Standby… I’ve transferred everything over to Wordpress and we’re now rockin’ on the brand spanking new server with all the previous links preserved. Neat.

I’ve been hunting around to try and find some people to sort out my blog’s style — but to no avail. If you know any good Wordpress theme designers, please point them in my direction. Meantime, pardon the dust as I sort out the temporary theme.

Here’s an anonymous tip for Friday morning.

Which leading member of the Mobile Data Association is currently leading the pack with her submission at Moblog’s Shoegaga.com?

Send in your entries now!

So, there’s a girl, not more than 6 years old, standing with her elder sister and her mum at the platform next to me whilst we waited for the train.

The little girl has got her black Motorola SLVR playing music as loud as it can. It’s her own. Her mother is texting on her SLVR and the elder sister is playing a game on what looks like a Samsung.

The music isn’t that loud really - enough to hear the tune in the general vicinity - but the device’s speaker wasn’t built to handle it that well so it’s cracking a little. The little girl looks content.

It’s just amazing how the users adopt and adapt the technology for themselves.

What would be more interesting is to establish where the music track originated. Download? Copied from a CD? Bluetoothed from a friend.

Anyway, on with the day!

Right I’m swapping from Typepad to Wordpress. This weekend.

I’ve no idea how challenging it’s going to be.

But to make sure you still get the updates, check you’re subscribing with this URL:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/smstextnews/

If you are, you need do nothing more. It’ll be a transparent move.

I’m swapping to Wordpress to give me a heck of a lot more control over the template layouts…

Found a support number for The Cloud and they’re sorting it out.

Breathe deeply Ewan. Breathe.

I’m off my face crawling up the wall annoyed.

I decided to pop down to the Blue Boar pub in Billericay and do some work from here this afternoon using The Cloud’s wifi service - as I have done frequently over the last two weeks.

Ordered my food.

Sat down.

Laptop out.

The sodding wifi connection is arsed.

I’ve got a connection but the login page is timing out continuously with errors.

Ok.

So I use my Blackberry to check The Cloud’s website for a support number.

The ‘contact us’ section is a sodding web form.

A web form???

‘We’d really like to hear from you’ it reads.

Well I’d really like to use the internet.

I am mightily pissed off.

Can these people not run a 5 nines (99.999%) uptime service? I made the mistake of depending on them.

They’re now relegated in my mind to ‘if’ as apposed to ‘dependable’. Useless.

20 mins later and the login box is finally displaying…

If I get online, I’ll let you know.

Until such time: The Cloud - sort it out.

Today is a good time for the team at Visto having just secured an extra ton of cash to go hunting in the mobile email market.

The press release is here.

Plus former AOL Chairman and CEO Barry Schuler has joined their Board of Directors.

Bit of a step up for them - I hope it bodes well.

I’m sat here getting rather annoyed with the fact that I’m having to reply to emails by writing them in Apple Mail then cutting and pasting them into my sodding web browser to send them out.

I’m just about to pack up and go home when I get a mail in from regular SMS Text News reader Hardeep Johal, Software Developer for Rapide, who, incidentally help organisations like yours communicate faster with groups of staff and customers

(That’s what it says on Hardeep’s signature anyway!)

Not 15 minutes after posting the post about port 25 not working had passed when I had a mail in from Hardeep. He suggested I try using port 587 to send outgoing mail instead of 25. I was a little bit suspect. I didn’t think it would work.

I made the change and sat there, arms folded … until I noticed the mails had started sending successfully.

Kudos Hardeep. Thank you very much. In his mail he said that he’d had the same problem on public networks before and tried the 587 port switch which worked. Smart. Worked here!

If you’re ever in Corney & Barrow on Paternoster Square, that’s what you need to do if you want to send mail, right?

I’m sat in Corney and Barrow trying to WRTIE EMAILS and guess what? Port 25 is banned. I can’t SEND email from my computer. Almost useful.

I can receive. Just can’t send anything via port 25 on this network. Still it’s free.

So I’m satin Starbucks. I’m trying to be a mobile desktop warrior. You know, living the dream ‘n all. I’ve bought my £11.99 a month The Cloud unlimited wifi account. I’m really pleased with it. It’s been working really well in a whole array of different locations.

I decided to head to Starbucks in Paternoster Square to get a bit of work done after my lunch meeting. What a stupid mistake. What a total idiot thing to do. Starbucks, you see, only works with the outrageously priced T-mobile Tzones wireless network. You can also ‘roam’ with your similarly stupidly priced BT Openzone account on the Tzones wireless network.

These people must think my head buttons up the back.

Tzones is not compatible with The Cloud.

How stupid.

How RIDICULOUS.

You’d think that executives at both companies would understand that all they’re doing is really irritating the users demanding service. I’m sure The Cloud’s team are happy to do roaming for Tzones customers. But I bet Tzones management won’t allow access to The Cloud customers because they want to charge stupid 75p a minute rates.

It just isn’t good enough.

I cannot believe we’re living here in 2006 and I’m still afflicted by idiots bearing idiot service offerings.

Henceforth. Screw you Tzones. Screw you STARBUCKS. I’m never going into another Starbucks again. I didn’t buy anything either. Screw them. WITH KNOBS on. Get a proper wifi provider with a proper billing structure.

I had a quick look around and found that CB-PUBLIC is a wireless network that is, conveniently, open. Connected to it and - bish bash bosh - I’m live and operational. Free wifi from the cool people at Corney and Barrow across the way. It’s about 30ft away.

Hahahahahaha

I am thus sat in a Starbucks having not purchased anything, using the Corney and Barrow wireless connection.

Screw this. I’m going to relocate. Corney and Barrow deserve my pint-of-coke custom.

Subvert the dominant paradigm!

Image914
Originally uploaded by ew4n.

I was walking by EasyEverything, the internet cafe, on Tottenham Court Road this evening, when I spied the ChargeBox sign outside.

It read something like ‘Out of battery? Charge your phone here.’

I’ve been looking for an excuse to try it out so I walked in and decided to check my email and stick my drained N90 on charge.

There was a spare ‘Nokia’ locker so I opened it up and set about plugging it in. Unfortunately the N90 has a new smaller power connector — almost half the width of your average Nokia.

Total arse. Couldn’t charge my phone.

Still it will work for the vast majority of people. Just not N90 owners at this time.

Image913
Originally uploaded by ew4n.

I was in the Vodafone store this evening on Tottenham Court Road - it’s been given a total revamp and it’s looking good. A new feature is the live handset demo stand. Really cool. I had a play with a few of them.

Much better experience than poncing about with plastic knock-offs.

Honestly tell me if I’ve got it wrong.

Are you a Windows Mobile user? If so I’d like you to take a few minutes to post a comment here or email me with your experiences.

- what device did you buy? - what service provider? - what does the device do well? - what can’t it really handle? - would you recommend it? - general summary

I saw an advert for the HP Ipaq at the station earlier. It’s a good looking device. I wouldn’t mind one.

I’ve just been so disappointed. So please, take some time and tell me your thoughts.

If you don’t use Windows Mobile but you know your colleague does, please pass this link to them and get’em to contribute.

Lauren of Flirtomatic posted a comment just now (thanks Lauren) saying that while she agrees that T-Mobile’s data service is excellent value, I failed to mention the appalling service.

Fair point.

However I haven’t found it that bad. I rarely use my mobile on the train because the signal quality is very poor. Is it a network-changing motivator? Not really. It’s good enough generally and I’ve only rarely got ‘network busy’ signals. But I don’t live in central London.

I worried about swapping to T-Mobile from the ultra good quality Vodafone but really, I haven’t bothered. I’m quite content. Especially given the huge margin of cost.

Any other T-Mobile users got feedback?

Link: ‘Payphone Warriors’ call on New York streets | CNET News.com.

This sounds like a cool game that I could potentially imagine playing in London — that is, if my team could find any payphones working

But thanks to “Payphone Warriors,” a game in the Come out and Play festival of street games that was held this weekend here, I’ve got a pocket full of quarters and I’m ready to use them.

In “Payphone Warriors,” teams of four players spread out from Manhattan’s Washington Square park in a mad dash for dominance over the area’s many pay phones. The idea was that at each new bank of pay phones–and who knew there would be so many in such a small area–a player would pop in a quarter, call a prescribed number and then punch in their team’s code.

Dennis Crowley, founder of Dodgeball — and his Payphone Warrior team — won the game. Nice work Dennis!

I’m working hard this evening which is, obviously, an excuse to order a pizza.
Been in all day on the computer so I haven’t got any cash. Ergo I’d like to pay by card.

Now I have a real problem phoning my local Pizza Hut because if you’re paying by card, you’re required to go through an unending process of ‘6759.. What? Was that a 9?’ error checking. It’s laborious and excruciatingly annoying for someone geeky like me. I think it’s the inefficiency that winds me up so much.

Why I can’t order online like you can with Dominos, I don’t know.

Now, Pizza Hut hardly registers anywhere near ‘lettuce’ on the healthy food scale, ergo you’d think they’d want to capitalise on the ’shall I have a pizza’ moment and capture your business before you think ‘dough, wheat, stodge, no thanks.’

Ordering pizza is not an experience. It’s a commodity service. I don’t care for it. I don’t look forward to picking up the phone.

If I can order and pay for my car parking - using my credit card to pay the balance - via text, why can’t I do the same with pizza?

Why can’t I type a text message thus:

‘1 x Large Stuffed Crust Meat Feast + garlic bread.’

.. Then type my postcode, house number and card details.

Then have it store my details so the next time I order I need only confirm the last four digits of my card for security?

I’m tired of such stupid sloppy service.

Why hasn’t anyone fixed this?

Or is it just me that thinks there’s a problem? Does the rest of the planet secretly get a kick out of having to do a three minute information exchange via telephone *every* time you order?

(I got a Wimpy burger instead this evening)

Got this personal shopper enquiry in:

I’m looking for international texting. I’m in canada and would be texting to indonesia. i tried smstoindo it worked fine then when i bought more credits, somehow people i’m texting to were unable to receive the messages. I inquired them about it but they just said that it was sent. Anyways i’m looking for another suplier if possible unlimited texting or a cheap provider because i text internationally quite a bit. thank you so much for your time and work and its greatly appreciated.

Can you help or recommend?

This blog post is coming to you live from The Blue Boar in Billericay High Street, courtesy of the marvelous The Cloud unlimited wireless internet account.

If you’re online, whack me a mail to say hi.

I’ve been muting an idea that’s been suggested by two people recently for SMS Text News.

The reckoned it would be rather cool if I posted up a paragraph about a company in the mobile industry together with a link to it’s site and then asked everyone for comments about them.

So, for example, if I picked iTouch Plc, I’d post:

iTouch is a media company with international reach. Part of the For-side.com Group, iTouch provides a wide range of information, entertainment and messaging services to mobile users.

iTouch’s business model is based on providing a broad range of consumer information directly to users through SMS, WAP, MMS and voice applications but also includes partnerships with numerous distribution channels including media companies, network operators, web portals, handset manufacturers and retailers.

http://www.itouchplc.com

… and then I’d write: What do you think?

The concept being that you, as a reader and mobile industry player, should have some sort of viewpoint over iTouch — which you post in a comment.

I’d appreciate your perspective. I think, perhaps, it’s still very much an idea.

Another concept suggested was for people to submit their company for critique — a mini dragon’s den style parade, inviting readers to suggest new lines of business, possible partners, clients and even encourage a bit of networking. Who knows. I’m going to think it all over. I’d welcome your thoughts.

Image897
Originally uploaded by ew4n.

Here’s a snapshot of the explanatory text at the top of the centre full page advert Three are running in The London Paper (not, as I previously thought, London Lite… although, perhaps they’re in both? I’ll need to check).

Image895
Originally uploaded by ew4n.

Here’s a sample picture message sent to Three by Alan in Hackney.

Lucky Alan’s had his picture and message published!

Image894
Originally uploaded by ew4n.

You know what, I thought it was London Lite I was reading. Woops. Correction — looking at this picture, it was clearly The London Paper, Associated New Media’s hot shot rival, that I saw this in.

I worked it out by virtue of reading the email address there.

I wonder what happens if you add ‘message3@thelondonpaper.com’ to your buddy list?

I’m gonna try it and see.

Ok tried it. It’s not a valid passport account, apparently.

Image893
Originally uploaded by ew4n.

For YEARS - literally YEARS - I have been talking to newspaper companies about setting up a

YEARS man! I was even invited to a meeting with a totally disinterested business development chap at Associated New Media to discuss the concept in about 2004 if memory serves. I can still remember him staring through me for the whole meeting. He wasn’t bored out of his skull, he was, I gather, worried for his job. I was a bit irritated that all he could think about was his career when a simple nod would have got the technology out into the marketplace. I kept on talking at him though…

Got no where. Talked to the local press. Talked to the national press. Talked to advertisers. Talked to mobile companies. Considered taking out a full page ‘PICTURE PAGE’ in The Sun and charging folk £1.50 a go to send in their pictures with little messages like ‘hi mum’ and only published the best.

WON’T SOMEBODY PLEEEEEASE THINK ABOUT USING THE TECHNOLOGY?

In the end, I just stopped talking. No one cared, it seemed — such as the universal opinion that ‘picture messaging was shit’ from all and sundry. Don’t get me started on the UK networks introducing ‘MMS’ and ‘picture messaging’ to an excited audience — only for us all to find out that, yes, er, actually, it was shit. Never worked. Hardly worked. Crap quality…

So, imagine my delight when I got on to the train this evening with my London Lite (coincidentally, also an Associated New Media publication) and found that Three had taken out a centre page advert, ostensibly to promote their MSN message capabilities.

(It’s working, by the way. Non geeks are telling me about Three and their ‘MSN stuff’.)

Three are encouraging Londoners to text into their shortcode or email address (at standard rates, no less!) with things they like about London. At least that’s this week’s topic. You can send pictures or text. And they publish them in their advert.

Ultra smart.

REALLY smart.

Now the jaded amongst us will realise that this isn’t anything special per se. However, the logistical realities of making this happen — well, I’m impressed. There’s a lot of people who’ve had to get off their fat arses to make this work. Advertising buyers who really couldn’t give a stuff about anything except their comission will have had to make a special call to the London Lite team. Three’s designers, no doubt on a wickedly good rate, will have had to also get off their arse and design something that’s more or less live (in the context of national ad campaigns that are planned months and quarters in advance).

I’m impressed at what it say’s about Three. KUDOS to the team at Three who put this together.

This direct involvement is definitely the way ahead. More pictures coming.

Got an anonymous tip suggesting this site, wap.tjat.com, is worth a look:

I read an article about sms costing too much….they should try wap.tjat.com. currently offers ICQ and MSN access. WAP/GPRS access is less expensive then using SMS. System is new and simple.

I posed a question earlier today to all: What’s your favourite thing about your network operator?

Here’s the response from Jim Black of MX Alliance:

Erm strange one this maybe, but the best thing about Three is the clarity and the detail I get in my bill and the fact that I can check my balance on my phone.