SMS turns 20

Today is the 20th anniversary of the a medium of communication that brought us the declined door bell. Why ring or knock when one could just simply text and your friend will open the door and usher you in. Other uses but not limited to are not talking to family at dinner, instead text Susie, ask her what she is eating for dinner. If you haven’t realized what I am talking about it is SMS.

The first SMS message was sent 20 years go. The father of SMS was. Matti Makkonen. Makkonen pushed the idea of a mobile phone messaging service. The BBC had an interview with him about the start of SMS. Makkaonen didn’t expect it to be the way it has become today. He considered it to be a system for quick business needs but still saw the “patentable innovation.”

Nokia was the first company to make a handset capable of text messaging. This was not the start of the revolution. In 1995 people sent average message of 0.4 text per month. 15 years later people sent over 6.1 trillion messages in 2010.

Text messaging has become a huge staple in our culture. Think of all the times where you texted instead of calling, think about the last time you went over in minutes on your plan. Most of our day to day interaction has been turned to quick burst of abbreviations and acronyms. Which is good and bad. The good is the speed on communication and information on demand. We have the ability to invite all our friends to dinner in one message, fast clean simple. Also, we can check our messages when we are ready to and not interrupting our current tasks. The bad is the lack of human interaction. We talk less and question less. Our communication has become streamlined to the point where this is less discussion. For instance say you call your friend for dinner, you talk to him about the plans and he suggests to go to another place that is better thus changing the plan. Yes, this happens on text but text is not really a great form of debate.

After the dust settles SMS has still provided us with a better way to communicate with each other. It has shaped us as a culture and sped up our response time for many things. Thanks SMS and here is to another 20 years.

Source http://www.slashgear.com/sms-turns-20-years-old-today-inventor-does-interview-over-text-messaging-03259299/

Picture Sources www.deviantart.com,www.yahoo.com,www.mailigen.com, www.afterellen.com, www.unpious.com

If you're a phone is it better to be Dumb or Smart

Dumb Phones are they really useless? Smart phones own the majority of the adult market but does that mean its better at then dumb phones at its most basic feature, calling? A study has come out by Pew staying that dumb phones (featured phones) do somethings better then its more expensive counter part.

This study comes at a surprise since many people buying smart phones shell out 3 to 4 times the cost of special needs counterpart. One would think with the extra bling, simple tasks like few dropped calls would expected. The study found things four things about the difference between smart phones and dumb phone dropped calls, unwanted sales/marketingcalls, spam/unwanted text, and slow download speeds. Let run down the list and see if one or all of the studies findings could be true.

The most basic use of cell phones is for calls. Which begs the question, why does the cheaper phone get less drop calls. According to the study 35% of smart phone users experience drop calls but only 28% of dumb phone. Calls could be for many reasons. For smart phones is could be the technology of switching between towers. ATT is notoriously bad at this on their GSM network. Another reason why dumb phones drop less is because it only uses the 2g radio to connect calls and some smart phones use a combination of the two, switching between 2g and 4g could cause the call to drop. The study notes that smart phone users are three times likely to drop calls vs its simpler brother.

Spam text have become as frequent as spam email. 29% of smart phone owners have said to get spam texts every week. At 9% less the dumb phone users take the gold for less marketing texts. This could be because of the apps or os on the phone giving the number to marketers.

Dumb phones get fewer slow downloads. This was a shocker but might be able to be explained. Dumb phones mostly have dedicated applications such as, email, gps map and light internet browser. These applications should run very fast since the are code just for that phone as more other apps on smart phones are just coded for the OS, which could produce lag. Also, there is again the matter of switching radio, 4g 3g and edge, this could cause a connection error, slowing the download speeds.

This study is quite interesting. It shows smart phones are all there yet and still have a long way to go. At the same time, people seem to care less and less about phone calls. The difference in numbers for dropped calls is staggering, but people still buy smart phones by the millions. One would hope that think makes phone manufactures push them selves to make better phones for the future, because the phones of yesterday can still stand taller then its more accessorized younger brother.

Source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/03/dumbphones-dropped-calls-smartphones_n_1738321.html

Picture Sources dreamtime.com,www.sott.net,www.fox.com,slashgear.com, berrygeeks.files.wordpress.com,huffingtonpost.com

Who Killed Boredom

Boredom. A word that a smart phone user solemnly udders. Even when the thought of it pop into existence, you already feel your hand reaching into your pocket or handbag, to get that sweet candy bar we call a smart phone. We are connected. Facebook, instagram, imgur, reddit, groupon, draw something, words with friends, gems with friends, all the A-symmetrical gaming behind that lock screen, just a swipe away.

While waiting in line pry your eyes away from your phone and take a look at the people in line with you. What are they doing, are they making small talk with the people around them, are they acting out a scene for an audition, odds are they are on there cell phones probably on the same game or site you where on. According to CNN 45% of adults own smart phones. That number is truly staggering, to think that 45% of adults today have access to some form of a app store, always connect to their friends.

Magazine companies must be kicking them selves because no one is reading in doctor's waiting rooms. Instead, people are playing the next starwars angry birds, or checking TMZ for the latest celeb gossip. Who needs to read a weekly magazine when you can use an app and see the latest “J Beiver pukes on stage video.” The boredom is gone from those little moments between tasks.

Twitter app is like cigarettes. Everyday people blog more on twitter, and bloggers blog even more. After browsing my twitter I will see people blogging in line buying coffee, describing the awkwardly delivered pick line from the people in front of them. Twitter has always connected people together, it has brought small talk to where ever you go. Is this a good thing? It remains to be seen, small talk in line with strangers is more rare, everyone is in there own pod, only coming to interact when they want or need something from someone, depersonalizing communication.

We are now multi-taskers but at what cost. Always doing something, honing some skill, either it be witty remarks online, word finding, or catapult trajectory. But, are we sacrificing our skills with interpersonal communication. At least we aren't bored any more.

Source http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/25/tech/mobile/oms-smartphones-boredom/index.html

Picture Sources http://travelsofadam.com,ign.com, transportationnation.org,http://thatawkwardmomentwithartieabrams.tumblr.com/

How Smart Phones have changed the World

Think back to march 1997 what did cell phones look like, most looked like a rectangular messes. Companies would take a camera shove buttons and a screen onto a point and shoot camera and market it as a cell phone. Flash forwarding today our phones have changed as well as the way they have changed the world around use. Not to sound like an apple fan boy, thanks iPhone.

The way we interact with our devices. Today its not uncommon for a person to have a touch device. The button on the phone is gone. Like the white tiger, buttons are rare on device of today, replaced by a screen that can become any button or multiple buttons thanks to multi-touch screens. With this technology unshackled developers, giving them new inventive ways for button layouts and changing landscapes for input. Even voice recognition systems have come to change how to use the phone. Apple and Google both have a very robust voice recognition system. Although its not new, they have been greatly improved and now can understand regular speech. Phrase like “what was the score of the Gaints game” is now recognized, in the past the system would only beable to pick out keywords instead of understanding the actual speech and language. It is exciting to see what comes next in the phone market.

Apps Apps and more Apps. These little programs have changed our lives. Just like I said in my last post. Apps have been created to do random tasks from a level to playstion emulator. Today the apple store alone has paid developers over five billion. Staggering that it is more then some counties budgets.

The internet at your feet. Phones today are always connected from the class room to the mountain tops. This has changed the everything from social networks to news. Everyone is connected from foursquare tagging to instant massaging, some could say to connected. Because of these phone plans have become very expensive but this has become to most a necessity in the same vein as gasoline.

Smart phones changed the market. With a shot of adrenaline the phone market was revived. Cell phones became the front runner of technology devices, beating the laptop and others. We live in a world there there is a new iPhone every year and the sales keep growing. There are also millions of android, windows 8 and black berry devices. There has been a culture and innovation birthed from this new tech industry. The outlook of tech is very bright

Source http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/28/tech/mobile/iphone-5-years-anniversary/index.html

Picture Sources http://nerdapproved.com, trueinternetworld.net, geekosystem.com, nerdapproved.com,ijailbreak.com,cultofmac.cultofmaccom.netdna-cdn.com

How Smart Phones Changed My Life

I try to think about a time without smart phones. My mind draw a blank. I do not know whether it was really that long ago or because it was a horrible time. Flash backs of sitting in the waiting room of a random doctors office looking at the drab pastel wall and plastic plants, fighting the urge to read some random women's magazine because the sole popular mechanics magazine had been snatched another by equally desperate male. Equally as frustrating is visiting a big city and perplexed by the public transport, lost in while reading the random colored lines called the subway map. Thankfully, smart phones have cured most of these moments of confusion and boredom. I'll illuminate on a few instances.

Smart phones help us navigate our world. Thinking back I can not remember any time in recent memory of getting lost, unless I had no signal. Now a days everyone has some kind of map app on their phone. Like our phones these apps have gotten more and more robust over the years. Asking for directions is an ancient ritual. Which must be sad for gas station attendants because they no longer get random strangers asking where the freeways are. We are always connected. My best experience with map apps was when i was using the subway. Many people are stuck looking at confusing schematics of train tracks. We are stuck playing a wears waldo game with the “you're here” sign, now easily solved with an app. This technology eases the pains of transport.

This is not always a good thing but killing the great debates. Any one can be a know it all with a press of a button. This is not always a good thing but having the internet at your finger tips may save some time. Many times people find themselves in a heated discussion about some topic with who knows what by people that claim to be experts or sometimes answering that burning question of the night. Being able to “google” things helps the conversations move on, so you're not left debating for hours about what country Angelina Joey adopted her baby from. Being a know it all has never been so easy especially informing ones classmate of the exact the Laker game score.

This may sound dumb but planners. Some have called me very absent minded, because of this I must write everything down. Now, I can put things down in calendars, set reminders and have Facebook remind of my friend's birthdays.

My favorite is the games. It makes the mall, waiting rooms, and number 2's much much more amusing. When one's significant other goes into the dressing room to try on pants can feels like eternity. Luckily, now there are thousands of apps clasping for your attention, ranging from “angry birds” to “ant smasher, best free game.” These little distractions help break the monotony of everyday life and the satisfaction of some Norwegian in words with friends.

Source http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/technology/personaltech/09PHONES.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Picture Sources google images

Intro

Technology Gadgets that elevate our daily lives. Tech is one of the biggest growing markets today. A simple devices, like the iphone, have easily changed the course of people's daily routine. For one Apple most recently has become the most stock valued company in the world. With micro chips getting smaller and faster our devices limitations are beginning to unfold. I believe this to be a very interesting topic because it is my passion and majorly effects our daily lives.