innovation playground Idris Mootee

What Is White Space Mapping? Beyong The Core And Adjacencies, How Do We Identify And Map Out The Most Relevant Elements Of Future Competitive Space?

When people talk about exploring white space in innovation, often they refer externally to unserved markets or businesses that are outside their core. It is basically where unmet and unarticulated needs are uncovered to create innovation opportunities. White space is where where products and services don’t currently exist based on the present understanding of values. White space is also a tool that allows us to look at the landscape with new lenses. White space can moreover be defined as a unique set of attributes, identifying new openings where your competitors currently aren’t focusing or it is being considered part of what traditionally considered a remotely different industry.

White space is also an important outcome of a customer inquiry and discovery process that leads to new profit growth opportunities by defining potential gaps in existing markets. This process can be used to identify entirely new markets¬¬. It can also be used to map incremental innovation in products or services - new source of customer value that can be translated to economic value.

Many are reluctant to enter any white space because of the unknowns. Some can cannibalize existing products or services and some require a very different business models. And some require extensive system design and support. As a result, no one wants to take any risks and naturally retreated to their core and close adjacencies. Deciding what’s the core is an art and then deciding what’s considered adjacencies is another art. Do we look at the core from competencies, brand or assets?

How do we use white space mapping? The first step in the white space mapping process is to determine if you will approach it from an internal or external perspective.

Externally focused, the process begins with mapping the market, products or services based on whether these markets are currently served, underserved or unserved. The goal is to find gaps in existing markets, product or service lines that represent opportunities for your business. Some of these gaps may be opportunities with little or no competition. Others may identify non-consumers. Still others may uncover an entirely new market space that has the potential to transform your industry.

Internally focused, white space mapping becomes an inward looking tool to map your company’s ability to address new opportunities or threats and how efficiently and effectively it can react to these opportunities from a process, systems and structural perspective. In this scenario, white space mapping becomes an instrument to identify barriers to your company that inhibit it from pursuing new products, new markets or threats unless a new business model is developed.

As markets mature, competition intensifies, new technologies are invented and new consumer behaviors are constantly emerging. As such, white space mapping is becoming an important strategic exercise for organizational learning and strategic planning as organizations actively look for new sources of differentiation. For a company to remain relevant over the long term, it must respond to these shifting conditions intelligently and white space mapping needs to be part of their strategic planning efforts.

Who's Twittering You? The Big Ben, Great Wall Of China Or The Pyramids Of Egypt?

I read somewhere that Big Ben can now twitter you for the time and guess how many people signed up? Over 50,000 and I guess there are lot of people don’t trust their watches. The Great Wall of China will soon be sending you messages saying how many people were up there in any given day or the US federal government sending you at a given time how big the deficit is and how much it is costing you as a tax payer or how much debt every new born baby has. Or North Korean government to use Twitter to announce how many soldiers or missiles they have at one given time.

White House was using Twitter to keep the momentum going and keeping track of which Democratic lawmakers had changed their minds and decided to vote in favor of the bill. That’s a creative use. Politicians fully understand the power of Twitter's ability mobilize grassroots support for their legislative agendas.

With the advances in a host of technologies like RFID and NFC, a lot of smart interactions and data can now be transmitted anywhere with minimal integration. There are some interesting experiments like BakerTweet, a system made by UK. agency Poke that allows bakers to dynamically send out tweets to customers alerting them when a fresh batch of buns coming out from the oven. Not sure how valuable this is.

We can expect to see many interesting use in the next 12 months. Any physical objects could become a real-time visualization tool for anything.   A company called Violet, which makes Mirror, an RFID reader USB-attached mirror that enables any computer to react to the presence of an object. he Mirror’ is one of the coolest gadgets I’ve seen in a long time. Hook the $60 plate up to your Mac and get ready to read some RFID tags. The set includes Ztamps (basically RFID tags) that you can stick on objects and assign actions.

For instance, say you attach one to a toy car. When you put the toy car on top of the The Mirror by Violet, it could open up your browser for you to read your favorite car blogs. There can be so many creative applications, there are the three that I can think of such as tagging of your computer’s mouse so when it is placed on certain spot on your desk it will trigger an application, like playing Monopoly.  an example would be placing the mouse on a particular spot will inform your company to activate your Skype to talk to you buddy. Or tagging your car keys can trigger your G-mail account. Tagging your afternoon tea cup will activate your PC to launch a browser with your favorite Power Point deck. Can you think of more?

Emotion Detection Technology Will Become Mainstream. You Can Decide Not To Pick Up The Phone When Your Boss Is Angry.

The financial crisis has pretty much stalled all start-up investment activities but now there are signs that they are slowing coming back. Among a few cool companies on the radar is Exaudios. It is the equivalent of a lie detector but works more like an emotional detector. They can analyze the intonation of someone’s voice when they call you on your cell to see if he or she is calm, stressed out, cheerful or simply angry. They claim that it is up to 80% accuracy. I have been playing with the idea for a while and I think they have solved some of the key technical challenges.

Their strategy is to sell this to call centers but I am not sure why, I guess when an angry customer call then they can  switch to an automated response and when a happy voice call they forward the call to the sales center to cross sell you cable channel package or whatever. I am trying to think of other applications potential, but then any human can sense that if the other person is happy or upset, why do we need this? Only if they can apply this with different offerings and test you response. I don’t think it makes sense for call center at all, because most people are pissed anyway that they have to call for support. Everything can be done on the web, and if they have to call, they have reasons to be unhappy.

I think most call center people knew I was unhappy when I called, I didn’t think they were empowered to do anything. They weren’t allowed to give you a name to escalate. And sometimes people don’t care, why would that person three thousand miles away sitting in a five hundred people call center cared about your emotions? There is not much they can do anyway.

The only thing I think it would work is when a customer starts yelling, the system will detect it and the call will be redirected and jointly handle by a senior person, that way you can yell at two persons instead of one. Or there are special units that are good defusing angry customers, call them ‘negotiators’. The intonation analysis software can also correlate with physical conditions.  I still don't think call center is the right application although they think that's where the money is.

The company also sells a solution for HR. It is SaaS application that allows organization to determine the emotional attitude of a candidate towards a specific job, providing an insight into the personality of a candidate and suitability for a specific job. I am not sure how it works. Everyone can sound happy during a job interview. They also claim that the solution predict the likelihood of employees to work together as a team. That’s a stretch and you have to convince me. But I do think this technology has potential, but not the applications they have in mind. I have a few in my mind.

iTouch Jumbo, Large Soda and Magnum Condom. What Do They Have In Common? It Is All About Size.

Size is always a big factor in product design and marketing. The iPad essential becomes an iTouch for the tallest man in the world. I always have a problem with oversized drinks in this part of the world, but I also have a problem with the undersized drinks in Europe and Japan. A cup of tea in London is really too small for me and I almost needed to order two. A cup of tea in New York is usually way too big and I have to pour away 30% of it right away.

Oversized cold beverage sales is maxing out at 32 oz., in the eyes of the marketers they generally views "bigger" as "better," field data us telling us that gigunda 44 oz. size fountain beverages have very little appeal. Marketers love to sell large drink because of economic reasons and they are mostly targeted to blue collar workers. Some locations push 20-oz. and 32 oz. fountain beverages and people really prefer 20 oz drinks. Big is not always better many people now realize, at least when it comes to soft drinks.

Small is an easy sell for cellphones or laptops, but not in the case of selling condoms. But small condoms are a marketing challenge, even though small size condom does fulfill a customer unmet needs, but you can’t really based your marketing around the product feature. I am believe what they are selling fits the average man, but according to a medical journal, 45% of men reported that they had experienced an ill-fitting condom within the last three months. The misfits were significantly more likely to report breakage and slippage, along with difficulty reaching the goal. Not surprisingly, men with ill-fitting condoms were more likely to end up taking them off which becomes a massive product failure for the job a condom exists to fulfill. What good is a product when the user ended giving up on it.

If you hit the store, you will find many labeled as ‘large’ or ‘extra large’ even though they are just normal size. To be fair, collecting accurate market data is a problem too. LifeStyles has by far the most direct code, called "Snugger Fit." I think there is a lot they can learn from Starbucks. Call them ‘tall’ or ‘grande’ etc. And there is no indication of which product are ‘green’ or manufactured from ‘reused material’. Or throw in some new ideas of how you can use a condom and save the world. 

Even ignore the fit problem, duration is probably the biggest sexual anxiety of the average man, we can use some innovation in rethinking the product design and experience and even packaging and labeling. This is an ignored product category and seriously needing innovation.

And what about custom fit condom? Or even designers condom? There is no reason that you can custom order them with your preference of size, shape, color, material, favor, packaging and any other special features. What happen to the idea of mass customization? I have never consulted for this industry, may be this is the big idea I have for them. We always start any project with field research. Who’s up for it?

Talking about product research and testing, a while back a condom manufacturer was looking for a few product testers. I am sure some of you will be interested in that job. I am not sure the recruitment criteria or what special activities you need to perform. Sorry this job is only for men only. For this job, they do have instruction for the ‘positions.’ The first box to be checked in the document to be filled after field test is ‘your positions’. You might think it is great job, but the pay sucks. The 200 selected product testers would only get a free pack of Durex condoms (cheap), plus a bonus prize of $425 for one lucky winner but not sure based on what to determine who the winner is. I’ll pass.

Social Media Is Very Complex And Social Relationships Online Are Messy And Erratic. But It Works When You Know How To Use It.

Remember the saying about advertising that “I know half of our advertising spend is wasted, I just don’t know which half……” I first hard about this quote 20 years ago and I think it is from 19th Century merchant John Wanamaker. I think I can comfortably say “I know 80% of my advertising spend is wasted, I just don’t know the alternative….” The problem with TV and print advertising today is that it informs rather than sells, it rarely engages with consumers at all. Online ads are worse and currently lacking in brand advertiser value and the creative formats are outdated and ineffective.

What about social media? Consumer perceptions, social relationships and human behavior are messy, erratic, and maddeningly unpredictable. The debate on the effectiveness of social media to build brand and provide effective reach is ongoing. When marketers want to reach and engage audiences of social networks such as Facebook, they have two choices: buy advertising or start a social media viral campaign. Advertising on FB is of limited use we all know it. How often you read or click on any ads on Facebook. But we read the wall, we click in the links published by friends and go to Cafeworld to pick up gifts. These connected worlds are like new found oil hotspots. It is not only important to understand who influences purchase decisions in online communities but also the degree of impact. I don’t think we can use a broadcast paradigm if we really want to understand what is means.

Idea Couture’s senior interactive designer Jackie Siddall was featured in the Wall Street Journal earlier this week. A WSJ writer discovered her story in our Noodleplay site and decided to publish her story. It is an very interesting one. It is about how Jackie was prompted by a Twitter post by the retailer that led to her purchase of a folding kayak for $1,900. She doesn't use that go to work, she rides a bike...summer, winter or fall.

The vessel was one of about just 600 sold in 2009 by Folbot Inc., a small retailer in Charleston, S.C. "You can't buy that exposure," says the firm's co-owner, David AvRutick, who claims the incident speaks to the value of using social media for marketing when he was interviewed by WSJ. Mr. AvRutick says he dedicates about an hour a day—could also go to waste.

Mr. AvRutick says he regularly searches Twitter for tweets that mention kayaking and then sends messages to the people who wrote them. He connected with Jackie, the blogger who credited Twitter for exposing her to Folbot, after she posted a tweet that mentioned she wanted a kayak.   Jackie later asked Mr. AvRutick via Twitter if he would send her some photos of her folding kayak being made, and he provided about 20. After it arrived, she says she decided to write a blog post about the whole experience.

Let me see if this works for me. I am looking for a Leica M8 so I will be posting that and see of anyone would contact me through Twitter or Facebook. Many brands are embracing social media. One success story is Starbucks. Starbucks Official full time Tweeter is Brad Nelson and Starbucks isn’t just any brand on Twitter, with Brad at the helm, they’re doing many things right. A former barista, Brad is now manning the Twitter ship and he’s responding to questions or mentions of Starbucks, trying to help customers find resolutions to their problems, and putting out fires left and right. Twitter will soon be part of a company's call center,,scary.

I Am Happy WIth My IPad Mini So There Are No Reasons Why I Won't Like My iPad. Just Add A Camera.

Some are comparing iPad to Netbooks, but it is not a fair comparison. I don’t like Netbooks myself, I used to have one 14 years ago made by Sony, it was a very powerful mini notebook with a built-in camera (a first at that time). It costs me $2,300 when I purchased that from a now bankrupted computer store chain in San Hose. It was a good one except keyboard was too small and battery life short. According to the guy at a local Best Buy store, 8 out of 10 Netbooks sold got returned. I am sure that’s not the case in Asia. I think many people have wrong expectations and not aware of the limitations of Netbooks.

There was one kid working at Best Buy asked me if I like the ITouch Jumbo, he was referring to iPad. I said I like the IPad mini (iTouch) that I have now, so I think I will like the iPad. The only disappointment for me is the lack of a camera, because I think if I carry that all the time and being able to use Skype is great plus. It doesn’t add much to the cost. The camera needs to be in the front obviously. It is still a little heavy; adding 11.5 lbs to my Louis Vuitton briefcase is pushing it. No video output is a negative; the other Lenovo Ideapad I bought has a HDMI output. The Lenovo tablet will be out soon and Brother (pic below) has a robust design for business use, not sure about the Brother brand name. Should rebrand this tablet to "iBro". Even with many criticisms, iPad will be an instant success. It is not a Newton I can guaranteed you.

IPad preorders are pouring in. Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity board (subscription needed) noted that iPad pre-orders dropped from an estimated 25,000 per hour on Friday, the first day of availability, to around 1,000 per hour over the weekend. For the three-day period, the cumulative total was estimated at 152,000. That’s pretty good.

I think iPad will open up opportunities for print media and help shape portable media experiences. I can’t read magazines from my Blackberry of iPhone, with the iPad, it is a different story. The iPad platform has more than enough screen real estate and resolution to build interesting media sharing and communication experiences. Off course we have choices, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, Lenovo and almost everyone is working on one in addition to those who have products out there such as Amazon.

Microsoft’s Courier is an interesting one, currently in "late prototype" stage of development. At least they are not making the tablet mistake, the dual 7-inch screens are multitouch, and designed for writing, flicking and drawing with a stylus, in addition to fingers. There is a camera at the back too (sorry Apple). Currently, Microsoft is working on the user experience and showing design concepts to outside agencies. Microsoft's tablet heritage is digital ink-oriented, and this interface, while unlike anything we've seen before, clearly draws from that, its work with the Surface touch computer and even the Zune HD. And

Sony is doing some catch-up although they are stuck with their paradigm of competitive advanatage. The Wall Street Journal reports that Sony is working on a device that's described as being part Netbook, part e-reader and part PlayStation Portable. Sources within the electronic giant also report that Sony is working on a "PlayStation Phone," which would be capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games. Sony needs help.

Can You Tell The Differences Between Customer Archetype, Customer Personas And Customer Segmentation?

One big crazy week. We have clients visiting from San Diego, Seoul, London and Boston for big work shops, a local station TV crew (second TV stations this month) filming us at work plus 3 very cool project kick-offs that we need to prepare for (and also pitches). The workshops were great and clients were participating fully and great people. Our team always bring a lot of creative energy to our data rich process which is probably the most rigor and scientific in the industry. I didn't spend too much time with them but managed to sneak into some of these meetings to get a peek at the concepts discussed. Some were busy drawing deep visual metaphors RISD style.

Can it get crazier than this? The answer is probably yes. No one has time to breathe. I need to have an oxygen bar in our offices.

One thing comes to my mind, marketers or designers or product planners sometimes confuse about the differences between customer archetype, customer personas and customer segmentation. There are also confusion around customer themes, marketing themes and customer archetypal themes.  Marketers and designers are using those interchangeably but it shouldn't be the case.

Customer archetype is created from a body of anecdotal material either through direct or indirect data and it is based on cultural constructs. Customer archetypes are constructs of shared meanings that encapsulate and articulate social understandings. They are used to organize narrative that comes out from hard and soft data so we can find meaningful analogies to a situation or bringing a customer story to life.

The creation of archetypes are particular useful when applied to brand marketing to make sense of aspects of customers’ lives and their rituals. Every ritual we have is tied to a hard-coded subconscious archetypal structure we can never get away from. Once brand marketers learn how to make the connections between archetypes and brands, they see can the connections.

On the other hand, personas are most useful when applied to interactions design. To assist you in designing specific features or user experiences. A persona is basically an imagined user profile that you can use to help make design decisions. These profiles are created from your knowledge of users, usually knowledge gained from secondary research, stakeholder interviews and user testing. It is a “virtual” user for you to bounce ideas and help you keep the goals of the user in mind throughout the design process. But you cannot have 10 personas. One time a client asked for 16 personas.

Marketing segmentation's key purpose is to allow your marketing/sales folks to focus on the subset of prospects that are "most likely" to purchase your products or service offerings. Widely used bases for segmenting include geographic differences, demographic differences, psychological differences, and psychographic differences.If done properly this will help to insure the highest return for your marketing/sales expenditures.

There are three archetype manifestations and the least known among the three is customer archetype. And there are basically three types of customer archetypes:

• Archetypal characters or customer archetypes are extreme or dramatized representations of idea customer’s characters.Very effective for brand development and marketing theme development.
• Archetypal themes are extreme or dramatized representations of issues or concerns, such as "institution rebels" or "social connectors". Archetypal values are extreme representations of things that are given values, positive or negative, such as "deeply loyal", "trust", and "uncertainty".
• Archetypal scenarios are illustrative scenarios of decision-making situations, such as "fear uncertainty doubt". Not used much but which may be useful in the future. Consider the possibility of archetypal relationships ("respectful adversaries"); intentions ("fake concern"); changes ("sea change", "mounting jeopardy"); and heuristics ("step back and look at the big picture").

They are all useful in sense-making opportunities but archetypes are not the same as stereotypes. Archetypes are uni-dimensional extremes, caricatures that could never describe a real person or issue or situation. Part of their utility is in their extremity, that they help us to discuss the boundaries of experience, which are usually the places we are most concerned with coping with. In short, stereotypes divide but archetypes integrate.

Have a great weekend!

How To Use Your IPad As A Flirting Device And Make The First Move. I Am Releasing The Instruction Ahead Of Apple's Launch In Three Weeks.

Here's how to turn your IPad as a flirtation device and find the dream nerd that you've always wanted. It works particular well with nerds but can also work with other segments I think. Flirting and dating with nerds is a challenge unless you also work in one of those environments you simply don't understand them. Being nerdy can be cool. Although they have a particular style of dressing and you have to like it. If you see a nerd that you like and want to make a first move the first thing is you need tools. In a few weeks, you can get the iPad, a perfect tool to get a conversation started with a nerd. I am providing with the detail instructions, all for free.

For those girls that don’t like making the first move (I don’t know why), here’s some advice of how to make a nerd to make a move on you. They probably started the conversation with some small talks; you need to treat that carefully. Don’t show any signs of showing “oh you’re such a nerd”. Respond with a smile and you don’t even need to answer that question. Ignore the question and move to step two. Stay calm and ask him a question of how to use a certain feature on your iPad. He can definitely help and make sure you have a book opened there, preferably a novel. Like a suggestive skirt or small-T, a suggestive novel can be powerful. You definitely should not be reading Wall Street Journal or New York Times. While he is fiddling with your IPad, ask him what does he do and talk about the novel. This is a proven flirtation technique and they will talk non-stop about their work, most likely a software engineer or interface designer.

What’s the best novel for this? I suggest to you Gloria Vanderbilt’s (the 85 year old mother of CNN Anderson Cooper) new novel, “Obsession: An Erotic Tale.” Joyce Carol Oates, who calls it, “a remarkable tapestry of human passion — an interior world of highly charged erotic mysteries that teasingly suggest, but ever elude, decoding.” It is the story about Priscilla Bingham, the widow an architect who, after his death, discovers a cache of letters, wrapped in magenta grosgrain ribbon, revealing in considerable detail his secret, kinky sex life.

Nerds are a lot more selective than the average dude. They have specific requirements on what they like and all the time care a lot about the look and feel but in a non-mainstream way. Being choosy is a core characteristic of nerds. They don’t like Barbie Dolls or princess type. They like cool people. . Don’t try to end his obsession with, say, robotics, Remember you have to love a nerd for who he is. 

 After 15 or 20 minutes into the conversation, please don’t talk about fashion or hairstyles, you should now pull up your Facebook page and then ask him to type his name on it. Click add friends.

IPad will soon have an app for this, a short-range radio system to flirt with other in a coffee shop. The idea is to use frequency hopping, meaning they hop to a new frequency after transmitting or receiving a packet of information. They can communicate with others within certain distance what you are reading or music you are listening to. That way, it is one step simpler to apply my strategy.

The Digital Photography Industry Is Now At Its Indsutry Breakpoint, It Is Ready For Disruption. Not All Will Survive.

The digital camera market has enjoyed some growth the last few years but I think it is reaching a point where sales will be flat or in a slow decline with the exception of DSLR. Digital camera has almost completely replaced earlier film models, and already camera makers have begun emphasizing DSLR or special features for customers to upgrade to. I believe the digital photography business is reaching an industry breakpoint much like film business 10 years ago.

First camera phones are already a market 2-3 times larger than the compact camera business and many are now 5mp to 8mp. Expect to see 15mp this year. The logic tells me we don’t need it, but some people do. My son’s phone is the Sony Erickson 8mp model and takes pretty good pictures. I think 5mp phones will become ubiquitous and there is no reason for them to carry a separate point-and-shoot model. Today they cost $120-$300 depending on features and mps. No one would spend any money on those anymore. Even they do, the margin is there anyway. The music phone didn’t kill the music player thanks to iPod, but it will kill the low-end camera market.

So the middle market needs to justify the $250-$400 price point. Either it is water-proof or has some unique features just as party shots or super wide lens etc. This is a small market anyway as many would want to quickly move to the middle high end DSLR market. That is not to say they don’t have problems.

The mirrorless DSLR will create some excitement but comes with challenges. It is essential throwing the open-source idea and allow any one to use any lenses. I don't think Nikon or Sony like the idea, they want to use the lenses as lock-in. Right now, the digital revolution puts the digital photography business the same lifecycle as other consumer electronics, once 24-36 months life cycle now 5-6 months, ruthless competition from the low end, and harsh and fast elimination of any players that made a bad move.

Most innovation will happen in the middle high end market. There will be new paradigms of image capturing, in another words rethinking “camera”, these new image capturing device will be hybrid of still camera + video camera + player. There are many human factors considerations given how we are used to using a still camera, a video camera and a media player. These devices will allow you to use any lenses you want, whether they are your old Leica M lenses or your collection of Nikors.

Speaking of which Samsung will be launching the NX10 with an adapter that lets you put almost any lens on the front, Nikon, Canon, Leica, Sony and whatever. The adapter could be the most disruptive widget in the camera market. Overall Sony is in the best position for this scenario since they own the professional market. I will call this market the Personal Imaging Device for the lack of a better name.

Canon is in an excellent position to stay on as market leader. The modern mount is well designed, the line of good lenses, a strong user base thanks to the current line of high performance DSLRs and stong in-house sensor research capabilities. Nikon has a lot of catch-up to play but the range of lenses are superior than others. Sony has a sensor advantage (many including Nikon use Sony’s sensor) and I am not a fan of the Minolta lenses. Pentax and Olympus have brand name problems and will mostly be bought by the Koreans or Chinese. Panasonic has a good line-up of cameras and I have half a dozen of them, because I love the Lecia lenses that comes with all Lumix. Will Leica survive? Can they keep selling these M10 body for $5000? I am not sure. I would like to have the opportunity to rethink and redesign the idea of “camera” from the ground up. I’ve lots of ideas for it.

Global Ignite Week Kicked Off With Such Cool Energy. My Personal Best Is AfriGadget - A Grassroots Reporting Project On African Ingenuity.

The Global Ignite Week Toronto was such a stellar night last night and it was a pleasure to share the stage with so many cool people. Funny so many people asked me if I have practiced presenting given the format limitations, there was no practice for me. I think I've never done an Power Point practice for more than 15 years. I hardly gone through my slides once these days and typos is a problem for me. I guess I have always been a fast speaker. The people attending were all very cool from media to design and start-ups. The organizer Peter Horvath and Michele Perras did an amazing job. Good energy and I certainly recommend people to try the experience if you have not done so. There are so much creative energy in the place and everyone is eager to learn and share. And here are many IC folks there and many old friends exBlastees too.

The most interesting presentation for me personally is Steve Mugiri’s AfriGadget. He is a writer for a team blog AfriGadget that is about appropriate and ingenious application of tech in Africa. It is amazing how people use their imagination to create things with so little resources. Seeing people there bending the little they have to their will, using creativity to overcome life’s challenges. We have seen enough the unfortunate side of Africa that is full of conflicts and sufferings. AfriGadget's objective is to find more stories of African ingenuity. The Grassroots Reporting Project is their plan to find, equip and train more AfriGadget reporters in the field throughout Africa. This is the CNN on Innovation in Africa!

Every time I think about challenges in Africa, I always think educational attainment, probably the important element in reducing poverty, has made some progress, especially at the primary level. But fewer than 75% of primary school-age children were enrolled in primary school in Chad, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and several other African countries. African countries have made little progress getting children to advance to secondary school. For all of sub-Saharan Africa, the average net enrollment for secondary school is just 28%. We need to find more effective ways to deliver education. We cannot afford the continuous widening of the gap.

One cool example Steve included in his presentation was Alfred Sirleaf, he is a blogger but like the blogger in this part of the world. There is no computer or Internet access. Guess what, Alfred is an analog blogger. He runs the "Daily News," a news hut in the middle of Monrovia, the capital of a Liberia, a country on the west coast of Africa. The lack of electricity or Internet connections doesn’t even faze him.

The lessons for us is we often resort to modern tools or solutions when we are dealing with a particular problem. The best example is we rely too much on pharmaceuticals, whatever the problem is; we’re too quick to reach for a pharmaceutical solutions. Same with technologies for enterprise usage, buy a big software package and your problems will be solved. Alfred serves, as a reminder to the rest of us, that simple is often better, just because it works. How does it work? He has no funding, no Typepad, no Facebook and no computer or electricity. It is all about the ideas. The power of imagination and creativity at work.

He is a good recruiter, he uses creative ways to recruit people from around the city and country to report news to him. He uses his cell phone as the major point of connection between him and the 10,000 that read his blackboard daily. I think soon, he will be selling Google ads on his blog. Great site to check out. There are so many good stories. Another good one from the blog is the hacking culture in Africa. I think we do it for fun and they do it for necessity.

One post from Erik Hersman talked about the FLAP bag project, a collaborative effort by Timbuk2, Portable Light and Pop!Tech. Those folks ar AfriGadget are helping to field-test the bags that they designed have solar power and lighting on them, and get interviews of the individuals using them. Then they asked them if they could make something from their own materials, with their own designs, from it. Three days later they returned with some new designs. The local cloth use in Ghana was pretty and I think they can sell well at Best Buy.

Your Smart Phone Could Also Be A Spy Phone. It Is Possible That It Broadcasts Your Location WIthout Your Knowledge. There's No Place To Hide.

I was watching Eagle Eyes last weekend, I was thinking what happened there is actually not unlikely, we’re being watched every second. Forget about your PC spyware, they’re nothing compare with mobile phone spyware that enabled call- and text-monitoring and most of all allow anyone to tap into the phone from remotely and activate its microphone, even when it is turned OFF.

So It doesn’t matter if you have an iPhone, Blackberry or any Android phones. These spywares are not expensive (often free) or difficult to purchase or install. Your cell phone can also tell your location. We all need our cell phones, now there's no where to hide.  There are many of these spy services out there for people who are desperate to monitor their children or employees. Companies such as Mobile Spy will help you monitor their call, mobile web browsing and text message activities. You can just log into your Mobile Spy account from any computer and see everything including GPS locations too! Scary!

One popular spyware for mobile phone is the Flexispy. They come in four packages with the high end Flexispy Pro-X which include features such as listen in on LIVE calls, secret mobile GPS tracker, read SMS messages, phone call history, email, and secretly listen in on the phone's surroundings.The entry level is the Flexispy Bug which allows remote listening only. It turns your phone into a bug so you can listen to everything.

Are you safe? probably not. A quick way to check if you phone is bugged, look for sudden drop in battery power, and then unusually billing activity with random numbers. If you for whatever reasons need to engage in a secret conversations, take the battery off.

As early as 1997, the National Reconnaissance Organization warned that any cell phone can be turned into a microphone and transmitter for the purpose of listening to conversations in the vicinity of the phone. This is basically done by transmitting to the cell phone a maintenance command on the control channel. This command places the cellular telephone in the 'diagnostic mode.' When this is done, conversations in the immediate area of the telephone can be monitored over the voice channel. 
This diagnostic mode was originally designed for remote software update. Now with LBS, not only they can listen in, they can locate you within feet. OK, when do they start making anti-spy software for cell phones?

Don't expect these privacy risks to go away. The reality is all government have no interest to fix it or make these products illegal. The more they can find out about you the better protected they feel. It is like 1984.