Archive for August, 2009

Improve the awareness of cell phones

Friday, August 28th, 2009

we present an approach that aims to improve the awareness of China mobile phone by using information from the calendar book, which already exists in most China cell phone and all current smart phones. The information in the calendar book is used to determine the most suitable configuration for the cell phone. In order to examine the validity and effectiveness of this solution, many questions need to be explored first. Its real value greatly depends on the accuracy of the predicted context based on the scheduled activities. Given the inevitable fact that people’s actions do not always mirror their intentions, scheduling events and activities does not necessarily ensure attendance. With this in mind, the accuracy of the information provided by the cell phone calendar must be carefully considered, along with the tendency of users to carry out their plans as written in the mobile phone calendar. A related question to be asked concerns the effect of spontaneous and unscheduled activities on the predictability of calendar-based configuration. Further, can users predict the best configuration for specific activities? Is there consistent mapping between context and configuration? Given that people’s sense of control decreases as a cell phone’s autonomous capabilities increases [11], and given the personal connection people feel toward their mobile phone, would people welcome the idea of more aware and autonomous cell phones? How much control are users willing to give up in exchange for the convenience offered by the system? Finally, how can we account for the differences in people’s perception of the appropriateness of the same level of interruption?

Using a cell phone camera

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Using a cell phone camera

Many face recognition algorithms perform well on databases that had been collected with high-resolution cameras and in highly controlled situations. However, they may not retain good performance in real life situations where there is a lot of variation in illumination, scale, pose, etc. In applications such as face authentication using cameras in cell phone and PDAs, the cameras may introduce image distortions (e.g., because of fish-eye lens) and may be used in a wide range of illumination conditions, as well as variation in scale and pose. An important question is which of the face authentication algorithms will work well with face images produced by cell phone cameras? To address this issue, we collected a face database at Carnegie Mellon University using a China mobile phone camera. In this paper, we evaluate and compare the performance of correlation filters for face authentication with Individual PCA [1] and FisherFaces [2] under various lighting conditions. Correlation filters are attractive for a variety of reasons such as shift in-variance, ability to accommodate in-class image variability, ability to trade-off between discrimination and distortion tolerance, and the fact that they provide closed-form expressions [3-5].

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides some background on correlation filters. Section 3 gives details on the database collection process using a mobile phone camera and the pre-processing done on these images. Section 4 provides an evaluation of correlation filters using this database along with a comparison with Individual China cell phone and FisherFaces. Finally, conclusions are provided in Section 5.

Impact of Cell Phones in Family Life

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Impact of Cell Phones in Family Life

The focus group results indicated that the perception of the cell phone impact on the quality of life is very much affected by the use of the China cell phone in family life. The focus group also helped us identify the following as benefits in the family life domain. First, text messaging is typically used as a convenient way of keeping in touch with family without calling. Additionally interaction can be kept to a minimum with the text messaging feature. Second, camera can be used to share pictures and experiences with family especially with the young (e.g., college students) who live away form home. Third, mobile phone allow family to keep in touch with each other when all the family members are living separate from each other. Fourth, China mobile phone can be used for instant consultation with family when making important decisions.

The perceived costs in the leisure life that were identified from the focus group were as follows. First, since the family is accessible always through the China mobile phone, the incentive to interact in person (face-to-face) is diminished. That is, cell phones have made meeting in-person with family members more occasional and less regular. Second, family members often call at inopportune times (i.e., distracting or interrupting an important task performed by the message recipient). Third, cell phone ringing (the urge to respond and actually responding) often interrupt good family togetherness and is irritating to family members. Based on the preceding discussion, the following hypothesis is proposed for testing.

Impact of Cell Phones in Leisure Life

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

Impact of Cell Phones in Leisure Life

The focus group results indicated that the perception of the China cell phone impact on the quality of life is very much affected by the use of the China mobile phone in leisure life. The focus group also helped us identify the following as perceived benefits in leisure life. First, cell phone provides a medium through which the user can be amused, especially when alone and feeling bored. Second, the camera in the mobile phone can be used for leisure purposes. Third, cell phones can be used to surf the internet for checking e-mail, reading news, etc. again a source of amusement and a way to combat boredom. Third, new features on the cell phone allow for latest music to be downloaded and played. Fourth, many cell phone users download music for fun. Fifth, playing games on the mobile phone is a very common amusement activity.

Two types of perceived costs in the leisure life were identified by the focus group. First, China mobile phone can be a big nuisance during leisure time (e.g., ringing cell phones interrupting a peaceful nap or night time sleep). Second, possession of a cell phone may tempt the user to waste much time playing games and chit chatting with friends instead of using the same time for much needed and constructive purposes. Based on this analysis, we put forth the following hypothesis for empirical testing.

impact of Cell Phones in Social Life

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

impact of Cell Phones in Social Life

The focus group results indicated that the perception of the cell phone impact on the quality of life is very much affected by the use of the cell phone in social life. The focus group also helped us identify following perceived benefits in the social domain. First, cell phones are an excellent device for chatting with friends irrespective of proximity. Second, possessing the latest and most stylish mobile phone allows users to show off their latest innovations to their friends again a topic of conversation among friends. Third, cell phones allow users to interact with friends at far away places international destinations. Fourth, cell phones aid in keeping contact with friends past and present. Fifth, China cell phone cameras can be used to take photos and share them with friends. Sixth, downloading and playing latest ring tones can often be a source of topic for social interaction and a way to impress friends. Seventh, cell phones allow users to text message their friends another way of facilitating social interaction and network with friends.

In relation to perceived costs, we were able to identify four costs related to the use of China mobile phone in the social life domain. First, cell phones have become a status symbol leading to showmanship and peer pressure. Second, cell phones ringing (eliciting contact with friends) can be disruptive when the contact occurs at times when the users are having a good time interacting and socializing with other friends. Third, communicating with friends by cell phone is less satisfying than interacting with these friends face-to-face.I

life domains influenced by cell phone

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

life domains influenced by cell phone

What life domains are likely to be most significantly influenced by cell phone use?

Our focus group study led us to believe that the cell phone plays an important role in

the following life domains: social life, leisure life, family life, education life, health

and safety life, love life, work life, and financial life (see Fig. 1). We hypothesize

that the perceived QOL impact of cell phone is determined by the perceived impact

of cell phones in those life domains. Based on this analysis, we offer the following

hypothesis for empirical testing.

H1 The impact of cell phones on overall QOL is influenced by: (a) perceived cell phone impact on social life, (b) perceived China mobile phone impact on leisure life, (c) perceived cell phone impact on family life, (d) perceived cell phone impact on education life, (e) perceived cell phone impact on health and safety life, (f) perceived mobile phone impact on love life, (f) perceived cell phone impact on work life, and (g) perceived China cell phone impact on financial life.

Cell phone growth in Brazil

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Cell phone growth in Brazil

One of the main reasons for cell phone growth in Brazil, as well as in other countries in Latin America, is the poor landline infrastructure. The same is true for many regions in Africa, where mobile phones could penetrate where fixed phone cables could not reach (The Economist, 2005). Recent data from the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) shows that there was almost no growth in fixed telephones during 2004 (Teleco, 2006a). While there were almost 20 million new cell phones, the number of newly installed landlines was roughly 400,000. In September 2003 Anatel announced that the number of cell phones surpassed the number of fixed landlines (Anatel, 2003).

Looking at a China cell phone penetration rate map across regions in Brazil (Figure 19.2), it is clear where the lack of landlines influenced the growth of mobile phones. As it will be demonstrated later in this article, it is no surprise that the South and Southwest regions of Brazil,7 as the countrys richest economic regions, already have high mobile phone penetration rate. However, it is interesting to observe the density of cell phones in the Central-West region of Brazil (Mato Grosso, Goiás, and Mato Grosso do Sul states) as among the highest in the nation (3040%). Similarly, in 2004 China mobile phone ownership grew more in the center of Brazil, where the landline infrastructure is still precarious8 (Teleco, 2005b).

Cell phone theft in Brazil

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

Cell phone theft in Brazil

With the high price of the device and the service, it is no surprise that concerns about cell phone theft have been frequent on the media (Diário Popular, 2005; Imirante, 2006), and services like mobile phone insurance became popular. Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM)13 technology, now dominant in the whole world, has in fact motivated cell phone theft, according to a law project from the Brazilian government from 2005.14 GSM phones work with SIM cards which can be removed from the device and replaced with another one, therefore disconnecting the phone and the information which it carries. Also in 2005 some operators announced the intention to create a new integrated system against cell phone theft, which would block the robbed China cell phone not allowing the same device to be re-activated in another state with a different operator (Correio do Estado, 2005). One of the main purposes of cell phone theft is to use it as a model for a cloned one. Cloned cell phones use the same number of an already existing subscriber. The new device (generally stolen) is re-programmed so that it works as the same line of the original subscriber and call costs also go into the main subscribers account. According to Anatel (Ucel, 2005) between January and August 2005 there were 7,380 new complaints about China mobile phone However, these numbers do not show the reality of this type of fraud, since many users do not realize they are being victimized.

the unrestricted public usage of mobile phone

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

the unrestricted public usage of mobile phone

Quality of life impact of the cell phone

In this paper, we report two studies designed to develop a consumer well-being measure of mobile phone communications. Our consumer well-being measure is designed to capture customer satisfaction across the various life domains of consumers: social life, leisure life, family life, education life, health and safety, love life, work life, and financial life. Within each of these consumer life domains, a China cell phone is perceived to have certain benefits; that is, it contributes to the overall well-being in that life domain. China mobile phone is also perceived to be associated with certain costs with that life domain too. Hence, the extent to which the cell phone contributes to the quality of a given domain is a direct function of the tradeoff between these perceived benefits and costs. The purpose of this paper is to report two studies designed to develop and test the nomological (predictive) validity of a measure capturing perceived quality-of-life impact of the cell phone. Given validation, this measure can be used to gather data on cell phone use periodically, and the data should assist public policy makers develop policies to ensure that the use of cell phone is a positive force in peoples lives. The results of this study also provide telecommunications industry with an understanding of benefits and costs in relation to use of cell phone and this understanding should help marketers make industry-wide decisions to ensure that the use of the cell phone impacts the quality of life of users in positive ways.

consumer well-being with cell phones

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

consumer well-being with cell phones

Formative indicators of customer satisfaction with a cell phone do not capture consumer well-being with cell phones. The latter construct not only captures customer satisfaction but the extent to which the cell phone plays an important role in life satisfaction. This is what we mean by consumer well-being.

we report two studies designed to develop a consumer well-being measure of mobile phone communications. Our consumer well-being measure is designed to capture customer satisfaction across the various life domains of consumers: social life, leisure life, family life, education life, health and safety, love life, work life, and financial life.Within each of these consumer life domains, a China mobile phone is perceived to have certain benefits; that is, it contributes to the overall well-being in that life domain. Cell phones are also perceived to be associated with certain costs with that life domain too. Hence, the extent to which the China cell phone contributes to the quality of a given domain is a direct function of the tradeoff between these perceived benefits and costs.