Mark Frauenfelder at BoingBoing points to a yahoo article on the the fastest internet connection in the world:
For the record, Lothberg may also be the most overshot consumer in the world
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Mashable looks at Loopt, one in a series of companies that help you geo-locate friends using mobile phones. Will Loopt succeed? I have no idea. Apparently a few venture investors like it. I am more curious about geolocation-based social networks on mobile phones. Dodgeball (purchased by Google a while back) is one of the best known.
These services are all positioned as a great way to stay in touch with friends and are probably useful if you are trying to meet up at bars, restaurants, clubs & etc. Of course, this may or may not work when one or more parties are indoors (exactly the time when users are unable to see and relay cross street information) but the concept is simple and appealing.
I wonder about other uses for mobile social networks. What if I had a network of friends who would verify my identity in a transaction? What if I had a network of friends who would send me a cellphone picture if they caught my kid smoking or tagging the local park benches? A network where I could discuss microclimates, a network that would help me negotiate rent on my new apartment, a network that would help me recruit a rabbi for the local synagouge. Given the growth in micro-social networks built around smaller and smaller affinity groups I suspect that I will soon be able to find a network for every activity. The Brooklyn neighborhood, with nosy neighbors and extended families and local associations will be rebuilt first online and then on our mobile phones and then on our mixed mobile devices. As these networks develop over the next five years, I should expect to see more and more efforts to tackle the "fourth wall" of data by developing interfaces that allow us to interact in natural ways, so that I might get the sense that I am sitting at a real honest-to-goodness backyard party when I interact with a group of friends over a shared mobile phone network. I wonder how this will look. If I had a barbecue today, what is the best way to invite someone remotely so that they can wander around and engage with other people? Further, what commonly accepted guidelines for social interactions will develop? How will I get someone's attention when I am a remote participant in a party? These questions are very standard but they can be revisited in new ways, week in and week out, as new technologies emerge.
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Treehugger looks at a new plush lightswitch design that just received UL approval. Looking at it, I automatically associate the fabric surface with unpredictability. Will the light go on when I touch the panel? How long will it take? If the variation is less than I second, I might find this comforting. If the variation is considerably longer, I might not be able to use the object. Curiously, if the light "snaps" on each time I press the button, I might find the switch to be dissonant. Maybe this panel would be better if it served as a dimmer [UPDATE: Ah ha!, I just looked at the full article.. it is a dimmer!]. Would the same thing be true if I developed a textile mobile phone interface. Will I automatically posit a parallel between the "softness" of the phone and any delays in the interface. Should a crisp linen phone be more responsive than a plush felt phone?
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Lifehacker looks at Phonevite, a website that allows users to send mass invitations over the phone. When will carriers (or service providers such as Grandcentral and Skype) allow me to tag voicemail boxes and then make intelligent pull decisions. I might like phonevite if the invitations were automatically forwarded to an "event" voicemail box that I'd check once or twice a day. At present, if an invitation is important enough to enter my phone layer, I'd hope that I was being called directly rather than being spammed by my friends. Makes it sound like I am full of it but really I am just phone averse....
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According to Engadget, NYC cabbies are planning a strike over proposed passenger seat GPS system installations, claiming privacy concerns. Is this a foothold customer problem. If I were a cab driver who paid a daily fee for the car, I might be less concerned that someone was tracking me. I am incentivised to stay on the road because the penalty for hanging out in the driveway all day is the steep cost of the daily car rental. Could there be other problems? I'd be concerned that credit card payments (enabled by the machines) would drive down tips. How would I deal with this? Well, the passenger system also offers a video screen that will allow passengers to check the news. How about storing a brief video about each cab driver in the video system? Tips go way up once we make a connection. The systems also allow passengers to watch the cab on a map as it hones in on the drop point, will this increase back seat instructioneering (also a real pain for cab drivers)? How about offering a system that will allow- in some instances- primes to be paid when the cab driver selects the best route. This might only work when two cabs were leaving from the same pickup point and going to the same drop point at the same time. It might also encourage unsafe driving (ach).
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Engadget also looks at the Cybook Gen-3 EBook reader. In the review they state:
8,000 page flips. What a great metric. I want to find other "analog metrics" for online services.
In less than 2 seconds, Lothberg can download a full-length movie on her home computer — many thousand times faster than most residential connections... The speed is reached using a new modulation technique...The article says she uses her connection to read online newspapers, and nothing more
For the record, Lothberg may also be the most overshot consumer in the world
==========================================================================
Mashable looks at Loopt, one in a series of companies that help you geo-locate friends using mobile phones. Will Loopt succeed? I have no idea. Apparently a few venture investors like it. I am more curious about geolocation-based social networks on mobile phones. Dodgeball (purchased by Google a while back) is one of the best known.
These services are all positioned as a great way to stay in touch with friends and are probably useful if you are trying to meet up at bars, restaurants, clubs & etc. Of course, this may or may not work when one or more parties are indoors (exactly the time when users are unable to see and relay cross street information) but the concept is simple and appealing.
I wonder about other uses for mobile social networks. What if I had a network of friends who would verify my identity in a transaction? What if I had a network of friends who would send me a cellphone picture if they caught my kid smoking or tagging the local park benches? A network where I could discuss microclimates, a network that would help me negotiate rent on my new apartment, a network that would help me recruit a rabbi for the local synagouge. Given the growth in micro-social networks built around smaller and smaller affinity groups I suspect that I will soon be able to find a network for every activity. The Brooklyn neighborhood, with nosy neighbors and extended families and local associations will be rebuilt first online and then on our mobile phones and then on our mixed mobile devices. As these networks develop over the next five years, I should expect to see more and more efforts to tackle the "fourth wall" of data by developing interfaces that allow us to interact in natural ways, so that I might get the sense that I am sitting at a real honest-to-goodness backyard party when I interact with a group of friends over a shared mobile phone network. I wonder how this will look. If I had a barbecue today, what is the best way to invite someone remotely so that they can wander around and engage with other people? Further, what commonly accepted guidelines for social interactions will develop? How will I get someone's attention when I am a remote participant in a party? These questions are very standard but they can be revisited in new ways, week in and week out, as new technologies emerge.
==============================================================
Treehugger looks at a new plush lightswitch design that just received UL approval. Looking at it, I automatically associate the fabric surface with unpredictability. Will the light go on when I touch the panel? How long will it take? If the variation is less than I second, I might find this comforting. If the variation is considerably longer, I might not be able to use the object. Curiously, if the light "snaps" on each time I press the button, I might find the switch to be dissonant. Maybe this panel would be better if it served as a dimmer [UPDATE: Ah ha!, I just looked at the full article.. it is a dimmer!]. Would the same thing be true if I developed a textile mobile phone interface. Will I automatically posit a parallel between the "softness" of the phone and any delays in the interface. Should a crisp linen phone be more responsive than a plush felt phone?
===============================================================
Lifehacker looks at Phonevite, a website that allows users to send mass invitations over the phone. When will carriers (or service providers such as Grandcentral and Skype) allow me to tag voicemail boxes and then make intelligent pull decisions. I might like phonevite if the invitations were automatically forwarded to an "event" voicemail box that I'd check once or twice a day. At present, if an invitation is important enough to enter my phone layer, I'd hope that I was being called directly rather than being spammed by my friends. Makes it sound like I am full of it but really I am just phone averse....
===============================================================
According to Engadget, NYC cabbies are planning a strike over proposed passenger seat GPS system installations, claiming privacy concerns. Is this a foothold customer problem. If I were a cab driver who paid a daily fee for the car, I might be less concerned that someone was tracking me. I am incentivised to stay on the road because the penalty for hanging out in the driveway all day is the steep cost of the daily car rental. Could there be other problems? I'd be concerned that credit card payments (enabled by the machines) would drive down tips. How would I deal with this? Well, the passenger system also offers a video screen that will allow passengers to check the news. How about storing a brief video about each cab driver in the video system? Tips go way up once we make a connection. The systems also allow passengers to watch the cab on a map as it hones in on the drop point, will this increase back seat instructioneering (also a real pain for cab drivers)? How about offering a system that will allow- in some instances- primes to be paid when the cab driver selects the best route. This might only work when two cabs were leaving from the same pickup point and going to the same drop point at the same time. It might also encourage unsafe driving (ach).
===============================================================
Engadget also looks at the Cybook Gen-3 EBook reader. In the review they state:
Cybook Gen3, the device makes use of E Ink's Vizplex e-paper technology to give you a 166 dpi resolution on its 6-inch screen, and promises to last for 8,000 page flips before needing a recharge.
8,000 page flips. What a great metric. I want to find other "analog metrics" for online services.
