MoVoxx and Mobile Coupons

The latest entrant into the mobile coupon space is San Francisco startup MoVoxx.  In contrast to the mobile download-based CellFire, MoVoxx is SMS-based.  This has the clear advantage of a much wider addressable market, without the daunting porting investment.  CellFire has recently launched a WAP-based version of it’s service called "CellFire Express", which seems like the right way to address this.

A second important difference in these two service offerings is the way in which they are approaching advertising customers.  CellFire is making direct relationships with local Bay Area businesses, and currently has nine customers (these are listed on their web site.)  MoVoxx on the other hand is partnering with print media (such as the San Jose Mercury News), and it appears will leverage existing customer relationships held by print media partners.

With these service differentiators, MoVoxx has taken positive steps in proving out the mobile coupon space.  The next move will require carrier involvement, taking advantage not only of mobility, but a second characteristic unique to the mobile environment, location.  By leveraging LBS, carriers can transform the concept of putting coupons on phones from a paper saving convenience into a unique marketing opportunity.

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Intel, IBM Solve Electrical Leak for New Chips

Usually, we don’t report on hardware advances in the comptuer industry but the announcement this past week, in separate statements, by Intel and IBM has the potential to affect the geospatial industry. According to company statements, new microprocessor chips will be designed with different material designed to stop electrical leakage of the 45 nanometer chip designs. In a statement by Intel, "By using a new material combination of high-k gate dielectrics and metal gates, Intel’s 45nm transistors significantly improve performance to deliver faster multi-core processors that consume less power."

I remember in the late 80’s when the 386 chip was intoduced and I was able to a run speedy version of Autocad. It seemed a real breakthrough for desktop computers and consequently for compute-intensive software like CAD and GIS.

The statement by Intel also suggested that Moore’s Law will "thrive well into the next decade." Even as we move more software to the web, we will still find a need for desktop GIS software. This announcement offers the possibility that as we want more analytical capabilities with even better integration of multiple data types, that computers will support the expectations of users.

Spamming Google Maps

Slashdot reports that in preparation for the Google flyover of Sydney, a number of dotcoms spent hours making huge signs that would be visible from the air.

Is this spam?

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