Metablog

BlueHereNow isn't a forgotten Ram Dass Smurf; it's a nifty website covering the burgeoning world of mobile photoblogs, whose proprietors use cell phone cams to post pictures almost instantaneously to the Web. From the home page:

In 2004 half a billion cell phones will be sold. Nearly half of these phones will be camera phones and almost 30 million will be smartphones. By 2005 there will be over 100,000 WiFi Hotspots. This confluence of wireless technology means that we are about to witness a fundamental change in the way we create and get information. As more people are able to capture photos and send text, images and sounds through the air it is inevitable that all major cultural events will be captured by hundreds if not thousands of accidental bystanders.

The site's current links cover everything from the Aurora Borealis to the ashes of the California fires.

A couple of related Reason pieces: a short item I wrote after 9/11 about the rise of amateur news footage, and my interview with Smart Mobs author Howard Rheingold.

Comments

[Lonewacko: I'm Still Blogging]

That's nice. Meanwhile, I'm in Arkansas. Boingo doesn't have any WAPs here, no, none at all. There is no Apple Store. There might be a Borders, but I don't want to pay for yet another service. I'm currently in a Kinko's; one of the only five there are in AR. I don't have a cell phone, maybe that would make this easier, except for the (apparently) huge megabyte fees associated with using a cell phone as an internet connection.

In Maine, Boingo had one location, which was in a private house, and there were only about four Kinko's there. The nearest Apple Store was in Peabody MA. Likewise for the rest of No. New England.

In the "great" state of Tennessee, I spent at least $7 connecting to the internet using my ISP's 1-800 number because I was forced to connect from a couple of truck stops.

I'm sure the rosy future is just a summer away.

(And, once you get it on the web, you need, of course, to get viewers. Somehow I think my invaluable observations and travel tips should get me a larger readership than I currently have, but maybe that's just me.)

[Jean Bart]

Great, more spam oppurtunities. When are people going to stop with the "In the future we will drive in the sky!" vision of technology?

[Anonymous]

Spam? Techno-utopianism? What are you talking about?

They're just another species of blog. They've been around for a fair amount of Internet time already. The prediction on the site might sound breathless, but it's a fair description of a change that's already well underway.

BlueHereNow assembles some of the more interesting things you'll find on photoblogs. It's a nice site. No spam involved, and nothing about driving in the sky.

[Douglas Fletcher]

I heard somewhere that an overstimulated aurora borealis can make you cell phone explode.

[Douglas Fletcher]

"When are people going to stop with the "In the future we will drive in the sky!" vision of technology?"

Someday I want to be able to drive from New York to France. Seriously.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Apparently I own this thread.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Butt-blogging is where it's at.

[Randian]

What happens if you write stuff here?