March 17, 2008
A slew of announcements lately, all related to mobile browsing…
Nokia, the 8 billion pound gorilla of the mobile world, will be adding Silverlight to their S60 for Symbian OS platform and Series 40 devices and Internet tablets, which translates to hundreds of millions of devices.
Microsoft, not to be outdone, committed to Silverlight for their very own Windows Mobile platform a scant 2 weeks later. Will wonders never cease? Release target for Silverlight 1.0 for Windows Mobile is Q2 2008. Which prolly means it will actually show up on carrier devices in 2010, if we’re lucky.
Helio, the favorite mobile carrier of Scientologists everywhere, has greenlighted the availability of the amazing Opera Mini on their Ocean device, finally reading the writing on the wall and giving their brainwashed loyal customers an official choice that previously required folks to hack their Oceans. Hey Apple…are you paying attention?
And in a looooooooooong overdue move, Microsoft has licensed Adobe’s Flash Lite and Reader LE for direct distribution to Windows Mobile licensees AKA OEMs and carriers. Which means that you are still beholden to those self-same OEMs/carriers to include Adobe’s sweet sweet candy in their builds, but it does remove one previously large-looming barrier to entry, that of individual OEMs/carriers having to execute their own agreement with Adobe.
The takeaway from these tidbits of news?
Mobile browsing is hot hot hot. If it’s not on your radar, it should be.
The REAL takeaway from all of this?
Notice how Blackberry, which continues to have the absolutely WORST mobile browsing experience in the industry, is conspicuously absent?
|| posted by chris under business, media, migration, mobility, rx || comments (3) ||
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March 17, 2008
Seen a while back in some compelling video demos, Zumobi is now available for Windows Mobile.
You can snag Zumobi from Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Owner’s Circle, after going through a tiny bit of registration-marole.
If you get it from WMOC, you get a limited-edition, exclusive On10 tile, suitable for all your edgy and not-so-edgy Microsoft video needs.
For an OTA install, go here.
For an Activesync/WMDC install, go here.
|| posted by chris under media, mobility || comments (0) ||
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March 15, 2008
I had planned a couple of posts about an amazing trip I enjoyed yesterday. About how being able to spend time on a school field trip with one of my kids all day yesterday has to be the absolute best of the seriously kickass benefits I reap as an entrepeneur.
Thing is…
The trip yesterday? We visited the World of Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium. In downtown Atlanta.
At around 10a EST yesterday, I was pointing out landmarks like the CNN Center, Philips Arena, and the Georgia Dome for the first time to my child.
I was able to show where Running Antelope and I had eaten lunch at the Sundial, the rotating restaurant atop the Westin, a while back.
12 hours later, that whole area was torn up by a tornado…the first ever to hit downtown Atlanta.
Luckily, our group was leaving Atlanta by 7p. Very luckily, as Friday rush hour out of Atlanta was not only uneventful, but surprisingly quick. Which meant we were well out of harm’s way. Luckily.
But that doesn’t change the fact that nobody down there in downtown expected it, least of all our group.
We dodged one right there. Lucky, lucky us.
|| posted by chris under epiphany, travel || comments (1) ||
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March 13, 2008
Sometimes it’s the only thing.
Even if the 2 digicam models I’m waiting on ended up coming in neck-and-neck, the Panasonic would still have an edge over the Canon, at least as far as I’m concerned.
Why?
The Panasonic plasma I won last year, which includes integration features like direct playback from SDHC cards used in Panasonic’s digicams.
All other things being equal, or close enough for government work, it’s the completeness of the solution that tips it, 9 times out of 10.
Again…why?
Because I don’t want to spend all my time jerry-rigging some weird setup to see pics we’ve taken. And more importantly, so Running Antelope doesn’t have to try to do the same jerry-rigging.
People like simple. People like to get things done. And people will pay for that.
|| posted by chris under hardware, media, rx || comments (0) ||
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March 13, 2008
My trusty Olympus digicam finally and truly bit the dust a couple of months ago. 5 years before it kicked the bucket. Not too shabby, considering the abuse it’s taken.
So I’m in the market for a new camera.
But I’m also in the market for a new video camera too. And I want them to be one and the same device.
I have several technical criteria, which I won’t go into here. More importantly, I have some dealbreaking ergo-teria, which means the new device must be…
- All-in-one
- High Definition
- Tapeless
- Compact size
- 10x zoom (minimum)
Lucky me, I think I’ve found two candidates that fit the bill…almost.
The Canon TX1 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 are both very very close, but fall just short of the mark in a couple of key areas.
The Panasonic’s successor, the DMC-TZ5, arrives later this month, and answers every shortcoming of the TZ3. The Canon TX1 hasn’t had a followup model announced yet.
Not only that, but the TZ5 will probably come in for $150 less than the probable TX2, assuming they both follow the general price points of the TZ3 and TX1.
I just wish the TZ5 was available now. I could use it tomorrow, and next week. In a big big huge big way.
|| posted by chris under beta, hardware, media || comments (1) ||
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