Who’s going?
I am.
And I’m trying to see how to get into the morning session.
Link: MobileMonday Global Summit 2006 — May 8–9, 2006 Helsinki, Finland.
The 2nd annual MobileMonday Global Summit brings together leaders from mobile business on May 8th and 9th, 2006. Around fifteen hundred participants from around the globe are expected to attend the conference held at the Wanha Satama Fair Center in Helsinki, Finland.
You. Mobile designer. Check this list of resources out over at Kelly’s.
Link: handheld style sheets and getting to zen | gotomobile.
Russell Beattie wants a mobile CSS Zen Garden. Dave Shea has a lot on his plate, but I think we should support the effort and help to make it happen!
Fabio Sergio doesn’t post often, but when he does, it’s a feast of ideas and insight into design. I just love it.
Recently he wrote a really interesting piece that starts with the disconnect exemplified by the Moto RAZR – sleek and nice on the outside, ugly on the inside. Basically, he called it the shell (the hardware) and ghost (the UI and OS) problem.
Link: f r e e g o r i f e r o | weblog.
For the end-user this means an object that whispers certain qualities when turned off, and shouts contradicting values when on and in use.
Shells. Ghosts.
He goes on to explore some solutions, stressing the need to make the mobile device more interactive and alive. He launches into a long discussion of active interfaces and widgets. Interesting stuff, but I have an allergy to that stuff for various reasons. And, it seems, so does Fabio Sergio.
He does make some interesting points about decoupling the UI from the hardware. Imagine using FOTA (Firmware over the air) to update your phone (an empty shell) with whatever UI you need for the task or feeling you have (your choice of ghosts).
Intriguing.
Fabio Sergio ends with one last thing: he laments that our desktop metaphor from the last 20-odd years has pervaded the way we design interfaces. He gives us a hopeful example of what could be. In the end, he cries out:
I dream of the day
when users will tend to their interfaces like to a collection of
beautiful, nimble, integrated, task-focused widgets.I dream of the day when our mobile networked tools will take full advantage of our playfully messy world-making capabilities.
I
dream of the day when our little screens will cease to be aquariums for
our data and truly become seamless conduits to our world of
relationships with people, with information, with things.
Yeah. I like that dream.
So, what’ll it take to make it true?
More of Jippo
Originally uploaded by schickr.
16:30 Thursday, 06 April, 2006 Image016
A Damp Vampire, I guess
Originally uploaded by schickr.
See the ocean in the background?
For all of you who want to make money selling mobile software, or want to run a mobile service, or need to get an idea of how many downloads you will get for your nifty little mobile app, keep these stats from Opera in mind:
Remember, Opera has been around for a while, is chummy with operators and manufacturers, and has reach. So, put that in perspective when you make your revenue projections.
Thanks Russ for catching this.
Among the many wikis we have in use here at Nokia, one of the big ones we use is Socialtext. And, since most of us are heavy phone users, it’s come up a few times why we couldn’t use Socialtext with our phones.
A long time ago, my personal wiki Guru, Janne Jalkanen (father of the open-source, JSPWiki), commented that wikis are ready made for mobile devices.* Indeed, since then, a few around here have been thinking of wiki things related to mobiles.
Well, Ross and gang at Socialtext have made some tweaks to Socialtext to create the Miki (trademarked by Socialtext, mind you). Miki is a wiki optimized for mobile devices. Ross pushes Blackberrys, since he’s pushing the enterprise edition of Socialtext. But, I tried it out and it works fine on my Series 60 phone (and I wouldn’t doubt on other phones as well).
Really, I don’t know what was changed and don’t think it was rocket science. I think the really cool thing, and probably the hardest thing to get over, is to recognize mobile devices as a wiki editing tool. And that’s good enough for me.
Way to go.
Link: Hey Miki! | Socialtext Enterprise Wiki.
Today we launched Miki — a wiki platform optimized for mobile devices. As wikis are becoming an essential communications tool for enterprises, so to is being able to access and edit anywhere. Another first from Socialtext, this is an achievement in simplicity.
*Russ makes similar comments here, adding some great advice.
Cringely is a long-time industry observer. I’ve been happily reading his insights for at least a decade.
In this article, he makes a character analysis of the leadership at Microsoft. I post it here as a warning to all of you ambitious types (including me).
I have always said that if the CEO is rotten, the whole company will be rotten – leadership begins from the top. I know of a few ill-tempered CEOs who, despite that bad temper, run their companies with a deep sense of integrity, leading to an amazingly good company. But, ill-tempered CEOs who throw chairs one day and then try to sink their competitors in one of various unethical ways will end up surrounding themselves with similar folks and poison the company.
I’ve met many nice folks from Microsoft, but I still would never work for them (not that they’re asking). They are just too rotten at the top.
Folks, be good, be ethical, be a mensch. The alternative is not worth it.
Link: PBS | I, Cringely . March 30, 2006 – Prisoner of Redmond.
Based purely on character (or lack of it), I confidently predict that Microsoft is going down. It should be interesting.
It’s about time. I think this is one MVNO that will make money – big growing market flush with money and the propensity for not changing. Hmm, I wonder how they will deal with the natural churn. 😛
Now, the only MVNO I am waiting for is the custom one, for small groups like churches, schools, and team.
Link: GreatCall MVNO for elderly – MobileTracker.
GreatCall is a new MVNO that will cater its services primarily to older users that want simple voice service. Several carriers are targeting young people, but this is the first to make seniors its focus. At launch the carrier will be selling the Samsung Jitterbug, a handset line designed for ease of use. Besides simple handsets, GreatCall will offer a 24-hour operator assistance service.
