Priyanka Matanhelia’s Research Blog on Mobile Phone Usage Amongst Youth

A survey by InMobi, of 205 college - aged consumers revealed that almost 57% of the respondents browsed the Internet on their mobile phones.

Posted via email from savvypriya’s posterous

Posted via email from savvypriya’s posterous

Mobage town is Japan's biggest mobile social network launched by DeNA. The members of Mobage-town can exchange messages, chat in communities, share music, read pocket novels and blog besides other activities. All it's members are represented by an avatar living in a virtual room, which the members can decorate by buying "Moba Gold", a virtual currency. In order to acquire Moba Gold, the members have to click on ads, and sign up for affiliate services and invite new members. 

Posted via email from savvypriya’s posterous

Posted via email from savvypriya’s posterous

Really convenient….

Posted via email from savvypriya’s posterous

I think I am falling in love with posterous. It is just so convenient I can update Facebook, Twitter and my blog in one go. Amazing.

Posted via email from savvypriya’s posterous

Got a posterous for myself. Testing to see if it autoposts. 

Posted via email from savvypriya’s posterous

Mobile phones are becoming a popular device to reach out to target population worldwide.

In this post, Mobiles for health - American Style, Corinne Ramey gives three examples of how mobile phones are used in America to  reach out for target population for health related information.

1. Case 1: In the state of Georgia, mobile phones are being used to monitor the health of diabetes patients. The study participants sent glucose readings and photos of the meals they ate. Professor Elizabeth Mynatt, director of GVU Center of the Georgia Institute of Technology said, “You can ask people what they have for breakfast, and it sounds healthy, but then you see the proportions on the plate, and not so much.”

2. Case 2: Internet Sexuality Information Services, Inc (ISIS), a California-based nonprofit focused on sexual health has been using text messaging campaigns such as SEXINFO and HOOKUP for providing sexual health-related information to people.

3. In Phoenix, Arizona, which is the ninth-most ozone polluted city in America, residents are using mobile phones to keep track of air quality. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) sends out “high pollution” alerts to its 900 text message subscribers.

In Africa, Katrin Verclas writes in her post “Rapid Response, a m-health Platform” that a m-health platform on RapidSMS has been developed for the Millennium Villages Project with support from the UNICEF Innovation Group. The program is used by health care providers in the field to facilitate and coordinate activities through SMS text messages.

Yesterday, I went to watch Julie & Julia, a movie portraying the life of two women - Julia Child & Julie Powell, born in different eras but in love with cooking. While Julia Child  an American who lived in Paris in 1920s, learnt French cooking and wrote books about it. Julie Powell lives in New York, is fascinated by Julia Child’s cooking and blogs. She became famous because she cooked all the 524 recipes in Julia Child’s book “Mastering the art of French cooking” in 365 days and blogged about it.

What I found interesting about the film was that it made cooking so glamorous and interesting. Off course, I have seen cooking shows on television!!! But Julia Child played by Meryl Streep came across as an absolutely delightful person - in love with life and food. As I write this, I think Julia Child reminds me a wee bit of Tarla Dalal. The famous Indian author of cookery books and TV host. However, the comparison ends there.

I quite liked Amy Adams as Julie Powell living the life of a New Yorker, hating it and finding solace in cooking. I was quite intrigued by Powell’s fascination with Julia Child and cooking. I always think that New York as a city has so much to offer, so it is quite surprising that someone would find interest in cooking and staying indoors.

The movie also made me think about the tradition of cooking. In the contemporary world, the art of traditional cooking is getting lost. When I was growing up in India, one of the biggest worries my family had was teaching me to be a good cook. I had to undergo a training at home to be a good cook. Off course, I went to a Home Science college and learnt all about food, nutrition and cooking. But my family thought it was very theoretical and I quite agree I could never make a dish taste like the way my mother would make it. I always tell my aunt who is a wonderful cook to write all her recipes for me. I am not sure when I will ever get time to cook all of them.

The movie was absolutely hilarious, but I must warn that you should have food before you watch it otherwise you may find it difficult to sit through it. Watching all that delicious food and the wonderful comments about food made me want to eat. And I have to confess that I ate a big piece of chocolate cake, without feeling guilty and savoring the taste of every bite…mmmmm!!!

Next time, you eat home made food cooked by that someone special….just appreciate it!!! You never know, she might turn into a cooking star!!!

Urban youth between the ages of 15 and 30 years are the main market for India’s mobile service providers. Youth in India are also the largest consumers of mobile VAS.

Virgin Mobile India has signed a deal with Nimbuzz to provide instant messaging features to their mobile phone customers. Through Vchatter, customers will be able to log on to multiple instant messaging services with a single login.