Born to be Wireless

Could the next Nokia phone you buy be joystick enabled?

Inventors John Patrick Wong and Jeff Philip Crampton of Vancouver have just patented a Nokia design that would come with a trackball and a detachable stylus; allowing the stylus when plugged to become a fully functional video gaming joystick. Coupled with orientation sensors that can sense velocity and change of direction that Nokia has also recently patented, there’s no doubt that they can get this technology to work, but my question is how user friendly is it?

If you look closely at the design, the length of the joystick is longer than the length of the LCD screen, meaning that when trying to play, all you’re going to see is your fingers on the joystick blocking the screen.

Labels: games, joystick, nokia, patent

From March 12th to 14th, INdT (Nokia Technology Institute) promotes BOSSA, a small but focused conference to discuss and find ways to improve the many areas of Open Source Software targeting mobile systems and embedded devices. The venue is Hotel Armação, a resort in Porto de Galinhas - Recife, Brazil.

Labels: Bossa, Brazil, Conference, Linux, mobile

Labels: Financial, InfoSpace, twistbox

Read the changelog on the Opera Mini team blog, but some of the more noticeable additions include better RSS feed management and new support for the T-Mobile Dash and the Motorola i275, i850, i860, i870 (iDEN). Installing Opera Mini on these iDEN phones can be a bit tricky; the Opera Mini team will post instructions on their blog soon.

The only new feature with this release is the ability to better manage the RSS feeds on your phone. Other than that it’s all bug fixes.

Additional links:
Download Opera Mini
Opera Mini 3.1 changelog
Opera Mini forums

Labels: 3.1, Mini, Opera

Labels: EA, iphone, mobile

• Search reinvented for mobile consumers - oneSearch recognizes the intent of a search term and presents relevant content - not just a list of web links to PC sites - on the results page. Results are grouped by subject making it easy to read through and drill down to get more details.
• Be local, no matter where you are - The Local & Maps widget gives consumers quick access to comprehensive local directory information for businesses across the US, enhanced with ratings and reviews from the millions-strong Yahoo! community. Interactive maps feature the ability to directly search for local businesses, get driving directions and real time traffic updates.
• Rich, highly personalizable content from millions of sources - Current headlines and a breaking news ticker in the News, Sports, Entertainment, Weather and Finance widgets keep consumers connected to the information that matters to them. Consumers can customize to receive content from the millions of sources on the Web that publish in RSS.
• Photo sharing keeps consumers connected to their community - The Flickr(TM) widget integrates one of the Web's most innovative and prolific photo-sharing communities, making it easy for consumers to upload(1) and manage images from their camera phone. Consumers can also easily share photos, view their friends' pictures and browse or search the millions of images.
• Streamlined e-mail keeps consumers in sync - The E-mail widget allows consumers to quickly respond to, delete or compose new messages or view attachments with a single click - all automatically synchronized with their Yahoo! Mail account in real time.

Labels: Go, mobile, N93, Yahoo

The exclusive deal will help Vodafone, Europe's biggest mobile operator, boost mobile usage and with it data revenues, and also helps MySpace launch itself in the European mobile market.

MySpace, bought by media giant News Corp for $580 million in 2005, has been looking to boost its global network of users via international expansion, offering mobile and video-related content.

Vodafone, which plans to initially roll out the service in the UK in the first half of 2007, said it would pre-load MySpace mobile software on select handsets in the future, and also make it available for download from its Vodafone live! portal.

MySpace, which lets members look up friends' blogs and songs posted by their favorite artists, launched in the UK last year and has been looking to spread its wings in Europe. Last month it launched its French website and it has a beta site in Germany.

Labels: MoSoSo, MySpace, Vodafone

Labels: Java ME, Sun, WTK 2.5

As of now, they’ve rolled out Orkut SMS only for Brazilian users who use Claro Mobile Service. In the near future they’ll expand it to other provider and countries around the globe. You’ll notice a message while you sign into your account when this feature becomes available to you.

Labels: orkut, sms

Labels: J2ME, MIDP 3.0

Labels: games, mobile, nokia, research

Mobile content publisher Twistbox Entertainment announced its acquisition of all assets related to beleaguered mobile media firm InfoSpace's Atlas Mobile gaming studio. Financial terms were not disclosed. Known for its Play for Prizes solution enabling multiplayer tournaments, loyalty campaigns, in-game advertising and prize fulfillment, the Atlas studio and its properties will be fully integrated into the Twistbox Games platform. In conjunction with the announcement, Twistbox also introduced three new games: "SuperSlyder for Prizes," "Card Player Poker for Prizes" and the intriguingly-titled "Take Yer Meds for Prizes."

For more on the Atlas acquisition:
- read this release

Labels: acquisition, games, mobile