Techy odds and ends

WOMWorld/Nokia have recently unveiled their "Experiences" page. It offers a view of the devices they currently have out on loan and the cities where said devices are currently being evaluated. Privacy concerns mean that the devices are mapped only to the city where they've been sent, not to the actual address of the person trying the device out. For example, as of writing this, there's the indication of an N900 (the one sitting next to me on the arm of my sofa) in Bolton when in actual fact I am in Horwich, which is a few miles West of Bolton. WOMWorld/Nokia Experiences I'm not sure exactly what the purpose of this is but hey, it's fun, right? It certainly seems to fit in with the current craze for location-based services such as OVI location sharing, geotagging on twitter, Google Buzz etc. Speaking of the N900 I have here, I still have just over a week to evaluate it. I'll digest my findings and report back shortly thereafter.

Or, How To Spend Lots Of Money And Then Pay For Your Mobile Calls Twice There's no denying that this product can be of use if you're in the unfortunate position of needing 3G coverage from Vodafone UK and from no other operator. If this is the case and you have a decent enough broadband connection then this product will certainly fit the bill. There is, however, a more sinister side to it in that the business model used to place it on the market do leave a little to be desired. Let me elaborate... What is a femtocell and how does it work? You know those mobile phone towers that everybody wants near enough to have great mobile phone coverage but not in their own back yard? This is one of those that's been very much scaled down both in size and in terms of power output. A big, outdoors mast has its radio tranceivers on the top and equipment in the cabinet at the foot of the mast to connect the signals directly to the operator's backhaul network. This one here has tiny tra