HALLO! …and HOLA!

(again)

From all of us at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona!

It’s been “GO GO GO!” since we started yesterday (hence the lack of updates - TOO BUSY!) but the SpinVox stand.. and everyone working in and around it, has been going fantastically well..

“The best stand at the congress…“ I heard one person say.

And our Speech Mobsters are like gold dust - you only get one if you’re VERY special…

I’ve been taking some photos around the stand and I thought I’d put them on here to share with you!

All comments welcome

If you’re at MWC - Why not come say Hi?

If you’re NOT at MWC - you can still get your message through by calling me, James Whatley on +447825798998…

Leave a voicemail and I’ll send the converted text message to the board in the pictures..

Now how’s THAT for a slice of fried gold?!

CALL NOW!

Hola!

We made it to Barcelona! WOOP WOOP!

…and I can tell you something: The SpinVox Stand looks AMAZING!

The team over here have worked tirelessly since late last week, getting our stand ready in time for the crazy kick off this morning.

And ready it is!

We finished up quite late last night but before we all toddled off and tucked ourselves in for the night, (and before the cleaners threw us out), I grabbed this video for you with an EXCLUSIVE first look at the SpinVox stand…

ENJOY!

It’s been a busy week here at SpinVox HQ and it’s ONLY MONDAY! Eep…

So, in lieu of my next amazing, award-winning blog post, (shh - our secret), here’s a quick round up of what’s going down in the blogging world of SpinVox today:

CES has kicked off! Woooooooo! At laaaaaaaaaaast!
I remember the days when this used to be a huge event in my gaming calendar…
What with the likes of Nintendo & SEGA et al using this platform to announce their latest machines etc…Oh how times have changed!

Anywhoo… SpinVox has it’s very own roving reporter there RIGHT NOW in the rather lovely form of Laura-Jane Rich.

Laura-Jane, (or ‘L-J’ as she prefers to be known), will be reporting live from the conference floor direct to her blog! You can read her first post right here, (spoken through SpinVox of course).

Have fun L-J! You have no idea how green with envy I am! It shoulda been me!

On the back of that we had this lovely piece appear in the Financial Times this morning not only referencing the advent of the spoken blog at CES (see above) but also Symbian-Guru’s coverage of Nokia World, Anna Hemming’s award-winning antics on her blog AND… (breathe!)
…Paul Mitson’s intention to speak his blog live from the (now sadly cancelled) Lisbon to Dakar Rally!

Not bad work for a Monday eh?

I had this massive post lined up for today all about our SpinVox sponsored entrant to the 2008 Dakar Rally, Paul Mitson.

However… I dropped by his blog before hand to see what the latest update was and it seems that this year’s rally has in fact been cancelled.

Read the full story here:

“After different exchanges with the French government - in particular the Ministry for Foreign Affairs - , and based on their firm recommendations, the organisers of the Dakar have taken the decision to cancel the 2008 edition of the rally, scheduled from the 5th to the 20th of January between Lisbon and Senegal’s capital.

Based on the current international political tension and the murder of four French tourists last 24th of December linked to a branch of Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, but also and mainly the direct threats launched directly against the race by terrorist organisations, no other decision but the cancellation of the sporting event could be taken by A.S.O.

A.S.O.’s first responsibility is to guarantee the safety of all: that of the populations in the countries visited, of the amateur and professional competitors, of the technical assistance personnel, of the journalists, partners and rally collaborators. A.S.O. therefore reaffirms that the choice of security is not, has never been and will never be a subject of compromise at the heart of the Dakar rally.

A.S.O. condemns the terrorist menace that annihilates a year of hard work, engagement and passion for all the participants and the different actors of the world’s biggest off-road rally. Aware of the huge frustration, especially in Portugal, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal, and beyond the general disappointment and the huge economical consequences in terms of direct and indirect repercussions for the countries visited, A.S.O. will continue to defend the major values of great sporting events and will carry on its engagement for a durable development through the Actions Dakar, started 5 years ago in sub-Saharan Africa with SOS Sahel International.

The Dakar is a symbol and nothing can destroy symbols. The cancellation of the 2008 edition does not endanger the future of the Dakar. To offer, for 2009 a new adventure to all the off-road rally passionate is a challenge that A.S.O. will take on in the months to come, faithful to its engagement and its passion for sports.“

There’s not much more I can add…
This is a terrible turn of events for all parties involved and all of us here at SpinVox wish Paul and his team the very best of luck for 2009.

Nokia held their annual Amsterdam get together recently under the imaginatively titled label of “Nokia World 2007“

It being the ‘premier global conference for the mobility and internet industries’, of course ALL of the top bloggers were invited;

Stefan Constantinescu of IntoMobile, Darla Mack, Rafe Blandford of All About Symbian and of course Ricky Cadden - aka Symbian-Guru.
(my invite, it seems, was lost in the post - ahem)

Anywhoo - our mate Ricky is a fan of SpinVox y’see…
Not only having blogged about us before but also having once invited yours truly along for an episode of ‘Chatting with the Guru‘
Ricky was dead keen to see how he could ‘live-blog’ the entire conference through SpinVox, straight to his blog.

Well - after much to-ing and fro-ing, and talking over the benefits of blogging vs micro-blogging - Ricky decided the best way forward would be to use Social Networks through SpinVox to post directly to his Jaiku which would then in turn appear on the Symbian-Guru homepage.
Awesome.
Non-intrusive, live and up-to-date news straight to his homepage and ALL with very little effort indeed.

Here are a few quotes from the day - spoken through SpinVox:

“Just got some more information on new mobile web server from Nokia. Really cool stuff.“

“Watching a preview of the Star Wars Engage game, demo’d(?) on a Nokia N73.

“Watching a nearly live demo of the new S60 Touch Interface. Videos to follow.“

and of course - in typical Guru-fashion -

“Getting a coffee between sessions.”

This was a great learning experience for both parties (Ricky and D2) and is yet another fantastic example of how our customers are taking SpinVox products and using them in great, new ways.

Thanks for choosing SpinVox Ricky, oh… and Happy Birthday too!

PS - You can read Ricky’s point of view on his experiences using SpinVox in his full write up over at Symbian-Guru.com

More awards, but this time not for SpinVox but for a friend of SpinVox!

Anna Hemmings, Britain’s leading female marathon canoeist, was named last week as both Elmbridge 2007 Sports Personaility of the Year, (for the second year in a row!), and also the BBC London 2007 Sports Personality of the year.

*APPLAUSE*

Now I’ve never met Anna, but word on the street in SpinVox HQ is that this fantastic success is what we’ve all come to expect of the winner of ELEVEN (count ‘em) World and Championship medals, NINE of them gold and successful defender of her K1 Marathon Racing World Championship title, now having held it for 3 consecutive years.

And all this achieved despite being told just over three years ago that she would never race again due to suffering from Chronic fatigue Syndrome!

Wow… I don’t think I’m ever phoning in sick ever again.

Find out more about Anna over at her official website. Or failing that - see what she’s up to RIGHT NOW by reading her Official Blog.

This kind of stuff is actually quite awesome and really does make you stop and think of what can be achieved when you really put your mind to it.
SpinVox are chuffed to bits to be Anna’s sponsor and wish her every success in 2008.

Good luck Anna, and congratulations from everyone here at SpinVox.

First a Monday Morning Catch Up and now a Wednesday Afternoon Round Up… Maybe on Friday I’ll get a fry up!

Who knows…?

Ok - on with the business of blogging - there’s been a lot of chittery chat chat about SpinVox of late so let’s give a quick lowdown on who, what and where:

First up - good advice for anyone thinking about starting their own blog can be found over at defogmyblog - having spoken with the author a couple of times now it was nice to see this recent piece about defogging SpinVox “and finding surprising blogging uses“�. There’s also another post straight after that one attempting to ‘defog’ Twitter and SpinVox gets another cheeky nod regarding Twittering through SpinVox.

So pop over and have a nose - there really is some great content/advice for anyone considering getting on the blog-ladder.
Be it through SpinVox or otherwise.

Next up a Technovangelist promises “some reviews of amazing software I use every day and that I can’t live without“� - he’s yet to write them. However, when he does, I for one look forward to reading what he has to say about SpinVox.

After that we have a whole host of coverage regarding our latest award - which I blogged about (rather begrudgingly) just the other day.
But why read that when you can read the news at these great places:

Techclub Journal, Investors.com, Blog Herald, Business Wire, Boxxet and SMS Text News.

And finally we have, of course, our appearance at Mobile Monday (MoMo) London. Simon Crowfoot was our man giving the SpinVox point of view on the world of “Voice 2.0“� and how there is still innovation to be found in the voice market; “It just has to be simple“

You can find some other points of view on the evening’s topic of discussion here and here.

I’ve STILL got a couple of other things to post up - but they deserve posts in their own right - including another award!

WOO!

BBS.

Mobile Monday London to be precise.

Before I talk about what SpinVox are doing there - here’s a little bit about the guys over at Mobile Monday(or ‘MoMo’ for short):

“Mobile Monday is a global community of mobile industry visionaries, developers and influentials fostering cooperation and cross-border business development through virtual and live networking events to share ideas, best practices and trends from global markets.

Mobile Monday has the following objectives:

- To encourage innovation within the mobile sector.

- To facilitate networking between small and large companies, and between local and foreign.

- To help local companies effectively participate in international initiatives through the import and export of visions, concepts, technologies, know-how and best practices.

- To present innovative visions, trends, studies and forecasts from the mobile marketplace.

- To facilitate and create partnerships.

- To contribute to the education of the broader public through its publications, online presence and media partnerships.

Mobile Monday is organized by a group of dedicated volunteers from around the world. Originating in Helsinki, Finland, in the year 2000, Mobile Monday has grown into the world’s leading mobile community.“�

Got that? Cool. Now then - why are SpinVox attending? Well this Monday’s theme is all about Voice; “Voice 2.0“� to be precise.

What is the future of voice in this great new mobile/digital space we’re all carving out?
What does it look like and what can it do?

The industry is constantly buzzing about the advent of the Mobile Web and all the great things you can do from your handset - from location based services via GPS to starting your car over bluetooth. Amongst all this digital noise and futuristic navel gazing it’s easy to forget what your phone is actually for: To make and receive phone calls.

What, in this new digital age, can your voice do for you? If your opinion matters, how can you make sure it is heard?

To quote: “What you say, and how you say it, is a wonderful and powerful thing.“�

So, keeping that in mind, let’s look to the future of voice and how, we think, that in the years to come it will change the very nature of human behaviour.

To do this - our very own Simon Crowfoot (more info on him here - scroll down a bit when you get there) will be at Mobile Monday London on December 3rd to speak about all of the above and more.If you can make it - then I guess we’ll see you there, (I’m going too).

If not, then no worries - I’ll make notes for you and write it up next week!

Until next time.

PS - Had some Speech Mob news in this morning - we’re heading to Canada - more to follow!