In 1974, a post-boxing day Britain tuned in to BBC 1 to watch "Robot" - the first Doctor Who story to star Tom Baker. For the next 6 years, 2 months, and 22 days, Tom Baker was The Doctor. But, as these things are wont to do, it came to an end. Forgive the spoilers, but The Doctor lay broken and bleeding after The Master threw him off the Pharos Project. Death was certain. And then... On the 1st of September, 2003, a young and eager Terence Eden walked into Vodafone to start on the G…
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Today is the European 112 Day! Because the date is 11/2 - just like the number - see! 112 is the European wide emergency services number. Wherever you are in the EU, dialling 112 will get you through to the local emergency services. In fact, most GSM networks outside of the EU will also route your call correctly. This is an important day. Dialling 112 could save your life. Sadly, the UK isn't doing anything to promote it. So, what better way to celebrate than by designing a JIL widget to …
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I've written a very basic JIL widget to launch dabr. You can grab it from https://shkspr.mobi/Dabr.wgt I've tested this to work on the Vodafone 360 H1 - but it should work with any JIL handset. Because it isn't certified, you may need to dial *#35767# to remove the H1's security check. The code is very simple. The JIL SDK allows you to call specific phone application - in this case, all I've done is invoked the browser. <body> <script type="text/javascript"> W…
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Ewan of Mobile Industry Review has published his weekly newsletter in which he is somewhat critical of Vodafone 360. The newsletter is not available on his website, so I'll quote excerpts of it here. This is a tricky blog post for me to write. I am involved in some aspects of Vodafone 360 (mostly My Web) but I certainly do not speak for my employers. I'm currently on holiday - and have been for the entire week - so I haven't had any contact with work colleagues before writing this. This …
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I've been thinking about James Whatley's discussion asking When does Batman sleep? Here's the pull-quote... Sometimes Brian, I find myself stuck in front of the laptop at like 10pm on a Sunday night. The kids are in bed, the wife isn’t far behind and there I am answering customer care questions over Twitter with some guy in Geneva! This isn’t my day job. I’m a developer. My question to you is sir; when does Batman sleep? I find myself in a somewhat similar position. My twitter account, like th…
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Vodafone Update is a combined Twitter, Twitpic and Facebook client for smartphones. I rarely comment on Vodafone specific topics, but as I've already reviewed Dabr and UberTwitter - it would be a shame to leave out Vodafone Update. The usual disclaimer applies - I work for Vodafone Group, but I do not speak for them. Vodafone Update was developed by Vodafone Germany - I don't think I know anyone involved with it though. First, a word of warning. Because this application was developed by…
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(Usual Disclaimer - I work for Vodafone, but I do not speak on their behalf. Other mobile phone providers are available. I know some of the people at SpinVox and I have an account with them. All biases are my own and should be taken into account before you make a decision.) There has been a lot of talk recently about alternate VoiceMail Providers - especially those who transcribe or otherwise deliver your message. I thought I'd give an overview of the four (!) VoiceMail services I use. All …
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[Disclaimer: This event was generously sponsored by Vodafone. I am a Vodafone employee but this post does not reflect the opinions of Vodafone. I helped arrange this sponsorship and am, therefore, highly biased.] A quick review of MobileCampBrighton. Brighton is such a delightful city that it's hard to begrudge it stealing one's Saturday morning lie-in. As I wandered the laines looking for The Skiff, I was worried about how successful this BarCamp event would be. It was the same weekend as…
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There's been a lot of talk over the last year about web-mobile transcoding proxies and all the pitfalls (and pratfalls) that go with them. Last year at mobileCampLondon I gave a talk to people interested in the subject. At various industry events people come up to me to talk about the issue. Recently, this topic has been reignited with an interview with Jayanthi Rangarajan in Mobile Marketing Magazine - so I thought I would share my thoughts and opinions. I was partly involved with the…
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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 don't need to sync your phone with your computer. I use MusicStation on a Nokia N95 8GB. Where …
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...Are fun! One way mirrors, free booze, constructive comments on your products, free food and the endless comedy of people mispronouncing your company's name :-)All fun and games when you work at Vodonfone! (Imported from my old blog) …
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I'm just on the coach back from the Vodafone annual Ball. That was amazing. We knew there would be four musical acts on - but no one had any idea who they were. First up, the incomparable Madness if that had been the headliner, I think a lot of people would have gone home happy. Straight after that - Sheryl Crow! I must admit that I could only name three or four of her songs, but she is an amazing singer and put on a great performance. Third, Blue. Blue are best described as musical Chavs. …
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