cellphone symphony

Avant-garde musician Bora Yoon has been called "a one-woman orchestra". Watch this video recorded at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where she creates a song by incorporating the sounds of her cell phone keys, and understand why. Forget about those annoying ring tones. This is quite nice!(via wsj)

iphone ads

Just feeding the hype. The latest iPhone ads, on Apple's website.

a peek into the future

From time to time, NTT Docomo, Japan's largest mobile carrier, releases a video depicting its vision of the future. Docomo's latest video shows how mobile technology will make life safer, more convenient, and more comfortable. In their vision, among other things, people will wear glasses with GPS, tracking systems will prevent children from getting lost, security robots will take care of your house, and you will buy your veggie using your mobile (they seem obsessed with this idea).
Although all this could be quickly dismissed as corporate PR or an overly optimistic view of the future, I remember seeing one of these videos some years ago and saying 'yeah, right'. It was a video showing the use of video calls. Today video calls are pretty common over 3G networks, so don't dismiss this vision just yet as some of these features might very well become reality in the future. Who knows, one day you will even buy your veggie using your mobile. See the video here.P.S.: If you happen to be in Japan, you can arrange a tour to Docomo's R&D Center, in the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture. I haven't been there myself but they have an exhibit called WHARF (Wealth, Human Activity and Revolution for the Future) that looks interesting. I guess the name says it all.

"hello, where are you?" - a question of the past?

It seems that the Tokyo Police has listened to my friend Michell.
A while ago he had expressed his wish that mobile phones showed the caller's location (in addition to the ID they currently show). Well, that's an information that the Tokyoites won't need to provide anymore (at least when calling the police). According to the Japan Times, calls to the emergency number will be tracked automatically. The report says that "...the system will shorten the time it takes for officers to reach the scene. Callers often do not know their exact locations and, if they are panicking, cannot give clear descriptions of their surroundings for police to find them."
This will indeed be far more efficient, but at least in one aspect this technology will not be welcomed. I guess most movie buffs will agree that police thrillers are going to lose a little bit of drama. No more scenes of victims desperately trying to tell the operator their whereabouts.
PS: speaking about location, I'm blogging from myhotel in London on my way to Singapore.

cell phone, mobile, or keitai?

Mobile culture is one of the topics I'm most interested in nowadays.
Recently, I came across Mimi Ito's blog (I believe it was via Jan Chipchase's blog, but I'm not sure, just way too many feeds). She has edited the book "Personal, Portable, Pedestrian: Mobile Phones in Japanese Life", about the meaning of the mobile (cell) phones in Japan, from where the excerpt below was taken:
"In contrast to the cellular phone of the United States (defined by technical infrastructure), and the mobile of the United Kingdom (defined by the untethering from fixed location), the Japanese term keitai (roughly translated, ‘‘something you carry with you’’) references a somewhat different set of dimensions. A keitai is not so much about a new technical capability or freedom of motion but about a snug and intimate technosocial tethering, a personal device supporting communications that are a constant, lightweight, and mundane presence in everyday life."
I just thought it was striking that the Japanese have actually chosen a Japanese word to define their mobile handset. They have one of the most permeable cultures, at least when it comes to naming new objects and habits, happily adopting the English name, or a modified form of the English version (sarariman for "salary man", pasucom for "personal computer", chiketto for ticket, and so on).
But keitai, or "something you carry with you", really brings the mobile (or cell phone) to a higher level of intimacy and presence. It practically becomes an extension of the body, which might help explain the ubiquitous, almost symbiotic relationship the Japanese have with their mobile phones.