I have to admit, I didn't think I'd enjoy mobile videblogging (that is, shooting video and then uploading it to a blog), but I now deem it to be cool.

Thanks to my Nokia N93 (and a new account with T Mobile), I am playing around with mobile videoblogging. Right now, I am using both Vox and Juicecaster in sort of a mobile videoblogging bake-off. Vox is quite simple and is an embedded application in the camera/phone, but it posts to a Vox account I rarely use. I want to put my Vox videos here, not there. I have shot two, but they are more tests of the workflow/process. The MPEG 4 camera is great, the software is good and it's all very intuitive, but the upload seems to take an extraordinarily long time. In fact, it took me several tries to upload each video. No doubt, a T Mobile issue.

Juicecaster (see bottom right of this blog), allows me to post here. The software is an easy download (although I did something wrong in the initial settings so it always looks for a wireless LAN to connect even when I am not home.  Also, I cannot seem to figure out how to locate video files from my camera's gallery. These should be easy enough to fix. Look for videos down there soon.

I am also on the hunt for other services that allow me to do mobile videoblogging. Hopefully, they will be ones that allow me to post here.

I have tried accessing the Internet on my mobile phone...honestly, all the mobile phones I have had over the years...and it's generally tough going. That's one of the reasons I really like the Nokia N800, a tablet multimedia computer/device that is easy to use and has a very intuitive interface.

I experimented by having it at my side for the Bears-Saints NFC Championship game. Leaving aside I bet $10 in Vegas for the Saints to win SB41, it was enjoying finding out some details on the players while the game was in play. It was sort of like a disconnected interactive TV application. More on that some other time.

The RSS reader on the Nokia N800 is great and I set up a number of feeds whose headlines come in on an hourly basis. Amazingly, the video and audio on the device works extremely well. My only minor issue (similar to the video iPod) is that there are some on-screen reading challenges for someone with progressive bifocals.

What’s there to say about CES—it’s exhausting, exhilarating, a pain in the ass and there’s a lot of waiting in lines. My feet hurt, but I saw the immediate future of the media-technology world. It’s a world going in opposite directions. We are looking to connect everything together and we’re looking as having the freedom to roam. We want portability but we want to have all our gadgets and gizmos connected to alow us to play anything, anytime, where.

This “clip” is long, but has lots of cool stuff inside. Enjoy.

Today's installment: various random musings on mobile content etc.

Here’s some more footage from the various halls at CES. Focus areas are portable media players, offshore electronics and other cool gadgets.

Allen and Mike take some time out during CES to get a perspective on mobile TV with Daniel House, director of marketing at goTV (wwwgotvnetworks.com).

 

 

The most interesting thing about the Starz announcement of its new download service is that it puts Microsoft back in the spotlight. Will 2006 be a battle between Apple and Microsoft focusing on devices and DRM technology? Apple has a large lead (understatement of the New Year) in the world of devices, but the word on the street is that Microsoft has done a lot to enhance its portable media software technology.

 

Stay tuned.

Am I in the minority of those people who will not watch TV (of any form) on my mobile phone? That means I have to pay for the phone, the service and the content. With the video iPod, I buy the device and then pay for the content I want and view it on a decent-sized miniscreen and then can play it through my TV when desired. I am missing something here.

CBS has announced that several of its top shows, including CSI and Survivor, will begin producing video clips for the Verizon VCast mobile video package. Besides its top prime time hits, CBS is releasing video snippets from The Late Show with David Letterman, Entertainment Tonight, CBS Evening News, and several other shows to the burgeoning mobile video on demand service starting this month.

This is the first CBS content to appear on VCast, which launched early last year with clips from CNN and ESPN, along with specially produced "mobisodes" of the hit series 24. Like the majority of VCast content, CBS' content will be edited into short form clips, which are generally considered as most appropriate for the mobile environment.

Free Wi Fi with some level of sponsorship is the future. I think I’ve mentioned it on this blog many times. Newspapers MUST get into this act. Imagine a free Wi Fi service on a commuter train with an ad strip (as mentioned for the Sunnyvale deal) or even a branded strip (ala Film Loop) that runs across the bottom of the screen that has the latest news headlines from the "paper." Information providers better move fast because there is going to be only so much real estate available on the screen of free Wi Fi users.

Hats off to MobiTV: I've watched TV while I was on the phone, but it's difficult to imagine folks would want to watch TV on their mobile phones. Either they all have better phones than I have (in addition to better vision) or they’re watching something so wonderful they just cannot stay away. Did “Sopranos” start a new season and I missed it?

Unless my memory is shot, I remember Mike and I doing a MADCast on the topic of buying content from vending machines...or was it newspaper kiosks? Same idea, but it looks like it's in play in Ireland.

 

What madness is this?

Allen and Mike present and then challenge the notion of Google offering a mobile phone of their own.  Whether or not you agree with the notion, we think the assumptions that go into our respective opinions are food for thought.

I learned first hand the challenges of using your cell phone as a content foraging device.

 

In NY, I tried the mobile Web on my phone to find the location of a play that was in the vicinity of the restaurant at which we had lunch. OK, I think we all know the little screen stinks as an interface, but the inability to intuitively search is awful. And it’s amazing the number of sites that are not formatted properly for easy viewing on this peephole-sized interface. Ugh. And how many times can you get the error message “unable to connect” before you look for a nearby copy of the print Yellow Pages ®.

 

I tried again yesterday to find out the flight status of my daughter’s delayed trip from California. I had the big 5-Bar salute on my phone (top connectivity). I tried to type in the URL of her airline, but I kept getting the error message that no such URL existed. Yikes.

 

The cell might be OK for headlines, blasts and news alerts. As a foraging device for serious content (at least in the U.S.), I need to see some improvements in interface, reception and navigability before I try again.

 

Will I look at video on a cell phone? Are you kidding me?

Mike came to visit us for the weekend (note special occasion  previously posted), so we took the chance to play talking heads in my backyard. It's raw, unedited footage (sounds cool, but it means we couldn't get iMovie to work properly) as we ponder Qualcomm's new mobile content strategy.

Either the Seattle rain is finally getting to him or he's not had enough coffee.

 

Why wouldn’t the makers of this technology include some sort of Wi Fi/Wimax capability? Seems to me this is a golden opportunity for grocery stores and other retailers to use technology to deliver customized content to shoppers for them to download while they shop—go beyond the experience of content they view while shopping. Advertisers would go wild over this opportunity. Another option is to allow consumers to plug their devices (iPods, PDAs…) into the cart to download content on the fly for later usage. This is one of the elements behind Mike and my notion of “content foraging.”

 

New Computers Make Grocery Carts Smarter

By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press WriterWed May 4, 7:34 AM ET

New supermarket carts equipped with touch screens will guide you to the tomatoes or toothpicks, let you order deli meat without standing in line and keep a running tally of your purchases.

What they won't do is tell you how many fat grams or calories are in your cart. The idea is to make it easier for consumers to buy, not induce second thoughts that maybe you should put something back on the shelf.

The touch-screen devices are on display at the supermarket industry's annual con

Sportsjuice appears to be a great place to find a vast array of minor league games that are broadcast over the web.