Minibar
Apr 20th, 2007 by Eats Wombats
Being in London means I can occasionally attend events like Minibar organized by Open Business. I went today to the launch of Ubuntu 7.04 (that’s 2007.04) by Mark Shuttleworth, just for fun (because he’s a good guy making a difference) and to see what the London Linux crowd looks like. I am running Linux on a laptop but, alas, it still doesn’t work with wireless cards, even with the latest version. Still, it’s getting better faster than Windows.
I saw presentations for these startups:
Truphone free calls if your phone supports unlimited data communications
izimi share files on your PC with anyone, anywhere
Rememble publish everything in an integrated way
Truphone will work. It’s already working and some cellular carriers are blocking it by ensuring phones they sell can’t work with it. They will lose because they will not maintain solidarity in trying to block developments like this. Unlimited calls from anywhere to anywhere with a wireless data signal will commonplace before much longer. The City of London, that is the Square Mile, will be one giant wifi zone later this month.
izimi has a chance if Google, Yahoo and co. don’t muscle in too soon. It’s still in beta test with 2,000 users, of whom I am now one. Illumio seems potentially more interesting but it’s not setting the world on fire, so far. Interestingly I was able to put izimi to use immediately. David Ingram, Marketing VP of izimi, sent me a link to podcasts of BBC Reith Lectures by Jeffrey Sachs, which I’d missed and which are no longer available on the BBC site, here. I could download them from his izimi page. izimi works by turning your PC into a web server for selected files. Of course it requires an always-on connection. It needs more work but it’s already better than surrendering all your content.
Rememble I just can’t see the attraction. I will be surprised if this survives.
I didn’t get to chat to Africa’s first astronaut, he took off too soon. After a while conversation became difficult as the organizers or someone thought loud music would really help. I left and I soaked up the wonderful Friday night atmosphere and fabulous aromas from the curry houses in Brick Lane. I promised myself a return visit soon.
Hi there,
Thanks for your mention of Rememble, a bit harsh but I appreciate the honesty :)
I’d appreciate your honest comments as a beta tester actually if you are interested - either mail me your email or you can sign up at http://www.rememble.com
Best,
Gavin
rememble.com
Gavin,
You gave a virtuoso performance doing everything yourself with the equipment as well as the demo. Impressive but… I would have been keen to hear more about why I’d want to use Rememble in the first place. The other speakers, e.g., David Ingram on Izimi, were very clear about why you’d want to use their solution and what problem it solved. I’m quite keen on keeping my own “digital memories” but the last place I’m putting them is on the Internet. I have a LAN with a NAS box at home, a media PC and remote connectivity if I need it. Most people don’t yet, I know. But “an easy place to put stuff you’d like to keep even if you don’t know exactly why” is still not compelling. I may be missing something but I think an emphasis on sharing stuff by people who have all been in the same place at the same time would be a much better pitch, and a less mumbly name that is less redolent of the Wombles of Wimbledon wouldn’t hurt. Unforgettabl would match current fads for elision of terminal “e”s. Thanks for the invite but I’d need to be persuaded of the point.