Randomrants

Today being July 1 Telstra have taken the wraps of the  QRious website… which was wait for it… for QR Codes.  BIG F**KING DEAL.

but here is just some of the hype…

“Telstra cracks the code to mobile revolution in world first”

“Telstra Group Managing Director for Consumer and Channels, Mr David Moffatt, said more than half a million Australians would begin receiving the free mobile code readers from July 1, with more to follow.”

and from the website  http://www.qrious.com.au

“What is the difference between a QR Code® and a Telstra Mobile Code?
There is no physical difference, however Telstra is introducing the codes to Australia and codes generated by Telstra will be known as Telstra Mobile Codes and much of the content that the codes lead to will be free  and/or exclusive to Telstra Next G™ and 3G mobile customers with compatible mobiles.”

Ok Telstra marketing SCUM BUCKETS… time for some facts.

Firstly you are NOT introducing them… because if you are I and a lot of other people will be able to sue you for prior art as we were using them in Australia before you!

Secondly they have been around for a long time (Internet years that is) with the codes being invented in 1994, and ISO certified in June 2000 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_codes)

Wikipedia says:

“QR Codes are common in Japan where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional code.”

People even put them on their gravestones in Japan

So what is the story here NOTHING, Telstra a spinning a load of crock.  My Nokia N95 has out of the box QR reading and that was purchased in Feb, so all the bullshit about QR Readers only being available on 3 phone models is also crap.  It has been around for years and has been in Australia for just as long.

So as standard with Telstra wipe away the bullshit and all you are left with is a handle of crappy paper nothing more.

Tags: Annoyances, Mobile by Me
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Came across an App and the database for getting Speed Camera warnings on your mobile phone.  This is a great idea as I use the GPS on my phone as the my main GPS (yes I am that sad I have more than 1, The Asus R2H has OziExplorer and topo maps for going off road and is not always in the car!, the phone is!)

“This application provides a speed camera warning system for suitable Series 60 3ed phones. It is designed to operate either in conjunction with Nokia Maps, or in the background (e.g. whilst using another application or in standby) and popup to the foreground with an audio visual alert, then return to the background”

http://mcbiskits1.googlepages.com/

(Note it is not currently a Signed app, so that may put some users off)

and the database (covering most of the world inc Australia is here)

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Cameras

I will try and install it on the weekend and give you a working report.

Tags: gps, nokia by Me
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So yesterday one of the worst kept secrets in the world finally came out and Telstra announced they are going to carry the Iphone.  Big deal… 🙂

Anyway they also announced pricing… (according to news.com.au)

you are looking at anywhere from $999 to $2400 depending on phone and data plan. One sting has to be that on the $30p/m plan the initial cost is $279 not $210 which is should be given the dollar.  But if Telstra want to make a few more bucks cause people are going to buy this phone in the bucket load so be it.  Oh yeah and when Apple release another Iphone in 12 months time you are screwed… why because it is a 24 Month contract.

Telstra do have a MAJOR marketing edge over all the other carriers in Australia.  The Iphone works on the 850Mhz band and so does NextG.  Still there is no talk of just how much data you are going to get on your $30p/m plan but at a guess I am going to say not much!

There is also a lot of discussion floating around about how Telstra will pitch “Big Pond Movies/Music” when the Iphone is going to point people to Itunes.  That is going to be an interesting space to watch.

So now people can compare the Iphone as a $1000 phone to all other $1000 phones out in the market.  That is things like the n95-8gb, the HTC Diamond e.t.c.  Which of course will start to show the phone in a very different light.  The 2mg camera starts to look a bit crap when you are paying $1000 for the phone for example.

A good kicker also for Telstra is opening up the telstra wi-fi hot spots to Iphone users.  Think McDonald’s, Starbucks, most capital cities cbd’s e.t.c  That is an impressive amount of free data that you will be able to access at a lot of very convient locations.  I think that the creation of these “free” hot spots will help to start a cascade of free wifi hotspots, which will not be device specific.

This is not limited of course to the Iphone.  I for one am looking forward to the fudges that will come out so I can spoof the wi-fi to say that my Nokia is an Iphone, my R2H is an Iphone and any other device I want is an Iphone just to get free wifi.

So instead of paying 20cents per minute to access Telstra wi-fi hotspots in the future I will be on an Iphone.

Tags: apple by Me
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