Wireless connectivity juin 21, 2006
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eLab – Wireless connectivity.ppt
There are many technologies and standards in the domain of wireless connectivity. Some are complementary, others are in direct competition. The most interesting ones are presented below.
WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a technical standard for broadband wireless access, providing an alternative to cable and DSL last-mile access. WiMax technologies are developed by the WiMax Forum, a group of more than 200 companies, providers and carriers. The WiMax standard has a theoretical bandwith of 70 Mb/s and a theoretical range of 50 km. In practice, it reaches 12 Mb/s with a range of 20 km. The first large scale tests started in 2006 for fixed access (home to WiMax base station) and in the coming years WiMax should also support mobile access (mobile to WiMax base station and mobile to mobile).
Comparison with Wi-Fi: larger bandwith (typically 12 Mb/s against 2 Mb/s) and larger coverage distance (typically 10 km against 30-50 m); however WiMax networks requires a license, whereas Wi-Fi networks can be set up by anyone.
WiBro (Wireless Broadband) is a proprietary mobile broadband wireless access technology, developed by Korean telecom industry and supported by the government. Also it is in direct competition with WiMax, WiBro joined the WiMax Forum and agreed to harmonize with the mobile version of the standard.
Bluetooth is a short-range radio communication protocol providing a way to connect and exchange information between devices like personal digital assistants (PDAs), mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers and digital cameras via short range radio frequency. Popular uses are wireless headset for mobile phones, PC mouse or keyboards, transfer of contact details, calendar appointments, and reminders between devices, wireless controllers of a games console, etc.
UWB (Ultra-Wideband) technology allows high-speed connections for short-range, wireless personal networks, to transmit video, audio and other high-bandwidth data between consumer electronic multimedia products. UWB complements other longer-range radio technologies such as Wi-Fi or WiMAX. It is used to relay data from a host device to other devices in the immediate area (up to 10 meters), e.g. from a laptop or a digital camera to a large screen display and speakers.
ZigBee is a low data rates and low power consumption radio transmission technology that is intended to be simpler and cheaper than Bluetooth and it is used in embedded applications requiring . ZigBee’s focus is to define a general-purpose, inexpensive, self-organizing, mesh network that can be used for industrial control, building automation, home automation, etc
Power line communication describes several different systems that allow simultaneous distribution of data over power wires. One such system is the use of home electrical wiring for remote control of lighting and appliances, using the X10 industry standard or the compatible Insteon (see below). Another is using power-line in order to provide broadband internet access. There are also prototypes of in-vehicle networks to transmit data, voice, music, or video over the direct current (DC) battery power-line.
Insteon is an integrated dual-band mesh network that combines wireless radio frequency with the home’s existing electrical wiring.
Mesh networking is a way to route data, voice and instructions between nodes: the infrastructure is decentralized and each node needs only to transmit as far as the next node. It allows for continuous connections and reconfiguration (or “self-healing”): when a node breaks down or a connection goes bad, the networks tries to “hop” from node to node until a connection can be reestablished. As a result, these types of networks are very reliable. Mesh networking can be applied to wireless or fixed networks.
Geomarketing and mapvertising juin 8, 2006
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eLab – Geomarketing and mapvertising.ppt
The goal of geomarketing is to deliver relevant content for a given geographical context. Geomarketing tools have been traditionally used to determine where consumers are or what type of consumers live in a specific area, but the popularity of online services such as Google Earth or MapQuest opened new fields of application.
Dubbed “mapvertising”, combinations of maps or satellite pictures with geographic/thematic search functions allow marketers to place relevant information, ads, promotions, etc.
Many services support interactive Yellow Pages-like advertising combined with maps: Google Local, Microsoft Live Local, Yahoo Local, national geoportals, etc. A user can search for a shop, a hotel or a gaz station around a given location and sponsored results usually appear before “organic” results. Yahoo! Local shows them as links next to the map and Google is experimenting with red pins for regular results and icons/blue pins for sponsored results. When a user clicks on a pin, a balloon shows up with name, address and phone number, as well as information such as customer reviews and a link to the business Web site. Google is planning to integrate video, chat and pay-per-call or click-to-call in these balloons. A potential customer could watch a video about the product and then directly contact the seller to get more information or to know if a given model is still available.
The potential for mapvertising development is huge, as (for now) Yellow Pages advertising market is bigger than the entire existing online search advertising market.
Marketers also develop new ways of using these tools:
- Fiat used Google Earth for an online treasure hunt promoting the Fiat Sedici.
- Adidas launched a quiz combining football trivia and location of players and teams (via Google Earth).
- HBO used Google Maps to create a tour to follow some of the Sopranos storylines.
- A company called RoofShout paints ads on rooftops in order for them to be viewed on satellite mapping sites (Google Earth, Windows Live Local).
- A German company called Artfield transforms fields into huge advertisements that you can see from planes or Google Earth.
Nutrition, Health and Wellness juin 7, 2006
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eLab – Nutrition, health and wellness.ppt
Shifting dietary patterns (for example increased consumption of saturated fat) combined with a sedentary lifestyle are proven risk factors for diseases such as obesity, diabetes or cardiovascular disease. In 2001 such chronic diseases contributed approximately 60% of the 56.5 million total reported deaths in the world and it has been projected that, by 2020, chronic diseases will account for almost three-quarters of all deaths worldwide.
Some figures:
- 170 million people worldwide with diabetes
- Worldwide, at least three hundred million adults are obese and at least 155 million school-age children are overweight or obese
- 2% US adults and 5% children suffer from food allergies
The World Health Organization and many actors in the sector of public health are promoting healthy diets as a prevention measure. Beyond these public health problems, more and more people are becoming conscious of nutrition and wellness issues: the global “better for you” foods market reached almost $129 billion in 2004.
Mobile devices and wearable computers will likely become an integrated part of the nutrition, health and wellness approach, especially in the domains of preventive medicine, self-help and activity tracking. In May 2006 the creation of a Bluetooth working group on Medical Devices was anounced, with 19 members including IBM, Intel, Motorola or Philips,whose goal is to expand the use of Bluetooth into the medical, health and fitness markets.
Some possible applications:
- Monitoring blood pressure, glucose level, food intake, etc.
- Tracking exercises, burned calories, etc.
- Reminding patients to take their medicine, suggesting meals (and restaurants), etc.
- Sending data to doctors or intelligent agent
Some examples:
- Dedicated devices measuring burned calories (Bodybugg, Nike+iPod) or keeping track of food and calories intake (CalorieScanner, Salter Nutrition Kitchen Scale, modified Aibo)
- Hundreds of online tools and applications (FitDay, StartYourDiet, Calorie-Count)
- Applications for PDAs (WeightWatchers On-The-Go with 25’000 item food database, Atkins 2Go) or mobile phones (MyFoodPhone, Nutracheck)
- Mobile health monitoring (Lifewatcher(article),site in Japanese, eMediate)
Podcasting and videocasting juin 1, 2006
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The concept of podcasting (combination of iPod and broadcasting) was proposed in 2000. Podcasting is a method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet using either the RSS or Atom syndication formats. A podcast can be downloaded automatically and it does not require an iPod to be listened to: some say that more people listen to podcasts on personal computers than on portable devices. Videocasting is becoming increasingly popular, with video functionalities on the new iPod or on the portable Sony playstations.
Podcasting started gaining popularity in September 2004, and in June 2005 it was definitely recognized as Apple adding podcasting capabilities to its iTunes music software. In the first 2 days after Apple’s launch of podcast on iTunes, customers subscribed to more than one million podcasts and some podcasts now have very large audience: as of February 2006 The Ricky Gervais Show had an average of over a quarter of a million downloads per weekly episode. Market research forecasts that by 2010 about 50 million people will have downloaded a podcast at least once, 15 million will download podcasts on a regular basis.
Business and marketing people quickly saw the interest of podcasts: in an environment where information overload becomes the norm, podcasts provide an effective way to get a message across to prospective buyers. Indeed podcasts usually address a niche and are listened to almost exclusively by interested individuals. Furthermore they can be easily tracked. Several companies provide technical solutions for advertising on existing podcasts, such as Fruitcast, CastFire, or Podtrac. They connect content producers (podcast or videocast) with advertisers that can buy “airtime” according to relevant criteria.
Other models than buying "airtime" on popular and thematic podcasts exist: several large corporations (VW, Cadillac, Nike, Honda, Sony PSP) have already launched their own videocasting campaigns, Kraft offers over 100 audio recipes to download, Whirlpool sponsors a podcast called Family Life that covers topics such as premature birth, setting limits for teenagers, long-distance grandparents, and so on. Gemey-Maybelline (L’Oréal) gives beauty and make-up tips via audio and video podcasts.
Mobile marketing mai 23, 2006
Posted by Postmaster in Devices, Mobile, eMarketing.add a comment
Mobile Marketing refers to distributing commercial or promotional content to mobile phones or PDAs, via SMS, Bluetooth, Infrared, or NFC. It is a subgroup of e-marketing, where digital technologies are used to acquire and keep customers, and to deliver targeted content that matches their profile and behavior.
Mobile marketing enables very promising applications:
- Digital billboards, where consumers can download music, play video games, watch movie trailers, participate in a contest, get a digital coupon, and so on.
- "Permission marketing", where consumers opt-in to receive advertisements they are interested in, for example by sending a sms or scanning a matrix code such as QR.
- Proximity: a mobile advertising campaign or a contest in a stadium during a football game has a fairly good chance to reach its target, Bluetooth enabled screens in public transportation can match ads and neighborhoods, interactive billboards send digital time-limited coupons for promotions in nearby stores or, etc. Posterscope even has a demo of a billboard that changes ads depending on the gender of the person standing in front of it.
The potential of mobile marketing is huge, as there were already 134 million Bluetooth phones across the world in 2005, and they make up 70% of the sales in Western Europe (estimations by mid-2006). For the "Stand up and speak up" campaing launched by Nike, the traffic on the Internet mobile site is higher than that of the Website
Advanced mobile marketing solutions are already on the market:
- BlueCasting is a point-to-point transmission system which uses the BlueTooth standard to transmit text, images, audio, Java applications, or business cards to users who make their handset discoverable to BlueCast Server. This works up to 100 m in the open and has been used to launch the last album of Coldplay in 2005: 20'000 persons downloaded video clips and sample tracks from posters in London.
- Hypertag: electronic device installed in a poster panel that sends phone numbers, reminders, pictures or ring-tones via Infra-Red or Bluetooth. Hypertags have been used by Transport for London to save an information number on safe travel directly in users' adress books. Another campaign invited the consumer to receive a unique key code to be entered on aussiehair.com in order to get a free sample of 3 Minute Miracle and enter a competition.
- Kameleon offers similar functionalities and also works with Bluetooth, but users have to download an application in order to be able to interact with posters or other signs.
- Gravitec offers advanced and complete solutions for mobile ticketing, couponing, payment, loyalty, etc. They are based on 2D data matrix from mobile phone displays. During a campaign for s.Olivier coupons were sent by picture SMS or MMS to users' mobile phones, who could then convert their SMS coupon into a paper-based discount voucher by scanning their phone's screen.
Near Field Communication mai 19, 2006
Posted by Postmaster in Devices, Home of the Future, In-Store technologies, Mobile.add a comment
Near Field Communication (NFC) is a standard developed by Sony, Philips, and later on Nokia, to establish a communication between computers, PDAs, mobile, or even TVs. The communication can also be based on wireless protocols, such as Bluetooth or WiFi. If users want to secure Bluetooth or WiFi communications, they have to manually enter passwords and other parameters for the connection. With NFC, where communication is only possible at a distance of a few centimetres (maximum 20 cm), it is simple and intuitive to control communication (like a handshake).
NFC can be established in active mode, where both devices generate their own radio frequency field to carry the data, or in passive mode where only one device generates the radio frequency and the passive element's information is only read if the active device is close enough to supply a power source by radio waves.
Payments are one rather obvious potential use for the technology, but NFC could also be used to access public transportation, to provide electronic keys, or to swap digital music, photos or other files between devices. In Japan, FeliCa (a technology similar to NFC) is already used in real-life applications, but not in the USA and in Europe, where it is still in its infancy. In December 2005 VISA started a mobile payment pilot program in Atlanta and France Telecom/Orange is making experiments in Caen since October 2005: users can pay in selected malls, open car park barriers, and download information (movie trailers, exhibitions, bus or tram timetables).
