Mario Tapia

Finally an art category using a mobile medium! I’ve wanted to organize a mobile arts event in Seattle for some time now. An event using device cameras is what I would like to plan, but here mobile video is the category. Check out the SFFS link SF Film Society Wireless Category.

Here’s the details:

Wireless Media
This is an invitation to submit work to the San Francisco Film Society for consideration to be included in the 49th San Francisco International Film Festival taking place April 20–May 4, 2006. In specific, this call is for a program that will focus on a series of visual works made by or for wireless media devices. Roughly this breaks down into three categories:

-Works made by mobile devices
-Works made to be specifically viewed on mobile devices
-Works that use wireless signals as a new aesthetic medium

Monday’s Seattle Mobile was a success. We had ~70 attendees from all of the mobile industry value chain, Operators, Content Providers, Device OEMs and Infrastructure. Thanks to Brendan and Kosar for their time and excellent presentations and also a big thanks for those who attended.

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My old company Dwango (soon to rebrand as Dijji) has finally succeeded in launching Playboy Mobile in the US. Cingular is currently the only US operator, but Rogers in Canada has been providing the content for a couple months now. The question now is what kind of backlash our puritanistic country will cause. Playboy has been doing a good job in licensing its brand globally. There are some 20+ mobile licenses around the globe and its been making an impact on PBs stock as well. CNN PB Article

Although adult content has been available for mobiles since the early days, 1999, most US operators have been reluctant to place it in the mainstream portal or even off portal via 3rd party aggregators. This is a big move on behalf of the operators, especially when there are no Parental Controls to limit access to this content, I am concerned especially for the minors that are the growing demographic for mobiles in the US.

Although CTIA is working on standardizing Parental Controls I don’t think we will see anything published from the working group any time soon. So parents beware and you adult males… enjoy?

–and so it goes

November Meeting – Mobile Search

The November meeting of Seattle Mobile is November 14th.
The topic is “Mobile Search”, one of the hot topics in mobile right now and we have some great presenters lined up for the meeting.

When: Monday November 14, 6:30 – 7:30 Networking, 7:30 – 9:30 Presentations
Where: The Harbor Steps in the Terrace Room,
Downtown Seattle, Google Map,

Presenters:

Brendan Benzing, Vice President/Product Management Infospace
Brendan is responsible for defining InfoSpace’s mobile and Web-based search products and strategies. He joined InfoSpace in 2005, bringing deep experience in the sales, marketing and development of interactive products that center on local content. He spent six years at America Online, serving as Executive Director in AOL’s Search and Directional Media Group. In that role, he developed strategies for pay-for-performance advertising for the company’s local Yellow Pages, content targeting, and AOL Search businesses.

Kosar Jaff, Uber Tech Lead Google

About Seattle Mobile:
Seattle Mobile is a community of mobile professionals in the Seattle area. The goal of Seattle Mobile is to foster communications and networking between mobile professionals and to provide a forum to meet others working in the mobile industry. Seattle Mobile meetings are the second Monday of every month. Each month Seattle Mobile has a different mobile related topic, and a small group of presenters (usually 2-3) that gives short presentations related to the meeting topic.