The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Archive for June, 2007
Truphone launch v3.0 to public
Jun 30th
Link: Truphone Blog – Internet telephony on Nokia mobile phones
Following on from our exclusive coverage on the new version of Truphone, it’s now out of beta and is ready to go.
Some cool new features include:
- VOIP over 3G
- Presence support
- Free SMS to other Truphone users
- Multiple SIM management for travellers
More at www.truphone.com
Nokia offers mobile photo printing
Jun 29th
Link: Nokia offers mobile photo printing – vnunet.com
Nokia has launched a photo printing service to allow Nseries users to upload images and place an order directly from their smartphones.
Users can select the images in the phone’s gallery application and insert the postal address and other requested information. The order is then processed by CeWe Color and prints are delivered to the address
BBC checks out iPhone rivals
Jun 29th
Link: BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple iPhone faces serious rivals
It’s been the subject of more hype and hullabaloo than any other mobile phone – but the iPhone won’t be available in Britain until late 2007.
But phone manufacturers aren’t just sitting and waiting for the new arrival to storm their market. They claim they already have phones that are just as good looking as Apple’s baby and even smarter.
There’s an interesting video report on the story – worth a watch.
iPLATO launch malaria information by text
Jun 29th
Britons travelling abroad to exotic destinations are now able to receive immediate and free travel health information regarding malaria thanks to a new text messaging service developed by mobile healthcare specialist iPLATO. The service, funded by GlaxoSmithKline Travel Health as part of the Malaria Awareness Campaign, allows travellers to text in the name of their destination country to receive relevant information about the malaria prevalence in that country.
Despite the fact that malaria is a preventable disease every year approximately 2,000 British travellers return home with malaria, making the UK one of the biggest importers of malaria among industrialised countries. It is hoped that by making it easier for travellers to access important health advice via their mobile phone that this number will be reduced. The service is designed so that once a traveller has been informed about the level of malaria risk at their destination they will be encouraged to contact a healthcare professional for expert advice on protection. Travellers using the service are charged their standard operator rates and the service is available over all networks.
Malaria is a risk for British travellers as people increasingly visit countries where malaria is common; there has been a 150% increase in travel to malarious destinations amongst British travellers in the last 10 years. The humble mosquito may be tiny, but it only takes one bite from an infected mosquito to transmit this potentially deadly disease.
‘We are delighted with using the mobile channel in helping people correctly assess the malaria risk at their destinations”, says Tobias Alpsten, Managing Director iPLATO. ‘Early reports on the volume of text interactions by travellers using the Malaria Advice Service during the months of May and June alone validate the usefulness of this service and its potentially life saving benefits. We hope that frequent travellers will save this phone number and consult this service whenever they have to.”
If you are travelling abroad and would like to use the service, please text the name of your destination country to 07800 000573 and you will receive the text response with further information. This is not a Premium Rate Service and you will be charged according the standard text message rate set by your network provider.
Apple Leopard’s iChat gets SMS
Jun 29th
Link: Send SMS officially in Leopard’s iChat – The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
Reader CrazyRower sends word of something small, but cool coming to iChat in Leopard. According to screenshots from an account named after Apple’s favorite designer, sending a message to an SMS number is now builtin to the iChat File menu.
As we’ve reported before, this is hardly a new feature– you can do it with your iChat (or any other AIM enabled program; I did it on Adium) right now. All you have to do is go up to File, then New Chat, and instead of the AIM account name, just type “+1″ and then any SMS enabled number. And whoever you message can even reply from the phone, and their reply will appear right back in your chat window.
US-only at the moment it seems, but worth keeping an eye on.
Forget ringtones, you need a Brown-tone
Jun 28th
Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last 24 hours, you probably know that Tony Blair has quit as the UK Prime Minister, to be replaced by Gordon Brown. He’s not even been in the job a whole day, but already calls are being made for him to… get his own ringtone!
Last week the Boston Herald reported that US presidential hopeful Barack Obama had started offering his own branded free ringtones and wallpapers. According to the article, “The ringtones feature a techno beat along with lyrics like ‘Go, Obama, Obama!” or clips of speeches the Illinois senator has made on universal health care.”
Not being one to miss a trick, UK personalised ringtone service Singtones has offered Gordon Brown a similar opportunity to engage hard-to-reach British youngsters. The service lets people record their favourite tracks, which are then ‘fixed’ so even the worst voices sound good. The final version, complete with backing track, is then sent as an mp3 file to mobile phones to use as a unique personalised ringtone and caller ID.
“We’ve had a lot of fun speculating which song Mr Brown will go for,” says Singtone boss Jeff Bloom. “He’s waited a long time for the keys to Number 10, so Take That’s Patience would be a good option. Alternatively, Walking on Sunshine might better reflect the optimism of his first days in office.”
Manchester NHS uses SMS for Stop Smoking Campaign
Jun 28th
Smokers in Manchester can now text the NHS Stop Smoking Service and receive stop smoking support, thanks to a deal with Mobifi.
It is being used in a number of different campaigns and by utilising different keywords it provides valuable feedback to measure the success of each marketing ploy. For example, the keyword ‘Galaxy’ is being used for a target campaign with Galaxy Radio and the keyword ‘Smoke’ is being promoted on beer mats which have been distributed to over 100 pubs in Manchester.
People send an SMS text to the Stop Smoking Service and then receive a call providing them with a list of support options, including local trained pharmacists where they live, nearest drop in sessions and also to book appointments with specialist stop smoking advisors.
With only a few days to go until smoking is banned in public places here in England, it’s good to see the NHS is using technology to help smokers quit the habit.
Jersey gets new mobile network
Jun 28th
Jersey Airtel, a subsidiary of the Bharti Group, today announced the launch of its mobile services on the Island. The Company will offer market-leading products and services under the Airtel-Vodafone brand to customers on the Island, over its full 2G, 3G and HSDPA enhanced network.
To celebrate the launch, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Group CEO, Bharti was in Jersey today to serve the first customer at the Airtel-Vodafone shop, centrally located in Queen Street, St Helier. During his visit, Mr. Mittal also met representatives from the political and business sectors.
Commenting on the launch, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal said, “This is a special day for all of us at Bharti and we are delighted at the launch of our services in Jersey. We are committed to bringing world-class services to customers and adding value to communities and businesses on the Island.”
ROK to bring CNBC to mobiles
Jun 28th
Mobile entertainment company ROK have just announced they’ve inked a deal with American broadcaster NBC to bring their CNBC Europe channel to mobiles.
“We’re delighted to have CNBC Europe as a flagship channel on ROK TV” said Jonathan kendrick, Chairman of ROK “as we know there is a huge and as-yet untapped demand for live and instantly-available business and financial news amongst our mobile TV customers.”
Commenting on the deal, Martin Kay of CNBC said “ROK TV is a great partner for us to deploy our channel into dozens of mobile operators around the world because of its international reach, and because it is not limited to 3G operaors.”
CBS review the iPhone
Jun 28th
American TV network CBS had a quick sneak peek and review of the iPhone this morning. It’s on YouTube for your viewing pleasure – unfortunately as embedding has been disabled I couldn’t post it here. Worth a watch though, even if it’s only to see some of the features that’ve been talked about before on here.
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