News

In anticipation of public engagement potentials related to the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Mobile MUSE Network is launching its third major development program (MUSE3). 

MUSE3 will focus on community generated media (CGM)” to activate “live space” potentials – building technologies and toolkits to enable communities to use mobile, internet, and large public display media for collective expression and celebration.  Over the next two years MUSE3 will engage with a set of communities to develop and showcase these technologies. 

There's a new beta site in place for HP's "MScape" project, a open environment for creating, sharing and experiencing mobile location-based content.  The MScape world looks at the concept of Mediascapes, which are mobile, location–based experiences that incorporate digital media with the sights, sounds, and textures of the world around you. A mediascape blends digital images, video, audio and interactions with the physical landscape. Games, guided walks and tours, and destinations are among the mediascapes created to date.

I bet you've been wondering about the future of cell phones and wishing you could talk to Bob Iannucci, head of the Nokia Research Center (NRC), in Helsinki, Finland. Right? Well, thanks to Technology Review, you can come close. They have an interview with Bob in their most recent online issue. The link to the article is http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17734&ch=biztech&sc=&pg=1

One of the interesting things in the article (to me) is his comments about simplifying phones. I can certainly see the merit in that. Not only do I have a pretty complex phone right now (the N80) but I also spend about 90 minutes in a phone store recently - don't ask - and got to see many, many people coming and going asking questions about their phones. Most were totally confused.

I might be cranky because Rogers has retrieved their promotional SIMS and cut me off from free phone and data service - and who can blame them, since all I did was whine about the price even while I was enjoying the service for free - but I have to say I am excited to hear about this development:

Rogers Lights up HSDPA Network

That's right, we Rogers (and Fido, presumably) customers finally see some 3G, if we visit Southern Ontario, anyway. The WirelessWeek story linked above has some sketchy details, but there isn't much. One of the ironic things about this is that Rogers, not having had a 3G network up til now, doesn't have any 3G phones to sell people (yet).

A recent post over at RCR Wireless News provides details of a recent industry meeting, the Third Screen Festival in Los Angeles, CA. The tenor of the meeting seems to have been very welcoming to so-called "made-for-mobile" video clips. Here is a quote: