freshtrax

Tomi Brooks-AdLocal and Brandon Hill

Last night, we attended a Japanese Business Event, hosted by AdLocal on Howard & 2nd St in San Francisco.  The theme of the night was Mobile and Geo-location.

Ready for Location Based Text Messaging?

Imagine being near your favorite restaurant and up comes a 15% discount coupon on your iPhone or even better receive a text message from a business announcing a sale while travelling and getting directions to that establishment relative to your current geo-location.

AdLocal is on the marketing edge using geo-localization on mobile phones to target specific regional markets with advertisements.   “The advertisement can be plain text messages or Ad banners.  Specific targeting area can be as small as two football fields and as large as the state of Connecticut” says Tomi Brooks, Business Development for AdLocal.  Check it out

Golf Anyone?

From the country that loves golf,  ASAI Inc. developed a golf management software called YourGolf for the Android using GPS.   This software allows you to download course data , track your shot using GPS,  and display of shot on google map of the hole.

“About 70000 worldwide users on the Android version–released July 2009 and iPhone version due out later this month” said Yoshihito Ikeda, Application/Planning “Samurai” Manager at ASAI.



Social Mobile Fun

Because of the “keitai” or mobile phone culture, Mobile Social Gaming is ever-popular in Japan.  Success Networks provides social games on mobile networks in Japan like docomo, Softbank, KDDI under applications like Java, Flash and Brew.  Mobile games can use geo-location(team games), bluetooth, and two dimensional bar codes (QR code).  PC games are also supported as well.  Take a look.

We had a great time mingling with our friends from Japan. Otsukaresamadeshita. Thanks for working hard on this event to all.

Thank you AdLocal for the event. – Your friends from btrax, Inc.

Picture by MacEntee

WWDC2010 结束后，iPhone 4闯入我们的视野， 它的各项提升加上新的操作系统,给苹果的粉丝带来更多的惊喜。 作为一款新型智能手机， iPhone 4 的评测真的很难下笔，它并不是一款普通的手机，在相当长的一段时间内，它会成为各个厂家相互关注，推崇和批判的对象。 我的这篇文章也仅仅是对刚刚使用没有几日的 iPhone 4的一些个人使用感受的罗列。

极具创意的外观设计
首先， 对比iPhone 3G和3GS, iPhone 4 的外观发生了极大的变化，虽然四个角还是有些弧度，但整体棱角分明的感觉的确让有些人打了退堂鼓，认为这不是苹果的风格。 但是有一个理由说服你， iPhone 4 的厚度只有9.3 毫米，比3GS 还要薄25％。 此外，这次还有真正的全白色版本，而不是3G和3GS 的正面黑背面白的版本。 不过，苹果官方的声明显示：白色版本还要等到7月15号以后才能买到。

新显示技术 Retina Display
Retina 屏幕究竟是一种什么技术呢？这一技术又对iPhone 有什么好处？苹果表示 Retina 屏幕是一种具备超高像素密度的液晶屏幕， 它可以将960×640 的分辨率压缩到一个3.5英寸的显示屏内。 也就是说该屏幕的像素密度达到326像素／英寸。
很多人都会想到兼容性问题，放大了4倍的屏幕能否兼容原有的15万个480×360的Apps? 乔布斯在6月7日的Keynote 上是有回答的 ：原有的应用程序正常运行，显示更好的惊人。 因为iOS4 对于高分屏幕有了优化， 保证能兼容原有的程序。 在麦克风的设计上，苹果加入了双麦克风降噪音设计，具体就是通过两个麦克风进行音频采集，最终智能分离出纯净语音信息的功能。 用户即使在非常嘈杂的环境下，也可以将清晰的话音传递给对方。 不过，遗憾的是播放音乐的扬声器音量并不大，保留了iPhone 的一般水平。

500 万像素摄像头
500万像素摄像头早已不是行业主流， 但在新的iPhone4 推出之后仍然备受推崇。 至少这是目前为止最高像素的iPhone摄像头，而且还随之搭配了光线感应器和LED闪光灯， 同时保留了3GS触摸对焦，也加入5倍的数码变焦。 与此同时，iPhone4 的摄像功能也提升至720P 分辨率。 iMoive是针对 iPhone4的功能丰富有趣的视频编辑软件， 用户可以运用此软件随时制作出精美的高清视频。iMoive在苹果店里面的售价是4.99美元。

iOS4
iPhone4 安装了新改名的iOS4， 它最令人期待的改进是可以同时进行多重指令。例如用户可以一边听 Pandora 音乐，一边上网查信息，浏览Email, 和接听电话。此外， iOS4 的新功能还有程序文件夹。当用户按住一个应用程序将它拖入另一个程序的图标时， 就能新建文件夹来汇总部分程序，这样 iPhone4 可以安装的程序从以前的最多180个增加到2160个应用程序。
并且，iOS4 对于企业功能的支持也空前加强， iOS4也加入了微软的Bing搜索。 新的iBooks 可以无线同步看到书签，笔记并且可以共享用户购买的书籍。

Gyroscope 陀螺仪
iPhone4 是第一个内置陀螺仪的手机。 WWDC2010的iPhone4 发布会上乔布斯拿着 iPhone4 玩拆砖游戏的情景相信很多人都印象深刻。从重力感应的应用我们可以猜到陀螺仪的潜力有多么巨大，比如Google街景，3D 的射击游戏，迷宫。

Facetime 视频通话
iPhone4 终于加入了视频通话功能，不过却和我们想像的不太一样，不是基于3G 网络的视频电话，而是不需要安装和配置，基于Wi-Fi，可以灵活切换前后摄像头的免费视频通话。
最后，令人兴奋的是苹果终于可以和AT&T分离了，不知道有多少人会为此欢欣鼓舞。 在过去的几年间，苹果手机用户饱受AT&T昂贵而且低质量的通话效率的困扰。现在，据Bloomberg report分析，明年一月份苹果手机用户就可以和Verizon 公司签约了。这对大多数苹果手机用户来说，确实是一件令人鼓舞的消息。
iPhone4再一次向世界展示了苹果产品的独特魅力。

MyTown takes social networking to whole new level – beating giants like Facebook to the punch through its addictive location-based gaming approach.

Much like Foursquare, which has recently emerged as a serious challenger to Yelp, interaction isn’t limited to only personal communication, but engaging the user by having them make their neigjhborhood and environment part of the experience.

It will give you a whole new experience on exploring your own city or others, because of its central gaming elements. The user (or player) can “purchase” real places near your location, such as a Starbucks., then collect rent from people who visit your places. The experience is like playing Restaurant City on Facebook, but in real life.

As similar social gaming platforms in Asia have experienced, MyTown has zoomed from a small startup founded in 2008 to a 800,000 users platform with 3.5 to 4 million check-ins per day. The brains behind MyTown is Booyah and CEO Keith Lee says that average users spend 50 minutes per day on MyTown.

Because of Foursquare, the gaming concept of check-ins has gained traction and is gradually becoming a must-have for social networking site. Even Yelp is getting into the action, rolling out a check-in function on its iPhone application. Facebook is also currently developing this function too.

One of the reasons Facebook has lagged is that gaming has not been a core part of its business plans, instead farming it out through APIs to secondary app developers. Yelp was also founded on very different community principles, rewarding an elite, serially posting set of super-users.

By comparison, MyTown was developed by a group of veteran game designers.

As smart phone ownership and usage continue to rocket upwards, Foursquare and MyTown will only grow, either eclipsing their competitors or more likely get acquired by their more heavily funded counterparts.

What’s Beyond Web 2.0?
It’s been a while since Sramana Mitra has defined “Web 3.0”. She predicted that the next generation of Web technology would aim to integrate a variable “Place” with Content, Commerce, Community, Context, Personalization, and Vertical Search. And the trends are increasingly bearing out that description.

Nowadays, for example, you search for a local (community) car dealer near you. You see the locations on maps, and you can drive there instantly. But if I were a customer, I would need more information.

Applying Social Media & Geo-Location Tools
For example, even after Toyota’s ecall news, suppose I am still interested in the gray color the Prius with a sun roof. I want to test drive it to make sure that the pedal problem is fixed.  I want the best deal. Which dealers have the exact car in stock? I don’t want to waste my time driving around to dealers on the map to find the answer to my question.

According to Sramana, the “place” variable is more than just location, but it shows where ‘things’ and ‘places’ are that you are searching for through GPS. Then people want to take actions. They want to visit the place and make a purchase or dine out after they search “Place”.

So people want to be sure that they do not waste time when they visit these places. They want to know inventories, available spots, menus, and other information when they search for their target places.

The Open Source Era
As these data became accessible by the general public,  it will get difficult  to draw a line between trade secret and public information. If a competitive company gets the data of your inventories and prices, it can take an advantage of them. They may offer a lower price of the same item or they may promote an item in different colors which you don’t have.

Suppose you want to protect your website code from viewers, then you need to hide the “View Source” option. If you want to disclose anything to a certain group of people, you could send out passwords and log-in names. But it prevents timely interaction and people may not want to go through the trouble of getting login information.

Open Information Speeds Up Innovation
It is said that Silicon Valley has a spirit of sharing information, reflected in its very high employee mobility rate. They also move within a small geographic area. And people talk! So it is realistically hard to keep trade secrets. Even Apple has been relatively unsuccessful in fully hiding its next major product release up to a year in advance.

In addition, it is said that Silicon Valley does not appreciate people suing former employees over trade secret violations.  So it seems that the Silicon Valley’s love for sharing information is likely to prevail, which in turn helps drive innovation at an ever faster speed.

Photos by xwelhamite and rnair

今話題のホットなインターネットベンチャー企業が集中するサンフランシスコの小さなSOMA（South of Market）地域。 2002年に「.com」バブルがはじけた後も、その人気はいまだ根強い。
新しく流行るものを作り、大不況の風にも負けずWEB業界で一世風靡しようと、夢と情熱と独自のスタイルを持った若い才能で活気だち、いつもSOMAのどこかの片隅で、アフター５に最先端のWEB技術・文化を紹介するイベントで盛り上がっている。

Photo by Maurice Ramirez

最先端のブログソフトのひとつWordPressを開発するAutomattic本社もSOMAにあり、btraxのオフィスからサンフランシスコ ベイに向かって徒歩約10分の距離にある。今日は、そこで行われる「Chic meets Geek」と「サンフランシスコ オペラ ブラボー」共同主催のイベントに、btrax チームがプレス（記者）として出席することになり、皆で仕事帰りAutomattic本社に足を向ける。

「Chic meets Geek」は直訳すると“上品・洗練された娘とオタクの出会い”。一瞬、「電車男」のストーリーを思い浮かべがちだが、イベントのスピーカー及びVIPリスト（下記）や、会場で行なわれているプロダクト デモンストレーションリストを見ると納得。　SOMA（ここで）の辞書を1ページめくると、「Chic meets Geek」は、「Geek（コーディング　カルチャー）とChic（エンターテイメント カルチャー）の融合」と訳されるらしい。

スピーカー及びVIPリスト：
Geek（コーディング カルチャー）

• Matt Mullenweg、WordPressの創立者
• Randi Zuckerberg、( facebook創立者の妹でエグゼクティブの一人)
• Edith Yeung、BizTechDay のエグゼクティブ・プロデューサー
• David Weekly、PBWorks創立者

Chic（エンターテイメント カルチャー）

• Damon Dunn、旧フットボール　プレイヤー（Dallas Cowboysチーム）
• Mattin Noblia、Top Chef Las VegasTV番組のリアリティスター
• Terry Disley、 ポール・マッカートニー等をレコーディングした伝説的なジャズミュージシャン

プロダクト デモンストレーション提供企業リスト

• PEANUT LABS MEDIA
• OneRiot
• NetworkedBlogs
• MixMatchMusic

デモンストレーションを拝見しながら目に止まったのは、MixMatchMusic社によって作られた、iPhoneプラットフォーム用のMobBaseサービス：

主な特徴

• ミュージシャンが、低コストでiPhoneアプリを作成・公開・管理可能
• 写真、ミュージック、歌詞、ビデオ、またイベント情報等をファンとシェアできる
• ファンが気に入ったミュージックを購入できる機能
• ある特定のミュージシャンに関するTwitterの全ての”つぶやき”がみれる
• CMS機能（独自でコンテンツをリアルタイムで追加・削除・更新可能）

先週N.Y.Timesに、無名だった23歳のAdam YoungがMySpaceやiTunes等を使ってオンライン上で自分のミュージックを広めてゆき、毎週約2,000 トラックが売れるようになり、今や彼の“Fireflies”はBillboard一位に輝き、来月ニューヨークのマディソン スクエア ガーデンで主催されるZ100 Jingle Ballコンサートに、超人気ミュージシャン達と並んでパフォーマンスすることが大きくとりあげられていた。

iPhone等のモバイルプラットフォーム上で、才能ある駆け出しのミュージシャンが早く発掘され易すく、又ファンとリアルタイムでコミュニケーション（交流）できる場を提供するMobBase。ミュージシャンやミュージックファンにとっては今後、ちょっと目が離せない。

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is set to take over the world’s largest potential wireless market.

WiMAX’s (IEEE 802.16) superior wireless can go up to to 30 miles (50 km) from stations and 3-10 miles for mobile stations. The network speed is also faster and more stable than regular wireless,  providing better quality mobile internet surfing experience.

China is viewed as a strategic region for WiMAX’s future growth because China has the largest number of internet and wireless mobile users in the world. Although China’s 20% of “netizens” (people able to connect to the internet) is less than US’s 70%, China’s growth potential is vast and transforming into one of the most advanced wireless internet leaders.

The trend most strongly driving this shift to WIMAX is the 400,000 netbooks in China, which are projected to rise to 2 million in 2009.

The popularity of netbooks and the rise of WIMAX are closely entwined and likely to spread far beyond Asia, especially to developing countries with little exisiting infrastructure.

Photos by P_Canales and Kongharald