Jenny Levine: Wireless

DoCoMo to Test Streaming Ads

"Participants will use wireless-enabled Sharp Zaurus handhelds that incorporate technologies from the three companies. Testers, which the vendors call "monitors," will receive 15-second streamed ads and can request further streamed content. The ads will adhere to individual profiles for each of the users and the testers will be polled afterward to test the effectiveness of the ads." [allNetDevices Wireless News]

Well, my first thought here was jeez, advertising on my phone... no way.

"In addition, the companies will test a system that links the wireless devices to special terminals installed in convenience stores. The terminals will respond to streamed promotions, will provide sales information and will support a frequent buyer's program."

But after reading this part, I'm thinking yeah, if I can control who's sending me ads, this might be okay. After all, I want to be enable micropayments and get location-based information via GPS services. It's a trade-off that I'm willing to make, and Net Gens will expect it as a service.

Sprint Gives Phones Ability to Synch

"The Contact Synchronization Software, created by FutureDial Inc., will go on sale at Sprint Stores next week for $29.99. The software reads contact information from both the Sprint phone and Microsoft Outlook, and offers two options for address book editing. The phone list view displays existing entries for the phonebook for editing and updating, while the Microsoft Outlook view displays a dual screen with both the phonebook list and the Microsoft Outlook contact list. Users can "drag and drop" entries from Outlook to the phone list." [allNetDevices Wireless News]

Score! It supports my phone! Elation! Wait... the fine print:

"The company also said that the Contact Synchronization Software requires a cable that comes with Sprint's Wireless Web Connection Kit, available online or at Sprint Stores for $59.99."

Dejection. Grrrrrr. It's not worth $60, let alone $90, to get all of my Outlook contacts on my phone, especially since I've already programmed in the important ones. Et tu, Sprint?

Your Phone as Your Wallet, Part 2

"At this time, welcome PayBox, a German company that is establishing itself slowly but surely. To use the system, you register with your bank account and PayBox then acts as a link between your mobile phone and your bank account. If I would like to pay for a cab then I give the driver my mobile phone number, or alias, and he enters it into his system. I then get a phone call and a nice voice tells me that this cab driver is requesting an amount of X EUR. I can then say yes and enter my password and the money is securely deducted from my bank account. For me, the entire system is free. The system is gaining acceptance on the web, at least in Germany, but for paying in stores it is moving along at a slower pace, partly because a POS (point-of-sale) terminal is needed there...."

"Paying for a coke with your VISA card is not really efficient but if you pay with your phone bill then it might work a lot easier. You can already get a coke out of a vending machine with your mobile phone in Finland, and I am sure this will be something that we will be accustomed too fairly soon. An example of this can be what Europolitan Vodafone and TietoEnator are launching a new payment method in Sweden. I also recently learned that you can pay for drinks and subway tokens with your mobile phone in Santiago (Chile)." [InfoSync]

Suh-weet! This is definitely the entry point for micropayments to become widespread. So when can I pay my library overdues using my cell phone?

Mobile IM: It's a Revolution

"Wireless Village, the initiative sponsored by Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and over 100 other Supporters, has issued version 1.0 of the Wireless Village specifications, which aim to enable interoperability of mobile instant messaging and presence services (IMPS). If sucessful, the initiative could force major present Instant Messaging giants such as Microsoft and AOL to open up their systems as the number of potential mobile IM users is likely to outgrow that of current and potential stationary IM users by far." [at InfoSync]

It takes a village to raise IM interoperability. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist.) Note though, how much faster this is moving towards a standard than eBooks are.

Microsoft, WebEx Ink a Digital Deal

"Attempting to boost momentum behind its Tablet PC initiative, Microsoft on Monday showcased its 2.5-pound pen-based device and announced that WebEx would support its digital ink capabilities. Online conferencing vendor WebEx said at the Demo 2002 conference in Phoenix that it will build Web conferencing services for the Tablet PC, taking advantage of the portable form factor to boost enterprise communications in meetings, according to K.V. Rao, director of platform marketing at WebEx in San Jose, California.... In addition, Groove Networks says it is building a secure collaboration offering based on the Tablet PC that will allow users to work together on projects in real time, sharing comments in digital ink." [at PC World]

I hadn't thought of this. I've been focusing a lot on how PDAs can make reference librarians more mobile, but I hadn't considered that the Tablet PC could do this but with more screen real estate. Things that make you go hmmm.......

802.11b and Bluetooth, Meet Ultra-wideband

"The technology simply put uses a large radio spectrum to send pulses of binary data without requiring a locked frequency to do so.... XtremeSpectrum president and CEO Dr. Martin Rofheart commented that the value of Ultra-wideband will be found in its high data rates, low power requirements, and low cost, three things which other wireless technologies such as Bluetooth and 802.11b cannot claim as a whole." [PDABuzz.com]

On the other hand, a News.com article notes the controversy in this decision because police and fire officials say it encroaches on the frequencies they use.

GLOCOM has posted a report that outlines four different scenarios for the future of the Japanese wireless market, projecting that it could reach a worth of 2-10 trillion Yen and 4G status (a high-speed, 4th-generation network) by 2010. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, since the Japanese are already headed down the 3G road. It outlines six "service characteristics that control the demands of mass users" and therefore impact future adoption:

Transmission service
Service areas
Brand of carriers
Device
Contents and Applications
User Interface

When you look at their chart of "3G Services vs. non-3G services" (towards the bottom of the page) the positives on the left and negatives on the right illustrate why Japan (on the left) is so much further ahead of the U.S. (on the right). Not every negative characteristic applies to the U.S. (or vice-versa), but enough of them do that we haven't made much progress in technology and adoption rates. [via Dave Farber's IP list]

Mobile Messaging Spec Released "An initiative by industry leaders to standardize mobile instant messaging and presence services came to fruition Wednesday with the release of the Wireless Village 1.0 specification.... The goal of the specification is to promote interoperability between mobile and fixed-network instant messaging systems so that, for instance, PC users can exchange messages with mobile phone users.... The specification also is forward-looking and will embrace Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) when it becomes available, according to the group. MMS will add various multimedia elements, such as music and video, to messaging." [allNetDevices Wireless News]

Great! Now I will be able to send people pictures of Rosie, the cutest puppy in the whole wide world, on their phones! And Bruce will be able to send me pictures of Beans no matter where I am. :-)

Back in the real world, this means you might be able to answer more complex reference questions over IM.

Qualcomm's Vision of the Wireless Future "When he finished, there were 20 brand-new, CDMA-based mobile handsets and devices arrayed on the table, the high-tech souvenirs of Belk's most recent trip to Hong Kong and Japan.... 'These are not PowerPoint slides,' Belk said. 'These are real devices that are already shipping in volume in Asia.' " [at Business 2.0]

And there's the rub. When I do my presentations, that's all I have - pictures of prototypes or of devices not available in the U.S. Europe and Asia really are 18 months ahead of us in this area.

"Beale also discussed Qualcomm's gpsOne location technology.... It also opens the door for many new location-based services, such as traffic information and local weather forecasts. On Japan KDDI's network, there are already more than 20 location-based services available -- all of which are relatively inexpensive, costing less than $5 per month."

I'm looking forward to being able to travel and have information come to me automatically based on my location. For example, if I'm at a conference and I'm looking for a restaurant, I'd like my phone/PDA/whatever to know where I am and offer a list of nearby choices. Maybe it should tell me what movies or plays are on tonight and if there are still tickets available. You get the idea....

"Predictably, both Belk and Beale anticipate strong growth for the wireless industry as ever-more-compelling products and services become available and the industry settles on a single communication standard. How long will that take? Belk, whose career began in the personal computing business in 1983, likened the wireless industry today to the PC business of the 1980s. 'I wouldn't worry about the wireless industry yet, it's still relatively young,' he said. 'Just look how long it took the PC industry just to get to the point of standardized parallel cables.' "

Not to beat a dead horse, but the ebook industry is even younger than PCs, and PDAs have really only come into their own during the last few years. So don't count any of these technologies out just yet.

I don't know if I believe this one, but it'd be pretty cool if it's real. Check out the Musit, a new digital music device that has a "continuous satellite Web link that allows for continual downloading of millions of songs in MP3 format. The Musit will allows you to enter in a song or album title, download, and play it almost instantly. With a patented high-speed wireless link to the Web, the Musit will download songs at an amazing rate of over 1MB per minute." It comes with a stylus and supposedly recognizes handwriting for input of song titles. All for under $200. (Note that the site requires Flash.) [via Mempool]

Hmmmmm....... I'll believe it when I see it, but someday, this type of device and service will be commonplace. For those of you that have heard me talk about the "heavenly jukebox" of content, this is one way it might look.

Virtual Ink Untethers Mimio Whiteboarding Product "Mimio Xi (neXt ink) is a departure from the company's four-year-old Mimio electronic whiteboarding product in that it allows users to record whiteboarding writing without a PC and with almost no setup time via wireless connectivity.... At Demo, 3Com is expected to show off a proof-of-concept module for Bluetooth that allows the data to be fed to a PC via a wireless connection, and ultimately to a corporate network. Virtual Ink is publishing the specifications and plans to develop a version for IRDA to connect to PocketPCs or Palms; the company expects that third parties will create a WiFi module." [at InfoWorld]

We have the current Mimio at SLS, and we've never been able to get it to work well enough to put it to good use. The additiobn of Bluetooth or WiFi connectivity would be a huge boost. They also need to work on the handwriting recognition, but it does have potential. It would be cool to have this type of technology available in a library's meeting room so that various groups could use it and take their notes with them on a CD or email it to themselves.

Who needs a PDA when you could have a Wearable Internet Appliance from Hitachi and Xybernaut? [via Slashdot]

Very cool! My alma mater, the University of Kansas is combining 802.11b network mapping with GIS for its Wireless Network Visualization Project in Lawrence! "While computer networks and Geography may not appear to have much in common, a collaborative effort was launched between the Univeristy of Kansas' Information & Telecommunications Technology Center and Kansas Applied Remote Sensing Program to create a more advanced wireless 802.11b mapping and network visualization method. This new procedure uses wireless network data collected from walking and/or driving scans, aerial photography, and interpolation techniques to create highly detailed network coverage and signal strength maps." [via Slashdot]

Not only does it map the various networks in Lawrence, including signal strength, it evaluates the security of them as well. Lawrence is Wi-Fi rocking! (Just add some security in there, folks.) Just imagine all of those emails, video file trades, instant messages, and streaming video going across those networks when the Jayhawks win the NCAA Tournament this year!

Watch Out for a New Watchphone "Samsung's SPH-S1OO 'watchphone' accepts voice commands so it can be used hands-free. It rings in different ways for different callers and automatically keys in preprogrammed letters or numbers to make quick work of logging into online services. There's also a 'Secret Phone Book' where every saved phone number can be used only after the person keys in a 4-digit code, according to the device's 112-page user manual.... The FCC go-ahead is instead a 'proof of the technology,' the spokesman said. He declined to say when and where the watchphone would be available." [at ZDNet]

The analyst is right that it will take a long time for something like this to take off, even if Samsung starts actually making them. However, can you imagine what it would be like to be a kid growing up with this kind of device widely available and inexpensive? Always connected to a 3G network? Talk about information shifting!

And speaking of Philips....

Dashboard surfing for the masses "Philips Semiconductors debuts a new chip it says will take the emerging niche of dashboard electronics beyond the realm of the luxury car. Analysts, however, are skeptical." [News.com]

I honestly believe that most Americans exposure to wireless convergence will begin in their cars.

Take Your Router for a Walk "[IXI Mobile] on Monday announced its vision for a personal network in which a small cell phone and inexpensive e-mail device connect to cellular phone networks via a miniature server and router that would reside in the owner's pocket. The server, which would be about the same size as a tin of mints, would have a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) modem to provide the connection for the cell phone and other devices.... The goal is for the whole package, including handset, server and messaging device, to sell for less than $200." [at News.com]

Yet another take on converging devices and technologies. I wonder if these can be integrated into Philips Wearable Electronics Clothing?

Also from infoSync is a screenshot of the Space Taxi pinball game mentioned in the Have Cell Phone, Will Shoot post from a few days ago . It only runs on the Nokia 9210 and Nokia 9290 phones, but my oh my is it purty. Now that's the kind of service that would make me switch cell phones and carriers, but of course it's not available in the U.S. The game is written in Java, so I can only imagine what we'll start seeing as screen resolutions, processors, and battery life improve.

BTW Meryl, these phones are supposed to be better for deaf users (as well as the rest of us) because of the larger keyboard and the bigger screen.

News.com has a special report about Technology Put to the Olympic Test with two interesting articles in particular.

Biathletes get wireless weapon in Games "Light beams will streak across regular intervals of the cross-country course where the races take place. A transponder on the biathlete's ankle will help send a signal describing the location of the athlete, the athlete's identity, and current time every time he or she passes through a light beam. The information will be sent to the coach's laptop, where software programs will take a second to determine the split time. 'Our coaches can sit on the courses with their laptops and instantly tell their athletes that they are 22 seconds out of first,' said Jerry Kokesh, development director for the U.S. Biathlon Association. 'We used to have to do this all by hand.' "

The article also notes security concerns about the 802.11b network that was installed to implement all of this. Are they afraid that a hacker is going to mess with the times or something?

Olympics: A cell phone nirvana? "The carriers' version of utopia for cell phone users is a nationwide network where 98 percent of all calls get through, even if the call is made in a car traveling through a 12,300-foot high mountain pass. This utopia will last for 18 days. Some of the new Utah network is temporary, and will be removed after the Olympics end.... The carriers added 177 more cell phone antenna sites and have 35 temporary antennas on tractor-trailers to mobilize during peak calling times, like the height of the opening ceremonies, Anderson said. She studied cell phone traffic patterns for the Nagano games. The air around the Opening Ceremonies was filled with electricity and with the most cell phone calls made at one time during those games."

Now if they could just cover my route home.... Imagine if the cell phone ~~Sarah Hughes~~ Sasha Cohen handed George Bush hadn't worked. (Doh! Thanks, Shirl.)

Addendum: Hello? Salt Lake City, Hello? "There will be lots of people trying to make calls but they'll be rebuffed by the lack of dial tones or busy signals -- if they're lucky enough just to get on the network. Despite all the work done by mobile operators in Salt Lake City, the cellular networks won't support the tens of thousands of mobile calls made by foreign visitors, analysts say." [at Wired News]

Deaf go mobile phone crazy "Over the last few years, the mobile phone has emerged as a popular device for what at first may seem an unlikely user group: the deaf and other people who are hard of hearing. Using the Short Messaging Service (SMS) functions on mobiles, people with hearing difficulties can communicate by typing messages into their phones.... By setting their mobile phones to vibrate, they can be alerted when a message comes in. This usage shows how a group of people can take up a technology that was not initially designed or marketed to them, and adapt it to suit their own needs and purposes." [at BBC Sci/Tech, via Meryl]

Another excellent example that illustrates why mobile, wireless access will be pervasive and ubiquitous in the future. Meryl notes that this doesn't really help her right now because her cell phone can't send messages, but that will change.

Is your library prepared to serve deaf users via SMS or IM? You'd better be in the future.

Have Cell Phone, Will Shoot "The carnage occurs with cellular phones, not guns -- courtesy of new technologies that allow cell phone users to locate each other to within several hundred meters.... The games rely on a cell phone technology that allows mobile operators to pinpoint users' positions within "cells" formed by their phones' locations relative to nearby transmitters...."

"The company's signature game is BotFighters, which Hålling says has attracted between 7,000 and 8,000 players in Sweden and Finland. The game will launch shortly in Ireland. In BotFighters, users role-play as robots that they pick from a community website. They can pick all kinds of extras like laser guns and missiles, using play money called 'Robucks.' "

"But once they start firing at each other in the real world, they pay real money -- about 20 cents for each move in the game. (The cell phones can "get" missions from the company's servers, "scan" for nearby enemies and, of course, "fire.") Since intense battles often involve many moves, the games can quickly add up to some big phone bills. Sweden's Taxi31, for instance, has chalked up bills as high as $4,000." [at Wired News]

I'm quoting liberally from this article because most of the adults I know don't believe that kids - let alone other adults - will want to play games on their cell phones. Granted, the U.S. will be a different market, but any kid that's grown up with Gameboys will feel right at home with something like this. I mean heck, it's interactive and you can play against anybody, not just your next door neighbor.

In my Information Shifting presentation, I note that wireless companies plan to target their advertising at kids 10 years old and younger because they are considered to be the first big wave for this market. After all, what 10 year old wouldn't want to collect zombies and play virtual paintball using their PDA/phone combo? They don't know cell phones are supposed to be for calling people. To them, it will be an information appliance, game console, and IM tool all rolled into one.

BTW, you can find out more about BotFighters and other games at the It's Alive site. It's nice to see that it still has the heartbeat along the top and the funky background sounds. The site is perfect for a cellular game company. "Pervasive gaming" is a term you'll hear a lot more of over the next few years.

Too much great content to read at 802.11b Networking News today. I can't even link to it all right now, so check it out for yourself.

Study: Mobile Payments Set to Soar. "The study predicts that 118 million Western European and 145 users in the Asia-Pacific region will purchase low-cost mobile premium content by 2005. That dwarfs the report's estimate of 22 million such users in North America. The largest portion of those mobile payments will be for content-related services that cost less than $10 each, which are called micropayments, such as ring-tones for phones or other premium content, the report says. Wireless operators are better suited for such payments than banks and other financial institutions." [at allNetDevices Wireless News]

The sad thing is that all of that content still has to be organized, and I'll bet there isn't a single company working on this that has a librarian on the job.

I have to leave soon because I'm going out of town overnight, so I'm just going to post links to some stuff. Sorry I don't have time to comment on them right now. First up:

You Can Surf, but You Can't Hide. "Software can already tell your friends when you log on or off. Now, "presence awareness" capabilities are being designed into other devices. Is this technology helpful or creepy?" [at NY Times]

Here's one perspective of The Lowdown on mLife. I can't decide if I should be glad that AT&T is trying or if I should be disheartened that they're running such a poor marketing campaign. I got this link via Alan Reiter's post AT&T's mLife: Yawn, which pretty much mirrors my thoughts.

Glenn Fleishman has put to byte some thoughts about Bluetooth and (not Versus) Wi-Fi. It's one of the better short-and-to-the-point explanations of the two technologies, explaining why they can co-exist. If you need to explain to someone why you would use either, this is a good starting point.

"Bluetooth proponents picture a world of roaming devices and people.... Wi-Fi backers break the world into zones at home, work, and on the road, that offer access to larger networks."

"Distilled: Wi-Fi solves bandwidth-heavy, network-based (whether intranet or Internet) connectivity; Bluetooth offers ad hoc, resource-based opportunistic availability."