August 09, 2006

The success of Sony's mylo: A Gordian knot

Sony recently announced the imminent release of mylo, a $350 personal communicator that supports WiFi, Skype, instant messaging and MP3s. This device is unique in many respects, but it may doom itself by being a little ahead of its time.

mylo is the killer app of VoIP and WiFi -- the first device that truly unifies voice and data communication. Earlier devices have taken a shot at this goal, but have been stunted by the antics of slow-moving telecom carriers, who want to preserve the status quo. The mylo is different from a PDA because of its much improved communications capabilities. mylo has a full QWERTY keyboard, which differentiates it from Sony's PSP game console. Together with Google's much-touted WiFi service and VoIP-enabled applications such as Google Talk, it may well be the Mobile Skype Cable that challenges the stranglehold of traditional wireless telecom providers on the airwaves.

Although the prospect of a WiFi-enabled personal mobile communicator sounds great, Sony has bet the success of mylo upon WiFi, whose own success has yet to be proven. Freely available WiFi is far from being universal. The lack of ubiquitous free WiFi outside public access areas like college campuses would stunt mylo's voice and IM communication features. Think of all the stories about abysmal cellular phone network coverage you've heard and magnify them a few times to get an idea of the situation. Until ubiquitous WiFi becomes a reality, mylo would be reduced to an expensive MP3 player.

This device is different from Sony's previous forays into personal electronics. It's almost as if the Vaio and PSP teams produced this device after a night of passion. The closest device that comes to mind is Sharp's Sidekick, marketed heavily by wireless carrier T-Mobile. The Sidekick too has a QWERTY keyboard and IM integration.It has a 2.6-inch screen form factor as against mylo's 2.4 inches. It may not support Skype but it has a camera instead. Nonetheless, mylo would beat the Sidekick for the average consumer because it is not tied to a carrier.

Sony's announcement raises a number of questions. Will mylo influence the PSP product line at all? Why is Sony entering the market of general-purpose personal electronics? It may be trying to differentiate itself from Nintendo, its closest competitor in personal electronic devices. Or perhaps it may be positioning itself to capture the detritus left behind by the peaking of the iPod--folks for whom a glorified hard drive with a video screen just doesn't cut it anymore.

If Sony's track record alone were any indication, it can sabotage the success of mylo in many ways. It can exercise proprietary control over technical aspects of the device and stunt its blossoming as a platform. It can try and pull off something as dastardly as the rootkit fiasco from last year. Or it can overprice a device that without WiFi would be a fancy MP3 player. Unless price cuts come soon for this device, lukewarm sales early on can cast a shadow over its future success, just as in the case of N-Gage. The big Internet companies, Google, Yahoo and Ebay, stand to profit considerably from usage of their mobile services on this device. Perhaps they can come to Sony's aid somehow and cut the Gordian knot that will make a seriously cool device like the mylo a success.

Posted by Vishy at 07:33 PM | Comments (1)

September 10, 2005

Object Lust #3: A floating globe

One of the most vivid memories I have from childhood is when my dad explained how different parts of the world have daytime and nighttime simultaneously. With only our inflatable globe, a flashlight and two matchsticks, I saw how different parts of the world had different times of the day at once. I think this knowledge even predates my realization that the earth revolves around the sun, rather than vice versa. I have always been fascinated by globes, maps and any models of the earth, really. My fascination with these probably arises as a combination of my interests in geography and human-artifact interaction. (When I heard that geography becomes optional in the U.S. school system at a very early stage, I was appalled that anyone would not want to learn more about our world. Anyway, I digress.)

I spotted a web site dedicated solely to the production of custom globes (thanks, BoingBoing) that are installed at various locations around the world. See their catalog for a few examples of what a powerful education medium a simple sphere with our world drawn on it can be (warning: many images; can take long to load). I inquired with them about how much one of these globes would cost if I custom ordered them. I was particularly interested in #41, "The World at Night". A cheery representative apologized for the delay in replying and said they were a bit short on those globes right now, but that they could be custom made for a paltry $3,300. Moving right along...

Later, I came across another web site dedicated to globes, where I spotted this thing of beauty. It's an 8" (20 cm) diameter globe with black oceans and continents in vivid colors. It comes with a pedestal having electromagnets along a vertical axis. When plugged in, the globe floats in midair between the electromagnets and can be spun freely as it just hangs in space. Talk about an accurate model of the earth floating in the solar system! The pedestal has a handsome cherry finish and the whole thing would look incredibly classy on any desk or in any apartment.

They seem to be selling these off at a 20% discount from their usual price of $79.95. Combined with free ground shipping from JustGlobes.com, I definitely want to get my hands on one of these.

[The Floating World Globe; http://www.justglobes.com; $59.95 ($79.95 regular)]

Posted by Vishy at 01:20 AM | Comments (0)

August 30, 2005

Object Lust #2: A smart coffee mug

I drink a lot of tea at work. Apart from my afternoon cup of coffee, tea is my primary source of caffeine. One day it is English Breakfast. The next day it is Irish Breakfast. The following day is Lady Grey. On all of these days though, I lovingly brew my tea for 3-5 minutes and then proceed to pour it on the second most sensitive part of my body (just in case you were wondering, the most sensitive part of the body is not this or this, but this). Though I'm cautious about this fact before I brew my daily cuppas, the sheer delight of filling my nostrils with the scent of a freshly brewed cup makes me forget everything. With a scalded tongue and a curled up nose, I set down my cup of tea for a while and attend to other tasks. By the next time I remember that I have a cup of tea at my desk, it has gone completely cold and is unfit to drink and enjoy.

I came across a smart coffee mug, which keeps a warm liquid warm, but also has an isolated upper chamber to bring the liquid to a drinkable temperature fast. This lets warm liquids be maintained at high temperatures until just before they are sipped. A stroke of simple and creative genius. Each mug has three settings: Lock, Tip&Cool and Sip. The Lock setting seals the mug and lets liquids be transported easily without scalding or staining spills. The Tip&Cool setting uses the upper temperature controlled chamber to cool the liquid instantly while it is still too hot to drink directly. After the liquid has cooled down enough, you can use the Brugo mug like a traditional mug by using the Sip setting to bypass the upper temperature controlled chamber. This is a bit of a modal user interface, but it's a small price to pay for the considerably reduced risk of tongue scalding.

(Brugo Mug; http://www.brugomug.com; $15.95)

Posted by Vishy at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)

June 29, 2005

Object Lust #1: Double feature

Some people, particularly women, have a strange shopping gene in their genome. To them, spending hours walking through shops, looking through things they probably won't buy, is a perfectly acceptable timepass. I certainly can't stand being dragged through real-life store after real-life store (as I am sometimes by the various women in my life) all day. Sometimes though, I catch myself doing the online equivalent of the same activity. I float aimlessly from online store to online store viewing all manner of weird and wonderful things that teh InTaRw3b has to offer. Sometimes I even run into something I think is cool. I definitely don't need these items but I keep thinking about how fun it would be to own them.

I am starting this new section of my blog called Object Lust (nod to the Salon column of the same name). From time to time, it will feature some stuff which caught my attention either because it is cool, or weird or otherwise distinctive. Don't use this section as a wishlist necessarily *wink*. You can rest assured though that all the items in this section either interest me or interested me at some point, even if very briefly.

Because this is the first post in this section, I will feature two cool items:

Caffeine strips. For the caffeine junkies among us, this is quite an awesome invention.These strips deliver caffeine straight to your bloodstream, bypassing your gastrointestinal tract. You put them under your tongue, where they dissolve and give you an instant energy boost. $2.99 for a 24-pack.

On an unrelated note, like they have the nicotine patch, wouldn't it be awesome if they had the caffeine patch and the adrenaline patch too?

Paramotors. Imagine being able to make a powered flight with an aircraft that fits in the back of your car. All you need to do to get in the air is to turn on a motor, run for a short distance in an open space and watch the ground recede under your feet as you are lifted by an aerodynamic parachute-like wing. You can stay in the air for upto two hours and climb to great heights considering you're doing it on our own. Paramotor pilots generally reach 2,000 feet, but are licensed to go upto 18,000 feet, by which time it gets freakin' cold. And best of all, it's a self-regulated sport for which you don't need a pilot certificate from the FAA. So, you too can fly without appearing on Department of Homeland Security no-fly lists for having taken flight training. $5,000 or so for a paramotor, $2,000 for a wing and an additional $2,000 for training.

Posted by Vishy at 09:37 PM | Comments (2)