iphone lead me to aka-aki

after i bought iphone, i jointed aka-aki. i met two man at my ages, one is from germany, one is from France.also know some typical Deutsch and Deutschland

Aka Aki auf dem ipod Touch/iPhone



A Day with aka-aki



aka-aki networks GmbH's Five Word Speech at The 13th Annual Webby Awards



Webby Night Berlin 2009



website

team

aka-aki Game

twitter


a news in 2008.
Mobile technology: Crossing mobile phones with social-networking sites would help people find friends, and potential friends, nearby
移动科技：将移动电话与社交网络站点相连接能帮助人们找到朋友，以及周围潜在的朋友

IMAGINE you are a woman at a party who spots a good-looking fellow standing alone in a corner. Before working up the courage to talk to him, you whip out your mobile phone. A few clicks reveal his age and profession, links to his latest blog posts and a plethora of other personal information. To many, this sounds like a nightmare. But to those building so-called “mobile” social networks, it is nirvana: linking virtual communities such as Facebook or MySpace with the real world. The idea is not new, but so far such services have not gained much traction. They have to be able to pinpoint people in order to work, but satellite positioning does not work indoors. More importantly, it is hard for such a service to gain critical mass: why join, if it does not already have many users?
想象一下你是一位参加晚会的女性，你发现在晚会的一角站着一位孤独的帅小伙。你来不及鼓起勇气走进那位小伙子，于是你突然甩出你的移动电话。你在移动电话上点击几下就知道了小伙子的年龄与职业、他最新博客文章的超衔接以及其它多余的个人信息。对许多人而言，这听起来就像是一个恶梦。但是，对那些建造这所谓的“移动“社交网络的人来说，这是天堂：将虚拟社区（如Facebook或MySpace）与现实世界相连接。这并不是新的构想，但是到目前为止，这种服务没有得到多少的推动力。建造者们必须能查明人们的大致情况才能让这个系统运作，但是卫星定位对室内的人们也没有作用。更重要的是，这种服务要想获得必需的广大用户也很难：如果这个服务并不拥有多数用户，那为什么要加入呢？

A new generation of mobile social networks may have found ways to overcome these barriers. One is Aka-Aki, a start-up based in Berlin. Users of its service download a small program onto their mobile phone. The software then uses Bluetooth, the short-range radio technology built into many mobile phones, to check whether any friends or other members with similar interests are within 20 metres. If so, the program pulls down the person's picture and whatever information he or she is willing to reveal from the firm's website.
一种新一代的移动社交网络也许已经找到了克服这些障碍的方式。其中一个是总部位于德国柏林的刚起步的公司Aka-Aki。该公司服务的用户把一个小巧的程序下载到自己的移动电话上。然后，软件会使用蓝牙装置（许多移动电话里内置的短程无线电科技）来检查你周围20米内是否有同样兴趣的朋友或其它社区成员。如果有的话，软件就会获得他（她）的一张照片，与其它任何此人愿意在公司网站透露的信息。

This works because each Bluetooth radio chip has a unique identifying code that can be used to look up a person's information. To overcome the chicken-and-egg problem, Aka-Aki has made its software work on most phones and offers what amounts to free text-messaging between members in order to encourage take-up. In addition, Aka-Aki is also a web-based social network with a twist: to express their interests, members can create virtual stickers and share them with others, which then makes mobile matching easier.
这之所以能运作，因为每一个蓝牙无线电芯片都拥有奇特的识别代码，而这些代码能被用于查找一个人信息。为了解决“先有鸡还是先有蛋”的难题，Aka-Aki公司对该软件进行了改进，使之能在大多数移动电话上运行，并为社区成员之间提供实际上免费的短信通信，以鼓励更多的人使用该软件。另外，Aka-Aki公司还是一个基于网络的社交网络且有着一定的灵活性：社区会员只要表明自己的兴趣，他们就能创建一些虚拟的标签并与其他会员分享，这样就让移动电话的查询匹配更容易。

Aka-Aki is still testing its service, which currently has only about a thousand members. How it will make money is unclear. But it does not take much imagination to see how the Aka-Aki approach could lend itself to advertising. Billboards or shops, for instance, could in effect become members of the network, and beam special offers or messages to other members as they pass by. (Already, Facebook's advertising model allows companies to set up profiles for their products, which can then become “friends” with other members.)
Aka-Aki公司仍在检测他们的这种服务，到目前他们还仅有1000名会员。他们如何通过这种服务赚钞票还不清楚。但是，我们无需多少想象就能明白Aka-Aki公司的方式是在为自己免费做广告。比如，布告板或商店最终都会成为该网络社区的会员，而且他们能向路过的会员发送一些特别优惠短信或信息。（Facebook的广告模式就已经让加入的公司建立起一些关于其产品的大概信息，这样他们的产品就能与其他会员成为“朋友”。）

If mobile social networks do take off, they are likely to do so first in Europe, rather than tech-happy California or mobile-crazy Japan. This is, perhaps surprisingly, thanks to regulators. European operators are required to keep mobile phones more open to software downloads, with the result that they can run programs such as Aka-Aki's. (Google is pushing for more open handsets based on its new Android platform, but the first phones will not appear until the second half of 2008.) Many mobile phones in Europe also come with Bluetooth, because drivers there need it for their wireless headsets: talking directly on a mobile phone while driving will earn you a hefty fine in most countries.
如果移动社交网络真的要运作，他们很可能会从欧洲起步，而不是喜爱科技的美国加州或“为移动而疯狂”的日本。但这是由于当地立法者造成的，这也许这会让你吃惊。欧洲的运营商需要让移动电话更容易进行软件下载，结果用户就能在移动电话上运行一些程序，如Aka-Aki公司的程序。（谷歌公司正基于他们新型的Android平台推进更“开放”的手机的开发，但是首部这样的手机到2008年下半年才会面市。）欧洲的许多移动电话同样配有蓝牙，因为那里的汽车驾驶员要使用无线耳机：在许多欧洲国家，驾驶过程中直接用移动电话通话会受到很重的罚款。

Then again, Europe's predilection for privacy could still emerge as a big barrier. Aka-Aki, for instance, has so far refrained from adding one feature that might cause quite a stir: the unique Bluetooth identifier could also be used to tag people, for instance, with unflattering comments. This would even work with non-members, as long as their handsets had Bluetooth switched on. Those wanting to remain incognito in this brave new world might soon have to turn off their mobile phones when arriving at a party.
然后，欧洲对隐私的嗜好仍是一个很大的障碍。比如说，Aka-Aki公司到目前为止也没有向软件添加一个可能引起争议的功能：例如，奇特的蓝牙识别器也能用于给人做标记，但会遭到别人不怀好意的说法。这种功能甚至也会被非会员使用，只要他们把手机的蓝牙装置开启。在这个充满挑战的新世界，那些想要保持低调的人在到达一个晚会后，他们可能很快就得把移动电话的电源关掉。