What Would Alex Bosika Do?

Be the Samurai you always wanted to be with your umbrella.

Mon, 06 May 2013 22:54:19 -0400

Be the Samurai you always wanted to be with your umbrella.

Flow chart for Time Travel. Solved!

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 07:48:37 -0400

Flow chart for Time Travel. Solved!

WANTED: Apple Seeks Flexible Body.

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 18:32:09 -0400

“Apple Inc is looking for a display specialist to lead the investigation on emerging display technologies such as high optical efficiency LCD, AMOLED and flexible display to improve overall display optical performance.”

The job listing has since been removed by Cupertino HQ. We assume, this could be related to a future iWatch (can’t see this being released in near term with a ‘flex body’ if they’re posting the job NOW) or future iPhone.

On the matter of an ‘iWatch’, Microsoft did try this before:

However, Steve Jobs also said this:

“So when a good idea comes, you know, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, argue with people about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it quietly, and, you know – just explore things.”

Ideas only become great when everything else is there to support it. Am iWatch or future TV can be successful for Apple, because everything is in place to capitalize on the success: Apple ID, broadband, iTunes, App Store, Siri, iCloud, GPS etc. Essentially, an established, “integrated” ecosystem exists feed these “thin client devices”.

Microsoft’s SPOT watch didn’t have that robust infrastructure and ecosystem…so it just didn’t make it far in 2003.

Sometimes, ideas are too ahead of their time. If Apple had released the iPad first vs. the iPhone, they would have missed the BOAT because the ecosystem IS the mobile phone user…not the third category user.

Releasing the iPad after the iPhone essentially staged the playing field properly as the education curve for users would allow them to easily adopt the iPad, and enable developers to tweak existing apps, before moving to full native iPad apps and easily add revenue to their bottom-line. The resulting effect of third category success (iPad) for Apple has been the complete and utter decimation of PC sales as has been reported recently.

Simple. Effective. Inspirational. Advertising. From #Apple.

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:29:04 -0400

WHERE EX #BLACKBERRY PROS GO? #Telecom

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:46:00 -0400

#Yahoo Stock Performance Checkpoints According to @BusinessInsider

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 21:15:00 -0400

Got to love BI for breaking it down for us. Look at that small “blip” on the chart for the FREE FOOD! Woo Hoo…! LOL

Bottom-line: Yahoo has an uphill battle to do whatever they think they can do with their content and mobile. It is a very, VERY busy world out there and right now, all the products (remaining/existing) are a mess.

Ask yourself when was the LAST time you used ANYTHING from Yahoo! I can’t even remember — it’s been at least 5 years. “Content” is a commodity and even if unique in the realm of the Economist and the Wall Street Journal, that is a world of the lucky few when it comes to digital monetization.

I certainly don’t have all the answers because content is an old paradigm and its value prop is way past DOA (are we still talking “content” in the old school world view of digital and media channels of the dot-com era? Yes, there is “content strategy” today - agreed. But “content” built in dot-com era under a media brand is really, really tired and the transition to mobile is NOT certain for monetization given the fragmented universe of apps, experiences, and mind share. People have even less time to retain any mind share on the device deck.

Media should spend less time fantasizing here on what “could be” and more time on “where’s the beef?” because at the moment, it’s a lot of buzz and a lot of talk and at least BlackBerry has DELIVERED a product (albeit late for many, many reasons) compared to Yahoo! that has failed to deliver “something” for eons.

#BlackBerry #Z10 Debuts... No Lines, No Waiting. @CNBC Child's Play coverage continues...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:35:00 -0400

#BlackBerry #Z10 Debuts... No Lines, No Waiting. @CNBC Child's Play coverage continues...:

Yup, because we could order the Z10 from a pre-order list. CNBC ‘s (and WSJ’s) “deep analysis” attributes ALL product launch success to long lines, hype, and camp outs…uhuh. Leave the social media hype (some call them “social media hippies”) out of this.

Let me put this into context - I am a huge Apple fan but I *love* BlackBerry.

But seriously, the marathon runs and high-fives through Apple stores after a purchase are completely silly and bizarre and do more to alienate people as to WHY Apple is liked - great products.

While being ‘cool’ and ‘hip’ may play into this, it has also caused competitors like Samsung to (wrongly) mock Apple in commercials for the WRONG reasons. Rather than focus on the WHY’s, Samsung has decided it makes more sense to mock Apple for the cult-like nonsense that has been generated with new store product launches. This isn’t very different than negative political ad campaigns. They don’t work!

Further, the idea of waiting in a line the night before for first grabs at a new “phone” is simply not my idea of time well-spent.

The last time I waited FOUR hours in a long line was when “The Empire Strikes Back” hit theatres and this was well before VHS, DVD, cable and on-demand programming even existed! We waited because we KNEW the movie would not make it to “commercial” television for seven plus years after film release.

Now, theatres generate hype-lines to create a “follow-me” or “look at them” effect to get ticket sales. It truly is cheesy.

An excellent #BlackBerry #Z10 Commercial. BlackBerry 10...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:29:27 -0400

An excellent #BlackBerry #Z10 Commercial.

BlackBerry 10 Commercial Ad (by PhoneAds)

‘Thor’ talks about Blackberry Z10. ;-) Thorsten...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:07:49 -0400

‘Thor’ talks about Blackberry Z10. ;-)

Thorsten Heins on Piers Morgan Tonight - 3/21/13 (by Adam Zeis)

@Starbucks Takes Stand. #starbucks

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 13:34:35 -0400

I commend the CEO for standing up to a shareholder regarding their support for marriage equality. Plus a 38% performance data point is nothing to sneeze at.

The world has much large issues to address than shareholders that have a hate on. Get over it.

But I have a clear ask for the Starbucks brand. Get you digital lead to extend the brand experience to the BlackBerry Z10. Really - the porting tools make this a simple task. That said, some of the native BB10 experiences have all but shamed Android and you could simply port Android builds if you wanted.

I am rather impressed by the U/X, tiles and speed of the Windows...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:22:00 -0500

I am rather impressed by the U/X, tiles and speed of the Windows Phone and RT platform.

Their tablet seems a bit top heavy (screen) vs the keyboard. The keyboard seemed responsive but it felt fragile. Didn’t have enough time to actually write a full letter with it but it probably isn’t something I would use. At $700 plus, I am about $400+ away from a nice MacBook Air.

That said, I do like Windows Phone! Whether they can own the 3rd ecosystem is another question. The platform looks fast on the Samsung device that my colleague had even if the size of the Samsung was too big. Too much mental overhead worrying about that kind of size for a “portable”. Would be less of a “carry able” for me.

I never disliked Windows RT and Windows Phone. Just had reservations about traction.

BTW, there was a noticeably different app ecosystem experience on the tablet. Cleaner and just a tad more lively.

Kudos to my friend who works for MSFT keeping me hostage on the GO TRAIN LONG ENOUGH to unleash the propaganda. I am a fan. :D

What I found more disturbing was the terrible 4G connection even for a moving train. I got the impression 4G was just as bad in a stationary environment. For the pretty coin being dished out by citizenry, Canadian incumbents should do better than that.

Network Outages at @WindMobile - no news from @WindCares

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 10:18:18 -0500

I like Wind Mobile. But really folks, a network outage due to an weather or a network upgrade should be communicated as such via twitter or your main page. Something like, “Some customers could be experiencing network outages due to bad weather or network upgrade.” What’s the harm in that? No harm, no foul.

I’ve seen this countless times from other major brands.

Instead, some companies feel that I need to make a call to the call centre that is overseas and when I tell them this would be helpful to customers, I hear the standard “I’ll let my manager know” which translates to…nothing is going to happen.

It’s too bad.

Seriously, when you offshore your customer base support, we’re talking about thousands of miles of separation to have something register with staff there when something is a really important customer service function. Why do companies do this? Yeah, I get it. Costs and “leveraged assets” - but it is bunk.

Loyalty is built by how you think about your customer. I will admit, I went to WIND for competitive pricing but also because I wanted to see some innovative but solid competition — and thanks to WIND, this has occurred and has forced the rest of the competition to follow suit. Everyone now has a “Tab Offer” or an “unlimited Canada call and text” plan. That kind of goodness didn’t exist before WIND’s entry and we only had things like My5 and My10 programs which are extinct now.

Wind Mobile forced people to think about the phone bill — a $100/month wireless phone bill translates into $1200 per year — really, that is an insane service cost for communications (and data access) and continues to annoy Canadians.

Wind, I can handle the occasional outage. Trust me, you have offered a great service for the price point. But be brave and do more to report about the outages through accessible channels. Really, we should NOT have to make the call centre tell us about an operational issue.

To add some balanced comfort, I can assure you that my 3G data service which I pay a pretty coin for at Rogers doesn’t feel 3GS and even worse, has so many dead pockets across the GTA to Burlington, I am stunned at how badly covered we are on a main corridor where people travel most by car or train.

BTW, a little bird told me that something big is happening between WIND and Mobilicity soon. ;-) Within a 6-week time-frame. You heard it hear first!

The Rise Of Foreign #Exploits and #Cyberattacks

Sat, 23 Feb 2013 00:36:00 -0500

It has been an interesting couple of weeks. Outside of the general news reporting about exploits and cyber attacks, it was hard to ignore the chatter from my own personal network of folks, both in technology and the intelligence community, telling me about the rising attacks from foreign shores.

Even tonight, a media report on CBC’s the National reported about another incident that was undetected until the Canadian Cyber Incident Response Centre learned about the Chinese-originating cyber attack from the CBC. (See Video).

In the past week, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft succumbed to malware exploits and the other day, Tumblr’s platform (which this site is hosted on) sent a notice announcing a ZenDesk exploit which exposed account-level data for support issues.

Over a few drinks tonight, a respected colleague and I shared the latest thoughts on technology trends and macro geopolitical trends before he shared an interesting tidbit about a friend in Davos exchanging some strong words with a Chinese official over the rise of cyber-attacks from the region. The Chinese official replied back, “You stole our gun powder…” Talk about taking the long-view.

Most troubling is the fact that most media reporting about origin of most cyber attacks appears to very unclear. Some officials in the US intelligence community told western media this week that a China-origin attack was unlikely as the cyber-exploits appear “sophisticated” and of East-European or Russian origin where the underground cyber-criminal networks run deep.

How would we know? It could be spin-doctoring on a much grander scale. I smelled a rat on some of the reporting.

Even worse, Anonymous has functioned trans-nationally without any defined geographical framework very similar Al-Qaeda. Could the attacks purely be Russian, East-European, China or Anonymous? No one really knows.

Recent CBC reports from the past year appear to indicate that “state-sponsored” Chinese cyber-attacks have been economically-tied and part of a newer form of cyber espionage as shown in this video:

On February 21, Malwarebytes’ communications team contacted me about the NBC.com hack the same day which embedded malicious iframe code to spread the Citadel Trojan. It was detected as Backdoor.Agent.RS.

On his blog, Dancho Danchev suggested that the criminals behind NBC.com’s hack may be the same people behind recent fake emails from Facebook and Verizon which directed unsuspecting users to exploit pages.

In other words, NBC.com was compromised for about 15 minutes and the actual iframe with the malicious redirect was embedded in a java-script file located on the web server for NBC.com. It used the RedKit exploit kit to spread the malware and exploited both Java and Adobe Reader. The malware, Citadel, is a reproduction of the Zeus banker Trojan and has the same capabilities of stealing financial information from users. In addition, it can execute subsequent malware by installing Ransomware on the victim’s system. The exploit has since been taken down.

Interestingly, as a long-time user of Malwarebytes, the anti-malware product protects desktops/laptops from this threat due to its behavior-based zero-hour engine that stops new malware that has not been seen before and doesn’t yet have a signature (i.e. antidote) created to update a user’s desktop anti-virus definitions.

Microsoft’s Security Response Center posted this statement about their recent intrusion similar to those at Facebook and Apple.

Whether these exploits are of cyber-criminal, trans-national or state-sponsored origin, what’s becoming more clear for me is the growing requirement of online users to protect their digital profiles, cloud-based files, and financial information pro-actively with as many security measures as possible.

For me, this transformation started with Google products with Google Authenticator to protect online products and products accessed from multiple smartphones and tablets.

analyticisms: Nice growth m-commerce…although its still only...

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 19:38:35 -0500

analyticisms:

Nice growth m-commerce…although its still only about 10% of all e-commerce.

No doubt and at my last engagement at SALT Technology, Inc., the technology was solid and is going to amaze people when it comes to mobile payments

Visit http://www.SALT.com for details.

“Insider spy photo” of the passion and team effort...

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 19:25:34 -0500

“Insider spy photo” of the passion and team effort behind Blackberry’s reboot and revival. Bravo Team Blackberry.

Seems sweet but it comes down to one thing Virgin Mobile and...

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 13:46:02 -0500

Seems sweet but it comes down to one thing Virgin Mobile and other incumbents. BBM Share video, more apps and more content is DATA. And right now, Wind Mobile is the only one offering unlimited data for Z10. Sorry.

Google Canada is involved with these guys now. Bufferbox.com.

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:59:11 -0500

Google Canada is involved with these guys now.

Bufferbox.com.

Want to Run #Android Apps? On a #Mac or #Windows #PC? Find out How.

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:20:00 -0500

What a perfect coincidence.

A colleague told me about another co-worker who has started to build #Android apps for a living.

Since I have done more than my fair share of product development and creation from concept to strategy to full service launch, I said sure until he told me it was for #Android. Sorry, I don’t do Android. Until #Samsung or another ‘Droid OEM comes to me with a new product they want to me to review, I am fully invested in the #BB10 and #iOS ecosystem across Blackberry and Playbook plus iPhone and iPad and MacOSX.

While performing some key research for a client, I “stumbledupon” BlueStacks. At 5 million downloads and counting, this isn’t something to sneeze at. They have a client for Mac, Windows and they even have a Win8 optimized build for Surface Pro. That sounds “neat”.

I will give it a shot over the next while or so and report back.

#Microsoft #unboxing cutesy for #Windows Phone developers. :D

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:04:37 -0500

#Microsoft #unboxing cutesy for #Windows Phone developers. :D

Thank you #Microsoft for the #Windows #Phone Dev Kit for #Nokia...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 22:53:01 -0500

Thank you #Microsoft for the #Windows #Phone Dev Kit for #Nokia #Lumia 620. Appreciate the love as a stakeholder within the #mobile industry.