musings of a social architect

Nokia expects more user-generated content on mobile Web

This may seem like re-stating the obvious, but this recent article showcases Nokia's belief in user-generated content on the Mobile web. Mobile phones are, first and foremost, communication devices that we use to stay in touch using voice, text, photos and now video. This POV explains the slow uptake of broadcast video services for mobiles. LINK

Nokia Asia Pacific Multimedia Experiences director Jawahar Kanjilal said half of the streaming content that will appear on Internet-ready mobile phones would be created by the phone users themselves. Likewise, the other half of the content would be transactional -- meaning services offered by the telecommunications firms and their service provider partners.

Kanjilal said that many countries worldwide are already deploying 3G (third-generation) networks, which have a higher bandwidth capacity, allowing richer multimedia content to be uploaded and distributed to many users.

Among the most sought-after features of new mobile phones are the camera and music playback functions, which allow people to take and upload photos or videos, as well as play a user’s choice of music.

More indicators that Myspace is going strong

According to this Apple retail store blog, the stores are now banning MySpace pages because of heavy use. I see the same behavior in my local library -- nobody can get on the computers because of all the MySpace users.

The flagship stores and others have had a chronic problem with visitors hogging the display computers and using them for hours on personal business, rather than demo’ing the computer or software. As I’ve chronicled here before, people send and receive e-mail, have their appointment and check books open on the counters, and are logged into every conceivable Web site. Now Apple has taken notice of the activity, but not from a crowd point of view. Rather, the stores’ Internet connections are apparently taking a hit from all the bandwidth activity. According to visitors, Apple is now blocking the MySpace.com Web site to cut down on net activity. Visitor at certain stores who surf the MySpace.com URL are re-directed to Apple’s own Web site.

Our Favorite Family Games for the Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS is currently my favorite gaming platform, because the innovative software that's being developed for this machine. Several of my friends have recently purchased a  DS, and asked me to recommend some great games for kids. So here are our favorite family games, based on watching and playing with my 7-year-old son. NOTE: the links below will take you to Amazon, where you can read more reviews and purchase these games.

Nintendogs - this is just a flat-out fabulous entertainment experience, suitable for all ages. It's part tamagochi, part simulation, and all-around fun. You purchase puppies, train them to recognize voice commands,  feed them, walk them, purchase toys and clothing for them, and enter them in contests. The  puppies are adorable and incredibly lifelike, and the game keeps you engaged by offering higher-level challenges and the opportunity to purchase more puppies of different breeds. When the puppies all play together on the screen, its tough not to feel your heart melting. Awwww... :-)

Mario Kart - This is a fabulous port of the wildly popular console racing game for kids. The cartoony graphics are wonderful, the customization options are loads of fun, and the racing itself is exciting and totally family-friendly. A great way to while awhile a few minutes (or hours) during a long car drive. Just be sure to make pit-stops to let your kid run around and burn off the excess energy that this adrenaline-inducing game will stimulate.

Animal Crossing - Another port of a popular console game, but this one is perhaps even better than the original. It's slow-paced and thoughtful, and great for reinforcing reading (lots of text, most of it pretty accessible). This one is especially fun to play WITH your kid. Just watch out for those bees, hiding in the trees - my son got pretty upset when his character got stung.

Electroplankton - a weird, wonderful ambient music game where you interact with the environment to build up layers of beautiful sounds. This game uses both the microphone and touchscreen to great effect. It's hard to describe - and even harder to put down once you start playing with it. If your kid (or yourself) is at all into music and creativity, this is a must-play experience.

Brain Age - this isn't really for kids, it's for older folks who want to keep their mental edge. This game is a series of mental exercises, designed to encourage you to play each day and try to improve your speed and accuracy. The cool thing is, you can play this game with older kids, and have a BALL. My husband and son love to play this together; it's great math practice and a lovely way to spend some time together.

There you go - hope you enjoy these recommendations! Now go play some of these fabulous DS games.

Mobile Phones Could Soon Rival the PC As World’s Dominant Internet Platform

A few years ago, I was working at There.com (a PC-based virtual worlds platform). While researching a IM-based spinoff project, I ran across some statistics that showed how rapidly Internet-enabled mobile phones were proliferating worldwide. These growth curves convinced me that mobile phones were fast becoming the dominant Internet platform. I immediately started educating myself about mobile applicationss design, and soon afterwards began working in the mobile industry.

Well, it looks like those predictive statistics are coming true, according to this recent survey.

– Today, the personal computer remains the dominant platform to access the Internet globally. However, Internet access via the mobile phone actually outpaces wireless access from a notebook PC in many of areas of the world – a statistic driven largely by the massive install base of mobile phones throughout the world as well as more developed wireless networks, according to The Face of the Web, the annual study of Internet trends by global market research firm Ipsos Insight.

Indeed, Internet browsing via a wireless device is showing robust growth in many global markets. France and the U.K are exhibiting the strongest growth in this trend, while Internet usage via mobile phone in Japan also continues to grow rapidly. Today, four in 10 adults browse the Internet on their wireless handset in Japan, double the rate from 2003. However, growth in Internet browsing on a mobile phone is flattening in other leading markets, such as the U.S. and Canada, where wireless Internet access via notebook PC appears to be emerging as the stronger out-of-home Internet platform.

Globally, just over one-fourth (28%) of mobile phone owners worldwide have browsed the Internet on a wireless handset, up slightly from 25% at the end 2004. Interestingly, growth in this behavior for 2005 was driven by the older users (age 35 ), indicating that surfing the Internet on a mobile phone is emerging as a mainstream activity, no longer dominated by the traditional early adopter segment – young males – typical of many new consumer technologies.

As consumer dependence on mobile phones grows, so to will new applications. Mobile phones are poised to become a dominant Internet platform outside the home. “In the long term, many of today’s PC-centric online activities could be complemented through the mobile phone or migrate to the mobile phone altogether, due to greater convenience and faster connection speeds,” Cruikshank added.

UPDATE: Russ Beattie has a post up about this survey, along with some cool graphs.

So you can see that it's really not a matter of if the mobile phone will become the dominant internet platform any more, but when. And that when isn't expressed in somedays, either, I bet if you wanted to sit down with the numbers you could probably pick out the exact day. I'm thinking it'll probably be around October 3rd, 2007 (at 8:34 a.m).

Carnial of the Mobilists at Feet up!

The 24th Carnival of the Mobilists is at Feet up! this week. This Carnival includes some great posts on the mobile scene, so stop by and check it out.

KISS me anytime :-)

Courtesy of Lifeblog, here's a great story about the power (and economic value) of simplicity. I find this tremendously inspiring.

“During the space race back in the 1960’s, NASA was faced with a major problem. The astronaut needed a pen that would write in the vacuum of space. NASA went to work. At a cost of $1.5 million they developed the “Astronaut Pen”. Some of you may remember. It enjoyed minor success on the commercial market.

The Russians were faced with the same dilemma.     Well, they used a pencil.”

Keep it simple, stupid"

KISS me anytime, I always need it! :-)

And now, a brief "science moment"

My academic background was in pyschology and neuroscience - and I stil have an abiding fascination with the wonders of biological mechanisms. So I was captivated by this recent report about Octopuses with trick elbows. So cool!

Researchers recorded muscle activity in octopus limbs, and found that an arm generates two waves of muscle contractions that propagate toward each other. When the waves collide, they form a part-time joint.

This process occurs three times, forming a shoulder where the arm meets the body, a wrist where the suckers have grasped their food, and an "elbow" somewhere in between. The elbow typically exhibits the most movement during food retrieval.

The researchers say this is a remarkably simple and apparently optimal mechanism for adjusting the length of arm segments according to where the food item is grasped along the arm.

Innovative Mobile UI concepts

Via Small Surfaces, I ran across some UI design concepts for mobile phones, put together by a design consultancy called ProtoHaus. Very stimulating, if you're working in Mobile UI design. I particularly liked the use of color and pattern, as shown in the images here. Check 'em out.