Everything SKO...

T-Mobile... Get a bloody grip will ya!

I'm a T-Mobile US hotspot customer. It was useful when they had the Starbucks deal. They've since lost it to AT&T but I paid a year in advance for a cheaper deal so I've still got it.

I would say that T-Mobile lost it in more ways than one. They own their own public Wi-Fi network and they own one in the UK too. Yet here I am in London and they want me to pay $0.18 per minute ($10.80 per hour) to "roam". Give me a bloody break will you.

That's why I recommend everyone gets a 3G dongle (try 3 in the UK & Ireland) and tell these guys to take a hike. Bunch of out-of-touch fools.

In praise of...

...Kevin Kelly.

He really is one of the most interesting people on the Web. That, in of itself, is really why the whole thing is such a phenomena. In times past I would probably never have come across Kevin, or any of his writing. He has incredible insight, check this post out.

However, my favourite is his Cool Tools site. I have to admit to being a bit of a gadget junkie and this site more than satisfies my need with all the quirky things he uncovers.

QiK

If you've got a Nokia S60 handset (one of these) and a 3G account then head over to QiK and download their most excellent software. It's huge fun. Check it out:

I met Bhaskar from QiK recently at MWC in Barcelona. A very nice guy. I want to speak to him again when I see him in a few weeks. The social implications of QiK are massive actually but more of that later.

Sandy is a winner

I'm always looking for new, and simple, ways to stay on top of things. Most things I try I dump pretty much as soon as I start as they just don't fit into the way I work.

Here is something that works really well for me. It's called IWantSandy. It's a web-based personal assistant. You can use it many ways but what I've found really handy is the ability to send an e-mail to Sandy whenever I need to remember something, or do something (she uses a simple shorthand). I have Sandy plugged into my iCal and the reminder just populates my calender. What a great tool.

Give it a go here...

Other inappropriate places to use your mobile

Extending on the previous post.

I was in San Francisco airport yesterday -- and this particular story isn't specific to SFO, this happens everywhere. Anyway I go into the toilet for a pee and while I'm standing there at the urinal a guy comes up to the urinal on my left followed by another guy to my right. And guess what...

Yes! They are both on their mobiles chatting away (one of them was blaring actually), phone tucked beneath the chin while they do their business.

But it gets worse...

Then I hear a mobile go off in a cubicle and some bloke goes ahead and answers it and enters into a business discussion. Give me a bloody break.

If I'm calling you and you're on the toilet you know what? I'm not that important. I can wait. Really!

Video killed the Radio Star, part 2.

I think public Wi-Fi as a business model is pretty much dead in its current form. OK. So I'm not the first person to say this but having been one of the pioneers of the industry I had a lot of emotional baggage tied up in public Wi-Fi. It took me longer to see the light than most observers.

I'm not saying public Wi-Fi is dead. I think it has a fantastic future. But please! Just unlock every network and offer free access. Provide maintenance services to the location owners.

I think the business model has died because:

a). Complacency, hubris and inflexibility from the myriad group of pubic Wi-Fi operators around the world. Why didn't (wouldn't) you get together and offer access to anyone with a GSM-type roaming agreement? The fact that people have to fill out numerous online forms and get different user credentials is reason enough not to use this service.

b). The price. An average of $10 per day and as high as $40 a day in some places. Give me a break.

c). The Blackberry. What an absolutely superb device. I remember when the impact of the Blackberry over public Wi-Fi first struck me. I was in the waiting lounge at London City airport in late 2004. This is the perfect environment for public Wi-Fi. European business people in transit to and from London to the other financial centres around Europe. However, Swisscom were charging 15 *POUNDS* to get access. On top of that it was an absolute pain in the arse to sign up. I remember the day I noticed. 27 people in the lounge were on their Blackberries and two were connected to Wi-Fi. If you go back to the lounge today you will see 70% of people on their Blackberries and still, two people connected over Wi-Fi.

d). 3G. This is the final nail in the coffin. Most of the carriers are offering broadband wireless -- synchronous 256k service in reality. But that's usually enough for e-mail. For example 3 in the UK offers a fantastic deal: 10 Pounds a month (12 month contract) gets you a USB 3G dongle and about 3GB traffic a month throughout their worldwide network. Why the hell would you bother signing up to a Wi-Fi service if this is available.

Jajah Buttons

Enough about MAXroam and Cubic. Time to shine the beam at my old buddies at Jajah.

What a fantastic job they are doing with these buttons. Kudos to Frederick and the team. In the week that eBay acknowledge the mess at Skype -- although I have to agree with Alec, I think Skype has been a great success. The boys at Jajah do it again.

Piss off eBay and just get a pile of free publicity. And what do hits mean? Hits mean conversions to paying customers. And that's what it's all about.

Cubic launches at TechCrunch40

I haven't been able to write anything for ages because I've been so busy.

Today we launched our new products at TechCrunch40 in San Francisco. The actual demo didn't go too well as we had no GSM or Wi-Fi coverage in the hall. Go figure! At a Tech demo event!

Anyway... the product is absolutely fantastic. I have to say that of course ;-) But really... even if I didn't work for Cubic I would want these products.

We've moved heaven and earth the past two days to get these ready. Here they are:

MAXRoam
Cubic Mobile

Travel tip #something or other

I was on one of my many business trips recently and the airline I was flying with lost my bags. No particular rant about the airline or the situation. They were courteous, efficient, they got it back and basically, shit happens.

However, I wasn't really prepared very well. Actually in all the many, many years that I have been flying I have been very lucky. This was the first time an airline had ever lost my bag.

As I was describing the bag to the lady she had me look at a chart of all the different bag types so she would have a better chance of identifying it.

It got me thinking. Nearly every modern mobile has a camera. So before you head out on a trip take some photos of the inside of your bag -- all your stuff -- and take a few pictures of the bag itself. So when the person asks you to describe it you can flash it up on the mobile and show them. Even better you could bluetooth the picture across to them... maybe even an MMS. Finally, a real application for MMS!

E-mail push to Text

He's an interesting idea. Push e-mail to any mobile as a text message. It's nice because it doesn't require a data plan, special software or an expensive handset.

Currently only available in the US. I like it though. It's simple.

I notice they're in Santa Monica. I was there today. I could have popped in. Damn. I think it might work really nicely with the new service we are launching at Cubic Telecom.