Mobile Behavior: an Omnicom Group Company

SnapScouts is an Android app that promises to crowdsource crime prevention and reward contributors. Bruce Sterling labels it a participatory panopticon and a piece of design fiction.

Want to earn tons of cool badges and prizes while competing with you friends to see who can be the best American? Download the SnapScouts app for your Android phone (iPhone app coming soon) and get started patrolling your neighborhood.

Features include anonymous reports, real-time collection, and multi-crime tagging. While SnapScouts seems to be conceptual, it is a prime example of participatory sensing. Like SeeClickFix, Project Noah, and AT&T's Mark the Spot, it encourages mobile users to contribute to a similar end goal by taking pictures and uploading them. It also incentivizes participation through game dynamics (badges and prizes).

This app taps into our desire to share information, as well as our impulse altruism. Like SMS donations, it provides a mobile path that lets users take action in the moment, making them more likely to.

[via wired]

As those who attended SXSW 2009 can probably recall, AT&T failed to deliver reliable service where thousands of its customers, especially iPhone users, depended on mobile phones to stay connected. This year AT&T was prepared, and adapted to the swarm of early adopters (heavy data users) flying into Austin. By rolling in temporary cell sites, the operator received positive tweets and praise from those attending this year's SXSW.

According to CNET:

...with as many as 15,000 SXSW attendees, plus many more who are here for the accompanying film festival, and iPhones everywhere you can see, it does appear that AT&T has delivered.

Specifcally, AT&T used Cell-on-Wheels (COW) trucks in Austin during SXSW, which improves the capacity of the network. These trucks are stationed throughout the U.S. and can be deployed when needed, for instance, in the case of a hurricane. Inside the Austin Convention Center, AT&T also installed a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) to supplement coverage inside the building.

Watch ROCKETBOOM's coverage here.

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Yesterday, AT&T announced the new and complete reversal of policy regarding VoIP and the iPhone. The move will allow applications like Skype's to be used over the provider's 3G networks. Stockholders fear that AT&T is becoming simply a "dumb pipe" has caused its stock to dip, but this decision opens doors that many may be grateful for further down the road.

Earlier this year we ran through the history of VoIP, which was largely led by Skype and its innovations in making international calls possible over the desktop. With its legacy and the software’s popularity, it only makes sense that Skype will also lead into the VoIP revolution on our mobile devices. These mobile devices that are now extremely compact and powerful computers.

With developers all over the iPhone, they have just received one more variable to play with: Voice. The barrier has been removed and increased innovation is likely through healthy capitalist competition. Truth is, with our inventory of screens fragmenting, so should the possibilities for making phone calls. Startups such as JaJah will be able to deconstruct, rethink, and develop what we know as the "phone" in ways we never imagined. Intuitive interfaces we never considered will be developed as startups like Tiny Chat and Facebook (new voice chat) move to mobile. Multiplayer mobile games could include voice chat and brands have a new touch point to build upon.

Sure, analysts are seeing disruptive forces at work in the telecom industry, but AT&T has made a brave move that ought to be praised. They noticed change and chose to embrace it. Perhaps they will now do the same with Google Voice .

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