Mixipix is one of the companies looking to inject some fun into picture messaging, with its range of cartoons that you can personalise, and then send directly to a friend’s mobile phone.
The company’s been around since 2002, but has been more high-profile recently due to its deal with UK operator O2, and also the launch earlier this year of its Mixipix mobile portal. I posed a few questions to MD Lesley Keen to find out more.
Continue reading ‘Interview: Mixipix MD Lesley Keen on why animated messaging is toontastic’
With 18 new handsets being announced every day (it seems), I don’t usually cover them here. But Nokia’s new N80 Internet Edition is worth highlighting, as it’s geared towards mobile Internet users. It’s basically the same handset as the N80, which has been out for a while now, except with a bunch of useful applications preloaded on it.
They include a mobile search application using Yahoo’s technology, a ‘MobiPocket Reader’ from Amazon to read e-books, Yahoo’s Go for Mobile app to connect to various Yahoo websites and services, and built-in support to upload your camphone snaps to Flickr (this isn’t exclusive to the N80 though).
Wi-Fi is still included, and the N80 Internet Edition comes with integrated Voice over IP (VoIP), which in theory lets you make free Internet calls if you’re inside a wireless network. However, the sentence: “it allows for downloading compatible third party internet call applications” implies that Nokia hasn’t included its own software to actually make free calls.
And I don’t mean friends texting you porkies about the size of the perch they caught this morning. Security firm McAfee has warned of a new trend for ’smishing’, in which nefarious scamsters send you texts trying to get you to visit their website on your PC, which can then be infected with a trojan virus.
The name is a conflation of SMS and ‘phishing’, which is the word used to describe this sort of thing on email (for example when people pretend to be your bank to get you to give them personal details).
It’s already happened in Iceland and Australia, and McAfee’s Jimmy Shah says there’s just been another mass attack aimed at Spanish mobile users. “The genie is out of the bottle with regard to smishing,” he says. “We’re bound to see a rise in the numbers of smishing attempts in the coming months.”
Gulp.
Speaking as someone who can’t let a day go by without checking if there’s a new piece of obscure Black Crowes memorabilia on eBay, the thought of eBay Mobile is pretty exciting. Not least because of all those auctions I’ve lost due to being away from my PC while some bounder nipped in at the last minute with a higher bid. Not that I’m bitter.
Last week, I wrote about the eBay Mobile WAP site, which despite an announcement by O2 is actually available to any UK mobile user with a WAP-capable phone. So I entered the address – www.ebaymobile.co.uk – into my phone’s browser, and spent some time trying out its features. But does it get positive or negative feedback?
Continue reading ‘Hands on with… the eBay Mobile WAP site’
So, I was reading this story on Darla Mack which listed 10 things you never knew about Nokia. And number one was that the Nokia tune ringtone is actually based on a 19th century guitar tune called Gran Vals, composed by Spanish musician Francisco Tárrega. Lumme.
So how does that go? Click on this link to see a video of a guitarist fella playing the original. I’m sure I recognise the beginning from some holiday advert on TV too. And if you want to buy an MP3 version from iTunes, click on this link to check out a version by the incomparable Norbert Kraft. I daresay it’ll be a ringtone soon… Oh.
No Beckham, not you. You’ve been barred by the missus, remember? But for the rest of us, texting could be getting more cuddly in future, if CuteCircuit has its way. The company has invented a Hug Shirt which includes a load of sensors and Bluetooth. You put it on, give yourself a hug, and the sensation is sent via SMS to a friend (assuming they own a shirt too).
That’s the big drawback, of course – it’ll be a lonely thing to own if your friends opt to spend their cash on a regular hoodie instead. Still, they can text you hugs from their phones. I’m wondering if this could be adapted to less twee uses though. Punches, kicks and slow throttles, anyone? Maybe not.
(via MOpocket)
The Finnish hardware giant changed from promoting music handsets to plain old-fashioned music promoting last weekend via the ‘Rock Up And Play’ tents at Reading and Leeds festivals.
Continuing the good work started at the Isle of Wight festival, the tents prompted anyone who could hold a tune to literally rock up and play.
Whilst the Pocket Picks team had neither sufficient talent nor alcohol to leap up to the mic ourselves, we did nevertheless spend many happy hours listening to the bands, downloading free tracks and generally fooling around with the handsets.
We also took the chance to show off the wonders of mobile photography with a few choice snaps (censored version displayed here)…
Continue reading ‘Nokia rocks out at Reading Festival’
Forget buying one of those expensive lamps to cure your seasonal blues. A patent’s been filed for a mobile phone that beats Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). The handset would have a bunch of light-panels on its face, which would deliver ‘light therapy’ to your face when you’re talking.
Sounds good, but if SAD sufferers are supposed to spend 30-60 minutes a day under a special light, does this mean they’ll have to talk for the same amount of time or more to get the same benefit? And if it cuts your phone’s battery life significantly, I can’t see it cheering anyone up.
(Via Textually)
For those of you who like to dribble over the latest developments in Japan, operator KDDI just announced 12 new handsets, but also a bunch of interesting content services to go with them.
Among them are proper mobile videoconferencing, a news service using Adobe’s FlashCast technology (like Flash websites, but sitting on your phone and connecting to the network to get the latest headlines basically), and something called ‘My Page’, which is a mobile MySpace equivalent.
Wireless Watch Japan reckons the announcements’ timing is down to the fact that in October, Japanese mobile users will have full number portability, and so will be able to switch operators more easily. Which is why the operators are looking to launch new and better content and services to keep their customers.
(via Wireless Watch Japan)
I just found this video on YouTube, it was only uploaded a month ago, but could be older. It’s a Japanese advert for what appears to be a peripheral to connect your Game Boy Colour to your mobile phone, and do something with Pokemon. And then get your dad to throw baseballs at you when you beat him.
Anyway, I’m sure I’m not the only person who’d love to see Nintendo update this idea with their DS handheld. Imagine being able to interface with Nintendogs or Animal Crossing on your phone… I spose it’d have to be using Wi-Fi though, and as yet there’s precious few handsets out supporting that.
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