But the average customer is part of a disposable culture that celebrates throwing away unfashonable goods.
DRM is to the software business what changing specifications is to the hardware business. I can't use my ISA modem in my PCI motherboard - I can't play last year's songs on this year's iPod.
T
Who wants flexability?
It's a complete corporate solution. Push email, intranet (not internet) browsing, address book lookups.
Let me tell you, I loved my Treo and I nearly had kittens when I got a P910i. But they all fell back in the draw when I realised they weren't as simple to use as a Blackberry.
It's the same reason why I love my TiVo - it just works.
And I can SSH (http://www.idokorro.com/imssh.html) and VNC (http://www.idokorro.com/imssh.html) if I want to.
In my business, email and voice are like life itself. And Blackberry offers me that with no fuss.
Go on - try one for a week and see if you don't go back!
Seriously - if you're interested email me. Tryfen@gmail.com
Tryf
I'm posting this mesage right now from my Blackberry.
Let me tell you why I'm a firm BB convert after being a Treo and P910i owner.
I'll give you a clue - it's the same reason why I don't have Linux On The Desktop... Can you guess what it is?
Everything works straight away with no aditional software or configuration needed.
With no random downloads from Sourceforge, today I have....
Interogated my corporate address book.
Got the friends name and details added to my device.
Had those details wirelessly synchronised with my server.
Set a whitelist for tem so their email messages are automatically pushed to me (no polling the server every 15 minutes)
Typed this message, saved it, had it automatically backed up.
Copied the contents of an SMS and sent them as a fax.
In short - all the things I need to do my work without me having to install or configure a damn thing.
No searching and paying for WiFi access points - GPRS coverage is pretty much universal in Europe.
No gimicks to distract me - no MP3 player or space invaders. Although there are thousands of Java Midlets available.
Can you see what I'm getting at? An all singing all dancing P910i is great for showing off with - but a Blackberry cuts straight to the chase and let's me get to work.
Three choices for you...
Personally, a Blackberry on a corporate BES is the ultimate productivity tool. Look up contacts from your active directory, browse the intRAnet, wireless synchronisation of memos, calendar items and contacts.
Palm and win.CE devices have more freeware - but Blackberrys are more useful.
T