The Crisis of Credit Visualized by Jonathan Jarvis

The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the credit crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated. This project was completed as part of my thesis work in the Media Design Program, a graduate studio at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

For more on my broader thesis work exploring the use of new media to make sense of a increasingly complex world, visit jdjarvis.com.

State of Social Media in China

I just came across a good blog by Adam J. Schokora summarizing the take away by Forrester about the Social Media in China. 

1) social media in China is mainstream, 

2) creating content is more common than in the West, and

3) BBS discussion forums trump social networks.

Nokia N86 launches in Mobile World Congress 2009

Nokia 's N86 8MP is Nokia’s first phone featuring 8-megapixel camera, 28mm wide-angle Carl Zeiss Tessar optics with mechanical shutter and variable aperture. It also has 8 GB of internal memory, Wi-Fi, GPS, QVGA OLED display, FM Transmitter and microSDHC memory slot. 

I took some pictures with it and i must admit the picture quality is awesome and the design is pretty slick too. Check out the video below. 

Here is another video with interviews of the key people behind the creation of the new 8 megapixel Nokia N86.

4-Year-Old Kylie Demos Windows Live Photo Gallery in New Ad

This adorable “I’m a PC” ad features Kylie, a 4 1/2-year-old child who shows how easy it is to use Windows Live Photo Gallery. In doing so, Kylie demonstrates the immense power and simplicity of the application by narrating the process aloud and making little fish faces.

Ryanair allows in-flight mobile usage

Passengers of Ryanair can now make calls, send texts and surf the web. This is a dream come true for many business flyers but i m not too sure about the other non-business passengers seating next to them. 

Well, budget airline Ryanair is now providing in-flight mobile coverage on its UK routes.

The company is charging £1.50-£3 a minute for voice calls, £1-£2 for an 'average' email session and 40p to send a text (receiving SMS is free).

The Irish company says the service will be usable by customers of over 50 other mobile phone operators across Europe on a roaming basis.

The in-flight mobile bandwagon is certainly gathering air speed, in January British Airways revealed that passengers on its London City Airport to JFK route will be able to send text messages, emails and access the internet from their phones. The is definitely the trend and its just a matter of time when most airlines will have this service on board. 

Latest from CNNIC : More than 117 Million Mobile Internet Users in China

According to the latest CNNIC report, there are over 640 million mobile users in China by the end of 2008 with more than 117 million users have used mobile devices to access Internet in last six months, more than doubled from a year ago. The report said that about 34% of China’s mobile Internet users are active mobile Internet users everyday.

Some key findings of the report are:

- 74.6% of China’s mobile Internet users are male;
- China’s mobile Internet users are young with 70.8% of mobile Internet users are under 19 years old, vs. 35.6% of Internet users;
- Similar to Internet usage, mobile IM is the most popular mobile Internet applications, with about 31.2% penetration rate;
- About 39.6% of users are reading Mobile Newspapers, a service provided by China Mobile;
- The report on mobile media also said about 15.7% users are using mobile video service, which is unexpectedly high in view that 3G network isnt in place yet. With 3G in place, this is going to be another huge area for growth.

The Ultimate 7 Minute Workout

I m not sure how true and effective its but its worth the try since its only 7 minute a day and losing 14 pounds in a month. 

Universal Phone Charger

This is probably the best news for consumers coming from Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona. The GSM Association has won backing from 17 mobile operators and device manufacturers to create a universal phone charger by the 1st January 2012.

The so-called universal charging solution (UCS) initiative, finalized last Friday and announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Tuesday, is billed chiefly as a green project, as the charger will be designed to be energy-efficient. The GSMA says the UCS would result in an estimated 50% reduction in standby energy consumption, and would potentially eliminate up to 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers.

However, the biggest attraction is bound to be the end of a long and inconvenient era of incompatible chargers that pile up as consumers buy new handsets. In the future, we could just pick up any charger and immediately have our mobile phone refuelled.