tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-187276282024-02-19T06:10:18.387+00:00MoBabbleThoughts on mobile, the web and the connected worldAlex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-65899603846473295162013-04-25T11:18:00.002+01:002013-04-25T11:22:01.366+01:00All change from conTgo to ConcurIt has been a long time since I have posted. Back in 2012 I left Nuance to join conTgo, a London based startup providing a solution to help communicate and manage risk for business travellers. As from the start of March 2013 conTgo was acquired by Concur to expand their portfolio of business travel services, should be a great fit. I have moved across into Concur and will be continuing to work on the mobile solution around communication and risk for business travellers. Rather than go into detail, if you want to know more about where Concur are heading, there is no better resource than the keynotes sessions from April's <a href="https://www.concur.com/en-us/fusion/2013/sessions">Fusion 2013</a> event (Concur's client and partner event).Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-65054338779806581912012-12-04T12:00:00.004+00:002012-12-04T12:05:12.070+00:00Mobile Monday London turned 7 years old this monthLast week, Mobile Monday London turned 7, the review of the un-panel event is now available on the <a href="http://www.mobilemonday.org.uk/2012/11/7th-birthday-unpanel-annual-round-up.html">MoMoLondon website</a>. We have seen so much change in that period. A couple of years before we set up MoMoLondon, some of the original founders attempted to start something similar (called foneclub) but timing wasn't quite right. At that time (about 2003 I think) most of mobile was either within the mobile operators, or lots of service providers doing SMS, Ringtones and Wallpapers. There were of course innovators, but the mobile platforms just weren't open enough yet, nor the audience ready for it. Some of the recurring themes of MoMoLondon have been the mobile web, getting your idea out there (marketing etc...), the technical stuff, funding, demoing and payments. Some themes, products, discussions have been consigned to history, interesting ideas for the time, but some have grown and grown during the 7 years. I won't review everything we have ever covered, that is all covered <a href="http://www.mobilemonday.org.uk/">on the blog</a>, but it is nice to say a quick yay \o/ to mark the occasion.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-23213363320869346072012-12-04T11:54:00.000+00:002012-12-04T11:54:07.122+00:00Biting the web that feeds itIt seems the world of social networks is gradually undermining the way people have in the past used web feeds. Is it just me or has everyone just given this powerful mechanism to closed social networks? I think this is a shame, but it is more to do with user experience (or lack of) in the subscribing to these feeds that is helping those bury it. I must be out of touch or something, but I am finding the concept of taking web feeds and viewing them in a friendly article browser a more enjoyable way to view so much content more and more these days. I am thinking of apps/sites such as Xite, Google Reader, Flipboard etc... However, as everyone is so transfixed on providing links through the likes of twitter, it all feels rather broken. Also providing links via URL shorteners sort of breaks the web, if the provider goes away, so do a lot of links. I understand that many content providers need to monetise their content (such as the traditional press) but there has to be a better way than download 20 apps to read your content. I have a feeling we may arrive back to mobile/device friendly web sites that pull in these syndicate feeds and do interesting things with them. I also have a feeling, RSS and Atom may not be flexible enough in their current forms and we will need something that provides more of a back channel other than jumping back to the original website. I am thinking of things like location, more about the author, copyright (like creative commons), some basic authentication/verification for commercial content and so on. If you know of an open standard or effort going on in this area I would love to know.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-39659676056102022302012-01-24T10:50:00.003+00:002012-01-24T10:57:34.494+00:00Upcoming Mobile Monday London events<a href="http://www.mobilemonday.org.uk">Mobile Monday London</a> has some interesting upcoming events. On January 30th the topic will be Mobile Games, a welcome return to a subject we haven't gone back to for a while. Registration is still open as I write this post, register yourself at on <a href="http://momolondon-2012-01-30.eventbrite.co.uk/">EventBrite</a>. In February, before Mobile World Congress kicks in there is another event on February 13th on Data Driven Mobile Apps (Open Data and more) ... again registration is on <a href="http://momolondon-2012-02-13-eorg.eventbrite.co.uk/?ebtv=C">EventBrite</a>.<br /><br />In 2011, I decided to take a back seat on MoMoLondon events and along with Dan Appelquist formed an Advisory Board. I still help out as a volunteer and wherever I can still add value behind the scenes. If you want to sponsor or get involved in a future MoMoLondon event, either contact myself or ideally the organisers Jo Rabin or Stuart Grant ... details over on the <a href="http://www.mobilemonday.org.uk/">MoMoLondon </a>website.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-41449353449087938922012-01-18T16:43:00.004+00:002012-01-18T16:53:03.380+00:00Identity, privacy and preferencesAbout 6 months ago, I was interested in how non-computer related industries provide information to consumers without confusing them with technical explanations. Good examples of this are in food label regulations and house and electrical product energy certificates. The units of measure are typically hard for a consumer to put into context without deep knowledge of the field. This made me think about how website domain names, SSL certificates and mobile application capability acceptances are communicated with the consumer. There is certainly a lot of meta data available in these areas. However, they are not written or targeted in a way for a consumer to understand and provide context. A good example of this is accessing when web sites, are they trusted, what does the certifcate actually mean, what is encryption and so on. It appears some thought has been put to this in Firefox but there is little or nothing for the user to reference when they don't understand. With the whole web and social media at our finger tips, perhaps this can provide a solution. Also when downloading a mobile application, before you install there are a whole load of things you 'ought' to read before accepting and then installing the app, but of course I doubt many do. If an app will access your contacts, you really ought to be aware of this other than just a bullet point of text somewhere in the T&Cs. So how can this be communicated? How does a user know what something is going to use and when it has been used? I am going to start illustrating some use cases over the next month, to try and open to debate how this could be done, or at least a starting point. I want to do this more in pictures or storyboards than essays of text, this is meant to be a consumers viewpoint of the experience rather than what is in place from a technical point of view. Anyway ... watch this space.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-6122994943303585202011-03-09T14:31:00.005+00:002011-03-09T16:35:49.119+00:00Tablets discussion brings in the crowds for MoMoLondon March<p>Here is a quick round up of the March 2011 Mobile Monday Event themed 'Keep taking the tablets' ...</p><ul><li>Theme </li><ul><li>‘Keep taking the tablets’</li></ul><li>Who was there </li><ul><li>Big turn out, must have been 230ish</li><li>Usual MoMoLondon mix of entrepreneurs, creatives, app companies, product managers, C level execs, VCs, journalists and so on</li><li>Kindly sponsored by Sky</li><li>Tablets seen around Playbook and Motorola Xoom … both rather nice devices, no iPad 2s as far as I could see, lots of 'old' iPads though</li></ul><li>The hosts and panel </li><ul><li>Jo Rabin – Host from MoMoLondon</li><li>Leila Makki, panel chair, TelecomTV</li><li>David Gibbs, Director of Mobile Applications and Services – BskyB </li><li>Matt Pollitt, Account Director – UsTwo </li><li>Rimma Perelmuter, Executive Director - Mobile Entertainment Forum</li><li>David Roth-Ey, Group Digital Director - Harper Collins</li><li>Mark Payton, Editorial Director - Haymarket Consumer Media</li></ul><li>Coverage (so far) </li><ul><li>MoMoLondon’s blog to be updated soon</li><li>TelecomTV were filming the <a href="http://www.telecomtv.com/comspace_videoDetail.aspx?v=5319&id=a05a0fb0-e29f-44a7-bc7f-99a3293bdde9#">panel and did vox-pop interviews</a></li><li><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23momolo">Twitter stream for #momolo</a></li><li>Blogger coverage </li><ul><li><a href="http://mobilephonedevelopment.com/archives/1222">Simon Judge</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2011/mar/08/ebooks-harpercollins-tablets-smartphones-ipad?CMP=twt_gu">From the Guardian AppBlog</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2011/mar/08/sky-apps-iphone-android-blackberry-windows?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter">Another Guardian AppBlog</a></li><li><a href="http://www.bluelightpartners.com/?p=932">Bluelight</a></li><li><a href="http://belenpena.posterous.com/momolo-chronicles-a-tablet-is-well-a-tablet">Belen Pena</a></li><li><a href="http://moconews.net/article/419-bskyb-looks-beyond-ios-but-readies-sky-news-for-ipad/">MoCoNews</a></li><li><a href="http://www.thinmartian.com/2011/03/keep-taking-the-tablets-at-mobile-monday/">Thin Martian</a></li><li><a href="http://dharmeshsurajbali.com/2011/03/07/takings-from-mobile-monday-keep-taking-the-tablets/">Dharmesh Suraj Bali</a></li><li><a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1jgjFj/audioboo.fm/boos/296119-talking-tablets-with-bskyb-at-mobile-monday-london">Lisa Davney Audioboo</a></li></ul></ul><li>Response </li><ul><li>Lots of buzz during and after the panel</li><li>Worries about proecting copyrighted content</li><li>Interesting lack of visibility or clarity on how important HTML5 and Mobile Web is in the content space</li></ul></ul>Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-43497475622322580812011-01-02T14:13:00.004+00:002011-01-02T14:47:46.246+00:00The 'Web' needs to learn from the Mobile WebNot every device is going to be high powered and able to render every manner of script, plugin and rich media thrown at it. The Web as we thought of it, now needs to learn some heavy lessons from the Mobile Web. Here are a quick few thoughts why I believe it is time for many heavily used desktop web sites to go back to some basic principles, and learn from the mobile web.<br /><br />The Mobile Web has evolved through attempting (ideally) to render the most appropriate level of richness to the device based off capabilities, screen size and bandwidth. Sometimes this can be done automatically with elegant results, sometimes you have to design for the differences. The desktop web has unfortunately become almost unusable, bloated and reliant on a fast browser and processor. For instance, my laptop isn't that old, however it isn't that new either (about 3 years old) and it is starting to have trouble (regardless of browser) to cope with the amount of JavaScript on each web page alongside the large amount of Flash adverts. I mean do you have to have an advert covering the entire background of the visible area on the browser, behind whatever content you are trying to read or watch. All the browsers now encourage you to open multiple tabs, bloated web pages do not work well unless your computer is beefy enough to handle it.<br /><br />One of the problems with an open medium such as the web, where you can use plugins it is naturally open to abuse, you don't need to work within or understand the limitations of the browser. Well time to go back to school ... it really is all about design, something that a huge number of websites appear to have forgotton or ignored. For instance, I don't always need autocomplete when searching, it really slows down my user experience (Google, Amazon etc...) when I know what I am looking for. Commercial pressures to litter every page with every possible way of catching the user out seems to be on the increase ... whatever happened to good, simple design?<br /><br />Several years ago, there felt to be a bit of an industry epiphony moment when the now very well coined phrase Web 2.0, or at least many of the design principles behind it, were seen as the future. "Less is more" seemed to be the way forward (and that was an idea dating back to the 1920s from architect Mies van de Rohe). Which is a driving force of the mobile web, typically because of on screen space and bandwidth. It appears sites are now being greedier and greedier for resource, running multiple scripts, animations and so on, this just makes my laptop processor hot, switches the fan on and gets on my nerves. Didn't think that was really an aim of the web page but perhaps I am wrong?<br /><br />I think the web of 2011 should revisit these basic principles, start the building blocks to creating content that can be elegantly purposed to use from small screen, to mid screen and onto large screen. If you don't start from these principles, you are going to find it very hard down the line retrofitting to whatever devices come in the near future. Architect quote time ... Walter Gropius, the founder of Bauhaus said "many of the things that seem to be luxuries today will become the norm in the near future" ... I like to feel he was talking about design but you can assume the top end devices we see today will eventually become the norm. Otto Wagner said "something impractical cannot be beautiful", I totally agree. Alvar Aalto said "Modern Architecture does not mean the use of immature new materials; the main thing is to refine materials in a more human direction", the richness and level of content on your web site and individual pages needs to address the human in front of it ... I think these pioneering thinkers could still teach us something!Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-71328492299546084312010-12-16T16:08:00.005+00:002010-12-16T16:36:25.783+00:00Do I (really) need a new smartphone?I bring this quetion up as I own an HTC Hero, it lets me do most of what I would like with a smartphone but do I really need to upgrade to a new handset? A question for myself ... but also the manufacturers and operators. Chances are, many people near the end of their contract may be asking the exact same question. Of course, you will always want to upgrade if your current phone has worn out or knackered ... however mine is pretty good condition and nothing has degraded ... yet, touch wood! Even the battery still gets me through a normal day. So, why would I want to upgrade, I mean do I really need to?<br /><br />What do I get when I upgrade, or can I save money by not upgrading? Right now, handsets are getting better screens, better cameras and so on ... so perhaps I will upgrade soon to something a little more flashy. However, most of the interesting aspects seems to sit within the software, such as the browser and the apps. Perhaps I can upgrade the software and get most of what I need? But actually, thinking about it, I would like a better camera with a flash ... so perhaps yes, upgrade, stick with Android, stick with what I know and feel comfortable with. Will I need another one in 12-18 months time?<br /><br />I assume (rightly/wrongly, please choose) this is a question all handsets manufacturers have been asking themselves these last couple of years. Rather than deliver every conceivable feature on their latest and greatest handset, they have to hold features back otherwise nobody will want or need to upgrade. But some manufacturers are more about shifting numbers of devices, they aren't really into the post sales side of things so do they really care as long as they hit their monthly targets? If the handset doesn't have all the latest wonderful features, is it ever likely to sell? Are reviewers going to damn it before it has even hit the shelf? Most handsets seem to have about 1 year shelf life these days, so whatever gets built needs to shift quick. With many manufacturers building Android handsets now, they have to be clever in differentiating their models so it has the 'must have' feature I can't do without.<br /><br />I have a feeling that until something earth shattering and radical moves handset form factors beyond the current rectangular slab with a glass window on the front, the rate of change and upgrades are likely to slow down as software updates become more important to the user. We saw this happen in the desktop and laptop market. Might mean a slow down in smartphones sales at some point. So do operators really need to have 24 month contracts to recoup the costs of the handset? What incentives are there to keep your current handset ... this is the greener thing to do afterall!Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-78642688508627635962010-11-17T09:49:00.002+00:002010-11-17T10:17:43.176+00:00Mobile Monday London, 5 years down the roadIt is with some pride that MoMoLondon has made it to it's 5th birthday ... still in tact and still feels as relevant today as it did all those years ago. I cast my mind back a couple of years before MoMoLondon hit the scene. Along with Dan Appelquist, Paul Cooper and Stuart John we tried to start the perhaps badly named, ill fated and short lived Foneclub. But the idea was the same, get people to meet up, discuss mobile and network. The first 'event' took place in the boardroom of the old offices of Clarity Capital in Mayfair, must have been around 20 of us there, and Paul had chipped in to buy some beers to keep us in there for an hour or two. Even with that number there was a good industry cross section of attendees from operators, technology, funding, agency and so on. Regrettably, consequent meetings saw less people able to make the events ... and inevitably it faded away.<div><br /></div><div>Two years later (the summer of 2005), I was sat with Dan in a restaurant in South Kensington, both of us suggesting we should start it up again (the mad fools). Dan then talked about something called Mobile Monday going on in Finland and in Silicon Valley and proposed we start up a chapter in London. Well in October 2005, the mailing list was created, and the membership flood gates opened. We didn't know what to do for our first event, I mean where do you start? Dan opened it up to the list proposing 'Bridging the mobile and physical worlds' ... and the theme stuck for the first event. It took place in the canteen at the old Vodafone offices on The Strand and there must have been 100+ people there that night (Monday night obviously). In the early days most of our events were in the canteen of an operator or web giant, typically with the sound of a fridge whirring in the background. Since the early days, we moved out of the canteens and into more comfortable and functional spaces, mostly at the CBI at Centre Point. We have run events most months now for over 5 years, and the ideas and offers of help and sponsorship still come, although the organisational side of things has evolved from the original line up.</div><div><br /></div><div>So where are we now? The MoMoLondon karma is still all about the community, events and networking. The industry may have changed, grown, mutated even, but the community still needs this free to attend space to discuss and network as much as 5 years ago, perhaps more so. A couple of weeks ago I was sat in a board meeting with fellow organisers Dan Appelquist, Jo Rabin and Helen Keegan, discussing what the scene is like now, how we run ourselves effectively, who else are in our space and where we see ourselves in the coming year(s). You will hear more about this in the new year and you will be glad to hear that we continue to celebrate the spirit and values of MoMoLondon.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is probably worth wrapping up this post with huge thanks to organisers past and present, namely Dan Appelquist, Jo Rabin, Helen Keegan, Stuart John and Paul Cooper. Also thanks must go to everyone that has been involved over the years, the speakers, the demoers, the sponsors, the volunteers and of course, everyone in the MoMoLondon community. Thanks one and all!</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, Happy Birthday us :)</div>Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-5787877137161488722010-11-17T09:31:00.004+00:002010-11-17T09:48:53.285+00:00Time to Blog againI am back, for now, and perhaps this is the time to start blogging again as soooo much has changed in the last couple of years. Since I last blogged, back in 2008 I now work for Nuance Communications as a Technical Program Manager. I have been working in the world of mobile applications now for about 2.5 years and my thoughts are moving towards the future of the mobile web, well maybe that is more my thoughts are moving back to the mobile web. I want to draw some focus of where the web is moving to and why mobile is more about you the user, more so than the device you happen to be using. Nothing ground breaking I know, but an important area in my line of work.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-572187211187802692008-12-03T22:42:00.002+00:002008-12-03T22:45:48.024+00:00MoMoLondon site goes AlphaDecember is here, the frost is starting to bite and MoMoLondon is back on the scene with our event on 'Mobile Social Networking - Platforms and People'. We are going to investigate the ins and outs of running mobile social platforms and take an alternative slant by talking with and about people that use it. All this and ... finally we have hit alpha with our new web site. Right now it is where the registration for the event is taking place, so create a profile play around on the site and register for the upcoming event ... <a href="http://alpha.mobilemonday.org.uk">alpha.mobilemonday.org.uk</a> ... remember it is an alpha of the site so not everything works yet and there will be the odd issue or two ... but hopefully in the main it will help us get to where we have been wanting to be for well over a year now.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-36419175998607001342008-11-04T10:44:00.002+00:002008-11-04T10:48:56.216+00:00Amplified08 eventLots happening on the London scene right now ... to demonstrate this on November 27th at NESTA there is going to be a new event called <a href="http://www.amplified08.com/">Amplified08</a> that aims to bring together people from many of the different industry specific networking clubs, such as Mobile Monday London. The plan is to get 200 people together and get them chatting. The art of networking is all about getting into conversations with people you wouldnt normally meet and naturally you end up learning new things, get ideas, build your network of contacts and in some cases create an opportunity. It is of course a big social experiment, but if you are active on the networking scene in London you will know that there is potential to fill this type of event out 10 times over. This will be a great excuse to get out of your industry silo and meet people from other trades and cultures. See you on the 27th November.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-27480835108096222592008-11-04T10:40:00.002+00:002008-11-04T10:44:49.003+00:00MoMoLondon - Nov 10th - We are 3 years old :)Yes its that time of month again! However this event is rather special as it marks the 3rd Birthday of <a href="http://mobilemonday.org.uk/archive/2008_11_01_archive.html">Mobile Monday London</a>. Its been an emotional 3 years so far and we are working hard to make sure the so called 'credit crunch' doesnt affect us. <a href="http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/momolondon/database?method=addRecord&tbl=39">Registration is now open</a> and the main MoMoLondon event is immediately followed by a Swedish Beers gathering at Bar 101 (downstairs from the CBI at Centrepoint). So come along and celebrate all things mobile!Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-16400505579242689892008-09-24T10:29:00.003+01:002008-09-24T10:33:52.335+01:00Battle of the brandsWith the impending launch of the new Android phone with T-Mobile, most information I have read mentions little of T-Mobile ... sounds familiar? Well I wonder if we are starting to see the start of the end of the mobile networks branding up devices in the way they have. If you buy an iPhone, apart from a SIM from your network, there isnt much on there that makes you think anything other than its an Apple product. I wonder if the mobile market is about to go this way. The Google mobile platform is going to be about Google search, maps, mail, calendar and so on ... doubt there will be space for the operators services on there. If Nokia can get over the fact it has allowed operators to butcher their devices in the past, they may be able to control their own future a little more. So, should this be a reason why Microsoft and Yahoo! should combine to hold their own in this market? I think this is inevitable that consumers will go and buy the product rather than the network. It's a little like going out and buying a PC then deciding which ISP you want to use to connect to the internet. The only real restriction is that the operators are holding exclussive rights to the devices in certain markets, so choice is a little restricted ... well right now it is.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-80393282835524699592008-09-17T13:13:00.002+01:002008-09-17T13:24:38.884+01:00MoMoLondon back for AutumnMonday saw another great <a href="http://www.mobilemonday.org.uk/">MoMoLondon</a>, back for the autumn and this time we put together a panel to discuss all things regarding mobile platforms. The theme was subtitled 'Too much choice or Hobson's choice' ... which is a good summary of how it feels right now in the top end phone market. Choice is always an interesting concept to dig into. In most things in life, where there is great choice, you find people tend to pick the most convenient and easy option. However this doesnt mean the best choice was made. This could be the case for mobile platforms. Companies like Apple own most of the loop from hardware, software, delivery and product shop. Therefore they pretty much own the experience. So to compete do you need to cover this whole experience. Only time will tell, but Nokia have tried in the past with their music store but with network operators having a big say over what gets delivered on the handsets is this really going to work. It seems the only way is for a big brand to force through change (for the better or worse) rather than wait for people to make the choice.<br /><br />On Monday I didnt really get much chance to absorb everything that was said (as an organiser you have to make sure things run smoothly ... well smoothish). But a big take aways were the big difference in opinion when it came to which platform was preffered between mobile web and native applications, but also the opinions about why and how standards are going to help or hinder future innovation. Some of the audience remarked that, like the web brought about standards through the stuborness of some browsers to just conform to standards and not get swayed by others. It will be interesting to see if this works in the mobile world, change is slow and compatibility with legacy is going to be harder to cope with than in the desktop world.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-78709804208265643882008-08-19T22:33:00.002+01:002008-08-19T22:37:21.895+01:00Nuance acquire SNAPin SoftwareIf you arent following me on Twitter the news is that <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/nuance-acquire-snapin-software-put/story.aspx?guid=%7BE8F8BCDA-3AF9-4E3F-8309-A9572E299D48%7D&dist=hppr">Nuance have just acquired SNAPin</a> software where I have been working now for only 2 months. Nuance are the big player in customer service and SNAPin until recently were competing head to head for what used to be a niche industry of mobile self service. However this is about to hit the big time with roll outs of the SNAPin platform with Vodafone. How this affects my good self, well of course only time will tell. But as always it is business as usual in the morning and lots of deadlines to hit :)Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-35418455505593796672008-08-18T15:51:00.004+01:002008-08-18T15:54:35.806+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDPH8fyg3iVyqOoD7BPNnWWLTHQjoEtClaVeKgHXvXy0SIhDhO6r8htCL0eWZTOTu7KKQeiRc5iTlTK-xXU2bPoOLCjbbiw3bh98wy8cW1xu-FIkGy7PY4OqcBQWx2jVpccL5i/s1600-h/DSC00861.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 239px; height: 179px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDPH8fyg3iVyqOoD7BPNnWWLTHQjoEtClaVeKgHXvXy0SIhDhO6r8htCL0eWZTOTu7KKQeiRc5iTlTK-xXU2bPoOLCjbbiw3bh98wy8cW1xu-FIkGy7PY4OqcBQWx2jVpccL5i/s320/DSC00861.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5235870551794723186" border="0" /></a>And so I am starting to get back into developing the final areas of the Mobile Monday London website and I thought I should see how it looks on an iPhone. Looks mostly ok, just a few minor rendering issues but other than that it works very well on the device. We are looking for a company to host our website setup (Tomcat + MySQL most likely), if you would like to host our site and get a logo on it with links back into your own site let me know and we can start going through how we intend to launch the new site.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-63231254711044010302008-07-17T13:59:00.006+01:002008-07-17T14:16:34.910+01:00MoMoLondon packs em in for July<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtE6p06xYyFBVBYNpiZUQBfTcypMnSFgPYbFhXFiyr90J8IZWQL1f-JkPFFvQolWxWJLp_KkTx6pHbeJ5mrhqdr001JS8mVPYeITmoU2iPm92ilviPGR_LDDanlUKQ0Ni-DT82/s1600-h/2668916446_ec563e9e75.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5223969500131413666" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" height="203" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtE6p06xYyFBVBYNpiZUQBfTcypMnSFgPYbFhXFiyr90J8IZWQL1f-JkPFFvQolWxWJLp_KkTx6pHbeJ5mrhqdr001JS8mVPYeITmoU2iPm92ilviPGR_LDDanlUKQ0Ni-DT82/s320/2668916446_ec563e9e75.jpg" width="269" border="0" /></a>Hi folks, I would have posted this earlier in the week, however it has taken me a while to get some time to really reflect on Monday's <a href="http://www.mobilemonday.org.uk/">MoMoLondon </a>event. We themed around 'Enabling location in applications' to cover areas such as actually what is around for you to build location into, how to share it and how to access some of those capabilities from your handset. A really great thing about the event was it was packed, not a spare seat and the whole thing ran along smoothly and on time ... gosh! We also had some of our global MoMo colleagues in from Spain, Germany, Italy, Finland, USA, Estonia and more, great to see everyone over a glass of wine afterwards. We also welcome Helen Keegan (aka technokitten) officially to our organisers, who no doubt most mobile folks will know already, and she has helped us out on numerous meetings in the past.<br /><br /><br /><div align="left">Huge thanks must go out to Ted and Kate from <a href="http://www.skyhookwireless.com/">Skyhook Wireless</a> for hosting the event and putting on the party at Bar 100 afterwards, much appreciated by all the MoMo community. Also thanks to our other speakers and demoers Ben Ward (Yahoo! Fire Eagle), Charles Wiles (Google Gears), Andrew Scott (Rummble), Justin Davis (Buddy Ping), Mark White (Locatrix) and Matt Womer (W3C). Not only did they keep the momentum going but made a really good Q&A panel at the end of the event ... cheers folks!</div><div align="left"></div><div align="left">Taking a bit of a look around the web, we have found quite a few blogs post Monday's event, so here is a quick round up from other people that attended ...</div><ul><li><div align="left"><a href="http://www.dw2-0.com/2008/07/momo-london-momentum-continues.html">David Wood</a></div></li><li><div align="left"><a href="http://puddingrelations.blogspot.com/2008/07/pr-event-mobile-monday-enabling.html">Ben Matthews</a></div></li><li><div align="left"><a href="http://blog.mjelly.com/2008/07/momo-london---l.html">MJelly</a></div></li><li><div align="left"><a href="http://inmamartinez.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/momo-london-so-much-available-so-little-time/">Inma Martinez</a></div></li><li><div align="left"><a href="http://mobilephonedevelopment.com/archives/639">Simon Judge</a></div></li></ul><p align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwJ_G-MZ78GHjhzlmutD_bgDjBqNtsuwBRpDlKzLVG5tQ2uHjeLuAS7MPH9NgYNsHPHnA-UiNM4C-ipOZ_MAr1LFr9vHE4t-uumg2MdmmOAfEO5DEOPenTyMGkNC_YL27G0a-d/s1600-h/2673249145_da37c4a013.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5223969641511006562" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 272px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" height="173" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwJ_G-MZ78GHjhzlmutD_bgDjBqNtsuwBRpDlKzLVG5tQ2uHjeLuAS7MPH9NgYNsHPHnA-UiNM4C-ipOZ_MAr1LFr9vHE4t-uumg2MdmmOAfEO5DEOPenTyMGkNC_YL27G0a-d/s320/2673249145_da37c4a013.jpg" width="276" border="0" /></a></p><div align="left">And so MoMoLondon takes a breather for the summer. We are still interested if anyone would like to sponsor drinks at a bar for a networking event ... email me <a href="mailto:alex@mobilemonday.org.uk">alex@mobilemonday.org.uk</a> if you are interested. We will be back in September where we hope to have some interesting announcements regarding our website, and hopefully a full autumn and winter events diary. Keep your eyes on our <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/momolondon">Yahoo! Group</a> for more information.</div><p align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwJ_G-MZ78GHjhzlmutD_bgDjBqNtsuwBRpDlKzLVG5tQ2uHjeLuAS7MPH9NgYNsHPHnA-UiNM4C-ipOZ_MAr1LFr9vHE4t-uumg2MdmmOAfEO5DEOPenTyMGkNC_YL27G0a-d/s1600-h/2673249145_da37c4a013.jpg"></a></p><p align="left"><em>(Pictures taken from Dan Appelquist and Mike Butchers from Flickr ... nice shoots guys!)</em></p>Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-57103020075361160712008-07-03T19:20:00.002+01:002008-07-03T19:22:31.833+01:00MoMoLondon July is all about locationMoMoLondon is back for July on the 14th (important that bit remember!), sponsored by SkyHook Wireless with a great lineup from Skyhook, Yahoo, Google, Rummble, Locatrix and W3C. All set to be a great event, and there will be a number of our friends from the global MoMo community in town. Keep your eye out on friday for the registration opening.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-38293604291061510802008-06-30T10:07:00.002+01:002008-06-30T10:10:32.474+01:00Its all happening since my last postWell I havent posted to my blog for a little while now so I thought I would do a quick update on whats been happening. I have pretty much finished the MoMoLondon website and am now readying it for deployment to a host (more on that when it happens). I have also got back into the real world and taken a Technical Program Manager job at a company called SNAPin (a US based company with offices in London). Its a great role interacting with most areas of the company and I will need to get my head around all things mobile from the operating system, network operators through to the user experience (phew!). Also in a couple of weeks the next Mobile Monday London (14th of July) themed around Location, with an alternative slant on it, more about that later as well.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-326639573642711672008-05-28T10:07:00.002+01:002008-05-28T10:11:01.714+01:00MoMoLondon - June 2nd - Wassup in mobile media and marketing?The next MoMoLondon event is to be held next Monday (June 2nd) and will be an open panel discussion regarding the future of the mobile industry in the media and marketing industries. This should be a great insight into opinions from the panelists from the BBC, Financial Times and Fjord ... the panel will be hosted by a good friend of MoMoLondon Helen Keegan. Look forward to seeing everyone there, registration is now open, take yourselves to <a href="http://www.rss.org.uk/">http://www.rss.org.uk</a> if you are already registered with our yahoo group, otherwise <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/momolondon">register here first</a>.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-79677699299152388412008-05-13T12:02:00.001+01:002008-05-13T12:02:44.175+01:00MoMoLondon May 2008<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexcraxton/2489378906/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2273/2489378906_5e9586c6a2_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexcraxton/2489378906/">MoMoLondon May 2008</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/alexcraxton/">Alex Craxton</a></span></div>Last night saw the MoMoLondon community come together at the Thomson Reuters building at Canary Warf to discuss 'Monetisation through Advertising' with a great panel of Russell Buckley, Ray Anderson, Shan Henderson and Claire Valoti. Thanks to everyone that came along and had a chat with over a glass of wine afterwards. See you on June 2nd for 'Future of mobile applications'.<br clear="all" />Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-33561743626473242172008-05-02T17:20:00.001+01:002008-05-02T17:22:08.091+01:00My wakinet.org siteI have spent a day playing around with my <a href="http://wakinet.org">wakinet.org</a> site. If you take a look, let me know your thoughts as it is early days yet and I intend to reflect some of the stuff I get up to there along with posts to my blog here and more trivial day to day stuff on twitter.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-54876392940073629602008-05-02T17:16:00.002+01:002008-05-02T17:19:06.958+01:00May MoMoLondon registration openRegistration is now open for the May 12th MoMoLondon event, the theme this time around is Monetisation through Advertising and is kindly being hosted by Thomson Reuters down in the Canary Warf end of London. Should be a good lineup this month with hopefully a good panel discussion to wrap things off. If you are in town and would like to come along, make sure you are a member of our <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/momolondon">Yahoo! group</a> first and follow the instructions on the post to the group for registration.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18727628.post-546567722950721842008-04-24T19:14:00.004+01:002008-04-24T19:22:06.418+01:00Ever spotted a happy person with mobile email?No? Neither have I. You see loads of people in London with Blackberry and Nokia email phone, but typically you see them reading something followed by a long sigh. I think this comes down to email typically being a more involved interaction where more information is usualy exchanged than most people want to deal with on the move. Also many people really misuse email communication as a whole, as though sending an email to somebody means they now have to jump your commands. Reading through an email conversation on a mobile is not an enjoyable experience. If you have ever received many emails from people with a Blackberry you tend to get a short response, so should you really be sending shorter messages to people with a Blackberry? It feels like we need something between the length of a traditional SMS and the never ending email conversations. Perhaps when people are more online with their mobile conversational applications such as twitter and jaiku will find a role within a business environment. I also believe if you really want somebody to do something for you, there are better mediums than email, perhaps an email just to point them to a task list or application might be as far as I would go. As you might have guessed, I am not a fan of email, I dont often have great experiences with email. You either get a conversation that would be better done over IM or in person or you get one liners that could work better as a text message.Alex Craxtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14179830088286238211noreply@blogger.com