In a story in the SMH this weekend about the role of location-powered social apps like Grindr, Blendr, Roamz and Foursquare I read:

'While critics lament the next generation's inability to make friends without a computer screen, Joel Simkhai, the American creator of Blendr and Grindr, thinks that in five years we may have twice as many friends because of his apps.

''I don't think a hello and a handshake will become redundant. We come before that, so now it's easier to initiate the conversation and then go say hello,'' he said. ''In terms of breaking the ice, it goes a long way.''
Users have proved willing to accept the danger of people misrepresenting themselves in order to find friends in a society that has become busier, less sociable and, according to Mr Brechney, ''more boring''.

''I honestly think you get a richer experience talking about your life and typing away on your phone than you would in a loud club,'' he said. ''The downside is that you have a lot of churn in your life with friends. It can become a bit of an eBay for love.'

The opening credits of the 1969 French film, Mississippi Mermaid (watch the trailer above) feature a reading of personal classified ads. I can't but help think that the "eBay of love" has been around for quite some time, as well as the risks.

But in saying that, there is also a concept of Dignity of Risk:

Dignity of Risk refers to the right of all people to undertake some tasks that have a level of risk. It can be risky to go surfing as accidents can occur, but if you are a good swimmer, surf with a friend and check surfing conditions it is a reasonable risk to take.

All human activity has risk. Social media doesn't necessarily change that and if people want to meet using an app rather than a classifieds ad, I'm not sure what the difference is?

The Box, a shared-car concept for inner-cities, was the inspiration for my latest post over on the Headshift | Dachis Group Asia Pacific blog.

There are some great related posts on the Shareable blog too. Also check out the Brook & Bone site (the designers behind this concept car) - look under projects.

Finally, a good use for QR codes. :-)

Also an interesting experiment in providing a different method for people to navigate and interact with an information space.

Hat tip to my colleagues at Headshift | Dachis Group.

So, Color (or Colour, if you prefer) is a new photo-based social networking app.

Techcrunch have a good write up on the background of the start up and what I found most interesting was the idea of a Dynamic Network:

"All of your contacts are presented in a list of thumbnails ordered by how strong your connection is to that user. Whenever Color detects that you’re physically near another user (in other words, that you’re hanging out), your bond on the app gets a little stronger. So when you fire up the app and jump to your list of contacts, you’ll probably see your close friends and family members listed first. But if you don’t see a friend for a long time, they’ll gradually flow down the list, and eventually their photos will fade from color to black-and-white."

When Danny Canal starts to speak, conversations at other café tables around him fall silent. Canal, a young man in his early twenties, is doing something that looks almost like magic -- he's talking on the phone without even opening his mouth... Canal, a shipbuilding student from Hamburg, is deaf and he's currently experiencing a revelation. Since he communicates with his friends mostly in sign language, until recently he didn't have much use for mobile phones, unless it was for sending text messages.

...

Even the most skeptical are starting to recognize the magic of video interactions. Grandparents play with faraway grandchildren; divorced fathers do homework with kids who live with their mothers; long-distance couples check in before they go to bed, read to each other or fall asleep with their laptops next to them on the bed.

We're still not quite at a utopian moment for video calling and video conferencing, but we've clearly crossed a chasm. Video calling as a technology is (almost) getting boring, which means for society its about to get interesting.

Of course, as this article highlights, we shouldn't underplay the importance of technology convergence - such as the Internet, mobile networks, mobile computing and software, like Skype and FaceTime. This explains why its taken more than 70 years for video calling to get anyway near going mainstream.

Hat tip to the Putting People First blog.

When you think about it, this is a natural extension of search and augment reality techniques. Goggles is more than just landmarks and places - it can be used to find information about books, contact information, artwork, wine and logos from the images you scan.

Obviously I'm disappointed you don't actually get to wear some kind of AR 'goggles' for this, but the contact lens HUD is still under development.

Meanwhile, those of us with iPhones will need to wait a little longer until we get to play with the Goggles too.

This Pew Internet Personal Networks and Community survey is the first ever that examines the role of the internet and cell phones in the way that people interact with those in their core social network. Our key findings challenge previous research and commonplace fears about the harmful social impact of new technology

Well worth reading. Its just shows that our relationship with technology is often a lot more complex that it first appears.

Giving it a go.