CellPhoneBurn

John Markoff in his New York Times blog post, Google, iPhone and the Future of Machines That Listen, raises some important issues. He is talking about Google’s new speech recognition service for the iPhone, which was released on Monday. 

He suggests that it will understand you most accurately when you speak to it just the way you enter queries into the Google search box. .. The accuracy is far from 100 percent, and probably not even 95 percent (Google execs demurred when I asked if they had any meaningful accuracy statistics). My experience is that it captures your voice query substantially more than half the time, and that in itself is a revelation.

 
If it is Google, it must be search

If it carries the Google label, then undoubtedly search will be involved. Marc Vanlerberghe, Google’s Product Marketing Director, has been explaining how Google is integrating search into Android and the T-mobile G1 phone and it’s already impressive. There is also a Google video that goes into more details. (Tip of the hat to SearchEngineWatch)

 
Your cellphone can be your RBC ATM

Could your cell phone become your ATM (automatic teller machine)? RBC Royal Bank seems to be moving in that direction. There’s a new mobile payment system by RBC that lets users text money from their mobile phones.

Finally the cat is out of the bag, so to speak. Or as Reuters informs us, T-Mobile USA introduces Google-powered phone.

 
Google knows where you are better.

Location is a word that gets a lot of attention in commercial or residential real estate. However with the explosive growth of the mobile web another application of that word may take over the spotlight.

The mobile web is so attractive because you access it wherever you are. Sometimes where you are can be critically important in terms of the information you would like to get. In any day just think of the number of times you ask a question where that comes into play:

If you call 213-221-3802, you can create your own voicemarks. A voicemark is an audio "blurb" posted on a virtual free verbal message board ... for exchanging location-specific community information ... any place with any mobile phone! This is made possible by a site called Geograffiti. I have been playing with this site a bit and found it engaging. What I like is that you can create audio "geo tagged" projects with this resource.

The Google Gphone is coming. The Gphone is coming. But what exactly will it look like. TechCrunch opined a month ago that Gphone may really happen, and the Ammunition Group may be designing it. That goes against the more prevalent view that Google will be backing an open source mobile operating system that could finally break the carriers’ stranglehold on the mobile market. That stems from their involvement in the Open Handset Alliance and Android.

I have been playing with a new site called Last Spotted. The concept is that people are "spying" or "searching" for someone or something and everytime they see that person or thing, they can send a text message and/or picture to a Last Spotted account. At first I did not see much power in this site (it seemed a bit Hollywood...people were looking for "Kate Hudson" or "Brad Pitt"). But then I realized that many people using this site were teenagers and this is the type of activity they enjoy doing. So why not add some curriculum to the concept. Therefore I set up my own Last Spotted site and created an "i-spy" game. I created a person called "Insects".

Have you tried your Flickr mobile account yet? If not, you may want to activate it. You can easily activate it by logging in to your Flickr account and clicking on Uploading Tools---Email. You will be given an email address where you (or your students) can send mobile pictures (using any basic cell phone SMS service) to your private or public (you decide) Flickr photo account. What is this so great? While, you can always use the pictures in the Flickr account (such as adding them to a specific location on the Flickr Map, adding descriptions, or just using them as data to download or review).

The mobile web is just around the corner.

ReadWriteWeb seems to have created quite a furor in publicizing the views of start-up entrepreneur Russell Beattie.

 
You don’t need maps for driving now.

Given the safety concerns of using a cell phone while driving, the words of that old Paul Evans song from the 60s (Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat) may strike a chord or perhaps a ringtone is now more fitting.

 
Fingers do not walk well on cell phones.

Bill Meisel, president of TMA Associate and the non-profit Applied Voice Input Output Society arranged the Voice Search Conference held in San Diego, California, March 10-12. One question posed there, according to Usability News, was Will Voice Search be THE Usability Breakthrough for Mobile Phones?

The dilemma according to Meisel is:

 
Google leads the mobile Web race.

“Yahoo Racing Ahead of Google in Asias Mobile Race?” was the question raised in June 2007. For its mobile search service Yahoo! oneSearch, which it then launched in seven Asian countries, including India, Yahoo! was targeting a subscriber base of 100 million through various partnerships. The article raised the question whether Yahoo could manage to stay ahead of Google in the mobile race in Asia. Clearly Yahoo has other things on its mind at the moment.

 
Lose the keyboard then the display.

Engadget Mobile often has some intriguing glimpses of what may be in our future. On the left below is their picture of what is rumored to be the Samsung i900. In their opinion, this is a phone that takes the keypadless, finger-friendly formula that’s oh-so-popular these days and injects some Windows Mobile 6.1 into the equation. They feel it will be a strong competition for a similar phone, the LG KS20.

2008 will undoubtedly see explosive growth in the mobile Web and in the functionality of mobile devices. If you wish to envision what may be possible with your cell phone, then it’s intriguing to watch what is happening with your automobile. Miniaturization is rarely a major challenge so the transfer from automobile to cell phone is entirely doable. Look at these examples to see the possibilities.

Sam Abuelsamid tells us that Ford’s new navigation system helps you find low gas prices