Can’t touch this!

Well, I finally got me a Nokia N95 and it hasn’t disappointed. It does everything I could want and it has effectively replaced my iPod which I now view now as such a closed, dumb device (unless the next generation has built in wi-fi).

As a phone it’s predictably excellent but it really comes into it’s own when the wi-fi is activated. I download and play audio and video podcasts effortlessly. With the 2GB microSD card in place I have room for hundreds of tunes. I can upload photos and videos to the web using third-party app’ Shozu. The still/ video camera is superb. The 5 mega-pixel Carl Zeiss lens shoots wonderful stills and captures astounding 4 mega-pixel video.

I’ve installed Opera Mini to browse the web, the Gmail app for email and Jajah for Voip,  Fring for free Skype voice calls and messaging and Jaiku just for fun.

Really, some day all mobiles devices will be made this way.

Microsoft’s Silverlight will change the way we use the web. Good overveiws at TalkCrunch and ScobleShow. Look out Google!

Could the new Nokia N95 be the answer to my audio/ video podcast needs? It would appear so. Now, I’ve just got to get me one.

I’ve been hankering after a video iPod for many months now as a way of watching much of the video content I subscribe to in iTunes. The thinking goes like this: I don’t have time to watch things like Rocketboom, Ze Frank or The Scoble Show at work or at home so the ideal time would be during my train commute to and from work. It is during this period that I consume most, if not all, the audio podcasts I download.

Yesterday I did a little experiment. I transferred a few videos on to my Nokia N70 to see how I enjoyed the videos in anticipation of a video iPod. Funny thing was I didn’t enjoy them at all. And not because of the relative quality of the screen but because it just didn’t feel right. The screen captured all my attention and this felt uncomfortable. I can’t really explain why but audio is in many ways more powerful than video. The only places I can comfortably dedicate all my attention to a screen is in a cinema or at home in front of the TV. But not out in the world where there are so many distractions. It’s interesting how audio lets you comfortably split your attention between the sounds coming in and whatever else might be going on around you. When I’m out in the world I like to interact with it and not ignore it which mobile video, alas, has a tendency to make me do.

For some reason, I still want a video iPod though. Damn you Steve Jobs.

At a time when I’m looking closely at my own beliefs this struck me as both true but immensely sad.

apple, belief, faith, religion

I have my doubts about the potential success of Apple’s new iPhone which Steve Jobs launched to great fanfare this week.

I think the problem is that it has more in common with existing Apple Mac computers (it runs OSX) than the iPod. Paradoxically it does too much. The iPod does one thing. Brilliantly. I fear the iPhone will do three things adequately. Not good enough if you’re looking to ‘revolutionise’ a market.

Apple Mac computers have single digit market share whereas the iPod has something close to 70% market share. Given that the company has now changed it’s name from Apple Computers to Apple Inc. and alongside the iPhone Jobs announced AppleTV (a direct link between computers and the lounge), it’s pretty safe to say Apple is attempting to transform itself from a computer/ technology company into a mainstream consumer media company.

The success of the iPod is the bar Apple have set themselves as they move into the mainstream consumer market and, alas, the mobile/ telco market is a minefield. That said, Jobs took on the might of the record industry and has successfully transformed the way we buy and listen to music and I’m sure will subsequently do the same with television and movies with AppleTV. The big question is can he do the same with the mobile phone industry? I believe he can but not with today’s iPhone. The iPod is simplicity personified. The iPhone, though beautiful, elegant and seductive is simply too many devices-in-one. What we need is the iPod of the mobile market and the iPhone isn’t it.

iphone, apple, stevejobs

Why would anyone want to be the new Google of anything? Surely the idea is not to be the Google of anything.

google

It’s a distinct possibility that Nintendo’s Wii games console could finally be the device that gets me gaming at the ripe old age of 38.

nintendo, wii, gaming

I’ve read and heard three ideas recently that have made crystal clear how the future creation of consumer products should, and hopefully will, be.

The first was the suggestion made to the newly unemployed and not unwealthy Jason Calacanis, that he should team up with Engadget’s Peter Rojas to design the Wi-Fi enabled media player the market place is crying out for, but the vendors are failing to supply.

The second was Dave Winer’s idea that ultimately we the users will control what we want by telling our peers who have the skills to make the products and services we crave (see above really).

And the third was an extended ramble by Doc Searls around the idea of Vendor Relationship Management (VRM) whereby we the users are in control of the relationships we have with vendors instead of the vendors controlling and telling us what we want.

Ultimately it all boils down to a market ecosystem where we the customers supply ourselves with the help of other customers who have the skills to fulfill our needs.

UPDATE:  Interesting post from Dave Winer.

jasoncalacanis, davewiner, docsearls, vrm

I heard about Goosync on Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code and initially was very excited. It appeared that Goosync would syncronise your mobile phone calendar with your Google Calendar - just what Gcalsync does (except that Gcalsync doesn’t work on my Nokia N70 for some reason) so I was pleased to hear about an alternative.
However, unlike Gcalsync which connects directly with Google’s servers, Goosync takes your Google account login details and uses them to access Google’s servers on your behalf and passes all your data through their servers. Oh dear. Sorry guys, but if you want me to use Goosync it would need to talk directly to Google and not go through your servers. I wouldn’t recommend Goosync to anyone.
In the meantime can anyone tell my why none of the versions of Gcalsync work on my Nokia N70?

goosync, mobile, sync, googlecalendar, gcalsync, nokia, n70, nokian70

This is just a test post written in Google Docs.

Google have snagged wiki pioneer JotSpot to fold into their ever expanding ‘office’ portfolio. Google’s accelerating dominance of the web services space feels both exhilarating and ominous at the same time.

Technorati tags: google, jotspot, googleoffice

Apart from its seamless WordPress, del.icio.us and Flickr integration Flock just feels so, well, Mac-like. It's as if someone decided to create a browser for frustrated Windows Firefox users. I'm not frustrated any more. Who'd have thought a browser could make you happy.

Technorati tags: flock, mac, browser

If there was any incentive to move away from Firefox, Flock is it. Essentially Firefox by another name, Flock has a couple of nifty features right out of the box which I think are great.

Firstly blog integration with WordPress.com comes as standard and it’s Photos feature lets you upload and view Flickr or Photobucket pictures in the toolbar. It has a very usable RSS reader and built in integration with del.icio.us for sharing bookmarks/ favourites.

It has a very nice ‘chrome’ theme but no doubt more themes will become available. In fact the overall feel of Flock is one of elegance. It reminds me of my experiences with a Mac which were always good.

In spite of my previous post I'm trying out Carbonite as a possible JungleDisk killer. I'll let you know how it fares when I've got a better view of its performance. At $5 a month for unlimited storage and real-time automatic syncing, I think Jungle Disk might have a serious competitor.

Today my three year old son discovered how to use the mouse on our computer. It came so naturally and he was oblivious to my sense of the moment. The computer, mobile phones and no doubt video games (although I'm not a gamer) will be normal and unexceptional to him. I wonder what future inventions will occur during his lifetime that he will find as life-changing as personal computing and mobile communication were to me.

Having tried numerous online storage services including XDrive and Box.net I am in the process of testing JungleDisk - a user friendly front end to Amazon's S3 online storage web service.

So far, so fantastic. It's quick, easy and very, very cheap. I've been transferring files all day and not once has the service crashed, frozen or failed in any way. Very impressive considering the universally poor performance of most other offerings.

The price is astonishing. $3.40 per month for 20GB of storage and 2GB of transfers. It's the kind of deal that transforms a market sector, which S3 is sure to do. JungleDisk is a free interface to Amazon's web service and so you pay Amazon's 'wholesale' price.

Unless something goes terribly wrong in the coming days I can't see myself going anywhere else for online file storage.

As it emerges that Apple's Intel Strategy includes use-managing DRM, Cory Doctrow will surely not be the only loyal Mac user making the switch away from Apple if they decide to lock in user data.
Excellent overview from Boing Boing.
[Technorati tags: apple intel drm kernel trustedcomputing]