I remain convinced that Windows Phone 7 (WP7) will be a hit. There are so many delightful touches in the operating system that I won’t be surprised if it is ripped off before it is fully launched.

I was given an excellent overview of the software and proposed functionality.  I also played with a demo handset.  Even at this early stage the software is smooth and feature rich.

There are two sides to WP7 which I want to discuss here.  The split personality of the device could really shake up the mobile market place.

What Do You Want To Be Today?

Is this a business phone or is this a gamers’ phone?

The iPhone has always been a consumer device – support for corporate mail, networks and security policies has been added belatedly or not at all.

RIM’s BlackBerry is the opposite.  A hard core business phone which is now trying to woo younger consumers with non-corporate offerings.

WP7 is the first device that I’ve seen which has been designed from the ground up for both work and play.  It has an (unfair?) advantage working with Microsoft’s range of Enterprise software – OneNote, SharePoint, Outlook – as well as having the necessary range of security policies for a corporate environment.  On the play side, it has total integration with Xbox and a wicked set of 3D graphics.

I do wonder if there is sufficient overlap between the gamer and salaryman demographics.  Are corporates going to be able to justify giving their workers a powerful 3D games console (with built in phone)?  Will gamers resent having to buy a phone with a load of enterprise rubbish on it that they just don’t need?

Q&A

I received a bunch of questions on Twitter about the phone – so here is what I managed to glean…

• Q: We know 3rd party apps won’t be able to multi-task yet. But seems there’s some state saving going on, how well supported is it? (Fabian Sasson)
• A: There is some support for multi-tasking.  You can send push notification from your web-server to the phone (via Microsoft).  During an incoming call / email / etc, apps are “tombstoned” – they are essentially suspended and then “rehydrated” when the user clicks back to them.  If an app is terminated – it is able to save its state so when the user switches back to it, they can resume from where they left off.

• Q: Extra information on Xbox Live integration would be awesome. Does it need a subscription, for separate platforms do you buy twice? (William Morland)
• A: It will work with a free “Silver” subscription – you don’t need Gold membership.  While some games will be free, you will have to buy other content.

• Q: how many gamer points per Windows Phone7 title! Actually anything related to Xbox Live integration (Kevin Prince)
• A: You can’t use gamer points to buy content.  It’s credit card or Operator Billing.

• Q: just confirm that the copy/paste rumour is actually a joke :) (Matt Rawlinson)
• A: No. No joke.  The idea is that quality user experience comes first.  Is there a way to get rid of copy-and-paste for the most common uses?  For example, the OS should recognise a phone number in an email message and let you click on it to call, add to address book, text, send to a friend etc.  Where possible, that should be done automagically without the user having to manually intervene.  A fine stance, to be sure, but I would expect to see c&p in the next firmware revision.

• Q: Microsoft told us they have no devices for European markets. that wrong? (James Governer)
• A: Wrong. WP7 will launch worldwide.  US, EU, Russia, Australia, New Zeeland and a whole bunch of other territories.  Not all devices will launch in all markets.  Not all launches will be simultaneous.

• Q: if you can manage to stop laughing, you could ask them why bother… (Sam Smith)
• A: I cheated a bit and didn’t ask this.  It’s clear that MS are putting a lot of effort in to this.  They know that mobile is the growth space at the moment and that they have failed miserably with WinMo6.5.  They need to get this right.  If they can, they’ve locked in mobile, email, SharePoint, SkyDrive, Windows Live ID and Xbox games.  This could be the hub for all of MS’s products.  If it succeeds – and that’s a big if – it will reinvigorate Microsoft and consolidate all their products into one device.  That’s either awesome or terrifying depending on which team you bat for.  Regardless, it will set the mobile industry on fire.

Games

If you’re an Xbox games, you will buy this phone.  Simple.  I played with some of the 3D games on the handset and they are stunning. Sign in with your Windows Live ID and your Xbox Live stuff is accessible directly from the phone’s homescreen.

But let’s take it one step further.

Let’s say you’ve bought a racing game on Xbox live and the companion game on WP7.

• You can see your gamer score and achievements – and your friends’ – on your phone.  Neat.
• If you unlock an achievement on your Xbox – it will be unlocked on your phone. Sweet.
• If you unlock an achievement on your phone – it will be unlocked on your console and show up on your dashboard. Make your commute count for something!

So far, so good.  It’s a wonder this hasn’t been done before.  But what happens next will give you a taste of things to come.

• You unlock the “Ford Mustang” on your console.
• Want to customise the car?  Play the next level on your phone within 20 metres of a Ford dealership.  Click here to find your nearest location.
• Click here to book a test drive.

Integrating achievements, location, social networking and gameplay all in one package.

Game Over, Man! Game Over!

There are some limitations to the gaming service.  All of these downsides are “for now” – let’s wait and see what the future holds.

• No Xbox / WP7 live play.  Due to the latency of 3G networks, you can’t play against others on the Xbox live service.
• Some gaming APIs & Xbox Live integration are only available to registered publishers.  Not a big publishing house? No access for you.

Big Boys Only.

WP7 takes one “great” thing from Android – multiple vendors producing a variety of handsets.

It then marries it “great” thing from iPhone – fanatical lock down of applications and services to trusted third parties.

Want access to certain API functionality?  Only available to MNOs and manufacturers?

Want to run apps in the background?  Better be in bed with MS.  And not casually, either.

App development is “free”.  Well, the SDK and the compilers are free.  You’ll need to be running Vista or Windows 7 – no Macs or Linux.  Registration to the Marketplace – which includes code signing – is $99.  That will allow you to upload 5 free apps.  Subsequent free apps will cost $19.99 each to upload.

Why this restriction?  Quality.  MS doesn’t want their Marketplace to be cluttered with thousands of poorly developed freeware titles.  They believe that putting up a significant barrier to entry will deter sub-par applications.  I think, it may just cost them developers who want to dip their toe in the waters.

Want to offer a “lite” version for free and a “pro” version for $5?  You can’t do that.  MS don’t want duplicate apps cluttering their store.  What they will allow is for developers to build in “trial” modes.  So, rather than customers paying $5, trying the app, then applying for a refund – a developer sets what functionality will be available in the app for a trial period.  The customer can then upgrade in-app.  A really smart solution.

If you’re selling apps, you can price between $1.99 and $499.99.  That’s right.  Five hundred bucks.  There are professional apps for BlackBerry which sell in this range – that’s clearly one of the markets MS are gunning for.

The revenue share is 70/30.  I really think MS have missed a trick here.  It’s an “industry standard” price point because no one wants to get in to a price war.  Increasing the share that goes to the developer would be an excellent way to convince wavering developers to adopt the platform.

Paying for goods is via credit card or Operator Billing – no paying with Gamerpoints.  Operator Billing will be supported in most territories – the advantage of being Microsoft is that you can push the MNOs to open a few doors for you.  There will be no price descrimination between OB and CC.  Any difference will come out of MS’s 30% – so developers won’t be left out of pocket.

There is definitely the feeling that MS wants big, professional applications only.  A great way to ensure high quality experience on the device – but it may just cost them the next killer app.

Conclusion

I do wonder if MS should have made an Xbox Phone and a Business Phone.  Bundling the two together could be too confusing for customers – and ultimately dissatisfying.

The UI is fantastic.  Rather than copying the Windows 3.11 UI (a la iPhone and Android) they’ve come up with something which fits the form factor really well.

The Xbox integration will get every gamer wanting one.

The tight integration with Sharepoint and Exchange will get every Head of IT wanting to ditch their BlackBerrys.

The range of manufacturers will ensure that there aren’t shortages on launch.  A wide variety of form-factors and designs (all within the MS parameters) will help convince those who can’t live without a touchscreen / QWERTY keyboard / flip / slider – that this is the phone for them.

The limitations for developers will be frustrating – as will the high cost of development.  The MS commitment to high quality, revenue generating apps will stifle the number of applications available.  But if it means not having to wade through 5,000 fart noise generators…..

Microsoft knows that they have to score big with this operating system.  WP7 is due in the “holiday season” – up to 5 months from now – and they’re already trailing it massively.  They’re being hugely open about their plans for it (for Microsoft).  They’re listening to developers and users.  The whole Microsoft team – from Office to Xbox – has a stake in this phone. Come Christmas, I expect their media machine to be in full swing.

WP7 looks great.  It doesn’t have the openness of Android.  It doesn’t have the hype of Apple.  It doesn’t have the pedigree and mindshare of Nokia.  It doesn’t have BlackBerry’s simplicity. It successfully steals the best bits from each platform and improves upon them.

I’m not a big fan of Microsoft – as I’ve said many times.  If I were being uncharitable, I’d say that it has dragged along the worst features from the major mobile players – fragmentation, rigid QA, crappy revenue share, lack of multi-tasking.  But even I am forced to admit that it is attacking RIM, Apple, Android and Nokia at their strengths.

If nothing else, this is the phone the N-Gage should have been.

Integrity!

There are three things Microsoft specifically told me not to mention – because they’ll be making announcements in the coming months.

1. What happens when you hold down the “Windows” key.
2. How OS software updates are handled.
3. Zune.

This post hasn’t been checked, censored or spell checked by Microsoft. They did buy me a drink – but didn’t give me a free phone – so I don’t think I’m editorially compromised.  I still run Ubuntu on my home machines.

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Here’s some basic code for an Android app which will post the URL of your app to Twitter. Stick it in a button or menu item for easy sharing.

Some important things to note.

1. This is set to post to the mobile version of Twitter.  Your user is on a phone – don’t direct them to a site that won’t work on their device.
2. The second string is URI encoded.
3. Consider if you want to post a “market://” link.  I would advise against it.  Twitter won’t render it as a link and, even if it did, 90% of users won’t be able to click on it.  Make it a link that will direct desktop users to your website, mobile users to a mobile friendly site and Android users direct to the market.

Facebook also has an API for this sort of sharing.

http://m.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=example.com&t=test

Again, it points to the mobile site and needs to be URL encoded.

Happy sharing!

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So it was with great mirth that I went along to a BizSpark event a few weeks ago. Microsoft were going to be showing off their latest “innovation” – Windows Phone 7.

I went along expecting to hate it and, instead, found myself curiously drawn to it.

Take a look at the emulator for an interactive demo.

I played with the demo hardware and software and had my expectations blown away.  I’ll be honest – I expected crap.  I had horrible memories of the stylus oriented Windows Mobile 6.  The phone which would display an hourglass if you had the temerity to receive a phone call while playing solitaire.

Windows Phone 7 (WP7) was a million miles away from the old Microsoft experience.

Pros

The user interface is refreshingly simple and fun to use.  It’s like nothing else I’ve tried before and I really think that Microsoft has outclassed both Android and Apple.

Pushing so much information to the homescreen really makes you want to use your phone constantly. iPhone only does this half-heartedly and Android does it without much animation or UI consistency.

App Store.  One excellent feature of the MS app store is the “Try Before You Buy” model.  Rather than a developer putting out a free, limited version and a “pro” version they can publish a single app.  They can restrict the features and functionality of the “demo” version until the customer makes the purchase. Or, after a set period of time, the demo version can become non-functioning. Or have reduced function.  Brilliant.

Gaming on this device will be huge. It looks like it will be simple to port games from the Xbox to WP7 – that gives it a great competative advantage. Tie in Xbox Live (or whatever it’s called) and you’ll get gamers buying the same game twice – once on the console and once on the phone.  The 3D power of the phones was stunning.

Cons

There are some serious shortcomings in the Windows Phone 7 vision of the future which Microsoft urgently need to address.

• Expand the development options.  If you want to write for Windows Phone 7, you’ll need Windows installed on your computer.  Given that Android allows you to develop on Windows, Mac and Linux, it doesn’t make sense to make developers buy a new operating system.  Especially as iPhone development is tied to Apple.
• Open it up.  I love the idea of integrating my phone with my Xbox live account – but I don’t have an Xbox! Open it up so that my Wii or PS3 gaming experience can be pushed to the homescreen.
• The same goes for mail and IM – don’t restrict it just to Exchange and MSN.  Openness is hard for Microsoft, but it will attract more customers to the platform.
• Have a firm, public roadmap for enhancements which all manufacturers stick to.  Android is currently being stifled by manufacturers like HTC who refuse to update the software on their customers’ devices.
• Revenue share for developers needs to be better. At the moment it’s the same 70/30 split being offered by Android and Apple.  It needs to be lower for two key reasons.

1. Attract developers to the fledgling ecosystem.
2. To avoid any accusations of a cartel.  To have all three major platforms “independently” converge on the same revenue share deal looks suspicious.

Now What?

I’ve played with the prototype hardware and I’m impressed.  The software is really good. Much better that Microsoft’s usual standard.

It has to be.

Microsoft are betting their mobile future on this platform.  Win6.5 failed. Kin failed. They can’t afford another high profile failure like this.  Mirosoft are putting their best people on this project and, as far as I can tell, are revisiting their Xbox strategy; SPEND SPEND SPEND.

By the time the phones launch (holiday season 2010) you won’t be able to move without seeing an advert.  They will crank up their media machine to 11.  Just like the original Xbox, they will buy their way in to the market with a view that – like the Xbox 360 – the real prize is several years away.

I hope they succeed.  Not because I have any love for Microsoft, but because Nokia, Apple, and Google will all have to raise the quality of their software and hardware to compete against Microsoft’s marketing expenditure.

I’m a Linux geek – and I think Windows Phone 7 is the best thing to come out of Redmond in a very long time.

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There are five types of USSD Command

Activate – turn on the functionality: *USSD#
Deactivate – turn off the functionality: #USSD#
Register – set a particular condition: **USSD#
Erase – delete any settings set by Register: ##USSD#
Interrogate – check what it is doing: *#USSD#

Universal USSD Codes

I can’t find a definitive list of commands, so this is my scratch-pad for all the ones I’ve found which should work on all GSM networks.

Divert all Calls (21)

If you don’t want you phone to ever ring, you can divert it to voicemail or some other number.

Forwarding: **21*DESTINATION_NUMBER#
Activate: *21#
Deactivate: #21#
Delete: ##21#
Check Status: *#21#

DESTINATION_NUMBER should be in international format. So if you want to divert to your landline of 020 7946 0123, you would dial it as

**21*+442079460123#

Divert When Call Not Answered: 61
Divert When Phone Unreachable: 62
Divert When Phone Busy: 67

Caller ID (30 & 31)

Sets whether your phone displays caller ID information and whether it sends it to others.

30 – Incoming caller ID presentation
31 – Outgoing caller ID

Activate: *31# or *30#
Deactivate: #31# or *30#
Check Status: *#31# or *30#

Call Barring (33 & 35)

Sets whether your phone bars incoming or outgoing calls.

33 – Call barring (outgoing)
35 – Call barring (incoming)

Activate: *33# or *35#
Deactivate: #33# or *35#
Check Status: *#33# or *35#

Call Waiting (43)

Sets whether your phone alerts you when you’ve got a call waiting.

Activate: *43#
Deactivate: #43#
Check Status: *#43#

Vodafone UK Specific USSD Codes

The Betavine site has a list of USSD codes which only work on Vodafone UK.

Resources Used

• The Unwired
• Treo Central
• Cellular Online

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Samsung Galaxy S

The Galaxy S is Samsung’s latest Android handset.  There are so many Android phones out there that you need a really great advertising campaign (or a really great product) to stand out from the competition.

Let’s take a look at the Samsung campaign.

Small Isn’t Beautiful

Advert for GalaxyS on Guardian Mobile site

The advert is disproportionately small compared to the rest of the site.  The Android phone I’m viewing on has a screen width of 480 pixels – the advert looks tiny and pathetic.

At first I thought it was the Guardian mangling the advert – but a look at the URL shows that 4th Screen have decided to serve up a 168*28 image.

Tiny Banner Ad

Worse than that, they’ve blindly resized the image rather than rework it.  Take a look zoomed in – the text is illegible.

Tiny Banner Ad

The Micro-Site

The site behind the advert isn’t too bad.  But there’s nothing exciting about it.  Just a series of static pages.  You can visit it at http://galaxys.co.uk/

What Do You Want Your Customers To Do?

With every mobile advertising campaign, you need to think about what it is you want to accomplish.  This campaign is, presumably, designed to encourage people to buy the Samsung Galaxy S phone.  So, it would make sense if people could buy the phone from the site. No?

Try to buy the phone from this page

There are three glaring mistakes on this page.  Can you spot them?

1. No mention of price. Is this pre-pay or contract? Is this a premium product or a cheap and cheerful device?
2. No click-to-call.  Those phone numbers should be clickable and should take the customer straight through to the dedicated Galaxy S representatives.
3. Those images of the phone company logos are clickable – yet there’s nothing to suggest they are.

Still, clicking on those logos will let me buy the phone through a mobile-friendly shop. Right?

Mobile Companies Who Don’t Do Mobile

eTailing is hard.  Getting a web based shop up, running and profitable is tricky.  Getting a mobile version of that site can be even harder.  But if there were ever a company to do it well, you would expect them to be a mobile company.  Sadly, that’s not the case.

Vodafone's non-mobile website

Virgin's non-mobile site

So, our hapless user can’t use her phone to make a call to buy the handset, she can’t use the web browser to buy the handset.  Is she supposed to wander down to her local store to buy one? Way to make use of the mobile medium…

How To Fix It

All is not lost.  There are several easy steps which can be taken to fix this disaster.

• Serve up adverts which are correctly sized for the screen requesting them.
• Don’t resize adverts – create a unique advert for each screen size you’re targeting.
• Make you micro-site interesting. Add mobile YouTube videos.  Add wallpapers, ringtones, or competitions.  Give people a reason to visit the site and share it with their friends.
• Click To Call.  I don’t know how often I have to say this, but if your potential customers can’t place an order from your site – you will never convert them into a paying customer.
• Let the user know which parts of your site are clickable.
• Never redirect a user to a non-mobile website.  The user may have to pay the data charges and will get a site which they can’t use.
• Mobile e-tailing.  Three huge names in mobile – yet I can’t order this phone from my mobile. That’s just embarrassing. Either make a mobile friendly site, or give customers directions to their nearest store.

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My second app presents a series of buttons which call the USSD commands – so you don’t have to remember if it’s the HLR or VLR which is queried by *#103#.

Useful, I know….

You can download the app by scanning in this QR code.

Android App - Vodafone UK USSD Commands

The majority of these codes only work on phones with a Vodafone UK SIM who are on the Vodafone UK network. I’ve no idea what the codes do on other networks.

A detailed explanation of the commands is available on Betavine.

Sadly, Android provides no native way to capture or interprate USSD responses. Please star the feature request if you’re interested in seeing this in future versions of Android.

One last thing – this app was neither designed nor approved by Vodafone UK. It has nothing to do with them!

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The first app I’ve created is “Advanced Test Card”. You can download it by scanning in this QR code.

Scan to download Advanced Test Card for Android

At the moment, it just has 5 modes. Red, Green, Blue, White and SMPTE colour bars. All are useful for checking out any problems you may have with your screen.

I’ll be developing more test cards in the future – leave a comment if there’s one you would like to see.

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Mistake #1

Take a look at this rather charming advert on the Guardian’s mobile site. The more astute among you will recognise the problem.

I’m being advertised an iPhone game when I’m browsing the site using an Android phone. This is the fault of the Guardian – or, more likely, whoever runs their advertising department.

Well, let’s click on it.

Mistake #2

The image expansion doesn’t work. This is probably because it uses iPhone specific code.

Mistake #3

Let’s take a look at the raw image.

The image is a 135KB PNG. That’s massive. At a time when unlimited downloads are under threat, it is incumbent on the mobile web designer to minimise needless data usage.

If we convert the image to a JPG, the size goes down to 26KB. Can you spot the difference in quality?

Mistake #4

What happens if we visit the destination?

Ah. Apple send us to the desktop version of iTunes. This is better than what used to happen, where they tried to install iTunes!

Preventing The Problem

Every browser sends a User-Agent String. The advertising server should be configured to only send iPhone-specific adverts to iPhones.

It really is that simple. You can use services like WURFL and DeviceAtlas to automate this process if you like.

What Should Have Happened

• The advert shouldn’t have been shown in the first place. The Guardian needs to ensure that the advertising space it is selling is being correctly targeted.
• The click should have gone directly to Barclays – if they saw the phone viewing the content wasn’t an iPhone they should display alternate content.
• Apple needs to have a mobile friendly page. It really is that simple. A great mobile friendly page with a link that says “Want to play this games? Find your nearest Apple Store here“.

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Orange

Take a look at the latest offering from Orange – a large UK mobile network operator.

Orange Advert on Guardian

Spot it? It’s the microscopic banner hidden away on the mobile site of the Guardian newspaper.

The advertiser has little choice in the poor placement. And it’s not their fault if the Guardian has resized it. Let’s take a look at the full size animated GIF.

Orange Advert

Ah.

Still, I’m sure the rewards for the eager-eyed viewer are magnificent….

Orange Badvert - click to embiggen

Not so much.

The potential customer is presented with a poorly resized image. The only link at the bottom takes them to a seemingly identical page.

Orange Badvert 2 - Click to embiggen

What Else Does It Do?

So, let’s look at the purchase experience.

Oh, there isn’t one. No nearest store finder. No mobile YouTube video showing off the phones. No click to call so you can buy one right now.

Nothing.

To recap, a tiny banner takes you to a poster. That’s it. No though has been given to the unique opportunities that mobile affords. There’s no way to convert an interested browser into a paying customer. If we’re being honest, there’s not really enough information in this microsite to justify an advert.

It is small, feeble and pointless.

Lessons To Learn

Ensure that your advertising assets are available n a variety of screen sizes. Small adverts are hard to click on. Worse still, they may be completely ignored.

If you can’t resize your images, unplug your computer and go home.

Think about what you want to achieve from the advert.
Are you trying to increase sales? Give the potential customer a direct route to purchase from you.
Are you trying to excite or interest potential customers? Provide enough interesting information. This isn’t print. You’re not limited by page size – only by your imagination.

Take advantage of the medium.  Mobile is so much more useful than print.  Orange seem stuck in the mindset that a single image is all an advert needs to be.

Message To Orange

You’re a mobile company.  Make your adverts reflect that.  You should be promoting excellence – not mediocrity.

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I was overwhelmed by the support of my friends on Twitter and by the excellent bloggers at Mobile Industry Review and The Really Mobile Project.

http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2010/04/vodafones-terence-eden-joins-touchnote.html

http://thereallymobileproject.com/2010/04/terence-eden-joins-touchnote/

Starting a new job is never easy – but you guys have given me wind in my sails.  My first week has just flown by – so thank you all.

As ever, this blog remains personal. Nothing here is approved, checked or pushed on me from my employers.  All opinions and errors are my own and are not those of Touchnote ltd.

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I was having a bit of trouble installing it on my XNAS – running Xebian Linux, so I’ve written this as an aide-mémoire. I hope you find it useful.

Install Ruby and Ruby Gems

apt-get install ruby rubygems

Download and install the latest version of Rake

wget http://rubygems.org/downloads/rake-0.8.7.gem
gem install rake

Download and install the latest version of Mocha

wget http://rubygems.org/downloads/mocha-0.9.8.gem
gem install mocha-0.9.8.gem

Download and install the latest version of iplayer-dl

wget http://rubygems.org/downloads/iplayer-dl-0.1.19.gem
gem install iplayer-dl-0.1.19.gem 

Done!

To download a show,

iplayer-dl [pid]

To find the pid, visit an iPlayer page like

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00s0vs1/Doctor_Who_Confidential_Series_5_All_about_the_Girl/

The pid is the weird string of letters and numbers before the episode name. So, in this case, to download the video, you just type

iplayer-dl b00s0vs1

If you want to download several files using only one command, you would type

iplayer-dl b00s0vs1 b123abc bdef456

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The BBC, however, need a few lessons in how to optimise the experience.
As part of their Prisoner Zero page – the BBC have an awesome “Wanted Poster”. Here’s the teaser image.

Prisoner Zero - QR Code

Let’s take a look at the full QR code. This is about the size it would be if the poster were printed on A4.

QR Code

There are three problems with this QR code which reduce its functionality and usability.

Firstly, the contents of the QR are

MECARD:N:Doctor Who;URL:http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/;;

Aside from the fact the character is named “The Doctor”, this is a rather large string to place in a QR code.  The longer the string, the more complex the code, the harder it is for a phone to decode it.

Secondly, QR codes are primarily used on mobile phones.  This is reinforced by the use of “MECARD” – a method to add someone to your address book.  Yet the URL the BBC point to isn’t suitable for mobile!

This is crazy. There’s a wonderful mobile friendly version of the Doctor Who site – http://bbc.mobi/drwho – why not point to that? People will be scanning this code on their mobile and then being directed to the BBC’s desktop site. Madness!

Finally, the colouring.  While QR codes can work in any colour, they’re easier to scan if the contrast is high.  That usually means black squares on a white background.  It’s not so important if you’ve got a multi-megapixel camera with auto-focus and all sorts of other technology.  However, the primary audience for Doctor Who is children and teenagers. Not the sort of demographic to have awesome camera phones.

Fixing The QR Code

Using my QR Code generator, I’ve created a faster, simpler, and more useful QR Code.

http://bbc.mobi/drwho

Have a scan – it takes you directly to the mobile site.

I’m a big fan of QR Codes, but they have to be used sensibly.  Remember to keep your URLs short and point them at mobile friendly sites.

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Touchscreen

It’s quite hard to see throughout the episode. It just looks like a standard touchscreen device in a rubber casing.  I had wondered if the props team had created a dummy phone to be used.

What Phone?

Annoyingly, the phone is almost always out of focus.

Except for this shot.

BlackBerry Storm

Aha! That’s the BlackBerry Operating System.  That means it can only be a BlackBerry Storm or Storm2!

The Storm2 doesn’t have separate buttons on the screen – so this must be an original Storm.  The BBC have taken the logo button off the front to prevent accusations of bias or commercial influence, no doubt.

As an aside, look how the Doctor sends the photos – MMS!

MMS

Better hope those aliens don’t have iPhones!

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“It may seem surprising but there simply is no single listing for all prospective parliamentary candidates. We want people to make an informed choice and that’s difficult because so many new people are standing this time – and a record number of incumbent MPs are standing down because of expense scandal,” said Edmund von der Burg from YourNextMP.

One recent poll (PollLab 10/3/10) found nearly half of voters cannot name their MP and three quarters have no idea who their candidates are.

The message from four independent groups which collect and display candidate data online (YourNextMP, hustings.com, iElect UK & ivote2010) is a simple one – don’t leave the decision about who to vote for until polling day – check out the candidates first and make them work for your vote.

In recent weeks, the British media has touted this election as the “first truly digital election.” Online tools such as myconservatives.com and its Labour counterpart membersnet are being used in local campaigns to recruit volunteers and collect donations. But, Frances Harrison from iElect UK argues that the Internet’s greatest impact is in empowering the ordinary citizen and allowing undecided voters to learn more about candidates.

“The much-touted digital election campaign is not just about new communication channels for the big parties – it’s just as much about empowering ordinary citizens and giving them a voice to disseminate information,” said Harrison.

YourNextMP, which is affiliated to DemocracyClub, allows any member of the public to upload candidate names, photos and details online. Hustings  compares candidates in much more detail in the key marginal seats. While iElect UK is an iPhone app with candidate data and iVote2010 is aimed at any mobile phone with a web browser.

WHO WE ARE IN DETAIL

YourNextMP is a comprehensive list of candidates for the general election which is made freely available as a website (http://www.yournextmp.com) and as data downloads for others to build on. The details are editable in a wiki-like manner and many of the contributions are from members of the public. By ensuring that their details are on YourNextMP candidates can be sure that they will appear on all the services built on the data that it shares.

Contact: Edmund von der Burg, mobile  07903 420 689.
Email: hello@yournextmp.com
Site: http://www.yournextmp.com/

iElect UK is a new, free iPhone app that helps you know who to vote for. It allows users to find their constituency, using GPS or postcode, and then view a list of candidates as well as the MP. The user can ask to be contacted by any of the politicians. The idea being to promote a conversation between the electorate and their representatives. It’s been developed by two London women: an ex BBC journalist & promotional marketing manager.

Contact: Frances Harrison, 07764355260 or Nerissa Martin
Email: info@crowdspeak.co.uk
Site: www.crowdspeak.co.uk

Hustings gives links to sites being used by candidates for their online campaigning, e.g. twitter, facebook, youtube, flikr, winkball etc. It also collates news on candidates and offers candidates the option to upload their own data such as podcasts, photos and videos.

Contact: James Evans, mobile 07770 852 858.
Email: james.evans@hustings.com
Site: www.hustings.com

iVote2010 is a mobile site that allows any phone with a web browser to find their prospective parliamentary candidates.  The site has been tested on over 250 of the UK’s most popular phones.  Visitors can use iVote2010.co.uk to contact their PPC’s by phone, text or email. It also provides help in registering to vote – with the phone number and address of their local council.

Contact Terence Eden 07717512963
Email:  ivote2010@shkspr.mobi
Site: http://iVote2010.co.uk

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Here’s a typical example.

BBC Advert

Intercontinental are a premium brand. No doubt their mobile advertising is really good. Right?

First Impression

Intercontinental Advert Page 1

We start off with a mobile friendly page.  Almost.  There are five flaws here.

1. Large image.  While visually appealing, consider that not everyone has a fast mobile Internet connection.  They may also have to pay per KB.  Is there a way to use multiple, smaller images to make things just as appealing as well as being quick and cheap?
2. Exposing a hyperlink.  It’s rarely a good idea to show the http:// and other inner workings of your systems.  It breaks the understood convention of the web and exposes your URL structure.  In this case it also shows that the website you’re sending people to neither belongs to Intercontinental nor the BBC.
3. Hyperlink colouring.  Convention is that links are in blue – or at the very least a different colour from the rest of the text – and underlined.  This allows customers to quickly and easily see where the clickable parts of the site are.
4. This is a mobile advert – where is the mobile mindset? Why am I signing up for an email newsletter?  Why not a monthly SMS or MMS?  Why not a mobile video showing how wonderful the Intercontinental is? Why not a mobile voucher to present at my next visit?  What a missed opportunity.
5. Bearing numbers 2 and 3 in mind, is “The Real” clickable? If so, where does it lead?  A consistent style helps with navigation.  Clearly explaining what lies behind a link encourages clickthrough.

Speaking of clickthrough – let’s go and sign up for this e-newsletter.

Disaster!

Regular readers of this blog know what’s coming next.

Not exactly mobile friendly

Yup. It’s a desktop web page which is totally unsuitable for mobiles.  Poorly formatted, hard to use and generally a disaster.  How much did they spend on mobile advertising?  Could they not have spared a few € for a mobile friendly sign up page?

Back a Step

Let’s go back to that first page and click on “The Real”.  Maybe it’s the real link to the mobile sign up form?

The Real

Ah! Now we see why InterContinental were advertising on the BBC – they have a tie in show.  The link right at the bottom goes back to the first page, what about www.bbc.com/thereal ?

Notice that, yet again, we have a different style of URL.  It isn’t underlined, it isn’t a different colour, but it is clickable.  This is the third style of URL on this site – totally confusing.

Let’s click (you all know where this is going, right?)

Calamity!

Non-Mobile BBC Site

To be sure, this is a lovely site – but it’s not exactly what you’d call mobile friendly.  What is the point of putting a link to a slow to download, expensive and poorly rendered desktop page within a mobile advert?

It doesn’t have to be this way!

The BBC excels at producing mobile tie in content.  Take a look at the mobile friendly Doctor Who page.

Doctor Who Mobile

Mobile formatted, downloads, videos, loads of interesting and engaging content.  Just the way it should be.

Conclusions

There is one important lesson to be learned here.

Make sure all of your site is mobile friendly.  That doesn’t just mean all pages are suitable for mobiles – it also means that the offer is suitable for mobile.

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@@ and geotag

Reply to All

The @@ symbol allows you to reply to all the people mentioned within the tweet.
It only shows up on tweets which mention other users – so you should only ever see it when it can be used.

Hitting @@ on the above tweet will pre-populate the text box with “@topgold @whatleydude @dabr”.

It should remove any duplicates and should also remove your username.

Geotagging

Twitter recently allowed the geotagging of tweets. This allows you to set the longitude and latitude of where you are when you wrote your message.
Clicking on the green globe (it just looks like a dot at that size!) takes you to a mobile mapping service.

Google Maps Mobile

It only shows up on tweets which are geotagged – so you should only ever see it when it can be used.

How Does It Work?

You can see all the code in the SVN, but here’s a quick rundown.

Geotagging is very simple.  Statuses now have a <geo> field.  If this is populated, it will contain a longitude and latitude.

We can take those values and pass them to Google Maps Mobile (or your favourite mobile mapping service).
if ($geo !== null)
{
   $latlong = $geo->coordinates;
   $lat = $latlong[0];
   $long = $latlong[1];
   $actions[] = theme('action_icon', "http://maps.google.co.uk/m?q={$lat},{$long}", 'images/map.png', 'MAP');
}

Reply to all is a little more involved.
Twitter provide an excellent set of Text Libraries. These provide officially sanctioned regular expressions to help your project find URLs, hashtags and usernames.

Using the Twitter Text Extractor class we can determine how many usernames are mentioned in a tweet. Any duplicates are removed – as is the user’s username.

Any questions – just ask!

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It was an excellent panel – despite being a bit stale, pale and male.

But I can’t help feeling that the central premise of the event was flawed.

We were meant to be discussing the “emerging economy” of mobile applications.

Emerging

Emerging? Mobile apps are beyond that. They have emerged. They are mainstream and they have been for a while. Vodafone* has been selling apps for nearly 6 year. Other mobile operators have been selling games, application, tools, utilities, ebooks, and other apps for just as long.

And it has been profitable.

Economy

Ah, that word, “profitable”. I’m not an economist, but I would have thought that an economy requires the exchange of money somewhere along the lines.

The vast majority of downloads from app stores are free. Now, undoubtedly a few of those free apps lead on to purchases – but not many. (See Tomi T Ahonen’s amazing dissection of the hype).

Then there’s the pricing of the applications themselves.

A game like Angry Birds (which seems to be a favourite) costs around 59p. A few years ago it would have sold for £4.99 via an operator store. 15 years ago the same quality game on the MegaDrive would probably have cost around £35.

Cheaper prices are good for customers – but are they good for the economy when the price continually trends downwards?

So we have a range of apps with an average price of £0.00. Of those that cost, the monetary sums are very low. Making money from apps is a fool errand.

So, who is making money?

The developers aren’t – not in any significant way.

The payment gateways aren’t – 30% of 0 is still 0.

Advertisers are – lots of adverts on apps which are given away.

The device manufacturers are – they can sell more hardware on the basis of freely developed 3rd party content.

The operators are – they’re selling more phones and more data bundles.

So what (if anything) has changed?

Open

What the app space hasn’t been is open. True, anyone could develop a J2ME or S60 app – and many did. But getting them distributed was always hard unless you could do a deal with a major publisher.

Now, the middle-man is (nearly) gone. The developer can submit their work to a central app store and have it in front of potential customers. Almost instantly.

Quality

Because there are many more highly-spec’d phones and SDKs have improved immeasurably, there’s been an outpouring of new developers.

But are they any good?

In the bad old days – when people actually made money from apps – there was a quality threshold.  If an app was buggy or crap, customers would ring up a call-centre and demand a refund.  That’s costly to a company, so naturally the bar for apps was set fairly high.

It also encouraged conservatism – releasing a beta app with experimental functionality was a risk.  Few people would buy it and the cost of refunds could be horrendous.

Now, we have everyone and her sister developing iFart apps.  Reading the reviews of paid-for apps can be quite depressing – constant tales of broken or missing functionality.

So, we have a decrease in price and a decrease in quality – but a rapid increase in supply.  Rapid to the point where developers struggle to even give away their product.  Is this a healthy economy?

What’s Next

Despite my grousing, I enjoy living in a world where anyone – even me – can develop an app.  The financial rewards are more like a lottery than a business, it’s true.  The rewards to society where a company can take a punt on a product like AudioBoo are immense.

But can it last? I’ve no doubt that this current boom will mirror the home-computer boom of the early 1980s.

The fragmentation that bedevilled that market will weaken the mobile marketplace – even with initiatives like JIL and WAC.

We’ll probably see another Codemasters emerge from Britain’s bedrooms – and the rest either get bought out or fail.

But I bet they have fun doing it.

Disclaimer.

*I work for them but this blog is a personal comment. Please set your bias filters accordingly.

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Dead BlackBerry

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Due to a crazy taxi driver (are there any other kind) and a violent swerve, my BlackBerry Bold 9000 is no more. Bereft of life, it rusts in pieces, and other such Pythonesque metaphors.

Arse. I truly feel like I’m missing an extension to my body. There’s a symbiotic relationship which develops between a geek and his phone. It entertains me, informs me, keeps me on time and allows me to rapidly communicate with a variety of methods. In return, I feed it electricity, load it up with useful programs, decorate its skin and snuggle up to it.

I miss it so much.

Every Cloud…

Now’s a prime time to choose a new smartphone. So many new models on the market. Which to go for?

What I look for in a mobile

I’ve had many many phones. Some wonderful (Treo 180) some dire (Apple iPhone). I know exactly what I want and what I need.  For a device that I use several times an hour every single day, I don’t want to compromise on any aspect.  Perfection is what I demand.  So, what was it that made the BlackBerry Bold the perfect phone for me?

• Physical keyboard.  I do a lot of typing on the device.  I’ve used soft keyboards (Android, iPhone, Storm) and they just don’t do it for me.  Even with the haptic feedback, it’s just not the same for speedy typing.  I liked handwriting recognition on the Treo 180 and the Nokia N97 – but in terms of speed & accuracy a physical keyboard is a must.  More than that, it needs to be a good keyboard.  The keyboard on the N97 is dreadful – it feels like a cheap calculator.  The N810 has an awful layout and virtually no travel on the button push. I need raised keys and to feel a click so I can touch-type.
• Exchange integration.  I use my device for work.  Things which I regularly use my ‘berry for are were: email and calendar sync’d over the air.  Address lookup – if I meet Jo Blogs at work, I can type her name in to the address book and look up her email, phone number, address etc (if she’s in the corporate address book).
• The BlackBerry Enterprise messenger is also really useful.  I don’t use IM for personal use much any more – but work runs on it.  Sadly it’s basaed on Microsoft Office Communicator rather than anything open or useful.
• Quick start-up.  When you shut down a BlackBerry, it effectively goes into “suspend” mode.  I switch it on first thing in the morning and it’s on and receiving email instantly.
• Auto on-off.  At 2300 every weekday, my phone shuts down. So if I’ve forgotten to switch it off, I don’t get disturbed during the night.  At 0700 it wakes up and gets to work.
• Multiple email accounts.  I want to reply from 1 enterprise and 2 personal accounts.
• USB interface for charging.  Batter life isn’t massivly important and I’m never away from a power socket for a few hours.
• Compatible with Linux for charging, reading files, tethering.
• Speed dial, form factor, excellent hierarchical bookmarks structure.
• GPS & Mapping.
• Good browser.  I like the modern RIM browser – I know they’re moving to Webkit, but I don’t find the current one so bad.

Well, so far it looks like I’m going for a BlackBerry. Right.  Not quite.

What I hate about BlackBerry

• No front-facing-camera.  I like video calling. I’m the only one in the UK who does, apparently.  But with more 3G phones coming on to the market, I’m hopeful that more people will come round to it.
• Lack of updates.  It seems to take ages for any new developments to come out of RIM.  I understand why – you can’t fiddle around too much with business critical devices – but I like shiny new features.
• Speed. Perhaps it’s running OS 5.0 on the 9000, but everything seems a little sluggish.  I’m very quick with my fingers yet I often feel like the ‘berry isn’t working as fast as I am.  Once you’re running IM, SocialScope, Facebook and Weather at the same time and everything slows to a crawl.
• Camera. I like the flash and the geo-tagging, but the quality of images isn’t wonderful.  No focusing also impacts scanning QR codes.
• Video recording – low quality and sound is often out of sync.
• Calendar – only shows a single calendar. I don’t want my personal appointments on my work calendar.
• Media player. While it plays some .avi files better than Android, it won’t do .ogg or .flac, the interface is sub par.

The Android Intervention

With my dearly departed long gone, I’m reliant on my Android device. An HTC Hero.  It is a stunning device.

• Gorgeous screen, very responsive.
• Browser is good.
• The camera is great although sorely lacking a flash.
• It integrates with Microsoft Exchange reasonably well – although I haven’t got it fully working yet.

But – and there’s always a but…

• HTC. They are very unresponsive to customer queries. No software updates for the Hero, even though they’ve been announced.  Again, I understand the reasoning, but I don’t want to be stuck on Android 2.1 when 3.9 is out.
• Slow start up.  I don’t want to wait 60 seconds for my phone to wake up.
• Lacking in functionality – although it has plenty of add on software, some at cost.
• Lack of keyboard shortcuts.  I rely on these heavily – as described in my comment to The Really Mobile Project.
• Such tie in to the Google Eco-System.  If I ever want to leave Google, I’m not sure how the phone would cope.

Others

I’m big on Linux. Despite the slight disappointment with Nokia’s recent efforts, I’m intrigued by the N900.  I think I’d like to play with it for a day – especially the keyboard given the disaster of the N810 – before comitting.

I’ve tried a 3G iPhone running OS3.0.  It’s a toy and really not suitable for me.

Windows Mobile is… lackluster.  I can’t wait for Windows Phone OS 7.0 Mobile (or whatever they’re calling it today).  Besides, I don’t run Windows on my PCs – I can’t think of a reason to run it on my phones.

What else is out there?  Bada? Doubt Samsung call pull it off.  Pre? I want to like Palm, but it’s restricted to a single device and only on one network. Symbian? Hopefully it will be resurrected but after the disasterous N97 and the abandoned N95, it’s dead to me.

Choices

I think it boils down to three phones.

BlackBerry 9700

Bold 9700

This is the “safe” choice.  It’s the next model up from my smashed 9000.  I know it does everything I want.  I like the idea of replacing the trackball with a touchpad.  Good that it’s got the new standard USB charger, even if I’ll need to buy some new cables.

On the down side, it’s a bit boring.

SonyEricson Experia X10 mini pro / Motorola Milestone / Droid

My Android choice.  Has a keyboard and avoids HTC.  I don’t know how hackable it will be.  Given it’s one of SE’s & Moto’s first forays into Android, I’m concerned about how committed they’ll be to the device.

Would really like an Android with a decent keyboard – there are just so few of them about.

Nokia N900

Nokia N900

The outside choice. I generally love Nokia hardware – but their software sucks.  As innovative as the N810 was, they really dropped the ball in providing updates to their original Maemo software.  I’m slightly wary about how well this will be supported.

The keyboard looks ok, but the oddly placed space bar puts me off, as does the lack of ergonomic consideration.

Your Opinions

I’d love to know what you think.  Which phones rock your world?

This blog is a personal comment and does not represent my employers, Vodafone Group.  Nothing in this blog should be considered an official position on any phone, platform or manufacturer.

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I’m a long time fan of SpinVox – the Voicemail to SMS service.  In my review of them last year I found seven ways they could improve their service.

Due to SpinVox’s rather beleaguered year, there have been no noticeable improvements or enhancements in the service they provide.

(Edit 20100318 – SpinVox is now cancelling all individual users’ accounts)

SpinVox Cancelled

Enter Ribbit!

Currently in beta, Ribbit promises to be all that SpinVox could be – and more.

The basic premise is the same.  You divert all your voicemail to their service, a caller leaves a message, you get it delivered as an SMS.  Perfect.

Set up was a breeze, enter account information and set up the divert.  They even do a test call to make sure everything is set up correctly.

Compared To Wishlist

So, how do they do compared to my wishlist?

MP3 delivery.

It’s great to receive an email with the transcript, but I’d really like to get an audio file as well.  Useful for record keeping, error checking and blackmail.

Yup – done and done!  MP3s come through email. If your phone picks up your email, you can listen to a message without having to dial in.  Perfect.

MP3 Email

.mobi site.

I’d like to be able to go to spinvox.mobi and see a list of all the voicemails I’ve received – including transcripts and audio downloads.

Again, close to perfect.  There’s a hidden mobile site – http://m.ribbit.com/ which gives you direct access to your transcriptions.  It even lets you dial in to a message or return a call directly from the web site.

Mobile Ribbit

Personal API.

I’d like access to an API for personal use.  To enable me to generate wordles or similar.  To grab all the voicemails from a particular person or containing a certain phrase.

It’s there! http://developer.ribbit.com/- I need to dig around to see what can be done.

Personalised Greetings.

I’d like to set different greetings for different sets of numbers. I keep the same number for work, friends and family. My friends don’t want to hear my work Out-Of-Office message and my work colleagues don’t want to hear my James Bond impression.

I can’t see a way to do this.  It should be possible.  Once I’ve uploaded my address book, I want my mates to get one voicemail greeting, work colleagues to get another, etc.

Along with greetings, I’d like to be able to quickly flick between my regular voicemail message and my out of office message. It’s great fun recording a new one every time I go away for a few days.

Yes! This works!  You can record as many greetings as you like – you can even use your computer’s microphone.  You can swap them over on the web – I’ve not found a way to do it either via IVR or mobile web.

Direct Dial Voicemail.

On Vodafone UK, I can dial 121 before any number and go straight through to voicemail – handy if I want to avoid someone! I’d like a number I can give out which would just go direct to my voicemail.

Not available.  A minor concern.

Website

Ribbit has an incredibly feature packed website.  As well as giving you complete control over your account, you can also use the website to read and listen to all your messages.

Ribbit Web Control Panel

You can also see missed calls. This is wonderfully useful. If you’re out of coverage, your phone won’t ring. Once you’re back in coverage, you can get a text or email from Ribbit telling you who rang but didn’t leave a message.

Shortcomings

Nothing in this world is perfect – let’s look at what Ribbit does badly.

Startup

The welcome text is very poorly done…

Ribbit Welcome SMS

Coming from an unknown number, oddly formatted and no link to the mobile portal. The link presented doesn’t render well on mobile either.

You only get one chance to make a first impression – sadly Ribbit’s first impression is of carelessness.

Accuracy

Always a tricky one to get right.  Take a listen to this MP3 and compare it to the transcribed text.

Hi, Terry. It’s Mom. We’re just about to go over to have a cruise in Hong Kong. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. I’m just knocked out. Anyway, we’d love to hear from you speak to you, I guess you can ring this phone. We mentioned we have a cruise and I may answer it. I hope you and Lis well. And I love you lots. Bye.

Pretty damned accurate!  I put this under shortcomings because of the American translation of “Mum” to “Mom”.

Timezones

When your servers are in one country and your users are in another, date- and time-stamps become really important.

Mobile Ribbit

The timestamps in the mobile web version are several hours out.  A minor annoyance – but one which gives people a headache trying to work out why someone is calling you at 6AM!

QA

Notice the “Call Voicemail” link in the image above?

Ribbit Mobile Error

It’s pointing to – I presume – the US dial in number, not the UK one.  There are several little errors like this.  None of them critical, but all enough to remind you it’s in Beta.

Conclusion

Ribbit is close to perfect. It blows SpinVox out of the water in terms of voicemail functionality.

It’s accuracy is good – and it’s upfront about its transcription methods.  It even lets you sacrifice accuracy for confidentiality if you’d rather just have machines listening in.

What will make it sink or swim is its pricing.  Free during beta, it’s promising free automated transcription, with pricepoints of US$10 and $30 for higher tiers of premium human-based transcription.

It’s missing a few “nice to haves” – SpinVox let me reply to voicemails via text-to-voice and would let me update my social networks by speaking a message.

The website and mobile web service need a bit of spit-and-polish – but it is functional.

I highly recommend you sign up for the beta of Ribbit.

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The 25 Biggest Companies in Mobile. The inimitable Tommi Ahonen pores over the statistics and shows the size of companies according to the money they make in mobile – and only mobile. I may query the use of USD rather than € in the calculations, but the data are still highly interesting.  This is my post of the week!

Mob4Hire launches. There are thousands of handsets on hundreds of networks, how can you be sure your site or app will work on them? If you don’t want to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds building a library of devices and SIM cards, it’s worth looking at a service like this to get a wide range of test cases.

Mobile Wins Gold at Winter Olympics. With more people accessing the mobile web than ever before, MobiThinking takes a look at the explosion in mobile data use around the Olympics. Let’s hope that London’s networks are up to scratch for 2012!

What now for .mobi? With the slightly shocking news that .mobi has been sold to Affilias, what does this mean for the .mobi brand. I’ve a vested interest in this one, as I run a .mobi domain. Will mobile sites migrate to m. a la facebook and twitter? Can .mobi regain the initiative. Important questions.

Free White Paper on Mobile VoIP. This is a detailed look into the prospects of mobile VoIP in 2010. My thoughts? As we move the LTE – an all IP network – is there a long term future for alternate VoIP providers?

App Wars. Native apps vs Web apps vs Widgets vs JIL vs Device App Stores vs Operator App stores. It’s a bloodbath out there – but John Puterbaugh performs some excellent analysis on the main players and issues.

In a similar vein, Apps vs Browsers – Peggy Salz is looking for your opinion.  Will the mobile web splinter between touch devices, normal phones, apps?

Finally, bored with Google and Yahoo? Why not try Gune, a new meta-search engine for mobile.

You can find all my latest mobile focused blog posts at http://shkspr.mobi/blog/index.php/category/mobile/

Thanks for reading!

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