Expert: Bob Katayama

Now that we have entered into November of 2007, it is time for me to say goodbye to all the readers and supporters of my blog here. I have come to a difficult decision to end my long term blogging activities here for now. Due to various issues locally and personally, I have to minimize my time and maximize my exposure by limiting where I blog and how I spend my limited online time.

I would have loved to keep www.pocketpcmag.com as one of my online activities but unfortunately I am not able to at this time. I hope you all still enjoy the continued support here from all the other expert bloggers and moderators.

I would like to thank Hal Goldstein for all his support over the many years first and foremost. I would like to thank all the members of Smartphone and Pocket PC magazine and all the bloggers, forum moderators and all the readers of the magazine for their support.

I am not going away completely and will be visible via www.technobrains.com and other areas that will be made public over the coming months on www.technobrains.com. Stay tuned.

Thanks again for all your support.

Bob Katayama

Rogers has launched a new portable highspeed Internet service.
Is this what we Canadians have been wishing for?

"Hish Speed Internet with the Flexibility to Go Where You Go!" is what Rogers calls this new service.

Let's look closer at this service.
- 1.5 Mbps download transfer speed
- 256 Kbps upload transfer speed
- 30 Gb bandwdth/month

Security Feature:
- Norton Antivirus
- Norton Personal Firewall
- Spyware protection
- Popup Blocker
- Parental control
- 15 Mb personal web space
- Unlimited storage of personal photos.
- 5 email accounts

All this plus a few other small features not worth mentioning at a cost of $49.95/month and a one time fee of $99.95 for a portable modem. This modem receives the signal through the air but is powered by AC only.

You can go HERE for the full service details.

So, is this truly a great deal for portable Internet access?
Don't confuse portable Internet with mobile Internet. Mobile Internet allows you full access to the service anywhere the signal is accessible without cables on a single handheld device. Portable Internet requires the use of a very large external high speed modem to be connected to an AC outlet plus your large and heavy laptop. For this reason, it is not truly a portable Internet even if you have access to an outdoor power outlet somewhere.

Typical in home highspeed Internet costs about $34.95/month with upload speeds of 3 - 5 Mbps. Connect the modem to a low cost Wireless router and you have portable Internet around your home for multiple computer unitseless with a built in wireless adapter. Portable Internet from Rogers has an upload speed of only 1.5 Mbps @ $49.95/month. This speed will get lower over time as more subcribers use the same bandwidth in your area. A crowded areas could easy see upload speeds drop far below 1.0 Mbps. Even if you could connect a wireless router to the Rogers Portable modem for multi computer access, you get only 1/2 to 1/4 the speed of other standard highspeed DSL services. Also the cost is 50% higher with Rogers Portable.

The service should be called "Wired Mobility Internet" to insure consumers really understand the true nature of this offering. I feel this is not the service we mobile users crave for. This is a service that keeps you tied to a physical electrical outlet. In the end makes sense to stay with the regular home highspeed Internet access. No real benefit for using Rogers Portable Internet.

Yes, you could get yourself a car battery converter and have mobile Internet but how practical is this since you cannot drive and access the Internet at the same time. How often would you actually use the Internet in the car?

AT&T has plans starting as low as $44.95/month for data only with speeds of 3 Mbps for downloading and 2 Mbps for uploading. This service is for mobile devices like a Pocket PC Phone Editon device, Smartphone.

Since companies in the States are offering "All You Can Eat" mobile data rates starting from $44.95/month, why is Rogers launching a service for a higher price that requires you to be tethered to an AC outlet and also required to pay $100 for an external modem?

This just does not make any sense to me and really forces the Canadian consumer to use limited and antiquated technology at outrages prices. Rogers should provide the portable Internet to home users with 3 Mbps downloading and 2 Mbps uploading at $34.95/month. Also provide affordable mobile wireless data like AT&T is currently offering in the States.

Is this what we Canadians have been wishing for?
NO

I recently attended a local Psychic Expo. It's been an annual event going back many decades. For me, it has been over 10 years since I last attended one and wanted to see if new technologies have been incorporated into this niche business category.

I was surprised to find very little has changed or anything at all.
In the 1990's, psychics would provide 30 minute readings for about $40 - $50 Canadian. Many provided show specials that combined various techniques like:

- Tarot Card reading
- Palm reading or palmistry
- Crystal ball
- I-Ching and many other forms

One benefit that these psychic readers provided was a cassette recording that you can refer back to anytime. At the time when portable cassette players were popular, it made sense to record and offer a copy of the session to the client in the cost price of the reading.

We move ahead to 2007. I carefully scanned and visited all of the booths at the Psychic Expo this year and realized that every psychic reader still offered the same cassette tapes to their clients at the end of the session.

I cannot remember the last time I actually owned a cassette tape player or even bought a blank cassette tape. This year the cost to have a reading was up to $60 Canadian for 30 minutes. Whenever I had a reading by a psychic in the past, I always found a psychic reader that I felt an unspoken connection with. This year, I chose to pass on having any readings performed since I felt no real connection that day.

I was also surprised to see a few booths involved in the computerized palm reading using desktop equipment from the days of Windows 95. Seeing a few yellowish keyboards and cracked casings just sent shivers down my back.

Here is a suggestion to those that are interested in doing psychic readings or computerized fortune printouts.

First a laptop that is equipped with Wi-Fi, CD/DVD writer and a SD card reader/writer
Wi-Fi router
Wi-Fi enabled printer with scanner
Wi-Fi enabled Windows Mobile device

The laptop or Windows Mobile device can be used to replace your obselete cassette tape recorder with a digital recording system. Wi-Fi will allow the devices to communicate to each other without the use of wires along the floor.

Users of a laptop can save the recording onto a CD, DVD or SD card to be given away.

Users of a Windows Mobile device can save the recording onto a SD card to be given away.

For anyone using a Windows Mobile device, I would suggest adding a program called Vito AudioNotes from Vito Technologies.

At $60 for a 30 minute session, I cannot see the cost of a blank CD/DVD or a blank SD memory card being a cost prohibitive factor. This is a business and business must invest good money to gain a good return in business.

I feel these psychic readers that were present at this years Psychic Expo are doing a dis-service to the whole psychic industry by offering cassette taped recordings. For the industry to grow and become accepted as a main stream form of entertainment, the latest technology must be embraced and incorporated to allow the curious public to partake in this unique form of entertainment. Most people nowadays use a mobile phone or a MP3 music player therefore are familiar in some level with digital or computer file formats.

You would think that true psychics would be in tune with the future and embrace the technology that has become a part of our daily lives. :-)

Psychic reading, tarot card reading, palmistry and all the other forms of fortune telling has been around for centuries but this does not mean psychic readers must adhere to the traditional form as far as promotion and consumer acceptance goes.

It's interesting to see how in some circles, the latest mobile technology is becoming an everyday item but in some circles are still a foreign product category.

Microsoft has just launched a new website geared towards Windows Mobile information useful in Canada.

You can go to www.windowsmobile.ca to see the new website.

If anyone has played a Nintendo Wii game would quickly realize how you become "one with the Wii force". . . The Wii controller is a cool innovation and adds real wireless interactivity to simple but fun games.

Now, ConcreteSoft has released a version of Lawn Darts which has motion sensor capabilities using the built in camera on your Smartphone or Pocket PC. You can go HERE to see a YouTube Demo of the game 3D Lawn Darts. This is my idea of how companies should "think outside the box" to create new innovative products for mobile devices.