Abrams Research Blog

What do one-third of Stanford iPhone users have in common? No, it’s not their type A personalities; they’ve all expressed fear of becoming addicted to their iPhones. Not such a surprise, considering the iPhone supplies access to the three things undergraduates need most: music, phone and CampusFood.com. So for those unlucky Stanfordians the following will be exciting and terrifying à la fois: Apple may decide to try its hand at location-based services. That’s right, as of last week, Apple is seeking a patent for a proprietary social mobile network tool, aptly (or unfortunately—how over the iMotif are you?) named, “iGroups”. read more »

So Twitter now features location-sharing. Surprise! We all saw it coming, especially as this week’s South By Southwest Festival was fast approaching. And as great minds think alike, we should probably expect each social media giant to reveal its own geolocation features, adding yet another layer to the competition for market dominance. Until then, we’re left to ponder geolocation’s infamous underlying issue: privacy. Because as social media becomes an even more normalized part of our society, we find ourselves faced with unprecedented challenges to the security of our information.

Let’s start with the basics. What, exactly, is internet privacy? And why does it matter? read more »

Location-based services.  Regardless of how tech-savvy you are or aren’t, it’s a smaller area of the larger Web 2.0 phenomenon that you won’t be able to avoid much longer. People nowadays are talking about Facebook this and Twitter that, but, before you know it, this might be the next technology to take off, elevating the social experience to new heights, and in the process, stirring its fair share of praise and criticism along the way.

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