Moe Bull :: Mobile Information from the Front Line

Big Brother Update: Refund Offered

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:02:00 +0000

Update: From yesterday's post about Alex being thrown off Big Brother, there is an update. Channel 4 announced that 10p of every 35p from the calls made will go to charity, and reminded us that Channel 4 is making no money from Big Brother's phone vote this season. Very admirable. Channel 4 also offer a refund if you go to their website and request it. Now there's the right way to behave in a television premium campaign!

Big Brother throws Alex Off - But Do We Get Refunds?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:08:00 +0000

Last night Big Brother in the UK took the dramatic step of ejecting a housemate for threatening behavior. Alex had been receiving a lot of press as the most unpopular housemate in a long time, with aggressive bullying style interactions with the others and not joining in the games and challenges. Yesterday the Big Brother powers that be decided that enough was enough and removed her without warning.

This dramatic decision has made the housemates happier, especially Mario - who was up for vote this Friday along with Alex. Alex was definitely the favourite to be evicted, however Mario has his haters so you never know. Big Brother has cancelled the eviction vote this Friday and closed the phone lines. This raises the question of what happens to all the people who have already paid to cast their vote by calling the phone lines? They paid money to make something happen, either one way or another, and now that isn't happening - so should they get a refund? Is it even possible for Endemol, the production company behind Big Brother or whoever is running the phone lines to carry out a refund?

One can be sure that the wording of the small print when you vote gives all related parties some protection against refunds. Plus on the positive side this has happened late Wednesday, with the final vote day being Friday, so the number of votes cast is probably not so high as people tend to watch and see what the housemates do leading up to the vote. However in the last few years text and phone voting has come under intense scrutiny in the UK, with most television votes being suspended indefinately and when they are run the presenters are constantly giving warnings such as 'Please do not call yet, the lines are not open and you will be charged' in the lead up to voting windows that only last 15 minutes or less. All of this is designed to prevent people spending ridiculous amounts of money on votes, and then complaining later when they look at their phone bill because they ‘didn't realise you had to pay&rsqo;. Big Brother's voting is somewhat different, as the voting lines are opened as soon as they announce the housemates up for eviction - so we'll have to see what happens as a response to this 'act of god' by the BB producers.

No More Anonymous Cellphones in Bangladesh

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 09:05:00 +0000

For many people around the world off the shelf, Pay as you Go handsets have become the norm. This subset of people can't pass the credit check requirements of a long term contract, yet still want to communicate - or they are global travelers who don't need a long term contract, just a SIM card for their unlocked phone while they spend two weeks abroad to prevent ridiculous roaming bills. Yes, pay as you go is a great invention.

However there is a dark cloud on the Pay as You Go landscape - anonymous pay as you go cellphones used for criminal purposes. When any of us can go in and buy a SIM without identification or a credit check, then that will include the criminal element present in any society. So, unsurprisingly, the Bangladesh regulators decided a while back that anonymous mobile phones were not to be allowed any more - mainly so they could carry out easier police/terrorist/security investigations into phone records. The Bangladesh cellphone operators pushed back for a while, and tried to get their anonymous users to register and pass credit checks, but now the deadline has passed and more than a million customers have been cut off. For the operators this is a huge loss of revenue, but perhaps more importantly I'm sure there are thousands of un-credit worthy people who are not criminals, but they no longer have the means to communicate. As usual, the poorest people in the society end up being punished.

Reduce your Cellphone Bill

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:49:00 +0000

A new online service has been launched to help you find a service plan that saves money on your cell bill. BillShrink is only US centric right now, and cellphone focussed, but it's great practice to compare other plans on a regular basis if you can and this service should help. Even if they don't convince you to change your plan, it might give you some fodder to try and convince your cell company to give you a better plan.

Find out Who You Call with Skydeck

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:24:00 +0000

A new service is on its way that could change the way you look at your phone bill. Skydeck pulls in your phone bill - mobile or landline - and gives you a pile of useful statistics on who you call the most, what times you call them and how much you love your mother. Well, that last one's true if your mum measures love in how many times you call her. There's also the suggestion you could use it to spy on who your girlfriend is calling... but then affairs are what pay as you go cellphones are for, and they don't have phone bills - duh.

New Research - Cellphones affect your Sleep

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:54:00 +0000

A new report has come out that suggests that using your cellphone or mobile device before you go to bed, or leaving it near you on the bedside table, can lead to insomnia, headaches and confusion! The study indicates that for people who are more 'electro-sensitive' the radio waves from the phone can affect the brain as it tries to enter deep sleep. Worrying news indeed, especially as many of us now use our mobile phones as alarm clocks.

Although the report concentrates on the effects of electro-magnetic waves, it doesn't consider the other obvious issue about leaving your phone next to your bed... A drunk mate texting you in the middle of the night as they come out of a club, or worse yet - work calling to tell you you've overslept. So inconsiderate of them.

Another Good Reason to Ditch Your Landline

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:41:00 +0000

RMLabs has put together this Google maps mashup that allows you to guess-timate where a landline is located based on its area code and first three digits of the number. I've tried this on a few numbers and it is pretty accurate, so definately one for the stalkers out there.

Of course this trick doesn't work so well if you're using a mobile phone. Your cellphone number may have the same area codes as a landline, but the mechanism by which it is allocated to you has no relation to your actual address. Another win for mobile phones, as if they need any more wins.

BBC Suspends all Phone Competitions

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:30:00 +0000

The BBC, Britain's national TV organisation, has suspended all phone in and SMS campaigns associated with its programs after a series of highly visible mistakes. Ofcom, the British TV regulation body, fined the BBC £50,000 after they faked a winner on the popular children's show Blue Peter - and since then all of the BBC's phone related promotions have come under scrutiny.

Pending further guidelines on honesty and conduct being put in place and enforced, all phone related activities are on hold. These new conduct guidelines will be designed to ensure BBC producers keep to the high levels of honesty and transparency expected from the BBC, a company funded by public money. It will be interesting to see how this trickles down across all phone promotions in the UK. There are many channels on satellite & cable TV dedicated to separating people from their money using complex quiz promotions that are almost impossible to win, amongst others.

Record Phone Calls

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 17:20:00 +0000

Recording your phone calls is something everyone wants to do at certain times. We know that call centers record your calls whenever you call in to follow up on issues, so why can't we do the same with them? Or how about if you're in a tricky divorce, but every time you get in a discussion with your soon to be ex-spouse you say stuff you need to remember. Now you can record your calls simply and easily from any phone without need for extra equipment. For a monthly fee you can sign up to a new call recording service that lets you record your calls and save them to a web site for later replaying. Handy indeed.

Beware though: call recording is not legal in every state, so make sure you know the state call recording laws before you call!

funambol: Open Source Mobile Server

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:55:00 +0000

While perusing the latest Red Herring I came across an article on Open Source in Paris, and how the French government is really going after this in a big way. Liberte, fraternite et equalite and all that. One of the companies that caught my eye was Funambol, who seem to be making giant strides with a mobile delivery server that is both open source and deployed by large telcos. Sounds like an interesting concept and one I'm going to delve into more, especially since Fabrizio Capobianco, their CEO, seems to be getting rave reviews about his blog on the mobile/open source cross over.

Sony W810i Dropped Calls Solved

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 19:15:00 +0000

A while back I promised you all an update on whether or not I'd fixed the dropped calls issue on my Sony W810i (or Sony Ericsson W810i if you're being fussy). Turns out the solution I found of flashing your bios - courtesy of Howard Forums - works just fine. Since I followed their detailed instructions I had one dropped call, but none after that, so statistically that looks good to me.

That said, flashing your bios is not for the weak hearted. It's a relatively technical procedure and if you're not happy to do that go talk to your nice local un-locking cellphone shop who will most likely do it for you. Even I had a few problems, in that first time I did it the process froze - luckily the second attempt worked fine (if it happens to you, make sure the 'Play Now' button is checked to be installed).

Of course all these problems would most likely not have happened if I'd bought a nice, properly unlocked cellphone in the first place rather than importing a Vodafone one from the UK. Sometimes it's just not worth saving those few cents for the pain you cause yourself.

Nokia takes on the W810i

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 17:44:00 +0000

After many happy years with my Nokia 6600 I've just moved over to a Sony W810i (officially the Sony Ericsson W810i but with the Walkman brand attached... well, it's a Sony) and I have to say it's a great little phone, with the emphasis on the 'little'.

Now don't get me wrong - I love Nokia, and the Nokia 6600 is still a great phone even at three years old. Good though the W810i is, the Nokia interface still beats it hand down for ease of use on most of the tasks I do regularly, but then the 6600 is a business phone whereas the W810i is definately a fun phone. But now I'm using the W810i and I'm glad I chose it. The photography functions are great and well integrated, the music player is amazing and it's nice to have a phone that really does fit in my pocket without bruising my thigh. It's also black, which is way cool. Unless you want the white one. Which is also way cool, but white.

So why didn't I stay with Nokia? Well the simple reason was they hadn't yet released the N73... So at least I know what phone I want next! The Nokia N73 looks to be their answer to the Sony W810i. It's a similar size, there's a nicely integrated Carl Zeiss 3 megapixel phone and proper music integration. Of course not being Sony they use Mini sD cards rather than Sony's proprietary MemoryStick Duo and also the screen is bigger, which is better for showing photos and videos. I'm looking forward to having a proper play with this when I see one, especially now I've lived with the W810i for a while - I'll let you know my thoughts when that happens.

Sony Ericsson W810i (Walkman Phone)

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:27:00 +0000

Just got my 'new' phone toy - a Sony Ericcson W810i, to replace my aged (but much loved) Nokia 6600. First impressions are good, the interface is simple to use, the music player works well and the camera is great. It's also black. Which is way cool.

On the downside the W810i seems to be dropping calls.. After a bit of research it sounds like this is an issue in that it was a UK Vodafone phone originally and is now 'confused' by trying to talk to T-mobile in the US. To prevent the W810i Dropped Calls, apparently a common issue, the recommended approach is to re-install the operating system. Simple. So once I've done that I'll let you know how it goes.

.mobi advance continues

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 21:00:00 +0000

BBC continues it's mid-level coverage on the mobile revolution with this article on how the UK mobile companies are pushing for you to access the web from your phone, and the rise of the .mobi domain. For you mere mortals, you can get your own mobi domain as of 26th September, but for now it's limited to trademark holders only. Quick everyone.. buy every domain suffix relating to your web name for only $1000!

A New Mobile Phone Risk

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 18:14:00 +0000

Hey everyone, stop worrying about whether sticking a radio transmitter next to your ear will cause brain tumours... the risk you now need to watch out for is lightning. So next time you hear that crack of thunder it's time to wrap up that long chat about the latest office gossip.

Taking money out of customer's pockets

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Tue, 16 May 2006 16:44:00 +0000

It's an old article but I came across this report from Ucann today who were filing a suit against cellphone operators in California on the basis that customers were charged to receive text messages, and hence spam to their phone costs them money.

The American method of charging to receive phone calls always blew my mind, being used as I was to the English method of people calling cellphones (or mobiles as we call them) being charged a premium to connect. Then I came to realise that actually it makes a lot of sense: me, the user of the cellphone, pays for the benefits of being in contact with people all the time and there is a flat fee for calls to any area code (US phones use normal area codes, whereas European phones have special, cellphone 'area' codes). Of course what doesn't make sense is per minute billing, so if someone calls me by mistake for only a few seconds, I get charged for a minute which may well be at a peak rate but that's a whole different story.

You can then see how the US Operators' minds would work.. "we charge people to receive calls... so we should charge them to receive texts. Simple. Plus we get to make even more money off customers. Yeah!" Of course where this falls down is that people are charged to send a text in general, I mean, would you expect to pay postage on a letter you received? No.

Personally I believe this should change: inbound messages should be free, pure and simple. Of course this also raises an issue that US operators still allow people to send emails that get converted to SMS - so who would pay for that? Oh yeah. The people who received the message. That makes 'sense', especially considering it is generally much easier to spam through email than getting the necessary technology in place to send a proper SMS. Of course operators do shut down 'spammers' when they send too much email SMS, as witnessed by T-mobile blocking TxtMob during the Republican convention a few years back.

Let's see what happens...

Ps, in a similar Ucann post here's some info on your rights regarding ringtones & wallpaper downloads.

Fire blogging?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Tue, 02 May 2006 20:41:00 +0000

Just saw this photo about the mo-blogging fire-fighters at a nine alarm fire.

Gettin' it onnnn.. bluetooth style

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 19:10:00 +0000

Nokia have this cute little app called 'sensor'. The basic premise is that people set up a local profile on their phone, and the sensor app picks up other sensor users around them showing their profiles. Obviously, shagging ensues. I mean conversations!

What would be interesting with this is to see how/when they blend larger communities with this, so the local expands. For example a mySpace'd up version would be interesting.

Coming soon to a screen near you

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 18:45:00 +0000

Canada's first mobile film festival has opened it's doors for entries. So if you have some piece of third screen genius you wish to share then go visit.

Is that a phone in your pocket?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 22:58:00 +0000

For those of you having trouble attracting the opposite sex, why not try Pherotones? With their 'scientifically proven' blends of dodgy European techno you too can attract the woman or man of your dreams just by the ring of your phone. If only it were true... ring ring.

Addendum: Support Numbers

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 17:01:00 +0000

Further to my last post - here are here are some US support numbers that might be handy for mobile services, text / sms services, ringtones & wallpapers:

Blinko: 1 800 971.2271
DaDaMobile: 1 888 214.0381
Mobile Sidewalk: 1 800 925.5285
Jamster: 1 866-856-5267 (JAMS)

I'll add more to this post as and when I find them.

Sorry, my mistake - that'll be 10c...

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 16:26:00 +0000

In the US, unlike the UK, when someone receives a text/SMS message they are charged for it according to whatever plan they have set up. This charge is normally the same as for sending an SMS. In the US market this makes sense, as the same charge mechanism is true for voice calls on a cellphone - you pay by the minute (no per second billing here) for every call you receive, wrong numbers, answerphone calls, everything. It appears though that T-mobile is taking this a little too far - preventing people from turning off their text messaging service even if they don't want it and are getting charges from 'wrong number' text messages. Hmm.

As an side, this charge mechanism is one the of the reasons why the mobile marketing association over here is so keen on double opt in for text messaging campaigns. This double opt in, where you confirm with a customer that they really do want to pay $1.99 for a ringtone or whatever before you charge them. However some companies are starting to really push the boundaries of this by allowing for web opt in to services as follows; customer comes to a cool ringtone website, customer enters their cellphone number & operator and checks a box that agrees to $9.99 per month fee for 20 credits and then clicks 'send' to get a confirmation message to their phone telling them how to stop the service, but not requiring a from phone optin. This mechanism is fine for people who actually want the service, but the problem is that you can enter anyone's phone number without their permission and they won't know what is going on. Nasty.

At work we are currently getting a pile of support calls from people complaining about such charges from a number of companies - this is due to some database problem at a few of the operators who seem to think that we are running the campaigns (and a big waste of our time it is to, thanks guys!). The list of companies that we're getting the most support calls from are mostly from Da Da Mobile - their support number is 888-214.0381 by the way. What seems to make this worse is that DaDaMobile offer an affiliate scheme where you can have this form submission signup on your site and you get a kickback.. seems that some people may take that as an opportunity to drive some quick revenue by entering random phone numbers, kind of like the Google AdWord fakers.

I don't know how this situation will pan out, for our part we're trying to get these issues addressed with various people but not much movement is happening and a lot of the damage seems to already have been done.

Content is Doctor King

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 23:14:00 +0000

No, this isn't a Black Heritage day reference, but the BBC are reporting that the debut of Tom Baker, most famous in the UK as Dr Who and the voice of Little Britain, as the voice of their 'text to voice' service has lead to an almost 70% surge in take up.

This just emphasizes to me that you may have a cool, useful service - but without the correct content, in this case a recognisable celebrity, your service can easily get overlooked. We learnt when doing promotions for various television shows that any prize that is directly related to the show itself, ie - meeting the host, gives a much larger push than any seemingly related prize. This, to my mind, is simply because people are there for that particular celebrity, and getting closer to them is a top driver. So bear this in mind whenever you're creating any service, especially when new and innovative.

Is google serious about mobile?

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 19:57:00 +0000

It would appear so.. currently the only way other than referral to sign up for a Gmail account is via your mobile phone.

Their reason for 'dis? Stopping spammers. If you have to declare a phone number to get an account then Google knows a lot more about you. See what they have to say here.

Personally I'm quite excited about Google throwing their weight around on mobile. In general the operator networks are extremely closed due to 'customer protection' (read: vested interest) but if Google starts to be more supportive of operators who open their walled gardens then it could be the start of a watershed movement. Here's hoping! The mobile world needs to behave like the original Internet otherwise we'll end up with the mobile operators checking every piece of content that comes to your phone like the Baby Bells currently want to do. Oi vey. Stop thinking about the money already!

Hellfire and Ringtones

noreply@blogger.com (Matt Hobbs) — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 15:33:00 +0000

Now Moe likes God as much as the next guy (and he likes God a lot). I tells ya, that New Testament has a lot of great stuff - like 'love they neighbour', 'turn the other cheek' or 'anyone for fish sandwiches?'. Some folks though, they seem to not think that loving they neighbour ain't such a good idea in God's eyes, especially when that neighbour isn't as a-fearin' of hellfire and brimstone as them. Or even that the whole new testament was a bit 'off message'.

Take Sienna Communications for instance. Nice idea. Mobile phones that believe in God almost as much as you do. The kind of idea that would appeal to a lot of people in the mid west. When it comes to loving their neighbour though, well, Sienna's neighbours have a lot to answer for! If what I hear is true and Sienna uses Sprint as their provider you'd think their dislike of that company seems a bit off message in itself.

Now Moe's off for a few hail marys and some frozen margheritas on the Hampton beaches. Amen to that!