Life2go.net Get a life ...to go.

I am participating in a meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, right now and when I checked for open hotspots withing range of the meeting room, I noticed a FON (fon.com) hotspot, the open WiFi/Skype network made up by individuals all around the world. This is the first time I have seen such a hotspot although the FON availability maps show several in Helsinki as well.

The mobile industry caters to business men who do not care while younger, internet savvy users are left with scraps.

Ever noticed how many laptop users there are in "tourist class" on an average flight - and how few there are in business class? And still some airlines offer in-flight internet connection only in business class.

This is just one example of what I today decided to call "the Business User Paradox".

I have touched on this subject before, but I run into it again the other day. I thought my operator did not have a flat rate unlimited data package, only a 30 and a 100 MB per month inclusive offer and any data beyond that is charged by the MB. Well, it turns out they do offer a flat rate, they just don't offer it to private persons, they don't even mention it with a single word on their consumer web site.

Back in December 2004 I bought my Nokia Communicator from a shop run by the Finnish network operator DNA. The phone came with all kinds of DNA pre-sets and background images and stuff - I had to flash a new firmware to get it back to neutral factory reset. But there was one interesting bundle, a pre-paid access card for DNA WiFi hotspots: besides operating a national cell phone network, they also have a network of WiFi hotspots.
I have now carried around this card in my wallet for over two years just in case I would one day find myself in need of a network connection in a place where DNA has a hotspot - but I have still not found a use for the card. In fact, I have not seen a single DNA hotspot anywhere ever. The card expires at the end of 2006 and with only two weeks left I doubt I will find a use for this card.

Death of the CD in five years and a glorious future for expensive music on mobile phones predicted by the guys who brought you WAP and the Rockr: the mobile industry.

Newsflash: the CD is already dead and the future of the music industry is not "mobile" but "bleak".

Ok, some people actually bought music with and to their mobile phone this year - but wait a year until they have bought a new phone and realized that they have to pay for the music all over again since they can't transfer it, you think they'll buy again?

And if you say something about phone set manufacturers and "interoperability" I dare you to find anyone who has actually managed to transfer their address book from an old phone they a new - and that is something that is supposed to work and not deliberately prevented using DRM.

Buying music to your phone will fail for the same reason that WAP, MMS and the Rockr failed: too expensive and too limited. The mobile phone operators have a great and working system for charging people - and they just can't stop squeezing it. Can you name ANY service that ANY operator offers that you would describe as "cheap"?

There will be no mass market before people are comfortable that what they buy today will still work one year from now and that the music they buy using one device will be playable on all their devices, both mobile and in their home. Something like "plays for sure" but for real.

The industry is still just trying to come up with ways to limit these things, so people will keep doing what they already have been doing for some time now: ditch their cd:s and listen to MP3 players that accepts non-DRM files.

About a month ago Yahoo/Flickr finally added a high resolution image of Helsinki and it was a much newer image than the perhaps two year old image that Google Earth had been using. But now Google has updated their image of Helsinki and it's fresh, even a bit newer than the one Yahoo uses. The Kamppi shopping center at the lover left corner of the image is ready, the extension to the parliament building as well and the old stable that burned down in the summer is gone and a sandy triangle in the middle of the upper rim of the image can be seen where the stables used to stand. The image is very similar to the one Yahoo has, but there is one difference: in the lower right corner of the building you can see a large construction crane sticking out of the Stockmann department store (they actually placed it in an elevator shaft and made a hole in the roof - pretty ingenious) and this is why it is obviously newer than the image Yahoo uses.

Welho, the cable-tv company in Helsinki and one of the leading ISP's, just started their WiFi hotspot service in Helsinki with 10 stations and they plan to have 100 hotspots in the city in the near future.

This is all nice by itself, but there are two things that make this hot spot network stand out:

1. Using the network is free for existing Welho broadband customers and there are a lot of those in Helsinki. This free WiFi network is excellent added value and a great reason to choose Welho's cable modem service instead of a competing DSL service.
2. Even if you are not a Welho customer and have to pay to use the hotspot, the price is very reasonable: 1 euro for 1 hours and for 5 euros you get 24 hours. The biggest competitor, Sonera Homerun, charges 8 euros for 1 hour. I guess Sonera is catering to the "business user", you know, the kind of user who doesn't know how to set up a WiFi connection...

There is something strangely attractive about this photo: the retro phone booth plastic bubble, the contrast of the black phone centrally placed and it's cord and then there is that bright yellow duct tape... Just one of those moments I was thankful I had a pocket camera with me. I don't know why this phone ended up this way, but it looks interesting.

The electrical outlet in my hotel room in Geneva, Swizerland, accepted the simple europlug connector, but not the related schuko plug for my laptop charger. The socket was very strange looking and intended for the local 3-pin Swiss plug.

Sitting at airports for hours is slightly less horrible these day thanks to GPRS and WiFi. I started up my laptop and it reported one wireless network within range: Sonera Homerun. They have a lot of hotspots in Finland, and they have them in places where I see them. They used to require subscriptions, but now you can buy access with a credit card "on-the-fly". However, 8 euros for 1 hours is a bit much, so I'm writing this blog over GPRS. Still, every sign that WiFi is expanding here in Finland is a good sign.

Yahoo and Flickr have added a high resolution satellite photo of Helsinki now. The resolution is as good as in Google earth, but this one is a lot newer with the Kamppi/Kampen shopping center (at the lover left corner) being completely built and the building that burned down in May is no longer visible, so the satellite image was probably taken some time late in the summer of 2006. The image used by Google today is about two years older. This is very good news for geotaggers in Helsinki. Now you can actually place your photos on the map from within Flickr, something that was quite frustrating with the old low resolution image.