Have you ever wanted to call someone back but you really just want to leave that person a voicemail?
With the help of slydial, your mobile (or landline) phone now enables you to avoid all human interaction. The crafty company assists its customers by allowing them to directly dial another user's mobile voicemail. A falsely missed call and new voicemail create the "illusion of communication" where the user gets credit for a call that was never made to be answered.
There are many uses for slydial (not all devious in nature) such as:
Escaping awkward or pro-longed conversation
Saving the time of the receiving party when information is not time sensitive
Leaving a message at impolite hours
While the service itself is free, the user ultimately gets their just (or unjust) reward by sitting through a short ad by one of their sponsors. You can avoid the in-call advertisement by paying $0.15 per slydial message or by subscribing to an unlimited plan.
Is slydial a product showing practical ingenuity at its finest? Will it be used for good or evil?
I've been reading lately an old copy of "Arabian Sands", Sir Wilfred Thesiger's remarkable account of his pathbreaking explorations in the 1930s in the vast Rub al Khali "empty quarter" of the southern Arabian Peninsula. There, slightly more than 70 years ago, he described this vast, heroic and untouched land; a million square miles of sand and wind, virtually absent of human footprints, save for the rare caravanaserai of bedouins and their camels en route to trade posts of Muscat, Doha or Salala.
Though as with everywhere else, time and progess has transformed these lands, the empty quarter remains still one of the most unpopulated parts of the planets, and very occassionally camel-loaded bedouin tribes still can be seen occassionally transporting goods across its desolate regions.
So it was with some fascination to read today on my RSS feed of mobile and wireless innovations that BBC's Arabic Service has recently launched real-time SMS news feeds for its listeners to access up-to-the-minute news and information and information services across the Arab-speaking world.
The Arabic service, BBC's largest foreign news service, was launched in 1938, shortly after Britons like Thessiger, T.E. Lawrence, and Freya Stark began to open the minds of their fellow citizens to the facinations of Arab culture and history. Broadcasting on shortwave wirless bands to receivers through Arabian and Middle Eastern capitals, BBC Arabic Service was one of the earliest efforts to bring wireless innovation to Arab lands, and link the peoples and cultures of the near east and the west.
Now, some 70 years on, with its new Arabic language mobile-based service, BBC's engineers, coders, and journalists, in a sense, have come full circle in deepening the reach of wireless innovation in the region where their wireless services were first pioneered. Mobile phone penetration in Arab countries like Oman and Jordan where the BBC services are being launched are among the quickest growing globally.
And now the citizens of those nations -- and others in the region soon to come -- have ubiquitous access to the BBC's insights and information about the world and its news and events directly on their mobile phones.
I wonder if Thesiger ever could haved imagined that this mobile future would emerge in the Arabian sands about which he wrote?
Verizon Wireless spokesman Ken Muche said their network had "1.4 million calls per minute" during the hour of the earthquake, which is 400% more calls than usual.
Historically, after disasters like this earthquake strike, cell phone calls were often unable to get through the clogged networks. But, with today's savvy cell phone users texting and emailing, they have found many other ways to get around this challenge.
Because text messaging and emailing travel differently over wireless networks than voice calls, these options proved to be great ways of communicating. AT&T spokesman Geoff Mordock pointed out, "the good part is you can send the same message to a lot of people at the same time."
Text messaging and emailing, instead of calling, takes some strain off of the overloaded networks to keep them open for emergency situations. While someone is calling their grandmother to tell her how they felt the ground shaking, an injured person trying to call 911 might be unable to get through for help.
In Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office, officials used Blackberry's PIN messaging to communicate with their colleagues at emergency centers - avoiding the caller traffic jam.
For the first time, UCLA put its new emergency text messaging system into action, asking its students to stay calm and to beware of possible aftershocks.
However, as more Americans rely on their cell phones as their primary tool of communication, it is expected networks will be slower during times of crisis. Fortunately, the telecommunications companies are continuing to build up their infrastructure, increase capacity, and develop new methods of communication.
So while there will inevitably be more disasters, thankfully, there will also be more ways to get in touch with loved ones in times of crisis.
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...
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!
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.
On Tuesday, I spoke on a panel hosted by Media Future Now. The conversation was focused on 3G and how marketers and citizen journalists can leverage the mobile opportunity.
I was honored to share the stage with Michael Collins (WPP Worldwide's Mobile Division), CEO of Kinetic Mobile and Peter Corbett, CEO of iStrategylabs (http://www.istrategylabs.com). Both of these guys are thought leaders in marketing and interactive strategy.
The first mobile video is Peter discussing the Facebook application for blackberry and his wireless world. I also included a mobile video of Michael discussing QR code. Basically, the ability to scan with your phone camera (it becomes a scanner) a bar code and be able to get instant information on any product.
Overall, an insightful panel and everyone came away with one general take-away: mobile is the future!
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.
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!
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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
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.
I've been reading lately an old copy of "Arabian Sands", 
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Tags: Mobile Applications, Mobile Phone, News, Smartphone, Wireless Innovation