Headworx

It has been several years now since I was actively working with mobile network operators (MNOs). And almost six years since I called Presence the mobile killer application . Yet is is amazing how little the MNOs have been doing to improve the call setup process. We still dial numbers, not people or places and we still dial blind. Not knowing whether the other party is able to pick up the call. With everybody carrying a smart computer (a teleputer) in their pockets and almost everybody connected over ultra high speed 4G networks and everybody doing almost everything in the cloud, for voice calls we still dial blind. A number, the green call button and wait... for the other party to send us a busy tone, or pick the call up just to tell she will call back after the meeting ends. The smart ones use "reject the call with a text message" option present on some devices. Amazing! Or is it? Sad indeed. MNOs did so little to improve the call setup. For me the best time for pe...

Automapa was the leader in car navigation 10 years ago. Microsoft ruled the mobile world with Compaq iPaqs and we were using standalone Bluetooth GPS receivers coupled with the palmtops. And Automapa was the top navigation app in Poland at that time. Most kids today think the mobile world started with the iPhone. Apple thinks so too. Almost nobody remembers Compaq (the Apple of the year 2000) or HP Jornada series of "iPhones". They were pretty cool, with apps, touch screens and connectivity. Hey, we even had "iPads", with the groundbreaking and lovely Compaq TC-1000 leading the pack. But back to the Automapa. It died, being replaced by Garmin and Google/Android and Navigon as much superior. Automapa did not manage the platform switch from Windows Mobile to iOS / Android well. But they have risen from the ashes. In a big way. A month ago I downloaded a beta version of Automapa to my Android car computer . And I have fallen in love with it. It leaves all Garm...

Mine may be a wrongheaded view.  Apple is losing. Samsung bought themselves a huge PR / awareness deal. $1B does not seem a high price. Now every child in America knows who they are. The company Apple is very afraid of. But the last week's trial is the old news. And BTW  if you think Samsung has copied some design, look at this one called Yarvik . I have just bought it today. It is IDENTICAL to the iPad. Only runs Android and costs $150 and a change, which for a 10" IPS glass-covered capacitive tablet is A STEAL. Why didn't Apple sue them? Because Yarvik is a meaningless player, while Samsung is the gorilla. The more recent news, however, is the Samsung Galaxy SIII is way ahead of anything Apple. Of course we will see what the iPhone 5 delivers but it seems Samsung is unstoppable. The SIII includes so many innovative features like the screen staying on as long as it senses your eyes looking at it. Phenomenal. Needless to say the AMOLED beats any LCD hands down. Plus th...

This post is a result of my brain taking a holiday's perspective on the technology. The world is waiting for the iPhone 5. There is one feature that would let the next generation iPhone shine on. The color: white. yes, I know there are "white" iPhones already. But their displays are black when turned off. Actually making an electronic display that is full color when on and white when off is not an easy task. But who, if not Apple, can do it? And who, if not the present iPhone owners, would pay for it? Yes, this is my bet on the killer feature to be introduced in the next generation iPhone. The iPhone users really do not know what they want. They want to be unique, that is for sure. And once the white iPhone is released they will line up to buy one. Bringing Apple to be the king of the hill again. Do you remember what brought Nokia to the #1 place back in the 1990's? The replaceable covers. Nokia discovered phones are not technology but fashion. So has Appl...

Two years ago I posted a note on user's context roaming across devices: [ http://headworx.slupik.com/2010/05/follow-me-across-devices_29.html ]. The subject is more current today than ever before. Because in general we use more than one device. A desktop, a laptop. a tablet, a smartphone, and quite often a smart tv (or set-top box like AppleTV or GoogleTV). All of the devices have Internet access. But the access today is not enough. We all use one or the other form of cloud services. The most popular are the iCloud or Google / GMail / YouTube. On a single device we are often in the context. Take YouTube, as this is a good example (and still quite platform agnostic, as iOS users still use and consider YouTube an independent service). Almost everybody has a history of YouTube searches, has some favorites and possibly a couple of own uploaded videos. So what happens when you take somebody's tablet (or better a Smart TV in their living room) and want to show the videos you fo...

I have been playing with the Raspberry Pi recently. It is a single board Linux / Android computer for hobbyists. And browsing the Raspberry forums I found a discussion on designing a case for this gadget. The thread suggested downloading a PDF file and printing it on a piece of cardboard, then cutting along the lines and folding you would get a box for the Raspberry printed circuit board. Download a case and print it. Well, we could go much further than a folded cardboard case. With the current crop of 3D printers, it would be very reasonable to download and print actual plastic case. Exactly the way Mr Madox created a case for the OpenWRT - converted TL-WR703N router with a USB expansion board. 3D printing is in its infancy. But it is one of the technologies poised for the fastest growth this decade. Remember, in the 1980's we had those expensive dot matrix printers. Then came the monochrome lasers and finally in the early 2000's we were able to print photo - qual...

The Plantronics Discovery 975 has quietly moved to the top of my most trusted and most often used gadgets.The Discovery is a simple yet perfect device. It is a Bluetooth Earpiece, one that works. It gives the best audio experience of a phone call I have ever had. Especially to the other party. It is enough to say using it I have moved over time to the highest voice plan my operator offers. The reason is simple. I can very comfortably make phone conversations while driving. It has been like talking to a passenger siting beside me. On average I spend about two hours a day in a car and at least half of this time is on calls. 1 hour a day is 30 hours monthly, or almost 2000 minutes. Operators, do you hear that? You should be giving this thing away for free, as it will bring you 1 or 2-months ROI. And last week (yes I have owned the Discovery for almost two years now), I realized I can pair it with my Lenovo Windows laptop too. It is not that I had never tried before, but somehow t...