When set up against the job of making an ad for a motor saw manufacturer, most of us will probably think of lightly-clad girls, muscular men and the jungle.
According to DirectDaily, the folks at the chainsaw manufacturer STIHL went a different way. They created a self-updating paper calendar, which is pictured below:
Not much to add here…
Microsoft’s approach to software development is pretty unique – more than one book has been written on the topic.
Technologizer now spoke with the project manager behind the original version of Windows:
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At that point Windows was no longer considered the company’s star project, as it had become a bit of an embarrassment. Even internally there were doubts among some in the company that Windows would ever ship. Also, because Ballmer had already burned though four product managers to try to get there–people who now had been either reassigned or were no longer at Microsoft–the product was developing a reputation for career death.
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Further information can be had at the URL below:
http://technologizer.com/2010/03/08/the-secret-origin-of-windows/
The iPhone’s lack of stylus was praised when the unit first came out – unfortunately, having no stylus makes using the unit with gloves difficult.
Koreans discovered that a popular type of snack sausage could be used as stylus – and an innovative vendor has now capitalized on their findings. His “sausage” is non-edible, but can be used as a stylus for long times without fear of “degeneration”:
Those of you who feel like taking a stab can do so for the acceptable price of 1 USD – further information is at the URL below:
http://www.casecrown.com/iphone/accessories/iphone-1g-3g-3gs-sausage-screen-stylus
Dr. Schaffer’s Mobile Computing facility at the Austrian FH Hagenberg has produced quite a few really amazing projects (think Shaker Racer) in the last years; the knowledge of their faculty staff is top-notch and contains loads of Forum Nokia champions. Cutting a long story short: the price (free) is more than right – I am there for about 18 months now and am happy overall.
In case anyone of you feels like adding a Bachelor of Science in Mobile Computing to his business card, definitely consider these boys. As tuition is free and living in Linz is dirt cheap (900E/month max), interested German-speakers are well advised to visit their open-house day to find out more about how to get great education for a very low price…which is held on Friday:
FH Hagenberg Campus
Softwarepark 11
4232 Hagenberg/Austria
Open: 9h to 18h local time
Yours truly will not be around this time. However, it would be too cool to have a group of Tamoggemon Content Network heads at this university…
Mobile Business Briefing reports the following:
The European Commission announced yesterday new moves intended to protect consumers from building up large bills when roaming in other EU countries. Mobile operators are now obliged to offer their customers a monthly cut-off limit of EUR50, and can also offer any other limit. Users will receive a warning when they hit 80 percent of the chosen limit. Until 1 July, customers need to make a deliberate choice in order to benefit from a cut-off limit. But if they don’t make a choice by July 1, the cut-off will be set at EUR50 by default from that date.
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From my point of view, this definitely is a good step. However, it IMHO won’t really do much – the party will start only when one of the big networks declares itself as “one”. Hutchison 3G does that for some time, but is too small (7 countries) to have meaningful impact.
On the other hand, former governmental operators like A1 (who have since joined the VodaFone network) could do this to protect themselves from competition by cheaper, small operators – forcing others to follow suite…
Dear Readers,
file this straight into the “we love our editor” folder. Yours truly will be talking about Symbian application distribution on the Nokia Mobile Developers forum on the 6th of the month:
My presentation will be held in English, and will be added to the web site shortly. Hit the link below to find out more:
http://www.nokiaappforum.com/conference/
P.S. The current schedule is in this PDF…
Dear Readers,
just in case anyone of you is wondering what the hell happened to TamsPPC and TamsS60: these sites were renamed. The URL’s and the content remain the same.
However, TamsPPC is now known as “the Windows Phone blog”, while TamsS60 now carries the tagline “the Symbian blog”. Once again, this has nothing to do with the content or editorial line – it remains the same.
The reason for this renaming was that the terms PocketPC and S60 are starting to get less and less popular. In order to make the TCN more visible for new readers, this renaming had to be performed.
If anyone of you has any questions or issues, please leave a comment here!
All the best
Tam Hanna
Microsoft has traditionally used the Catalonia Plaza hotel in Barcelona as its “base” during the congress – it offers better logistics and cleaner, better-managed venues. This year, they really overdid it though – and transformed the entire hotel into a huge Windows Mobile 7 ad.
During the day, the clock was always set to Seven:
And at night, it got really funny. Not much to add to the shot below:
When it comes to booking stuff for the Mobile World Congress, earlier is better. This has led to a large variety of weird date speculation on Facebook and other social networks.
At Tamoggemon’s, we are proud to bring you the more-less official dates for the next issue of the MWC; as When it comes to booking stuff for the Mobile World Congress, earlier is better. This has led to a large variety of weird date speculation on Facebook and other social networks.
At Tamoggemon’s, we are proud to bring you the more-less official dates for the next issue of the MWC; as displayed at the venue:
Of course, this can still change – but it should make for a pretty good estimate. Get booking 
.
Dear Readers,
just in case anyone of you is wondering why its so goddamn silent here today.
The Vienniese TCN team is packing for Barcelona!
Yes, we are on our way, and expect to bring you loads of live coverage and thousands of shots by tomorrow. Stay tuned!
P.S. In case anyone of you wants to meet up: SMS me at 0043 676 7886431!
I guess that everybody who frequents the Tamoggemon Content Network is well aware that cell phone providers always know where your cell phone is. You lot probably also know that this data is often logged, and can theoretically be used for all kinds of data-mining processes.
So far, the common assumption was that cell phones will not be tracked without a court order. Unfortunately, this is untrue. CNet News reports the following:
In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no “reasonable expectation of privacy” in their–or at least their cell phones’–whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that “a customer’s Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records” that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.
The message is short and sweet here: if your phone is on in the USA, the US government knows where you are. Do with that what you want to, and don’t hold us liable…
For most of us, GPS is a no-brainer – if we need to know where we are, we fire up that transmitter and are good to go. Unfortunately, this could change in the not-so-far future.
The British BBC reports the following:
The Sun’s irregular activity can wreak havoc with the weak sat-nav signals we use.
The last time the Sun reached a peak in activity, satellite navigation was barely a consumer product.
But the Sun is on its way to another solar maximum, which could generate large and unpredictable sat-nav errors.
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Even though many of us distrust large media services when it comes to tech, their story looks very ok to me. The image below is from the NASA, and shows the earth’s magnetic field.
If the sun now emits a magnetic cloud of its own, the fields get distorted – which confuses the system. Of course, we don’t quite know how strong this will really become…
Apple’s announcement to use a micro SIM in its iPad caused quite a bit of waves in the mobile industry – no other box has used this smaller format so far.
The illustration on the left shows the site difference – and CNET reports the following:
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The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), which sets the standards for SIM cards, tells us that except for the size of the plastic around the chip, micro SIM cards are identical to the SIM cards we normally find in phones.
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This means that you can cut existing SIM cards to size – have fun, tinkerers!
This one could be useful for (former) AT&T customers – there’s a class action lawsuit against AT&T’s ETF provisions which could also provide a benefit to people who never paid an ETF.
The web site explains it as follows:
This Settlement will provide the benefits discussed below to qualifying former customers of AT&T Mobility or its predecessors who were charged a flat-rate ETF between and including January 1, 1998 and November 4, 2009, and qualifying current customers of AT&T Mobility who had a flat-rate ETF provision in their subscriber agreement(s) as of November 4, 2009. YOU MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR BENEFITS WHETHER OR NOT YOU PAID A FLAT-RATE ETF. Three categories of benefits are available. Submit your claim under the category that describes your situation. Even if you have multiple claims, you may choose only ONE of the categories and ONE of the benefits under that category. The benefit amounts shown are the highest possible amounts. In the event that the claims for cash exceed the available settlement funds, the cash benefit amounts will be reduced pro rata in order to allow the maximum number of claims. In the event that the value of claims for non-cash benefits (other than the prorated ETF benefit) exceeds $2,000,000, the non-cash benefit amounts (other than the prorated ETF benefit) will be reduced pro rata in order to allow the maximum number of claims.
The Court has not decided whether the claims in the lawsuit have any merit. However, if you are a member of the Settlement Class, you have a choice to make now.
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Further information can be had below – if you were or are an AT&T customer and have a few minutes to spare, why not give it a click:
http://www.attmetfsettlement.com/
