Thought Garage

As part of New Scientist’s 50^th anniversary celebrations, it asked over 70 of the world’s most brilliant scientists for their predictions for the next 50 years. Here are the topics of the predictions for future.

Life: Ageing, alien life, consciousness, ecology, embryology, environment, evolution, genetics, health, humans, language, neuroscience, oceans, psychology, sex and social science.

Space and technology: Artificial intelligence, communications, computing, cosmology, space and technology.

Physical sciences: Chemistry, energy, materials, maths and physics.

Source: Brilliant Minds on the Next 50 Years: Instant Expert – science-forecasts – 16 November 2006 – New Scientist

Here is a prediction on Search Engines by Peter Norvig of Google, talking about the realization of semantic web:

In 50 years the scene will be transformed. Instead of typing a few words into a search engine, people will discuss their needs with a digital intermediary, which will offer suggestions and refinements. The result will not be a list of links, but an annotated report (or a simple conversation) that synthesises the important points, with references to the original literature. People won’t think of “search” as a separate category – it will all be part of living.

 ZDNet IT Facts has some interesting stats from Instat about the use of cell phones.

More than 15% of people carry two wireless phones, In-Stat says. 80% of the people that have a camera phone say they regularly carry their digital camera, 75% of SmartPhone users also carry a PDA, and more than 50% of users of multimedia phones also carry their MP3 player. Only 43% of the respondents to an In-Stat survey stated that higher productivity would be obtained with a SmartPhone.

Source: » More than 15% of people carry two wireless phones | IT Facts | ZDNet.com

[tags]cellular-life-style, mobile-applications, mobile-handsets, smartphones, instat, zdnet[/tags]

Recently I wrote a post trying to contemplate whether SMS Spam is real. Ferris Research indicated that “In 2005, about 500 million unwanted text messages reached subscribers. In 2006, that figure is expected to be 800 million.” but analysts at Ferris Research considered it as nothing comparing with the volume of SMS messages sent.

Read a report released by China Internet Society, explaining the worrysome scenario of SMS spamming in China. 8 spam messages a week is a lot.

Chinese mobile phone users are being flooded with spam text messages, with 6.25 per cent of them receiving spam more than 40 times a week, according to a survey by the China Internet Society.

The survey, released on Tuesday, shows that 35 per cent of all 4,721 users randomly questioned across the country receive five to 10 spam messages a week, while 15 per cent get 10 to 20. On average, each user receives at least eight spam messages a week, questionnaires show.

Common junk messages include advertisements, swindles, information on illegal selling of vehicles, weapons or fake diplomas, and short message services (SMS) that users never signed up for

Source: People’s Daily Online — Spam text messages a headache for all

Considering the fact that there are about 450 Million mobile users in china, there are about 500 Million Spam SMS message every day, that accounts to 182 Billion Spam messages. If we count the cost of each SMS, at a US prices of 10 cents, then that would mean 18.2 Billion US Dollars.

Do you now consider SMS spamming as real or not?

[tags]sms, sms-spam, mobile-applications, mobile-markets, china[/tags]

Usability does not mean pouring in too many options. But providing the minimalistic set to achieve full functionality.  While many say, you must have explicit options to do different things, I agree with Joel, that all we need is one button to put the computer to rest. Everything else is implicit and can be done by Windows without confusing users. Less is More, just like 37signals say.

Every time you want to leave your computer, you have to choose between nine, count them, nine options: two icons and seven menu items. The two icons, I think, are shortcuts to menu items. I’m guessing the lock icon does the same thing as the lock menu item, but I’m not sure which menu item the on/off icon corresponds to.

On many laptops, there are also four FN+Key combinations to power off, hibernate, sleep, etc. That brings us up to 13 choices, and, oh, yeah, there’s an on-off button, 14, and you can close the lid, 15. A total of fifteen different ways to shut down a laptop that you’re expected to choose from.

Source: Joel on Software

Under The Radar reports about a Mobile Payment application that will let users buy just any thing using their mobiles. Unlike other solutions, no valuable information stored on the mobile. So nothing to worry if your mobile is lost or stolen.

PayWi is a nifty little application that lets you make all kinds of purchases and financial transactions from your mobile phone. Not just to buy mobile services and applications, but any kind of retail or online purchase. And it’s not just limited to purchases. Users can make other financial transactions, like allocating funds, all through their phone. The transactions are secure and link users directly to credit and bank accounts, allowing real-time monitoring of transactions. Since no personal information regarding the transfer lives on the phone, a lost cell phone isn’t an instant calamity.

The list of benefits to the user is a long one. Users can make retail purchases without ever showing a credit or debit card. They can monitor and share restaurant tabs in real time and instantly pay the bill. Heads of household can establish family sub-accounts and monthly allowances for shared users. Users can even make payments toward monthly bills, either automatically or manually.

Consumer information is stored on the company’s secure servers. A transaction is initiated by users giving merchants a PayWi account number. The financial information is then transmitted securely to a designated bank or credit card network. PayWi provides an extra layer of consumer control and security by requiring authentication from the mobile handset before transaction execution.

Source: Under the Radar » Blog Archive » Make all your purchases on your mobile with PayWi

[tags]paywi, mobile-applications, mobile-commerce[/tags]