Another update to Mobile Camp London 2007 Day 2

Let me introduce you, to Monsieur Laurent Guyot-Sionnest, CEO of Tiki'labs based out of Paris France. I actually stumbled upon Laurent's invention by accident... and to be honest I thought it was something else entirely. He notice me poking around his stuff and quickly came over (probably a bit concerned I might break something). He comes over and starts explaining that I'm not, in fact, looking at his invention. I wasn't sure if I could take him seriously after all his heavy French accent was a bit suspicious, but I let him talk, and what he explained to me... I cannot stop thinking about. I was looking at something... that can change the world.

The first thing Laurent gets out is a piece of paper with 6 squares on it... 3x2 configuration. So he asks me to place my hand on it and starts to explain... how his new keyboard will work. 6 keys???!!! Yes, 6 keys to replace the QWERTY keyboards we use on mobile devices... Surely you mock me sir... mock me not sir... no... he was serious.

As the presentation progressed he explained how the 6 keys were split up into quadrants (or squares), and how each quadrant had 2 rows inside it. This is VERY intuitive and surprisingly easy system to learn.

The basic layout of the keyboard is this picture:

Each quadrant has carefully picked letters/symbols in it. It has been especially configured for maximum speed and ease. So imagine 6 keys lined up like the 6 squares above (for this example I'm going to use QWE and ASD). Let's say you want to write the letter "a", just hit "q" once, which then switches the program to show this...

So the program is told which quadrant you want and then that switches the same 6 keys so you are now asked which row you would like... hitting the "q" again tells the program to input the letter "a". Of course if you wanted to input the letter "b" same logic would work except you would hit "q" once and "w" for the second input.

That's it, you now know the basics. It takes minutes to learn, and a couple of days (at most) to feel comfy with it. The goal is... you can go as fast as 40+WPM once you really use this thing. The other obstacle is the keyboard itself, as you will need one that has much less travel on the keys. Your fingers don't have time to wait for the keys to go all the way down and back up, they want to press the keys much faster than that. (here is the TikiLabs official presentation)

I am very excited about this product, even saw a version of it running on Symbian OS. Larry plans on a Windows Mobile version as well as releasing a separate USB keyboard attachment (like the number key attachments you can get today).

The idea is, you will be able to type as fast or faster than today, using only one hand. And with fewer keys and more logical layout, you should make far fewer mistakes as well... and truly be able to type without looking at the keyboard (yes I know some can do that now, but most can't). I was really impressed by the simplicity of this solution, and hope to be able to help make it a reality. I mock you not sir... it's THAT good. :-)

Mobile Camp London Day 2 (continued)

So as the sessions continued everyone was busy taking notes and overall staying connected...

Some even showed off the wonderful prizes that were won! How cool...

Others were getting ready for their presentations (these guys were getting ready for the app showdown)...

While others took the time to get private demos of products...

 This would be a demo of the OpenHand Neo 1973 GTA 01 I discussed earlier. The "open" iPhone device (fully touch screen while running Linux).

There was  even the new HTC Touch (running Windows Mobile) probably just to compare with the OpenHand.

 

and even some "multimedia" devices like this "opened" Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) allowing it to run homebrew software as well as movies in true divx format (typically Sony makes you convert to their special format if you want to watch)

"So what about that sleeping guy's incredible product?" you ask... ooohhhh, that's next... for now, let him sleep, he's about to change the world! :-) 

Mobile Camp London Day 2

Well today I must admit I was not there all day. I had some things to take care of in the morning and did not arrive until about 2PM. This means I missed the RFID discussion (too bad as I have RFID experience) but I'm sure you can get all the latest updates from other blogs like thatcadiangirl who was also there taking great pics and attending as many of the sessions as possible. In fact as I arrived on Sunday, she was leaving... (some of us have quite a trip home via trains and busses).

So on Day 2 I saw as many cool things as Day 1, here is a recap with pics of course!

So I attended a very cool presentation about wearable technology... no, your mobile phone is not wearable it's portable... big difference (now I know that). The company CuteCircuit was on hand to explain and show (with pictures) what they offered (or more accurately, were going to offer by the end of the year)

They discussed some history of clothing and where they thought it was going. It was very cool to see their first product the Hug Shirt...

this product is quite interesting as it allows users to send "hugs" via the bluetooth connection to their mobile phones, via the web to other Hug Shirt wearing friends. It's a interesting idea which.. sounds... well interesting...

The idea is that the shirt will actually vibrate, shake, hug... (not sure how to describe it as I did not try it) but you will know when and where a person has hugged you.

Now the fabric is only 1mm thick and the only "large" piece would be the bluetooth antenna which is on the back, in an area that was said to be rarely touched (hmmm, I guess they did a test group). The shirt stays connected to your mobile and you are able to hug yourself then send that command to your friend or loved on (and if they are also wearing a Hug Shirt) they can get this "feeling" anywhere in the world. Hmmmm... so my obvious next question was when were the trousers coming out! They just smiled, guess it's a secret. The company is also developing other things and those projects can be found on their site... but this is the one they are going to push the most for now. When asked about the price they said "It will cost as much as an iPod." I sure hope they talking about the Shuffle and not the new 16GB Touch. We'll have to wait and see, but first audience reaction was mixed, some found it a great idea, others...

...didn't. But this guy... well he has the right not to be impressed, what he had to show, blew me away (and gets my vote for the best product of the show). I just wish he presented it for everyone to see. More on that later!

The iPhone killer (not really) and the $100 laptop (not really)

So I got a chance to see the Neo 1973 GTA 01 from Openhand... yes this little guy (compared it at once to the iPhone of course). It runs Linux and has a touch screen... and that's where the iPhone similarities end...

 

It is unfortunately nothing like the iPhone.... it is slow, it is ugly, it's menu is difficult to use, and it's touch screen... well... isn't very good. So the new version is coming out in November (the Neo 1973 GTA 02) which is promised to be MUCH better, faster, easier to use... well... we'll see. So far... not impressed and would only go as far as to call it the LG Prada killer which isn't saying much at all. (at least the GTA 01 is that it has a standard USB connector on it, hey I'm trying to look at the bright side)... oh and the cost... about £300. :-(

So let's talk about the other thing... the $100 laptop, which is now $400 but at least it exists... here it is in action.

It's kind of cool... I guess... waterproof, dirt proof, sand proof... sounds like a Panasonic Tough Book.

The screen is... well... very cheap, and those poor children, well their eyes will be ruined after using this baby. So maybe they need to include some Eye Doctor visits coupons with this laptop as well...

Those crazy antennas, and those colours... if poor kids had toys (which they might not) this baby should fit right in. And because it doesn't use IE they might avoid some of those nasty spyware problems. :-)

***Here is some breaking news!!!!***

The deal will be (and it's not yet official, but you've heard it here first) is that for the price of the laptop... you will get one for yourself and one will be donated to a poor child somewhere. So they are trying to figure out how to make this thing cheap (or even free for the poor) interesting idea, we'll see if it catches on.

More updates from Mobile Camp London 2007

Just finished an interesting session about Syncing all your devices and how that could work in the future... it was more of a theoretical discussion than anything else. As well as a session about privacy and network authentication (such as using your phone to do credit card transactions). I had a chance to stop with with the Last.Fm guys Jono Cole and Johan Oskarsson... talk about a cool job. Well if that wasn't enough they were so kind as to bring over their shiny new UNLOCKED iPhone... wow, this thing is cool when it's UNLOCKED.

Yes it's real, the UNLOCK works and look what that means... now the main screen can be FULL of cool apps, such as IRC, IM, Flickr, and games. Now this thing is finally showing what it can really do....

So what games can it play? How about Tetris... how about Network Pong... or how about this...

 

 Yes that is Super Mario Brothers running on the NES emulator on the iPhone... with virtual touch controls! How cool is that?????? Ahhhh, if Apple just let developers develop for this wonderful device instead of locking it down... it's like getting the newest Ferrari and not being able to get out of 2nd gear (it has 7 gears total)... what a waste!

New N95 (8GB), N81, and E51

I'm happy to say I got a chance to use the new Nokia phones which will be coming out in the near future. While these were still prototypes they gave me a very good indication what to expect from the end product.

Both the N95 and N81 come with a built in 8GB of RAM already inside the phone. What this means is that they do not have memory card extension slots (though I'm not sure if I'd really need on having 8GB to work with). They both offer the latest version of the S60 3rd series OS, with Ngage functionality, WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth 2.1. The N95 still has the 5MB Carl Zeiss camera while the N81 has the much smaller 2MB standard camera. Both look good though I wasn't very impressed with the thickness of the N81, it was nearly as thick as the N95 (which is a more powerful device). Both phones offer standard mini audio jacks (take note iPhone) and while the N95 continues to have a standard size USB port at the bottom, the N81 now uses the mini-usb port instead (the idea is that Nokia would like to see the mini-usb port become the standard in all future phones, an idea I don't particularly like).

Then there was the E51. This is the direct replacement to the E50 which was a good phone. The list of improvements though... was very impressive. The E51 now offers 3G, Bluetooth 2.1, WiFi, a much cleaner display, and much faster performance, all in a very slim package. The 2MB camera is standard and more than enough for most business users. I loved the form factor and thought it was a very impressive update. The menu response was now on par with the N95 and N81 as was the list of features. It does come with the standard MicroSD memory card slot (just like the E50 did) and now even a standard USB plug (a very welcome feature). Expect this phone to be out by the end of the year.

New S60 platform to support Widgets

Nokia showed some future S60 functionality which they are currently beta testing. The core of the new features will be the ability to run Widgets on your mobile phone. The good news is that some older phone will be upgradable to the new version of S60. The new S60 3rd FP2 will allow better multi tasking by allowing easier task switching (using new tabs on top of the screen). The main screen will also be more customizable.

A demo was shown with a test installation (which looked very similar to the current style). The Widgets will be able to use Java, Ajax, and multiple APIs from web services. Here is the presentation by Nokia about the new FP2. Enjoy...

Mobile Camp London 2007 begins

Well it's been in the works for a while, and today the Mobile Camp London 2007 officially kicks off with two days of... well mobile tech discussions. Looks like a good turn out and how amazing is this... the PC to MAC ratio is probably 15 -1 (though I'm having a hard time finding another PC right now). Guess it's time to get a MAC? :-) Updates coming shortly...

 

Here is the S60 Widget Seminar which is discussing Nokia's current and future plans with open source integration of the S60 platform with Web information, APIs and user application data.

 The conference is dominated by MACs, which is interesting as most of the people here are developers. This is the future of Web 2.0 integration on a mobile platform.

The Mobile Camp has representatives from Nokia, Orange UK, and Yahoo.

 

More updates coming throughout the day...