Author Archive
by Russell Shaw
March 5, 2008 at 3:44 pm · Filed under Twitter, Yahoo
Mike Arrington of TechCrunch has been test-driving Yahoo’s new and yet unreleased, mobile-friendly FireEagle. He notes the platform’s hype as a “Twitter for Location.â€
The concept: open APIs that enable streaming of your location info, and with that in place, auto-tagging of applications that can swim in the stream. For example, FireEagle could enable auto-tagging of your Flickr images and then, by noting the time the photos were taken, specify where you took the shot.
I guess that since FireEagle and Flickr are both owned by Yahoo (well at least now they are), that’s what some of us used to call coverged apps.
Apparently, though, this beta is more like an alpha. Mike laments the lack of iterative functionality. At this point, you need to type in your location, which the FireEagle service notes and the places on an embedded Yahoo map.
But this rather half-baked (you know the word I wanted to use, but my Mom raised a gentleman) semi-analog workaround necessary to start the fire in FireEagle, a far cooler functionality awaits.
“Soon,†though, you’ll be able to send a text message with your location, or use ZoneTags on Nokia 60 phones to broadcast your location automatically,†Mike writes. “They’ll also release a mobile site for easier text input. There will be a FireEagle embeddable badge that will show where you are. And, finally, they’ll have the mandatory Facebook application to update locations and track friends.â€
by Russell Shaw
March 5, 2008 at 3:42 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0
Internet and website traffic ressearch firm ComScore has just published a new study entitled, “Mobile Broadband Usage by Income Segment.†The study is of U.S.-based mobile broadband users only.
While the subject of mobile broadband is a bit fluid, much of ComScore’s take is based on a definition of mobile broadband as using EV-DO-type networks via your notebook. Or, as some cool AT&T Mobility advertisements that feature a man in the bushes with his Internet-accessing laptop at the ready saying, “the Internet cannot hide any more.â€
(At least he’s hiding in the bushes for an appropriate purpose).
OK, back to it. So I am looking at this ComScore study and I see a blip. Look carefully and you will see it too.
It would be a foregone conclusion that mobile users with the highest household income would be the most proportionately heavy wireless broadband users. I sense this is because of business travel reasons. And since business travel is often engaged in by execs whose companies want them to go on the road and will pay for those trips, it follows that such execs will be paid more.
If you accept that as presumptive fact, you might expect the proportion of wireless broadband users to decrease along with income range. But let’s look at the chart again. It seems that mobile travel3rs with annual HH income of $50-$74,999 seem to be more proportionately represented than those with HH $$ of $75,000-$99,999.
Theories: small sample size, or maybe there is something about those folks with Household incomes of $75,000 to $99,999 that renders them less mobile, and less eligible for subsidized business trips?
And maybe, the $50,000-$74,999 HH income crowd are entrepreneurs or mid-career types paying for their own wireless broadband and business trips to try and get ahead and ultimately reach the $100,000 a year income level?
by Russell Shaw
March 5, 2008 at 3:40 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0
AOL is taking some major steps to open up its leading AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) utility up to open source, third-party applications.
First, the geek stuff. Then, I promise, the cool stuff.
The crucible for all this is Open AIM, a developer environment in which AOL now documents and publishes the protocol used to communicate to the AIM network. Developers can now write third party apps with customizable security features, write “user experiences†without AOL’s formal OK, and offer their completed apps on a new AIM Gallery page that will be heavily promoted to AIM users looking for cool stuff.
I’ve been touring the Open AIM page, and it appears at least a few of these apps are already available as plug-ins for both mobile and PC-based AIM users.
As I show you at the top of this post, here’s QQ Games, a multi-player game plug-in environment for AIM, and Prof Gilzot, which the AIM coder geeks present as a feature that once plugged in to AIM, enables users to “vote on daily polls or test your skills on celebrity, driving exam, movie, sat prep, music, smarter than a 5th grader and many other quizzes. Just IM the Professor and and type “hiâ€!
Well, “hiâ€,†Prof. Gilzot. Just don’t test me on my parallel parking skills, wouldya? A little rusty on those
by Russell Shaw
February 25, 2008 at 3:04 pm · Filed under Twitter, Funny
Well, gang, this one’s so far over the wall that it sounds absolutely daft. Bu I promise you, it can be done.
That would be hooking your plant up so that it can Twitter you when it is feeling kind of dehydrated. Even when you are on the go!
The process involves a plant, a handheld mobile device, as well as technology from Botanicalls, iwhich a system that was developed to allow plants to place phone calls for human help. When a plant on the Botanicalls network needs water, it can call a person and ask for exactly what it needs. When people phone the plants, the plants orient callers to their habits and characteristics.
Step-by-step procedure is too detailed for us to list here, but as described on the Botanicals page, you will need a moisture probe, wiring and a lot of time and patience.
Before you even begin, you will also need:
(1) 2N2222A or 2N3904 transistor
(1) 100 ohm resistor
(1) 10K Ohm resistor
(1) LED
(2) galvanized nails, preferably hot dipped
(1) small breadboard
(1) Adafruit Xport shield
(1) XPort or Xport Direct
(1) Arduino USB board
(1) 9V DC power adapter
hook up wire in assorted colors
solder
USB A to B cable
USB A to miniB cable
USB Serial FTDI adapter (optional)
Ethernet cable
EQUIPMENT:
soldering iron
helping hands
computer with ZTerm or HyperTerminal, Arduino
Oh, and don’t let me forget to mention, a Twitter account.
Hey, spring is coming soon, and your plants are feeling the urge to grow. When they need a little water to help them along, why not let them let you know when they could use a few gulps?
by Russell Shaw
February 19, 2008 at 7:23 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, SMS, Studies + Research, Messaging
As I’ve already pointed out, today, the Mozilla Foundation announced Mozilla Messaging, a new open source initiative largely aimed at bringing greater collaborative functionality to the Firefox email counterpart known as Thunderbird.
A significantly expanded Thunderbird is pretty close to the hert of Mozilla Messaging. The newest Thunderbird will be known as Thunderbird 3.
Comments made today on the blog of Mozilla Messaging’s CEO David Ascher point to increased SMS funtionality
David writes in part (bold face is mine):
It is worthwhile considering what the right user experience could be for someone using multiple email addresses, multiple instant messaging systems, IRC, reading and writing on blogs, using VoIP, SMS, and the like. What parts of those interactions make sense to integrate, and where?
I don’t believe that stuffing all of those communication models inside of one application is the right answer. But the walled gardens that we’re faced with today aren’t the right answer either. There is room for innovation and progress here, and we need to facilitate it.
In other words, when it comes to SMS via Thunderbird- the Mozilla Foundation is thinking about it.
by Russell Shaw
February 13, 2008 at 5:40 pm · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, SMS, MMS
Tomorrow, February 14, is Valentine’s Day.
While a perfect world scenario would involve lovers in love being with each other- making texting and other forms of mobile messaging unnecessary for the moment- I realize that as the old song goes, sometimes “you can’t be with the one you love.”
But you can make plans to be.
In my own situation, it is not practical for me to call my teacher girlfriend during her workday. She’s not about to interrupt her noisy middle school class to take a call from me.
Instead, we text. I visualize texting her tomorrow to talk about Valentine’s Day logistics, and other considerations (wink).
At least we are in the same metro area. Some lovers are not. There’s business travel, wars, etc.
Plainly, those predicaments would be appropriate occasions for MMS, and even cell phone photos delivered by email from mobile handsets.
And then, I suppose tomorrow will precipitate texting from and to old flames, and unrequited lovers (not that this predicament has ever happened to me personally, yea right).
Readers, are you planning on doing some texting during Valentine’s Day? Tell us your stories!
by Russell Shaw
February 12, 2008 at 9:26 am · Filed under Mobile messaging 2.0, mobile social networking, Messaging, Games
That’s Trail Messenger, is a virtual dot-dropper that lets people expressive perform and discover messages by walking around and ‘connecting the dots.’
“Interaction designer” Junu Joseph Yang sends along a video of Trail Messenger, based on a ‘Mobile Plassages’ (Playful Mobile Messages) social game experience and platform he designed for a senior college project.
The concept uses turn-based messaging combined with simple sensors to create a social game experience. Junu feels it blurs the boundaries between play and communication which, as Junu tells us he thinks, has much to do with the success of SMS, and the future of mobile messaging.
Junu feels this “playful messaging enabled by cal part of why SMS has been so successful. I would love to have a chance to talk to someone about the project; and how ‘playful messaging’ will really be the future of mobile messaging.
You can find an example of the project here.
by Russell Shaw
February 12, 2008 at 9:08 am · Filed under SMS
The website Yanko Design describes a fascinating new product it is distributing.
This would be D: Scribe, a “digital fountain pen” that allows users to send SMS and email messages from paper.
Here’s how this works. You write out your message and circle your recipient’s name. The pen also records everything you write which can be accessed on a computer.
What’s going on underneath? We’re told it is a “quill” and “inkwell”-based architecure, whereas the quill is the writing apparatus and the inkwell is an electromagnetic induction charger.
When you send your message, the message status will be displayed on the built-in OLED screen.
Sounds practical, but Yanko also notes an element that I can only describe as “woo-woo:”
Should your home electronics and appliances be bluetooth enabled, you could potentially program the pen to input commands by writing in the air.
Reminds me of some newer-generation “Outer Limits” episode that aired about eight years ago.
by Russell Shaw
February 1, 2008 at 9:21 pm · Filed under MMS
Yesterday I heard of an incident in a local high school that points to a less-than-dignified use of mobile messaging.
Seems that a couple of students were caught using their camera phones to take snapshots of exams. They didn’t get the answers but they did manage to capture the questions.
The photos were obtained during a morning test. Apparently, the same test was administered by the same teacher during her afternoon class.
What happened here? Apparently, at least one of the students sent an MMS, bearing the screen caps, to a couple of her friends over lunch break.
Sheesh. So not OK.
But truth be known, I am old enough to remember crib sheets.
Not that I ever…
by Russell Shaw
February 1, 2008 at 9:02 pm · Filed under Mobile Advertising, Microsoft, Yahoo
There are some opinions bouncing around the analyst community that identify mobile messaging and advertising as trends that may have driven Microsoft to try and acquire Yahoo.
Set against the looming spectre of Google as a competitor in this space, MultiMedia Intelligence chief research officer Frank Dickson has some thought-leader thoughts on this issue.
Frank’s thoughts, which he emailed me today, largely relate to the wishes of cell carriers to add additional revenue not tied in to subscription cash flows, and the demonstrated ability of Yahoo! and Microsoft to facilitate mobile advertising and its promise of related income to the carriers.
Frank sent a research brief to me earlier today that lays out the issues and opportunities:
Mobile operators are driving toward an increasingly rich array of data services to sustain growth. Mobile handsets are becoming increasingly powerful media devices, capable of providing a rich media (and advertising) experience. Finally, the Internet is emerging on mobile devices and mobile networks.
The result is advertisers putting their cross-hairs on the world’s 3 billion cellular subscribers. New cellular based advertising techniques will not only deliver display ads but also integrates community, participation and interactivity into the media experience.
“Microsoft and Yahoo! have both identified the promise of mobile advertising and have been frantically attacking the space,” according to Frank Dickson, Chief Research Officer for MultiMedia Intelligence. “In the early 90s, Microsoft scoffed at the promise of the Internet and gave Google a massive jump-start in the market. It will not make that mistake with mobile.”
It will be both fun and fascinating to see how this monumental acquisition process plays out. Even more interesting will be what revenue-enhancing mobile apps a Yahoo-enhanced Microsoft will bring to carriers and end-users.
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