Star Wars · 400 words
(Archived from B3ta's "How Nerdy Are You" QOTW) I could bore you all with thrilling tails of BBC Micro programming, mobile phone USSD commands, obscure Mornington Crescent rules - but I won't. I'll tell you a tale of a small, frightened little nerd... I was about 3 years old and had been asked to be a page boy at my cousins wedding. I was under strict instruction that my job was to protect the…
Continue reading →advertising mobile · 400 words
I've seen two very different adverts recently which, in my opinion are bad. Very bad. I'd even go so far as to say that they are terrible. The first is a poster advert seen at my local train station. A tagline, a shot of the service and a URL. Let's break it down. 1) The URL. I initially typed in w4mobile rather than w4mobiles - and got a non-mobile friendly page. It would have been better …
Continue reading →copyright facebook · 600 words · Viewed ~226 times
Way back before Facebook, when the Internet was made of string and chewing gum, when Scrabble was a game for old people and nerds, I was.... Well.... A nerd!I loved Scrabble and attained the heady heights of school champion! But it wasn't enough. I had tasted power and wanted more. I devoured Scrabble strategy books, word lists, reverse dictionaries and spent the nights dreaming about triple…
Continue reading →datamatrix qr code · 150 words
Seen on a billboard in London, near Oxford Circus tube. A part electronic animated advert offering a discount at a local store. If you text to 79990 you'll receive a Datamatrix code.In this case, it's the store which is using the code; they'll scan it in before giving you a discount.This is a pretty good way of distributing codes. The retailer gets your phone number and, when you show the…
Continue reading →bluetooth marketing spam · 7 comments · 300 words · Viewed ~434 times
Bluetooth spam. It's been debated for a long time, but it looks like it's becoming a reality in the UK now that the ICO say marketers do not need opt-in consent - although the DMA differs in opinion. I was quietly sat in a London restaurant when my phone bleeped into action. Would I like to receive a Bluetooth message from "Coca-Cola". I was curious and I accepted the message - I fully…
Continue reading →nokia symbian · 2 comments · 200 words · Viewed ~221 times
Samir has just released this little auto-rotate app for the N95. As you rotate your phone, the screen reorients itself. It's a brilliant idea and an excellent application... But it really calls into question Nokia's ability to react to the market.The N95 has always had an accelerometer (the device which tells it which way up it is) but it has only ever been used to stablise photos. What a…
Continue reading →qr code · 2 comments · 250 words
QR Codes are funky 2D barcodes. Snap one with your camera phone and you'll get information on your phone. However good your mad T9 skillz are, it's a struggle to type in long URLs, SMS exact keywords to a shortcode or to accurately transcribe a business card onto your phone. That's where QR Codes come in. No more typing - just point and click. Even Google is getting in on the act. They're…
Continue reading →drm music vodafone · 650 words
Some thoughts on MusicStation - in response to Ewan at SMS Text News (I do work for Vodafone, but these are my own opions....) MusicStation by Omnifone is a service offered by Vodafone. For £2 per week, you can download as much music as your phone can store and listen to it any time, anywhere. It is, in essence, iTunes for your mobile. All of the songs are delivered over the air, so you …
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1) Install the PIPs engine from http://koti.mbnet.fi/hinkka/Download.html2) Install the Quake software, also from http://koti.mbnet.fi/hinkka/Download.html3) Get the Shareware version of Quake from http://www.libsdl.org/projects/quake/data/quakesw-1.0.6.zip4) Follow the instructions at http://koti.mbnet.fi/hinkka/installation.htmlHey presto, fragging on your phone. …
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Use your N95 to slice iPhones in half.Light Sabre for the N95It's uses the N95's built in accelerometer. Expect your office to erupt with geekish joy as soon as the first "hmmmmmm" begins. …
Continue reading →roaming · 250 words
Having spent the last few days in foreign climes, I've the following observations about the mobile experience. 1) Shortcodes. I'm aware that there are technical limitations, but it's frustrating not being able to use UK specific shortcodes when abroad. I'm aware that the texperts shortcode (660000) may conflict with a local shortcode - but why can't I prefix it with +44? 2) Meeting invites. If…
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SHKSPR.mobi exists to bring the world's greatest playwrite to the SMS generation! No more will teenagers have to read long and complex prose, they can have everything compressed into a language with which they are more familiar!That is, of course, a load of nonsense. This site exists because I wanted a test bed for all my mobile content. I figured that abusing Shakespeare was the best way to…
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