I've been interested in news all my life. In college I worked for a radio station that became an NPR affiliate, and during the summer of my junior year I was a summer intern with the Voice of America in Washington, D.C. Not surprising, then, that I would choose television coverage of international affairs as my dissertation topic in grad school at Stanford and that the dissertation would form the basis for my first book, Television's Window on the World.
Enough about my background and my books. You can read any of them or download PDF versions via Google Books or my personal web site. The point of this post is to recommend that you try Google's new Beta service called Fast Flip. I especially commend to you fast flip for mobile, preferably on an iPhone or an Android with a good capacitive touch screen interface.
When I first tried out Fast Flip on my iPhone 3Gs, I mistakenly thought it was based on the 4,000 plus news sources represented in Google News. To the contrary, it is an experiment based on an agreement between Google and the news outlets you'll be able to access via the Fast Flip service. Nevertheless, it offers a glimpse into the future of scanning for news over the internet. It makes news sites 1) fast to load, 2) easy to scroll or flip through, and 3) they look like the print versions. A librarian blogger has a good description of some of the Fast Flip features and potential.
The mobile version of Google Fast Flip is a blast and I predict it will be a surefire success, at least in English. I'm not sure whether there is a Korean version yet, but there should be!
Jumat, 08 Januari 2010
Minggu, 03 Januari 2010
iPhone Best-Selling Phone in Korea
Today there is further evidence that Apple's iPhone is taking the Korean market by storm, especially in the absence of Android handset models that can offer real competition. During the first week of December 2009, the iPhone posted a 10.2% market share of all mobile handsets, not just the so-called "smartphones." This was according to Atlas Research Group in Korea.
The tech media and blogs are full of reports about the forthcoming launch of the "Google phone." According to these reports, it will have an AMOLED touch screen that is larger than the iPhone 3Gs's, and some other nice hardware features. However, having used the iPhone for a few weeks now, I would underscore that it is the applications that make all the difference. For example, one of the nicest new Beta services for mobile from Google is called "FastFlip." It draws on the substantial resources of Google news, Google alerts and related services and is very user-friendly, even in its initial Beta form.
Sabtu, 02 Januari 2010
"iPhone Woes for Foreigners" Symptom of a Larger Problem
I started my newspaper reading this morning with an article in yesterday's Joongang Daily entitled "iPhone Woes for Foreigners." Since I am a foreigner living in Korea and I recently purchased an iPhone, I read the article with great interest. I've lived and worked in Korea continuously for the past 13 years and my wife is Korean. Nevertheless, it was NOT EASY to purchase an iPhone here.
My understanding is that there are approximately one million expatriate workers in Korea now, and that the number is increasing. Furthermore, I'm reading a lot these days about how the Korean government is seeking to attract not only foreign investment, but more foreign workers to Korea. Under these circumstances, it seems counter-productive to make it difficult for foreigners to purchase an iPhone. Those of you interested in the details of this matter can read the Joongang Daily article.
I simply want to note that the iPhone situation is part of a much larger problem relating to language, culture and mind-set. Think, for example, of the generally dismal state of banking services for foreigners in Korea. Alternatively, think of the heavy reliance on and satisfaction with Korean language web content and applications (over 70 percent of Koreans using Naver when Korean-language Google is superior for many purposes).
My recommendation: Korea should begin to offer special services, across the board, for foreigners who are here teaching English, teaching other subjects, working in industry, or otherwise contributing to the economy and society. If the worry is simply that foreigners will leave Korea with unpaid bills, it seems to me that could be handled for different categories of customers, in accord with the risk, by using a REFUNDABLE deposit system.
My understanding is that there are approximately one million expatriate workers in Korea now, and that the number is increasing. Furthermore, I'm reading a lot these days about how the Korean government is seeking to attract not only foreign investment, but more foreign workers to Korea. Under these circumstances, it seems counter-productive to make it difficult for foreigners to purchase an iPhone. Those of you interested in the details of this matter can read the Joongang Daily article.
I simply want to note that the iPhone situation is part of a much larger problem relating to language, culture and mind-set. Think, for example, of the generally dismal state of banking services for foreigners in Korea. Alternatively, think of the heavy reliance on and satisfaction with Korean language web content and applications (over 70 percent of Koreans using Naver when Korean-language Google is superior for many purposes).
My recommendation: Korea should begin to offer special services, across the board, for foreigners who are here teaching English, teaching other subjects, working in industry, or otherwise contributing to the economy and society. If the worry is simply that foreigners will leave Korea with unpaid bills, it seems to me that could be handled for different categories of customers, in accord with the risk, by using a REFUNDABLE deposit system.
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