MobileHCI 2008: The 10th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services Royal Tropical Institute Conference Center

Amsterdam, the Netherlands MobileHCI is the leading conference in the field of Human Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services. The 10th conference in the MobileHCI series provides a forum for academics and practitioners to discuss the challenges and potential solutions for effective interaction with mobile systems and services. It covers the design, evaluation and application of techniques and approaches for all mobile and wearable computing devices and services.

TSCF 2008 INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL CAPITAL CONFERENCE,

"Perspectives on Social Capital and Social Inclusion" Bugibba, Malta

The Social Capital Foundation (TSCF) invites papers and proposals for the TSCF 2008 International Social Capital Conference. The call will open on 2 January 2008. All papers and proposals should be submitted by 30 July 2008.

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The immediate effect is to make people feel they are personally involved in the vice presidential choice, said James Katz, director of the Center for Mobile Communication Studies at Rutgers University. "This notion that there is sort of a mystery and the mystery is going to be revealed ... is capturing some of that magic to get people involved in a very personal way," Katz said.

Used by elite law enforcement agencies such as the CIA and FBI...

You've heard about the government wiretapping scandal...

...now the E-Stealth Bluetooth Mobile Phone Spy Software has been released to the general public.

• VIEW CONTACTS LIST
• READ TEXT MESSAGES (SMS)
• VIEW CALLS MADE / CALLS RECEIVED
• SET THE TARGET PHONE TO CALL YOU WHENEVER IT MAKES OR RECEIVES A CALL
• VIEW PHOTOS
• ...AND MUCH MORE

Read more here.

The concept may sound antithetical to a digital era defined by ubiquitous communication and interactivity, but Slydial turns out to be only the latest in a breed of new technologies that fit squarely into an emerging paradox: tools that let users avoid direct communication. Technologies like e-mailing and blogging give the communicator the power to choose the time and manner of expression. Now, some academics, text messagers and creators of technologies say a trend has emerged: We are constantly just missing one another - on purpose. . . Unlike text messaging or e-mailing, James Katz, head of the center for mobile communications studies at Rutgers University, said, telephone communiqués had been seen as requiring a sacrifice of time and energy and a higher level of commitment on the part of the communicator. Not anymore. Missed or indirect communication can often actually be preferable, Mr. Katz said. "You pretend to be communicating, when you're actually stifling communication," he said. Slydial may turn out to be just a fad. Still, Mr. Katz understands why people may be tempted to use it. . . . An array of recent innovations by other companies has encouraged the use of technology to deceive. One development, for instance, allows the employee who is running late to add background noises resembling heavy traffic to a mobile phone call. Another service places an automated call at a predetermined time so that the recipient can be extricated from a situation (a work meeting, or bad date) under the auspices of taking the "urgent" call. "A phone conversation is like wildfire - you don't know where it's going to go," he said.

A survey of 600 mobile phone users in Australia by marketing agency Fresh has thrown up some interesting points, including that almost half use it at least once a week. “Those aged 10-14 mostly downloaded ring tones and screen savers...For those aged 15-17 and 24-28, the mobiles were mostly used to get online sports results...Those 18-20 used their phones mostly for social networking on sites such as MySpace and Facebook, and 21-24 for emailing and MSN chat” reports the Herald Sun. I can’t help wondering if parental controls or something similar are responsible for social networking not being the main usage for under-18s.

Take Advantage of Functions Built Into Device to Reach Targeted Audience

By Sherry Mazzocchi

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Free applications, the darlings of the new iPhone, are the latest in tech cool. They're also the latest place marketers are plugging their ad messages.

Ford's ad effort

Brian Bos, senior VP-convergence director at WPP Group's MindShare, which buys media for Ford, said the automaker will unveil an ad campaign exclusively on the iPhone in mid-August. While he would not reveal any details, he insists it will be "fun and really interesting. We're one of the first big brands to take on and play with other the components of the device."

Mr. Bos, who heads up Team Detroit at MindShare for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands, said iPhone users are more affluent and educated, making them an attractive audience for high-end Ford products.

AdMob, which sells mobile advertising, did the deal with Ford. It said it closely integrates ads with iPhone technology, using interactive ad formats that function in both the browser and the applications built specifically for the device.

Read more here.

eMarketer has come out with a confident forecast for mobile music fortunes in Europe. It reckons retail revenue in the main five EU countries alone (UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) will balloon from $267 million to $1.4 billion by 2012. That’s in stark contrast to April’s Jupiter study, which found two thirds of US adults are not interested in any kind of mobile music at all.

And eMarketer’s assertion ad-supported mobile music (which barely exists as a category at all) will grow 37 times bigger - from $4.6 million last year to $170 million in 2012 - seems impressive, too. The report is titled Mobile Music: Ads to the Rescue - but both mobile ads and ad-supported music are paradigms that still haven’t been proved separately, let alone in tandem.

eMarketer did say: “The US is the world’s largest retail market for music. However, it lags behind parts of Europe for mobile infrastructure.” It said the emergence of unlimited music subscription deals would give the market a shot in the arm. Of the EU countries, the UK is leading the way, it said.

Come and learn more about mobile music at our EconMusic conference on September 23 at London’s Natural History Museum...

The claim that RF energy from several mobile phones can cook popcorn cannot be true as they do not generate anywhere near enough RF energy to pop the corn. We can demonstrate this as follows: even if you assume that each mobile phone is emitting RF energy at its maximum average power of 0.25 W (based on a peak power of 2 W per phone) for 1 minute; and even if the total power of each phone (4 * 0.25 W = 1 W) was completely absorbed by the popcorn then the temperature rise will be minimal and still far below the 190 °C temperature actually needed for cooking popcorn.

Read more here.

Read more here.