The USAA Example: Online Banking takes another step forward!

It has been a while now since banking moved on-line and went almost mobile. Most of the banks in India give us options to do on-line transactions and use our mobile phones to keep track of what is happening with the accounts. With a bank in USA moving ahead and permitting customers to deposit their checks on-line, using their iPhones, I think it is another step forward. I feel, since banks are trying everything they can to make banking a more comfortable experience for account holders, this is soon going to come to India too. So if it comes to Indian Banks, it means you don't have to apply for a casual leave to go to the bank and sit in the queue to deposit a check.

How is this on-line check depositing done? Here, I have got this video from the bank in question, as posted on YouTube and it explains how it is done:


I am happy that core banking services are moving more on-line. And economics experts are right, in a way the global economic melt down is for good reasons. We are going to see a lot of customer centric innovations happening at every level.

But I am not happy with the fact that it is first launched on iPhone. Why? Because, lately Apple is acting very strange and stifling innovations. It took Google Voice away from its store and thus denied American users an opportunity to save a few pennies on phone calls. I know that businesses are not run for charity. But my point is, denying an opportunity to save something during this huge economic meltdown is an economic crime and Apple has done that. Now,I feel, nothing innovative should be first launched on Apple  here after. Apple should be the last one to get a taste of the innovations by other people because of their stone age policies about promoting innovations on-line.

Google buying On2: What difference does it make?

Yesterday, in a Press Release Google and On2 announced that Google is finally acquiring On2 Technologies Inc., a leading developer of video compression technology. On2 is about 'creating and delivering high quality video over IP networks." Google is also about Youtube, we know. And it is a $ 106. 5 million deal they say. 'Each outstanding share of On2 common stock will be converted into $0.60 worth of Google class A common stock in a stock-for-stock transaction,' according to the Press Release. What difference is it going to make, if Google acquires On2?

Now, experts say the game is all about video codecs. Video codes enable video compression and On2 makes them. VP6, VP 7 etc are high defenition, high quality video codecs, developed by On2, used in Adobe Flash Player, Web2.0, VoIP, mobile video and other embedded devices.. But at present, VP6 and VP7 are losing out in the game to H.264, which comes under GNU General Public License. That means H.264 comes under free licence and people have the freedom to modify and distribute it. VP6 is a licensed codec and expects companies to pay a licence fee every year. VP6 of course is about quality videos. And people hope and pray that Google makes it open source.

What happens if Google makes VP6 open source?

1. Companies like Adobe,AOL, Skype, Nokia, XM Satellite Radio, Sony, Yamaha, TI, LSI Logic, Analog Devices, VideoEgg, Brightcove, Cox, Naver.com (Korea), Daum (Korea), Tencent(China) etc, who are already using VP6 will continue using it and building on it for free, without having to pay licence fee to On2. This means they come back to use the more superior VP6 and we can forget H.264. Quality of videos across platforms will improve.
2. HTML5 is on the way and it will enable browsers to handle videos without the help of plugins like Flash Player or Silverlight. This will help developers stop bothering about a lot of software compatiability issues. It will also help users save a lot of hard drive space, as plugins need not be downloaded.  
3. Mobile phone users will be able to send their MMS Videos to other mobile phones, without the fear of losing quality.   
4. People who do Video Conferencing using Webcams can then start thinking about videos that are viewable and not distorted as they are these days. 

Google can go ahead and not open source On2 video codecs at all. What happens then? Apple has its QuickTime. Microsoft has its Silverlight. Adobe has its Flash. And Google has what it takes to give them the foundation - VP6 and VP7. This means, at one point or the other, these biggies will end up paying licence fees to Google. This sale was a smart move, wasn't it?

What did I learn selling my friend's cell phone!

Cell phones are good things. But sometimes they can turn out to be a pain in the neck. My friend's Sony Ericson Z555i turned out to be one such disaster. It had a fascinating look, as though it was made out of crystals. But my friend realized looks can deceive. The phone was never loud or clear, the way Sony Ericson Phones are usually expected to be. It behaved in different ways at different times. Sometimes it was loud and sometimes it never made a noise even if some one called you. It had an option where you could just wave your hand on the phone and make it silent when it rang. But that rarely worked. I used to see my friend waving his hand on the phone in desperation when it rang and it just wouldn't listen. And my friend decided to sell the thing off and get a new one.

Sell the cell phone! And I joined in. That was when we learned a few things about the 'second-hand' phone market out there. Let me share a few of the things we have learned with you:

1. After you start using a phone, don't throw the box it came in away. Phones with the packages they come in, with all the bits and pieces of paper that came along with it, can fetch you a lot more than a phone with no box.
2. Keep the bill. Phones with bills are easy to sell.
3. Don't buy phones that you can flap shut or slide open. They look good and stylish, I agree. But 'second-hand' phone dealers look at them like a piece of good for nothing crap. If your phone is one piece, people will buy.
4. When you buy a phone in India and you want to sell it later, buy a Nokia Phone. No, I am not campaigning for Nokia here. I know many of the Nokia phones suck equally when it comes to performance. But in the Indian 'second-hand' market, Noika Cell Phones are revered than any one. So are some of the Sony Ericson models, only if they are in single piece.
5. Go to at least five or six 'second-hand' dealers, before you get rid of 'that-bloody-thing'. You will gain a sense of how much you can ask for your piece of trash.
6. Make sure that your phone is working, at least for the time the 'dealer guy' is going to check it and certify it. If the phone malfunctions, as the guy is checking, you are doomed. The price can come down drastically. 
7. Make sure that you know the model number of your phone and when it was thrown into the market. Sometimes, these people can tell you that it is an old and useless model and will not fetch you much. The more you know about your phone, the better.

After all the hardships we had to go through to sell off the Z555i, my friend decided one thing. He is not going after the look and style any more. Before buying a new phone for him, we went and saw many models. Talked to people who knows about mobile phones. We identified a few good models, came back to look at reviews on them in different 'product review sites'. Once we went back and decided which phone to buy, we checked when and where the phone was made. [Made in China is strictly a 'no no' and Manufactured four or five months ago is again a 'no no' ] Made sure that we have a warranty or guarantee for all the bits and pieces of the phone, including the battery, the charger and the ear phone, at least for a year. [Now remember, the dealer would say there is Guarantee for all the stuff in the cell phone box. But sometimes he may not put his seal on all the papers related to Guarantee. Make sure that you have the dealer's seal and signature on the guarantee cards.] We insisted that the sales guy gave us a live demo of the phone. Made sure that it had all the features we wanted. And then bought the new one. 

Worth the trouble. A few minutes ago, my friend called me and said that 'the phone is good'. By the way, it is another Sony Ericson. I wish it would remain so for as long as he wants.

The Economics of Attention: What is the trend now?

It was Google Trends who gave a new meaning to the word 'trend' on the Internet. It was about what the world was searching. It was Google's effort to assist the advertisers to make their decision during the keyword auctions for Adwords. Google sold contextual keywords to advertisers to run Adword Campaigns, one of the most innovative and successful advertising models ever. They have Search Based Keyword Tool that helps advertisers decide keywords for their campaign, based on actual search queries. And I think Google Trends added value to this by showing advertisers which keywords were searched the most. Perhaps, the price of the keywords went up depending on the trend,helping Google boost the Adword Sales.

'Trend' is now the Twitter Word. It is more about 'trending' now than about 'trend'. If 'Trend' was about what the world searched, 'trending' is about what the world is buzzing. Google Trend was about what the world searched during a day and was usually consolidated by the end of the day. But 'Trending' is about seconds! We see that trends change every second.

In 2007, Richard MacManus wrote about "10 Future Web Trends". The fifth possible trend he mentioned was "Attention Economy". There he mentioned a write-up by Alex Iskold, on Attention Economy. In the write-up Alex explored a proposition by Herbert Simon:

Herbert Simon was perhaps the first person to articulate the concept of attention economics when he wrote:"...in an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it" (Simon 1971, p. 40-41).

Alex said that 'key ingredient in the attention game is relevancy' and what is relevant this second may not be relevant in the next as the attention span of people is really narrowing down. People 'skim' more than they 'read'. And he also explained how we are soon going to live in an 'Attention Market Place", where the customer gets to choose what he is going to look at and buy. I think the time has arrived. And Twitter Trending and What the Trend? are signs of our time. You must have already noticed that what trends on Twitter during the first half of the day does not trend during the second half.

So far it was about plain and direct 'Contextual Marketing.' Advertisements were placed based on what people searched and what people read. I think contextual marketing has come of age. As predicted by Alex, we are moving from the idea of static 'web sites' to the idea of ever changing and people participatory 'web services'. Marketing also needs to focus on what people say as they focus on what people search and read. It is more about word-of-mouth marketing, or what they call viral marketing. In other words, marketing needs to focus on where people's attention is. I think it is here a Web Service like What the Trend? or Fad.ly becomes relevant.

What the Trend? looks at what people are looking at and talking about, mostly on Twitter. It also gives you an idea about latest photos and latest news on a trending topic. One good thing about 'What the Trend?' is the fact that it gives us an idea about when the trend trended for the first time and when it trended for the last time. It also gives a space for people to say why the trend is trending. But at present it gives you only a limited picture when it comes to what is the trend elsewhere.

If you have the 'whole World Wide Web'in mind, I think fad.ly is more evolved when it comes to conceptualizing 'trending'. It claims that it was launched to become a central location for real time fads on web. Now, that is a little more comforting than 'What the trend?'s' idea of trending. But the discomforting part of the story is that when it comes to trending, even fad.ly focuses on what happens on twitter than elsewhere. Sure it has provided spaces to pull links to news, photographs and videos relevant to the topic. However, they rarely have a link to give us as it is mostly about what is trending on Twitter and not necessarily about what is trending on the World Wide Web.

I think viral marketing wiz kids can use these tools to design their campaigns 'Attention Economy' focused. I also hope someone big enough to take "What the Trend?" to the next level takes notice of Matt Mayer or Fad.ly. I would love to see what is 'trending' every second on the whole 'World Wide Web' and not just Twitter.! Till that happens, I am afraid, Google Trend is the only reliable tool marketing people are going to have to decide what drives their campaigns.

Google Voice is coming soon! Will it come to India?

Happy news folks - Grand Central is now Google Voice!!

I try my best to restrict it to one post a day and anything more than one post is queued up for the coming days. I have a minimum of five posts waiting to be published on any given day. I heard the news today and couldn't help but publish this post. And I know it is only for US Customers! But that is okie! I am sure one day I'll be using Google Voice from India to talk to friends and relatives. I also have a feeling that corporates are going to jump at this opportunity. One number for all your phones is not a bad idea and that is what Google is offering through Google Voice.

Google Voice started off as Grand Central in 2005. Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet, the guys who ran Dialpad Communications which was aquired by Yahoo! in June 2005, laid plans for Grand Central. Google acquired Grand Central in July 2007. For the last two years Google never really said anything about the future of Grand Central. And now, it is Google Voice.

David Lagesse wrote why he thinks Google Voice is going to add value to Information Technology. I think one of his reasons is really true:

"It's a compelling offer, especially at the price. In typical Google fashion, there is no cost to users, at least not yet. Maybe there will be later, at least for premium services. For now, the only cost is a potential loss of privacy."

Google has kept the key feature of Grand Central and peppered the service with goodies of their own. The power of Grand Central was its ability to give one number for all your phones. David Pogue gives an overview of the features Google has added to the service:

"The new features included free transcriptions of your voicemail (the text of those messages gets sent to you by e-mail and text message); free conference calling; dirt-cheap international calls (2 cents a minute to France or China, for example); and, perhaps most profoundly, Web-based sending and storing of all your text messages. That's a first in cellphone history; for most people, text messages scroll away off the phone after 20 of them or so, with no way to capture them."

Skype Forums are already talking about how Google is going to be Skype Killer! Now, Skype, I guess allows Skype-to-Skype calls for free and charges Skype-to-Phone Calls. But, Google Voice is talking about free calls to any local phone. And Preethi Dumpala gives five reasons why she thinks Google Voice is going to take Skype out of Business. Off all the five reasons, I am in total agreement with her when she talks about the 'Google Muscle!"

And it seems you can connect your Jaxter Number with Google Voice Number. I am not still sure if that is going to be 'free of cost to both parties' as it is discussed in the forum. But if it is, it is a bonus. Another good example of how technology can make it a lot more easier for people.

Google says that Google Voice will be open to users in weeks. Right now the service is available to Grand Central Users only.And Grand Central Users are obviously US Users. I am not sure if it is going to be open for Mobile Phone Users in India, the way our telephone companies deal with VoIP. No one is sure and everyone is waiting! For people from US who wants to send SMS to India, I think you can start doing that for time being!!

International Mobile Promo: Beware of SMS Scams!

Internet is not a very safe place and you got to be very careful when it comes to leaving your details around. It is sad that people use internet, such a good thing to happen to human beings after invention of wheels I would say, for many things criminal. I have come to a point where I am thinking of deleting all my accounts from whatever sites I am using while I surf net.

Now, what is making me write this?

Every other day I receive one or two emails that declare me a winner of some fabulous lucky-dip that I never participated in. The moment I read 'lottery' or 'prize' on the subject line of an email, I know now that it is spam.I never even bother to read it. And I report it. So far spamming was restricted to emails. Now, it is all over the place. The other day I received this SMS from MO GCNPROMO.

CONGRAT! Your mobile number have won 425,000 GBP in WCN International Mobile Promo. For claim contact WCN @ Tel: +447014248947 & Email:-cellsglo@live.com

I'm sure spammers got my number as I was trying to use one of these net call facilities on Internet. I have tried four or five of them who offer "Computer to Phone" call facility. And I'm sure it's one of them who gave my number away. Either they sold it to a couple of Internet Thugs or they themselves did it. I accept I should have thought before I gave away my number to a site about whom I have no idea. But that's the way it is on internet and I can't really blame anybody.

I tried to see if there are people who got the similar messages. Google took me to a site that allowed people to record their complaints and what you see below is a snapshot of similar complaints registered on this site.

I am so excited about ways in which technology can be used for the good of the people. And I am so disgusted about how people can turn it around and use it for bad things. And I decide, I'll strictly adhere to the following in the future that these kind of people are not encouraged:

• I'll not open or reply to any email that I think is spam and I'll report spam to the email service provider that I use.
• I'll report an email spam if it is from a sender I don't know
• I'll never give my email id to any of the sites that I don't trust. My trust is based on word of mouth. 
• I'll never register my mobile number or email id with any of the newsletters that are around.
• I'll never give my email id or password to any of the social community networks that asks me for such details to fetch my contact list
• I'll report spam when ever I get them on the Chat Software Packages I use.
• I'll never use any other software other than the software made available by the site whose chat  facility I am using. For example, I'll never access Google Talk or Yahoo! Messenger from any other site or software
• I'll never visit porn sites that may send malicious code to my computer
• I'll not use a software just because it is free. I'll double check it to see if the author can be trusted before I use it.
• I'll change my passwords, at least once a month
• I'll not use all the applications and widgets, just because they are on a site I trust because I know people collaborate with the sites to make them. 

I hope this way I'll be able to prevent spam to some extend. I really hope so!

I wish Jaxter had a local number in India!!

The worst thing that can happen to you, as you are making an urgent call, is to dial a number on your cellphone and realize that you are running on 'low balance' or absolutely 'no balance' This happened to me today! That's what got me into searching for someone who offers a 'Computer to Phone' call facility. [Necessity is the mother of all searches.]

I 'stumbled' on many sites that offered a 'Computer to Phone' call facility. Many asked me to download a software to enable this facility. Now, for me, I download software from Internet very rarely for the fear of spyware. [Oh, that's a cool fear! What do they call it? Fear of spyware! Spyware Phobia?] So, I decline. And many of them that offered 'Computer to Phone' call, charged in either Dollar or Euro. To Indian standards, in INR, the price looked four or five times higher than the Call Tariff my Telecom Service Provider charged me. I had no other go.

That's when I stumbled on Jaxter.Now, even Jaxter 'click to call' rates are higher than my normal 'Phone-to-Phone' calls. That's not my issue here as I don't think I am ever gona make 'Computer to Phone' calls from India in the near future. What caught my eye was the Free Call Facility on offer from Jaxter. They have this 'Local Number' facility. All you got to do is to give your number and the destination number to get a Local Jaxter Number. Dial the Jaxter number and once you connect, Jaxter dials your friend's number and you can chat as long as you want. That's something cool, isn't it? I was excited. And I tried. So sad, so sad! Jaxter does not have a local number in India right now. So you can't make calls from India, using Jaxter.

I was sad. I read the Jaxter Blog to find out that they had a local number for Mumbai. Some cruel, cut-throat Telecom Company who provided that service to Jaxter disabled the number. Yes, that is cruel and cut-throat. Because of this the FreeConnect Service from Jaxter is not available for calls placed to/from India. This is what I call the pre-historic attitude of telecom companies. I wish I knew the company that pulled the wire on Jaxter so that I could give them a piece of my mind!