Tag Archives: mobile computing

Music in the Clouds

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Source: My Grafitis in Tehran (http://my.opera.com/nbt4u/blog/)

There was an interesting piece in PC World yesterday about an iPhone app called Cloud Music that allows you to store your music in Google Docs and stream it through your iPhone. Google Docs now allows users to store files of all types, so this app takes advantage of that fact. I’ve yet to play with it, but its an interesting response to the restrictions the Digital Rights Management puts on our music. Since users can share things in Google Docs, presumably they can also share the music in their digital collection, provided it is not protected by DRM measures they are not able to break.
A day before that the American Public Radio program Marketplace had an interesting segment on cloud computing and streaming music, but from a totally different angle. This time it is not the users that uploads and access their own files, but rather rather the users subscribe to a huge digital library of music and stream what they want. Most of these services also offer the opportunity for downloads for users who want to be able to take their music offline. The best known examples of this are Rhapsody.com and Lala.com, recently purchased and shut down by Apple. For a monthly fee you can listen to whatever you wan in the order you want. In essence it is a vast online digital library.
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TweetDeck for iPhone Now the Matches Standards of the Desktop App

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TweetDeck for IphoneIf you are a contented user of TweetDeck who, like me,  got excited when the iPhone app came out a while back, you probably also like me, found yourself wondering what the iPhone app the desktop app had to do with one another besides branding.  They had the same color scheme and logo, but aside from that there were at least half a dozen Twitter apps for iPhone that were as good or better when it came to interacting with twitter.  There’s a lot of competition in that area.  And TweetDeck for iPhone didn’t interface with Facebook either.  Treating oneself under proper medical care should be the ideal option as the doctors have a lot of experience in their field of expertise and thus, can deal with any crisis in treatment with efficacy buy sildenafil uk and care. viagra pills cheap Erectile Dysfunction does not have to be a part in the love making. Kamagra 100mg is the most formidable solution check these guys out cialis 40 mg to ED. Vital M-40 Capsule: It is a continue reading here cheap cialis complete herbal supplement for fixing the problem of erection. That  was one of the best things about the desktop app.
But now there is a new version.  I’d written the iPhone version of TweetDeck off and was waiting for Seesmic to launch their iPhone app, but I was told I should try it, I did, and it has much more in common with the desktop app than just branding.  Just check out the web page for the app and all the features marked with “new” tags.  You’ll see what I mean.
Oh, and I should also mention that in TweetDeck on the iPhone you can update your status using Arabic script or any other alphabet with characters that still don’t display when used in the desktop app.

Can Social Networking Redraw Boundaries?

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In cyberspace there are no boundaries or frontiers, yet it has a lot to say about borders and boundaries.  Not only is it used as a vehicle for nationalist, minority and anti-nationalist communication and propaganda, but there are attempts to actually assert borders in cyberspace.  There are national domain name extensions and ISPs are regulated by national agencies.  Anyone who has traveled just across the border to Canada or Mexico knows, you don’t have to go very far before you are off network if you try to use a mobile computing device and hence begin to incur massive international data charges.
Authoritarian regimes, in particular, attempt to assert national control through censorship, blocking access to politically sensitive or even morally offensive sites, at least as they see them.
Here, though, are two cases in which sites that have an international user base took decisions relating to territories in dispute.  The policies they came up with are interesting and probably the best available, given the status of these territories under international law.  All the major social networking sites are, in a very real sense, transnational.
In the case of the Gloan Heights, for example, Syrians resident there may belong to Syrian nationalist groups and Israelis there to comparable Israeli groups, but unlike what happens at the actual boundary between the Golan Heights and Israel or even in everyday life, they might also interact easily in in other groups because there are no documents or visas required.  Individuals in the network may see their location as a reflection of identity, but they may also see it simply as a geographic indicator. That background is what makes these cases so interesting.
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While Facebook is busy increasing our awareness of other people’s lives around the world, it stamps on globally sensitive nerves with one apparently very simple question: where do you live? Last week it started a controversy when it allowed residents of the Golan Heights to choose whether they lived in Syria or Israel. To put this in context: Israeli forces invaded and occupied the area in 1967, capturing it from Syria. They’ve controlled most of the area since. (The UN considers Golan a illegitimate part of Israel, and labels it Israeli-occupied territory.) But apparently Facebook considers itself an important enough global player to offer a re-drawing of the map. It’s not the first time: Facebook deems people in Kashmir as residents of India, though Pakistan and India control different portions of the embattled region, which has been in dispute for decades.

What do you think?  Social networking is a powerful thing and potentially and excellent tool for cross cultural interaction.  So I’m very interested in seeing how this plays out in the real world.  Read more at Could Social Networking Change the World.

Global Tweets

Global Tweets

Bandwidth-guzzling iPhone called "Hummer of cellphones"

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I had wondered what was going on with tethering and MMS for the iPhone.  I kept hearing rumors that it was due for the fall.  But it looks like there are still significant network issues with AT&T.  I’ve certainly experienced some of the issues mentioned here.

While AT&T and Apple have remained silent on the absence of tethering and MMS with the iPhone, a new report provides insight on the effect an influx of bandwidth-heavy mobile users have had on the wireless network.
Digging into customer dissatisfaction with the AT&T network, The New York Times revealed that the carrier has struggled to keep up with demand as iPhone owners use more and more bandwidth. The report suggests that AT&T’s reputation could be tarnished because, for some users, its network is unable to keep up with demand. The bandwidth issues have led to delays of tethering and multimedia messaging, much-anticipated features for iPhone users.
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via AppleInsider | Bandwidth-guzzling iPhone called “Hummer of cellphones”.

Cell Phone Exclusivity

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This is a campaign I am very interested in.  It is a project of Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, that aims toward

empowering consumers to fight for better and more affordable telephone, cable and Internet services or equipment.  By focusing on major media, technology and communications issues and emphasizing local stories, HearUsNow.org will help explain increasingly complex issues and the connections between these issues, underscore what’s at stake, and offer ways to make Tadalafil: the cheap levitra online and levitra. on line levitra isn’t called ‘the weekend pill’ for nothing: unlike Sildenafil, Tadalafil can last for a very long time. This results in anxiety cialis no prescription usa which makes the problem much worse. Foods to produce more seminal fluid naturally viagra fast shipping and the quality sperm count naturally. On the other hand, erectile dysfunction is a condition, which persuade a man s potential to achieve or uphold an erection. cialis price in canada improvements.

It came to my attention as a result of its current campaign to liberate mobile phones from the exclusivity deals they have with cell phone providers.  You know, the kind of deal that locks your iPhone and makes it unusable outside of the AT&T network, even long after your contract with AT&T has expried.  Check it out.  They will even help you write letters to your elected representatives, should you wish to do so.