what Generation to do you think most closely matches you?

ReadWriteWeb linked this forrester article recently discussing the generational habits of users in the digital age, and I was bemused to see that I fall across the divide of Gen X and Y, not only in age but in many of my habits.

Where do you fit in?


Of course, this does lead onto the fact that a lot of new habits are being brought to both day-to-day life (with new ways to communicate such as online social networking), and their perceptions of how to work - an article like this makes for interesting reading...

Thoughts?

The evolution of the smartphone



The Nokia 9120 Communicator. Image from ArsTechnica.com



Ars Technica had an excellent feature story about the evolution of the smartphone, mainly in the past 10 years and I looked back in interest/bemusement/fascination/nostalgia to the models they showcased.

Many of the devices I recognized as ones I had used at some point in time - or at least used a variant of the original design. The Nokia Communicator stood out as a real break-out device at the time - imagine that you could get on the Internet from a mobile phone in 2002?! Yes, it was slow, but it was also a pioneering device for it's time.

Interestingly, I'm hearing more and more that people are accessing the Internet through their mobile devices - YouTube discussed

"revealed that YouTube now boasts over 2 billion video playbacks a day, 150 million of those being on mobile devices." (courtesy of Techcrunch.com interview with YouTube's product manager).

The time is fast approaching where many people are considering mobile phones with some sort of functionality for connecting to the Internet while mobile. Not just so-called-smarthphones such as iPhones or Android devices, but 'feature phones', the more basic models that are the bigger sellers worldwide. The new Windows 7 phones look like they are aiming for this market, with a much more stream-lined functionality for many features.

So, leading on from the evolution of smartphones to their current functions and styles (namely lead by the ground-breaking iPhone only three years ago), where do you think this is all going to lead? What functions do you think will appear? And how should it be dealt with by schools to support this sort of new technology, and even in the workplace?

Mobile subscriber numbers

Something that has stayed close to my interests over the years is the use of mobile technology, stemming from my background with a big mobile telco many years ago.

While reading through some technology news a few days ago I came across this article discussing the number of mobile subscribers worldwide and the fact that the world really is starting to trend towards full mobile connectivity. Of course, the numbers are slightly skewed, it's not actually the fact that 80% of the population has a mobile phone, but the fact that in regions like Europe, there are 160% more mobile phones than people - from users having multiple handsets due to work, personal use, or for different countries as they roam (such as myself carrying two mobiles from different countries).

And now, this number is starting to explode as many new devices start to appear with a mobile internet connection; notable examples are the iPad. Other newer, more extreme examples are connection options are starting to appear in cars: the Paris Motor Show had a BMW with mobile connectivity, car mounts, etc. for devices.

I come from the borderline Gen X/Gen Y group so have grown up my my late teens with a mobile phone, it's something that is part of me - to be honest, I can't remember the last time I used a landline! So I straddle the divide between some the era of no-mobile-phones, and their by-now widespread adoption.

Many pupils are starting to get used to the idea of doing searches, communicating fully through mobile phones. And yet, most schools don't allow any use of them in schools, and give no guidance on how they could be used for their benefit other than just texting each other. do you think the level of discussion of mobile usage should be increased in schools? All ideas welcome!