The Revolution of Mobile Search

This is a nice presentation from Yahoo! about search applications for mobiles I found on slideshare.

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Connecting Your Brain to the Game

Using an EEG cap, a startup hopes to change the way people interact with video games.

Emotiv Systems, an electronic-game company from San Francisco, wants people to play with the power of the mind. Starting tomorrow, video-game makers will be able to buy Emotiv's electro-encephalograph (EEG) caps and software developer's tool kits so that they can build games that use the electrical signals from a player's brain to control the on-screen action.

Emotiv's system has three different applications. One is designed to sense facial expressions such as winks, grimaces, and smiles and transfer them, in real time, to an avatar. This could be useful in virtual-world games, such as Second Life, in which it takes a fair amount of training to learn how to express emotions and actions through a keyboard. Another application detects two emotional states, such as excitement and calm. Emotiv's chief product officer, Randy Breen, says that these unconscious cues could be used to modify a game's soundtrack or to affect the way that virtual characters interact with a player. The third set of software can detect a handful of conscious intentions that can be used to push, pull, rotate, and lift objects in a virtual world.


A demonstration with Randy Breen, CPO @ Emotiv Systems

The notion of using brain activity to interact with computers isn't new. A number of schools--such as the University of Minnesota; University of California, San Diego; and Purdue--have research labs devoted to decoding thoughts from the brain and manipulating cursors on a screen, which is especially useful for disabled people. In addition, companies have cropped up in the past couple of years claiming to offer an effective brain-computer interface for video games or for biofeedback purposes. For instance, S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames, a company based in San Marcos, CA, sells games and EEG caps designed to treat people with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

To use Emotiv's system, a person puts on the EEG cap and adjusts it to her head, making sure that most of the sensors touch the scalp. The system automatically picks up blinks and emotional states. However, in order to move virtual objects, such as a box on a computer screen, a person must go through a series of training sessions in which she concentrates for about 10 seconds on mentally moving the box. Tan Le, one of Emotiv's cofounders, says that there is a large amount of machine learning built into the software, so the more a person concentrates on a specific task, the more precisely the system follows the mental instructions.

Since Emotiv's technology is currently patent pending, the company will not disclose the details of its system. However, Le claims that the company's heads of research--optics expert Allan Snyder and former Bell Labs chip engineer Neil Weste--have made a number of scientific discoveries that are worthy of academic research papers. But so far, none have been published, and no game manufacturer has publicly committed to using the technology.

[text pasted from MIT's Technology Review]

EconSM: economics of social media

The second Economics of Social Media (EconSM) full-day conference will be held on April 29th at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles. This year the conversation which began at EconSm ‘07 by investigating the evolving economics of social media, looking at the survivors and up-and-comers, and at how deals and business models are being affected by enabling technologies and the creative process will be advanced.

The preliminary program draft is posted here. Some of the speakers confirmed include:

» Jeff Weiner, EVP, Yahoo
» Frank Cooper, VP-Marketing, Pepsi-Cola North America
» Jeff Price, President, SI Digital
» Geoff Yang, Founding Partner, Redpoint Ventures
» Michael Hirshland, General Partner, Polaris Venture Partners
» Betsy Morgan, CEO, The Huffington Post
» Keith Richman, CEO, Break.com
» Gordon Paddison, EVP Marketing, New Line Cinema


[text extracted from the event's website]

Ubiquitous broadband, more than optical illusion

Better access to ultra-fast broadband networks in Europe is driving development of a host of new web services, promising everything from video conferencing to internet protocol (IP) television. But “ultra-broadband” like this needs a new champion, and European researchers think they have found it: optical networks.

A champion technology needs a noble cause. In this case, the cause is better access for all Europeans to the benefits that ‘always-on’ fast internet can bring. Researchers in the European NOBEL project know this better than anyone.

Building on research in its predecessor, the NOBEL2 consortium’s ambitious goal is to provide this next-generation optical broadband network. It is paving the way to this by reducing the upfront costs and simplifying network architecture and management to cut operational costs as well.

The idea is to give every European household fast access to all that the internet has to offer, including browsing, e-commerce and e-government, services for health, and developing services such as IPTV.

“It is a big step in network evolution to supply mainly IP services more efficiently. And it must be done at an affordable cost if all Europeans are to benefit,” says Marco Schiano, NOBEL’s coordinator.

The EU-funded project has focused on the development and evolution of long-haul, high-capacity backbone networks connecting European cities and countries. Although, as Schiano points out, its findings are equally important to the evolution of national and metropolitan networks.

“We have concentrated on pan-European networks but, while we realise different countries have different needs, the basic technologies dealing with network costs, ease of operations, flexibility, and the ability to supply [easily managed] present and future services are common to all,” Schiano says.

[Text pasted frome the EC website]

iBar: from research to chill out

iBar is a system for the interactive design of bar-counters.


The iBar

Integrated video-projectors can project any content on the milky bar-surface. The intelligent tracking system of iBar detects all objects touching the surface. This input is used to let the projected content interact dynamically with the movements on the counter. Objects can be illuminated at their position or virtual objects can be "touched" with the fingers.

Every glass, cup, cellphone, car key, businesscard or even fingers will be recognized.

Transactions are made faster, and people might have one more reason to go drinking...

The iBar is manufactred by the London based Mindstorm Ltd.

Nokia Launches Global Mobile Ad Network

Nokia’s transformation from mere handset manufacturer continues. It announced the launch today of its global mobile advertising network, Nokia (NYSE: NOK) Media Network, which includes over 70 top tier publishers and operators as well as all of the handset manufacturers media properties. Nokia has signed on AccuWeather, Discovery, Hearst, Reuters (NSDQ: RTRSY), and Sprint (NYSE: S) among others and claims that its network—which has a potential consumer reach of some 100 million customers, is already yielding click-through rates averaging 10 percent in certain channels. It also provides a “turn-key service” for advertisers to create mobile campaigns, and has already done so for Paramount and BMW.

Nokia acquired mobile ad firm Enpocket in October 2007. It uses the firm’s analytics technology to optimize campaigns, fine tune conversions and measure the effectiveness of campaigns across the network. The Finnish handset giant has expanded its account management and media sales teams to include 17 offices worldwide, including Beijing, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai, Munich, New York, Paris, Singapore and Shanghai (release).

[Text pasted from http://www.moconews.net]

Mobile Marketing

This is a nice presentation on mobile marketing and the possibilities of interaction that unveil in public spaces. Ever thought you could make Jesus talk by sending a SMS?

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Music site Last.fm bought by CBS

Social music site Last.fm has been bought by US media giant CBS Corporation for $280m (£140m), the largest-ever UK Web 2.0 acquisition.

The online network was founded in the UK five years ago and it now has more than 15 million active users.

It allows users to connect with other listeners with similar music tastes, to custom-build their own radio stations and to watch music video-clips.


A visit to Last.fm headquarters in Brunswick place, London.

Last.fm founding member Martin Stiksel said it was an "exciting opportunity".

As part of the deal, Last.fm's managing team will remain in place and the site will maintain its own separate identity.

Mr Stiksel said: "This move will really support us to get every track ever recorded and every music video ever made onto Last.fm.

"With a strong partner like CBS, this is now within our reach."

Dot.com boom

CBS Corporation has business interests in TV, web and radio.

CBS radio is the largest radio group in the United States, with 179 stations in the top 50 markets covering news, rock, country and urban music.

The firm's president and CEO Leslie Moonves said: "Last.fm is one of the fastest growing online communities out there."

He said Last.fm's strength in building communities around music and syndicating content was "central to CBS".

He added: "Their demographics also play perfectly to CBS's goal to attract younger viewers and listeners across our businesses."

CBS is not the first major player to purchase up-and-coming websites for millions or even billions of dollars, prompting what some have called the second dot.com boom.

In 2005 Rupert Murdoch's News Corp snapped up social networking site MySpace for $580m (£290m). And last year, search engine Google paid $1.65bn (£883m) for video site YouTube.

Mr Stiksel said Last.fm would retain an independent identity.

He said CBS was buying "great technology and a very vibrant, active community".

"They want to move from a content company to an audience company giving the audiences control and learning from this and that's why Last.fm was their choice," he added.

Mr Stiksel said he did not think that users would feel disappointed that a mainstream media firm had bought the site.

"When we said revolution we mean that - we put the users in charge. CBS gets this.

"They understand that consuming media is changing, the patterns are changing."

Online network

As part of the acquisition, the Last.fm management team, including founders Felix Miller, Martin Stiksel and Richard Jones, will continue to independently run the online network

Mr Stiksel said the deal proved that Web 2.0 companies did not have to be in the United States to succeed.

"Being in London has helped us; it's the best place to do things with music full stop. It's the place that leads the world."

The three founders will now be among the most successful - and potentially wealthy - Web 2.0 pioneers in the world.

Mr Stiksel said: "The success of the site is the most important thing. With a strong partner we can add the features we always dreamed about."

[Text pasted from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6701863.stm]