Abiro - Mobile News

Motimate

2009-11-20T17:02:00.001+01:00

I mentioned that I’m working as project leader for the Motimate service a while ago.

Motimate is going live December 1, so keep your fingers crossed.

I and the development team will be working on the project during the weekend, to secure that we will be on the right side of the deadline. It’s shaping up quite nicely though, despite illness, desertion and a huge pile of requirements.

For a (possible) Swedish blog audience, there’s a group at Facebook about Motimate.

Hard on the outside, soft at the core

2009-11-20T16:30:00.001+01:00

As the mobile application market has seemingly gone to hell (at least the direct sales market, even though there’s still a big opportunity in providing mobile applications on a commercial basis to complement public and corporate Web services), it’s time to move on to more profitable and worthwhile pastures.

This might be one of them: Applications for embedded systems using one-chip computers or micro controllers. Consider that even washing machines and cars are computer-controlled nowadays, making use of such chips, and in terms of cars many of them.

I’m currently looking at a solution based on Atmel’s ATmega168, being used in a kit called Miduino (that in turn is based on the Arduino open source design) that includes connectors for all the peripheral ports (analog and digital), as well as an on-board MIDI interface for direct connection to music instruments of all kinds. The designer of the Miduino board, Tom Scarff, also offers many MIDI-related hardware/software projects, so I will try a few of those before I make my own.

It’s always good to set a time- and feature-limited project goal, even though my primary intention is to learn how to use such MCUs, and that is to make a prototype for a MIDI controller using a new type of controller device that I haven’t seen any commercial product use so far. As MIDI is all digital and has by now a very broad functionality, the combinatoric options are vast, and also simple to implement, even though my electronic skills are quite rusty at the moment.

Interestingly the Atmega168 has the same amount of program memory as the first products I designed and programmed while working for Axis Communications back in the 80’s, so there sure is a nostalgic component as well.

Interesting effects of a Google announcement

2009-11-04T19:51:00.001+01:00

It’s kind of interesting that the stock for the leading navigation device/software providers (Garmin, TomTom) dives when Google announces Google Maps Navigation - an application and service that together with Android (and long term Mac OS X) phones competes head on with these players. It takes a few “connect the dots” to realize navigation is now free (at least virtually).

Google navigation app causes instant shockwaves

Widgets getting standardized

2009-10-28T00:00:00.001+01:00

A couple of years ago widgets for mobile phones were the craze, but after that nothing really happened. Considering RIM, Samsung and LG are in this collaboration it looks rather promising (read: can survive).

LEADING HANDSET MANUFACTURERS TO SUPPORT THE JOINT INNOVATION LAB (JIL) INITIATIVE

Creating sweet music, or at least attempting to

2009-10-22T21:15:00.001+02:00

Just got my Korg M50 Music Workstation (the 61 key model), replacing my by now pretty dated Korg M1. It’s like a combination of a synthesizer, an arranger and an electronic piano etc. The piano sound is “smack in the face” realistic, and with the plethora of effects and possibilities to tweak the sounds I can get quite aggressive or mellow synth sounds as well.

I’m not a musician by any means, so I got the M50 partly to learn to play better, and specifically the M50 for its vast customizability, yet being an easy to use “ready to go” keyboard at the same time. The Korg M3 would have been even better, but is roughly twice the price. The M3 and M50 share the same sounds, effects and general setup, yet the M3 can also sample, has built in Karma software (available separately as PC software for the M50), has a better keybed etc.

I posted a few entries at Twitizer about it:

Straight from thomann.de in Germany (15-20% cheaper than if bought locally in Sweden, even when including the shipment fee).

What would life be without gadgets?

The setup at the moment: The Korg M50 with a pair of active studio monitors (2x20W) with several inputs, including digital, so I have both the M50 and my guitar and effect box hooked up to the same speakers.

Korg M50 – unpacked and ready to go

My first attempt at mastering the drum tracks, arpeggiators and my fingers. The first two were the easiest.

Korg M50 – my first groove, sort of

I’m a VB

2009-10-18T02:11:00.001+02:00

My Visual Basic programming profile was posted at The Visual Basic Team for all to enjoy/ridicule:

I'm A VB: Anders Borg

Android, LiMo 1 – 0

2009-10-13T19:06:00.001+02:00

Motorola ditches LiMo for Android

LiMo will be used by Japanese manufacturers for the Japanese market, but that’s about it.

Linux will be more used in mobiles than PCs?

2009-10-13T11:59:00.001+02:00

I’m just speculating, but it doesn’t sound far-fetched considering the following information from Net Applications concerning OS’s on PCs:

Windows total: 90%
Windows XP: 71.5%
Windows Vista: 18.8%
Mac OS X 10.5: 3%
Linux: < 1%

Clearly Windows (as in WIndows Mobile) has little chance to grow its market share, yet Linux is used in Android, LiMo, WebOS etc etc.

Netbooks were supposed to turn the tide for Linux on the desktop/laptop, and the share for Linux there is probably higher than in other types of PCs (except possibly servers) but as far as I know most customers opt for XP in netbooks.

Time for a teaser

2009-10-12T14:50:00.001+02:00

An official teaser for now, translated the best I could:

Motimate is a completely new service that will coach you daily via videos and SMS to your mobile phone and via the Web. When you are ready to do something with your life and live in a more healthy way, we offer you 500 different exercises, 200 training sessions and 50 or so prepared training schedules based on your targets and level of training. Each week you’ll also get meal recommendations and motivation tips from our experienced life coaches, personal trainers, nourishment experts and not the least Paolo Roberto.

The service will initially be available in Sweden, but there are plans to establish in other countries as well.

A Facebook group has been set up for Motimate, where more will be published as we come closer to launch.

Android to dominate by 2012?

2009-10-08T20:12:00.001+02:00

Android to grab No. 2 spot by 2012, says Gartner

Interestingly Symbian is expected to hold on until that time. Probably because of the clear dominance it has today in “smartphones”, compensating (for a time) for its age. Nokia will down the road focus on Maemo for advanced phones instead of Symbian.

It should be noted that Android doesn’t have a similar ecosystem as is surrounding Apple iPhone. Apple gets revenue from phone sales and after market music, applications etc. Apple also controls the operators, not the other way around. A privilege traditional phone manufacturers (the audience for Android) don’t have. Google will not get that much revenue from phones or platform sales (read: none), nor after market, unless they completely revamp their after market content strategy, introducing music, audio books, etc (read: anything that can be downloaded to a phone and charged for). It seems to me very unlikely that Google will get similar amounts of revenue as Apple gets from iPhones and related business. Google continues to be in the advertising business, almost completely, so I’m sure they will push that as part of the Android strategy.

For developers, broad success for Android is beneficial, as it will (hopefully) decrease the chances for other Linux based (yet UI/framework incompatible) platforms, including WebOS and LiMo, hence creating a less fragmented application landscape. Apple and Nokia will not use Android, that’s for sure, but most other manufacturers will.

If you haven’t noticed already, there are more mobile platforms than ever, which is both good and bad. Good because there’s continuous competition about the best user experience and developer support, causing an evolutionary jump. Bad because of the many platforms developers need to support (or have to ignore…).

Apple in the movies

2009-10-02T21:45:00.001+02:00

In almost every movie from Hollywood there are only Apple computers being used, even though, looking at the market as a whole, this is not at all representative.

Apple supposedly doesn’t pay product placement fees, but instead loans out computers. I guess you can figure out what is the cheapest, and we are talking a huge difference here. They can even move the same computers between movies if they like, as they are not literally used anyway.

Why does the studios agree to this? Why not let for instance Dell get a year of promotion, then go on to Asus etc. Why specifically Apple?

It’s obviously a conscious strategy from Apple, but again, why does the movie industry agree to do this?

Google Wave is upon us

2009-10-01T00:06:00.001+02:00

What Google Wave does is nothing new in its individual parts. It’s the whole that makes it a revolution, and might even make companies turn to e-mail in the cloud, instead of using in-house mail servers, due to the conferencing functionality etc.

It combines at least the following: e-mail, chat, document sharing, wiki, mobile messaging etc.

It’s also supposedly very plug-in friendly.

Google Wave is from today on user trial on invitation.

The video mentions at 25:30 that there will be support for iPhone and Android, and they even show prototypes.

A web site vs application reflection

2009-09-26T23:10:00.001+02:00

Once I had the vision that mobile phones would have a desktop, kind of like on a PC, with local applications as well as links to web sites sharing the same surface, and by extensively using JavaScript and HTTP communication with services. This way the web sites would not look and behave that different from local applications. At Obigo we had discussions about implementing what later became AJAX in our web browser, but then also supporting e.g. SMS and MMS communication from the JavaScript applications. I figure many had the same thoughts. I know Opera and Access did at the time.

Anyway, if the iPhone is an indicator of future phone functionality (and it is in many ways, in advance) it seems web browsing will take the second fiddle, as even companies that don’t have anything sensible to present via applications (see e.g. Coca Cola’s “magic bottle” application as an example) still prefer to make applications instead of mobile web sites.

There are some good reasons why:

The interactivity is much much better, to the point that mobile web sites are outright laughable in comparison.
Applications are fast (at least on the iPhone) and can sport animations, 3D graphics, sound, GPS, accelerometer, compass, camera etc etc, functionality more or less impossible to add to mobile web sites.

I’ve said the same things about MIDlets, but it’s even more apparent on the iPhone.

Let’s see if HTML 5 can shift the balance, but I doubt it. When will phones support HTML 5?

I only wish this had happened already with MIDlets, but phone manufacturers didn’t realize making phones optimized for applications is a paradigm shift and requires a completely different mindset in the design of the phone.

iPhone + MIDI = wireless MIDI controller

2009-09-20T11:45:00.001+02:00

All iPhone-based MIDI controllers I’ve found seem to rely on Wi-Fi communication and show up as MIDI devices on a Mac. I wish there was a solution for direct communication with synths as well, using USB instead. Of course, a wireless solution is much more practical on a gig.

There’s probably more out there:

Soon getting my iPhone 3GS

2009-09-20T10:42:00.001+02:00

Short term for checking out the possibilities to develop applications for it. I lack a Mac though, but I’m considering a Mac Mini, so I can use existing screen etc real estate, and so it doesn’t take up space.

Regarding Android: I haven’t released my Twitter application yet, and might never do, considering there’s already better applications in Android Markets, and they are completely free. That doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities for Android applications (as previously indicated), yet most likely in other application areas.

The shape of robots

2009-09-20T09:12:00.001+02:00

(I know, off-topic again…)

Finally scientists come to their senses and skip the notion that robots need to look like human beings, and the obvious drawbacks of that (slow, clumsy, large, etc). Now they rather look at the task at hand and how robots need to be shaped for that. Two examples:

What people seem to forget or ignore is that e.g. insects are extremely optimized for their respective biotopes, evolved during millions of years, hence anything that would make the insect power inefficient or badly adapted have been ironed out long time ago. Spider-like robots would be very practical for complex surfaces, etc.

This is one of those “I told you so, 20 years ago”, but as blogging didn’t exist then, I have no proof of the matter.

MIDI, still going strong

2009-09-16T22:13:00.003+02:00

Another one of those off-topic stories. I have plenty.

I discovered a toolkit for accessing MIDI devices from C# applications, so I hooked up my trusty 20 years old Korg M1 to my laptop via a USB-to-MIDI converter, and have had fun ever since.

As you most likely know, MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and has been around for more than 20 years, and is physically implemented via the original MIDI connectors (DIN5, the same as was used for analog audio at the time) or via USB. Communication is all digital and serial, and what’s transferred is the events that occur (note on/off, pitch bend, etc) rather than the audio.

It’s extremely easy to connect two MIDI-compatible devices together, which was really the core goal: No need to know anything technical to hook stuff up.

As you might also know, MIDI was initially a rather slow protocol, clocked at 31.25 kbps. As each note requires 3 bytes (note on/off, channel, note and velocity in combination), the time resolution is approx 1 ms. You might think this is plenty, but consider a 6 to 8 note staccato chord. We are almost down to a resolution of 100 ms. Sure, there’s a possibility to compress Note on/off to only 2 bytes each, but this is still not really enough. This becomes even worse if you play a note-dense multi-track song (e.g. the M1 (and remember, it's really old) handles 8 tracks using different instruments) via MIDI. When MIDI is transferred over USB end-to-end the bit rate and hence resolution is of course much much higher. The data transferred is though the same as via DIN5.

More professional synthesizers and keyboards nowadays tend to come with USB/MIDI, but surprisingly many lower-priced devices still use only the original MIDI connectors for compatibility reasons.

MIDI supports numerous other commands than note on/off of course, like pitch bend, program change, etc, yet where synth manufacturers tend to go crazy is in the use of System Exclusive, that enables proprietary exchange of sound banks and other data, so you can re-program your synth via MIDI.

Anywho, the short term goal is to re-write my MIDI echo I “invented” a long time ago. It essentially plays back notes at set delays, with the added twist that the sound played back might be completely different from the original one. As MIDI is all digital I simply offset times, notes, velocities (essentially volume) and channels any way I want. By switching to a new channel an initial piano sequence could be played back as a soft pad at a lower volume and in a lower octave a few seconds later etc. It was an extremely effective creative tool, so I've missed it since MS-DOS came out of fashion.

I have my eyes on a Korg M50, that is way better than the M1 (it should be, considering the time difference), except for the not as good keybed, lack of aftertouch and less sturdy casing.

And I need to learn to play too.

Android mash-up and comment

2009-09-15T20:24:00.001+02:00

Information found via the RCR and Fierce newsletters:

Motorola will be using Android in new phone models, initially the Cliq, a rather normal-looking business-style phone (a la Nokia N97, Sony Ericsson (HTC) X1 etc), but with a broader appeal due to a focus on social networking via the MotoBlur software.
Motorola anchors its rebound on Android and all things social

Multiple things are to blame for Android Markets relatively sluggish development: fewer phones, no top display of commercial applications, trickier payment system. I would also blame less interest from developers (Catch 22 due to fewer phones etc) and more differing specs between phones requires testing on all those phones (a whiff of the terrible MIDlet situation). The iPhone / iPod Touch models are on the other hand essentially identical.
New phones, seller tools improve Android Market's fortunes
Can developers survive in Android Market?

There are benefits with developing for Android though:

You are early on, and can build a brand and presence due to less competition, which is way harder for the iPhone.
Getting a top spot at App Store is incredibly hard and unlikely.
If you can make MIDlets or desktop Java applications, and you know Eclipse, you can quickly learn to make Android applications. The UI paradigm (activities etc) is the biggest hurdle, yet the iPhone is certainly not simpler to develop for.
You don’t need a Mac to develop for Android. Any PC (running Windows or Linux) will do. Might sound like an irrelevant comment, but most companies don’t have nor want to invest in Macs.
There will soon be a whole slew of Android phones from Samsung, Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson and HTC (but not Nokia), so it’s the right time to learn.

I’ve been DoSed

2009-09-10T12:39:00.001+02:00

I don’t understand why anyone would perform a DoS attack on abiro.com, and maybe I should even consider it an honor to be so recognized that I at all get a DoS attack. Anyway, the site is up again now.

When clicks (hopefully) might not be so important

2009-09-07T20:52:00.001+02:00

I’ve just started advertising for “Mobilt liv” via Google Adwords. Of course only in Sweden.

I so far have a CTR of 0.06% (which in ad CTR pro lingo is “disgustingly dismal”), yet with a reasonable amount of impressions (tens of thousands in a day) averaging as the third ad on search pages. The cost was therefore minimal, but maybe I still got some visibility due to the amount if impressions.

I don’t expect an immediate return, nor that this will be a very effective method even over time, but as long as the cost is this low I can keep the ads rolling for weeks.

Asus announces an ebook reader

2009-09-07T20:37:00.001+02:00

Supposedly the cheapest available, but then why two displays? Remove the other one, as it’s much easier to read on one display only, and the price will go even lower.

ASUS planning dual screen Eee Reader: world's cheapest e-book reader

The only reason paper books have opposing pages is to cut cost and lower weight, not for readability reasons, but outdated solutions seem to stick. I hope Asus understands to make a one display model as well.

Spotify on iPhone and Android

2009-09-07T20:33:00.001+02:00

No further comment required, except rejoice, until you are out of flatrate:

Spotify launches on iTunes App Store and Android Market, premium members only

Commodore 64 on iPhone

2009-09-07T20:30:00.001+02:00

Finally the iPhone is useful (just kidding) :)!

Apple approves officially-licensed Commodore 64 emulator for iPhone

Interestingly, to get the right feel in especially games, the emulator must be equally slow as the C64, meaning emulating a 1 MHz 6510 (pretty much the same as the very popular 6502, that has a strange and impractical instruction set with hardly any registers), and it needs to emulate the (at the time) rather advanced SID audio chip.

Irrelevant nostalgia: I for instance used the C64 SID to emulate com radio tone squelch, both for serious uses (testing out com radios in a TV/radio shop) and for fun (people running to answer the com radio, but there’s no one on the other side; rinse and repeat; you get the picture).

Sony Ericsson PlayNow Arena

2009-09-07T19:16:00.001+02:00

I’ve submitted all my reasonably useful/well-mannered MIDlets to PlayNow Arena. I certainly don’t expect all of them to be approved, even though I hope Converter Pro, EasyCall, ColorSampler and Watchdog will, as they are the newest and most interesting in my opinion. Who chats via SMS, and does the world need yet another Twitter client? Admittedly Jitter is my most downloaded MIDlet at Kalador, but that version is free/ad-supported.

All MIDlets I uploaded to PlayNow have a price tag, spanning between 2.50 and 4 Euros. No freebies this time.

All are strictly named “Abiro …” to build brand.

Anecdote: David vs Goliath

2009-09-06T11:45:00.001+02:00

In the web applications arena it’s not given that big players succeed, but rather the field consists of a massive amount of independent and entrepreneurial small companies and even hobbyists, that might not even have a commercial intent initially. One reason this works is that it’s so darn simple to develop and host web applications for a worldwide audience. Most fail of course (how many communities can a world bother with), but due to the Darwinistic and chaotic nature of this marketplace a few will succeed, that satisfiy the needs of many users.

Examples:

Twitter, still a very simple service that in my opinion hasn’t evolved a bit in two years. Supposedly now run by 20 people, supposedly has no profit, has funding enough to run in the black, yet knocks the socks off heavily-funded Jaiku (acquired by Google) and similar services in popularity and mindset. At the same time being a service type so simple that before its inception no one would believe it would have any applicability at all, and many still don’t believe so.

Piratebay, tracking torrents via an amateurish site that looks like crap, yet caters to the needs of a whole world: free multimedia content, whether legally obtained or not. Some funding, but considering the lawsuits against them, no possibility whatsoever to fend off those lawsuits financially, except due to the fact that Piratebay doesn’t actually store any multimedia content, so conceptually they are in the green.

Skype: Certainly Skype has always had a commercial intent, but it’s still been resource-efficient along the way, where the main value has been the free phone client: Free to get and free to use. Sure, there are commercial services complementing Skype, but that’s not the core reason people use Skype. As Skype is acquired by eBay (but might be sold off, according to info from eBay) the company never had to be in the black to still hugely succeed from an owner perspective.

Facebook, initially a internal service for Harvard University’s students, proved to be so generally useful that it was further developed and opened up for general use. Nowadays it’s a quite advanced service, probably the most advanced community in the world from a technical standpoint, due to the third-party application architecture. Still remaining the most popular community for working people, decreasingly so for pre-teens and teens (children don’t want to be on the same community as their parents). Certainly by now a fully commercial service.

What else will pop up from nowhere, that will be spawned by a few guys, possibly not even with any commercial intent, and yet will become a huge (as in world domination huge, at least for a while) success?

I’m sure there are big new opportunities in other areas, where timing is everything, but finances and manpower are initially almost nothing.