I used to have a Barbie doll when I was a little girl. I also had a Sindy doll and a Tressy doll (I’m showing my age now!) and I used to really enjoy dressing them and playing with them as any little girl would. I used to make them a lego kitchen to play in and I made them clothes to wear and a dolls house out of a cardboard box. I expect I used to talk to them a lot too.
Several decades pass and it’s time for a new kind of Barbie from Mattel. She's called Hello Barbie and is already sold out on the Mattel website. She’s interactive and can converse with children. She uses machine learning to improve on those conversations over time. As you can see from the clip, she does a pretty good job of those conversations too. She’s the first iteration of a robot Barbie, if you like.
For her conversation capability to work, it uses wi-fi and cloud storage and proprietary technology from ToyTalk. It records and listens to the child’s words. Sends that data to its main server, works out a reply and sends the right pieces of conversation back to the doll – all in real time. On one level, this could be very useful indeed to improve a child’s communication and speech skills. But there’s more than a little downside with the service.
Let's leave to one side for now the bit about encouraging children to have a deep relationship with an object.... (Ever seen Ex Machina or Her? If not, you should. Both great movies exploring our relationship with robots.) One of the main concerns for me is the smartphone app that accompanies the doll. As the parent (or buyer), you can set up the accompanying app to listen in to your child’s conversations with Barbie and even share them with other people. This facilitates helicopter parenting at its worst. Just no. Seriously. Don't even think about it. Let children be children. And give them some space to play, to imagine and to be. You really do not need to monitor every word they say or stalk them while they're playing.
This article on The Conversation goes into more detail about the issues around the service, the potential for hacking, the potential for collection of data and misuse of such data, and more.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Ofcom Communications International Report 2015 is out
This is a personal favourite and highly recommend Ofcom’s various communications reports. For those outside of the UK, Ofcom, aka The Office of Communications, is a UK government department and produces a range of reports looking at communications usage across the UK. It’s a brilliant, neutral resource, and what’s more, it’s completely free. Find out more about the data sets and report.
Some highlights from this year’s International Report:
Some highlights from this year’s International Report:
“The communications sector’s total global revenues in 2014 were £1,190bn, growing by 1.5% year on year (incorporating the telecoms, television, postal and radio sectors). Global television industries had the largest increase in revenue in 2014, up by £12bn (5%), to £244bn. Telecommunications revenue, although the largest by a considerable margin, registered slow growth of 0.5% to reach £846bn.
UK communications sector revenues were the fifth highest of our comparator countries and the second highest in Europe. In 2014, as in recent years, the three largest communications markets by revenue were in the US (£316bn), China (£135bn) and Japan (£110bn). Outside the top three, the total UK revenue of £48bn was second only to Germany (£55bn).
4G mobile population coverage (from at least one operator) increased in most comparator countries in 2014, with China having the largest year-on-year increase, rising from 1% to 73%. The UK had 84% 4G mobile population coverage at year-end 2014, an increase of 21 percentage points.
The UK had the highest proportion of total mobile connections that were 4G, of the EU5 countries in 2014, at 28%. Among all our comparator countries, South Korea had the highest proportion of mobile connections that were 4G, at 63% of connections, followed by the US (40%), and Australia and Singapore (both 39%).
Around two-thirds (67%) of UK respondents use a smartphone. This is in line with France, Germany and Australia. Spain and Italy had the highest smartphone take-up, at 83% and 79% of respondents respectively, and the US reported the lowest take-up of our comparator countries, at 57%.
Spain (45%) and the UK (42%) have the highest levels of ownership of connected TVs (either smart TV sets, or sets connected to the internet via another device, such as a set-top box, video games console, or other internet-enabled device).
Nearly two-thirds (66%) of people in the UK had used an online service to watch TV or films within the past week (increasing to 81% in the past month); the highest proportion across all of the countries surveyed.
Around four in ten (44%) UK respondents had used a catch-up service from a free-to-air broadcaster within the past week, the greatest proportion of any country surveyed.”I highly recommend you download the report and add it to your holiday reading list and gen up for the New Year.
#TieforHelena
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| #TieForHelena |
From the Evening Standard article:“Helena Martins, 43, who lost her hearing five years ago to Ménière's disease, was cornered by the man as she walked home through Tooting last night.
Moments before, she had removed her cochlea implant, which she relies on to hear, as she approached her house.
The man hit her in the eye and choked her with her polka dot tie, which she believes marked her out as gay, and her implant dropped on the floor.”Being attacked for who you are or what you’re wearing has no place in London or anywhere else for that matter. And for that reason, I’m joining the campaign and wearing a #TieForHelena.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Call for Interesting Mobile Apps, Services & Hardware in the North of England and beyond
These are not pitch events - they're much more relaxed. Think show 'n tell style with a bit of Q and A thrown in for good measure.
And I have one of these sessions coming up next week in Leeds - Innovation on the Fringe Goes North! - and I'd love to see you participate, especially if you're based North of Watford. Living in London, the local start-up scene is awash with new apps and services. But where are their Northern equivalents? I have a few up my sleeve, but I'd love to see many more. And I'm sure they're out there. I'm a Northerner by birth, I have friends up and down the British Isles and I know there's talent across the UK and not just centred in East London.
Are you doing something interesting in mobile apps, services, hardware or internet of things? It can be at concept, prototype or fully-fledged stage. Are you available in Leeds on Tuesday afternoon (3 Nov) for a couple of hours to share with us what you're doing and hang out with other entrepreneurs and fellow mobilists? If so, get in touch as soon as you can so that I can slot you into the schedule. Drop me an email or fill in this quick form to tell me a little bit about what you're doing and we'll take it from there.
And if you just fancy leaning back and seeing what's hot and what's not mobile-wise in Leeds, then please RSVP now.
And if you're not a Northerner, but you'd still like to take part with a demo, you're very welcome to!
And if you're not a Northerner, but you'd still like to take part with a demo, you're very welcome to!
The call for apps etc for the Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival in Barcelona in February 2016 will open later on in November.
Heroes of Mobile Goes to Leeds 3 & 4 November
I can't believe it's November already and it's just nine weeks to Christmas. Where does the year go? But as the evenings start to draw in, it's time to gather round campfires and tell ourselves stories about the battles we've won and lost, the monsters that lurk in the dark and the bright future that is waiting for us on the other side of winter.
Ok, so maybe we don't have an actual campfire this time but we do have a beautiful converted Methodist Chapel in Leeds to hang out in. So this means that November is chock full of brain food from the team who brought you the Hacklands festival in August (you missed a cracker if you weren't there) – I'll be working again with Lloyd Davis of Tuttle Club fame, the fab aql team in Leeds and and James Tagg of Truphone.
Come to as many of the sessions as you like, they're all free to attend and our friends at aql will make you very welcome indeed. There's plenty of space to hang out and co-work between sessions too.
10.00 for a 10.30 start to 12.30 Future of Work: Open Space with Lloyd Davis
14.00 to 15.00 Nothing Great is Easy with Patrick Smith
15.30 to 18.00 Innovation on the Fringe Goes to Leeds
18.30 onwards Swedish Beers
10.00 for a 10.30 start to 12.30 Future of Mobile: Talk and Open Space with James Tagg and Lloyd Davis
12.30 to 14.30 Ladies Lunch with Lesley Cowley
15.30 to 17.30 The Future of Mobile Advertising: Open Space with yours truly and Lloyd Davis
To RSVP, please click on the links above or go to http://heroesofmobileleeds.strikingly.com where all the registration forms are handily listed in one place.
To RSVP, please click on the links above or go to http://heroesofmobileleeds.strikingly.com where all the registration forms are handily listed in one place.
And if you fancy making the trip from down South to Leeds, then may I recommend using http://hotwire.com for your hotel. I got a great deal there when I booked last week. Expedia also had a comprehensive list that included B&Bs and not just the big hotels.
Friday, July 24, 2015
Hacklands Festival of Technology happening on 14 to 16 August 2015 in a field in Kent
It has been action stations at my end, what with Swedish Beers Midsummer Edition in London last month and the upcoming Hacklands Festival of Technology happening next month. In case you haven’t heard about it already, let me tell you a bit more about my new event lovechild – Hacklands.
WHAT: Hacklands is a new hackathon and festival happening on a farm on the border of Kent and Surrey brought to you by Helen Keegan (Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival, Swedish Beers and more) and James Tagg, (author, farmer, entrepreneur, physicist and CTO & co-founder of Truphone).
WHEN: From 5pm on Friday 14 August to 5pm on Sunday 16 August 2015.
AUDIENCE: We welcome adults and children who have an interest in technology either because they like building it or because they like to use it and are interested in future uses of technology. Under 18s will need to be accompanied by an adult. You do not have to be a developer to come. We will have sessions and space for both developers and non-developers and can cater for children too.
TELL ME MORE: It is a community oriented festival where we will combine elements of a hackathon (you can code and build stuff), an unconference or barcamp (you can talk about stuff) and a festival (you can chill at our campfire by our stone circle, camp under the stars, talk until the wee hours and enjoy the music and performances).
And we have glamping too courtesy of our friends at Sleeping Bells. We actively encourage you to get involved to build something, talk about something, perform something or learn something.
Weekend tickets available now with or without camping. Food included in both tickets and a pay cafe bar available outside of meal times.
Find out more at our website, Facebook page, Twitter or our Eventbrite page. You can also buy tickets by clicking below.
If you'd like the glamping option, please find out more here and contact Gavin directly to book. Prices start at £80. Festival tickets must be bought separately.
See you in August in a field in Kent!
WHAT: Hacklands is a new hackathon and festival happening on a farm on the border of Kent and Surrey brought to you by Helen Keegan (Heroes of the Mobile Fringe Festival, Swedish Beers and more) and James Tagg, (author, farmer, entrepreneur, physicist and CTO & co-founder of Truphone).
WHEN: From 5pm on Friday 14 August to 5pm on Sunday 16 August 2015.
AUDIENCE: We welcome adults and children who have an interest in technology either because they like building it or because they like to use it and are interested in future uses of technology. Under 18s will need to be accompanied by an adult. You do not have to be a developer to come. We will have sessions and space for both developers and non-developers and can cater for children too.
TELL ME MORE: It is a community oriented festival where we will combine elements of a hackathon (you can code and build stuff), an unconference or barcamp (you can talk about stuff) and a festival (you can chill at our campfire by our stone circle, camp under the stars, talk until the wee hours and enjoy the music and performances).
And we have glamping too courtesy of our friends at Sleeping Bells. We actively encourage you to get involved to build something, talk about something, perform something or learn something.
Interested in doing something - leading a session, giving access to APIs, arts and crafts, something else? Please tell us when you buy your ticket or you can fill in the form here.WHAT'S ON: We have several areas available to use for unconference sessions, workshops or hacking (that's what we call the software and hardware building bit). There are undercover spaces, tented areas and outdoor spaces. There's wifi across the site (even the fields) and part of the farm is solar powered. We have some flat concrete floors which will be particular good for playing around with robots or landing drones. We have room for camping and plenty space for parking. We can look after 100 people comfortably, and we can make more space available if more people want to come.
Weekend tickets available now with or without camping. Food included in both tickets and a pay cafe bar available outside of meal times.
Find out more at our website, Facebook page, Twitter or our Eventbrite page. You can also buy tickets by clicking below.
If you'd like the glamping option, please find out more here and contact Gavin directly to book. Prices start at £80. Festival tickets must be bought separately.
See you in August in a field in Kent!
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