UTStarcom's Coupe 8630: Specially Designed for Seniors

When I did some research on the web to find a good cell phone for seniors, I observed that the UTStarcom Coupe 8630 appeared quite frequently. I decided to learn more about this device and I discovered that this phone was specially designed to be used by senior citizens.

What makes this device a suitable cell phone for seniors? For starters, this mobile phone has a large keypad. This means that seniors will find it easy to press the keys and dial numbers. A small keypad will obviously cause a bit of a problem for old folks because it will be more difficult for them to locate the buttons.

The UTStarcom Coupe 8630 is also a good phone for seniors because it also has 3 large programmable emergency buttons plus a 911 button. This means that seniors can easily call for help by pressing a few buttons. There is no need to memorize any numbers and elderly persons can receive immediate aid with the help of this device.

This mobile phone for senior citizens also features a large display and a good speaker phone. The large displays means that seniors can easily read the display. Old folks normally have poor eyesight so a large display is a requirement for any cell phone for seniors. The speaker phone is also useful for seniors who are hard of hearing.

The UTStarcom Coupe 8630 weighs only 3.3 onces which makes it lighter than average mobile phones. Its relatively light weight makes it an ideal cell phone for seniors because the old folks are not advised to carry heavy objects.

Of course, the Coupe also has limitations. Many reviewers made comments that the device is very limited in terms of the wireless data system. It has no Bluetooth capability and picture messaging is absent in this phone. However, these features are not very significant when you look at the UTStarcom Coupe 8630 as a phone for your grand parents.

Overall, this device is suitable for seniors because of its user friendly qualities. The large programmable emergency buttons plus the 911 button are also great features that may prove important for seniors. If you are looking for a wireless phone for the senior memebers of you family, then the UTStarcom Coupe 8630 is one of the best options.

If you are interested top learn more about this phone then click this link. It will give you the specifications and reviews on this device. I hope this post will help you find a good senior mobile phone for your elderly loved ones.

UTStarcom's Coupe 8630: Specially Designed for Seniors

When I did some research on the web to find a good cell phone for seniors, I observed that the UTStarcom Coupe 8630 appeared quite frequently. I decided to learn more about this device and I discovered that this phone was specially designed to be used by senior citizens.

What makes this device a suitable cell phone for seniors? For starters, this mobile phone has a large keypad. This means that seniors will find it easy to press the keys and dial numbers. A small keypad will obviously cause a bit of a problem for old folks because it will be more difficult for them to locate the buttons.

The UTStarcom Coupe 8630 is also a good phone for seniors because it also has 3 large programmable emergency buttons plus a 911 button. This means that seniors can easily call for help by pressing a few buttons. There is no need to memorize any numbers and elderly persons can receive immediate aid with the help of this device.

This mobile phone for senior citizens also features a large display and a good speaker phone. The large displays means that seniors can easily read the display. Old folks normally have poor eyesight so a large display is a requirement for any cell phone for seniors. The speaker phone is also useful for seniors who are hard of hearing.

The UTStarcom Coupe 8630 weighs only 3.3 onces which makes it lighter than average mobile phones. Its relatively light weight makes it an ideal cell phone for seniors because the old folks are not advised to carry heavy objects.

Of course, the Coupe also has limitations. Many reviewers made comments that the device is very limited in terms of the wireless data system. It has no Bluetooth capability and picture messaging is absent in this phone. However, these features are not very significant when you look at the UTStarcom Coupe 8630 as a phone for your grand parents.

Overall, this device is suitable for seniors because of its user friendly qualities. The large programmable emergency buttons plus the 911 button are also great features that may prove important for seniors. If you are looking for a wireless phone for the senior memebers of you family, then the UTStarcom Coupe 8630 is one of the best options.

If you are interested top learn more about this phone then click this link. It will give you the specifications and reviews on this device. I hope this post will help you find a good senior mobile phone for your elderly loved ones.

Dow Jones in Euros - Le Dow Jones en euros

USA: M3 Money Supply - M3 masse monétaire

Senior Citizens and Mobile Phones

A blog about mobile phones for oldies? We usually associate these devices with young people who like to have the latest gadgets, so making a blog devoted to cellphones for senior citizens may not seem sensible. Mobile phones only became very popular in the last several years so we don't usually see them in the hands of older persons.

However, I think publishing a blog about wireless phones for seniors makes sense. One reason for this is that people aged fifty or older are just as likely to have cell phones as younger people. Senior citizens also use these modern devices as a communication tool for security and emergency purposes. Of course, grandparents also rely on cell phones to keep in touch with their friends, relatives, children and grandchildren.

Some mobile phone companies and carriers have also recognized that old folks may also need these devices so they manufacture mobile phones that are designed for seniors. These cellphones usually have large keypads and displays that are suitable for senior citizens.

Let me give you an example. A Japanese mobile phone company designed the Raku-raku (easy-easy) cell phones that are suitable for seniors. These phones can slow down the caller’s voice to make it easier for older adults who are hard of hearing to converse with a caller. These phones also have a specially designed panic button that allows seniors to call for help in emergencies.

There also some mobile phone plans that cater to senior wireless customers. These mobile phone plans offer discounts and features that fit the lifestyle of older customers. However, these special mobile phone plans for old folks require proof of age before any customer can enjoy the benefits they offer.

I'll discuss the details of these devices and mobile phone plans for seniors in my next posts. I think this post will do as an introduction. I hope that this blog can provide useful information on cell phone for seniors.

Senior Citizens and Mobile Phones

A blog about mobile phones for oldies? We usually associate these devices with young people who like to have the latest gadgets, so making a blog devoted to cellphones for senior citizens may not seem sensible. Mobile phones only became very popular in the last several years so we don't usually see them in the hands of older persons.

However, I think publishing a blog about wireless phones for seniors makes sense. One reason for this is that people aged fifty or older are just as likely to have cell phones as younger people. Senior citizens also use these modern devices as a communication tool for security and emergency purposes. Of course, grandparents also rely on cell phones to keep in touch with their friends, relatives, children and grandchildren.

Some mobile phone companies and carriers have also recognized that old folks may also need these devices so they manufacture mobile phones that are designed for seniors. These cellphones usually have large keypads and displays that are suitable for senior citizens.

Let me give you an example. A Japanese mobile phone company designed the Raku-raku (easy-easy) cell phones that are suitable for seniors. These phones can slow down the caller’s voice to make it easier for older adults who are hard of hearing to converse with a caller. These phones also have a specially designed panic button that allows seniors to call for help in emergencies.

There also some mobile phone plans that cater to senior wireless customers. These mobile phone plans offer discounts and features that fit the lifestyle of older customers. However, these special mobile phone plans for old folks require proof of age before any customer can enjoy the benefits they offer.

I'll discuss the details of these devices and mobile phone plans for seniors in my next posts. I think this post will do as an introduction. I hope that this blog can provide useful information on cell phone for seniors.

GOLD ETF StreetTracks

Source: Forcast Invest

Administration Module

It is actually relatively easy to demonstrate a mobile banking transaction. To connect a phone channel to a banking system and to demonstrate the transaction being initiated by a phone subscriber is by far the easiest problem to solve in mobile banking.

Far more complex but much more important is to also provide robust administrative support for the mobile banking solution. This is an essential component to deliver a commercially sound and a production ready mobile banking system.

In evaluating a deployment ready solution one should expect to find the following components in a well designed Administrative module:

• Support staff access is important as it is probably the biggest risk factor in the operations of the system. Statistics have shown that fraud is more often perpetrated by internal staff and the exposure is also much bigger. Well-designed systems should cater for defined responsibility matrix, with segregation of duties. Techniques like dual authorisation, limits and exception reporting should be available. Proper logging of support staff activities is important so as to ensure that activities can be tracked and audited.
  
• Most of the administration activities are made available by means of suitable procedures. Systems should support standard procedures and workflow for the key functions (like registration of a new subscriber, renewal of a PIN, reversal of a transaction to name a few). In addition the workflow component should be flexible enough to accommodate changes and to add new procedures.
  
• The tasks within the procedures should include Client support functions that would enable a client support staff member to handle queries, set new limits, change personal information etc. Support should be given to search the data by means of surnames, identification numbers etc. in addition to mechanisms to authenticate clients.
  
• Administrative support could include the ability to raise interest and fees. To run reconciliation tasks, to change system parameters or to send communications to support staff or clients.
  
• The availability of Management Information is critical not only to be able to operate a mobile banking system effectively, but also to be able to improve the service.
  
• A well-designed system should cater for External administration functions. This would enable third party suppliers to possibly register clients or to pay commissions. It is preferably to have a defined interface to build customised access to the Administrative functions.
  

Administrative support is often delivered as an afterthought, or not based on a well-architected design. It is often inflexible, limited in its functionality, open to mis-use and expensive to change. It often does not provide sufficient management information support or caters for the exceptions. One should evaluate alternatives carefully on the basis of their administrative support, as this is usually the most expensive element to add or modify later.

USA: Mortgage Resets - Révision des emprunts hypothécaires

Worlds smallest mobile handset to revolutionise mobile world

If you thought its the iPhone that has revolutionised the mobile market, well you might not be completely correct. With most of the mobile majors releasing newer models of mobile phone, there is this one company which is all set to change the rules of the game.

An Israel-based company called Modu Mobile recently announced the world’s tiniest handset called the Modu, which is the worlds smallest mobile handset (recently certified as such by the Guinness Book of World Records).

Modu give its users the freedom to create a new phone as often as they like based on their personal preferences and style. Think of it as a Swiss army knife device that can take on different forms and functions.

Mobile users get to choose from different Modu jackets, or phone enclosures, and Modu mates, which are Modu-enabled consumer electronics devices, to dress up their slimmed down standalone phones.

You can access below listed features from the tiny Modu device such as:
A large screen or keyboard
MP4 player
Ability to send/receive SMS
Speaker
Bluetooth
Minimum 1GB of storage
Can act as mass storage USB Flash Drive

The possibilities are endless for branding, as new modu jackets take almost no time to develop and each jacket can even have its own theme that's loaded, translator content, when you pop the modu in. Check out the below video for a live demo of Modu in action. Modu was displayed in the Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona.

More info on Modu available here. Also do post in your views/comments below.

USA: Personnal Saving Rate - Taux d'épargne personnel

How to set invisible mode in Gmail Chat

Yahoo chat has it, AIM has it and most other common internet messenger softwares has it, i am referring to the invisible mode available on these application.

GTalk as of now does not have an invisible mode option, however in an recent update to Gmail they have added this feature to GMail chat. But it won’t work if you are logged in simultaneously with Google Talk. So now you can be offline but also chat with friends who are online, completely invisible.

Also setting up your invisible mode in Gmail chat is also very simple, refer the adjoining image here, use the invisible option now available under the 'set status here' option.

Google Talk does not allow users to decide when their status changes to 'idle' and back. The result is that others can easily know whether or not you're at your computer. however there are some free softwares that can assist you to take control of your GTalk status.

Try gAlwaysIdle, it adds two new options to Google Talk, allowing you to change your status to be 'always idle' or 'never idle'. When your status is set to 'always idle', you'll appear idle to your Google Talk buddies, even if you're sitting at your computer typing e-mails and sending IMs. The software is freely available here..

The king of internet messenger is here

Have you ever thought how many email account, IM account you have ? probably you have one on yahoo, another one on Google, on MSM, and AOL as well. What about social networking sites ? the Facebook or MySpace. Of course i do.. Keeping all these social network profile alive and updated can certainly be difficult and time-consuming proposition. Well heres' what i have started using and recommend it to you aswell.

Its called Digsby, which is a multiprotocol IM client that lets you chat with all your friends on AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Google Talk, and Jabber. It also includes an quick e-mail notifier, and a pop up screen for keeping track of Facebook and MySpace updates. You can even add a Digsby chat window to your Facebook page so that anyone viewing your profile can send you instant messages which you can reply to using Digsby.

The good thing about Digsby is that it gathers all the information you need under a single interface, so that you can get a preview of who’s online, how many messages you have and what’s up on your favorite social sites. Digsby is currently in private beta and available only by invite. (invite codes: Which i have in 1000s, email me or comment me below and i could send you the invite code).

Digsby supports Windows XP and Vista at the moment. Mac and Linux clients are under development. So now you don't have to login to multiple services any more with this new all-in-one utility.

How to get Digsby ? Heres' how...

Firstly go to digsby.com and download the the application. During installation you'll be prompted to create a new account and also enter an invitation code. Below are some i invite i intend to share for free. (If any of them doesn't work, email me for a new one).

Free Digsby invite codes:"CNET" or "techmalaya" or "techzilo" or "softonic" or "dlsquad".
Complete the registration procedure and then you are ready to use Digsby. After installation you can add all of your Instant Messenger accounts and chat with all of your friends from one account.

Friends if you liked this service, do spread the word and do post your views/comments below

Gold ETF: Fishy? - Manipulé?

Transaction Manager (Part Two)

The challenge with the development of a Mobile Banking transaction manager is to consider the following unique realities of mobile banking:

• It is likely that the system will have to deal with much more transactions than would be expected from traditional banking systems. Remember that millions and millions of people have mobile phones and they just might want to access their banking at the same time
• The different systems that mobile banking have to integrate to (Telecommunication Infrastructure, Pre-paid top-up billing systems etc.) are often not as stable (or sometimes as available) as what one would expect from financial systems.
• The behaviour of cell-phone users reflect an expected immediate feedback. If they do not get a response within a few seconds, they would typically send the request again. The transaction manager must be able to deal with this kind of behaviour, without compromising integrity.
  
• Security paradigms that can be implemented on mobile phones are not necessarily compatible with what is required for financial systems and this must be mapped somewhere

In looking at the design considerations for the above, it is clear that a synchronous architecture would probably not be able to deliver on these requirements. A transaction manager that has to keep thousands (if not millions) of transactions open while the transaction is completing would not be able to handle surges in requests, nor will it be easy to tune or scale such a system. The correct architecture (without a doubt) is a message based architecture.

Mobile banking solutions are often deployed without proper consideration for the transaction manager. Often mobile banking is bolted onto the Internet Banking functionality. This works great during pilot and initial production deployment, but starts to fail dramatically when the solution experience massive take-up (subscribers or transactions). Such conditions are then often aggravated when one component in the eco-system starts breaking or suddenly is not available. At that stage it is often too late to change.

USA: Gasoline price - prix de l'essence

Transaction Manager (Part One)

This is by far the most complex and often overlooked component of mobile banking. If one were to analyse the fundamentals of mobile banking, one will get to the conclusion that good mobile banking design is about the management of transactions originating on a phone and terminating on a bank account - and many similar types of transactions. A well-designed mobile banking system caters for the support of many different transaction flows. In addition proper consideration should be given for error conditions or when external sources are not available.

A transaction manager should cater for transactions to and from the following subsystems:

• The transaction manager must be able to accept and send messages to the Mobile Channel. This should preferably be done in such a way that it can be done independently from the actual handset solution that has been deployed. Communication to this channel is very time sensitive, because a human would ultimately be receiving these messages. As such time-dependent actions should be configurable.
  
• Applications that are often integrated into mobile banking offerings (called Third Party Applications) must also be integrated. Typical systems that the transaction manager must be able to talk to are bill payment, pre-paid airtime, COD systems and more.
  
• Transaction Clearing is a often overlooked outcome of a mobile payment transaction. a well-designed transaction manager must be able to integrate to and support transactions to and from systems like Money Remittance systems, Central Clearing systems etc.
  
• A mobile banking transaction will ultimately lead to a debit and credit transaction on some account, purse or card. The transactions to and from these Value Stores can be quite complex.
  
• Many different security techniques can potentially be supported. This could be PIN-based, or User-ID and password. It could utilise CLI or certificates. The transaction manager must be able to route transactions to the correct source to verify security and adhere to requirements that may be applicable.
  
• The switch must record transactions in such a way that it is fully auditable and that it can be proved that the operation is fully in compliance with regulations. A well-designed switch will cater for this too.
  

In addition, the transaction manager must be able to string together different transactions in a logical way. It should have the capability to roll transactions back if one component fails or is not available. It should also have the ability to place transactions in pending status and have the ability to resolve pending transactions. This should, according to my experience, be possible without human intervention as it is possible to get hundreds of thousands of transactions in a pending status (when a pre-paid top-up system is not available for a time). When the failing component comes on-stream again, the transaction manager should be able to resolve the transaction in pending state automatically.

In the next blog, I will discuss characteristics and special conditions that a well designed transaction manager must cater for. I will also discuss critical conditions that the system will have to cater for and typical solutions to this.

CCI: commodity index - index des matières premières

Commodity price rise with inflation - les prix des matières premières montent avec l'inflation

A quick review on the new features of Mozilla Firefox 3

The much anticipated release of Mozilla Firefox 3 is through. I managed to get my hands on this beta 3 version and here is my quick review on whats new in this latest version of Firefox.

1. New Download Manager: Firefox 3 now has a new download manager add-on that displays where the downloaded files coming from.

2. Auto-complete feature: While typing in letters or a website URL in the address bar, a pull down menu displays URLs with the favicon next to it. By clicking on it directs the user to the website URL. This speeds up navigation using the browser itself.

3. Bookmarking Button: This feature is similar to the Internet Explorer 7.0. By clicking on the star once saves it as a bookmark and a second click actually allows users to file and tag the bookmarks.

4. Malware Protection: A new Malware feature displays a warning when entering a web site that is known for intalling viruses, spyware, and malware. So this would be beneficial if you are fond of surfing new websites.

5. Single click website details: When clicking on the favicon next to the website URL on the address bar, Firefox 3 relocates users to see who owns the particular website.

6. Speed: The speed is faster. Firefox uses Cairo, an API that advances 2D drawing load-time.

To download the Windows version click here

More info could be found at the official release note here.

In the coming days one can expect Mozilla to develop in the Internet messaging area as well as in the web browsing side. So very soon one can expect to hear about Thunderbird 3, and when its does AskWiki would review it.

Friends i am eagerly awaiting your opinions and views about this release and also on my review, please do post in your views below.

USA: Structure of credit - La structure du crédit

m Commerce management

This is one of the most tricky elements of mobile banking. This is where mobile banking systems integrate with mobile operator infrastructure and where the intricacies of telecommunications must be dealt with in such a way that financial transactions can be processed without losing accuracy. It is in this layer where a mobile phone number (or an identifier in the telecommunication world) is mapped to a banking number. The procedures for the establishment and maintenance of this link is often complex and should cater for many different scenarios.

A well designed mCommerce layer should also cater for risk management elements (like functionality available to specific profiles or daily and transaction limits). This is especially important in multi-channel deployments. This layer must be able to allow (for instance) a balance enquiry from a SMS channel with only CLI security but at the same time person to person payment with PIN encryption from a SIM Toolkit channel. In order to effectively be able to deploy this functionality proper mapping of profiles and access matrices is essential. This component must enable the operator of the system to present different options/menus to different people by making small parameter adjustments.

Often this component is grouped with the mobile channel layer (especially in the case where only one channel is supported or when the solution is inflexible in working with alternative channel providers). Grouping this component with the Channel management is often referred to as a wallet system as sufficient information must be stored to be able to process and route financial instructions to financial back offices systems. More than 75% of mobile banking vendors specialise in the provision of only these two components with at best limited features that could be classified as belonging to the remaining three components.

Mobile Channel Access Layer

The subscriber of a mobile banking deployment would interact with this component of the total solution. Depending on the deployment paradigm, the component may consist of application(s) downloaded to the mobile phone (SIM Toolkit or Java as examples), or in some instances would have no logic on the phone (WAP/xHTML or USSD deployments). This portion of a mobile banking deployment must cater for the user interface and manage the interaction with the subscriber.

Many different security paradigms can also be implemented ranging from security that ius only based on CLI (does the transaction come from the expected phone?), to advanced cryptographic solutions. Sometimes the security deployed utilise very innovative and unique techniques, and sometimes solutions are based on standard, tested security techniques.

It is virtually impossible to deploy this component without some logic on a hosted server in the back office. The hosted functionality must manage versions of deployed applications, as well as menu structures and expected responses. The hosted environment must be able to respond to error conditions (specific to the channel) and should be able to adapt to fault conditions (for instance when a SMS-C is not available or when response times from an application on the phone is slower than expected.

Typically solution providers favour some or other channel technology and their specific solution is based towards the channel technology. Thus, one finds that solution providers favouring Java based channels would have developed security, access management, user interfaces dictated by the functionality and characteristics of Java. It is extremely difficult to develop a channel access layer that is technology agnostic.

CRB: end of commoditie's uptrend? - fin de la hausse des matières premières?

Real = without inflation - inflation déduite

Mobile Banking Fundamentals

I thought that it could be worth my while to document the different components that constitute mobile banking the way that I see it. Many different views of mobile banking exists in the market today. These views of banking are often driven by the realities of different markets. It stands to reason that mobile banking solutions applicable in a London main-street bank and mobile banking in war-ravaged Congo will be different. But surely there should be some similarities. It must be possible to find elements of the same thing in both.

I do believe that mobile banking can easily be made up of five components. Every mobile banking deployment must have all five components. Some of these components may already exist in some instances or in others all have to be sourced (because nothing exists). In some instances two or more of the components are bundled together and are almost undistinguishable as separate components. Yet the following framework is a sound way to think about mobile banking. The components are:

1. Mobile channel access

2. m-Commerce management layer

3. Banking transactional manager

4. The value store system

5. Administrative support

In the next few blogs, I will describe each of these in more detail.

The story of the Nano and Mobile Banking

I have heard Mark make this comparison at the MWC in Barcelona and thought that it was very apt. Now I can point prospective readers to his blog to read it themselves: What do Tata’s Nano and Mobile Banking Share?

An underwater car now a reality ?

Its no more a friction from the James bond movies, its now a reality. Rinspeed, a Swiss motor company is planning to showcase its version on the submersible car at the Geneva Motor Show (March 6-16, 2008). Its called the “sQuba".

The £750,000 prototype, which can dive to a depth of 10 metres. It is the brainchild of concept car designer Frank Rinderknecht. Rinderknecht is apparently an acknowledged James Bond enthusiast and has been very facinated and inspired by concept of the underwater car that he saw in one of the bond movie.

The "sQuba" car is capable of speeds of up to 120 km/h on land, a more sedate 6.4 km/h cruising in "boat" mode and just 3.2 km/h beneath the surface. There are three electric motors are located in the rear, with one providing propulsion on land, driving the rear wheels, while the other two drive the screws for underwater motoring. However the occupants have to wear wetsuits to stay dry and breathe air from an integrated tank similar to that used by scuba divers.

The vehicle can stay underwater until it runs out of air or battery power, normally about two hours. The car has more Bond-like tricks up its sleeve, it is even capable of autonomous driving on land thanks to a sophisticated laser sensor system from the Hamburg company Ibeo - without any help from the driver or passenger.

You can find out more about sQuba here at the official site of Rinspeed. By the way also check out the video of the underwater care, the "sQuba"

Hi Ho Platinum - Hourra pour le platine

Homestake Mining (1971-1981)

Premium SMS futures

I have often been asked why Operators don't drop the share of Premium SMS's, so that this is not such an expensive payment instrument. The fact of the matter is that they can't. Many cost elements are built into SMS's that must be recouped by the Operator and they just don't have the lee-way to discount more. One may argue that it does not cost the Operator anything to deliver an SMS from a technology perspective and this is of course correct.

But a review of the other cost elements (especially regarding distribution, billing and in-built inefficiencies), have created a cost structure that represents (according to my calculations) in the region of 25% of the amount billed to the customer. It is therefor impossible for the operator to reduce their portion of a premium SMS billing much below 30%.

As such, a premium SMS is a highly inefficient payment mechanisms (for the operator, the service provider and the subscriber). As a matter of fact, the availability of an alternative payment mechanism will benefit the total mobile payment eco-system. It would be interesting to see the development of this into the future.

The SIM is built in

As I passed through Heathrow on my way back to Cape Town, I saw this billboard. I have known for some time that Intel have built GSM support into their new chipsets and was waiting for the first products to hit the market... and here it is. Dell have built a laptop with support for broadband where-ever you are and this is a big advance.

But what is really exciting for me is the convergence of mobile payments with computers that this technology allows. A SIM built iin a mobile phone provides for an effective vehicle to distribute secure elements. Any serious payment solution with aspirations to provide bank robust payment solutions should be based on the usage of a secure element in some format or other. This is why mobile payments utilising SIM cards are so powerful and of course secure.

With on-board access of a SIM card in a computer, this opens the door for very secure payment solutions. It will be interesting if any announcements based on this architecture will be forthcoming.

Coal is King - Le charbon est le roi

Source: World Coal Institute

Housing Price Bubble - La bulle des prix de l'immobilier

Is this the year of mobile transacting?

I have now spent three days at the Mobile World Congress. I have met many people and have sort-of walked through all of the halls. I think that it is safe to say that this year no clear theme is dominating. In the past Mobile TV and Advertising was clearly the talk of the town.

I have found the many different mobile phones very interesting. Some of the models that were on show from iMate, Palm and Blackberry were interesting. Even Garmin have now produced a phone (designed to be a super GPS of course). Handset manufacturers from the east have also shown great handsets. I found the Viewby from LG to be the most interesting.

If a dominant theme were to be picked, then I think it probably would be Mobile Remittances. The workshops and presentations on this topic was hugely oversubscribed. Maybe this year is the year of mobile transacting.

Build your own

It is quite amazing that many operators have opted to build their own mobile banking solutions. Quite a few examples exists of which the mPesa initiative that Vodafone have rolled out in Kenya and have announced initiatives in Russia and Afganistan is probably the most famous. In a survey conducted by Edgar and Dunn recently, it was found that 48% of mobile operators are considering building their own wallet solution (rather than buying it). The question needs to be asked why this is the case.

It is an accepted fact that no reputable company would even think of attempting the development of their own general ledger system. This is just unthinkable. It would never be sensible to do this as it would be too expensive and too risky from a general auditability perspective. Yet Mobile Operators (with very little skills as banks), are contemplating building their own banking systems (because wallet solutions are for all considerations the same as bankings systems).

In thinking about this phenomena, I can think of three reasons why they would consider doing this. It could be that mobile operators think that they can build competitive advantages into the mobile wallet solution. This may be the case, but this will only be the case in the short term, when successful solutions will be copied by competitors. Another reason could be because of internal politics and based on the aspirations of staff members of the mobile operator.

Another reason could be that mobile operators are under the perception that no reputable mobile wallet vendor exists that are able to provide scalable, industry robust solutions. If this is the case, the wallet solution industry have a lot of work to do.

Nokia N96 the king of mobiles redefines high-end

The successor to the Nokia N95, the much talked about high end mobile the "N96" is finally launched at the Mobile World Congress in Germany. Nokia was quite tight lipped on N96 all along but this launch at the MWC was anticipated.

Nokia has built it to be a media powerhouse: The N96 has 16GB of internal memory and can be extended to 24GB with a MicroSD card.

The 5 megapixel autofocus camera with Carl Zeiss Tessar lens is carried from N95, but there are now two LEDs doing flash and video light duty. The 2.8 inch QVGA display will come in handy for the integrated DVB-H mobile TV tuner, while a 3.5mm headphone jack, A2DP, and integrated stereo speakers should handle audio quite decently.

The Nokia Video Center offers one place to discover and access a variety of mobile content ranging from movie trailers and comedy to news from world-leading content brands such as YouTube, Reuters, and Sony Pictures. The catalogue of internet video feeds is continually expanded with more regional and country specific content.

The Nokia N96 naturally supports the Ovi family of Nokia internet services, including maps, music, media sharing and more. Priced at Approx $800

A full list of Nokia N96 features is available here
Related photos in print quality can be found here

Check out the promotional video here.

XPERIA X1 from Sony Ericsson, could this be a N95 Killer ?

Mobile World Congress 2008 marked the launch of XPERIA™ and a new era in mobile communications with the announcement of the XPERIA™ X1, a stand-out, arc slider phone from Sony Ericsson designed to address the growing need for a premium, converged mobile experience.

The XPERIA X1 will be coming in the second half of 2008 and is a slider phone with a 3-inch wide VGA (800×480) display and QWERTY keyboard with a metal shell. Sony Ericsson has long been focused on UIQ mobile devices and it is quite a statement when they decide to partner with Microsoft to bring out a Windows Mobile device.

The X1's specs include: Quad-band EDGE plus quad-band HSDPA 7.2 with HSUPA. Wi-Fi and GPS. A 3.2-megapixel camera with DVD quality video playback and capture. FM radio, Bluetooth stereo, and GPS. It's all powered by a 520-MHz ARM11 processor running Windows Mobile 6.

Well all in all will this be a Nokia N95 killer ?? well only time will tell. Do post in your comments below...
For more info visit SonyEricsson website here

Here is the demo commercial from SonyEricsson

Sony Ericsson XPERIATM X1 – At a Glance

Camera
* Auto focus
* 3.2 megapixel camera
* Photo light
* Video recording

Music
* Bluetooth™ stereo (A2DP)
* Media player
* Music tones
* PlayNow™
* Windows Media Player Mobile
* 3D games
* FM radio
* Java
* Video streaming
* Video viewing

Internet
* Internet Explorer® Mobile
* RSS feeds

Communication and Messaging
* Polyphonic ringtones
* Speakerphone
* Vibrating alert
* Video calling
* Email
* Picture messaging (MMS)
* Predictive text input
* Text messaging (SMS)

Design
* XPERIA™ panels
* Optical joystick navigation
* Navigation key
* Picture wallpaper
* Touch navigation

Organiser
* Alarm clock
* Calculator
* Calendar
* Document editors
* Document readers
* Flight mode
* Handwriting recognition
* Notes
* Phone book
* Tasks
* Touchscreen

Connectivity
* aGPS
* Bluetooth™ technology
* Modem
* Synchronization
* USB support
* WLAN

Windows® Mobile® Operating System
* Microsoft® Outlook Mobile: email, contacts, calendar, tasks
* Microsoft® Office Mobile: Word, Excel, PowerPoint
* Internet Explorer® Mobile
* Windows Media™ Player Mobile
* Windows Live™
* Exchange ActiveSync®
* Voice control
* Utility Applications: file explorer, calculator, pictures & video, notes

Facts and Figures
* Size: 110 x 53 x 16.7 mm
* Weight: 145 grams

Available colours
* Black
* Silver
* Main screen: 65,536 color TFT
* Resolution: 800 X 480 pixels
* Size: 3 inches

Memory
* Phone memory: up to 400 MB
* microSD™ memory card support

Availability and versions
Networks
* GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900
* UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA 900/1700/1900/2100 MHz
* UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA 850/1700/1900/2100 MHz

Posible options for Yahoo to avoid Microsoft

In midst of the $45 billion (£23 billion) hostile bid from Microsoft, Yahoo is looking for all possible options. Yahoo is most likely to turn down the Microsoft Corp’s 44.6 billion takeover offer as reported by San Francisco Chronicle. So what are the options for Yahoo?

Well, one option being explored is to restart merger talks with AOL - the online business owned by Time Warner group. Although Yahoo! and AOL previously failed to join forces because of differences over price, but with Microsoft eying Yahoo this could be the right time to look for an AOL alliance. On the other hand tie-ups with groups such as Google or Disney are also being considered by the yahoo board.

A partnership with Google may allow Yahoo to outsource its search service, shedding the costs of running its own search engine and sharing ad revenue with its larger rival.

In my opinion, the Microsoft-Yahoo deal has its pros and cons.
Google doesn’t want this Microsoft-Yahoo alliance to go through for sure as Microsoft and Yahoo together equals the majority of instant messaging and email accounts – so coming together they will have like a monopoly over the email, IM and web services. But on the other hand Google does carry an unhealthy dominance in online advertising and web searching – so we need a competition there for sure which this alliance will bring about.

One thing is clear: Yahoo is running out of time, and will need to decide whether it will accept Microsoft’s bid or try to partner with Google or AOL soon. Yahoo’s annual shareholders meeting is in May 2008 and a decision needs to be made before that.

Friends do post in your view/ comments on this deal and its impact.

Explosion in mobile wallets

In a report released by Edgar, Dunn and company (under contract by the GSM Association) today, an explosion in mobile wallets is predicted. Based on solid research, the report predicts a growth from 10 million wallets today to more than a billion wallets by 2015. If this were to only materialise partially, this would be the biggest financial revolution in the history of mankind. To grow from almost nothing to a third of the world's population would be nothing more than miraculous.

The interesting thing about the research is that it was based on the opinion of market leaders in the mobile industry. Executives in mobile operators (representing 30% of the global subscriber base) were interviewed and the results were based on their opinions. Another interesting finding is that wallets based on and utilising elements of the SIM card is by a factor the preferred technology for the deployment of mobile wallets. See a previous entry in my blog.

Bill Gates last day at Microsoft - a video depiction

Have you ever wondered what Bill Gates’ last day at Microsoft might look like? No.. well think about it...
If you have a few minutes, you might want to check out this short video depicting just that. Enjoy this video and get a few laughs out of it.

USA: jobs creation - Création d'emplois

Stream yourself via your webcam on Yahoo Live

Is Yahoo already moving on the Microsoft strategy? Microsoft's web strategy is called Live, like Microsoft live maps, windows live writer, live.com. But then Yahoo recently launched Yahoo Live. This new site allows anyone with a webcam to stream live video of themselves to a dedicated site.

Although the service is still very much in its infancy and has been down at times. For now it only has few Live channels and about 500 online viewers, something that is expected to rapidly increase in a few days time when it becomes popular. It has a user friendly interface and I think it is worth to give it a try. The service combines many of the best practices developed by early explorers of the medium, tiny startups.

Using Yahoo Live as many as five participants can do video and audio on one page together, it also has a chat option which gives users choice over fonts and colors and express themselves.

Yahoo Live also has put up an API where users can use the service and get content out on other places. The Yahoo Developer Blog talks more about the API. Following as some of the API features:

* Find out who's broadcasting right now
* Get data about past broadcasts
* See snapshots of past broadcasts
* Embed live video in your blog or web page

You can also have a look at the API Docs and there is an example of how you can use it.

Here is also the official Yahoo Live Video

Dow Jones in Euros - Le Dow Jones exprimé en Euros

NFC Science Fiction

In a recent Aite report it was found that one could expect only about 2.0% of merchants to have the capability to accept contactless payments in the United States. This would be the case after five years from now. Surely this is a HUGE stumbling block to even think of NFC payments as a remotely viable product.

If this information is correct, it is highly unlikely that any NFC product can be made commercially successful. Why would any-one consider walking around with a payment product that will only be accepted at 2 in every 100 outlets? The report also highlights the challenge of providing every player with a slice of revenue that will make it worth their while to deploy and push this infrastructure. It is almost as if every-one is working on NFC solutions when no problems exist that needs solving.

In my opinion, NFC payments is not a silver bullet. We all know the form of the hype curve. It is not difficult to judge where NFC is on this curve on the moment. Next phase: valley of disillusion.

Free calling minutes to China

The people of China got their first taste of mobile VoIP and free international calling starting Friday 21 December 2007, thanks to global communications company, Rebtel. Now to celebrate the Chinese new year Rebtel, which also is a leading Mobile VOIP provider is offering 1 million free minutes to China from anywhere in the world and calls from Shanghai to the USA and Canada during 7-21 Feb.

Each person can make up to five hours of free calls to China. The offer will run during the Chinese New Year festivities between the 7th and 21st of February. So if you have friends in China, grap this opportunity to say "Gong xi fa cai" - Happy Chinese New Year!

In general Rebtel Direct calls to China cost less than 2¢ per minute from any of the other 39 countries that Rebtel serves. By comparison, AT&T charges $3.50 per minute to call a mobile phone in China from a mobile phone in the U.S. That same call from the U.K. using Vodafone costs $3.33 per minute. From Canada, the cost per minute for calls to China on TELUS Mobility can be as low as 8¢ per minute - but only with an $8.00 or $12.00 per month special service plan.

Rebtel is a global communications company that makes it possible to call any phone, anywhere in the world, for just pennies per minute. Its services can be used with any mobile phone without modification or software downloads.

If you already have a rebtel account, you don’t have to anything fancy just sit and wait for 7th Feb. You will get the free minutes automatically on 7th Feb onwards till 21st Feb. Those who do not have a rebtel account, there is another good reason to Signup

By the way... Gong xi fa cai (Happy Chinese New Year) to all AskWiki Chinese Readers

Yahoo to die soon in Microsofts hand ??

Recently Terry S. Semel the former chairman of Yahoo had handed over his role to Roy J. Bostock as a new chairman of the company when on the very first day Roy had to confront a big new development: Microsoft’s $44.6 billion offer to buy the ailing Yahoo.

The intense competition between Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo has arguably been one of the main reason why Microsoft would have placed this bid to Yahoo's shareholders. Also this proposed acquisition of Yahoo signals that Microsoft’s glory days over and it is finding it very tough to compete Google. And its very clear that the only major reason Microsoft is running behind Yahoo is to put up a fight with Google.

This deal if goes ahead has far more ramifications then just competing Google. There is considerable amount of overlaps between the services provided by Microsoft and Yahoo, so going ahead to streamline various services lot of people would be loosing their jobs at Yahoo. This sentiment is also echoed by others bloggers.. infact there is a petition, to protect Yahoo from the dirty hands of Microsoft.

Go ahead and voice out your opinion, comments below...

Banks under pressure - Les banques sous pressions

Source: Petercam