Disqus - Latest Comments for Mike42

Re: iPhone to come to 3UK (probably)

Mike42 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:20:17 -0000

Seen the Alan Carr skit - it's pretty good stuff (albeit rather out of date - but then many of us are ;-)

Anyway, enough defence of 3UK. iPhone on a real 3G network. Gimmegimmegimme!

Re: iPhone to come to 3UK (probably)

Mike42 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:21:08 -0000

"desirable top-end devices"

I'd say all the ones I listed fitted that bill.

Late to other carriers - early N95's had a massive return rate. I remember the discussions. It sometimes makes sense to wait a while (but not too long) so you don't launch a lemon. Those carriers who did bang out the N95 early to be like the others paid a high consumer price for geek/mobile media appeasal.

The 'low rent' angle must be wearing thin by now - how long is it since the early 3G handset days? (Handsets which, contrary to popular belief, were anything but low-rent. Think eye-wateringly expensive [to 3] more like).

Re: iPhone to come to 3UK (probably)

Mike42 — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:00:14 -0000

What - the N95 8GB isn't a smartphone? The E71 isn't a smartphone? The SEM W950i isn't a smartphone? Heck - the N73, waaaaay back in the good old X-Series days - that wasn't a smartphone?

These were all 'class-leading' in their time.

ppfffft....

Re: Spotify and Hero on 3UK

Mike42 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:03:41 -0000

I think the TRMP team should do an animation of that conversation a la OVI store ;-)

Re: Understanding The Power Of Social Media

Mike42 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:56:53 -0000

Wow - did your hand slip with the Bovril this evening there chap?

Think: would you say that to Jonathan's face? *really*?

Seems to me you cannot accept that an individual who witnesses an appalling act *just might* be motivated to report it as he knows best with nothing other than completely altruistic motives. And that's your problem to deal with, not Jonathan's.

Mike

Re: Understanding The Power Of Social Media

Mike42 — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:21:23 -0000

Seems to me there is another paradigm shift going on in public information and its effects.

20 years ago the mechanisms the public had were Big Media to find out about something, and Big Media / snailmail to respond - letters to editors, firms, talkback radio etc. The feedback took days or weeks. Emotions passed.

Along came the internet/email, and it became easier to find out about things, and to comment/lean on your elected reps or firms who were afraid of loosing your custom.

Twitter/FB has shifted things again, because they don't rely on a centralised discovery mechanism (Big Media) or a relatively limited distribution mechanism (i.e. everyone in your email address book. Picking who you want to alert to an injustice or cause by email would just take too long, and email being so personal/time consuming, you'd quickly mark yourself as a spammer to friends, family & colleagues.

With Twitter/FB, people have opted in to hear what you have to say, by its nature you can absorb info in a stream very easily/quickly, and it doesn't impinge on your work as you can just not look at Tweetdeck or whatever. Elected persons / firms can get real-time info back on how cross their electorate is or how damaged their brands are by association with a particular issue - Jan Moir's ad-free page for example. I'd bet that the Daily Mail advertisers have had stern words over that piece, and just might not want to risk being tarnished in future given the Mail's track record of late. That commercial pressure just *might* filter down to the editorial tone and article content.

As JMac puts so eloquently above, the genie's out of the bottle and media/firms/governments need to adjust to the reality of operating in a real-time SocNet world. Just as they had to for radio, telephony, TV, the internet, and email.

Progress, I think we call it.

Cheers

Mike (not a SocNet/Media expert by any stretch, so apologies for any bollocks above, just my take on it)

Re: London Underground chap threatens: ’sling him under a train’

Mike42 — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:21:56 -0000

This comes hot on the heels of the Trafigura scandal on Monday/Tuesday.

Basically, Twitter stopped a parliamentary injunction on Tuesday morning, and got the Mayor of our largest city personally involved in a Tube customer service altercation on Friday.

What next? Twitter sorts global warming?

The convergence of mobile devices, media portals (YouTube) and social networks is proving to be a massive hit with the public. Record what happened, secure it in the public domain, get the word out about it.

Up till now, it's been used for good causes. I could however see it being used for ill. Imagine the BNP faking a video of some 'Asian' yobs beating a 'British' grannie ("on with the bootpolish, lads"). On to YouTube, Tweet it, bingo. Possibly temporary sh*tstorm (how would you prove it was fake?), but with real implications in the form of revenge attacks by the outraged.

All I'm saying is, the Twitterati have scored two spectacular goals this week. How do we ensure this amazing new tool for social justice doesn't get twisted by those with an evil agenda?

JMac has kudos, many of us know the guy personally, we take his word. But what's to stop some powerful PR firm hiring a crowd and kicking off some meme that ends up influencing, say, an election? or policy decision? How do we know who to trust? Do we trust that if a firm were to do evil, they would get busted?

Or do we accept that overall, it's a thing for good? That sometimes it will get abused?

Re: Palm Pre launch party [There ain't no party like an O2 party... Hey... Ho... etc]

Mike42 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:31:32 -0000

Everybody in da house say MEH !

MEH!

Say M-E-H!

M-E-H!

<repeat>

Re: 20 megapixel cameraphones heading this way

Mike42 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:42:54 -0000

A 20MP sensor the size required for a mobile will take really, really crap photos. The pixels will be so close together that picture noise will be appalling.

But people will fall for marketing and believe they look better.

Pah.

Re: iPhone app: Gmail Alerts

Mike42 — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:17:01 -0000

"...but bare with me"

is anyone else slightly concerned?

Re: Niall Murphy of The Cloud: Viewers’ Questions [Part 2 of 2]

Mike42 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:03:03 -0000

Julian, your experience has been echoed a hundredfold around the world. Muni WiFi was/is the original Emperor's New Clothes. People who didn't understand it were sold promises by people who had vested interests in shifting kit / getting their hands on public funding. Often (as you point out) they ended up being rescued 100% by the taxpayer, and propped up so politicians could save face.

In The Cloud's case, it has been a data-infrastructure-poor MNO with a stonking WiFi-hungry device who has come to the rescue.

We have the same thing in my village with an 'e-office' that cost £30k to set up, and no-one ever uses.

/m

Re: The iPhone-powered heads-up-display Google Map for cyclists

Mike42 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:25:03 -0000

Firstly, get off the pavement. Nong.

I don't see why the iPhone needed to be on top at all. Why not in a jacket pocket or bag? The GPS isn't that bad that it needs to be on top.

That said, if this was for sale as a plug-in accessory with an extension cable, I'd have one. Maybe. Well, probably not. Distance perception is kinda important when cycling, and you could mount the iPhone on the handlebars easily enough and glance down at it.

I think I might take a 1080p 5,000 lumen projector, and throw the route onto the road in front of me. Might need a bit of kit to power it, but nothing a cycle trailer couldn't handle.

Re: A Land Rover Coupe? The LRX is en route

Mike42 — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:54:51 -0000

It's not 7 seats + dog + bikes material, really, so out of scope for this dad...

Re: Niall Murphy of The Cloud: Viewers’ Questions [Part 2 of 2]

Mike42 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:09:25 -0000

Interesting - "Most" users don't pay directly. That coupled with the 70/30 Bus/consumer > turnaround fact = iPhone. There's just nothing else that fits the 'users pay indirectly via subscription' and 'most users are consumers' line. As the amazing success of mobile broadband dongles has eaten into The Cloud's target market of mobile laptop warriors, they had to look elsewhere. Luckily, there was an MNO with a WiFi device tailored to eat bandwidth, being sold by an MNO with a 3G network akin to a 7-year old's Meccano set.

I really don't know. The stuff people really need access to in a timely mobile context - email / social updates - can be delivered in spades by 2G/3G. The short-range data heavy lifting The Cloud enables just isn't compelling as a future business case, if it has to be on a subscription basis to work (Free WiFi = beneficial customers being a myth that retailers are realising now. The Star*ucks Laptop Squatter being the classic example. One coffee sold, the seat+table taken for an hour)

WiFi as an MNO underlay, offering iPhone-esque invisible transition? Each MNO running their own? clubbing together? Whatever the model, it's gotta be more likely for long-term success than a subscription one.

Re: A Land Rover Coupe? The LRX is en route

Mike42 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:39:43 -0000

Get yerself a Volvo XC90. Go on, you know you want to...

Re: Parking: £2 for 2 hours at Sainsbury’s. Then it’s £50!

Mike42 — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:32:36 -0000

If you receive a ticket in a private car park, such as a supermarket car park, or private multi-story car park, remember that it is not criminal law, but contract law that applies. The driver enters into a contract with the landowner when they driver into the car park.

It is only the driver that can be subject to a ticket from a private company. If they do not know who the driver was, they cannot claim a penalty. They have no legal right to demand that you identify the driver.

Under contract law they can only claim for any loss they have suffered because of your offence. They may try to claim a penalty of, say, £100, but in law they may only be entitled to any revenue they had lost. So, if you pay £2 to park for one hour, but stay for three hours, they can only claim for two hours of lost revenue, which is £4.

I don't think one of these has ever stood up in court, but because of the tactics they employ (big official-looking yellow tickets, wording almost identical to a proper council ('Parking charge Notice' = PCN, same as Penalty Charge Notice), bullying debit collectors etc) most people pay up.

Fight the bastards!

Re: Niall Murphy of The Cloud: 3G, Capacity Crunch & Digital Britain [Part 1 of 2]

Mike42 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:31:01 -0000

You can skin this cat a number of ways. The one most easily understood by punters will win.

Re: Poll: What’s the best network for the iPhone?

Mike42 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:01:19 -0000

I paid them an awful lot of cash a while back, and had to go to the CEO when they wanted me to pay out a contract. anyway...

...the poll results reflect uninformed opinion, not empirical data performance.

Re: Poll: What’s the best network for the iPhone?

Mike42 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:06:08 -0000

All this proves is that people don't choose networks based on reality. It's all about brand perception.

Vodafone? They do business, right? Must have the best data network then. With the most modern kit, the flattest IP architecture, and the smartest engineers to tune it all up.

Pah.

Re: Niall Murphy of The Cloud: 3G, Capacity Crunch & Digital Britain [Part 1 of 2]

Mike42 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:21:44 -0000

Billing types have been talking about this for years - there are historical precedents in 'homezone' implementations where you were billed less or free within a certain geographic area. They never took off in Europe. Matching Time-Of-Day with Cell ID in the back end isn't rocket science. Pushing it back to the device and displaying it in a user-friendly manner however, that's another boiled kettle of fish to watch.

The data equivalent of classmarking could be applied to provide 'premium' customers with a better experience under congestion scenarios, but that's a pretty blunt instrument.

Expect things to go pear-shaped end of this year, then a period (to be known as the 'dark ages') before widespread LTE network and device availability / billing system enlightenment kicks in around 2013.

Re: Niall Murphy of The Cloud: 3G, Capacity Crunch & Digital Britain [Part 1 of 2]

Mike42 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:30:49 -0000

Basically, expectations of mobile data are waaaay too optimistic.

To reiterate: the total mobile broadband capacity of all 5 networks in the UK is roughly the equivalent of that delivering fixed broadband to Slough.

The crunch has already arrived, if you ask i3GS users in London, at peak times. Next 2 years? expect to see time-of-day / location-based tariff loading. You get a bucket of credits, and it costs you more credits to download that 5MB podcast in the CBD at lunchtime than it does to do it at the park on a Sunday.

/m

Re: All change in the UK: Orange announces iPhone 3G/3GS agreement

Mike42 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 02:17:11 -0000

Please don't feed the Trolls.

Re: All change in the UK: Orange announces iPhone 3G/3GS agreement

Mike42 — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:34:28 -0000

Funnily enough, at the last school governors meeting I attended a significant portion of the 35+ yr-old mums present had iPhones. They are not blokes, or geeks, or techno-weenies, or particularly wealthy or flashy. They just like the stuff it can do, better than the competition by a mile. It is good for kids games, podcasts on long car trips (love storynory.com), maps in strange towns, piccys at parties, checking emails, yadda yadda.

Good for consumers, not so good for networks. But as-yet undiscovered tribes deep in the heart of the Amazon jungle (and Ben) knew I was going to say that.

Re: Giffgaff is the UK’s newest MVNO

Mike42 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:11:38 -0000

Just as well they are an online-only outfit...being based in Slough...maybe with a satellite office in the West End for when people actually want to meet them?

<ring ring>

GiffGaff: Hello?

Potential partner: We are really excited about what you are doing, and want to meet up to discuss stratgey and synergies

GiffGaff: OK, how about you bowl on out to our global HQ in Slough - you know, where The Office was set!

Potential partner: er....um....what was that? Sorry gotta take a call. Bye! <click>

Re: Mobile Geeks of… Marks & Sparks?

Mike42 — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 07:13:22 -0000

weeeel...no religion here Ben ;-)

...but why try to teach people something else, instead of slapping 2 characters (m.) in front of your own URL? Helps re-enforce that too.

I think the world has spoken anyway: .mobi = margin-of error uptake. Move on, nothing to see here....