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Counting owls with mobile phones

Categories: General
By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 2:41 PM

We all know mobile phones are getting better and smarter today. However, I’m sure not many of us realized they could be used for counting animals.

Owl ProjectApparently, researchers at MIT are using mobile phones to keep more accurate counts of owls. The idea is to place mobile phones around the forest and “call owls” from another location. Territorial owls then raise their heads and approach what they think may be an intruder. If they respond with a hoot, the phones transmit the sound back to the “Owl Project” website.

According to the researchers, Goodale and Dale Joachim, mobile phones could be used as an effective way to listen in to how birds are doing in the wild. And we thought they are ideal for accessing the Web on-the-go and as portable media players… :)

[Via: textually.org]

About The Author

Dusan Belic

Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.

  • Tim Layton

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