Mobile "chick flick" with a twist

If somebody told you that a film was being made featuring mobile phone clips of women from around the world, you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was of the R-rated nature. But, a project underway in the UK called Overheated Symphony is calling for women around the world to make “quick flicks” on their mobile phones, then send them via the internet to a London-based film director who will pull them all together.

It’s all in aid of a film festival taking place in London that showcases the work of female film-makers. Other than the theme of “Overheated”, women can film whatever they want and the call-out on the website says: "Ladies, wherever you are, whoever you are, we want you to join in". Sarah Turner, the British film director who will create the final edit, said the inspiration came from a 1927 film by German filmmaker Walter Ruttmann Berlin - Symphony of a Great City, which used a montage of still pictures from many sources to document city life.

The deadline is 2 March and the film will be aired on 9 March at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts. According to Turner, "Making a film from all these female voices around the world is quite a beautiful thing, but also it's about shooting down the idea that women are not up to date with technology."

MyTake – A damn cool way to share content on a global level and to mash the content together brings a great sense of unity. Mobiles are becoming increasingly popular as “content capturers” with lots of people publishing their experiences to the likes of YouTube. Sharing the content in this way creates an instantaneous network with an actual output – in this case a film. The possibilities of this could extent to “instant networks” creating news reports, mini films – how cool would that be!

iTunes kept from No 1 spot by the Wall

It may seem like it’s been around for ever, but in only five short years iTunes has become the second-biggest music retailer in the US. According to a new survey by NPD Group’s MusicWatch survey, the only retailer to out-muscle iTunes in 2007 was Wall-Mart, aka HD DVD killer.

Apple’s journey into the top three US retailers has come of the back of worldwide take-up of the service, mainly due to the phenomenal success of the iPod. But this is not to downplay what has been achieved in terms of brokering deals with the major record house – not an easy thing to do.

MyTake – iTunes is everywhere and if you think about the power of what is a solid distribution model, Apple are in a pretty sweet spot. In addition, not only do they have a great distribution model, it’s a model that gives you what you want, when you want AND it’s customisable. Thinking about the true nature of content sharing, iTunes is the perfect personal content aggregator, only it’s not run by a (ro)bot, it’s run by you.

Txt 'n' trade

This is a post for my mate Josh, and anyone else who is an avid dabbler in the share market. For the first time Aussies are going to be able to buy and sell shares via SMS through a company called Bell Direct. Some clients have already submitted “Buy” and “Sell” orders via their mobile phone, in a process that the company describes as being very straight forward. According to Bell Direct director and chief operating officer Lee Muco, the service involves using a simple sequence of "buy" or "sell", followed by the quantity, stock code, price and a security PIN number.

MyTake – I hear friends talking all the time about new info they have on the share market, but they don’t always have the opportunity to do anything about it. The phone is just an interface, the same as your PC – you just need to trust. The fact is, you could be having a beer with some mates and make a tidy profit from a couple of tips you pick up before you’ve ordered your second.

Tune out and log on

A new survey by UK-based analyst The Future Laboratory has revealed that nearly 25 per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds have ditched the TV in favour of networking on the web. The research also found that 22 per cent said they wee playing less video games, while 25 per cent spent more time instant messaging.

MyTake – The battle for eyeballs is become fierce and TV is going to lose-out if it can’t offer a bigger variety of content. Since the advent of digital we’ve had a lot more choice in what we watch in terms of free-to-air and the pay-to-view guys have been making inroads for years with movies and sports, but they still can’t offer the depth and breadth of content that the internet can. They need to stop thinking linier and start thinking access – they need to provide content on an “I want” basis, just as the net does. The big thing in TV’s corner – they have some killer content, they just need to change the distribution model.

Are you talking to me?

Speech recognition technology has been around for a long time, in its early days it frustrated the hell out of a lot of people who generally gave up on it after one try. But, according the Microsoft boss Bill Gates, we’re going to be increasingly interacting with our computers using touch screens or speech. One of the big bets for the boys at Microsoft, they reckon in five years more interest searches will be done through speech rather than through typing.

MyTake – We need a leap like this to kick-start a new era in personal computing. I think that the humble PC has developed very little when it comes to the basics – keyboard, screen etc… and just like the their brothers in the automotive industry, the computer giants are going to have to innovate to stay ahead. The funny thing is that touch screen and speech recognition technology have been around for a while now, but we the consumer have been reluctant to embrace it, which I think comes down to a trust issue – “Did I really put that book in by online shopping basket by doing that?”, “What if it misunderstands me and transfers $100,000 instead of $100”. But just like all the other things we’ve gotten used to, we’ll get used to this.

I hope you like Jammin' too

Welcome to the next generation of jamming! Since the dawn of time, mankind has been using everything and anything to make music and that's not set to change any time soon. A bunch of guys have taken two iPhones and a Nintendo DS and created the "iBand". Check out the video below.

MyTake - Music is becoming more and more accessible, letting more people get involved and make music. I wonder how many great artists were never discovered because they couldn't get in a studio, or couldn't afford a guitar. The idea that people could sit around jamming on their iPhones then share the result with pals via Facebook or MySpace is one I think will happen sooner than we think. It's all about content, and sharing that content - the more personal that content gets, the more it’s worth sharing.

...and I am an addict

Yet more research, yet more claims… This time it’s about us being addicted to technology. We’ve probably all heard the term “Crakberry” before, so in that sense we are aware of how addictive certain gadgets can be. I myself can attest to getting sucked in to massive PES or Football Manager sessions and hours just fly by – but hey, I’m having a good time! This new research says that “techno addiction” can get so bad that some people get up several times a night to check their e-mails and text messages.

Not surprisingly, this level of so called addiction can start to interfere with all parts of your life. Professor Nada Kakabadse of Northampton University, who ran the research, reckons the addiction comes from technology becoming more interesting over the past decade and that it has become more portable and accessible. According to her research, up to a third off those surveyed were addicted to some form of technology, the down side of this is that addicts can be withdrawn from their families, suffer axieties and even sickness – and what’s worse is that by the time it’s identified, it’s usually too late! OMG…..

MyTake – Ever heard people talk about an “addictive” personality? I have, and I think it’s true. It’s not the gadget, the sport, the beer, the cigarette – it’s the person. Technology is an enabler, it’s there to make life easier, more interesting and more fun. When you lose sight of this, I think it could become very easy to get addicted. The old saying, “everything in moderation” ;-)