It didn’t sound like a very techie story when it first made the news last week in the United States: bees are disappearing throughout the country, seemingly abandoning their colonies. OK, this might not seem like such a big deal either, but keep in mind that most of the world’s crops depend on pollination by bees… and this becomes a more serious issue. Albert Einstein only once said that if bees disappeared, “man would have only four years of life left.”
Now scientists claim that the cause be radiation from handsets. The theory is that the radiation given off by the mobile phones and our other beloved gadgets could possibly be interfering with the bees’ navigation systems, preventing the works from finding their way back to their hives. One recent study even found that bees refused to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Maybe the bees are also annoyed by rude people who endlessly chat on their phones.
Are mobile phones wiping out our bees? [The Independent]
TechCrunch just announced the release of GrandCentral Mobile. GrandCentral helps you manage all of your phones from one number by letting you forward calls, create personalized caller greetings, screen calls live, record your calls, and manage your voice mail from a single account. GrandCentral mobile, now lets you do that on the go.
The new version is not a downloaded application, but works through your WAP browser. From within the mobile optimized site, you can manage your call notifications, call forwarding, contact list, place a call, and visually manage your voice mail (a really useful feature coming out on the iPhone and supported by GotVoice). You will also be able to set your cell phone’s voice mail to forward calls to your GrandCentral phone number.
There are two types of people in this world: people who use Wordpress and people who don’t. If you’re in the first group, you’re in luck. Andy Moore has released an updated Wordpress Mobile plugin that allows readers to visit your site on a mobile phone or device with reduced browser capabilities.
The plugin is quite well-constructed and immediately senses an incoming mobile phone browser and acts accordingly. After installing it onto CrunchGear, I was able to browse the site on an emulated Symbian device. Best of all, you can add AdMob ads into the site automatically. Andy even takes a cut for himself, thereby saving us all the travails of sending him a check for such great programming work.
Refactoring a web page for mobile browsing is hard. This plugin makes it amazingly easy.
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All seven of Helio’s EV-DO/WiFi hybrid PCMCIA card users are SOL. That’s a lot of acronyms that mean users of the wireless data cards that seamlessly switch from Helio’s high-speed data network to WiFi hotspots will have their service discontinued on May 8.
We’re sad to see this go, as it was one of the more innovative plans Helio, our favorite MVNO, has come up with. While being a virtual network is hard, it gave Helio a distinction, which is now gone.
Those paid through May 7 are welcome to keep their cards, those paid from the 8th and forward will be issued refunds or credits. Sorry, kids. I hate bringing you the bad news.
Helio to Shut Down Hybrid [PhoneScoop]
Tellme Networks announced at the Web 2.0 Expo today that it will be adding three new ways to access its information service that was launched back in January. The service functions similar to to 411, but users can request information through voice, SMS, or Mobile Web. The announcement comes just a week after Google announced its free 411 service, Goog-411.
To use the service through voice, simply call 1.800.555.TELL and say “Business Search” to find a business listing or search for a particular category, such as “flower shops,” from any phone.SMS and Mobile Web are equally easy. Sending a text message to TELLM with the details of the business you’re looking for. The service will respond with detail information that includes a link to a map. And if you don’t want to deplete your SMS allotment, a quick visit to www.tellme.com should produce similar results.
TechCrunch recently reported that Microsoft had acquired Tellme Networks, Inc. Tellme claims responsibility for answering nearly 80-percent of the automated 411 calls in the States. The acquisition goes into effect on April 30.
Mobio, which we’ve covered previously, is launching the public beta of its mobile application platform today. They’re pitching themselves as a “lifestyle platform” to consumers, where you can access all kinds of data on the go, such as restaurants, weather, and flight schedules. However, to developers, Mobio is a mashup platform, enabling developers to weave together all kinds of information into a single application.
The Mobio platform is not open to all developers yet, but they have already developed 50 of their own free applications. One example is their movie time search engine, where you can find the closest movie theater, map directions to it, and buy your tickets from within your phone. See some demos here.
The platform is a fairly light J2ME application, 220kb, when compared with beefier mobile applications from Yahoo, 770kb, and works on some non-smartphones like the Razor (here’s a full list of supported phones). Blackberry support coming soon. Mobio applications will push most of processing weight on to Mobio’s servers, requiring only tiny (sometimes 2kb) downloads to add new applications. The installation of these applications will be handled by Mobio. Users will be able to manage these Mobio applications on a web account.
Mobio is backed by $9 million from InterWest Partners and Storm Ventures. They recently did a deal with 9 Indian carriers, which gave some of their applications placement on about 70% of Indian phones. In the U.S, Mobio is off deck. Getting on deck position can sometimes cost upwards of $1 million.
MobileCrunch has covered several other mobile content platforms such as Bluepulse, Widset, and ZenZui. Blupulse is a mobile social networking application that works on nearly any phone, and which we raved about previously. Widset is a disappointing RSS reader from Nokia and ZenZui is a Microsoft-backed attempt to widgetize webpages to ease web navigation.
Ed Colligan, in his Investor Day keynote today, announced Palm is releasing a new operating system later this year. As you can see by the nifty chart everyone is publishing (above), Palm is not moving toward windows, but turning on its blinker and making a right lane merge with Linux. More technically speaking, it will “combine aspects of Palm OS Garnet and a Linux core” as Palm Info Center writes. The shift was seen as a necessary move to provide a better user experience with a phone that can support instant booting, instant application switching, and better battery life at a lower cost. The new setup will also run Opera as the browser of choice. Despite the announcement, Palm will continue to also support Windows Mobile phones.
Sam James has Colligan’s full presentation.
We know WiMax as the 4G standard that will eventually supplant the current 3G wireless technologies. It’s cheap, it’s fast, and it’s being deployed now. While faster download speeds are good for you, the user, it’s the music labels and content providers who have the drool on their collective chin.
The concept that made the Internet so popular a decade ago was the idea of content on-demand. If you want to read something, you can, instantly. With the rise of home broadband penetration, that ethos has spread to multimedia. Missed last week’s episode of Lost? No problem, go to ABC and watch it whenever you’d like. The thing is, we’re becoming more and more mobile (thus this site), and the idea of putting high-bandwidth content in the palm of users hands (for a price) is a moneymaker all around.
Don’t take our word for it, though. Check out the nice summary Reuters has put together, including some general background on WiMax for some of our not-so-techy readers. There are many good points raised in the article, but the gist is this: more bandwidth for less money means more beefy, mobile downloads.
New WiMAX broadband technology a boon for labels [Reuters, via Gizmodo]
Yahoo just announced the release of the new SanDisk Sansa Connect WiFi media player, which comes preloaded with Yahoo Music. The device costs $250, comes with 4 GB of memory and a 2.2 inch screen. It supports Yahoo’s personalized radio, sharing playlist suggestions over Yahoo messenger, Flickr photos, and unlimited downloads on Yahoo Music for $12/month.
Readers interested in Mobile Wifi Services should also check out the new internet startup Slacker, which plans to offer a Pandora-like service on the web and on their own WiFi enabled mobile device. The basic web service is free, but ad supported and will only allow listeners to skip 6 songs per hour. A $7.50/month subscription fee would remove these restrictions. The WiFi device will be anywhere from $150 to $300 depending on storage capacity.
Then new SanDisk player joins a host of other mobile music solutions, most notably the iPod and Zune. However, consumers have some other options coming out of the mobile space. Services like PartyStrands, Avvenu, and Oboe are giving users access to their music libraries right on their mobile phones. Oboe is a service from MP3Tunes that allows users to upload their music libraries to an online “locker” and replay them on any desktop computer or a select number of phones. Avvenu also follows the same online “locker” approach, but also supports other file types. With Avvenu, users can replay their songs on any phone equipped with Windows Mobile 5.0. PartyStrands takes a slightly different approach, porting their PartyStrands music recommendation and playlist management service to Symbian and Windows mobile devices.
Via TechCrunch
As TechCrunch reported, Google just launched a free 411 product into Google labs. The new service can be reached at 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone. Unlike Free411, which already has over 6% market share, it is not currently ad supported. However, as the platform evolves, a pairing with Google’s on demand radio ad service seems sensible.
Google’s whole 411 service is automated. When trying it out, the voice recognition worked spot on, but TechCrunch had a different experience. The process of finding a business listing leads you through a funnel that asks for a city and state, business name or category, and street intersection or zip (optional). The service then lists off the top 8 results for the search. At any point you can request a listing by saying or typing the number. The system then connects you to the business unless you ask for more details (address and number), which it will repeat over the phone or send via SMS at your request.
Aside from Jingle, ATT is also experimenting with a 411 service, and Microsoft recently purchased TellMe, which not only answers 411 requests over the phone, but maps them along with driving directions and details on a companion mobile application. Here’s our previous coverage of TellMe.
Now that people are finally accessing mobile content on their phones, it’s good that someone is putting metrics in place to judge how good that content is. Mobiode by Wirenode is a survey tool for mobile phones. Using the built-in WAP or WHML browsers on today’s handsets, site operators can ask user’s opinions on any range of topics, and get the results fast. In theory, it’s not much different than Web surveys that have been around for over a decade, but in practice, it’s really cool.
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Those of you familiar to the old days of IRC might recall infobots, handy little scripts that live in IRC channels and spout out factoids when they see a certain trigger. For example, my favorite infobot on Slashnet is Zuul. If you ask Zuul about me, he’ll respond with, “Matt Hickey is the brain that underpins Web,” an obvious reference to my genius.
But Zuul doesn’t just learn through osmosis, he must be taught, and he learns via simple is/is not statements. Somebody at some point said that I am that brain, and Zuul learned it.
That’s the idea behind MyGADs, more or less, though in a far more Mobile 2.0 way.
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The Wall Street Journal reported Colorado-based aeronautical communications company, AirCell, will be able to bring WiFi access to airplanes soon. The service will be carried over the frequency once used for air-phone service, which the company bought last year for $31.3 million at FCC auction. The connection will provide internet bandwidth equivalent to WiFi on the ground for devices including laptops and cell phones for no more than $10 a day, but will block VOIP services like Skype.
Airlines have tried this before. Boeing launched their own in-flight internet service, Connexion, only to have it go belly up last year. Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch had tried out the service in July 2005 during a flight to Europe.
Connexion was different from what AirCell has planned. It cost $30 for transcontinental service, allowed VOIP, and tranmitted data via satellite. AirCell is taking a terrestrial approach, transmitting data from a plane to a collection of 80 towers (expanding to 100).
AirCell’s required 100 pounds of electronics can be installed overnight for about $100,000. Airlines will recoup costs through revenue sharing with AirCell.
Are you down and out? Are you on the street? Does evening fall so hard that you’d like Paul Simon to comfort you? Fear not, brave soul. Moka has some content for you. Moka is an odd SMS service that condenses and sends the key thoughts from many popular self-help books (Louise Hay’s “You Can Heal Your Life,” Wayne Dyers “Inspiration,” God’s “The Bible”) and sends them to your phone.
For about $8 per book you get hundreds of quotes sent to your phone daily. You can browse the books, sign up, and wait patiently for the wisdom of the ages to wing its way to your mobile for later consumption.
Say what you will about this fast paced world of ours — it’s so good to see a site focusing on a little “soul time,” albeit at 160 characters per dose.
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Samsung has announced today that they will be bundling VoiceIndigo’s advertising supported Podcasting service with their phones. The first model to be shipped with the service will be the dual Samsung’s faced mp3 player/phone, UpStage.
VoiceIndigo service is a mobile application that downloads podcasts to your phone so you can listen to the whole thing, whether offline or online. The service can also automatically sync a channel of related content to your mobile phone. The application is currently supported on the Symbian platform with a WAP web client as well.
When a phone call comes in while VoiceIndigo Mobile is playing back your podcasts, you will see the Caller ID on your phone’s screen. If you choose to take the call, audio playback stops automatically. Depending on your phone, the podcast can resume after you hang up as well. VoiceIndigo can also be used as a desktop service, where you can download podcasts by URL or off iTunes.
There are a considerable amount of mobile podcasting services out there right now. Podcasting over a mobile phone seems like an attractive idea because of the number of mobile phones out there compared to mp3 players, but distribution and complicated mobile platforms make distribution a challenge.
VoiceIndigo’s distribution deal with Samsung puts it in a stronger position than most. Mobilecast is a similar service who also has several relationships with carriers such as Alltel and 3. However, they charge $3.99 per month for the service. VoiceIndigo is ad supported.
Two other services, Podlinez and Fonopods circumvent distribution and compatibility issues by delivering podcasts right over the phone.
Palm and Digg announced today any agreement that would deliver Digg River to Treos everywhere. Treo owners need only launch their Blazer Web browser and the service will be available to them as a content item.
Digg River is a mobile version of the popular Digg service that is scaled for mobile use. It delivers to mobile devices the same ranking and prioritizing of content that is available on Digg.
Microsoft announced recently that, like Yahoo and Google, it would be throwing itself into the mobile arena more fully with the release of its Deepfish service. The service aims to better replicate actual computing.
Although it is currently only available in private beta, it is expected to be available for WinMo users in the near future.
Deepfish
TechCrunch just posted about a new mobile startup called Sonopia. Sonopia lets you create you own mobile social network on top of Verizon’s phone service for fun and profit. Anyone can create a network (called Sonopia) in a couple of minutes. The idea is that organizations will build there own branded networks, attract subscribers, and provide exclusive content relevant to their users (news, blogs). A percentage of each member’s monthly mobile bill goes directly to the organization.
Subscribers can choose from a few different phones and calling plans along with additional MMS and WAP packages. For promotional purposes, networks can co-brand their own website to get people to sign up.
No one has to sign up for a mobile plan to be a part of a Sonopia. Instead, they can sign up for just the web component, where you can keep track of the news and friends within your network. However, it all seems pretty pointless to use this service if the majority of your users aren’t using the main feature of the service, the mobile plan.
There are plenty of well financed MVNOs currently slugging it out for you attention: Helio ($440 million), Amp’d ($260 million), and Boost. Helio, with its large marketing push this quarter, is considering it a triumph to be closing in on 100,000 users. Mobile is in the midst of ever dwindling margins, relying on large networks to bring in the serious cash. If the big guys are having trouble building revenue on top of large subscriber numbers, Sonopia’s decentralized approach seems to give too little an incentive for smaller organizations and subscribers to invest time and money in switching to a new network.
