With cameras, GPS, mobile Internet come ever more dangerous surveillance possibilities, allowing an observer, once they have succeeded in gaining control of the phone, to turn it into a sophisticated recording device. However, even a simple phone can be tracked whenever it is on the network, and calls and text messages are far from private. Where surveillance is undertaken in collusion with the network operator, both the content of the communication and the identities of the parties involved is able to be discovered, sometimes even retrospectively. It is also possible to surreptitiously install software on phones on the network, potentially gaining access to any records stored on the phone.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Mobile Surveillance - A Primer
obiles can be useful tools for collecting, planning, coordinating and recording activities of NGO staff and activists. But did you know that whenever your phone is on, your location is known to the network operator? Or that each phone and SIM card transmits a unique identifying code, which, unless you are very careful about how you acquire the phone and SIM, can be traced uniquely to you?
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Nokia launches N900
New 'mini computer' is like turbo charged N97
Moments after launching their first netbook, Nokia has their rumoured Nokia flagship out - the N900 is indeed a PC-like internet super-phone running on the Linux-based Maemo 5 operating system.
A powerful ARM Cortex-A8 processor, OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics acceleration and 1GB of application memory means lots of multitasking, with many apps running simultaneously. The browser is a Mozilla based one with desktop-like powers, including Flash for websites that render just the way they would on the bigger screen.
Like the internet behemoth N97, a slide-out QWERTY as well as full WVGA touch-screen makes for mighty pleasant texting and emailing, and the N900 will also come with the top notch Nokia Messaging, which supports up to ten personal email accounts which you'll be able to get push notifications on. Text messages or IM exchanges are shown in one view and all conversations are organized as separate windows.
32GB of on-board storage can be beefed up to 48GB via the microSD card slot, while the camera rocks a five-meg Carl Zeiss lens. Available from October at around EUR500.
The N900 is based off Nokia's past internet tablets
Nokia N97 Mini - new image
New handset arrives with redesigned keyboard
A brand new image of the new N97 Mini has appeared, offering more clues to the new design.
No sooner has Nokia revealed the details of the Booklet 3G netbook and formerly announced the release of the top flight Internet tablet phone, the N900, then a new press photo of the forthcoming N97 Mini has sneaked out of the company offices.
The N97 Mini, which is slightly smaller than its brother the N97, includes many of the same features as the larger model. The principle differences, according to the Engadget website, is that the Mini includes less memory - 8GB, which still is pretty generous. In addition, the camera doesn't include a lens cover and the keyboard, which has been squeezd into a smaller chassis, has been redesigned.
It is expected that Nokia will showcase the N97 Mini during Nokia World 2009 next week, in Stuttgart, Germany, along with the Booklet 3G and N900.
Click to read the Engadget story
The N97 Mini, as spotted by the Be Geek website
Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 next week
The Windows smartphone finally to be announced
We've been hanging out for some word on the Xperia X2 smartphone, last seen in some dodgy leaked video, and apparently the long-awaited followup to the X1 will be announced next week, at least according to the SEMC Blog.
The X2 is a Windows smartphone and in the videos, was running Windows Mobile 6.5 (not that that's out or anything) with a full touch-screen, slide-out QWERTY and 8.1-megapixel camera with autofocus.
Sony Ericsson has been rather quiet on its Xperia front lately - concentrating instead on its Entertainment Unlimited line with recent announcements like the Jalou fashion phones - but the video leaks of the Xperia codenamed Rachel, rumours of an Xperia running Android, and the X2 hopefully point to some releases in the smartphone range.
Leaked pictures of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 from Daily Mobile
Friday, August 28, 2009
Archives and libraries
The National African American Archives and Museum features the history of "Colored Carnival", African-American participation in Mobile's Mardi Gras; authentic artifacts from the era of slavery, and portraits and biographies of famous African Americans.[59] The University of South Alabama Archives houses primary source material relating to the history of Mobile and southern Alabama, as well as the university's history. The archives are located on the ground floor of the USA Spring Hill Campus and are open to the general public.[60] The Mobile Municipal Archives contains the extant records of the City of Mobile, dating from the city's creation as a municipality by the Mississippi Territory in 1814. The majority of the original records of Mobile's colonial history (1702-1813) are housed in Paris, London, Seville, and Madrid.[61] The Mobile Genealogical Society Library and Media Center is located at the Holy Family Catholic Church and School complex. It features handwritten manuscripts and published materials for use in genealogical research.[62] The Mobile Public Library system serves Mobile and consists of eight branches across Mobile County, featuring its own large local history and genealogy division housed in a facility next to the newly restored and enlarged Ben May Main Library on Government Street.[63] The Saint Ignatius Archives, Museum and Theological Research Library contains primary sources, artifacts, documents, photographs and publications that pertain to the history of Saint Ignatius Church and School, the Catholic history of the city, and the history of the Roman Catholic Church.[64]
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Nutritional Surveillance with RapidSMS in Malawi
This case study was published originally by UNICEF's Innovation Group/RapidSMS. All photo credits: UNICEF Innovation
UNICEF Malawi deployed RapidSMS to address serious constraints within the national Integrated Nutrition and Food Security Surveillance (INFSS) System, which was facing slow data transmission, incomplete and poor quality data sets, high operational costs and low levels of stakeholder ownership.
Health workers now enter a child’s data, and through an innovative feedback loop system, RapidSMS instantly alerts field monitors of their patients’ nutritional status.
Mobile Phones for Data Collection
Mobile data collection and reporting projects are abundant now that mobile use for development is taking off.
Unlike bulk messaging and general information services that are targeting the general public as recipients of standardized messaging, mobile data collection tools are often used internally in an organization, customized to fit with existing organizational processes.
This may mean using services or applications that are not part of most people's day-to-day experience of mobile use. Add a liberal sprinkling of jargon (and the mobile world's plague of acronyms) and you have a recipe for much technical confusion!
This article looks at choosing a mobile data collection solution, from defining the information requirements to choosing the most appropriate technology strategy for a specific organizational context and communication environment.
We also review a selection of commercial and non-commercial tools.
A Survey of Voice-Based Mobile Tech
The pre-cursors to mobile phones were walkie-talkies, and the first generation of mobile phone networks only supported voice communications. With second generation networks and a happy accident came SMS, and only with the third generation networks came mobile data services in the form of GPRS.
Most applications using mobile phones these days tend to use these newer channels of communication—SMS and data. But even though we sometimes forget, voice is still a part of mobile phone communications. This article profiles interesting ways in which voice technology is being used for social work all around the world.
Mobile Persuasion engages and inspires
Over 260 people came to Stanford University for the first Mobile Persuasion conference in 2007. Hosted by Stanford's Persuasive Technology Lab, this "sold out" event brought together innovators, designers, and researchers interested in mobile technologies that change people’s beliefs and behaviors.
During one day 30 people shared their work in 10-minute presentations, followed by panel discussions. Those attending learned techniques for using mobile phones as platforms for persuasion in health, commerce, activism, and more. Some presenters shared new research results (for example, how to give motivating visual feedback on mobile phones), while other people explained mobile persuasion services their companies will launch in the near future. For more info about Mobile Persuasion, email the Event Chair, Dr. BJ Fogg.
During one day 30 people shared their work in 10-minute presentations, followed by panel discussions. Those attending learned techniques for using mobile phones as platforms for persuasion in health, commerce, activism, and more. Some presenters shared new research results (for example, how to give motivating visual feedback on mobile phones), while other people explained mobile persuasion services their companies will launch in the near future. For more info about Mobile Persuasion, email the Event Chair, Dr. BJ Fogg.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Market
In Q3/2008, Nokia was the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones, with a global device market share of 39.4%, followed by Samsung (17.3%), Sony Ericsson (8.6%), Motorola (8.5%) and LG Electronics (7.7%). These manufacturers accounted for over 80% of all mobile phones sold at that time.[16]
Other manufacturers include Apple Inc., Audiovox (now UTStarcom), Benefon, BenQ-Siemens, CECT, High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC), Fujitsu, Kyocera, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Neonode, Panasonic, Palm, Matsushita, Pantech Wireless Inc., Philips, Qualcomm Inc., Research in Motion Ltd. (RIM), Sagem, Sanyo, Sharp, Siemens, Sendo, Sierra Wireless, SK Teletech, T&A Alcatel, Huawei, Trium and Toshiba.[citation needed] There are also specialist communication systems related to (but distinct from) mobile phones.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Museum of Mobile
21st Century innovative exhibits come alive at The Museum of Mobile. Explore Mobile as the first Americans saw it. Relive the passage on an African slave ship. Listen to the stories of Civil War soldiers, and feel the power of nature's raging storm, the hurricane. Interactive kids exhibits also.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Entertainment and arts
The Mobile Museum of Art features European, Non-Western, American, and Decorative Arts collections.[11] The Saenger Theatre of Mobile was opened in 1927 and is a modern dynamic performing arts center. It is home to the Mobile Symphony, conducted by Maestro Scott Speck, and Space 301, a contemporary art gallery. It also serves as a small concert venue for the city.[65] The Mobile Civic Center contains three facilities under one roof. The 400,000 sq ft (37,161 m2) building has an arena, a theater and an exposition hall. It is the primary concert venue for the city and hosts a wide variety of events. It is home to the Mobile Opera and the Mobile Ballet.[12] The 60-year old Mobile Opera averages about 1,200 attendees per performance.[66] A wide variety of events are held at Mobile's Arthur C. Outlaw Convention Center. It contains a 100,000 sq ft (9,290 m2) exhibit hall, a 15,000 sq ft (1,394 m2) grand ballroom, and sixteen meeting rooms.[67] Additionally, the city sponsors BayFest, an annual three-day music festival with over 125 live musical acts on nine stages.[68]
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Parks and other attractions
The Mobile Botanical Gardens feature a variety of flora spread over 100 acres (40 ha). It contains the Millie McConnell Rhododendron Garden with 1,000 evergreen and native azaleas and the 30-acre (12 ha) Longleaf Pine Habitat.[81] The Bellingrath Gardens and Home are located on Fowl River and contain 65 acres (26 ha) of landscaped gardens and a 10,500 sq ft (975 m2) mansion dating to the 1930s.[82] The 5 Rivers Delta Resource Center is a new facility for exploring the Mobile, Spanish, Tensaw, Appalachee, and Blakeley River delta."[83] 5 Rivers" as it is affectionately known to locals, was established by the State of AL to be a "Gateway to the Mobile Delta"[84] and contains within its grounds a Theatrette; Exhibit Hall; Meeting, Wedding and Party facilities; a myriad of boat and adventure tours operated by Five Rivers Delta Safaris,[85] walking trails and a Canoe and Kayak Landing.
Mobile has more than 45 public parks with some that are of special interest.[86] Bienville Square is a historic park dating to 1850 in the Lower Dauphin Street Historic District and is named for Mobile’s founder, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.[87] This park was once a principal gathering place for the citizens of the city and remains popular today. Cathedral Square is a performing arts park in the Lower Dauphin Street Historic District overlooked by the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception.[88] Fort Condé is a reconstruction of the original Fort Condé, built on the old fort's footprint. It is the city’s official welcome center and living history museum.[17] Spanish Plaza is a downtown park that honors the Spanish occupation of the city between 1780 and 1813. It features the "Arches of Friendship", a fountain presented to Mobile by the city of Málaga, Spain.[89] Langan Park is a 720-acre (291 ha) municipal park that features lakes and natural spaces.[86] It is home to the Mobile Museum of Art, Azalea City Golf Course, Mobile Botanical Gardens and Playhouse in the Park.[86]
Friday, August 14, 2009
Sports
Mobile is the home of Ladd-Peebles Stadium. The football stadium opened in 1948. With a current capacity of 40,646, Ladd-Peebles Stadium is the 4th largest stadium in the state.[144] Ladd-Peebles Stadium has been home to the Senior Bowl since 1951, featuring the best college seniors in NCAA football.[145] The GMAC Bowl has been played since 1999 featuring opponents from the Mid-American Conference and Conference USA.[146] Since 1988, Ladd-Peebles Stadium has hosted the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Classic. The top graduating high school seniors from their respective states compete each June.[147] The public Mobile Tennis Center includes over 50 courts, all lighted and hard-court.[148] For golfers, Magnolia Grove, part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, has 36 holes. The Falls course was recently named the best par 3 course in America.[149] Since 1999, the LPGA Tournament of Champions has been played annually at Magnolia Grove. The Crossings course is home of this tournament. Beginning in 2008, the Bell Micro LPGA Classic will also be held in Mobile. Mobile is also home to the Azalea Trail Run, which races through historic midtown and downtown Mobile. This 10k run has been an annual event since 1978.[150] The Azalea Trail Run is one of the premier 10k road races in the U.S., attracting runners from all over the world.[151] Mobile's Hank Aaron Stadium is the home of the Mobile BayBears minor league baseball team.[152] As of December 2007, Mobile's University of South Alabama approved a NCAA Football program to be played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.[153]
Carnival and Mardi Gras
Mobile's Carnival celebrations start as early as November with several balls,[53] with the parades usually beginning after January 5.[54] Carnival celebrations end promptly at the stroke of midnight on Mardi Gras, signaling the beginning of Ash Wednesday and the first day of Lent.[55] In Mobile, locals use the term Mardi Gras as a shorthand to refer to the entire Carnival season, although it literally means Fat Tuesday in French, the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. During this time Mobile's mystic societies build colorful Carnival floats and parade throughout downtown with masked society members tossing small gifts, known as throws, to parade spectators.[56] Mobile's mystic societies, essentially private clubs, also give formal masquerade balls, which are almost always invitation only and are oriented to adults.[54]
Mobile first celebrated Carnival in 1703 when French settlers began the festivities at the Old Mobile Site.[13] Mobile's first Carnival society began in 1711 with the Boeuf Gras Society (Fatted Ox Society).[57] In 1830 Mobile's Cowbellion de Rakin Society was the first formally organized and masked mystic society in the United States to celebrate with a parade.[13][55] The Cowbellions got their start when Michael Krafft, a cotton factor from Pennsylvania, began a parade with rakes, hoes, and cowbells.[55] The Cowbellians introduced horse-drawn floats to the parades in 1840 with a parade entitled, “Heathen Gods and Goddesses".[57] The Striker's Independent Society was formed in 1843 and is the oldest surviving mystic society in the United States.[57]
Carnival celebrations in Mobile were cancelled during the American Civil War. In 1866 Joe Cain revived Mardi Gras parades when he paraded through the city streets on Fat Tuesday while costumed as a fictional Chickasaw chief named Slacabamorinico. He celebrated the day in front of the occupying Union Army troops.[58] The year 2002 saw Mobile's Tricentennial celebrated with parades that represented all of Mobile's mystic societies, both black and white.[57]
In 2009, for the first time in the city's history, Mardi Gras reached the 1,000,000-attendee milestone during the 5-day citywide celebration .
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Colonial
European settlement of Mobile, then known as Fort Louis de la Louisiane, started in 1702, at Twenty-seven Mile Bluff on the Mobile River, as the first capital of the French colony of Louisiana. It was founded by French Canadian brothers Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, establish control over France's Louisiana claims. Bienville was made governor of French Louisiana in 1701. Mobile’s Roman Catholic parish was established on 20 July 1703, by Jean-Baptiste de la Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier, Bishop of Quebec.[14] The parish was the first established on the Gulf Coast of the United States.[14] In 1704 the ship Pélican delivered 23 French women to the colony, along with yellow fever which passengers had contracted at a stop in Havana.[15] Though most of the "Pélican girls" recovered, numerous colonists and neighboring Native Americans died from the illness.[15] This early period was also the occasion of the arrival of the first African slaves, transported aboard a French supply ship from Saint-Domingue.[15] The population of the colony fluctuated over the next few years, growing to 279 persons by 1708, yet descending to 178 persons two years later due to disease.[14]
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile (pronounced /moʊˈbiːl/) MOW-beel) is the third most populous city in the Southern U.S. state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County.[4] It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 198,915 during the 2000 census.[2] Mobile is the principal municipality of the Mobile Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), a region of 399,843 residents which is composed solely of Mobile County and is the second largest MSA in the state.[3] Mobile is included in the Mobile-Daphne-Fairhope Combined Statistical Area with a total population of 540,258, the second largest combined statistical area in the state.[5]
Media
The mobile phone became a mass media channel in 1998 when the first ringtones were sold to mobile phones by Radiolinja in Finland. Soon other media content appeared such as news, videogames, jokes, horoscopes, TV content and advertising. In 2006 the total value of mobile phone paid media content exceeded internet paid media content and was worth 31 Billion dollars (source Informa 2007). The value of music on phones was worth 9.3 Billion dollars in 2007 and gaming was worth over 5 billion dollars in 2007.[17]
The mobile phone is often called the Fourth Screen (if counting cinema, TV and PC screens as the first three) or Third Screen (counting only TV and PC screens).[weasel words] It is also called the Seventh of the Mass Media (with Print, Recordings, Cinema, Radio, TV and Internet the first six). Most early content for mobile tended to be copies of legacy media, such as the banner advertisement or the TV news highlight video clip. Recently unique content for mobile has been emerging, from the ringing tones and ringback tones in music to "mobisodes," video content that has been produced exclusively for mobile phones.
The advent of media on the mobile phone has also produced the opportunity to identify and track Alpha Users or Hubs, the most influential members of any social community. AMF Ventures measured in 2007 the relative accuracy of three mass media, and found that audience measures on mobile were nine times more accurate than on the internet and 90 times more accurate than on TV.
History
In 1908, U.S. Patent 887,357 for a wireless telephone was issued in to Nathan B. Stubblefield of Murray, Kentucky. He applied this patent to "cave radio" telephones and not directly to cellular telephony as the term is currently understood.[4] Cells for mobile phone base stations were invented in 1947 by Bell Labs engineers at AT&T and further developed by Bell Labs during the 1960s. Radiophones have a long and varied history going back to Reginald Fessenden's invention and shore-to-ship demonstration of radio telephony, through the Second World War with military use of radio telephony links and civil services in the 1950s, while hand-held cellular radio devices have been available since 1973. A patent for the first wireless phone as we know today was issued in US Patent Number 3,449,750 to George Sweigert of Euclid, Ohio on June 10, 1969.
In 1945, the zero generation (0G) of mobile telephones was introduced. Like other technologies of the time, it involved a single, powerful base station covering a wide area, and each telephone would effectively monopolize a channel over that whole area while in use. The concepts of frequency reuse and handoff, as well as a number of other concepts that formed the basis of modern cell phone technology, were described in the 1970s; see for example Fluhr and Nussbaum,[5] Hachenburg et al.[6] , and U.S. Patent 4,152,647, issued May 1, 1979 to Charles A. Gladden and Martin H. Parelman, both of Las Vegas, Nevada and assigned by them to the United States Government.
Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher and executive is widely considered to be the inventor of the first practical mobile phone for hand-held use in a non-vehicle setting. Cooper is the first inventor named on "Radio telephone system" filed on October 17, 1973 with the US Patent Office and later issued as US Patent 3,906,166;[7] other named contributors on the patent included Cooper's boss, John F. Mitchell, Motorola's chief of portable communication products, who successfully pushed Motorola to develop wireless communication products that would be small enough to use outside the home, office or automobile and participated in the design of the cellular phone.[8][9] Using a modern, if somewhat heavy portable handset, Cooper made the first call on a hand-held mobile phone on April 3, 1973 to a rival, Dr. Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.[10]
The first commercial citywide cellular network was launched in Japan by NTT in 1979. Fully automatic cellular networks were first introduced in the early to mid 1980s (the 1G generation). The Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system went online in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in 1981.[11]
In 1983, Motorola DynaTAC was the first approved mobile phone by FCC in the United States. In 1984, Bell Labs developed modern commercial cellular technology (based, to a large extent, on the Gladden, Parelman Patent), which employed multiple, centrally controlled base stations (cell sites), each providing service to a small area (a cell). The cell sites would be set up such that cells partially overlapped. In a cellular system, a signal between a base station (cell site) and a terminal (phone) only need be strong enough to reach between the two, so the same channel can be used simultaneously for separate conversations in different cells.
Cellular systems required several leaps of technology, including handover, which allowed a conversation to continue as a mobile phone traveled from cell to cell. This system included variable transmission power in both the base stations and the telephones (controlled by the base stations), which allowed range and cell size to vary. As the system expanded and neared capacity, the ability to reduce transmission power allowed new cells to be added, resulting in more, smaller cells and thus more capacity. The evidence of this growth can still be seen in the many older, tall cell site towers with no antennae on the upper parts of their towers. These sites originally created large cells, and so had their antennae mounted atop high towers; the towers were designed so that as the system expanded—and cell sizes shrank—the antennae could be lowered on their original masts to reduce range.
The first "modern" network technology on digital 2G (second generation) cellular technology was launched by Radiolinja (now part of Elisa Group) in 1991 in Finland on the GSM standard which also marked the introduction of competition in mobile telecoms when Radiolinja challenged incumbent Telecom Finland (now part of TeliaSonera) who ran a 1G NMT network.
The first data services appeared on mobile phones starting with person-to-person SMS text messaging in Finland in 1993. First trial payments using a mobile phone to pay for a Coca Cola vending machine were set in Finland in 1998. The first commercial payments were mobile parking trialled in Sweden but first commercially launched in Norway in 1999. The first commercial payment system to mimic banks and credit cards was launched in the Philippines in 1999 simultaneously by mobile operators Globe and Smart. The first content sold to mobile phones was the ringing tone, first launched in 1998 in Finland. The first full internet service on mobile phones was i-Mode introduced by NTT DoCoMo in Japan in 1999.
In 2001 the first commercial launch of 3G (Third Generation) was again in Japan by NTT DoCoMo on the WCDMA standard.[12]
Until the early 1990s, following introduction of the Motorola MicroTAC, most mobile phones were too large to be carried in a jacket pocket, so they were typically installed in vehicles as car phones. With the miniaturization of digital components and the development of more sophisticated batteries, mobile phones have become smaller and lighter.
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