One time a friend of my fathers was on a train sitting next to woman who was speaking to every member of her family, very loudly, on her cell phone. After a couple minutes my dads friend new almost everything that happened in this young woman’s family life… and he was not the only one… everyone in the train car new it as well. After five more minutes elapsed (and just before she got on the phone with her other son) my dad’s friend reached for her phone, grabbed it, closed it (it was a Razor) turned to the woman and said “Your done.” The cabin actually erupted in smiles and applause.
This is also the story he tells on how he first met one of his friend’s wives. because after he did that she turned and looked at him and said “Howie?” True Story.
In his review of letters sent by readers to newspapers, Kawaura (1992) identifies four sources of discord surrounding keitai [ Japanese word for cell-phone] in public spaces: (1) physical noise (voice, ringing phones), (2) violations of privacy in having to listen in on conversations one doesn’t want to hear, (3) the general creepiness of conversations with people who are not-sharing the same space, and (4) the formation of a new kind of hybrid space—the privatization of public space and the impression that personal conversations are out of place there…
Although others in the vicinity are ‘pretending not to hear,’ the person talking on the keitai seems totally oblivious to the consideration of others around them. because others are ‘pretending not to hear,’ the speaker should also be ‘pretending they are not being heard.’ …But keitai users ignore this rule and appear to those around them as if they really do not care. In this way, the norms of noninvolvement in trains have been thrown into disarray.
This is especially true here in the United States where more discrete uses of mobile communications such as SMS/text messaging have not yet become mainstream. And now with New York City beginning bids to wire the NYC Subway system things can only get worse.
Following an idea initiated by Coudal’s wife, Heidi, Coudal and Draplin put together a series of free, downloadable cards, with messages like, “Just so you know: Everyone around you is being forced to listen to yer conversation” and “The world is a noisy place. ”
After reading a story in the NYT, Jim’s wife Heidi came up with a method to fight back against the obnoxious cell phone users that we all have to deal with in stores, restaurants, trains and pretty much everywhere else. Can design ride to the rescue? Jim and the incomparable Aaron Draplin think it can. So, as a public service, we introduce the reasonably polite SHHH, the Society for HandHeld Hushing.
As a public service the cards are free and can be downloaded as PDF’s here.
So much out there today and so little time. So here are a bunch of links about these things that I find worthy of mobile news where nothing more need be said. I think i’ll make this “links in your pocket” section a somewhat regular thing… just because I like the name. SO scroll down and see if any of these links meet your fancy.
Turn your cell-phone into an activist tool! (or not). I just wrote a pretty fascinating article over at PDF about the People For the American Way’s Mass Immediate Response Team (MIR). People who sign up for PFAW’s Mass Immediate Response receive updated important information, as well as their local Senators number via text message, thus, as the website claims, “turning supporters cellphones into a real time tool for activism.”
After the success they had with the service before during and after the John Robert’s nomination one would think that they would take advantage of the technology again during their anti-Alito campaign (a campaign that matters most in that it determines the the political tilt of the Supreme Court.
Interesting article today in the New York Times about how “Microsoft Would Put Poor Online by Cellphone as an alternative to Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) 100$ hand cranked personal PC.
The scuffle all started after Negroponte failed to reach an agreement with Microsoft about including Windows software in the laptop. He decided to go the Open Source route instead. Now Microsoft executives are discussing a cell-phone solution to the digital divide in which specially configured mobile phones can be configured into a computer by connecting it to a TV and keyboard.
Bill Gates himself showed a hypothetical version of the “Cellular PC” as the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month. But it wasn’t until the recent World Economic Forum that Gates mentioned it as a cheaper alternative to traditional PC’s and laptops for developing countries.
Craig J. Mundie, Microsoft’s vice president and chief technology officer, said in an interview here that the company was still developing the idea, but that both he and Mr. Gates believed that cellphones were a better way than laptops to bring computing to the masses in developing nations. “Everyone is going to have a cellphone,” Mr. Mundie said, noting that in places where TV’s are already common, turning a phone into a computer could simply require adding a cheap adaptor and keyboard. Microsoft has not said how much those products would cost.
While there is no real official release date for Microsofts cell-phone PC,I think that for once, Microsoft has a good idea. As I once reported in an article wrote over at PDF, Africa, for example, has one of the fastest mobile phone growth rates in world, in excess of 140% over the past 12 months. And for many on the continent, the mobile phone is becoming the only means of communication and possible information exchange. Patients receive reminders to take their medicine, saving time and money travelling to local clinics. Farmers receive details of market prices and demand for their products before heading off to market. National parks communicate details of dangerous animals, providing an early warning system to mitigate against human/wildlife conflict. Young people living in the slums of Nairobi receive texts alerting them to job opportunities in the city. Petitions are signed, protests are planed.
And even Negroponte is not opposed to the idea of building a low cost PC from a cell phone. According the New York Times Negroponte reported that his research group at the M.I.T. Media Lab had experimented with the idea of a cellphone that would project a computer display onto a wall and also project the image of a keyboard, sensing the motion of fingers over it (whoa! damn cool!). But the researchers decided the idea was less practical than a laptop (yeah, ok… so market it here!)
More criticism of Negroponte’s laptop is that, laptop or no laptop, the digital divide still has its hold when you consider the often high price of Internet connectivity in developing nations. But Negroponte aid networking costs would not be an obstacle because the laptops would be made to connect automatically in a so-called mesh network, making it possible for up to 1,000 computers to wirelessly share just one or two land-based Internet connections. Also read this earlier post on Wireless Networking in the Developing World.
Negroponte and his Media lab team will also be at the upcoming 3GSM World Congress in order to explore the possibilities of setting up a data standard that would allow low-cost and educational use of wireless network capacity.The idea behind the technology is called “stand by bits” in which the laptops would send and receive Internet data only when higher-paying commercial data was not being transmitted.
There is one thing about Microsofts attitude, and Negroponte’s concession, about the cell-phone PC that does not sit well with my mobile technology philosophy. The mobile medium is not the “new computer.†It is the new phone. It is not a second rate means of accessing the Internet. Nor is it the “new internet.†It is simply a new, portable and lightweight way to approach the Internet, which in turn, will completely re-conceptualize the way in which we think about the Internet.
Some experts locate the rapid development of the mobile medium as a direct reaction to the digital divide. While the cost of broadband connection being substantially more expensive than, say, i-mode has a lot to do with it, it is also extremely important to note that for most Japanese consumers their first interaction with the Internet is and was via their mobile device. This is, of course, directly opposed to the American experience where most people feel more comfortable using their PC to access the Internet and Email. If an American is going to send a text message from their phone to another mobile user, SMS is the only real first option that comes to mind. And whereas mobile is seamless with everyday life, the PC requires abrupt attention to a specific location. Mobile functions more as a medium of lightweight ‘refreshment’ analogous to sipping a cup of coffee or taking a cigarette break. It’s a small moment of our lives with a humongous importance. The PC Internet is another social space, a cyberspace, as opposed to the mutual co-presence of mobile.
When looking at Internet technologies from the perspective of PC based Internet most American mobile users and businesses perceive the mobile Internet as ‘second-rate’ access, something good to have when you don’t have your PC or laptop. It’s good for making phone-calls (and in America even that is questionable). The problem with this model of Internet, when applied to the mobile medium is that it assumes a universally desirable technological resource whereas the mobile medium both infiltrates and adapts to the structures of existing practices and places. An economic understanding of the mobile revolution can only go so far. A different means of information technology communication did not only develop out of economic necessity but also came to be precisely because alternative trajectories of IT and communications discourse could and needed to exist.
So what the world wide mobile model teaches us is that the “American†way of thinking about and perceiving the Internet is not the only way and that “portable, lightweight engagement form an alternative constellation of ‘advanced’ Internet access characteristics that stand in marked contrast to complex functionality and stationary immersive engagement.†The differences here are between networked infrastructures that base themselves on a cross-cultural universal model (the PC internet) and a network built on a true network of shifting localities and cultures (the mobile medium). Neither one is better than the other, that’s not the point here. The point is to show that they are different and that problems only occur when one discourse dominates the way we perceive the other.
What’s the pouting baby face for? Well, simply put… I want desperately to go to the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona this February 13th but have not yet found a way in. Unfortunately, the event does not consider bloggers worthy of the media privileges through which I was hoping to get access and the 3 grand admission fee is just a little out of my personal finance league.
While I am still strongly considering going to Barcelona to hang out with my fellow Mobilist’s at the Mobile Sunday and Gathering of the Mobilists it seems hard to justify flying all the way to Barcelona from New York only to attend the main events pre and after parties.
So I put up a picture of a pouting baby face because its been my experience that pouting babies get what ever they want and I want to be able to walk around the Fira de Barcelona and experience all that the 3GSM World Congress has to offer.
So, I know this is sad and desperate, but if any of the news worthy and other organizations that I work for, or any of my clients or friends (or compassionate readers) have any ideas or ways in which I can attend this most wonderful event please let me know.
Rudy De Waele over at m-trends has a great series going about “women in mobile.” This weeks interview was with Emiy Turrettini, the blog author behind textually.org (as well as picturephoning.com and ringtonia.com. As Rudy puts it her blog “about text messaging and how cell phones are being used around the world” is one of THE reference points for anyone interested in mobile and wireless technology. Every day she posts different articles in her own original, smart and to-the-point style.
Emily’s blogs have always been ones that I have looked up to and are part of the reason I went into the business of blog making and mobile consulting.
So you can imagine my surprise while reading through the interview to find MOpocket mentioned twice… and one of the times it was mentioned as her most favorite mobile technology weblog
- Your favorite mobile technology blog?
As of this second? mopocket.com. Just opened. Looks very good.
All I can say is wow! Emily, if you are reading this thank you so much for such a nice compliment. I have no way of expressing how it feels when one of your major inspirations complements you on work that they probably didn’t know they where a major inspiration for… but that is how I feel.
Textually, Ringtonoa and picturephoning have been on my blog roll ever since I was a young little blogger and I am honored to be on yours!
Have you ever wanted to just a leave a message on someone’s voicemail but didn’t because you felt like they might actually pick up the phone? Are you also to lazy to type a text-message? Singapore - based technology company Bubble Motion has launched its revolutionary Voice SMS technology “BubbleTalk” with Hong Kong CSL Limited.
BubbleTalkâ„¢ enables customers to record what they want to express in their own voice directly via BubbleTalk messaging platform. A short message, either in Chinese or English characters, will be sent to customers alerting them to a personally recorded voice message.
Bubble Talk has already had great success in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
According to Dr. Tony Seeto, Director of Business Development of CSL “The newly launched BubbleTalk service enables our customers to express messages in their own voice directly, no matter if it is a joke, a love message or a simple instruction. We are confident our customers will enjoy this new and vivid experience in mobile communications,â€
The Short Voice Messaging System (SVMS) works across operators and networks by using existing resources that are underutilized such as voice circuits and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data(USSD). It’s also “device and transport agnostic” and therefore can work on pretty much any mobile device.
The technology has not yet been picked up or considered by any major American carrier but would be an interesting alternative to the Push-to-Talk technology which has already been a popular service with Sprint/Nextel subscribers and has also recently been made available by Cingular.
Of course, the technology offers some amazing marketing opportunities.
Imagine a service that allowed a person to subscribe to 30 second SMS-Casts of specific advertising deals or clips from new songs or movies or news-channels.
Imagine allowing people to create their own SMS-casts that people could subscribe too… like a MOpocket SMS-casts for updates and alerts or emergency messages from local authorities or political messages from a candidate.
Using it seems simple enough. A users simply dials ‘*’ and the mobile number of the recipient and then talks. You can record a message of up to 30 seconds. After sending your message, the recipient gets an SMS alert ..the recipient then dials *0* to listen. If she or he wants to he or she can then press ‘*’ to reply.
If you need a fun visual demonstration… click here.
Via the Sunday Times. The first ever Mobile Search & Discovery conference convened this month at the Cafe Royal hotel in London. Topic of conversation: to bring together mobile-phone and technology companies eager to repeat Google’s success. All one has to consider is the enormous success Google has had connecting internet users with their pay per click Adsense and Adwords advertising program.
Mobile industry leaders see a big advantage for the mobile medium in the advertising market. Why? Apparently companies like Google, MSN and Yahoo only reach 1 billion PC’s, a number that is doubled when you consider how many more mobile phone users there are in the world.
Mobile-phone companies, therefore, see an opportunity to create a hugely profitable new medium for advertising and e-commerce. The mobile firms have some advantages over Google and Yahoo in choosing which ads to serve up. They know where their customers are; what they spend; and have a billing relationship with them.
Let’s throw the product out there and see what works for users. It’s a little bit early to look for links on a mobile phone. We want to be sure what the user wants first. We want to be sure we have a great product, and then find a way to monetise.”
This a big deal to mobile marketers. Unlike internet advertising, the mobile networks and handset manufacturers can be obstacles to mobile advertising.
Google was after a bigger slice of an advertising pie worth billions — a pie that fixed- line telecoms companies had already surrendered. “They have no incentive to operate with the carriers. I don’t see Google sharing revenues with BT or Deutsche Telekom,” says Dan Olschwang CEO of Jumptap.
The objection to this is the relative success of Google and the mobile industry in generating demand for new products and services over the past five years. While Google has scored a runaway success, mobile firms have struggled to make meaningful revenue from picture- messaging, location-based services and song downloads.
I would not be surprised to see a “Google Ringtones” service coming soon. Or perhaps a Google MVNO?
Relevant article:Admob claims to be the world’s first pay-per-click mobile advertising marketplace. A mobile version of Google’s AdSense? [via Textually]
Via the Sunday Times. The first ever Mobile Search & Discovery conference convened this month at the Cafe Royal hotel in London. Topic of conversation: to bring together mobile-phone and technology companies eager to repeat Google’s success. All one has to consider is the enormous success Google has had connecting internet users with their pay per click Adsense and Adwords advertising program.
Mobile industry leaders see a big advantage for the mobile medium in the advertising market. Why? Apparently companies like Google, MSN and Yahoo only reach 1 billion PC’s, a number that is doubled when you consider how many more mobile phone users there are in the world.
Mobile-phone companies, therefore, see an opportunity to create a hugely profitable new medium for advertising and e-commerce. The mobile firms have some advantages over Google and Yahoo in choosing which ads to serve up. They know where their customers are; what they spend; and have a billing relationship with them.
Let’s throw the product out there and see what works for users. It’s a little bit early to look for links on a mobile phone. We want to be sure what the user wants first. We want to be sure we have a great product, and then find a way to monetise.â€
This a big deal to mobile marketers. Unlike internet advertising, the mobile networks and handset manufacturers can be obstacles to mobile advertising.
Google was after a bigger slice of an advertising pie worth billions — a pie that fixed- line telecoms companies had already surrendered. “They have no incentive to operate with the carriers. I don’t see Google sharing revenues with BT or Deutsche Telekom,†says Dan Olschwang CEO of Jumptap.
The objection to this is the relative success of Google and the mobile industry in generating demand for new products and services over the past five years. While Google has scored a runaway success, mobile firms have struggled to make meaningful revenue from picture- messaging, location-based services and song downloads.
I would not be surprised to see a “Google Ringtones” service coming soon. Or perhaps a Google MVNO?
Relevant article:Admob claims to be the world’s first pay-per-click mobile advertising marketplace. A mobile version of Google’s AdSense? [via Textually]
Via the Sunday Times. The first ever Mobile Search & Discovery conference convened this month at the Cafe Royal hotel in London. Topic of conversation: to bring together mobile-phone and technology companies eager to repeat Google’s success. All one has to consider is the enormous success Google has had connecting internet users with their pay per click Adsense and Adwords advertising program.
Mobile industry leaders see a big advantage for the mobile medium in the advertising market. Why? Apparently companies like Google, MSN and Yahoo only reach 1 billion PC’s, a number that is doubled when you consider how many more mobile phone users there are in the world.
Mobile-phone companies, therefore, see an opportunity to create a hugely profitable new medium for advertising and e-commerce. The mobile firms have some advantages over Google and Yahoo in choosing which ads to serve up. They know where their customers are; what they spend; and have a billing relationship with them.
Let’s throw the product out there and see what works for users. It’s a little bit early to look for links on a mobile phone. We want to be sure what the user wants first. We want to be sure we have a great product, and then find a way to monetise.â€
This a big deal to mobile marketers. Unlike internet advertising, the mobile networks and handset manufacturers can be obstacles to mobile advertising.
Google was after a bigger slice of an advertising pie worth billions — a pie that fixed- line telecoms companies had already surrendered. “They have no incentive to operate with the carriers. I don’t see Google sharing revenues with BT or Deutsche Telekom,†says Dan Olschwang CEO of Jumptap.
The objection to this is the relative success of Google and the mobile industry in generating demand for new products and services over the past five years. While Google has scored a runaway success, mobile firms have struggled to make meaningful revenue from picture- messaging, location-based services and song downloads.
I would not be surprised to see a “Google Ringtones” service coming soon. Or perhaps a Google MVNO?
Relevant article:Admob claims to be the world’s first pay-per-click mobile advertising marketplace. A mobile version of Google’s AdSense? [via Textually]
One time a friend of my fathers was on a train sitting next to woman who was speaking to every member of her family, very loudly, on her cell phone. After a couple minutes my dads friend new almost everything that happened in this young woman’s family life… and he was not the only one… everyone in the train car new it as well. After five more minutes elapsed (and just before she got on the phone with her other son) my dad’s friend reached for her phone, grabbed it, closed it (it was a Razor) turned to the woman and said “Your done.” The cabin actually erupted in smiles and applause.
