Unless the call of advertiser green turns this to a new form of spam, I like the idea.Having your grocery list at the store every week, and yoru phone call it up is brillant. i can also envision new games and local message boards (voting issues, current events, and the like) that would allow the locla community to interact like never before. However the beckoning of the ad dollars will most likely sway the phone companies to place coke advertisements next to the vending machine, car ads next to a dealership and perhaps more ingeniously evil ideas.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994496
Mobile phone service posts 'virtual graffiti'
16:11 17 December 03
NewScientist.com news service
A mobile phone service that lets users scribble "virtual graffiti" in a street or neighbourhood is to be launched in the UK on New Year's Day.
The service lets users post a message to a mobile phone zone, or "cell". When a user logs onto the TagandScan site using their cellphone, they can opt to be automatically located according to network cell from which they are calling. They can then create a message or view ones already left in that cell by other users.
The system will work on phones that can run programs written in the Java programming language, which are now common. There are public areas that anyone can tag as well as private ones that can be restricted to selected friends. Each text tag can also have an image attached to it.
TagandScan was created by New York company Cimarrones and has been undergoing UK field trails for the past month. Cimarrones' president Ryan Janssen says he has been surprised by the ways people have used the service in testing.
Preconceived notions
"We had some preconceived notions but people are using them in ways we never intended," Janssen told New Scientist. "For example, people have used private grids to enhance their memory by posting Christmas lists."
Subscribe to New Scientist for more news and features
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Janssen believes people may also use TagandScan to organise political gatherings or create their own guides to a city's bars and restaurants.
A few location-based services already exist on current GSM networks. In October 2003, a London company called Zingo began offering a service that automatically finds the nearest taxi to a mobile phone user.
Mobile phone operators plan to start offering even more accurate location-based services through 3G phone networks, which have been designed with this in mind.
But Andrew Brown, an analyst specialising in mobile computing with IDC, warns that it can a challenge to alert users to a new service and convince them that they need it. "It's a nice idea," he says. "But people might be unwilling to pay for it."
Will Knight
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994496
Mobile phone service posts 'virtual graffiti'
16:11 17 December 03
NewScientist.com news service
A mobile phone service that lets users scribble "virtual graffiti" in a street or neighbourhood is to be launched in the UK on New Year's Day.
The service lets users post a message to a mobile phone zone, or "cell". When a user logs onto the TagandScan site using their cellphone, they can opt to be automatically located according to network cell from which they are calling. They can then create a message or view ones already left in that cell by other users.
The system will work on phones that can run programs written in the Java programming language, which are now common. There are public areas that anyone can tag as well as private ones that can be restricted to selected friends. Each text tag can also have an image attached to it.
TagandScan was created by New York company Cimarrones and has been undergoing UK field trails for the past month. Cimarrones' president Ryan Janssen says he has been surprised by the ways people have used the service in testing.
Preconceived notions
"We had some preconceived notions but people are using them in ways we never intended," Janssen told New Scientist. "For example, people have used private grids to enhance their memory by posting Christmas lists."
Subscribe to New Scientist for more news and features
Related Stories
Cellphone software allows a musical jam
24 October 2003
Cellphone positioning finds its place
19 October 2003
Smart cellphone would spend your money
15 June 2003
For more related stories
search the print edition Archive
Weblinks
TagandScan
Cimarrones
Zingo
IDC
Janssen believes people may also use TagandScan to organise political gatherings or create their own guides to a city's bars and restaurants.
A few location-based services already exist on current GSM networks. In October 2003, a London company called Zingo began offering a service that automatically finds the nearest taxi to a mobile phone user.
Mobile phone operators plan to start offering even more accurate location-based services through 3G phone networks, which have been designed with this in mind.
But Andrew Brown, an analyst specialising in mobile computing with IDC, warns that it can a challenge to alert users to a new service and convince them that they need it. "It's a nice idea," he says. "But people might be unwilling to pay for it."
Will Knight
