Paul Golding: Mobile Messaging

Wed, 09 Feb 2005 11:55:34 GMT

@ If you're still reading this....

...you shouldn't be. Your browser should have been redirected to my new blog

http://wirelesswonders.blogspot.com/

Sat, 31 Jul 2004 12:33:09 GMT

@ Location privacy...

When teaching or discussing the principles and uses of location-based services, I am often asked about privacy and legal implications. I usually give anecdotal answers based on what I perceive to be operator approaches, which I assume to be best practise and legally valid. However, I did manage to track down the actual legal position in terms of rights to privacy enshrined within European Law.

Article 9 of the EU Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive requires that location data may only be used with the consent of the subscriber. Moreover, it should remain possible for subscribers and users even if they have subscribed to a location based service, to temporarily block the tracing facility.

Fri, 23 Jul 2004 10:38:50 GMT

@ Mobile Location Spam...

There is a lot of excitement about the potential of location-based services. All kinds of applications are being dreamt up, but what they have in common is interrupting the user with a message when they enter into a zone of interest. The problem is how to set up rules sufficiently intelligent that the messages received are actually wanted, or useful. Clearly, careful opt-in schemes are one solution, but rather crude. This option denies the genuine possibility of receiving useful information without expressly signing up for it.

Opt-in is really a defence mechanism, not an information filter. In a "whole product" seamless information experience, one might argue that "the system" ought to know what I'm interested in and send me useful stuff without me asking for it. In other words, opt-in is clumsy.

Intelligent push of location-sensitive information requires an agent that understands our interests and habits. This requires a wider scope than just retailing. Someone interested in archaeology might be willing to receive information about important sites as they drive past. If this sounds mundane (“I don’t want that...”), the trick is to ponder on which convergence of information and spatial contexts would interest you. Experience of giving many courses in this area has taught me that everyone eventually comes up with not just one, but many such contexts that suit them.

Nonetheless, spam is still a real problem. In the email world, it is potentially a killer for wireless email without effective defences. Any wireless email solution has to include spam-defence as a must-have, in addition to a variety of other context sensitive filters, adjusting content by the moment, movement, and for “me” (as discussed in my book).

In Europe, the law is clear that mobile push advertisement services must be explicit opt-in. In the US, similar legal trends are emerging, following on the heels of the CAN-SPAM edict against email spamming. Brian McWilliams describes a lawsuit filed last month by Verizon against 50 unidentified “John Does” who are spamming mobiles.

Clearly, a strong legal deterrent is useful, but we need to tread carefully. How do we cater for intelligent location-based advertising? For example, would it be legally justifiable to say, “I knew that Joe Soap was interested in buying a new Mazda (from his web surfing 3rd party cookies - see previous post), which is why I sent the message”? Is it a variation on the “open gate” invitation to the front door in UK case law?

Sun, 11 Jul 2004 01:05:59 GMT

:: Is this the future ? ::

http://www.tapwave.com/zodiac.html

It's a mobile games device. It's got Bluetooth, which makes it interesting. It's also built on a Palm OS platform, which means any Palm app will run on it too. It would make an interesting platform for Visual Radio, although it lacks built-in cellular. Alternatively, what about a portable video player - http://www.iriveramerica.com/products/pmp-120.aspx.

I think these devices are not quite getting it right. Any portable device must be worth carrying. What compels someone to carry something around with them? In my opinion, it’s interruption that matters. The device must interrupt the user to grab his/her attention, preferably by receiving messages. What they say, and who sends them, is another matter – but messaging is a paradigm essential to portable devices.

Wed, 19 May 2004 23:25:08 GMT

:: Yet more keyboard layouts ::

I thought i'd found every alternative keypad layout going, like the FITALY mentioned on this site last year. Scanning IBM's research, I found that they too have a project ("Atomik") to come up with non-QWERTY keypads optimised for stylus input.

Mon, 12 Jan 2004 01:29:40 GMT

:: Text messaging for safety ::

I recently suffered the inconvenience of breaking down: the throttle cable on my people carrier had snapped. Calling Direct Line breakdown cover, arranged through Green Flag, was a very efficient process, aided by the effective use of text messaging. Within a few minutes of completing my call to the breakdown emergency number, I received a text message announcing which garage was going to recover my car and the estimated time of arrival, which turned out to be accurate.

I was quite delighted to experience a practical and extremely useful application of text messaging. Well done Green Flag!

Mon, 18 Aug 2003 22:46:59 GMT

:: Q12 - Another exciting keypad design ::

It seems my previous comment to open up a channel just to discuss keypads was justified. No sooner had I said it than these guys at Softava emailed me about this exciting new design called Q12 (right). It uses the same principle I have already reported here that Unitap and Fastap use, namely deliberately positioning keys (“hills”) close enough together that pressing what appears to be the gaps (“valleys”) between them causes several keys to be pressed at once. This combination is used to generate the desired character, so in effect each valley is like a virtual key. Fastap and Unitap both use enough keys to represent directly the letters and virtually the digits. However, the Q12 takes this to another level and uses cleverly shaped keys to represent the digits directly and the letters virtually via all the various valleys sculptured in the keys (see the schematics on their website). It sure seems clever and I would love to try it out for real.

Sun, 03 Aug 2003 13:23:19 GMT

:: Mobile browsing security threats ::

Mobile users should be careful about responding to messages (i.e. WAP push) that take them to wap sites. They may just be fake.

In my forthcoming book, I've just started writing about securing HTTP and WAP connections. When I started thinking about the vulnerabilities of authentication, it occurred to me that mobile sites are perhaps a lot less safe then their desktop counterparts.

One way to gain a password from a user is to spoof a server. Pretend to be a particular website and then ask your users to log in. Voila! If they bite, then you have their username and password. This has been done on numerous occasions with famous websites and is an ongoing threat. In fact, regular users of sites like Ebay should learn to become vigilant against these types of spook attacks. With mobile sites it appears to be even easier.

Firstly, on most mobile browsers, to save real estate, the URL display box is not displayed, or there simply isn't one. This means a user typically has NO idea what website they are actually on in terms of its web address - surfing on mobile sites is sometimes an eerie experience, like walking in the dark. If a user is directed to a spoof website, they would have little or no idea.

Secondly, due to sparse interfaces, it takes little effort to mimic a mobile website, perhaps just by copying a logo at the top of the screen.

WAP push will soon start to become more widespread. It has been slow to catch on, but with the increasing number of picture-messaging phones, the necessary inclusion of the WAP browser means that more and more mobile users can access mobile sites, whether they know it or not. However, they don't need to know it to respond to a WAP push message - the phone itself will take care of accessing the embedded URL in the message if the user chooses to respond.

The other weakness is with the WAP push mechanism itself. It uses text messaging as the transport mechanism. With text messaging it is easy to change the sender's address in the message. In fact, many text-messaging bureaus offer this service to their bulk-messaging customers. This has some interesting and legitimate uses, but can also be malignant. It is easy to spoof the sender in order to make the message look legitimate, thus adding to the bait used to lure an unsuspecting user onto a spoof site.

Mobile users should be educated in the dangers of responding to WAP push messages.

Thu, 31 Jul 2003 12:47:02 GMT

:: Intriguing keypad design from Ventris ::

Things are getting hot in the race for new keypad designs. I am thinking of introducing a category on my blog just to handle it. It seems that there is a lot of activity going on in this area. Quite rightly, as widely adopted keypad designs could make someone very rich! There is no need to stick to conventions, especially bearing in mind that the QWERTY keypad is actually an exercise in deliberately poor design, aimed at slowing the typist down, not speeding them up.

Personally, I just can't seem to stop thinking about text-entry ideas. I avoided writing "keypad ideas", as that may be too limiting to start with. If we doubt that new layouts can be adopted by mobile users, then we may be wrong.

Take the 3650 from Nokia, with its circular pad layout. Whilst I personally don't like it and bemoaned the fact that it broke all usability conventions (in the Java gaming context at least), I was intrigued by its complete disruption of the standard layout and what impact that might have on texting. I raised this with one of the testing managers at O2 who assured me that his teenage daughter had "mastered" it within two days and could text as fast as ever. That's not scientific, but still revealing (what would Nielsen make of it?).

After Fastap, Unitap and FITALY, I was impressed to receive a note from Ventris, who have come up with a new design called HandyScript. At first glance (right), it looks like a prop out of a Star Trek film, something the Klingons would use - BUT I'M NOT MOCKING. This idea takes a little while to sink in, but I have downloaded the trial version and figured out the concept very quickly just by visual inspection. Of course, what I really need is a mobile version so that I can try it out in a context that interests me.

An interesting feature of HandyScript is that it is language independent, able to support multiple languages with the same layout and symbols. This is very intriguing and I would like to examine this more. However, I confess that I have not had much time to formally assess it yet, but I will post a follow-up later.

Thu, 31 Jul 2003 12:03:10 GMT

:: Unitap utilise FITALY keypad layout ::

Those of you following my blog may have read my thoughts on keypads, especially since discovering the wonderful Fastap solution from DigitWireless. My last blog entry mentions Unitap, an almost identical solution from Dutch company RL Technologies who posted a comment highlighting their claimed advantages over Fastap.

I was intrigued to receive a note from these guys stating that they have implemented the FITALY keypad layout (right) from Textware solutions, an alternative to the QWERTY layout, one that works better for one-finger (thumb) typing by minimising finger travel over an average lexicon. This was an idea I openly suggested would make sense with this type of technology. Of course, I'm now dying to try one out, but well done you guys at Unitap for supporting the FITALY. The mobile industry needs progressive solutions like Unitap and Fastap! Whether conservative operators will bite is another matter.

Thu, 24 Jul 2003 22:38:23 GMT

:: Another neat keyboard trick ::

These guys (Dutch company RL Technologies B.V.) seem to have developed a similar solution to the DigitWireless Fastap(TM), which I have mentioned (raved about) on several occassions on this blog. The Unitap solution seems identical in concept to Fastap, but possibly has a different implementation technique. I like that Unitap have suggested two layouts, one based on the QWERTY pattern, the other based on conventional multi-tap layout "ABC" "DEF" etc. As previously ventured on this blog, I am still keen to see how well the FITALY layout would work with this technology. I am also keen to understand more about how word abbreviation could be used, as also mentioned in the FITALY posting. Otherwise, I am curious about who invented this first, as Unitap and Fastap seem identical in concept.

Wed, 18 Jun 2003 14:54:53 GMT

:: RIM patent losing steam ? ::

Stow Boyd's blog comments on a story in Business 2.0 about RIM's "single mailbox" patent possibly losing steam. Unfortunately, comments on Stow's blog (not his fault) are limited to 1000 characters, so I couldn't say what I wanted to say, which is:

It is not quite true to say that always-on email is commonplace now. I think that the uniqueness of RIM's solution was not widely understood. It is better to think of it as "constant sync" solution, and its uniqueness over most other solutions is that it interworks with the native email/PIM database, not with any email protocols. Many companies with standard wireless POP3 offerings touted their wares as comparable to RIM, that simply not being the case. The "Holy Grail" of corporate email solutions was to have a completely synchronised PIM operation without ever cradling, but even RIM did not solve that problem. (Having gone into it in some depth myself, it is a non-trivial problem and suggested to me a rethink about email protocols for the ubiquitous world we now live in.)

I have scrutinised the RIM "single mailbox" patent. It is nothing other than the Microsoft MAPI protocol described in a wireless context. I always felt it was scandalous to award such a patent, but patents don't work in intellectually obvious or fair ways, and that's part of the business landscape in the US with software patents; what I think about the patent is irrelevant.

My company developed a similar MAPI-based solution for Palm devices, but was not able to license it in the US due to the patent problem. In fact, we suffered a lot of commercial aggravation because of it.

Nonetheless, one has to be fair in criticism. The RIM solution is actually a good solution for business roadsters and I think most users end up addicted.

Having been in wireless solutions for a very long time, I contend that it is very difficult for any company to make a success in the wireless space with one idea, like RIM and many "wireless email" companies have attempted. Possibly, the days of a single idea business plan are dead anyhow. But the wireless landscape will be about huge numbers of applications amassing lots of micro-payment opportunities in myriad mobile marketplaces, most of which we probably have not envisaged yet. Bringing the Internet customised marketplace ability to the mobile world is probably what the future is all about, but I'm not sure that most operators have understood it yet, being telecoms folk and not computer folk.

Thu, 22 May 2003 12:55:34 GMT

:: Here's a nice article on camera phones and MMS ::

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0305/cameracorner.html

Sun, 18 May 2003 11:39:27 GMT

:: More on Wireless Shopping ::

My previous post on indoor wireless location received a comment from Ian Wood off of the Ecademy networking site that I recently joined (as a member of the WiFi Special Interest Group - SIG).

Ian brought to my attention a project in Germany called "Future Store", in particular the use of RFID technology. I checked it out....

I looked at Wincor-Nixdorf and other sites; it seems there are many players involved in the Future Store concept. I couldn't find anything in particular about wireless location technology being used, but Ian was right that RFID tags are involved (supported by IBM). Each product has an RFID tag attached to it. This facilitates finding product information by the customer and also allows product self-"scanning". It is a more convenient than using a laser scanning device.

In addition to RFID on the products, the price tags on the shelves, provided by NCR, are wirelessly connected via Spreadspectrum in the 2.4GHz band, though I presume not WiFi. The tags can be dynamically updated and can be used to display offers as well as general pricing information. The Future Store concept certainly seems an exciting one and to me it has so many possibilites and show that a highly connected future is not that far off.

Sat, 10 May 2003 16:29:54 GMT

:: Accessing Outlook via wireless (from O2)::

A subject of ongoing trial and error, wireless email is still taking its time to become useful. Having spent a lot of effort myself designing different systems for enterprise usage, this latest product from O2 is somewhat familiar in concept. It is based on the idea of leaving your desktop running so that a proxy system - in this case from Seven - can access your actual email account using Outlook as the programming interface so that the wireless interaction is with the actual Outlook data and not a copy of it. O2's licensed version is called xmail and it has been optimised for the XDA. However, it works with any browser (not that many have been tested though apparently) and is available to non-O2 customers (though there is a note that this may one day become O2-users only).

The service costs 9.99 (GBP) per month (excluding airtime), but there is a 10-day trial to see if you like it before paying. I downloaded the trial and it installed smoothly.

I accessed my Outlook information from Internet Explorer first of all and that seemed to work well. This in itself is a very handy feature - I now have webmail for my actual account (including all legacy data already sitting in my Outlook PIM database).

The big disappointment however was accessing the system via WAP from my T68i, which does not seem to be supported as I can't get past the log-in screen despite correctly entering my credentials. Having designed WAP email systems before, I have seen this problem many times and it is indicative of poor testing, but then this is a problem that plagues WAP designers - the shear number of devices to test against, which is a necessity even if the browser is licensed from a 3rd party and supposed to behave consistently across all phones (which they don't).

It did work via Eudora Web browser running on my Palm (with Bluetooth back to the T68i). The problem I am experiencing though is poor performance, seemingly because the SSL processing on the Palm is slow, at least in the Eudora implementation, so I am going to try another browser.

A nice feature is that a documents folder can be chosen to be accessible via the browser interface so that attachments can be added. This could be something like "My Documents" for example. However, as with all programs that interface with Outlook, folders and multiple accounts is always a problem, so neither are supported here. That means that I only get to see messages in my Inbox and is problematic for my VIP messages that are routed to folders. So what do I do? Should I turn off my folder routing in order to benefit from this product, or should I make do with the compromise? The only other alternative is to switch to a more sophisticated system like Blackberry, but I'm not interested in a proprietary device as I already have a Palm with Bluetooth cradle. If anything, I would move to something like a P800 if I was going to "trade up".

I shall see if it is worth spending the tenner a month to stick with this service. A 10-day trial is a bit limited and nothing like the standard 20-30 days used by most software vendors, but then operators are not that clued up on such things. Currently I check email from my T68i using IMAP, but I frequently leave Outlook running on my desktop anyway where it will suck down the mail every 5 minutes thus resulting in nothing being left on the server for me to view remotely. This is why I wanted to try out the xMail system. A similar product is available from Orange, who has also licensed the Seven solution. Products like this have already existed for sometime in the US market, such as from companies like Infowave.

Wed, 07 May 2003 21:11:02 GMT

:: From my mobile to the web ::

I started a photo blog (moblog) using Newbay's demo site.

Wed, 16 Apr 2003 10:27:00 GMT

:: Zingo Taxi - The reality of location services today ::

The BBC website has an article with their own review and reader feedback about the new Zingo taxi-hailing service now running in London. It suffers from various usability and reliability problems (I'm going to post an update on location technology soon). For this first time, I decided to "draw" my own cartoon...a picture is worth a thousand words (text messages?)

Tue, 18 Mar 2003 13:31:27 GMT

:: Graffiti and mobile phones - (and not the Palm hand-writing kind) ::

Sounds like a strange topic I confess, but I started looking into Graffiti culture for several reasons. Firstly I was just curious about this sub-culture and what the various spray-sprawls ("bombs") meant, and the strange signs ("tags"). Secondly, I was brain-storming ideas for mobile applications based on youth culture, trying to find ideas and inspiration, which I managed to do aplenty. Thirdly, I was approached to act as a consultant on an Internet project for hop-hop clothing - and graffiti has its roots in this culture.

What immediately intrigued me was the global reach of the graffiti culture, made all the more global by the sharing of "pieces" on the net (see links from my graffiti mind-map), with galleries from many cities showing the "bombing" activities of different "crews". It immediately became clear that picture-messaging and moblogging is bound to play a role in recording the illegal activities of many a "writer" or "tagger".

Combine this with location-aware devices and all kinds of crazy ideas begin to surface. Of course, it gives a whole new meaning to the term "air graffiti" or "virtual graffiti", referred to as geospatial notation at O'Reilly's Emerging Technologies conference. This is where a user can leave notes hanging in space to be picked up by other passers by who enter the proximity area of the note, whatever the size and shape of that area happens to be. Not quite the same thing, but there seems to be a cultural link that may result in some interesting youth applications arising from the intersection of these two ideas. No reason why pictures can't be left hanging is space as well as sound and text. It has always been my view - and something I preach in my courses - that new applications will arise from youth street culture once they figure out what's possible....let's wait and see.

Mon, 17 Mar 2003 09:11:16 GMT

:: Marvel at sending 3D messages ::

Send one of these to a friend using ShoutMessenger (only in US though)

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 20:17:48 GMT

:: Brains fried or teeth eroded - the choice is theirs ::

If the RF doesn't get them first, then the sugar will...

Chupa Chups is making its first foray into SMS with a viral campaign targeting UK teens, who will be offered the chance to become ‘squad leaders’ and invite friends to join their squad. The UK’s biggest squad will win a year’s supply of lollipops.

Source [Revolution Magazine]

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 16:12:57 GMT

:: 3D facial imaging for augmented communications ::

When I started my PhD it was to research 3D VR-type solutions for mobile applications. At the time there was not much prior art so my supervisor advised a topic change. I looked into fuzzy logic techniques for interference reduction instead.

I am very excited to have come across Eyematic who have a working solution for "talking heads" - albeit at a high price tag. This was more or less the product I wanted to make and what prompted me to start a PhD (which I did not finish as I left Motorola who were sponsoring the research).

Fri, 14 Mar 2003 10:19:39 GMT

:: SMS blogs etc. ::

Smartmobs welcomes Textually.org to the SMS bloggish neighborhood. Be sure to check out other blogs offered by Textually.org - Ringtonia and Picturephoning.

Source: [Smart Mobs]

Thu, 13 Mar 2003 09:48:21 GMT

:: Survey on video moblogging ::

Daily Wireless has a good survey of videoblogging sites, tools, and personalities.

Source: [Smart Mobs]

Thu, 13 Mar 2003 09:17:33 GMT

:: Wireless IM - Do it right now ::

If you're a Vodafone Live customer, then you can use Vodafone Messenger to chat with buddies. However, you will require their custom desktop client if you want to connect to the tethered world which is probably where most of your IM buddies hang out. However, the Vodafone offering is all set up out-of-the-box (with the appropriate phone) without requiring a PhD in wireless (except the strange twist that you have to register using the web and can't do it via WAP??).

Alternatively, you can download TipicME IM client (MIDP) and chat with anyone on the planet! Shame that the client is optimised for the P800 (as I don't have one).

Hooray for open standards and an open access world (note: remains to be seen if this service is allowable on mobile networks).

Wed, 12 Mar 2003 22:31:45 GMT

:: Getting connected using Bluetooth (BT) ::

The convenience of being connected using BT is better than expected. My Palm, mobile and PC are all talking to each other without wires. Using GPRS I can easily access the net to check my email from my Palm, although, unexpectedly, the email client on my T68i already turned out to be more useful than I anticipated and is a nifty way to check my email.

I can turn to my Palm if I need to manage longer messages, taking advantage of the bigger screen and the faster input. That being said, the implementation of T9 predictive text input on the T68i pleasantly surprised me with its intelligent and useable design. With its effective user interface (UI) and joy stick control I find I can write messages incredibly quickly. I have not yet looked to see if there is a predictive text input program for the Palm, but that would seem a useful offering for someone like me whose graffiti is lousy and never seems to improve.

I am using the Blue5 BT cradle from TDK (bought from Expansys). It is a nice piece of hardware, very light and slim enough that it does not add any burden to carrying the Palm in my shirt or jacket pocket. There is a fairly useful piece of bundled software for sending and receiving text messages (SMS). Frankly I don't have any problems with the texting UI on the T68i, but my thoughts are that the Palm interface will enable me to discretely send and receive text messages during meetings whilst my phone sits snugly in my shirt or jacket pocket. I have not yet had a chance to reap the expected benefits.

What I am looking for is a decent SMS program for my PC so that I can send and receive text messages via my phone. That will save me using my Redcoal networked application where I have to keep topping up my credit. I believe that such a program is bundled with the TDK USB Bluetooth dongle, though I am using Sitecom.

I managed to sychronise my Outlook PIM database with the T68i, mainly to ensure that I always have an up to date calendar in my pocket. I will always carry my phone, but usually leave my PDA behind during leisure hours (what are they?), and so I now have access to my schedule wherever I go.

Finally I succeeded in getting HotSync to work via BT so that my Palm doesn't have to be placed in the cradle except overnight for its charge cycle.

So far everything sounds nice and easy. But nothing is ever that easy, so what's the catch? The catch is that the process of getting the devices to talk to each other could not have been more obscure and inconvenient than it turned out to be. (Why was I not surprised?)

My GPRS account has three profiles - one each for WAP, MMS and Internet access. Of course the latter is what I need to check email as this profile uses an access point that allows Internet addresses to be accessed directly. Getting my Palm settings to access the correct profile was not documented. In the end I found a useful web page that gave me the clue I needed to get it all working.

I encountered similar problems getting my Palm to Hotsync on my PC via the Sitecom BT dongle (courtesy Barry King, Motorola digital design guru). The procedure was not properly documented in the main documentation and I found it lurking in some badly written document on the installation disk. But I have not been able to get my Palm to surf the net via the BT connection to my desktop.

I intend to fully document how I got my configuration working, especially as I imagine that there are a lot of Palm/Blue5 users wanting to connect to a GPRS phone and who will soon stumble across similar problems.

MMS on my phone doesn't work, but that's another story.......