Coming to you live from CTIA…

By RJ Bardsley

This week I’ll be blogging from CTIA, the U.S. mobile industry’s leading conference. This show is particularly exciting from a media perspective, because there’s always a ton of very exciting product and technology news breaking.

OK – let’s get things started off with a little news from the big boys – specifically Microsoft. Microsoft today unveiled the long awaited Windows Mobile 6.1, the first major update release for the Windows Mobile 6 wave. Major improvements include a variety of new features and platform enhancements to increase productivity, improve the web surfing experience, and make it just plain easier to get up and running on Windows Mobile devices. Here are a few of my personal favorites:

A New Place to Call Home….Home Screen, that is…

With the release of Windows Mobile 6.1 comes a new plug-in based home screen layout. Microsoft is calling this user interface a Sliding Panel. Plug-ins will include clock, e-mail, calendar items, notifications (such as voicemail, missed calls, text messages), and Windows Live. If you’re a Windows Mobile 6.1 user you’ll also have the option to add in music and photos to that list. Here’s a sneak peek at the new homescreen courtesy of pocketnow.com.

Threaded SMS

This might be arguably the most productivity enhancing element of 6.1. According to Microsoft, Threaded SMS enables messages between a user and a contact to be grouped into a thread for that contact. This enables phone users to view an inline thread of conversation while typing a new message. No more flipping back and forth between screens, and no more forgetting what you were responding to mid-text.

Zoom With a View

OK – full disclosure here. Zumobi is one of my clients, and one of my favorite mobile technologies to come out over the past year. So, I’m a little partial to the whole idea of a zooming user interface. That said, it looks like Microsoft has done an admirable job at bringing basic zooming functionality to its mobile browser.

Users can now get a “zoom” view while browsing Web pages in Internet Explorer Mobile, letting them zoom into particular parts of a Web page to improve readability and overall usability. The zoom feature offers five viewing sizes—largest, larger, default, smaller, and smallest. These are available in all three views— desktop, fit to screen, and one column.

More Goodies

There are a host of additional new features on Windows Mobile 6.1, including improved time settings, alarms, cut & paste functionality, auto complete for email, multi-select options, an improved task manager that lets users actively manage memory allotment, improved connectivity to open wi-fi networks, and a nifty Getting Started Center that helps first time users make the most of their devices. Bottom line – more cool, helpful stuff to make life on the road with a Windows Mobile device a lot better.

Add comment April 1st, 2008

Al Gore Looks To Americans For Some ‘Green’ Help

By Ben

“We didn’t wait for someone else to storm the beaches of Normandy. We didn’t wait for someone else to guarantee civil rights, or put a man on the moon, and we can’t wait for someone else to solve the global climate crisis. We need to act, and we need to act now.”

These are some of the words of Al Gore’s new campaign video called We Can Solve The Climate Crisis. It’s aimed at Americans, and encouraged them to take the lead in solving global warming.

This doesn’t take anything away from Gore’s view that federal regulations need to change in order to help spur change. Gore told the Washington Post, “This climate crisis is so interwoven with habits and patterns that are so entrenched, the elected officials in both parties are going to be timid about enacting the bold changes that are needed until there is a change in the public’s sense of urgency in addressing this crisis. I’ve tried everything else I know to try. The way to solve this crisis is to change the way the public thinks about it.”

It will be interesting to see how this method turns out. For large scale change, the government and large businesses need to be on board. Using re-usable bags in grocery stores is a great thing for people to do – but this alone is not going to have a strong enough affect to change our environmental problems. Could Gore’s initiative help create additional public pressure on the government to finally address this issue head on?

Gore said that “The simple algorithm is this: It’s important to change the light bulbs, but it’s much more important to change the laws. The options available to civilization worldwide to avert this terribly destructive pattern are beginning to slip away from us. The path for recovery runs right through Washington, D.C.”

Spread the word.

Add comment April 1st, 2008