Internet. What Internet?

GLOBAL – When I read Charlie’s piece for OneWebDay, I pulled him up on his
crazy claim of being online for 25 years. Not possible, I reckoned, as
the web as we know it has only been around since the 90s. 25 years is a
ridiculous claim. What I failed to acknowledge (and here’s where
Charlie reveals his age) was that Charlie was in college in the US
during the 80s. And in 80s US colleges, they had things like BitNet.
Hell, they even had email addresses. No, not the web as we know it
today, but a web of sorts nonetheless. His claim now has a qualifier.

GLOBAL – We’re not normally ones to blow our own trumpet but given that it isn’t entirely our trumpet to blow, we thought it’d be okay. See, last week a Nokia online ad campaign bagged top slot in the prestigious Webby awards. The Webbys are seen as the primary Internet awards and snapping one up is like strolling up to receive an Oscar (but with much less fanfare and rubbish goody bags).

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When old becomes new again – SMS and Twitter

SAN FRANCISCO, USA – The humble SMS text message was a throwaway by-product of mobile network service messaging – 160 characters to shuttle unimportant service and billing information into and out of the mobile phone. At one point, some realized that maybe, just maybe, business people could use it for important business messages. It was ridiculed, though – what could anyone say in 160 characters or less? Also, operators created a whole range of SMS-based services, mostly info or download services.

Yet, it wasn’t the business-types who took to SMS. And the only SMS service that really raked in the money was ring-tone downloads, which has been declining in recent years. The real use for SMS originated with the youth who viewed it as an easy hack for communicating easily and on the cheap. They had a lot to say in 160 characters or less, to the tune of almost 2 trillion messages globally last year. Communication has trumped consumption.

And SMS still has far to go. Its simplicity is its strength. Case in point: Twitter.

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Mobile broadband gets a speed bump

AUSTRIA – How fast is your broadband at home? On a good day, we get about 3Mbps, which is good enough for most activities, though downloading big files does take a little time. Now how about if we had 10Mbps? That’d be quick, certainly fast enough to do pretty much anything we want online. Now how about if you had 10Mbps on your phone? That’s just what Nokia Siemens managed in a recent test with mobilkom Austria.

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What is Web 2.0?

THE INTERNET – We’re not sure about the provenance of this video, but we do know one thing – it’s well worth a few minutes of your time to watch. It might resemble something a couple of students might have knocked together as part of their art class, but it is in fact brilliantly done. What’s more, the message is pretty important too.

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Keeping up with the conversations

ESPOO, Finland - Wow. It’s only been a week since Conversations went live but already we’ve had some fantastic feedback and input. Thanks to everyone who’s taken the time to comment on the conversations so far.

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“Internet of Things” powered by human-like senses

LAUSANNE, Switzerland – Somewhat of a head-scratching phrase, the “Internet of Things” is the core concept behind a new long-term research partnership between Nokia and the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology.

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Boosting rural broadband

INTERNATIONAL – Getting broadband into remote rural locations is no easy task. Aside from the cost, the logistics can make solutions incredibly difficult to implement.

Now though, there’s a solution that’ll see 25,000 Indian villages get access to the Internet.

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Growing together: Cameras and Internet

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Four new devices were announced today aimed at emerging markets. Whilst there’s nothing unusual in itself about that, what is different is how, and why, those devices come packing good quality cameras.

Whilst doing surveys in rural India, researchers discovered the importance of cameras on phones for emerging markets.

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Growing Together 2008

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Over the next two days, over 100 journalists from all over the world will see how mobile devices and services are changing people’s lives across Africa.