With established technology providing accessibility for the visually impaired, some of the latest mobile technology interfaces although stylish and appealing, offer only limited access to the blind. Case in point, the iPhone, with its smooth surface and sales in excess of 4.7 million units during the 3rd quarter 2008, is not exactly user friendly for the blind. That soon may change with the invisual - a tactile silicon case for the Apple iPhone crafted by Portugal-based designer Bruno Fosi. Sponsor Fosi has created a prototype iPhone case that would help the blind make better use of the iPhone. The silicon...
UPDATE: So far we’ve raised £890. We need another £610 by the 10th to reach our target! Many thanks to last week’s donors, including David Salgado, Darren King, Aaron Homer Vergara, Chris Walters, ‘Lulucachoo’ and Sam Elkin for their generous donations. Also to the Vodafone ‘Live Guy’ team who added another fantastic prize to the pot: a Dell Mini Inspiron netbook with Vodafone 3G broadband. If you haven’t already, you can donate directly to the 2 good causes we’re supporting - NSPCC Childline and UN Foundation - via the MIR Christmas Presents page here… We’ve a huge pile of netbooks,...
We have covered all facets of mobile technology for years and the one undying fact, perhaps the only one, is that the more mobile the tech the more personal it is. Devices and computers that are meant to be highly portable will have strengths and compromises to achieve that high degree of mobility. These strengths and weaknesses are often the factors that determine if a given device is appropriate for a given user. One man's bane is another's killer feature, something determined by each user's needs. Whenever we see an innovative new device or genre of devices I get...
Scobleizer and our own Scott Merrill are both in Barcelona this week to see the latest from Nokia in the upcoming year. The promise, according to Scoble, is a device that will be a game changer for Nokia. Here’s what he heard: When we got here a Nokia executive met me and bragged that the Internet has no clue what they will announce this week. I asked “what about the touch screen cell phone that I’ve seen rumors about?” He said that no one had gotten it right yet. The announcements are on Wednesday morning (it’s early Monday morning...
VentureBeat is happy to announce our sponsorship of MobileMonday’s Mobile Peer Awards competition for 2009. The competition starts with 68 mobile startups — one for each of MobileMonday’s 68 chapters around the world. Out of these 68, a jury of industry experts, investors and entrepreneurs will select 20 finalists to present on stage in Barcelona on February 16th, during the 3GSM Mobile World Congress. MobileMonday started in 2000 as a monthly gathering of Finnish mobile pioneers who met to share ideas over drinks. Since then, the network has grown to 68 cities. On the first Monday of every month in...
The New York Times is launching Gadgetwise, a gadget blog that goes head to head with the likes of Gizmodo and Engadget (first and foremost), but so far in a less quirky and introvert style. Like you’d expect from the publisher, of course. The welcome post describes it like this: A new personal-tech blog, Gadgetwise is currently organized around four product categories (digital photography, home entertainment, mobile technology and personal computing), each with a dedicated contributor. If you want to know who’s writing, there’s an introduction to the five man team as well. The New York Times already publish the...
With the mobile internet attracting more and more attention and use, it's getting very difficult for online businesses to ignore the world of mobile. SMS (Short Message Service) is the technology behind text messaging and even though it's far from being the most cutting-edge mobile technology, it's often the first one companies will experiment with because it's the most widely-used. Over 200 billion SMS messages were sent in 2007....
So while we don't get too much into politics and general telecommunications news, the issue of "Network Neutrality" is highly relevant for all you WMExperts out there. And make no mistake about it: we here at WME strongly advocate the "dump pipe" model for mobile internet access. Net Neutrality, for those who aren't in the know, is basically what we have now: your ISP cannot dictate what computer, software, OS you use to access the Internet and they cannot arbitrarily control network speeds, giving primacy to their own content while shafting their competitors (although Bittorent has thrown a wrench...
As anyone who reads this blog is well aware, we’re a bit obsessed with battery life around here. And with good reason! One of the things anyone who uses mobile technology wants most is more time away from the plug and the outlet. After all, it is supposed to be mobile. Manufacturers are creeping toward 8 hours of actual battery life (slowly), but they are doing so with batteries that haven’t changed much for decades. And, let’s face it, there’s only so much hardware and software can do. What we really need are battery cells that last longer. Happily, that...
Enterprise mobile technology advances on all fronts, except one. Microsoft needs to make its strategy plain...
Sorry for the seemingly off-topic post, but when you think about it, my wedding this past weekend is actually very topical. Long-time readers know that my then-girlfriend and now-bride has everything to do with my writing on this site. All of my writing in fact, both on-line and in print. At the risk of rehashing a little and contrary to popular belief, I didn't wish to to be technology writer when growing up. I actually still haven't grown up, but I did find the path to what I do today largely due to Barb's support, guidance and planning. When...
This is a reminder that on December 9th and 10th, you can take part in an exclusive gathering of top leaders in the mobile media and investment communities. The Mobile Media Investor Conference (MMIC) program will happen in San Francisco and is your opportunity to network with mobile industry leaders and investors. Hear how to obtain financing, evaluate opportunities and risks, understand business models, establish M&A networks, develop exit strategies, and generate valuations — among other great topics relevant to the mobile industry. Speakers will be coming from several venture capitalist agencies, AdMob, AOL, Fox Interactive, and more. Read...
You love free stuff. We love free stuff (whenever we can). We love giving you our free stuff more. Viewers of the show will know we’ve handed out promotional and review devices to commenters for some time now, giving out some quite desirable kit recently. We’re not going to stop doing that in the new year, but until then I’d like to introduce… Mobile Industry Review Christmas Presents We’ve stashed away some of our best stuff and will be giving it away in a draw on the 10th December with the intention that it reaches you in time for Christmas...
