From the category archives:

Mobility

Dear Apple, Why I want a Bluetooth mic enabled for video on my iPhone 4s.

January 6, 2012

Dear Apple, I’m really impressed with the latest iPhone 4S video camera. It’s close to passing my on the move motorcycle torture test. Yet fails at the most basic level. In video mode it won’t let my bluetooth headset act as the mic and so all opportunity for live narration is lost and so is [...]

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What App Do You Wish You Could Design Today? – My Safeway Shopper

January 6, 2012

Time to consider a place I shop at least once a week and ask “Why isn’t there a Safeway App for that?” That’s right there’s been no real advance in Supermarket shopping in ages. Well a some stores have tried self-checkout (I’ve seen it more in Britain). Most have some form of loyalty program. Gee [...]

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2012 The Year for App 2.0 – Your Current Apps are Obsolete – Thumbs Down United App

January 2, 2012

I’ve been reviewing my app usage and writing about some of the ones I use. I’ve come to the conclusion that many apps are now out of date and ready for the scrap heap. Flipboard really pushed me to reflect and consider – what makes an app obsolete? What may happen in 2012? How are [...]

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Air Dictate: Using Siri on your Mac

December 30, 2011

I’m creating this post using air dictate a new application which allows you to use Siri on your Mac. Let’s just say it works fine. Many years ago when I first started working I used a Dictaphone . Now I just feel rusty. What amazes me is this app seems to work more effectively than [...]

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Apple #iPhone – Please let us upload Photo’s / Videos via iOS Safari

December 29, 2011

Time to complain about Apple’s highly restrictive iOS Safari policy. Here’s my example – you be the judge. I am visiting a website on my mobile. It has a form that asks for a photo. However the choose photo file button is shaded out. Why? Because iOS Safari doesn’t allow you to upload files / [...]

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Ethnographer’s Mobile Tools – Dot and The Looker – 360 Degree Video

December 28, 2011

Now this is one experimental product I’m hoping to make use of… rather than just having it sitting here. Here’s the problem. You are running a small group interview. Typically the camera or cameras are set up facing in one direction. Usually to capture most of the group, and typically not the moderator. However, the [...]

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Ethnographer’s Mobile Tools – Document Scan – Flipchart Capture

December 28, 2011

Another in this Ethnographer’s Mobile Tools series… making your SmartPhone your best friend in the field… and how to do the job a little better. You have probably used your smart phone to take pictures of the odd flip chart or to capture and remember a document type. Yet later when you look at them… [...]

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Ethnographer’s Mobile Tools: Coach’s Eye

December 28, 2011

Another in a series…. identifying useful mobile tools we can use on the job that help us share better later. Most of us have used our mobile video function at some time. Yet when it comes to editing, telling a story around it or representing it in a way that keys in on a critical [...]

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Ethnographer’s Mobile Tools – Audio Note

December 28, 2011

I’ve decided to publish a short series on mobile tools that can be adapted effectively for the ethnographers craft. Today let’s think about recording the discussion/observations. Typically I use a note book. I write in it and make the odd drawing or sketch. While that’s all happening a digital recorder is usually capturing anything that’s [...]

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Ethnographer’s Mobile Tools – 360 Panorama

December 28, 2011

With each advance in smartphone tech I seek to find new and easier ways to capture what I actually see in the field. I find that running a video… often doesn’t do it later when telling a story with a visual. Equally, it can be difficult to let people see things through their own lens…. [...]

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Flipboard – a 2011 game changer

December 28, 2011

I was an occasional user of Flipboard on my iPad, while I liked it I didn’t use it all that often. When the iPhone version launched all that changed. It simply became my number one newsy app. It wasn’t because the news was better (it was much the same), or because it organized it in [...]

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Google Must Choose – Will it be Search or Android? Google mOS?

December 21, 2011

Google needs a new strategy for Android. As a brand, as a design direction and in deepening its corporate understanding of where mobile and search intersect. I started this post really wondering if Android has lost it’s way? I end it concluding that Android as a brand, or sub-brand isn’t helping Google with their long-term strategic [...]

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Buying your Soft-Sim mobile. Who’s taking control? Who should get it?

September 14, 2011

This post talks “Sim-free” or “soft-SIM” solutions and implications. At one time it looked like iPhone 5 would launch with a soft-sim. Today that seems unlikely – although it certainly isn’t off the table. We do know the next generation GSM/CDMA iPhone5  solution will make changing between operators simpler – if unlocked! I’ve been following [...]

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The future of the mobile won’t be defined by the majority

September 8, 2011

Today, looking for inspiration I was re-reading a proposal I’d written in early 2009 for a research project  looking to the 2012 future for mobility. It didn’t eventuate at the time. The lines below were part of the introduction to it. It remains salient today and frankly I’d propose a similar research design today (not [...]

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The Serval Project – MESH ROUTING

June 27, 2011

Paul of The Serval Project – Let individuals be their own telcos…. If we assume zero infrastructure.. then the phones have to solve the communications infrastructure problems! Example mesh network. What you must do… is make use of the infrastructure that is around you. ISM915 up to a kilometer in urban areas. 10 to 40 [...]

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