Are Mobile Ambient Awareness Apps the New Thing? Highlight, Gloancee, Kismet, Sonar and Ban.jo Analyzed by Robert Scoble

Robert Scoble at Scobleizer
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asks
Have Arrington and Conway screwed up big time with their investment in Highlight?

Communication is the name of the game but some of these new apps are truly freaky. Is this the world of the future? or are these just hot fads that are initially kind of interesting, but nothing for the duration?

There comes a point at which some of these locational communicative possibilities may be getting too close to the scope of privacy that people need.

I personally already don't like shopping for groceries if I run into too many people I know, who all expected to be greeted, chatted as the case may be, etc. After all, I am there at the grocery store to shop, not to chat.

Hence, it is possible that more limited versions of these new technologies will ultimately prevail. On the other hand, you have generational differences, so who knows.