Wireless Muse: Reiter's Wireless Internet Weblog

PodCampDC: NPR, NBC News discuss Qik, Twitter, video for radio stations

http://www.wirelessmuse.com/photos/nokia_n82/

I attended PodCampDC (see above) this Saturday and the most interesting session for me was by Andy Carvin of National Public Radio (NPR) and Jim Long of NBC News.  Carvin and Long discussed the value of Qik and Twitter for news gathering.  Also, I had a brief but interesting conversation with Carvin after the presentation.

Carvin is the senior product manager for NPR’s “Community.”  He’s a champion of blogging, social networks and camera phones.  He’s a blogger, has a Twitter account, uses Utterz (that I need to explore) and he and Long have a Qik account.

I don’t know Long’s exact title, but he’s a cameraman for NBC News who travels around the world.  He blogs and uses Qik (including interviewing singer/activist “Sir” Bob Geldorf).

Presentation on Qik

Carvin asked PodCampDC attendees in the room if they would use Qik to capture the presentation, and two people helped out by using his Nokia 95 to record a video.  About half of the presentation is on Qik (see below) and if you’re interested in these subjects, it’s well worth viewing. 

The Qik video was transmitted via WiFi AT&T Mobility's HSDPA network, and both the video and audio quality aren’t bad.  However, the signal crashed during the presentation, which is the reason it isn't available in its entirety on Qik (see Carvin's clarifications in the comments section).  (Near the beginning of the video you can hear Carvin say he was using Qik — “it is Qik and we’ll be talking about it later” — in answer to a question from me, whom you can’t see.)

Long notes that many people using Twitter learned about the recent earthquakes in the Midwest.  Carvin was instrumental in getting NPR to use Twitter (by first posting just news headlines).  He discusses how the NPR radio show “The Bryant Park Project,” now uses Twitter as a major source to obtain ideas for its New York City-based program.

Video for NPR

After the presentation, I asked Carvin whether he thought video would be a significant part of NPR, and he said yes.  This is a fascinating concept:  An audio medium posting videos.  NPR already posts videos on its Web site, and more are on the way.

(In my mobile TV weblog I wrote about a newspaper using Qik for videos of pro-Tibet protesters during the Olympic torch bearers running in San Francisco.  A print publication posting videos.  This is game-changing as radio and print publications become more multimedia oriented, especially being able to post newsworthy events as they happen, thanks in large part to camera phones.  As I’ve been writing for some time, live streaming cellular video is revolutionary.)

Carvin told me he is ordering more demonstrating Nokia N95 camera phones to NPR and hopes, but doesn't know, whether the network will order any (see his remarks in the comments section). 

The N95 has become something of a standard for many bloggers and video bloggers because of its excellent (for a camera phone) video recording capability at 30 frames per second.  I agree that the N95 is great for camera phone videos (and a great phone in general), but the new N82 (that isn’t available in the United States) might be a bit better. 

I’ve posted several N82 videos and more are on the way (courtesy of Nokia’s blogger program allowing me to test the handset).  I've also posted photos taken with the N82 and, as with the videos, more are on the way when I get a chance to upload them.

Nokia's Mark Selby discusses radio station use of cellular phones

I’ve been meaning for a while to write about a conversation I had with Mark Selby, the vice president of sales and industry collaboration for Nokia, during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona (that I attended courtesy of Nokia).  But I returned to the U.S. with a cold, so I haven’t posted this as quickly as I’d hoped.

Selby was one of several top Nokia executives with whom I spoke during the conference.  He was one of the most interesting.

I (and two other bloggers/journalists) asked a fair number of questions about high end cellular capabilities.  But the discussion that especially stuck in my mind was about a, well, “primitive” use of cellular — for plain ol’ voice communications.

Radio community networking

While I was asking about such features as mobile television and live video streaming, Selby discussed how a radio station in a developing country was using cellular.  Relatively few people have cellular phones (or landline phones, for that matter), so the radio station drove into the countryside, with a tuk-tuk, and recorded audio interviews with residents over a week or two and would use those interviews as part of a “talk” show.

Residents who had cellular phones or people who borrowed phones would call into the program, live, to discuss those recorded audio interviews.  The talk show host learns the voices and names of the people interviewed and the people calling and creates a very social environment.

By the way, Selby did an excellent job of detailing the advantages of Nokia’s new N82 five megapixel camera phone (that I hope to receive relatively soon) in a video shot with the N82 (see left).  Lots of good information about the handset’s camera phone capabilities, that Nokia is promoting (see below).

In November 2007 I wrote about Selby’s presentation and the details of the N82 in my camera phone weblog.

Speaking about mobile ads, blogs, iPhone at CSS conference

Earlier this week I spoke about mobile advertising, the Apple iPhone, weblogs and camera phones at the Center for Sales Strategy’s (CSS) “Marketing Technology Summit” in Minneapolis.

CSS offers consulting services, conferences and workshops to sales people in the media — print, radio and television.

I was on a panel moderated by Phil Leigh, a long-time technology analyst, who now runs Inside Digital Media where he posts lots of interesting audio and video podcasts of technology executives (see below).  I first met Phil more than 20 years ago when I was the editor/publisher of the magazine and newsletter of the first trade association in the United States for the independent providers of paging and mobile telephone (then called “radiotelephone”) services.

First detailed mobile research report

Phil was an analyst at Reinheimer Nordberg where he wrote in the early 1980s what is probably the first detailed analyst’s report about the opportunities in the paging and mobile telephone businesses. 

(At the association — then called Telocator Network of America and later called the Personal Communications Industry Association) I spent a lot of time talking to analysts and the press, especially when cellular was under discussion — but not yet implemented.

Although the phone companies were involved in mobile communications, the driving force at that time were the independent providers — called radio common carriers — whose main business was mobile.  For the phone companies, mobile communications was more of a rounding error.  The phone companies didn’t get interested until cellular, and I was around from the very beginning.

Phil was nice enough to interview me via phone, using WebEx, a few days before my CSS presentation and he’s going to be posting that interview — probably in two parts — in a little while.  Update:  Phil just posted the first part.

My presentation

During Phil’s panel I discussed — to the audience of media sales executives — the value of mobile advertising.  I also discussed why the iPhone could be so useful from an editorial and, most importantly to the audience, an advertising sales standpoint.

I also discussed the value of weblogs — with a twist.  I suggested audience look at the existing weblogs and consider asking some of those bloggers to write for their newspapers and radio and TV stations.

Much of what I discussed will be in the pre-show interview I did with Phil.  (In late June Phil conducted an audio podcast with me about different mobile topics, uincluding the ramifications of the iPhone and George Gilder’s “teleputer.”)

Where are the laptops?

One last point:  Although the hotel (wonderful place – 42” plasma TV, smaller TV in bathroom, five-head shower, great downtown location; highly recommended) offered WiFi in the conference room, you had to pay for it ($13 a day, I think) and CSS didn’t subsidize the cost. 

Unlike at virtually all the wireless/computer conferences I attend, at the “Marketing Technology Summit” almost none of the attendees were using a laptop (see BlackBerry 8300 “Curve” camera phone photo above).

As a big fan of WiFi at conferences, I think CSS should consider paying for WiFi use so it’s free to attendees and include information on their Web site that would be useful before and during the conference.  I’ve conducted a few tutorials/workshops about using WiFi at conferences and the benefits far, far outweigh the disadvantages.

Using the tools

Moreover, the attendees at the Summit are all very, very interested — and many of them very apprehensive — about how the Internet is affecting advertising sales.  It seems to me that these sales executives should be using and viewing the technologies and services — such as weblogs, social networks, Web sites — about which they are concerned — during the conference.

They should be checking out the Web sites mentioned by the speakers, checking the speakers’ credentials and looking at any resources CSS could upload in anticipation of the event.

"Inside Digital Media" posts podcast interview with me about iPhone

Phil Leigh, a long-time financial analyst and now for-profit podcaster at "Inside Digital Media," has posted a 33-minute podcast where he interviewed me about a variety of wireless data subjects, including the ramifications of the Apple iPhone and George Gilder's teleputer.

I first met Phil more than 25 years ago. 

I was helping to develop and manage Telocator Network of America (later called the Personal Communications Industry Association) the first U.S. trade association for the radio common carrier (paging and mobile phone) industry and he was a analyst at the investment banking firm of Reinheimer Nordberg. 

Phil spent a fair amount of time discussing the mobile industry with me at Telocator -- as well as doing a great deal of other research -- to write one of the first, if not the first, financial analyst report on the radio common carrier industry that highlighted the opportunities and significant profits generated by these independently owned mobile communications companies.

This was during the pre-cellular days of "beepers" for doctors and plumbers and "car phones" for limousine-riding executives.  Almost no one knew or cared anything about mobile communications then.

Microsoft, Palm, Verizon to announce Treo 700w?

Update:  Check out the press conference today, Monday, from my "Camera Phone Report" weblog.

Microsoft, Palm and Verizon Wireless will hold a press conference in San Francisco on September 26 during the CTIA's Wireless I.T & Entertainment 2005 show.

Ed Colligan the president and chief executive officer of Palm, Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft,and Denny Strigl, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless, will speak at the press conference.

The release doesn't say anything about the purpose of the press conference but I assume it's to announce the Palm Treo 700w.  The new handset is supposed to incorporate the Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system, CDMA 1xEV-DO capability, 64MB of memory, a 1.3 megapixel camera phone, a Secure Digital slot that will work with a WiFi card and Bluetooth (see Engadget photo below), according to an article in "Engadget."

Engadget's photos show the Verizon Wireless logo on the Treo 700w.  I will be surprised if Verizon beats Sprint PCS in offering the new handset because Sprint is leading cellular operator in the United States when it comes to camera phones.

However, Verizon was the first in the U.S. to offer 1xEV-DO and Sprint has only recently began offering the higher speed wireless data protocol.  Verizon's coverage far exceeds Sprint's. 

Verizon has been heavily advertising its 1xEV-DO "BroadbandAccess" network and comparing it to WiFi.  Verizon recently decreased the price of BroadbandAccess -- only for Verizon cellular phone customers with a two-year contract -- to $60 a month.  Non-voice customer still must pay the original $80 per month price.

Viewing the press conference

The press conference will begin at 9:00 a.m. at The Palace Hotel and it will be webcast for connections at 56K bps, 100K bps and 300K bps.

I will be at Wireless I.T. as the "master of ceremonies" for the three-panel "Personalization" track as well as covering the CTIA Wireless Internet Caucus membership meeting.  I might go to the press conference if it doesn't interfere with other commitments.

I have tested both the current Treo 650 and the Treo 600, over Sprint's network, and I'm a big fan of its capabilities and form factor.  However, I have found both the 650 and 600 are prone to crashing -- more than other phones I've used.

I hope Windows Mobile 5.0 is more stable than the Palm OS.

Verizon versus Sprint

Overall, Verizon offers superior nationwide coverage for its "traditional" network compared to Sprint, although Sprint has improved its coverage significantly during the past few years.  And, as I previously wrote, BroadbandAccess provides much more extensive coverage.

Verizon also has pretty good customer service, based on the typical customer service of cellular operators. 

However, Sprint probably offers the coolest cellular phones of any cellular operator.  Also, Sprint offers a flat rate pricing plan for data:  $15 a month extra for unlimited Web browsing and picture messaging via a handset.  That's a great deal.

That price is not available, however, if you use a PC Card.  There are ways to connect a handset, such as a Treo 650, to a laptop computer via a cable or Bluetooth, but that would require the higher priced "computer" pricing plan...if Sprint finds out.

Update (9/24/05):  John Markoff writes in The New York Times today confirming the announcement at the press confernece.  He writes:

"One feature not immediately available in the Windows software, however, will be the ability to push e-mail to users as it arrives, rather than forcing them to fetch it, according to an industry specialist with detailed knowledge of the announcement. Such a feature would be necessary to make the system a direct competitor to the BlackBerry, made by Research in Motion....

"...[A] crucial factor in the alliance may have been Palm's ability to get a sweet deal from Microsoft, according to an industry insider with detailed knowledge of Microsoft's pricing arrangements.

"Microsoft has set the price of Windows Mobile at $13 per handset, said the executive, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified because he is a competitor in the hand-held computing market. But Microsoft has also discounted its software to as little as $3 per cellphone in highly competitive situations, the executive said.

"The price range makes Microsoft an expensive alternative compared to competitors like Symbian and Qualcomm's Brew, as well as Linux alternatives, according to an industry executive....

"One significant question raised by the Microsoft-Palm alliance is the future of Palm software developers. In the past, Palm has pointed to the large library of programs available to users of Palm devices as an advantage over Microsoft.

"Silicon Valley software developers say Palm may move its programming environment to the new Windows Mobile operating system."

Goodnight

Fiji purring away on my foot.  More peaceful than she really is.  (Camera phone test photo.)

Time for a "wireless camera" association?

Perhaps I'm letting my enthusaism for camera phones get the better of me, but I wonder if there's a need for a wireless camera association. I'm specifically discussing "wireless" rather than "camera phones," because you don't need a camera phone to send a photo wirelessly.

Indeed, at least two digital cameras offer the ability to transmit photos via WiFi, such as the new Nikon D2H with a compact flash slot. Also, there are surveillance cameras that incorporate cellular capabilities -- not for voice -- but for transmitting images. The Nokia GSM GPRS-based "Observation Camera" is an example.

A big ecosystem to represent

When you examine the entire "ecosystem" of wireless cameras, you realize this is already not only a huge business, but also a business with numerous components, constituencies and issues.

I know a bit about trade associations because I helped create and develop the first association for "radiotelephones" (before there was cellular) and pagers. That association, Telocator Network of America, is now the Personal Communications Infrastructure Association (which is a shadow of its former glory, alas, and focuses on towers rather than the entire wireless industry).

Wireless camera association activities

Here are some suggestions for what a camera phone association could accomplish:

* Monitor legislation around the world that would effect the wireless camera business

* Promote interoperability among all camera phones using all technologies

* Serve as a resource for wireless camera statistics, case studies and other information for both the industry and consumers

* Develop conferences, seminars and tutorials about wireless cameras

* Develop printed and Web based resources about the wireless camera industry, including directories and guides

* Foster discussions among all areas of the industry: Handset vendors, digital camera manufacturers, components manufacturers, cellular operators, WiFi providers, software developers, chipset developers, printer manufacturers, etc.

A place for a new association

Certainly there are other wireless associations, such as the powerful Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Assocation (for which my partners and I have conducted wireless data tutorials for eight years). But the CTIA focuses on lots of issues, and wireless cameras are a small blip on the association's radar screen.

I think a wireless camera association could accomplish a lot of useful things. But, times are tough, and not many companies are willing to pay dues (typically rather high) to fund a new organization.

Tips for using camera phones

Although camera phones are old news to many Asians and Europeans, here in the U.S. we're just at the beginning of the growth curve. Since many people are unfamiliar with camera phones, I thought I'd include some suggestions for taking good photos and getting the most out of camera phones.

As I've written ad nauseum, I'm a big fan of camera phones for consumer and business applications. But I'm also aware of the problems, including the poor quality of most camera phone photos, even at the "high resolution" (ha ha) of 640 x 480. You may see for yourself the quality in my Textamerica moblog (which is one of several mobile Weblogs I'm testing).

To be fair, camera phones are great fun and useful, even at today's low resolutions. There's a lot you can do with a camera phone beyond the typical "here we are in Disney World" type of photo, as one forward-thinking article discusses.

Tips for camera phone users

Although I've played around with several camera phones, my most recent experience has been with Verizon Wireless' new LG VX6000, as I wrote. I'm still using it and I still find it lots of fun. The following tips are based on the VX6000 but are applicable for most other camera phones, too.

If you have a camera phone and would like to offer your own tips, please send them to me (reiter@wirelessinternet.com) and I'll post them or point to them in the discussion section.

Here are my suggestions.....

* Get close. Camera phones don't have telephoto lenses so if you take a photo of a person or building that's far away, the main subject will be tiny. For most photos you'll get a much better shot by filling your phone's screen with a close up of the subject.

* Send from a good cellular coverage area. If you're transmitting a photo in an area where the cellular signal is weak, it could take longer to send the photo than when you're in a strong signal area. If you're paying for airtime to send a photo, it could make a difference in the price. Although photos generally are transmitted in under a minute, if it goes over 60 seconds, you will pay for another minute.

* Beware of distortion. I just mentioned that you should move as close as possible to the main subject of your photo. You should be aware that moving very close could produce some distortion, something like a "fisheye" effect. The effect could be fun, or your subject might not like the fact that his/her nose appears much bigger than in reality!

* Enter a title for each photo. If you're not used to entering text on a keypad, it can be a frustrating and slow process. But don't skip this step or you'll have to click on each photo to determine if you wanted to see 006 or 022. Title the photos before you send/save them or wait until you go home and enter names for a bunch of them.

Update - 7/22/03: I sent an e-mail to Russell Beattie (blogger, programmer, wireless expert, camera phone user) asking for any other tips. He replied that as a photo buff -- traditional digital and camera phone -- he relies on the day/date method for organizing photographs. Russell says it's too difficult coming up with unique names for all the photos, especially when he has thousands of photos.

I agree it's sometimes tough, but I'm afraid I think just using a day and date is too limiting. How can you remember what you were photographing on a specific day? Perhaps it's best to use both approaches -- a day/date and a title.

The title doesn't have to specific -- it can even be the same title for lots of photos -- but if you don't have a title, I think you will eventually not know what they photo is about or it will be much tougher to find.

* Make sure you know all the file quality settings. For example, cameras phones often have three quality setting: Low, Medium and High. Snap the same photo at all the different resolutions and look at the size and quality on your phone and your computer screen to determine which resolution you prefer to use. It's easy to change the resolution, but you'll probably set it at one resolution and not change it often.

* Shoot at the highest resolution. Camera phones generally top out at 640 x 480 (except for some phones with one megapixel in Japan), and that quality is good enough for viewing on the Web. The lower the resolution, the worse it looks. Assuming the cost of transmitting a photo is the same regardless of the resolution, go for the highest resolution. It will look better.

Photos with higher resolutions produce larger files and take longer to transmit. If you're paying by the minute and/or by the number of packets, you need to compare the value of higher quality with higher costs to you.

* Clean the lens. Camera phone lenses aren't immune to dust, dirt and fingerprint. Periodically clean the lens with a lens cloth, which is easily obtainable at photo shops.

* Create "quick phrases." Most cellular phones with messaging capabilities enable you to create and store phrases that may be used for the subject or text of your messages. If you know you're going to be taking photos at, for example, Yellowstone Park, create a phrase that reads, "Yellowstone -- 8-8-03" and store it in your phone. That way you won't have to enter the same phrase for each photo.

(If you're going to Yellowstone, please take a good digital or film camera in addition to a camera phone!)

* Avoid using the digital zoom. Some camera phones include a digital zoom feature. Digital zooms employ software to increase a photo's size but they also decease the quality by merely "blowing up" a segment of the picture. Even people with multi-megapixel digital cameras typically use the optical zoom, not the digital feature. Feel free to check out digtal zoom, but you'll probably dislike the result.

* Explore the white balance. If you've never used a digital camera, you should be aware of the "white balance" feature, which changes the photo color based upon the lighting conditions: Sunny, cloudy, dark, etc. There's also an "auto" feature that works fine most of the time. But if you have time and you don't like the way the photo looks on your LCD, change the white balance to see if it makes a difference.

* Turn on the lights indoors. If you're shooting indoors, it's easy to get more light by raising the shades and/or shining a light on the subject of the photo. The type of light, by the way, could change the white balance from, for example, indoors to tungsten. Most camera phones today do not include a built in flash and, even if they do, the flash isn't very powerful.

* Assign photos to names in your address book. Your phone includes "text" caller ID (where the name of the person calling is displayed), but it also probably has "photo" ID where a photo or graphic pops up when a person calls. It's more than just fun; it's useful if you can't match a name with a face.

* Send photos and graphics to your phone. Your phone should be able to accept photos and graphics sent via e-mail. If you want to link a photo of a friend to his/her phone number but haven't snapped a photo from your phone, you could send a photo that's stored on your desktop or laptop computer.

But make sure the photo's file size is small. If it's from a typical digital camera -- with a megapixel or higher resolution -- reduce the photo's pixel count by using a photo editing program before you send it to your phone. If the photo is too large, your cellular operator's system might reject it.

You also should be able to use photos and graphics sent to you phone as wallpaper and screensavers. Remember that if you receive the photos from your computer to your phone via cellular, there will be a charge.

* Back up your photos online or via e-mail. You certainly may save photos in your phones memory. But what if the phone crashes (yes, it can happen) or you run out of memory and have to delete some photos? There are several ways to back up photos.

One way is to send a copy of the photo to your own e-mail account. Another way is to sign up for your cellular operator's online photo album service (which is probably free) and/or for a mobile Weblog (moblog) from such companies as Textamerica, Phlog.net, Buzznet or Eachday. Some phones also have removable storage options, such as a Sony Memory Stick, for saving photos.

If you're going to send a photo to a friend and, with the same message, you also send a copy to your own e-mail address, you might not have to pay twice. Many cellular operators will charge you only for one transmission rather than for multiple recipients of the photos if you send it as an e-mail. Check with your cellular operator about its pricing regarding MMS and e-mail photo transmissions.

* Special photo effects from your phone versus computer. Many camera phones offer special effects, such as changing a color photo to black and white or sepia, as well as adding colorful borders and frames around the photo.

This can be fun (especially if you're a kid!) but you also can send a photo to yourself and use your photo editing program to create borders, frames and special effects. Of course, this defeats the spontaneity of sending a photo from your phone, but a photo editing program offers much more powerful features.

* Keep track of your battery. Camera phones use lots of power. With their internal and external color screens, animations, polyphonic ringtones and other fun and useful features, these phones drain your battery much more quickly than less feature-rich phones. If you take lots of photos during the day, make sure to keep track of your battery level and recharge it frequently. It also wouldn't hurt to purchase another battery.

Update - 7-22-03: Want to read my camera tips in French? A French marketing expert has translated the entire article.