Cost of electronic messaging

Financial theory says that the cost of an item should be the cost of producing one more unit. And the cost of SMS should be much more than the cost of sending email. So put it this way – if the telecom companies invited emails today – we would have been charged per email… but we’ll probably not have spam – as you could only email the people that had accepted you. But why does SMS still cost *a lot*?

Prices vary from company to company – and you get discounts and bonuses as in other countries. But a competitive price for one SMS is 0.5 kroners equal to 0.08$. A MMS costs about 2 kroners (0.33$). Cost of data traffic (3G/GPRS) on my subscription is limited to 10NOK per day as long as I use less than 200mb. The days I don’t use it I don’t pay anything – and if I have more traffic than 200mb the connection rate will be reduced – or I can decide to pay for an upgrade. The point is that you can send data traffic equal one SMS a lot of times within 200mb of data. One standard SMS contains 140 bytes (1120 bits) of data. As mobiles use 7 not 8 bit characters you can chose between 128 characters (8 bit characters would have given 256). With 1120bits divided on 7 the total space in one SMS is 160 characters. This equals 0,13671875Kbytes. So if a SMS was priced as data traffic … the cost per SMS would be:

0,13671875Kbytes = 0.0001335144mbytes

Price per MB is 20kr, giving us the price per sms (in data traffic): 0,00267kr. So how can we explain the difference between almost nothing and 0.5 kroners? It is premium data. It is one two one communication – and you are guaranteed that the receiver will see it (if everything works). But the price point isn’t fare. The price point should go down equal data traffic. So what can consumers do?

We can choose between two strategies; and as long as we all chose the same we’ll win. One way is that we all change provider to the cheapest SMS provider. If we show that we are price sensitive we’ll drive down the price. Great competition has always been a good way to drive down the price.

Or we can replace SMS with a trusted data-based platform (like your inbox on Facebook). The point is that we want the technology to be easy. In these days this can be solved by applications installed on our mobiles. But we’ll need everybody to adapt to this new way – or find a hybrid that makes it possible to convert some of us first. I have been testing Google Voice, and as they provide SMS this can be an option for many. If somebody created an application for the different mobile platforms – we could easily send the SMS via a service like Google Voice, let us call this SMS 2.0. If the receiver is using Google Voice (or a compatible service) the message is routed cost free to the user via this network – if the user is a SMS 1.0-user (basic SMS) you pay best price the SMS 2.0 provider can give you.

My RyghSMS service provide an option for people to receive SMS when somebody sends a Direct Message (DM) to them via twitter. I buy SMS bulk from clickatell- currently the price is quoted as 0,288kroners per SMS (however the price is different cross the networks). If somebody buys a lot of these bulk messages and include them in the application - we'll drive down the price of SMS also for the "classic" way of sending SMS.

The iPad is a cool gadget, but you don’t need it

You have your laptop and your mobile – do you really need a something in-between? A too big to carry-around mobile-OS based gadget? I am 100% positive to new ways of doing things, but this time I think the hype is just hype – and not a new brilliant idea from Jobs&co. If this gadget becomes mainstream, it is only because people want it because of the hype; the feeling of having something cool – not because it solves anything.

So, I would really like to know when people write about the iPad… What type of computer to you use? (Windows, Linux or OSX). And what mobile do you use? iPhone?? Knowing what the writer has will show if the writer is an Apple evangelist – somebody that will probably be positive even if the product solves nothing. I use Windows 7 on my work laptop and I have to cellphones: Nokia E75 and Nokia N82. I could buy a private laptop (so I am in the market for a lightweight laptop) – but this iPad isn’t it – it could have been the Apple Air… but it is too expensive.

Not getting premium service?

I had a conversation on twitter today about not being prioritized in a bank – on your first visits to the bank. The bank prioritized any returning customer over you. From a customer perspective this is wrong. The bank doesn’t know your portfolio or the potential business you can bring to the bank. You can be the next Bill Gates. This is not the way of attracting new business.

On the other side your returning customers shouldn’t be deprioritized. They should feel like their business is important to the bank. And of top of this you have the premium customers that the bank will prioritize on top of regular customers. These three levels (or more) will be in a constant conflict. You risk losing customers from any of the three groups if you make the difference in service too small or too big. The same risk goes to all types of business that categorizes their customers.

I started in a cross-Nordic project in 2004 with “a-lot-of-travel “, earning Eurobonus Gold status within weeks. After a lot of nights at Scandic and Hilton I was “rewarded” Hilton Gold – both of these cards where valuable to me as a very frequent traveler. Breakfast in the SAS Gold lounge at Gardemoen was something I did several times per week – and I checked in-and-out of hotels more times than I like to remember. I continued for two years travelling weekly. Fast-track at airports, lounges and jumping in front of the standby-line was benefits I appreciated.

Knowing you could get a hotel room even without a reservation, or being prioritized in the standby-list is worth more than the bonus points. But now I have a role that doesn’t require me to travel heavily. So I am back on the Eurobonus Blue (entry-level), same with my Hilton card. So it is time to remember the “good times”:

Best Hilton experience
Best Hilton experience was a time when I checked in in Kuala Lumpur with a “normal” room (and my gold card) being upgraded to a suite with lounge access. That was just great. That hotel “room” redefined hotels. Feeling as a prioritized and valuable customer is an important way of keeping frequent business travelers who easily will move their business to another hotel or airline if they don’t feel “the love”.

Best Star Alliance experience
My best Star Alliance experience was after a canceled flight, arriving in LA from Fiji on my way to Oslo via London. Complaining about the delay in LA, we got upgraded to first class from LA to London. That changed oversea traveling.

So my conclusion is
You pay for what you get. If you want premium service from a bank, an airline or a hotel – pay for it. Or be the valuable customer they don’t want to lose! So the next time my luggage is lost and I am standing in line at the airport – I’ll accept that the guy behind me with his gold card will be first in line. He is currently (!) a more important customer than me.

Use a proxy to fake geo-location

Sometimes there are restrictions on using web services cross country lines. One of them is the Norwegian broadcasting (nrk.no) who will only let you see some of their shows online if you are in Norway. You can solve this by using a proxy server located in Norway. If the service you want to use is in the US, you select a US proxy. Search for proxy-servers plus country in Google will help you! You change your proxy settings directly in your browser – and then the web service will detect you as being where your proxy server is located.

Google Voice - do you want an invite?

I have used Google Voice for some months, and it is a great tool. The value add outside the US isn't very big, but as I communicate with the US frequently - having a US number is great. There is a limitation on sign-up that you need to be in the US – this is checked when you sign-up. So Google Voice will work even if you are outside the US. There is a work-around (read about it here). You also need a US number to verify your account – it makes sense… if you don’t have a US phone number – why do you need a US voicemail? I have a US number at work (IP-phone number with US extension). But it also works with a Skype extension. As soon as you are connected, you can put your phone number on “do not disturb” (else it will route your calls to your IP-phone) and then you have a US-voicemail.

I have two invites left - so if you want one: Write a short "why I need it" in the comments!

Short Update:
Just sign-up for the beta, and Google will invite you!

Why Euro is a good idea, but will fail

The Euro in its current form will fail. It will never replace the dollar as a world currency, and the countries within the Eurozone will need to make significant adjustment to keep this common currency. It isn’t possible over time to keep a common currency if you don’t adjust government spending and taxes in the zone.
As long as the countries within the zone respects the boundaries of having a common currency will one currency is of a great value for the governments and the people living in the zone. It will also reduce the risk when doing business within and between the zone and outside. So having a common currency is great for business, and also convenient for people travelling from country to country.

The practicality for people is a “nice-to-have”. The key factor is to build a currency that can hold investments. You would like to have your savings or investment in an economic environment that is safe – or you accept the level of risk present in that market. But the key factor here is trust. The euro isn’t stronger than the weakest link. As long as the strong economies in EU doesn’t fully subside the weak economies, will the zone go in different directions. This has an impact on pricing of goods, but also the finance tools the governments in each country have.

Until EU starts to act like one country in terms of spending and taxes will the Euro be under attack from the different governments with different political agendas. A common currency is one of the products of an union – it should be the reason to strength the union.

RyghSMS - network issue resolved

The last weeks have RyghSMS had some network issues. This is because a network monitoring services that has trigged the posting of messages have been discontinued by the provider. The new provider didn't offer a service that gave the same functionality. But a new way of executing the scripts is now in place - and all messages is posted to twitter within minutes after they are sent by SMS!

Naked domains!

I find it annoying that my blog has the “www” in front of the blog name, but this is a blogger.com default. It could be the factor that makes me change to a different provider, but at the moment the blog isn’t about tricking with the blog, but spending time writing on it. So I’ll stay for now.

Why do we enter all these technical terms in front of the web address? From a user perspective is the value of this zero. And the browser doesn’t need it – as typing just “nicolai.no” will guide you to this blog – but the address field will then show “http://www.nicolai.no/”. Firefox, Internet Explorer and the others should help us removing the http://. I understand that http is a protocol – and that you can use other protocols with the browser like ftp or https. But the default isn’t https or ftp – it is plain http. And from a user perspective – http is just “the internet”. Removing this takes away 7 characters from each address.

The next 4 we can remove is the “www.” We all understand that the internet is the world-wide-web. We understand the idea of having the public version of the domain, and then the intranet version (use another subdomain). But frankly – it is just plain stupid. And the worst is the webmasters who configure their domains to only work if people remember the “www.” The best would be if the browser checked if the naked domain (the domain without subdomain) worked – and then directed us there – that way links to sites would be shorter – and we would get used to the web looking that way.

Fjällräven on twitter!

I found this cool hat from Fjällräven when I was in Stockholm last weekend. But they didn’t have my size. So I went online to find it, and I found it on the Fjällräven homepage in Sweden, but I couldn’t order it. I tried several web shops and it wasn’t listed or it wasn’t in stock. So I sent out a tweet. I got several replies, but it was the link to a google search in the DK-domain that gave me the result; a Danish web shop – and the hat is now ordered. So I am happy. But today Fjällräven posted their first twee - a reply to me! Brands should be available online – just like Stormberg! Keep up the good work!

Increased traffic to blog from Search sites

I find statistics interesting, and by using Google Analytics on my blog I get a lot of data from my visitors. The key information for me is the time people stay on my blog, the number of visits and where in the world my readers are located. The traffic is normally higher when I post a new blog post, but I have seen that recently the traffic to my blog is increasing also on days with no new blog post. And this is because several of my blog posts are getting hits from search in Google. This “top” search hits includes the following blog-posts:
Buy Google storage and get free Eye-Fi card!
Nexus One... why not?
Hacking a WD MyBook into a fileserver
Windows 7 is the best Windows since - Windows 3.1

Perfect coffee

There is something called a perfect cup of coffee. But what is it? I like my coffee strong. I like it fresh, and I like it to be made on an Espresso Machine. Why? Because I like the taste of coffee to be strong. So the best option for me is to make an Americano –  or maybe an Espresso Lungo.


So you’ll need some great coffee, you need a good espresso machine – and even more important you need some time to enjoy it. I wanted an espresso machine to have at home – but I didn’t want it to be too big. After a lot of research we decided for a machine from Jura – the Ena 5. It freshly ground the beans to make really fresh Espresso.

I know several people think that Starbucks is too commercial. But I enjoy it. A good extra bold coffee like Sumatra from Starbucks is just perfect. When I buy coffee in Norway I prefer coffee from Stockfleths – they have a lot of great coffees. The best is to have two different (or maybe even more) tastes of coffee available – and to switch from time to time – as that makes you appreciate the special coffee even more.

Back online after a weekend away

I went off the radar on Friday to take a trip to Stockholm with my wife and kids. Some time ago I had several projects in Stockholm. And I don’t know how many times I have been there. I have also been a part of a Nordic team with offices in Stockholm for several years, so Stockholm is for me my “second” capital. I enjoy going there for work, but I also enjoy going there for pleasure. And this trip was pleasure. We planned the trip because I had a lot of bonus points from SAS expiring – and we decided to take a weekend in Stockholm for some shopping and some culture. It was just great – but now we are back in Oslo with some nice new snow – so hopefully we’ll get time to take out the Pulk and go skiing!

The plan was just to give you a short update on why have been quite on twitter and here on my blog – but when I started to write – I really felt like saying something about all this geo-tagging services. I see the value in geo-services. But this needs to be used in context. When my father-in-law some day starts to geo-tag all his pictures – it will add value as I he works as a photographer – and one more meta-data can help him find the pictures he needs when the deadline is getting close. Geo-data is also nice when you use it to locate friends, restaurants and shops. Where is the nearest Starbucks, or where the nearest post-office are. It can also be nice to update your geo-data service with your location if you go to a conference or some place where people would like to know if you are there. But don’t just publish your location without context. The only people that really like to know if you are not at home – are the people that would like to visits your place when there is nobody at home. So please update your geo-services, but not broadcast to everybody every time your location change – people that would like to know can check the geo-service – or directly with you!

And btw... I wasn't at Starbucks this weekend as the new Starbucks at Arlanda Airport - hasn't opened yet. 

Nexus One delivered in Oslo for 773USD

Great review (in Norwegian) on the Nexus One from one of the developers at db.no. It gives the Android phone a very positive review. In the comments can you find the price as delivered in Oslo with the use of jetcarrier (and taxes) - at a total of 4516,37NOK (about 773USD). That is not too bad considering the type of phone. What do you think? Is this a fair price for the Nexus One? Do you think Google will offer it at an even better price when they start selling it in Norway?

Getting Google Storage with Eye-fi from Norway

I just ordered 200GB storage for 50$ including an eye-fi card from Google. It says something "only Canada and US" – but that is the shipment – You can order the increased storage from anywhere – you just have to provide an address from North America. I have several friends in the US, so I have asked one of them to use their address (and he will forward the Eye-fi when it arrives), but there are also commercial alternatives like Jetcarrier.com.

I have used Jetcarrier.com before and it works like a charm. They state that what is arrived at their location in New Jersey before noon Friday will be at your local post-office in Norway Tuesday the following week – and that is pretty good. You can check out their prices here, but basically if the weight is below 1 kg will the shipment with Jetcarrier.com be 165NOK (28$). Even with this add-on the combination of Google Storage and the Eye-Fi card is competitive. My other alternative was a Flickr pro account with unlimited storage for about 25$ - but that didn’t include the Eye-Fi (that will be very nice together with my wife’s new Nikon D3000 (a camera that is Eye-Fi software enabled). You can get the details on ordering the Google Storage + Eye-fi card here.

Buy Google storage and get free Eye-Fi card!

This is a great offer. If you buy 200GB Google storage for 50$ they'll send you an 4GB Eye-Fi card. An Eye-Fi card is a SD-card for your camera that can transfer your image using your wireless network. So no cables needed! This is a great offer - you just need to have an US or Canadian address - or like know somebody who can receive it - and forward it to your local address if not in the US.

Keyboard for your iPhone - iType

foto: Ion

There is always a need for a keyboard. Now also for the iPhone as Arno Vaa, Macworld Norge writes on vg.no. I can't really understand the point of this keyboard - beside the cool name iType. You wouldn't bring this keyboard with you when you travel? This is probably something you'll use at home? Do you think otherwise? If you use this at home - why not use your laptop? Because the iPhone with or without a keyboard like this - is not a laptop replacement. This is just a cool gadget for those who like to type a lot... on their iPhone!

Updated Wordle for my blog

Updated Wordle for my blog. I think this is a very nice way to summarize my blog. It will be interesting to see how it change over time!

I want your text - not your bookmarks!

I started to use del.icio.us some time ago, and I enjoy the service. It was probably because we have an internal offering in IBM named dogear that made me use a bookmark service in the first place. But it doesn't make sense to have my bookmarks only on the inside of the IBM firewall did I start to publish them to del.icio.us. Several blogs post daily del.icio.us links to their blogs, and as I use the nice "next updated" feed function in google reader brings this me to the del.icio.us page several times daily. And I don't see the value add. So as of today, if your blog is on my blog-role, and you add del.icio.us links daily  - then I'll unsubscribe to your feed; and add it to the feedrinse.com rss filter service. This way I get what I want. And just that.

How should public broadcasting companies (like NRK) be financed?

NRK, is the Norwegian public broadcasting company. Owned by the Norwegian government, and financed by a invoice that is sent to every Norwegian household owning a TV. This year they did a very smart trick to send out the invoice. With two weeks to pay it, they sent it during the time of holidays in Norway. And if you fail to pay within the deadline they would add approx 65 kroners in fee. They collect close to 3,7billian kroners total from about 1 million households. So why should we continue to finance this public broadcasting company with a separate invoice? They could be financed by the public with taxes, or they could finance with commercials?

In the days with a lot of channels with a lot of commercials is it good that there is a public offering. Having a company that can air programs with lower commercial value is good. It is also good that the public gets access to programs that would have been on paid channels if the public channel could buy them - like the Olympics and other international events.

In an article on dn.no June 2nd 2008 did the professors Hans Jarle Kind, Guttorm Schjelderup and Lars Sørgard at the Norwegian School of Management (bi.no) write about the way NRK was financed. They say that the cost of financing the NRK with invoices costs aprox 100 million kroners a year, and the cost of doing with taxes would be 20% of each krone more in tax. Giving the cost of financing 3,7 billion kroners a 0,74 billion more to get the money needed. This is seven times more expensive. I will not question these calculations, but I would say that this is just the pure economic side. As long as we have the tax model we have in Norway will it be expensive to collect the taxes - but that is something the government has decided. Simpler and more efficient systems exist - but that is a subject for another blog entry.

The question about how you finance public offerings will also be subject to values. When you decide to finance something based on "have" or "not have" is it important to see what effects different tax regimes has had. In Dublin (several years ago) was the tax on houses based on the number of windows. This made people build houses without windows. People will overtime adjust to tax regimes. As it is possible to get the tv shows from the internet will we see more people dropping the TV. As it is the TV that is subject to the license fee, then you get the TV-shows for free if you get them from NRK web-TV. With the current rules, you can even connect a hard disk recorder, and connect it to a projector and you could argue that you don't have a TV.

The most problematic side of the public financed channel is the boarder of where they do their business. Some part of the media world should be aired on commercial financed channels. Not all of the parts of what NRK does should be financed by the public as it isn't in the best interest of the public. Why should the license fee be used to operate sites like nrkbeta.no (even if it is a good blog) or video upload sites and online chat programs? The rules of what the public channel can do with its money should be more firm  - and if it is to stay as a commercial free channel, then it should be that - not have a lot of programs sponsored by Statoil, SAS, Telenor and other major brands.

I hope that NRK is still a major player in the media industry in Norway in 50years, but it will need to get is finance model changed. And it also has to adjust to even faster media industry that has only started to change.

Do we need more geo/metadata services?

I started to use the geo-location system named brightkite.com some time ago. I fount it interesting that they have booth brightkite.com and bkite.com domain, and that they have chose to use the longer name as their brand. I don’t think that was a smart move, but then again, who writes urls these days.

As with a lot of geo-location site you search up your location, the site pins your location in a Google maps view, and you have your location that you can publish. You can get notified when your friends are located closely to you; and you get other location notifications. The bkite-team has understood that linking to other services like twitter. You can easily get the people you have on your twitter account, so that you can add them at bkite. You can also get your twitter status updated from bkite when you update bkite with new comments or location. Or you can get your location field updated in twitter if you don't want your twitter followers to get your location changes all the time if you change it often.

And here is today’s agenda
Why do you really want to flood your followers at twitter with your geo-location? Is it important with all this met-data in your twitter feed? There are several of these solutions, and they all have application you can install on your iPhones or android based phone, and some have apps for Symbian. But the point stays the same – if you want to know where you are – would I be using a geo-location service to find out?

But the point stays the same – if you want to know where you are – would I be using a geo-location service to find out?

So providers of geo-location, when you offer the positiblity to share this information on twitter… update the location field as default, or geo-tag each post – not post meta data.
Btw… you can find me (when I remember to update) as rygh on bkite and gowalla :-)

RyghSMS back in business

After my blog post about reduced traffic on RyghSMS I noticed that it was just to reduced. It was zero. And I haven't changed anything. I have some functionallity to check if things are working - and everything works fine.  just didn't get any messages from Netcom (the SMS-provider). But I did. The mailbox reviving the messages had a new spam-filter... Fixed now! :-) Sorry to all RyghSMS-users!

Master of the cello

I play the cello, so it isn't that strange that this gives me a kick, but even for those who are medium interested in music or to video editing - this video is a must see!

The video shows a cellist playing his cello, but after a short while the video shows that he has more arms to play, this way the video show one person being an orchestra. I would like to challenge Lasse Gjertsen to do the same to the four seasons by Vivaldi.

Are you a geek?

I am a geek. A technology geek. I find gadgets interesting. I love reading blogs about upcoming gadgets including mobiles, weather stations, cars, computers and software. I write some code (small web projects) and I tend to think too big. Why use a flat-file when you can utilize a database. Why use an html-file when you can use a server scripted page? A part of this is to keep my self-updated so that my skills are “up-to-date” – but it is also a way to keep the willingness to learn.

So are you a geek? And what do you think if people call you a geek?

For me being called a geek is not a bad thing. In some places being called an IBMer is a synonym for geek. And I am proud of being an IBMer. This may sound brained washed but I think I work for the best company in the world. And my proof is that I have been offered positions in other companies and have never found the position more interesting than my current one at IBM. And one of the best parts working for IBM is all the possibilities and all the great people.

View from the breakfast table

Inspired by my sisters blog where she posts one photo each day is here a photo taken today with my mobile. This is the view I enjoy during breakfast (or when I work from home). Have a nice day everybody!

(And yes,... you can see Holmenkollen and Tryvann!)

Windows 7 is the best Windows since - Windows 3.1

I have used several versions of windows over the last 20 years. My first experience with Windows was the 3.1 edition released April 1992. This 10 floppy-disk distribution was the first of the windows distributions that gave value to the end-user with its TrueType font system making it a valuable desktop publishing platform. You run it on top of DOS. Sadly the joint project between IBM and Microsoft named OS/2 never became a commercial success. The second edition of it was a pure IBM delivery, and Microsoft used part of the source as base in their NT editions.

For me the upgrade to Windows 98 was big as it added internet access. This change was bigger than the changes in the operating system. Windows 2000 could have been named Windows NT 5.0 but got the 2000-name as everything else in the year 2000. I used Windows 2000 until the beta of XP arrived – and XP (NT 5.1) was by far the best from Microsoft since Windows 3.1. Compared to the functionally at that point of time it was a good OS – but a lot has happened since 2001.

I will not say anything about Windows ME.

Vista was an upgrade from XP, but this will overtime be remembered together with ME. Vista was released just to release something new. Nobody needed Vista as the service pack 3 of XP was a better operating system than Vista. So Windows 7 needed to be the best operating system ever from Microsoft – and it is. Even compared to 2010 technology level it is really a great operating system. And now the graphical interface is at the level of Apple’s OS X. With the current (Snow Leopard) version of OS X, Microsoft is in the lead – making the future fight between the two even bigger. I am looking forward to Windows 8 – hoping that it will not be the next Vista.

Twitter - almost 2 years later

I am reading over a lot of my old blog posts, and found this one from April 2008; just had to repost it.

Several big media players are talking about twitter in Norway these days. Not sure if this is a good thing - but still the number of users from Norway on twitter is low. Around 1000 people have an account compared to close to 1000000 with a facebook account. There is a big difference between the two social services. Facebook is a place to connect with people you know - to stay in contact with and to exchange photos etc. Twitter is more like a conversation. You are on or off. You can read back in the log, but it is what happens now that is important. Just like when @Oyvind (from nrkbeta) asked the twitter audience what he should focus on when telling about twitter on NRK radio. Twitter isn't selling itself. I have tried to invite friends, and some have joined. But it takes some time to explain the service. The people who joins, and get the idea - they get a great value add. It is a place to ask your questions, to tell people what you do - and then get feedback. Check out the followers of your follow twitters, and add them to your list. Btw. I am twitter.com/rygh.

What do you think about twitter now? Has your use changed over time? And ... what was just first tweet? Check it at myfirsttweet.com.

Swix V05 POLAR (12°C and -25°C)

Short Ski-update. As I am planning for a skitrip tomorrow with some friends, and needed a wax for the temperature that is forecasted for tomorrow. And I decided for Swix V05 Polar. New snow between -12°C and -25°C. And finecorned between -15°C and -30°C. Should be just perfect!

New skies - what wax to use when it is -20°C?

My wife got me new skies for Christmas – and I am very-very happy! I had some short trips out on them together with Rygh Jr (who got his first skies for Christmas) as you can see on the photo. But it is very cold in Norway these days giving new challenges for those of us who want to ski. You need to put Wax under the ski, and the different types work between different temperatures. And today I need to get some Green Wax. So I’ll have to get out and buy it… But buying wax isn’t as easy as it was before. But Swix have an online wizard that can help you - Swix Wax Wizard.

Buying skies has been more complicated too. I had to try several skies before we found the ones maching perfectly my height and weight. And we had to decide if I needed Classic or Skate. I really like to skate, but as I like to bring one of my sons in a Pulk – using a more classic ski is easier. So I decided for the Madshus Birkebeiner Classic Carbon. They are just perfect!

RyghSMS - 2010 update

RyghSMS started as a mini-project in 2008. I had a setup where SMS from my phone was forwarded to an online solution where I could read them online. Very practical sitting in meetings – not wanting to grab your phone every time it got messages. Within this framework have I included the option to send outgoing SMS from my own number via an API provided by Telenor. It was within this I added the option to forward the text if the combination of the sender and the start of the messages was a specific code. Adding users took a lot of time as all user management was hard-coded. Each user was a lot of new lines and an “ElseIF” in the ASP 3.0 code. All this was replaced with a database that is used when adding new users and the process each time a messages is processed by RyghSMS.

The key in the solution is a service provided by NetCom named SMSpluss. It gives you the opportunity to receive an email copy of each sms received to your mobile number. In the start I forwarded this number to a “publish to my blog” email address at blogger.com. I used the blogger service option to ftp the new blog posts to my ftp-server – and used an xml-parser (self written) to import the new messages to the database. After some reposting issues, because blogger changed the timestamp or the ID of the messages, made me drop this extra layer of the solution. A script written in PHP imports the messages directly over IMAP into the database making them reading for posting to twitter.

I have developed several filters to ensure that double posting or infinite loops will not happen. The scripts checks if the new message is identical to an old message from the user in the database, and it checks if the message is identical to one of the last 20 messages posted by the user to twitter. I have also developed a way to pull direct messages received on twitter, and forward them as SMS to end-users. This is what I call a “pro-service” – as you’ll need to pay yourself for the messages you receive. I have not tried to push this solution to anybody – so the only users of it is me and some dedicated twitter-friends :-)

So what is next for RyghSMS? I have a list of features I would like to develop. It includes (but not limited to) OAuth, some smart filters for direct messages (DMs), web GUI for users to change their settings and a way for people to buy credits for any pro-services I add. But I see a trend, and the trend is that people use less SMS for updating twitter. More and more people having smart phones like the iPhone are taking away traffic for RyghSMS. I also see that I receive less-and-less DMs. I am not sure why DMs is reduced, but I guess the fact that people don’t know that they are forwarded as SMS anymore (it was a free service from twitter in the start) has made people using the feature differently). The additional features I can develop to enhance RyghSMS is limited – and as the use of it reduced the value of add-ons are VERY limited. So it will be as with many of my other web projects – developed when I need to break from my current day-job to do some good old fashion programming.

And by-the-way... This blog-post as of now is replacing the ryghsms webpage. Any ideas, comments etc can be posted here - or to @rygh.

New Laptop!

My new work laptop was ready to be picked up the week before Christmas, and this week I finally got the time to move over from my old to this new and faster computer. My old computer was an IBM branded ThinkPad (pre-Lenovo) T60. And my new computer is a Lenovo ThinkPad X200. The old was the standard laptop-size, and the new is an ultraportable. And I really like it being this small. With the smallest battery it is only 1,36kg compared to almost 3kg on the T60. Being a consultant I ALWAYS have my computer with me.

The biggest change besides the size is the fact that this is a Lenovo ThinkPad. My old one was IBM branded. It has smaller screen, so I’ll see more scrolling on the web. You can see images of the two laptops on the side - the size isn't correct, but you see that the ThinkPad design hasn't changed. On the T60 have I been running Windows 7 beta(build 7100) since May, so it was time to move the final edition. I am currently running the Ultimate version, but I have license key for the Pro-edition – so I guess I’ll be downgrading soon before the activation limitations kicks inn.

I now have all the applications ready (both installed, but also for the next refresh (downgrade). So it will be fast getting it up2speed. I’ll be replacing the 150GB shipped from the factory with a separately ordered 300GB. Maybe it sounds a bit on the heavy side, but do you remember how large your first hard drive was? I think the 386 IBM from the nineties had 100mb… It was before the Internet, before CD-rom was standard, when you installed DOS before you installed Windows – and Windows was shipped on floppy disks. The X200 doesn’t have a DVD-player (it is in the ultrabase docking) – when will “not having” DVD-player in computers be standard? When will we get a non-optical medium as the default backup/distribution handler?

Nexus One... why not?

Image from google.com/phone

Let me start with my biggest question to all the reviewers out there... Are you currently an iPhone user or iPhone evangelist? In that case, I don’t think you’ll judge the “gphone” objectively. I would also like all the big IT-sites to tell me what type of equipment they use in their “day-to-day” work. Are you an apple OSX user, the iPhone is more your thing… are you a linux/opensource person your taste of mobiles will be different. I am currently a big Nokia-fan. I have had other mobiles, and I have been keen on getting an iPhone, but the “THE” factor hasn’t been there for me to replace my current mobile-setup (Nokia N82 for work, and Nokia E75 for leisure time). Both my mobiles can receive work mail (not that I always use that functionality), both mobiles can receive and send MMS; both mobiles have Wi-Fi and good/relative good cameras.

As a part of my mobile-setup is some important software (Symbian based) that forwards SMS received to the mobile that isn’t my “primary” phone. When at work my private mobile can stay in my jacket, and at home my work phone can stay together with my computer. I can with a web-solution I have developed myself read the SMS received online – making the “two mobile setup” even easier.

All the iPhone lovers are probably not the target for Google with their Nexus One. People finding the iPhone the “killer” phone are all happy. They will only replace it with Google’s if they think the “it” factor is bigger with the Nexus – and I am not sure it will be. I think the Nexus will be more powerful, more for the professional IT user and more for the geek. So who is the target? The target is the smart (or not so smart) Smart-phone users. The current users of Symbian (or Symbian-ish) based mobiles. Nokia is probably not happy about this new competitor. Microsoft will probably don’t like that their former Microsoft friendly partner HTC is now producing the Nexus One for Google – making the two biggest “enemies” of the Google Mobile project Nokia and Microsoft.


So why would I like to test the Nexus One? Because I think Google has waited until they had a product that was really ready for the market. A mobile truly created and produced to enhance the mobile experience – not reinvent the concept of the phone.And I love that they didn't name it the gPhone! :-)