Life blog

Book your december 5th and 6th for Les Blogs 2.0

The inestimable Loïc will be running another Lesblogs, though I didn't expect it to come around again so soon.

I hope I can make it, maybe even run a whole session on mobile. I certainly tried to push mobile back in April, and am ready to push it farther in December - mobile still hasn't penetrated the Web 2.0 jet-set.

Link: Loic Le Meur Blog: Book your december 5th and 6th for Les Blogs 2.0 !.

I am organizing Les Blogs 2.0 in Paris on December 5th and 6th... Robert Scoble will be the keynote speaker and many more to come... Stay tuned for the wiki page but book it now if you're interested ! Thanks.

The only catch is that there will be some definite changes for me between now and then. And I have no clue what they will be. ;-)

moblogher - Moblogging 2.0

The BlogHer conference is today. Wish I were there.

Debi Jones and gang are doing what's promising to be an amazing segment on moblogging. I know also that Ms. Jen is going to be there, too. Mobile blogging will never be the same again.

Link: moblogher.

Moblogging 2.0 is mobile centric and providing multi-directional posting and seeks to highlight the consumption of blogs on mobile devices rather merely capturing while mobile for web-based consumption.

MobHappy: TheFeature Archives Now Available!

From Carlo.

Link: MobHappy: 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.

Yahoo cements UC partnership / Research lab to be established near Berkeley campus

I know Marc and his research well - I donated a bunch of phones to his labs, too. What I do know is  what he does in the mobile multimedia space. I also know what he's thinking and it's going to be one heck of a lab.

I wonder if I should move to Berkeley? I wonder if Nokia would be interested in some sort of three-way lab? Nah, two-way labs are already complicated.

But, I think Marc's going to create and transfer some really great mobile multimedia stuff to Yahoo in the next few years. Yep, Yahoo is still doing many of the right things in the mobile space. Poor Google.

Go Marc.

Link: Yahoo cements UC partnership / Research lab to be established near Berkeley campus.

The Sunnyvale Web portal plans to unveil a partnership today with UC Berkeley to open a research lab near the university campus.

The collaboration is intended to tap Berkeley's student and faculty brain power to create the next generation of online technology. Yahoo hopes to use any innovation from the lab on its Web portal, among the Internet's most popular destinations.

Carlo Longino has resurfaced at MobHappy

Yet another blog on Mobile? I think not. Russell (who comes highly recommended by mobilejones - here) has started a new blog with a huge potential readership and has hooked in Carlo from TheFeature (RIP) as a partner.

Great duo. Good luck guys!

Link: MobHappy: Welcome Carlo.

I'm delighted to say that this also leaves Carlo free to join MobHappy, as my partner. We want to continue the best traditions of TheFeature of quality comment and opinion on everything happening in mobile technology. As both Carlo and I have always tried to do, we want to bring you the news that matters and try and analyse why it matters. And we have a unique combination of in-depth knowledge of both the US and European markets, respectively.

The end of TheFeature

TheFeature is gone. I remember the begining from before I joined Nokia and I was there very close to the owners when it was at the end.

May the spirit live on.

The End of the Road

By TheFeature, Thu Jun 30 12:15:00 GMT 2005

Five years ago, we set out to build a community to explore the mobile Internet. Now, that community is strong enough to move ahead on its own.

When TheFeature.com was launched in the fall of 2000, it was a pretty revolutionary idea -- a corporation like Nokia setting up an independent, non-branded site with the task of getting people thinking and talking about the future of mobile communications. Its goal was straightforward: "TheFeature aims to be nothing less than a voice -- an opinionated, independent voice for the mobility community." With the dramatic changes in the Internet publishing landscape since then, and the rise of blogs in particular, TheFeature's role as a leader in the community perhaps isn't as necessary as it once was, with many quality sites discussing relevant topics and providing outlets for the vibrant community that's sprouted up around the mobile industry.

So in that sense, we can say "mission accomplished." It's with a heavy heart, then, that we must reveal this will be the last post on TheFeature.com. When the site launched, 3G was still a far-off, almost pipe dream concept, and GPRS was barely a reality. We helped begin a conversation around these ideas; we now leave that conversation to carry on in the community that supported us.

TheFeature has always, at its heart, been a community -- so we extend an enormous thanks to those who participated in it, either by commenting or interacting, just reading or linking to us and carrying on the discussion of ideas presented here in their own space. We couldn't have accomplished everything without you. We also owe a huge debt of gratitude to all our contributors, particularly those that have worked with us over the last two years. We've been very fortunate to assemble a staff of some of the best thinkers and writers, who in turn have worked tirelessly to come up with great stories to share.

Now is the time for us to step back, and let the conversation and community move forward on its own. It's been a great ride, and we're glad that everyone could join us. So, would the last one out please turn off the lights...

02 Jul 05 - I can't seem to access it, hence no link. Sigh.

Nokia Lifeblog now available for the N90 and N70

Dan Goodall, product manager for Nokia Lifeblog, has told me that there's been an update made to Lifeblog PC and that there's a new version of Lifeblog mobile that is compatible with the Nseries phones N90 and N70.

Because I haven't been able to play with any of the Nseries phones (never seen a working version of the N70 or a prototype of the N91) I don't know too well what the improvements to Lifeblog mobile are. But, what I have seen has been really cool, such as mpeg4 support, landscape viewing on the large N90 screen, fresher look, more file info available, and some other cool things that I've seen them talk about.

I will admit that I prefer the Nokia 6680 over the N70 (mostly because I know it better), but I would change to an Nseries phone just to have the updated Lifeblog.

Oh, and almost forgot. I think Lifeblog is free to Nseries users. Woohoo!

Lifeblog on the Mac, anyone?

Anyone up for working up a Lifeblog-like client for the Mac? It'd entail writing a PC and mobile client and using Apple's iSynch tools.

I've modeled it in different ways and complexity that I think most of the cool Lifeblog features could be copied on the Mac pretty easily (except for the true sync part - that's never easy).

Anyone game?

ADDED 10 June: Before anyone gets too excited, this has nothing to do with Lifeblog (I left the team) or Nokia. It's a personal wish. In any case, I have already received some direct queries. So let's see.

A pause for station identification

As of 01 June 2005, I am also no longer part of the Lifeblog team. I wish them fun and luck in their new digs and that they can keep kicking butt and creating great stuff.

In the past month or two I have been preparing the way for my departure. That might explain why for some, I haven't been so receptive or direct as usual. I have closed some projects, put some in some sort of stasis, and some I have found another owner to maintain continuity. I hope that the efforts I have put in to build the Lifeblog market and ecosystem, efforts which have been starting to build a good momentum, continue in Multimedia business development and marketing.

I, too, have had a great time working on the Lifeblog team and have learned so much. I have been doing venturing in Nokia for the past 4 years in different ways and this last round has really proved to me that I like the early stages of projects, where speed, excitement, rewriting the rule, and kick ass wasabi are needed.

The Finnish summer is around the corner and I am looking forward to it. We have a new puppy, friends are visiting, and I have made a list of fun projects – from starting to write a book or two to fixing the toilet ;-) – that I think this summer is going to be great.

Oh, yes, I need to figure out what I’m doing next, too.

Nah, maybe that can wait 'til August.

Link: ChristianLindholm.com: As Nokia Lifeblog transfers from Nokia Ventures Organization to Multimedia Business Group it is time for me to look for the next big thing..

Today Nokia Lifeblog has transferred to the Multimedia group to become a central component in the Nokia Nseries experience.

Some services using TypePad that work with Lifeblog

Here's a list of some blog services that use TypePad. You should be able to use Nokia Lifeblog with them - just put in your username and password and leave the defualt server address unchanged.

Let me know if you have any problems.

T-Online:
Name Service: T-Online Weblog
URL: http://weblog.t-online.de
Language: German

Club Internet:
Name Service: Club Blog
URL: http://www.club-internet.fr/Weblogs
Language: French

Cadre Online:
Name Service: Blog Emploi
URL: http://www.blogemploi.com
Language: French

Europe 2:
Name Service: Europe2 Blog
URL: http://www.europe2blog.fr
Language: French

Noos:
Name Service: Noosblog
URL: http://www.noosblog.fr
Language: French

Psychologies:
Name Service: Les blogs de Psychologies
URL: http://blogs.psychologies.com
Language: French

01net:
Name Service: 01net Blogs
URL: http://blog.01net.com
Language: French

Did I mention the one about Nseries?

Did I mention that Nokia Lifeblog will be on all the announced Nseries phones?

Cool!

That's a lotta bananas!

PS Models Proudly Presents the PS Model Blog

Thanks to Anina.

Link: PS Models Proudly Presents the PS Model Blog.

This collaboration has allowed ps models to develop the ps model blog, updating its website via the Nokia 7610 mobile phone using Lifeblog technology. This means you can watch the growth and development of ps models via the Lifeblog link on the ps models’ website. Effective communication is the fundamental building block of long and productive business relationships.

Lifeblog posting to LiveJournal

Nokia Lifeblog compatibility is coming to LiveJournal. I don't know what the settings are though, so I can't help you try it out. As soon as I know them, I'll let you know.

There's a press release coming out soon that has more info (I couldn't wait).

Thank you Brad from Six Apart and Timo from Nokia for working this out with your teams.

写e生活 - Lifeblog in Chinese

Nokia China has recently announced the Nokia 6680 and at the same time announced the coming of Lifeblog in Chinese. We gave Lifeblog a more localized name in China - 写e生活 - which has a double meaning of: 'recording life with leisure' or 'recording e-life'. The 'e' is what makes the double meaning.

Cool, huh?

Ni Jian from our team gave me a rough translation of the release:

N6681 also has a first in the industry solution to backup contents in mobile, including images, videos and messages - the Nokia Lifeblog multimedia diary software application.  It enables user to browse, organize, back up SMS, MMS, images, videos, in chronical order, on mobile and PC.  A very efficient way for users to manage their contents.

If you can read Chinese, here's the link: 诺基亚 - 关于诺基亚- 新闻中心.

诺基亚6681上市，诺基亚“完全影像战略”浮出水面

SAUNALAHTI now has a Lifeblg-compatible blog service

Sunalahti is an MVNO in Finland. They were setting up a blog and made it compatible with Lifeblog.

My rough translation:

All Saunalahti GSM accounts have a free SaunaBlog account. You can post via MMS, Lifeblog, or via a browser.

Link: SAUNALAHTI.FI.

Kaikki Saunalahden GSM-liittymät sisältävät SaunaBlog-nettipäiväkirjan ilman lisämaksua. Nettipäivirjan päivittäminen tapahtuu multimediaviestien, Nokia Lifeblog -ohjelmiston (tulossa) ja netin välityksellä.

So cool! Thanks Tatu and Olli (and others whom I might have forgotten).

psmodels

Anina set these guys up with Lifeblog and a TypePad account. One by one, she's bringing the modeling world to the mobile world and the blogging world at one go.

Vau!

Link: psmodels.

Erik's Weblog : LifeBlogger 0.2

Erik does it again.

Link: Erik's Weblog : LifeBlogger 0.2.

I've just released LifeBlogger 0.2 which now supports the Textamerica API.

I've also added support for posts titles when using the MetaWeblog API.

As usual the source is on the CVS server.

Anina does it again! ps-models go mobile

Anina is a bundle of energy (see her list of things here) and really wants to spread the love of mobile to the whole fashion industry. I've been fortunate to be pulled into this whirlwind of activity, mostly by providing what little support I can (a few phones mostly, so far). The main thing for me is to keep out of her way so she can do her thing (and she's so patient with me!).

Also, I am careful to make sure I don't tread on her work so that it is clear to everyone that she's the force, inspiration, and owner of all her work. It would suck if someone thought she was a just some fake from Nokia.

Au contraire, she's the genuine article, a true 'new kind of supermodel' who gets a kick out of hacker magazines, doing funky things with her gadgets, and letting everyone know about her enthusiasm.

He latest thing is to try and set up agencies to take better advantage of mobile, blogs, and advanced multimedia apps. Below is a link to he announcement of some work she has done with her agency in Germany.

Link: LIFEBLOG.anina.net: ps press release.

Anina, you rock!

Charlie. London. March 24.

Loïc and Alistair from Six Apart are organizing an event in London tomorrow (with Nokia Lifeblog sponsoring part of it).

I'll be there pontificating on how the fusion of mobile, PC, and web is transforming the way people share and communicate through personal content (and as usual, I'll pipe up on the related aspects of life recording, personal and corporate story-telling, marketing, and authenticity).

Post to Flickr From Lifeblog

Yahoo Mobile-Meister Russell Beattie himself revealed some stuff that Ludicorp (now a part of Yahoo) was doing to get Flickr working with Lifeblog.

Hugo and Timo, here on the Lifeblog team, also pointed out to me that you can now set up Flickr to automatically post your Lifeblog posted photos to any blog Flickr normally can automatically post to.

That's cool.

One thing to keep in mind, they are still working out the kinks (I totally subscribe to the 'just get it out there' mentality) and Flickr will only accept images and some text (don't know which, since I have yet to try it myself). Flickr does not at the time accept any videos or MMSs (don't know about the other object types). Timo and Hugo have been playing with it, posting from the PC and mobile.

Give it a try!

Link: Russell Beattie Notebook - Post to Flickr From Lifeblog.

MonPuteaux.com (Puteaux 92800): Essai de publication de photo en "live"

Christophe Grébert, of "Mon Puteaux" fame, is now a Lifeblogger! This guy is so cool - he got fed up with how the mayor (and cronies) were governing his home town and started a blog to expose the suckers. It's so cool. His readership is actually larger than the total population of the town!

I think the mayor will be sorry now that Christophe can easily post while on the go - instant exposure and even more acountability for the mayor and the town government.

Way to go, Christophe!

Link: MonPuteaux.com (Puteaux 92800): Essai de publication de photo en "live".

Hmm, and after a while he'll have a growing archive of all this in his Lifeblog PC timeline. Vau!

BTW, he did this on his own. Just let it be known that if I give anything to anyone that they would normally have to pay for, I'll let you know. (I'm a bit paranoid lately in the transparency space; I'm giving a talk and will be talking about corporate blogging, so...)

Pausing for station identification

On another blog I manage that's work related, it was pointed out to me that it wasn't clear who owned the blog (it was an oversight). So I updated the About page to reflect the nature of the blog and 'paused for a station identification' so that it would be clear what was going on.

In a way, I think it's important to do the same here, since I actually haven't really revealed myself much here (I am not comfortable promoting myself).

Cognections is a personal site and has two public blogs:

• The main home blog - On this blog I post musings, statements, and reflections, looking for connections between precognition, cognition, and recognition (how philosophical). It's pretty personal. This is the one I use to mostly blog images and videos.

• My Lifeblog blog (this one) - since I am head of marketing and sales in the Lifeblog team at Nokia, Lifeblog is a large part of my life. I am hooked on it, especially on my phone. Of course, being in my position, I get nervous promoting my enthusiasm for Lifeblog (it's an authenticity thing), so I try to frequently make the point clear that, additionally, I am on the Lifeblog team, especially the more enthusiastic I get. I AM MAKING THAT POINT NOW, AGAIN.

Also, I am very very careful not to turn this blog into some sort of sales and marketing site for Nokia. That would be gross. Such a site I would locate smack-dab in the middle of Nokia.com. Right? Here I just want to be myself - enthusiastic for Nokia products (which I was before I joined Nokia - you can Google for proof), excited to share what I know, and a bit on the edge, just to stir things up.

Nonetheless, this is a personal blog, and I try to be honest and up-front with everything I do. Now that you've read this, don't forget to whack me when it seems I am deviating from my mission.

Thanks!

Lifeblogger - Diane, A Shaded View on Fashion: Lifeblog post

Thanks to Anina, Diane Pernet is hooked on blogging. Check out all her photos and the stuff she posts directly from her phone.

Link: Diane, A Shaded View on Fashion: Lifeblog post.

Some folks are just naturals...

Kiitos! TypePad in Finnish

Carita always likes things in her native Finnish. The good news is that TypePad has created a site in Finnish!

As I like to say - in all the major European languages... and Finnish. How so Nokia.

Thanks, Six Apart.

Lifeblog on 'Nokia's Newest Smartphone'

Sascha Segan was very US centric when he said in his PC Magazine article:

The 6682 is the first phone to support the new release of Nokia's Lifeblog, so users can actually blog from their phone. It allows you to post pictures, videos and text messages to an online timeline that you can either keep private or publish for your friends.

He was inaccurate on one account - the Nokia 6682 is the first US phone to support the upcoming release of Lifeblog (the Nokia 6630, which will also support the upcoming release, is not a US phone). While we haven't formally made it known, the next release of Lifeblog will be compatible with the Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, and Nokia 6682 when they come out, and also compatible with the Nokia 6630, which has been on the market for a while now. We'll announce when the software is available (soon, really!).

In the mean time, the current version of Lifeblog is compatible with the Nokia 6630, Nokia 6670, Nokia 7610, and the Nokia 6260. If you can't find Lifeblog on your phone (it's pre-installed on some), you can get it from the Nokia Lifeblog site. And if you are like me and can't keep the phone numbers straight, there is a graphical guide to help you get the software you need.

And remember, the mobile software is free. If you want to do more and save more and browse more, then go out an buy the PC version of Lifeblog (29.95 €). More info on the Nokia Lifeblog site.

PS Carita is showing the Lifeblog on the Nokia 6682 with the Nokia 6682 team at the PMA show in Orlando. Great work guys!

I'll be at CScout TrendDay: Blogging on 08 March

An interesting blogging event in Munich.

I'll attempt to pontificate on how the fusion of the blog, mobile, and PC is changing the way people share and communicate through personal content, touching on aspects relating to life recording, personal and corporate story-telling, marketing, and authenticity.

Let's see how it goes.

For more info on speakers and stuff, go here.

Where I will be tomorrow - Blogger-Treffen Berlin

Thanks to Marius for pointing out that I am some sort of panelist at the blogger meeting in Berlin tomorrow. I thought I was just going to lurk about. Nope. Sneaky Heiko and Loïc are making me sing for my snacks.

Link: Blogger-Treffen Berlin.

2 Vortr�ge stehen bis jetzt fest:

1. Dr. Thorsten Wichmann: �bersicht �ber Entwicklung von Weblogs in Deutschland
2. Charlie Schick (Nokia): Vorstellung des Konzepts der LifeBlog-Software von Nokia

You can get more info here.

Erik Thauvin's LifeBlogger app updated

What?

LifeBlogger allows you to post your Nokia Lifeblog favorites to your blog.

Your images, text notes and videos can now be effortlessly posted to your blog using FTP (Blogger, etc.) or via the MetaWeblog API (Movable Type, Radio UserLand, etc.) [More...]

Link: LifeBlogger.

I haven't used this in a while, since I use TypePad, so no problem blogging from Lifeblog 1.5. But it should be nice for those who use other blogging providers or those who think we are trying to build a proprietary protocol for blogging and rule the universe (bwahahaha!).

Let me know how it works.

And, way to go Erik.

Lifeblog at the World Economic Forum

Loïc and Xavier have done it again! The World Economic Forum at Davos blog has a moblog section that a bunch of Lifeblog mobile users are posting to.

Cool!

Link: World Economic Forum MOBLOG.

More on Davos bloggers here.

Cool use of Lifeblog

The French SPF (Secours Populaire Français), an aid group, contacted Loïc from Six Apart and Xavier from Nokia for some phones and Lifeblog to document recovery efforts in Asia. Here is their moblog.

Thanks guys.

Loïc's report: Loic Le Meur Blog: Tsunami: the French SPF has now a moblog.