Making Movies & History on a Cellphone

As technology advances,cellphones are morping into multi-media devices. Nokia is teaming up with the respected director, Spike Lee, to create an original film on a mobile phone. Combining user-generated content with the skill of an entertainment professional is a creative way for Nokia to boost their popularity.

Lights. Camera. Cellphone Action.
By: Laura M. Holson
New York Times
Published: April 24, 2008

Who says cellphones are good only for talking? Today they are bringing together two unlikely brand names: Nokia and Spike Lee. Mr. Lee, the director, is teaming up with Nokia, the cellphone maker, to direct a short film comprising YouTube-style videos created by teenagers and adults using their mobile phones.
By hiring Mr. Lee for the project, Nokia is seeking to combine the populist appeal of user-generated content with the power of a famous director’s pedigree. The film will have three acts, each three to five minutes long, with the theme loosely based on the concept of humanity.
“I’m interested because it’s a great collaborative effort,” Mr. Lee said. “Within five years, new movies will be made with devices like these”....
The project is an experiment for Mr. Lee, but it is also a way for Nokia to promote its wares. Cellphone companies are all trying to position their products not just as devices for talking, but as multimedia devices that can play music, search the Web and capture video....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/24/technology/24cell.html?ref=technology

To compare cutting edge smart devices that with multi-media capacity and web interface, visit:http://convergence.cellbenefits.com/?sec=phones

Micro-blogging from Mobile Phones

In our busy world, cellphone users are growing more fond of mobile net devices and the commuication possibilities of texting. Increasing popularity of micro-blogging is prompting social networking sites to make things much easier and more useful.

Mobile devices stoke 'micro-blogging' fervor
By: Ian Sherr
AFP
April 12th, 2008

Mobile Internet devices and online communities are merging to a new kind of web diary: "micro-blogging," where people fire off terse missives about what they are doing or thinking at any given moment. The postings are bare-bones, on-the-go versions of online journals in which people share their lives and dreams -- hence the name micro-blogging. "Blogging has evolved and become more formalized," said Yahoo Design Pattern Library curator Christian Crumlish, author of social networking book "The Tower of Many."
"A beautiful blog entry is an art form, and it takes time. So, micro-blogging fits into your life where you take a minute or two to see what's going on and go back to work."
Hot website Twitter has attracted a large following since launching slightly more than two years ago as a way to share Haiku-like text message updates with unlimited numbers of friends instantly via mobile telephones.
The service entices users with its signature line, "What are you doing?"
Startup Utterz, publicly unveiled last year, goes a step further by allowing users to post text, video, photos or audio from mobile telephones to the Internet with a simple call.
"What are the four things you can do with a mobile phone? You can talk, you can send text, you can take pictures and send video," Utterz president Randy Corke told AFP.
"We want to use the technology that you have in your pocket," he said....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080413/tc_afp/lifestyleusitinternettelecommedia;_ylt=ApMuYhEMmf92XCUnTsd9EzQjtBAF

To compare cutting edge smart devices that enable text messaging and web interface, visit:http://convergence.cellbenefits.com/?sec=phones

Can Mobile Phones Improve the Global Economy?

In an extensive article, Sara Corbett reports on the field experience of Jan Chipchase, a Nokia designer and researcher. His work illustrates both the increasing demand for mobile phones in developing countries and how this trend presents economic opportunity on a global scale.

Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?
By: Sara Corbett
New York Times
April 13, 2008

...In an increasingly transitory world, the cellphone is becoming the one fixed piece of our identity....On-the-ground intelligence-gathering is central to what’s known as human-centered design, a business-world niche that has become especially important to ultracompetitive high-tech companies trying to figure out how to write software, design laptops or build cellphones that people find useful and unintimidating and will thus spend money on. Several companies, including Intel, Motorola and Microsoft, employ trained anthropologists to study potential customers, while Nokia’s researchers, including Chipchase, more often have degrees in design.

The premise of the work [for a human-behavior-researcher] is simple — get to know your potential customers as well as possible before you make a product for them....The possibilities afforded by a proliferation of cellphones are potentially revolutionary. Today, there are more than 3.3 billion mobile-phone subscriptions worldwide, which means that there are at least three billion people who don’t own cellphones, the bulk of them to be found in Africa and Asia. Even the smallest improvements in efficiency, amplified across those additional three billion people, could reshape the global economy in ways that we are just beginning to understand.

To get a sense of how rapidly cellphones are penetrating the global marketplace, you need only to look at the sales figures. According to statistics from the market database Wireless Intelligence, it took about 20 years for the first billion mobile phones to sell worldwide. The second billion sold in four years, and the third billion sold in two. Eighty percent of the world’s population now lives within range of a cellular network, which is double the level in 2000. And figures from the International Telecommunications Union show that by the end of 2006, 68 percent of the world’s mobile subscriptions were in developing countries. As more and more countries abandon government-run telecom systems, offering cellular network licenses to the highest-bidding private investors and without the burden of navigating pre-established bureaucratic chains, new towers are going up at a furious pace. Unlike fixed-line phone networks, which are expensive to build and maintain and require customers to have both a permanent address and the ability to pay a monthly bill, or personal computers, which are not just costly but demand literacy as well, the cellphone is more egalitarian, at least to a point....

Some of the mobile phone’s biggest boosters are those who believe that pumping international aid money into poor countries is less effective than encouraging economic growth through commerce, also called “inclusive capitalism.” Even as sales continue to grow, it is yet to be seen whether the mobile phone will play a significant, sustained role in alleviating poverty in the developing world....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/13anthropology-t.html?pagewanted=1&ref=technology

To stay ahead on the latest mobile devices and plans offered by different cellphone providers, visit: http://1010phonerates.com/cell_phone_comparisons.html

The Future of Mobile Phones: much more than talk

All the rage over the iPhone has industry leaders fired up to design and launch multi-media mobile devices on par with Apple's technology. Do not despair if you are not an AT&T subscriber, other carriers like Sprint-Nextel have excellent options up their sleeves.

Mobile Phone Industry Takes Aim at the iPhone
By: Laura M. Holson
New York Times
Published: April 4th, 2008

Last year, the wireless industry obsessed over the iPhone. This year, the industry is buzzing about how to beat it. Touch screens, the mobile Internet and devices packed with multimedia capabilities dominated the discussion here this week at CTIA Wireless 2008, the industry’s largest trade show....
Like many phones on display at the show, the N78 [by Nokia]is bursting with features. Not only does it have a 3.2-megapixel camera, but it runs on a high-speed network, includes a navigation function and eight gigabytes of memory, and has Internet radio and easy access to multimedia Web sites like YouTube and Flickr....
Meanwhile, at the booth for Samsung, the South Korean company, the Instinct was being introduced. The prototype displayed was not quite ready for the show floor, although the phone, Samsung’s answer to the iPhone, is expected to be shipped in a few months.
The Instinct has many features similar to the iPhone’s, like a voicemail management system, and the devices look remarkably similar. The Instinct, operating on a proprietary network developed by Samsung and Sprint, can be used to watch live TV and as a modem to connect a PC to the Internet. Industry analysts think it will sell for about $300....
Geesung Choi, chief executive of Samsung’s telecommunications network business, predicted that the trend toward multifunction mobile phones would shift over time. The market will fragment as consumers seek out mobile phones with functions that reflect their strongest needs, like browsing the Web or watching television and movies.
“There is a perception that the iPhone is a phone, but it is not,” he said. “It is a multimedia player. Maybe they should rename it.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/technology/04phone.html?ref=technology
Video footage of the Samsung Instinct can be viewed at: http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=7e7de740b3dd0c0fad2cccfb5eb5845ed799dd73

FYI: 1010phonerates has an exclusive deal with Sprint-Nextel and is happy to direct you to the best promotions available on the market. To discover some of the latest devices and service plans, visit:http://convergence.cellbenefits.com/

No Telecom Immunity for Spying Networks

While President Bush has threatened to veto any bill that does not include retro-active immunity for telecom companies that have given the government personal information (without warrants), the House of Representatives recently passed a bill without immunity. Supporters of this move say it protects privacy and promotes accountanibility.

Surveillance Bill Passed Without Retro Telecom Immunity
Grant Gross, IDG News Service
PC World
March 14, 2008

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that would re-authorize U.S. government antiterrorist surveillance programs but would not grant immunity from lawsuits to telecom providers that have participated with surveillance programs in the past. An amended version of the House bill, called the Restore Act, would require prior court approval of surveillance of U.S. residents talking to overseas suspects. The House passed the bill by a margin of less than 20 votes on Friday. The House vote on Friday puts it at odds with the Senate, which passed a surveillance extension bill with telecom immunity last month. House and Senate negotiators will now have to iron out the differences between the bills. President George Bush has called on Congress to re-authorize the surveillance program and give telecom providers retroactive immunity to lawsuits for participating in a U.S. National Security Agency program that conducted surveillance without court warrants. AT&T and other providers are facing several lawsuits for their role in the NSA program, and Bush has said he'll veto any bill that doesn't include telecom immunity....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20080314/tc_pcworld/143482;_ylt=AvjvYziKjhXpXaYlzO7zIOOs0NUE

To stay ahead on the latest mobile devices, service plans, and security features offered by different cellphone providers, visit: http://1010phonerates.com/cell_phone_comparisons.html

Mobile Industry Moves Toward Sustainable Technology

Environmental concern is becoming a higher priority for consumers and businesses alike. The following article covers recent efforts being made by leading wireless companies to utilize alternative energy sources and become greener.

Greener Cell Power Creates Challenges
By: David Twiddy
Associated Press
March 8, 2008

When wireless industry technicians speak of "green" cell towers these days, they're not just talking about making them look more like trees. They're talking about towers powered by wind turbines or solar panels, antennas that get backup energy from hydrogen fuel cells and geothermal cooling for computer equipment. Cell phone companies are experimenting with these and other strategies to reduce their increasingly ubiquitous industry's environmental impact. To be sure, the "greening" of wireless communication is still in its infancy. The vast majority of the nation's more than 200,000 cell towers and antennas run off the same electric grid everybody else does. And even companies experimenting with alternative energy plan to limit its use to backup power....Sprint Nextel Corp began seriously investigating alternative energy in 2004 and has since deployed hydrogen fuel cells at several of its roughly 65,000 sites.
"It solves a lot of issues for us regarding the traditional use of diesel generators," said Bob Azzi, Sprint Nextel Corp.'s senior vice president of field engineering and operations.
The company has also installed a wind turbine at its headquarters, is experimenting with geothermal cooling as a replacement for conventionally-powered air conditioning in warmer climates and is testing mini turbines in California that are fueled with natural gas and used for backup power....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080308/ap_on_hi_te/cell_towers_green;_ylt=At7i66I1GiHcNuYHLXMEbSus0NUE

Learn more about the latest cellular devices and service options offered by Sprint-Nextel at:
http://convergence.cellbenefits.com/

Texting: Changing The Way Families Communicate

Analysts say that children and teenagers are becoming more technologically savvy and fashion-conscious, when it comes to the latest mobile device, than their parents. Revenue from this burgeoning young market is expected to grow to a staggering $29 billion by 2010. Not only is this prospect a phenomenon to cellular providers, it an interesting trend to any parent. Virtual communication can potentially foster greater independence amongst youths while encouraging closer connections to home.

Text Generation Gap: U R 2 Old (JK)
By: Laura M. Holson
New York Times
Published: March 9, 2008

....Children increasingly rely on personal technological devices like cellphones to define themselves and create social circles apart from their families, changing the way they communicate with their parents....
Innovation, of course, has always spurred broad societal changes. As telephones became ubiquitous in the last century, users — adults and teenagers alike — found a form of privacy and easy communication unknown to Alexander Graham Bell or his daughters....
Business analysts and other researchers expect the popularity of the cellphone — along with the mobility and intimacy it affords — to further exploit and accelerate these trends. By 2010, 81 percent of Americans ages 5 to 24 will own a cellphone, up from 53 percent in 2005, according to IDC, a research company in Framingham, Mass., that tracks technology and consumer research....
Marketers and cellphone makers are only too happy to fill the newest generation gap. Last fall, Firefly Mobile introduced the glowPhone for the preschool set; it has a small keypad with two speed-dial buttons depicting an image of a mother and a father. AT&T promotes its wireless service with television commercials poking fun at a mom who doesn’t understand her daughter’s cellphone vernacular. Indeed, IDC says revenue from services and products sold to young consumers or their parents is expected to grow to $29 billion in 2010, up from $21 billion in 2005....
Cellphones, instant messaging, e-mail and the like have encouraged younger users to create their own inventive, quirky and very private written language. That has given them the opportunity to essentially hide in plain sight. They are more connected than ever, but also far more independent....
In a survey released 18 months ago, AT&T found that among 1,175 parents the company interviewed, nearly half learned how to text-message from their children. More than 60 percent of parents agreed that it helped them communicate, but that sometimes children didn’t want to hear their voice at all. When asked if their children wanted a call or a text message requesting that they be home by curfew, for instance, 58 percent of parents said their children preferred a text....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/business/09cell.html

To compare cutting edge smart devices that enable text messaging in a user-friendly format, visit:
http://convergence.cellbenefits.com/?sec=phones