Mobile phones keep us connected. Or should that be, “keep us monitored?”

Are we as consumers paying for these mobile communications devices, and the related services that come with them, that somebody is using to keep track of us and everything we say and do? I am sorry; I do not want to sound like an alarmist here. Nor am I proposing another conspiracy theory.

Although most of you would say, “adik lang” (you’re a drug addict). But even though there were no sinister, Big Brother-like being watching over us via these shiny and sleek mobile phones, we have got to admit that today’s smartphones and feature phones come loaded with “smart” features.

And these features, such as GPS and location-aware services, practically shout out every move we make. So, why there is nobody making a fuss about it, the way some groups did with the proposed national ID system some years back? 
 
Smartphone GF

South Korea-based applications developer Nabix recently launched an app called “Honey, it’s me.” This app, designed for the iPhone, makes videocalls from a virtual model. The avatar-like caller then dishes out some pre-loaded messages to the too-uncool-to-get-a-girlfriend (presumably male) subscriber.

It is like that tamaguchi toy a decade or two ago. Only this time, care and “nurturing” go the other way.
Hmm. Korean guys we see on those melodramatic Koreanovelas seem to be cool. This app, however, works against that TV-generated image of the Korean male.
 
End Movies Your Way

A Tel Aviv University’s Department of Film and Television professor developed a movie “scene-sequencing” technique that allows movie audiences to determine how movies should end. The technique was used in filming the movie, “Turbulence,” which won a prize at the Berkeley Video and Film Festival for its technological trailblazing.

The technology allows audiences to choose scenes, which in turn would determine how the movie’s story turns out. Moviegoers can also “rewind” the movies they are watching, back to a narrative fork road, to see how the movie’s plot unravels if they would choose another scene.

This would be great for those who prefer a more interactive mode of entertainment. You do not like that screaming lead character? Let her fall off the cliff and enjoy the rest of the movie.

Is that male character rubbing you off the wrong way? Let his car hit that big acacia tree at F1 speed.

I wonder how film directors and other creatives would see this technology.

That’s all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.