Image: Swisscom

Kulturplatz (see Video) talked about the NATEL, the swiss name for mobile phone (still in usage today), which exists since 1975 and was launched by the PTT, today's Swiss Post then still together with Swisscom. The word NAtel stands for "Nationales Autotelefonnetz", meaning "national automobile telephone network". Even in 1985 a NATEL weighed still around 12 kilo, so it was only by car you could transport it.

Thomas Hengartner, Professor for Ethnology, talked about the cultural and social changes which came with the mass adoption of mobile phones.

A new way of bypassing the telcos comes from the BBC. If one thinks only a bit, «mobcasting» comes to mind. And interestingly a mobcasting blog already exists (see this post as well), even if I would define the term similarly (mobile + podcasting = mobcasting), with a totally different meaning. My idea just takes the BBC idea one step further: user generated content. Instead of podcasting your content on your iPod, download content on your small digital chip, insert it in your mobile phone and hear, see it anytime, anywhere without going on the network. This will make a lot of sense for all things which are not time-, location- or network-based - meaning prepackaged, "closed" content - be it user generated or coming from Universal.

Which brings us to the next thought. Where do telcos and wifi make sense? Yes, exactly - with open content, generated right at the moment. It's a radicalisation of Eco's Poetics of the Open Work which could - at that time - only discuss "closed" content".

Sci-fi turns science fact with BBC hits by mobile

Doctor Who and the cult sci-fi series Red Dwarf are being made available as full-length shows for mobile phones, following a landmark deal between the BBC and a UK technology company.

BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, is providing one episode of Doctor Who and three episodes of Red Dwarf to ROK Entertainment group. The technology company will then "burn" the programmes on to small digital chips which users will insert into a slot inside their mobile phone handset.

The system means that mobile phone users are not dependent on downloading video clips or network reception to watch the programmes.