The website of Alex Kinch, live from London
Archive for June, 2007
ROK Acquires Blubox
Jun 25th
Mobile entertainment company ROK have announced today they’ve acquired data optimisation and compression specialists Blubox Software.
Commenting on the acquisition, Jonathan Kendrick, Chairman of ROK said “Blubox have created the most powerful, user-friendly and original compression technologies for the management of digital imagery and data files that we have yet seen and, with our core interest being in mobile phone applications, we know there is a massive potential, worldwide, for this technology in the mobile phone space in addition to, and in conjunction with, the online service.”
If you’ve never heard of Blubox before, here’s the scoop. They’ve got technology that typically compressed JPEG images by about 80% – which means you can upload those pics faster from your phone, and use less data in the process. They’ve also got a nifty PC application that allows you to manage, encrypt, upload and compress your photos.
The implications for this sort of technology being used on mobiles is potentially huge. Even though phones nowadays are coming with increasing amounts of storage, the resolution of digital cameras on mobiles is also increasing – so space is still at a premium. Factor in the average £3/meg data charge, and you could quite easily splash a tenner just uploading a handful of photos. By reducing the file size by up to 80%, you could benefit from less memory usage, faster upload and splash a lot less cash on getting the photos up to your favourite photo website, like Flickr.
Virgin Mobile celebrate birthday with SMS giveaway
Jun 25th
Link: Virgin Mobile celebrates birthday with free SMS offer
Happy Birthday to Virgin Mobile’s South Africa operation – they celebrated their first year in the market on Friday. And to say thank you to their customers, they’re offering free Virgin to Virgin SMS until this coming Sunday (June 30th).
Peter Boyd, CEO of Virgin Mobile SA, has also said that part of the proceeds from any new subscriptions purchased before this Sunday will be donated to homeless charities, and will go towards the purchase of blankets for the homeless.
Virgin Mobile, who use operator CellC’s infrastructure, are believed to have around 150,000 subscribers at present - according to an article in the South African Sunday Times. They also quoted Virgin boss Richard as saying “Virgin Mobile has cracked the South African mobile telephony market many thought was oversaturated and impenetrable. We are growing from strength to strength and we are here to stay.”
Organisation calls for ‘fair play’ for prem SMS comps
Jun 25th
Link: New Program Sets to Protect the Public from Premium Rate Phone In Competition ‘Rip Off’s’
Premium Rate expert Richard Howard has called for an independent accreditation program to monitor competitions run via premium SMS and voice services in the UK.
“No doubt the last few weeks have certainly been some of the darkest in Premium Rate History. I’ve been disgusted by the number of high profile phone-in services that haven’t been giving users an equal chance to win and believe that the overwhelming amount of negative coverage regarding competitions via phone and SMS is in danger of permanently scaring such services with a “rip off” stamp where as in reality only a fraction of such services are deliberately run against ICSTIS’s Code of Practice.”
“I have long believed that the public have been crying out for a recognizable & trusted stamp that validates competitions run by Premium Rate, a scheme that independently confirms the cost per entry, the prize, who runs the promotion & explains how the winner is selected. And so due to public demand I will be leading the launch of such a program.”
The scheme called “Fair Play Competitions” is the first of its kind will encourage premium rate competition promoters to join to verify that their competition operates not only to ICSTIS guidelines but also to the Fair Play Competitions program’s strict moral code.
You can find out more about the proposed scheme at www.fairplaycompetitions.co.uk
Asia to overtake Europe for mobile TV
Jun 23rd
Asia is set to overtake Europe’s early lead in adopting mobile television broadcasting as Europe struggles to find available airwaves for broadcasts, industry executives at an Asian trade fair said this week.
“Out of the regions of the world this represents the most interesting at the moment,” Peter MacAvock, executive director of industry body DVB Project, told Reuters in an interview at the BroadcastAsia fair in Singapore.
Interesting news. Here’s the killer quote though:
“Everybody thinks mobile TV is a great idea, but when it’s time to get out the chequebook everyone starts to look at each other,” MacAvock said.
Police Chief: ‘Stop texting me crime reports’
Jun 23rd
Link: Daily Express, Sabah, Malaysia — News Headlines
There’s been a few services launched recently that allow you to text a non-urgent crime report or tip-off to the police. Most of these involve some kind of automated system and tracking – however in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, things are a little different.
City Police Chief ACP Ku Chin Wah has apparently been giving out his personal mobile number for concerned citizens to text him. However, he’s been rather overwhelmed with texts, meaning he can’t always respond straight away.
The Chief said: “The public must call the city police hotline number instead of (calling or) texting to my mobile over a crime or any emergency because I will only check that phone when I am free [...] so it would not be a good idea to report a crime that needs the police’s attention right away”.
The article cites an example where a 49 year old man in Luyang sent Ku a text to report a break-in at his property on Tuesday. Although the text was received at 10.26pm, he didn’t get a chance to read it until around 12.30am.
This appears to be one of those ‘you couldn’t make it up’ stories. The idea is good in theory, but reporting crime to someones personal mobile is a bit pointless. If anyone reading offers mobile services in Malaysia, you could do no worse than give Police Chief Ku a call. You’ll find his mobile number in the original article.
Incidently the man reporting his house being burgled saw sense and called the proper police number, who sent out a patrol vehicle and caught a suspect in possession of a roll of electrical wire, believed to have been removed from the house. All’s well that ends well..
Orange to offer targeted ads on directory service
Jun 23rd
Link: News | Orange to offer targeted SMS ads – NMA
New Media Age report that Orange is to bring SMS marketing to their directory enquiry service. According to the article, after a consumer calls the service on 118 000, they will receive a text message with the information requested, along with a relevent advert.
Orange have teamed up with service provider PhoneSpots, who’ll be offering click-to-call, pay-per-click, impression-based and subscriptions to potential advertisers.
Orange breach UK Data Protection Act
Jun 22nd
Link: Orange and Littlewoods breach Data Protection Act, says ICO | OUT-LAW.COM (Via The Register)
The UK Information Commisioner’s Office have today ruled that Orange breached the Data Protection Act’s security rules.
The case followed a complaint about the way Orange processed personal information – in particular they were allowing new staff to share usernames and passwords for the company’s IT systems. Following an investigation, the ICO found that Orange was not keeping it’s customers personal information secure.
In addition to a general promise to comply, Orange’s undertaking states: “The sharing of user names and passwords by Customer Service Representatives, to access computer systems, shall not be allowed under any circumstances.”
Failure to meet the conditions of the undertaking is likely to lead to further enforcement action by the ICO and could result in prosecution by the Office.
I used to get phone calls from companies claiming to be Orange themselves, or a ‘partner’, trying to get me to extend my contract, change tariff, come back to Orange after porting, etc etc. Most of the time their info was so out of date it was hilarious. However, how did they get that information in the first place?
Nokia and Vodafone help share ideas
Jun 22nd
Nokia and Vodafone have launched a new website designed to help share ideas on how to use mobile communications for social and environmental benefits. The site, www.shareideas.org, was created in direct response to NGO calls for better tools and information to help them use mobile services more effectively in their work.
Ndidi Nwuneli, Founder and CEO of LEAP Africa, a Nigerian NGO dedicated to nurturing a new generation of African leaders, said, “The positive contribution mobile technology can make to societies is without doubt, but to realise its full potential we need to share our experiences and learnings more effectively. The partnership between Nokia and Vodafone has created something which is simple and practical to use, and will give us access to information which will help make a real difference to people’s lives.”
UK Gov tackle mobile theft with txt spk
Jun 22nd
Link: ‘Txt Spk’ Campaign To Tackle Mobile Theft |Sky News|UK News
With rather ironic timing after Ewan’s recent mobile phone theft, the UK Government have announced a £500k advertising campaign aimed at reducing mobile phone theft.
The Home Office advertisments, targeting 16-25 year olds, are asking ’r u getting the msg?’, and stressing that stolen mobile phones will be turned into a brick within 48 hours as they’ll be blocked from all networks.
Baroness Scotland, the Minister responsible for the campaign, said: “Home Office minister Baroness Scotland said: “I want this campaign to take the bottom out of the illicit phone market entirely. Young people should be left in no doubt that stolen phones won’t work anymore. The prize will be a dramatic reduction in mobile phone crime overall making young people safer.”
According to statistics obtained by Sky News, seven out of 10 mobile phone thefts occur when a handset is left unattended, and phones are amongst the stolen items in 52% of robberies – and the only item stolen in around 28%.
Since April 2007 it’s been an offence under the Violent Crime Reduction Act to offer to or agree to re-program a mobile phone – whereas before police officers had to actually catch someone in the act of re-programming a mobile before being able to arrest them.
4INFO raise another $10m
Jun 22nd
Link: 4INFO :: Mobile Search, Publishing and Advertising Leader
Congratulations to US mobile search company 4INFO, who’ve just announced a funding round of $10 million, led by Gannett Co., Inc. In case you’re not familiar with 4INFO, they provide SMS-based mobile search and alert services -including sports scores, stock quotes, weather updates, horoscopes, and more.
“We’re proud to have the opportunity to build on our relationship with Gannett, a visionary company that is leading traditional media’s expansion into the mobile sphere,” said 4INFO CEO Zaw Thet. “Gannett’s support enables 4INFO to continue to advance our business of providing useful, timely information to consumers via their mobile phones and marketers with a unique way to reach an engaged mobile audience.”
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