Born to be Wireless

That’s right, Nokia seems to be working on it’s own visual search engine. At least that’s what its patent application called “Semantic visual search engine” is telling us.

Nokia Visual Search Engine comprises three related processes: learning, categorizing and searching:

When analyzing the images, at first they are converted into a plurality of candidate low-level features (like shape, color and texture strength) and these features are extracted locally around salient points of the image.

Then a supervised learning approach is used to select prominent low-level features from the plurality of candidate low-level features. The prominent low-level features are associated with predefined object categories, that describe generic objects (e.g., cars, planes, etc.); parts of a person’s body (e.g., faces), geographical landmarks (e.g., mountains, trees. etc.), or other items.

When a new item is to be categorized, the target item is converted into a plurality of multi-scale local features and then each local feature is matched with the prominent low-level features using a probabilistic model. So, if the target item has a face, then this feature will be matched accordingly to the other items having a face and the item will be categorized.

The user can search for images by entering keywords, keywords and template images or just image templates without keywords. Items that are similar to the input item are then provided to the user in response to the inquiry.

I am no visual search engine algorithm expert, so I’m not sure if the claims in the patent are new, unique or very useful. But the fact, that Nokia is working in this direction at all, sounds pretty interesting.

And some quips in the patent provide hints that Nokia may have much bigger ambitions for it’s search engine, then just searching for images inside of your cellphone

“…it should be noted that, although “images” are explicitly discussed herein, the present invention can also be applied to non-image content such as audio files...” - general media search engine for audio and video files as well?

“…it should be noted that the search results can also comprise results of a search performed locally and/or at a remote location, and the items being searched can be located locally and/or remotely…This invention can also be implemented in hardware and used in consumer devices….” - sounds like a general Web visual search engine for mobile devices.

Are we looking at the great Google vs Nokia showdown somewhere in 2010?

source: Unwired View

Labels: nokia, patent, search

It looks like Google has come up with an answer to Yahoo's oneSearch (review). When you visit mobile Google search (google.com/m), there's a new link at the top of the page heralding "New Try our new mobile search" Follow that link and you'll see a page that works a whole lot like oneSearch. Gone are the options to search Web, Images, Local Listings and Mobile Web. In their place is a single search box. Searches now return a mixture of results from the web, mobile web, news and images - much like with oneSearch. Again, like oneSearch, a field appears on most results pages, where you can specify a location to obtain local shopping and events results related to your query. Like oneSearch, Google lists the latest scores as the first result for queries consisting of the name of a sports team - although if you look at the image 0n the right Google doesn't list tonight's currently in progress game! Bug?

I have very mixed feelings about this new Google Search interface. On the one hand, like oneSearch, it does typically require less keying to find what you are looking for. But, and this is huge, Google seems to have largely abandoned the mobile web as a source of results for queries. The old Google mobile search offers a choice of searching the full web or the mobile web. The new version mixes mobile and web results together - although you will be hard pressed to find the mobile ones. There are many more web than mobile results and the mobile ones don't receive any priority, in fact they tend to be buried, often not appearing in the first screen of results at all. Google seems to think that users prefer transcoded copies of full web pages over pages designed for mobile. I don't agree. Google's transcoder is one of the best - but transcoded pages remain harder to navigate and less attractive than good mobile specific ones. This change is bad for the future of the mobile web too, Google's mobile search drives the majority of traffic to mobile sites. This de-emphasis of mobile results will cause that traffic to drop drastically I fear. oneSearch is much better in this regard with a separate category for mobile sites on the first screen of results and a More mobile web.. link that leads to pages of nothing but mobile web results.

There are some other differences between the two services. Three I noticed are:

• Google shows fewer results per page. Yahoo typically offers at least twenty or more links in five categories, Google limits itself to 10 links in three categories. Yahoo also tends to show more images. GAP recommends a maximum of ten links per page and I notice that Yahoo's results pages load much slower than Google's in the built-in Openwave browser on my Motorola i855. Much of the slowness does not seem to be the network - it just takes the browser a long time to render all those links and images. With Opera Mini on the same phone both Google and oneSearch load equally quickly. I do prefer the richer oneSearch experience if I'm using Opera but if I had to use the more limited Openwave browser I'd only use Google, oneSearch is just too slow.
• Customization: oneSearch does not seem to be customizable in any way, other than being able to toggle "safe" search. There doesn't seem to be any adaptation for browsers either. Google varies the number of links and the size and number of images depending on browser capabilities. A local search for "sushi" gives ten links and one image with the Openwave browser but 15 links and three images with Opera Mini. Google also lets the user customize a number of features of the search. Clicking a Settings link at the bottom of any page reveals the following options:
  1. You can toggle whether Google will save locations you have entered. This option not only makes locations persistent but also adds a drop down of recent locations to the search pages.
  2. Another option lets you toggle a drop down where you can restrict search to just images or local listings. There should be a option to restrict results to the mobile web here too but there isn't!
  3. My favorite option is the one that lets you tell Google not to transcode non-mobile pages. This is great for Opera Mini users. The Google transcoder does a good job of resizing images and reformatting pages to reduce load times and data costs and enhance mobile usability. But Opera Mini uses a web proxy that does the same thing - having them both manipulate the page is a redundant waste of time and yields worse results than either one by itself. I'd love to see Google add this option to the mobile edition of Google Reader where I'm constantly fighting with the transcoder.
  4. Finally, you can add content to Google search's front page, turning it into a mini home page. You can choose up to six content 'modules' from a list of 15 including stock quotes, local movie listings and weather - plus news feeds from the BBC, CNN, ESPN, Rolling Stone, E!, Slashdot and others. The news module's links lead to transcoded rather than true mobile pages. The mobile version of Google News does link mainly to mobile pages, why not do the same here? Unlike the Google Personal Mobile Homepage (google.com/ig/mobile) it isn't possible to add arbitrary feeds - on the other hand you can customize the new search page right from your phone. Setting up a mobile Personal Home Page requires a PC.

A word of warning, if you try out the new Google search interface you will be stuck with it even if you go back to the old URLs, google.com/m or google.com/xhtml. There is a way to get the old search back, go to the new Search Settings page, at the bottom of the screen you will see "You're using the new Google Mobile. (Stop)" Click on Stop to switch back.

Content: Usability:

source: Dennis from WapReview.com

Labels: google, onesearch, search

Labels: google, lg

This weeks carnival is hosted by AllAboutSymbian.

Labels: carnival

• Get the information they care about, right from their homepage.
• Get the answer they want with an absolute minimum of clicks.
• Get to the results that best fit what they're looking for.

Labels: google, mobile, search

Mapquest has offered mobile services in the past, but only via its Mapquest Mobile application, a paid download for Java or BREW phones, or--for certain carriers and phones with built-in GPS support--its Mapquest Navigator service. But the upgrades announced on the eve of the giant CTIA Wireless show here make Mapquest maps and driving directions available for free via any WAP-compatible mobile browser.

Mapquest Director of Wireless Alan Beiagi says the new services make Mapquest available to much wider universe of handsets--roughly 179 million of them, compared to roughly 80 million that support the older fee-based applications.

Getting Mapquest on a Handheld

You can get Mapquest directions and maps on your handset either by going to Mapquest's site, which can detect requests from mobile browsers and respond with content optimized for small screens, or--if you're the type of traveler that plans ahead--by generating maps on your desktop and clicking on a "Send to Cell" link that appears in between the "E-mail" and "Link to these directions" links on top of the directions.

This brings up a small window where you enter your handset number, e-mail address, and a name for your map. Once you submit this info, the service will send you an SMS text message with a link; click on it, and you get your route information--again, optimized for a small screen.

Send to Cell is a beta service, and Mapquest notes that some carriers block SMS messages that contain URLs. (I tried to use it with my Cingular Treo 650 and never got text messages for either of the maps I sent.) Also, while Mapquest does not charge for the service, your carrier may (and probably will) impose text message and/or data charges, depending on your plan.

Location-based, Location-based, Location-based

Mapping, navigation, and location based-services (with or without GPS) are one of the hottest trends in the cell phone business. Mapquest's new services will compete with a growing number of options for navigation and mapping on handsets. Players include such giants as Google, with its Google Mobile Maps applications; Microsoft, with its Windows Live Search for mobile devices; and Yahoo Local Maps, which also has a service that uses SMS text messaging to send your handset a link to a desktop-generated map.

Source: Yahoo! News

Labels: cell, gps, mapquest, services, sms

On March 7, 2007, Juniper Research predicted that the amount of wagers placed in mobile gambling will reach the $16 billion mark by the year 2011, despite the variety of problems that the gambling industry as a whole, faced in 2006.

The main author of the research, Bruce Gibson, said that the restrictions of the prohibitions and laws regarding online and mobile gambling, especially in the United States in 2006, primarily the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) which had a devastating effect on the industry and has slowed down growth of the fledgling mobile gambling market as companies step back to reassess their future plans.

Some Leisure Brands even shifted their attention to other things as a result of the UIGEA. Currently, the focus is on developing core business directed in the Asian and European Market. Juniper Research also predicts that all forms and choices of mobile gambling like casino, lottery and even sports betting will grow from $1.35 billion back in 2006 to about $16.6 billion by the year 2011 with sports betting and lottery contributing the largest share in the percentage.

Britain has one of the most liberal laws and environments when it comes to online and mobile gambling and at the moment, Europe has provided the biggest source of mobile gambling revenue, with about $665 million in total wagers back in 2006.

Nonetheless, the Asia Pacific Market is also expected to contribute greatly by the year 2011 and will take over from the European market in terms of gambling revenue. The Asia Pacific Market is predicted to contribute about $6.7 billion in 2011 from $647 million back in 2006.

Labels: gambling, juniper, report

Labels: acquisition, cre8, mdev

Labels: Glu, gluu, ipo

Yahoo has expanded its oneSearch service (launched in January this year) to the mobile web—meaning that you don’t have to download the Yahoo Go for Mobile 2.0 app to use it, just go to m.yahoo.com and there’ll be a link to it there. The move is designed to make the service available to a much wider audience: Around 85 percent of handsets in the US have some kind of internet browsing capability.

At the moment the service is only “available” in the US. Anyone with an internet-enabled phone can surf into the site, but since it’s optimized to give results local to the searcher the experience isn’t going to be as good. Over the coming months oneSearch will roll out in additional country and language versions, although GPS-enabled handsets aren’t nearly as common outside the US, so the consumers will have to input their locations.

Labels: onesearch, wap, Yahoo

Labels: carnival, mobilists

Labels: google, phone

Medio Systems has reached a number of milestones. Since launch in 2004 it’s teamed up with T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Telus Mobility. It has delivered over 1.5 billion answers to subscriber searches. Moreover, Medio is seeing uptake of 1.4 million subscribers for mobile search each month.

WOW Medio. After 18 months of being engulfed by the PR of other mobile search companies namely JumpTap – Medio is fighting back. I agree. Medio is the king of search in the North American market but global leader it isn’t. Any of these figures can be trumped by NTT DoCoMo search or mobile search numbers for Chinese mobile search engines.

Labels: medio, mobile, serch

Microsoft has made a big play in mobile/voice search and has bought TellMe, a provider of nationwide directory assistance, enterprise customer service and voice-enabled mobile search. The price was not disclosed, but if reports are true ($800 million to a billion) they will have to disclose it in SEC filings down the line. Tellme is profitable and has raised over $235 million in venture funding prior to this....this will be Microsoft’s biggest purchase since 2002.

From the release: “Potential areas of development resulting from the deal will range from hosted voice-enabled customer service solutions that complement Microsoft’s existing unified communications offerings to voice user interfaces in existing Microsoft products to search services on mobile phones that integrate with Live Search for mobile offerings.” The company’s service is already used to fixed-line consumer services such as finding local businesses, driving directions, sports scores, stock quotes, weather, news, movie show times and more, so mobile voice search is a natural extension of that.

Labels: microsoft, search, tellme, voice

A Framingham company that provides location-based services for mobile applications, has created WHERE, a GPS widget for the cellphone that allows people to find events, weather forecasts, and directions targeted to their location.

The company, uLocate Communications Inc., said WHERE is now available on some Sprint phones. It provides a single page that serves as a "mobile neighborhood" on the cellphone screen, and is designed to give cellphone users more power in exploring their surroundings.

Already, content companies like the real estate data website Zillow.com, and event-listing website Eventful.com are using WHERE to make their content relevant to a mobile user who may be browsing a neighborhood or looking for something fun to do -- without having to tap in a bunch of information about their location and interests on their phone.

Labels: gps, lbs, widgets

Labels: Brazil, Claro, Fox, mobile, ringtones, tv, wallpapers

Labels: Glu, ipo

Yahoo! Go for Mobile is now available — in gamma version — for Windows Mobile devices. This version includes everything the Symbian folks are already crowing about including email, oneSearch (Yahoo’s mobile search product), photo sharing, and RSS/news ticker-type feeds. Check Yahoo’s mobile site for more information on compatibility.

Product Page

Labels: Go, mobile, windows, Yahoo

GLUON increases your software quality and productivity by providing high-value features that are not available on the current development environment. It leverages BREW development on companies and individuals, making development process easy, enabling developer to focus on application.

GLUON is developed over Eclipse platform and CDT plugin. It uses GNU compilers and debuggers for ARM and Windows (simulator).

Current Features:

• IDE with BREW application wizard, fully integrated with BREW SDK
• One-button easy compiling for simulator and device
• Debugging on device and simulator
• One-button easy access to BREW SDK Tools

Features to be released:

• BREW syntax highlighting
• More BREW Tools integration (MIF Editor, Resource Editor, etc)
• Remote debugging
• On-target application logging
• Test automation support

Benefits:

• Native C++ support, no need to write extra code nor extra compilation options
• No makefiles, command-line tools, proprietary compilers, and others
• Burst BREW applications development productivity

GLUON was submitted and accepted to be presented on OpenSource Pavillion at EclipseCon 2007.

Labels: Brew, Eclipse, Gluon, IDE, mobile

Labels: Brazil, games, Latam, report