Something cool happened the other night as I slept…

Greg Leave a comment

[sc:mobile-category ]When the TouchPad 3.0.4 firmware update was release a while ago it added support for non-WebOS phone’s to connect through Bluetooth.  This functionality basically allowed the TouchPad to work as a Bluetooth speaker and mic to any phone.

This functionality didn’t really excite me much, but it seemed like it would be convenient if my phone was charging in one room and I was using the TouchPad in another.  If a call came in I would be able to hear the ring and answer the call right on the TouchPad.  However I have to admit that I really don’t use my mobile phone as a phone very much (the most calls I get is from one very annoying telemarketer that just won’t go away Sad smile).

However one weekend a little while ago I was sleeping in late on a Saturday morning when I heard my phone receive a text message.  Normally I would simply ignore this and go back to sleep, but it so happened that I had my TouchPad sitting on my nightstand.  It was connected to by HD7 and as Windows Phone sees the TouchPad as a speaker/mic, WP promptly read out the text message to me.

Now I am VERY sceptical of the usefulness of voice control.  The vast majority of the time you are in a location that the last thing you want to do is speak a response to a message.  However, laying in bed, having WP read the message and then ask what I wanted to do, I couldn’t help but feel like this was one of the few instances where voice control could really work.

I dictated back a response, sent it, received another text response, responded to it and close the conversation, all without even opening my eyes.

While I still don’t see voice control as the end all and be all of user interfaces, I will begrudgingly say that in this instance, it was cool Smile.

new group* for Windows Phone

Greg Leave a comment

[sc:mobile-category ]Recently a new application for Windows Phone was released to the marketplace which is kind of cool… new groups*.

It’s not revolutionary, but what it does is allow you to pin a tile to the Start Menu with any text you want on them.  The tile is static and clear so it looks like a title.  You can move it around on the Start Menu to allow you to “group” your live tiles under it.  Like so:

newgroups screenshot The tile is only a half width tile so if you want to add longer text it will wrap around, effectively reducing the amount of space you have between the tiles, but it still looks fine.

You can add as many as you like so you can group your start menu however you like.

When I changed my theme from black to white and tiles didn’t update and going in to the app from one of the title tiles came up with an error, so there’s still some work to do, but as a first release it’s pretty good.

Another issue I came across is the ads at the bottom of the app, which doesn’t seem to work.  This one I can live with though Winking smile.  I think pretty much every app that is going the ad supported route should also have a pay option available, hopefully this one will as well in their next release.

This is something Microsoft should look in to for the next release of Windows Phone, allowing a half or full width tile with arbitrary text could snaze up the Start Menu and allow for a lot of customization without sacrificing the functionality of the live tiles.

The CRTC decision on Usage Based Billing

Greg Leave a comment

[sc:internet-category ]The CRTC finally released it’s decision on UBB for the wholesale market (so no change to anyone buying directly from Bell/Rogers/etc.).  The decision is long and complex but it comes down to a total rejection of Bell’s desire to have usage based billing implemented on independent ISPs.

The CRTC, whether for political reasons (they were told by the government that UBB was unacceptable after all) or for technical reasons (we can only hope as it would mark a shift to a more reasonable approach by the CRTC), finally came to the right decision.

The decision basically says that network providers like Bell can charge a fixed rate for each last mile connection, a fixed rate per 100Mbps of connection the independent ISP wants to their network as well a some ancillary monthly charges.  There is also an option to combine this all in to a single flat rate per connection, but the important carriers all have gone with the first option.

This squares perfectly with traditional network rates, where you buy a link and it doesn’t matter how much you use it, you pay for the capacity.

This means vendors like TekSavvy and Acanac can continue to offer services with different bandwidth caps or even no caps at all.

One item I noticed is there is quite a bit of justification around the cost model in the decision.  It’s based upon actual costs plus a “reasonable” markup, though what that is is never revealed in the decision, but we can say that it’s somewhere between 15 and 25 percent.

The really juicy part of the decision is in the appendices where the CRTC lays out the costs:

Monthly access rate (without usage)
Speed Bell Cogeco MTS Allstream RCP (Rogers) Videotron
0.5 Mbps $14.11 $11.97
2 Mbps $14.11
3 Mbps $12.73 $12.31 12.79*
5 Mbps $14.11
6 Mbps $24.70
7 Mbps $24.70 $14.78 15.37*
10 Mbps $24.84 $14.25
12 Mbps $24.84
14Mbps $15.06
15Mbps $19.06 $22.35
16 Mbps $24.98
25 Mbps $25.00 $21.00
30Mbps $24.98 $23.77
32Mbps $23.08
50Mbps $42.05 $22.69 $26.89
120Mbps $37.01
Capacity per 100g $2,213 $2,695 $281 $1,251 $1,890

There are several interesting things to note here:

  • Videotron has some weird speeds (see * above), for simplicity I matched them as close to the competition as possible.
  • Bell basically admits that the cost difference between speeds is down to which technology you have, ADSL cost $14/month and ADSL2 costs $25/month.
  • The cable providers all pretty much agree there’s a sliding scale of increased costs as rates increase.
  • Bell and Cogeco seem to be significantly more costly than their competition.
  • There’s a clear disconnect between the providers and their capacity costs, it’s not logical MTS Allstream can provide the same service at 10% the cost of Cogeco.

So what should we Take from this?  Looks like everyone should move to where MTS Allstream is available, their going to have significantly lower costs in comparison to everyone else.  But in reality someone needs to look at WHY there’s such a big difference in costs.  Without any real competition, the providers can simply continue to do incredibly wasteful implementations because they know they will always be able to make a “reasonable” profit on them.

Getting a competitive environment in place would drive all the costs lower as each provider tried to undercut each other.

The question will now become what does the above pricing mean for the average user.  At first glance it looks like an increase will likely be coming once this is implemented on Feb. 1, 2012.

Google and Locations Services

Greg Leave a comment

[sc:internet-category ]Google for years has tracked WiFi hotspots physical locations so they can better support their location services with Android and other products.  Of course Google isn’t the only one doing this but with the rise of Android they are perhaps the largest collector of this information.

Yesterday they announced a way to opt-out of the service for those who have WiFi and don’t want to be identified by the location services.

Their solution?  Everyone should rename their SSID’s to include “_nomap” at the end.

Ya, think about if for a moment.  You’ve got it.  That’s just plain insane.

Let’s list a few things off the top of my head that are wrong with this:

  • It’s opt out instead of in.
  • I have to rename by network and then reconnect all my devices.
  • For non-English speaking areas, it makes no sense.
  • It limits what I can call my network (32-6=26 letters)
  • I HAVE TO HAVE A FREAKING UGLY SSID

Let’s face it, Google clearly believes that SSID’s (and probably everything else) are public information that they should have access too.  It’s the users that should have to do the work to block Google’s access.

What it comes down to is simple, is an SSID the street number on your house or is it a “Home sweet home” sign hanging in your kitchen.

If it’s a street number then Google can drive by and read it from off of your property and there’s nothing you can do about it.

If it’s a sign in your kitchen, then they can’t without trespassing on your property (or at least being a peeping tom).

And here’s where it get tricky, it’s both.  It all depends on the intended use of the network.  If your McDonald’s giving out free WiFi access, then its public information like their street address.  But if it’s for private use then it’s like the sign in your kitchen.

Google has decided that unless specifically told otherwise, everything is public and that’s just plain wrong.

Too make it even worse, they haven’t done the logical thing and made it easy for the end-user to opt out, they’ve made it a major headache.  This presumably is to make sure that no one will actually take the time and effort to make the changes required to opt out and therefore keep this valuable information flowing in to them.

For a company that claims it’s motto is “do no evil”, they seem to have chosen every evil choice possible with this one:

Google Exec 1: So should we make this opt in (good) or opt out (evil)?

Google Exec 2: Oh, opt out of course we need that info.

Google Exec 1: Ok, should we setup a website to allow users to at least opt out (good) or not (evil)?

Google Exec 2: A website will be hacked asap and some hacker group will opt out everyone, we cannot have that!

Google Exec 1: Well ok, but people have to be able to opt out, otherwise the government will be all over us.

Google Exec 2: I’ve got it, instead of making it easy, international and quick (good) lets force everyone to have to do a lot of extra work so they won’t do it at all (evil) that way we can say we’re being good by giving everyone the option but won’t lose any real data that we just have to have!

Google Exec 1: Perfect, write that up in a happy sounding announcement and add some words around creating an industry standard to!

Ah to have been a fly on the wall that day Winking smile.

ChevronWP7 Labs

Greg Leave a comment

[sc:mobile-category ]In the early days of Windows Phone 7, a “hacker” group found a way to unlock WP7 and Microsoft was fast to swoop in and get them to not distribute the software.  But there was a twist, MS agreed to help the hacker team to build a supported unlock tool and now, finally its available to the general public.

I haven’t had a big desire to unlock my phone, but I have to admit I like the idea so when it became available I signed up and paid the $9 to see what it was like.

Getting started was easy, logging in to ChevronWP7 labs website is linked to a live ID, so I just used my standard account.  Then a few quick steps to use PayPal and I had when they call a token.

This token can be used to unlock a single phone as many times as required (in case you have to restore your phone or presumably after the next update from MS).

However by the time I had my token (a few hours after they opened up the process) they had already had issues and were down for maintenance.

I checked back the next day and it was once more available, the next step was to download the unlocker, a small piece of software you run from Windows with your phone connected through USB.  The software is easy to use and straight forward.  It takes you through a few steps (unlock the screen on the phone, enter the token, etc) and then places you in the queue to get unlocked.

On my first attempt (which I started around noon) I was 430th in line, which looked like I’d be waiting several hours before the unlock would happen.  Unfortunately I had to abort as I had other things to do that afternoon and I can not remember the last time I left the house without my phone Winking smile.

I came back and restarted the process around 9pm, unfortunately the unlocker does not remember your previous settings so I had to step through all of the screens again.  Then I was 270th in line, I left the phone connected overnight and let it go.

The next morning I had found the phone was still not unlocked due to the backend being down and ChevronWP7 Labs.  It took almost a complete day to get back up but once it was I restarted the process, including having to re-download a new version of the unlocker.

This time there were only 20 some people in front of me and the queue moved along pretty fast.  When my turn came up, it failed due to the fact I had never renamed by phone.  Apparently the unlocker needs a unique name to unlock against.  I had to close the unlocker, start Zune, rename the phone, close Zune and restart the unlocker.

After stepping through the unlocker again I finally had my phone unlocked!

One other issue that came up (and I can not remember at which attempt) was the unlocker required me to install Windows Phone support tools from the MS site.  Not a big deal, but it could have been listed as a pre-req on the website.

Of course the question now became “What do I do with an unlocked phone?”.

The XDA forums have several homebrew apps available, including the BatteryStatus apps.  This cool little tool gives you a live tile that gives you your battery status in a percentage.

After downloading the XAP file you have to use the MS Windows Phone 7.1 SDK tools to install the app, which means you have to download and install another 750 meg of software.  But hey, no one said it would be simple Winking smile.

ChevronWP7 Labs has also disabled new token purchases while they get through the backlog of unlocks yet to be redeemed, so it may be a while before you can unlock your phone, but I think it is well work the $9 if for no other reason then to send MS a message that they should unlock WP7 by default.