Names as expression

January 13, 2005 | Comments

Joseph Laszlo points to a poll on Wi-fi hotspot SSIDs: "When you think about it, an SSID is a means of self expression, though a limited, and kind of a weird one. You may as well be creative about it."

As here, so with handles for instant messaging (which are a tool for self-expression as well as for identification) and bluetooth device names... I've been using MobiLuck recently to track devices that I get near... leave it for a day or so and then check the list of Bluetooth IDs it's accumulated...

Mobile health scares

January 13, 2005 | Comments

Mobile health risks: "The real dilemma is deciding whether mobile phones constitute a real threat like cigarettes or an imaginary threat as per the radiation threat to pregnant women from VDU screens in the 80s."

Very important, particularly given the high usage of mobile amongst children (though whether they're actually high users of voice - which is presumably the most risky activity - is a different matter, I've not seen the figures).

One of the scenarios outlined in Wireless Foresight (one of the 4 or so books I'm currently ploughing through) is exactly this: a health scare sets the mobile industry back by 5 years or so, leaving the public reticent to use mobile and forcing telecomms businesses to re-engineer much of their infrastructure in order to reassure their customers.

Co-operative games

January 13, 2005 | Comments

"Cooperative games emphasize participation, challenge, and fun rather than defeating someone. Cooperative games emphasize play rather than competition. Cooperative games are not new. Some of the classic games we participated in as children areclassic because of the play emphasis. There may be competition involved, but the outcome of the competition is not losing and sitting out the rest of the game. Instead, it may involve switching teams so that everyone ends up on the winning team." - a guide to co-operative games for social change

Co-operative board games here. Gamespots top 10 co-op games here. And a piece on the Educational Value of Cooperative Games

Apple and tipping points

January 13, 2005 | Comments

This graphic "...illustrates extreme patience and foresight from Apple to bring users to the platform by innovating increasingly towards the mass market over time without sacrificing the middle or high-end markets. "

MobileGirl on what it really

January 11, 2005 | Comments

MobileGirl on what it really means to design for mobile: "It's not about interacting with the desktop. It's about making the mobile device a central unit and it's about placing a focus on the whole system... the phone and the desktop (maybe even the TV and radio). It's about figuring out when to push, when to pull, when to alert, notify, sync, and require confirmation."