What I find interesting is how quickly this moblog 'caught fire'. How did the author get the word out? Was it just found by other bloggers or was there some concerted effort to publicise it?
Whatever the process it's incredible to see it already sitting on top of the Popdex chart. And it even has a respectable 12/12 ranking on Technorati. With all these distributed and sophisticated mechanisms in place moblogging really is the future of on-the-spot news reporting. Indeed the future is already here.
StereoTypes looks like a fun new MMS service. It takes your text messages and turns them into animated picture messages using one of six StereoTypes characters. You can choose which character delivers your message from Secret Agent, Dominatrix, Football Megastar, Super Model, Little Devil or Action Hero. Each character has a range of custom animations but apparently you can't tell which one will get attached to your message, so be careful what you type…who knows what might happen!
"Short on the heels of exposing its own SPV2 smartphone, a discovery is made that Orange also offers information concerning the upcoming Sony Ericsson P810 on its French web site."
Sadly though -
"... the new model will offer only incremental upgrades over the P800, and will not feature a largely different form factor."
However -
"Other features of the P810 model will according to Orange France be support for MMS, WAP 2.0, XHTML, J2ME integrated Bluetooth and an integrated digital camera. Also, it will feature tri-band GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz, as well as support for GPRS 4+1, and offer standby and talk times of respectively 400 and 13 hours."
Even though I went for a Nokia 3650 in the end it was a very tight call. There are so many things I love about the P800 that I can definitely see myself going for one at some stage in the future.
"Vodafone Germany has launched a weekly service that sends the MTV Top 10 videoclips as Video MMS messages to Vodafone subscribers every Monday, according to Moco News."
Hmmm, sounds like a neat idea in theory but what if the charts don't change that much from week to week, will you be paying for duplicate clips? And at 99eurocents per MMS how many people are going to stay subscribed after the novelty has worn off?
"With the assistance of some amazing technology that integrates with your existing Symbian Series 60 mobile phone, you can instantly locate the site of the meeting and have your Symbian handset direct you precisely to that spot... with time to spare. Meet WayFinder, the GPS map and route-planning technology that runs on your Symbian 60 mobile phone."
I'm currently studying up on GPS as it's the remaining vital ingredient in my pursuit of moblogging. It looks like a bluetooth enabled GPS unit that can communicate with my Nokia 3650 might be the way to go. I'll update you on my progress :)
"TELSTRA and Optus have resolved the technical difficulties that have prevented mobile customers sending multimedia messages (MMS) between the two networks for more than a year. Vodafone and Optus announced MMS compatibility last November, and similar arrangements between Telstra and Vodafone were put in place in February. But until now, customers of the two largest networks - Telstra and Optus - have not been able to send multimedia messages to each other. "
Dear oh dear, this sad situation seems to be duplicated all over the world. Ah well, at least it's coming together slowly and we can look forward to the day when sending an MMS cross network will be as boringly predictable as sending an SMS........ I hope.
MMS is similar in concept - though not underlying technology - to text SMS messages, and allows users to add pictures, sound and slide shows to their messages.
Telstra, Optus and Vodafone all launched MMS in services in July 2002, and handset makers have since been selling a variety of MMS handsets, some with in-built cameras for picture messaging.
Vodafone and Optus announced MMS compatibility last November, and similar arrangements between Telstra and Vodafone were put in place in February.
But until now, customers of the two largest networks - Telstra and Optus - have not been able to send multimedia messages to each other. "
"The [Orange] SPV [Smartphone] 2 looks about the same as its predecessor, the SPV E100, with the main differences that it is supposed to have integrated Bluetooth and a built-in digital camera."
Jeez, is that all? Isn't that old hat? Didn't the Nokia 7650 have all that about a year ago?
"Bodies, not electronics, are the final barrier to improved miniaturisation - the physical requirements of our fingers and the need for a good-sized display vie with our need for increased mobility.
Now holographic display and input devices look set to offer an alternative. The processing and storage device can be as small as the electronics will allow, leaving the display and input to be projected onto a surface or left floating in the air. The projection unit electronics are at present as big as the portable devices they supplement but their size will reduce with improved integration of the circuitry over time."
I look forward to the day but for the moment I'm quite happy with T9 on my circular keypad endowed Nokia 3650. Even though I'm a touch typist I find T9 perfectly adequate for most purposes.
"Firefighters in Fife, Scotland, are testing an emergency photo messaging scheme to help save more lives. Officers will now be able to send images of injuries to doctors by mobile phone before patients reach hospital.
Fourteen Fife Fire and Rescue Services officers have been given photo messaging mobile phones to trial the service.
Doctors at the Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline and at Kirkcaldy's Victoria Infirmary are also participating in the scheme.
Fife Firemaster Mike Bitcon said: "At A&E it is easy to see if an accident victim has a broken leg, but if we can send a picture of a casualty in the position we find them, then A&E can prepare for the possibility of chest injuries from a steering wheel and so on.
"A picture tells a thousand words and that is what this is about. It's the first time we will have used this technology but I'm hopeful it will save lives."
And isn't it terrific to see expsoure being give to one of the countless positive uses to which this great technology can be put, instead of the usual scare mongering rubbish.
According to a press release from Vodafone Sweden:
'A growing number of mobile phone users are keen to use pictures to communicate and to get mobile information in colour. Vodafone Sweden's (Other OTC:VODPF) (NYSE:VOD) sales list for July has the two Vodafone live mobiles: the Sony Ericsson T610 and the Sharp GX10I, among its three top-selling phones. In fact, eight of the ten mobile phones on the list now offer their users colour screens'
'"We can safely state that the considerable interest shown in the Sony Ericsson T610 is continuing, and that the Sharp GX10i has also climbed high up on the list. One of the main attractions of the Sharp GX10i is that customers can download Java games from the Vodafone live portal," says Tommy Sundstrom, Vice President of Vodafone Sweden and in charge of Vodafone's retail chain in Sweden.'
Jim Hughes lashes out at Vodafone UK in a post from today's Mobitopia.com and I'm sure it's nothing to do with yesterday's record temperatures in Great Britain ;)
"The Daily News jumps on the moblogging band wagon with a look at various camera phones and the culture being built around them. Of course they mention how last week a NJ teen foiled a kidnapping attempt by taking a picture of his would-be kidnapper with his camera phone. Even model Erin O'Connor has gotten into the moblogging spirit, posting photographs from her fashion shows on a fashion website, ShowStudio.com."
"Markus Mertama presents Edge3D. Ege3D is a 3D graphics engine for Symbian OS developers. It is fully UI independent, thus Ege3D can be used in devices regardless if they are smartphones, communicators or other devices. Features:
* triangle based 3D objects
* objects may be processed and created runtime
* simple ASCII file format
* affine texture mapping
* simple API
* realtime rendering
* small memory footprint."
