A Little Last Minute Post
It took me a while but I found something: Socialight. The demo video kind of creeped me out. Not only was it backed with a jazzy, muzak, shopping mall soundtrack, but there was no mention (of course) about the surveillance issues surrounding this service. Of course, I have been reading a lot of Naomi Wolf lately, so that could just be the paranoia about closed societies talking.
Anyway, this Socialight service offers location based information generated by consumers for consumers that loads to your cell phone to give you suggestions on where to shop, dine, and be entertained. Think Yelp.com but tagged to locations for you to discover as you move through the environment. The example in the video of looking for the pretzel cart–that happens to be right around the corner–raised many questions for me personally: Would they have ever tried this pretzel cart if they hadn’t been notified? Will this help fill out entertainment venues? Is this service likely to aid impulsive purchases? Will this drive people further out of reality and into the lcd screens of their mobile devices? This service/project looks like the beginning of corporate/capitalist adaptation of the locative media format. Would anyone use this service, or is it too Patriot Act creepy?
This is cool. Google is on this already this. They have the spectrum, the cell phone will come soon and then this with our gPhone will become part of our social experience as much as google maps and utube have.
off topic, as far as Naomi Wolf. i checked out the 30 minute interview. She is naive to think we lost “freedoms” after 9/11 . she plays in the same fear pool as the people that make it. making her just as damaging. her arguments are weak. +the fact that we are going to be saved because “bruce springsteen came out about torture.” LOL.
Comment by aperritano — February 14, 2008 @ 6:16 am
If you read Naomi Wolf’s book “The End of America: A Letter of Warning To A Yound Patriot” you might think differently about American ideals and freedoms that our government is supposed to preserve. She may be an insistent and passionate speaker because she believes in her research and being a messenger, but that does not make her “damaging.” Frightening might be more appropriate, but in a world where people are less sensitive and more tuned out to information, you can’t blame her for fighting fire with fire. And really, what is so “damaging” and “weak” about comparing our current government to the fascist regimes of the past with valid facts?
And Bruce Springsteen may not end the horror that torture is, but to laugh about anyone coming out about torture is disrespectful. Just try to laugh at someone being water boarded and think about the policies in place that allow the US government the ability to detain anyone, even you, for no reason, hold you without trial in a degraded facility miles away and torture you as an enemy combatant, without a shred of evidence that you in fact could be convicted of the crimes you are supposed held captive for. LOL.
Comment by ktucker — February 19, 2008 @ 2:39 am