Posted by Fox on August 24, 2007 at 1:38 PM

Crickey, this "could" be neat! Free mobile calls and cell phone calls for users of a new service called Truphone. There's no need to change your network or tariff/cell phone plan, but you do need a compatible mobile handset. Using VoIP principles, users of Truphone can call other Truphone users free.

From their site... You can make calls using Truphone wherever you have access to the internet via Wi-Fi (or 3G) and the availability of wireless connectivity is absolutely booming.

This can mean your home, office, public areas or commercial hotspots (coffee shops, airports etc). You will be able to make free or VoIP-rate calls from your sofa or when visiting friends with Wi-Fi. Similarly, Truphone calls can be made from your office and other workplaces you visit.

Basically, your mobile handset connects to the internet using Wi-Fi and allows you to talk to another truphone user (as long as they are also in a Wi-Fi area).

It'll be a long, long time before something like this becomes a threat to your current mobile operators business and there are draw backs. Aside from the very limited number of compatible handsets, the most obvious draw back is the fact that my friends and colleagues need to be Truphone users for this to work.

Truphone Checklist:

- You and your contact BOTH need a compatible handset.
- You and your contact BOTH need to be in a Wi-Fi zone, at the same time.

I love the idea, but until the truphone is available on most (if not all) mobile handsets and the planet becomes a Wi-Fi zone, I think it'll be limited to niche usage, no idea what that usage will be though. When I'm at home I can use my internet phone, or instant messaging. At the office? Well I don't pay for the calls :)

You know? I just don't think that the majority of mobile users have a monthly bill that would justify going to all the trouble of setting this up.

Visit: truphone.com

Posted by Fox on July 11, 2007 at 7:23 PM

So I just had a call from Tony Jarmey over at Steathnet, a UK based mobile content provider.

He told me The Register had posted an article regarding the humourous results of searching for "boobs" on stealthnet's content site. The result was not thousands of sales of said "boobs mobile animation", but a bashing of their server.

The up shot of the article is that, some internet browsers cause a "boobs" mexican wave effect when viewing the web page.

So what, we hear you saying - it's just another run-of the mill, albeit jubtastic, flag-based flash. Well, before changing channels in a huff, click here and watch what happens.

Getting the picture? As James explains: "Different browser load patterns lead to different effects. Most of the time Firefox does an almost Mexican wave. IE seems to load randomly, but a refresh synchronises all of them. Some load the top half and then the bottom half leading to an up-down-up-down juggle."

Well, I'm using Firefox, and a few page refreshes did indeed produce a Mexican-wave effect, and a strangely hypnotic group mamsout fiesta. So hypnotic in fact, that I wrote this story at 8am this morning and have only just managed to disengage myself from the bouncing boob samba. Must.. try... and... concentrate...

Just goes to show you that THERE IS such a thing as bad press.

Links:
The Boob Mexican Wave
The Register

Posted by Fox on June 16, 2007 at 2:06 PM

Spotted this interesting piece by Derrick Story over at O'Reilly regarding his use of his camera phone.

"Most of us have camera phones. A few of us use them. I have a practical application for your smartphone that’s bound to help you at least once: Use your camera phone to photograph your parking locations in a gigantic garages so you don’t lose your car."

"I started doing this a while back, and suddenly became enamored with some of the images stored on my phone. I started adding a little creativity to the recording of parking spaces, and then it dawned on me that this could be an interesting community endeavor. So I’ve started the Park by the Numbers Camera Phone Project."

This got me to thinking about my own obsession regarding camera phones and car parks. It started in 2004 after I'd just purchased a swanky new sports car. Whenever I parked it in a public car park I'd take photos of the cars next to it as I was walking away, just in case I returned to find a scratch on it.

Quite what I'd do if I found a scratch, I have no idea. I guess it just made me feel better knowing I'd know who had done it. Sort of.

My obession stopped when Michelle complained that I never took photo's of her whenever I left her someone public. You know, in case someone scratched her :)

So what quirky use do you have your camera phone? Use the comments link/form below to share it.

Posted by Fox on June 11, 2007 at 2:04 PM

I'm really liking the emerging Free Mobile Games Networks. Up until now, nearly all free mobile games sites have been on a subscription basis, where you sign up to get a free game and then find yourself billed weekly or monthly for access to another "free mobile game". Hmm, not really free is it?

It was a natural progression for some smart arse to get the idea of offering free mobile games to mobile gamers, that contained a small advertisement. You get the mobile game free in return for looking at a advertisement that's built in to the mobile game.

There are 4 parties involved in the arrangement.
1st: The Provider. The web/WAP site from which you download the free mobile games.
2nd: The Mobile Game Developer. The company that created and coded the mobile game.
3rd: The Advertiser. The company that pays to have the ad placed in the game, in the hope of having you buy or use their product or service.
4th: You, the mobile gamer. Arguably the most important of the four.

Normally, whenever you buy a mobile game the provider passes a fee to the mobile game developer. This can be as high as 75% of the purchase price. The provider simply scrapes a small commission for each mobile game sold.

With the Advertising Supported Free Mobile Games, the provider still pays the mobile game developer a fee for each game you download, but instead of YOU paying for it, the provider has sold ad space in the game. The provider uses this money to pay the developer.

So the developer still gets their fee for creating the game, the provider still gets to scrape off a small commission for each free mobile game downloaded, and you get to play the game.

Advertisers Getting a Bum Deal?
Of all those involved I think the advertiser is one that gets the bum deal. The ads in the free mobile games are usually nothing more that an image/splash screen that shows up at the beginning and at the end of the game.

Due to current technical restrictions, these ads offer no engagement to you the mobile gamer. There's no button or link to click if you're interested in what they have to offer. It's just a line of text that says "go to www.blah.com".

Worse still is that there is little feedback for the advertiser. Sure they know how many people downloaded the free mobile game containing their ad, but there's currently no acceptable way for the advertiser to measure the success of the ad.

Understand that the mobile game developer usually has a back catalog of mobile games they have developed and simply hands these over to the provider on a disk. It's the provider that inserts the ad in to the mobile game code, and it's not rocket science to add a splash screen at the beginning and the end of a mobile game.

For this to continue to grow and succeed, the ads need to offer a return on investment to the advertiser. The only way this will be achieved is with more interactivity for the mobile gamer and more measurement for the advertiser.

So, where's it heading?

Well at the very least I think we'll see more ads appearing through out the mobile game, at the end of each level for example. We'll see an option to visit the advertisers WAP site in the game options.

There are plenty of ways in which you the mobile gamer can be engaged. Prizes from the advertiser for top score tournaments. Unlock codes for new levels that you can only get from the advertisers web site. All of these are possible right now, it's just a matter of time.

One thing is for sure, the mobile game developers are going to to start building these features in to their games.

to be continued...

Posted by Fox on May 30, 2007 at 3:00 PM

I've been wanting to create a blog for cell phone and mobile phone users since the middle of 2006. One that gives readers the heads up on all of the cool cell phone downloads and applications available.

I dabbled with a design and even prepaid for the blog account, but the success of my SMS text blog really got in the way. First, I was simply too busy to give thumblounge.com much planning and second, my SMS text blog had me in a real 'corporate' frame of mind. I just couldn't switch off from blogging about business stuff.

It's kinda tough to get excited about a particular ringtone or mobile game after a day of blogging about free sms text services and corporate bulk sms text solution.

Well, having just returned from a relaxing two week holiday with Michelle and Noah, I'm all recharged and the have a urge to get this nailed.

If your reading this anytime soon after I posted it, you'll see the site is in a right state. I'm working furiously to get the design finshed up, then I have to plug in all the essential blogging tools such as stumbleupon, Technorati, diggit and feed burner. I should have this wrapped up and ready to roll over the weekend.

Thanks for dropping by, really only posted this to take a bit of break from all the damn coding, but I really appreciate your time.

Hey, one last thing. Drop a comment below to say hi. Who knows, The Thumb Lounge may become hugely popular and I'd love to be able to give a shout out to those that used it first.