I don't know if people will want to carry another device around, when this will be done with a camera phone eventually .

The concept of a image recognition search engine and information tool would be a killer app.

From the Cool Hunter GOOGLE VISION Point and Aim



Well, yet another bright young designer from the U.K is developing a system that will have tag and name exactly what your staring at.

Google Vision is a conceptual product developed by Callum Peden, for the world's favorite search engine. The product provides the user with a truly unique information hub by combining GPS, OLED technology and advanced image recognition in the form of a retractable screen device.

Won't most mobile phones have these same features?

The Global Positioning System will see the end of wondering the streets asking for directions and the small roller ball will allow for easy navigation of the flexible screen. Brilliant for identifying landmarks whilst on holidays, Google vision acts as a personal; tour guide.

As well as this, advanced image recognition will mean Google Vision can target well known landmarks. Then using the increased coverage of wireless internet, provide the user with information on their surroundings wherever they may be

I like the retractable screen though. That would be a nice feature to have on a mobile phone.

Unless you know where to look for the code, what other applications will this be useful for besides authentication.

IBM Japan and Connect Technology have developed an invisible, two dimensional bar-code which can be be read by camera phones.

From JapanCorp IBM Japan and Connect Technology Use Invisible 2D Barcodes

IBM Japan in collaboration with Connect Technology has developed an electronic clipping system, which uses invisible 2D barcodes printed on paper to integrate information from paper and digital data such as information provided on Internet sites.



The new system adds an invisible digital layer to printed materials, enabling the printed materials to be used like a portable site.

Invisible 2D barcodes which store digital data are printed on paper using invisible ink. The barcodes are then extracted from the paper by an image processing application. Since invisible ink is used, 2D barcodes can be printed over paper prints, not restricted by original print designs and layouts.

Invisible barcodes can be printed on each magazine or paper article, allowing users to clip and buy articles instead of magazines and papers

From JCN Network Mediaseek intros camera phone barcode reader

MediaSeek has introduce barcode decoder software NW-7 Reader for camera phones. The NW-7 is a barcode used for applications including parcel delivery, library card and membership card management, and blood management for blood banks.


Since camera phones are portable, they enable users to use them for other applications including tracing products and accessing campaign sites without having to enter URLs.

MediaSeek holds the largest share in the mobile phone barcode decoder market.
With "CamReader" technology, MEDIASEEK provides a special decoding engine designed for small cellular handset, which reads both single (1D) and multi-dimensional (2D) barcode captured by electronic camera module implanted into the cellular handset.

The decoding engine has been installed as default application into more than 50% of cellular handsets shipped in Japanese market with software-driven implanted optic module as digital camera or video functions

I can't decide if this is a good thing or not. Does this mean they recognize it, but won't do anything about it? :)

"Internet of things", Phase 2, Physical World Connection, and even Physical World Web 2.0 it will change, create many multi-billion dollar industries.

From the BBC UN predicts "Internet of Things"

Changes brought about by the internet will be dwarfed by those prompted by the networking of everyday objects, says a report by a UN body.

The study looks at how the use of electronic tags and sensors could create an "internet of things".

The so-called Internet of Things is predicted to offer new business opportunities for all, from manufacturers to the telecoms industry, and create entirely new markets.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), sensors, robotics and nanotechnology will make processing power increasingly available in smaller and smaller packages so that networked computing dissolves into the fabric of things around us.

It is becoming quite clear the 2d code is being adopted faster than the 1d code (barcode). The PWC players that are making their code scanning software compatible with the largest number of mobile phones, have the best shot of taking the lead in this enormous space.

BeeTagg is a great example of how the physical world will get connected using a 2d code and a camera phone.

Put the codes in the hands of the users and let them determine what objects they want hyperlinked.

There is more to PWC than mobile marketing , and mobile marketing companies need to realize this.

These guys have both a unique code, free software, ability to generate your own code and a wide variety of mobile phones. Great job guys.

Add BeeTagg to the Physical World Connection list

Decode a BeeTagg (2D-Code) with your mobile phone and immediately retrieve information and content from the internet. No matter whether it is pictures, websites, contacts or videos – achieve your aims quickly, like never before

The BeeTagg Generator Basic gives you the opportunity to link up to 20 BeeTaggs to content in the internet

See all of the currently supported mobile phones



Download the free software by going to http://get.beetagg.com

There are two ways to read a BeeTagg, realtime and non-realtime.

Once a BeeTagg is correctly identified, click the fire button (realtime version) or the '5' button (non-realtime version) to get access to the content on the internet. The browser will open automatically. Have fun!

The BeeTagg infrastructure:

The mobile marketing firm that is doing everything right, launches a full-service mobile marketing division. There's a reason Omnicom Group gobbled them up


From Adotas Ipsh! launches new division

Mobile marketing agency ipsh! has launched FullServ-ipsh!, a new division that provides media strategy, planning, buying and creative expertise for mobile advertising and marketing.

ipsh! boasts that it has implemented more than 550 mobile marketing campaigns in its five-year existence.

ipsh! claims its planning can be as targeted as handset, carrier, area code, Zip code, basic demographic, income level, gender, and in some instances, location.

Eventually every medical instrument will be wirelessly connected.

From AZom.com RFID chips track medical instruments

The same technology that prevents thefts in clothing stores could also help surgeons keep track of instruments and gauze sponges during medical procedures according to a preliminary study at the Stanford University School of Medicine .
In the study, researchers used tiny chips called radio frequency ID tags attached to surgical sponges to locate the sponges in the body before the operation ended.

The sponges I can see, because they are disposable. The midical instruments might be a different problem though. I think they might have a problem when they sterilize the medical instrument though with this specific tag.

For the study, Macario used sponges developed by ClearCount Medical Solutions Inc. in Pittsburgh that were rigged with a 20mm diameter radio-frequency ID chip.

Macario said that in the future he thinks RFID tags will track all surgical items and supplies throughout a surgery as they enter and leave a patient's body.

Anyone know what kind of RFID tag would work well in this situation?

Better than a barcode, more powerful than an RFID tag, it's "Memory Spot".

This is big news for Physical World Connection, or for the Internet of Things. A major semiconductor company introduces a very versatile physical world hyperlink.

From Tech Whack HP unveils revolutionary wireless chip that links digital and physical world

If these chips are going to link to the Internet, who will handle the database registry, Verisign? Or is Hewlett Packard going to create a new revenue stream?

HP Unveils Revolutionary Wireless Chip That Links the Digital and Physical Worlds;

Grain-Sized Chip Could Be Attached to Almost Any Object, Making Information More Ubiquitous. Vice President of HP Labs says ""We have built a device that allows us to bridge the physical and digital world ,"

With no equal in terms of its combination of size, memory capacity and data access speed, the tiny chip could be stuck on or embedded in almost any object and make available information and content now found mostly on electronic devices or the Internet.

The chip has a 10 megabits-per-second data transfer rate — 10 times faster than Bluetooth(TM) wireless technology and comparable to Wi-Fi speeds — effectively giving users instant retrieval of information in audio, video, photo or document form.

About the same size as a shirt button but thinner.

With a storage capacity ranging from 256 kilobits to 4 megabits in working prototypes, it could store a very short video clip, several images or dozens of pages of text. Future versions could have larger capacities.

Information can be accessed by a read-write device that could be incorporated into a cell phone, PDA, camera, printer or other implement.

The readers rely on the same radio frequency employed by Bluetooth.

To access information, the read-write device is positioned closely over the chip, which is then powered so that the stored data is transferred instantly to the display of the phone, camera or PDA or printed out by the printer. Users could also add information to the chip using the various devices.

"The basic conception of Memory Spot is similar to RFID tags, but we have data rates that are orders of magnitude higher, and higher capacity ," Taub said

It doesn't say how much this chip will cost, or some other key facts. Will these chips get ipV6 addresses? Do they have problems around liquid and metal?

When a major semiconductor builds a chip and says it's sole purpose is to connect the physical world with the electronic world, you know this space will be big .

Until Kelly's Blue Book offers an SMS service this will work. This price comparison application would have value.

To check the price of a car, users text the word 'price' and the license plate number to 80806.

Parker's then texts back exactly what model and year the car is, and what the going prices are if purchased new or second-hand, in good and in bad condition, plus what the trade price is



A revolutionary new service brought to you by Parker's; SMS PRICE CHECK is the quick and easy way of having the car pricing information you need - any place, any time.

Simply text the keyword PRICE to 80806 together with license plate and mileage details (if known)

Cost: £1.50 + your normal network charge.

See Springwise for other new business ideas.

Add Gentag and their ability to read and RFID tag to the Physical World Connection list

When the physical world starts creating it's own mesh network via RFID tags, the Physcial World Connection opportunities will grow exponentially .

There's a reason the RFID tag is being called a "barcode on steroids".

Gentag, Inc., a Washington, DC-based IP development firm, has designed, patented, and successfully tested an ultra-linear, low-power single-calibration temperature-sensor circuit that can be directly integrated on any chip for either the Gen 2 UHF or the 13.56 MHz global RFID markets.



In combination with Gentag's approved patent for using cell phones as readers for RFID-sensors (US 2005/0088299 A1), this technology provides a novel, low-cost solution for wireless temperature monitoring and opens the way for the wide deployment and implementation of low-cost passive RFID sensor tags, RFID sensor networks, and a wide range of consumer and industrial applications


Areas of key intellectual property include:

RFID Reader-Enabled Cell Phones
Passive RFID Sensors
Smart Skin Patch Technologies
Sensor Networks
Homeland Security Cell Phones
Non-GPS Geolocation

Have a webcam and want to see Physical World Connection in action?

Slashdot explains how Barcodepedia, the Social Network Barcode works.


"Barcodepedia is a community-based online barcode database, where everybody can contribute whichever barcodes they have lying around on their crowded desks simply by holding it in front of your webcam. The database is completely free to use, and everyone is invited to participate.

(The webcam resolves the barcode).

The site should be available in French, Russian, German and Swedish within a week, so get all your friends and go to your local store with a laptop for massive fun. Donations of cuecats and other specialized scanners are welcomed.

Physical World Connection is coming. Let the "early adopters" play with Barcodepedia and decide what applications/services will be of value with a camera phone .

I was asked to give a presentation on Physical World Connectio n and the role a Physical World Hyperlink will play in it. I thought I would share it with my readers.

You will find the very first physical world hyperlink in this.

-------------------------------------------------

Handset manufacturers and wireless carriers have a huge opportunity. Will they recognize it?

More Internet traffic will come from mobile devices than personal computers (PC).

You must accept that mobile devices will:

---- outnumber PCs for web access

---- be “the PC” you have with you all day

---- be able to access a greater number, and different type of hyperlinks that a PC can’t

There will be TRILLIONS of hyperlinks that can only be accessed with a mobile phone.

Mobile phone handset manufacturers must start thinking that a mobile device is NOT JUST a tool for communications, but as a “Remote Control” for the physical world.


What WAS the original function of the mobile phone?....voice communications.

How did people communication using a mobile phone?...physical world hyperlink.

The phone number represented the first “hyperlink” for communications . Two computing devices linked through an electronic network using a machine readable identifier (phone number).

The Internet Phase 1

Today the Internet is perceived as a “place” where digital content/data is found and displayed using electronic identifiers.

Phase 1 is email, browsing and instant messaging.

The electronic identifiers are URL’s and/or hyperlinks.

The tools needed are a keyboard and a mouse.

In order for a Personal Computer to connect with digital content on the Net, it too needs a “phone number”, a hyperlink. This is the one-dimensional Internet .

The mouse resolves the hyperlink and is considered the “remote control” for Internet Phase 1

-------------------------- Mobile Internet Phase 2 -----------------

In order for mobile phone handset manufacturers and wireless carriers to become “Internet Companies”, they must define what the mobile Internet really is.

They must also ask how you will get to it, and what you will get from it.

The mobile Internet is NOT the PC Internet.

Phase 2, or the mobile Internet, is when every physical item in the world can, and will be connected to the Internet. It will have a different kind of “phone number”, or hyperlink.

It will have A Physical World Hyperlink

The mobile phone won’t be just a mobile device for communication, but it will be a “remote control” or the “mouse” that can link objects in the physical world to the Internet. This is the three dimensional Internet .

----------------------- Physical World Hyperlink ---------------

A physical world hyperlink (PWH) allows any physical object to be linked directly through and to the Internet, to specific content/info/URL when accessed with a specific tools.

PWHs already exist and there are trillions of them.

A Physical World Identifier is/can be:

A barcode (UPC/EAN, Code 128)
2d code (data matrix, QR code)
Fingerprint
RFID tag (many forms)
Word
Number
Image
Sound
Many others to come.

They will require a different “browser”, or tool, but this tool will be mobile’s “search engine”.

The tools needed:

Keypad,
Keyboard
Camera
Speech recognition engine
RFID reader.

A PWH will be on or in a billboard, magazine, TV ad, train schedule, song, driver’s license, can of Coke.

The Physical World Hyperlink will allow a content owner, to directly interact, with any Internet user, anywhere, with any object, through a mobile medium.

They will also allow website owners to direct traffic to their site with a physical object, rather than a search engine.

One physical object already has numerous hyperlinks, but they can also be created.

Physical World Hyperlinks will make the number of ways to access info and data from the Internet, and Internet traffic volume, grow exponentially .

THAT is the main reason why there will be more Internet traffic from mobile devices
than PCs.

One 12 oz can of coke can offer a billion ways to access info. One 12 oz can of Coke represents billions of Physical World Hyperlinks. You find a created PWH on every Fedex package, or UPS package. Look at how productive a 2d code has made their businesses.

There are trillions of hyperlinks that can only be accessed by using a mobile phone..

What kind(s) and method(s) of information can a Physical World Hyperlink deliver?

Two types of info/content from the Mobile Internet
-static and dynamic

Two methods of delivery for mobile info
-push and pull

Static info is the Yankee’s schedule that is pulled from the Net
Dynamic info is having the Yankee’s game updates pushed to your phone.

Push requires permission and a good mobile marketer knows how to turn pull into push.


How can a Samsung, Sprint, Palm, Verizon or Nokia Turn Into An Internet Company?

All of these companies have great advantage for the Mobile Internet? What do they have over Google, Yahoo and Microsoft?

They control the “carrying case” or the “toolbox” for it. They can make the “remote control” or “mouse” for Phase 2.

Call it a toolbox or platform, that can access information in the physical world.

Create a platform that allows me to retrieve information from ALL physical (and one dimensional) objects, utilizing my location, and with the ease of use of a mouse, and THAT’S your "Mobile Internet" company

While I applaud the major media for exposing Scanbuy and the physical world connection, I wish they would use another example from it besides comparison shopping.

From Christian Science Monitor A new way to shop by phone

Many times, after returning home with my purchase, I discover (thanks to an ad in the newspaper or an Internet search) that I paid too much.

Lo and behold, that technology now exists. It's called Scanbuy Shopper. And some very smart people are suggesting that it has a very bright future that will make many retailers very, very nervous.

According to the New York company's website ( www.scanbuy.com), Scanbuy is a technology that "enables camera phones to capture and immediately decode printed or electronically displayed bar codes." Currently it works best with books, electronic equipment, and CDs.

When you're in a store and find an item of interest, simply take a picture of its bar code using an Internet-capable cellphone with a built-in camera. Then connect to the Web. (You don't have to take a picture.

Instead, you can just punch the bar-code numbers into the phone.) Scanbuy checks prices at comparison-shopping websites such as PriceGrabber.com and Amazon.com's Marketplace. It then sends you information on the best prices.

But as I mentioned earlier, some people see bigger things in Scanbuy's future, particularly working with the search industry's 800-pound gorilla, Google

From International Herald In Japan, phone has the answer

If you stand on a street corner in Tokyo today, you can point a specialized cellphone at a hotel, a restaurant or a historical monument, and with the press of a button the phone will display information from the Internet describing the object you are looking at.

The new service is made possible by the efforts of three Japanese companies and GeoVector, a small American technology firm, and it represents a missing link between cyberspace and the physical world.

The phones combine satellite-based navigation, precise to within no more than 9 meters, or 30 feet, with an electronic compass to provide a new dimension of orientation. Connect the device to the Internet and it is possible to overlay the point-and-click simplicity of a computer screen on top of the real world.

In the United States, carriers have the option of a less precise locating technology that calculates a phone's position on the basis of its proximity to cellphone towers, a method precise only to within 100 meters or so. Only two American carriers are using the GPS technology, and none have announced plans to add a compass.

Rudy at M-Trends hosts this weeks Carnival of the Mobilists .

Take a peek at some of the best writing for the week in mobile.

Please note that Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures (Carnival's sponsor) is listed in this month's Business 2.0 magazine as one of "The 50 Who Matter Now".

See what he thinks the next big trend to invest in is.

The right demographic to introduce this PWC concept to. The next step is to introduce PWC and 2d codes to the advertisers in the magazine.

Mobile barcode tickets, supplied by local solutions supplier, Mobicode , allowed guests at the recent FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006 Party, sponsored by AXE, to gain prompt and easy access to the event by having the 'mobicode' scanned directly from their mobile phone screens.

The same mobicode was scanned at the bar, allowing the guests to enjoy their first drink on FHM and again at the exit to get a complimentary copy of the FHM 100 Sexiest magazine

Not so fast there Google.

As Google starts to implement Google Talk and free Wi-Fi for more advertising revenue streams, they might just have an obstacle in their way from the boys in Redmond.


See the New American Business Model now?

Innovation Fund offers location based patents exclusively to Microsoft

Innovation Fund LLC (http://www.innfund), which already has patents issued in the field of Location Based Advertising, has been developing proposals to go to the leaders in the field, which include Microsoft, Google, and Time Warner, as well as the telecom companies.

The Innovation Fund basic patent has been granted and there are continuations-in-part that are current. In making the determination to present a proposal for exclusivity to Microsoft first, Innovation Fund was obviously aware of Google’s openly stated objectives to WiFi cities in exchange for location based advertising.

The Innovation Fund patents quite some time ago envisioned the fact that people not only can be located by geopositioning but contacted, changing the face of retailing.

"We are not going to be bugging people with 25 cent offers.

"Shopping malls, restaurants, entertainment venues and the travel industry will be able to give consumers great bargains on items that otherwise would lose value.

Tickets to a game that is not sold out can be directed to a passing car making the customer an ‘offer he can’t refuse,’”

Now THAT'S mobile marketing.

As a Google executives publicly state that the big growth ahead lies in the mobile search market, I thought this would be a good time to review what Physical World Connection really is.

The search wars are heating up and it is becoming clear who is winning. But, what happens when Google runs out of runway space? What happens when the race changes venues?

PC Search is about finding the best solution/answer. And advertising. Advertising drives search. There are only so many programs on your pc (surf, chat, email and now desktop) that you can find ways to advertise on. When you cant put any more pay-per-clicks on your pc screen, then what happens?

How will search advertising continue this growth once this happens? How will advertisers shift their advertising dollar to the mobile device?

There will come a point when there is more internet traffic from mobile devices than PCs. What happens to search engines then? What happens to the Golden Goose of advertising when people wont be using a search engine to do their surfing?

That screen on your cellphone will be the most coveted piece of real estate to advertisers. People wont be using search engines on their phones.

What replaces the keywords model for the advertising dollars?

Physical World Hyperlinks.

Now that the hyperlink owner has a direct connection to his site using a 2d code, outside of advertising, where is the need for search engine optimization? You are already optimized!

So now every barcode on every can of Coke, 2d code on a movie poster, becomes a hyperlink, or direct connection to wherever Coke wants you to go.

4 Billion websites and hundreds of billions of physical objects have now found their own way to direct traffic without using a search engine.

Companies wont give out websites to go to, they will advertise using 2d codes and get a direct connection, bypassing a search engine. They will put a code on a poster, or magazine ad, or a short code on the tv screen. When any user types, scans, texts this code, they will be directed to the specific site that company wants you to go.


What happens when the physical world hyperlinks can link to the Internet? How does Google sell their keywords to these sites now? There wont be algorithms to decipher to put your site at the top of the search request. The physical world hyperlinks will be the direct link. How will Google and other SEs get a piece of these 4B plus unique hyperlinks? This registry will replace keywords.

Will you really want to see the first page of 1200 top ten results for a search on your mobile?

Between the slowing growth of PCs and the number of mobile devices connected to the Net, search and advertising will change. What companies will see this first and dominate Phase 2 of the internet. Offer the browser for the physical world?


Phase 1 was about surfing, searching, chat, email. Machine to machine form of communicating. It was revolutionary, it disrupted many industries, it made our economy so much more efficient and it created many new powerful companies. The Ebay, Amazon, PriceLines found a way to create businesses from Phase 1. They recognized how commerce would change with the introduction of the internet and created businesses to accommodate this change. Not only did they disrupt the traditional method but by utilizing the internet they opened up the boundaries for potential customers.


Now comes Phase 2 . This is what ubiquitous computing is all about. Phase 2 is when every physical item in the world can, and will be, connected to the internet. People are no longer stuck at their office, home pc, they are mobile, using their mobile devices for more than speaking.

The combination of a portable microprocessor and trillions of objects having their own link to the net, this is Phase 2.


When you walk down the street, look at how many people have their cell phones/PDA's in their hand or in their pocket. How many operating systems are now mobile? How many browsers are there that are untapped? Everyone of those cell phones represents an internet user. Another pair of eyes for Google. A way for Google to generate advertising, but how?

How can Google continue their search/advertising dominance in the mobile world?

What if MSFT unveils the browser for the physical world. The PCs are walking, untethered.

This is transformation.

How does Google and others get these users to their site when I'm not at a desk? What does search look like when it's mobile? How will we surf/search when we are mobile? How do advertisers and service providers generate revenues (more than the 15.00 unlimited web access a Sprint has).


What happens when society is surfing more w/ their mobile device than the pc? What does Google do when this happens? Will they recognize there will be more Google eyes on mobile devices than pcs? How do you sell keywords for this?

The bigger question, as an advertiser, how do I advertise with this new medium?


Advertisers are still trying to catch up with the eyeballs that left TV to the stationary Net. What happens when the net shift goes from the pc to the cell phone. Will advertisers realize their new mediums are the supermarket, the restaurant, sporting goods store, billboard, movie poster,..or in other words, every physical object in the world with a unique identifier.


Google says their database is up to 8B now, MSFT bragging about 5B. The 1B cans of 12 oz Coke represent 1B ways to get to just one site. So instead of offering access to 8B sites, there are now 1B ways (just 1 12 oz can of Coke alone) to get to Cokes site. Remember search/surf changes when it goes public.


What happens when every can of Coke can be hyper-linked to the net? Or every Elton John CD, or every menu, concert ticket, street sign, business card, bag of Pringles. With a direct link to the net, why do I need to pay Google for this? If I'm Pringles, I don't need to pay ANY search engine to get me at the top of the list. I'm already there and I am interacting w/ my consumer.

Advertisers will now have a service that measures an ads effectiveness immediately. It will merge the advertising in the physical world (magazines, TV, cereal box) with the internet.


How much is this worth to a brand manager? Now every physical item in the world becomes a hyperlink to the net, bypasses any search engine, and is the medium by which advertisers will advertise and conduct e-commerce. What companies will see this first?

Will Google realize the PC market is finite? The vehicle for their advertising is shrinking and is now becoming mobile? There is a head on collision coming. The search engine and the physical world hyperlink are on the path for a head-on collision.

I'll put my money on the hyperlink, it is everywhere, doesn't matter who's OS is, will be marketed by the advertisers, and will give me a direct connection.


MSFT, Symbian, Palm are on all of those untethered pc's (cellphones/ PDA's) where is Google? Texting isn't a direct connect. The question is who will have the physical world browser/OS for this?

Google is stuck in the electronic world.

Wonder if Metrologic and their OmniPLanar subsidiary could get into the Physical World Connection space?


Metrologic Instruments, Inc. announced today its image-processing software subsidiary, Omniplanar, Inc., is launching SwiftOCR and SwiftVerify, new software compatible with its premier two-dimensional bar code decoding engine -- SwiftDecoder.

SwiftOCR software provides high-speed optical character recognition (OCR) of capital letters, numbers and punctuation for area-imaging devices used primarily for established format applications such as reading passport and ISBN codes.

The SwiftVerify bar code verification modules quickly and accurately decodes and verifies print quality of one-dimensional bar codes.

SwiftVerify easily integrates with any Windows or embedded platform and turns any document scanner, fixed-area imager or hand-held imager into a bar code verifier

Last week's BusinessWeek Magazine has a great report on our New Economy and why innovation will be key.

They are the best-kept secret of the business world: a whole new breed of "C-suite" managers who wear titles such as "chief marketing officer," "director, design and brand experience," or the voguish new moniker "chief innovation officer."

Some key sentences I picked out of the report .

Patrick Whitney believes that companies today face an "innovation gap." They have the tools of technology to make virtually anything, but lack the tools of empathy to understand what consumers really want. Filling this gap is the task at hand. It is also the sweet spot for top-line growth and high-margin profit.

But who really wants to hire people with masters degrees in "administration" when today's business culture demands managers who can master the process of innovation.

When outsourcing to China and India is universal, when creeping commoditization of products, services, and information hammers prices, innovation is the new currency of competition.

It is the key to organic growth, the lever to widen profit margins, the Holy Grail of 21st century business

Some interesting stats for where innovation will be key.

From China Knowledge U.S. barcode tech co signs Chinese deal

Veritec Inc., a U.S. barcode technology company, has signed a distribution deal with Shanghai Fang Lai Information Technology Co., a Chinese verification technology company.


Under the terms of the agreement, Shanghai Fang Lai will market and sell Veritec products in China, and translate Veritec software products for use in China.

"It was Shanghai Fang who identified and re-confirmed my belief for the need of Multi- Dimensional Matrix-Symbologies(TM) in China; and who understands the enhanced storage and data retrieval capabilities of VSCode® and VeriCode® as being essential to effective imaging and biometrics applications" said Ms Tran.

Mr Zhou of SHanghai Fang stated "We believe Veritec's VSCode® and VeriCode® Multi- Dimensional Symbologies will become the standard matrix symbols for ported applications in the future."

Carl Longino over at MobHappy hosts the 32nd edition of Carnival of the Mobilists

Some new names and excellent writing is making this the must-see weekly mobile review site.

It never hurts to have a big name VC like Khosla Ventures sponsoring innovative mobile ideas.

Ars Electronica highlights Codecheck and their physical world connection application in their 2006 Awards

In the category of Digital Communities:

Codecheck

www.codecheck.ch

The Codecheck project is an effort to create an informed “community” of consumers who are able to critically assess products prior to reaching their purchasing decisions.

Whereas certain initiatives pursue this aim primarily by condemning retail offerings that are potential health hazards, Codecheck takes a different approach: it helps consumers decipher the product’s barcode. The way this works is as simple as can be.

A potential buyer uses his/her PC to enter the product’s numerical code and sends it via Internet to codecheck.ch; what immediately comes back are comprehensive definitions and information from experts about ingredients like sodium laurent sulfate and E250.

The result is the creation of a reference work that is constantly being expanded and updated with contributions from manufacturers, wholesale distributors, specialized labs, consumer organizations and individual consumers. Potential purchasers thus have access to a wide variety of information, opinions and reports, a body of knowledge that constitutes a solid basis on which to form an opinion about a particular product.

Plans are currently in the works to enhance this system by building in mobility.

For example, a shopper in a supermarket could use his/her cell phone’s camera to photograph a product’s barcode and then send this image as an MMS to codecheck.ch, and the relevant information would immediately be transmitted back.

By linking up diverse technologies (photography, Internet, telecommunications) in this way, Codecheck represents a step in the direction of well-informed consumers.

After I added and PaperDisk to the Physical World Connection list and gave a
brief summary I got a chance to hear their story told by CEO Thomas Antognini.

The company tells their story, I highlighted the points I found of interest.

As a company, Cobblestone Software regards itself as the true pioneer of the concept of hyperlinking the physical world using bar codes .

Cobblestone was incorporated in March of 1995, and, to the best of our knowledge, is, by a good distance, the first company formed with print-to-digital-world as its express goal, where a key part of that concept was print-to-internet. As early as 1996, in a paper and presentation delivered at a US Postal Service conference, we had described our revolutionary concept of hyperlinking the world of printed media, and more generally the physical world, to the web and other resources. It is, so far as we are aware, the first such public description of this powerful idea.


Cobblestone's licensed its technology to Mitigo (formed in 2001), which, we believe, was the first company formed to target the camera phone print-to-internet market. As many pioneering companies do, Mitigo essentially ran out of money before the market could develop -- but Cobblestone now retains full rights to our technology in this market.

Cobblestone has also been targeting "data heavy" applications -- that is, applications that require a great deal of information to be stored on paper. For example, Cobblestone has licensed its technology to DeLaRue, the premier passport company in the world, for use in SecureIDs, encoding biometric information in a barcode of many kilobytes. It has worked in the past at some length with Kodak, and is also now working with other major companies in other industries.

Cobblestone, at this stage, is deliberating whether or not to enter on its own into the mobile market, to license its IP and technology, or to sell its assets in this area .

We've developed technology that works robustly on a large variety of camera phones, and can in principle work on ANY camera phone, no matter its optics. We have versions that work on the Smartphone, but also on the Nokia 6680, 3650, and 7650. On the Nokia phones, for example, we have implemented an API that would allow people pretty much to encode, on a desktop, whatever they may want into a code, and then decode that code on the phone to do whatever they may choose to do.

Cobblestone has already been granted three basic patents 6,098,882, 6,176,427, and 6,820,807, and has a number of others still in progress.

One of these patents, 6,820,807, clearly covers the basic concept of using bar codes as physical world hyperlinks , a breadth that is unsurprising given our own priority as the pioneering company in this space. In fact, for example, here are the first two claims of the patent:

1. A method of accessing data comprising: producing digital instructions for accessing data, formatting into a pattern the series of digital data values representing said digital instructions for accessing data, distributing the pattern of formatted digital data, decoding the pattern of formatted digital data, and activating the digital instructions for accessing data, whereby the data is accessed.

2. The method of accessing data of claim 1 wherein said digital instructions for accessing data consists of hyperlinks to information extraneous to said formatted digital data.

While interpreting claims is always a tricky business, and must be understood in the light of the description, it's pretty obvious that on its face these claims would comprehend, at minimum, ANY use of bar codes as hyperlinks to the digital world, the web most obviously; even the term, "hyperlink", is used explicitly. And the description in the patent itself, along with the descriptions in our other patent applications, makes it quite evident that the generalized notion of hyperlinking the physical world to the web, and more generally the digital world, was being clearly envisioned.

Cobblestone's emphasis was on 2D codes from its inception, because we believed that, over time, 2D codes would inevitably win the technology war as imagers became cheaper and more powerful. In fact, this has clearly proven to be true in the mobile market among others: any camera phone very naturally can handle our 2D code, but typically requires special macro, or add-on, lenses to do standard 1D codes; moreover, for new consumer applications, our 2D code requires vastly less space.

So not only was Cobblestone the first company out with the concept of print-to-internet, it was first to recognize the crucial role of 2D codes in the emerging market. We believe that our IP backing up our concept is very strong, and the early priority dates should allow us full freedom to pursue this market, or to so enable anyone to whom we may sell or license the technology and IP.

How could physical world connection get adopted en mass?

A idea I have created, could allow this quickly.

Who has 75 million, ideal demographic users and one of the most visited sites on the Internet?



The owner of this site may be hooking up with a search engine, but has he ever thought of really leveraging this powerful portal?

Rupert, here's what you do .

Provide a free 2d code generating application on the MySpace home page. Call it MyCode or something catchy.

Let the users create codes for URLs, text messages, phone numbers (and I'm sure the kids will find other innovative ideas).

Find a 2d code scanning application for a camera phone that is compatible with as many phones as possible . There's your service provider opportunity..hint hint.

Put up a little summary on MySpace what can be done with a camera phone and 2d code.

Now let the kids/users decide what they want to click on, don't force mobile advertising down their throats.

With 75 million potential users, the MyCode could become the standard 2d code .

Here's the key.

Advertisers will cater to these users and put the MyCode on their advertising.Instead of having consumers download a code scanning app to win some free fries, the advertiser can place a MyCode on THEIR advertising to get interest.

Let advertisers adapt to consumers, not the other way around.

MySpace then sells codes and marketing campaign ideas to advertisers.

I spent 6 months asking teens what they wanted to do with their cell phone.

In my opinion, you're going to have to give away a truckload of french fries to make PWC work the way it's being done now.

This is a great viral mobile marketing idea using a physical world hyperlink.

Abaxia, a physical world connection player has found a great way to get people to scan a datamatrix code using their camera phone for more information.


Kelly Clarkson, Shakira or any of the big name music artists could create a viral campaign that would get a code reading application on a mobile phone.

Abaxia brings music industry into Mobile Tag era

Abaxia , a leading specialist in embedded mobile software solutions, is set to take the music industry by storm with its new technology, by including a MobileTag voucher with every copy of leading French singer Garou's new CD, released on June 12th.

When scanned with a camera-phone, the Tag will give Garou fans the chance to win an exclusive meeting with the artist during his show in Paris in November.

"Sony BMG is happy to be able to promote and strengthen the image of its artists through the use of new technologies such as MobileTag. This technology offers new opportunities of privileged exchange between the artist and his public," says Christophe Waignier, Executive Vice President, Sony BMG.

Here's an innovative idea , why doesn't Sony offer to sell/create a 2d code for all of their artists on their packaging?

The MobileTag concept has already come to the attention of Orange, who tested it at the end 2005, and Nokia, who took part to the launching of the application in France on its 60 series handsets.

I see this type of mobile marketing campaign having so much more traction, and catering more to the consumer, than getting a free box of fries from a burger chain.

Think of all of the possibilities SONY and the artist could follow up with.

A couple weeks ago the Wall Street Journal highlighted how a camera phone and barcode would offer new opportunities, and this week Kim Komando recognizes the Physical World Connection.



Kim Komando presents a Cool Site that allows consumers to Be A Smart Shopper


I downloaded SCANBUY Shopper to my phone. Now, when I'm at a store, I can easily check prices at online merchants. I just open the program and type the barcode. Then, I can find the cheapest prices on the Net!

SCANBUY also lets you check out reviews. That way, you know if something is worth buying. Not only do you know if you're getting a good deal, you know if you're getting a good product

In my opinion, it will either be the pornography or gambling industry that kickstarts a 2d code application on a mobile phone.

XXTremeMeasures realizes that and created a mobile marketing campaign that includes both.

Xxtreme Measures has been proclaimed the most complete digital, wireless, mobile marketing company in United States, and this campaign shows why.

Xxtreme Measures also demonstrated their cutting edge X-Code technology and premium SMS capabilities. The special "2D bar code" was displayed on the "First Interactive Apparel" caps, tank tops and posters, featuring the "ALL IN" movie trailer and its sponsors on the latest cellular phones upon scanning the 2D X-Code image.

To access "ALL IN" THE MOVIE mobile community, users instantaneously receive a mobile coupon by sending a text message to, (99606) along with the key word, "ALL IN THE MOVIE1." Users will be charged $.99 cents per message with the charge appearing on the user's phone bill.

With this special promotion "ALL IN" THE MOVIE will reveal a special code to receive $50 cash for joining Party Poker or you can also go to www.themovieallin.com to scan the barcode to receive it as well

I guess not all mobile marketing companies are thriving. Dwango Wireless had some great clients, but management couldn't put it together.

From RCR News Dijji, formerly Dwango Wireless, liquidates assets

Dijji Corp., formerly known as Dwango Wireless, is closing its doors, according to documents filed this week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

I found this quote interesting:

But while it managed to generate $3.5 million in revenue last year, the company couldn’t keep pace with its intellectual property costs and bloated payroll .

Something I want PP readers to think about and provide comments to .

When Nokia added a 2D code reader to some of their high end phones, did they create THE standard for physical world connection?

The question is "What if Nokia, decides to offer a code generating application that is used in conjunction with their 2D code reader?"

Will wireless providers incorporate this into their marketing?

Could the mobile phone manufacturers turn the tables on the wireless providers?

I think it's safe to say that it will be a while before 1D codes and RFID tags are scanned using a camera phone, so the market for 2D codes is where the focus is now.

Nokia has already joined forces with Yahoo and Flickr, but could Nokia be "THE" physical world connection company if they did? Will they create the "standard" for PWC?

All of the PWC companies are trying to get service providers to put their code scanning application on the mobile phone, what if there is one on it already?

How does PWC company go to a brand manager and ask them to pay a fee to use a code that is NOT in the Nokia world, and get the consumer to upload their application on the phone?

If you're a mobile marketing agency or a physical world connection company, where is your added value?

Thoughts and comments welcomed.

Scanbuy is doing a great job of educating the masses to physical world connection.
I think every major TV market now has been exposed to the capablities of using a camera phone and a barcode. After people realize that other codes besides a 1D code can be scanned, you will see other applications than price comparison.

From CBS3 Cell phone price check

Scanbuy's Shopper takes the camera's that are built in on the cell phone and essentially uses them as a scanner.

The server will then take the bar code, will interpret it, will match it against an online price matching service, and then send you back a message.

The Scanbuy Shopper also works by just punching in the bar code number, instead of taking a picture so you don't need a camera phone.

Scanbuy searches sites like Amazon and Price Grabber to find you the best deal.

Japan has given us great insight into what mobile applications will be accepted.

From What Japan Thinks a survey was done asking what people use and want on their mobile phone

From the total of 300 people, 234 of them, or 78%, used their camera once a month or more.

Q1: Please tell me all the things you use your mobile phone camera for. (Sample size=234, multiple answer)

Votes Percentage

Still camera 233 99.6%
Bar code or QR code reader 131 56.0%
Moving picture camera 113 48.3%
OCR 21 9.0%
Other 1 0.4%

A bar code reader used more than video.

American Idol did a great job of introducing text messaging to the masses, maybe Kelly Clarkson could put 2d codes on her marketing material.

Add ABBYY and their optical character recognition toolkit to the Physical World Connection list.

Have you noticed how the list is growing faster in the last couple months? I have said many times that this space is too big for just a couple players.

I expect to see some of the bigger names be added to the list shortly.

ABBYY Mobile OCR SDK is an OS-independent, small code-size OCR development toolkit specially designed for creating OCR solutions running on mobile devices or in "instant OCR" applications. It can be integrated into any mobile application or platform including Windows Mobile, Symbian, and LINUX, as well as into PC utilities.

With OCR on a mobile phone, photos of business cards can be converted in to text for direct storage into phone books. Clippings from magazines or other documents can be converted and sent via email or SMS.

The quicker consumers are able to create their own 2d codes and scan them , the quicker we can see what other applications (besides price comparison) will be adopted.

I am thinking of the endless mobile applications for this. Musicians and their songs, TV and radio ads. It wouldn't have to deliver ads, but something that keeps the consumer connected.

This is another type of physical world hyperlink.

I talked about this concept just a month ago. NTT DoCoMo is the type of company that imagines and then implements innovative mobile technology.

From Unmediated DoCoMo develops sound QR code

NTT DoCoMo yesterday announced that they developed the acoustic OFDM (Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) technology, which can be used to embed URLs and text data in broadcast music/audio .

Consumers' mobile phones "listen" to the music/audio and extract the embedded URLs/data. About 100 characters can be transmitted in a second. (To deploy this technology, broadcast stations will need to install a dedicated encoder. Mobile phones need to be enhanced with a decoder mechanism as well.)

DoCoMo thinks this technology can also be used at shopping malls and supermarkets. Then, the sound from in-store speakers would probably be delivering information about specials, ads, discount coupons, etc. ITmedia describes this technology as "Sound QR Code" or "Sound Toruka".

A similar technology exists for ultrasonic sound, however, DoCoMo's technology uses audible sound that can be transmitted through regular speakers.

Add Innofone to the Physical World Connection list.


I missed this story when Innofone acquired 2D code player Mobile Technology Group.

Mobile Technology Group just did a 2D code mobile ticketing campaign with Twelve Horses. 2D Data Matrix barcodes were delivered to mobile phones. They also provided a mobile ticketing campaign for Las Vegas Monorail

Quoting the release:
"Square in shape and made up of a pattern of smaller black squares, they are replacing with greater frequency the 1D barcodes found on cereal boxes and scanned in supermarkets everywhere.

2D Data Matrix barcodes are much more compact, can contain far more encrypted information, and are less likely to be misread. In other words, it's able to send more information in a smaller space more reliably with greater security and accuracy"

See why 2D codes will be adopted first?

E-Commerce gives a summary of all types of price comparison engines.

Comparison shopping engine vendors have developed new services to support wireless devices, such as cell phones.

Mobile searching also offers users new functions: they can have their camera phones scan bar codes with their phones for instant price checks.

Scanbuy and NextCode have developed such features and comparison shopping engineers are reportedly ready to incorporate them into their services.

Bill Gates is highlighting the value of the barcode and a camera phone again.

Microsoft just scooped up Third Screen Media for their mobile advertising platform, I wonder if Bill has his eyes on any of these


The D4 All Things Digital Conference started yesterday and the Center for Citizen Media blog has a nice summary

I’m at the Wall Street Journal’s D4 All Things Digital conference , where Bill Gates was talking last evening about the future of mobile phones that handle many other functions including video, writing, etc.

He referred to these gadgets as — I’m not joking — “ Reality Acquisition Devices ” that will, if I understood him correctly, be used to connect digitally to various stuff, such as using the phone to read product bar codes to learn more about the product.

Personally I like the term physical world hyperlink better.

I think he was referring to Microsoft's Aura Project or their recently introduced Photo2Search application. Both applications involve scanning an image or code (barcode) via camera phone to information on the Internet.

D4 All Things Digital Conference offers the chance to meet the movers and shakers who are at the forefront of the digital revolution and get a firsthand look at new technologies.

Vinod Khosla, Founder, Partner of Khosla Ventures and sponsor of the Carnival of the Mobilists, will be speaking.

MyClick, and their QR code scanning via camera phone, being called the next killer application .


iMagic Systems has launched a free new service that enables consumers' camera-phone snapshots to help initiate mobile e-commerce.

It might not be MyClick, but the concept of linking the physical world to the Internet using a physical world hyperlink, in my opinion, will produce The Next Google

A couple interesting points to note w/ iMagic's MyClick physical world connection application.

First, they modify a QR code to make it unique for their resolving function. They are also getting the advertisers pick up the tab for consumers to adopt this application.

From Televisionpoint MyClick software for advertisers

A number of leading advertisers will subsidise costs for consumers interacting with them via mobile phone, as part of a major push to develop the mobile as a marketing medium.

The software will enable owners of GPRS and 3G phones to browse advertiser WAP sites through their phones without having to pay any charges to the mobile phone operators. These fees will be paid instead by the advertiser, based on the number of times people use the software to access the site.

Advertisers will pay for consumers to use their wireless data plan?
MyClick works on similar lines to QR codes currently deployed in Japan, China and Taiwan, where users use their camera phones to take a picture of a special symbol, giving them online access to a special WAP site.

Rather than a symbol, however, MyClick software recognises a special frame studded with stars that advertisers can use as a border for an image.

Does adding these stars make this 2d code proprietary?

"It is up to advertisers to come up with new, innovative ideas to stimulate people to take action, If we work together, we can then create a wave of adoption and understanding." said an official who relates in this matter.

iMagic is a leading technology company in Hong Kong that has over 10 years history of excellence and international acclaim for its product development and integration and as an operator of public access payment and telecommunications solutions.

The irony here is that the concept of linking the physical world to the Internet is being called the next killer app, and yet PC World just listed the CueCat (the same principle) as being one of the 25 Worst Tech Products of all time.

McDonald's is probably the largest fast-food chain in the World. Could a 2d Code provide another revenue stream for them?


Peter Hanami, who lives in Tokyo, has a great shot of a McDonalds cheeseburger wrapper with QR, (2D) codes on it. It shows that brands are recognizing that 2d codes are the physical world hyperlink of choice for now.

When the code is scanned it takes customers to a site with allergy and calorie information about the range of products.

But what else could they do with that wrapper and a 2d code?

Ex. Download the McDonald's McCoder and scan a 2d code for free fries on your next visit. This would be one easy way to get the 2d code scanning application on the phone.

The idea I have is that McDonald's COULD SELL interactive mobile advertising on all of those wrappers.

They could sell adspace on the millions of wrappers they distribute daily with an interactive function (2d code and camera phone).

McDonald's is making their locations Wi-Fi enabled, see the possibilities?

Looks like another physical world connection company has been discovered.

Justin at MoPocket alerts us to iBuyRight and their soon to be released tool for camera phones.


iBuyRight is the code name for a suite of applications currently being developed by a team at UC Berkeley to deliver social, environmental, and health information about products at the point of purchase.

"After a product bar code is scanned with a cameraphone, iBuyRight retrieves relevant information from a social and environmental issues database, then displays it on the cell phone screen in an easy-to-read format."

These tools radically transform the information available to consumers on the impacts of the products they buy. Our tools empower consumers to screen and compare products based on their personal values and concerns through the presentation of detailed information about products, companies, and brands.

This information is presented in easy-to-understand ratings and detailed descriptions. We believe these consumer information tools hold the potential to empower literally millions of concerned consumers to buy products that better represent their values.

A beta version of the iBuyRight tool for camera phones will be released soon.

A couple weeks ago, I was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about how the camera on a mobile phone and barcodes will provide a way to surf the physcial world. The camera acts like a mouse and barcodes will provide hyperlinks to a website.

Jessica had read The Pondering Primate and asked for my input.

A lot of the interview wasn't included, but the idea that the WSJ is exposing this disruptive technology , is very encouraging.

Cellphone Services Read Codes On Ads, Products, Buildings And Link to Details Online

While shopping at a Whole Foods store in Los Angeles, Richard Jefferson spotted a curious sticker with tiny black squares on a package of Yum Tum raw vegan pizza.

Intrigued, he sent a text message to a number listed on the package and received a link prompting him to download software to his Sony Ericsson cellphone to decipher what turned out to be a bar code. The software allowed him to snap a picture of the bar code to be connected to a Web page with recipes and health tips from Yum Tum, a raw-foods brand in Los Angeles.

These are codes from Netxcode's Connexto.

"This could be huge," he says. A rising number of people are using new free services to connect to the mobile Internet by photographing bar codes. The codes -- either conventional bar codes or digital ones -- are showing up on more products, advertisements, books and even buildings.

I have been calling them physical world hyperlinks . The camera on the mobile phone acts as a mouse and the barcode is used as a hyperlink to get to a targeted website .

The technology is popular in Asia but previously failed to catch on in the U.S. after several attempts. Now, improving technologies and the ubiquity of camera phones are triggering a host of new bar-code services.

Nokia Corp. has built its own bar-code reader into new models of two camera phones that are scheduled to become available in the U.S. this fall.

Scanbuy Inc.'s. Scanbuy Shopper, expected to be live in the next few weeks, grabs Shopping.com prices and reviews, for example, from a Universal Product Code, or UPC.

Nextcode Corp. has launched ConnexTo , mobile software for reading digital bar codes that are cropping up on food packaging and posters.

NeoMedia Technologies Inc., which owns mobile-ad firms, will launch its bar-code reader PaperClick later this year.


The codes are appearing gradually in grocery stores, embedded in business cards, on promotional posters and T-shirts and even near landmarks like the Chrysler Building, around where people placed a code linking to the building's Wikipedia entry.

They are piquing the interest of advertisers who see the potential to serve up more relevant ads -- a trailer downloaded off a movie billboard, for instance -- and consumer-product companies trying to make products more interactive.

The technology, part of the mobile industry's push to embed more functions and features into mobile devices, is still in its early stages, meaning the new services may only work with some camera phone models and service providers. While there is vast potential for the technology -- from downloading movies off billboards to helping diabetics purchase food safe for them to eat -- a range of hurdles have some questioning whether the applications are functional enough to succeed.

Not all software programs can read all types of bar codes. This means consumers must, for now, pick and choose among services.

Scanbuy, for instance, works with standard bar codes while Semacode Corp . uses a code standard called Data Matrix. When PaperClick launches it is likely to used a third symbology, Aztec .

The new services also have some competition from other companies working to provide similar services off existing logos and images, not bar codes. Mobot Inc., owned by PaperClick's parent company NeoMedia, lets users snap images directly from a magazine or billboard.

The user sends the picture to an address, and Mobot's technology reads the contours of the image stored in its database and sends a message back with the relevant content, such as promotion details.Packages of Yum Tum's raw food use a new-style bar code that links customers to recipes and ingredient information.

Companies are seeking to make the bar-code technology easier to use by preloading it on mobile devices. Consumers, who are turning to their phones for a multitude of functions from downloading ringtones to text messaging to mobile Web browsing, also appear more ready for the services, which are free excluding data fees.

About 15% of U.S. cellphone users accessed the Web on their phone last month, according to Seattle-based mobile-research firm M:Metrics.While two Nokia models will come with bar-code readers standard in a few months, consumers for now have to get the software themselves.

Most services can be downloaded to a camera phone by typing a Web address into the device's browser. Some applications, such as PaperClick, ask those who sign up for some demographic information such as age and location to better tailor the types of results they see.

From there, users click on the application icon, hold the camera a few inches away from the code, and click as if taking a photo. (Some detect the code automatically and register it without clicking.) The software decodes the information, typically a Web link, and quickly directs the user to the relevant Web page.

It's a new chapter in bar-code history. In the 1950s, two inventors filed the first bar-code patent, which included a sketch of a ring of concentric circles. In later decades the Universal Product Code, a symbol whose fine lines could be scanned at a checkout counter, for instance, emerged.

Today, commercial uses of bar codes proliferate. Airlines use them to shuttle around baggage and delivery services rely on them to help track packages. The Pondering Primate, Scott Shaffer, 39 years old, a private investor in Boca Raton, Fla., recently went to the ConnexTo Web site to create his own bar code that he now puts on his business cards. Now, anyone with the ConnexTo reader downloaded to their phone can snap one of his cards to be routed to a Web site with his name, address, phone number and email.

Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. already offer mobile versions of shopping Web sites or text-messaging services that pull up a few lines of abbreviated text per query.

Scanbuy Shopper promises to deliver more information like reviews and comparison statistics through miniature Web pages. The new service, which will allow users without the appropriate camera phone or lens to key in the bar-code number manually, has also been updated to read codes in dim light and at odd angles.

Textbook publisher Prentice Hall will be putting PaperClick smart codes in the next edition of one of its introductory-marketing textbooks expected to be released in January 2007. A handful of codes will appear in some entries in the text linking to further examples and related news articles.

Nonprofit groups also are using bar codes for new purposes. A world-wide project called Semapedia involves people creating more than 2,500 codes that they are sticking to or near landmarks like the Leaning Tower of Pisa or Machu Pichu. The codes link to the Wikipedia entry for the location.

Write to email Jessica E. Vascellaro

What is taking so long for mobile marketing to adopt physical world connection?

A 2D code can say a thousand words .



Two of these codes link to a website I chose. Can you tell what codes they are, who provided them, and how to get to that site?



These are only a few of the many 2D codes available today.

Two of the codes are easy to recognize, but can you identify the others?


In order for physical world connection to get adopted, there will have to be a "standard" code or scanning application that can read ALL 2D codes. This will be done by a software application, or in a universal database (won't be a direct connect function).

Barcodes are easy for a consumer to recognize and are "owned" by a corporation, but getting a camera phone to resolve them isn't.

Until camera phones can resolve a 1D code (barcode), 2D codes will be the physical world hyperlink of choice for both corporations AND consumers. Both consumers and corporations can create them on their own. Here's the tradeoff for a mobile marketer and brand , do you want a direct connection with a limited number of codes, or do you want as many phones as possible to interact with your ad?

When the service providers choose their physical world scanning platform(s), they should keep in mind ALL of the abilities and limits from each 2D code supplier.

From The Advertiser Mobile credit on the cards

Mastercard senior client business leader Bill Saubert told the International Credit Card Summit conference that technology allowing mobile phones to scan product bar codes using infra-red light had already been perfected.

There will be many ways the physical world gets connected.

Scanning a barcode using a mobile phone can deliver many forms of information. The only application that has been presented so far by the media , is price comparison.

See what the travel industry is doing with a barcode.

From HotelMarketing Thomson showcases travel technology of the future

The UK’s leading travel company Thomson today gave an insight into the key technological developments that are likely to benefit the travel industry in the near future.

A mobile phone, equipped with a bar code reader, would enable customers to scan bar codes on advertisements or holiday brochures; details of availability information can then be displayed on their mobile phone screen.

A booking confirmation would have a unique barcode (2d code) that the customer would scan to store it in the phone so that travel shops, hotels and airports would be able to instantly recognise the customer using an RFID reader - speeding up the check in and security processes.

What I find interesting is that 2 forms of physical world hyperlinks are being used.

Scanbuy is doing a great job exposing this disruptive technology to the public.

For now, it still takes a special lens to resolve a 1D code (barcode seen on packaging), but their consistent press exposure will allow them to capture the 2D code (QR codes and Datamatrix) market too. Their software has the ability to read 2D codes too.


From CBS4 Boston Cell phone uses barcode for shopping deals

As Peter Shirley from Independent Mobile explains, "It takes the cameras that are built in on the cell phones and essentially uses them as a scanner."

More specifically, the camera scans the product's barcode. This allows the consumer to get valuable information while still in the store.

See the video

It won't be too long before other barcodes (2D codes) will act as physical world hyperlinks.

I have been saying for some time, when you give people the ability to create their own physical world hyperlinks, you will see what mobile applications THEY want. Some of the PWC companies are using this disruptive technology to please advertisers, not the consumers.

You didn't buy your new 50" LCD to watch commercials did you?

It looks like we have our first physical world connection mobile phones being introduced by Nokia. By including a 2D code reader in the mobile phone, Nokia has removed the biggest obstacle mobile marketing companies face.

Tommi at S60 Applications notices Nokia has added a 2D barcode reader to the Nokia N93 phone.

"I noticed that the user manual of Nokia N93 mentioned our barcode reader application on page 109, so I guess it is safe for me to write about this subject."

He also finds S60 devices are starting to ship with a barcode reader application built-in.

Will Nokia, Yahoo and Flickr create a mobile marketing powerhouse now?

All companies, and individuals can produce a free 2D code, and will have their own physical world hyperlink for mobile marketing. Create your own 2D code free.

Because Flickr's database is so big and has so many users, your 2D code will be included in such a large database, and it will still be proprietary.

I would look for Flickr or Yahoo to gobble up and include a 2D code generating website shortly.

Last week Yahoo quietly became a mobile marketing powerhouse, did you see it?

Nokia, Yahoo and Flickr announced the platform for a mobile marketing powerhouse. Yahoo already has a short code 92466 (YAHOO) for text messages.

Nokia, the world leader in mobile communications, and Yahoo!, the number one Internet destination, announced that they are making it easy for mobile photographers to upload and add comments to photos directly from their Nokia Nseries multimedia computers to Flickr, the largest online photo sharing community on the Web.

Yes, this is for uploading photos, but with a little innovation, they can access that same user/advertiser created image database and download content too.

The biggest problem the physical world connection companies PWC face, is how to getting their "platform", or scanning application on the phone.

This is only a problem because they are focusing on what's best for the advertiser, not the consumer. Google didn't create Adsense, then build their search engine.

With Flicker, you have a consumer application, that utilizes a camera phone, and an extraordinary viral marketing possibility .

How does it work?

Yahoo/Nokia adds an optical character recognition application (image/code reader or they could let the Flickr server resolve it) and then all of the uploaded codes/images in/on the Flickr database become physical world hyperlinks .

These , these , and these become physical world hyperlinks.

Advertisers can then start uploading their own magazines and DVD covers. The Chanel ad gets uploaded so a mobile user can connect in ANY magazine. Don't have your own logo? There are a dozen sites that will create 2D code for you.

What is the biggest problem it solves? It puts all of the different codes, created by all of the different physical world connection players, in one database .

In my opinion, this is how mobile marketing will implement a physical world hyperlink.

Budweiser uploads their logo and a 2D code to the Flickr database. They won't care who creates the 2D code , because the Flickr community is larger than the population of all PWC company users right now.

As of Dec 2005, Flickr had over 2 million users with over 100m photos. How many registered users does Yahoo have? The number of camera phone users is only growing and the potential physical world hyperlinks is endless.

Not only will Yahoo generate revenues by "turning on" specific images for advertisers AND consumers, but they will build an analytical database to use for mobile marketing purposes later.
Google could offer the same service utlizing their Image database, but they need to create some kind of image creating/recognition application for the phone.

Until the carriers decide on which 2D code scanning platform(s) they will put on the phones, or until one of the PWC has a campaign that has enough creativity to get users to download their application to the phone, this is the platform that will kickstart physical world connection mobile marketing.

Look at what is developing.

Microsoft owns Corbis and a mobile OS. They just announced their Phone2Search than can comb 6,000 images in 3 seconds.


Google has Google Images, a terrific image database and the leading Internet advertiser, but no application that utilizes/controls the camera on the phone yet.

Getty Images has teamed up with Cingular and Sprint.

ActiveSymbols is using the Corbis database for its mobile service .

Yahoo owns Flickr and has the the leverage of 2 social communities for adoption.

In many ways the PWC can learn a lot from Google. They created a great consumer application, and found a way to include advertising. Looks familar doesn't it?

As I have been saying for a while now to PWC companies, open up your code, and let the consumer decide what scanning applications will be desired.

Looks like Yahoo and Flickr will let consumers decide what applications THEY want.

Comments?

3GVision allows camera phones to read 1D or 2D codes. Add them to the Physical World Connection list

3GVision's Barcode Reader is a software-only utility that turns any camera phone into a handy one-dimensional and two-dimensional barcode scanner.

Reading barcodes that contain a URL has become a standard method to access wireless sites in Japan.
With more than 20 million handsets shipped worldwide, 3GVision's Barcode Reader is the clear market leader and the technology of choice for the cellular community.

Modern barcodes can store a large amount of information, like URLs or product information, and even entire news articles or business cards. Using mobile handsets to scan printed or electronically displayed barcodes helps end-users
access various types of data, bypassing the tedious process of typing URLs and access codes.

Looks like they have been busy

The May 2006 issue of Maxim Magazine not only offers lots of text message contests and informative ideas, but they have an Upside insert that discusses 50 innovative applications for the mobile.

The mobile marketing ideas from this are endless.

Text campaigns include offer wallpaper, pickup lines and ways to breakup with your lover. They even show you how to make your own ring tone.

Text COMPASS to MAXIM to win a free wallpaper from Jeep.

The special insert "50 Things you didnt know you could do with a cellphone" is pretty informative too.

The insert alone is worth it. The issue has Jamie Lynn Sigler on the cover.

Maxim is one step away from delivering the premier mobile marketing magazine to the targeted demographic .

Pick up the issue, it's worth it. With a monkey picture like that how can you refuse?

Kate Trgovac has an good summary of last week's Digital Ad Summit sponsored by Sympatico/MSN.

Marc Montaldier, who is head of mobile marketing for Orange France, had a couple highlights.

--mobile is unique - 1 subscriber is 1 audience member (no "pass-along" in mobile) Results in better targeting

--the mobile device goes *everywhere* with the customer; and it is multimedia enabled

--perceived value to customers who get a context-sensitive discount is huge (can take advantage of 2D barcodes)

--Get on Mobile Marketing now

A bar code could be put on these.

From IndyStar Success comes down to the wire

James E. O'Keefe a technology consultant making metal alloys whose molecules are arranged as randomly as those in liquids or glass.

He came across a glass-coated, hair-thin form of the invention. The more he looked at the technology, the more convinced he became that such microwires could be cheap to make and could serve as powerful signaling devices.

O'Keefe has been showing a prototype to retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue. He says his start-up company, Demodulation, could provide security tags at half the cost of the metal tags used in systems sold by companies like Sensormatic, a division of Tyco International that is the leader in retail article tracking.

The tags could be scanned from distances up to 20 feet and would be harder for thieves to fool than most current systems. Such an unobtrusive system would be welcomed in stores focused on designer clothing.

Research suggests that the magnetic regions in the snippets of wire could be manipulated to store digital information and tiny bar codes could be applied to the glass coating.

Such versions of the microwires could become a much cheaper alternative to the radio identification tags currently being developed to help Wal-Mart Stores and other retailers track goods flowing into and through their vast supply chains. Unlike most radio tags, the microwire signals are not disrupted by metal foil or liquid.

Verizon Wireless today announced it will be presenting Shakira's "Oral Fixation" North American tour this summer and leveraging wireless technology to ensure her fans have
a unique concert experience.

From Chron Shakira tour uses mobile barcodes from Verizon

In a music and wireless industry first, Shakira will send a multimedia personal video invitation customized to each city she goes to, inviting her fans to come hear her play in their local arena.

Fans with Verizon Wireless phones will have the option to text or click through to purchase and win tickets. Some Shakira concertgoers will receive a multimedia message barcode ticket sent to their Verizon Wireless phones. When they arrive at the concert, the wireless bar code tickets will be scanned to get them into the show.

Fans will also help Shakira determine what songs she performs on the tour. Verizon Wireless customers will be able to text which favorite Shakira songs they feel should be played on the "Oral Fixation" tour

This month's issue of Business 2.0 has a special pullout called "Your Wireless Future".

Carlo Longino of MobHappy does a great job of listing the companies to watch for specific applications (productivity, voice communication, location-based services, entertainment/social networking).

In the location-based services category he lists Semacode as a company to watch.

Semacode connects the mobile to the physical world using camera phones as bar-code readers.

Semacode is just one of the companies that provides this ability.

How does it work?

Semacode works by embedding a URL (web address) into a sort of two-dimensional barcode which looks like a dense crossword puzzle.

This is an open system. Anyone can create as many semacode tags for as many different URLs as they wish. Millions, even. As long as you own the domain name, the tagging system is completely unrestricted.

Congrats Carlo and nice job.

I would have to say XXTreme Measures is most complete mobile marketing company I have seen so far in the States.

They offer marketing, billing, texting and they even have their own physical world hyperlink called X-Code .

XXTreme Measures and their X-Code, offer mobile ticketing, coupons and access to content on the Internet.
In addition, take a look at their supported carriers .

Add XXTreme Measures to the mobile marketing, mobile coupon and physical world connection lists .

Xxtreme SMS provides you an easy access to the content related to a unique eye-catching barcode.

You simply point at the barcode and are instantly directed to the associated content - music, media, graphics, text. Xxtreme SMS eliminates the need for manual multitap key-entry and lets you get to content faster!.


Xxtreme SMS also provide mobile ticketing, mobile coupon and mobile commerce solutions based on the creation, delivery and redemption of barcodes to mobile phones.

Xxtreme X-Code are barcoded tickets sent to a mobile phone. The Xxtreme X-Code is redeemed at the venue by simply scanning the mobile phone display with a standard scanner or a digital camera phone (software neccessary).

Locations include US, UK, China, S Korea and Brazil.

Look at the carriers supported both US and International.

The company has their own debit card company and has stated they would be utilizing this for various mobile applications.

Stay tuned, they should be offering some interesting mobile campaigns and applications soon.
Nice find Olivier

For more info

From Monterey Herald In Japan, mobile phone replacing wallets, keys, credit cards

With cellular phone in hand, Japanese consumers can purchase from vending machines, buy train tickets, order a bowl of noodles, trade stock, bid at online auctions and change channels on a TV set.
It's not unusual, for example, to see pedestrians sidle up to concert posters and use their mobile phones to read small bar codes. Their mobiles process the bar codes, automatically taking them to Web sites for more information. Viewing their mobiles, users can see prices, pick out seats and buy tickets.

Magazine ads, publicity fliers and bus stops often have bar codes that allow mobile users to arrive at Web sites to make purchases or see information.

"You're reading a catalog in the bathtub, and you say, `Oh, I want to buy this.' And you read the bar code," said Jeffrey Funk, a commentator on the Japanese mobile phone market and professor at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.

An interesting comment.

One key difference, though, is the eagerness of Japanese carriers to provide more services to consumers without a clear revenue model, something U.S. carriers are unlikely to do

This is another example of physical world connection. Your face is a machine readable identifer.

From Japan Times Your face could become a bar code

For an hour or two each day over the course of two to three weeks, one of the station's ticket gates will be closed to the general public. A newly-developed biometric camera, capable not only of photographing faces, but of analyzing facial data and in essence converting each person's face into a unique bar code, will be at work, snapping shots of participants in the experiment as they pass back and forth through the gate.


Its point is to assess how well the camera works. If it works well, will it be adopted nationwide, in subway stations, train stations and elsewhere?

NTT Docomo recently adopted Neven Vision's application for this.

Add Matrix Solutions to the Physical World Connection list

Matrix Solutions uses a data matrix code and mobile phone, to connect the physical world.

The future of mobile marketing has already begun. Matrix Solutions' innovative systems transform the mobile phone into a universal tool. This is potentiated by the Data-Matrix-Code: the cell phone as an admission ticket, a voucher, or a means of payment.

Matrix Solutions offers :
PicTicket
Order a ticket from the organiser via the Internet or a call center. Consumer uses Matrix PicTicket as the form of output, and pays with their credit card number and hangs up.

In the background, the ticket data and SIM card ID are merged in a matter of seconds to generate a unique Data-Matrix-Code which is sent to the mobile as a Matrix PicTicket, along with the relevant concert information.

The consumer receives a Picture SMS. At the entrance to the concert they open the message, and the PicTicket will be read by a scanner and verified on the fly
PicCoupon
For the user, Matrix PicCoupon works dead easy. Consumers order vouchers or coupons on the Internet, load them onto their mobile devices, and redeem them at the store. This is facilitated by our pixel-based Data-Matrix-Code.
and
PicTAN

Order fingerprints online or from your mobile. Load Matrix PicTAN directly onto mobile phone. Scan PicTAN at POS and pay cashless.

Notice how long the list of physical world connection companies is getting . This technology will have an enormous impact on many industries. It's only logical that many players will enter it.

Want to know what's next for wireless in the States, look at Japan.

Survey of Japan's mobile phone consumers reveals potential product strategies for the U.S. market.

Japanese wireless subscribers demonstrate a higher level of usage of, and interest in, advanced mobile phone features than do consumers in the United States, according to the findings in a new report from The NPD Group , a leading provider of consumer and retail information.

Japanese consumers are the world’s early adopters of the latest mobile technologies and features. The market is therefore seen as a key test bed for innovation, which is why industry professionals around the world look to Japan to understand “what’s next” in wireless.

Emerging features currently available in Japan, but less ubiquitous here, also display a strong growth potential for the consumer wireless market in the US. These features include:

-Barcode reader (27%)
-GPS (26%)
-FM Radio (22%)
-Voice recorder (18%)
-Analog TV tuner (18%)
-Mobile commerce and emoney capabilities (16%)

Want to know who owns a shortcode? Want to know what services are offered by a specific short code?

Until shortcode owners come out and publicly advertise their shortcode (I still dont know why they don't), I put together a list a SMS Shortcode Search Engine Engines.



OTAir

Shortcode.info

SMS Today

US Short Code WhoIs


If you can't find it on one of these, just Google It


Or you can get one of your own.

If you know of any other sites that offer this service please let me know and I'll include them too.

Mission Impossible III uses Scanbuy for mobile marketing.

From RedandBlack Camera phones to aid shoppers

A new technology now stands to eliminate the frustrations of comparison shopping.

The company Scanbuy, Inc., has developed software that enables camera phone users to snap a picture of an item’s barcode, which then cues the phone to launch an application to search the Internet for the lowest prices at nearby retailers or online.

In Spain or the United Kingdom, camera phone users contemplating whether Tom Cruise’s upcoming movie really does provide all the thrills and explosive action it promises can scan a barcode located on a “Mission Impossible III” movie poster.

From this scan, users will have the movie’s trailers, reviews and even the option of buying tickets all at their fingertips.

Scanbuy’s technology also has the ability to reveal the history of many items.

Scanbuy recently introduced Scanbuy Coupons.


Coupons and Tickets can be ordered through multiple means such as SMS, USSD, barcode capture.

Barcode Coupons and Tickets can be sent through SMS (EMS or Picture Mail), MMS, WAP Push, Personal WAP account, or even managed through a dedicated Client App

Recognizing the fact many in the United States still do not have camera-equipped cell phones, Attia’s company will launch an application this May that will allow users to simply type in the barcode number to get the same information

Add NPC Intelcom to the physical word connection list.





From their site.

Until recently scanning and decoding of 2D symbology was a challenge. First, linear barcode scanners, - those ones you can see in stores and supermarkets, - can't be used to read 2D-symbols because they read the symbol only in one direction.

Second, cheap and hi performance hardware platforms did not exist until now and they were not able to decode 2D symbology. Both problems have been resolved: processors have enough processing power, digital CCD-cameras are not expensive and are connected to the hardware through standard high-speed interfaces (USB ports for instance).

Thus the most widely-spread in the world hardware - PCs, minicomputers PDAs (Portable Device Assistants), mobile phones with digital cameras - are now capable of decoding 2D barcodes.

The only thing you need is a software program which can recognize digital images of the surface with a barcode on it. It is that kind of software that is developed by NPC Intelcom .


For more info

There are more articles from industry analysts and consumer related services that are discussing how physical world hyperlinks (PWH) will be used to connect to the Internet using a mobile phone.

I will get excited when mobile marketing companies and website owners start to incorporate this application as a way to get traffic and interact with the consumer. To many, it's still a concept . When brands are informed to the power that a PWH has, look for mass adoption.

The physical world connection industry needs an agency to promote this enormous opportunity.

In the near future, Taiwanese consumers will be able to use their camera phones to give the tomatoes being sold in grocery stores a background check.

All they have to do is take a snapshot of the matrix-type Quick Response Code glued to the veggie, and the tomato's history - would be displayed on their handset screen

Hoping to give its wireless services a boost, mobile telecom operator Far Eastone Telecommunications yesterday unveiled its first QR Code-enabled handset, the Sharp WX-T91. Users could use their Sharp phones to scan the QR Code provided in the FET wireless Internet service guide and quickly load the Web pages that they wanted.

The QR Code has several applications from URL forwarding and electronic business card functions to coupon and ticketing services.

Measuring about a couple of centimeters square, the QR Code is, in several ways, more superior than the conventional barcode. ( There are other codes that can store even more data ) Unlike the barcode which can only store a small amount of data, the two-dimensional QR Code can store up to 4,296 characters, is equipped with an encryption and security code, is capable of 360-degree scanning, and facilitates one-click access to wireless Internet, said Nilsson.

"The scanner for the QR Code is simpler than the barcode reader," added Nilsson


The other traditional code formats are UPC/EAN , Code 128 , and DataMatrix.

Some companies like Nextcode and OP3 are creating their own codes. The Connexto code is easier to read, and contains a lot more information than a barcode.

Industry exprets are recognizing that the mobile phone is becoming more like a universal remote control.


In-Stat has a mobile research report out called Mobile Wallet: More Than M-Commerce

“In-Stat believes that the market can grow only by adopting a technology that offers the most versatility by providing both transaction capability and content discovery,” says David Chamberlain, In-Stat analyst.

“There are several technologies that could enable mobile wallet operations of handsets, including Near Field Communications (NFC), Radio Frequency (RFID), bar codes, and visual recognition. ( They can deliver content too )

In-Stat recognizes the role physical world hyperlinks will play.

Standardization efforts around NFC may give that system the edge.”

A summary of the report can be found here

In order to offer a complete mobile marketing platform, you need Traction .

I haven't found many marketing agencies that include ALL mediums, so I was eager to see Traction's application when they unveiled it at the CTIA show. Most are not incorporating IPTV or speech into their product.



Traction is an ASP delivered Digital Marketing Platform allowing agencies to easily and efficiently manage campaigns such as outbound broadcast or inbound interactions across a variety of channels.

Traction allows you to deliver inbound or outbound interactions across all 9 digital channels Email, SMS, Web, ITV, XML, VXML, API to API, DTMF and IVR content.

The Traction Platform is being brought to the USA by MassMedia Studios who developed the technology in Australia and have been marketing it both there and in the UK for the last 3 years.

Traction has been snapped up in the past 2 months by a number of both larger general advertising agencies and the smaller more innovative interactive agencies.

Existing customers running campaigns on the Traction Platform include Audi, Garnier, L’oreal and Unilever.

I saw a recent campaign from a major brand that used the Traction platform. The various methods to reach a consumer and the analytical tools they offer are impressive.

Look for announcements soon with these guys.

The fact that TrendWatching is recognizing Physical World Connection, means adoption is around the corner. Trendwatching puts into pictures what I have been discussing on PP.

A MUST READ



Trendwatching has a great summary called InfoLust. I urge all PP readers to look at this story .

The driving force behind INFOLUST is a basic human need. Which goes for most consumer trends. In this case: the need for power and empowerment, or at least the illusion thereof.

Information is power. So is knowledge. And being in the know. And now that INFOLUST can be satisfied instantly, and millions of consumers have had a taste of the new, transparent world of information distribution, expectations about access to information have been raised.

Acces to such information will include:
Dumb objects, smart codes
Codes linked to text/SMS
Traditional barcodes
Advanced codes
Customer made codes
Audio recognition

All of these are Physical world hyperlinks.

Yes Charlie , those are some nice bananas. Forgive the Primate for being slow to expose this.

Some of the top visionaries give their thoughts on where the Internet is headed. The future of the Net is Web 2.0 or Phase 2. Phase 2 is not what will be offered on the Net, but how we connect to it.

Red Herring has the story The Future of the Internet

Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf who is widely known as one of the “fathers” of the Internet for his role in co-designing the TCP/IP protocol and the Internet’s architecture.

Everything from the family fridge to the office coffee pot—as well as heating, cooling, and security systems—will be managed through the Internet, possibly using souped-up mobile phones doubling as universal remote controls.

As so-called sensor networks evolve, there will be vastly more machines than people online. As it is, there are almost 10 billion embedded micro-controllers shipped every year.

“This is the next networking frontier—following inexorably down from desktops, laptops, and palmtops, including cell phones,” says Bob Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet and founder of 3Com.

Wireless sensors, are really physical world hyperlinks, and another example of ubiquitous computing or physical world connection (PWC).

From Red Herring VCs back wireless $ensors

Mobile phone market penetration passed personal computers in just a few years and VCs are now betting wireless sensors will be the next platform of connected computing to take off.

Moving in that direction, New Enterprise Associates, Shasta Ventures, and IntelCapital backed Arch Rock , a startup looking to capitalize on the trend with an embedded operating system and web services for wireless sensors.

Arch Rock is betting that wireless sensors will end up looking a lot like the Internet does today. From their site:

"Arch Rock technology is the critical link between the physical world and your information systems".

Why type in lengthy domain names, when you can just dial a number.

CommerceTel's new Call-For-Content enables a phone number to connect to content.


CallForContent starts with your own local or toll-free phone number for mobile phone users to navigate, select and receive your content.

Dialing a number is a lot easier that entering a long url on a mobile phones browser!

Viewers of your national print, television or radio campaign can receive information or content by simply dialing your telephone number and selecting their content.

How it works

CommerceTel's flagship service Call for Content gives merchants the ability to process all types of payment transactions through their existing phone system.

The service works with any VISA, MC and ACH payment processor using any one of the nearly 200 payment gateways

Last week I talked about a patent auction that included barcode(and RFID) to Internet intellectual property.

I had a chance to read all 28 of them I am providing their links. Some good reading .

Ocean Tomo, the auctioneer, will not reveal the purchaser or the amount. They do play an interesting role going forward though. This is all part of the New American Business Model

5938726
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For a detailed summary of each patent visit USPTO

To see the entire catalog of what patents were auctioned off.

Picturephoning found an interesting story about NTT DoCoMo developing acoustic OFDM (Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) technology, which can then embed URL's and text data into audio.


"Consumers' mobile phones "listen" to the music/audio and extract the embedded URLs/data. About 100 characters can be transmitted in a second. (To deploy this technology, broadcast stations will need to install a dedicated encoder. Mobile phones need to be enhanced with a decoder mechanism as well.)

"DoCoMo thinks this technology can also be used at shopping malls and supermarkets. Then, the sound from in-store speakers would probably be delivering information about specials, ads, discount coupons, etc

Finally Microsoft sees the big "picture".

In my opinion Microsoft's announcement of Photo2Search ,will send ripples through the mobile world. It will also be the tipping point for mobile marketing, mobile search and physical world connection adoption.
The camera on your mobile phone is your "mouse" and every physical object has, or will become, a physical world hyperlink, Phase 2 of the Internet begins.

This is how Microsoft can beat Google.

Microsoft introduces Photo2Search

Xie, a researcher for the Web Search and Mining group within Microsoft Research Asia, is working on technology called Photo2Search , which is designed to provide information on the go for users of camera phones.

“As the old saying goes,” Xie says, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Gates already made reference to this.

Maybe more, actually. Photo2Search gives users a way to search a Web-based database by using nothing more than an image captured by a cellphone equipped with a digital camera.

“This technology,” Xie says, “aims to solve the problem of mapping a physical-world object to a digital-world object. You see an object in the physical world, and you want to know the corresponding information in the digital world—for example, its price on the Web, user comments, or Web sites.

There are many different solutions. You can use a bar code or radio-frequency identification.

Microsoft is probably already developing an RFID browser. But using a picture of the object is very convenient and very easy to deploy.”

Photo2Search works like this: Seeking information about something seen, a user takes a photo of the object and sends the photo, via e-mail or Multimedia Messaging Service, to a Web-based server, which searches an image database for matches.

The server then delivers database information—whether it be a Web page featuring the object in the photo or information associated with the object—to the user, who can act on the information received: read a menu, enter a gallery, book a hotel room, make a purchase.

Now that Microsoft has announced their intent to connect the physical world with a mobile phone, look for this space to heat up quickly . Who companies are ripe for the picking? Any one of these

The pharmaceutical industry will probably be the first to adopt physical world connection. Pfizer was the first to add RFID tags to their high volume Viagra drug.

It is estimated that 7-8% of the drugs world wide are counterfeit and the value of this will reach $75b by 2010. RFID has been hyped as the answer to this problem.

Until RFID tags are added to all drugs, there's another way to stop counterfeiting, the 2D code.

The 2D code and RFID tag are just two examples of a physical world hyperlink (PWH)

ATS Automation Tooling has partnered with Tesa to launch a new marking technology to combat counterfeiting of glass drug products.

The Validate system uses ATS's automated laser system to permanently mark product and supply chain information, including text, logos, lines and 2D barcode matrixes, into the glass packaging of a drug, using transfer film formulated by tape and label specialists, Tesa.

This method is non-ablating, the end result is very legible and can easily be read by traditional bar code readers .

Unlike RFID, the 2D barcode matrix can be read by barcode readers that are already widely available in the supply chain, thus bringing additional cost savings.

However, don't sell the RFID tag short.

SAP just recently announced an application that can read an RFID tag using a mobile phone.

SAP Corporate Research started work in 1998 to generate SAP applications that could be deployed on intelligent devices such as Nokia mobile phones.

Pharmacists can compare the Electronic Product Code (EPC) data encoded in a product’s RFID tag to the manufacturer’s records. This application now running on the intelligent device (such as an RFID-enabled smart phone) can read RFID signals from tags using near-field communication.

Who is developing an RFID "browser" for the mobile phone?

Both SAP and Nokia want users to take advantage of the latest developing technologies to access enterprise applications on mobile phones.

When you accept that every physical item will have a physical world hyperlink , you will then see how Google can connect the physical world

When camera phones have the ability to scan barcodes, they become kiosks, only mobile. What information will you want, or will the brand want to give you?

Price comparison is the only feature that the public thinks about when they hear a barcode can be scanned using a mobile phone.

The barcode, is really a hyperlink, and will allow access to a variety of information and services on any product, from any location, through the Internet.

From TMC Net Kiosks put shoppers in touch

Tamara Mendelsohn, a consumer markets analyst with Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research, said store operators, should look into kiosks to attract the elusive but lucrative pool of cross-channel shoppers, which she termed "key to revenue generation in the next era of retailing."

An example of a physical world hyperlink in use comes from Virgin Megastores. Virgin recognized that

Virgin Megastores customers can access the Virgin Vault, an interactive kiosk system that plays movie clips and music and offers access to reviews from independent publications like Rolling Stone or The New York Times. All a user must do is scan a barcode.

The company is looking into ways its kiosks can cross-sell items by suggesting a similar sounding album, style of video game or different movie featuring the same starring actor.

"They're getting 400,000 look-ups per month," Mendelsohn said of kiosks' popularity among Virgin customers. What would the number be if you could do this with a camera phone?

Imagine if Virgin introduced an application that allowed you to scan a barcode on any CD or DVD for a song preview or one minute trailer.

Why couldn't Virgin Mobile offer a music download service in conjunction with Virgin Mega Stores?

This time it really is different. Mobile advertising will require permission and in order to get that, you must give the consumer something.

In my opinion, an effective mobile marketing campaign will involve giving a consumer more than a free item, but a "service" that will use cross marketing. How will you CONTINUE to reach that consumer?

I read the stats on a campaign and see the "success rate". These marketing campaigns are one time hits, there is a better way.

From TelecomWeb Targeted mobile ads will be tolerated

Advertising is making its way into the mobile industry, following in the footsteps of mobile marketing, according to a recent IDC study. According to a new report from the research firm, mobile advertising has the potential to offer a new way to add value to the mobile chain

What is proving to be the biggest headache is how best to introduce advertising via mobile handsets, due to the variety of business models from which to choose.

A new form of marketing application is the cellphone coupon provider. ( I believe mobile coupons will be a great tool for mobile marketing because the success of a campaign can be quantified immediately) There are also two revenue streams from it.

I have lots of ideas that will allow brands and mobile marketing companies to Interrupt this broadcast

Here's another great mobile search site I want to alert PP readers to. This has the makings for an "all-in-one" mobile search site.

WamPad or http://www.wampad.com

It's very basic today, but I have been told there will be more features in the works and no software to download to the phone. This site is designed to allow you to easily access a varity of information.

They have integrated the UPC database that allows price comparison using Froogle and Yahoo Shopping.

When using a zip code, you can view movie times, lottery results, weather and
horoscope.

You can also look up info on wikipedia, patent and flight information.

With someones username you can view a mobile viewable version of their Myspace, Flickr, del.icio.us profile.

Don't take my word for it try it out. It still has a couple kinks, but it's fast and I can see lots of offerings that will eliminate dependency on SMS searches.

This was one of the neat applications I saw from Qpass and Simplewire.

Just send a keyword(diet, coke, water) to shortcode (10958) to get a beverage. Here's the start of mcommerce.

Dr Hartmut Neven Founder (left) Alex Cory CEO (right)







A recent campaign using a movie poster logo.



A recent mobile marketing campaign in Germany using the TV and mobile.

This is one of the physical world connection companies I interviewed at CTIA. What the article fails to mention is that ScanBuy has a new CEO.

Jonathan Bulkeley, the former CEO of Barnes and Noble, is now running ScanBuy.

From Red Herring Cameraphone as store scanner

Turning mobile camera phones into barcode scanners in the palms of consumers is hardly a no-brainer. It’s easy to imagine faster technologies, such as RFID scanners in phones, supplanting ScanBuy’s innovation, which relies on a steady hand and a focused lens.

But ScanBuy does have an advantage. The New York City-based company is zeroing in on markets like the United States and Latin America, places where mobile phones are used for little more than voice and text.



ScanBuy is not profitable yet, but it has filed 25 patents. It was that proprietary technology that lured Hudson Ventures.

To win a toehold in this emerging market, ScanBuy is starting out with a comparison-shopping product. ScanBuy has hooked up with engines like PriceGrabber so that its consumers can check online prices while browsing in brick-and-mortar stores.

In Spain, Mr. Attia has struck a deal with CodiLink , a mobile marketing firm that counts companies like Audi and H&M as clients. CodiLink has licensed ScanBuy’s technology and is building mobile marketing campaigns around it.

Although he can’t name any of Codi-Link’s clients, Mr. Chesser says one of them is a grocery chain that plans to offer mobile coupons that can be redeemed in any of its 50,000 stores

Before I get a flurry of complaints, YES an add-on lens is STILL required to read a 1D barcode with their application .

They are doing demos with carriers in the Far East and in Latin America.

The thing I found most interesting, is that ScanBuy brought in someone that experienced the shift from bricks to clicks. He was right in the middle of the electronic transformation. He agreed that this technology, industry, concept will be huge.

I will post my summary of what I think is happening with PWC and mobile marketing shortly.

A research project by Carnegie Mellon shows how powerful connecting the physical world through a mobile device will be.

From The Tartan Disability -friendly devices

Trinetra technology has just been installed in Carnegie Mellon’s campus store, Entropy, to make it easier for blind people to go grocery shopping.

This assistive technology works as follows: Imagine a blind man walks into Entropy and wants to pick up a bottle of mustard. As he walks past one aisle to another, he uses a UPC-reading Baracoda pencil integrated with his phone to scan the barcodes on the shelves under the products he browses.

The Baracoda pencil contacts the UPC database through the Internet-enabled phone and identifies the product. The information returned to the phone is then read out by TALKS , software developed by Cingular that was installed in the phone.

“When shopping with a store assistant, it is nearly impossible to browse products. I ask for what I need, and they take me to that product, and that’s it. A device that can tell me what just about anything in the store actually is is incredible.” says Dan Rossi.

One of the unique features of Trinetra that sets it apart from other ongoing projects is that it leverages available infrastructure. The developers don’t have to pay for the barcode (UPC) database; it is already available on the Internet

Ontela, another physical world connection player that uses the camera on your camera phone as your real world mouse , introduces their new mobile marketing app.

I saw their demonstration yesterday and have a meeting with management this am.
Ontela launches PicDeck

Ontela, Inc., a Seattle-based mobile software and services provider, today announced their PicDeck™ technology that makes mobile imaging applications easier to install and use.

Ontela’s PicDeck technology enables its partners’ image applications to act on a user’s photos automatically.

For example, an image of a barcode can trigger a partner’s PicDeck application to decode the barcode and return a review of the item. An image of a business card can trigger a PicDeck application to scan the business card and insert the results directly into the address book on the phone and on the user’s work PC.

A simple photo can trigger a PicDeck application to move the picture to the user’s favorite photo sharing website or photo organizing software. Ontela ensures that the right partner’s application is triggered automatically, as soon as the shutter clicks.

Applications already written with the PicDeck technology include mobile comparison shopping, music buying via CD cover recognition, business card scanning, and integration with photo sharing services

I'll post more information about PicDeck later.

Physical world connection player Neven Vision announces their mobile marketing application.


From SoCal Tech Neven Vision adds mobile visual search

Neven Vision has announced a new, brandable mobile search solution targeted at marketers, the firm announced today at CTIA Wireless.

The firm said that its new software can be used for image-based mobile marketing campaigns. The software allows consumers to capture pictures with their cell phones, in order to get marketing offers or enter contests. Neven Vision is developing vision recognition systems that run on wireless platforms.

Neven Vision just landed NTT DoCoMo as client for their image recognition technology.

See their consumer mobile marketing app iScout

These are two great services that utilize location based technology.

From MarketWire TCS Unveils Two New Location-Based Services at CTIA

TeleCommunication Systems, Inc. (TCS) today announced the availability of TCS Places and TCS Handset Locator, two new services that wireless carriers and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) can offer to their subscribers and which leverage the carrier's location infrastructure.

TCS Places is an innovative service that provides the means for subscribers to have instant access to their content and services while "on-the-go."

Newspapers, travel services, local content providers and media companies can now offer location-relevant content, based on a subscriber's precise location.

Subscribers can access maps to explore an area and they can obtain directions to a restaurant, store or other place of interest. The TCS Places application works with existing location infrastructure, whether tower-triangulation or Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite.

The second location-based service TCS is unveiling at CTIA is TCS Handset Locator . One of the leading causes of churn -- or customer turnover -- is de-activation of handsets due to lost and stolen phones.

With the introduction of TCS Handset Locator, the first service of its kind in the industry, carriers can now offer their subscribers a "find my cell phone" service to locate missing handsets. If a handset is lost, stolen or misplaced, subscribers can go online and access a Web portal to find the last location of the missing phone and the determine the current battery level

From MobileBurn MSNBC.com and Action Engine launch mobile news service


MSNBC.com announced that it has joined forces with Action Engine® Corporation to launch a beta mobile news service featuring an advertising business model.

Unlike paid subscription services, the beta launch of MSNBC.com Mobile is provided free of charge to consumers by incorporating video and banner advertisements within the service.

The service gives consumers access to MSNBC.com news, videos, and pictures using their wireless device. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Embedded Devices Division is the exclusive advertising sponsor for the launch of this new service.

I leave for CTIA today and posting will be be spotty. I assure you that I will post my interviews and the neat mobile applications I see.

If you have a mobile story you want to tell, email me.

After covering the mobile world for a couple days, I fly to Phoenix to compete in IronMan Arizona.

2000 of the finest athletes, and the nicest people, tackle 140.6 miles in a day. It is truly mentally and physically challenging. Crossing the finish line is a feeling that can't be described.

Just getting back to the starting line for this year's race means a lot to me.

If you want to watch the Pondering Primate during the race you can, follow me here my bib number is 328.

There are a few physical world connection companies that I have yet to talk about on PP .

They are not ready for primetime, because they are working to get strategic partners, or they are getting their IP together.

The cat is out of the bag on one of them.

From Seattle PI Ontela emerging from stealth mode

I just spent some time with Ontela Chief Executive Dan Shapiro, whose Seattle mobile software startup will unveil itself at the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas next week.

Shapiro, a 30-year-old former manager at RealNetworks, Wildseed and Microsoft, demonstrated a patent-pending technology that he says will allow third party developers to create all sorts of compelling applications for camera phones.

For example, a camera phone user who was browsing history books at Barnes & Noble could take a photo of the bar code on a biography of Harry Truman and then get a text message a minute later with a link to the book on Amazon.com.

Ontela will unveil their technology this summer.

Next week at CTIA, it plans to announce its first development partner and the name of the service. Ontela is backed with an undisclosed amount of angel financing.

It employs three people, including former Microsoft and Expedia developer Charles Zapata and former Microsoft manager Brian Schultz (who previously co-founded Djinnisys Corp.)

Last week it was ActiveSymbol, this week Ontela. Stay tuned there are more to come.

I have been saying this space will be too big for just a couple dozen players.

What Bill Gates is referring to is Phase 2 of the Internet.

From Redmond Channel Defining the Digital Decade

Whether addressing college students throughout North America last fall or dazzling the packed Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, Gates returned to those phrases ("digital lifestyle" and "digital work style") again and again to describe his view of a coming transformation in computing.

Phase 2 is when every physical object have at least one hyperlink , a physical world hyperlink.

An individual's cell-phone camera might provide a constant link to information and functionality from moment to moment: "If you're shopping, you take a picture of a product or a bar code that can be recognized, and your phone can tell you where you might get a better price or [whether] you should buy a different product," he said.

This is How Microsoft Can Beat Google

Or, he continued, if you're traveling and run into a sign in a foreign language, you can use your phone to take a digital photo and transmit the image to a server that, in turn, displays the language translation on the phone.

I just hope the Vista guys aren't working on this project.

Click on Bill to see what Microsoft should do .

It's that time of year. Time for all the latest and greatest mobile applications.

I'm eager to see what this year has in store.


I have my list of companies that I am interested in.

If you have a physical world connection application that you want me to see, send me an email.

Adding a scanner to a camera phone, allows the physical world to be connected with the electronic one.

From TechNews World Cell Phones May Soon Add Scanning Technology

Once a phone is outfitted with a camera, the transition to scanner is fairly straightforward. The key is adding optical character recognition features to the phone, which allow small amounts of text to be captured and digitized.

Once a phone is outfitted with a camera, the transition to scanner is fairly straightforward. The key is adding optical character recognition (OCR) features to the phone, which allow small amounts of text to be captured and digitized.

While there are some potentially interesting applications, the technology remains immature for now. One problem is there are several proprietary approaches for reading scanned data. Some approaches scan bar codes, others scan digital watermarks, and still others do visual recognition of existing logos and products.

Those aren't the only problems right now, but one thing is for sure, this application (once implemented) will offer numerous opoprtunities for consumers and corporations.

From PrimeZone mSpot Chooses Enpocket for mobile marketing

Mobile multimedia entertainment provider mSpot has selected the Enpocket Marketing Engine to drive customer acquisition and retention.

The Enpocket solution enables mSpot customers to weed through the bevy of multimedia content and discover audio and video content tailored to their tastes. Users can simply text to MSPOT (67768) with keywords such as music, radio, movies or sports to quickly and conveniently find out what's available.

Smart companies like mSpot realize that the one of the best ways to tackle the task of creating awareness of services in the increasingly crowded mobile media market is through in-medium marketing on the device. The winners in mobile entertainment will be those who master mobile marketing." said President and CEO Mike Baker.


To get MSpot Music Radio on your Sprint PCS phone:

From your phone's main menu, select "Downloads."
Select "Applications" and press OK.
Select "Get New" and press OK. The browser will launch and take you to the corresponding download menu.
Select the "Music" category.
Select "MSpot Music Radio" and press OK.
From the summary page, select Buy

This process could be easier if they eliminated the printing process and just sent the 2d code to your phone . Find a sponsor to turn this into a mobile marketing campaign.

From AutoRacing Daily Race fans get electronic tickets

Talladega Superspeedway officials announced today that race fans purchasing tickets to attend the Aaron’s Dream Weekend April 28-30 will now be able to print them at home. When they arrive on race day, they will be directed to a designated line, where the ticket will be electronically scanned for validation.

Each ticket printed at home contains a unique, two-dimensional barcode that will be scanned at the venue. The barcode will be honored on the first scan and immediately becomes invalid for any subsequent entries

From Creamer Media Barcoded SMS solution on offer

Mobile ticketing and mobile coupon solutions company Mobicode has announced that it will be launching its flagship service into the South African market, which will enable companies to deliver bar-coded tickets, coupons and vouchers to mobile phones through SMS.

Mobicode has signed an agreement with Mobiqa of the UK, the world supplier of mobile barcode solutions (mobi-ticket, mobi-coupons, mobi-rewardcard and mobi-pass) to provide their patented technology in South Africa.

Mobiqa are the world leaders in mobile ticketing and mobile coupon solutions based on the creation, delivery and redemption of barcodes to mobile phones.

Their products are available for SMS or MMS using linear (1D) or 2D barcodes.

Mobiqa’s unique patent-pending Optimiser uses standard, familiar SMS and MMS messaging and optimises the barcode and content for the individual handset and delivery method.

Recently Mobiqa announced that O2 is in talks for a major trial of mobile vouchers.

This week BusinessWeek has a couple physical world connection nuggets.

From BusinessWeek The bar code learns some new tricks

Japanese startup Content Idea of Asia (CIA) says it has invented a printable bar code that stores bulky data files such as video clips in a space just the size of a postage stamp.

These can be swiped with a cell phone and the contents then viewed on the phon'e small screen.

CIA's PM Code adds color.

Snap a picture with the cell phone's camera, and the codes can activate the handset's Internet service to pull up an advertiser's home page.

That is connecting the physical world with the electronic one.

In a story called Innovation-The view from the top

IBM conducts a survey of CEOs and government leaders every two years to find out what's high on their agendas. This year's topic: innovation.

CEOs and business leaders see all roads lead to innovation.

Here's the kicker.
"with the Internet and the proliferation of semiconductors, you'll end up with trillions of things connected-not just individuals but cars, roads, homes, applicances, health-care data, and pacemakers.

Yes, that is what I have been calling, "Physical World Connection".

Now more than ever, the opportunities are endless for people with Vision

This application opens up a Pandora's Box of Pondering Primate possibilities. Talk about turning the mobile phone into a remote control.

From GeekZone SlingMedia releases SlingPLayer Mobile

A Slingbox enables you to watch your TV programming from wherever you are by turning virtually any Internet-connected PC into your personal TV

SlingPlayer Mobile is a new software package that gives Slingbox owners the ability to watch and control their home TV from any network-enabled mobile phone or handheld computer (PDA) powered by Windows Mobile.

This mobile application, could be A catalyst for physical world connection adoption .

Add some permission marketing ideas and this could be a very powerful mobile marketing tool. Could there be a creative way to get permission by recording a program?

I am already thinking of the numerous applications and mobile marketing ideas for this.

This week Verisign acquired m-Qube and now BusinessWeek is highlighting this space, mobile marketing isn't coming, it's here.. Watch for more consolidation.

From Biz Week Now playing on your cell phone

Advertisers are jumping on the mobile marketing bandwagon. Will subscribers join them?

Discovery Channel's I Shouldn't Be Alive profiles people who have survived some pretty unusual (and life-threatening) ordeals, from shipwrecks to snowstorms. It's also relying on an unconventional way to hype the show: cell-phone marketing, done by ipsh!

Julie Willis, senior vice-president for marketing at Discovery says "We are getting a lot bolder about mobile marketing," she says. "This is something everybody should be doing."

I wouldn't say that the Discovery Channel targets the key demographic for mobile marketing, but if THEY are saying this , listen.

Mobile ads are highly effective. Last summer, when ipsh incorporated a special SMS code into 50 million McDonald's Big Mac packages (burger fans could dial a special SMS code on their mobiles for a chance to win concert tickets), the fast-food chain attributed a 3% sales increase to the push, Mehta says.

3% increase to McDonalds, what is that worth? What did they spend for that?

ipsh! was acquired by Omnicom last Fall. Who is next on the list ?

It only makes sense for an advertising agency that represent big/lots of brands, or a large content provider, to consider buying a mobile marketing company. You wouldn't see a TV station buy an advertising company would you?

A trickle of mobile-marketing dollars may soon become a flood, transforming the way wireless-service providers and their vendors do business.

There is great value in people/companies that have the creativity of an advertiser, but also understand how mobile marketing works (applications, phone limitations, rules etc).

This creates an enormous opportunity for individuals with Vision

I saw this application and immediately thought of the mobile marketing tool ability and how this could be used for location based services.

ZoneTag is a research prototype from Yahoo! Research.

ZoneTag can automatically tag your photos with the location, based on the cell tower, in which they were taken. The location of the cell tower is not known until our user community updates the city, state, or zip code of their photos on Flickr.

ZoneTag is then able to map the cell tower to the location.

If a user uses ZoneTag with a Bluetooth GPS unit, then the GPS coordinates of the image will be uploaded together with a cell ID.

This cell ID corresponds with the city, state and zip code of those GPS coordinates and so Yahoo is able to determine the exact location .

There are many applications Yahoo could use this for. Does Google have a LBS application yet?

Currently, ZoneTag only works on Nokia Series 60 phones. ZoneTag is known to work on 6620, 6670, 6680, 6681, 6682, 7610 and N70 models, and it is likely to work on 3230, 6630, 6260 as well.

This doesn't involve a mobile phone (at least not yet), but it shows how valuable scanning an image in the physical world will be.

From NY Daily News N.Y.C.'s crime fight to get more eyes

The NYPD is installing 505 surveillance cameras around the city - and pushing to safeguard lower Manhattan with a "ring of steel" that could track hundreds of thousands of people and cars a day, authorities revealed yesterday.

The NYPD also has applied for $81.5 million in federal aid to install surveillance cameras, computerized license plate readers and vehicle barriers around lower Manhattan, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

The cameras capture images of license plates and drivers' faces. Officials then run the license plates through a database of stolen cars and terrorism suspects

Remember an image is a physical world hyperlink too.

Two major physical world connection events took place this week.

NTT Docomo announced they would be embedding Neven Vision's image recognition technology on their phones, and Bill Gates highlighted the importance digital images will have in the new platform for interactive advertising and media companies.

A major wireless carrier is implementing the physical world connection.

My interview with Neven Vision's CEO Alex Cory came at a perfect time.

Neven Vision offers the ability for mobile phones to interact directly with real world images to get offers, contest, transactions and more. Their iscout application focuses on "points of interest" and allows mobile phones to "see" and understand visual imagery which then offers a direct connect function.

Neven Vision is able to turn an image INTO a physical world hyperlink. Think about that. By taking an image and extracting "points of interest", they can identify the image and then direct the user to the targeted site or content....from ANY IMAGE.

Their mobile technology can even resolve a barcode today.

The focus of physical world connection has centered around a code, barcode or 2d code. A barcode is usually on packaging, while a 2d code has to be added to make an object hyperlinkable.


Neven Vision uses existing images to make any packaging it Internet accessable.

Last year Neven and Coca Cola teamed up for a mobile marketing campaign that made the CocaCola logo a mobile hyperlink.

I can see the problem coming for the 2d code players.

They can function great as hyperlinks, but there are many companies that offer them which will lead to lots of closed networks. This is fragmented and unless there's one application that can read ALL of them, mass adoption will never occur.

If you don't have a logo or barcode and don't want to put a 2d code on your advertsing, Neven Vision solves this problem. They can read a barcode, 2d code, or any image.

When NTT Docomo announced they were putting Neven's application on their phones, I could see a physical world "platform" being adopted how quickly other applications could come from this. It's nice to see a major wireless provider recognize how big the physical world connection application will be.

Expect to see them launch 2 mobile marketing campaigns with major brands shortly.

I plan on meeting in person with them at CTIA show and show in detail how this technology works with pictures.

I find it strange that m-Qube agreed to be acquired by Verisign this am for $250m when the figures we see here are at $340 to 400m.

Will there be a bidding war?

From BizJournals Motricity in talks to make $340m deal

This story was posted on Friday March 17, 2006.

Several sources say New Enterprise Associates, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital concern, is working with Motricity to structure a $340 million buyout of M-Qube Inc., a Masschusetts-based supplier of wireless features run by Jeffrey Glass.

Motricity, which is headed by CEO Ryan Wuerch, plans to pay for the acquisition with $200 million in cash and $140 million in preferred stock. Sources say negotiations are almost final, but the price tag could go even higher and touch $400 million.

Motricity sells the plumbing necessary for cell-phone users to download music and games. By buying M-Qube, it would gain access to customers such as CBS Corp. that use M-Qube's technology to transmit news clips and alerts on cell-phone screens.

Thoughts, comments?

Physical world connection player Neven Vision and their mobile machine vision technology is being utilized for more than just mobile marketing, but for mobile security, or m-security.

Neven Vision , a leading developer of mobile machine vision technology, announced that its biometrics face recognition software has been adopted by NTT DoCoMo, the world's leading mobile communications company, to enhance the privacy and security of personal data and transactions on cell phones.

NTT Docomo is the first operator to deploy this enhancement for its more than 50 million subscribers. The need to protect sensitive information on mobile devices such as credit card transactions, is more crucial than ever.

Neven's software enables convenient, automated authorization of cell phone users by comparing registered facial images with the face captured by phone's camera.

The NTT DoCoMo application is based on Neven Vision's patented facial recognition technology, which is uniquely designed to work within mobile devices without having to communicate with a central server system .

On NTT DoCoMo's FOMATM SH902i by Sharp, face recognition operates automatically when the user attempts to access a protected application, such as sending emails or initiating credit card transactions.

When the user initiates an action, the automated authentication process completes correctly and then executes the chosen application, all without any additional action by the user, such as having to manually enter a password. Designed as replacement of access control by password or PIN number, the technology supports i-mode FeliCa, PIM data protection, and device lock function.

Neven Vision's biometric access control provides multiple security levels to enable multiple user access. The FOMATM SH902i offers 3 different security levels in which the mobile phone owner can manually select the level depending on their needs, such as "casual security" for normal private use, or "high security" for business use.

I will have a complete interview with CEO Alex Cory shortly.

I-Wisdom is reporting that Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and SouCou are teaming up to deliver coupons via MMS messages.

KFC (China) has recently installed scanners of MMS messages off your mobile's screen into their stores. You can go to SouCou or wap to search for the coupons and have them sent to your mobile. When you reveal your MMS and scan them through the machine, a tiny coupon will be printed out.

My Chinese is a bit rusty, so I can't tell reading the story if the MMS delivers an actual 1D barcode or a 2d code. Either way, look for more sites and retailers to start offering this application.

Will we start seeing "coupons" as an option on retailer websites? What if Google implements a "coupon" tag on their search menu.

Could we see Pay Per Coupon next?

Will Pam Anderson be opposed to this too?

From Electric News Guardian tests mobile click to callback ads

The Guardian newspaper , one of the top news destinations on the web, is preparing to test a downloadable news service for mobile phone users -- the first such service for mobiles to include "click to callback" advertising.

According to reports rather than conventional mobile ads, the news service will allow users to request a call or a brochure from the advertiser.

"This is a great example of how marketers can imaginatively use new advertising technologies to directly connect with consumers," commented Lynne Henderson, sales and marketing manager at the Irish Times New Media Division.

Kristian Hammond, co-director of America's Northwestern University intelligent information computer lab, has some interesting concepts for intelligent machines. It gives insight as to what information will you want from a physical world hyperlink? What application or information will YOU want when you scan a barcode with your mobile phone? The most common app is price comparison, but there will

How is a text messaging campaign like the razor business?

The task on last night's The Apprentice, was to get as many people to text a keyword to a specific shortcode. Gillette is introducing a new 5 blade razor called Fusion, and Donald Trump wanted to see what kind of mobile marketing campaign could be created using text messaging (SMS).

I don't know if Mark Burnett or the mobile marketing company that was used realized the analogy here before hand, if so, kudos. I doubt it based on what they did with this opportunity.

A mobile marketing campaign is very similar to the razor/blade business model. You give away the razor and make money on the recurring blade sales. With a text messaging campaign, you must give the consumer something in order to get a him/her to initiate connection with a text message. The initiation of the text is called the "pull" part of mobile marketing.

By sending the initial text to Gillette, you have given them permission to "push" text ads promoting their products on a recurring basis (or when applicable). First you must get permission to do this.

Gillette gives away a free Fusion razor, but gains the ability to send targeted mobile ads to consumers after they have granted permission. The value of a qualified mobile lead and the ability to promote future products is worth far more than the cost of one Fusion razor.

I don't know if the blame lies on Trump or the contestants on why these mobile marketing campaigns failed. I'll give the contestants the benefit though, because I don't think they know the "rules" for a text message campaign. Gillette should have told Donald what they are though.

It was obvious there was no focus on the brand or getting the word out about Fusion. It was simply to try and get as many texts as possible. The problem with this is that Gillette couldn’t use these "leads" because one team didn't even tell people why they were sending a text!

The big disappointment came with the actual show and what HipCricket didn’t do.

Mark Burnett is a creative and talented guy. He was looking for a mobile marketing company that shares this type of creativity. He wants innovative thinking for the next way to promote his shows and advertisers on the show. Did he get it?

In the previous hour people had the chance to text to win a briefcase with $10k on the Deal Or No Deal show. What a perfect set up for ANOTHER text messaging campaign. Not only do you have the attention of millions of viewers Monday night, but they rerun the same show a few times during the next week on CNBC. Think of those eyeballs you have.

Gillette had the opportunity to reach millions of potential consumers last night , and after the first 5 minutes you never heard the word Fusion or Gillette. If the contestants couldn’t figure out how to promote the brand via mobile marketing campaign, then HipCricket should have.

Not only did they NOT promote a shortcode during this show, I had to pause my DVR to see what the number was. When I did text, I got a text back saying “Mobilise ur marketing +continuity programs with HipCricket”.

What? You’re promoting your mobile marketing service to an Apprentice viewer?

You had millions of eyes available for a creative text messaging campaign involving Gillette and you dropped the ball. There was NO interactivity with the viewer.

How much creativity does it take HipCricket to create a mobile marketing campaign that allows viewers to send a text to the shortcode giving them the ability to win a free Fusion. Run a little banner at the bottom “Text the word FUSION to 36617” to win a free Fusion.

After that banner, I would have had Donald or Mark Burnett in the next segment cut in an explain in a very brief way how to send a text message on a cell phone . Why? Make it so easy for people to send a text the next time. You will also be leaving your shortcode on the phone for the next campaign. It will also be your platform for future advertising campaigns.

Gillette has a family of products (shaving cream, after shave, blades etc) geared around the Fusion razor. They have spent a lot of money creating the razor and I’m sure they wanted some creativity in promoting it too.

Would Gillette have given away 100k free Fusion razors to get a few hundred thousand or million plus, qualified mobile leads? Did HipCricket ask if they could do something like this?

What I am trying to find out is what role did HipCricket play in promoting anything involving the mobile or Fusion last night? What value, if any did they add to the show via mobile marketing?

The point I am trying to make is that just because you have your own shortcode, doesn’t mean you qualify as a mobile marketing company . A good mobile marketing campaign involves creativity and brand awareness. I saw neither last night.

If I was The Donald I would have brought HipCricket into the boardroom and said “You’re Fired!”.

The timing is perfect for this week's COTM host.

This week's Carnival of the Mobilists was hosted by at Textually.org.
Kudos goes to Emily for being highlighted in this week's BusinessWeek magazine Blogspotting feature for her "It's A Cell World" blog.

You can now buy petrol through a simple SMS-based voucher system.

A person buys a tank of petrol or diesel after registering on the Mukuru.com website.

Payment options include cheque, wire transfer, credit card or Pay Pal (an online payment system). Once the payment has cleared, a voucher (including a 10-digit code) is immediately sent via SMS and email to the recipient in Zimbabwe. A copy of the voucher is also sent via SMS and email to the buyer.

The recipient then takes the voucher, together with their ID book, to the designated petrol station in Harare to fill up their car.

Physical world hyperlinks are getting more traction in everyday applications.

From Slashphone T-Mobile and Germany's dba Airline offer ticketless check-in with MMS and 2D code

Anyone who registers for the new service in the online flight reservation will receive his or her boarding card around three hours before take-off, in the form of a 2D barcode sent to his or her mobile handset.

A customer who registers for this text message service when booking his or her flight on flydba.com simply has to enter his or her mobile phone number.

Using this barcode, dba customers can go directly to the departure gate, where the barcode is read by a scanner.

The service offers passengers enormous time-saving benefits, as they no longer have to go to the check-in counter and do not need a paper boarding card at the gate either.

For passengers who do not yet own an MMS-enabled phone, dba has offered an SMS seat reservation service since December 2005 - enabling mobile phone users on all mobile radio networks to secure their favorite seat.

The new services are part of a marketing collaboration between T-Mobile and dba.

From China Broadcast Book E-tickets through SMS

You no longer need to wait for plane tickets to arrive by post any more. In fact, there doesn't have to be a "ticket" at all. Electronic tickets, also known as e-tickets, now can be as simple as sending a short message with your cellphone.

By sending a text message to 9588, anybody with an ID card and a credit card can be on their way to their chosen flight.

And beginning this year, Huaxun ChinaDotman in collaboration with telecom industry even launched an SMS ticket-booking service. With over 400 million cellphone users in the country as potential consumers, insiders believe the short message e-ticket-booking service will be more popular than internet booking services.

All you need to do is just send a short message writing your departing city, destination and departure date to 9588, and then just follow the instructions sent back to you.

Tickets are paid via credit cards, and you will receive a confirmation code from airlines. It takes just minutes. Then, to board your flight, all you need to do is just show your ID card and the code at the airport

From C/Net Phone, media firms see mobile ads soon

Cell phone and media companies expect to see a sizable market for advertising on cell phones in coming years, with options including advertising-subsidized video services.

As it aims to boost revenue with new features like video, Sprint Nextel is also looking at technology and business models around providing advertising to people using these services.

Sprint Nextel Chief Technology Officer Barry West pointed to the possibilities for sending information such as special offers at a local Italian restaurant to phones that can pinpoint the user's location. Location based services (LBS)

Sprint CFO Paul Saleh said. Sprint will work on cell phone advertising in the next couple of years.

"It's a major opportunity." Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP Group, the world's second largest advertising and marketing company. Asked when it would become mainstream, he answered, "Quickly."

What was the first industry that was able to generate revenues for content on the Internet?

From RealTech News Google admits porn turning out to be the killer app for cell phones

This is why many cell phone providers doubted that cell phone porn would catch on. After all, who wants to sit in an airport and get caught watching grainy adut movies or racy stills?

Turns out - a lot of people do. The cell phone is becoming the preferred platform for adult Web searches for a number of reasons. The biggest one is privacy

Nowadays the cellphone is the device of choice for those seeking out porn on the web, according to research by Google. Computer scientists Maryan Kamvar and Shumeet Baluja analysed 1 million searches made using the firm’s mobile search software.

They found that “adult” material constituted 20 per cent of the searches on cellphones, but only 5 per cent on PDAs. Just 8.5 per cent of searches on desktop computers are for adult material. The Google team say that people regard their phones as intensely personal devices and so “may feel more comfortable querying adult terms” on them, perceiving a smaller chance of others discovering their activities.

I have posted my thoughts on porn and the mobile industry here , here and here.

This is one of the reasons why LeapScan has such great potential for physical world connection and delivering content for porn.

This is an example of a physical world item being replaced and accessed digitally.

From This Is London Cncrt tkts by txt msg planned

Mobile phone tickets are to be used for the first time at a major music festival, O2 said today.

The electronic barcodes will be sent to ticket buyers as text messages. At the O2 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park in June, customers will simply hold their phone to a scanner to enter.
Customers who lose their ticket will also be able to request a duplicate barcode to be sent to their phone

One of the last things the mobile marketing community wants right now is the consumer to get ticked off with unwanted advertising on the mobile. It's good to see that bluetooth enabled ads (bluecasting or bluespamming) will have guidelines too.

Just because a consumer is near a bluetooth enabled ad, doesn't give the advertiser the right to broadcast it.

Mobile Marketing Magazine has a good story on the "other" form of mobile marketing, BlueCasting.

Last month, Viacom Outdoor launched a network of Bluetooth-enabled poster sites across the London Underground. Yet, these sites might breach the Privacy Directive, because people walking within 8 metres of the posters will receive messages without the option of blocking them.

Critics believe that a consumer having Bluetooth enabled on their phone does not equate to them giving their permission to receive marketing messages, even if the first message seeks their permission to be sent subsequent messages.

Next month the Direct Marketing Association will publish guidelines on marketing via Bluetooth and will raise the issue of initial opt-in with its new Mobile Marketing Council.

Bluecasting could be the equivalent of email spam if it's not done properly .

This is a great idea. Instead of using the physical world connection for a one dimension application like price comparison, a barcode can be linked to a product review search engine.

Is this a Consumer report Wikipedia?
From HeraldWet Toshiba service could be a boon from consumers



Checking out the Internet buzz about a DVD, book or candy while on the go is soon to become as easy as taking a snapshot of the bar code on the product.

Toshiba Corp., a Japanese electronics company that makes DVD players, laptops and nuclear power plants, has developed mobile-phone technology that searches for product reviews on up to 100 Web journals, or blogs, in 10 seconds.

In my opinion , blogs will be the new Consumer Reports. Information can be delivered faster and from numerous sources.

Just use the phone's digital camera to snap a photo of the bar code of a product you're thinking about buying.

The technology can tell if the blog chatter is positive or negative and tallies the count to show if a product is getting rave reviews or being trashed by consumers. That's useful if you're in a store about to buy an item.

The bar-code information is sent wirelessly to a Toshiba server, which gathers data on blogs from the Internet and analyzes them, and then sends a reply back to the cell phone.

Just a guess, but the server probably resolves the barcode and determines the product info. The server then does a search on blogs for that specific product with a value added rating .

Cellit, LLC, the premier provider of self-service mobile marketing solutions, announced today the release of several new features for its real estate text messaging service, House4Cell.

House4Cell can now deliver photos to the phones of inquiring home buyers, along with additional information via email or FAX. Buyers can even click a button to directly connect to the listing agent via its "click-to-call" functionality

Real estate agents hang House4Cell riders from the signs of their listings, informing homebuyers of the availability of instant information. Prospective home buyers see these signs and simply text message a short, custom code to a special House4Cell phone number.

Within seconds, all of the essential property information -- including price, square footage and amenities -- are immediately sent back to the buyer's phone, along with photos.

What would be nice is the ability to click on a For Sale sign and get an interior video of the home too. Soon.

"The Web Outside". That description might make it easier for people to understand what this technology will enable.

LocaModa(tm), Inc., a technology company powering "The Web Outside", was chosen as a "Disruptor" for its location-based interactive marketing and social networking platforms that were announced at the Demo 06 conference.

LocaModa CEO Stephen Randal (former EVP and founder of Symbian) refers to this paradigm shift as "The Web Outside", I refer to it as the Physical World Connection . I say whatever gets the technology adopted.

StreetSurfer, LocaModa's location-based interactive marketing platform revolutionizes the way brands and consumers interact by turning any mobile phone into a remote control for out-of-home digital signage.

As an example:

StreetSurfer enables consumers to use a standard mobile phone like a remote control to browse internet-connected TV screens in real estate brokerage front windows. Consumers can interact directly with real estate listings and brokers can provide a 24/7 dynamically responsive service to attract potential customers.

See the demo

Their Wiffiti (Wireless+Graffiti) is the first application that has been purpose built for StreetMessenger and allows users to send text messages from their mobile phones to large flat TV displays in locations where people socialize such as cafes, bars and clubs and on the web.

Wiffiti is currently being offered Massachusetts and Arizona, with sites in LA and Chicago soon. screen shot

I envision a mobile marketing campaign for teens that uses this platform. Imagine a screen in Times Square that offered this? This offers lots of creative possibilities.

LocaModa's technology works with any phone, any network, and does not require any downloadable software

These services bridge networks to allow consumers to access and manipulate information displays from the convenience of their mobile phones. These services will have interesting implications and drive innovative applications for closed-loop brand marketing."

From Chron.com Nextcode launches ConnexTo Enterprise

Nextcode, a leader in optical barcode solutions for camera phones, announced the launch of ConnexTo(tm) Enterprise. ConnexTo lets businesses easily deploy robust mobile barcode-scanning applications that use standard camera phones to optically read bar codes.

"With ConnexTo Enterprise, we help companies turn camera phones into powerful tools to capture data, connect to information, and solve business problems."

ConnexTo requires no special optics, image resolution, or additional hardware. It can be loaded and run on camera phones right out of the box. ( Could this solve one of the physical world connection obstacles? )

Beyond supporting traditional barcode formats, ConnexTo uses Nextcode's patent-pending mCode(tm) technology, specifically designed for camera phone applications.

mCode and the ConnexTo.com services are already used to create and read 2D barcodes that provide rapid access to WAP addresses, SMS messages, contact information and auto-dial phone numbers.


Nextcode supports the following formats:

• UPC A
• UPC E
• EAN/JAN 8
• EAN/JAN 13
• Code 128
• QR Code
• Datamatrix