Mobile Future Blog
Posted: 08/04/08 by Mobile Future Team
You fasten a seatbelt while driving a car and you wear a helmet while riding a biking, but what are you doing to protect yourself while texting on the go?
Citing a rise in texting related accidents, the American College of Emergency Physicians has warned the public to pay more attention to what is going on around them while on the move.
Although texting while driving is definitely a bad idea, not to mention, illegal in some states, texting while walking has proven to be a safety hazard as well.
Dr. James Adams, the department chair of emergency medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, says, "People are texting and they trip and fall on their faces - usually people in their 20s. We see a lot of face, chin, mouth [and] eye injuries from falls."
Recently, the media picked up on a small "misstep" for Barack Obama's advisor, Valerie Jarrett, who twisted her ankle when she encountered an unsuspecting curb with her head buried into her Blackberry.
Even more serious, in two unrelated incidents, California pedestrians were killed by motorists when they inadvertently stepped into the way of traffic while busy texting away on their cell phones.
According to the wireless association, CTIA, an impressive 363 billion text messages were sent in the United States last year. As more people take up texting, hopefully they will head the physicians' warning.
But, if you aren't willing to give up texting on-the-go, and you're not living in London, where they have started to campaign for padded lampposts, you may want to pick up a helmet and maybe even some knee pads and elbow pads.
Better safe than sorry.
Posted: 08/01/08 by Allison Remsen
As I approach the end of my second week as the new executive director for Mobile Future, I just want to take a minute to introduce myself. I've followed the communications industry for many years working for the House Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill and the telecom and cable associations.
With so much of how we communicate changing, this is a pretty amazing time to work in this sector. From my previous gigs though, it always looked like the wireless folks were having way too much fun. Their devices could take pictures, play music, show movies -- and they could do it anywhere.
When I told people I was coming to Mobile Future, I was amazed at how quickly my friends would whip out their wireless devices to not just tell me, but show me how much they loved them. I recently spent one afternoon with a friend who waited nine hours in line to get his new iPhone and he couldn't stop talking about how great it was.
Another friend loves his wireless phone so much he insisted I use it as a GPS for a drive we had made plenty of times.
Surprisingly, my past jobs never got quite the same reaction...
Posted: 07/31/08 by Chris Parandian
Malcolm Gladwell investigated what made things like Hush Puppies shoes or a virus "tip" in his best-selling book The Tipping Point. The tipping point being that inflextion point (in the case of Hush Puppies shoes) of being a product of hipsters to becoming pop. With that in mind, many folks in the wireless industry hope that games like Guitar Hero can lead a revolution and "tip" what has been a nascent gaming market.
As many futurists know, I was at the CTIA show (this past Spring) and I got to see Guitar Hero for blackberry in real-time. With a few taps of the QWERTY keyboard, you can jam away to some rock and roll classics.
Games offer huge potential for carriers looking to drive revenues in data. However, up to this point in time, the market hasn't quite taken off. The mobile game developers are hoping that Guitar Hero could be the catalyst to set this market on fire. According to M:Metrics, in a New York Times article, Guitar Hero for mobile is currently nineth among the top-selling games and there are some newer versions in the pipeline. On a related note, Glu Mobile is looking to leverage the excitement for Batman and has a mobile version of the Dark Knight that is available to download.
Brickbreaker never seemed to do it for me and I often wondered if this was the best we could get on our phones. I'm glad to see that as our devices have evolved, so have our games - ROCK ON!
Posted: 07/29/08 by Jo-Anne Basile
According to a report issued by the Nielsen company last week, American consumer interest in mobile Internet use remains as insatiable as ever. Of all the citizens around the globe polled in the Nielson report, U.S. cell phone users are the most active in wireless cyberspace. However, they still want more battery life, unlimited data packages, and even more new and innovative services.
The report found that 15.6% of Americans access the Internet on their cell phones, followed by the U.K. at 12.9%. Among wireless devices, a massive 82% of iPhone users were found to access the Internet with it, five times the average amount for mobile subscribers. Reviews of the new iPhone models express concern over whether the iPhone's difficult-to-change batteries can supply enough power to support extended web usage of AT&T's new and highly advanced 3G network. This unanticipated battery life demand is symptomatic of the general findings in the Nielsen report, which said that 38% of mobile Internet users cited battery life as their most preferred improvement, followed by larger screen size (22%), more memory (21%) and improved data input (20%).
Even following the arrival of enhanced service access, more efficient multimedia storage, and technological revamping, mobile Internet consumers are draining their batteries without satisfaction. The Nielsen report said the yearly Web access growth was up 28% with average subscribers, up almost 20% from the previous year-over-year statistic.
Mobile Internet users' yearning - despite such growth - for further technological improvement to meet their demands suggests that the mobile Internet market is capable of supporting waves of new innovation and capital investment. The report reads: "Mobile Internet is today at a point of sufficient mass to sustain a chain reaction of rapid growth in consumer adoption and, in turn, mobile Internet marketing...it has reached critical mass through a confluence of device availability, network speeds, content availability and, most importantly, consumer interest."
Mobile Internet usage has come a long way, and yet still offers possibilities for the future.
Posted: 07/24/08 by Mobile Future Team
After Apple's popular iPhone, you may be wondering where handset manufacturers are going to go next - The simple answer would be, just about everywhere - with innovative designs going in all directions.
Although they are planning at least seven to 15 years in advance, Nokia has designed a phone called, Morph, which as its name suggests, can morph into different practical forms, including a bracelet. It will be made out of a self-cleaning material capable of repelling dirt and grime much like a newly waxed car repels water. On top of that, the phone will have sensors capable monitoring carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere for the health conscious or the blood sugar levels for the diabetic.
Then there is Italian designer Massimo Marrazzo's Handphone, which is literally just that. First, imagine a speaker ring attached to your pinky and a microphone ring attached to your thumb, second imagine gesturing to a friend to call you by using your hands to mimic a phone call, and then you have the Handphone design. When you're done simply tell the phone, which responds to voice commands.
Utilizing the same touch screen technology as Apple's iPhone, a Chinese design firm has plans to double the fun with the P-Per phone. Although they are a few years ahead of today's technology, they plan to have a touch screen camera on one side and touch screen mobile phone and messaging capability on the other side.
Also using touch screen technology, which will dominate the future, Turkish designer, Emir Rifat Isik has designed the 5 cm square by 1 cm thick Packet phone, which folds open like a package, providing more surface area to fit in a keyboard and pointer area when you are surfing the Web.
Today it's the iPhone, but tomorrow it could be anything.
Posted: 07/22/08 by Chris Parandian
As always, we like to keep you informed about upcoming events in the district of communications.
Accordingly, the folks at Media Future Now will host a panel discussion on Tuesday, July 22 titled: "3G: Mobile Media in Motion." This discussion looks to cover a wide spectrum of issues in social media, mobile broadcasting and mobile marketing. I have the pleasure of sitting down with Michael Collins (Kinetic Mobile) and Peter Corbett (iStrategylabs), both successful entrepreneurs who have done some great things in wireless, advertising and social media.
With that in mind, my remarks will be focused on mobile broadcasting and how wireless can augment citizen journalism (expanding on my remarks at the Free Press Conference last month).
Visit the Media Future Now site for more information and to RSVP...
Hope to see U there!
----------------
Here is the 411:
When: Tuesday, July 22, 12:15-1:45 p.m.
Where: The offices of Quinn Gillespie & Associates, 1133 Connecticut Ave., NW
Posted: 07/21/08 by Molly Kocour
If you're like me, and your sense of direction doesn't always lead you in the right direction, you'll be interested to hear about the innovative ways that GPS is entering the cellular world.
Nokia has just announced its acquisition of Navteq, a leading digital map provider in the United States. Navteq, which provides maps, can already be found in most in-car and portable GPS systems and, with this deal, they will find their way into the hands of about a billion cell phone users.
Instead of relying on government maps, Navteq hires its own teams to drive around recording and collecting data - making their maps very accurate and reliable. But, imagine how much more accurate and reliable they will become when a billion cell phone users are contributing to the process!
Navteq CEO, Green, said, "a cell phone could also be a live probe, noting that real-time data about how quickly a handset is moving could provide clues as to the speed of traffic in an area."
The future of GPS and location-based content is really taking off. The research firm, Gartner, predicts that global subscribers to this kind of service will reach, "43.2 million in 2008 and hit almost 300 million in 2011." Soon, you could be walking around in a foreign city and your phone, which knows where you are, will deliver restaurant recommendations and points of interest.
By downloading a cell phone application called, Bones in Motion, athletes are already using such GPS technology to aid in their training. For example, runners can use this application to not only track distance run, speed, and calories burned, but also such information as weather conditions and difficulty. All this can then be uploaded and stored as a running log.
If this isn't enough, GPS and location-based technology has even made it to the canine world. A few companies are in the early stages of developing a tracking system which monitors the location of your dog, sending you a warning text message if your dog leaves a designated zone.
Then there's my favorite one. A program called, Superhero, by Yougetitback.com, tracks lost or misplaced cell phones. You can even program your phone to ring, "I've been stolen," or "Take me home," if it goes missing!
Maybe your sense of direction is better than mine, but there are clearly multiple benefits to having a GPS-enabled cell phone.
Posted: 07/17/08 by Jo-Anne Basile
Have you ever been to a big event and you couldn't get a hold of anyone because the wireless networks were so congested?
Maybe it wasn't too important when you were trying to call a friend so they could hear the encore at the Rolling Stones concert, but imagine if it happened at the Democratic or Republican National Convention, events that help select the next President of the United States. With all the digital data streaming to the public during these high-profile events, wireless network failure would spell a communications meltdown.
However, since the last conventions four year ago, the telecommunication companies have made numerous technical advancements and have taken great measures to upgrade and expand their services. Even with the last minute change of venue for Barack Obama's Democratic National Convention, the telecom companies are making adjustments and utilizing innovative solutions to ensure for a successful event.
COWS and COLTS are just a few examples of the innovative solutions that will enable telecommunications to maintain wireless service during the conventions. COWS and COLTS stand for "cell on wheels" sites and "cellsite on light truck." These wireless "animals" enable wireless providers to augment existing coverage so users can conduct business as usual.
The telecom companies are also accommodating for the increase of bloggers (expecting 10 times as many as in 2004), who will likely be heavy BlackBerry users. Not to mention, there will likely b
e much more video streaming and picture uploading as well. So while the change of venue isn't a big deal for bloggers with little equipment, a reliable communications network is needed so they can update their blogs frequently.
All this is being taken into consideration as companies: AT&T, Qwest, Sprint, T-mobile, and Verizon Wireless invest millions of dollars to keep up with the increase of technology and resulting bandwidth traffic.
AT&T Wireless regional vice president and general manager, Dave Fine, claims, "Based what we've seen at previous large venues -- the Final Four, the World Series, the [Barack] Obama rally in St. Paul -- and what we expect to see at the upcoming Neil Diamond concert, we're confident of what we've planned for at the Republican Convention."
If you're attending either of these conventions, it sounds like you can rest assured that you'll be able to use your cell phone for calling, texting, blogging, emailing, picture and movie uploading.
If you're not one of the 76,000 expected to attend the Democratic National Convention or the 45,000 expected to attend the Republican National Convention, you can rest assured that you will be made to feel as if you were actually there.
Posted: 07/16/08 by Chris Parandian
New ways to communicate with our friends and family via wireless is exploding. This mobile social convergence is also affecting our lawmakers as they also look to participate in ways that they never imagined! As we know, mobile provides an opportunity for lawmakers to connect with consitutents via video or with other social networking tools (twitter, facebook, qik, utterz).
Representative John "Congressman Qik" Culberson (Texas) is in a league of his own and we highlighted his efforts to show Americans what he does in Washington. Unfortunately, those efforts were not appreciated by one of his colleagues (who is focused on videos). Accordingly, a debate is taking place on Capitol Hill on how lawmakers can use these new tools and what kind of Congressional oversight should accompany the use of those tools.
On that note, Ms. Pelosi seems headed in the right direction. She represents a tech-savy district and utilizes different social communications herself. At a time when Congressional approval is at an all-time low, these tools give lawmakers a real-time way to communicate with folks and provide an open window into Congress. Fighting this mobile-social revolution is not the answer and I am optimistic that Ms. Pelosi will modernize the rules governing "franking" which is at the heart of the debate.
Updating the rules so lawmakers can communicate with new media as they do with traditional old media is a good thing and we applaud Mr. Culberson for starting the conversation. As an active mobile user, Mr. Culberson cares about these wireless technologies and our ability to communicate with them in real-time - a true compassionate conservative!
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