Via Mashable.
Showing posts with label mobile phones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mobile phones. Show all posts
Filed under:
charts,
graphs,
media,
mobile phones,
mobile technology,
text messaging,
texting,
trends,
viz
Perhaps integrating similar and/or related services will improve Google Street View?
Geovector, Cybermap local search solution for mobile phones
Geovector, a provider of pointing based search solutions, and CyberMap Japan, owner of mapping services provider Mapion, have launched Mapion Pointing Application 2.0, called Mapion Pointing Appli, for mobile phones in Japan. This upgrade reportedly transforms Mapion's existing Geovector pointing mobile search service into a fully commercial application. Mapion Pointing Application allows users to easily find and launch content by pointing and clicking mobile phones at retailers, restaurants, historical sites or any of Mapion's 700,000 Points of Interest (POI) across Japan. The service combines Mapion's POI data with Geovector's pointing based technology and spatial search engine. The new release include features such as user driven opt-in advertising, sponsored categories and preferred placement. The service was initially launched over the KDDI network in January 2006, and is now available for download with Sony Ericsson models W32S, W41S, W44S and W51S phones, the W41K by Kyocera, the W42CA by Casio; and in July, with the W52S from Sony Ericsson. [source]
.
Add to del.icio.us
Geovector, Cybermap local search solution for mobile phones
Geovector, a provider of pointing based search solutions, and CyberMap Japan, owner of mapping services provider Mapion, have launched Mapion Pointing Application 2.0, called Mapion Pointing Appli, for mobile phones in Japan. This upgrade reportedly transforms Mapion's existing Geovector pointing mobile search service into a fully commercial application. Mapion Pointing Application allows users to easily find and launch content by pointing and clicking mobile phones at retailers, restaurants, historical sites or any of Mapion's 700,000 Points of Interest (POI) across Japan. The service combines Mapion's POI data with Geovector's pointing based technology and spatial search engine. The new release include features such as user driven opt-in advertising, sponsored categories and preferred placement. The service was initially launched over the KDDI network in January 2006, and is now available for download with Sony Ericsson models W32S, W41S, W44S and W51S phones, the W41K by Kyocera, the W42CA by Casio; and in July, with the W52S from Sony Ericsson. [source]
.
Add to del.icio.us
Filed under:
advertising,
awareness,
Cybermap Japan,
Geovector,
Google,
hyper-connectivity,
maps,
mobile phones,
mobile technology,
modern,
POI,
public,
street view,
wifi,
Wii,
wireless
Coca-Cola Co. is creating a virtual teenager hangout like MySpace and Facebook, only on cell phones, to lure more youngsters to its sodas and flavored drinks, starting in the United States and China. Eyeing the success of mostly desktop computer-bound teen social sites run by media companies, like News Corp's MySpace, the world biggest soft drink maker said on Wednesday it was creating a cell-phone network under its Sprite brand where members can set up profiles, post pictures and meet new friends.
Coke, part of a growing group of advertisers putting ad campaigns on cell phones, will make the U.S. site available to Web-ready phones on June 22. It launched in China last week and is eyeing other markets in regions like Latin America.
"The Coca-Cola Company needs to continue to recruit future generations of consumers," said Mark Greatrex, senior vice president of marketing for Coca-Cola. "Mobile marketing is absolutely where it's at for us going forward." [more]
.
Add to del.icio.us
Coke, part of a growing group of advertisers putting ad campaigns on cell phones, will make the U.S. site available to Web-ready phones on June 22. It launched in China last week and is eyeing other markets in regions like Latin America.
"The Coca-Cola Company needs to continue to recruit future generations of consumers," said Mark Greatrex, senior vice president of marketing for Coca-Cola. "Mobile marketing is absolutely where it's at for us going forward." [more]
.
Add to del.icio.us
My research into Internet use in Cameroon in 2004 led me to predict that, if financial barriers could be overcome, mobile phones might be suited to the entrepreneurial expansion and development of small, local businesses in the area. This is because SMS text messaging could be a more effective alternative to the then prevalent use of small ads on the web. The problem appeared to be a lack of appropriate Internet access for conducting full-scale business online. Mobile phones appeared to present a viable solution if personal ownership could rise. I've just read that a Accra-based company, TradeNet, is pioneering an experimental text messaging-based service for local business development:
One such initiative is about to begin. TradeNet, a software company based in Accra, Ghana, will unveil a simple sort of eBay for agricultural products across a dozen countries in west Africa. It lets buyers and sellers indicate what they are after and their contact information, which is sent to all relevant subscribers as an SMS text message in one of four languages. Interested parties can then reach others directly to do a deal.
TradeNet is the brainchild of Mark Davies, a British dotcom tycoon who gave up the rat race and went to Africa in 2000. In 2005, he started the prototype for TradeNet using around $600,000 of his own money and about $200,000 from aid agencies. An early set of trials last year generated a plethora of trades, such as a sale of organic fertiliser between a person in Yemen and another in Nigeria.
Buy, cell, hold
A plan is afoot to create a pan-African market based on mobile phones
A plan is afoot to create a pan-African market based on mobile phones
THE technology revolution may be coming to poor countries via the mobile phone, not the personal computer, as it did in rich ones. And just as the internet encouraged an entrepreneurial ethos, and with it the creation of a few too many dotcom firms, Africa's surge in mobile-phone use may unleash the same sort of business energy, but tailored to local needs.
One such initiative is about to begin. TradeNet, a software company based in Accra, Ghana, will unveil a simple sort of eBay for agricultural products across a dozen countries in west Africa. It lets buyers and sellers indicate what they are after and their contact information, which is sent to all relevant subscribers as an SMS text message in one of four languages. Interested parties can then reach others directly to do a deal.
Listing offers is free, as is receiving the texts. TradeNet plans to earn revenue by putting advertisements in the messages, though it hopes the service will become so useful that recipients will eventually want to pay. For the moment, though, the company is busy signing up users and swallowing the cost of sending the messages.
Mobile-phone use in sub-Saharan Africa is soaring (see chart). Whereas only 10% of the population had network coverage in 1999, today more than 60% have it, a figure expected to exceed 85% in 2010, according to the GSM Association, an industry trade group. This provides the infrastructure for businesses like TradeNet to function.
TradeNet is the brainchild of Mark Davies, a British dotcom tycoon who gave up the rat race and went to Africa in 2000. In 2005, he started the prototype for TradeNet using around $600,000 of his own money and about $200,000 from aid agencies. An early set of trials last year generated a plethora of trades, such as a sale of organic fertiliser between a person in Yemen and another in Nigeria.
A number of other mobile-phone market-places taking shape also started as aid projects. For example, Trade at Hand, a project funded by the UN's International Trade Centre in Geneva, provides daily price information for fruit and vegetable exports in Burkina Faso and Mali, with plans to add more countries. And Manobi, a telecoms firmbased in Senegal, providing real-time agricultural and fish prices to fee-paying subscribers, is also backed by aid money. But TradeNet's approach is unique so far because it collects valuable economic data—names, locations, business interests and telephone numbers—and then sells them to advertisers. The price of economic development may be junk mail by mobile phone. [source]
Filed under:
3GSM,
Accra,
Africa,
anthropology,
connectivity,
development,
digital divide,
ethnography,
industry,
Internet,
mobile phones,
mobile technology,
TradeNet
YouTube.com co-founder Steve Chen has said that consumers in many areas of the world will be able to access videos from YouTube through mobile phones by next year. He made his comments to a group of enthusiastic Web users at a forum on Internet developments in Taipei. The Taiwan-born entrepreneur said he expected that clips between 30 and 60 seconds would attract commuters on subways or buses.
As for those who travel by train, clips of up to 10 minutes will be most popular to pass the time, he believes. He said that as technologies continue to develop at a rapid pace, web sites should keep up by offering richer content and greater mobility so users can access the content from almost anywhere.
Chen and his family emigrated to the United States from Taiwan when he was eight years old. In 2005, he setup the video-sharing website in San Mateo, Calif., with colleague Chad Hurley. The company, which was once run mainly out of a garage, sold to Google for $1.65 billion last year, and all because Chen and Hurley needed to find a way to get videos to each other that were too big for email. [source]
.
Add to del.icio.us
As for those who travel by train, clips of up to 10 minutes will be most popular to pass the time, he believes. He said that as technologies continue to develop at a rapid pace, web sites should keep up by offering richer content and greater mobility so users can access the content from almost anywhere.
Chen and his family emigrated to the United States from Taiwan when he was eight years old. In 2005, he setup the video-sharing website in San Mateo, Calif., with colleague Chad Hurley. The company, which was once run mainly out of a garage, sold to Google for $1.65 billion last year, and all because Chen and Hurley needed to find a way to get videos to each other that were too big for email. [source]
.
Add to del.icio.us
Filed under:
hyper-connectivity,
media,
mobile phones,
mobile technology,
modern,
TV,
video,
YouTube
I realize that this is extremely delayed due to my recent lapse in posts and the fleeting state of news in the blogosphere, but I feel that it is worth posting nonetheless. Google has launched its Street View option on Google Maps (US). I spent some time browsing the few available streets in my hometown and concluded that if I am ever in need of a street-level view of a particular building or square foot of pavement, it might come in useful. Over all, however, the novelty seemed to wear off quickly as I found the display increasingly choppy and I struggled to find something worth looking at. As a service, it would probably be better if it were integrated into Google Earth as a desktop application, rather than Google Maps as an online tool.
Of course, there are more critics of this new service than there were of governmental wire-tapping. A host of unethical and dangerous activities are quoted as possible threats to personal privacy and safety. I am undecided as to whether or not this is a good idea, because all good ideas can often be perverted into bad ideas. However, what does interest me is how this relates to the ever-increasing confusion over what constitutes "public" and "private" space. In many (if not all) countries around the world, new technologies - from mobile phones to satellite imagery - are changing the ways in which people interact with, and understand, spatial demarcations in everyday life.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
"There's a distinction between what Google has a legal right to do and what is the responsible thing to do," said Bankston, who believes the company should have blurred the images of unwitting pedestrians before it posted the street-level pictures. "It's a problem we as a society have to grapple with, and I think we are just now seeing the fault lines emerge." While he thinks some of the issues raised by Google's new service are prime fodder for a healthy debate, Weinstein worries that it might inspire overly repressive laws.
"It's a tough area, but it just seems there is no way around the fact that public spaces are public spaces," Weinstein said. "You don't want to create an environment where it becomes illegal to take photos in public. It can be riskier not to be able to see something than it is to be able to see something."
.
Add to del.icio.us
Of course, there are more critics of this new service than there were of governmental wire-tapping. A host of unethical and dangerous activities are quoted as possible threats to personal privacy and safety. I am undecided as to whether or not this is a good idea, because all good ideas can often be perverted into bad ideas. However, what does interest me is how this relates to the ever-increasing confusion over what constitutes "public" and "private" space. In many (if not all) countries around the world, new technologies - from mobile phones to satellite imagery - are changing the ways in which people interact with, and understand, spatial demarcations in everyday life.
Here's an excerpt from the article:
"There's a distinction between what Google has a legal right to do and what is the responsible thing to do," said Bankston, who believes the company should have blurred the images of unwitting pedestrians before it posted the street-level pictures. "It's a problem we as a society have to grapple with, and I think we are just now seeing the fault lines emerge." While he thinks some of the issues raised by Google's new service are prime fodder for a healthy debate, Weinstein worries that it might inspire overly repressive laws.
"It's a tough area, but it just seems there is no way around the fact that public spaces are public spaces," Weinstein said. "You don't want to create an environment where it becomes illegal to take photos in public. It can be riskier not to be able to see something than it is to be able to see something."
.
Add to del.icio.us
Filed under:
blogging,
change,
commercialization,
community,
computing,
Google,
hyper-connectivity,
maps,
mobile phones,
mobile technology,
private,
public,
satellite imagery,
street view,
USA,
wiretapping
Mobile phones could soon be powered by sugar
Scientists have developed a battery that can run from soft drinks. One of the first uses for the fuel-cell battery, powered by almost any type of sugar, could be as a portable mobile phone charger. The device would contain special cartridges filled with a sugar solution which could be replaced when they were empty.
Researchers at St Louis University in Missouri believe their idea could eventually replace lithium in batteries in many portable electronic applications, including computers. The biodegradable battery contains enzymes that convert fuel - in this case, from sugar - into electricity, leaving behind water as a main by-product. The team have used glucose, flat fizzy drinks, sweetened drink mixes and tree sap, but the best fuel source they have found so far is simple table sugar dissolved in water. The battery could be ready for consumers in three to five years, but the US military is interested in using it to charge equipment on battlefields. [source]
Of course, as soon as a positive, biodegradable solution to energy consumption is considered, the US military is planning its next war. Why charge mobile phones when you can blow up a village? Sugar-coated energy from the country that gave us "friendly fire".
.
Add to del.icio.us
Scientists have developed a battery that can run from soft drinks. One of the first uses for the fuel-cell battery, powered by almost any type of sugar, could be as a portable mobile phone charger. The device would contain special cartridges filled with a sugar solution which could be replaced when they were empty.
Researchers at St Louis University in Missouri believe their idea could eventually replace lithium in batteries in many portable electronic applications, including computers. The biodegradable battery contains enzymes that convert fuel - in this case, from sugar - into electricity, leaving behind water as a main by-product. The team have used glucose, flat fizzy drinks, sweetened drink mixes and tree sap, but the best fuel source they have found so far is simple table sugar dissolved in water. The battery could be ready for consumers in three to five years, but the US military is interested in using it to charge equipment on battlefields. [source]
Of course, as soon as a positive, biodegradable solution to energy consumption is considered, the US military is planning its next war. Why charge mobile phones when you can blow up a village? Sugar-coated energy from the country that gave us "friendly fire".
.
Add to del.icio.us
Filed under:
batteries,
biodegradable,
consumption,
eco-friendly,
energy,
glucose,
mobile phones,
power,
sugar,
US military
The following is a summary of a recent BBC article regarding the hyper-connectivity of mobile devices and their relationship to a new generation of Internet content. It makes a few interesting assumptions regarding social changes in light of advances in mobile connectivity. As has already been discussed here, the ubiquity of social networking sites, blogs, file-sharing, and mobile phones, has led to a somewhat predictable outcome: an ever-intensifying desire among many users to know - and, more importantly, to announce - every minute detail of their own and others' lives. This has apparently spawned the term "lifecasting", which, I suppose, is quite appropriate, but suggests a rather warped definition of 'life'.
The new services allow users to produce web-based content from their mobile phones 'on the go' which can then be distributed via existing social networks to virtually anyone, in real time or in archive form. It is important to reiterate, however, that the sites are very likely to be (co-)dependent upon several existing services as much as they might stand on their own. For example, while Twitter is somewhat conceptually self-sufficient, it depends on mobile phone users with mobile phone contracts and services. Furthermore, one's network of Twitterers (?) is likely to overlap with MySpace contacts, Facebook friends, etc. Thus, the interest in these sites at all (with the acceptance that any one can be a fleeting fad) is their interconnectivity.
Speaking of connectivity, then, the article suggests two things: that hyper-connectivity - the facility and ability to be 'connected' all the time, and, presumably, actually making use of this connection - will be a pre-requisite for life in the near future. Secondly, this hyper-connectivity has given rise to two behavioral changes: hyper-honesty and egotism. In short, a hyper-connected individual has no qualms about publicly sharing the most intimate, minute-by-minute details of their lives, when, and only when, they choose to do so. They will likewise only contribute or respond to others' information when it is suitable to their schedules or desires, without any expectations otherwise.
If this is true, it suggests that there is a behavioral trend towards individualization of one's expectations as a social being, which, of course, questions the concept of sociality as a whole. As I am fond of pointing out, this is not such a unique phenomenon since the arrival of the mass consumer Internet in the 1990s. Take emails, for instance. It is very easy to receive an email and neglect to reply to its sender due to the nature of its content (emails can be short and fleeting) or the nature of its form (even longer, detailed emails can be lost in the inbox, never to receive a reply). Gone are the days when every carefully crafted 'letter' was returned with at least an acknowledgement. Conventions of writing and typical courtesies of response are no longer upheld because 'it takes too long'. Presumably, this was also found to be the case when long, hand-written letters were phased out by short, regular telephone calls.
Finally, hyper-'honesty' seems like the wrong word to use, as that implies an assessment of truth. Instead, it can be said that ubiquituous connectivity can make people more 'open' or willing to share personal information. Does any of this actually make people (we're talking about human beings, remember?) more honest or egotistical than usual? Or are they (we) just becoming more readily exposed?
Hyper-connected generation rises
Internet services such as Twitter, Jaiku and Kyte TV are giving rise to a "hyper-connected" generation. An increasing number of applications has been launched that take advantage of "always on" connections, either over the net or on mobile devices. Users are not just sending texts and e-mails, but are "lifecasting" words and video 24 hours a day.
"It's a lifestream of your activities - both in the real world and online," said Jaiku's Jyri Engestrom. "We are seeing the logical continuation of a trend, with services like MySpace, Bebo and Facebook, " he added. Unlike e-mail or a basic SMS message, hyper-connected services are not just one-to-one; messages are "one-to-many", broadcasting via the web, on multiple sites, and on mobile devices as a form of mini-blog. Minute-by-minute accounts of your life and even live video can be posted inside social networks such as MySpace and Bebo, or experienced via a mobile phone.
"In five years time being hyper connected will become a necessity to be an active participant in the social world" ... Jyri Engestrom, Jaiku. "It's an ambient, not a disruptive service," explained Mr Engestrom. "You can follow the lives of your friends when and how you want - either via your phone, your Jaikiu page or via their blogs and websites."
...
"The webcam era was limited to people sitting at computers or in their room. By having wi-fi and 3G connections, people can broadcast anywhere to anyone." Mr Engestrom said the hyper-connected had given rise to the hyper-honest. "This new generation is much more comfortable with openness and honesty. The young generation are happy to share their lives publicly. He added: "Being-hyper connected will become a precondition for citizenship. "In the same way mobiles are a necessity, in five years time being hyper-connected will become a necessity to be an active participant in the social world."
[source]
Add to del.icio.us
The new services allow users to produce web-based content from their mobile phones 'on the go' which can then be distributed via existing social networks to virtually anyone, in real time or in archive form. It is important to reiterate, however, that the sites are very likely to be (co-)dependent upon several existing services as much as they might stand on their own. For example, while Twitter is somewhat conceptually self-sufficient, it depends on mobile phone users with mobile phone contracts and services. Furthermore, one's network of Twitterers (?) is likely to overlap with MySpace contacts, Facebook friends, etc. Thus, the interest in these sites at all (with the acceptance that any one can be a fleeting fad) is their interconnectivity.
Speaking of connectivity, then, the article suggests two things: that hyper-connectivity - the facility and ability to be 'connected' all the time, and, presumably, actually making use of this connection - will be a pre-requisite for life in the near future. Secondly, this hyper-connectivity has given rise to two behavioral changes: hyper-honesty and egotism. In short, a hyper-connected individual has no qualms about publicly sharing the most intimate, minute-by-minute details of their lives, when, and only when, they choose to do so. They will likewise only contribute or respond to others' information when it is suitable to their schedules or desires, without any expectations otherwise.
If this is true, it suggests that there is a behavioral trend towards individualization of one's expectations as a social being, which, of course, questions the concept of sociality as a whole. As I am fond of pointing out, this is not such a unique phenomenon since the arrival of the mass consumer Internet in the 1990s. Take emails, for instance. It is very easy to receive an email and neglect to reply to its sender due to the nature of its content (emails can be short and fleeting) or the nature of its form (even longer, detailed emails can be lost in the inbox, never to receive a reply). Gone are the days when every carefully crafted 'letter' was returned with at least an acknowledgement. Conventions of writing and typical courtesies of response are no longer upheld because 'it takes too long'. Presumably, this was also found to be the case when long, hand-written letters were phased out by short, regular telephone calls.
Finally, hyper-'honesty' seems like the wrong word to use, as that implies an assessment of truth. Instead, it can be said that ubiquituous connectivity can make people more 'open' or willing to share personal information. Does any of this actually make people (we're talking about human beings, remember?) more honest or egotistical than usual? Or are they (we) just becoming more readily exposed?
Hyper-connected generation rises
Internet services such as Twitter, Jaiku and Kyte TV are giving rise to a "hyper-connected" generation. An increasing number of applications has been launched that take advantage of "always on" connections, either over the net or on mobile devices. Users are not just sending texts and e-mails, but are "lifecasting" words and video 24 hours a day.
"It's a lifestream of your activities - both in the real world and online," said Jaiku's Jyri Engestrom. "We are seeing the logical continuation of a trend, with services like MySpace, Bebo and Facebook, " he added. Unlike e-mail or a basic SMS message, hyper-connected services are not just one-to-one; messages are "one-to-many", broadcasting via the web, on multiple sites, and on mobile devices as a form of mini-blog. Minute-by-minute accounts of your life and even live video can be posted inside social networks such as MySpace and Bebo, or experienced via a mobile phone.
"In five years time being hyper connected will become a necessity to be an active participant in the social world" ... Jyri Engestrom, Jaiku. "It's an ambient, not a disruptive service," explained Mr Engestrom. "You can follow the lives of your friends when and how you want - either via your phone, your Jaikiu page or via their blogs and websites."
...
"The webcam era was limited to people sitting at computers or in their room. By having wi-fi and 3G connections, people can broadcast anywhere to anyone." Mr Engestrom said the hyper-connected had given rise to the hyper-honest. "This new generation is much more comfortable with openness and honesty. The young generation are happy to share their lives publicly. He added: "Being-hyper connected will become a precondition for citizenship. "In the same way mobiles are a necessity, in five years time being hyper-connected will become a necessity to be an active participant in the social world."
[source]
Add to del.icio.us
Filed under:
anthropology,
blogs,
connectivity,
egotism,
honesty,
hyper-connectivity,
interactivity,
Jaiku,
Kyte TV,
life,
Lifecasting,
mobile phones,
technology,
Twitter,
UGC
NTT DoCoMo to launch motion sensing mobile phones
Japanese mobile service provider NTT DoCoMo has announced that they would soon launch mobile phone products with motion sensing technology. These 904i-series of phones would work like the Nintendo Wii’s Wiimote and users would be able to interact with games by moving the phones. Takeshi Natsuno, senior vice president of NTT DoCoMo and managing director of its multimedia services department spoke on these new generation of mobile phones: “Traditionally in trains youngsters would be staring down at their phones playing games but that is going to change dramatically.”
All of these upcoming phones would be based on the WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) 3G technology. And these are going to be available in stores by May and June in Japan. These phones are being manufactured for NTT DoCoMo by Mitsubishi Electric Co. Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) and Sharp Corp. Natsuno added on their plans for their domestic market: “DoCoMo is going to take the offensive. We are going to offer various things that cannot be mimicked by the other operators.” NTT DoCoMo also announced their plans to launch a music subscription service in partnership with Napster. Users would be able to download and listen to music available on the Napster Japanese service. [source]
Consider this a public service announcement.
UPDATE: Another article on this topic.
Add to del.icio.us
Japanese mobile service provider NTT DoCoMo has announced that they would soon launch mobile phone products with motion sensing technology. These 904i-series of phones would work like the Nintendo Wii’s Wiimote and users would be able to interact with games by moving the phones. Takeshi Natsuno, senior vice president of NTT DoCoMo and managing director of its multimedia services department spoke on these new generation of mobile phones: “Traditionally in trains youngsters would be staring down at their phones playing games but that is going to change dramatically.”
All of these upcoming phones would be based on the WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) 3G technology. And these are going to be available in stores by May and June in Japan. These phones are being manufactured for NTT DoCoMo by Mitsubishi Electric Co. Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) and Sharp Corp. Natsuno added on their plans for their domestic market: “DoCoMo is going to take the offensive. We are going to offer various things that cannot be mimicked by the other operators.” NTT DoCoMo also announced their plans to launch a music subscription service in partnership with Napster. Users would be able to download and listen to music available on the Napster Japanese service. [source]
Consider this a public service announcement.
UPDATE: Another article on this topic.
Add to del.icio.us
Filed under:
3GSM,
DoCoMo,
gaming,
Japan,
mobile phones,
mobile technology,
Napster,
Nintendo,
WCDMA,
Wii
Everyone - especially those who are in any way associated with universities and academia - will be thinking about the recent events at Virginia Tech. I found this article useful in revealing the varied reactions of students, classmates and others to such a tragedy. It is interesting how blogs become a source of news, a means of communication, a symbol of friendship and a tactic for profit all at the same time. A sign of the times?
BLACKSBURG, United States (AFP) - Until Monday, when a gunman shot dead at least 30 Virginia Tech students and professors, Bryce's Journal on the blogosphere was all pictures of friends and fun. The latest chilling entry, dated Tuesday, April 17 at 8:35 am, says: "The list has begun. I read it and reread it, double-checking each name on Facebook to see if I could recognize any of them. I probably have seen them in a class, in a dining hall, crossing campus -- I saw the German teacher and immediately and desperately looked up a friend who is taking German class as my eyes began to water in anticipation. She was all right." "Rest in peace," reads LJ blog before going on to list the names of the dead.
As soon as news of the massacre broke, students turned to the web to communicate and journalists flocked to their weblogs in search of eyewitness accounts and cellphone and video reports. The medium too enabled The New York Times to point readers to its The Lede blog for quick updates while CNN ran amateur photos and videos from I-Reports, its recently launched citizen journalism initiative. Fox News ran user-generated photos and video reports while the local newspaper The Roanoke Times ran constantly updated online news items from hospitals, police, university officials and the students themselves.
"I never imagined that this is the way Virginia Tech would likely go down in history," said a former student and current MSNBC correspondent on the television network's website in an article titled "Not At My Alma Mater." The university itself, under the title "Tragedy at Virginia Tech," updated its page every few minutes, canceling classes for the week and at 9:15 am Tuesday identifying the South Korean gunman responsible for the Norris Hall fatalities -- Cho Seung-Hui, 23. In film shot with a cellphone by Jamal Albarghouti, a student near the hall at the time of the massacre, the sound of around 20 gunshots can be clearly heard in the 70 seconds of blurred images and sound.
Speculators eager to grab cash after the killings snatched up Internet domain names that could be searched for information about the shootings, The Roanoke Times reported. One man registered the killer's name, chosenghui.com, and was offering it for one million dollars, as well as offering vtmurders.com and vtmurders.info for 250,000 dollars each, the newspaper said.
Surfing across the blogosphere, BickLickU shows footage of students deserting both the campus and the town itself, while collegiatetimes.com offers students countrywide information on their friends and a guest book to the dead titled "Be Still." LiveJournal user Paul recounts how his friend was hit by a bullet to the hand, but on Tuesday asked reporters not to use his latest accounts. "There are way too many emotions flying around at this point." A day earlier, underlining the tension as the drama unfolded, he wrote: "Because of what's transpiring, my phone cannot connect to the network, it's constantly busy."
In a likewise eerie reminder of the events that took place, Bryce's Journal reported shortly before noon on Monday: "Safe and rather scared. My friends and I got out of class at about 9:50. Walked across campus. The wind blew with flurries about. Sirens were in the distance and I saw an undercover cop car go about 80 (miles per hour) down one of the drives. That was odd. In front one of the dorms, West AJ, were several police cars, lights off and parked. We started talking about how there are always situations that cops rush across campus for and we never hear about. Then several people walked by and told us there was a shooting and campus was closed. No one is allowed to cross the drillfield. Hmm. We went ahead to eat some food as cops were stationed in front, checking ID for everyone. I walked with my friend to his dorm to get his stuff as an omniscient announcement echoed across campus: 'This is an emergency. This is an emergency. Take shelter indoors immediately. Stay away from windows and remain inside.''' [source]
Add to del.icio.us
BLACKSBURG, United States (AFP) - Until Monday, when a gunman shot dead at least 30 Virginia Tech students and professors, Bryce's Journal on the blogosphere was all pictures of friends and fun. The latest chilling entry, dated Tuesday, April 17 at 8:35 am, says: "The list has begun. I read it and reread it, double-checking each name on Facebook to see if I could recognize any of them. I probably have seen them in a class, in a dining hall, crossing campus -- I saw the German teacher and immediately and desperately looked up a friend who is taking German class as my eyes began to water in anticipation. She was all right." "Rest in peace," reads LJ blog before going on to list the names of the dead.
As soon as news of the massacre broke, students turned to the web to communicate and journalists flocked to their weblogs in search of eyewitness accounts and cellphone and video reports. The medium too enabled The New York Times to point readers to its The Lede blog for quick updates while CNN ran amateur photos and videos from I-Reports, its recently launched citizen journalism initiative. Fox News ran user-generated photos and video reports while the local newspaper The Roanoke Times ran constantly updated online news items from hospitals, police, university officials and the students themselves.
"I never imagined that this is the way Virginia Tech would likely go down in history," said a former student and current MSNBC correspondent on the television network's website in an article titled "Not At My Alma Mater." The university itself, under the title "Tragedy at Virginia Tech," updated its page every few minutes, canceling classes for the week and at 9:15 am Tuesday identifying the South Korean gunman responsible for the Norris Hall fatalities -- Cho Seung-Hui, 23. In film shot with a cellphone by Jamal Albarghouti, a student near the hall at the time of the massacre, the sound of around 20 gunshots can be clearly heard in the 70 seconds of blurred images and sound.
Speculators eager to grab cash after the killings snatched up Internet domain names that could be searched for information about the shootings, The Roanoke Times reported. One man registered the killer's name, chosenghui.com, and was offering it for one million dollars, as well as offering vtmurders.com and vtmurders.info for 250,000 dollars each, the newspaper said.
Surfing across the blogosphere, BickLickU shows footage of students deserting both the campus and the town itself, while collegiatetimes.com offers students countrywide information on their friends and a guest book to the dead titled "Be Still." LiveJournal user Paul recounts how his friend was hit by a bullet to the hand, but on Tuesday asked reporters not to use his latest accounts. "There are way too many emotions flying around at this point." A day earlier, underlining the tension as the drama unfolded, he wrote: "Because of what's transpiring, my phone cannot connect to the network, it's constantly busy."
In a likewise eerie reminder of the events that took place, Bryce's Journal reported shortly before noon on Monday: "Safe and rather scared. My friends and I got out of class at about 9:50. Walked across campus. The wind blew with flurries about. Sirens were in the distance and I saw an undercover cop car go about 80 (miles per hour) down one of the drives. That was odd. In front one of the dorms, West AJ, were several police cars, lights off and parked. We started talking about how there are always situations that cops rush across campus for and we never hear about. Then several people walked by and told us there was a shooting and campus was closed. No one is allowed to cross the drillfield. Hmm. We went ahead to eat some food as cops were stationed in front, checking ID for everyone. I walked with my friend to his dorm to get his stuff as an omniscient announcement echoed across campus: 'This is an emergency. This is an emergency. Take shelter indoors immediately. Stay away from windows and remain inside.''' [source]
Add to del.icio.us
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
