you want to start something?

Techcrunch writes about the iPhone 3GS:

Don’t get me wrong, the compass is interesting, but aside from Google Maps and maybe the GPS apps, I really don’t see the point of it. And for the first few days I had no idea how to activate the compass features in Google Maps — you have to tap the location button (in the lower left corner) twice.

Someone please explain to this man the virtues of Augmented Reality.

What you’re seeing here is a iPhone 3GS video-recording an app running on an iPhone 3GS. The app overlays an icon on the screen when the phone is heading “east” (for determined values of East).

Again, just a simple couple of hours tech demo but the possibilities are amazing.

Tags: Commentary, Cool, Do Something Now, Location-Aware by mj
No Comments »

News Distribution Service for Government and the Private Sector

The Prime Minister has today announced the creation of the UK Innovation Investment Fund to invest in technology-based businesses with high growth potential. The new fund will focus on investing in growing small businesses, start-ups and spin-outs, in digital and life sciences, clean technology and advanced manufacturing.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, with the Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department of Health, will invest £150 million alongside private sector investment on an equal basis known as pari-passu.

OK, so £150 million is coming from the government on an equal basis with private sector investment which, by my calculations, should create a £300 million fund.

It is the Government’s belief that this could leverage enough private investment to build a fund of up to £1 billion over the next 10 years. The UK Innovation Investment Fund forms part of the Government’s strategy for Building Britain’s Future.

We’re obviously not in receipt of the facts (and this sort of addition might be responsible for MP allowances scandals). £150 million of public money plus equal participation from the private sector equals £300 million and not £1 billion. Now – we can make allowances that this is over 10 years so the revenue gained from licensing and exits of companies funded might contribute sufficient back to increase the value of the fund. Might.

Either way, the £150 million will barely cover the administration fees of the various private VC funds that will be needed to make up the other £850 million to make this into a £1 billion fund.

Just sayin’

Tags: Commentary by mj
2 Comments »

TGDaily starts with the headline:

UK Government minister says iPhone is a security risk

and then continues with the text:

London, England – UK Security Minister, Lord West of Spithead, says he won’t carry an iPhone or Blackberry due to security concerns.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday to announce the set-up of the UK’s Cyber Security Operations Centre, Lord West said that he fears attack from muggers or hackers and does not feel safe in his home neighborhood in east London.

Tells you one thing.

TDDaily knows that no-one gives a flying fuck about headlines mentioning the Blackberry.

As for the actual content, the honourable government minister should shut the fuck up considering the data loss we’ve suffered under this current administration which, I note, was fuck all to do with iPhones or Blackberry devices and more to do with CD-ROMs, laptops and USB memory sticks.

Tags: Annoyances, Commentary by mj
No Comments »

One of the things about this sort of tech is that it needs explained to people. Like the compass in the new iPhone. Most people weren’t impressed until it was explained that the compass might as well be a sensor attached to the person’s head – it shows the way they are looking, and using the camera as the portal for augmented reality, means they see what you tell them to look at.

The fact that the iPhone 3.0 software finally brings in accessories means that we’re a hop-skip-jump away from clip-on gamepads and other devices which will turn our iPhones into the mobile computing powerhouses that a lot of us expected the Newton to be.

And speaking of hopping, skipping and jumping, I thought this was quite cool…

In a stance that’s uncommon for a company that has historically relied on patented technology like its Air cushioning system, Nike seems to be genuinely excited to see these tools sprout up. After all, the more apps out there, the more Nike+ gear the company can sell. “The more we can open up Nike+, the better,” says Stefan Olander, who oversees digital content for the Nike+ site. “The only reason to close it out is because you actually don’t believe that you have a strong enough product for others to want to take it and do good things with it.” So far, Nike hasn’t officially released a software kit to allow developers to hook directly into Nike+, but that’s likely to come.

The Nike+ is an established device that takes impact data from your footfalls, turning the average walk or run into a game where you’re the player, the coach and the referee – a game where the goal is to reduce your times and up your distances. By doing so, of course, you do exercise.

My interest is where the Nike+ can be taken after this. Can it be used as an additional activator? For instance, in a game, can a certain number of foot stamps be taken as a directive? How can the application of footfalls, momentum, speed be applied to augmented reality?

Tags: Commentary, Cool, Social, health, iPhone by mj
1 Comment »

Techcrunch’s Sarah Lacy asks if Execution is more important than Vision

Napster changed the music world, but it was iTunes that profited off of it. Google was one of the last companies in the Internet bubble to try their hand at building a search engine—and was laughed out of some VCs’ offices as a result. Palm pioneered the smart phone, not Blackberry. And Friendster was the social network pioneer before Mark Zuckerberg even entered college.

I’ve always been of the opinion that execution or implementation matters much more than vision or ideas. As someone who has a lot of ideas, this is no small amount of pain to bear – the knowledge that I’m seldom going to be the person building the ideas I have.

Back more than a decade ago when I was writing, the whole point of writing was to get some of the ideas I had out of my head and into the world. It didn’t actually matter if anyone read them, it was cathartic to write, I got real enjoyment out of it. It took my ideas and gave them somewhere to live in the real world. With writing I could produce something – but when the idea was an image, I’d have to pay someone to draw it. It’s the same with code – though it’s a lot more expensive to get someone to write code than draw an image (As I have discovered).

But rather than sit on these ideas, I’ve done something about it. No-one could ever accuse me of being secretive with these ideas, with my vision of things – quite the opposite when I have lunch with folk and they tell me to be more secretive. I’ve even threw a few ideas into a melting pot with two separate groups of developers to see if any of them catch. Maybe some of them will create something cool and maybe, just maybe, they’ll remember me. What’s more important to me is that someone does these things, someone builds them.

Y’see, implementation, execution, is important. I’m always hearing of folk who won’t talk to developers or potential funders without the protection of an NDA without realising that they themselves are the main ingredient. I’m sure there will be others who reckon we should maintain the secrecy, maintain a barrier of protection especially when speaking to funders. After all – if you have but 2d and they have a hundred grand, who is better placed to put together a plan to implement the idea? But if my heart and soul are not part of the vision, then it’s not an idea I’ll lose sleep over.

Tags: Commentary, Startup by mj
10 Comments »