musings of a social architect

Location-based PacMan

I love seeing retro arcade games brought into the mobile present

playing games with the whole family

Video Games Are Going Gray to Keep Growing

What Women Want

There's been a meme circulating for a few months about how females behave -- and want they want -- in networked environments. A recent market research study (commissioned by Yahoo) described women as highly dependant on the Net for most aspects of their lives - and interestingly, as a 'reclaimed' daytime audience that's now reachable while surfing the Net, rather than TV soaps & game shows. For many women, being online is an intergrated part of their day, and a major ongoing source of information, entertainment and transactions.

Another study (commissioned by AOL) found that women over 40 play casual games late at night, spend 50% more time playing than men, and are more likely to play every day than either men or kids. They also found that online relationships often translate into real-life friendships.

So.... are females the 'underserved market' du jour' in networked services? Sure looks that way to me. we're now in the era of mobile, people-centric networked devices (AKA cellphones) -- and when it comes to communication and relationships, the girlz are in the drivers seat. It's gonna be an interesting few years...

Goin' to Jazzcamp...

Jazzcamp, Jazzcamp, Going to Jazzcamp yes indeed. We're confirmed for Jazzcamp West 2004 -- June 19th-26th. I went to this camp a decade ago and it changed my life; I played jazz and salsa bass, sang with a gospel chior, and learned the Orisha rhtyhms from Africa by way of Cuba.

Now I'm going back, with my family in tow. This is gonna be BIG FUN -- camping in the Redwoods with a bunch of singers, dancers and musicians, playing music around the campfire late into the night. Our kinda vacation :-)