Hostel Hero – shout out for a great little app!

Jason Morris, an ex-colleague of mine from $BIG_COMPANY, has released his latest app to the iTunes App Store. It’s called Hostel Hero – and pretty much delivers everything I would have wanted for budget accommodation when travelling. For those of us attending WWDC in June this year, it may prove to be very cost effective … Continue reading “Hostel Hero – shout out for a great little app!”

Jason Morris, an ex-colleague of mine from $BIG_COMPANY, has released his latest app to the iTunes App Store. It’s called Hostel Hero – and pretty much delivers everything I would have wanted for budget accommodation when travelling.

For those of us attending WWDC in June this year, it may prove to be very cost effective as well as useful for the traveller. It works on iPhone and iPod touch and caches data for thousands of hotels and hostels across the world and integrates it with Phone, Email and Google Maps. The caching of the data means it works great for offline viewing – pretty essential for backpackers and travellers not wishing to pay up to £6 a megabyte for data (and I’ve griped about roaming charges before!). You can also book your room from within the app as well as view photos of the accommodation.

Did I mention it’s free?

The app has had some excellent reviews already and has recently joined my arsenal of apps on my iPhone due to my current increase in travel plans. You can view the Press Release, a guided tour and the demo video at the Hostel Hero web site.

Jason is also the man behind PlayTripper – another essential app for the frequent traveller or long-term backpacker. I’m guessing he’s passionate about the subject matter, had the skills and intent and developed something he would use. Perfect formula for a great app.

Over 3G, the downloads are a little slow due to the amount of data involved so it’s clever to use WiFi for those bits – and the download progress bar is misleading – it finished before hitting 1% even on 3G. The UI is also a little plain – using Apple’s standard widgets and it could do with a bit of colour and design I think. The main subject of DevDays last week was the application of design to software where it crosses with User Experience. The table views are also very long due to the amount of countries, cities involved and a side-picker like the Address Book would be a big advantage here. There are no luxury hotels listed – no Marriots or Hiltons – and that I’ll take as a negative rather than a positive – it’s great for the cash-conscious traveller but this could appeal to a wider audience with a bit of buy-in from the big names too. The app is consciously designed for the budget traveller so I guess I’m being picky – it’s still a hundred times better than hitting Google for budget accommodation.

I’d be much more inclined to use this for myself (work travel) rather than use it to book a getaway for me and the wife (leisure travel) – that’s the only caveat I would add. I’d also like a bit more information, maybe some filters, for locations that might be kid-friendly. I know that’s a little bit of an oxymoron for budget travel but when I travel it’s more likely to be with kids. Even just for finding hotels and hostels around Ireland and Northern Ireland – it’s already proved it’s worth to me.

GameDevelopers.ie: Irish Game Development 2.0

www.gamedevelopers.ie is partnering the IDA Ireland to organize the event, Irish Game Development 2.0, on Friday the 15th of May from 6.00pm in the Trinity Science Gallery on Pearse Street in Dublin. This event will see speakers from PlayFirst and PopCap talking about both the technical and business side of developing casual games for PC … Continue reading “GameDevelopers.ie: Irish Game Development 2.0”

www.gamedevelopers.ie is partnering the IDA Ireland to organize the event, Irish Game Development 2.0, on Friday the 15th of May from 6.00pm in the Trinity Science Gallery on Pearse Street in Dublin.

This event will see speakers from PlayFirst and PopCap talking about both the technical and business side of developing casual games for PC and iPhone.

Speaking on the night will be Barry O’Moore, Senior Producer of PlayFirst International Inc (www.playfirst.com), a recent startup in the Guinness Enterprise Centre and a branch of a highly successful US based casual games company. He will be followed by Viktorya Hollings, Senior Director of Mobile Games, and Cathy Orr, European PR Director, of PopCap Games International Ltd (www.popcap.com), the well known and regarded casual games company with offices in Dublin.

The industry speakers will be followed by a ‘show n’ tell’ event where indie, company and individual developers show current projects. This will be accompanied by finger food, wine and soft drinks.

Current confirmed demonstrations:
1. “Porting PlayFirst’s games to iPhone” by Chris Gregan.
2. “Coretex: An indie iPhone game made for under 500 euro” by David Kelly
3. “A demo of Digital Sideburns first iPhone game” by Alan Taylor & David Sims

Sadly the event is already sold out. The event was only posted on the 24th April (Friday) and today is Monday. It sold out in 24 hours. Considering the number of no-shows for DevDays Dublin (400 pre-reg, 170 showed up) I reckon there will be a lot of no-shows on the day.

Colour me frustrated.

iPhone now #1 in mobile browsers

Frankly it’s getting boring. These ‘names’ in mobile dissing the iPhone because it didn’t have Cut and Paste and On-Device Search? So what – 37 million iPhone and iPod touch devices and no-one seemed too bothered about Cut and Paste or Search. Yes, they’re a nice addition. I’ve used Search more often than Cut and … Continue reading “iPhone now #1 in mobile browsers”

picture-41

Frankly it’s getting boring.

These ‘names’ in mobile dissing the iPhone because it didn’t have Cut and Paste and On-Device Search? So what – 37 million iPhone and iPod touch devices and no-one seemed too bothered about Cut and Paste or Search. Yes, they’re a nice addition. I’ve used Search more often than Cut and Paste but yes, it may be convenient when I need it – but does it matter.

I mean – it’s late April 2009. The iPhone was released nearly two years ago and this is all the Dvoraks of this world have in their arsenal?

I’m not being a complete fanboi here – the iPhone is not perfect – not by far – but at least it’s showing progress. Having had more than enough exposure to the Blackberry over the last few days, I can confidently say that the device is not popular due to consumer desires (RIM has 25 million subscribers after 10 years. Apple beats it after two) but due to IT department ‘control’ requirements. And Nokia – don’t get me started on Nokia, they’re two years late for a fad. And where’s the rest? SonyEricsson are almost gone from the mindshare, Motorola are gone and the new and shinies are coming from HTC (boring) and LG (Please buy our shit because we put an OLED screen into it.). Wired said in their July 2008 review of the Nokia E71 that it was the legit iPhone killer. Yeah. Didn’t happen.

According to AdMob, iPhone now has 38% of all smartphone traffic. This beats out Nokia with 36%, Blackberry with 11%, Windows Mobile with 6%, Android with 3% and Palm OS with 3%.

And their responses to the iPhone? App Stores. Have you SEEN the Blackberry App World store? It’s embarrassing. Apple’s celebrating their billionth download. The iPhone world is torn between multiple beautiful twitter-apps. On the other hand, the Blackberry offerings look like ass and their App Store is amazingly bereft of content.

Where’s the interest and how many companies are going to get Zuned once Microsoft follows through on THEIR iPhone killer.

But when the only weapon the mainstream mobile media has is:

LOLZ Cut’n’Paste and SEARCH ZOMG!!! LOLZ

These guys are relics. Mobile is a new and vibrant market and these guys are still counting features on a checklist. Where did we see that before? Oh, yes, the PC market. What happened there? All the PC companies died.

Stop counting features. Pay attention to the consumers. The Alpha Geeks have already spoken and you weren’t invited to the party. Smartphones have finally crossed the chasm and you need to sign up or shut up.

iPhone coming to Vodafone

Mere days after I was passed a tidbit that iPhone in the UK was coming to the Orange and 3 networks, I spotted this. which is taken directly from portal.beta.vodafone.com. Note the wording: “Available to all iPhone users including non-Vodafone customers.” There might be more to think about this summer than just when to pick … Continue reading “iPhone coming to Vodafone”

Mere days after I was passed a tidbit that iPhone in the UK was coming to the Orange and 3 networks, I spotted this.

picture-2

which is taken directly from portal.beta.vodafone.com.

Note the wording:

“Available to all iPhone users including non-Vodafone customers.”

There might be more to think about this summer than just when to pick up the third generation iPhone. There’s also the network to consider.

AT&T likes the iPhone

“AT&T continues to note that iPhone owners tend to spend an average of about 1.6 times more per month than other subscription users and are less likely to defect, with many customers actively switching for the device. About 40 percent of those buying iPhones are new to AT&T, the company says.” … Electronista highlights AT&T’s … Continue reading “AT&T likes the iPhone”

“AT&T continues to note that iPhone owners tend to spend an average of about 1.6 times more per month than other subscription users and are less likely to defect, with many customers actively switching for the device. About 40 percent of those buying iPhones are new to AT&T, the company says.”

Electronista highlights AT&T’s first calendar quarter results:
“AT&T also credits the iPhone for preventing a slide in the company’s wireless operating income margin, which has been kept high at 40.9 percent, and for more than doubling the number of smartphones on the network in the past year: about 31.7 percent of the 61 million subscription phones are in the smartphone class.”

I would reckon that proportional figures are likely for O2 as well. iPhone, despite being “old hat” for some, is still an object of desire for many who find themselves holding onto older phones so they can wait out their tiresome contract.

Useless statistics

http://devdays.info DevDays is a two day conference that I’ve organised with the help of some stalwarts and funding from IntertradeIreland and the Digital Circle. To make things more difficult, the first day is in one city, the second in another. We have about 354 unique registrations. About two thirds of the registrations are for Dublin. … Continue reading “Useless statistics”

http://devdays.info

DevDays is a two day conference that I’ve organised with the help of some stalwarts and funding from IntertradeIreland and the Digital Circle. To make things more difficult, the first day is in one city, the second in another.

We have about 354 unique registrations.
About two thirds of the registrations are for Dublin.
17 people are attending both Dublin and Belfast. This number does include me.
30 attendees describe themselves as “experienced” with iPhone development.
Nearly a third of registered folk use Google’s gmail as their main email account.

So, yes, useless statistics (but then you have to wonder about a bloke who organises two conferences in two cities on consecutive days and is yapping about the statistics of registrations at 1 am on a Friday night).

I’m off to bed.

Project Canvas

Earlier today I was at BBC Broadcasting House in Bedford Street and enjoyed a 90 minute chat with Carrie Matchett, head of Governance and Accountability with the BBC Trust. I was there really to accompany two of the Digital Circle steering group, Davy Sims (Davy is a stalwart of the BBC and unbelievably well respected … Continue reading “Project Canvas”

Earlier today I was at BBC Broadcasting House in Bedford Street and enjoyed a 90 minute chat with Carrie Matchett, head of Governance and Accountability with the BBC Trust. I was there really to accompany two of the Digital Circle steering group, Davy Sims (Davy is a stalwart of the BBC and unbelievably well respected in the media world by everyone I’ve met. Possibly the only person I know who everyone describes as “really great”) and Martin Neill (wise beyond his tender years with experience of the music and online media world and contacts to match).

The meeting was about Project Canvas:

“The BBC Executive has asked the BBC Trust for permission to develop a joint venture to promote a standards based open environment for internet connected television devices, otherwise known as ‘Project Canvas’. For consumers this would enable subscription-free access to on-demand television services and other internet-based content, through a broadband connected digital device.”

The points made were varied and covered the gamut of discussions from RQIV (Reach, Quality, Impact, Value) to who would Project Canvas be competing against?

I made the point more than once that Canvas has to be a useful and attractive alternative to online bootlegging (I’m sworn off calling it “piracy”). The most recent Dr WHO episode was available to download on the ‘illegal’ networks a mere 25 minutes after it was broadcast and in much better quality than what was offered by iPlayer. Downloaded “illegal” copies remove the credit, remove any metrics gained and make it impossible to gauge any of the RQIV parameters.

It has to attempt to avoid DRM where possible (because it only punishes the honest. While those of us who pay for DVDs and pay to go to the cinema are forced into watching anti-“piracy” commercials and threatened with “unlimited fines”, the folk who download movies often get them at 720p or better with the threats and cajoling missing. And the crap they spew about how the quality is bad on downloaded movies – obviously the author of those threats has never been to a Northern Irish cinema – downloads are much crisper than anything I’ve seen in a NI cinema.

And stop demonising those who do download. One thing the RIAA has managed to do in the Internet age is cement it’s position as an organisation comprised of dickheads. What sort of organisation sues 13 year old kids. And corpses.

As a license fee payer, BBC Content is MY content and I want to be able to watch it wherever I want. This means relying on unencrypted streams or downloads. This means NOT tying yourself to proprietary software – I don’t care if you choose between DRM’ed Windows Media (which I can’t play) or DRM’ed Adobe AIR (which I can’t play).

Take a hint here – the record labels railed against Apple and others about DRM and now we have DRM-free tracks being sold everywhere. It took a couple of years but we got there.

Take a hint here – the most annoying thing about DVDs is the region encoding. Skip ahead, get rid of it.

Take a hint here – what will people be watching their media on “tomorrow”? If you don’t know, keep the data in an open standard format rather than one company’s licenced crown jewels.

I’ll be surprised if Project Canvas is anything other than Adobe AIR, DRM’ed out the back side, designed to self-destruct in 30 days and all the rest of the nonsense forced on us by media moghuls who don’t “get” the Internet. Folk who don’t realise that the competition is free and open. It may be illegal, but it’s free and open and often in better quality. The alternative is to start sueing kids for wanting to watch Dr Who without the low quality iPlayer interface and the dreadful buffering.

To defeat online bootlegging, all you have to do is provide folk with a reasonable alternative. It’s a bold step but then my expectation is that the BBC can take bold steps. And take them confidently.

Symbian NetBooks? Why not?

For kicks and giggles, the Symbian Foundation ported their platform to run on Atom, the Intel chipset which seems to be powering these popular NetBooks. Engadget wrote: “the only question left to be answered is whether there’s a place in the world for a Symbian-powered netbook.” The irony here is that the Symbian OS first … Continue reading “Symbian NetBooks? Why not?”

For kicks and giggles, the Symbian Foundation ported their platform to run on Atom, the Intel chipset which seems to be powering these popular NetBooks. Engadget wrote:

“the only question left to be answered is whether there’s a place in the world for a Symbian-powered netbook.”

The irony here is that the Symbian OS first appeared on small PDA-like and in some cases, NetBook-alike devices. The real issue (and what Engadget means I think) is whether the proliferating number of NetBooks and potential operating systems (Windows XP, Windows 7, Mac OS X “Hackintosh”, several flavours of “desktop” Linux, Android), is there any point in chasing the NetBook market.

It won’t be for me. I found it very hard to use a NetBook and ended up giving it away to family who wanted a tiny laptop.

And with Nokia’s current revenue issues it might service them better to address their current markets. For last quarter their operating profit was only $72 million (down from $2 billion in the year ago quarter). They shipped only 80% of their 1Q08 numbers as well. In the smartphone market, their shipments dropped from 14.6 million to 13.7 million over the last year as they content with strong competition from RIM and Apple. They are pinning a lot o hope on their 5800 touchscreen phone, the only touchscreen phone in their arsenal.

I wish they’d pay more attention to their Maemo platform though. Mine (an N800) is feeling neglected as the last release I loaded was sluggish and had horrific usability bugs.

Someone gotta be kidding…

This has to be some sort of joke. Avon is currently advertising the “Anew Clinical Derma Full X3 Facial Filling Serum with Free Anew Rejuvenate Beauty Bonus Bag” which looks like this. I’m not convinced I’d want to use this (though @dressjunkie has a free sample). It looks a bit like the T-Virus from Resident … Continue reading “Someone gotta be kidding…”

This has to be some sort of joke.

Avon is currently advertising the “Anew Clinical Derma Full X3 Facial Filling Serum with Free Anew Rejuvenate Beauty Bonus Bag” which looks like this.

prod_909090s

I’m not convinced I’d want to use this (though @dressjunkie has a free sample). It looks a bit like the T-Virus from Resident Evil. Someone else has done the comparison:

t-virus
Image from Geekologie, used without persmission.

In the movie, the T-Virus was also an anagathic…

Forrester Research recommends Businesses choose iPhone

Forrester Research writes: Is iPhone ready for your company? At least three firms we spoke with — including Kraft Foods and Oracle — think it is. … The big iPhone lessons are: It’s more than just another device; it drives business culture change; it gives employees freedom to choose their own tools; and it changes … Continue reading “Forrester Research recommends Businesses choose iPhone”

Forrester Research writes:

Is iPhone ready for your company? At least three firms we spoke with — including Kraft Foods and Oracle — think it is.

The big iPhone lessons are: It’s more than just another device; it drives business culture change; it gives employees freedom to choose their own tools; and it changes the support model to self-service.

The biggest obstacle to Macs and iPhones in the enterprise has always been the IT Department. Back when I was working in corporate IT, the word Mac was treated with disdain even though my older model Mac OS X-sporting PowerBook G3 easily beat any of the Windows 2000-equipped DELL Latitudes that we were supplied with. Speed? Check. Battery Life? Check. Compatibility with our network? Check. Ability to access our servers? Check. The fact it ran a UNIX and had a great Java layer (at the time) just sealed the deal. I’ve never been one to just put up with technology because it’s supplied free of charge to me. I spent my own money to be better at my job.

Look at the lessons above which Forrester Research has highlighted?

It drives Business Culture Change
It gives Employees freedom to choose their own tools
It changes the support model to self-service.

Is it any wonder that IT departments are resistant. These things would actually require several things off any established (entrenched) IT department: value, user-centred care and possibly budget-reduction.

Looking at those items as a CEO, they’re obviously going to be attractive. Looking at them as a CIO, they’re a nightmare. Very few CIOs (and none in Northern Ireland that I’ve ever met) have worked hard to reduce their annual budget. Cost reduction is a bit of a sham – it’s all about finding lower cost (cheaper) tools, shaving pennies off the budget rather than finding real value.

I’ve talked about this before. Forrester is agreeing here. You’ll make real savings, you’ll have happier users, you’ll see increased productivity.