(iverson's) currentbuzz

“An application called ScanLife, widely available online as a free download, turns a phone into a bar-code reader. Versions exist for the iPhone and BlackBerry as well as Android-based handsets, and the app comes preloaded on many Sprint phones in the United States. ScanLife can also read many standard bar codes on many phones, so it can perform price comparisons, for example.” read the whole story at: Smartphones Helping Magazines Become Interactive – NYTimes.com.

Ha ha. Remember the Cuecat? It seems it was not the stupid thing some writers have claimed, but instead it was too far ahead of its time.

South Korea tends to run about five or six years ahead of the US in technology adoption. Today’s Web giants of Korea — Naver, Daum, NHN– are retooling their web sites for mobile. They view maps and geotracking as a central function.

“Maps will be the essential application for the mobile Internet, as navigation features and other location-based services become critical when people are accessing the Web while on the move,” said an industry official.

“Business models are still an issue, as fee-based services are unlikely to get off and it remains to be seen whether maps and other location-based services could draw a sufficient amount of advertisement money. Still, Internet companies can’t afford to be laid back in maps, when they could influence the outcome of the traffic competition in the mobile Web.”

via Maps Central to Mobile Plans of Internet Firms.

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Let’s start with four fundamental rules of social netiquette:

1. The golden rule. If the roles were reversed, would you be happy? If not, don’t do it. (Remember this from kindergarten?)

2. Don’t deceive and don’t lie. If you get caught, you’ll be sorry, since you’re destroying trust. This is rarely worth it.

3. Balance your own needs with those of others. You are important, but not the most important. If your boss needs your help — or your staff does — how will you balance those needs with yours?

4. Your habits are your own problem. If you have a drinking problem, that doesn’t mean you can whip out a bottle in the meeting (unless it’s on ‘Mad Men’). Same with your compulsive need to check email. If you can’t stop, get counseling.

via Social Netiquette: Is It OK to Use a Phone in Meetings? – Advertising Age – DigitalNext.

Romenesko posted about it, linking to the Gawker story, The Fake New York Post: Get Yours Now – Media – Gawker.

I was there. Being a long-time admirer of the Yes Men, and the whole idea of “brand corrections” as social protest, I was pleased to be in New York at the same time as one of their social network powered events.

Having participated in flashmobs when they were the rage, I have an appreciation for how you can motivate lots of diverse people to do some simple thing, and because of the reach of social media, you can produce a big “group” this way.

We got a series of e-mails over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, that were basically designed to get everyone on an SMS list. Once the action starts, coordination continues via SMS messages, such as “More people needed at the Staten Is. Ferry.”

At 4 a.m. some volunteers that did not include me, set out to pick up the papers at three distribution sites, and take them to the commuter locations where other volunteers handed them out. I checked out the Grand Central Station site.

At 11 there was another brief meeting in Bryant Park, and I passed out copies of the “special” edition of the Post there. I had to go to the airport, but the volunteers stayed around to greet U.N. reps who had been meeting in the NYC Library there at Bryant Park.

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rising levels of Americans using the internet on a mobile handset. One-third of Americans (32%) have used a cell phone or Smartphone to access the internet for emailing, instant-messaging, or information-seeking. This level of mobile internet is up by one-third since December 2007, when 24% of Americans had ever used the internet on a mobile device. On the typical day, nearly one-fifth (19%) of Americans use the internet on a mobile device, up substantially from the 11% level recorded in December 2007. That’s a growth of 73% in the 16 month interval between surveys.

via Wireless Internet Use – The Pew Charitable Trusts.

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