mTrends - mobile media lifestyle trends - m-trends.org

I have been writing and reporting for quite some time now on the convergence of networks, the introduction of hybrid devices and media becoming accessible on mobile devices, lately all connecting easily to the web. With game devices such as the PSP accessing the Internet over wifi and the introduction of the iPhone, we now embrace the era of ubiquitous mobility and nomadic computing. This will have a far-reaching impact on the way we access products/services, and the way we communicate with humans and machines. It will change our mobile lifestyle and the way we consume media and advertising.

m-trends.org started as a personal opinion blog on mobile media lifestyle trends and continues doing this with a framed focus, critical opinions and analytical thinking going beyond the hype. To create a broader view and opinion, I invited Yasmine Abbas and Martin Sauter, two personalities I highly respect for their opinion and work, to join me and write regularly at m-trends.org on subjects that are in the air, things we have in common or like to discuss and write about, to start conversations on topics, each from his own perspective and experience.

Yasmine Abbas, is a French DPLG architect, holds a Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS 2001) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Doctor of Design (DDes 2006) from Harvard University Graduate School of Design. At Harvard she focused on how neo-nomads, digitally geared people on the move, reclaim a sense of belonging to places in the age of multiple mobilities and digital technologies. She does that too: research and problem solving to design environments, products and services that work for people and drive business results! Yasmine will bring her design/cultural/social context and sensibility to m-trends.org. I interviewed her earlier this year in the Women in Mobile series. Do checkout Yasmine’s personal blog neo-nomad.

Martin Sauter has a special twist on Web 2.0. His professional focus is on mobile network technology and services and he consults mobile network operators for Nortel, one of the major network infrastructure vendors for 2G and 3G networks. His quality time activities include his mobile network blog and book writing. His latest book, “Communication Systems for the Mobile Information Society“, discusses the how’s and why’s of GSM, GPRS, UMTS, Wifi, WiMAX and Bluetooth. On the academic side, Martin holds a Dipl. Ing. (FH) degree from the University of Applied Sciences in Ravensburg, Germany and when not busy travelling enjoys lecturing and discussing today’s and tomorrows mobile networks. This is also the area that Martin is going to cover at m-trends.org. Check Martin’s Mobile Technology Page, his personal blog about his thoughts on the evolution of GSM, UMTS, WLAN, Bluetooth, and WiMAX.

A French girl living in the Boston, US, a German living in Paris, France and a Belgian living in Barcelona, Spain, this looks like other kinds of hybrids: different opinions on various topics in a ubiquitous mobility era with views from different angles, written from different locations, by people who are always on the move… This will definately create more value to m-trends.org; if there are any subjects you would like to have covered here, please suggest or contact me by email.

Expect some diverse and interesting subjects covered soon here, I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we do, initiating this kind of projects together.

Year end goes together with the usual Top 100 of the year (or all times). You can check my most played music of 2006 and a lot more here at MyStrands.com. You can do all this also on your cell going to m.mystrands.com. And check what’s happening around on New Years’ Eve on your mobile phone at m-partystrands.com, including live partyStrands parties going on at the partyStrands blog.

Now isn’t this cool to start a New Year?

If you haven’t heard it yet, James Brown died of congestive heart failure on Christmas morning in Atlanta. He was 73. He indelibly transformed 20th-century music re-inventing existing R&B and Soul rhythms to create Funk.

I like to remember him in his most creative period, from the mid sixties to the early seventies. I saw him the first time live at the now legendary Jazz Bilzen Festival in Belgium in 1978 in an edition with other artists such as Blondie, Japan (w. David Sylvain), The Jam, The Boomtown Rats and Lou Reed. I’d never heard about ‘The Godfather of Soul’ before that time, but I remember the impression he and his band left on me when arriving at the festival and he started to do his thing: no-one came ever closer on stage creating such an energy and positive vibe. Get a feeling of that period here in this video I found on YouTube (excerpt from a Dutch TV program on VPRO channel where Iggy Pop is asked about his favourite - recorded - memories)

James Brown’s body returned one more time to the historic Apollo Theater in New York City where his epic “Live at the Apollo” album streamed from the marquee speakers yesterday at his funeral.

Check out how he sounded in 1967 in this “Out Of Sight” excerpt, live from the Olympia in Paris.

If you’re not so familiar with his music, I recommend “Foundations of Funk: A Brand New Bag,1964-1969“.

There are several worthy James Brown compilations, but this is the one, more than any other, presents his most fertile and innovative soul and funk material. From 1964’s “Out of Sight” through 1969’s “Mother Popcorn,” this was Brown at the apex of his creativity, turning soul into funk in the mid-’60s, then pushing the rhythm even more to the forefront. Songs such as “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”, “Cold Sweat”, “I Can’t Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)” , “I Got The Feelin’”, “Licking Stick - Licking Stick”, “Say it Loud - I’m Black and I’m Proud”, “Ain’t It Funky Now”, “Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose”, “Mother Popcorn”, “Super Bad”, “Make It Funky”, “Soul Power”, not to forget “King Heroin” mark a whole period of intense creativity linked to the social changes of that time in the US.

The BBC has a great documentary of that period, called “Dancing in The Streets“, a must see if you get the chance; it includes some remarkable footage and interviews with James Brown and many other unforgettable artists of that time. Check also the Ed Sullivan’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Classics DVD compilations for some of James’ early works.

Another extremely important and influential phase of Brown’s career in the early seventies is compiled on “Funk Power 1970: A Brand New Thang“, when he moved from soul-funk to hard funk, stretching out the grooves and putting more stress on the bottom than ever before (with Bootsie Collins).

TIP: dig up those old vinyls and take them with you for your next parties!

Rest in Peace, brother.

Why I blog this here? The relationship between music and society, relation of music as a cultural expression within a social context and also just because I’m a big fan

NOTE: James Brown Apollo image © Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Start Mobile just enabled the independent film Quality Of Life to promote their film via mobile art marketing.

I wrote a piece on mobile art at gotomobile.com where I’m guestwriting.