Mobile

Bokode - replacing barcode and RFID?

MIT scientists have devised a new coding standard that can be read from digital cameras, and will be used in everything from augmented reality to motion capture. Rather than being a simple flat image, like a barcode or a QR code, Bokode uses a light beam, whose brightness and angle are encoded with information. The tag itself is tiny–about the size of the @ symbol in a keyboard. But it contains thousands of bits of data. Cliff Kuang, MIT’s Bokode: A Tiny Barcode Replacement That’s Chockablock With Data

Guess we need to add definitions for Bokode and QR code.

A QR code (quick response code) is a two-dimensional bar code. In Japan, QR codes have become more popular than barcodes. A typical barcode can hold a maximum of 20 digits.  A QR code can hold up to 7,089 characters. How? Well,  barcodes can only span horizontally.  QR codes can span horizontally and vertically.

Bokodes take the concept a step further.

According to Quinn Smithwick at MIT, the current version of bokode tech uses a 2D data matrix with Reed Solomon error correction and can hold megabits of information.  Bokodes are going to be perfect for augmented reality.

Imagine going to the opera and looking through your cell phone’s camera at a specific character on stage. Now imagine that character has a bokode beauty mark on her face and when you aim your camera at her face, you can not only find out who that character is, but you can read an entire snyopsis that tells you all about the character and how she fits into the plot. You can even get a bio of the person playing her.

Now imagine doing the same thing when you’re shopping. There might be a bokode on the store’s welcome sign, telling you what’s on sale.  There might be a bokode on the sales tag for the jacket you’re looking at, telling you through your camera’s viewfinder what the jacket is made of, where it was made, how much it costs and how to clean it.  In the shoe department, that bokode on the bottom of the shoe you want to try on will tell you if the store has it available in your size.

Will all that hoo-ha about RFID tags on consumer goods being too intrusive will fade away? From what I’m learning about bokodes, the answer just might be “yes.”

Overheard - Difference between CDMA and GSM

“The two biggest differences between the CDMA and GSM standards are international compatibility and how the networks handle activating phones.” Adama D. Brown, Brighthand FAQ: What’s the difference between CDMA and GSM?

Outside the U.S. and Canada, most GSM phones will still work, while almost all CDMA phones simply can’t be used overseas.

CDMA phones are activated remotely, by the carrier, using the phone’s serial number, known as the ESN. Since each carrier has a database of all the ESNs that are approved for its network, this lets most CDMA carriers refuse to activate phones not originally intended for their network.

GSM phones are activated differently. Each account is associated with what’s called a SIM card, or Subscriber Identity Module. This card, about the size of a fingertip and the thickness of a piece of paperboard, carries an encrypted version of all the information needed to identify your wireless account to the network. You slip it into the appropriate slot on a GSM phone (usually under the battery) and that phone is ready to use.

Overheard - WiMAX and LTE

For most service providers and consumer, 4G wireless has the potential to deliver 40 Mbps or more of broadband connectivity per user. There are two technologies capable of supporting this requirement: WiMAX from the IEEE and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)’s Long-Term Evolution (LTE). Tom Nolle,  Three 4G business models emerge for LTE and WiMAX

Operator studies suggest that the migratory WiMAX model is most valuable in cities with large student populations, areas where mass transit is used for commuting in preference to private automobiles, and areas where online video usage has been well-socialized among wireline broadband users.

Where there is a strong wireline content appetite, sustaining that appetite in other places where the user may relax is far easier. On the other hand, in locations where much of the population commutes by car, where the user is older and less likely to view content online at home, and where a large segment of the population of a service area may be moving in from a different area, the mobile-evolution or LTE model is easiest to validate.

Atom - on its way to becoming a system on a chip?

There must be more nuclear physicists over at Intel than I realized; they’re splitting Atoms faster than any scientific team I know of these days. Kevin C. Tofel,  Intel’s Newest Atom CPU Is Already Splitting

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is Intel Atom.  It’s a low-power processor designed specifically for mobile devices that have Internet capabilities. It debuted back in March of 2008.

This week Intel announced Atom v2, code-named PineView.  If you listen to the blogosphere buzz, Pineview, which has a CPU, GPU and memory controller on a single die — is well on its way to becoming the holy grail for netbooks and nettops: a system on a chip. As it is, the new version of Atom moves from a three-chip design to a two-chip design, with graphics and memory controllers moving onto the processor.  The second chip, which provides I/O functions, is being called ‘Tiger Point’.  The combo (Pineview + Tiger Point) is being marketed as the “Pine Trail Platform.”

Location-based service - SMS text ads coming to a cell phone near you

Google has been teaming up with hardware makers to build cellphones with the Mountain View, Calif., company’s Android software, part of its strategy to accelerate mobile Internet access and generate more revenue by selling mobile ads. Scott Morrison, Mobile Ads Seen Picking Up As New Google Phones Hit Market

Today’s WhatIs.com Word of the Day is location-based service (LBS).  Imagine going shopping at your local big-box grocery chain and as the electronic doors whoosh open, your cell phone dings. Who is it? It’s an SMS text message from the grocery store letting you know what’s on sale (forget those old-timey flyers). Or maybe it’s a text coupon, letting you know that your favorite snack food has a two-for-one offer today.

Even as I speak, one of our local New York chains is working to make this happen.  What’s it going to take?  They’re not sure yet, but one thing’s for sure — it’ll take my co-operation.  You see, location-based services are permission based. I’ll either have to download their new iPhone app or register my GPS-enabled cell phone with their loyalty card program.

Interpublic is one of the world’s largest advertising companies — so like E.F. Hutton of years gone by –  when Interpublic speaks, the publishing industry listens.  And according to a new report released by Magna, (the unit of Interpublic that - among other things - provides research and market intelligence to all of Interpublic’s buying operations) mobile ad spends are expected to grow to $229 million in 2009.  That’s down from their original forecast before the economy tanked, but it’s a number that’s still impressive.

Most interesting to me is what kind of ad Magna says will pay off best:

Text messaging platforms represents the best near-term potential for advertisers who want to use mobile devices to support broad-reaching marketing campaigns.   This contrasts with slower growth rates for other more narrow-reaching types of mobile media (such as mobile search, in-call media, mobile video, mobile coupons and mobile gaming).

Tie that in with what Nick Brien’s been recommending about traditional vs. emerging media and one thing’s pretty clear — if you haven’t already been asked to opt-in for SMS ads on your mobile device, you will be soon.  The grocery store is just the tip of the ice berg — and location-based services have definitely reached their tipping point. Nick Brien, a senior executive at Interpublic, says:

In other words, if companies are cutting advertising budgets, they would be well-advised to take money out of traditional TV commercials, while maintaining funding for web search ads; or they should abandon a newspaper campaign, but keep spending to zip-targeted  text ads to cellphones.

Overheard - eBooks reaching the tipping point

Like the move from silent pictures to ‘talkies’, the transition to electronic publishing will prove fatal to laggards. Those aggressively pursuing and developing e-books will rise to take control of the publishing industry. Mike Elgan, Here comes the e-book revolution

Mike Elgan’s done a good job breaking down the reasons why eBooks are about to reach the tipping point. This week’s announcement of the Kindle app for the iPhone was just one more ingredient in the perfect storm.

Overheard - Kindle is a platform, not a device

Amazon’s expansion of Kindle to the iPhone makes me wonder if we’ll soon see Kindle as not just a device, but as a full-fledged publishing platform. Nick Mediati, Amazon Brings Kindle to iPhone

Back in 2007, there was a lot of speculation about Apple going head-to-head with Amazon by creating their own “Safari Pad” reader to compete with Kindle.   How very smart of them to PARTNER with Amazon instead. I think Nick Mediati has hit on something important — especially after seeing how very easy Amazon has made it to publish on Kindle. Kindle is a platform, not a device.

My prediction? Short stories will become popular again. Teachers will publish third grader’s stories on Amazon so Mom and Dan can download and send to Grandma.  Nicole Lee compared the reading experience on both devices.  Check it out.

This is just one more reason why Apple is so smart. You see, the key to the iPhone’s popularity is not just its “cool” factor — it’s how well it plays with others.  And that’s a lesson that Apple is using to win the browser wars.

Industry watchers Net Applications recently reported that Safari owns 67 percent or the market share for  mobile browsing.

With the recent release of Safari 4,  Apple is finally making some progress drawing the PC desktop crowd away from IE and Firefox. How are they doing it?  By promising them speed. The official press release states that Safari 4 “executes JavaScript up to 30 times faster than IE 7 and more than three times faster than Firefox 3.  Safari quickly loads HTML web pages three times faster than IE 7 and almost three times faster than Firefox 3.”

Overheard - Improving iPhone reception in your house

AT&T may be working to improve its cellular network reception by building a femtocell, an in-home cell base station, directly into its fiber-optic U-Verse service’s modem. Glenn Fleishman, AT&T might insert femtocell into fiber modem

Don’t tell my husband, but I’m about to write something…err…negative about his beloved iPhone. You see, in the house, it’s a brick. A lovely, sleek brick, but it’s still a brick. If he wants to make a call when it’s minus 10 degrees, he either has to put on his coat and go out on the deck or use an AT&T calling card.

When he first realized the iPhone wasn’t an indoor phone, he wanted to pick up VoIP from our cable company, but really — how can you justify the cost of iPhone service AND VoIP when our local phone company only charges $7.98 a month for local service? I couldn’t.

Bless you AT&T. A femtocell for ALL our AT&T cell phones is just what we need.

Overheard - MiFi personal cloud

Novatel might be on to something with its MiFi device. It’s basically a rechargeable, portable wireless router that ingests mobile data signals and spits them back out as standard Wi-Fi. The company is calling the technology an “Intelligent Mobile Hotspot,” in case you were longing for some industry jargon. Doug Aamoth, Novatel intros ‘MiFi’ mobile broadband router

A  lot of the blog buzz about MiFi pitches the idea that with your handy-dandy portable router, you’ll be carrying around a personal cloud of high-speed Internet connectivity that can be shared between multiple users and Wi-Fi devices. I can see it being useful to share connectivity, but I’m a little pessimistic about how the pricing structure for service will pan out.  The label “personal cloud” sounds pricey.

Overheard - Top 5 tech stories in Australia

In case you weren’t one of the readers stampeding these stories, here’s are the most popular tales from across TechTarget’s five Australian sites in 2008:

1. SearchCIO readers could not get enough of this story comparing virtualisation wares from Microsoft and VMWare.

2. Career advice clearly appeals to networking professionals, who stampeded this piece about how certifications can improve your prospects at work.

3. Old-school is still big for security pros, who loved this piece about five command line tools to detect Windows hacks.

4. The blend of open source NAS and virtualisation proved the most popular mix for our storage-oriented readers.

5. Bluetooth for Business was the story of most interest to SearchVoIP ANZ readers in 2008.