Summary: This assay conjures up a software idea with great technological breakthroughs. According to personal estimations, if fully implemented, its overall value is not less than the market price of Apple Inc.
It is sincerely hoped that my reader may convey this invaluable idea to the domestic miniblog leader Sina.com or such global giants as Apple Inc and Twitter, etc.
Table of contents
1. RSS Radio
2. Voice broadcast miniblog
3. Targets for following and trending
4. Information store
5. Voice control of broadcast stream output
6. Email-based enabling of storing and retrieving of focused messages
7. Using time tag mechanism for truthful media information
8. Ideal compatible platforms of voice broadcast dynamic information
9. Revisions
10. Online debates
11. Momentum prediction
12. Potential sequel (idea deficiency)
1. RSS Radio
The inspiration of this software idea is initially derived from RSS Radio. Developed by Shanghai Tongguang Culture Medium Inc, RSS Radio is an application for iPhone/Android. I have rich experiences of using it. RSS Radio 2.0 was used frequently since it had an impressive feature of converting miniblogs into voice broadcasts. For a long time, I have often enjoyed listening to the voice broadcast miniblogs of RSS Radio while outdoor biking. There was a large input of news and updates. For example, when a huge explosion hit Urumqi during the official visit of President Xi Jinping to Xinjiang Autonomous Region, I learned it the same night from RSS Radio.
My Sina miniblog account has acted as fans of around 3,000 miniblogs. Therefore the information feeds from RSS Radio are quite all-inclusive.
Similarly there is one foreign program named Social Radio capable of converting Twitter into voice broadcast. However, its performance is inferior to that of RSS Radio. And RSS Radio has employed the voice synthetic technology as developed by iFLYTEK. The final synthetic effect is extraordinary. So whenever RSS Radio 2.0 was switched on, I never used Social Radio at all.
It is such a pity that RSS Radio 3.0 has failed to carry on its predecessor’s features of miniblog voice broadcast.
Next I shall discuss how to engage in meaningful technological extensions on the basis of RSS Radio 2.0.
2. Voice broadcast miniblog
The success of Twitter lies in that its concise language features. A short announcement has important contents in a condensed form. It is both short and fast. If a voice message is used, the process will be further sped up. Such a pleasurable thing!
While using voice broadcast, why not enable UGC (user generated content) for voice-based broadcast? It is greatly helpful for generating information quickly. In other words, a miniblog broadcaster may issue voice commands directly.
Furthermore, any miniblog, whether text or voice, should be allowed for manual or automatic conversion in a miniblog system. That is, voice may be converted into text or vice versa. That is voice synthesis. At present, the industry has a more mature technology of converting text into voice than vice versa. Thus the audience has a freedom of choosing either voice or text as they please. Is not it wonderful enough?
3. Targets for following and trending
In a traditional system of miniblog following, the essence is focusing upon the topics of a particular account. However, in reality, miniblog fans are more willing to follow a certain topic or one particular key word, such as Bitcoin and Malaysian airliner MH370, etc., or a geographical tag, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo Ginza, etc., or a time tag, such as June 5 and Easter holiday, etc., a character, a historical event, a book title, an article comment or a hyperlinked URL item’s comment, etc. Therefore any future miniblog system should do a better job of providing fans with various means of following some unique focal topics. That is to say, concentrating on some picked topics and collecting a series of related subjects.
Why is there such a kind of feeling? That is because most conventional VIP minibloggers tend to post some sentimental materials. Occasionally there are a few practical items. However, a large majority of materials cater to low tastes. Usually those grass-root accounts deliver some quality contents. However, for a certain miniblog account, no matter how serious it appears, it is invariably involved with some personal and sentimental stuffs. And not all materials are interesting focal topics for unfamiliar fans.
As for following GeoTag, an actual combination of voice broadcast is quite likely to replace those ubiquitous real-time announcements of road traffic condition on city radios. We may imagine such a scene in which, during a traffic jam, a motorized vehicle relays automatic up-to-moment GeoTag through GPS to a miniblog system. And this system is capable of auto-selecting the relevant miniblogs of the next destination or its surrounding sites. Then these miniblogs generate voice broadcast. Then a driver can judge road conditions and take counter-measures for driving further.
As for following keywords, it represents a serious challenge to computing power of searching components in a miniblog broadcast system. It is due to the fact that the frequency of searching is alarmingly high. And some miniblog fans are tirelessly following their favorite key words or tagged terms. Of course, Google is proud to a well-established authority on these things. And Google Plus may stack on more modules. Therefore, if there is any room for improved miniblog system, this shall be a bold design challenge to IT system’s searching and computing powers.
In addition, we may follow blogs via RSS Radio of course. It is obvious that, while initially promoting it as a new product, designers had envisioned a scenario of following RSS and adding voice broadcast. As a result, user ends may be directed at such sources of dynamic information as blog entries.
In my own opinion, why there is no promising market for such a miniblog broadcast product? That is because fewer people mobilize resources for promoting a certain group of distilled keywords, neighborhood geographical tag, essential account source or distilled RSS source. That is, some distilled sources of dynamic information are bundled for a batch load of audience tracking. Only when following a batch load of essential things, a common mass starts using such a wonderful creation as RSS Radio. And this is the hardest part of all. That is, how to let ordinary folks follow conveniently a batch load of valuable things. Thus some essential and fashionable things should be properly collated and bundled for easier popularization and enjoyment among common recipients.
For example, some key words and related terms of the same industry are complied for audience following. Such a task is highly valuable so that a target group has heightened interests in using this idea-related software. For example, Bitcoin, BTC, MtGox and encrypted currency may be clustered into a sensitive group of correlated terms.
Also message prompts on mobile devices, i.e. App message notification manager on iPhone, may be added into the queues of voice broadcast for dynamic following. In this way, text or voice output from another program may be integrated into miniblog broadcast. For example, weather App’s popup forecast and dictionary App’s popup daily word qualify as a content source of voice broadcast.
4. Information store
To sum it up, miniblog information may be enabled to transmit values. In other words, miniblog information and miniblog broadcast become a paid entity. Thus, while following some topics, fans may opt for a few payable broadcast items. As a result, more persons with high-value information may join the ranks of miniblog broadcast. And the valued transmission of information is rather endless. And such a kind of information market may survive through ages. Thus one may copy the Apple models of iTunes Store and App Store to construct an Information Store.
As to how to price a piece of information in marketplace, there is a hot debate. For a lack of matching experiences, I am incapable of proposing some general rules.
Then there is another perplexing issue. If information is priced, what if a receiving fan re-charges and or charges no fee? After all, copying and transmitting electronic information is such a convenient task.
While broaching these issues, it does not mean that information pricing is not feasible. Just imagine that, having proposed over two dozens of mathematical problems, Herbert remained a mathematical giant despite the fact that none of them was solved by him.
Furthermore, in this information store, there are both information providers and information compilers, such as integrating such information streams as miniblog, RSS source, program information notification and private emails, etc. (the most valuable information turned into prioritized broadcast stream), information translator (e.g. Chinese-English text and voice inter-conversion), re-player, e.g. converting voice stream into text flow or vice versa. In such an information market, there are not only buyers (receivers) but also numerous merchants. Besides miniblog poster, RSS poster and App alert information disseminator, etc., there are also compiler, translator and information relay, etc.)
5. Voice control of broadcast stream output
It is imaginable that such an App can broadcast a stream of miniblog, RSS and program prompt. With an addition of some voice commands, it shall be more user-friendly. Example:
If some contents are worthy of further detailing or searching, a user may issue such voice commands as detailing and searching a term in an online cyclopedia. A program was implemented to obtain the relevant website texts to enrich the broadcast contents; If some contents are worthy of further collecting for later visual reading. For collecting, some program was run for collecting the relevant valuable miniblog or information; if some contents are not worthy of detailing, an user may issue a voice command of “skip” to speed past the concerned blog broadcasts.
Like these things, a series of programs may be designed to respond to voice commands and boost the routing interactivity of broadcast stream contents.
6. Email-based enabling of storing and retrieving of focused messages
Up to the present, the traditional internet has evolved into three valuable frameworks for information sharing:
A. Short message of <4K bytes, such as miniblog, Twitter, handset SMS, iMessage, voice SMS, etc.;
B. Medium-length message of <10MB, including webpage articles and shared emails;
C. Mega document message, infinitely large, such as various online storage spaces, etc.
In fact, with regards to my personal using experiences, emails have vital roles in online communications over the years. Why email is mentioned here? Actually for miniblog contents, it lacks a standardized mechanism for long-term storage. And emails are exactly capable of storing miniblog information. The functions of permanent storage, retrieval and replay are readily available. As a result, some highly valuable miniblogs will never be missed. Or some sensitive things are unlikely to be censored out later by some government departments. The storage mechanisms of email contents may double as a free retrieval device of miniblog entries for minibloggers.
7. Using time tag mechanism for truthful media information
Using the mechanism of time tag for ensuring the objectivity of images and AV files of miniblog broadcast.
Bitcoin is a rather unique online currency. Here its feasibility is not discussed. As for merely its mechanism of numeric tag, one could verify the birth time of a certain image. It is logical to conclude that the tag mechanism of bitcoin shall also facilitate such a technological design of ensuring the truthfulness of time tag and scale for audio and video files.
This technological feature of tag is urgently needed for the reality world of conveying truth through images. In this way, the chances of image manipulations and fabrications will be lowered. And, though similar techniques, the truthfulness of media materials, including AV files, may be guaranteed.
Of course, if GPS information may be integrated in the forms of a numeric tag, then all details of time and place may be verified in the whole world.
If making efforts towards such a goal, a potential taker of this idea is fully capable of formulating new format standards of audio and video files with inserted time or geographic tag. It brings great benefits for truthfulness-oriented sectors. In the field of legal evidence-collecting, it shall enjoy bright application prospects. An industry’s famous saying goes that the first-class enterprises create standards and the second-rate ones manufacture final products. Following such a kind of logic, we shall formulate brand-new globally accepted formatting standards of voices and videos with time and GPS tags.
8. Ideal compatible platforms of voice broadcast dynamic information
A. Mobile devices, including handsets, tablets, vehicle-mounted equipment and even such smart gadgets as Apple Watch;
B. Screensaver programs of desktop and laptop computers for enabling dynamic voice broadcasting.
9. Revisions
A. Privacy protection of dynamic broadcast
Some dynamic information broadcasts involve private affairs (e.g. broadcasting private emails). One possible scenario shall be that this miniblog broadcast program is able to detect whether or nor the concerned individual is listening to broadcast with a headphone. If a headphone is not used, some materials involving privacy are not suitable for broadcast. With a headphone, one may boldly hear some more private broadcast contents, such as fitting emails.
B. Smoothing of dynamic broadcast
While providing voice broadcast dynamic information, one common problem is that conventional brains are used to receiving a smooth input of information. And there is a low acceptance of voice broadcasts with shifting topics.
How to handle such a situation? In my imagination, this App user end is allowed for receiving a batch of dynamic information. Then, through topic collation, the similar topics are clustered for voice broadcasting. Thus the above problems may be partially overcome.
10. Online debates
The above is a short summary of cursive thoughts about this idea. Of course, these sketches need practical implementations to bring concrete materialistic benefits. Next I shall draw upon my personal comments to discuss who, among global internet tycoons, may be the most qualified to turn this idea into fruits. .
A. Apple Inc, a listed company on NYSE
Advantage a: Apple Inc has the proprietary authority of listing programs in its App Store running on iOS devices. This is a sharp intimidating terminator for many competitors. For example, Google Map has been totally defeated by this rule.
Advantage b: Email is used as Apple’s account ID. And within iCloud system, it has handset and email contact lists. And these two aspects are strong tools for massive fan following. Facebook draws upon massive following of email contact list to engage in viral marketing of social media. And WeChat depends upon handset and QQ contact lists for viral marketing and massive mutual following. Apple holds both advantages.
Advantage c: With the same lineage of BSD, Apple Inc has iOS and MacOS X. Both models are well-tested and ideal for commercial applications. As compared with many other systems, both systems are much more stable. And there is never any need of system rebooting.
B. Tencent Holdings Limited, a HKSE-listed company
Advantage a: It is one of few domestic internet firms with global competitive edges. And another one is Alibaba. Both have no need of crushing all domestic competitors to break into global markets. That is because Tencent has strong customer cohesiveness.
Advantage b: Its founder Mr. Ma Huateng is still working at the frontline. Retracing its paths of founding QQ, adding mailbox, enlarging QQ space and introducing WeChat, Tencent has always adhered to the principle of practical utility. Without a forward vision of Mr. Ma, the mission is virtually impossible.
Disadvantage: QQ and WeChat are like blood brothers. Somewhat looking alike, both are exclusive each other similar to the old-day China Unicom. With two competing networks of CDMA and GSM, neither one was a clear winner in the war of corporate resources.
C. Sina miniblog (Sina Weibo, listed on NYSE)
Advantage a: Claiming national-class superior resources;
Advantage b: Sina miniblog is a distinct forerunner among domestic peers in attracting Chinese users;
Advantage c: Many Sina bloggers are renowned at grass roots. In terms of following RSS, it is a domestic leader. And RSS is introduced for blogging.
Disadvantage: In my local dialect, there are too many minor shareholders. And management authority is too scattered.
D. Sohu Inc
Advantage: The input method of Chinese phonetics has been painstakingly developed to supply a large bank of following keywords (also known as cellular word bank). And the categories are already defined. For potential miniblog broadcasts, it offers great benefits of following synonyms or correlated terms (bundled distillation of linked phrases).
E. NetEase Inc
Advantage a: Using Youdao Dictionary to offer a rich source of following keywords.
Advantage b: Netease and Sina co-rank as Top 1 Chinese mailboxes. It is greatly easier for built-in applications of miniblog broadcast.
F. Alibaba.com
Advantage: It claims a powerful network of merchants. After a rollout of miniblog broadcast, it shall bring in a lot of orders every day.
G. Google Inc
H. Twitter Inc
I. Facebook Inc
J. LinkedIn Corporation
All the above foreign enterprises are capable of achieving the idea of voice broadcast miniblog. And their ranking order does not represent individual strengths.
11. Momentum prediction
It is predicated that a certain company may roll out a version 1.0 in a great hurry. Then right on its footstep, there is a rapid proliferation of domestic and international copycats in voice-controlled broadcast dynamic information (including miniblog, RSS source, App notification alert and received emails, etc.). A great war has started to loom. However, for any mature application, a version 3.0 may go steady. Two examples are listed here:
Example I: Back when Microsoft faced the threat of NetScape browser, IE (Internet Explorer) was developed. But it stabilized and became popular only after version 3.0. And it was the same story for Windows whose popularity soared after the release of version 3.x.
Example II: For Apple Inc, only iPhone 3 starts making a greater impact.
12. Potential sequel (idea deficiency)
A. Strong media clustering capacities and wealth-generating trends let Apple Inc face the same disintegrating threats as AT&T. A democratic and multi-pluralistic will never tolerate the aggressive manners of Apple Inc. for blocking the wealth path of general public, especially so with regards to structural programs.
B. Examples are dynamic voice broadcast miniblog, RSS, App notification alert, email contents and short messages, etc. If implanted and applied in cars, it is likely to distract drivers on the road and hold a developer liable for traffic accidents.
13. Postscript
There are two more software ideas. One is concerned with anti-spam and another about Five-stroke Chinese character type. Of course, the market values of both are far less than the above idea. If some feedbacks are offered, both ideas shall be brought forth for considerations.
Expected positive feedbacks: offering generous monetary or other supports for better studies and explorations of valuable technology. For details, please communicate further. My contact info is as follows:
email: 13799001059 AT 139.com
