Nokia Conversations

Mobile GPS hitting maturity

PALO ALTO, USA - When BBC tech reporter Darren Waters recently swung by the Nokia Research Center in Palo Alto, he shot a pair of little-seen candid vids showcasing some smart developments.

His clips demo photographing real-life objects to retrieve information about them. Plus, a video highlighting advances in real-time traffic reporting. The not-so secret ingredient in both these developments? A generous sprinkling of GPS.

Dubbed 'augmented reality' this short piece of footage paints a picture of the potential of GPS-enabled camera devices - in this case the GPS is used once a shot is taken to pinpoint the location and narrow down the options of what object in that place is being captured. See it in action here...

Likewise, GPS is the lynchpin in Waters' video that highlights how Nokia Research Centre is working in collaboration with Berkley University to improve live traffic info on-the-go...

Do you reckon you'd use these new technologies in your day-to-day routine?

Photo from Unhindered by talent

Dave Stewart on the Nokia Artists Advisory Council

LOS ANGELES, USA - Alongside his work with PangeaDay, legendary musician and former Eurythmics band member, Dave Stewart is founding member of Nokia's new Artist Advisory Council.

The initiative is designed to foster an artist-friendly environment within Nokia and was set up by Tero Ojanpera, executive vice president of entertainment and communities.

Stewart and Ojanpera were recently interviewed and questioned about the council. The musician is reported as having "strong ideas on how technology and digital business models should benefit acts and their fans" and is cited as being the driving force behind the council's creation.

He sums up his view of what the Council is and does:

It's a vision of the future where people would want to dig deeper in the world of an artist and where artists would be willing to be more experimental because the payment systems would be more transparent and different than they are today. It's about artists linking together and being collaborative.

Stewart definitely seems determined and confident in delivering a fairer deal for musicians and for the fans. He could well be onto something and the interview, reported in full on Reuters.com is well worth a read.

Bring on the global blackout!

EVERYWHERE, Planet Earth - Something monumentally cool is scheduled to happen at 8pm on March 29.

Simply dubbed Earth Hour, this global event will see 24 major cities across the world participate in turning off the lights for an entire hour to help highlight the need to combat global warming.

At the moment 264,668 people and 19,196 businesses, have signed up to the event - Nokia will power down Nokia House in Espoo, Finland along with a bunch of other selected office sites. And the overall impact, while fleeting, kicks out remarkable figures. You've just got to look at last year's event in Sydney that sparked the idea of holding an annual Earth Hour event:

"On March 31 2007, for one hour, Sydney made a powerful statement about the greatest contributor to global warming – coal-fired electricity – by turning off its lights. Over 2.2 million Sydney residents and over 2,100 businesses switched off, leading to a 10.2% energy reduction across the city. What began as one city taking a stand against global warming caught the attention of the world."

Are you planning to take part in Earth Hour? Do you reckon this event can really help to make a difference?

Photo from Liel Bomberg

Untying my tongue without losing my job.

ESPOO, Finland - I've been having a bit of trouble finding the right voice for this site. I don't want to preach, toe the company line, or spit out some corporate monologue. But neither do I want to say things that might cause a cataclysmic shift, such as shaving billions off our market cap or, worse, get myself fired.

You see, running a corporate blog is like being stuck between a rock and hard place.

The rock is the company. There are real serious business rules as to when and how a company speaks. That doesn't mean I can't do anything, it just means I'm not so free to say whatever I want.

The hard place is the public, that means you. I am pretty sure I would offend you with this site if all I did was try to sell you something, tell you only  how wonderful Nokia is or, worse, never listen to what you're saying.

There are other sites built to sell you our stuff, say how great we are, and talk to you without listening. With Conversations, I want to talk with you, not at you. And, do it in a way that we're both comfortable with.

So, here's the deal: I'll try my best to give you great stories from the Nokia neighborhood, without getting myself fired. And you let me know what you think of these stories, adding to them with your comments and suggestions.

In this way, together, we can make this site into something we both value.

Fair enough?

Photo from laenulfean

Chatterbox Air ready for take-off

LONDON, UK - Ofcom has given the thumbs-up to mobile calling aboard UK-registered aircraft in European airspace. Should communication truly know no bounds, or should flight remain one of the last havens of peaceful travel?

Pending a rubber stamp from The European Safety Agency and Civil Aviation Authority, we could soon be sat on a plane surrounded by passengers chatting on mobile phones.

It goes without saying that the safety issue is the one of paramount importance, highlighted in Ofcom's recent statement:

" The system works by passengers’ own mobile phone handsets connecting to an on-board base station. Both of these must be switched off during take-off and landing to ensure they do not interfere with mobile networks on the ground.

Once the aircraft reaches a minimum height of 3,000 metres, the system may be switched on by the cabin crew. Mobile handsets will then be able to use the aircraft’s network service to make and receive calls which will be routed via a satellite link to the network on the ground... Mobile phones will connect to the system for 2G (GSM) data, voice and text services. If the service is successful it could be extended to 3G and other services in future."

However, just because we can, does it mean we should? Liberating and enabling channels of communication is surely a great thing. But is there a line, and is this crossing it?

Elsewhere...
Approval for mobiles on Aircraft - BBC.co.uk

The inconvenience of camera phones

LONDON, England - There's a time and a place for shooting pictures and video on your phone and, according to UK Media Pioneer and BBC broadcaster, Chris Evans, a Led Zeppelin concert isn't one of them.

"I swear, when we went to see Led Zep, literally thousands of the crowd watched the whole gig through their mobile phones".

And he's not alone either. Reading through the comments on his blog post it's easy to see how many of Evan's fans feel the same way - very few seem to disagree.

Clodagh recommends

"So leave the phones at home, chaps. Open your eyes and absorb it properly, the memory will stay indelibly forever and enrich the imagination."

Jen wonders

"Are we real unless we can quantify it?"

Though, not everyone agrees. Anne G says

"I go to my favourite place in the world as often as possible and just sit quietly and enjoy. But, I also have a photo on my mobile phone to enjoy when I'm not there."

And VaughnJess says

"I have to admit that I have taken the odd photo at a gig. It's because I'm so hyper seeing my fave bands that it doesn't sink in. Watching videos later let me absorb it all, and to remember bits I may have forgotten."

Meanwhile Chris highlights another, slightly more disturbing, camera phone incident

"I saw a story on the news of a footballer returning home, to his own house, his kitchen in fact and there were all three of his brothers filming the entire event via their mobiles, so engrossed were they, all of them forgot to shake his hand or in fact welcome him in any way, the poor wretch was left stood there waiting for a brotherly hug that looked like it was never going to come."

With every new bit of technology comes a need for a new layer of decorum. It seems, in some places, camera phones have yet to establish their own.

Maybe it's time we started, what do you think?

Photo from Admiralty

Nokia beta Labs - what happens next?

ESPOO, Finland - With new mobile devices becoming ever more capable (think N95 with personal navigation, 5-megapixel camera and a multitude of other audio and video talents) they need to be fed with ever more complex applications.

Nokia Beta Labs exists to test and develop the next generation of mobile apps but not everything makes the cut.

In a recent interview with Engadget, head of Nokia Beta Labs Tommy Vilkamo reckons about 50 per cent of the applications that enter the program graduate to become full blown applications once the beta process is complete.

"The best-case scenario is "graduation," meaning that an app has gone through a full beta phase -- possibly comprised of multiple update and feedback cycles -- and go on to become production offerings. Otherwise, they're "archived," in which case they'll either be embalmed and offered as-is for posterity's sake or disappear quietly into the ether, never to be heard from again."

Recent graduates from the Beta Labs program include Nseries PC Suite, Share Online 3.0 and WidSets. Other applications currently in Beta include Nokia Text Messenger, which is a gadget for Windows Vista which fetches the latest text messages from your Nokia so you can view and respond to them from your desktop.

Check out the latest from Beta Labs

"Biomaterials - the silicon of the future!"

INTERNATIONAL - That's one hell of a headline, but not as out there as you might think. In a special report for BusinessWeek, Olga Kharif has explored a wide range of biomaterial research which is paving the way for the next generation of device materials.

"Viruses, silkworms, salmon sperm and potatoes are among the multitude of living organisms that scientists are trying to harness".

Inspired by Nokia's Morph concept the article explores a wide range of new material technologies currently being researched. With Morph's ground-breaking use of insulin derivatives which Mark Welland, head of Nanoscale Science Laboratory at the University of Cambridge describes as "a dream based on real technology" Khraif also looks at how materials traditionally used in artificial joints and heart valves are now being used to make devices.

"The bioscientists are building on half a century of research that had, until recently, focused chiefly on medicine. Biomaterials—materials that use part of a living structure—have long been used in artificial joints, dental implants and heart valves."Now, we are using the same technology for making devices," says Rajesh Naik, biotechnology research lead at Air Force Research Laboratory, who is developing a thin coating made with silkworm silk. Applied to the outer shell of a device, this film could act as a sensor that, when touched, might detect that you're coming down with the flu. "[Biomaterials] can be the silicon of the future," Naik says."

The article also looks at how rising oil prices has fueled an interest in exploring real alternatives and how Cereplast's new bioplastic is being used by manufacturers in device casings.

"At today's prices, Cereplast's bioplastic, which is not biodegradable, costs about as much as traditional plastic."

And it isn't just casing material getting the bio-treatment. Researchers at MIT are looking at using nontoxic viruses to create batteries which could be 75 per cent smaller than current ones. "IBM researchers are using bacterial DNA to create superdense memory chips that would allow cell phones to store a terabyte of data"
The rate of development in bio-materials is rapidly increasing. Angela Belcher, a research from MIT who is working on virus-based batteries says

"A year ago, I didn't think we'd be able to make these [virus battery] materials for larger electronics, but now, I think we might be able to even make batteries for cars."

Squashing the ant-farm syndrome

ESPOO, Finland - To me, a company is like a person. They both have values and ethics that guide everything they do. But, I just saw (again) the head-count at Nokia. And, I'm one of 60,000. I should have ant-farm syndrome, but I don't.

Last week myself and 15 colleagues spent two days in the exclusive 8th floor conference rooms at HQ (my first time in seven years at Nokia). We'd been invited to spend the time learning how to make videos.

The idea? Simply to learn how to get everyone across the company to share their views and experiences. We'd been recruited as evangelists to share and explore examples of Nokia's values in practice.

It might sound like a load of fluff, but it isn't. This is one way the company tries to avoid the ant-farm syndrome where we could end up feeling like small parts in a big machine.

Video is strong, emotional and engaging. Our teachers were a pair of professional filmmakers driven by the value of telling an engaging story over the technicalities of cutting clips.

And we loved it. We even managed to produce a couple of decent videos.

Tchau

Charlie
Editor-in-chief
PS: Let me know if you'd like to watch some.

Nokia N810 - more than its cracked up to be?

WASHINGTON, USA - Ever since the launch of the N770, Nokia has been breaking new ground with its Internet Tablets. The latest version, the N810, upped the ante even more, though not everyone can see the point.

Writing in the Washington Post, Rob Pegoraro takes the N810 for a spin along with a Sony Mylo and reckons both devices "aim to split the difference between laptop and phone".

Rob highlights all the features of the N810 in his review and reckons the devices are "a lot like laptops, just lighter and smaller".

One of the biggest benefits Pegoraro sees is Internet calling

"These gadgets' greatest contribution to mobile Internet use may be putting Internet calling in a pocket-size package. Both include Skype's software and hands-free headsets. With that, you can call almost anybody in the world for pennies a minute, a much cheaper alternative than wireless carriers' exorbitant international-calling rates."

Though he doesn't lose sight of the N810's reason for being

"And, like a lot of laptops and desktops these days, their primary reason for existence is Web browsing. As long as you can get a Wi-Fi signal, you can get to the Web."

Not all is good in Pegoraro's mind though, as he cites the lack of "any worthwhile contact or calendar software" as a bit of an oversight.

Overall, Pegoraro reckons the role of Internet Tablets isn't what it appears to be and their true purpose lies instead in driving technology forward for the rest of us:

"Set aside the question of whether we should always be on the Web, everywhere. How many different Web-capable devices do you want to carry? We have a finite amount of space in our pockets and purses.

"In that sense, handhelds such as the N810 and the mylo invite their own extinction. They do their assigned jobs well enough, but other devices that we're more likely to carry are ready to take over that work. The N810's final role may be to test features that later wind up on Nokia's cell phones, and the mylo may do the same for Sony's PlayStation Portable, Walkman digital-media players and Sony Ericsson phones.

"That's evolution in the gadget universe. Be happy that other people are willing to invest in the intermediate steps that get you closer to your own do-everything, take-everywhere Web"

An interesting perspective. What do you reckon?

 

2008 Nokia Mobile Filmmaking Awards

ESPOO, Finland - Nokia has launched the 2008 Nokia Mobile Filmmaking Awards as part of Pangea Day. The competition, open to entrants from all over the world now, will select five finalist's videos for inclusion in the global Pangea Day broadcast.
Pangea Day was created by award-winning documentary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim after winning the prestigious 2006 TED prize. Along with Nokia and TED, Noujaim wanted to connect people through film and encourage people to "view the world through someone else's eyes".

The competition, which runs until 15 April, is looking for short two-minute films in four categories: An act of kindness, Someone inspiring, The best part of the day and Something that makes you smile.

Entrants can submit their work through Share with Ovi where there is a special section for Pangea Day entrants. Five finalists will be selected to fly to Los Angeles for the 10 May event where a panel of judges including Noujaim himself, Dave Stewart and others will review the videos and pick a winner. Each of the five finalist's videos will be broadcast as part of Pangea Day whilst the winner will be given a "mobile filmmaling trip of a lifetime along with a production budget".

Pangea Day will connect event sites on almost every continent for a four-hour worldwide broadcast of short films, VIP guest speakers and special musical guests. Anyone can host their own Pangea Day event through the Friends of Pangea Day page on the official website.

Mobile rules: Next generation mobile apps

SAN JOSE, USA - Mobile Rules, the annual competition tasked with highlighting the best next-generation mobile applications and technologies has announced the winners for 2008.

The competition, which is open to developers and sponsored by Nokia, saw an unprecedented number of entries this year. Winners get the opportunity to have their applications placed in the Nokia Software store as well as fast-track access to contract negotiations with Mobile Rules sponsors and partners.

Competitors participated in one of three strands: Business plan, Applications and Technology Innovation. The Application strand is made up of four subcategories covering Enterprise, Multiplayer, Infotainment and Multimedia.

A waft of innovation from the winners mean we can look forward to some killer applications and technology over the coming months. Gamica, a multiplayer-Tetris like game scooped the Mulitplayer gaming award whilst social music network, MyStrands, picked up the Multimedia gong. Upcode, a mobile parking payment system, was the best Enterprise product and travel app Earthcomber took the Infotainment award.

The business plan award went to MedApps which is working on a new application to enable patients to submit vital information to their doctors.

Four winners picked up prizes in the Technology Innovation section. A faster, cheaper form of flash memory gave Genusion an award whilst a database search application from Kannuu grabbed them a prize. New eco-friendly composite materials from Kareline put them on the finalist list along with Tiki Labs for its touchscreen interaction development.

Using GPS at 600 miles per hour

ATLANTIC OCEAN - Picking up a GPS signal in an inner city can be tricky enough. How about in the middle of the Atlantic? Six miles up, traveling 600 miles an hour?

Well, that's what one guy did, and he's got the screen shots to prove it.

Ant from the Fresh Plastic blog carried out the GPS experiment on a recent flight from New York to London. Somewhere over the mid-Atlantic, he managed to pick up a GPS signal and track his movements using Nokia Sports Tracker. The charts threw up some killer stats including a top speed of almost 600mph and altitude in excess of 33,000ft.

"The N95 8GB getting a fix at nearly 600 miles per hour through a cabin window on a Delta Airlines jet flying between New York's Kennedy and London's Gatwick!  Yeah it took a while to get a fix and yeah it kept losing it but hats off to the little box of wonders.  My old Bluetooth GPS unit couldn't get a fix unless stationary.  Walk at an average pace of between 2-3 mph and it just wouldn't lock on.  At nearly 600 mph it'd stand no chance."

Back on dry land, Ant plotted the stats on Google Earth before posting the screenshots on his blog.

Done anything similar? Prove it.

Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics

LONDON, England - Nokia has scored third place in Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics, narrowly missing out on the top spot. Greenpeace decided to dock points off of Nokia's environmental rating for "failings the organisation found in its take-back efforts".

Published in Greenpeace's quarterly report "Guide to Greener electronics" the result leaves Nokia third out of the 18 consumer electronics manufacturers monitored.

Speaking to Register Hardware, a Greenpeace spokeswoman blamed Nokia's handset recycling scheme for not working as effectively as it could.

"The organisation found that Nokia representatives in Russia and many developing nations didn't know about the programme and so were not promoting it to consumers."

Nokia's director of environmental affairs, Markus Terho highlighted the fact that the Nokia scheme also covers other manufacturers' handsets and that it was actually working well though admitted:

“The scheme’s so big that we’ve had to outsource the service at the customer facing point in some countries. Many of these people change frequently and some therefore need extra training.”

The report did however commend Nokia for its elimination of toxic chemicals. Nokia's original score, 8.3 out of 10, would have seen it take the top slot, but as it stands, 7.3 out of 10 means it now sits in third place.

 

Support 2.0

HELSINKI, Finland - As devices become more advanced, the need to support users increases. In Nokia's case this is about to evolve with the online support section of Nokia.com about to get a host of new features and functionality.

Engaging users in supporting other users has proved not only useful but powerful and engaging. Using Nokia's support forums, tens of thousands of discussions have been posted by users sharing tips, advice and help.

The team behind online support is looking to push things even further though, extending the support site to enable more users to generate content relevant to other users.

With a range of online tools available, creating the next generation of support will help Nokia customers get the most from their devices. Wikis, blogs and other content-sharing tools will be employed to enable customers to troubleshoot each other's problems and help get more from devices.

Users will also be able to submit and share tips and rate them, so other users can quickly see and decide which are the most relevant to them.

EMI wants to be part of Comes with Music

HELSINKI, Finland - It won't be long now before Nokia begins a revolution for music fans around the world with the launch of "Comes with Music". Now, EMI has gone public stating that "we want to be part of it".

The new service, which gives customers unlimited access to millions of songs when they purchase a "Comes with Music" device already has the support of the world's largest music label Universal.

In a statement made on Wednesday, head of EMI Finland Wemppa Koivumaki said:

"We want to be part of it. I believe strongly that when it launches we will be there, with a full offering"

The service is scheduled to launch in the second half of 2008 and will enable "Comes with Music" customers to download millions of songs for free.

Tech Connect magazine makes the connection with rumours of a similar service from Apple citing Nokia's "Comes with Music" service to be an "inspiration for Apple's unlimted music bundle plans".

Afterdawn.com and Reuters.com also reported on the EMI announcement.

Nokia vs Apple - It's a global thing

INTERNATIONAL - Four out of every ten people around the world use a Nokia mobile device. This is a significant statistic on its own, but when you break it down, either country by country or continent by continent, it becomes even more interesting.

Nokia has a strong foothold in Europe, but less so in the USA. In the developing world people use Nokia as a synonym for mobile phone.

Breaking down the stats throws up a range of different influences. Over the last year or so Apple has come from nowhere in the mobile market to selling a substantial number of its iconic iPhone in the US but with less success in Europe. Some, like Hank Williams on his blog, whydoeseverythingsuck.com, see this as being a US V EU thing

"What all this means is that Europe loves Nokia, and we in the U.S. are relatively unfamiliar. I am not a Nokia user, but I am familiar with the OS in the same way as I am familiar with the iPhone, which is to say as someone who has read and discussed a lot about the platform and played with one, but does not own one."

But you don't just need to look at sales figures to see what's going on. VNUNet reveals a report from StatCounter on mobile Internet browsers which show Apple's mobile Safari browser as being number one in the US in March, but behind Nokia pretty much everywhere else.

"Despite lagging behind in the US, Nokia is still well ahead in the global mobile internet browser market with 0.25 per cent in March. The iPhone weighs in at number two with 0.06 per cent (0.08 per cent if the Touch is included), ahead of BlackBerry with 0.01 per cent."

There's no doubting Apple has had rapid success with its iPhone in the US, but taking the device overseas will be a totally different story. Equally, getting more people using Nokia devices in the US will remain a challenge. Is it really possible to be successful everywhere?

 

 

EU champions Mobile TV standard

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Mobile TV got a welcome boost from the European Union yesterday in its decision to urge member countries to adopt the DVB-H mobile TV standard.

In a move should help rapidly evolve the development of TV on mobile phones, the deadlock between competing technologies can now finally be broken.

In an official announcement on Monday, Viviane Redeing, EU Commissioner for the Information Society and Media said

"For Mobile TV to take off in Europe, there must first be certainty about the technology. This is why I am glad that with today's decision, taken by the Commission in close coordination with the Member States and the European Parliament, the EU endorse DVB-H as the preferred technology for terrestrial mobile broadcasting"

Reding's announcement highlighted the key advantage of a single technology across Europe as enabling "the necessary market scale to launch mass Mobile TV services across the EU". It also stated the benefits to consumers who will be able to watch TV on their mobile devices at any time, anywhere across Europe.

In an article for Information Week, W. David Gardner highlighted some research highlighted by the EU commission which estimates the world-wide mobile TV market being worth $31 billion by 2011.

N-Gage keen to shatter mobile gaming mould

LOS ANGELES, USA - In November of last year a new breed of mobile game was unveiled to be in development for N-Gage, dubbed Project White Rock. Promising a fresh angle on portable entertainment it will be the first game to cross-breed mobile and PC multiplayer interaction.

This new form of gaming crossover blurs the boundaries of where mobile entertainment begins and ends, but definitely reinforces the focus on pure innovation that's in the forefront of the minds of teams driving N-Gage. Will Shen, N-Gage Head of Production in North America, recently spoke to NokNok.tv, emphasizing this overall vision:

Will Shen, N-Gage Head of Production in North America (the guy behind all the first-party launch titles), who confirmed that they’re looking at creating games that harness the power of your built-in camera, GPS receiver and any relevant skill your handset may possess that could help inspire and execute innovative games... Shen also stated that Nokia is seriously looking at location-based gaming via GPS, but level-headedly emphasizing that the “focus is on innovation”, and not gimmick gaming.

Nokia also announced today that "[Project] White Rock will be the highest production value mobile game ever created", triggering a new surge of excitement from the mobile gaming elite, including PocketGamer.co.uk:

Over at Pocket Gamer towers, we’ve been having hours of head-scratching fun trying to work out what’s going on when it comes to Nokia’s strange mobile2PC Project White Rock... Continuing to ramp up the interest is a snippet from Nokia’s latest press release.

In the meantime we'll be speaking to the teams behind upcoming N-Gage games to bring you more in-depth look at the types of experiences this new platform is endeavoring to create.

Nokia "wants to start sharing"

LONDON, England – Nokia's customer base consists of one billion customers. That's about one sixth of humanity, according to a story in The Guardian. What better place to start when it comes to testing and evolving product concepts? Nokia already invests significant amounts in understanding its customers, but it's projects like Morph which get instant reaction.

As Tarmo Virki writes in The Guardian "the mobile market leader is rewriting its product development rulebook".

But it goes beyond showing off some far-out concepts. Over the last couple of years Nokia has evolved a new way of working, a new level of openness which is designed to help the company evolve to the next level.

Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight says

"For Nokia this is probably the biggest throw of the dice since they entered the cellphone business,"

Unlike product development when the company started working on mobile devices, today's attitude is to get people involved, to listen to customers and to be open about what Nokia is working on.

Bob Ianucci, Cheif Technology Officer at Nokia describes the benefits of openness in development

"The ability to include large numbers of users into the development cycle means you can have a much more collaborative approach to development and you can try ideas out, refine them and move forward -- or fail fast and get out,"

Recently Nokia has been inviting opinion-forming bloggers in the development process. Blogger Oliver Thylmann was one of those who attended an idea-generation workshop recently. Although the need to include is great, there is a limit to the sharing. That doesn't taint the excitement of being involved though.

"Sadly I will not be able to blog about the contents but can blog about everything around and who is there. That list alone will tell you that it will be hard for the event not to turn out great."