Wi-Not Potential I: Delivering mobile apps made easy

August 29, 2008

Most of our users like Wi-Not for the quality of certain services: music downloads, TV and games and in that order. However by far the most attracting feature to me is this little right corner of the screen, under the cryptic name Wi+.

Wi+ is a way to install and enjoy new services, in a quick a simple way. Just browse through the catalog, spot what you like and click a button. A new icon will appear, and the new service will be immediately available. For now, there are 2 mini-apps, a dictionary based on WordNet project and…a mathematical genius!

Technically a Wi+ is a control which uses Wi-Not platform to connect, parse and offer.

Step 1: Connect to a Web Service, a web application or even a raw web page.

Step 2: Parse the data that you receive

Step 2: Fold them into structured information and offer them to the user

A Wi+ is easy to install and easy to uninstall, a clean way to enjoy a new service, immediately after it is born. But there is a much more important idea behind: Since it uses the same framework that Wi-Not is using it can reach out for the ‘deep web‘.

The deep web is roughly the web that machines cannot see and is estimated to be around the 70% of the total web. Typically it is comprised by dynamic web applications, that web spiders (like Google’s or Yahoo’s) cannot traverse in their entirety. Think for an example of a web app that for a certain integer N outputs f(N)=N+1. While a web spider could see some instances, F(1), F(2), F(100) etc it is clear that it cannot see the bigger picture.

While Wi-Not does not automatically traverse the deep web, it uses human power to find its way through it. With minimum effort anyone could generate a ‘roadmap’ that Wi-Not will use to navigate. Yes, API is coming. (Not soon though)

The perfect example for this is IQ-200, a Wi+ that can find the next number in any number sequence. It may sound trivial but it is a capability that we expect from any intelligent system to have. Humans learn this skill at an early age but machines are way dumber in finding such patterns.

IQ-200 just uses a witlet (pattern,Url,output) to do that and it can do it well. Execution time? As fast as your network can get! No need for sophisticated algorithms, heavy libraries or additional programming effort. As simple as 20 lines of code can be.

Take a look at this demo video and see the way intelligent services can be delivered massively to people, on the fly and even on to limited mobile devices.

Certainly this is not where the story ends. By publishing such a capability to the platform one can build even more sophisticated services (How about an automatic trader for your mobile? ) Benefits of such an approach become clear:

  • Fast & easy development
  • Light code
  • Immediate distribution
  • Great functionality
  • Scalable architecture

So, what’s next? In the near future, a Text-To-Speech application! In the long run…honestly I can’t tell. And I can’t wait either!

Posted by panos at 4:36am
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the race is long

July 30, 2008

Hello, my name is Simon and I am the guy working behind scenes with Panos to make Wi-Not an enjoyable experience. The last three weeks I can say that were among the most exciting weeks of my life since we welcome the first Wi-Not users in our platform. With Wi-Not Mobile and Wi-Not Desktop in Beta version the trip for us has just begun and we want you all on board … you, your fiends and even your enemies.

Firstly I want to tell you about my personal view of Wi-Not platform. Developing Wi-Not is like trying to catch a ghost. Once you think you see the solution you realize it was never there. The real challenge we have to face is how to pump information from the web and at the same time recover within seconds when for different reasons each time your link with the source breaks. The answer unfortunately is not obvious. Its like you trying to see the future. Once you do not know what is causing each time an unstable environment how you can fight it?

Well, we have an approach which we believe might work eventually. Even if it’s impossible to see the future it might be possible to predict it. Or at list predict the most likely to happen scenario. This is what we think might give a solution and an amazing Wi-Not version.

But anyway, I think we are a bit away from finalizing this technology so let me give you an insight of what’s happening in Wi-Not lab now and what you should expect to see in the coming few weeks.

1. A new mobile version with new staff like new TVs and Radios is coming. In UK I made sure to include much more radios this time (sorry about the current poor list of UK radios…it’s my mistake)

2. We have just bought a new HTC Diamon (amazing device!!) and we are trying to make Wi-Not compatible with VGA. I can’t commit on time but I can say we are very close.

Finally I have to say that the best testers are you guys who work Wi-Not everyday. If you have any suggestions it is important to know that your emails or posts (www.wi-not.com/forum) are not going to trash. We are a small start up and we read every single line coming from you. So whatever you have to say, please say it!

Enjoy!!!

Posted by simon at 12:55am
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Wi-Not Mobile: The power is in your hands. And we mean it.

July 15, 2008

After the 1st week it is high time we start saying something about the mobile application you have in your device. I will not delve into more details for now but rather stress on a really important issue: What is different in Wi-Not Mobile?

Well, you may be familiar with a lot of mobile applications out there, others more, others less. There is also a significant number of mobile startups but Wi-Not stands out, first for one major reason: There is a big shift, an essential breakthrough against traditional techniques.

Clue no 1. Wi-Not is web oriented. It works when network is present. While you have the option of playing your games or listening to your music when you are offline, Wi-Not thrives only under network connection. This is a major shift from traditional, utility-like mobile applications (like program launchers, data encryptors etc) This was a software design decision and we will stick on it to the end.

Clue no 2.The power is in your hands. This is not a figure of speech nor a marketing line. We mean it. Whatever services you enjoy with Wi-Not are not offered  explicitly by our servers. The power is in your device. Even if our servers crash, or even Wi-Not closes forever, you will still be able to view channels, to download music, search and play quality games. While the communication portion will become silent in such an event, your application will still have all other major functions intact. This is the main reason why Wi-Not is not for fee nor is it subscription-based. After all, it wouldn’t make sense to charge you for things that you are able to do on your own.

Clue no 3. Wi-Not is dynamic. Your application will be the same each time you login, but you will be able to do different things almost every time. TV and radio channels are dynamically updated. Extensions in the Wi+ area, will be coming more and more often. You will exchange new games and music with your friends day by day.

This is in summary why we are so excited with these times! Wi-Not signals a shift, both a design and a technology revolution. In beta version it is just a proof of concept, an application that proves that you can do so many things with your device.

If you are already a member of this great mobile community stay tuned because many greater things are going to happen in the future! If you are not, don’t take our word for it. Give it a try at our download section. Enjoy!

Posted by panos at 7:37pm
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This has been a great 4 days! Thank you all!

July 10, 2008

First of all: A great thank you for anyone who downloaded and checked out Wi-Not Mobile. These 4 days since our Beta launch have been really exciting!

While we didn’t set up a new Guinness Download record, like Mozilla Firefox did, we are still as much as thankful for your response! We were really anxious on how things would turn out: Would users take notice of our release? Would the feedback be good?

Well the web responded instantly and the feedback is really encouraging. However, there are always complaints and in future posts we will try to lay down a little some of these issues.

Till then, happy Wi-Noting!

Posted by panos at 1:21am
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Hello Mobile World!

July 06, 2008

That was it! With this announcement I would like to welcome everybody to an entirely new mobile application. Without further ado please welcome Wi-Not Mobile!

I am Panos, Software Engineer at Wi-Not Inc., which launched a few days ago Wi-Not Mobile, an application and an idea we have been working on for some time now, and which took about a year to be realized.It has been a difficult year, with a lot enthusiasm, disappointment and a few unexpected turnouts. Finally we are here, ready to display our creation to the mobile world!

Wi-Not Mobile is an application for Windows Mobile devices. Currently we support CE versions (with CF 2.0) pre-installed and also versions 5 and 6. So if you have the typical Windows 240×320 PDA you are more than welcome to give it a try!

Let’s go step by step the features of the application:

  • TV and Radio. Here you can watch web TV and Radio from than 30 countries and more than 300 channels. All major international stations can be found in a list we are constantly updating! There is no fee to that. It is inside the application’s capabilities, you don’t have to pay anything.
  • Wi-tok is an IM application. Our Instant Messaging follows a clean, simple interface. The most important idea here is automatic translation. Say your friend is from France and his name is Pierre. Pierre is not so fluent with English and there is a problem when you communicate. With Wi-Tok (the name of our IM module) there is no problem! Pierre can set to read the messages in French! So you write in English and Pierre is reading in French. In fact if you would like to start learning French you could setup Wi-Tok to present the messages to you in French as well!!
  • Wi-Lol=Games! .Wi-Lol is a cool feature. We have integrated Flash player into the application so when you search for a game, you can play it instantly!!! Cool games to search for include: puzzle bobble (my favorite), tetris, chess. Now it is your turn!!
  • Wi-Not Mobile has also a teeny-tiny mobile browser for you, so that you don’t have to close and open applications. It has basic bookmarking and homepage features!
  • MyPages is the social networking aspect of our app. Here you can literally exchange your Wi-Not Experience with anyone!!! If you have a cool game or a nice song, you can share it with anyone!
  • WiBot may be scary at first but you wil love it as time passes by! It is a little media finder, you type a song to find and the bot locates it for you!! All you have to do is to download it and add it to your media library!! Just have plenty of storage to host your collection!
  • Wi+ hosts extensions to the Wi-Not platform. For now we have a cute Dictionary implemented. You can download it and run it on the fly!

That’s all for now! This has been a basic introduction to Wi-Not mobile application. Until next time you are more than welcome to download the application and try it! You can download Wi-Not Mobile from here.!!

Posted by panos at 6:51pm
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