Mobile phones were once the ‘way forward’ for keeping in touch with your mates or loved ones. A simple phone device with a rather large extendable aerial. They now have so many features packed away in them it’s a surprise you can’t start your car on a winter’s morning and get it nicely warmed up! However, there are some very new things happening in the world of mobiles that are still pushing the boundaries.
Mobi-tickets – a fairly new application that enables a barcode to be read from your phone via an standard bar code reader. The usage? There are a whole host of usages for this. Entrance to parties and accepting promotions at bars or events will never be the same. A simple text beforehand and a scan at the door – no paperwork involved. No tickets lost in the post.
Moving on to Japan – Vodafone have recently released a mobile that responds to movement (Shake and Jiggle) to activate its various functions. No need to punch in any keys, just give it a swift move or shake in any direction and the phone will react. Currently there is no release date for the rest of the world.
Virgin Mobile has just released two new services that are set to be winners with the youth market.
Firstly the SOS Ring.
On a date that just isn’t going right? The blind date not resembling the glamour photo in your hand? Simply dial 767, say nothing, hang up immediately and await the return call with your excuse to ditch the date and hopefully the bill!
Secondly there’s the Dialling Under the Influence (Virgin DUI) device. A temporary barring service to place on certain numbers stopping you making a fool of yourself while out with the guys or girls. Ex’s and Bosses will never be harassed again.
Mobi ticket
Shake Jiggle Vodafone
Virgin SOS
Virgin DUI
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Xerox Research Centre Europe have just developed ‘mobile document imaging software’. The software that acts the same as a scanner, works with camera phones that have a resolution of 1 mega pixel or more, creating a digital image of documents. It will check and amend fuzziness and shadows, compress the the image in to a file compatible with a fax machine, another phone or to a computer via Bluetooth or MMS. Images can then be printed. Release is set for later this year.
February 21st, 2005 at 7:57 am
Researchers at Siemens are calling new technology “digital graffiti,” though it’s not really graffiti. It’s more like a mobile phone version of the omnipresent Post-it notes.
http://futurefile.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2005/2/20/334196.html
February 21st, 2005 at 10:38 am
Things are getting more sci-fi all the time.
Incidentally, I lived in Japan for a few years. Common belief had it that Japanese companies and customers really wanted Japan to have advances before the rest of the world, especially the states. The popular opinion was that they wanted status symbols of tech superiority. My personal thoughts on this are that many westerners underestimate Japan’s difficulties with bridging cultural and linguistic barriers. It can be very tricky for Japanese companies to market abroad. It is also notoriously difficult for foreign companies to operate within Japan.
February 21st, 2005 at 9:56 pm
“By next January, the marriage of mobile phones and public transportation is scheduled to begin when Japan’s largest train company,East Japan Railway Company (JR East),is scheduled to launch a service named Mobile Suica,”the EETimes reports.”The new service will enable mobile phone users to conduct all ticket-related transactions such as reservations, purchases and fare collection.Moreover,Mobile Suica-ready phones can be used to pay for purchases in stories at JR East railway stations and other stores that support the service”.
http://www.commsdesign.com/news/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=CAQI5C1CZ3CZUQSNDBGCKHSCJUMEKJVN?articleID=60403668
February 27th, 2005 at 11:22 am