Richard Smith

Occupying our minds

2011-10-10T17:45:00.001-07:00

Idle hands, the old saying goes, are the devil’s playground.What, then, about idle minds? Are our minds idle these days? Are we willing toengage our minds?

The Occupy Wall Street movement (and its many variants) is unsettling many people. They have agood reason to be unsettled, I think. One of the chief criticisms of theprotesters is that they don’t know what they want, or that their complaints aretoo broad and too diffuse to be answered. What are those people protestingabout, we wonder.

A typical protest march – I drove by one this afternoon – isnarrowly focused on a specific issue. The people I saw today were protesting,in signs that were written in both English and Arabic, about a repressivemiddle east regime. I didn’t even see which one, but I knew right away that itwasn’t my problem.

See, that’s what’s missing from the Occupy Wall Streetprotests: an easy dismissal. When the protest is defined, when the group is anarrow segment of society we have two easy ways of not paying attention: we caneither decide that it has nothing to do with us or we can disagree with thepoint they are trying to make, and therefore the people that are involved. Wecan dismiss them quickly and get them out of our minds.

With Occupy Wall Street the dismissal is harder. And thecriticism, that the groups are toodiffuse and the topics of concern too broad, actually makes it even harder forus to dismiss. If the topics are very broad, how can we be sure we disagreewith them all? If the groups are so many, how can we be sure we aren’t includedin one of those groups?

As Occupy Wall Street gathers more groups, across a broaderspectrum of complaint it becomes harder and harder to not get involved somehow.And as it becomes harder to dismiss, it starts to occupy our thoughts. And thisis the ultimate occupation: Occupy Wall Street is occupying your mind. And youcan’t dismiss that, can you?

Smokey

2010-10-18T16:58:00.000-07:00

Mud Lakes North

2010-08-17T15:11:00.000-07:00

A great little campsite and far from the madding crowd.

Is Surveillance a Liability?

2010-01-17T21:52:00.001-08:00

BC Ferries Surveillance Sign, originally uploaded by smith.

I've written about this before, but when Andrew Clement (U of Toronto) saw this posting on my Flickr site, it prompted him to ask:

"When it says "safety" like this, it implies that if you fall and get hurt, say, the operators monitoring the screens will dispatch medical or other assistance for you. I wonder if BC Ferries is willing to take on the responsibilities this implies? I very much doubt it. "

I doubt it too, and I suspect that many of these assertions fall perilously close to an implied contract. One that a) many people misinterpret and b) they might have a hard time living up to. Are companies liable in these kinds of situations?

I can imagine someone interpreting this sign to mean that the facility is monitored for their safety, although if you read it carefully you can see that they actually say that the *cameras* are doing the monitoring. Nice little nuance, that.

More seriously, all of those images represent a bigger liability in the sense that they could be misused by an employee or someone breaking in to the system. We have already heard of people hacking into wireless surveillance cameras (mainly for their own amusement), but surely an insecure visual database is just as big a liability as an insecure database of credit card numbers, for example. Certainly those kinds of situations (databases with personal information being breached) have led to lawsuits and penalties in both Canada and the US.

We've also heard recently (e.g., "crotch-bomber" incident in the US) that floods of data produced by routine surveillance of almost everything, is causing security agencies to start drowning in data.

As visual data becomes more and more attributable to individuals, through cross-linked databases and video analytics, I suspect that firms and government agencies will have to be more careful with what they collect, and ultimately will have to decide whether collecting this information is even worth the trouble is might cause.

And, of course, they better be able to live up to the claims they provide on their signs. I know from some surveys of people riding the SkyTrain in Vancouver, that there is near-universal belief that the cameras are being watched and if something bad should happen a police officer would be dispatched.

Sometimes what people imagine, especially if you don't actively discourage it, can get very ingrained in their minds. This is especially pernicious with surveillance cameras since businesses that are putting them up to discourage shoplifting have a vested interest in people believing that the cameras are being watched all the time. How is one camera different from another? Are people to somehow intuit the different business cases for surveillance cameras?

We already know that there is little proven benefit from surveillance, despite the endless claims to the contrary by shills for the industry. If the benefits are uncertain, and the harms non-trivial then perhaps the installation itself is something to reconsider?

Self-Fulfilling Surveillance Prophecies

2010-01-15T09:21:00.001-08:00

HSB BC Ferries Waiting room 1, originally uploaded by smith.

I am at a conference on surveillance cameras and just saw a presentation on a survey on public attitudes toward surveillance cameras. It was a comparative study, from 9 countries around the world, including Canada.

As the presenter provided stats to show considerable support for surveillance cameras (although it would be interesting to recast her results since she presented "somewhat effective" as evidence of support when it could as easily be framed as non-support or only partial support), I was reminded of a recent blog post by Clive Thompson, who revisited a famous paper by Robert Merton on "self-fulfilling prophecies."

Thompson is asking about (bad) popular culture and how promoters are able to to use our tendency to believe things because we think other people believe them to promote their band or singer. It seems to me there is just as much of this at work with the support for surveillance cameras. All (or almost all) of the evidence suggests that they are not effective, but promoters (surveillance industry, security agencies) don't talk about that.

I think the role of the surveillance industry, and the way they have been able to promote this "bad boy-band" - surveillance cameras - bears much more examination. Why do we think cameras work? Is it because we are biased to think of technological solutions positively? Is it because we believe others - especially community leaders like the police - believe they are worthwhile?

Here is Clive's blog post:
http://www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archives/2010/01/are_we_sheep.php

Here is a Wikipedia summary of the self-fulfilling prophecy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-fulfilling_prophecy

Rabbit hole

2009-05-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

I was at a meeting the other day and people joked about one of the speakers 'going down a rabbit hole' - meaning that he started and then pursued a long aside in the conversation. I've written about this before, but I think we (well, I, anyway) do this more and more and I attribute it to becoming more and more "hypertextual" in our activities and hence in our thinking.

We can't help it because we do that kind of jumping in our daily activities as we use the web, as we use our mobile phones, and even when we use the telephone and television. Jumping from context to context is second nature to us know and even in activities where it was unheard of, or unimagined, I find myself doing it. For example, I now routinely look things up when I hear them on television or even when I read them in a book. If i don't have my laptop handy, I use my iPhone.

The reference to rabbit hole is not just that it is a long passageway to another place but - like Alice in Wonderland - you aren't always sure how to get back "home." Sometimes you lose the thread altogether. The question is, does this matter? Is it good for or bad for the individual? For society? I don't think we know yet. I am not willing to immediately assign this to the "bad things that happen because of technology" category, but it is something we need to keep track of. If we don't get distracted, first.

Surveillance camera on the street

2009-05-08T14:04:00.001-07:00

Surveillance camera on the street, originally uploaded by smith.

Under the overhead walkway between the Sinclair Centre and the Skytrain.

Don't remember seeing this one before.

Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse my brevity.

Yikes

2009-02-26T13:26:00.000-08:00

If the last post I made here is 2007, what does that say about how I use blogger? It isn't that I don't blog - honest - I just don't use blogger much these days. But at least I should have a link to where I am now:

Personal page at SFU: http://www.sfu.ca/~smith
Faculty page at CMNS: http://www.cmns.sfu.ca/people/faculty/smith_r/
SFU Blog: http://blogs.sfu.ca/people/smith
Research blog: http://arago.cprost.sfu.ca/smith

Oh yeah. Twitter: http://twitter.com/smith or @smith

aka-aki

2007-09-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't put anything in here in *ages* but since I have just recently been collecting up some muse-related items (muse stands for media-rich urban shared experience, if you didn't know), I thought I would post them to here - what else would I do with them?

A recent posting in tech-crunch brought to mind the category of bluetooth-enabled proximity applications, so I thought I would try some. Interesting how people seem to be quite willing to blog about stuff but not actually install it on their own phone.

Case in point is imity (as in "prox"-"imity"). The idea is cool, and the web site "looks" cool, but the little bit of attention it received today seems to have blown their server out the water. I've seen this before with rails-based implementations; if you don't build it for traffic then it will collapse ignominiously when you least want it. It looks like this happened back in February, too, when they were written up in O'Reilly's blog after Where 2.0. Too bad, as the idea seems good and they are even open sourcing their application. God forbid I should cause them (him?) more trouble, so I won't put a link in here.

Another one mentioned in the post - and remember, this post was made yesterday, is Nokia Sensor, something that hasn't been updated since 2005 and as far as I can tell is NOT available for download, despite the presence of a download link on their web page. Did you even click on that link, Mr Tech Crunch dude?

The most recent one, mentioned in the same techcrunch article, isaka-aki. Looks.... interesting. But the whole thing is in German. Again, did you visit the site? Did you actually sign up? Do you think it would be too much bother to mention that there is no english version of the site? Nothing against german tech companies but really... throw up a bone before sending us clicking away...

The last one he mentions (well, a few others are mentioned but they are sms-based and that's not what I am looking for) is Mobiluck. Hmm, maybe this is it. Well, the missing element in his post is that this is a "pay" service. You think that might have made the cut in his quick summary?

For now I am 0 for 4 - imity won't acknowledge my log-in, as the app blew up 1/3 of the way through the log in process, Nokia Sensor, despite assurances to the contrary, does not exist, and AkiAki... well, I'll have to ask my brother, who can read german, to help me sign up. Mobiluck looks promising, too, but I am not sure if I want to send in money for something that looks like it is mainly about dating.

Mean time, I wait for something that works....

Pheeder

2006-08-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

No sooner did I post that item about social coordination through mobile phones than I run across this item from SmartMobs, describing the new "pheeder" service - it makes phone calls a group thing. What better for coordination, I ask you? Check it out: http://www.smartmobs.com/archive/2006/08/10/pheeder_phone2.html.

Tao of Mac on the MyLO

2006-08-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

What I didn't realize about MyLo is that it has Skype support. That makes it a phone, after a fashion!

The Tao of Mac - Sony/MyloSony/Mylo
A Sony consumer device reminiscent of the PSP, but with Skype support and (hopefully) a better browser.

More on the new Sony MyLO

2006-08-11T21:58:00.001-07:00

At MUSE we are interested in mobile rich media. The challenge has been - in Vancouver - realizing this vision with the limited availability of high speed wireless data at affordable rates. This new Sony device, with WiFi, could be a way of experimenting with mobile rich media, as long as you are within reach of a 802.11b network - as you would be on a university campus, for example. It will be interesting to pick some of these up when they come out (fall) and try them here at SFU and at UBC.

New sony handheld: "
Sony’s Mylo (My Life Online) seems to be a cross-over between a Danger’s Sidekick and a PSP. It’s basically a new handheld device that has interesting capabilities as reported by BBC:

The pocked-sized gadget, called the mylo, will sell for about $350, according to the Associated Press. It has a small display and keyboard and is pitched at the young, mainstream market who use IM and are interested in making net telephone calls. Sony has formed a partnership with Skype for net phone calls and with Yahoo and Google for instant messaging. The mylo, which stands for ‘my life online’, will only be available in the United States.

The so-called personal communicator doubles as a portable media player. It can play music, and screen photos and videos that are stored on its internal one gigabyte of flash memory or optional Memory Stick cards.

What about the PSP and Mylo? BBC’s comment about that is also true:

It too has wi-fi, can play music and video, display photos and is technically capable of supporting instant messaging and internet telephone calls. But the wi-fi functionality has yet to be taken advantage of by the company. It is not clear if the mylo will be a rival to, or complementary to, the PSP.

Why do I blog this? yet another handheld, nice design, time will tell. With this sort of device (Swisscom release a sort-of similar product), I am always wondering about pricing, especially regarding IM but in this case; but if it can take advantage of Wifi, that might be easier (the next step is to find a free hotspot).
"

(Via pasta and vinegar.)

Flashpackers

2006-08-11T21:58:00.000-07:00

One of the (very nice) benefits of working on a mobile rich media research project is the opportunity to tote around a device capable of mobile rich media - the Nokia N80. Wonderful phone, in many ways, and Daily Wireless has an interesting article on "Flashpackers" that mentions the phone and how it might be used in such a situation.

Flashpackers: "

'Flashpackers,' reports The Oregonian, upload photos, podcast, e-mail and text message as they travel.

Mobile technologies and social coordination in urban environments

2006-08-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you have spent much time reading Nicholas Nova's blog "pasta and vinegar" but it is well worth it... As this posting reminds me.

I find this idea of the mobile as a social coordination device both completely obvious (what else do I do with MY mobile?) and intriguing. What did we do before? How much 'coordination' gets done (or got done) with earlier communication technologies?

A long time ago I read an article about how new information technologies enabled new kinds of revolutions. While previous industrial technologies heralded a productivity revolution and hence led to production intensive activities, the communication and information technology revolutions enabled coordination revolutions and therefore we have firms, organizations (and even people, I guess), that are coordination intensive.

Looks to me that this is what the authors cited in Nicholas' post are getting at. Details below:

...r

Mobile technologies and social coordination in urban environments: "
In the last issue of the Receiver, there is a paper by Lee Humphreys about mobile technologies and social coordination in urban environments which is of great interest to my research.

Starting from Rich Ling & Birgitte Yttri’s seminal work about that question (see the paper ‘Nobody sits at home and waits for the telephone to ring:’ Micro and hyper-coordination through the use of the mobile telephone), she is investigating ‘how people use mobile phones within their social networks in the course of their everyday lives‘. What is interesting is that tit does not only described coordination patterns but ‘also the subtle communicative exchanges used in a complex mobile world (…) What do you communicate? How do you communicate? With whom do you communicate? ‘.

An efficient way to coordinate in her study was ‘mobile broacasting’ (’ Text messages can also be broadcast from one person to several or even many people.‘).

The mobile phone becomes a good tool for the exchange of duration information and coordinating the when of casual social interactions.

(…)

The where of coordination is also more complex than just a venue name or address. A venue name can suggest quite a bit of social information used by people in order to determine who will meet up. (…) Location is not just longitude and latitude or even a street address, but also includes important social information (…) the proximity of the venue is also an important determinant in who will show up

(…)

The who of coordination is also a complex negotiation of casual social interaction. One of the interesting elements of broadcasting is that users can see who is coordinating meeting up — to whom was the message sent. This visibility allows for the exchange of complex social information

She also discusses issues that needs to be negotiated such as freedom vs. constraint and social performance vs. social functionality, but this is less my focus.

Why do I blog this? the research I am carrying out in my PhD is about how people use the location of others as a resources for coordination. Even though it’s much more CSCW-oriented that Lee’s work, there are some interesting lessons to draw from her work. I have to grab an academic paper about that.
"

(Via pasta and vinegar.)

A Useful Mobile Web (idea #90)

2006-05-15T18:41:00.000-07:00

Wireless Wonders: A Useful Mobile Web (idea #90)
There's still an obsession with "mobile web", recently upgraded to "mobile web 2.0". Now, I don't have anything against taking the emerging app-centric web techniques and moving them onto mobile devices, which is a somewhat natural progression. As some observers (e.g. Ajit Jaoker) have pointed out, Web 2.0 might be a good fit for mobile.

However, I come back to a simple argument that I elucidated in my book about the fundamental differences between a mobile web experience and a desktop one. You can read it for yourself, but I can sum it up in terms of intention and tolerance. In the mobile setting the user is frequently motivated by an intent to find something out fast because they want to do something else there and then, like make a phone call, book a flight, catch a train etc. This "saving time" objective is distinct from the "killing time" one. In the "saving time" frame of mind, there's almost zero tolerance to anything remotely like surfing (i.e. faffing) around. In that setting, the whole web paradigm falls apart very quickly, especially if it's actually the standard mega-screen web experience shoe-horned into a mobile nano-screen.

As Jakob Nielsen and other usability gurus have told us over and over, most visits to business websites are motivated by a desire to answer a few simple questions - what do you do, how much does it cost, how do I get it, who do I talk to, where are you based? etc. It is likely that "saving time" visits to the "mobile web" are mostly to business sites, not wacko wirelesswonder blog or similar meanders through the bitstream (although you're most welcome and you can get this on your mobile if you dare, via Winksites).

Therefore, it seems perfectly obvious that any self-respecting site that wants to extend its wares to the billion mobile windows in the world should contain metadata to answer these simple questions and this is all that gets dished up to a mobile device, most likely ranked in order of most actionable data first, like phone number (one click to dial it), then address (one link to map it) and so on. After all, the world of going to sites via search engines is a rather uncluttered affair of visually uninteresting, but apparently useful, text-only descriptions and links - albeit presumably relevant ones. Once at the destination site we are looking for answers to those questions, not fluffy flash movies and the like. How much of this fluff is already discounted by the ranking in the search anyway?

No doubt, for unfamiliar businesses we do need a means to anchor our trust in their wares. Nice fluff might add to this process - a "professional" site is always better than a "bedroom" one. In the absence of such eye-candy, perhaps a mobile operator could add some value here. What about some additional relevancy ranking using "calls to" weightings similar to search engine "links to" weightings? Is a flower shop that receives 100 calls to its number a day more useful than one that only gets 10? Perhaps.

Buy my book (Amazon US/UK)
Join my email list
Subscribe to my "100 Mobile Product Ideas" free e-book

Mobiles 'as addictive as smoking'

2006-05-15T18:40:00.001-07:00

textually.org: Mobiles 'as addictive as smoking'
Mobile-phone users who spend most of their waking hours glued to a handset may have to call a therapist after a Queensland university study found they were as addictive as smoking and junk food. [via News.Scotsman.com]

"The heaviest mobile users even display the typical signs of "cold turkey" drug withdrawal - anxiety, restlessness and even panic - when parted from their phones.

The psychological cost of excessive mobile phone use was highlighted in a study published yesterday by Queensland University in Australia.

Diana James, the academic who led the study, said: "Mobile phone addiction is going to surpass internet addiction because at least you can walk away from your computer."

The three characteristics of mobile web 2.0

2006-05-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

Open Gardens: The three characteristics of mobile web 2.0

I see web 2.0 as the Intelligent web or ‘harnessing collective intelligence’

Mobile web 2.0 extends the principle of ‘harnessing collective intelligence’ to restricted devices

The seemingly simple idea of extending web 2.0 to mobile web 2.0 has many facets - for instance :

a) What is a restricted device?

b) What are the implications of extending the web to restricted devices?

c) As devices become creators and not mere consumers of information - what categories of intelligence can be captured/harnessed from restricted devices?

d) What is the impact for services as devices start using the web as a massive information repository and the PC as a local cache where services can be configured?

Restricted devices: A broad definition of a ‘restricted device’ is not easy. The only thing they all have in common is - ‘they are battery driven’. But then - watches have batteries?

A better definition of restricted devices can be formulated by incorporating Barbara Ballard’s carry principle.

Thus, a restricted device could now be deemed as

a) Carried by the user

b) battery driven

c) Small(by definition)

d) Probably multifunctional but with a primary focus

e) A device with limited input mechanisms(small keyboard)

f) Personal and personalised BUT

g) Not wearable (that rules out the watch!). But, there is a caveat, a mobile device in the future could be wearable and it's capacities may well be beyond what we imagine today. The input mechanism in the future will not be a key stroke on such devices, but a movement or sound. So, this is an evolving definition.

Finally, there is a difference between a ‘carried’ device and a ‘mobile device which is in a vehicle’.

For example - in a car, a GPS navigator is a ‘mobile device’ and in a plane, the in-flight entertainment screen is also ‘mobile’. However, both these devices are not ‘carried by a person’ and do not have the same screen/power restrictions as devices that are carried by people.

However, whichever way you look at it, it's clear that the mobile phone is an example of a restricted device. From now on - we use the definition of mobile devices interchangeably with ‘restricted devices’ and the meaning will be clearer in the context.

Extending the web to restricted devices: It may seem obvious - but web 2.0 is all about the ‘web’ because web 2.0 could not have been possible without the web. Thus, in a ‘pure’ definition - web 2.0 is about ‘harnessing collective intelligence via the web’. When we extend this definition to ‘mobile web 2.0’ - there are two implications :

a) The web does not necessarily extend to mobile devices

b) Even though the web does not extend to mobile devices, intelligence can still be captured from mobile devices.

The seven principles of web 2.0 speak of this accurately when they discuss the example of the ipod/iTunes. The ipod uses the web as a back end and the PC as a local cache. In this sense, the service is ‘driven by the web and configured at the PC’ but it is not strictly a ‘web’ application because it is not driven by web protocols end to end(ipod protocols are proprietary to Apple).

Tim O Reilly puts it succinctly in his response to my post on the O Reilly radar when he says ..

So writes Ajit Jaokar, arguing that "Harnessing Collective Intelligence" is the root principle of Web 2.0, and the others make sense to the extent that you understand how they feed into (and draw from) this one. He's absolutely right: the web is mechanism only. And it's "web" only by naming convenience, because much as the internet was originally defined as "a network of networks," the web is becoming "a web of webs," as various mechanisms for harnessing and aggregating collective intelligence start to interconnect. In particular, Ajit's focus is on the mobile web, which doesn't have much in common technically with the http-based web, but everything in common with Web 2.0.

Thus, the characteristics(distinguishing principles) of mobile web 2.0 are:

a) Harnessing collective intelligence through restricted devices i.e. a two way flow where people carrying devices become reporters rather than mere consumers

b) Driven by the web backbone - but not necessarily based on the web protocols end to end

c) Use of the PC as a local cache/configuration mechanism where the service will be selected and configured

As usual, I seek your thoughts and feedback on this concept.

Nielsen to poll Movie goers by Text Message

2006-05-15T18:34:00.000-07:00

textually.org: Nielsen to poll Movie goers by Text Message
According to The New York Times, "Nielsen Entertainment is planning on using cellphone text messages to collect data on consumers' opinions . The initiative will aim first at moviegoers, with cellphone text messages sent during trips to the movies".

"The text messages will ask cellphone users about specific products, brands and services that appeared during the theater visit, perhaps in an ad before the movie or in a product placement. Or, the studios could use the technology to get an instant reading on the response to blockbuster films on opening weekends.

... Cellphone numbers will be collected from visitors to MovieTickets.com, a ticket-purchase Web site. When moviegoers are buying tickets, they will be asked if they would like to take part; they are asked again in a follow-up message."

Radio Map

2006-05-15T18:33:00.001-07:00

we make money not art: Radio Map

Radio Map, by Michael Hohl and Stephan Huber, is an immersive telematic environment that enables participants to walk about a projected photorealistic image of the Earth and listen to live internet radio programs that are located at the corresponding locations all over the world.

Once a person walks about the map, a graphic element is placed into the direction of movement. Called the PoI (Point of Interest), it is used to select radio stations. Should more participants enter the space, all their lines connect to this single element, creating a shared PoI, which is placed in the calculated middle of all participants. The individuals have to collaborate to navigate the PoI. This encourages complete strangers to act as a group while exploring the map for radio stations.

As the PoI approaches the location of a radio station its volume increases giving the impression of "tuning in" to it. If the PoI is located between two or more stations that are close together their signals would mix. This creates potential for surprising "mixing" of the sound. Yet participants are always able to accurately “tune into” a station avoiding disturbing effects.

Experiencing the content and local colour of the actual radio programs invokes surprise. Participants become aware of different time zones, weather conditions, Summer and Winter, and the fact that we are living on a globe that is rotating around the Sun.

Via res-qualia.

RFID Snakes and Ladders

2006-05-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

we make money not art: RFID Snakes and Ladders

RFID Snakes and Ladders is a game currently played at the Media Centre, Huddersfield, until June 2nd.

The rules are the same as the traditional game, except the whole building - which is home to over 120 separate small businesses - becomes part of the game board.

Players get a counter containing an RFID chip. They have to pass it in front of the giant dice and check how far they ‘rolled’ on a connected website. If they land at the bottom of the ladder, they pass their counter in front of the model ladder to climb it. If they hit the head of a snake, it’s a slippery slide unless they get to the model snake in time.

Models are placed around the Media Centre: in the entrance, the café bar and outside the lifts.

Players take a turn every three hours (unless they throw a six or land on a snake or a ladder, when they have to act quickly). In this way the game becomes part of the normal working day. Players might take a turn when they first arrive, another when they grab a coffee, and another at lunchtime.

And if they land on a bonus square, they get a secret prize. Players who reach the top square first win prizes from the centre’s Café Ollo menu.

RFID Snakes and Ladders is a great way of connecting people who inhabit the same location, but who often feel isolated from each other.

"After the Media Centre we hope to test the game in places where people are in danger of feeling cut off or lonely," said Andrew Wilson of Blink Media. "For example in sheltered housing or the children’s ward of a hospital, where playing a simple, ongoing game with others might help to bring people together face to face."

Developed by new media company Blink. Game programming and web design by C.H.I.P.S.. Hardware by Daniel Blackburn of Carbon Based Games. Illustrations by Andy Sykes. Models by Richard Dawson.

Thanks Stefan!

GPS barcodes on Manhattan?

2006-05-15T18:29:00.001-07:00

O'Reilly Radar: GPS barcodes on Manhattan?
By nikolaj

Update: It appears that the initiative is not the work of Google tagging New York nor an initiative mandated by government regulation, but something as distant as an accounting standard titled GASB 34 issuing municipalities financial reporting requirements to maintain their credit ratings.

Interesting geodata can emerge from anywhere indeed. As so many times before, we only need inherent openness and creativity to harness the unintended uses.

On the Geowanking mailing list comes rumour from Dodgeball's Dennis Crowley that light posts on Manhattan are being geotagged.

Start looking at all the light posts in the city, about 7-8 feet off the ground. Every single one has a barcode.

Steve Bull clued me in to this on Wednesday night. He said a few weeks ago, he was walking along and ran into a few guys with a huge GPS unit and a 6-foot antenna. They were placing the bar codes and correlating them with their respective geocoords. He didn't know who they were or why there were doing it.

Does anyone know what's going on? Did the Semacode guys get funding, is Google feeling threatened by Gumspots or is this just the latest efficiency project from the NY Dept of Public Works? If the latter, will datasets be open and available?

Space Invaders 2006

2006-05-15T18:29:00.000-07:00

we make money not art: Space Invaders 2006

Space Invaders 2006 is an outdoor video game that takes advantage of real world architecture spaces and transforms them into a game playground. Basically, the video game is projected onto a building. The player controls an aircraft by moving his/her body in the space to shoot down the invaders before they move off the building.

The invaders come out of the wall cracks and move down to the ground. The player has to move left or right to control the motion of the aircraft. Whenever the player jumps, the aircraft shoots out a bullet.

Movie.

Developed by Evan Barba and Kuan Huang.

Other works by Kuan Huang: Virtual Instrument and Cellwish.

Related: Blinkenlights.

2005-11-11T21:39:00.000-08:00

A very useful overview: m-trends.org: MoSoSo + Wi-Fi

2005-10-30T19:10:00.000-08:00

Smart Mobs: The phone as multi-lingual city guide

2005-10-30T18:25:00.000-08:00

moconews: Mobile Mutliplayer Games — Challenges And Opportunities

2005-10-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

Cellphonia: In The News
Primary Artist: Steve Bull
Collaborator: Scot Gresham-Lancaster, Composer
Grant Administration: Harvestworks

Cellphonia: In The News is a locative-based karaoke opera cued and performed by the cell phone with lyrics daily RSS newsfeeds which generate both the score and moving images, available anytime anywhere small groups gather, and also allowing outside users to contribute as a remote chorus.

Cellphonia is an open source cell phone and Internet application that creates a street theater live opera via a conference call shared by user/participants. A server coordinates the instant RSS Newsfeed libretto that is transmitted as text to each of the participant. The server queries the cell phones of the participants to determine each phones capability. In this way the server can make a scalable set of media that takes maximum advantage of each participants phone, allowing a large number of cellphone users to participate anytime anywhere. The daily newsfeed and the location of each phone algorithmically generates music and a libretto that the participants sing, karaoke style. By using robust tried and true multiline conference call technology, a sophisticated and interactive score can generate cues and musical interludes that lead each singer through the piece. Additionally, using SMS, WAP and various other ubiquitous text formats the libretto with ongoing visual cues are "pushed" to each user. In this way the location, time of day, and news all converge to create a unique and ever changing social experience.

--
Stephen Medaris Bull
56 Ludlow Street
New York NY 10002
212.388.9121 studio
646.201.5886 fax
917.912.4132 mobile
steve@ctlss.com
bull@el.net

A dutch locative media site/service

2005-10-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.geoskating.com/

GeoSkating aims to automate the creation of
interactive, multimedial skate-maps by using the
Global Positioning System (GPS), Mobile Phones and the Internet.
While skating,
GPS position data is being assembled and published to a server through
a mobile phone.
At the same time the skater can enrich the GPS data
with road surface ratings and by sending pictures and videos from the phone.
The server will draw geographic maps
showing road quality through colouring. All pictures and videos
are presented as clickable dots on the GPS locations where they were taken.
Even more, skaters can also be followed
in real-time over the map while skating!

Technorati Tags: locative media, GPS, Europe

2005-10-22T18:15:00.000-07:00

Location Based Entertainment from Blister Entertainment is right in our back yard. Owned by Calgary's KnowledgeWhere, Blister is building location-aware games now.

From their web site:

Blister Entertainment is a leading publisher of location-based games and entertainment products to mobile operators. As a market leader in location-based services, Blister is creating a new industry category within the mobile entertainment industry. Location-based games are designed to make mobile gaming more active and interactive. Mobile players can play while interacting with their environment and other players around the world.

2005-10-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

And now a simple - cell-tower based - location awareness system. It is called Geominder. According to their site:

Geominder allows you to create location-based reminders that stay attached to physical locations.

A location-based reminder can be much more convenient than standard time-based reminders - for example in situations such as:

"When I arrive at the office, remind me to review next week's schedule"
"When I pass supermarket, remind me to buy vegetables"
"At home remind me to call Dave"
When arriving at a marked location, Geominder can play an alarm and display a stored text note or a voice note previously associated to that location.

Using Geominder is as simple as 1,2,3:

Teach Geominder about your locations.
Create reminders for those locations as needed.
When arriving at a marked location, Geominder will notify you.
Geominder uses mobile network's cell id information and doesn't require an extra GPS device. Mobile Network cell id information is usually suited for most common day-to-day uses (for example: home - office - shopping). No mobile operator fees are involved in using Geominder.

2005-10-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

collision detection: Mologogo: A phone app that tracks your friends via GPS

As long as it just your friends, and they know that you are tracking them...

[...] the first actually popular location-aware tool is Dodgeball, which lets you keep track of your posse while you're out club-hopping. But though Dodgeball's great, you have to manually enter your location into the phone. The really wild stuff will happen with phones that are automatically location-aware -- as with cell-tower triangulation and GPS.

Thus I was really intrigued to hear about Mologogo -- a free new app that runs on any GPS-enabled Nextel phone, tracks where you are in real-time, and displays it on a teensy mobile-phone version of Google Maps. For Xtra social fun, you can authorize your friends to track your location, and you theirs. That picture above is a snapshot of random Mologogo users who publicly display their everyday locations.

See a demo, with lots of picture here.

2005-10-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

Using Mobile Phones to Model Complex Social Systems by Nathan Eagle -- The very nature of mobile phones makes them ideal vehicles to study individuals and organizations. Nathan Eagle describes the Reality Mining project, underway at MIT's Media Lab, which collects information from the phones of 100 human subjects at MIT to show how the use of mobile phones can model complex social systems. Nathan discussed this project in more depth at O'Reilly's Where 2.0 Conference.

2005-10-22T17:16:00.000-07:00

There is a new way to reach mobile phones, known as BlueCasting™. The company behind it, called "Filter" describes it this way:

BlueCasting is the new way to deliver content to mobile phones. Developed by Filter UK, the BlueCasting system comprises of a small BlueCast Server running our unique set of software services.

Located at poster sites, retail locations, entertainment venues, public spaces or embedded in interactive kiosks, the BlueCasting system will identify each consumer's BlueTooth-enabled handset and deliver a tailored message to them.

BlueCasting can deliver content as simple as text and still images or richer media like audio samples, video clips and Java applications.

Based on BlueTooth, the world standard platform for short-range networking, the BlueCasting system can deliver content up to 10 times faster than downloading it via a mobile network. And since the content is delivered direct from our system there are no network charges for the brand or the consumer.

Our software tools allow the system to be highly personalised, tracking users and delivering them relevant content. The service also provides remote monitoring via an easy-to-use Web interface.

2005-09-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

one of my former students, Angie Hsieh, might be interested in this article from Slashdot: "Economist Looks at the Digital Home."

2005-05-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

As usual, Ross Mayfield has a great posting in his blog, "Many-to-Many. It is called "The Cost of Presence."

2005-05-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

Socialight
Socialight is an application that runs on location-aware cell phones. Socialight allows you to personalize your view of the surrounding landscape, presenting location-based media and information on a mobile handset that is entertaining, useful and relevant.

2005-05-02T07:56:00.000-07:00

Urban game with semacodes

GridLockd is an urban game, created by Mohit SantRam, where teams compete to capture grid positions in a half hour.

Loosely based on Othello, a two player game of tiles, the game board is made up of 36 unique semacodes placed within intersection points on a 5 block by 5 block city grid. Using their camera phone to photograph a semacode, the first team to send it to semacode@gridlockd.net will win possession of the intersection.

Whichever team captures a point first claims the intersection but rivals can claim that intersection by capturing two surrounding intersections.

This project is meant to display how semacodes, cameraphones, ad-hoc groups, and social dynamics are effected under time pressure.

The work will be at the Spring Show 2005, on May 10-11, in New York (ITP - 721 Broadway, 4th Floor).

2005-04-19T07:27:00.000-07:00

get your vote on - uk style: textually.org: O2 uses mobile technology to encourage Big Brother generation to vote

Here 'big brother' doesn't refer to Orwell's book but rather the tv game show in which people vote with text messages from mobile phones.

But, as the post points out, many more people vote in such game shows than actually vote in elections. A campaign in the UK seeks to 'if you can't beat them, join them...' and get those texting voters into polling stations.

...r

2005-04-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

mesh networks

If we're going to use a mesh for our next generation muse platform, we'll have to keep on top of the latest developments. This posting, from Daily Wireless, has a lot of great links: Game Console Mesh Mash?

Game Console Mesh Mash?
Unstrung Insider chief analyst Gabriel Brown points out in the report,
Wireless Mesh: New Wave Broadband, that
Microsoft already has some mesh software available for download.

But it's what the firm could develop that interests Brown. He notes that Microsoft is researching mesh applications:
"The public face of Microsoft and wireless mesh is the Microsoft Networking Research Group, which maintains a mesh networking Web page and has published several relevant research papers." In June 2004, the Group organized the Mesh Networking Summit 2004 to brainstorm various aspects of mesh networking.

Microsoft has examined different methods of wireless mesh networking, Brown finds, including "how multi-radio mesh nodes allow higher throughput than single radio nodes...
"It’s unclear why Microsoft is pursuing this research," he writes. "We suspect the primary interest is in consumer-scale meshes, and potentially, mesh-enabled client applications. The company’s publicly available research has a heavy focus on using wireless mesh to cross the “digital divide” and provide broadband to homes that can’t get DSL or cable modems."
Microsoft's Mesh Networking Summit in Snoqualmie, Washington, June 23-24, 2004, had a ton of interesting papers. Could it be related to the new X-Box to be announced May 12th? Maybe some kind of home networking?
Microsoft and MTV will unveil the new video game console on May 12th with a 30-minute TV special hosted by "Lord of the Rings" star (and confessed Xbox enthusiast) Elijah Wood. During the broadcast, Microsoft also plans to show off new enhancements planned for its Xbox Live online video game service, which matches players throughout the world.
According to C/Net:

Chairman Bill Gates told CNET News.com that besides eye-popping games, the next Xbox would include an array of multimedia tools.
"We didn't do Xbox just to do a video game; we did it to be part of our vision of the digital lifestyle, and with the next generation, we really get to go there," he said. In the first generation, we had one simple goal, which was to establish credibility as a great video game platform. We've done that.
"As we go into this next generation, it's much broader," he added. "So just for the games alone you'd go, 'wow,' but the concept now of bringing in your music, your media, connecting to the PC, connecting Xbox Live to Messenger--that just makes it a very big deal."

More than 200 titles will be developed for the new platform this year, Microsoft said. The company has sold more than 20 million Xboxes worldwide since its 2001 launch.
Sony plans to announce their PS3, on May 16th. Sony will hold its event on a sound stage in Sony Pictures' complex in Culver City, originally 3 hours later than Microsoft, showing off the next-generation PlayStation for the first time at this event.

Both consoles are likely to include ready-to-go ethernet and Wi-Fi.

DailyWireless has more on Free Mesh Clouds, Firetide mesh, Sputnik, Iowa's Free Hotspots, Mesh standardization, Taipei's Mesh Cloud, Scaling City-wide Mesh, Mesh Projects & Gear, MetroFi Goes Long, Mesh: Baton Rouge Et Al Citywide Mesh,
Mesh Goes Downtown,
Aiirnet & Telerama, Strix and Air Magnet, San Jose Free Cloud,
Meshing at Intel,
Meshed Roofnets,
Mesh ISP, City Mesh and
Intel's 802.11s for Home Mesh.
[Daily Wireless]

2005-04-08T00:45:00.000-07:00

re:call gets local attention

The "Urban Vancouver" - Vancouver's community blog has a blog posting - complete with photos - of the Re:call launch at Granville Island this morning

2005-03-31T09:05:00.000-08:00

mdcn

We need to make more frequent and explicit links, I think, to our colleages over ad MDCN: Mobile Digital Commons Network : aboutus

The MDCN connects researchers, the arts and industry focused on mobile, wireless, digital technologies in Canada. Funded by Canadian Heritage, the goal of the network is to facilitate interdisciplinary research and innovative industry development; foster cultural production and public participation; and develop forward-thinking policy on wireless technologies.

2005-03-31T08:49:00.000-08:00

As usual, TheFeature.com contains fascinating material of importance to MUSE. Here is a perfect example of that: Towards a Methodology of Mobile Game Design

2005-03-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

geotagging

As the infrastructure for locating things in space improves, and especially with this growing phenomenon of 'tagging' (describing) the information you've collected up, it looks more and more like the spatial aspects of information are going to have a importance and utility that we haven't appreciated in the past. Check out this article from TheFeature.com: Honey, I Geotagged the Kids

2005-03-11T12:52:00.000-08:00

Smart Mobs: MoSoSo update from Wired

2005-03-09T06:49:00.000-08:00

mobile entertainment

As usual, TheFeature.com has a very insightful article on mobile life, this time on the topic of mobile entertainment. I like their conclusion - that it's not about the data, it's about the people:

That’s Inter-tainment
Wireless intertainment doesn't involve people interacting with data; it's about people interacting with the world or, at best, with one another. It's time for the entertainer to end his song and dance, and make room for the next era of players. The industry winners will be the ones who stop thinking about creating the whole show, and learn simply to set the stage.

That's just a short quote from the end of the article. Read the linked item for the whole thing.

2005-03-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

mososo makes WIRED

WIRED magazine's web site notices mososo, finally. Full story here: Wired News: MoSoSos Not So So-So

2005-02-23T16:04:00.001-08:00

MIT's LAIR

Don't you love that name? It doesn't stand for some sort of wolf home, however. It means "location aware information representation." We've got a project running this summer with similar aims. Perhaps we can do some joint brainstorming with the MIT group?

Here's a story on LAIR from Eric Smalley of Technology Research News:

Software gives descriptive directions

Software gives descriptive directions
February 23/April 2, 2005
By Eric Smalley, Technology Research News

Automatically-generated directions for getting from one place to another are a staple of the Internet age, but they rarely include landmarks.

Landmarks, however, are an almost indispensable component of directions. They identify places to turn and provide assurance that you are headed the right way.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are looking to incorporate landmarks into automatically-generated directions using software that models the geographical relationships between spaces and their functions.

The Location Awareness Information Representation software, dubbed Lair, can be used to represent a person's location, what that person is near, and what a person can do at those nearby places. The directions are "similar to those a person would give -- [they] use landmarks to identify places to turn," said Gary Look, a researcher at MIT.

The researchers used the software to produce an application that provides walking directions within the Stata Center, the university's new computer science building. The software could eventually be used to produce many types of intelligent trip planning applications, including one that lists the closest places to carry out an errand, said Look.

The system generates directions from a database of information about places, paths and functional descriptions of the places.

Places can be rooms, buildings, neighborhoods, cities, states, regions or countries. Places have six properties: name, on, star, view, contained and function. The "on" property is a list of paths the place is on. The star property is a geometric description of the intersections of the paths that meet at the place. The view property is a list of other places within sight. The contained property is a list of larger places containing the place in question. The function property is a description of how the place is used and what activities can be done there.

Paths can be roads or hallways. Paths have a name and a row, or a list of places along the path. Place functions have a name and a list of actions that can be performed at the place.

The researchers studied written directions provided by people and determined that indoor walking directions should have certain properties. Walking directions should not use measured distances, compass headings or be limited to "go to" and "turn" instructions. Instead, they should use landmarks to identify turns and verify travel direction, describe the spaces routes pass by or through, use doors as landmarks, and describe hallway intersections.

The system generates a graphical route map, then produces written directions from the map. To derive walking directions from a map, the system groups waypoints into sets that represent segments of a path along the route. The system knows that two paths intersect where two sets share a waypoint, and that in this case a turn is required, according to Look. And because the system models the geometry of intersections -- the star property -- it can determine which direction to turn.

The system uses two rules for describing turns: use phrases like "turn right at the end of the hallway" to indicate points in routes where paths end, and phrases like "when you enter the lobby, turn left" to incorporate landmarks and functional descriptions of intersections.

And it keeps directions short by using the visibility of landmarks to generate "you will see" phrases. This allows it to avoid having to tell the user to walk straight through every intersection that comes before a turn, according to Look. "Landmarks are also used to assure a person is headed in the right direction," he said.

The system indicates when to walk through doors, and includes the functional description of the space on the other side with phrases like "walk through the doorway into the lounge."

It also segments directions into groups based on number of instructions and determines where to split instructions based on geographic similarities. For example, a set of instructions that spans floors could be split to group the instructions by floor.

The researchers have also developed a related tool, the Interactive Simulator for Lair Exploration, that allows users to ask questions about places and routes like "Where am I?", "Describe this place.", "What can I do here?", "How will I know I'm going in the right direction?", "Is place X near place Y?" and "Is place P along my route from X to Y?"

The query tool could be used with handheld computers that track a user's position using indoor equivalents of the Global Positioning System.

The researchers are working to improve the directions-generating system by better understanding how people make decisions based on their surroundings. Their next steps include a formal study of the quality of the system's directions and making it possible to automatically define places and paths from architectural drawings, according to Look.

The method could be used practically in two to five years, said Look.

Look's research colleagues were Buddhika Kottahachchi, Robert Laddaga and Howard Shrobe. The researchers presented the work at the Intelligent User Interfaces conference (IUI'05) held January 9 to 12, 2005 in San Diego, California. The research was funded by the university.

2005-02-23T16:04:00.000-08:00

more on location

The location thing seems to be a theme these days. This is a thesis that helps extend the "what it means to humans" insight into media-rich urban shared experience...

we make money not art: Bits on Location

Bits on Location was the diploma thesis of Aram Bartholl. This research attempted to connect, through a series of examples, the digital content from locationless global data networks to physical space.

How does the data universe integrate itself into our physical and material world? What effect does the locating of data have on people‘s communication and social relationships?

Though it was made in 2001, it's still an amusing (don't miss project/localization) and sometimes very insightful read.

Presented by Aram Bartholl during the PLAN lecture, Transmediale.

2005-02-15T19:32:00.000-08:00

technorati's locative media tag

This incredible resource, a collective metatagging of the world, has touched on locative media: Technorati: Tag: locative media

Tag: locative media

Thanks, Marc!

2005-02-15T19:31:00.000-08:00

new locative media links

: TCM Locative Reader

Jo Walsh
Exploring the Eurospatial Cartel

2005-02-14T22:16:00.000-08:00

what do the experts think about mobile platforms?

A wonderful resource for those of you with some time to rig up the right 'workflow' to make this work, IT Conversations makes audio commentary on a myriad of topics available for download from the web. I use an RSS reader (NetNewsWire) to gather these things and pump them into iTunes and then into my iPod for listening on the commute. In this case, it is on mobile platforms and includes commentary from some leading experts.

IT Conversations: The Mobile Platform:

The Web started on the PC, but the mobile web is poised to eclipse the PC as the dominant driver of innovation in the Web 2.0 era. At the Web 2.0 conference, mobile expert Rael Dornfest discusses the state of the mobile web with innovators Russell Beattie, Jory Bell, Juha Christensen and Trip Hawkins. (IT Conversations audio from the Web 2.0 conference)

2005-02-11T11:09:00.000-08:00

Explaining location based services

A woman doing her thesis on location based services (LBS) asked
The Mobile Technology Weblog about LBS and Tourism and about defining LBS. Here is an excerpt of the weblog's response:

So, an LBS definition. How about:

Location Based Services (LBS) are services that recognise where a device and its user are geographically and interact with the device and user accordingly.

I still think you need a "for instance" with this one, so it's not perfect. Can anyone do any better?

And in a supplementary question, Clara asks about tourism and LBS - something I hadn't thought about really:

Do you think there might be some issues with LBS which would particularly apply to tourism? For example language barriers, the increased importance of location (i.e. with 'where-am-i' and 'where-is-my-nearest' services), etc?

Do you think it's even worth it trying to offer tourism-exclusive LBS, or is it more likely that the tourism application will come later, after LBS has hit the local consumers (thereby developing the necessary infrastructure)?

One of the big issues that many of the first LBS services stumbled on was that you often only need information about the area you are in when you don't know it very well. Bearing in mind that the vast majority of people live and work in areas they do know, you're de facto limiting the appeal of the service to most users.

Therefore, stuff like "find my nearest x" isn't relevant to most of us, most of the time. [Obviously, there's a lot more to LBS than local information, by the way].

However, with the tourism sector, the big advantage is that people probably do need this local info and may be willing to pay for it.

After that, things get pretty complicated on numerous fronts.

Firstly, inbound tourists are quite difficult to market to. Target them abroad and the wastage is huge. Even with a big tourist destination like London, many, many more people are going to see your ad in the US who will never go to London, than intend to go in the next few years.

And if you wait to hit them with the service when they're en route (eg via the airlines) or have arrived, it may be too late. They may not have a mobile with them, they may not have a roaming arrangement with their carrier, or their mobile may not be compatible with the network.

Obviously, you can try to target them during the trip planning/purchasing cycle, but I would worry that the message would get lost in the clutter of more important things they're thinking about then.

Most serious though is the cost to the user. With a plethora of different roaming charges, how can the marketer or the user have any hope in estimating how much the service will cost? The only thing we can say is that it'll be pretty expensive bearing in mind how much operators hit you for in roaming voice or data calls.

As an example, you might think that Talking Street's narrated tours of Boston or New York over your mobile is good value at $5.95. But the ominous "but regular charges from your cell-phone carrier, such as roaming and text messaging, may also apply" would probably be enough to deter most people without a US phone.

Obviously many tourists come from within a country and they would be both easier to target and the roaming issue wouldn't apply.

This cost issue is supported by the trial of the m-ToGuide which targeted English and Italian speaking day-trippers in Siena, Spanish-speaking domestic tourists in Madrid and English and German speaking business travelers and cultural tourists in London.

600 people signed up and 70% claimed that they'd use it again. BUT only 50 per cent of the trial users were willing to pay the €12-14 (c. $19) daily charge for the m-ToGuide basic service. This obviously indicates some price sensitivity and roaming is going to further complicate it.

Obviously, you can also provide them with a handset that gets round that issue, but then you become a service provider and rental agency with all the associated logistics and staffing issues.

Thinking more micro - say at individual museum or gallery level, dishing out a device which has a guide or LBS service like Art Mobs is very practical. Many museums and galleries already have audio guides and players, so this isn't such a leap.

The other advantage of incorporating LBS into such a device is that it can be geo-fenced. In other words, people who try to remove it from the designated area can be identified and apprehended.

Language is also an issue, but hardly insurmountable as any service targeting inbound tourism needs to cope with this.

Having the available technology is the final area. Cell-based tracking is not accurate enough in most cases and GPS is dodgy in urban areas. Therefore you need Assisted GPS in my opinion - or a work around. On a macro level (for a tour, for example) you could provide a map and people connect with the service when they reach specific points. On a micro-level, wireless LAN would probably be fine.

So, in summary, I'd say that tourism and LBS are very natural bed fellows and in 5 to 10 years, tourist services like guides and tours as well as ticketing and payment services will all be there on your mobile.

However, the reason it's going to take that long to really get established is that we're in the hands of the operators who have different priorities - fair enough, it's their business to run.

LBS technology needs to be deployed, which is taking a long time. And when deployed, we need to see how they decide to charge for location feeds. Historically, new services in the mobile sector tend to be super-premium priced, which limits market take-up. And operators won't be in any hurry to lower their roaming charges - or even clarify the tariffs - as it's very nice little earner.

Bearing in mind Buckley's Law #9 "Don't launch a mobile service where you're dependent on an operator to deploy a service or technology" (number 11 is "Don't launch a mobile service or technology that you need an agreement from an operator to launch, unless you're very sure and have an escape plan") this is not an area I'd advise people to rush into.

But if I had to place a few bets on the sector, I think micro guides (not reliant on operator LBS solutions) could be quite cool. Late availability ticketing. And persuading Angus at the excellent London Pass to take his product and launch an entirely mobile version.

2005-02-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

Scottish MUSE?

As we learn from we make money not art, we're not the only ones developing these "games in the streets" using wireless rich-media: Seamful Game, being developed in Glasgow, looks pretty cool.

2005-02-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

Make "stickies" with your mobile

We've heard a few of these location commentary things (see the "mobile Bristol" project with HP, for example), but I've never heard them use the 'post-it' note analogy. Kind of a neat way to help people understand what is going on, I guess.

moconews: Siemens develops mobile post-it application

There is a web site that simulates a shared sticky note interface here: http://www.aypwip.org/webnote. I wonder if something like this could be done with mobiles...

2005-01-31T22:08:00.000-08:00

In the Mobile MUSE project we are looking for the "affordances" of locative media. We haven't really focused on how gaming technology will move into the wireless space, instead focusing on how other wireless devices will become useful for games (in our case the mobile phone and the PDA). But perhaps we've gone about this backwards? Should we think about the gamer's use of the airwaves? Sony things so:

See this article from "Smart Mobs": Viral handheld gaming feature(?)

2005-01-31T22:02:00.000-08:00

A new type of "locative media" - interesting concept that places music boxes in an urban environment. The boxes are supposed to enhance people's appreciation of space.

From "we make money not art": When sound gives an identity to places

2004-12-19T09:20:00.000-08:00

We have an anthropologist on our research team - can we make these kinds of insights come to life for our teams? I hope so.

Smart Mobs writes: Anthropologists inspire tech companies

Every year, the people of the Trobriand Islands in New Guinea exchange ornamental seashell armbands and necklaces to bind their circle of fishing communities to each other, explains New Scientist (via plsj).

One of the "kula" exchange key features is an apparent element of altruism. Because the chain of gift-giving passes from island to island in a circle, no community receives a present from the one it gives to.

The kula exchange could inspire new ways to make technology useful. That is why antropologists are increasingly being employed by high-tech firms to apply lessons learned from traditional customs to tomorrow's high-tech products and services.

Anthropologist Richard Harper has adapted for Vodafone UK the kula-style gift-giving rules to encourage social bonding. Under his guidance, the operator has launched its Postcard service. You send an MMS to Vodafone, who will print it as a postcard and mail it to whomever you want. Like the islanders' gifts, Vodafone's postcards are permanent - unlike text messages.

The idea is that the recipient will then want to send a postcard of their own, perhaps to a third party, and so draw more subscribers into the network. Exchanging more valuable artefacts, such as music or video files, may be next.

Anthropologist and computer scientist Travis Breaux expects this kind of input to become more common. "Ethnographic methods are being applied to friend-finding networks such as Friendster, multi-player online role-playing games such as Everquest and online dating systems," he explains. And these networks and games are proving useful to social scientists in their academic research. "Future technologies will in turn be affected by our studies of the way people behave on these networks."

2004-12-17T14:27:00.000-08:00

I was reading the "Mobile Technology" weblog and noticed that they had a link to a site that had a link to the bookcrossing site. I don't know if you've already heard of this - it was a bit of a splash online about a year or so ago - but it involves leaving books in public places and seeing who picks them up - you put a code in the book so you can trace its path.

The reason for putting the link up, I think, is that leaving a book in a public place is kind of the most basic "location based service" (LBS) you can imagine. And it helps put in perspective all the weird and wacky ideas people have for technology driven "LBS". When all you really need is a book.

That and a database-driven, dynamic web site...

Bookcrossing writes: BookCrossing - Home - FREE YOUR BOOKS!

bookcrossing
n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.

(added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary in August 2004)

2004-12-09T21:15:00.000-08:00

The Mobile Technology Weblog writes: The Mobile is the New Car

I can't find the original reference article (and I'm too mean to pay for a subscription), but The Economist apparently wrote a piece earlier in the year comparing mobiles to cars, according to the Trendwatching Newsletter.

It noted (dryly):

Model and customization define the owner

Replacement is frequent

Choice is massive

Branding and design are key

Competition is global

Anticipation of new models is enormous

To this, I'd add:

It's also replaced the car as the most important element in most teenager's social lives. It used to be that "grounding" a teen was the worst thing you could do. But now threatening to take away their sim card is the nastiest weapon in the parental armory.

On a related issue, cars were pretty essential to your sex life, when I were a lad. Now the phone is. Without your phone you can't flirt, get to know your amour or even arrange to meet up for a bit of nooky - OK, you still have to use the family hatchback for that bit.

Hmm... other similarities....

They both have features no one understands how to use. Mercedes dropped something like 80 electronic features from their models last year, as no one knew they were there or how to use them.

OK, how about manufacturer similarities? Controversial this, but:

Nokia = Volvo

Samsung = Mazda

Motorola = Ford

Siemens = BMW

Sony Ericsson = Mercedes

Alcatel = Lada (the old version)

What do you think? Leave a comment.

Note to self: Having lit touch paper, stand well back.

Related entries:

Mobile RSS Feeds... - Jul 16, 2004
Mobile Guitar and Piano Tuner... - Oct 18, 2004
Mobile Weapons... - Nov 25, 2004
Useful Site... - Jul 08, 2004
Ringtone Concert... - Oct 15, 2004
Shag Phone Again... - Dec 09, 2004

Related Research Reports:

2004-2005 - Australia - Mobile Communications and Mobile Data

(200 pages)

US$695 from

Paul Budde Communication

This annual report offers a wealth of information on the Mobile market, covering:

Market and industry analyses, trends and developments.
Facts, figures and statistics.
Industry issues and regulat...

Mobile Network Operators: T-Mobile

(40 pages)

US$595 from

Espicom Healthcare Intelligence

The base point for all analysis of mobile telephony is the Operator. Understanding operators’ performance, organisation, ownership, licences, and subscriber success is fundamental to understandi...

Japan Mobile: A mobile Communications analysis of the market, operator strategies, regulation and status of 2.5G and 3G

(80 pages)

US$1103 from

Baskerville

New Executive Briefing from the publishers of Mobile Communications

A Mobile Communications guide to the market, operator strategies, regulation and the status of 2.5G and 3G

Japan is the most advan...

2004-12-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

A location game

More and more of these are coming out - and should form an excellent context for our own prototypes. Note that this company is based in Seattle. Perhaps a road trip is in order?

we make money not art writes: "High-intensity" location game for mobile phones
Seattle-based company GloVentures plans to release early 2005 Glofun RayGun, a GPS ghost-hunting game for mobile phones.
A mobile loaded with RayGun software emits "spectral" energy that lets you attract and track ghosts. But that energy annoys the ghosts, so you have to "ionize" them before they get to you.
To aim the raygun at a ghost, you must physically move toward it. The faster you walk/run, the higher the raygun’s range.
Press Release.

2004-11-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

Can we be part of this renewal of political culture, using wireless technology?

Salon writes: Salon.com Technology | Urban renewal, the wireless way

In November 2003, New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger penned a diatribe in Metropolis magazine against the isolation and dissolution of place wrought by the pervasive use of cellphones on city streets. "The mobile phone renders a public place less public," he wrote. "It turns the boulevardier into a sequestered individual, the flâneur into a figure of privacy. And suddenly the meaning of the street as a public place has been hugely diminished."

Goldberger's critique of mobile communications technology capped over a decade of analysis revolving around the ability of global communications networks -- for better and for worse -- to release people from the constraints of time and place. "The post-information age will remove the limitations of geography," wrote Nicholas Negroponte in "Being Digital." "Digital living will depend less and less on being in a specific place at a specific time." In "Pandemonium," Lars Lerup, dean of the architecture school at Rice University, proclaimed: "The bandwidth has replaced the boulevard."

Actually, it didn't. Virtual reality as a substitute for reality? That kind of thinking is, well, so very yesterday. With a new generation of wireless devices, GPS (global positioning system) locators and ubiquitous networking, future gazers claim, digital space will simply add another dimension to physical space, especially as technology continues to penetrate what sociologist Ray Oldenberg has famously described as "third places": the communal public spaces where people interact with friends or strangers.

See article for more...

2004-11-25T10:09:00.000-08:00

This has got to be the sine qua non of the "media-rich urban shared experience." We should start collecting up some more of these prototypical creations as context for our own prototypes.

Virtual Graffiti

Mobile Scout is an art project at the moment, but of the sort that I'm beginning to get pretty excited about, actually.

Mobile SCOUT is a public art project that collects audio narratives of your local surroundings, personal rituals and public sightings. Using your mobile phone, you leave a voice message of your observations with the Mobile SCOUT Ranger, our automated quirky naturalist.

Turn your observations into a brief message about the flora (landscapes), fauna (characters) or behaviors (events) that populate your surroundings.

I can see this kind of thing taking off - a kind of virtual graffiti, which you only need to switch on and read/listen to it if you're interested in it. This leaves the environment free and uncluttered for everyone else.

We've seen similar things at the Yellow Arrow project, World Board and TagandScan and while they're all pretty crude at the moment, I think we could be seeing something quite powerful in its early stages.

Imagine, for instance, that you were to visit Hillert & Co in Munich in a year's time. You're interested in Location Based Services, but had no idea that I was presenting there back in November 2004, on this very subject.

But your Bluetooth phone is constantly scanning the area for nuggets on this, as well as country music and Bavarian folk costume (pretty eclectic tastes you have!). Your phone then identifies that a virtual note had been left on LBS in this location and allows you to read it. You then ask your host to put us in touch to get a copy of the slides.

Fast forward 3 years or so and you'll probably be able to actually see a recording of my presentation, with me, Princess Leia-like (remember the "Help me Obi-Wan" hologram beamed by R2D2 - no? You're too young to be here then!) popping virtually out of the wall to re-run the presentation slides and you can fast forward the boring bits.

When you leave the office and head out to Landsberg, you find another note tells you that Johnny Cash was stationed there and his first band was actually called the Landsberg Barbarians. And all the time your phone is beeping like crazy as you pass people in national Bavarian dress (no, they do wear it - honestly!).

Seriously though, I think these kinds of scenarios are very likely and will bring new dimensions and richness to our daily lives.

While there are major issues to overcome - mainly who creates, edits and maintains content - I think we will find a way through. If Wikipedia has proved workable and generally reliable, this kind of virtual re-interpretation of the project must be possible.

A tantalizing glimpse of the future.

Related entries:

Related entries:

Bluetooth Chat... - Jul 10, 2004
Youth of Today... - Oct 14, 2004
Back... - Nov 02, 2004
BlueSpam 2... - Nov 04, 2004
Retro Phones from Retrofone... - Nov 21, 2004
Bluetooth Better on a Mac... - Mar 27, 2004

Related Research Reports:

Wireless Advantage (215 pages) Price: US$750

Wireless channels can raise the efficiency of the user by boosting the speed of interaction or trimming the stock of resources required for a task. An example of timeliness is found in trading stocks...

Source: The Mobile Technology Weblog

2004-11-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

Some predictions for wireless - which we could drop into a business section in our inventory.

InCode releases 11 wireless predictions for 2005
InCode has made it's predictions for 2005 for the wireless industry. Among them, that carriers will give up their quest for the killer data app and focus on voice, launching tiered voice services and enhanced calling features, the main demand for which will come from enterprises. In addition, the wireless ...
Source: moconews

2004-11-22T17:11:00.000-08:00

A very interesting interview with a mobile content pioneer and entrepreneur.

Interview with Simon Buckingham

Simon Buckingham, is the ebullient head of Mobile Streams and is perhaps one of the most influential players in mobile today.

After leaving the Vodafone womb, Simon started Mobile Streams, which quickly rose to fame primarily as analysts, with ground breaking reports like "Say Yes to SMS" - difficult to believe that many operators really couldn't see its potential only a few short years ago. He was also kind enough to publish my first book on Messaging Applications, which is now out of print.

However, unusually for an analyst he decided to walk the walk too and started his own content play. This is now a global industry encompassing gaming, ringtones and images, with (and I have no inside knowledge of this) video, adult and gambling services, perhaps to follow.

To coincide with the launch of their new publication "Say Yes to Ringtones" (if you've found a title that works, hey.... might as well keep mining it), I did this following interview with the man himself.

What prompted you to leave a successful career with Vodafone to start Mobile Streams?

I wanted a global role and could not do so in my Vodafone UK position.

When Mobile Streams first started you were better known as analysts, with ground breaking reports such as “Say Yes to SMS”. What prompted you to become an actual player with your own mobile content?

It was partly luck and partly frustration. I was lucky to register ringtones.com as a domain name but I was also frustrated that people were not listening to my consulting advice. They were investing in WAP rather than SMS so I said that I would practice what I preached. I also wanted a business I could scale and digital content was easier than consulting.

MMS was greatly hyped two years ago and has consistently failed to take off. Why and how would you fix things if you were recalled to head up Vodafone’s MMS efforts?

I would agree a common brand name with the other UK operators to raise consumer awareness. I would open up MMS to third parties for content services.

Thinking on an even bigger scale, if you were asked tomorrow to take over a UK network operator, what would be your priorities? What would you fix that’s wrong?

Having the right people would be key. I would also set priorities in terms of devices and services that are promoted. I would also look at emerging markets and see if there is an opportunity to stay fast growing in the future.

Where do you see the future of mobile gaming? So far, most simply seem to be re-runs of old PC games?

Mobile gaming will evolve with old and new games and wireless connectivity. Again it’s a question of consumer awareness and behaviour at this stage to encourage usage of any kinds of mobile games.

What do you think about the potential of location based gaming?

Not strong in the immediate term. Wi-fi gaming via the Sony PSP will be strong but this is anyone, anywhere on a Wi-Fi network so it removes the location constraint.

One of the areas I write about a lot is why LBS has been slow to take off (if we ignore fleet/asset management and navigation). How do you see the market and will it ever take off?

I don’t think that location services will ever take off because they are too complicated for the consumer to use and too complicated compared to alternative ways to get the same information e.g. maps.

Should the operators have said “yes to 3G” and will it be a success?

3G will be a success in terms of both voice capacity and nonvoice content services. But it will take 5 years before the operators see a real return on their investment and most consumers have 3G phones.

What do you see the exciting areas for mobile content right now?

Video content is the most exciting area. Realtones, full track music downloads to mobile, ringback tones are also interesting. Adult and gambling services will happen once access control and age verification is in place.

Do you think P2P ringtone (and other content) exchanges will take off, like they have with music online (Kazaa and eDonkey, for instance)? As a major, global player, does it worry you?

I do not think that they will take off as the mobile content formats are much more complex than those for online. We produce ringtones in more than 30 formats for all phones- it would be difficult to get the same level of experience for free from an online exchange.

How about user created content?

Another small niche for those in the know. If anything, this has fallen in usage as more content has become available.

And the MP3 format for ringtones?

Full track downloads with full DRM is happening in Asia and Europe and will happen once networks get faster and phones get smarter. MP3 for ringtones has been removed from many devices and is again a very small niche in the overall market terms.

For my readers who don’t understand the ringtone market, can you describe the value chain and how you go about marketing content successfully. To most it’s a commodity business, so how do you stand out from the crowd?

We own the “ringtones.com” brand which helps. We support all phones with all genres of content which gives the widest quality and quantity. There are then players in the value chain- the music labels and publishers on one side and the network operators on the other, with the portals., aggregators and specialists in-between.

Make three predictions for the telecom industry for the next 2 years.

Operator portals will continue to drive content sales, Video content will explode, the Asian market and vendors will continue to grow faster than their European or American counterparts.

Related entries:

Related entries:

Mobile Content Rant... - Sep 22, 2004
Mobile Content Complaints... - Oct 11, 2004
Exclusive Interview with Tomi Ahonen... - Oct 16, 2004
18+ Ring Tones... - Nov 20, 2004
3rd Wave Mobile Content... - Aug 05, 2004
Mobile Information Exchange... - Oct 12, 2004

Related Research Reports:

Japan Mobile: A mobile Communications analysis of the market, operator strategies, regulation and status of 2.5G and 3G (80 pages) Price: US$1103

New Executive Briefing from the publishers of Mobile Communications

A Mobile Communications guide to the market, operator strategies, regulation and the status of 2.5G and 3G

Japan is the mo...

Guide to European Content Payment Solutions: Mobile and Online Billing Systems, Case Studies and Company Profiles (161 pages) Price: US$225

The latest report from Van Dusseldorp offers a comprehensive overview of the streaming media activities of European Broadcasters. Broadband rollout has finally taken off across Europe and an increasin...

Europe’s MNOs Should Move Fast on Mobile Content (16 pages) Price: US$995

To ensure their financial health, Europe’s mobile network operators (MNO) need to exploit the opportunities presented to them by the mobile data market. MNOs failed to hook users on the mobile p...

Source: The Mobile Technology Weblog

2004-11-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

From the "Mixed reality" labs, we find this site (MXR Lab_research_HP) with a novel use of mobile devices and human beings: "Human Pacman."

2004-11-09T21:57:00.000-08:00

This is a good list of location based games - we should add them all into our inventory.

Location-based mobile phone games
IN-duce published a list for mobile phone games using GPS or cell towers signals, there's also a lists of other location based (or augmented reality) mobile games.
Via The Invisible Rabbit.
Source: we make money not art

2004-11-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

Very important information for our prototype types relating to privacy and location based services.

Guidelines for LBS Applications

My thanks to C. Enrique Ortiz (great initials) for directing me to his Privacy Notes: Geofencing and Guidelines for LBS Developers. They're definitely worth a read if you're involved or interested in Location Based Services.

His basic concept is that if it's a person being tracked, they must consent to being tracked and be able to opt out at any time. A little like Best Practice push marketing, the ability to simply opt out is not enough - you must opt in, in the first place and must be able to stop it anytime you want.

If you don't operate under these guidelines, at some point there will be such a big backlash from ordinary people, Government (jumping on a vote-winner bandwagon) and NGO's that it'll kill these types of services.

But the dilemma comes when an employer wants to track his employees. Even if they give their consent, how do we know that such consent has not been given under duress? I'm not talking about thumbscrews and chains here, but:

"Hi Guys and Girls" says the Sales Director. "On Monday we're going to start tracking your asses where ever you go. That'll keep you out of the sports bar on Friday afternoons won't it Malcolm?"

Malcolm now feels mightily pissed off. Yes, it's true that he does spend the odd afternoon celebrating a big sale. But he is the best sales guy the company has ever had, selling 4 times the amount of the second best sales person.

"Now, being tracked is entirely optional" continues the Sales Director. Looks of relief pass around the room. "You can agree" he quips " or you can leave."

Hmmm, you can just see it happening.

As I've said before, I don't like these employee tracking businesses, from the smug CEO's making jokes about people's privacy (Xora CEO Sanjay Shirole "There's no electro shock--yet,". Ha ha Sanjay, no any good jokes about Zyclon-B?) to the types of organisation who feel they need to use the systems.

In fact, I'd go so far as saying any CEO of any company that feels the need to track their employees to control them like this has got their people management policy so wrong that they should be fired. They're trying to treat the symptom, not the disease and that's a serious failure of judgment. How else are they going to screw up?

Of course, there are legitimate reasons to track employees. Like a cab company might like to know the nearest driver to a collection point. But controlling movement is not one of them.

And there's plenty of great LBS applications yet to be delivered, despite lack of traction in this area to date.

But trying to control your employees is not a good use of the technology.

Related entries:

Call for control of kids' tracking services... - Jul 08, 2004
GPS & SMS... - Jul 10, 2004
Location Tracking... - Aug 20, 2004
Tracking kids in South Korea... - Jul 28, 2004
Location Tracking by WLans... - May 13, 2004
Sickest Technology Brand Name Ever?... - Sep 09, 2004

Related Research Reports:

Mobile Network Operators: AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. (42 pages) Price: US$595

The base point for all analysis of mobile telephony is the operator. Understanding operators' performance, organization, ownership, licenses, and subscriber success is fundamental to understanding the...

2004-2005 - Australia - Mobile Communications and Mobile Data (200 pages) Price: US$695

This annual report offers a wealth of information on the Mobile market, covering:

Market and industry analyses, trends and developments.

Facts, figures and statistics.

Industry issues ...

Mobile Network Operators: SingTel Mobile (52 pages) Price: US$595

The base point for all analysis of mobile telephony is the operator. Understanding operators' performance, organization, ownership, licenses, and subscriber success is fundamental to understanding the...

.
Source: The Mobile Technology Weblog

2004-11-02T10:32:00.000-08:00

A new category of device? What does that mean? How does it fit into the future envisaged by our prototypes?

New Category of Portable Media Devices Announced
Several new portable media devices are expected to hit the market this year, all powered by the Sigma Media Processors, these devices create a new category of portable entertainment products.
Source: MobileMag

2004-11-02T10:27:00.000-08:00

A compendium of information on future mobile services, from Gartner, via SmartMobs...

Future of the web is on the move.

A smarter internet and a host of cheap, web-enabled mobile devices will allow users to access a whole range of services on the move, research group Gartner Dataquest said on Sunday, ahead of its ITXpo symposium.

At the annual gathering in Cannes, France next week, Gartner analyst Alexander Linden will identify several of the long-term technology trends and innovations whose seeds were sown in the days of the tech bubble.

A smarter internet will allow consumers to collaborate to pay for services costing just a few pence, making a whole range of new offerings viable.

"We can start selling products we could not sell before. iTunes (Apple's online music store where songs cost 79 pence each) is just the start," Linden said.

Navigation systems which now offer only a rudimentary selection of road services such as fuel stations and tourist sights are just a beginning.

Mobile users will one day be shown the way to the nearest doctor on weekend duty. Parents will be able to contact the nearest child minder to take over at a moment's notice.

Consumers will be able to select and rate a wide range of services such as restaurants or shops.

"It will influence competition. Companies will have to compete more on quality and location than brand," Linden said.

Some websites already offer a glimpse of the future by having customers describe and rate restaurants they visit, in a real life version of what Google and Amazon.com do by tracking clicks and customer purchases.

Consumers and businesses should expect this kind of internet intelligence to come to the real world.

There is also a new opportunity for investors. On the new internet, they will not need expensive investment software to find and compare data from company financial reports.

The building blocks for a more intelligent internet are standardised data from a plethora of sources which can be recognised and connected.

For now, we are in a technology cycle in which all kinds of information network are built and tied together for ubiquitous access to the internet, Gartner says.

It expects the distinction between fixed and mobile internet to slowly disappear.

The first signs of this can be seen in some websites which recognise how a consumer accesses a site, either by PC or mobile phone. They adjust the size and content of the page accordingly and automatically.

The next cycle of connectivity, where all systems understand each other, has barely started, while the following cycle - in which this intelligence is embedded in every device - is still a dream.

"We always say we live in the information age. But in fact we live in an information wanna-be situation," Linden said. "It will take a century or more to get to ubiquitous intelligence."

Source: Smart Mobs

2004-10-31T15:07:00.000-08:00

A "massively multiplayer online game" using IM... can we make it urban? Can we make it mobile?

Otoy
(Thanks Hylton Jolliffe).

Jules Urbach is developing a technology he is calling "Otoy" for MMOG's (Massively Multiplayer Online Games) using Instant Messaging technology, that creates simple games with a small memory footprint. The goal apears to be to make small and instantly launchable games that allow massive amounts of players, but that don't have the complexity of many current MMOG's:

True, you can already bring fellow IM-ers into various games, but typically small games. True, you can already engage in IM-like activities in the big blockuster MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games.. sometimes better known as MMORPGs if you include the RP=Role Playing), epitomized by Everquest and Asheron's Call: these games involve hundreds of thousands of participants, but necessarily there are a much smaller number on your personal radar screen at any moment.

The cool thing about Otoy, ..., is that it would allow simple 'massive crowd' games (think of a Mexican wave in a big stadium)

[via Corante's "Get Real" Blog]
Source: Smart Mobs

2004-10-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

Interestingly, this "talk now" company is based in Toronto - so the link to our prototype teams is not that unlikely...

With patent pending 'Talk Now,' singles may be only five minutes away from finding love
With patent pending 'Talk Now,' singles may be only five minutes away from finding love
Tuesday October 19, 6:01 am ET

Toronto-based Mobilehookup's 'Talk Now' - a North American first - adds speed-dating dimension to mobile date/chat service

TORONTO, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ - A North American first, it's a marriage made in heaven for busy singles on the go: Mobilehookup's patent pending 'Talk Now' combines text messaging's fun and convenience with speed-dating's functionality. A key industry innovation, 'Talk Now,' allows Mobilehookup members to further pursue a budding connection by talking live - for five minutes - on the telephone while protecting user privacy and anonymity.
Source:

2004-10-28T22:59:00.000-07:00

Talk Five

Boing Boing reports on one of those ideas that seem pretty pointless if you're over 25. But if you're under 25, it's utterly crovey.

TalkNow, by Mobilehookup, allows members to chat/flirt on their mobiles for 5 minutes, without revealing their phone numbers. After that, if both parties decide they want to go further, they can find out each other's details.

The service is a spin out of their SMS based dating/flirting product where singles can initiate a contact with an SMS via Mobilehookup. TalkNow allows them to get a little closer, without compromising anonymity.

It's a kind of phone-based speed dating.

Related entries:

Funk am Handy... - Okt 02, 2004
Canada is Unique... - Apr 14, 2004
ebizz talk archives... - Dec 22, 2003
Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day... - Sep 19, 2004
BBC on Speed Dating... - Feb 18, 2004
Speed Dating: The Movie... - Feb 21, 2004

Related Research Reports:

Media and Mobile: Profiling European media companies' use of mobile data (104 pages) Price: US$1103

Media and Mobile: Profiling European media companies' use of mobile data provides you with unique insights into media companies' attitudes to mobile data, detailing the aims of current deployments as...

2004-2005 - USA - Infrastructure, Voice, Data and Mobile (161 pages) Price: US$395

Included in this report is Paul Budde's analysis of the research covering - an extensive range of market and industry information, regulatory environment and statistical data. An in depth review of th...

Mobile opportunities in the Caribbean (148 pages) Price: US$1273

Your essential guide to the Caribbean mobile market, including market data and unique forecasts, detailing licensing activity, major players’ strategies and emerging opportunities.

Many Caribbe...

.
Source: The Mobile Technology Weblog

2004-10-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Both of the prototype teams are aiming at the tourist in some way shape or form. This posting could be useful for them.

Lofoten Emergency Tourist Kit
The Temporary Travel Office offers services relating to tourism and technology aimed at exploring the non-rational connections existing between public and private spaces.

Among Ryan Griffis' projects is a Emergency tourist kits for visitors of Lofoten.

Inside the bag, there's an emergency poncho printed with definitions of "Invasive Species" in Norwegian, a hat with a holder for 3 nautical flags ("I require assistance", "I am disabled, communicate with me" and "Man overboard"), an informative postcard and a map of political issues in Lotofen (Norway.)

The ironic project wants to denounce the local oil production decisions, the fishing policy and the official response to ecological changes like the expansion of King Crabs.

Via Space and Culture.
Source: we make money not art

2004-10-22T09:56:00.000-07:00

A (wireless) chicken in every pot

It seems that this "community wireless" notion is gaining traction, for a variety of reasons. Some see it as a tool for economic development, others see it as a chance to bridge the digital divide, others imagine new services or simply efficiencies in providing existing city services. Whatever the reasons, it is coming at us hard and fast and our prototypes are going to be emerging into a world with high bandwidth urban networks sooner than many of us would have thought.

SF Mayor Promises Free City-Wide WiFi
In his annual state of the city address, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom promised all residents they will have free wireless Internet access in the near future. The city already has free WiFi service available at Union Square as well as at SBC Park where the San Francisco Giants baseball team plays. The mayor promised there will soon be access available from other sections of the city including Civic Centre around City Hall.
Source: The Wireless Weblog

2004-10-22T09:52:00.000-07:00

What is mobile content?

We aren't the only ones wondering what is going to work in the realm of mobile content. The australians seem to be taking the "spaghetti test" approach, however...

Mad Scramble For Anything That Might Appeal in Mobile
That probably sums up the zeitgiest in the market better than anything else..this one pertains to the Australian market, but applicable anywhere. Let's throw everyting at the wall and see what sticks...
The sure thing in all this is that content is back as a kingmaker, particularly in these proliferating new ...
Source: moconews

2004-10-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

Mobile Game

A fascinating game that involves a joint activity by players with mobile phones. It is called "CatchBob!"

2004-10-14T07:11:00.000-07:00

The Feature has a story on Urban Public Authoring by Howard Rheingold. This is one way to look at the MUSE prototypes, and we might consider connecting with the people mentioned in this story.

2004-10-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

Mobile Content Marketplaces?

Kwickee is opening up a new category: the Mobile Information Exchange.

This is something for the MUSErs to consider, how is the long term outcome of this research - a vibrant mobile content industry - going to reach the market. We need to manage the production AND the consumption of mobile content, methinks...

2004-10-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

This story on CatchBob!, posted at Smart Mobs and just about every other mobile content/technology web site this morning may be a good model and or 'peer' for our prototypes.

2004-10-08T21:47:00.000-07:00

This initiative, called Downtown Digital Futures, might be a model for a 'launch event' for our project. These folks are integrating art, technology, and local issues. Or, perhaps we should just send some folks to attend. See also the story in Smart Mobs.

2004-10-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

Web 2.0 is on right now, and there is a feed from the conference on Mobile:

The Mobile Platform: The Future of Mobile

2004-10-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

[murmur] gets noticed in "textually.org"'s blog. Nice to see - I wonder if we should start feeding these folks information about our project?

Hear you are: "The Canadian [murmur] project, created by Shawn Micallef, James Roussel and Gabe Sawhney, relies on a simple concept: recordings of anecdotes and memories told by locals can be accessed by mobile phone (or payphone.) The number to call is posted..."

(Via textually.org.)

2004-09-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know if we're planning on including cameras in the prototypes, but it might be fun to do so, and the suggestion from Japan is that this is a popular option.

Playing with Mobile Media -- Tokyo Game Show 2004: "Not only are digital cameras appearing in phones, they’re now appearing in mobile games as well."

(Via TheFeature.com.)

2004-09-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

The business model team, led by Lynda, will be scouring the local scene as well as digging up reports like this one (Wireless Gaming Becoming a Growth Industry) over the next few months. Whatever we can do to help them will probably be "a good thing."

"With mobile-gaming revenues expected to rise to over $200 million this year from a total of $91.3 million in 2003, it looks like a number of entrepreneurs are looking to get into the wireless gaming act. On top of that, mobile-gaming provider Jamdat Mobile, maker of a popular bowling game (which I personally have loaded into my handheld) is getting an IPO out this week and, if analysts are correct, they may just make a tidy sum of money out of it."

(Via The Wireless Weblog.)

2004-09-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

Rodger's team is on the right track - location based gaming, in this case catching schools of virtual swordfish, is coming alive. And this one isn't "remote" - it's part of Bell Mobility's network all across Canada. Details below:

Location Based Fishing!

2004-09-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

More location aware stuff - this one called "Plazes".

Plazes: location-aware participatory mapquest: "Plazes is the first global location-aware interaction and geo-information system, connecting you with the people and Plazes in your area and all over the world. It is the navigation system for your social life. Plazes is a physical location with..."

(Via we make money not art.)

2004-09-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

I think I've posted previously about "locative media" but if not here's a recent story and some links. We're in this business so we ought to be tracking current developments.

Locative Media: "

There's an amazing list of Locative Media initiatives at yproductions - so called after one of my favourite quotes. "When you come to a Y in the road, take it." Yogi Berra. A great call for action, worthy of Tom Peters himself.

The list includes many old faves like Uncle Roy All Around You and PacManhattan. But also loads I've never come across.

Many are kooky art projects (which I love) and many are bids for more mainstream success.

There's about a day's worth of material here. Enjoy.

Related entries:

B2B Treasure... - Jun 29, 2004
TV on your Mobile... - Jul 10, 2004
GPS & SMS... - Jul 10, 2004
Recycled numbers and poor service... - Jul 01, 2004

.
"

(Via The Mobile Technology Weblog.)

2004-09-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

This, it seems to me, is the perfect platform for rodger's team - what do you think?

...r

Urballoon: "Urballoon is an urban media space: a balloon equipped with a projector and wireless connection to the web that enables people to submit content online and broadcast it in public spaces."

(Via textually.org.)

2004-09-24T12:41:00.000-07:00

More concerns about LBS, in this long posting from the Mobile Technology Weblog. The "TeenArriveAlive" service (yech) is apparently on its way to Canada, according to a story in the Ottawa Citizen last week.

Location Based Insensitivity: "

What is it with people who work in Location Based Services? Either they're insensitive, lack any form of emotional intelligence or they're just plain stupid. You decide.

First we have Aligo CEO Robert Smith jumping in with his size 9's, narrowly managing to avoid suggesting beating employees who aren't where they should be. Then we have the sickly named TeenArriveAlive which in case you missed their message, means that if you put one of their stickers on your car and pay $10 a month, your kid won't be killed while driving - talk about attempted emotional blackmail.

Now we have Gizmodo reporting on a sweet little quote from cuddly Xora CEO Sanjay Shirole. Good ole Sanjay says about employees being not where they're meant to be:

There's no electro shock--yet,"

As Gizmodo says:

The only thing classier than creating a technology that will eventually be used to tie workers into virtual corrals - I'm not joking, it's in the article; called "geofences" - is to make a joke about using the system to abuse workers. Hilarious!

Don't get me wrong - LBS tracking can make businesses much more efficient in all sorts of ways. But checking up on employees isn't the USP of these services. And any company planning to use them to spy on employees has de facto got itself a serious staff problem.

Related entries:
Call for control of kids' tracking services... - Jul 08, 2004
Location Based Services Poised to Rebound... - Jul 13, 2004
GPS & SMS... - Jul 10, 2004
Location Gaming... - Jul 08, 2004

(Via The Mobile Technology Weblog.)

2004-09-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

Both of the MUSE prototypes are "location based services" (LBS) in one form or another. This market report, from Frost & Sullivan, suggests that there are some significant in the way before LBS takes off. An important bit of information to keep in mind.

LBS Analysis: "

Frost & Sullivan, John Younghusband, analyst gave a telephone briefing on the state of the Location Based Services market yesterday.

You can listen to a recording and see the slides here.

John's presentation outlines why LBS, despite its early promise just doesn't seem to be happening. This is partly poor technology (inaccurate and clunky) and partly poor content.

Operators especially haven't got behind LBS, focusing their efforts on other forms of content (ringtones and the like). Plus, they've essentially frozen out third party developers (traditionally the source of innovation in this market) by a combination of pricing and making it difficult to get access to location feeds in the first place.

Frost are foresting a market worth just £200 million by 2007, which is practically insignificant in the context of the overall industry.

But it's only going to happen if the operators get behind it at some point. And it's suggested that privacy concerns might be holding them back.

Having said that, Directive E911 in the US means that the US has the potential to lead the market for LBS, as they're much further ahead.

Related entries:

.
"

(Via The Mobile Technology Weblog.)

2004-09-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

We've dedicated ourselves to media-rich urban shared experience, and I think we've just more or less assumed that the "sharing" is mutually desirable. But what if it isn't? The "bluejacking" phenomenon illustrates when sharing is not welcome. This experiment is more of a hybrid - people willing to share, in principle, but don't necessarily know what they are getting into...

Leap into the digital spaces of fellow bus travellers: "The Mobile Snoop Service experiment developed by Anab Jain as part of her studies at the Interaction Design, allowed people to snoop into fellow travelers mobile phones and read text messages, view images and listen to conversations while traveling."

(Via textually.org.)

2004-09-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

We'll want to be on the lookout for interesting new devices that will enable some of these new services anticipated by the prototypes. This might be one...

Curitel reveals an innovative (and round) game phone: "Pantech&Curitel’s new game phone adopting innovative design was opened to public Monday. PH-S3500s prominent keypad is specially devised to let gamers enjoy 3D games using 4-direction keys with both hands holding the phone. The phone is released with 4..."

(Via AdM+Partners: Tracking Mobile Ubiquity.)

2004-09-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

This looks like an interesting "shared experience" that you can do when you're mobile, and the barriers to entry on text based games are pretty low.

Mobile MUDding: "" border="0" align="right" />

Russell Beattie noodles mobile MUDding, playing multi-user Zork-like text-based adventures on mobile devices.

Because of the limited vocabulary needed to play these games and the ability to scale (it's just text, after all) it's a perfect for mobile phones. I haven't played a MUD in years, but they're still very popular and after playing on the phone for a bit we could learn what to tweak to make it more "mobile friendly". Maybe some "quick commands" in a menu for directions and logging in/quitting. Also maybe the descriptions are a bit long. Since the code for CoffeeMUD is OSS and Java, it'd be easy to get in there and tweak the displays as well.

Discuss this story"

(Via MobileWhack.)

2004-09-21T23:01:00.000-07:00

This story should be of interest to Rodger's group - this is the kind of thing that could be linked to their new software and made available to visitors.

Cobblestones and "Cobbleglasses": "In the center of town of Geneva Switzerland (at the Place du Molard), the street has been repaved, alternating cobblestones with "cobbleglasses" - that light up at night - each one engraved with a few words, in a different language;..."

(Via we make money not art.)

2004-07-19T01:19:00.001-07:00

Reuters - Look inside almost anyone's purse or
pocket, and it probably contains at least a mobile phone and a
wallet bulging with bills, coins, receipts, credit cards, IDs,
train or bus passes and any number of membership cards. [Yahoo! News - Technology]

2004-07-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

AFP - Gaming companies, Internet portals and content providers are rushing to cash in on the explosive growth of mobile phones in India, predicting that content rather than cost will be the new battle ground. [Yahoo! News - Technology]

2004-07-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

There's a reason sports subscriptions, primarily football, are so successful in Europe. They're actually well suited to mobile phones. [TheFeature.com]Read more...

2004-07-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

" border="0" align="right" />

Simon "Semacode" Woodside is seeking beta testers for Semacode Creator (here's the current non-distributable version in action, so you'll get the idea).

I'm looking for beta testers to test a new command-line java tool that creates semacodes. It can run on a server or PC.

Richard Smith - It had to happen: Friendster Backlash

2004-07-01T00:07:00.000-07:00

Richard Smith - It had to happen: Friendster Backlash