Has the Wave been delayed or is there a tsunami in the pipeline?

Something that strikes me as quite strange right now is it’s now 4:47PM, Wave Email Invites were meant to be sent out nearly an hour ago. See, out of the millions and millions of Twitter users that are out there, you’d kinda expect at least one of them to have got an account and posted about smugly. But no one seems to have.

This raises a few questions in my head:

1. Is Wave late? Are the developers hitting a few technical hitches that is stopping it from being launched in beta?
2. Where did the 4PM time slot come from? I first saw it on the BBC, but I can’t find a press release or anything from Google. This could just be me being blind, or it could be someone just pulling 4PM from the top of their hat.
3. Are they purposefully delaying it? It’s not as stupid as it sounds. Twitter is a really good tool and as I saw someone on the public feed say earlier, “It’s advertising on a scale that no one could pay for.” By delaying, they’re creating Twitter hype and are getting more people interested.
4. 100 000 emails is a lot of emails. Google might just be taking their time with sending them out, although I very much doubt that they lack the power to do so, considering they serve 4.1 Billion pages per day.

There was something quite funny happen at 4PM though, someone posted an invitation on eBay, which was at a whopping $5100, however I think eBay stepped in and reduced it back down to a sensible $168 (last time I checked). I can imagine that these accounts could be used as either a really big money making scheme, or as marketing for blog owners (assuming they get them).

I’m keeping my fingers crossed for an account as I use loads of Google services, both free and paid – they said they’d give a few accounts out to people like me. Oh well.

Best thing I can suggest right now is for us to wait it out, someone will eventually get in and they’ll no doubt want to scream about it.

Following Orange, Vodafone announces plans to sell the iPhone in the UK

Oh wait, it was yesterday, adding to my point about loads happening in the mobile world recently. But, why did Vodafone not jump straight to the gun yesterday and tell the world of its deal with the iPhone?

The answer? Strategy. I think that both companies could have had the iPhone signed to their networks for quite some time, but neither one knew about the other. Apple probably then gave the go-ahead to both companies to announce the deal, but Vodafone may have had suspicion and held back a day. By holding back a day they were able to see Orange announce their deal but more importantly the time-scale that Orange have put on it.

How does this matter though? Well it’s really, really simple – Vodafone have said their iPhone will launch later and by doing this, it gives them time to see how Orange price the device and be able to adjust their accordingly. Cunning little plan and even if they did know about Orange’s deal and vice versa, this little strategy still stands.

So what now for consumers? Well, much, much more leverage and an even bigger price war erupting. Orange will probably now be very conscious about the fact Vodafone will be basing their iPhone pricing on Orange’s, and may compensate for that by cutting costs even more so, pressuring Vodafone into either not being able to outbid, or to have to match their plans.

This is a really good thing for business customers though. Vodafone’s network already carries millions of business users. Vodafone has stated that it is using the iPhone primarily for current customers, thus the iPhone could begin being used in many more businesses – something which Apple will not be complaining about one little bit.

If you’re interested in getting the iPhone on Vodafone’s network, then visit their website and register your interest. If not, then just sit back and enjoy the scenery:

Lastly, there’s the shock news today of Orange announcing the sale of the iPhone in the UK, thus ending O2’s exclusivity deal, which, in turn feeds back into the first point I made. With Orange set to become the biggest mobile operator in the UK, Apple have seized the opportunity to finally bring the iPhone to mass market. It doesn’t stop there though. Rumours predicted that the network who wins the iPhone contract will only be able to sell the 3G model, though Orange confirmed today that they’d be selling the newer 3Gs, too.

Great news for me as I’m a current Orange customer, but what will it actually bring to consumers looking to buy the device?

• A lower entry price – I’m very hopeful of this, in fact it’s something I’m almost certain of. Considering Orange’s network coverage isn’t as good as O2’s, along with their reputation, they’re going to really have to try to reel people in from O2.
• Good deals for current Orange customers - I’m currently an Orange customer and I’m quite satisfied. I’m also pretty certain that Orange will offer very good upgrade options to their current customer base – they always do. Thing is, if they don’t offer me a good upgrade path, I’ll just threaten to switch to O2, which brings me onto my next point.
• Leverage - Because there’ll be two companies offering the iPhone it can finally be competitive. This means that both O2 and Orange are going to be fighting for your business. If you’re any good at bargaining then you can use this to your advantage, especially if you’re a business customer.

The funny thing is, I saw this coming well before the rumours of early this year. The first sign that sent alarm bells ringing in my head was the fact that O2 had signed the Palm Pre to their network.

I didn’t think that Apple would be too comfy with the operator that is exclusively selling their phone to go on to sell their phone’s biggest enemy, a so called iPhone killer.

The second set of alarm bells were rang when my local O2 store in Eldon Square, Newcastle revamped it’s shop. Instead of using the extra space they’d created to demo the new iPhone, they actually cut the amount of iPhones on the bench and replaced them with other smartphone competitors.

I think by these two actions, O2 signalled that they were getting ready to lose exclusivity on the most popular smartphone in the world. By building a bigger portfolio of other smartphones, such as Blackberrys, they began positioning themselves, ready for the change.

I think the biggest loser of this weeks news is Vodafone from one perspective and O2 from another.

The reason I think O2 have lost out is obvious, they lost the iPhone and are now going to be in a constant price war with Orange over the iPhone. Orange are at the advantage as O2 have already set their prices.

But why Vodafone? Well, in a way I feel a little sorry for Vodafone, who we’re once a massive power in the mobile market. They have a really good product portfolio and a really good network, but they’re being pushed into last place by other networks who now carry the iPhone. It’s a bit of a kick while they’re down really, being pushed into last place and being the last of the mobile giants not to offer the iPhone.

Hopefully their rebranding will serve them well and Apple may see more value in that brand an consequently contract it to sell it’s phone.

So when can we expect the iPhone to turn Orange? Well they said by the end of the year, which is another 3 months. Realistically though, they want to be releasing it in time for Christmas sales, which start at around about mid-November.

Whatever happens, I’ll be getting one asap, I’ve already registered my interest and you can too, just visit www.orange.co.uk and follow the links.

Google Wave, the next evolutionary step for communication

The craze I’m on about is something you might have heard of, “Google Wave”. Now recently, Google hasn’t impressed me due to some issues with products of theirs that involve money, so when I read this blog post last night about whether Google Wave will replace Twitter, I was very skeptical. At the end of it there was a video of the Google IO developer conference.

I tried as hard as I could to hate the bloke running the conference, but I don’t know whether is was the tech he was showing or him, I just couldn’t help but like the whole idea of Wave.

So what does it do? Well, Wave does what Google does best. It takes something that we’re really used to, takes a sideways look at it and proceeds to change it. But it changes it in such a way that makes it new, fun and somehow easier, even though it has a million new features.

Put simply, it makes conversations, plain and simple conversations. It moves away from the conventional method of relay communication that we’re so used to and makes Wave a truely interactive experience, as if you were talking in real life, but with pictures and rich media.

There’s far too much for me to explain what it does in one post (it took Google an hour to explain it), so I’ll leave it to this video to explain:

What I’m really interested in though, is how it’s going to change our lives and is it really a good idea to have one company be able to control a majority of a major communication channel. It’s true that companies like BizStone, who own Twitter own one major communication channel, but if Wave is really set to replace as fundamental and business critical as email, then having one business control all of that communication is a bit scary.

One example is, say they’re hacked. That’s world wide business communications compromised – not good – at all. It’s not just that, but its the fact that Google seems to be gaining more and more personal information about internet users and a business that can see all communications that are going on world wide can then tailor its own products to suit the wants and needs of worldwide consumers in just about anything, thus making unfair competition.

Could Google Wave become a cloud service?

The only way that I could see Google Wave being a fair product to consumers is to be open source and have the technology hosted by a consortium of open developers and running it as a cloud service with users chipping in a bit of idle processing power here and there.

So what’s the verdict? Well I can say that I’m pretty sure that Wave will definitely be the next milestone for Google. Yes, they’ve made great maps applications and a really good email client, but none of them can overshadow their take on the search engine. I think that if there’s any product in Google’s portfolio that is going to get them remembered, other than Google Search, it’s got to be Google Wave.

For anyone interested, there’s an open public beta on the 30th where users can sign up for an account, though only the first 100,000 accounts will be accepted – fingers on the ready people!

Why’s this relevant you might be thinking? Well it’s trying times my friends. My Mactop has had to go in for repair. Now normally if a computer went wrong I’d fix it myself, but the fact of the matter is that if I did I’d invalidate my warrenty and my Applecare insurance meaning if it got totally written off I’d be screwed.

So I took it to a service provider, the only one in the North East of England – 20 miles away. Luckily my Applecare means that I don’t pay a penny, but I’m not geting it back till Monday – I practically wanted to cry when he said I’d have to part from my laptop for that long.

But it got me thinking and gave me a bit of a challenge: I have to now use my iPod as my primary computing device until Monday, which surprise surprise, I’m using to write this blog post. Unfortunately though I can’t position content like I usually do an I can’t format text or put a “more” button in.

But what I really wan to know is if I can manage websites, adwords campaigns, book writing and other stuff from this pocket computer. If I can I may let Apple use me as an example

I think it’s going to be interesting trying to do routine computer activities on my iPod – time to take a dig around to app store – I’ll post the results up tomorrow .

Till then!!
X

All is not lost though, because Facebook being a nice company who listens to the wants and needs of it’s customers has introduced Facebook Lite – a version of Facebook that isn’t as graphic intensive, one that doesn’t constantly bug you about people asking you to tell them what you think about them through stupid little quizzes and apps that just get right on my nerves.

Facebook launches a Lite Version of it's service.

So, Facebook Lite, what about it?  Well, you can access it via www.lite.facebook.com, and it’s just come out today (in the UK) and is now in beta. It lets you do the bare basics of Facebook such as:

• Add Friends, Pictures and Videos
• Edit your profile
• See events
• Read your mail
• See your news feed
• Post Updates
• Change Settings
• Search for friends
• Write on walls
• Comment / like updates and pictures
• Become Fans of Pages

If there’s something not on that list that you like to do on Facebook, then just don’t use it, but if all that is adequate enough for you then, I’d strongly recommend that you use it.

On another note – it’s very zippy, even on mobile broadband. Page load speeds and getting around the whole system is a lot easier compared to the normal Facebook, when on mobile broadband – you’d think that they’d made it for us mobile users! So if you’re like me and use mobile broadband, then it’s a must.

Oh and lastly: vanity URLs still work, so to see my profile and to add me as a friend, visit lite.facebook.com/roryclapham.

Mobile Broadband for a whole week, sponsored by Vodafone.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, get ready for the second leg of my mobile broadband experiment. If you aren’t familiar with what I’m taking about, I’ll explain once again. Last time I did this, it was to see whether an internet junkie such as myself can use mobile broadband exclusively as a primary internet connection or a week. The first leg ended a few weeks back, and this is now the second leg. If you want, you can read the posts below to find out a little bit more.

This time I’m not just doing it for one, but two whole weeks. Last time was a very big learning experience, getting to grips with what sorts of things the connection could handle, and also getting used to the things that it couldn’t. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to write up a full report, but this time I will do – promise.

Instead of reporting back daily, I’ll do it whenever I can. The thing I found about last time is there were days where nothing really interesting happened in the area of mobile broadband, it also stopped me posting my views on other areas of interest because all of my time was taken up reporting on the broadband.

There is a slight challenge this time: I go back to college, which could put some restraint on whether or not I can use it. Last time I had a teacher who wasn’t too pleased with me using it. Hopefully this time they’ll understand that it’s for a scientific reason and allow me to continue.

As with last time, it’s sponsored by Vodafone and I’d like to make the point that it’s not a biased report. I’d been asked a few times if I was giving it praise just so I could use it and the fact remains that I’m not. It’s started again today, so keep your ears peeled for more info as it comes in. As with last time, wish me luck!

Low signal? Stop. Smart management of the connection, cuts off bad connections. Image © XiXiDu

Well for the pat few days I haven’t updated, though there is a reason for it. Firstly I haven’t been on the internet very much for a few days so there wouldn’t have been very much to talk about and secondly, when I have managed to get onto the net, my broadband hasn’t been able to hold up the connection very well.

As far as I can figure there’s a reason for this, too. The signal that I’ve been exposed to for the past few days has been very limited, below 10% in most cases, because of this it’s likely that there will be a lot of data being lost in transmission and therefore the broadband, being smart, figures that there’s no point in trying to maintain a connection where pieces of data are going to be lost – no connection is better than a faulty connection.

On a technical note for people who are interested, when I was in a Skype call the other day, I brought up the technical call info. When I’m exposed to a low connection or to packet loss, Skype starts working in TCP mode, meaning it verifies that the data being sent is being sent correctly – it stays in this mode until a good, healthy connection is established, then switches to UDP. Sounds a bit funny, but it makes sense. If Skype can establish that there’s a good connection in place, there’s no need to verify that all data is being sent and received, if there’s a bad connection, it’s probably a better idea to try and make sure that the data being sent is being received – thus boost all around call quality.

Today is my last day of the experiment until the 7th September, when I’ll be trying the broadband for two weeks, instead of just one. I’ll post up a full report on the week’s experiment tomorrow.

I’m not sure whether it’s a network mechanism or not. What I mean by this is, because I’ve been a very heavy user (an hours worth of Skype calling and I’d uploaded 1GB of data) the network might have measures in place to make sure the weight of dragging me along didn’t affect other users. This could make a lot of sense, by cutting off and slowing down heavy users at peak times, you encourage them to use their home internet or not to use it at all.

Having said this, I did manage to get a few successful connections that stayed open until I myself closed them. I didn’t really perform any really heavy tasks yesterday, simply because the speed and availability wasn’t always there.

What was slightly annoying was the fact that as I was trying to translate Pokemon Platinum from Japanese to English, my connection kept dropping therefore I couldn’t access Google Translate to find out that it doesn’t know how to translate the text I was inputting. For anyone who didn’t get that, what I basically said was, “don’t use Google Translate to translate Japanese to English – especially if you’re using a slow connection, you’ll be sorely disappointed.”

On the whole, day three was a slight disappointment, both in trying to translate Pokemon and using my mobile broadband, maybe it was fate having a bit of a laugh at me for saying that it was going well a day earlier, or maybe it was just a bad day for mobile broadband, we’ll never know. Let’s hope that tomorrow gives me some better results.

As the day moved on I had to go to the Silverlink retail park in North Shields to get a bit of reading material. Silverlink is home to a Borders store, and most Borders shops have a nice little Starbucks in there – where better to do a bit of public browsing. The signal in Starbucks was low at best, but it didn’t really slow me down. I had a look on the Ofcom Sitefinder again to find out where the closest masts were and that sort of explained why the signal was low, take a look:

After my trek to Borders, I went into the centre of Newcastle. While I was in there I had a nice chat with the Store Manager, Stuart. He told me that in most Vodafone shops, they have a Vodafone Signal Booster, which takes the Vodafone signal and boosts it. They’re available to buy in the home, too. Just to check that it was true, I went and sat outside the shop and surprise, surprise I have Optimal HSDPA+ signal.

Although I noticed a massive speed increase, speed tests still said I was going at only 0.2Mbps – bull in my opinion.

So, onto the tasks that I performed in the day:

• Had a video call on Skype
• Downloaded Fedora
• Streamed Music
• Public place browsing

Skype Calling

The call quality was really good, probably the same as on a normal connection. Didn’t really disconnect much, which was also a plus.

Download Fedora
Because of the nature of mobile broadband, I had to download a download manager to accomplish this task, because if I hadn’t, then if I disconnected half way through then I’d have to start from the beginning. Took me a healthy 2 hours and 20 minutes of 690MB glory – I also disconnected once during the download – good job I could resume.

Streamed Music
The same as yesterday but using a different protocol – Spotify. This experience was seamless – hardly any buffer time.

Public Place Browsing
I used my connection in a coffee shop – took a few connection attempts, but once I was on it was quite a pleasant experience.

So what have I learned today? Well for one, bandwidth consuming tasks can be achieved if there’s a good connection and that if you do opt to buying mobile broadband, a download manager is pretty essential – the one I use is called Speed Download for Mac, which actually does provide boosted speed.

- PS, sorry this is a day late, got slightly delayed!