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So who would like to win one?

I’m helping judge a contest to do exactly that, over on Rachel Clarke’s Digital Stuffing site. It’s UK residents only, but if that fits, all you need to do is present us (in any reasonable media or format) with the most unusual place you’re likely to use the Netbook.

Naturally there are terms and conditions on the comeptition, they’re all listed on the site, and the winner will be announced on December 7th

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It’s impossible (for security and DRM reasons) to simply move all your applications over from one device to another, so I have to dive into my personally maintained archive of SISx and JAR installation files to put back on the applications that I use a lot. Any progress in applications like Car Jack Streets or Astraware Soltiaire has to be left behind (unless you are a really serious hacking power user), which in some cases can mean you might not return to the application, or be hesitant to move over.

The full article is up on All About Symbian, and I’ll be doing a more in-depth series of review articles over the next week or two.

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I’ll be speaking on a panel entitled “Love in Motion: Why are Mobile Social Networks booming?” alongside Dr K F Lai (Buzz City) and Antonio Vince Staybl (Itsmy.com) with Ferhan Cook (Any Screen Productions) in the chair. I’ll have my Wubud hat on, but I suspect the conversation will branch out quickly to take in a lot of the mobile market.

More info on Le Web is at their website.

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Jones of course was made famous as the singer of “Walking In The Air” which reached number 5 in the charts; 16 places higher than Sir Terry’s attempt with “The Floral Dance” which peaked at number 21 (see this delightful track on YouTube).

Perhaps this is a late entry into the BBC’s Eurovision selection programme “Your Country Needs You?” No matter what it is, the profits from the release will all go to Children in Need.

A douze or a nul point anyone?

Cross posted from The Daily Dust, where you’ll find more jolly japes every day.

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At the same time, it’s also come to light that Turkish broadcaster TRT has paid 450,000 Turkish New Lira (about £180,000) to singer Hadise to represent Turkey in Moscow - although in previous years the payment to the artist was also used to fund the promotion of the act.

So we have one country paying big money to a recognised star, while we’re still asking for people to send in You Tube videos. Yes there may be a hidden gem in this mix of amateurs, but as I’ve said before, the performance on the night is vital. It needs to be absolutely stunning. the performer needs to capture the hearts and minds (and tapping feet) of over 40 countries. There needs to be a total command of a stadium environment, a massive amount of confidence, and the simple belief that they can win.

I know a few people online who’ve submitted their entries, and local newspapers are jumping on those who have went public, and I’m not being intentionally cruel to them, but a Eurovision final is a crucible, and any winner needs to be at the top of their game to win. Is that the place to start a career in the music industry?

I remain to be convinced that an “amateur talent show” format can find the right person - but I will be watching the UK National Finals in january with everyone else hoping we find a Dana. My hope is still that Def Leppard have submitted a copy of “Pour Some Sugar On Me” to the BBC…

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Needless to say, it passed with flying colours.

In terms of Operating Systems, as the EEE left for these trips it was still able to dual boot to three modes… the easy mode of Asus’ Xandros implementation, the advanced mode KDE desktop (also Xandros) and the Netbook Remix of Ubuntu (see for a bullet point on running Ubuntu on the EEE PC). During the trip, I stayed almost exclusivly in the Ubuntu mode.

Which led me to the decision of doing a clean install of Ubuntu Netbook Remix onto the EEE PC’s internal drive, wiping out the Xandros install and any of the Asus applications. Skipping to the end, I’m now sitting with a dedicated Ubunutu Netbook machine, with pretty much everything working, including the ’stand by’ option (which had a bug stopping it work on an SD install) and solid Wifi, Bluetooth and throttleable CPU speeds.

The steps to this are very much similar to installing Ubuntu to a bootable SD card for the EEE, so head there for the simple bullets. I’ll just add in what’s different in the following bullet points…

• When you run the Ubuntu installer (which kicks in automatically after booting from the USB key), if you are duplicating my set up then you want to do a Manual setup of the two disks (assuming you have a 901, which I do). Delete all existing partitions on sda (the 4GB) and sdb (the 16GB).
• Choose sda as / (and format as ext3)
• Choose sdb as /home (an format as ext3)
• Now go through the rest of the installation process, but don;t alter the grub bootloader settings (ignore the advance menu options).
• You may not need to do as many edits and tweaks as I did for the SD card install.

You should have an all singing, all dancing Ubuntu 8.04.1, running the the rather spiffy Netbook Remix. Enjoy - I know I am.

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It sounds like Russia has just promised to vote for the UK, no matter what the song is, no matter who the performer is, no matter if it’s all right on the night or not.

Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber visited Moscow and met with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who promised to vote for the United Kingdom next May.

If that’s not a political signal to the rest of his country,and the former satellite states, then I’m not sure what else could be said. Perhaps the votes of the juries in the UK and Russia respectively will make for some interesting light-hearted discussions.

(With a humourous hat-tip to ESC Today).

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The format is pretty much what you expect from it’s more grown up cousin (The Eurovision Song Contest) that goes out in May each year. You’ve got representatives from countries in the EBU. 15 countries are taking part, unfortunately the UK is not one of them (shame, I’m sure we’ve got enough precocious 15 year olds on TV that are up for some Schlager Music).

Anyway, that’s not going to matter to me. I’ll be on Twitter and the usual Eurovision ESC haunts when the competition starts. While it’s not being broadcast on any of the UK TV channels, I’m hopeful the contest will be streamed live on www.junioreurovision.tv in the same way as it has in previous years,

Admittedly it’ll be a weird experience with no Terry Wogan commentating, but perhaps that’s not a bad thing. It’s likely to be a ‘clean’ stream with no added audio or video from the internet team, so we’ll need to make our own noise on the internet to go along with the visuals.

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Wubud was last up. Ewan seemed to have an impossible task: give a talk about wubud while expressly and specifically saying absolutely nothing of any detail about wubud. Tricky that! :-) Anyway - that’s what he did. We know wubud is a mobile social network, and that the jump-off point for contacts is your phone’s address book (something you’ll know we agree with violently here if you’ve seen our earlier posts about the social phone book). So I’m guessing they’re in the zone of Zyb (mobile client), Aka-aki, Belysio in terms of their “coupling” to the phone’s address book. Hot space, and they would want to keep a close eye on the set of new social phones on the way or already out there. Hard to tell - as the stealth cloak is firmly over the details right now. However, they do have funding from Bebo, albeit a modest amount by all accounts, so perhaps they have an “in” there that could help them really ramp adoption out of the blocks. We’ll have to wait and see.

My quick notes on the other companies after the jump.

Mobile Monday Dublin – Nov 17th 2008
Two topics today, location based services (unique to mobile) and social networking

Locle
From where are we, to a buddy finder on your mobile. No previous LBS experience. Conclusion after research was that it should be easy to build a buddy finder.
Exploit mobile’s killer app, location. key social trigger of proximity… who and what is around me.
Revenue from high CPM location based advertising, premium services.
Why is it not here yet? Operator reluctance; GPS is poor in built up areas, high battery drain and low penetration; Cell-ID on many phones but hard to access; Bluetooth has limited range; Wifi limited range or geographic database.
Locle uses a new Buddyfinder application, to see who and what is around you, integrates external social networks; does not reuire GPS or Operator LBS. Status is toggled in ‘Locle Mini’ application (www.locle.com http://m.locle.com/)
[At this point the app, in screenshot mode, is shown for (1) iPhone (2) PC web browser (3) SE/Java].
There is a white label solution for operator portals
[Demo of S60- thin client, t reports the CellID,and then calls up a wap page of Locle info].

Just Routes
Running for one year after to friends were driven wild by Dublin public transport. Currently 7500 timetabled routes in system. Dublin stats, proving the market of too many cars on roads, and why are people are still using the car? Because they have little public transport knowledge. Which is where JustRoutes comes in.
95% of Dublin transport is ‘mapped.’ With start and end locations, you’ll be navigated to nearest bus stop, then placed on right bus, and then from the final stop to your destination.
[screenshot demo of http://mob.justroutes.com/].
Businiess plan is two ways. (1) Location Based Advertising along the rooute and (2) Corporate version embedded in a website – destination is locked in.
ompetitors, none in Ireland, but international you have TFL, Goggle Transit. We see Jsutroutes in smaller cities working as a complement.

RateMyArea
(misssed intro)
Making a wikipedia of places. Opens with desktop web browser. What and Where questions are prominent. Login experience.
Parks, playgrounds, taxi ranks, areas. Capturing photos as much as possible. Talk of context (visual with images, spatial distance, star ratings and review from other users. Has a freecall button to the business, send details to the handset (encouraging mobile use).
Not all phones are equal. This is focus on GPS. Screen size is a premium. Started with iPhone, hit with same questions (runs as a web app).
All boils down to trust, we wan people to trust the service. More info from you means more we can provide to you. Users have profiles of their home area and some public info. We’d like everyone on the iphone, focus on that, with an upcoming interest in Android devices.

Wubud
Err, this is where I was speaking. It went rather well.

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Those of you wanting to pop along, doors open at 1830 for the start of event at 1900, at The Odeon Bar, Harcourt Street. More details on MoMoDublin at their website .

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Amazingly (for the UK) they were pretty good about the picks. There was UK bias in choosing some runners up from the BBC National Finals, and while the debate over Jemini’s inclusion should be obvious (it was a poor performance on the night, but the song itself is a a reasonably good Europop sound), and they have played music from foreign countries, I’m really annoyed at some of the decisions made in their Top 20.

Presented in reverse order on the day, I’m counting back from number one in my notes for you.

• 1. Waterloo (Abba); Sweden
  Utterly predictable choice for number one.
• 2. Making Your Mind Up (Bucks Fizz);UK
  Also, utterly predictable choice.
• 3. Ooh Ahh (Just a Little Bit) (Gina G);UK
  UK take note, an Australlian singer representing the UK. We can choose anyone to play for us in 2009!
• 4. Love Shine a Light (Katrina and the Waves);UK
  Still, in my mind, the greatest Eurovision song of all time.
• 5. Diva (Dana International); Israel
  Good choice of song, and one of the few non UK songs Smash Hits have chosen. Yaay!
• 6. Flying the Flag (Scooch); UK;
  In 1994, Alan Cumming and Forbes Mason’s The High Life had the two air stewards writing a song for Eurovision (Pif Paf Poof) and singing the double entendre song in their airline outfits. In 2007, Scooch took the idea seriously. Europe didn’t. Why is this so high in the list?
• 7. Hold Me Now (Johnny Logan); Ireland
  He wrote the song himself, he was coming back as a previous winner, and he still tore the house down. Still think Smash Hits should have played ‘My Lovely Horse’ though.
• 8. Better The Devil You Know (Sonia);UK
  Another of our glorious second places, but that’s what happens when you send proficent performers with a good song and the respect of their home country. They cope with a stadium environment, they can deliver on the night, and we get a good result.
• 9. Hard Rock Hallelujah (Lordi);Finland
  Love the band, love the video, love the effect they had on Eurovision, love the rest of their albums, would rate in top Eurovision moments of all time. And congrats to Smash Hits for acknowledging them (I see there’s no Dima Bilan in this list…).
• 10. Cry Baby (Jemini); UK
  Oh that’s what it sounds like when sung in tune…
• 11. Teenage Kicks (Daz Sampson); UK
  This grew on me, but it took months, not the two hours needed for the voters on the night. Besides, it was 2006, so Dima Bilan and Lordi were on the same bill.
• 12. Touch My Fire (Javine); UK
  Perhaps the suggestive lyrics were too subtle for Europe?
• 13. Wild Dances (Ruslana); Ukraine
  Xena + Ethnic Riverdance + Rhytym = Eurovision Winner
• 14. Come Back (Jessica Garlick); UK
  Quite simply, if this had been in the second half of the 2002 Eurovision, it would have won. As it was, performing second and placing third is statistically the best song never to win (I made that up by the way, but I bet it’s true).
• 15. Every Way I Can (Sertab); Turkey
  That’s better. Hmm, I’ve never seen the video for this, it’s even more powerful than the performance on the night. I like!
• 16. Even If (Andy Abraham); UK
  He couldn’t win the X-Factor, nobody bought his single in the UK, and we expected more than last place from the 2008 entry? Why???
• 17. Hold On To Our Love (James Fox); UK
  You see this is where it started to go wrong. After Garlick’s 2003 almost winning performance, we sent an almost identical song, but now sung by a bloke with a guitar. It finished twelth, and we’ve never recovered.
• 18. Say It Again (Precious); UK
  Next!!!
• 19. I Need You (Deuce); UK
  Oh come on, this came third in the UK National Final and we sent Love City Groove. Why not play that? Ah, because one of them is married to one of Ant or Dec
• 20. Fly On The Wings of Love (XLF)
  XLF is the remix, not the original Eurovision 2000 Winner by the Olsen Brothers

Final thoughts? Love Shine a Light only at number 4? And you’ve charted Scootch and Jemini? Behind Jessica Garlick? Pah, a pox on you all!

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During the debate, Obama was asked, “Would you be willing to meet separately, without preconditions, during the first year of your Administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries?” Obama answered simply, “I would.” Hillary Clinton pounced on the remark as hopelessly naïve, and her aides prepared to emphasize what appeared to be a winning argument.

Obama’s aides had much the same reaction. “We know this is going to be the issue of the day,” Dan Pfeiffer, recalling a conference call the following morning, said. “We have the sense they’re going to come after us on it. And we’re all on the bus trying to figure out how to get out of it, how not to talk about it.” Obama, who was listening to part of the conversation, took the telephone from an aide and instructed his staff not to back down. According to an aide, Obama said something to the effect of “This is ridiculous. We met with Stalin. We met with Mao. The idea that we can’t meet with Ahmadinejad is ridiculous. This is a bunch of Washington-insider conventional wisdom that makes no sense. We should not run from this debate. We should have it.”

The episode gave Obama’s communications aides a boost of confidence.

I suspect his campaign is going to be analysed for years, both for political acumen but also in terms of leadership and inspirational skills. To be honest if there was a warts and all definitve book avaialble, I;d be first in line to buy it.

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Try telling Fifers that there’s something rather more significant, electorally, happening across the water. They won’t believe you. They know, in their souls, that nothing important happens in Dundee.

Via Brian Taylor

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