With today’s technological advancements and convergences, portable electronic functionality is experiencing enormous change. Mobile phones can now function as a portable computer, enabling users to connect to the web. They also double up as cameras, audio and video recorders and players, and so much more. Following this trend, the question always beckons: in the future, will our mobile phone be all we need? Contactless payment methods through your cell phone are being explored, as well as its ability to replace your wallet and keys.
With much debate going on, I felt the need to voice my two cents: I feel to say all we will ever need is our mobile phone is to be very simplistic. Read the rest of this entry »
Mahesh and I, along with two other members outside of NOC, took part in a cross-college initiative last evening. The word of the day was BizBuzz 07. Basically, it was a business case competition, within the space of 72 hours. It involved two teams each from Silicon Valley, Bio Valley, Singapore and Stockholm. Our team was called “Hejsan!”
The case was on a web 2.0 company called Zazzle, which allows for on demand printing on multiple user-generated custom made products. You can check out more on their website.
Zazzle had 2 main goals: to increase brand awareness, and increase revenue, at the same time pushing forth the image that Zazzle was a convenient and easy way for artists to express their creativity online through merchandise, as well as an online marketplace for uniquely designed items. They wanted to be seen not only as a gallery but also as a revenue source for contributors, and they were now specifically targeting the college population.
This was supposed to be done a lot earlier, but little miss me has been really busy recently. However, I did manage to discipline myself enough to finish it today. Here it is - Fun facts from Hubbub 07!
… and if you can’t be bothered to watch the entire 3 minute video, which could potentially be the most unproductive 3 minutes of your life, here are the details, in good old text! Read the rest of this entry »
Radon has kindly lent their services to nuStart and made the following video for us! It’s too bad much of our own footage was ruined due to interferences. =(
Hubbub 07 ended at 1755 hours, 45 minutes over the schedule. I would like to thank everyone who stayed till the end. Unfortunately, I know some of the enthusiasts had to leave early, or at 5pm, as scheduled due prior appointments. If you are one of those who couldn’t stay till the end, I would still like to thank you for coming down. Thank you to all enthusiasts for choosing to spend your Saturday afternoon and evening with us. I hope you had as much fun as we had organizing Hubbub for you! Read the rest of this entry »
What is communication?
“It’s the human element, the real stuff. We communicate with more things other than body language and speech. We also have pheromones”, shares Henrik. Communication is about the 5 senses.
Where are we today? “We are nowhere… we are in stoneage,” laments Henrik. Poor audio in mono in telephone calls. Crummy interfaces in text messages.
Where should we head towards? “I should be able to look people in the eye during a video call. It’s a basic fundamental”, continues Henrik. “What will the next stage of video calls look like? We all want to have video filters. Maybe you want to have a full avatar in your place. I’m sure that could happen. You already have avatars that speak online. There’s going to be a blur between virtual and reality, between games, film and real life. We can even record and digitalize smells! Read the rest of this entry »
Mobile Internet Challenges by Peter Arvai from Mobispine
In Japan, 90% of music downloads come from mobile phones! This may be because of the advanced handsets and technology (as well as constant innovation) in Japan. KDDI has sold about 150 million songs through their supported mobile handsets. This means about 10 songs have been downloaded by each user! That’s quite a high penetration rate! Japan seems to be the most mobile people around, and the people who are most likely to innovate. Ever wonder why?
Took a mini break for a while. Had nice hot muffins out for the hungry, and of course, lots of coffee and tea!
Going back to the conference, we have Per Mosseby of Pixbox
Why don’t people use mobile services more?
Cost. The services were seen as too expensive. Who wants to pay for something they might get for free?
There was already an existing “WAY WAY WAY” better alternative on their computer (which often were “mobile” too).
The small (r)evolution. In small fields, things have been happening. One example is the iphone. Everything from the input, to the output channel, and user interface. The thing about the iphone is that it forces people to start thinking about mobility. Still, it is still only an alternative device. A computer/laptop is still needed.
The Big Revolution: Approximately 4 billion people in the “bottom of the pyramid” is earning less than US$2/day. A low end phone can be bought for US$20 - ten days of work. Previously unaccessible key features for growth is available now. These people do not have terminal to go home to. They rely on mobile platforms more. Will they trigger the start of the revolution? Kind of makes you think with the cheaper devices coming out, like the US$100 laptop where this will lead to.