musings of a social architect

Dilbert on Social Software

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For all you puzzle fans...

My husband, Scott Kim is a puzzle designer - and for 2005, he's created a Brainteasers Box Calendar. This could be a great gift for the puzzle-lover on your list. Here's the publisher's description:

It's like salted peanuts for the brain—in full color—a year of mind-bending ambigrams and inversions, logic and numeric puzzlers, mazes, word games, and physical puzzles (using fingers and other body parts) that are resplendently designed and challenging. Created by Scott Kim, a frequent contributor to Games magazine and puzzle columnist for Discover magazine, here are hundreds of ways to give your brain the exercise it craves.

Kvelling :-)

For the past 10 weeks, Gabe (who's almost 6) has been taking an wonderful after-school Orff music class, taught by the talented Laura Condoylis. The kids sing, dance, make up stories, play hand percussion, and beat on drums. What's not to like? :-)

Last night, Scott and I attended the class holiday music performance at La Di Da, a local Jazz cafe in Half Moon Bay. It was a joy to see kids 5-9 years old singing and playing music together in an ensemble. Gabe even got to do a short solo into the mic - and he sounded great! I now know the true meaning of the phrase 'shep naches.'

NACHES: Joy. To "shep naches" means to derive pleasure. Jewish children are expected to provide their parent with naches in the form of achievement.

(For extra credit, look up the phrase 'kvell'.)

Marvel heroes get mobile : Guardian Unlimited Gamesblog

Lately, I've noticed more interactive mobile tie-ins with TV and movies. This article from the Guardian GamesBlog does a good job of summarizing this trend, noting in particular two high-profile licensing deals - Mforma+Marvel, and THQ+Starwars. I'm a strong believer (at least in the short term) in partnering with well-known brands to deliver mobile entertainment, so I'm watching this trend closely -- and selecting my projects accordingly.

This looks to be the way the mobile entertainment industry is going - away from quickie conversions of old arcade games and toward licensed multimedia packages designed to push mega-brands into our headspace. Almost all new blockbusters are accompanied by a selection of mobile phone goodies, distributed through network providers or via partner offers - like the current McDonald's/Incredibles promotion that sends logos and games to anyone who texts the number on the side of their 'Incredible twisty fries'. TV companies are also getting in on the act with Endemol producing mobile content based around Big Brother and Fear Factor, and new Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here titles on the way.

JamPlug - World's Smallest Guitar Amp

OK - this little beauty goes at the top of my Holiday WishList. Yowza!

Virgin Mobile won't sell to under-10s

textually.org reports that Virgin Mobile -- a youth-oriented mobile carrier -- has decided NOT to market to children under 10. An interesting related statistic from this article claims that a third of children in Britain aged 10 to 14 have mobile phones. If that's really true, that's incredible penetration for this age group. I wonder what the penetration looks like in other countries?

Dangers of Market Segmentation

Insightful article in The Feature about market segmentation and the problems that arise when applying these tactics to a mobile population.

Segmented marketing is intended, after all, to exploit what a marketer knows about a consumer in order to make her more like that. A person who has clicked on a few banner ads about dieting, or purchased a book on carbohydrates, is an ideal target for an onslaught of diet product ads. The consumer experiences segmentation and targeted messaging as having been "found out" and is then pushed further towards a static identity. Worse, segmentation is potentially divisive and alienating, since it defines users by what they want, rather than what they can do or contribute. Under the market researcher's scalpel, society is sliced into evermore-precise consumer tribes. Mac users vs. Microsoft users. Ford drivers vs. Chevy drivers.

This works for traditional products, like sneakers or cars, because they serve as real, physical badges. Objects like these can serve as signifiers for a fixed or tribal identity. Wireless devices, however, are portals. Instead of promoting fixed identities, they are systems through which people can develop and manifest ever-changing selves. Wirelessness is about the expansion and plasticity of self-definition, and participating in culture on new levels. To turn mobile users into clearly delineated sets of target markets defeats the potential of this interactive, collective technology.

Youth Driving Wireless Adoption in the Home

Interesting article about how kids and teenagers are driving mobile useage in families - with some hints about resistance to come from this age group.

The classic early adopters, youth and young adults have played a central role in the early adoption and mass-market acceptance of wireless data capabilities, ranging from short message service (SMS), to gaming, to ring-tones, and are increasingly helping to drive adoption and usage of new applications such as picture and video messaging.

"Youth and young adults can teach their parents and other adults about new wireless data applications such as MMS," says Scott Ellison, program director, Wireless and Mobile Communications. "Even more important, a compelling value proposition - communicating with other family members using new data applications - is inherent."

Youth and young adult wireless subscribers continue to drive profound changes in the U.S. wireless consumer market. Today their wireless gadgets are seen as "cool" and a "must have". However, the promise of family tracker applications that provide information on an individual's location have teenagers all over America second guessing the love affair with their wireless toys.

Mobile UI design musings

I've been reading Christian Lindholm's blog for awhile, and I always enjoy his musings about mobile apps & UI design. This recent review of the iPod Photo UI is a great example of how Christian sees the world. Great reading for anyone interested in mobile UI design.

The reason the iPod Photo UI works is that iTunes and iPhoto share the same UI metaphor, or UI style as I would call it. Pictures are like songs and albums are like playlists...

Pictures without words are not stories and stories is where the beef is. The photos needs to have some sort of access to the text on them, but this is omitted. This goes back to the primarely problem of the missing text input for this device.

Holiday Shopping Online

I've been doing all my holiday shopping online -- in between meetings and email processing. It's great - no crowds, no bad flourescent lighting, just convenience and selection. I'm a happy holiday shopper!

I just found a gift for my son that I know he's gonna love -- the Deluxe Domino Race Set. Gabe is fascinated with Rube-Goldberg-like devices, and loves free-form building toys -- especially ones that generate a chain reaction.

While browsing Highlights.com, I was sorely tempted to purchase this little beauty as well - a kid-sized electric guitar. Maybe I'll ask my husband to buy it for me :-)