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The future is augmented

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

I had an interesting diversion from work this afternoon, testing a new location-based game the Locatrix team is developing. As the User Experience is Augmented reality-based, I also got to play with Layar as well.

Firstly, we made an odd sight: four guys walking down Albert Street, holding their phones camera-like as we sought to claim game tokens from thin air.

Secondly, it worked fine. Sure, some refinements are necessary – we’re specifically working on the optimal placement and radius values for both visibility and token acquisition, but the general concept worked well.

Thirdly, snatching at objects which aren’t really there is a surreal experience; I was trying out a new Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Android device (courtesy of our Telstra friends), and the 8 megapixel viewing experience made for a very “real” augmentation experience.

A bit of fun, and several steps forward on the LBS games agenda.

Posted in LBS, Mobile, Social Networking | No Responses »
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Mobile Worlds Collide in Barcelona

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Yesterday was my last day in the office for a couple of weeks, as I’m heading to Singapore on Monday en-route to the Mobile World Congress, the GSMA’s mega-mobile annual conference in Barcelona.

This will be my fourth visit to the conference and to Barcelona, and this year I’m delighted to be attending as a guest of the GSMA as part of the Locatrix contribution to the OneAPI stand and App Garage demonstrations; I’m also scheduled to participate in a GSMA seminar on Tuesday 16th. There’s also a wave of offsite events and parties – Swedish Beers (Wednesday), Mobile Sunday, Mobile Peer Awards (Monday), and the terrific MEF Party.

This year there seems to be a massive focus on applications; an entire exhibition hall has been designated for the applications world, and it will be an extremely interest place to be.

Between now and then of course I have a stack of work to do, not the least of which is making sure our demos come together OK and of course the travelling. But I will aim to blog from Barcelona in and around what’s happening, because it’s usually an interesting collision of all the mobile tribes from around the world.

Stay tuned.

Posted in Business, LBS, Mobile | No Responses »
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Blogging from a Train

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

If you had’ve suggested a couple of years ago that we could be blogging – or using literally any Web2.0 application – while sitting on a train, I would have been dubious. But here I am, en-route to Varsity Lakes for a board meeting, writing a blog post on a train.

Connectivity is via 3G (NextG, if you want to be specific) and the latency/bandwidth is quite good. I can even use Whereis Everyone to check my location on a map – which is kind of cool to get a sense of the journey.

I did something similar last month, once I got my UK 3G problems resolved. The Vodafone top-up-and-go solution worked remarkably well, once I had the original device and SIM replaced. Of course network coverage was varied, but on the train ride to Claygate from Waterloo I was chatting with my brother in Sydney quite comfortably.

So there you go, a blog post from a train. Sure beats driving!

Posted in LBS, Mobile | No Responses »

Location Logic finds a new home

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

This posting probably would be more appropriate on the Locatrix blog, but Wireless Developer Network has reported that TCS have acquired the assets of Autodesk’s former Location Services division, which had a brief life as privately-owned Location Logic.

The transaction is of interest in several ways. Firstly, I wondered if the private equity firms that acquired the assets from Autodesk earlier this year did well in their 4 months of ownership. Secondly, the revenues stated for Location Logic of US$18M ($5M EBIT), primarily from Sprint and Verizon, suggest that there’s still room for expansion in the sector.

And thirdly, it’s led me to wonder about the employees – I had quite a few friends at ADSK, and in 2006 was invited to sit on their developer advisory council. They were good folks – I hope they have found the new owners welcoming (but I’m noting that the release explicitly specified the acquisition of the assets of Location Logic, not the business itself).

I think I’ll go send a few e-mails.

Posted in Business, LBS, Venture Capital | 1 Response »
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