#link 4

(via > http://myemiria.tumblr.com/ )

This web banner takes three racing tracks from the Sony Playstation game Gran Turismo 5, which were actual panoramic views of real-life roads, and re-created them in a banner using Google Street View. The viewer of the banner got a preview of the tracks and the ability to control the car using the keyboard and mouse - just like the real game. Cool way to do a game demo on a flash banner. 

Facebook's strategy on edging into the mobile experience is becoming more and more apparent. Now with a tie-in with several airlines that allows users to access the site for free, one has to wonder if their is an upcoming reason as to why anyone would want to log onto facebook while cramped in an airline seat. God knows I already have enough facebook friends that complain about the daily annoyances in their lives, I don't want to read about their first-world woes while in-flight. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/25/watch-state-of-the-union-2011-live_n_813596.html#s229368

While everyone talks about how the cheaper costs of production is helping companies produce cheaper/better devices,few mention how these costs put incredible technology at the hands of customers, most of who don't even know what's incise their phone. But those who know, can really take great advantage of this. It also means that someone, somewhere along the production process, is ignoring some incredible potential in these phones, and costumers on the other end out much better use to it.

The post talks about a new mobile Facebook app designed for feature (not smart) phones. It allows user to check messages, events, pictures, news feeds, profiles, and more in an easier, streamlined Facebook that has been so successful on smart phones. Users don't incur data charges (which is good because they probably don't even know what a data charge is) and the app works on over 2,500 different feature phones. However, it currently is only available in 9 countries (not U.S.) but is expected to launch in more networks and in more areas soon. As creative technologists, we are in somewhat of a bubble. We are the first to adopt the newest computers, phones, and other mobile devices. We are always thinking about what cool new things we could do with a technology that isn't more than 5 minutes old. We can talk about things with each other that to many other people, just sound like robots talking. We are in the minority and we can't lose site of that. Most people still don't have a smartphone (according to the post, as of June 2010, 79% of all mobile phone users still had a feature phone- even larger in the growing markets of India and China). While it is incredibly important, I feel that it is easy, and almost a cop-out, to thinkonly about the future of mobile. The percentage of people who are going to use their mobile device to pay for a Starbucks coffee in minuscule in the grand scheme of things (*currently). An app like this for feature phones applies to an enormous amount of people. It has the potential to do more for facebook than anything we could build in HTML5 or flash. We have to remember that we are in the business of building brands, not necessarily just using the newest and coolest technologies... even if that means taking a step back and looking at the world through the lens of someone who barely knows what the internet is. A CT who can look forward AND backward is going to be a force to be reckoned with. Till my next installment of "4 Good Links"... this is C$, signing off.