News
What's the big idea? | Tom | Thought PieAs we presented this at the midway event I thought we better get it up on the blog! The whole idea of Happy Packages was to enable the people of Bristol to leave digital gifts around the city for their friends. The application we are working on which looks like fulfilling that most literally is the latest evolution of the Happy Stamps concept. We are calling it Happy Packages for that very reason.
The idea is that the user creates a trail where they choose the locations, the clues, and the rewards for a friend.
The process starts by visiting a website. Using an interactive Google map they can easily make the trail in minutes. Choosing the location is done by clicking on the map and dragging the markers to the desired places. The rewards can be images or text chosen by the user, so in-jokes and personal photos are encouraged to make it a really personal experience for the recipient.
This all gets bundled up and send to the friend's mobile, so they can start the trail straight away! It could be designed to be done in an afternoon or a month. Using GPS the application knows when the user is within range of one of the designated locations and supplies the appropriate reward. Only when they find the first location are they given the clue for the second, so they have to follow the trail in the order intended by the creator.
One neat use of this we have thought of is that the last location is the friend's favourite bar or coffee house and the reward is a voucher for a free drink. The application could make web requests for rewards so the content provided can be dynamic.
As not many handsets currently support GPS we are using a separate device called BlueNext (cost about £25) which gets GPS information and transmits it to a mobile via Bluetooth. Of course in the future lots more phones will have GPS!
We will look to be demoing this in the next week or so in (and out!) the studio. Although Happy Packages is all about Bristol there isn't actually anything to constrain the application to this city!
Film & New Media | Ben | Thought PieThoughtden were lucky enough to speak at Cineformation's last event at the Watershed: Film & New Media. Not only was it a great chance to share ideas with like minded people, we also tested Compila, the open-source Bluetooth software, by spamming the room with Dude Corp videos and the results of our group brainstorm session.
The brainstorming was great fun and we came up with some bizarre scenarios to explore how people might access and pay for video content on mobile devices. Though no solid conclusions were drawn, it was in enlightening half an hour all the same. The industry is moving so fast at the moment it's impossible to determine exactly how we'll be using our mobiles in 12 months time.
As for the results of the Happy Fountains experiment, people were far more keen to watch the Dude Corp videos than look over the JPEGs we produced. Humour was a BIG factor when deciding what content would be allowed onto peoples' phones.
Want to play with the Linux Gumstix? | Dan | Thought PieThought Pie are looking for a Linux developer to play around with our Gumstix!
The device is a fun Bluetooth box from America which is about as big as a Sony Ericsonn k800i and runs… Linux.
If you fancy coming in and having a go then mail Dan (Thought Den) and maybe you could help us with the Happy Fountains program.
Pervasive Fatigue | Dan | Thought PieThe ideas for Happy Packages could be great or they may stink, but hell it's a research project and that's what Thought Pie are meant to be finding out. Either way, no matter how good the implementation and delivery, something we'll have to be wary of is Pervasive Fatigue.
The Situation
People who are constantly bombarded with repeated Bluetooth requests every time they walk past Co-op's Bluetooth gopping device are slowly or possibly very quickly going to get annoyed with the vibration in the pocket requiring their attention. It's just bad etiquette to interrupt someone with something un-expected and then probably ask them again the next day. So if during their personal time, while a client is choosing a sandwich, they're re-asked to about downloading something, are we providing them with some very simple and mostly detrimental choices, get it, ignore it or turn their Bluetooth off.
Read the rest of this entry »
Anyone for a Gumstix? | Dan | Thought PieOur new bit of lovely Bluetooth equipment arrived today, a Gumstix "Proximity Marketing device"!
This box will be able to push out files over Bluetooth to enabled devices and comes with a mini antenna and some fun Bubble-wrap!Read the rest of this entry »
