Mobitrends

Linksys initiated the path to an open broadband router with their WRT54G product line which was really popular amongst developers and geeks with its expansions through cool third parties firmwares. Now that Linksys have abandoned the linux kernel for thei main product line in favor of vxworks (smaller mom footprint - reduced costs), newcomers are trying to jump in that market and benefit from the developer base to promote their own hardware - in a few days Martin, Fon’s CEO, has announced that la Fonera 2, its broadband router with USB port, will be launched along with a community site to promote third party applications, same today at Netgear with MyOpenRouter dedicated to promote the development of software expansions to their routers.
Nothing new here only nicely marketed initiatives and some mixed feelings for me - somehow this is great, devices are opening up and leverage on an extended community to provide features that matter, but on the other side as an embedded hardware&software company, I can only regret that hardware companies feel that providing a minimal set of functions for their product to sell is enough - and that the opensource community will provide the real killer apps which will make their product a success. Just like if hardware is tangible and software isn’t. Hardware companies are ready to spend >300k€ for a nice plastic design but not for the software that can really add value to their product (and they often are less reluctant to pay for design than for good hardware too…).

Technorati Tags: embedded

I gave an overview of WaveStorm with a special focus on the RiiMOTE platform at broadband thursday a few days ago - presentation is available on WaveStorm website for those interested!

Technorati Tags: riimote

Invested 50€ on that docking pad for my MacBook … and I just can’t say how better it is for my bac - no more need to crouch over the table to get a decent view on my screen … so much for my back !
My Tauren also got an update : new two-handed mace, I’m finally getting over the 100 damage - another two month and I’ll get lvl 70 (hopefully).

Technorati Tags: back, mac, Wow

After a short time of redesign, overall improvement and internationalization, I’m really happy to see that Vinovici just launched a new version of its service (disclosure : I’m an early investor in Vinovici).
Vinovici is an online community for wine amateurs centered around you people and the wine you tried out. You can manage your online cellar, leave comments on wine, get updated on a wine’s maturity, check on other user’s cellars and discover new wines….
It’s a complete social network for wine amateurs.
The most amazing part of this service is that it relies on a really strong wine database with around (if not more) 100 000 references and constantly increasing that really enable a precise user feedback, currently mostly supporting French wines but US, Italy and others are getting in pretty fast.
Don’t hesitate to try the service out and give Christophe, the founder, good feedback to improve his service as fast as possible.
Insider information : Vinovici will be opening its capital for its first seed round - let me know if u’re interested !

Technorati Tags: social, cellar, vinovici

I have been following Clever Zebra’s doing in Second Life for quite some time now and I’m pretty happy to see that Jenn has announced the release of v1 of what they call “Zebra Corporate” which is a set of building/facilities/tools to set up your business in Second Life. Everything is open source and includes auditoriums, offices, ppt projectors…
Zebra Corporate can be picked up for free on SLX

It is really interesting how Second Life is being used as a collaborative development tool for 3D web objects. From that prospective, the achievements of Linden Labs have really been huge. Now they really have to focus harder on the community and fun aspects of that virtual univers so people really start hanging around.

Technorati Tags: opensource, clever+zebra

Alexis just put to my attention the “zeemote“, a tiny joystick to enhance your mobile gaming experience. If you’re a mobile gamer, then you can only agree that the mobile keys are far from optimal when it comes to accuracy and long hours playing. This device is pretty slick, can’t wait to try it

Technorati Tags: zeemote, joystick, mobile

Made a nice presentation tonight at biztech about what has been one of my main field of interest lately : binding inworld and offworld together or how real stuff can be virtualized in SL. Those concepts are applied in both Sl-Messenger for online communities and WaveStorm for real-life objects.
Had a great time, with a lot of cute girls watching the show

Technorati Tags: wavestorm, SL, sl-messenger

WeGame.com - WoW Videos

I guess that’s what robots are good for ! I’m happy that WaveStorm develops in that space
btw, Jeff, nice deal with WeGame !

Technorati Tags: World+of+Warcraft

Vodafone unveiled a couple of monthes earlier its Second Life service for free calls and SMS from SL, now it’s BT’s time with the BTAvaTalk service. The free call service is a bit deceptive as it cannot use SL voice capabilites (due to real technical restrictions btw), thus limiting to 2-way call initiation.
Anyway it’s always nice to see those big companies experimenting on the Web3d Area!

Technorati Tags: BT, Second Life

Couldn’t help but publish this video found on servicesmobiles.fr, which in a few seconds brought me back in 2002 when I was living in Japan. It was amazing that now 6 years ago all my jap pals had QR-Code readers built in their mobiles and using that everywhere - including at Mc Donald’s like the video is showing.
Sometimes having an industry leader is not such a bad thing, but hey we wouldn’t want Orange to go any further than adding its Abaxia launcher splash screen on our mobiles (and hurray, it did not happen on the iPhone).

Technorati Tags: QR-Code