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Cellphedia, a SMS Social Network Service

Roland Piquepaille writes "Based on ideas taken from Wikipedia and dodgeball, Cellphedia allows its members to broadcast questions to its community and receive answers, using SMS text messaging on cell phones. Here is how it works, according to "Cellphedia Melds Facts with Mobile Smart Mobs" from E-Commerce Times. First, you register for free on the site and you indicate your subjects of interest. If you want to ask a question, it is sent to all the members who expressed interest in this particular subject. Finally, the first answer received by Cellphedia is sent back to you. This means that later answers, which could have been more accurate, are discarded. But this service is still very young and its creator is working hard to improve it. Read more for some examples of questions and answers stored on the Cellphedia central server."

58 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. I'm violating your copyright, Roland! SUCK IT! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    Cellphedia, a SMS Social Network Service

    Based on ideas taken from Wikipedia and dodgeball , Cellphedia allows its members to broadcast questions to its community and receive answers, using SMS text messaging on cell phones. Here is how it works, according to " Cellphedia Melds Facts with Mobile Smart Mobs " from E-Commerce Times. First, you register for free on the site and you indicate what are your subjects of interest. If you want to ask a question, it is sent to all the members who expressed interest in this particular subject. Finally, the first answer received by Cellphedia is sent back to you. This means that later answers, which could have been more accurate, are discarded. But this service is still very young and its creator is working hard to improve it. Read more...

    Here is a general description of this service, created by Limor Garcia as part of her thesis while at New York University.

    Inspired by Wikipedia, the all-volunteer, online community encyclopedia, and Dodgeball, a cell phone-based social networking service, Cellphedia allows its members to broadcast questions to its community and receive answers, all through a mobile phone.

    Registration for the service is free at the Cellphedia Web site. After registering, members choose areas that they're interested in -- art, architecture, food, music, etc. A member can ask a question in any area, but the questions go to people who have chosen the area as one that interests them.

    Questions and answers are sent and received using SMS on your cell phone. And as I wrote above, only the first answer received by CellPhedia is sent back to the person who asked a question.

    Unlike Wikipedia, answers to questions via Cellphedia aren't subjected to community review to assess their accuracy. And while multiple members might answer a question, only the first answer received by the system is forwarded to an inquirer.

    Garcia noted that group editing of answers is her next priority for the service. "I'm going to open it up for people to correct answers as well," she said.

    Interviewed for this article, Howard Rheingold, from Smart Mobs , said that Cellphedia was another example of the convergence between technologies such as cell phone, computers and Internet.

    "The phone gives you instant communication wherever you are," he explained. "And the Internet enables you to connect with people who share an interest. Combining that gives you the ability to create something like Wikipedia with a social network."

    "It remains a question about whether she's going to get a sufficient critical mass," he noted. "Wikipedia works because there's a sufficient number of people working on it."

    Now, let's look at some examples of questions and answers stored on the Cellphedia central server. As you can see, there are all kinds of requests.

    • Short question, short answer
      Q: age new pope
      A: 78
    • Short question, long answer
      Q: what's a phreak
      A: a phreak is someone who is highly skilled in the use of phone systems. phreaksare considered a subset of hackers.
    • Long question, short answer
      Q: does someone know how to install osx tiger on to an ipod for later installation on an ibook?
      A: not possible
    • A question without answer
      Q: where can i find info on time travel?

    For another point of view about this service, you can read this article from Wired News, "

    1. Re:I'm violating your copyright, Roland! SUCK IT! by imthesponge · · Score: 1

      Where is the option to send in an answer and recieve the question in response?

    2. Re:I'm violating your copyright, Roland! SUCK IT! by zippthorne · · Score: 1

      For the last one, shouldn't the answer be before the question?

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    3. Re:I'm violating your copyright, Roland! SUCK IT! by carninja · · Score: 1

      Click on the "Jepordy!" link.

    4. Re:I'm violating your copyright, Roland! SUCK IT! by Alsee · · Score: 1

      Q: where can i find info on time travel?
      A: in the future.

      -

      --
      - - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
  2. Answers... by Hogwash+McFly · · Score: 3, Funny

    Answers to questions, eh?

    Such as, 'How does Roland Piquepaille sleep at night'?

    --
    Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
    1. Re:Answers... by mikeage · · Score: 1

      Probably on a bed full of money.

      --
      -- Is "Sig" copyrighted by www.sig.com?
    2. Re:Answers... by FidelCatsro · · Score: 1

      Jay sherman : "How do you sleep at night"
      Roland P wolfcastle:" On a pile of money with many beutifull women"

      --
      The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  3. Go to hell! by CypherXero · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Roland Piquepaille, go to hell!

    1. Re:Go to hell! by britneys+9th+husband · · Score: 2, Funny

      Speaking of Jeopardy, you just gave me a really cool idea. What if there were another version of Cellphedia where you gave it an answer and it responded with a question, like on Jeopardy? Just give it one question to start it off, then the two systems could talk to each other...

      Q: How old is the Pope?
      A: 78.
      Q: How many friends do I have to refer to get a free iPod?
      A: Get free iPods at freeipodsource.com.
      Q: What is spam?
      A: A processed meat product.
      Q: What are hotdogs?
      A: Get Viagra for just $5.99 at viagra1source.com.
      Q: What is your favorite number?
      A: 42.
      Q: (core dump)

      --
      Hear recorded Slashdot headlines on your phone! New service beta testing. Just call (248) 434-5508
  4. How does he sleep? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    You mean with his penis up timothy's ass? That could be uncomfortable I suppose.

  5. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by Loco3KGT · · Score: 2, Insightful

    He goes out and looks for interesting articles about new and emerging technologies. He provides a very brief overview of the articles, then copies a few choice paragraphs and the occasional picture from each article and puts them up on his web page. Finally, he adds a minimal amount of original content between the copied-and-pasted text in an effort to make the journal entry coherent and appear to add value to the original articles. Nothing more, nothing less.

    Sounds almost like what I use Slashdot for.

    --
    Blessed be he who reads this post, Cursed be he who tells my boss.
  6. First Question Received by Scoria · · Score: 5, Funny

    This message was immediately received by Cellphedia by SMS:

    who iz rolex pickapal n y iz he on slashdot lol lmao

    --
    Do you like German cars?
  7. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by smittyoneeach · · Score: 1

    This...use...for Slashdot:
    Can you please expand on that point?

    --
    Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
  8. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by Cowardly+Anonym · · Score: 1

    I don't see any ads on Roland's site anymore. Of course, it helps that I just added proxy.blogads.com to my hosts file. :)

    --
    Yqy...K ecp'v dgnkgxg aqw cevwcnna vqqm vjg vkog vq vtcpuncvg oa uki. Kh aqw vjkpm vjku ku tkfkewnqwu, tgcf oa dkq.
  9. This service seems to by grazzy · · Score: 1

    suck .. this entire idea is a joke. Someone should be beaten repeatedly with the cluestick.

  10. Is this really a great idea? by Volvogga · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Ignoring the general hatred that seems to be around for Roland Piquepaille (DISCLAIMER: I have no opinion on the guy), is this something people would use?
    Maybe I'm missing something, but in the time it takes to ask the question and get an answer through your cell phone, I would think that you could find a computer and Google the inquirey. What could you possibly ask of a cell phone encyclopedia that you couldn't find on the internet?

    Wait! I don't think I want an answer to that.

    --
    Vol~
    1. Re:Is this really a great idea? by C0llegeSTUDent · · Score: 1

      Wait! I don't think I want an answer to that.

      And while we are on that subject, what ever happened to toothing? I was looking forward to it catching on so much...

  11. Great idea by Mensa+Babe · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's just like Wikipedia only with one-sentence articles with no punctuation, every query costs you arm and leg and reading with 2-point font makes you blind in the process. I expect it to be a great success. Cellphones are truly amazing.

    --
    Karma: Positive (probably because of superiour intellect)
  12. effing a by Valar · · Score: 2, Funny

    just make roland an editor so we can block his stories and get on with it.

  13. Cell Phone Frist Post System ??? by Dave21212 · · Score: 3, Insightful


    No, really... that's what it says.

    With all the advances in KM over the years, maybe a more interesting approach would be to have the system aggregate/rate responses over a period of time and respond with the top 3 or so. As planned, I would think the system described is less than useful, it would be downright obnoxious once it hit critical mass (go read every first post on /. for a preview).

    --
    "Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech."--Benjamin Franklin
    1. Re:Cell Phone Frist Post System ??? by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 1

      I think everyone will answer the same question slightly differently, and then its down to software to parse and understand the reactions and weigh all the odds and bits until a perfect singular response emerges.

      While they are coding this up, they could spare 5 minutes to handle slash dupes ;)

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
  14. spam? by ErichTheWebGuy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I see a massive potential for spam.

    1. Setup a SMS bridge
    2. Register for all topics of interest
    3. write a script that replies almost instantly with "I hear that all the time, here is an in-depth article on my website" that points to whatever porn/free ipod/whatever spam site
    4. profit!!!

    --
    bash: rtfm: command not found
    1. Re:spam? by Geoffreyerffoeg · · Score: 1

      "I hear that all the time, here is an in-depth article on my website" that points to

      www.primidi.com.

      4. Profit!!!

  15. Accuracy and reliability? by britneys+9th+husband · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If you use this, how do you have any assurance that the answers you get are actually accurate? Given the number of uninformed people walking around, not to mention people who think it's funny to hand out deliberate misinformation, wouldn't this be practically useless? And you can completely forget about any questions that would attract commercially motivated answers (e.g. Where is the nearest gas station?)

    --
    Hear recorded Slashdot headlines on your phone! New service beta testing. Just call (248) 434-5508
    1. Re:Accuracy and reliability? by ErichTheWebGuy · · Score: 1

      Why doesn't Wikipedia have a Slashdot article?

      It does, why don't you try clicking your own sig. :) Sorry, couldn't help it.

      --
      bash: rtfm: command not found
    2. Re:Accuracy and reliability? by Cyn · · Score: 1

      No, it doesn't.

      Why don't you try reading the page that is returned when you click his .sig

      I've seen pages on trolling on wikipedia, so its strange that it isn't there... perhaps more searching would yield it.

      --
      cyn, free software and *nix operating systems enthusiast.
  16. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by Alceste · · Score: 1, Funny
    (I refuse to use the word "blog")


    You just did.

  17. MOD PARENT DOWN! REASON: SPAM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Moderators, parent is nothing more but SPAM! Look carefully and you'll see that the link in "Visit BlogAds to check the following facts for yourself" is NOT a direct link to www.blogads.com but a redirect from other domain to hide the fact that it points to a referer link to blogads! Read carefully and see that the poster actually promotes blogads saying how much anyone having a blog can earn and posts it on slashdot where many people want to earn money that way. Then the link is a paid link and the poster will get a percentage of money generated by all of us who sign up with that program after following that link. Briliant, isn't it? But it is SPAM and should be moderated as such. Instead this offtopic SPAM is moderated as Score:5! Moderators, are you blind or stupid? MOD IT DOWN!

    1. Re:MOD PARENT DOWN! REASON: SPAM by corpsiclex · · Score: 1

      only on slashdot will comments calling mods blind and stupid be modded up +5.
      I submit that they are both.

      --

      eBayDig 1s a typo saerch engien
  18. My guess is... by PrivateDonut · · Score: 2, Funny

    the only reply that you ever get is "First Post!!!"

  19. They should market it to couples considering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    children. As soon as you've got children who can easily get in touch with you, via SMS or other means, you'll find yourself fielding all sorts of stupid questions.

    This cellpodiatry thing ought to be a great introduction for couples contemplating kids. With some experience they may change their minds.

    Son, "Dad, the cars out of gas, what do I do."

    Dad, "You walk to a gas station, borrow a can, buy some gas, walk back to the car, put it in, drive back to the gas station, return the can, and buy more gas. Don't forget to buy more gas. Now repeat back what I just told you"

    Daughter, "Dad, Mick Jagger is in town and wants me to com eparty with him, is it OK?

    Dad, "Call your mom"

  20. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by Espectr0 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The real question is, why does Slashdot continue to accept every single one of his submissions when many of the readers see through the scam and whole-heartedly object to what he is doing?

    Theory: he splits his profits with slashdot editors. He uses slashdot's users to gain money and pays a little commission in order to do that. What other explanation exists?

  21. Correct!! MOD PARENT DOWN! REASON: SPAM by excaliber19 · · Score: 1

    Aye. Good catch. If i had points, i'd mod it down

  22. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by excaliber19 · · Score: 1

    <tin foil hat>
    Who says he isn't one of the editors?
    </tin foil hat>

  23. maybe you don't check deep enough by DarkTempes · · Score: 2, Interesting

    as far as I can tell, http://www.thedarkcitadel.com/ is just a blog, and he is linking from auto-generated links made by the blog software.

    now he does appear to have a couple text advertisement links on his blog to help pay hosting costs (maybe these links drive up his traffic and make him more money like he says about roland), but otherwise it seems rather innocent.

    though it is fairly odd that he just doesn't directly link

    1. Re:maybe you don't check deep enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      as far as I can tell, http://www.thedarkcitadel.com/ is just a blog, and he is linking from auto-generated links made by the blog software.

      Yes, auto-generated links to affiliate URLs.

      though it is fairly odd that he just doesn't directly link

      He does it to obscure the fact that he posts links to click.example.com/?ref=his_id instead of just www.example.com. There's a double redirect.

      Please read granparent post more carefully...

  24. Roland the Plogger again? by Animats · · Score: 1

    I thought we were rid of this bozo.

  25. Brilliant by kent_eh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wonder which cell phone provider came up with this idea.
    Some cell companies charge as much as $0.15 per SMS message.
    If this thing catches on, they'll be rolling in cash (even more than they are now).

    --

    ---
    "I can't complain, but sometimes still do..." Joe Walsh
    1. Re:Brilliant by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 1
      Most carriers in the US are charging a one time monthly fee for sms/mms messaging. I don't think comments that sms/mms charges cost an arm and and a leg are relevant in this day and age.

      Nevertheless, cellphone providers are making LOTS of money from text/sms messages.

      From an article on pizza coupons on your cellphone:
      "In April, [Cincinnati}Bell's system handled 115 million text messages, or an average of about 278 per subscriber. The national average is about 30 per subscriber per month. And data such as text make up 10 percent of Bell's wireless service revenues, the second-highest percentage of any carrier in the country."

  26. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 1

    Nahhhhhh, Roland does much more than any slashdot editor.

    Taco and crew get to sit around tweaking things.

    Here at slashdot, we are the reporters. we dig out the interesting stuff. In the case of Roland, I don't see why he shouldn't be allowed to make money.

    Also, the submitter needs to look closely at Rolands story submissions again, only Roland, or a slashdot insider can see the rejected stories, normal users do not see them, so everyone looks like 100% accepted.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  27. To bozo #1: by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 1

    Note carefully how it is spelled ess-one-eh-ess ...

  28. Note to bozo #2: by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 1

    Note carefully how the sig refers to ess-one-eh-ess ...

    Note carefully how you didn't realize what was going on and neither did bozo #1 who you responded to.

    1. Re:Note to bozo #2: by Cyn · · Score: 1

      Thank you my canadian bretheren, I was font pwned.

      --
      cyn, free software and *nix operating systems enthusiast.
  29. Re:Why is it ALWAYS Timmy... by Baricom · · Score: 1

    I bet the answer is in Cellphedia.

  30. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by DavidD_CA · · Score: 1
    Let's talk about the service that Roland Piquepaille provides in his journal. He goes out and looks for interesting articles about new and emerging technologies. He provides a very brief overview of the articles, then copies a few choice paragraphs and the occasional picture from each article and puts them up on his web page.


    And this is different from /., how?

    -David

    --
    -David
  31. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by DavidD_CA · · Score: 1

    You know, in reading your lengthly response even more, it almost appears as if you're advertising for this BlogAds service that you claim to despise so much.

    You list specific pricing and a business plan that sounds rather fantastic. You make it sound so easy and beneficial for someone to start doing what Roland is doing.

    I have to wonder what your intentions really are.

    --
    -David
  32. Re:Why is it ALWAYS Timmy... by fireman+sam · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Hang on, let me check...

    Me: *SMS* "Y Timmy 4 teh Roland?"
    sending...
    1 new message...
    Answer: Get cheap viagra for extra hardness

    Anyone else think that this will be a race against legit answers and spam?

    --
    it is only after a long journey that you know the strength of the horse.
  33. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Slashdot has users go out and find stories. They then copy and paste a part of the story and link to it. They then add a comments section so that people can earn karma by either stating restating public opinion on the matter or by finding fault in it, even if it requires going to ridiculous extremes. The whole time this is happening, Slashdot is posting ads. The more people comment, the more ads get served, the more ads Slashdot can sell.

    What I find so ridiculously funny about this whole Roland deal is that the constant bitching about it. There's an ad being served for every rply to it. Right now, I'm seeing a Vonage ad while I'm posting this. All these efforts to bitch about Roland until he goes away are actually giving Slashdot a damned good reason to keep him around.

    I've been saying this, but I guess I'll just have to keep saying this: Quitcherbitchen. When Roland stories only generate a handful of comments, they won't accept his stories anymore. It's not as fun as going on a crusade against him, but if you really care about your goals...

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  34. High Potential For Cheating by kakos · · Score: 1

    So, I'll take a test and just whip out my cell phone and send a question I'm having problem on to this service and get back an answer. Awesome!

  35. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by NanoGator · · Score: 1

    "What other explanation exists?"

    His stories generates a lot of negative comments so Slashdot's ad-serv counter starts spinning.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  36. Situations exist where you are not near a computer by blorg · · Score: 1

    ...oh wait. This is Slashdot, right.

    Seriously though, have you never been in a situation where you would have liked to know the answer to a question and *not* been near a computer?

  37. Cellphedia, a SMS Social Disease by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

    At least "wikipedia" is a funky pigeon of Hawaiian and English, which is kinda natural for any combo with a Hawaiian word.

    But cellphedia sounds more like a social disease than a social network. They need a new name.

    --
    When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  38. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by FidelCatsro · · Score: 1

    Theory: He subbmits 14 times as many articals and goes by the law of averages ! perhaps?
    Its just an odd coincidence that Timothy always seems to be the editor to OK them , it hapens .. a simmilar freak occurance of this magnitutde also started life on earth

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  39. Re:Please Stop The Roland Articles!! by FidelCatsro · · Score: 1

    That was not ment to be taken seriously... ;) incase you were wondering.
    I do belive he probably does subbmit about 80 storys a month though and if you have levels like that then you are bound to get some through , If as the origional post states he ears 640 or so a month from this then i doubt its much insentive to pay off the editors and is just enough to pay for rent and food barely much else.
    or its a nice bonus to the paycheque.
    Perhaps Roland is just the victum of one amazingly large complex troll ;) has anyone ever suggested that before(probably) ....
    Or perhaps your right and he is paying off the editors to keep his websites revenue a churnin , I don't know .
    Though it is fun reading all the conspiracy theorys whenever he subbmits an artical

    --
    The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
  40. OK, so this seems like a lame idea by hey! · · Score: 1

    for all the reasons noted elsewhere, this probably isn't going anywhere.

    But, human behavior, particularly human social behavior is complex. Many a sure thing has foundered on human complexity, and many a ridiculous idea has become the next big thing because of it. After all, the idea of a world class operating system being created and maintained by a worldwide network of volunteers (and people paid to contribute to a free, public work by their employers) would have seemed absurd to nearly anybody with any busienss sense in 1990...

    So in short, I'm not going to use this anytime soon, but there maybe somebody out there who will. If there is, it could take on a life of its own.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  41. Snoop Dog says... by mickyflynn · · Score: 1

    Everybody needs a sidekick!

    "fabric softener? so that's how those hip hop guys get all the babes!"

    man... i had no idea some dumbass would make an automated service based on a comercial for a different product.

  42. Not quite so new... by EdmundS · · Score: 1

    There's already others doing this (at least in the UK), most notably two commercial services using call centers, Re5ult and AQA, as well as Nuggets, an automatic service.