From this article on CNET, Yahoo's Zurfer, a prototype, location-based mobile phone application, has now been paired with Flickr, allowing users to look at flickr tailored to their particular location. Zurfer uses Zonetag to figure out where you are based on the cell tower you are connected to (this reminds me of Mike Bukhin's thesis project CrowdScapes). The service also allows users to execute traditional flickr tasks like view contacts photos and search photos. Currently, its only been tested on Nokia Series 60 v2 and v3 phones: N73, N95, N80, 6682 and N70.phones, although it also apparently works on the Motorola Razr V3x. I decided to sign-up and download the application to my N80 to see how it is. Unfortunately I got a certificate error and was unable to complete the download. I contacted them via email, but they have disclaimer on the site stating that they are not providing support at this time. Oh well.

Posted by Cat at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I had meaning to check out jaiku for a while after reading about it on several blogs and hearing that it was a much prettier and more functional alternative to twitter. So today I got an account and I have to say, I like it, at least as far as the idea. jaiku is based in Helsinki, Finland (you should definitely check it out Nanna) so unfortunately the North American text messaging component will only be working upon activation of their shortcode. This means that currently it is not really a twitter competitor here yet, but I emphasize yet. The user interface of the site is so much nicer and the service has loads more functionality.

First, the sites developers seem particularly interested in presence, so you add your location to a map. It didn't seem to work when I added thornwood, ny however. Maybe I should have added US? But I like the idea of visualization, even though I have become wary of map interfaces as a way to do this. Jaiku also allows you to add feeds from any site that has one, like your blog, flickr and del.icio.us. They do this by scanning the page for the actual feed rather then logging into your account using a username and password that you provide. This could be more attractive to users that are not comfortable with providing third party companies personal information, but I wonder if they have anticipated people submitting feeds that don't actually belong to them and what they would do if this causes a problem. The nice thing is, any page, site, topic, tag etc that has a feed you can add, which means you are not limited to just providing your own del.icio.us feed for example, but you can actually add the feed for a particular tag. I added the freeFormed RSS for the ITP circle page (YAY!).

Jaiku also has a mobile application for Nokia phones (pretty sure its a python app) and a java app in private beta. I am planning to download the app to my N80, although it is unclear if the service will work in the US right now.

The service also has some pretty cool flash based badges that you can add to other sites (website/blog/msypace/etc...although they don't seem to have a facebook app- perhaps they should look into that):

The site also has channels that users can post to from their phone. The channels don't seem as developed as the rest of the site, however, as I couldn't find any way to create one but they say that they are in alpha so perhaps more functionality is coming.

All in all, I think this site makes much more sense to me then twitter and feels much easier to use for some reason, at least from the web interface. Which is not necessarily the most important thing, as it is obviously a service designed around the mobile phone. But I like their concept of incorporating mobile functionality into a site that also has other functions/purposes and a lifestreaming component. It remains to be seen if it will catch on significantly here, as I'm sure they will not gain many users until their short code is functional. Thumbs up though!

Add me as a contact if you like!

Posted by Cat at 01:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Flickr announced (about seven days ago....i'm a little behind) that there mobile site is now live, FINALLY! Flickr had a mobile site url for a while, but it seemed to only work with 'old school' users (although I never saw evidence that it actually worked because I don't know anyone with an oldschool login). I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pretty excited about this. Yay! Thats all.

Posted by Cat at 05:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

For my mobile apps final project, I am going to create an application that make posting pictures and videos to freeFormed easier.

I am also going to create a version of this application to be used with the Witness Human Rights Video Hub pilot that I have been working on with the members of freeFormed.

Posted by Cat at 05:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Otherwise known as the Redial final project (and possibly the Mobile Apps final project)....

For a while, I have been interested in creating something where a mobile phone could control visual information in the real world. I worked on a project last semester using Max/MSP that sort of addressed these interests using the mysql object and live user-submitted photographs (although the actual performance of the project was compromised thanks to Tonic's unreliable internet connection- but that’s a different story). Upon taking the Redial class, I obviously became very interested in how the human voice could become a control mechanism and renewed my previous interest in speech recognition.

So far my final project in Redial I came up with an idea to combine all of this into one. I will be working on the project with Nanna Halinen and a few others (no firm commitments yet), and a special thanks has to go out to Jadie and Ben, who recently made me rethink the complexity of the idea (it’s always great to know people smarter then yourself..hehe). I was initially inspired by the concept that as we have become more inclined to communicate through digital means (email, text messaging, myspace and the like, etc.) we have perhaps become less likely to communicate through traditional means, such as face to face or through voice on the phone. Not that I believe that email or text messaging is a bad way to communicate, simply that it is interesting to see how information is translated differently in that format, specifically information that deals with memory and emotions. I touched on similar concepts in the first semester of ITP when I worked on the SMS Case project with Nanna and Alex Bisceglie. However, our goals were never fully realized due to a fried Bluetooth module (no comments on this please) and the perceived limitations of J2ME. I also think in retrospect that we were making the concept to complex. So here is my new thought:

There has been a lot of work and research done surrounding speech recognition and analysis in an attempt to glean some kind of emotional context automatically through analyzing pitch, tone, intonation and the actual spoken words. I have also seen a number of projects that allow bloggers to use voice to make comments on photographs they have taken (which is particularly interesting because, especially if you are in a rush or not the best text messager in the world, this seems to be a much easier way to describe an event you have witnessed or contextualize a memory and have it immediately posted). For this project, I want to create a interactive screen display of user-generated photographs that are location based, perhaps visualized on an actual map, perhaps not. Viewers would be able to submit photographs to the screen via an MMS message. Then they could call in and leave a comment about the photograph (either a description of the event they attended, a memory of that location, the reason they took the photograph..etc,). Each photograph will have a unique ID displayed on the screen. Other viewers can then call in, find out where the photo was taken, hear the recorded voice comment and leave a comment/memory of their own. Each comment will be put through some kind of speech analysis to determine its emotional context. That emotion will then be tagged to that location in the database.

Viewers can then download an application (from the web or from a Bluetooth location, i.e. my computer) that will assign a specific ring tone and visual graphic to a set of common emotional responses on their mobile phone. (the ring tones and graphics will initially be pre-determined but can be changed at any time through the application itself or on the website) Then when the person is out in Manhattan, they can send a text message with their location and receive a phone call that will alert them to the emotional context of the location they are in by playing a ring tone and displaying a graphic on their phone. If they choose to answer the call, they can listen to the comments left about the location, leave their own comments and choose to have the most recent photographs viewable on their phone. In addition, if they are in an 'unhappy' location, for instance, they can choose to 'find' a 'happier' location, and the application will alert them as to which direction to travel to find a specific emotion.

Much of this idea still needs to flushed out, but this is the general concept. More info will be available as we work on it.

Posted by Cat at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

ImageMonkey Screenshots

Web form that automatically generates .jad file.
Php script behind the scenes.

Http Connection Code: Sending Information along with video to a php script.

New Wireframe for final project.

This week in mobile apps, we were asked to describe our favorite interaction. Actually, one of my favorite interactions in a physical and emotonal sense is drinking hot coffee. I think I enjoy this particularlly because it has a calming effect and keeps me awake.

Posted by Cat at 06:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Here is my code that doesn't really work.

Here is the code that does

Screen Shots:

Everything seemed to be fine with the video captue, but I was having some problems with the photo capture, specifically recording the picture and deisplaying as a thumbnail image on the phone screen.

Posted by Cat at 01:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In reading the specific excerpt from Everyware by Alan Greenfield, there were a few sections that I found particularily interesting. In the opening section of Thesis 5, Greenfield says "The great product designer Naoto Fukasawa speaks of “design dissolving in behavior." By this, he means interactions with designed systems so well thought out by their authors, and so effortless on the part of their users, that they effectively abscond from awareness." He goes on to eventually state the opposing argument "Intel Research's Elizabeth Goodman argues that, "[t]he promise of computing technology dissolving into behavior, invisibly permeating the natural world around us cannot be reached," because "technology is...that which by definition is separate from the natural." His various examples throughout the selection seem to suggest that this particular argument is not necessarily true. It made me think of my own desire to have my eye be cameras and that with a blink I could take a picture without actually having to raise a camera to my face. This will probably never happen but I found the analogy to be interesting because it made me think, is it necessarily wise for us to NOT be conscious of the technology surrounding us and the ways in which it is interacting with us. Sometimes it may be the intention to utilize that technolgy in a specific way, such as taking a photograph, that is more important then the convenience of not having to think about that intention. I realize that this is not necessarily what Greenfield is talking about, although he does articulate a concern "If this dissolving into behavior is the Holy Grail of a calm and unobtrusive computing, it's also the crux of so many of the other issues which ought to unsettle us". It seems in the coming thesis 19 and 45 he is talking more about realizing the need for efficient user interfaces for systems that interact with people, interfaces that are intuitive and that contain a human component when necessary. As he states "There's good reason to believe that users will understand their transactions with ubiquitous systems to be essentially social in nature, whether consciously or otherwise - and this will be true even if there is only one human party to a given interaction."

I'm not quite sure how this reading effected by thoughts on my project, except to emphasize what I already realized, the more complicated an application, especially on a mobile phone which many people are only now becoming familiar with using to do things other then traditional phone calls and text messages, the less likely a user will be able to use it effectively. My application is attempting to make the act of posting media with contextual information easier and I have to figure out an interface that will facilitate this goal.

Posted by Cat at 12:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last semester, with the help of Shawn Van Every, I worked on a J2ME application that would allow a user to upload video to the web site project that I am was also working on, freeformed.org. The resulting midlet functioned but the design was very counter-intuitive. For a project in this class, I would like to continue working on this midlet, create a well-designed user-interface, enable the taking of pictures as an option and allow the user to input their phone number after downloading the app so they don't have to include it every time they send media (which would have to happen in the current application as it is my understanding that there is no way for J2ME to directly access a phone's number). I am also hoping to expand upon this idea depending on what new things I learn. Last semester was really an introduction to Java for me, and I only began to look at J2ME at the end very end.

Here is my wireframe.

Posted by Cat at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

While looking around and researching other things, I came upon this website, pickle.com, that surprisingly (and probably accidently) are doing something very different with online video and photos. Once you register, you are given an email address where you and your friends and family can email video and photos to (in addition to the traditional uploading tools, including a flickr type desktop uploader). You can chose the email address (provided its not taken by another user). You can also create 'pickle boxes' (yes, I laughed at the name for a moment) that each have their own unique email addresses. Each box, and your particular profile, have their own unique url on the pickle server and their appearance can be modified slightly with configured layouts (imagine if they opened it up to include CSS editing like myspace). The most interesting part of the limited control a user has over the look of their profile or 'pickle box' is that you can reorder your media through drag and drop, rather then only being able to sort via date taken or date uploaded

The idea of enabling email posting/uploading is not a particularily new one, although advertising it so boldly one their site as a major feature is somewhat unique. What I find interesting about this site is that, inadvertently perhaps, a user or a anyone who has the particular email address of someone's profile or pickle box can send posts via their mobile phone. I tested it with a Nextel i860 and it worked, although in the description of the photo there was an incredible load of garbage sent as default by Nextel (which is why I doubt the site's developers necessarily intended this functionality). I also found it very interesting that the site offers multiple layers of privacy control. You can open up your email address (either for your profile or your pickle boxes) to everyone, only pickle contacts or only people from certain email addresses. You can also restrict the viewing of your profile or your pickle boxes to only pickle users, only your contacts with an invitation code or you can make the page password protected! I am very interested. The site seems to be addressing two major issues, allowing multiple people to post photos and videos to a particular page whose privacy settings can be user controlled and making automatic posting easy for everyone (most people who can take digital pictures know how to send an email). The interface could use a little bit of work but it wasn't hard to figure it out. Given that my first pickle box url is www.pickle.com/cat/102, I wonder how many people know about or are using the site. Check it out. Find me on the site. Or send video and photos to cat.firsttest@pickle.com. I would love to see how the messages come through from different mobile carriers.

Posted by Cat at 02:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just got back from the Nokia sponsored urban, mobile phone game Manhattan Story Mashup.

Continue reading "Manhattan Story Mashup" »

Posted by Cat at 04:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So i got the class example working:

I spent most of the week trying to figure out the canvas class and fully understand what the example code was doing.

Posted by Cat at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Part of the assignment this week for mobile apps was to name and describe our favorite moble application. This was somewhat difficult for me because I don't really use any mobile applications, partly because up until a few months ago I had only one phone, a Nextel, that wouldn't run anything and partly because I find that most java applications I've seen are very game oriented. However, I do really like the java mobile application for radar.net. For those who don't know, radar is a photo sharing application that allows you to upload camera phone pictures to a website via a unique email address, or their fast java app- which runs very nicely on my Nokia 6682 although it won't work on my Nextel. In order to see someone's pictures you have to be their friend. When it first launched, you had to know someone's email address in order to invite them (or provide them with your personal invitation code), now however, if you see someone's name next to a comment they made on a friend's picture you can invite them by clicking on the name. This was a particularily interesting change. Although, presumably, these people may already be in your network of friends because they are friends with one of your friends, the site in generally so ultra-private that such a feature initially seemed quite strange. The site is completely unsearchable, meaning that the only information or media you can access is that of the people you have directly invited to your radar. Pictures come in and become part of a stream, most recent first, although you can view all of the photos from one particular friend or yourself by clicking on their or your name. You can also easily toggle viewing comments on your pictures, on your friends pictures or on pictures you've commented on. You can also see which of your friends has been the most active on the site in the last week.

The mobile version of radar provides most of this functionality. After logging in the first time, it gives you the option to bookmark the page so that you will never have to login again, which is nice, expecially for those who are not fast in typing letters on a phone. The pictures are small enough that they load quickly but large enough that you can still see them. The java app itself is also nice because it means that you don't have to search for a place to send your photos once taken and the upload time is very quick. Overall, even though I am still a huge fan of flickr, I like radar a lot. I think it is structured very simply, which also contributes to it being very easy to view and use on your phone. I would like it if I could send a url to a friend who is not registered with a code so they could view my pictures, however, as I do with flickr. Many of my friends don't have camera phones or cheap data plans that would allow them to use the site frequently, yet I still may want them to be able to see my pictures without making them sign up for something they can't use. I am also interested in when and if radar plans to come out with a video version of the app. So far mobile video has been treated very poorly by most sites that have included such capability, with the exception of certain applications like eyespot. It would be interesting to see how the mobile version of radar would work with video, both the mobile site and the java app. I also wish that the java app would work with more phones, but this is more of a carrier/manufacturer issue then a radar issue. I also would like it if I could send out mobile alerts to my friends when I post a picture so they could see it immediately. Right now, I believe they only provide email alerts, which is kind of silly since the site in general seems to be trying to get people off their computer. Still, I think it has the potential to catch on. I would be interested to know how many users they now have.

Posted by Cat at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I had previously setup eclipse and the j2me wirless toolkit to work on my PC last semester with the Nokia emulator, I have a Nokia 6682.

Here is my wonderful Hello Midlet..yay!

View image

Posted by Cat at 12:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)