March 25, 2008

How VoIP Bloggers are Using VoIP

I was recently contacted by VoIP-News as part of a story on how bloggers and "VoIP VIPs" are actually using VoIP and VoIP-related applications. Great idea. Of course, there are no ends to the permutations, so it's fascinating to scan the landscape for what people are doing.

I'm actually a pretty pedestrian VoIP user, mainly because I'm at my desk most of the time, and don't have much need for mobile or conferencing applications. I'm also not much of a gadget guy, so you won't see me raving about the latest tech bauble to velcro to my utility belt. Just for the record, I don't have one, but I love having VoIP!

Anyhow, the article came out today, and I was included in the writeup, which I highly recommend you read. Others of note in the article include Andy Abramson, Mark Evans and Henning Schulzrinne (one of the originators of SIP). Pretty interesting writeup, and am pretty sure anybody reading this will learn something new. It's also a good testament to the fact that VoIP is not a one-dimensional technology/application, and when you mix it up with web services and mashups, things start to get really interesting.


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Posted by jonarnold at 09:25 PM | Comments (0)

March 14, 2008

Nokia Reviews on Nokia's Blogs

Just a quick note about the Nokia Blogger Relations program. Over the past couple of days, I posted my review of the Nokia N95, and Max's review of the N81.

Andy Abramson has been running this program for a while now, and I just wanted to share that our reviews have now been posted to the Nokia Blogs sites, where there's one for each model - the N95, and the N81.

I always post about the Nokia Blogs when our reviews are posted, simply to support the initiative. It's a great use of the Web as a marketing tool, and am sure you'll see a lot more of this as mainstream companies discover the value and power of online sharing and collaboration tools. And, of course, these blogs are a fantastic place to get lost and hear first hand what engaged users really think about these phones. So, please, go visit, and get lost.


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Posted by jonarnold at 02:14 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2008

Max's Palm Treo Review

It's been a while since I've posted something from son #1, Max. Priorities change when school starts up, but he's keeping pretty busy in his spare time, most recently designing websites.

We were recently given the Palm Treo 755 smartphone to review, but we only could keep it for a few weeks. Time flies, and we've given the phone back and have reverted to our Nokia phones - reviews on those are coming....

Anyhow, Max has posted his review to his blog, so for those of you who want to hear how a sharp teenager makes use of an adult product like this, you'll find his post a good read, as usual. He's pretty direct and quite savvy - lots of candid comments and keen observations - I hope Palm is listening....

I'm due for my review of this phone, and hopefully that will be by early next week. I only got to use it a fraction of the time Max did, so it won't be as detailed.


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Posted by jonarnold at 07:13 PM | Comments (0)

November 19, 2007

One Laptop Per Child - Buy One, Give One - Now!

Got a note from colleague Mark Goldberg while I was away this weekend. He wanted to draw attention to a very worthy promotion going right now around the One Laptop Per Child initiative. If this is new to you, you should read up on this on their website, where details are also provided about this promotion. Followers of my blog may recall my first encounter with one of these very cool computers earlier this year.

As explained in his post, until November 26, you can buy one of these computers for $399 for yourself, and a second one will be sent to a developing country where it can really be put to good use. And, you get a $200 tax receipt to boot.

The offer is good in both the U.S. and Canada, and this is the first chance I've had to get the word out. As the OLPC website explains, this is the first time the computers have been made available to the general public. Also, I'm just describing their "Give One Get One" promotion, but there are others shown on the site, including a Group Giving promotion. So, this is a great opportunity for corporate giving for larger scale support.

Lots of ways to support the program, and if you want to help bring the PC to those who can least afford it, this is the perfect opportunity. Not to mention a chance to be the first on your block to get one. Well, my wife is a primary school teacher, and I can guarantee it will be a hit with her kids. I'm in - hope you are too.

Thanks for the note, Mark! I should also note that another Canadian colleague, Mark Evans has done his part to spread the word. Can you?


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November 12, 2007

Max's Latest Tech Review - Philips iPod Clock Radio

It's been a while since my son Max has posted any tech reviews. Getting back to school has made this more difficult, but we're trying as we can.

We were also doing a regular video review series called Teen Tech Reviews, but unfortunately, our host site - BlogTV.ca - ceased operating a few weeks back. We're looking a few alternatives for hosting our video reviews, and hope to resume these soon.

For now, Max will have to rely on written reviews, and he's just posted one for a neat consumer device made by Philips. It's for their iPod clock radio, and it's a pretty good idea. Basically it's a clock radio with a docking station for your iPod, so you can have your favorite tunes ready to go when you start your day.

Sorry, folks, there's no IP communications theme here - just a short plug for Max's blog. But if you want to hear how a teenager responds to products like these, you'll find it a good read.


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Posted by jonarnold at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

October 04, 2007

Thomas Howe Company/Sylantro Announce Mashup Winners

As readers of my blog would know, The Thomas Howe Company is doing really great things in the mashup space, and are starting to make a name for themselves.

One of the ways they've done this is with Sylantro, where they jointly held a mashup competition at Sylantro's Global Summit customer event this week. I think it's a great idea, and Thomas has posted the results of the competition today to his company blog.

As the post explains, the overall winner was Infosys Technologies, and their "CallPal" mashup integrates personal calendaring/contact information with Sylantro's Synapps platform. Sounds like this was a great forum to demo all kinds of neat mashups, and you can get a better sense of that from Thomas's post.

While I've got you, I'd also like to draw attention to THC's new blog page, which recently replaced Thomas Howe's personal blog. So, if you're following this, make sure to update your links. I should also note that the THC blog has a very fun and engaging look and feel. They're using the European red telephone booth image as their icon, and every time you visit the home page, there's a rotation of really cool landscape images, with that phone booth icon dropped in. It's a fun way of saying that no matter where you are in the world, you can always be in touch, and if you want to talk about mashups, THC will be there for you.


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October 02, 2007

Skype Shakeup - Quick Reprise

When I picked up on Andy Abramson's post about Niklas Zennstrom's resignation from Skype yesterday morning, I couldn't find anything else posted out there in the blogosphere or mainstream press.

Of course, as the day went on, that changed big time, and the story got the full attention it deserved from many sources. If you're just jumping into this story, Skype Journal is as good a place as any to start, especially Jim Courtney's insightful running commentary yesterday and today.

I often speak with Business Week about stories like this, but was not reachable when the call came, so I was out of luck. However, I did speak later with Olga Kharif, who wrote a separate post about our chat on the Business Week Tech Beat page, and just thought I'd add that to mix.

There's been lots of talk that an IPO is the magic bullet for Skype, and I think there's a lot of merit to that. Or how about going to Yahoo, fresh off some interesting acquisitions in Zimbra and BlueLithium?

I still like my longshot idea the best - Apple. Just over two years ago, I posted that Apple would be a great fit for Skype - I'd call it Skapple, and together, they could have the ultimate mobile device --- the Skypod. That may not come to pass, but I'll tell you what --- the Google phone - which was cited in that 2005 blog post is just around the corner now, and it sure bears a lot of similarity.

While we're on the topic of heavily troubled VoIP plays, I was interviewed the other day by IT Business Edge about Vonage. Can anybody make a buck in this business?

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September 17, 2007

Microsoft Surface - This is Cool!

On Saturday, Max and I had a private briefing of Microsoft Surface. First off, I just have to say this is a bit like Telepresence - you have to see it and experience it to believe and understand what it's all about. You can get a good sense of this from the Surface website, but sitting down and seeing it first hand is something else.

Most people haven't seen Surface before, so if that's you, I think you'll really enjoy this post.

Toronto was the second stop on their North America media tour - following New York, and I suspect Max is the first teenager in Canada to have had a private briefing, so he's a pretty happy guy. Surface has been public for several months, but commercial deployments are another story. This particular demo was held at the downtown Sheraton Hotel, which is part of the Starwood hotel/resort operation. Am not sure just how far along they are in offering Surface to their guests, but we got a pretty good taste of what it might look like if they did.

I'll let the pictures and video clip below tell the rest of the story. I have no doubt Surface will find a home for some pretty cool commercial settings like hotels, but we also got a glimpse about how this will become the uber-cool coffee table of the future in your smart home. The mind boggles.....


Surface is a tabletop console, and it's touch-based. Just think of it as a giant iPhone - but much more powerful. This example is a restaurant, where all the menu items can be viewed, and you can place your order directly from the console. That's just the beginning...

Surface1.jpg


Now it's time to divvy up the bill. Kyle and Max are going Dutch, and they're now going to drag each item that's theirs into their own spaces so they can figure out how much each of them owes to pay the bill.


Surface2.jpg


Max's portion is $14.63. He just puts his credit card face up on the console. The back of his credit card is tagged to interface with Surface, and presto, the bill is paid on the spot. Of course, this cuts down on interacting with the waiter, but for the 2.0 crowd, how can you not like this?

Surface3.jpg


Let's switch to the fun stuff - home entertainment. Check this out - the video puzzle. This is a car racing video, and the image is broken up over a grid of plastic tiles. They're all tagged, and each one shows a portion of the video clip. The challenge is to assemble all the tiles in the right order - just like a puzzle - to get the complete image as fast as you can (there's a timer on the console to show how long it takes). Lots of ways to play this game - 1 on 1, or kids vs. parents, etc. So, just like doing your daily crossword puzzle, imagine subscribing to a service where you get a daily video puzzle to solve. It's not hard to see how Surface opens up a whole new world of entertainment possibilities. You'll see even more in the video clip down below.

Surface4.jpg


And of course, the Paint program. Just pick your colors and doodle away. The possibilities are endless, and it won't take long for people to figure out creative ways to use this.

Surface5.jpg

Here's a short video of the demo, led by Microsoft's Kyle Warnick. He does a great job illustrating some of the cool things you can do with Surface. Check out what he does with a digital camera, and then with a couple of Zunes. Where can I get one of these???


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Posted by jonarnold at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)

September 05, 2007

I've Got Ooma - Call Me!

About 6 weeks ago, Ooma had a rather eventful launch, and generated some very lively debate among the blogerati and mainstream press as well. I said my piece, and felt I was being pretty balanced and fair compared how others were reacting.

Anyhow, the proof is in the pudding, and I can finally say that I've had a chance to live with Ooma for a bit, and would like to share my experiences with you. There's no substitute for trying out the service to provide a fair assessment, and while I previously had the benefit of a detailed briefing before Ooma's launch, I'm now using it first hand.

As an aside, I have to tell you this wasn't easy to arrange. Being in Canada always seems to present challenges for U.S. companies, and Ooma was no exception. The service is really only set up right now for the U.S. market, so we had to make some adjustments to provision the service for me, as well as to register online. That delayed things quite a bit, but I have it all working now, so here you go.

I'm not going to rehash what Ooma is and is not - that's another conversation. Basically, Ooma is a product, not a service. You buy their box - one-time purchase - and you keep your existing phone line. There is an Ooma "network" for routing calls over VoIP, but you don't pay for that. So, you get the best of both worlds - the reliability, 411, 911, etc. of PSTN, and the cost efficiencies of VoIP. In time, Ooma will provide feature richness too, but not yet.

So, once you get by the idea that Ooma is a product, it's pretty straightforward. You get the box - the Hub - a sleek ATA that looks more like an answering machine than a broadband adapter (actually,that's what it is) - then you connect it to your router and your home phone, and you're done. That's a good thing in some ways, but as I'll explain shortly, not-so-good in other ways.

Enough preamble. Here's what I really like about Ooma...

- Love the name - as intended - Ooma sounds soothing. Any word with lots of vowels will do that, and that's a good thing in a market full of noise, hype and me-too offerings. The flipside is that Ooma can mean whatever you want it to mean - sort of like Skype. Problem is if you don't establish a strong brand identity right away, the name doesn't register much meaning. That's not good, as it weakens your brand and you waste a lot time trying to explain it to people over and over.

- It's a product - not a service. Had a good chat with Andrew Frame, their CEO, about this, and I agree. It's a different approach to the market, and the idea is that it's supposed to be easier for the public to grasp. Products are tangible, services are not. Remember, Ooma is a mass-market offering - it's not for early adopters. When you buy Ooma, you're buying a box, and that's what you get when the courier arrives at your door. As Andrew pointed out to me, when you order Vonage, guess what? You get a box. You've bought a service from them, but you still end up getting a physical product. Some people are bound to find that confusing. I agree with Andrew on this point - but I'm still not so sure the mass market is ready to think of telephony as a product. Time will tell.

- The packaging - it's great (photo below). Very slick, very sleek, very Apple. No doubt, Ooma has stolen a page or two from the Apple book of consumer marketing - good idea. The whole look and feel screams iPod - you can't help but get a sense of anticipation when you see the boxes and look inside.

- The design. Again, the product - the Hub - is the same - very slick, very sleek, very Apple (again, photo below). Consumers like well designed products, and this is something you don't mind leaving on your desk for others to see. You cannot say that about any ATA or router, right? Point, Oooma.

- Voice quality. Nothing else matters if this doesn't cut it. Well, I can tell you that it's great. Every call I've made or taken with Ooma has been carrier-grade. Crystal clear, no hitches. I regularly use 2 VoIP lines for business, and both have their share of problems. It's passable, but it's still VoIP. So far, Ooma doesn't feel like VoIP at all, at least quality-wise. They seem to have gotten this part right.

- Easy set up. I'm not very geeky, and don't enjoy playing around with wires. This took maybe 10 minutes, and the set up guide was well written and easy to follow. It was up and running the first time around, and I've had zero problems since then. Again, this is not a universal truth for consumer VoIP, so Ooma scores high here.

- Instant Second Line. This is their big feature, and it's pretty neat. They're not the only ones who offer this feature, but it's definitely not common with VoIP providers, since they'd much rather you pay to have a second line. This isn't quite the same idea, but it's pretty close. Basically if your phone number is engaged, Ooma enables dialtone for all the other phones in your house, in effect, giving you a second line. If someone calls your house while you're on the line, the other phones ring through for the new caller. Same for making concurrent outbound calls. And - you can link both lines together for an impromptu conference call. Gotta like that. To do this, though, you have to use another Ooma box - called the Scout - a smaller version of the Hub. Once they're all linked together, you get the second line effect - and if you're currently paying for a second line, you'll probably want to drop it once you're using Ooma.

- Ooma Lounge. This is the website you use to manage your calls online. It's similar to other consumer VoIP portals where you have call logs and can listen to your voicemails. As with Skype, this is where you can add funds to your account, which you'll need for making calls outside the U.S. I found the rates pretty competitive - 1.3 cents for Canada, and 2.2 cents for Western Europe. So, you just put $10 in there, and you're covered for a while - nothing difficult about that.

- Broadband Answering Machine - another big selling feature. The Hub is actually two products in one. It's your ATA, but it's also the answering machine. When you have messages, one of the keys flashes to remind you. The other keys are there to manage your messages - play, replay, delete, send a call straight to voicemail, etc. Very intuitive, and pushbutton easy to use. I should also add that once the service was provisioned, the voicemail service was enabled right away - even before I had a chance to record my greeting message. Am not sure if this is true for other phone services, but I thought this was pretty good. I actually missed a call before my greeting message was recorded, and I just figured it went into a black hole. Nope. Sure enough, it was there in my inbox - have never missed a call.

- The Ooma "dial tone". When you pick up the phone, the first second or so plays a unique musical snippet, which is your cue that you're on an Ooma connection. Not a bad idea - takes some getting used to, but you forget about it once you start talking.

- Perhaps most importantly, once you've got it set up, your behavior doesn't change. You still use your same phone, you keep your same number - nothing really changes. Even the "*" features you use to configure PSTN features - call forwarding, call return, etc. - are the same with Ooma. It's all very familiar - there isn't a mention anywhere that Ooma is using VoIP (don't tell that to Vonage). It's all about preserving the existing telephone experience, but at a lower cost. Even though Ooma calls use VoIP and the service is broadband-based, you still get 911 and 411, and if the power goes out, Ooma simply goes dark, and you revert to full PSTN service. Sure, there are concerns about caller ID, but for the most part, nothing really changes - again, ease of use - which goes a long way to gaining adoption.

Ok, so what's not to like? Aside from all the criticisms from the blogs - many of which are valid - I'll just say a few things here.

- Once you've got Ooma all set up, it kind of fades into the background. It's pretty passive - much like an ATA, and that's not good if the box is what you're paying money for. Unless you're making regular visits to the Ooma Lounge, you don't have much reason to interact with Ooma aside from listening to your voicemails.

- Since you're not subscribing to anything, Ooma has no occasion to be in regular touch with you. There's no monthly statement or line item on your credit card. Aside from the Lounge, there's no reason to go to their website, and this is totally a Voice 1.0 product. There's no IM feature or video calling feature, or mobility capability to engage you beyond making regular phone calls. I'm told mobility is coming, but we don't have that now.

- Behind the scenes, Ooma basically takes over your phone service and cancels what you already have in place with your carrier. So, whatever voicemail setting you have, archived messages, and calling features will all be lost. You've got to be comfortable with that, since that's the only way they can what they do. Not everyone will be cool with that, as you cede a fair bit of the control you used to have over to Ooma.

- On that note, if you're not keeping track, you may not be aware of the calling features you've given up, and it's up to you to figure that out. Ooma supports most of them - caller ID, call waiting, etc. - but maybe not everything you're using now. Of course, the upside is that you no longer need to pay for these features, including your answering service.

- The business model here is totally built around the idea that all the money you save in monthly add-on charges will handily justify the $399 investment in the Ooma box. I don't know how much people spend on average, but let's say these features are costing you $10 a month. On that basis, you'll need to use Ooma for 40 months - 3.25 years - to break even. That's a pretty long ROI for a service that's getting cheaper by the day. Of course, I'm not factoring the long distance savings, which will probably be the big attraction. But I'm not so sure about that. LD rates are so cheap now, that this may just be an incremental savings.

Heard enough? I think I've said enough for now. Bottom line - Ooma works, and I think it's a well designed product. That's the easy part in my mind. Getting this to market and convincing people to spend this kind of money upfront from an unknown company will be the real challenge in my mind. Right now, Oooma is very Voice 1.0 - maybe Voice 1.5 with the Lounge. But there's nothing new for the telephone experience. I'm told that enhanced features are coming, but we don't have them now. Well, I just don't know if replicating what we already have will be enough to make this work in a heavily commoditized space. Ooma has created a big splash, but it's expensive to keep the buzz going until the market discovers them. The product is good - no doubt about it - but I don't know if that will be enough to see them through. We'll find out soon enough.

Want to talk more about it? Hey - call me, and experience Ooma for yourself. I'm not about to broadcast my Ooma number to the blogosphere, so drop me a line and I'll give you a ring!

Want to see it? Here you go...

Nice packaging...

Ooma1.jpg


Ooma Hub, with the Scout parked on top...

Ooma2.jpg


Here's what the Hub looks like when both lines are engaged. The red lights show that both lines are engaged - on separate calls - neat!

Ooma3.jpg

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Posted by jonarnold at 11:14 AM | Comments (9)

August 30, 2007

Odiogo - Listening to Blogs - Why Not?

I came across a post from Jeff Pulver the other day that really caught my eye, and I wanted to share it here.

His post was about a company called Odiogo, and they use text-to-speech to automatically convert your blog posts into audio posts. I think that's a great idea, and am going to look into this for myself.

Jeff provides a link where you can listen for yourself. There's also an audio sample on the company's website. The meter and cadence of the speaking is a bit robotic, but you can certainly follow the narrative. For people who don't have time to read your posts, or have a long commute, this is a great way to get your content out there and reach a broader audience. As with regular blogs, you can set up RSS feeds and subscribe to your favorite blogs who are using it. Download the files before hopping on the train or plane, and you'll never miss a post from your favorite bloggers.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea. The website even tells you how to embed ads in your audio posts, so you can truly maximize your revenue potential, if that's what you're into.

Ideally, bloggers would voice record their posts so their followers can hear them in their natural voice, but who has the time to do that? Odiogo is an automated process, so you make a bit of a trade off in not having to do any extra work to extend your reach as opposed to strengthening your personal brand with your own audio posts. For most of us, the trade-off is a small price to pay.

I also like the fact you can do this with articles as well, so for people like me who write beyond the blog, Odiogo allows me to get a lot of content out there in a new format without a lot of extra work.

Thanks for the post, Jeff! I see that Odiogo is based in Jerusalem, and it looks like all your recent travels there are yielding some nice finds.


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Posted by jonarnold at 10:07 PM | Comments (4)

August 15, 2007

Teen Tech Review - XBox 360

I'm not a gamer, but virtually all teenagers are. Max had a chance to review Microsoft's XBox 360, and that's what we talked about on this week's Teen Tech Review. So, not much here about telephony or VoIP, but if you're an XBox fan, I think you'll enjoy it.

As usual, if you're based in Canada, you can watch the review directly from the BlogTV.ca site here.

And, if you're outside Canada you probably won't be able to access this link, but the embedded link below should work just fine. Hope you like it!

"


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Posted by jonarnold at 09:07 AM | Comments (0)

August 09, 2007

Nokia N95 Blog Coverage

Just a quick note to say that the recent reviews my son Max did for the Nokia N95 - both written and video - have now been posted to the Nokia N95 Blog.

As mentioned in previous posts, this is a terrific program put together by Andy Abramson, and it's a great way to track all the reviews from people in the Nokia blogger relations program.

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Posted by jonarnold at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)

Teen Tech Review - LG's DVD Player

On this week's Teen Tech Review on BlogTV.ca, my son Max reviews the LG DVD player. We're just back from a road trip, so he's had the benefit of using it both at home and in various vacation settings.

If you're based in Canada, you can watch the review directly from the BlogTV.ca site here.

Note - looks like BlogTV.ca has made some changes to the Channel selections. Until now, Teen Tech Reviews was listed under the Technology Channel, which is where it belongs. Well, they've dropped this channel - guess not enough people are watching, and/or there's not enough people contributing relevant content. Now we've been slotted into the "Miscellaneous" channel, which isn't hugely encouraging. I guess it's a bit like being bumped from a Thursday night slot to Monday at 11pm. So, I'd say our reviews are going to be harder to find now, but you'll always be able to see them here.

Remember - BlogTV.ca is basically a social networking experiment. There's no advertising, and very little stuctured, regular content to speak of. Not surprisingly, most of the content is what 20-somethings are into - dating, About Me, lots of guitar playing and silly pet tricks.

If you're outside Canada you probably won't be able to access this link, but the embedded link below should work just fine. Hope you like it!

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Posted by jonarnold at 12:32 AM | Comments (0)

July 26, 2007

Max's Nokia N95 Written Review

When you're too busy to post, the next best thing is to post other people's stuff! Well, that's my story today, but if you follow the Nokia NSeries phones, you'll like this one.

Followers of my blog know about my oldest son, Max. He's doing reviews regularly, and we recently did a videocast review of the Nokia N95 on BlogTV.ca. He also has his own blog, and his written review of the N95 was posted today.

Reading his review, I especially agree with his comment about the stereo quality for music. Max uses high energy rock music for his ringtone, and as they say in Spinal Tap, he sets the volume to 11. He has a habit of leaving his phone at the top of the stairs, and when his friends call - at all hours - we almost have a heart attack with this sudden blast of mega-noise. Isn't being a parent fun?

Anyhow, thought I'd pass it along - hope you like it!

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Posted by jonarnold at 05:30 PM | Comments (1)

July 20, 2007

Ooma - a Triumph of Technology or PR?

Yesterday, Ooma had its official launch, and at face value, is being touted as a game-changer. I'll steer you to blog posts that explain the details, but basically this is a device-based solution to give consumers a better VoIP experience, and an alternative to the fledgling pureplays like Vonage and 8x8. I'd include SunRocket in that list, but they're not even fledgling any more.

Let's just say Ooma was met with healthy skepticism from the blogging community, and yesterday morning saw a deluge of emails from the bloggers commenting about Ooma as well as sharing their public posts. Om Malik got the ball rolling first thing yesterday, and it didn't take long for others to chime in with their reactions. As usual, I'm late to the party, and for a number of reasons, I couldn't post about this until now.

Following Om's post, here are some posts that will give you a flavor for how Ooma was received - Thomas Howe, Andy Abramson, Ken Camp, Aswath Rao, and Valleywag. You get the picture.

Being late to comment has its advantages. Interestingly, there has been almost no buzz about this at all today. More on that in a moment.

So, having waded through all the rapid-fire email threads from the blogerati, and reading several blog posts, here are my basic reactions to Ooma's lauch.

1. Generally speaking, I share the reservations (or however else you care to describe their reactions). This all seems well thought out as a technology, and it's a bit of a cross between Vonage and Skype. You get the free calling, but whether you know it or not, you're also part of a peer-to-peer network - much like how Skype works - which is the lynchpin to make all this work. So, it potentially delivers a lot of benefit for the mass market, but there really isn't much new here.

Yes, you save money, but you have to buy a box for $399, and make it the hub of your home phone setup. As others have been saying, with voice getting cheaper by the day, it's hard to see how people will run out and spend $399, especially with SunRocket's exit and Vonage being on the ropes. When the #1 and #2 VoIP pureplays being on shaky ground, you have be a real believer to expect the market to embrace a company with a very catchy name, but nobody's ever heard of. Bottom line - you have to change your habits to use Ooma. Nobody is in the habit of spending this kind of money for a box, and re-doing your home phone setup to make this work. I think that's going to be a very real and formidable hurdle.

I just don't see enough real value-add or innovation here to make all this worthwhile. Sure, you end up keeping your regular landline (which may not be what people want to do), but Ooma isn't reinventing what you can do with telephony, so why go there? I don't think the base cost savings they're focusing on will be enough to change people's behaviors. Listen - I'd love to see Ooma succeed - we all need good news in this space, but I can't see this being a runaway success.


2. It's been done before. Even though I'm late to comment about Ooma, I briefed with their CEO, Andrew Frame, about a month ago. I got a pretty thorough walk-through along with the slide deck, but really couldn't say much until the news came out. During my briefing, the first thing that came to mind was PhoneGnome. We talked about it, and Andrew certainly knows their story. Very similar concept, but with a few more features, and a much higher price. Hmm. For more on that, you're best to hear first from Mr. PhoneGnome, David Beckemeyer, and his take on Ooma. The second thing that came to mind was Jeff Pulver's Free World Dialup (nee Bellster), which has gone through a few lives, but in essence had the same idea years ago.


3. This looks more like a PR coup than a real game-changer. The PR strategy seemed to go exactly to plan. Get all the A-list bloggers excited, and the word will spread from on high to all the blog followers, and then virally to the rest of the technorati. I honestly don't know how many bloggers were actually briefed on Ooma - as opposed to forming their opinions based on what other bloggers were saying. I'm one of the few bloggers out there that are analysts, and I suspect many of those commenting about Ooma were not briefed.

I find it interesting that the blogging community picked up quite nicely on this, but the mainstream media has not. This raises a basic issue for me of the perceived value of bloggers in the media community (which is perhaps by design). That said, most of the bloggers following this are not journalists, and while they're technically very savvy, it's not clear what they're really basing their views on. Regardless, most of what I've read is consistent, and I think on the whole, we're reading this thing about right.

That said, a few more points on this PR thing...

- In most people's minds, Om Malik is at the top of the blogging food chain in this space. Ooma's PR certainly worked for the bloggers. After Om posted yesterday morning, he put the word out to his core group of bloggers, asking us all to comment. I have NEVER seen a request like this get so much response, not even for the iPhone. Talk about being a key influencer - not only did this trigger a wave of posts and email traffic all day long, but there's an endless stream of reader comments on Om's blog post. The cynic in me says that Ooma's PR knows that bloggers just love to give their opinions, and if you get the top guy excited, it just spreads from there, and before you know it, we're all sucked into this vortex of telling the world how smart we are. Looks to me that's exactly what happened, and for better or worse, Ooma sure got their money's worth of PR yesterday with all this free publicity and advice. Of course, blogging cuts both ways - that's what I love about it. This strategy makes you look like a genius if the reviews are positive - but that's not what happened here. So, I'd be very curious to know how this is playing out with Ooma today.

- Aside from the blogging community, Ooma got a review from Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal. In the mainstream business media, that's pretty comparable in my books to getting Om with the bloggers. That's fantastic press for a company nobody has heard of, and provides instant credibility. Of course, big media plays by different rules than the blogs, and Mr. Mossberg's review is pretty neutral. It is not a raving endorsement of Ooma - but not damning either. It's still a win for Ooma, but for those of you keeping score, it's nothing compared to the rave review David Pogue (another A-list mainstream tech writer) gave to GrandCentral, which I have no doubt, helped pave the way for their recent sale to Google. You can read Walt Mossberg's review off of Om's post. Interesting, huh?


4. Woe, Canada. This is a personal note, but also a call to action for bloggers who want to dig into a real story. During my briefing with Ooma, they were keen to set up me with a demo account and to ship me a trial unit. And I was keen to oblige - why not? Well, I told them to check first because I was concerned that the service wouldn't work here. It's really just for the U.S. market, and as things stand, I don't have a unit to try, and I'm pretty certain it won't work here. So, as much as I'd like help Ooma and get first hand experience with it, I don't see this happening.

This is another classic example of a U.S.-centric offering - which is fine, but it is doesn't do me much good. Canada is often an afterthought in world markets, and it's times like this that we feel so second-rate. It's the same thing with SkypeIn. When this service was announced by Niklas Zennstrom here in Toronto at VON Canada back in 2005, I found it incredibly ironic that Canada was not in the group of 8 countries the service would work in. It's basically a 911 issue, and it won't get resolved any time soon, so we don't have SkypeIn here with domestic area codes. Arghhh.

Ok, so what's the real story? Here's my second Canadian angle, and call to action. So, as all the bloggers know, Ooma has raised $27 million, has a high profile management/board team, and a very bold vision. I just can't get over 2 things....

- how much attention they got on Day 1
- how little attention they got on Day 2

Doesn't that worry you just a bit? If this is the kind of Day 1 attention that Ooma gets, I'd love to see what happens when the bloggers get excited about a story with much bigger financial implications, and much more intrigue. This what REALLY gets me about this whole thing. Read on...

Way back in March, I posted about a company called Geosign. They're based in Guelph, Ontario, a tiny city hardly anyone knows about outside of Canada. Well, this company raised an incredible $160 million from a U.S. VC - American Capital Strategies, and this hardly registered a blip anywhere.

How can this be? Sorry, but even by U.S. standards, this is a huge round of funding. Guess what, folks? Ever since this funding, things have gone terribly wrong on a lot of fronts, and the company isn't talking about it. It's not clear if American Capital was conned, but this has the makings of a major example of the blind chasing the blind, and could turn out to be a huge blunder and much worse. I can absolutely guarantee you that if this was an American company, the blogs would be all over it, and you'd be far busier with this than Ooma would ever keep you occupied.

I'm one of a handful of bloggers based in Canada, and there aren't many up here paying attention to Geosign either. I know of people who are, though, and when the story finally unravels - and it has to - you'll understand where I'm coming from.

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Posted by jonarnold at 08:40 AM | Comments (2)

July 19, 2007

Teen Tech Review - Nokia N93

On this edition of Teen Tech Reviews, Max shares his impressions of the Nokia N93 phone.

If you're based in Canada, you can watch the review directly from the BlogTV.ca site here.

If you're outside Canada you probably won't be able to access this link, but the embedded link below should work just fine. Hope you like it!

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Posted by jonarnold at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2007

Max's Nokia N95 Video Review

We're finally back on track with our video reviews on BlogTV.ca. We've had a 2 week hiatus - Max had exams, and then we got a new web cam. This cam is MUCH better, but it took a few days to get things working properly - we'll be doing a separate review on this, actually.

So this week's Teen Tech Review is with the wonderful Nokia N95, and if you can bear with Max for 8 minutes, he'll show and tell you all the cool things this phone has to offer.

And if that's not enough, Max is working on his written review, which will turn up on his blog. Once it's posted, I'll get the word out here - hopefully on Monday.

For those of you based in Canada, you can watch the review here, which is a direct link to the BlogTV.ca website. After watching the review, I hope you poke around to explore what else is going on at BlogTV.ca.

I understand that BlogTV has been launched in the U.S., but Canada was the first country that the Israel-based BlogTV originators expanded to. So, for a change we've got something going here before the Americans, and I'll lay odds I'm the only person you're hearing about this from. If you like what you see, please RSS me, as Teen Tech Reviews is a regular series, and we have lots more reviews coming.

For those of you not based in Canada, you'll need to watch our review via the embedded link below. Regular readers of my blog will know the story behind this, but at least this is a workable solution to share our reviews outside of Canada.

Hope you like it, and all comments are welcome!



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Posted by jonarnold at 04:18 PM | Comments (2)

July 12, 2007

Update on Telus/RIM 8830 Launch

Fellow blogger Jim Courtney left a comment on yesterday's post about the launch I attended for the BlackBerry 8830.

Just wanted to amplify his comment, as my post needs correcting. Telus stated that they had an exclusive on the 8830, and he rightly points out that Bell has been recently advertising this phone. To follow through more on this, please check out his SkypeJournal post that is linked on his comment. Thanks Jim!


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Posted by jonarnold at 08:35 PM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2007

Nokia N93 Review Update

Just a quick note to say that my review of the Nokia N93 from Monday has also been posted to the Nokia N93 blog site. The full review is re-posted there, so the content is the same. I just wanted to direct you there in case you want to follow all the N93 reviews that have been aggregated by reviewers who are participating in this program.


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Posted by jonarnold at 08:54 PM | Comments (0)

July 09, 2007

Nokia N93 Review

This post has been a long time coming, and I can't give you one particular reason why. I've been using the Nokia N93 for quite a while now, and I've had a few starts and stops getting a review done. Most of the reviewers contributing to the N93 blog that Andy Abramson runs posted their reviews a while back, but if you're still interested in this phone, hopefully you'll find my review worthwhile.

It's a long read, but if you've used this phone, you'll probably read the whole thing. If you want a shorter review, skip this, and read my son Max's N93 review from late last year. Actually, we both had pretty similar opinions about it. Or better yet, read 'em both, and tell me what you think.

Ok, here we go....

Well, I’ve been using this phone for a while, and it really is a mixed bag. If this was my first Nokia N Series phone, I’d have a greater sense of wonder. No doubt, it’s a very cool phone, and I feel very lucky to be able to make it my everyday phone. However, having lived with earlier N Series models, the wow factor isn’t as great at this point. Not to mention, the N95 is waiting on deck, and I suspect that model addresses many of the problems I’m experiencing with the N93. Actually, you’ll hear more about that first from my son, Max, my co-reviewer in this program. He’s writing his own reviews, and has been using the N95 for some time, and really loves it. Am sure his review will be done well before mine.

Ok, let’s talk about the good stuff first, and there’s lots to choose from. At first glance, the N93 is smooth and sleek - more refined looking than the N91 or N90. Not as angular, less masculine – this is a phone that a woman would be as comfortable using as a man. The curves and rounded edges make it look less bulky, which helps, given that the N Series phones are larger than what people typically use.

As with the other N Series phones, I find the N93 to be a better camera than a phone. The still camera continues to improve, with a 3.2 megapixel lens. The N91 was pretty good at 2.0, but 3.2 is even better. When the photos turn out well, they’re very good – no complaints there. However, it has its quirks when used as a camera, and a lot of things have to go right to get good photos. More on that later.

On the plus side, there are lots of settings to choose from for all kinds of situations, and I particularly like the Night setting, as I often need to take photos in low light settings. These photos turn out grainier, but at least the image is much easier to see. I also really like how easily you can choose to save or delete a photo as soon as you take it. Just a quick push of the same button you use to snap the photo, and it’s saved. However, with a couple of quick clicks, you can delete it pretty quickly and easily.

Another feature with mixed utility is the zoom. You can certainly zoom in closer than with earlier models, but there’s not much point since the photos never turn out. For taking photos at conferences, I find you can only zoom in just a touch and still get passable results. Things go out of focus in a hurry as soon as you starting getting a closer look at your subject.

I love the video capabilities too – it’s really what I enjoy most about these Nokia phones. As long as you have sufficient memory, you can have a lot of fun taking short videos – zooming is easy, and the sound quality is quite good.

Quite a few other pluses to report. It’s easy and fun to scroll through photos in the Gallery section. There’s a carousel-type effect as the photos scroll quickly around the perimeter of the screen, and can easily be enlarged for full screen viewing.

The keypad is very solid – you really have to push down on the keys to enter anything. I like this feature, as other keypads are too sensitive and it’s too easy to key in the wrong number when making a call. In the flip phone mode, the keypad is like a regular cell phone – nothing special there. As with other N Series phones, the N93 is a Rubik’s Cube, and the screen also flips out to the right – as opposed to up, like a flip phone – and now the phone looks like a mini-notebook. It’s a very cool effect, with the keyboard right below the screen – but I really haven’t found any practical use for it. So far, it’s just a cool way to show your pictures or videos.

What else? Having WiFi and Bluetooth are great features. For me, Bluetooth makes it very easy to quickly download photos to my PC, which I often do for blog posts. It’s not practical for video or a large batch of photos, but for small spot jobs, it’s a great. The WiFi feature is neat because it turns the N91 into a WiFi endpoint, which is great if you happen to come across a free hotspot. Not many of these in Toronto, but it’s handy to have.

Here’s another fun one. The N93 comes with an RCA cable adapter, so you can easily view your photos and video on your TV set at home. I didn’t realize how many people like to watch their photos on TV, so I can definitely see why this would be a popular feature. And for those who have never done this, there’s definitely a wow effect seeing photos up on the big screen for the first time.

Finally, the built-in games are pretty good. I’m not a gamer, but my kids love them, and it’s been a great life-saver when I’m out with my youngest son and he needs to keep occupied when I’m doing things. Well, it’s great for a little while – the battery has a habit of dying quickly and suddenly.

So far, so good, right? Lots to like here. But it is a phone, and I haven’t said much about that yet. I actually don’t use cell phones much at all, and you’ll have to troll the N93 blog site for what the power users have to say about the phone features. All I can tell you is how it comes across for making/taking everyday phone calls. In short – not great. You’d think Nokia would have this in spades, but not for this phone, and I’m not alone. When my son Max posted his N93 review some time back, I was surprised at how critical he was about the phone features.

Now that the N93 has passed from son to father, I’m not surprised any more. I just don’t get it. Unless you’re in a quiet spot, sitting still, it’s pretty hard to hear the caller. I’ve certainly had better experiences with other phones, and the phone experience almost seems like an afterthought. In a perverse way, I wish everyone would use this phone. I’m old school, and have a problem with people walking and talking in busy, public places. This phone would solve that problem pretty fast.

Actually, I suspect most of these people are “phonies” anyhow, and aren’t really talking to anyone. The phone is just a prop, and it’s a great way to look busier than you really are. When you see people talking on their phones in a loud nightclub, don’t tell me they’re actually having a conversation. I better leave it at that if I want to keep reviewing these phones!

Another thing – setting up your profile. You have to go pretty deep into the menu program to do the most basic things like set the phone to silent mode or change the volume of your ring. Very unintuitive, and simply too much bother. It’s much easier to just turn the phone off when going into a meeting than to scroll through so many menus just to go into silent mode.

Next item – memory. Can you believe this phone only comes with 32MB? I know they do that to keep the price of the phone down, but with so much horsepower, and 3.2 megapixels, it’s just absurd. The earlier N Series phones had more memory, so what gives here? The N93 photos are high resolution, and often come in at 1MB or more. It’s like having a roll of 35mm film to work with – 24 shots if you’re lucky. And forget about doing any decent video. I’ve never had to buy any accessories or upgrades to any gadget I’ve used, but $30 for a 1GB SD card was the best money I’ve spent in a long time. No longer do I have to worry about how many photos I take, or having the video max out 30 seconds into a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

The battery life is next. In some ways it’s fine – definitely can go many days between charges, but then again, I’m a very light user. However... it sure has a habit of dying out of the blue. It’s one thing when it’s down to 1 or 2 bars – you expect that. But it’s another when you’re at 4 bars, and boom – it just dies – no warning. Or, you know you were at 4 bars – maybe higher – when you turned the phone off at night. But when I go to power up in the morning – nothing – no juice. Does it just die overnight? I don’t think so. Very strange, and this happens fairly often. It’s not a big deal when I’m at home, and I can just plug in the charger. But it’s happened many times when I’m away, and then phone just becomes dead weight until I can get home and charge it up again.

Let’s move on to more practical matters. The main moving part – the swivel screen – was no doubt designed by a right-handed person. This phone has an asymmetrical design, and I just don’t see how left-handed people could be comfortable using it. If you have a very steady hand – which I don’t – you can take pictures with one hand. For lefties, this has got to be a challenge, no doubt. All the features – the zoom, the toggle switches, the screen positioning – work great for righties, but for the left of us, you’ll need a whole new set of micro-motor skills. I’m not a fan of all these tiny button and switches, and Nokia is hardly alone here, so I’ll just move on. However, let’s stay on the theme of taking pictures.

As mentioned, you really need a steady hand, and I find with the N93 camera design, that I need 2 hands to get good results. The screen can easily swivel up and out of view, which makes it hard to frame your shot. Secondly, it doesn’t take much for your forefinger to block the lens and/or the flash when doing a one-hand photo. Related to this is the fact that the image capture is not very real-time. As with all cameras, action shots take a lot of practice – such as trying to get a good shot of Max when he’s at the plate for his baseball games.

That’s a given, but even such simple things as photographing a speaker on stage are much harder to do than you think. For every good one that makes it to my blog, there are often a dozen or more attempts that turn out blurry or with the speaker in a goofy pose. This is especially challenging for speakers who move around a lot, but with a digital camera, you don’t really care. Just keep shooting and hopefully you’ll get a keeper. Fair enough, but it’s often a lot of work to get a pretty simple result.

To be fair, this is a phone, and not a Cybershot. Of course I’m going to get better and more consistent results with a real camera, and it’s arguable how much of this is the N93, and how much is just me not being a great photographer. However, this is what I use for a camera when I’m working, and I’m here to tell you what works and what doesn’t.

Enough about the photos. To finish up, I’ve got a few other things to cover that I’m not crazy about. Below the toggle switch on the right edge are two single-purpose toggles for the camera features. One allows you to switch back and forth from photo to video mode. The other turns the flash on or off. It’s really great to have these features – it’s much easier this way to make these switches than earlier N Series phones, where you have to go into the menu programs. That’s good design. However, it’s also very easy to unwittingly switch modes, and it’s happened too many times than I’d care to remember. Just when you think you’re lining up a great photo, you click away, only to find out you’re in video mode.

That’s problem #1. Problem #2 is the fact that it takes time, patience and precision to switch modes. It doesn’t just happen with a quick toggle move. Takes a lot longer, and it’s not always a smooth process. In real time, it may only take 3-4 seconds, but when that Kodak moment comes, it’s an eternity, and invariably the moment is long gone by the time you’ve gotten back into photo mode. I don’t have a healthy relationship with machines, and more than once this has put me into a state where all I want to do is smack this thing around. Not a good idea, and I don’t do stuff like that, but the frustration level gets very high at times.

And on top of that, the N93 often simply freezes up and crashes – just when you’re lining up a shot, or switching from photo to video. I don’t even want to begin to tell you how aggravating that is.

A related annoyance is how easy it is to set the flash off. This happens to me all the time, and it often startles people. I have no idea what button I’m pushing to do this, but it sure looks goofy, and really, it shouldn’t be so easy to set the flash off when you’re just picking up the phone. If you’re old enough to remember the Woody Allen movie, Bananas, you’ll know where I’m coming from. I feel like his character, Fielding Mellish, who is a product tester, and is constantly getting hurt doing the most routine, inane things.

Are we done yet? Ok, one more. I know you can’t have it all, but this one sticks with me a fair bit. The speaker is on the outside of the phone. So, sure when the phone rings, it’s loud and clear. And if you’re sitting in a quiet place, the sound quality when playing back a video clip or listening to music is pretty good. But... try picking up the audio when there’s background noise – forget it, at least for watching video clips. You can watch clips in two modes – either flipped up (like a flip phone), or flipped out (like a PC screen).

Either way, the speaker is on the other side of the screen, so the sound coming from the phone is going away from you – not towards you. If there’s an ambient noise, the sound gets totally lost and you can’t hear a thing. I know – this isn’t why you would run out to get the N93, but it’s one of those little things that might give you buyer’s remorse.

All told, the N93 has a lot of great things going for it, but definitely with some caveats along the way. I suspect many of the things that are drawbacks for me will not resonate with everyone, or you’re just more clever than me in overcoming these problems.

However, I think it’s fair to say you’re going to run into a lot of these shortcomings with any phone that is designed to do so many different things. As a multipurpose device, the N93 sure is a great product, but it sure wouldn’t be my first choice if my priority was a great cell phone.


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Posted by jonarnold at 10:08 PM | Comments (7)

June 21, 2007

iPhone UI Simulator

Been running all day, and I just wanted to quickly bring attention to a really neat post from colleague Thomas Howe. It's a fun look on how various Web 2.0 UIs would look on the iPhone, due to hit the market next week. If you're a fan of the iPhone... or iPhoney, give this a look!


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Posted by jonarnold at 10:44 PM | Comments (0)

June 18, 2007

BlogTV.ca Broadcast - Update - Sony PSP Review

This is the third in my series of updates on my videocasts on BlogTV.ca. I now have a way to make Teen Tech Reviews accessible to anyone on the Net, and this post gets us up to date on all our videocasts so far.

Below is the embedded link to our most recent videocast, which is Max's review of the Sony PSP. Here's my original post about the videocast, at which point I realized people outside of Canada couldn't access the BlogTV.ca website.

In case you were wondering - we didn't do a review last week - Max is studying for exams!



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Posted by jonarnold at 06:24 PM | Comments (0)

June 05, 2007

Teen Tech Review - Sony PSP

On this week's Teen Tech Review, my son Max reviews the Sony PSP. This may not be of much interest if you're wearing your VoIP hat, but this is a very popular and well designed device, and Max has a pretty good idea why.

CAVEAT - and this seems to be a big one! I just discovered tonight that readers located outside of Canada cannot access Blogtv.ca. I'm not sure if that applies across the board, or somehow varies by broadband provider, but I suspect it's the former. After all, bandwidth costs can get very expensive if you make these video feeds accessible to the whole world.

I'm looking into this now with Blogtv.ca, but if you've not been able to watch our video reviews, that will explain why. If that's the case, I have a problem on my hands, and I'm open to suggestions. This sounds like a Vonage scenario, I know - if they can come up with a workaround for me, we'll be fine. But if not, I'll have to look at another way of doing these so everyone can see them. You're probably nodding your head right now, as this looks to me like a net neutrality or even a net freedoms issue. I'll keep you posted.

Oh - if you can't access our video reviews, and really want to see them, please drop me a line, and I'll see what I can do.


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Posted by jonarnold at 10:10 PM | Comments (1)

June 04, 2007

Max Arnold Reviews the Nokia N800

The Nokia N800 is one cool tablet, and I've been lucky enough to be included in the Nokia blogger program to review it. That said, I'm honest enough to tell you that I'm not enough of a gadget guy to get any utility out of this wonderful device - but my oldest son, Max, is.

Max should be pretty familiar to my blog readers by now, and he's had a good run with the N800 for a while. We did a video review of the N800 on our first edition of Teen Tech Reviews for BlogTV.ca, and Max has now posted his written review on his blog.

So, for this post, I'm really just the messenger, and my job is to steer you to Max's review. The N800 has received thorough blog coverage and great reviews from the likes of colleagues Ken Camp and Alec Saunders, but these are from an adult perspective. Max may not be as sophisticated, but I think there's a lot of value in reading about how a teenager views the N800, and if you feel the same way, I think you'll enjoy what Max has to say.

Oh, and while I have you, Max is very keen to do more reviews - or even paid writing gigs - so any suggestions are welcome. :-)


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Posted by jonarnold at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)

June 01, 2007

Fireman 3.0 Reviews - Video and Text

For a variety of reasons, all kinds of neat products and gadgets find their way to me, and one of the recent ones is Fireman 3.0. This is a software package for burning CDs and DVDs, made by a company called Honestech - all of which is new to me. This is not something I would ever use, but my oldest son, Max is the perfect person to try this out. He's been test driving it for the past little while, and has done not one, but two reviews.

First is his written review, which you can read off his blog.

The second review is video-based, and is the second broadcast in our weekly series called Teen Tech Reviews, on BlogTV.ca. We put this together earlier in the week, but I haven't had a chance to post about it until now. Hope you enjoy it.

Looks like the PR folks for Fireman 3.0 have been getting the word out to the bloggers. Fellow blogger Alec Saunders posted his review today - talk about being on the same wavelength! His review was quite positive, and interestingly, both Alec and Max referred to Fireman 3.0 as a Swiss army knife. Must be a pretty versatile product!


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Posted by jonarnold at 05:05 PM | Comments (0)

May 25, 2007

Nokia N800 Blogger Program and BlogTV

There's a lot of "blog" in the title of today's post, and for good reason.

Earlier this week, I posted about my first videocast on BlogTV.ca. This was the launch of a weekly video series called Teen Tech Reviews that I'm doing with my son Max. Our first review was for the Nokia N800, and while the production values are pretty low, I think Max did a great job explaining what this gadget means to a 14 year old.

Canada is a small country, and BlogTV.ca is still basically a social networking experiment, so it's hardly a household name. However, people are watching our review, and it's now become a "Featured Broadcast" on the site. Whoo hoo. Once we sort out our production challenges, things will only get better.

The second blog element to this post is the Nokia blogger relations program that has been developed by Andy Abramson. I've posted about this program several times, and simply wanted to cite here that our video review has been posted to the N800 blog site. Hopefully this will make for some good cross-pollenization between these two "blogging" entities.

Finally, I just wanted to come back to BlogTV for a moment, as I see that Jeff Pulver had a post yesterday about BlogTV, drawing attention to its Israeli roots, and the fact that BlogTV.ca was launched in Canada several months before its recent launch in the U.S. So, anyone out there wondering what all the fuss is about should read Jeff's post, and spend more time here for the Canadian experience.


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Posted by jonarnold at 01:58 PM | Comments (0)

May 22, 2007

We're Doin' TV Now - Teen Tech Reviews Debut

Some things take longer than others, and this is one of them. For a while now, I've been wanting to get a video-based series of tech reviews going with Max, my 14 year old uber geek son. He's written product reviews for me, has his own blog now, has a PC-building business and website, and now we're doing the video thing. We've titled the series Teen Tech Reviews.

The idea is to share how teenagers use and experience technology and gadgets in their own words. I'm a big believer in giving them a voice, and this is one way to do it.

There are lots of ways to do video posts, and for this series, I'm using BlogTV.ca. Why? Well, first, they're based here in Toronto, and I've been following them since attending their launch back in February. Their service has some unique elements that I think are neat, and are not offered this way yet in the U.S. To find out more about BlogTV.ca, please refer to an earlier post as well as a podcast.

Yesterday, Max and I put our first video review together, and the topic was the Nokia N800. It's a web-friendly tablet device that does a whole lot of really cool things. Bloggers like Ken Camp and Alec Saunders have provided terrific reviews on their blogs, but I wanted to do one with Max, and I'll bet he's the only teenager out there doing a review of this device. He's also in the process of doing a written review on his blog, and I'll pass that along when it's ready.

So, here's the review, which you can find on the Techno Gadgets channel on BlogTV.ca. If you have time, you should have a look around their site. As you'll see, it's an interesting mix of "TV" and video blogging. It's TV in the sense that the posts are broadcast live, so you have to do your stuff in one take - which we did no problem. The broadcast is archived, so it's also there for people to watch at a later date, and I hope you'll do that! The review runs about 8 minutes, and if you can't open the clip below, here's the direct link. The volume is on the low side, but if you access it directly from the site, it plays louder. We've got a few kinks to work out here, and future segments should only get better.



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Posted by jonarnold at 10:03 AM | Comments (1)

March 26, 2007

Max Arnold's Nokia N80 Review/His New Blog

The Internet can be a very democratic, pluralistic place, and that's great news for people like my 14 year old son, Max. He should be familiar to regular readers of my blog, and now he's on the blogging bandwagon. Over the past 2 years, he's really come into his own, especially when it comes to tech, and all the goodies I bring home from my travels have gone to good use. He's written reviews before as part of Andy Abramson's Nokia N Series blogger relations program, but this is the first time he's done so via his own blog.

Max started his blog a few weeks ago, and has put up a few posts, and he's got some pretty strong views about what he likes and doesn't like about tech. I think it's great that he's putting his thoughts out there, and I'm here to share that for those who want to see what tech means to the youth of today. You'll be hearing more from Max, both here, and of course on his own blog. And if your memory is really good, you may recall that Max and I have been wanting to start a regular video cast series for some time, and that's very much going to happen. We've got the tools - just need to make the time. And sponsors are welcome!

So, without further ado, please welcome Max Arnold to the blogosphere! For those who want to read his review of the Nokia N80 phone, here it is. And if you must know, the post is all his - I just read it myself after he posted it earlier tonight. Am hoping Andy will add it to the Nokia N80 blog site, and if so, I'll pass along the link.

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Posted by jonarnold at 09:50 PM | Comments (0)

March 22, 2007

Apple TV Gets Raves - Now Watch Cisco

The initial reviews on Apple TV are pretty impressive, and I'll just cite two posts - Om Malik and Cynthia Brumfield's IP Democracy. You can go from there and follow all the good press and reviews Apple TV is getting.

So what does Cisco have to do with this? Plenty, in my view. It's been all good since Cisco and Apple made peace over the iPhone trademark issue, and I think a lot of interesting developments involving both companies will soon follow. The motivation for them to work together - and interop - iPhone with Linksys - both the phones and the routers - is obvious, and no doubt a lot will come from this. As well it should.

That said, I think there's a completely separate agenda - and potentially a much bigger one - going on in the video space. It's enough that these companies have a common enemy - Microsoft - and for very different reasons - the home computer market for Apple, and the enterprise communications market for Cisco. Together, they can mount a pretty formidable counterforce, especially in the battle for the digital home. And it's pretty interesting that both companies recently updated their corporate names to reflect the changing natures of their business - which I see becoming complementary on a few levels.

Why watch Cisco now? Well, I've posted before about this - here and here - and yesterday's Apple TV launch seemed like a good time to revisit this, especially since it was received so well.

So, all I'm trying to say here is that when you take in all the great buzz happening around Apple TV, keep in mind that Cisco is smiling too. And when the iPhone finally arrives, they'll be smiling again, and then I think we'll really see how strong these synergies are poised to become.


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Posted by jonarnold at 01:48 PM | Comments (0)

March 19, 2007

DiamondWare - A Gamer's Best Friend - and a Company to Watch

Anyone following the gaming world or the Second Life phenomenon would know by now that Second Life announced the addition of voice into its platform on February 27. That’s an old story by now, but I just want to connect the dots back to DiamondWare, and tell you the story that isn't getting much play - yet. I’ve known this company for a few years now – and we’ll get to that in a moment.

I’m telling you this story because I think it needs to be told, and also because I’m one of the first who can tell it. I’ve had the benefit of a full briefing and demo of their conferencing platform, so I’ve seen it and heard it first hand. The only other way to experience it is if you’re part of the Second Life beta, or involved with one of the many trials DiamondWare is currently running with some big name companies. At the Game Developers 2007 Conference held two weeks ago, DiamondWare, in fact, provided a hint of what’s coming. They issued a series of announcements at the show about gaming deployments that will soon be commercially available, namely Auran’s Fury, and Virgin Games’s A World of my Own.

But those are NDA scenarios, so for most of you out there, I’ll likely be the first person you’ll hear about this from. Here we go…

First, I’ll just work backwards to name the players that bring us to DiamondWare. SecondLife is the largest public deployment of their 3D voice software, and the virtual world of Second Life was created by San Francisco-based Linden Labs. Their February 27 press release tells the basic story, but makes only a passing reference to the technology behind 3D voice, which involves two companies – Vivox and DiamondWare. Vivox provides the platform to support 3D voice, but the technology itself has been licensed to Vivox by DiamondWare. This relationship has been in the works for some time, as DiamondWare announced their successful demonstration with Second Life last September. It’s only now coming to market.

I should also add another thread to the story here. Vivox is another Jeff Pulver venture – he’s a co-founder and their Chairman. Jeff is an avid Second Lifer, and has his own virtual conference space there called Pulveria. He gave a great real-time demo of this at his Fall VON keynote last September, and I’m one of the bloggers who commented about it. Jeff posted about Second Life adding voice on February 28, but only mentioned Vivox. That’s understandable, but if that’s all you’ve read about this story, then you’re missing the DW connection. Given that it’s VON this week, I thought it would be timely to mention this, as I'm sure you'll be hearing about Second Life and Pulveria a few times during the show. Unfortunately I won’t be at the show this time, but I’m not hard to find if you need me.

So what’s the big deal with DW? You don’t have to look far through all the press about DW’s news with Second Life to get the basic idea. It’s typically described as immersive, spatial audio, with crystal clear sound that is highly adaptive to the real-time environment you’re in. For Second Lifers or gamers, it can be your best friend. I think of it as bling for your avatar. It’s easy to see how it makes these worlds much more interesting, but it’s the reality factor that DW brings that makes it really cool. When you’re in a multi-player gaming environment, or trying to have a conversation in a crowd inside SL, that’s where DW really stands out.

I recently got set up to do a personal demo with DW’s CEO, Keith Weiner. He kindly sent me a USB stereo headset and I downloaded the application, and we got connected. You need to have a decent headset to properly experience this. All I can tell you is that this works really well! Definitely not what you’re used to, and you can tell right away this is a much more life-like experience – a bit like the buzz you get from telepresence compared to conventional video conferencing.

This wasn’t a gaming or SL demo – it was a conventional conferencing application, and even in this simple scenario, you can get to experience how cool this is. First off, this is stereophonic sound, so the quality is very good right off the bat (32 KHz if you’re keeping score). Most conferencing is mono, and Keith cited Skype as an example that many of us are familiar with. It’s certainly a radical improvement, and it’s hard to imagine going back.

Here’s what’s really neat about the experience. On the screen you can see the names and positions of everyone sitting around the conference table. As each person speaks, you hear them in their positional or spatial context. For example, the person on your left is heard in the left channel. It’s much easier to follow the flow of conversation, and things get really interesting when multiple conversations occur, or people start moving around the room.

The experience is very life-like, and is much easier to follow things when different people start talking. Similarly, DW responds in real time as people move about – their volumes rise and fall as they move, and Keith refers to this as “proximity monitoring”. This all sounds very natural and simple in the real world, but the magic of DW is the ability to recreate it in a digital world.

Of course, I can only express the experience in words here, but the message is clear – it sounds great, and this is a big step forward. In some ways, it’s a bit too good. I commented to Keith that DW’s clarity created awkward moments when nobody was saying anything. There was total silence, and it really felt like the signal had cut out and I was off the call (which has happened to all of us on concalls, right?). More than once I had to ask if anyone was there. Well, that’s why they add white noise, right?

Another observation was that DW picks up EVERYTHING. So, when you’re on a call like this, don’t yawn, swallow, click your teeth, mumble under your breath, or make any side comments. Everyone will hear you, and they’ll probably be able to tell it was you! So, I suggested to Keith he may want to provide some concall etiquette tips for first time users. It reminded me of my Telepresence demo with Cisco. The experience was very life-like, but the presenters on the Cisco side of the table (who were far away in San Jose) came across a bit stiff, and looked like newscasters. These technologies are very new, and better than what we’re used, and we’re just not very media-aware yet of how best to use them. It will take some getting used to, but this is a good thing.

I should also add that voice quality itself is not DW’s secret sauce. It’s based a royalty-free Polycom codec, Siren 14 - G722.1. The