MobHappy

Our Apologies For The Interruption

Sorry there haven't been any updates today and the last week of posts has gone missing -- we've been caught in the massive Typepad outage that's been going for some 18 hours or so.

We've been let down tremendously by the Typepad service and Six Apart's response, and their updates don't give us much confidence that things will get any better. Russell praised how they handled their last crisis, but it pales in comparison to this total outage, and a cutesy choose-your-own-compensation plan won't cut it. What they did before was all well and good, but the bottom line is that they shouldn't have to do things like that -- they should be able to keep their service up and running. That is, after all, what we pay them for.

Needless to say, we'll be switching providers here shortly, so we ask for your patience as we negotiate that process, and again apologize in advance should you encounter any other irregularities here at MobHappy.

Russell adds: As Carlo wrote above, I did indeed praise the way that Six Apart handled the last event. But I also added a warning "Beware though. It'll only work once.". Shame they didn't heed it.

Sometimes, it's possible to look at an event in a company and think "Yep, that was the exact moment that they blew it".

When jewellery boss Gerald Ratner, made his famous speech at the UK's Institute of Directors, he said that Ratners' gold plated ear rings cost less than a Marks and Spencer prawn sandwich - and that the sandwich would probably last longer. That remark earned some polite titters, the end of his career and the end of the company his father had built up.

Hoover in the UK took an insane decision back in the 80's to give away two free transatlantic flights with every vacuum cleaner and washing machine. That cost the company about $75 million, many Hoover senior managers their jobs and forced parent company Maytag to sell off Hoover in the UK in a firesale.

On 16th December 2005, Six Apart had an outrage on their TypePad product. This was bad enough, but to everyone's frustration, they failed to keep their customers informed, failed to explain what had happened and have still failed to apologise. A huge segment of their customer base left during the next month and their new management never managed to make a convincing case as to why anyone should ever risk paying them money for a service held together with bits of sticky tape and string. They managed to keep the rump of their corporate clients on the (unaffected) Movable Type platform, by offering huge discounts to nervous CTO's and hang onto their free Live Journal bloggers (remind me how this makes money).

But things were never the same again for Six Apart. They had lost their most influential, loyal and important commercial customer base and they had gone from the darlings of the blogging scene to the pariahs.

Congratulations Ewan

Just wanted to say congrats to Ewan Spence (one of the honchos of All About Symbian, among other things): his Edinburgh Fringe Podcast, which I wrote about back in August in a post about delivering local audio content, has been nominated for a Scottish BAFTA award in interactive media. Way to go, Ewan!

Judging by the competition, Ewan and the Fringe Podcast should walk it. So good luck on the 13th!

New Toy

I got a new phone last week, a Sony Ericsson K750i. I thought maybe it was time to stop using smartphones for a while and go back to a featurephone. I've been really impressed with the UI on the phone, and for mass-market I really like it a lot better than Nokia's Series 40. The only issue thus far has been finding non-game Java applications, but I've found 2 winners in Opera Mini and WorldMate.

Anyhow, I'll put up some further thoughts on it after I've used it some more. But in the meantime, feel free to share any tips, tricks or cool programs in the comments.

NPR Debut

Ok, an NPR affiliate -- but anyway, I made my radio debut this week when I was interviewed for The Weekly Rundown on WAMC in the northeastern US about the ROKR and other music phones. The MP3 is up, and I'm about 33 minutes in if you're interested.

Mobile Monday Austin Tonight

For all our readers in Austin (if any!), just a reminder that the next Mobile Monday meeting is tonight at the IC2 Institute near UT at 6pm. Yours truly will be speaking, alongside three other great presenters on messaging. See the MoMo Austin site for more info.

Get A Cool Phone, Raise Some $$$ For Charity

Our friends over at PhoneScoop have started a charity auction to raise money for the Red Cross hurricane relief efforts. They've got a bunch of handsets and some other accessories, so go check it out.

I Want the PENCK. Why Won't Somebody Sell Me One?

I get really tired of people complaining about all the cool phones you can get in Japan and all the cool stuff they can do and why can't I get one here blah blah blah. But I'm about to do that. The only difference is that I'm more interested in design than some advanced features.

The only phone I'm really lusting after at this point is the au PENCK. Damn, it looks cool. I don't care what features it's got, I just think it's hot. Really hot. But, it's Japan-only. But Eric Lin points out there's really no reason this phone couldn't be sold in the US or Europe. All too often "design" of mobile phones in the West means another copycat sliver flip phone. The RAZR proved design can sell, so let's see some more of it.

(end rant)

Mobile Monday Austin

Just wanted to put the word out to our readers (if any) here in Austin, like me -- a Mobile Monday group is starting up, with the first meeting August 1.

Visit mobilemondayaustin.com for more info and to RSVP. Hope to meet some of you there.

TheFeature Archives Now Available!

I'm happy to report that the archives of TheFeature.com are now available at thefeaturearchives.com. I'm still waiting for Google to index the pages, so the search box isn't much help yet, but you can browse by topic, though I know that's not too elegant either.

But, after spending the bulk of the day messing with mod_rewrite, I'm glad to say all the existing links out there to TF articles should still work. That's all the content I've got, though, so links to anything else on the site (journal entries or user pages, for example) won't work.

In any case, enjoy. I'm glad that I've been able to resurrect all this great material. Thanks to Nokia for letting me host it, as well as Dennis Yang and Matt Croydon for their technical support.

Personal Update

I'm never sure how much personal stuff to include here - some of you say you like it, but I think it can get terribly self-indulgent. So if you're not interested in that kind of stuff, skip this, without further ado.

As you may know, I moved to Munich, Germany about a year ago for family reasons. My wife is Bavarian (being Bavarian is more relevant than being German, actually) and we wanted our kids to grow up speaking the language and feeling at home here.

From a family point of view, it's great. We live just south of Munich in a town that's so desirable that it's probably the most expensive in Germany. It's by a huge lake (55 km around) that's spectacular and great for swimming in Summer. We're near the Alps for hiking and skiing. And Munich has bags of culture, if that's your thing too.

From a professional point of view, it's been little short of taking a sabbatical. It's not practical to live in Germany and freelance/consult in England. And I don't have much of a network here - most of my work has come from referrals, historically.

So if you know anyone who needs someone with expertise in mobile/mobile marketing/location based services, get them to give me a shout if it can be done with me living here - though I would be happy to travel, if necessary.

On a more positive note, tomorrow sees the opening of the new football stadium here, The Alliance Arena (pictured), shared between Bayern Munich and their less famous cousins, 1860. The stadium changes colour depending on who's playing that day - red for Bayern, blue for 1860.

The opening ceremony will be concluded with a match between Bayern Munich and the German national side. And I've been invited by a pal of mine - my network might be small, but it's pretty good quality :-)

Well enough about me. I've been doing some research into YOU. Does this describe you? I think you'll find it does...

People close to you have been taking advantage of you. Your basic honesty has been getting in your way. Many opportunities that you have had offered to you in the past have had to be surrendered because you refuse to take advantage of others. You like to read books and articles to improve your mind.

In fact, if you're not already in some sort of personal service business, you should be. You have an infinite capacity for understanding people's problems and you can sympathize with them. But you are firm when confronted with obstinacy or outright stupidity. Law enforcement would be another field you understand. Your sense of justice is quite strong.

Hmm... does this ring any bells for you?

It's based on the fascinating art of Cold Reading, a technique behind much magic and con tricks like horoscopes and spiritual medium (media?).

I thought you might find it interesting.

Have a great week!

Russell

Business in Germany

One of the starnge things about doing busness is Germany is the fomality of the language. For instance, it's ususal to call people Mr or Mrs Surname, even when you know them well. Coupled with that, you use the Du (informal) and Sie (formal).

In fact, old collegues of 20 years standing, can still be Sie-ing and saying Mr and Mrs to each other. Then perhaps the senior of the two will suggest over a meal that it's time they moved onto a Du basis. It really signfies something.

Addressing someone as Du before invited is really churlish. And while you might be excused as a foreigner, you can still see people wincing unconsciously if it happens.

A German friend of mine recently came back to work over here, after 10 years in the US. After a couple of days, he told all his staff to Du him from now on. He said that it was weird, but they instantly lost all respect, at an almost unconcious level.

In the end, he had to have a meeting and tell them to Sie him and respect and order were restored.

This would all be fine if it was entirely consistent. Younger people (by that I mean under 40) don't necessarily expect the formal address, but some do. And if you stick to the formal, they think you're being stuffy.

I guess it's best to stick to the formal, as it's better to be thought stuffy than rude.

Ho hum.

The pic is actually an English actor, Jeremy Irons.

John Peel RIP

This has nothing to do with mobile, but I couldn't let the passing of John Peel last week go without a mention.

John Peel probably made more of a contribution to British music in the last 50 years than anyone else. As a DJ on UK's Radio 1, he spoke to succeeding waves of kids and was responsible for breaking new bands such as The Undertones, The Clash, The Smiths, Pulp, T-Rex and New Order and many, many more.

As well as his passion for musical innovation, his dry, laconic delivery reached out to angst-ridden teens throughout the UK.

I have a personal anecdote about the man, which demonstrates to me his genuine nice-ness and passion for music.

On my first night at University, we had the John Peel Road Show. John was being paid £800 for the night. Supporting him was a local, unknown Birmingham (England) band called The Beat (or The English Beat as they became in the US). They were being paid £80 for the night and they were great.

At the end of the night, John Peel quietly swapped cheques with the boys. Talk about putting your money where your mouth is.

He then promoted them on his show and they made it big, subsequently becoming the Fine Young Cannibals.

Farewell, John. You made your mark on the world, which is all any of us can really ask.