Mobile Musings
I wanted to share a few links and stories about developments in the mobile world. I’m a huge geek for new toys and tools, and the mobile sector is advancing at a pace where there’s always something new and exciting happening. Here are a few stories that caught my eye over the past week, and please share any others you may have in the comments.
News
Mobile web use for college students is the new norm
We all know that the mobile sector is growing rapidly, but the rate of growth on campus by students is staggering. The “ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology” by Shannon D. Smith and Judith Borreson Caruso for the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, showed that ownership of mobile web enabled devices within current college students has risen 11% from spring of 2009 to spring 2010, with 62.7% of all students owning such a device. Even more interesting, the study was completed just before the iPad was released, so expect that number to rise even more dramatically next year.
The study also reported that in 2009, less than half of students surveyed said they used their web enabled mobile device to access the internet weekly. A year later, over two-thirds of students now access the web via these devices at least once a week, with 42.6% accessing daily.
While none of these numbers should be surprising, the rate of growth that is being seen shows that the mobile web is no longer something to prepare for, but something that is here now. Click here to read more.
iOS devices now support TrueType Font embedding
The new iOS 4.2 upgrade came with a lot of fun, new, highly publicized features for iPhones and iPads. One that snuck under the radar, and will have a huge impact in the mobile web development community, is the support of True Type fonts within mobile Safari. TrueType fonts both have a better rendering quality on screen, and have a smaller file sizes compared to the SVG standard, which was the lone supported font standard previously. This will also offer designers greater levels of control in how their typography appears on the iOS mobile devices. Read more about this from Zeldman.com.
Android Wireless Sync
doubleTwist has just released an app to allow Android users to wirelessly sync their iTunes playlists, videos, and photos with their computers using only the wireless network. No wires involved. As an iPhone owner, this is a feature that fills me with envy. Click here for more information.
Spotlight
Hotseat from Purdue University
Branded as a micro-discussion platform, Hotseat was created as a tool to create a collaborative classroom environment, specifically targeting larger lecture halls. Leveraging browser based discussion with Facebook or Twitter updates, and accessible from computers or mobile devices, professors can curate conversation organically within their lessons, and students are also able to ask questions or provide feedback during class. The professor can pose questions for the students, and there is also a function that allows students to submit questions of their own to the professor and the class at large. Other students can then vote for that question, letting the professor know there is interest, or respond themselves. It creates a more open, collaborative approach to learning, and can allow for more interaction between the instructor and the students, especially in larger class settings.
The use of technology and social media to enhance the classroom learning experience always seems like something that would be easy to implement, but harnessing the power of the different tools has always presented a challenge. By creating a platform that uses existing social media outlets while creating worthwhile native applications, Hotseat has the potential to give instructors and students access to each other without distraction, within the flow of the class. Raising hands, your time is up.
Click here to learn more about Hotseat. And as a proud Purdue graduate, it’s even more exciting to see that this product was developed by Kyle Bowen, a teacher’s assistant I had for a number of classes years ago. Yep, I’m a homer, and I’m fine with that.
Design Tips
Designing for the retina display of the iPhone 4
Smashing Magazine has a nice overview on how to alter your design methods for the higher resolution screen of the new iPhone. While this is great for specific design criteria for one device, it’s true value is how it demonstrates a number of design habits that mobile developers should incorporate earlier than later. As mobile devices continue to evolve, having a design in place to support as many screen sizes, resolutions, and formats as possible is going to be a must, especially in a market which is constantly evolving. Read more at Smashing Magazine.
Review App
Piggybacking on the previous article, I have been using the Review App for my UI development. This is an app that provides a quick, painless way to transfer PSD and PNG files straight to your iPhone for review. An interface designers dream. Click here for more info: http://getreviewapp.com/
mStoner Mobile Webinar
If you’re interested in mobile use for your .edu site, be sure to join mStoner Creative Director Doug Gapinski and Susan Evans, director of creative services at the College of William & Mary, for a free session about exploring the trends and challenges associated with mobile delivery for education institutions today. Register today!
Posted by Jeremiah Worth
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I’d Buy That For A Dollar
The announcement of the new Apple TV model two weeks ago brought with it a revised media rental pricing tier, with the ability to watch a TV show for a specific period of time for $.99. Interestingly, most of the conversations that I heard were not about who would buy in to this new model and pay for individual shows, but rather which system was the best way to replace your cable box. Focusing the debate on the literal content and devices playing digital media made it more clear than ever that we’ve moved into an entirely new era of how we interact online. People are now willing to spend money to make the internet work for them.
The idea that people won’t pay for anything online has always been a fallacy. The truth is that people won’t pay for something they’re unsure of, that they don’t understand or trust. The internet was new when those arguments rang from every annual corporate meeting. It was easy then to see online consumption of media in black and white: stolen or given away at no cost (and for no profit). While that was true at the time, it was perhaps a necessary part of the process that has brought us to our current state, where users trust that their money was going towards something that they could get value from. The perfect example of how this will play out has always been right in front of us on a daily basis. TV.
For the first 50 years of television, you bought a set, put up rabbit ears, and the signal was free. It was a one time purchase, but you had limited choice of what to watch. When cable TV was initially offered, there was an uproar. Surely no one would pay for more channels. Why pay for something you could get for free? How much TV does a viewer need? Turns out, a lot. People “needed” much, much more. But it took a while to get there. For the first ten years of my life, I only watched cable at my “rich” friends’ houses. It was a luxury, and one I felt lucky to have when my folks finally got it. By the time I went to college, cable was a given. Today, I pay extra each month for HD and HBO without a second thought, because I feel I get true value from each dollar I spend (assuming Boardwalk Empire is as great as it looks). Thirty five years ago, that would have been a crazy notion, yet here we are, and here we go to the next phase of digital consumption.
That’s what the past few years of Web 2.0 has been, creating the free networks that instill users’ trust in the internet, enough to pay for added value. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube. These are the ABC, CBS and NBC of the internet generation. They got people using the web in a personal manner, trusting it, and now they’re willing to pay to make it more personalized. Buying a song in iTunes to put on my laptop, my iPhone, and my iPad is a one-click convenience that gets me my music as I want it, the way I once felt when listening to a band’s song on their MySpace page. Renting a TV episode for a flight home is no longer a question of how I can download it, do I have the hard drive space and how do I transfer it. It just arrives on my chosen device, just like my Twitter feed, or my Facebook updates. The trust transfers.
These ideas are now being translated into the next steps of buying apps to help bolster my productivity with free tools that I use daily. I’ll spend $2 to use a better Twitter aggregator instead of the free website. I’ll pay $3 for an iPhone version of a Flash based game I can play for free in my browser. I’ll pay $10 for a complimentary toolset on my iPad for my office productivity set. I know these apps and tools, if used correctly, will make my life easier and therefore better. As an end user, I (like many of you) have cleared the hurdle of trust, and now it’s just a question of priorities: what will I choose to enhance my online and digital experiences. It’s no longer a question of IF I’ll use them, HOW I’ll use them, or WILL they work. It’s now just a question of how I choose to enhance my online and digital experiences.
With that trust in place, specifically within the younger demographic, who never really had to question online transactions, it’ll be very interesting to see how that mindset transfers into higher education. Everyone has come to accept that the era of the digital textbook and online exams will be here to stay soon, but what of the customization tools? Sure, the student has a textbook, but will they pay $2 to hear a visiting professor explain the chapter in more detail? Will that $10 collaborative notes program for their tablet, allowing users to collect and sort the notes of the entire class, be worth it for all of the students? Not only will our comfort level with customizing existing technology change the way students learn and faculty teach, it will also change the way that institutions of higher learning realize revenue. At least until the next digital revolution comes our way.
Posted by Jeremiah Worth
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You Don’t Have To Pick One: Combining Creative Ideals
Flipping channels late at night the last couple of weeks, I’ve been running across a commercial for an advertising firm promoting the work they’ve done for local businesses. The ad simply consists of the president of the ad firm looking straight into the camera and presenting the singular question that local businesses have a choice when looking for firms to help promote them. Do they want a commercial that will make them money, or do they want a commercial that will win awards? He then presents his firm as the one that will make your business money, and subtly reinforces the point by raising his hand, which is holding a fist full of cash, and shaking it at the screen. The ad’s concept is simple and effective. Effective at enraging me every time I see it, because it perpetuates a stereotype that many, many people have of the creative world.
The idea is a simple one, and one that is seen in all walks of the creative industry. Money will be made if you appeal to the broadest audience possible, and it will be better for the bottom line at the end of the day. A broad appeal doesn’t always mean that it’s of poor quality, because quite often creative work that’s done with broad strokes can be quite appealing and very effective, but it does mean that the creative bar is set for the lowest common denominator, and that ambition will take a back seat to known commodities. For the sake of this argument, I’m going to label this the “Paul Blart Aspiration”.
The reason that the “Paul Blart Aspiration” gains traction with the general public is because “award winning work” is often associated with a self indulgent creative vision and frequently results in a low return on investment. And while it may be lauded by people who bestow accolades, it doesn’t catch on with the consciousness of a mainstream audience, and can often alienate the audience that’s attempting to be courted. While I’m a big fan of the following work, I also sat with my parents as they watched it on my recommendation and were very close to disowning me for ever pressing play on the DVD player, so I think it’s safe to call this the “Magnolia Effect”.
While there are certainly more than enough examples of both approaches above (other possible titles were the “Two and Half Men Corollary”, “Anything by David Lynch Approach”, and the “Michael Bay Explosion”), the idea that the two are exclusive of each other is creatively lazy. And everyday, the web is proving that the two ideals can live side by side beautifully. That’s something that we can’t take for granted.
We are able to work each day within a medium where creativity is constantly rewarded, and where there isn’t necessarily a line between mainstream and prestige sites. Certainly the content being presented can create classification, but overall, elegant, sophisticated work, often representing a new creative direction or utilizing an unique technology implementation, are both lauded critically and result in increased site traffic. It’s win-win.
How long will this last? I don’t think anyone can set a timetable, but it’s the responsibility of the creative and development community to keep this marriage of ideals consistently moving forward, and that should be easy, because that desire is the fuel which gets us into the office everyday.
Assuming, that is, we didn’t stay up too late getting upset at local TV ads….
Posted by Jeremiah Worth
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mStonerblog & Pwireframing Featured On Smashing Magazine
It’s not every day that you can open up one of your favorite online design resources and see the writing of one of your co-workers featured, but today was no ordinary day. We were honored to see Doug Gapinski’s excellent blog post on the paper wireframing work-or Pwireframing, as it’s known in the business (or will be)-included in a fantastic article in Smashing Magazine, entitled “35 Excellent Wireframing Resources.”
For those of you who want to jump directly into the good stuff, here’s the Pwireframing article.
Posted by Jeremiah Worth
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