Internet Evolution editors and I have just finished picking the best of the reader-suggested iPhone app ideas, but I have ideas for improving these further, ranging from eating to shopping to dating to saving yourself in emergencies.
The chosen app was Clement's "intelligent shopping list," which would allow users to combine a variety of lists, search for the best prices at local stores via GPS, determine whether the product is appropriate for the user's budget, and suggest cheaper products. My recommendation is to combine shopping list software with more detailed product databases.
For example, I'd combine Clement's software with krtarr's "iEat." This app would provide nutritional information and recommendations for meals as you eat throughout the day. The integrated software I envision would help find both the least expensive and most nutritional products. In 2004 I wrote about Sprint's "MyFoodPhone" where subscribers snapped camera phone photos of their meals and transmitted the images to dieticians for advice -- which has since been purchased by Myca Nutrition.
If you're looking for love, Root Maniac's "dating applications" might be for you. As with today's dating apps, Root Maniac's proposed service would entail filling out a questionnaire with your preferences and including photos. When you're near someone who matches your preferences, you'd receive an alert on your phone. Root Maniac doesn't go into detail, but his app certainly could incorporate GPS, WiFi location, and Bluetooth (assuming everyone has it enabled, which isn't always a good idea).
Wireless people-to-people match-ups have a long history. Years ago, circa 1998, I bought a hot item in Tokyo: "Lovegety." Today I dug it out of my closet... unopened. It's a 3.5-inch plastic elliptical device with a few lights that blink when you meet a "compatible" user who is, for example, looking for a "friend." It uses short-range wireless, and there are only a few "compatibility" features. Graduate students at the University of California at Berkeley designed something of an updated version in 2002.
Skip ahead to Demo 09, which concluded this week, for one of the newest dating services: Skout. Skout employs GPS, WiFi, or cell tower triangulation on phones to find users' locations, and offers a mobile-specific Website and a downloadable iPhone app. Skout Out is a kiosk/jukebox with a large plasma touch screen that's supposedly going to be in 10,000 bars and clubs around the country. You can transmit photos and location to the kiosk, as well as using the touch screen to send a message to the person in the photo. Also, by inserting $1 into the juke box, you can "dedicate" a song to that person, who is then notified via his/her phone.
Skout Out offers interesting possibilities. One "must have" is the ability to select and pay for a song via the iPhone (or, really, any phone). Another interesting feature would be to transmit cellphone videos for display on all the juke boxes.
Further, if you meet an undesirable man or woman through Skout Out, DezAtUni's "Emergency" iPhone app could be handy. It would "dial emergency numbers, broadcast your location, turn on the microphone, and broadcast the audio, so whatever was going on could be heard by responders." Great idea, but I'd make sure it could be turned on via a voice command, which could also be used to activate an alarm or an automated cry from the phone: "Help! Call the police!"
And, what do you think of combining DezAtUni's app with sin1313's "Cyber Chaperone" -- an "online log of one's agenda in real-time"?
Shopping, dating, and safety are not only interesting app ideas to throw around but also are significant wireless Internet categories that I'm sure will expand in the years to come.
Have you tried downloading iTunes and looked at the App Store? I
don't know whether you're blocked from doing that in Russia, but the
URL - at least in the U.S. - is:
If you can download and install iTunes, you should be able to at least
see the applications on the App Store menu item.
Is the iPhone legally available through a cellular operator in Russia?
Or, are all the iPhones available only through the black market and,
therefore, have to be "jailbroken" to work on a Russian cellular
operator? If the phones aren't legal, then $1,200 is what the market will pay for, I guess.
Fortunately -- or unfortunately -- we humans still have to do most of
the analyzing. Sure, cellular phone applications can help us in some
ways. But applications are still very "stupid" compared to humans.
We have a very long way to go before artifical intelligence in
software is anywhere near equivalent to human analysis.
A few types of applications provide analysis that's better and/or
faster than humans, such as computer chess programs. But for the most part, cellular and landline software are just aides, not substitutes
for human analysis.
However, cellular and computer software definitely are changing the
way we act and react, and how we learn. For example, the Internet
makes it unnecessary -- and inappropriate -- for us to memorize as
much information. Or, at least, inappropriate for us to memorize
specific types of information when we can look it up on the Web.
As for reading a book, if you've read my ThinkerNET pieces you know
I've written several times about electronic books. I love paper books
and have thousands. But I'm also convinced the future is electronic
books, not paper. In the future, books are likely to be multimedia.
The Amazon Kindle, which is, unfortunately, not sold by Amazon
anywhere but in the U.S., has generated a huge amount of interest in
eBooks by consumers. Amazon recently introduced eBook software for
the iPhone, as you might have read. Also, there are several good
eBook reader programs for the iPhone, although none of them can be
used with Amazon books.
I think you are part of the "avant garde" by looking for a clock on
your paper book. In the future, most books will be electronic, and
you'll be reading them on a variety of devices, such as a phone and a
dedicated eBook reader like the Kindle or Sony Reader. A clock will be just a basic tool. You'll be able to listen to audio files, watch videos, access Web pages, etc. The concept of the book could perhaps evolve so that "text only" is no longer considered acceptable.
Alan, I always read your posts with great pleasure.They give a lot of information to think about. I don't have Iphone( the starting price of it in Russia is $1200- don't ask me why) so I know nothing about Iphone applications.But reading your post, it came to me, that that kind of devices take from the human kind a need for analyze.People do not need analyze and compare anything in everyday life anymore. The small gadget desides for us. I don't know if it is good or bad, but it definitely deserves a serious study- the influence of technologies on the way of thinking and perception. Just as an example, yesterday I read a book, and then realized that I look at the right side of the page to see what's the time now - you know, where the clock are usually in the screen.So, do I phone and other things make us better or worser or...just different:))))))
Obviously, creating a viable business isn't easy, whether it's only on the Web or aiming for a multinational physical presence.
Starting a Web site would be a good beginning to get lots of feedback, and learn what works and what doesn't.
As for generating income, there are all sorts of ways, but the trick is getting enough people to pay for something. This is a difficult economic climate, obviously, and generating ad revenues is much worse than previously.
Many start-up businesses start with Google ads because they are easy to include. But they generally don't generate much income, unless the site is very popular.
Another possibility is a monthly or yearly subscription service, but you'd have to spend time creating and expanding the service before people would pay. But to start, with a basic service, free is probably the way to go.
These sorts of shopping applications are certainly do-able. The technology and coding exist for this to occur. One question is whether the effort to create such an application will generate sufficient income for the developer.
Also, merchants will (1) have to invest in the technology/service to display real time prices and (2) determine whether it's worth broadcasting their prices. For many merchants, neither 1 nor 2 will make sense.
I'd be surprised if we didn't see more shopping-based applications that also use camera phones and barcodes, combined with Bluetooth and/or cellular, plus GPS.
I kinda like the idea of combining the Intelligent shopping list with some sort of reminder system so that when you are near a place that sells what you have on your list it lets you know. It can basically be improved by providing real time prices so that you can decide to buy it right away potentially cheaper / same price or more expensive.
The link showed an expired search, but I searched from the beginning on trademark, and "gaydar" came up.
That's really interesting. I, too, could see a sexual preferences "alert" via Bluetooth, as I could see a variety of other Bluetooth-enabled alerts. Bluetooth would have to balance usefulness with security concerns.
I assume that if Bluetooth -- or any other short-range communications technology -- became wildy successful for any sort of alerts (sexual preferences, hobbies, ad coupons), the wireless industry would develop more security software.
In the U.S., we use Bluetooth mostly for headsets, although geekier
people use it to connect to computers for cellphone modems
and for file transfers.
So, the "big," ThinkerNET-type question is whether the future of cellphones will include huge numbers of people using short-range communications for social networking-type applications.
As I understand it, it was invented with the intent of letting people advertise their sexual preference in a discrete manner. It reached its greatest commercial success in New York, where young women on the hunt bought it to avoid wasting time.
I could definitely see this reborn using bluetooth, with DPWS - an XML based protocol- advertising the preferences of the bearer,'
Just having an idea is almost never good enough. Companies don't buy ideas. You would need to do a lot more for a venture capitalist or other company to give you any money.
You need a detailed, three-year (at least) business plan -- discussing the reason for your idea and why it will be successful. You need to provide spreadsheet information about cash flow for how you will make money, current and potential competitors, advertising/marketing strategy, current and future products/services, etc.
You also should have a management team -- CEO, head of marketing/finance, etc. -- in place. In addition, you should have, at the least, a working prototype of your idea. But you really should have not just a prototype, but the beginning of a business where you are accepting customers, whether they are paid or getting the service for free.
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
It is difficult to underestimate the value of wireless data in Haiti in aiding relief workers and residents in wake of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that hit the country on January 12. Quite literally, wireless data has been a life-saving technology.
I'm cautiously optimistic that Apple's iPad will be successful because it's Apple-like and non-Apple-like. Those characteristics have major advantages and disadvantages that affect the value of the iPad. UPDATED 12:25 PM
May the gods be praised! Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has finally unveiled what appears to be its online file storage capability -- a so-called Google Drive or GDrive -- for consumers and businesses.
Hysteria has reached fever pitch as techies around the world can hardly contain themselves until January 27, when Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) is rumored to be announcing its new tablet computer. Also, during the past several months, interesting tablets and concepts for tablets have been unveiled by other manufacturers. The New York Times has called 2010 "The Year of the Tablet."
In Charles Dickens's classic story A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge asks the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come about scenes he will be shown from his future: "Are these the shadows of the things that will be, or are they shadows of things that may be, only?"
Smarter Collaboration: How to Thrive in a Challenging Business Environment Market conditions are changing faster than ever, and organizations need to improve their agility and adaptability in order to provide better service and improve processes. The ability to work with customers, business partners, and employees as effectively as possible - while at the same time holding down costs - is a key to success. READ THIS eBOOK
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The city of San Francisco is on the leading edge of using the Internet to provide government transparency. It is providing WiFi for its have-nots, and its DataSF.org initiative is putting the city's valuable data back in the hands of its citizens, with innovative results.
What can users today do to protect their online privacy? The simplest and most obvious option is to not use the Internet – at all. However, once all digital information is consolidated over the Internet, trying to protect digital identity by simply unplugging from the Internet becomes impossible – a fact that has manifest implications for civil liberties, Saunders says.
By 2011 the number of Internet-connected sensors will exceed 1 trillion, making your chances of doing anything or going anywhere unnoticed pretty much zero. Saunders talks about how the 'sensortization' of the Internet is eliminating the traditional divide between online and offline populations.
The 20th Century Internet was characterized by the ability to interact with other people and information on the Internet largely without anyone knowing who you were. The Internet of this century, conversely, will be defined by identity. Saunders explains how Internet users are unwittingly contributing to the demise of the anonymous Internet.
It is 20 years since the invention of the World Wide Web, and the Internet has changed beyond recognition since then. Steve Saunders peers into the future to predict what the Web will look like in another 20 years time – and he doesn’t like what he sees.
Research shows that the youth of today like Facebook – but not blogging or Twitter. Does that mean Facebook has won, or just that it's not yet out of favor? Will all the services we see today fade into Ovaltine-or-Wheaties status in just a few years?
Research shows that the youth of today like Facebook – but not blogging or Twitter. Does that mean Facebook has won, or just that it's not yet out of favor? Will all the services we see today fade into Ovaltine-or-Wheaties status in just a few years?
What kinds of companies are doing the most innovation in the data center? Turns out it's midtier enterprises that are taking the "Just Right" approach.
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