• Google with its new service allows users to keep track of their friends using Google Maps.
• SMS, IM or give a phone call to them.
• Give you a complete privacy control.

Now that’s something really and closely integrated set of services. I mean they are utilizing every bit their services.

• Google Maps service – The Core for the platform,
• Google SMS Channels (launched specifically for India, I believe they are!) or GMail SMS launched for U.S.
• Google Talk for calling your friends
• iGoogle Gadget (which is used when you are on your laptop/desktop)
• Orkut – Now that’s my intuition! I believe Orkut is soon going to be part of this service set: Google Friends Map, may be who knows!

Mobile, with its wide user base is sure to be the next monetization platform. How about this, You are walking towards a mall, and you get a message – “Your friend Rohit is just 5 Kms away from you, moving towards Delhi Cantt” (Of course with an ad below it). Now that could really be interesting.

Hope to see something more innovative and monetizing coming out of the Google Labs! Let’s see what’s the next step the giant takes.

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6,500 Consumers surveyed from 13 countries -

• Finland, Germany, Italy, Russia, Sweden, UK, United Arab Emirates, USA, Nigeria, India, China, Indonesia and Brazil

If each of the three billion people globally owning mobiles brought back just one unused device we could save 240,000 tonnes of raw materials and reduce greenhouse gases to the same effect as taking 4 million cars off the road. By working together, small individual actions could add up to make a big difference.

– Markus Terho, Director of Environmental Affairs, Markets, at Nokia

% of People aware of Mobile phone recycling

One of the statics that highlighted the survey was awareness of people in India about recycling which scored lowest in the Global Ranking. The most interesting fact the survey brought out to the world was about what people do with their old handsets, highlights -

• Only 3% of the users globally recycled their handset,
• 4% of them were thrown
• (Majority) 44% of them were kept at home, coming to no use at all.
• While rest of the 16% of them being sold in emerging markets.

% of What people do with their handsets

Nokia in response to this, has launched Take-Back Campaigns in India. Nokia has been running such campaigns from late 1990′s in other parts of the world. Nokia has formed alliances with Environmental protection & preservation agencies like WWF & StEP. With the launch of Take-Back Campaigns in India, Nokia aims at improving awareness about recycling. Moreover Nokia in a statement mentioned -

..company will be planting a tree for every handset dropped into these recycling bins and giving out a surprise gift as well,

Well, I think it would be really interesting to watch Nokia plant trees, but the scenario I’m looking into is Where? and planting is good ..but the question who is going to maintain it? Well, I personally have affinity for the organizations that are into social development and humanizing things rather than monetizing every damn thing! I love the concept Nokia has come up, and I believe it to be the first co. marketing the human effort.

Nokia’s Take-Back Campaign is NOT LIMITED to Nokia handsets only, its available to all the mobile phones. So if you have a mobile phone kept in your junk yard or drawer, please.. please take it out go to your nearest Nokia Care Center and give it for recycle.

CONTRiBUTE TO ENViRONMENT

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Developer of the first ever QUAKE III Arena port is Olli Hinkka who is also the developer of some of the best previous QUAKE ports for Symbian phones. This time he decided to enable a full Bluetooth keyboard and mouse support to achieve a better gameplay, which is otherwise unreachable due to the rather uncomfortable phone controls.

There’s also a possibility to run a game server on the mobile phone to enable multiplayer gaming.

Compatible with the QUAKE III Arena port are the S60 3rd Edition phones powered by a TI OMAP 2420 processor. Those include the Nokia N95 8GB, Nokia N82 and Nokia E90. Despite having the same chipset, the now elderly Nokia N95 isn’t among the compatible models as it has less RAM than the N95 8GB (half the amount, actually).

Ok, Ranger, go draw some blood – QUAKE 3 style!

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