I do not know how many people actually get pulled over for driving while holding their cell phone’s up to their ear. I personally know 5 people who over the past year have gotten pulled over for such an offense. Very recently California and Washington just joined their east coast brethren in banning cell phone cusping while driving.
The solution of course is just to use a headset or some kind of handsfree device. And for those of you that find the concept daunting Headsets.com will send you a free headset if you have been cited for driving without one.
And while they acknowledge that studies have studies have shown that talking on hands-free devices are just as dangerous as talking on cell phones regularly, they nevertheless want you to be as safe as possible.
Oh, the handset they will send you is the sexy sleek Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth headset.
Before you hit the streets chasing down cops to see you cell phone hand just remember that a fine in California will set you back 20 bucks and some other states 200 bucks (way more than what the bluetooth costs).
Sometimes we just yearn for that physical connection and technology clothing company CuteCircuit understands that. Thats why they invented the Hug Shirt which allows you to exchange the physical sensation of a hug over long distances. All you need is the shirt embedded with special sensors, a java enabled bluetooth handset and a warm compassionate heart. Simply put on the shirt, give yourself a hug and let the removable sensors beam the temperature and pressure data to your mobile phone. Your phone then automatically sends the hug to the person you designated hugs to go to via SMS and actuators of wearing a similar shirt. f the other person or the sender doesn’t have the shirt she can just send an SMS text message, and it will be transformed into a hug! If you don’t need a hug you can switch it off.
A recent article by Carlo on MobHappy on being able to receive and respond to text messages via a computer, reminded me of a service that I often use but never blogged about here on MOPocket. I would say that I have been using Salling Clicker (click here for PC version), a software provided by Salling Software, for almost two years now… first on my Treo 650 and later on the various S60 Nokia phones I have had the pleasure of having.
Salling Clicker essentially turns your supported phone into a remote control allowing you to access and control things on your computer such as iTunes, Keynote or Powerpoint, the DvD player, VLC, QuickTime, Mail, iPhoto, Volume, Sleep and even the Mouse (although this is a lot more easier and fun on the Treo touch screen then on a Nokia). But it does not just act as a remote controlling things on the PC screen. The phone screen itself acts as a third screen and presents the relevant information on there as well. I cant tell you how many times I have gotten into bed and heard my email alarm go off and instead of getting up to see who it is I just picked up my phone, connected to my Mac using Salling Clicker and open the mail. When you play a song from your iTunes using Salling Clickr the song and cover art appear on your phone as well (its also a great way to control your music while hosting a a party at your house).
I also get a lot of ooohs and ahhhs when I use my mobile phone to sift through a power point presentation (slides do not appear on your phone though, an d neither do photos via using the iPhoto remote feature).
Now, besides letting you control virtually every component of your computer with your cell phone like a remote control it also has a few calling and phone like feature that are worth mentioning. Phones that are capable of handling what is Salling is calling “Phone Events” allow a user to activate proximity and phone call monitoring, allowing things like your computer alerting you when you have a call (and sometimes by whom) as well as allowing iTunes, for instance, to pause when you receive that call.
There is also a feature, which is not supported on all phones, but allows you to go into your Address Book and send a text message to a mobile number which transfers through your cell phone via bluetooth connection.
Salling Clicker is one of those products and features that people 10 to 20 years in the future will look back at and say “duh.” They have tapped what the future of mobile should be, a a mobile extension of your PC self. When you get back home and sit in front of your computer all the stuff you do on your mobile should be able to be done from there. In the future I imagine this will happen a lot more seamlessly. Salling Clicker, thus far, is the closest thing that comes to that.
Salling Clickr is the winner of several Mac awards. Its nice to see a mobile application made for Macs first every once in a while.
The user experience is different for everybody as it really depends on your mobile device. Every device is different therefore ever interaction with a various program will be different but Salling has done an amazing job given the plethora of phones they have to work with it. I have used it on 4 phones and have enjoyed each experience.
Installing is pretty much a breeze with a bluetooth connection.
Download Salling Clickr and Buy it now. Current version 3.0.1
Like Mr Sponder I to noticed the new advertisements for New York City Transit’s TransitTrax Podcasts. The podcasts cover everything from staying safe, service advisories, transit news, MetroCard Deals information and even interviews with special guests and subway passengers.
Pretty cool for a service notorious for its lack of ingenuity and communication.
But I have always wondered about podcasts that have the words “update to date” information on them. Update information for mass transit usual means by the minute and its hard to find out via podcast various service interruptions when you have not been a computer that can link up with your Pod in a while.
But I guess its good in terms of what the MTA has to work with. The days of streaming Metro Transit News via SMS far away I guess. But here is an idea for the future.
Proximity SMS alerts for the subway you are waiting for. This will be made possible in the future as the carriers start setting up networks on the platform’s in subway stations. So say the 6 train is delayed at 42′nd street because of an “ongoing investigation.” The Transit SMS alert system could then send an SMS blast to the 6 train platforms and thus any poor soul waiting for the 6 train would receive the SMS. You would have to make this an opt in system of course but I bet most people would not mind. A general opt in system for transit SMS alerts would not work because, well, if I sign up SMS alerts for the 6 train I really don;t care if delayed when I am already up in my office. I way has to be made so that the information only gets to me when I need it and the wiring of NYC platforms is perfect for that kind of proximity service. As the technology and usage rates increase, they could then turn to systems like MMS to deliver the same type of info with pictures, video and voice as well.
The NYC transit authority should take advantage of bluetooth technology offering some of the podcasts and other information via a bluetooth poster and or advertisement. Advertisers will eventually do it so they might as well to. This is also another great way to send out alerts.
Honestly, the more I think about it… the subway, tube…whatever you call it is one of the most fantastic places to play with, test and implement mobile marketing and other mobile tools and systems. It is an amazing ubiquitous with huge potential for mobile… just like the line at the post office.
Anyways, thats my two sense. Here are some more relevant Subway meets Mobile stories for your friday reading pleasure.
Thats right, British scientists studying the disease claim to have discovered the main cause of Mad Cow when they accidentally came across a pack of Friesian Holsteins chatting away on mobile phones.
“We knew mobile phones were dangerous, and we knew cows were intrigued by wireless technology, but when we saw them using the mobiles, we made the connection right away,” said lead researcher Kevin Barrington, who spotted the culprits at a dairy farm outside Kent.
With the already existing concern linking cell phones to brain cancer this will prove to be yet another headache for the mobile industry which has already dismissed the British claims. “To even insinuate that cell phones could somehow be the cause of this disease is as absurd as the notion that cows could use cell phones at all,” said Nokia spokesperson Nigel Wanthorpe.
For those of you that care. I finally found the source of the mobile bluetooth campaign I wrote about here. It emanates from a giant billboard on the corner of 51st Street and Broadway in NYC. One the service does not do well is recognize that your phone has already accepted the Bluetooth download. After I downloaded it again today it kept asking me over and over again. The example of the software I saw in Las Vegas (written about in the original post) was able to do that.
The billboard also gave no indication about the bluetooth service.
As fate would have it, while walking through Time Square on the way to the Mobile Marketing Forum here in NYC (more on that later), I stumbled upon an interesting bit of mobile marketing being attempting by UK based automobile company Land Rover. As I ventured downtown on Broadway toward the Marriott Marquee my N70 beeped as if I was receiving a text message. When I took out my phone to see who could possibly be texting me at 8-oclock in the morning you could imagine my surprise when I saw the message “Land Rover is trying to connect to you via Bluetooth. Accept?.”Remembering the stories I have heard about Symbian phone virus’ being spread via bluetooth from a company I met at the Mobile Monday Would Summit called F-Secure I clicked no. The message came again. I clicked no again. This continued. Finally, I figured “well, I have all my data backed up and am carrying 4 extra cell phones with me so lets just see what it is.” If its a virus, i figured, then we can put F-Secure to the test. (To all those who care, if I really wanted to stop receiving the bluetooth requests all I had to do was walk away or turn off my bluetooth as “visible”)
I clicked yes. In a few moments the bluetooth message was delivered to my inbox (that is how it works on Symbian phones). I opened it up and to my surprise the RealPlayer application started up and the commercial that showcases the Land Rover LR3’s GPS navigating a cargo plane from France to Corsica began to play. It was very much like the one you can see here only at the end it instructed me to visit the website in which I just directed you.
Some of you may remember the billboard across the street from CTIA Las Vegas in which the company BlueCasting demonstrated this type of proximity marketing system, enticing you with a giant poster of a half naked woman (total Las Vegas style). So I immediately looked around for any Land Rover ad’s or billboards from which this message could have come from but, alas, could not find any (it was Time Square so I may have missed it). I wanted to know more about this and figured that someone at the Mobile Marking Association Forum I was about to attend would know something about it but when I talked about it it was news to people. I looked online for it but could find nothing.
So I am sharing the info with you. Breaking the story I guess. There it is, my first real life mobile proximity market experience. But that is all I have to share, the experience. Anyone know more?
As a New Yorker this story is important to me because the last thing I want is to be forced into listening to “certain types” of people talking on the cell phone while I am in the Subway…You all know what I mean by “certain types…” each of us have our own. The point is, there are just some people who should loose their close proximity public cell phone use license.
Nevertheless bidding has begun to wire all 277 subway stations in New York City. The contract for now only includes wiring the platforms but does take into account discussions on how to later expand the networks into the tunnels.
Cingular Wireless; Verizon Wireless; T-Mobile, a unit of Deutsche Telekom and Sprint Nextel teamed up to submit one of the bids, according to Cingular spokesman Clay Owen. Cingular will take the lead on the project if awarded the bid, Owen said.
GE Capital, a unit of General Electric; Time Warner Cable, a unit of Time Warner; Andrew Corp; Transit Technologies and Dianet Communications made up the second team that submitted a bid, according to Dianet President Jeffrey Just.
As annoying as this might be, the article does point out the benefit of having the service in the event of an emergency.
Ad sales firm Viacom Outdoor is unveiling a permanent network of Bluetooth-enabled poster sites bluetooth devices housed in interactive poster sites across the Tube network.
The new ads let tube users download content on to their mobiles using Bluetooth devices housed in interactive poster sites across the Tube network.
I do not know how many people actually get pulled over for driving while holding their cell phone’s up to their ear. I personally know 5 people who over the past year have gotten pulled over for such an offense. Very recently California and Washington just joined their east coast brethren in banning cell phone cusping while driving.
![Lr3 Cargo[1]](http://www.mopocket.com/graphics/LR3_Cargo%5B1%5D.JPG)
