New movies made with cellphones? No thanks!

Nokia and famous director Spike Lee signed an agreement for the later to edit user generator cellphone videos and create a mini 3-part series of 5-minute episodes. That’s fine and Nokia does well to contract a big name of modern cinema to promote the video capabilities of its phones. (continued)

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Google’s 2D barcodes struggle to bridge paper ads and web

Airlines are already aware of the virtues of 2D barcodes and we will possibly see airline electronic boarding passes in the near future. Google has been quick to foresee the advantages of 2D barcodes, one of them being that a mobile telephone with a camera can read it, and with the right software automatically convert it to a conventional web address for immediate access.

Although simple as a concept, it is an ingenious way to bridge printed material with the web, where for the moment Google is unmatched. Barcodes could give instant access not only to web pages but also to very specifically targeted ads, depending on date or geography. And all this with maximum comfort, without even typing a single character of a web address.

2D barcodes exist from the 80s and are so far utilised mostly in industry. It was in 1999 that the Japanese Denso-Wave came up with the idea of reading a barcode photo with a mobile telephone. Since then, Japan has become the only market where 2D barcodes are widely used. Of course, the fact that the rest of the world has largely not even heard of or seen any of these codes presents a formidable obstacle.

(continued)

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Qualcomm COO Dr. Sanjay Jha Interview at GigaOM

So far, we have been talking about Intel vs AMD. But maybe it is time to call this battle outmoded as Intel is joining the mobile device arena. And who is it going to meet there? Qualcomm of course!

Unlike other succesful corporations, Qualcomm has kept a lower profile and has since 1985 worked systematically to a dominant position with mobile manufacturers. Now Intel’s Atom will probably force it to come out of its relatively low profile stance.

COO Dr. Sanjay Jha was interviewed by Stacey Higginbotham at GigaOM. Here is the things that I found important and I would like to comment on:

EU decides on Nokia backed DVB-H Mobile TV, 4 reasons to not complain

When it comes to new technology standards, having a single protocol on which everybody can base their hardware and service decisions can only be described as a blessing. The European Commission has made a significant move by adopting DVB-H as the single European standard for mobile TV.

Critics argue that it is backed by Nokia and that there is also other standards that might be technologically superior. However, the EU is firm that 16 countries -the majority- in the EU are on course with DVB-H, while the decision will also turn other undecided countries outside the EU towards the same standard. The GSM association is impartial as long as there is a single standard, while some criticism has come from Germany, the Netherlands and the UK.

Microsoft’s Silverlight coming to Nokia smartphones

Silverlight is Microsoft’s competitor to Adobe’s firmly entrenched Flash player. It currently runs on Windows and Mac OS X, but as mobile devices become a new major battleground, Nokia is the best door to knock on as it currently commands 40% of the world market.

According to Crave, the two companies are expected to announce a partnership. Silverlight will be rewritten for Symbian and will be compatible to versions S60 and S40. A Linux version is to follow soon and make happy those of us that need a Nokia N810 for our web surfing needs.

The convergence towards the web

There is loads of opinions on the attempted buyout of Yahoo by Microsoft. Whether there will be a new higher offer is debatable. What matters is that Microsoft needs Yahoo pretty badly in order to enhance its web activities, an area where Redmond’s success has been very limited. Ten years ago we measured success by sales of PCs. Now does anybody consider Dell as a cutting edge company? Its model has remained the same for years and does not attract the attention we were used to in the 90s.

Although hardware sales are still important, IT companies strive to offer those extra services that will keep them competitive and allow them -with customer feedback- to continuously evolve towards more attractive and value added services. Google is the current web master and the medium it uses is much more flexible -and uncertain of course- than PC operating systems. On the other hand, Yahoo has not managed to take advantage of its huge user base, despite the fact that some of its applications are strongly entrenched in the market.

The era when every device will be online is not far, and there is already signs that the future of pure hardware manufacturers is threatened. If Apple can make MP3 players and other hardware that will match its software, I cannot see why the opposite is not possible or necessary. Sony already realises that and tries to get in the game with PS3 services -like Microsoft and its Xbox 360.

The shape of things to come in Barcelona Mobile World Congress 2008

The Barcelona Mobile World Congress of 2008 is finishing tomorrow, and those that are following events even superficially must have already got the message. Smartphones and mobile operating systems are all the rage, and later in 2008 we are going to see some really cool new models. Here is some facts from the event worth mentioning:

• Microsoft is getting ready for the upcoming mobile battle with Google. It has even gone as far as talking with Nokia about integrating Windows Mobile in some of its phones. It has not worked out so far but who knows…
• Android is coming later this year and prototype demos are springing up with OS features trickling out.
• Microsoft and Sony-Ericsson have reached agreement to combine their OS and hardware in new products. Sony-Ericsson is also participating in Symbian, so I am not sure how well this will go down with Nokia…

The story behind Finland’s technological success

In technological comparisons between the EU and the US it is almost always forgotten that in both blocks a few states contribute a large piece of the technological pie and raise the average that eventually appears in the statistics. This state for the US is of course good old California. In the EU, although Germany is still the industrial powerhouse, in technological terms the top spot has been clinched by much less known Finland. Considered as frozen backwater up to the start of the 80s and often joked at by its swede neighbours, Finland consistently appears in the world’s technological top positions for more than ten years now, fighting with the likes of South Korea, Singapore and Japan!

A very interesting post by CNET discussed the very issue of Finland’s ascent to technological fame and how its Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen explains this success. Like in all things tech, good planning and farsighted investment are critical. And in this Finland has excelled, as it has decided from the early 80s that head on competition with low labour cost economies is not wise and it was better to move in high tech fields where it can be ahead of the pack.

Tech developments I would like to see in 2008!

Now that 2008 is only a couple of days away is the right time to write about the developments I would like to see. I am not in favour of votes for the best of each category of 2007. We have all bought and used stuff this last year, we have also already done our choices for Christmas, so what’s the point? After all these things are so much down to personal taste that it is hard to announce a single product or site as the best in its category and clearly above everything else. So many CPU cycles have been devoted to Facebook vs MySpace & iPhone vs Nokia N95 type stories that I think a bit more of that would be overkill. So summarising thoughts from previous posts and by also adding some new ones, here is the things that I would love to see happening in 2008:

• Good, reliable, fast internet access, both wired and wireless. The wired part is getting better briskly. But for wireless still a lot has to be done… 
• Some compatibility between social networks. What is happening now is crazy and exhausting. Separate accounts, separate contacts, separate everything for each one of them. When for example Yahoo and MSN made their messengers compatible -even with limited inter-functionality- it was a great relief for me.