Tinternet treats: 02:12:08

A bit late with this today, but I think I’ve just made it for the morning. Today’s offerings will appeal to the big kid in all of us and the serious sports fan and beer drinker. So, first up we have the evolution of the Nurf atomizer gun from bb gadgets, perhaps you’ll learn how to make your own. Second, we have the ezGear Wii Music pack featuring a veritable smorgasbord of instruments for the serious Wii Musician…no didgeridoo though. Third, Engadget brings probably the best home bar invention the world has ever seen – a beer dispenser with an inbuilt TV, perfect for State of Origin or the FA CUP. Last is news from Lifehacker that Joost is now streaming TV, movies and music videos to your iphone…I guess I’ll have to get an iphone then. Enjoy and happy Tuesday.

bb gadgets:
A NERF gun’s revolution
Gizmodo:
ezGear Wii MusicPack Rocks Entire Orchestra of Wiimote Peripherals
Engadget:
Micro Matic v-POD weds beer dispenser and LCD TV
Lifehacker:
Joost Streams TV, Movies to Your iPhone

People like surfing the web on their mobile...this surprises some people

They first started talking about this when I was still at University, they called in WAP…but WAP was CRAP. Fast forward ten years and we finally have a device and an interface that is capable of providing us with a positive mobile Internet experience…. even if we don’t have the data plans in some countries….big island in the southern hemisphere *cough*

But, news is that mobile Internet use is going through the roof while traditional PC access is slowing, at least that’s what the guys and gals at Nielsen say. I think this is UK data, but according to the findings over 7 million people jumped online using their mobiles during the latter half of 2008, representing an increase of 25 per cent for mobiles compared to a teeny-tiny 3 per cent increase for PC access. Another interesting fact is that 25 per cent of mobile surfers are aged 15-24, while the same age group accessing the web via a PC is just 16 per cent.

MyTake – is this really surprising? No. I remember wanted to surf the net in the WAP days, but found it excruciatingly painful, so I gave up. Then again when 3G was launched, but the limitations around the browsing capabilities again put me off. Having seen the likes of the iPhone, it’s a much more positive experience that doesn’t have the drawbacks of its not-quite-there predecessors. This is exactly what people want and they are taking to it in droves.

The sweet sounds of a Smule

Most of the big gadget blogs have covered this today, but it’s so cool that I had to do a post myself. You may have seen my posts on the iBand, a group of musicians that turned their iPod touches, iPhones and a Nintendo DS into a band….well, hold on to your pants because here comes another addition to the iPhone instrument collection – the digital Ocarina from Smule. 

What’s different about this then? Well, this is just out there and all kinds of crazy, which is what makes it so cool. Think of it as the recorder (as in the musical instrument they make every kid in primary school play) of the iPhone world. Some boffin has developed an app that lets you blow into your iPhone mic then play a tune using the touch screen. Check out the video below.

MyTake – What will they think of next? But seriously, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, opening up the iPhone to third party developers is the smartest thing Apple have done. The PR value alone has to be worth thousands. How do you keep a product interesting and newsworthy – give it to the community and let them reinvent it every month. 

Cometh the hour...

What's that saying? Cometh the hour, cometh the man..... It's never been truer than it is right now as the U.S. sits on the eve of history either way. I written a fair few posts on the online campaigns from both parties, but more on the Obama campaign's efforts as they seem to be doing more.

But it's not over yet, you may remember the iPhone apps story that I posted sometime ago - that'll be in full swing right now. Also, people logging on to Facebook today will have a nice little reminder to go and vote and guess which campaign uses Facebook the most...yep, you've guessed it. Looking at the Facebook updates from my friends, there seems to be such a buzz with people organising to go to parties, making sure their friends have voted...I for one am very excited and can't wait to see the results. If you want to read more from a U.S. perspective, check out my friend Ed's blog - a Washington based PR.

MyTake - I have said is before and I'll say it again - they are going to talk about this campaign for years to come and from an online perspective, they are going to teach this stuff in colleges and universities around the world. Will we see something similar from the next UK elections? Probably not, but it's nice to dream...

The phone that changed the world just might win the US election

OK, a lofty claim, but the iPhone might do just that for the Obama campaign. A new application developed for Apple’s runaway success allows users to rally the troops in so called swing states. Called "Call Friends", the idea is simple – you call your friends around the country in order to get as much support as possible. The application puts a structure and tracking mechanism around this idea, letting users make notes on who they have called, where they live, how they will be voting and even if they need a reminder on election day. 

But…there’s more. The app also provides up to date information and news from campaign HQ, plus a whole host of talking pints, video and photos to help convince in the most stubborn of pals. Obama, as I have previously posted, is very active in the online space and this could be the thing that tips it over the edge, alongside his other activities on YouTube and Facebook. 

MyTake – You go where the audience is, and guess what, they’re online. The iPhone blew the mobile web market wide open with its easy-to-use software, big screen, speed and more importantly, the SDK.  This is probably the smartest move to date by either party, tunneling through from the web to the phone, opening up the range of influence and taking that right up to the voting booth in the hands of countless voters. 

He said, he said

Google seem to be in the news a lot today, but I’ve had enough Android as it’s not going to make it to Australia (big island in the southern hemisphere) and an Engadget test shows that the iPhone is faster. My Google news today is Google In Quotes from Google Labs, and it’s fun for all the family. In Quotes in a comparison tool that allows you to see what politicians are saying about certain topics, when you load up the site it defaults to the US edition featuring McCain and Obama. 

As well as the US edition there is also UK, Canadian and Indian editions, but not an Australian (big island in the southern hemisphere, you know Kangaroos and all that) edition. Each edition has a number of default topics to compare quotes on, using the US edition it is: Iraq, oil, Bush and Iran, but you can also add other topics like, oh, I don’t know…say the economy? My favourite feature of the site is the “spin” button that acts a bit like a one-armed bandit, spinning the quotes before stopping on some new quotes for you to muse upon. 

MyTake – A good, timely piece of lighthearted fun from the guys and gals at Google. I am a huge fan of the “spin” function, if only politicians could actually have this when they are speaking – how much fun would that be! Anyway, good fun, go check it out for yourself. 

Let the Android party begin

If you’d have asked me my opinion about the mobile phone industry pre the iPhone, I’d have told you that it needs a good kick up the ass because we’re all sick of hearing about wap and video calling. Then the iPhone came along and set the bar (a far bit) higher and challenged the rest of the market to follow. And followed they have, every other manufacture has produced a so called “iPhone killer” to take on the boys at Apple. The problem is though, it’s not just about the hardware, is it?

Enter Google and their Android. The guys at Google know a killer app when they see one, so you’d probably be fairly safe in saying that Android is going to be the next installment in an already glittering portfolio. The news today is that T-Mobile in the US is going to be the first to show off a handset (HTC) featuring the software at a conference in New York on 23 September.  It’s going to be interesting to see how the media and analysts react to it as this is Google’s play to widen their advertising model.   

MyTake – This is really the best front to attack Apple on. It really doesn’t matter how cool that handset is, if the user-experience is poor, then so is the handset. Google have gone down the same road as Apple by opening up the software to third party developers, which in my opinion was Apple's master stroke. I predict a real clash of the titans type battle between these boys. 

LinkedIn(side information)

I’m all for being upfront, transparent and open when it comes to social networking, even when it comes to LinkedIn. If you start lying on your profile, someone will eventually point it out. But, having said that, there’s probably a point at which you need to pull-back on the openness front, as a very unlucky Apple employee recently found out. In short, an Apple employee by the name of Wei-han Lien listed his responsibilities on his profile, including the fact that he was managing the “ARM CPU architecture”. What’s so bad about that then? 

Well, not so long ago Apple acquired a company called PA Semiconductor to work on new processors for the next generation of iPhone. The big question was of course which type of processor and I guess we all know the answer to that now. 

MyTake – It’s a fumble as opposed to a dropped ball. The market could see the direction this was going, but I guess the company and investors still had some wiggle room that has now probably disappeared. My message to Wei-han Lien – go make a kick ass processor my man, all will be forgotten when they ship a million plus next gen iPhone’s with your processor inside! 

EA plays with iPhone

As if you needed another reason to buy an iPhone, here’s another one (or three) - you can now get SimCity and Sim3 on you iPhone and Spore will be available on September 7. On top on this, a recent EA press release also reveals that Monopoly, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and Need for Speed Undercover are currently in development.

After giving the mobile phone industry a huge kick up the behind, it looks like the iPhone is finally about to take a take a bite out of the mobile games industry. In my books, that puts everyone on notice. Still though, the annoying thing is the data charges here in Australia – how is this going to make online-gaming appealing? With EA putting a lot of money into developing for the iPhone, who’ll follow next and what titles? A word to EA – please think of a way to bring FIFA to the iPhone.   

MyTake – Gaming is surely the next big target area for the boys at Apple and the iPhone is the product to do it on. I remember when the original iPhone first came out and a friend of mine from Gamespot.com.au showed me a very basic racing game – I was totally blown away. A few killer titles, some decent online gaming and we’ll see another market flavoured Apple.  

Gadgets make you stupid.... apparently

First off - sorry it's been a week since I last posted, I'm afraid it's been one of those weeks.  But, on my way home today I happened to read an article claiming that gadgets such as Blackberrys, Xboxes and iPhones threaten to "unravel decades of innovation that helped build the Internet."

According to Oxford professor Jonathan Zittrain, the afore mentioned devices stifle creativity and don't allow the kind of collaboration offered by your home PC, which he (old Johnny) reckons leads towards technological advances. 

MyTake - It's OK to be alone every now and then and I don't think for a second that we are going to forget about the wonders of the web.  Also, if we look back at the development of the PC I don't think that was what I would call a "collaborative" device in its early days, but it is now thanks to human endeavour.  It's not the device that dictates the use, it's the person behind in....SMS...I rest my case

I'll have an iPod with the lot, thanks....

Is Apple about to change the music game again? Jobs and co are apparently working on a deal to offer fee access to the entire iTunes music library based on a premium-purchase model for the iPod and iPhone. Basically, you pay a bit more cash for iPod/iPhone and you get the music for free…or maybe at a reduced cost. Details aren’t clear at the moment, but it seems to be similar to mobile phone plans as in the more you pay for you plan, the more free stuff you get.

Another rumour doing the rounds is that there could be a subscription model on the cards for the iPhone, again no details have been released, but it would make sense for them to extend their music model into that sector, which is largely dominated by the telcos.

MyTake – Is there no stopping the juggernaut that is Apple? These guys innovate like the rest of us breath. Once again, the power of the platform (iTunes) could breath new life into the record industry by opening another way for customers to purchase music. Companies are finally coming to terms with the actual worth of content and I think that this is something that consumers will welcome. At the end of the day, it’s about empowering us with choices and options, and the more choices and options we have, the more records you’ll sell.

I hope you like Jammin' too

Welcome to the next generation of jamming! Since the dawn of time, mankind has been using everything and anything to make music and that's not set to change any time soon. A bunch of guys have taken two iPhones and a Nintendo DS and created the "iBand". Check out the video below.

MyTake - Music is becoming more and more accessible, letting more people get involved and make music. I wonder how many great artists were never discovered because they couldn't get in a studio, or couldn't afford a guitar. The idea that people could sit around jamming on their iPhones then share the result with pals via Facebook or MySpace is one I think will happen sooner than we think. It's all about content, and sharing that content - the more personal that content gets, the more it’s worth sharing.

Ring ring, Ca-ching, ca-ching

The apple still tastes sweet - at least, that's what budget sheet says. Steve and co saw record profits up 57% in the three months to the end of December manly lifted by demand for Mac computers and iPhones. That's right, for everyone that wrote it off as a Newton, there's a van round the back giving away large portions of humble pie.

the BBC reports "Sales of its iPhone, released in June last year, reached 2.3 million and lifted its earnings to $1.58bn (£806m), up from $1bn a year ago."

My take - Steve, you deserve a knighthood - as does Mr Wasniack and the rest of the Apple boffins. It ain't easy being that cool, but hey, someone has to do it.