The Purple Tiger

Monday, October 13, 2008

Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Sociometric Badge (also known as the Smart Badge) has been developed by researchers at MIT. Its aim is to facilitate networking at corporate and academic events. Instead of the traditional exchange of business cards, which can often get misplaced (or a burden if one gathers too many), the Smart Badge automatically gathers information on interactions in real time. The badges recognize each other with IR based on the face-to-face interaction of their users. The information is then transmitted via a 2.4 GHz radio to a central badge that is connected to a computer via USB. The computer then creates a database of the interactions recorded. One of the effects that the MIT researchers working on the project hope to achieve is the discouragement of people who go to corporate events and end up talking only to the people from their company. This will encourage greater interaction amongst people from different businesses, as people will now be able to concretely see their own interaction patterns. The badges also analyse proximity and voice data, to determine patters within specific interactions (who’s leading the discussions, etc.). Also, an accelerometer detects if certain people are more prone to moving around frantically in a conference. The Sociometric Badge is currently safe in its position in that it doesn’t face a lot of threat of new entry into the field. Its first ever field testing was at a Tokyo conference on January 17^th of this year. However, a similar product, also developed by an MIT company, the nTag, has been on the market for over five years, and has seen no competition enter. The nTag is inferior in that it doesn’t use voice and proximity data. There is currently no word of other companies seeking to enter the market with similar products. Also, the main technologies that the Smart Badge uses are IR and GUESS (a graph exploration system). The bargaining power of the suppliers is very low. IR is by no means a new technology and the MIT researchers have plenty of firms to choose from. The GUESS system is relatively new, but is a free software with wiki components. It is distributed under a GPL licence. By combining an old technology with a free new one, the researchers at MIT have been able to keep their product costs low, allowing them to be competitive as they try and push the Sociometric Badge into the business-oriented market.

Social Networking Before and After

Sources Used:

http://www.iq.harvard.edu/blog/netgov/technology/

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20129/

http://mobblog.cs.ucl.ac.uk/2007/05/04/44/

http://graphexploration.cond.org/

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Jott

Jott is a free service that allows one, in effect, to dictate a text message or e-mail from one's phone. After the user sets up an account on www.jott.com, the user calls a toll-free number [(866) JOTT 123], and is then prompted on for whom the message is intended. Then, the user can dictate a message up to 30 seconds long. Both the voice version and the transcript are sent to either a destination e-mail address or phone number (as an e-mail or text message, respectively). Additionally, Jott allows users to create folders of messages and contacts as well as send messages directly to websites. This feature allows a person to blog on the go. The messages are stored on central servers and transcribed by workers in India. This helps deal with complicated vocabulary and white noise. The messages take about 10 minutes to reach their destination. The obvious appeal of the service is to people who frequently find themselves in situations where they cannot conveniently write a message. Aside from the easy convenience of not having to carry a notebook or text storing device, the advertisements on the site seem to show a direct focus on people who are constantly in their cars driving and wish to avoid the dangers of texting while driving. Currently, the strongest force that Jott feels is the strong threat of substitute products and services. Braincast, by ViaTalk, works similarly, but sends solely the text message. Another company, Pinger sends users a text message with a link to the audio file. SpinVox converts voicemail into text and sends them to e-mail inbox, TV screen, blog, amongst others. A similar service is offered at a rate of $9.99 per 40 voicemails by SimulScribe. Most of these companies choose to keep their basic service free while building their clientele and customer loyalty and then introduce a “premium” service for a fee. This is in part a representation of the strong bargaining power of buyers. None of these companies have secured exclusive contracts with carriers, giving cell phone users open choice between the services. A user simply has to sign up on the website and create an account. IT has allowed this to be a relatively hassle-free process. Therefore, no company has an incentive to unilaterally start charging for the basic service, due simply to the ease at which consumers can switch. This breeds a strong sense of competition in innovation and it will force this emerging technology to push forward at a rapid pace.