Apple is creating the future again with its partnership with Starbucks. What’s great is how the two can so easily support each other given the way they are organized. The basic problem they are solving is “How can you optimize drinks reaching people within a confined space (store/venue/booth)?”.

Apple can reach people with iPhones or iPodTouches via their infrastructure. They have the software (iTunes), the hardware (iPhones) and payment system (iTunes) and now partnership with a physical location and service provider(Starbucks).

Of course being one of the dudes behind the roomware project and although loving Apple for making great stuff, their remains that niggling question of whether this whole infrastructure could be more open? Could you do the same using Roomware Project code? Well perhaps. Certainly you need the right service providing partner who is willing to experiment. .

How this could happen? You need to be able to: receive the menu, need a mobile device that is the interface for making choices and send/receiving data, it would be nice if you could do payments automatically as money transactions are a big time hole, although not mandatory. You then need a partner willing to try this out. This is just a sketch, but it sure would be nice to get into a faster lane like we see in Starbucks (if you have an iPhone) or as happens when traveling and having a pre-printed boarding pass, stepping straight through customs.

So what do you think? Is this kind of problem something easily solved using our open source software (or that of other OS software providers) or are the hurdles just too high?

Check out some of the other quality releases by Jonas too, this guy is on a roll.

“Wireless tracking systems could be used to protect patients in hospitals and students on campuses, backers of the technology said.

The combination of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and wi-fi allows real-time tracking of objects or people inside a wireless network.

Angelo Lamme, from Motorola, said tracking students on a campus could help during a fire or an emergency.

“You would know where your people are at any given moment,” he said.

Marcus Birkl, head of wireless at Siemens, said location tracking of assets or people was one of the biggest incentives for companies, hospitals and education institutions to roll out wi-fi networks.

Both firms were at The Wireless Event, in London, this week selling new products in the area of so-called real-time location services.

Siemens is pushing a complete system, developed with Finnish firm Ekahau, which can track objects or people.

Battery powered

Battery-powered RFID tags are placed on an asset and they communicate with at least three wireless access points inside the network to triangulate a location.

There needs to be standards put in place so the data is not abused for other purposes
Marcus Birkl, head of wireless at Siemens

Mr Birkl said: “The tags have a piece of software on them and they detect the signal strength of different access points.

“This information is sent back to the server and it then models the movement of the tag depending on the shift in signal strength detected.”

For the system to work, the building or area that has been deployed with a wireless network needs to have been mapped and calibrated.

To effectively locate objects a wireless access point is needed every 30 metres and Siemens said it was able to pinpoint assets to within a metre of their actual position.

Mr Birkl said: “It’s very useful for the health care industry – where there are highly expensive pieces of mobile equipment that move around a hospital.

“At every point in the day health staff need to know where it is.”

The system can also be used to track wi-fi equipped devices, such as laptops, tablet PCs and wi-fi enabled phones.

“You can record movements over a period of time. You can see if the security guard in the night makes the right rounds, for example,” said Mr Birkl.

He added: “You can set certain boundaries and parameters. If a certain device enters or leaves an area it could trigger an alarm.”

‘More popular’

As wi-fi becomes more popular in schools, the technology could also be used to track students.

Hospital patient
RFID tags could track patients and equipment

“It has to be aligned with the understanding of the people who are tracked,” said Mr Birkl.

There have been privacy concerns expressed in some quarters about RFID tags, especially around the possible use of tags on shopping goods to monitor consumer spending habits.

RFID supporters have pointed out that the tags cannot be read at a great distance, but combining the technology with wi-fi raises the possibility of remote tracking.

Tags on products are typically passive – they have no power source and are only activated when read by a scanner in close proximity. These tags contain only an identifying number and can be small enough to embed in a sheet of paper.

But the tags used in conjunction with a wi-fi network have to be active – they need a power source and have software installed on them that communicates with the wireless access points.

The tags, therefore, are larger in size, and currently are impractical for use on anything other than high value consumer goods or, potentially, on people.

“There needs to be standards put in place so the data is not abused for other purposes,” said Mr Birkl.

He added: “But there are clear benefits to keeping people safe.”

More than half of respondents to a recent pan-Europe consultation on RFID said regulations were needed to police the use of tags.”

via bbcnews

Nice overview on Read/Write Web of Mobile 2.0 space, and interesting to see many of the new players.

“On the eve of Le Web 3 in Paris – and one month after the Web 2.0 Summit concluded – it seems like an appropriate time to explore the world of the mobile Web, a.k.a. mobile 2.0. There has been a lot of discussion lately on this topic, a good deal of it inspired by the mobile 2.0 event – a one-day event held on 6 November 2006, organized by Daniel Appelquist and Mike Rowehl.
Carriers and Mobile Operators are taking notice…

In the closing session about carriers and operators at the Under The Radar: Mobility Conference on 16 November 2006, I heard an Executive Director from Verizon Wireless using the term “Mobile 2.0″. Also Orange (France Telecom) is sponsoring one of the biggest web 2.0 related conferences in Europe, Le Web 3 in Paris. The fact that carriers/operators are now linking their brand name to web 2.0/mobile 2.0 related content and conferences, shows that progress is being made. Web 2.0 inspired projects going mobile and/or mobile 2.0 projects have been considered as things to avoid for carriers/operators up till now, since they are disruptive to their current business models.

So does this mean, with the carriers/operators entering the space now, that mobile 2.0 is finally taking off?

Definitely in Europe. What the Web 2.0 Summit completely ignored is being picked up by Le Web 3 conference organizer Loïc Le Meur, who is including a panel on Mobility 2.0. It’s being run by Charlie Schick from Nokia and Marko Ahtisaari from Blyk (the 1st pan-European free mobile operator). Another panel features Jyri Engeström from Jaiku.com and Felix Petersen from Plazes.
What is Mobile 2.0?

It’s absolutely necessary that more connections are made between the players in the web 2.0 sphere (a.k.a. next generation web apps & services) and what some Mobilists are calling mobile 2.0. What we mean by ‘mobile 2.0′ is another (r)evolution, already started, that will dramatically change the web and the mobility landscape that we currently know. The idea is that the mobile web will become the dominant access method in many countries of the world, with devices that become more hybrid and networks that become more powerful – everywhere in the next decade to come.

The rapid penetration of Wireless Broadband Access (WBA) technologies such as 3G/UMTS, the migration of traditional telecom networks to internet technology, the availability of affordable and functional Wi-Fi and dual mode Wi-Fi/mobile phones… will all boost VoIP over broadband internet and ultimately blur the distinction between fixed and mobile services, since both become wireless and IP based.

I often ask myself the question of whether it’ll be easier for web 2.0 apps to go mobile, or easier to create a mobile-specific web app or a service that can be easily connected with a web service? The answer is of course that both have a good chance to become even more important aspects of tomorrow’s Web than they are now. Why? Well Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, put it very well in a Financial Times article in May this year (subscription only):

“Mobile phones are cheaper than PCs, there are three times more of them, growing at twice the speed, and they increasingly have Internet access. What is more, the World Bank estimates that more than two-thirds of the world’s population lives within range of a mobile phone network. Mobile is going to be the next big Internet phenomenon. It holds the key to greater access for everyone – with all the benefits that entails.”

Obstacles to overcome

Increasingly we assume that our PC is always connected, however the mobile device cannot yet guarantee such ‘always on’ connectivity – because the mobile network doesn’t work the same way. This might be one of the few hurdles left to overcome for mobile 2.0 apps and services going mass market.

Non-carrier projects like Google Wi-Fi and FON aim to make cities completely Wi-Fi accessible. From personal experience I can tell you that people are going to use these alternative options to connect to the internet, once it’s available on their mobile devices.

Mobilist blogger Enrique C. Ortiz sees another hindrance (and I think he’s right): the lack of open standards and tools to build your own mobile 2.0 applications. He says:

“Web 2.0 is based on user intelligence instead of technologies, i.e. by giving users smart tools that enable them to apply human semantics to information provided, you get a more intelligent web. This can only be done in a massive (thus useful) way with open standards and protocols that are inclusive and inviting to everyone. Now, as I see it, this ‘open-source’ story is an aspect seriously lacking from mobile platforms.”

Carriers/operators need to cover their investments and so they want to be compensated by any 3rd party using their network. This is fair enough, but the fact is that operators are losing more and more control over mobile devices – because these devices can communicate with other devices over Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wimax, NFC, etc. That is, more options are becoming available for mobile users to access the web over networks other than the closed networks of the operators.
Internet players entering the market

Another important thing happening is that handset manufacturers like Nokia, Motorola and Sony-Ericsson (to name the most important) are getting the company of new players like Apple (iPod), Microsoft (Zune) and other device companies, which are entering the mobility space and connecting the physical and the virtual worlds through the mobile. Not forgetting Google’s possible strategy of offering free phones.

If you have had the opportunity to experience the latest Nokia NSeries phones, you have gotten close to understanding what mobile 2.0 is all about. It’s about connecting your phone through Wi-Fi networks to browse the latest innovative, mobile accessible web 2.0 services. For example downloading your favourite podcasts, reading your RSS feeds, doing a one-click image upload to Flickr (nicely tagged with ShoZu), consulting the location map while on the road, tagging your streamed video’s, etc.
Mobile Startups

There’s definitely a lot of movement around on the mobile start-up front. Besides Yahoo with Flickr and Google with YouTube going mobile, there are some very interesting start-up companies resolutely going mobile. Many of them are building easy-to-use mobile web apps and services. Here’s a starter for ten to check out (too many to link to, but just google them!):

* BluePulse
* ComVu
* Funambol
* Gizmo
* Loopt
* JuiceCaster
* Mobo
* Mystrands
* Plazes
* Plusmo
* Sharpcast
* SlingMedia
* Shozu
* SoonR
* TalkPlus
* Widsets
* Winksite
* … and many others.

“CTO Tero Ojanperä gave a refreshing closing keynote at Nokia World. He has a fun presentation style and there were lots of concrete examples. Here are my notes.

The Nokia World conference day in 2010 according to Tero:
- Wake up to your favorite MP3
- Check your favorite feeds
- Navigate to the conference
- Capture HDTV video on your phone
- Device finds your nearest coffee machine, order it using your phone

The key trends:
- Converged devices go mainstream
- Wireless broadband becomes universal
- Innovation proliferates
- Mobility transforms the internet
- Context is king

“Converged devices with open OS” will outsell laptops in 2007. They’ll replace the whole installed base of the PC market in 5 years. This will be a big change in how you access the internet.

* Media: Indexed, follows user. 100+hrs of music, 3D cinema surround
* Camera: mainstream products have 5MP, lead products 10MP & HDTV
* Display: mainstream products QVGA, DVD-quality video mainstream. Lead products: VGA, 3D console graphics, projection(!)
Storage: mainstream products: 8GB, leading products: 50-100 GB

Network:
2006 GSM/WCGM capacity doubles, 2007 I-HSPA: cost vanishes, flat architecture, halverd network CAPEX
2008 HSUPA.
…

Innovations in the pipeline:
- Graphical notebook allows people who can’t read to use the phone
- Flashlight
- Speaking clock
- Location and context based services and content
- Mobile / Internet TV, podcasting
- NFC ticketing, payments & service discovery
- Wibree connects low-power devices

Mobility transforms the Internet
- 1st wave was about eliminating the middlemen
- 2nd wave was about communities and user-generated content. This is Web 2.0
- 3rd wave will take the Internet from the PC scale, which is in the millions, to mobile scale, which is in the billions. Mobility will fundamentally change the Internet. It’ll be a completely new experience. It’s happening today as we speak. If you’re skeptical, consider some examples:
* we’ve turned the mobile phone into an Internet server (open source)
* the mobile browser is turning into a developer platform. This will allow Web services, mash-ups, widgets
* Integrated mobile UI

Smart technologies adapt to me and my context
- Smart spaces: Web of things, wireless mash-ups, digital me in a virtual home/office
- Smart senses: Motion sensors, haptics, multi-sensory telepresence, context automatics, invisible computing
- Smart sharing: Blogs & buddies, metadata, content search / match, memory /language/story prosthesis

Sensors: “We call it the 6th sense. It’s going to happen in the next 3 years”
Storage: The device is going to act as your memory prosthesis. It’ll remember all the things you did: things you saw, calls you made, who you met. Easy search & retrieval will be key.”

via Jyri Zengstrom

Commercial

• NeighborNodes∞
• NokiaSensor∞
• PartyStrands∞
• A project in Utrecht∞ where people can send photos to a big outdoor screen
• more shotcode/semacode clones∞
• Location aware mobile social networking: Kakiloc∞, and blog∞ (cool tech, the name sucks though)
• Fujitsu creates an invisible bar code∞
• Paraplay∞ – A party in Paradiso where the playlist is aggregated itunes songs (via Patrick∞
• Order drinks via sms∞
• Home Automation∞ (you need a NYTimes free subscription),
• Smart Labs’ Home (INSTEON)lighting-control system∞ and the important software∞ that won awards that goes with it
• Home Automation site∞ which makes me reexamine what the correct definition(if there is one) for roomware is?
• Echelon∞ – a developer of control networks, which connect machines and other electronic devices; embedded control networks, which are networks inside machines that connect tiny sensors and actuators that comprise the workings of a machine, and smart metering, a next-generation utility infrastructure for automated metering and other utility services. (not to be confused with this Echelon∞
• Blue-tooth powered personal speakers∞ – press play on music in your phone and listen through speakers…boom in personal wireless devices
• RFID doorkey∞, NEDAP (de stemcomputer dude) makes RFID keys for home nurses too.
• Wiffiti∞: A service that enables people to send text messages to large flat panel displays in venues such as cafes, bars and clubs. Messages sent to Wiffiti screens are also visible on the service’s website, encouraging people to text from anywhere and then watch responses from across the US, if not the world.
• MuseumN8 Bluepoints∞, mobile tourguides using a mobile app and bluetooth points.

Open or Non-profit

• open source blue∞tooth messenging system (the server on sourceforge∞)
• SemaPedia∞
• NetNiet.org Draadloos Festival 2006∞
• Playing Flickr∞, in Mediamatic
• RFID implant∞
• http://www.attentionplease.co.uk/∞ – Measuring ‘Attention’ in the gallery space with video and RFID
• The aim for Software Defined Radio (SDR) is to be able to translate and understand any kind of radio wave signal, such as 3G or wi-fi.∞
• Hey U∞- open source protocol to control lighting/security/sensors via electricity cabling hooked up to x10 interface
• TEAHA∞ (The European Application Home Alliance) – Open standard for electronic home. “Specification of an open and secure framework for seamless interoperability in a global European home platform.”
• Hans Scholten’s research∞on integrating home appliances into one coherent distributed architecture. He wants “to design, build and evaluate one common integrated network for entertainment, control and information, that supports both realtime and non-realtime traffic with a high degree of robustness, and to research the use of resource-lean embedded systems, so that even inexpensive small appliances can be integrated in the system. Efficient service discovery is an important aspect of this objective.”
• Home Gateway Initiative∞- an open forum launched by Telcos in December 2004 with the aim to release specifications of the home gateway.In addition to Telcos several manufacturers have joined the alliance. * Providing a remote management service for the home gateway & the devices beyond,
  * Allowing the right device or application to connect to the right service platform with the right service class / Quality of Service,
  * Recognizing and potentially uniting devices capabilities
  * Playing a role in the local network to federate device capabilities and offer customers a better “integrated home environment”. (how open is this initiative really? i see a lot of potential politics here)
• control colored lights on outside of a building∞ via calling from your mobile phone

Conceptual

• Environment XML∞ -proposes a kind of “RSS feed” for tagged environmental data. – open source
• Open Source Architecture∞ -a combination of static ‘hardware’ and dynamic ’software’. Pushing the analogy further, architecture could be considered an ‘operating system’ within which people write their own programmes for spatial interaction. One model of operating system that is pa

rticularly relevant to architecture (since the design of space is always collaborative) is an open source system.

Government

• Fingerprint security∞ at the doors of pubs and clubs in major English cities (via Marek)