4sq facts: l’altra sera un’amica raggiunge il gruppo, casualmente in un caffè. “come hai fatto?” “ho visto su 4sq che eravate tutti qui”

@ezekiel

mi ha indotto a riflettere sulla privacy, sulla completa assenza della privacy in questi tempi.

Inutile decidere di non segnare la nostra posizione, inutile resistere alla tentazione di aprire 4SQ o Gowalla, sicuramente lo avrà già fatto il nostro amico o qualsiasi altra persona presente nello stesso luogo, e magari avrà anche inserito il nostro nome tra i presenti.

Considerato l’incessante dilagare dei servizi di geolocalizzazione, come Foursquare, Gowalla o il promettente MobNotes, forse è il caso di rispolverare il Galateo aggiornandolo ai tempi moderni:

“Mario, posso condividere con il mondo il tuo party”

“Chiara, indico agli altri che siam qui a festeggiare il tuo compleanno”

Che ne pensate?

So, it’s seems that the iPhone will be a platform for an huge different field: as a mobile self-payment system, or as chemical detector and as a RFID tag reader.

According to a number of believable blog reports, RFID is set to be a part of the as yet unannounced iPhone 4G. Apple holds a patent for a touch screen RFID tag reader and is said to be testing an RFID-enabled iPhone currently. So RFID could be a feature of the iPhone 4G as soon as Spring 2010.

(source: ReadWriteWeb – iPhone as RFID Tag & Reader: Coming Soon)

iPhone RFID: object-based media from timo on Vimeo.

One in five shoppers said they intended to use their cellphones to shop this holiday season, according to an annual survey by Deloitte, the accounting and consulting firm. Of those, 45 percent said they would use their phone to research prices, 32 percent said they would use it to find coupons or read reviews and 25 percent said they would make purchases from their phones.

(source: Mobile Phones Become Essential Tool for Holiday Shopping NYTimes)

One crude measure for the relative complexity of developing apps across categories is to compare the number of apps per seller. The Top 5 categories in Nov/2009, were Books (17 apps per seller), Travel (6 apps per seller), Education (4 per seller), Reference and Sports (3 per seller). There were also 3 apps per seller in the Games and Entertainment categories in Nov/2009:

(source: Apps Per Seller Across the US iTunes Categories O’Reilly Radar)

The iPhone is a fertile ground for Internet of Things, as a product called WideNoise shows. WideNoise is an iPhone application that samples decibel noise levels, displaying them on an interactive map.With the app you can take a sound reading, and if you so wish share that with the WideNoise community. You can check the average sound level of the area around you, which might be handy if you’re house-hunting or simply looking for a quiet spot to relax in.
(source: Top 10 Internet of Things Products of 2009)

WideNoise

WideNoise

WideNoise is the iPhone and iPod Touch application that samples decibel noise levels, and displays them on a worldwide interactive map.

Noise is pollution as well

We live every day surrounded by all kinds of sound around us. We are accustomed to this background noise, but in the end we feel relieved when, maybe in a park, that stressful noise disappears. WideNoise helps you better understand the soundscape around you.
(source: WideNoise)

Swap you payment on SquareUp

• 0 to $60 in under 10 seconds.

  Start accepting payment cards immediately with Square. No contracts, monthly fees, or hidden costs. Effortlessly manage all the money you take with an easy and intuitive interface.

  Create a Square payer account to speed up and secure every payment. With photo verification, Square users can visually confirm you are the card holder.

• Swipe it.

  Read payment cards from any device with an audio input jack, including your mobile phone. Accepting payments has never been faster or more convenient.

• Pay quickly, securely.

  Create a Square payer account to speed up and secure every payment. With photo verification, Square users can visually confirm you are the card holder.

SquareUp (via Garry’s Posterous )

It’s seems just another iPhone app, but Breadcrumbs will show how Internet of Things will spread on our life.

Breadcrumbs

The larger trend here is the convergence of smart phones with the Internet of Things(i.e. Internet-connected real world objects). Devices such as the iPhone essentially become sensor and RFID readers, which allow consumers to interact with real world objects in a much more detailed manner.

Breadcrumbs is able to scan barcodes using the iPhone’s camera. The consumer simply points their iPhone at a food item and gets back relevant data. Other than product recall details, the information returned to the user is mostly the same as what’s on food labels – only it is pulled from the Web.

IBM Debuts Food Traceability iPhone App