That’s tall.
Built by Daktronics, the ENORMOUS screen takes over the entire side of the 35-story “Podium” office building, part of the Dubailand development project.
The screen is scheduled to run “messaging, art, and advertising,” and seems like it would be a perfect opportunity for interactive apps.
Now, I wonder how long it would take Usain Bolt to run down that monstrosity? I suppose you’d need to charge that as wind-aided…
In any case, LOOK AT THIS THING:
[img cred]
Elliot: He’s a man from outer space and we’re taking him to his spaceship.
Greg: Well, can’t he just beam up?
Elliot: This is REALITY, Greg.
Today, this “REALITY” got a little weird. Even from E.T.’s vantage point.
Social networking site Bebo (much like Facebook and decently popular among European teens) beamed out a message to the planet Gliese 581C, in hopes of contacting human life. The message was a binary-encoded signal containing personal messages from 501 Bebo users. The most popular messages from a huge pool of Bebo submissions were selected to make the voyage.
The signal is scheduled to reach Gliese 581C (catchy name, eh?) sometime in 2029.
Um… Mark your calendars?
Outerspace lag time notwithstanding, I’m pretty impressed by the endeavor. I mean, I talk about the web outside…. But this is taking things to a whole ‘nother level…
Mobile Monday Boston put on a fantastic event last night and hosted an amazing panel of Boston’s most successful mobile experts. The lecture hall was filled to the brim, and the discussion could have gone on for at least another hour.
LocaModa’s CEO Stephen Randall and Enpocket Founder (and current Global Director of Mobile Brand Strategy for Nokia) Jeremy Wright found quick cadence doling out keen industry insight in dueling British accents, while VoiceSignal’s Founder and CEO Dan Roth was not only hilarious, but gave some very sage advice to aspiring entrepreneurs.
The panelists discussed the challenges of entrepreneurship in general, and segued into a more targeted conversation about the mobile industry in particular. Referred to as the “Godfathers” of the mobile world in Boston, the panel built off each other’s advice well, and gave their honest views of the constantly shape-shifting industry. It was wonderful to see such a great turnout of students, newly-minted MBAs, business professionals, and mobile strategists in the audience.
I couldn’t help myself but add captions to this panel photo, as it was pretty lame without a backdrop of any kind. But no, Stephen and Jeremy did not dwell upon their mutual love of London, and Dan may or may not have been thinking about cats… I promise this is completely in jest :)
Thanks also to sponsors BU Entrepreneurs and Common Angels!
Thanks to Kate from Skyhook Wireless for sending this great pic of the Boston office hovered around a computer to play with Wiffiti!
You guys need an office projector :)
For those in the area, hope to see you tonight at the Mobile Monday event celebrating Boston’s Leading Mobile Entrepreneurs. The night starts at 6pm at the BU School of Management at 595 Comm Ave. Our CEO, Stephen Randall, will be speaking, and Wiffiti will be in full effect.
For those of you unfortunately not in the area, you can still join the conversation remotely here.
If you walked by it in a bookstore or magazine stand, you probably wouldn’t even notice it was dynamic; but that doesn’t mean that this isn’t the premonitory turtlehead of something very, very cool…
Let’s back up.
I’m talking about the eInk cover of Esquire’s October issue:
Sponsored by Ford, and using the same paper as the Kindle, the cover image isn’t the jazziest thing I’ve ever seen (it’s pretty much just some basic black/white/gray text with blinky thumbnail images), but they’ve kept it simple enough so it still presents as pretty darn sleek. [To clarify, the plastic overlay contains the color thumbnails, which are then illuminated by the underlying eInk.]
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Yep… more than half of teens consider their cell phone the “key” to their social life. Surpassing jewelry, watches, and shoes, teens say a cell phone is a prime indicator of social status – falling only to clothing (WHAT? Tiny dogs didn’t make the list?!).
And where does texting fall into this whole social strata? Well, 47% of teens say that their social lives would seriously suffer without text messaging. SRSLY?
What’s more… 47% say they can text with their eyes closed. Hey waaaait a minute, is this the same sample set as above? Are we talking Social SMS Survival of the Fittest here?
Check out the full rundown of stats from the new CTIA/Harris Interactive Survey, Teenagers: A Generation Unplugged, including the chart below (courtesy of Harris and CTIA).
Clearly, banking (in all of its topical permutations) has been top of mind “from Wall Street to Main Street” as of late (seriously, if I hear that phrase one. more. time.)
But what of mobile banking?
Mobile, as a broad media segment, couldn’t get any hotter right now. (I’ll quickly cite that Americans sent 1.6 billion text messages a day in December 2007, and that they talked for two trillion minutes for that year, aaaand that both of these figures continue to grow… you get the idea.) Toss that data in with the fact that most consumers say that they would like the ability to access their bank accounts and carry out transfers via their mobile phone, and this seems like a market primed for success…
It seems so.
According to the LA Times, the LAPD has launched a new system that allows citizens to send anonymous crime tips via SMS. Upon sending in a tip, the user will receive a textback message assigning him an alias, which he can then use for subsequent communication with the police.
[Sidenote: I'm VERY curious to know more about these aliases... Are they awesome, like BatTracker or FrenchBulldog or JamesBondIsMyDad? Or are they totally lame, like Anon345 or User62? I must know.]
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And LocaModa lays claim to one of them!
(or he lays claim to us??)
In any case… We’re excited to announce that Stephen Randall will be a panelist at the upcoming event put on by Harvard Business School, TechMedia Club, and Mobile Monday Boston. The event will connect Boston’s premier mobile thought leaders with 15 tech and entrepreneurship groups from Bentley, BC, BU, Harvard, HBS, MIT, Northeastern, WPI and Tufts, as well as local tech enthusiasts and Mobile Monday’s 80+ member companies. [More after the jump]
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