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I was at work today listening to a young child argue with his parents about getting a cell phone. They were absolutely sure he was too young to have one. Working at Best Buy, I have heard this story a thousand times, but recently I have been thinking about why exactly parents think this way. So today I walked up to these nice people and asked them why they wouldn’t let their son get a phone. Their answer will be the basis of this week’s discussion.

Sue, Keith, and their son, Jeff, didn’t mind answering a few questions for me. The parents’ answer was simple: “He’s not old enough.” Now while this could mean a hundred different things, I asked them to clarify it a bit. The father was the first to speak up. He told me he didn’t want his kid on the phone all hours of the night or talking to people he didn’t approve of.

I immediately thought of LG Electronic’s Migo cellphone that we recently started carrying (read about it here: http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=791). It’s a pretty interesting concept phone. You can sign up for the service through Verizon. It is a simplified cell phone that has 5 parent-programmable buttons on the face. Four numbers can be assigned on the keypad, like “Mom,” “Dad,” “Home,” and “Grandmother.” The final button is an emergency contact button. They thought that was a great idea for a phone until I informed them it still cost as much as a regular cell phone to use. That was the mother’s biggest problem. I had no answer for this until I thought about it for a while.

Why is today’s best and most popular communication tool is so expensive to use? My phone bill every month comes to over $70. Why not introduce an advertisement-based cell phone plan to the market? In a society where advertisements are being placed everywhere from in video games to a boxer’s back, why not create a phone that scrolls an advertisement on the LCD or alternates a logo on the screen? While it would stick out on screen and grab your attention, it wouldn’t take away the functionality of your phone. This would generate revenue for both advertisers and your wireless provider which could help offset the cost of a monthly wireless plan.

It’s not like this hasn’t been successful before. Back when NetZero first launched as the world’s first “free” internet provider, they scrolled banner ads on the browser you were using in order to defer the costs of providing a free internet connection. The company operated using that model for quite some time before switching to a pay-based system. I can also remember the websites that promised to give you money simply for surfing the web (as they rotated an advertisement banner on your computer’s desktop).

Now while I am not advocating a complete overhaul of the mobile phone system, I do think this would allow people who could not afford to sign up for a cell phone in the past to finally get one. Even if the advertisements couldn’t pay for a month of cellular use, it could still help out a bit. Even a few bucks off your bill a month for a few advertisements might be worth it for some people. I’m sure I wouldn’t mind and I'm sure Jeff and his parents wouldn't either.

We might even be able to apply this to broadband or wireless internet access too. Who knows what the future will bring?

Until next week, so long.

Let's play.

Last week I brought up some new internet and wireless technology that will become widely used in the near future. This week I am planning on talking about video games and their integration into the wireless world. I will focus on the rise of upcoming genres and gaming technologies that are constantly being overlooked. There is a lot of money to be made in this area and I believe we will start to see companies take advantage of genre in the next few years.

This is going to be a post that talks about how profitable the online arena will become as well as the way it will allow us all to connect to each other in ways we could have only dreamed about before the introduction of Wi-Fi internet.

Online gaming has been around for a while now. From Role-Playing Games like Ultima Online to Everquest to Party Poker, people have been enjoying competitive videogames all across the globe. China, as well as other Asian countries have instituted laws forbidding more than a few hours of online gaming a day. Online gaming is extremely addictive as well as profitable for the companies behind them. We can see from the success of XBOX’s Live service that online gaming is an extremely lucrative and appealing environment.

Now let’s look at the up-and-coming mobile market. There are three major players right now in the portable gaming world: Cell phones, the Nintendo DS and the Sony Playstation Portable. Both have their own respective features which make them appealing to the gaming crowd and both have the ability to play online over a wireless connection.

Your mobile phone is always connected. It can be updated constantly and receive messages while your play your games. While this is extremely convenient, as a good majority of people over 18 own a cell phone, it is not the best item to play a game on.

The competitors are dedicated gaming machines. They have controls set up specifically for gaming in mind. They also have the wonderful abilities to connect wireless to your home networks so you can play online.

Playstation Portable was the first mobile console to go online. You were able to connect to any Wi-Fi hotspot and play against your friends or strangers. Now while this is a feat of its own, you were also able to chat with people in a “lobby” using an on-screen keypad which resembled a phone keypad layout. This made it possible to communicate with people while you were setting up matches and during gameplay. Soon after the launch of the first games, Sony users were given a web browser which allowed owners to surf the internet and view webpages they would normally only be able to access at home or on a computer.

The Nintendo DS was the next console to venture online. This console has taken online gaming a step farther. Not only are you able to connect wireless to a network and play against friends, you are now able to communicate verbally with each other.

Last May, I attended E3 Expo in Los Angeles. It is an extremely large gaming event which showcases new games and consoles and attracts crowds from all over the world. There I was able to see and test out a voice-over-ip, or VOIP, program which ran on the Nintendo DS console. It was like a cellular phone that used a gaming system to communicate with a built-in microphone instead of an actual phone. It was an extremely ambitious program which showcased the DS’ ability to manipulate wireless networks.

Fast-forward to today. Not only will Nintendo be releasing a version of the Opera internet browser for the DS, but they are now including the VOIP technology in certain games. Metroid Prime: Hunters is the first game to take advantage of this innovation. While you are setting up a match and determining the options for an upcoming online game, you are able to talk to your opponents and friends. You can either trash talk your enemies or encourage teammates. When you finish a match, you can boast about how well you did or make excuses about why you lost. I find it incredible that this tiny machine allows us to talk to up to eight people at a time while playing games.

It appears I am not the only one who is excited about mobile online gaming. According to IGN.com, over one million unique people have logged into Nintendo’s online service. Read about it here: http://ds.ign.com/articles/694/694343p1.html.

Not only does this prove mobile internet access is possible, but that it is extremely popular and many people look forward to using it. This leaves many opportunities open for companies to make money on a technology people are willing to spend on. I shall expand on this a bit more next week.

You can read about Nintendo’s online infrastructure here: http://www.nintendowifi.com

You can read about Sony’s online plan here: http://www.us.playstation.com/psp.aspx

America Online...literally.

I’ve been talking the last few times about improving the hardware we use to communicate in the mobile world, but I haven’t talked too much about how to improve the speed at which we communicate. I know I promised to talk about streaming media and games, but before I do that I want to introduce the method in which we can. Today’s blog will be focusing on speeding up the way we connect to each.

Currently, one of the most popular ways to connect to each other is by cellular devices. This typically includes paying a fee to your mobile provider to connect to the web. I’ve been using the Sprint PCS network for a good while now and while I’m happy with it, my wallet isn’t. It is terribly expensive to access the internet on a phone plan. I pay around $25 a month for the ability to do so. Other cellular phone companies, like T-Mobile and Verizon, offer similar packages for their internet access. Let’s not forget to mention how painfully slow these can be. If I try to access a website with more than two pictures on it, it can take upwards of a minute to load completely. What a waste of my time.

But is this enough? In a world where everyone seems like they’re in a rush and don’t have the time to wait for a cell phone to download at a rate most 14.4kbps modems could crush, can’t we have anything better?

How about a system that allows anyone, anywhere, to connect to the internet at blazing fast speeds. It doesn’t matter if it’s a laptop, a cell phone, or a GameBoy.

Now, I’m sure you have all been to a Starbucks or a Barnes & Noble store where you were given the opportunity to take your laptop and sign online using their Wi-Fi network. Even McDonalds restaurants allow Nintendo DS owners to connect online and play against eachother. My new laptop even came with a sticker on the keyboard advertising the ability to use T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi hotspots.

Now picture this on a grand scale.

Read about WiMAX here: http://www.wimaxforum.org. What a tremendously ambitious project. They set out to create wireless hotspots throughout entire cities. If this project continues to hook up cities across the country, it would provide a quick, affordable, and highly applicable technology for us to take advantage of. Everyone will have the ability to communicate at extremely fast speeds with the equipment they already have. Because WiMAX uses existing wireless standards, there is no need to go out and buy brand new and costly equipment to use it.

The city of Philadelphia recently decided to log their city online. Check it out here: http://www.gcn.com/print/24_6/35315-1.html. Philly now joins a list of other major cities who plan on providing its citizens with either cheap or free wireless internet access. Although there are some hurdles left to clear, it’s pretty obvious that wireless internet will soon be available to everyone around the country.

That’s a pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

Adios.

Origami Unfolds Some More...

Clever title, I know...

This week, the trade show CeBIT took place in Germany. Many new innovative technologies and ideas are shared to the public and press for the first time. Last week, I talked about the Origami project and now we understand a bit more about the concept of a mobile PC.

Outlined in this article from IGN Entertainment (source: http://gear.ign.com/articles/694/694783p1.html), we learn that the new UMPCs (Ultra Mobile Personal Computer) will be available starting next month. The technology, spear-headed by Intel and Microsoft, will start a premium price and slowly become more affordable as the technology matures into what both companies imagine it will. The first models will be available from Samsung, Founder, and Asustek.

Unfortunately, for now it seems the UMPC idea will not sport all the bells and whistles one might hope. For one, the expected battery life is only around 2-4 hours. This is primarily due to Intel not having their new low-voltage chips available for use until the end of the year.

The product is still quite impressive. It sports a 7” touchscreen that uses something called the “Dial Keyboard”. Instead of having a physical keyboard on the device, the keyboard is superimposed on the screen in 2 distinct fan shapes in the bottom corners. This allows the user to type with their thumbs and read what is on the screen at the same time. In the pictures revealed we see that Internet Explorer and an email client will all be a part of the unit. This is confirmation that the device will support online activity. All of this runs on a modified version of Microsoft’s existing Windows Tablet PC edition operating system.

I made a big point of saying how much I believe this technology will benefit communication in this highly mobile and technologically-influenced society last week. We are always on the move. I am typing this out right now on the bus to my next class. Time has become a luxury we no longer have and the advent of UMPCs is going to help us do what we have to on such a rushed schedule we all seem to have. You can read more about the first wave of UMPCs here: http://www.origamiproject.com.

What does peak my interest are the menu options for streaming media and games. This idea I intend to dive into next week. The potential for this technology is endless in my eyes with cost being the only limitation.

Edit: Added some pictures I ran across today. They are from msmobiles.com

Origami

Whether or not Microsoft intended for it to leak so quick, news of their "secret" project, Origami, has leaked quite rapidly. Check it out here: http://games-industry.biz/news.php?aid=14987 .

This is quite exciting for people following the mobile technology industry. Even though Microsoft doesn't expect this product to sell on the market, there is an incredible amount of ambition behind this. As of now, Microsoft refuses to call it anything but a concept. Such a wonderful concept it is.

Think about a super portable laptop. Now add a touch-sensitive screen, something made popular by Nintendo's Nintendo DS handheld game system and tablet PCs. You have a simplified computer where you can instant message friends, surf the internet, answer emails, and play simple computer games. If Origami turns out to be affordable for the masses, Microsoft might have a hit on their hands.

One of the biggest problems with today's mobile electronics is functionality. Navigating websites on my cellphone is a skill one acquires after months of practice. Learning how to text message people without a QWERTY keyboard is a chore as well. Let's not forget we're doing this all on a screen smaller than a folded dollar bill. If a product remotely similar comes to market that resembles the Origami project, it will have solved one of mobile technology's biggest roadblocks - usability.

Some of the things I would like to see implemented is to include a full-fledged internet browser, wireless support for PC games, a media player, and for it to extremely user-friendly. Having the ability to be upgraded would also be a nice touch. I don't expect to see a product like this reach the market for the next few years, but when it does it will certainly be my next toy.

I swear, I don't steal any ideas...

Okay, so I've decided to ammend my blog's purpose. What I intend on covering is the momentum of the mobile entertainment market to become a place where online interactivity is easy to do and strongly encouraged. Hopefully this will help stimulate the minds of our creative geniouses out there (and maybe someone can capitalize on one of my ideas).

Take, for instance, the cellular phone market. Sure, we all use cell phones to call eachother and leave text messages, but there is so much more promise to this technology. Let's merge the ability to message eachother and use the mobile internet. I have this idea that we could create a place where users create a personal profile with information about themselves, a few pictures, and a comment section. Well it seems the masterminds at MySpace.com have thought up one way of accomplishing this: http://www.betanews.com/article/Cell_Provider_to_Offer_MySpace_Phone/1140134541.

I'll be honest when I say I think this method is slightly flawed. It seems to be the same thing we are able to do now with internet-ready phones. This is just a simplified way of accessing the website and making some posts to it.

Why half-ass this idea? There is so much promise there. Make it so you can upload new photos with your camera phone or upload video and display it on a server for everyone to see. None of these phones announced have a QWERTY based keypad on it, only the standard numeric pad. Cell phones are supposed to be "on-the-go" equipment. It would take the normal person 10 minutes to make a small post.

So much promise, yet so little went into the planning of this new cell phone. At least that's my two cents.

- Kevin Lederman

The Introduction...

Drumroll, please.

This is the start of my OFFICIAL blog. Here I will randomly spurt out ideas about a new media innovation that I have thought up.

What is my idea? I call it MobYlSPACE, an idea which will take full advantage of the recent explosion of blogging and mobile communication. What exactly is that? Well, I will attempt to reveal this project little by little on a weekly basis.

Stay tuned.

- Kevin