18 posts filed under this category.
Google updated its webmaster recommendations for smartphone-optimized websites. You may need to change your site HTML and server headers to help Google’s various crawlers find your smartphone content and better associate the same pages optimized for various screen sizes.
Research firm Nielsen released updated statistics on smartphone application usage in the United States. The average Android and iOS user installs 41 applications and uses these applications 39 minutes each day.
Google’s mobile search engine crawler now uses an updated User-Agent string designed to trigger iPhone-specific renderings of web pages.
Content developed exclusively for the iPhone helped web publishers rethink content display beyond the desktop browser. Reimagining web content for small screens with bandwidth, latency, and interaction constraints provided publishers with an introduction to widget concepts and a broader web strategy. iPhone OS 2.0 ignited new mobile development in 2008, which should carry over to new platforms in 2009.
The Exceptional Performance group at Yahoo! just released a detailed performance analysis of web applications on the iPhone. Yahoo! analyzed the full capabilities of the iPhone’s Safari browser including browser cache and transfer speeds. The iPhone cache is much smaller than a desktop browser, and web developers should adjust their targets accordingly.
Widgets are coming to Series 60 handsets this Fall, bringing tiny pieces of content onto the application menu of the world’s best-selling smartphone OS. The S60 Web Run-Time builds upon the existing open source technologies in the S60 browser and provides a development experience very close to Apple’s Dashboard widget environment. The widget software will be available in version 3.2 of Nokia’s operating system due out this Fall. The Series 60 operating system is currently installed on over 85 million mobile devices produced by Lenovo, LG, Nokia, and Samsung. S60 widgets are marked up using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript…
Nokia announced a new mobile feed reader focused on video today at the 3GSM conference in Barcelona. The Nokia Video Center comes pre-installed on new Nokia Series 60 devices such as the newly announced N95 and N93i but is also available as a separate download for compatible devices. You can load videos onto the phone through your home computer or receive updates over-the-air at HSDPA speeds or using open WiFi while you’re on the go. The Video Center software supports H.264 videos, meaning videobloggers have even more reasons to create specially formatted and mini-sized (320×240) versions of their show…
The Bluetooth SIG announced wireless transfer of contact, calendar, and notes information via what it’s calling TransSend. It implements the OBEX standard you may have used to “beam” someone your contact information in the past. You can send vCard, vCal, vNote, plain text, or image files from a PC to supporting handsets. An ActiveX plugin for Internet Explorer lets users send content from a web page to their mobile phone. You can send driving directions, your contact info, or event data. Sounds cool, but it looks like the plugin is relying on proprietary markup for recognition instead of using…
Google Reader Mobile is now available on your mobile phone. The pages are served using XHTML 1.0 for mobile, including access keys for each list item. The mobile reader is a good blend of what you would like to configure on your desktop but still access on a more limited input device such as a mobile phone. The mobile interface is purposefully barebones but utilizes features made possible by the full desktop experience such as browsing tagged posts….
Nokia announced an upgrade to the 770 Internet tablet operating system and bundled hardware this morning at the VON Europe Conference in Stockholm, Sweden. The new operating system, now named Internet Tablet OS 2006, features Google search and IM functionality built-in, including prominent display on the homepage and task bar. Nokia 770 owners can now chat with friends using text and voice from their Internet tablets. Nokia developed the IM and VoIP based on XMPP and Google’s libjingle extensions. The voice and text screens are branded with the Google Talk logo, including the beta designation. The Gizmo Project will…
Helio just launched, and every phone has a feed reader combined with unlimited data service. The reader is named “Helio on Top,” displaying new messages on the bottom third of your screen as they come in. Selecting the message displays the full article and you can also browse through three items or channels at a time. Helio on Top is graphically very similar to Motorola’s Screen3 reader. I like the small square images on the left of each alert. Given the tiny screen it’s important for these images to add context but also create a more comporting feeling that…
Nokia plans to release a podcast client for its latest smartphone lineup in early July. The application takes advantage of 3G cellular data networks and/or nearby WiFi hotspots to deliver new audio content to your phone right after it’s published. Users can search for podcasts but it’s not clear who is providing the directory and search content for Nokia. Tags: nokiaseries60…
Last night I attended a talk at the Computer History Museum about the early history of portable computing highlighting GRiD Computing as one of the pioneers in the space. Some interesting facts: GRiD was one of Silicon Valley’s first stealth companies (back in 1981). Most employees did not know what they were working on until after they were hired. Co-founder Dave Paulsen told a story about sourcing parts from all over the world to try and find already manufactured components that could work in a small form-factor PC. They found their electro-luminescent displays while flipping through a Japanese electronics…
In this week’s PodSession Om and I discuss voice and mobile technologies currently available for platform integration. When does it make sense for a web application to add voice or mobile capabilities? What are the costs and benefits? Are so called “web 2.0” companies just shinier versions of existing applications? Is anyone actually pushing the envelope and inventing entirely new industries? IP-based voice applications have already changed the way we think about communicating online. Mobile phones are now common tools of daily communication with relatively fast data connections with always-on access to the Web and focused data. Why are we…
Sony Ericsson announced a new lineup of mobile phones today with Google integrated as a blogging and search platform. Sony Ericsson’s new K800 and K790 phone models include a 3.2 megapixel camera with a xenon flash and the ability to upload photos and text to Google’s Blogger service. Google will become the default search engine on all Internet-enabled phones from Sony Ericsson. A Google search bar will appear as a part of the default browser but hopefully won’t take up much space on the small 2″ screen. Tags: sonyericsson…
Cingular just announced 3G data access throughout the entire San Francisco Bay Area and 14 other metropolitan areas across the country. The new network uses HSDPA technology that currently supports average connection speed of 400-700Kbps but can technically support up to 10Mbps. Cellular data networks allow you to be online in more places than you can find a public WiFi hotspot. You can even use it in your car or on the train to get some work done while commuting. These new cards support seamless handoff between cell towers and downgraded non-3G data connections. It’s nice to know that…
MetroFi announced today the deployment of wireless mesh networks at San Francisco’s Civic Center, Ferry Building and Portsmouth Square. I visited all three locations this evening and SF TechConnect, San Francisco’s wireless access grid, is definitely alive and broadcasting. Using the network supposedly currently requires visiting a splash screen and accepting a terms of service document, but I could not establish a connection to any of the nodes. (pictured above are the three network locations plotted on a Google Map. Please open this post in a web browser if you do not see a map) Macworld reports the system…
Om Malik and I sat down tonight to talk about mobile technologies, the latest developments in networks, and mobile phone hardware. We discussed the recent changes at Cingular, the benefits of each major mobile carrier, wireless data networks, MVNOs, and the phones we recommend for the holiday season as well as early 2006 corporate budgets. Om and Niall PodSessions are now available as a weekly feature on their own domain: ONPodSessions.com….