atmaspheric | endeavors

I’m finding the iTunes Genius feature to be pretty disappointing … The sidebar function is simply a re-branded mini-store from previous versions offering a mix of things I own and offers the usual :30 sec sample limitation. The Genius playlist function could be a whole lot more interesting than it is, but only shows me music I have in my collection … why? This seems like a massively missed opportunity enable rich discovery yet only looks to your collection to create a genre-based playlist. I can already do that, though perhaps instead of taking one click on an active track might take a few more clicks and random shuffle.

If I were Zune or Nokia, I’d be all over this as discovery and the subsequent purchases could really differentiate. Zune has announced their plans to offer Channels which are genre “stations” that sync to your portable player just like the Zune cards of your friends. These are features that can really start to show the power of the subscription model. Add to this the ability to sync over the air and you’ve got a very dynamic portable experience. It’s unclear what Nokia’s intentions are around discovery, but Comes With Music should reveal itself shortly and offer a large catalog of opportunity to subscribers. The current music store offers over the air purchase and download and the CWM package will do the same. Too bad there’s been no announcement (or discussion) around the US market yet.

It’s impossible to know whether Apple’s move here is an intentional decision or something that’s really just a limit of per track DRM. Subscription music (rental or own) is infinitely more flexible and lets you easily experiment with new music while per track, only lets you sample in small bites paying as you go.

Technorati Tags: music, discovery, zune, nokia, comes with music, ipod, itunes, drm, subscription

CNET reports on the release of Yahoo OneConnect in preview form for the iPhone today. OneConnect is a social networking aggregator allowing you to maintain contact across networks from a single mobile application.

I’d seen this running in a much earlier state back in February on an N95 and I thought it looked very impressive. More recently I questioned whether things were still on track and it looks like they are definitely still rolling forward.

Technorati Tags: yahoo, oneconnect, ctia, social networking

Nokia has just announced that the free Mail For Exchange (MFE) client is now available across the full range of S60 3rd Edition devices.  This brings enterprise sync to over 80 Million active handsets across 43 different models considerably enhancing the potential scale for enterprise communications.  Mail for Exchange runs over Microsoft’s Active Sync protocol and does not require any IT involvement or installation on the back-end.  If you can access your company’s Exchange server over webmail you’ll be ready to go in a few simple steps.

Setup has been simplified by way of a wizard-like process that asks for a few key bits (username, password , server and domain if required) and then you are good to go.  The last time I configured MFE I had to adjust settings for sync on each of the data areas which while not difficult just takes more time to actually get going.

Mail For Exchange has received a number of updates since I first used it a few years ago and in the current edition, it is quite powerful.  You’ll find that it easily syncs your email, contacts, calendar letting you respond to meeting requests, setting flags for follow-up and and changing your out of the office settings.

You’ll be able to find Mail for Exchange pre-installed onall devices moving forward or if you have a compatible handset, you can download either within your Downloads application or from the Nokia Software for Business site directly.

We are well into the second and final day of DEMO and my brain is swelling with information. There’s a great deal of excitement across a broad range of technologies whether hardware, software or service. Since the format of the event groups like companies into the same cluster you get a very interesting comparison perspective as things go. In six minutes, you have to capture the audience’s attention, explain your company and product and of course provide a demo of how it actually works.

For the most part presentations are very well done. Clearly a lot of attention is paid to the presentation process and I’ve been continually impressed with the amount of information people can effectively share in such a short amount of time. I’m still in absorbing what’s here and will do some follow-up posts on companies I found of particular interest.

Technorati Tags: demofall, presentation, marketing

The most interesting thing about today’s Apple announcements are that the iPod can do “voice” with the new headphones. Pricing is particularly interesting at the 16GB range where the iPhone and iPod Touch are identically positioned at $299. The focus seems to be on voice memos for the iPod, but it’s going to take all of 5 minutes for someone like Truphone to get VOIP working given that it already runs on the iPod. The convenience of making a voice call is somewhat reduced without a built-in microphone, but the platform is certainly ready.

Technorati Tags: apple, iphone, ipod, voip, truphone

The morning has been great so far with quite a few companies strutting their stuff on stage. Every company has done a great job so and there’s a great deal of interesting material here, but the clear winner for most exciting technology is the Plastic Logic eReader. As you can see in this shot it’s seriously thin!!

The product itself is not scheduled to arrive until Q2 2009 unfortunately, but that gives me some time to enjoy my Kindle which also uses the same e-ink tech. Plastic Logics’s real advantage though is that they are using plastic instead of glass so things are thinner and lighter. When the product arrives it will potentially (they would not confirm) both wired and wireless networking options in addition to a USB connection for transferring content over. The focus is on business documents over consumer things like books and the size is similar to a pad of paper. The key detail missing in the puzzle is where the real (not your own docs) will come from. They are showing magazines and newspapers (which look great on the big display) but in today’s market there’s no way to actually get those publications. I hope that the open standard (not sure what that is just yet) is adopted so we can be sure to have plenty to read.

Technorati Tags: DEMOfall, digital plastic, ereader, e-ink

I’m at DEMOfall in San Diego and we’re T-minus 10 minutes to start. As you can see I’ve ben lucky enough to get a nice close seat. The show should be great and I’ll be reporting as much as I can through the next two days. Stay tuned!

Technorati Tags: demofall, events, san diego, 2008

I was actually getting a much better connection in my room, though it was still less than 1MB down. Much better of course being quite relative.

Because we can is not a sufficient reason to charge for broadband. You need to provide something of substance and 1MB (if that!) is not acceptable when you are being asked to pay $15/day.

When I was confirming my seat earlier in the week with Continental I saw there was an option to get a mobile boarding pass and I decided it would be pretty cool to go paperless and signed up to receive my boarding pass on the phone. The way it works is that you get an email with a special link to your boarding pass which then must be displayed on your phone or PDA. I’d seen mobile check-in opportunities with American and Luftansa recently but nothing quite like this:

What you are looking at is a poorly merged set of screenshots from the E71. I wiped out my frequent flier number and the trip confirmation code, but otherwise this is what you get. The QR code was scanned by the TSA at security with a handheld device and I made sure to mention to the next TSA team that my boarding pass was my phone since that had to pass through the larger scanners … No problem and I walked right through. At the gate, I think I was the first passenger to present a mobile boarding pass to the particular gate staffer as he had no idea where to put the phone to scan it in the table-top scanner. His colleague showed him you just place it on the base and a moment later I was checked-in and on the jetway.

I hope more airlines start offering this service because one less thing to deal with is a benefit when you are traveling. I always have my phone and it was very easy to simply show the screen instead of fumbling with a piece of paper.

One tip for Nokia users … I’ve had bad coverage in airports previously and was not going to take any chances with boarding and security process so I used the ever helpful but easy to miss “Save this Page” feature of the S60 browser. Once saved, I simply navigated to my bookmarks, went into the saved pages folder and chose my boarding pass.

Recently I’ve been traveling quite a bit and really thinkng about the Kindle.  I like that I can get magazines as well as books as I go which would make always having something to read a non-issue.  From the rumors I’ve been reading there does not appear to be a new device coming this year … aside from the EVDO-only access point (will not work outside the US) I can’t think of any true negatives.  Sure the form factor is a tad wonky and the screen is not backlit, but it basically works like a book and comes in a reasonably small form factor making carrying it in my briefcase a pretty simple addition.

I have a trip to San Diego for DEMOfall leaving this weekend, and while the Kindle won’t be able to make it for tomorrow or Saturday, I could have it shipped to my hotel for the return trip …

Sometimes things happen online that are simply too close to who you are not to believe that your data is being collected, collated and used for marketing (or observation) purposes.  

For my recent  trip to Dubai, I spent quite a bit of time researching things via google and even spent some time on the local google site for Saudi Arabia (possible client there).  My ticket was purchased only a few days prior to my departure and when I arrived at the airport I was pre-flagged for security with the triple-S.  The guy at the Emirates check-in counter said it was a DHS thing which means either they simply chose me randomly (and not either of my other colleagues) or they are checking with the big G.

About 10 minutes ago, I clicked a webclip link from within GMail through to the IHT and see an ad for Emirates Air and the Airbus A380 - the very plane and airline I flew home.  What an interesting coincidence…  I’m not feeling too paranoid or anything, but that’s seems more than just random selection to me.

I was very excited for the Chrome release today.  Spending as much time in the browser as we all do now the experience and performance are critical parts of the online experience.  While it’s a very early release, I definitely like what I see so far and look forward to tracking the progress forward as things evolve.  

I’m finding that the speed is decent.  Not hyper fast like they were promoting but then I am not running some javascript test page, I’m using a bunch of tabs and windows like I always do.  What Chrome does though which is generally get out of your way and let you experience the page or application a site is offering.  It’s very simple to create single window views like Fluid does on the Mac.  I’ve got that configured for gmail, google reader, wordpress and my office webmail … so far so good.  

Right now Chrome only works on a PC unless you compile it yourself.  My work machine, a Lenovo X61 is not having any issues with Chrome and I actually find it to be a very pleasant browser.  There are some subtle things about the UI that i really like and of course a few I would like to see changed.  

On the positive side, the window is about as full as it can be all the time which is awesome on my small screen and even better when connected to a larger monitor.  There’s no status bar on the bottom of the window, but when you hover over something that can be clicked on, you can see where it will go just like you know you can.  There are some slick overlays for downloads and completed downloads stick to the bottom of the window to remind you they are ready to be acted upon.  When things crash or go bad, only that tab seems to be effected and Chrome is able to save the state of things quite gracefully.  In my limited testing this afternoon, I’d say it does a much better job that Firefox 3 currently.  Not bad for a .2 release.

As you might expect with an early release, there are some bad things.  The one that’s making me nutty is that there is no way to email a page / link without using a bookmarklet.  I’ve got one for Gmail, but it makes sending a page or link to work collegues in Outlook take a few steps more than I’d like becuase I have to copy and paste twice to get both the link and title or content from the tab.  I’ve also noticed that there’s no way to get certain links working on Facebook which is a huge miss.  I was unable to “become a fan” or comment on someone’s status today and both links looked like they would work, but failed to do anything.  Back to Firefox … 

In general though Chrome is very smooth, very stable and really well done.  I’m looking forward to the fixes further optimizations and hopefully some plugins.  Of course I’d also like to install this on my Mac!

While they’ve only teased at this point, I would expect Chrome to be the browser in Android when it launches later this year.  We’ve already seen the power of webkit in mobile devices - first in the S60 browser and then of course with the iPhone.  Webkit has become the engine to beat (sorry Opera) in higher end mobile browsing.  My guess is that it will sync via some Google service and I hope that multiple computers will also sync eventually as well…. Google killed the Firefox sync extension recently and it seems quite clear now that those bits are being focused on their own developments.  It’s great that Chrome is open source and I hope Nokia is watching closely to see how they can improve their own S60 webkit browser as it’s clearly stagnated a bit since Apple came along with Mobile Safari.

I’ve actively updated my status on Facebook for a long time, but really only casually participated even though I’ve added applications, pages and have several hundred friends. I’ve looked at Facebook more like AOL 2.0 than a place I really look to spend time, but recently a few things have happened that have gotten me to pay much more attention.

Many of the people I interact with are people I have known in person for a long time either from high school or college and more recently, work. In other social spaces, my friends tend to be virtual first though I’ve met quite a few people in person as well. The number of recent connections from old friends has greatly enhanced my desire to participate on Facebook. I know that’s the point, but I’ve had an account for so long yet really not had much discussion with long time friends until the past 6 months or so.

What really got my attention though was when I posted some pictures this week from my recent business trip to Dubai. As a long time Flickr user I have resisted Facebook photos. The people tagging is very cool, but there are many more features in Flickr and the focus in much more pure.

The recent pictures I posted received more comments on Facebook than I’ve ever gotten on Flickr and the fact that the people talking to me are mainly (some virtual buddies too) people I know adds more value to the conversation. Not to take anything away from my virtual friends of course, but sharing the experience with people I’ve known for a long time really does create a richer personal experience.

Technorati Tags: Facebook, socialnetworking, social, photos, flickr

There seem to be two Operators here in Dubai (DU and Etisalat) and while both offer voice service only Etisalat seems to have data. It took me a while to figure this out actually and for most of Monday I was convinced that my phone was dropping into some sort of limbo state when the carrier switched to DU.

I am using a T-Mobile Blackberry SIM in my E71 and N82 while here and I found that regardless of which phone I was using the data service would simply die on DU. I though the issue was Blackberry related and so I switched over to the BB, saw it work and then would switch back. It was not until Tuesday morning though when the BB actually switched over to DU and then I realized what was happening … Once I manually selected the network I wanted data returned and messaging has been very reliable since.

In a related note, I was hoping to get access to the Etisalat HSDPA hispeed network but it seems they have vastly overpromised what is really here. While the site claims they offer 7.2 Mbps, I have been seeing between 100 and 500Kbps which is less than I get at home on the ATT system. Disappointing for sure, but the coverage is quite consistent at least and it works everywhere but on the elevator in our hotel. I switched the N82 over to UMTS only (yes I know it’s not HSDPA) but just think the speed is over-promised. In the N78 (with hispeed activated) which I also have here I am seeing similar network performace. I supposed it is possible that the ever sucky and limited TZones data service is forcing me to second class over the more expensive internet service, but that’s all I get on this TMO SIM.

Technorati Tags: Nokia, Dubai, Etisalat, UMTS, HSDPA, Travel, mobile

I am currently sitting in the Lufthansa lounge in Frankfurt on my way to Dubai for business … Had a wonderfully smooth flight to Frankfurt last night - thanks to the Lufthansa 747 and Ambien!

While this is my first time in Germany, I unfortunately won’t get to see much more than the airport. I’ll be in Dubai on business for a few days and looking forward to my first experience in the Middle East!

Curiously I was pre-selected for security (SSS) on the way out of JFK last night. I’m wondering just how random that might have been given my last minute ticket purchase combined with my recent search history in Google. I even used Google Saudi Arabia recently … I’m not saying they’re watching me or anything, but the guy at the Lufthansa gate mentioned my name popped up in homeland security …

My cell is dead for the moment. I’m waiting for my company to tell TMO to activate international. Have to see what kind of connection I get at the hotel once in Dubai for VOIP calls home. I’m sure that will be fine, but it’s a tad disconcerting to be in a place without phone service - at least Boingo is here keeping me connected along the way.

Technorati Tags: ландшафтFrankfurt, Dubai, travel, boingo, t-mobile, voip, lufthansa

Andy Abramson figured out an awesome work around for the alleged VOIP lockout on the American Airlines Wifi service which launched this week. The best part is that it’s pretty damn simple and can be done by anyone once you are connected. Using a new service called Phweet he connected to a Joanna Stern from Laptop Magazine who was in the air using AA’s Gogo Wifi.

Phweet using flash in the browser to connect two twitter users who’d like to have an actual conversation. Instead of exposing a phone number, it enables a VOIP call by connecting tweet’s to the Phweet web service. I actually received a phweet last night on my commute home, but had connectivity issues (thanks for the missing tower in west chester, ATT) so I was unable to try it directly. Signing up for Phweet is simple - just use your existing Twitter credentials.

This is great news for anyone looking to actually use a network connection the way it should be used - open and unrestricted. I really don’t want to hear everyone making phone calls in the air, but at the same time no institution should be restricting how the net is used. I would imagine as a result of this, we are going to see some new VOIP implementations based on flash …

Technorati Tags: voip, american airlines, phweet, twitter, gogo

I’ve looked for a few options to capture and share all of my online activities on the site and finally landed on David Cramer’s LifeStream WordPress Plugin.

Setting it up took about 5 minutes - excellent!

Technorati Tags: lifestream, wordpress

I’m not sure when this kicked in, but you can now adjust a few key pieces in Google Reader Mobile. I use the iPhone edition which works great on the S60 and Nokia Tablet browsers and have been reading through all my feeds, rather than starting in one of my folders (as seen above). With a few clicks, you can now set which folder to start browsing and adjust whether links open in new windows (yes please) and whether the Google Mobile Proxy handles things to manage the page load. I’m still experimenting with the mobile proxy … I go back and forth preferring the full sites most times, but find that for quickly following up on something it’s hard to beat the smaller page.

Technorati Tags: google reader, mobile, feeds, google

I’m sure this is not news to anyone who’s a long time mobile worker, but man does Windows make mobile connectivity a complete pain in the ass! When I try to use either DUN or Joikuspot (wifi) to connect with my phones I am forced to reconnect or repair the connected repeatedly during the course of an attempted session. Why does windows even have repair as an option?!

On my Mac it literally just works. If there’s a connection glitch because of low signal from the mobile, I can just simply reconnect. There’s no need to repair because there’s nothing actually wrong with the connection.

With the Nokia Tablet it also just works. I can use either wifi or DUN to get online and as I’ve blogged many times before I do this daily in both directions on my commute. Today I decided to use my work laptop, something I do much less frequently and am just amazed at how poorly Windows plays here.

I’ve had issues on various hotel and client site wireless networks as well so I know it’s not just the mobile connectivity thing I’m trying now … At least with joikuspot I can reconnect, when I’ve used DUN, the connection seems to get stuck when it needs to reconnect. Nothing like spending more time trying to connect than actually being online.

Technorati Tags: windows, networking, mobile, nokia, joikuspot, DUN

As noted earlier this week, Ralph Lauren has started to launch a mobile marketing campaign and site.

Unfortunately my experience with the site is still not good. In theory, RL wants to push a mobile lifestyle site with content and shopping. In experience, this you get:

.

I have a similar screenshot for the Quicktime file as well. Neither will also play on the iPhone (I only expected the Quicktime to work but tested both). As you can see the site is also poorly optimized for various screens:

The best looking of the bunch is the Intro / About page:

The main navigation could be much better if the images expanded based on browser detection:

There are also way too many clicks to do most things with reliance on the back button or a click on the home link which forces you to re-load the main page rather than presenting a simplified navigation in the footer to let someone just get to another section of the site with minimal fuss. To begin shopping I had to select RL Classics, then the RL Classics Shop, then choose a selection of options from either Men or Women (which could have easily been a level higher). Once I choose Polos I was presented with this:

I thought the iPhone would be an easy fit for RL Mobile as they are both essentially luxury goods, but the sheer lack of attention to details like auto-fitting the page makes browsing and shopping quite tedious. I honestly just expected the iPhone to work well given all the attention and likely overlap with the RL target audience …

I did like that (as you would also expect) you can choose colors appropriately for shirts and then was pleasantly surprised to see the photo change and the model wearing the color shirt I’d just selected. The close-up pictures of the color swatches make it easy to see what you’re getting as well. Why do I have to keep zooming each page t hough to make this work! every click and subsequent page load requires this adjustment!!

The only section of the site which is optimized is the shopping cart, though that is handled by Usablenet directly. I’m not sure why the rest of site can’t be as optimized in the same way as these pages and unfortunately I can’t see too many people making it this far.

I can’t imagine too many people wanting to spend time here with the experience I’ve just had. Sorry, but that’s my honest opinion. It’s not fun or informative. The multimedia features are seem like they are broken, yet work fine on the desktop side and there are far too many page loads with too little payoff.

Unfortunately with mobile, you need strong content and design to maintain someone’s attention in such a small space.I’d like to see this succeed actually as mobile should really be a strong consideration for a brand. The RL Mobile experience seems like it has good intentions but a very poor execution.

Technorati Tags: Ralph Lauren, Mobile, QR, barcode, marketing