whatleydude.com

6000 miles from home: Cape Town

Apologies if this is a little out of time, but – as I mentioned in my last post – that’s how things are going to roll around here for a bit, at least, when it comes to talking about my epic Summer of travel.

Cheers and as always, your comments and questions are welcome 🙂

_______________________________

Moleskine entry: July 5th, 2009

All aboard...

Day one of my epic Summer of travelling so far has consisted of… well not very much really.
Admittedly, I’ve moved a certain distance, what with hurtling through the sky at 500mph and everything, but I’ve actually spent most of the time sleeping.

Night flights are my favourite kind.

There are six of us on this trip. Me, your official storyteller. Sam, my partner in crime and also my one and only constant over the next ten weeks… and of course our first four competition winners.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Lucozade Energy Challenges as a concept, let me tell you that it was a brand new one on me too. One winner, plus four of his/her friends, every other week taking a particular challenge for which a new skillset is required. Each activity is set in a different far-flung part of the world and they all require the chosen four to learn said skill quite quickly before partaking in a competition of some kind. All in the name the new Lucozade Energy tag-line ‘Do More’.

The full list of competition details can be seen on the Lucozade Energy Challenge website, meanwhile – let’s get back to our story shall we?

Me, as you know, got this gig just a couple of weeks back. Sam? The same. However, his role is different to mine in that he to be the group’s designated ‘Chaperone’ over the coming weeks and, judging by the first few hours, he’s going to be good very company indeed… 🙂

Time to meet the winners of the first competition; Manzoor and his three friends, Shofat, Suhel and Foyce.

They’re a good bunch of lads. Football players from Brum would you believe, and they’re just a little bit excited.

Heh.

At the time of writing we’re about 10mins from touchdown in Cape Town, Shofat’s just woken up and we’re discussing the prospect of seeing some Black Rhinos over the next few days. You see, this particular challenge – Sandboarding in Namibia – isn’t all about the taking on the extreme sports of the Skeleton Coast, it also involves tracking down the aforementioned huge beasts as part of a desert safari.

What?

There’s got to be something to fill in the gaps between all the epic sandboarding, right?
Next stop: Namibia!

Making notes for the future

I’ve never had a formal notebook before.

I’ve always tried to carry a pad of some kind. Some of you may already know of my penchant for writing the occasional blog post in long hand first.

Well, for the ‘Epic Summer of Travel‘ (as I’ve taken to calling it), I’ve decided to take the plunge with my first ever Moleskine.

Taking notes, drawing pictures and collecting keepsakes, this book is now my friend and guide. So If blog posts start appearing over the coming weeks that seem a little out of date, now you know why.

Just thought I’d let you know.

🙂

Read my Palm: A Random Encounter

Greetings from Wyoming!

I’m currently on part two of the five part Lucozade Energy Challenge social media gig and as you might’ve guessed from my last post, I’m having an awesome time.

On the way here I had to fly via Chicago; an amazing city (from what I saw of it coming into land) and one that I wish I could’ve stayed longer in. Not least because as soon as I touched down no less than three different mobile geeks were in touch to let me know about the Mobile Camp that was happening just down town from Chicago International, and I was invited! Unfortunately I only had an hour between my connections though so alas, it was never meant to be

Sad times. However, on the flight itself I happened to find myself say next to a guy called Grant Rostad, a young American chap who was on his way back home after a two month internship working in the UK. He also has a part-time job as a sales rep in a particular mobile store.

The conversation started when Grant spotted me handling my N97 and asks: “Hey, is that the N97? Would you mind if I had a play with it? I’ve heard great things…”

I hand it over, of course – exchanging pleasantries and mobile geekeries in doing so – and then go on to extol the virtues of the N86, my new favourite handset. It’s at this point when Grant reaches into his bag and pulls out the two bad boys pictured to the right over here…

Recognise them? I know Ben Smith does.

The red one is a Palm Centro and the black, a Palm Treo Pro – Grant tells me “Treo means ‘it sucks’…”

He’s not wrong. Anyway, we’re close to landing and I decide I should capture some of our conversation (below) for posterity and of course, for The Really Mobile Project Hope you like it and of course, as always – your comments are welcome 🙂

UPDATE: For those that want to know, the interview was recorded using the native voice recorder on my N97.

[audio:http://thereallymobileproject.com/wp-content/uploads/read-my-palm-a-random-encounter.mp3%5D
[ MP3 download ]

“Where the hell is that Whatley guy?”

The short answer? Namibia (and more).
The longer answer is tad more complicated…

Some of the more observant Really Mobile followers out there may have noticed of late that Sir Ben of Smith has been running around keeping the lights on for all and sundry. While he has delivered some spectacular posts, it’s about time we pulled our socks up and got our hands dirty again.

Vikki laid the smack down yesterday with her ode to the Eseries (while giving the E75 a firm ‘thanks, but no thanks’ along the way), but now it’s time for yours truly to step up and take his true mantle today, on this day, Whatley Wednesday.

So, where have I been?

If you read my personal blog or if you heard the recent All About Symbian podcast, you might know that this Summer is going to get very busy indeed for the chap tapping the keys right now.

Very, very busy indeed.

Basically, I’m off around the world to cover the ‘Lucozade Energy Challenges‘ from a social media perspective. This means that I’ll be uploading photos, videos and blog posts for the next few months while at the same time tweeting my little heart out from the most remote of destinations.

I am taking a huge sack of equipment with me, a few things I’m going to list for you now…

First of all, what phone?

Given the nature of the project, the choice was simple: the Nokia N86

Yes I know that I’ve been fighting with Ben about how good the N97 is, but really, when it comes to creating content (video and/or photos) – the N86’s 8MP camera leaves the rest standing. A fantastic piece of kit that – so far – has managed to survive the heat of the Namibian desert as well as the danger-filled madness known as ‘the inside of my rucksack’.

Very, very impressed indeed. So that’s the handset sorted, but what about network? Well, the answer is two-fold.

In the areas that I actually had signal I switched between ‘NAM Cell One’ and ‘MTC Namibia’, neither of which allowed me to dial out using the Voda PAYG SIM that I was armed with. The former allowed me to use their data, and the latter I could at least send text messages, vice versa was not possible.

The second part of the ‘staying connected’ aspect of the trip came down to this bad boy –

The TT Explorer 500 BGAN Terminal Satphone.

According to the website:

“This high-bandwidth, highly portable device, weighing 1.3kg and measuring 218 x 217 x 52mm, is ideal for either mobile or semi-fixed use by individuals or small teams. Over a standard IP connection, it connects at up to 464kbps in the receive direction and 448kbps when sending. Streaming data is available at speeds of 32kbps, 64kbps or 128kbps for both send and receive. The terminal connects to a laptop computer via USB, Bluetooth or Ethernet. Voice is delivered via a standard desktop phone or a Bluetooth handset.”

Awesome.

Here I am, in the middle of the desert – Damaraland, Namibia to be precise – four hours drive from any kind of hint of civilisation and… I have Internet connection!

Look, there I am.

This thing is bad-ass. A snip at Â£2,276.64, the TT Explorer can get you an Internet signal pretty much ANYWHERE in the world and (according to my sources) only has real problems when it’s placed near the North or South poles.

However, if you think that the price stated above is too high then you can rent the satphone at the following rates.

Short Term Satellite Rental:

Â£20 a day or Â£500 per calendar month
Data costs are Â£7 per MB
Voice calls are Â£1.20 per minute

Compare this to, I don’t know, say Vodafone for instance and you get the following:

Â£35 per calendar month
Data costs are Â£10 per MB
Voice calls are Â£1.65 per minute

Admittedly you don’t have to pay the huge rental fee for a normal networked handset, but still.
If a satphone can beat the data costs of the Vodafone – especially when I’m pointing the damn thing at an actual satellite, then surely something must be going wrong somewhere, no? **

Not the good radiation either — Not that good radiation either

We’ll leave that one to the comments shall we?

The point of this post is that, thanks to some rather awesome technology, yours truly is going to be filing his Really Mobile postings from some very far flung corners from the world indeed…

If you have any questions, now’s the time to ask them…

I may be some time 😉

**that is of course forgetting the small matter of the radiation.

You’re charging how much?!

As you may know, recently I trialled the Vodafone HTC Magic. This I found to be a thorughly enjoyable experience and I’ve had no problems since recommending this handset to those to whom it would fit.

One thing I didn’t touch upon during the review however was the rather awesome pleasure of being able to charge my handset via USB.

Over-charging? — The Nokia CA-100: Guilty of over-charging?

This is not a new feature.

Many handsets have had this functionality built-in for years. Nokia however have only recently started to roll this out across their device range.

First dabbling with the 6500 and then later the E75, the two latest flagship devices – the N86 and the N97 – both come with USB charging out of the box.

So far so what?

Well, what about the other 30 or so million of us out there that don’t have a one of these devces?

What about us?

How do we charge our respective not-quite top-of-the-range-but-still-pretty-kick-ass-thank-you-very-much Nokias?

“Just use the blimmin’ charger you get in the box!” – I hear you cry.

Yes. Quite.

That’s all well and good but I don’t want to carry a standard Nokia charger around with me everywhere I go. No, I want to charge via USB.
The good news is that help is at hand in the rather slim shape of the Nokia CA-100 USB charger (pictured above) – Huzzah!

This is not a new accessory.

The pricing however, that’s a different story.
Allow me to explain.

I’ve owned several of these funky little things. Often just throwing them in my bag for later use and/or living with one constantly about my person wherever I go.
When I first bought one of these, it was back in August ’08 and at just Â£10, it was perfect; small, branded and guaranteed to get the job done.

Thing is, because they’re so damn small I got into the habit of losing them.
So I bought more. I bought them two at a time. I bought them for other people.
Ten English Pounds is Ten English Pounds and for someone like me, who doesn’t ever want to worry about where his next charge is coming from, the CA-100 is an essential piece of kit.

Recently I ran out (again) and so, off I trotted to my nearest Nokia store to stock up my latest bag of gadgets with USB charger loveliness to discover the price had been whacked up by a staggering 110%!

I’m sorry, what?

Why has something that was only Â£10 just under a year ago suddenly shot up in price like this?

I accosted one of the Sales Assistants in store and asked them what on Earth was going on.

“Er… Shipping and delivery costs have gone up.”

“What? And have ramped up the price by over 100%?”

“Er… Yeah. Sorry.”

I stormed out. Fuming.

You would think in this day and age the price of chargers would be decreasing not going up!

What to do next? Well, like any good mobile citizen I immediately jumped on the internet and got myself to the Nokia online store.

Obviously, what with there being very small overheads with any online marketplace, the price is bound to be fixed there… Surely?!

No.

Â£14.00 + Delivery

With delivery options as follows: Standard (3-5 Days) – Â£3.99. Express (1-2 Days) – Â£9.99.

So that’ll be Â£17.99 or Â£23.99 please, thank you very much.

I give up!

I’m going travelling very, very soon and I need something to keep me charged on the go. I simply cannot justfy paying DOUBLE for this accessory. I can’t.

Ridiculous.

Yes I know I can get a dodgy, knock-off version from eBay – but they’re dodgy and unreliable.

Why oh why are these things a) so damn expensive and b) so damn expensive TODAY when they were so damn cheap LAST YEAR.

Answers on a postcard please…

Plans for the Summer

About a month ago I entered into the running to be Lucozade’s Social Media Reporter this Summer, covering each of their ‘Energy Challenges’ as they happen across the globe. Phase one was an initial email pitch that answered the question ‘why should we pick you?’

I threw some words together, detailing some of my social media credentials – or ‘whuffie‘ as my dear friend Vero calls it – and was soon after awarded a place in the next round.

Phase two stepped it up a bit. This time we had to create a ‘multimedia diary’ based around reporting on a physical activity.
The requirements were as follows:

One two minute video
Footage of the physical activity
Interview with the person undertaking the activity
Piece to camera introducing your diary
A written blog of no more than 150 – 200 words
10 photographs

With that I went off and spent the afternoon at a secret location with my good friend and neighbour, Richard Mills. I think you all know how that turned out.

😉

“James Whatley meets: Richard Mills” got me through into the third and final round; a sit down face to face with the Lucozade team. Two hours later my phone rang.

“Hi James, we’d really like it if you could be the Lucozade Energy Challenge Social Media Reporter…”

That was two weeks ago.

My feet haven’t really touched the ground since.

The Lucozade Challenge is one big competition. You can enter right now. Each week winning a place to on one of the challenges for you and three of your mates.
There are five challenges in total and they are as follows:

Sandboarding in Namibia
Cattle ranching in Wyoming
White water rafting in Zambia
Yacht racing in the Caribbean
Glacier climbing in the Alps

Over the Summer, I’ll be blogging, tweeting and filming every single one of them… and I cannot wait!Â 😀

Thing is, I leave for Namibia on Saturday.

Best pack really…

When does Batman sleep? – Part 2

This has been a long time coming…

A few months ago I posted Part One to discuss this question and its relation to the ‘always on’ generation that we seem to live in today. If like many others who find themselves working in this field, you are expected to be on call at every hour of the day…

Well no, let’s stop right there. Is it actually expected?

Or is it the case that you simply feel obliged?
You assume that that the expectation in there, when in fact it isn’t.

See?

I have written at length about the importance of humanity being at the heart of everything you do. The onus being placed on the term ‘being human‘ throughout my work is on purpose people.
The question asked above is not about the duality of Batman’s psyche, moreover about his pig-headedness about asking for help and his lack of self-forgiveness when he gets it wrong.

He is after all only human.
As are we all.

When things got tough the Bat brought in Robin and then soon after that, the Justice League. His skills, unique and awesome on their own, work considerably better when placed into a team of similar, like minded people (sharing an equal goal).

The point is, that developer guy that I mentioned?
He who I quoted way back when:

Sometimes, I find myself stuck in front of the laptop at like 10pm on a Sunday night. The kids are in bed, the wife isnâ€™t far behind and there I am answering customer care questions over Twitter with some guy in Geneva! This isnâ€™t my day job. Iâ€™m a developer. My question to you is Sir; when does Batman sleep?

This man, he cared about his company’s brand and (online) reputation so much that he took it upon himself to make things better on his own.

Much like the Caped Crusader, he fixed it himself, working solo and acting independently from his own company’s PR team and, just as Batman did with the Gotham City Police Department (GPD), both sides became infuriated.

However, it is written than the Dark Knight works best when he works with his friend and ‘colleague’, Commissioner Gordon, coordinating strategies that incorporate traditional routes & methods (like the GPD) as well as the new found tools of our erstwhile hero.

More things get done.

When I first started in this job, within weeks I was at loggerheads with the Director of Communications. Our very own Jim Gordon if you will. He wanted to vet every single message and blog post that was to be written and sent out. A stand up argument ensued which ended with me simply saying:

Invent a box of words…
Put in everything I can use and take out everything I can’t.

Then leave the box with me.

It took some time, but we got there in the end.
There are laws and rules as well as traditional ways of enforcing or adhering to them.

However, these days there are ways to play, push up against and generally find new parameters to work within these rules.
Call it operating under the radar if you will.

Batman doesn’t kill.
Something which he is continually pushed on.
He doesn’t go looking for trouble (at least not in the traditional sense of the word), but instead works within rules.
First those he sets himself, then later within those set by others.

It is at this point where our super hero can pause, his allies know his work and can defend it in his absence.
Yes that’s right, his absence.

I started this post with the intention of highlighting the often over-looked ideal of humanity on both sides of the coin.

Corporations can be human but so can consumers.

Yes, it’s great to be on call 24hrs a day, seven days a week, but your customers are not robots. If you don’t get back to them on a Sunday night, they’ll understand.

It’s all well and good being human, but never forget everyone else is too.

James Whatley meets: Richard Mills

Every day I meet new and exciting people.
Every day I come across fresh ideas that force me to look at the world with a fresh pair of eyes.
Every day someone or something challenges my way of thinking so much that I can only sit back and marvel as my imagination is stretched into whole new dimensions.

Last week ladies and gentlemen, I met Richard Mills.

Richard, or ‘Richie’ as he prefers to be known, is an extreme sportsman of the highest caliber. But, unlike any other extreme sportsman I have met before, Richard is a real live Suburban Warrior.

Adrenalin junkies are not new to me; Iâ€™ve leapt from planes, thrown myself down mountains and even taken the odd wake-board ramp from time to time… But Richie Mills? This is a man who takes it to the next level.

Filmed at a secret location in West London, the following video takes place on a normal Monday afternoon. Blindfolded en route, Rich explained to me the level of competition that goes into these kinds of events, his love for the sport and then, we arrived…

Remember one thing folks: Richard Mills is a trained professional.

Do not try this at home.

_____________________

All video shot and filmed on a Nokia N97.
All photos shot and uploaded with a Nokia N95 8GB.

There is a Vimeo version of the video if you’d prefer and also a Flickr Set of all the photos from the day’s activites.

Check it.
Thanks for watching.

STOP PRESS: ShoZu to start charging!

Really Mobile’s favourite sharing application announced today that “going forward”, it will begin charging for its initial download…

There’s a lot going on today at the Really Mobile offices, what with the recent N97 shenanigans and the Mobile Web 2.0 Summit to cover, there’s a lot for us to get through. I myself have two (actually make that three) stories/features that I need to write up and to be honest, there really doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day!

How much will you pay? — Stay connected, but at what cost?

However, sometimes something comes along that simply bumps everything else down the line. Something so important that you simply have to drop everything and get the news up on the site. It happened a few weeks back with the Palm Pre, and today it’s happened again with ShoZu.

That’s right, ShoZu.

Really Mobile’s favourite sharing application announced today that “going forward”, it will begin charging for its initial download. The news, arriving via email this evening, sparks what would seem like a new attempt at monetization from them.
It goes:

Hello,

We’d like to start by saying thank you for using ShoZu. We have had the pleasure of communicating with several of you who have told us about your experiences using ShoZu and your thoughts for improving the service moving forward. That feedback from hundreds of ShoZu users has led us to develop a series of new features and changes to both the ShoZu user experience and the manner in which we distribute ShoZu. We wanted to let you know about a few of these updates.

You’ve got lots of flexibility in using ShoZu to upload photos and video. In addition to using the ShoZu mobile application, you can now use ShoZu to upload in new ways via:

picture messaging (MMS)

mobile email

PC and Mac Desktop application

any PC or Mac email client or webmail service

ShoZu’s mobile application takes the uploading experience to higher levels of functionality and two-way interactivity, with:

the ability to receive updates as well as read and reply to comments directly on your phone in near real-time

the ability to geo-tag uploads automatically

the ability to update your status, download feeds, and add tags and descriptions before or after uploading

Going forward, we will begin charging for the mobile application. If you’re already a ShoZu user, you’ll be happy to know that there’s no charge to continue using it. If you’re new to ShoZu’s mobile application, then there is a one-time charge to download the application and join thousands of happy ShoZu users.

ShoZu’s mobile application is available through our website, http://www.shozu.com and mobile website m.shozu.com, in Apple’s iTunes Store and will be available soon from other leading mobile application stores. We hope you continue to enjoy your ShoZu experience. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions.

Many Thanks,

The ShoZu team

So there you have it, ShoZu have made their move. As soon as I saw the news I threw it out onto Twitter to get some raw and instant reaction, the verdict?
Nicht Gut.

“Pixelpipe FTW!!!” – Ricky Cadden, Symbian Guru
“Nice knowing you, ShoZu” – Carlo Longino, Mob Happy
“I’ve pretty much replaced it with Pixelpipe anyway” – Kevin Neely, Astro Turf Garden
“What do they mean by “going forward”? Surely they mean “â‚¬5 on Ovi Store now” – Conor O’Neill, Louder Voice
“Need it to be stable first guys” – Kip Hakes, KCJH Design

At the time of writing you can still download the app for free from http://m.shozu.com. The iPhone app store also currently lists the app as ‘FREE’, although this may change over the coming weeks. Within the Ovi Store, however, it’s a different story. A quick search returns no results, even though Conor, quoted above, reports that the app is already available for â‚¬5. See compare and contrast images below, (we can save the comment on Ovi Store for another day).

Where do we go from here?

This is a shrewd move from ShoZu. Timed with the launch of the Ovi Store, it seems like they wish to capitalise on the global roll out of Nokia’s much commented on venture into the application market. Fingers crossed it’ll pay off for them. We all love them and – in fairness – they do state quite clearly that:

“If you’re already a ShoZu user, you’ll be happy to know that there’s no charge to continue using it.”

No doubt if you’re reading this, you’ve heard of ShoZu before. Maybe, just maybe you’ve downloaded the app already.
For you? No charge. Newbies coming in? â‚¬5 or, if my memory serves me rightly, Â£4 in the UK.

Pixelpipe have been mentioned as up and coming competitors and, what with their rather awesome Share Online integration, I’m not surprised.

Only time will tell who will win out.

Comments?
Thoughts?

Ladies and gentlemen the floor, is yours.

Upcoming Mobile Events

Glancing over the Really Mobile calendar this morning, we noticed that there were a fair few Mobile-themed events coming up that we thought you might like

Glancing over the Really Mobile calendar this morning, we noticed that there were a fair few Mobile-themed events coming up that we thought you might like to know about.
This list isn’t final and I hope to add to it as the weeks go on, but for now here’s a quick rundown of some Mobile events we have on our radar this month.

Well be attending, will you? — We'll be attending, will you?

In order of appearance with an event kicking off today:

Mobile Web 2.0 Summit
Dates: June 3rd – June 4th
City: London
Tickets: Â£999.00 + VAT
(or if you use the code ‘Dude985’ it’ll only be Â£299 + VAT, shh)

About:
2 Days of intensive presentations, interactive discussions and fantastic networking will for your Summit experience.
4 streams for you to choose from and tailor make your event experience depending on your mobile focus.
2 workshops focusing on monetising and designing for success in the eco system.
60+ speakers for yo to listen to, question and interact with,
21 presentations and 24 panel discussions jammed into an action packed agenda
Â£5,000 worth of premium placement on the GetJar network for theÂ winner of the Developer’s Den

Mobile Advertising UK
Date: June 15th
City: London
Tickets: Â£343.85 + Vat
(or Â£243.85 using the code ‘trmp09’ – we are official media)

About:
Endorsed by the IAB, MMA and AIME and sponsored by Alcatel-Lucent and adfortel, MobAdUK is a one-day conference designed to cut through the hype surrounding the mobile advertising industry, giving a clear representation of the state of the current market and highlighting key industry strategies to stimulate growth. The event will also unveil the results of a UK specific research project carried out by EverySingle OneOfUs and Ã†neas Strategy Consulting & Management into the mobile advertising market and host the inaugural EverySingleOneOfUs Mobile Advertising Campaign of the Year Award 2008/9.

Mobile 2.0
Dates: June 18th – June 19th
City: Barcelona
Tickets: Â£301.00 or â‚¬349.00 in new money (for a two day pass).

About:
The MOBILE 2.0 EUROPE conference brings together experts and thought leaders from all aspects of the mobile ecosystem, including startups, investors, mobile carriers, device manufacturers, and mobile application developers and web technologists. The conference is an opportunity for companies to connect to industry leadership and startup innovation and broaden your C-level relationships.
A Two-Day Event on June 18 and 19, 2009 exploring the emerging Mobile Ecosystem and Disruptive Mobile Innovation presented by dotopen and the Mobile 2.0 Organizing Committee.

———————————————————-

It’s worth noting that many event organisers have a habit of offering reduced-rate tickets for bloggers and/or students. So if these tickets look a little out of your price range, it may well be worth your while emailing in and finding out what they can do for you.

We realise these are mainly industry-based events, but fingers crossed we can add some more consumer focused gatherings (like the Mobile Geeks of London!) over the next few months. If you’re oragnising an event soon that you’d like us to highlight, get in touch at the usual address – enquiries at thereallymobileproject dot com – and we’ll add it to the diary.