Orient Expression

When Blockbuster said they were looking to get into mobile distribution I assumed they were thinking of mobile handsets and I forgot all about ultra mini projectors like Microvisions PicoP . Combining a projector equipped handset with a download from Blockbuster makes the same sense as an iPod with a cable to view on your TV. Remember the shot in "The Island" where Ewan McGregor projects his video conference from his mobile phone onto the wall, well imagine that being a film...

We're moving to New Zealand in the New Year to start the next chapter. I plan to post more frequently as I will get more time and not so much travel.

David Seah and his very well put together Printable CEO Series has shared his compact calendar for 2008. There are many country specific versions available from his site and his readers. I have modified the data for Thailand for 2008 . Take the time to have a look around his site, it's well worth the time.

Location based services are set to be one of the growth areas for mobile devices through 2008. Previous posts here on the general subject of LBS and usage and contributions to the Techdirt Insight Community on GPS and personal navigation discuss the combination of LBS with franchises or focus usage. On example was a potential partnership with The Lonely Planet inspired by Loki, see the Loki Plant Guide . Engadget today posted on Google's cell site location service (I'm making an assumption that it uses cell triangulation in lieu of GPS). For general use location based services don't, in my opinion, need to be metre level sensitive. Google's neighbourhood level approach should be enough for the average user. The evolution would be targeted ad, mobile location context adsense. So expect to see small (Mom and Pop) businesses using the service to increase publicity.

In a follow up on previous postings on Blockbuster: How Blockbuster could Wimaximize their business Blockbuster to start a download service Engadget have posted that Blockbuster are considering a deal to get their content on to mobile handsets. The actual details are still under consideration but there is some debate as to the value of the scheme. I have contributed to the Techdirt Insight Community on how video needs to adapt and one of the natural conclusions is mobile device distribution. Before I had my iPod I would have questioned the benefits of mobile on small screen devices but you get used to it and when you travel a lot and spend a lot of time in hotels and planes the potential market is there (but small). It does depend on which mobile devices you consider. If you limit yourself to mobiles then questions marks are probably valid, think battery, screen size and interruption from calls. However expand the scope to devices like the Nokia N810 and you could be onto somethin