Real time location for Mobile devices from a standard server side plug-in (Mobile (Social) Networking anyone?)

We've been working hard and listening to customers and here are the results for the latest improvements to Mod_Mobile (Part of the Context Manager suite from 5o9). As far as know Mod_Mobile is the ONLY "pluggable" server side module that can retrieve Yahoo Maps from within the app itself - WITHOUT the need for additional CGI, JavaScript, AJAX or SOAP.

Here are the improvements:

1. The ability to brand your own Mobile client. Before we only had the 5o9® option – now following customer feedback, you have the option to extend your brand onto the Mobile device.
   
2. Updated Web server module that allows you to identify multiple users – i.e. Mobile social networking. Click on this link – to see where Peter, Liz and Kevin are in real time (the maps are live from Yahoo and formatted for virtually any Mobile screen). Location can be either zip code, area code, address, city, state or GPS coordinates. In addition the server module does all the GPS coordinate conversion on the fly (NEMA/DECIMAL – this saves lots of programmer time. You can see from the link how we are searching and locating on City, Zip, GPS, and Group
   
3. One additional feature which we have working (demo will be available soon) is the ability to plot three or more points all on a single map and then have that load directly in either the Mobile browser or the desktop browser. This is so you can use a simple query like: http://www.5o9mm.com/fireturkey?whereare=Colo,5o9 and see all the 5o9 group that are inside Colorado

Pandora's Business Model

It's really simple - charge for your service. Why? Because it's really good. I've just started using it again and I have to say it's awesome. Recently they made headlines because of their current business model and the need to make royalty payments to the musicians, which is killing their current business model.

So my vote would be to charge for the service. Say $50 a year. No adverts, music streamed anywhere you can get a connection. Why own when you can rent and they keep track of everything for you.

Location API's - What's the business model?

With Google's announcement and Yahoo's Fire Eagle the blogsphere is lighting up with all kinds of comments. However one thing is missing - what's the business model?

So what if you know where I am. You don't know who I am, and you don't know what I'm doing or what I might be interested in.

In other words - you're missing my context and that's the real issue behind the business model. Think about search for a moment. Every time I do a search I'm sharing something with you - I want to find something. And statistically there's a good chance (at least 40%) that you can place a contextual ad there and I will click on it.

So how do you (the web service) become aware of my context? And how do I share it with you without having to type in a tone of extra information?

Location is only leg of the stool. The other two are Who am I and What are my device capabilities. Without all three legs - location doesn't have much of a leg to stand on.

Google Gears Geolocation API

It would be great to see the location API opened up further (via http) so that any kind of application (c, c++, Java ME), not just web applications, on any platform could get location information based on cellid. Now that would be truly useful.

Certainly would. We’ve had the capability for over a year now. Any app can access any native device information and send that to a Web server. We also have the capability to allow JavaScript to access local API's from the browser.

More information and demonstrations can be found on our web site at www.5o9inc.com and www.5o9mm.com

The Trouble with Twitter

An excellent read. Check out the valuation number - $12.26 per user (times 2.5m users) ='s  $30.6m

Also pay special attention to the Zipf and Dunbar explanation.

The Trouble with Twitter

3G iPhone Ad vs Real World: A performance comparison

A touch of reality. Remember the 0-1-2-3 rule... 2 is second response time.

7 Reasons Startups Should Not Take VC Funding

Great read... here's my vote for best piece of advice:

-With no money you can't make a fatal mistake. This is a blessing. Without VC money, you are forced to figure out how to extract funds from your customers for value you deliver. Ultimately that is the only thing that really matters.

Remember VC's are NOT your customers. They don't buy anything from you (well maybe your stock).

The ONLY thing that counts in a startup is solving a customers problem AND making sure there are lots of customers with that problem.

Do that and the VC's will find you fast enough. In the meantime focus on reason 5 - financial discipline.

 

link

The Killer App for Mobile

It's two words - cross platform

However it needs a little more context. Let's start with the customer (the user of the device). They want three things:

1. Convenience
2. Privacy
3. Control

Now let's think about the Enterprise who want to deliver web services to those customers. They want one thing only:

1. To make money

So how do we reconcile the two?

Simple - start delivering web services via the mobile browser. This requires the Enterprise support cross platform.

I look at the success Apple just had with their iPhone store. 60 million downloads - however NO KILLER APP.

Why not?

Because none of the app's are solving the customer problem. They solve Apple's problem (Apple makes money) however no one else is making money.

So how do we incentive the Enterprise to make money on Mobile. Deliver new compelling services and do it across ALL MOBILE PLATFORMS.

And forget monolithic mobile applications. They are too costly to build and take to long to deploy. Go with the one app that is standard across all devices - the browser and figure out how to solve the following problem...

1. No behavioral changes
2. Single logon
3. 2 second response time
4. 3 clicks to relevant content

Do that across ALL mobile platforms and you'll have the killer app.

It's the Strategy that's the hard part - not the tactics

A must read for every entrepreneur. This is exactly what I'm going through right now (we've now figured out the strategy by validating with customers).

Seth as always really nails it. Solve the customer problem - don't just be a flash in the pan. This stuff is hard work.

Seth's Blog: The secret of the web (hint: it's a virtue)

Venture capital investing: What's next?

Interesting article in CNET. There's a section on Mobile... here's a snip:

Investors in the mobile market will tell you the business has been "on the verge of exploding in the next two years" for the past 10 years. But now with Apple's iPhone and Google's coming Android platform, investors say the phone is where the Internet was circa 1995. The iPhone shows a shifting balance of power between handset makers and carriers, opening up a whole new world for start-ups seeking air time on the deck of AT&T or Verizon-connected phones.

Totally agree. We're now finally seeing traction in the smartphone market, however the hard part remains - integrating these phones with new way of doing business on the web - Software as a Service.

Venture capital investing: What's next? | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Some light humor - Tasered

A guy who purchased his lovely wife a pocket Taser for their anniversary submitted this:

Last weekend I saw something at Larry's Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 15th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Julie. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse-sized taser. The effects of the taser were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety....??

WAY TOO COOL! Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button.

Nothing! I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button AND pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I'd get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs.

AWESOME!!! Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave.

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two triple-A batteries, right? There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and taser in another. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water.

Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries.

All the while I'm looking at this little device measuring about 5 "

long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and (loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-A batteries) thinking to myself, 'no possible way!'

What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best...?

I'm sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, 'don't do it dipshit,' reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and... HOLY MOTHER OF GOD... WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION... WHAT THE HELL!!!

I'm pretty sure Jessie Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs? The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.

Note: If you ever feel compelled to 'mug' yourself with a taser, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor. A three second burst would be considered conservative? SON-OF-A-BITCH, THAT HURT LIKE HELL!!! A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that , I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace.

The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was. My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. I had no control over the drooling.

Apparently I shit myself, but was too numb to know for sure and my sense of smell was gone. I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head which I believe came from my hair.

I'm still looking for my nuts and I'm offering a significant reward for their safe return!!

P. S. My wife loved the gift, and now regularly threatens me with it!

'If you think Education is difficult, try being stupid.'