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 Mobile WebUS Postal Service Mobile Friendly Site LaunchedI learned from LifeHacker that... USPS Mobile Tracks Packages from Your Cellphone USPS' (United State Postal Service) mobile friendly website is found at... The timing of gaining this knowledge was timely for me personally. I learned that a package mailed to me with tracking information is listed as delivered although I did not receive it. Thanks USPS! Sheesh... And, oh yeah, as LifeHacker notes, whoever designed the mobile page for USPS didn't fit it quite correctly for mobile devices. Millions of WordPress.com Hosted Blogs Are Now Mobile Friendly by Default
A frequent topic of mine this time last year was "mobile friendly websites". These were generally mainstream well-known websites that had recently started detecting mobile device browsers and provided a version of their site that rendered better on mobile devices. I rarely write about this topic now because most of the sites I frequent either have provided a mobile friendly view for months or have provided a custom iPhone app for its mobile face. My personal blogs are not exactly well-known sites. But, I've been annoyed that the WordPress plugin I had used for a year or two stopped working some months ago. While reading this item in ReadWriteWeb... Blogs on the Go: WordPress.com Goes Mobile I read that blogs hosted directly on WordPress.com now have a mobile theme turned on by default. My personal blogs aren't hosted on WordPress.com, but the article mentioned a plug-in I had not heard of previous: WPTouch. I installed it on my self-hosted WordPress blog and you can see the result in the screenshot above. So, a guy who writes about mobile technology all the time finally has a personal blog that is mobile friendly again. New Google Mobile Search Options Only Work with Android, iPhone, webOS-Everyone Else Should Head to Bing Mobile
Google continues to enhance the mobile web experience... Introducing Search Options for mobile This search options enhancement, however, is limited to the iPhone, Android smartphones, and the Palm Pre (webOS). Symbian S60, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile smartphones and their users are left out in the cold. You can see the kinds of search options available on an iPhone or iPod touch in the left screenshot above. Running the same search on a Windows Mobile smartphone (an HTC TyTn in this case) results in an option-less search result. Google's search options let you filter searches by categories (e.g., only discussion forums) or time and can be quite handy to narrow search results. However, unless you have one of the favored mobile platforms, you won't have access to this new feature. Users of the unfavored platforms (Windows Mobile, S60, BlackBerry) might want to try the Bing mobile search site at... It doesn't have Google's search options feature. However, Bing does autocategorize search results into categories such as web, images, news, and products. Adobe Set to Announce Flash for Every Major Phone Platform Except the iPhone (Keep it off the iPhone, please!)Way back in June, I wrote... Flash 10 Coming to Mobile Phones in October: Slow Heavy Mobile Flash Ads to Follow? It looks like Adobe is close to making good on their promise. According to paidContent.org... Adobe Extends Full Flash To Just About Every Phone But The iPhone paidContent reports that Adobe will announce its availability for Windows Mobile and Palm webOS later this year with public betas for Google Android and Symbian OS early in 2010. I'm not looking forward to seeing heavy (lots of bits) slow Flash based mobile websites appear anytime soon. And, I'm guessing that AT&T Wireless' network managers live in fear of Adobe Flash web pages further saturating a network already overwhelmed by iPhone data traffic. I would gladly trade never having Flash for the iPhone if AT&T would provide 3G tethering :-) Getjar Helps Sites Lead You to the Right App Download for Your Mobile Device
iPhone users don't know how lucky they are to have had a single App Store to turn to in their quest for apps. Users of other mobile phone platforms have spent years wandering the web and getting pointers from friends on how to find an app that might do something interesting for them. In the rare case when a site (usually a content rich one) actually has an app for that site (say Facebook or Skype), it is usually impossible to navigate the non-mobile friendly site to find the correct download for your specific phone. Getjar has a solution for this problem... Help users get the right app with App Download Pages Their App Download Page service provides a way for web developers to identify a mobile device and provide the correct app to download and install. Facebook is the first to use this service. And, as you can see in the screenshot above, after logging in to Facebook, it correctly identified my HTC TyTn (a Windows Mobile smartphone) and provied a link to download the appropriate installer. Good job, Getjar! Via: Facebook Users Download 1 Million Mobile Apps A WeekâWith The Help Of GetJar Google Local Search for Mobile Nearly Eliminates the Need to Type Search Terms
Hyper-local is the new search goal: What's around me? The enhancement to Google's Local Search for Mobile (U.S. & China only right now) lets you mark important items ("star" it) to mark it for future use. Introducing the new Local Search for Mobile Local Search also provides a large set of categories and sub-categories for things around you to let you browse around the local area without typing anything. You can see part of the top level of categories in the screenshot above. I'm very impressed by what I've seen so far of this Local Search enhancement. It definitely gets a mobile thumbs up of approval (and thanks) from me.
Wunderground (Weather Underground) Has Two Mobile Websites: The Plain One is More Interesting
We've got a bit of rain and wind heading to my part of the world (remnants of a fizzled hurricane). There's certainly no shortage of weather info for the iPhone. But, I wanted more information than three free (and very good I should add) apps I have installed: AccuWeather, WeatherBug and The Weather Channel. I've been looking at the Wunderground.com (Weather Underground) site recently because of their easy to find detailed information and maps. Wunderground does not have an iPhone weather app. But, they had a mobile friendly website when I checked them out during last year's hurricane season. So, I took a look to see what they have in the way of mobile friendly information this year and found they have two mobile friendly sites. ...is formatted specifically for the iPhone and iPod touch. It renders reasonably fast and provides a lot of basic weather inforamtion on a single page. It basically looks nice and provides what 90% of people want to read 90% of the time. But, I'm in the 10% group that wants a bit more. Surprisingly, I found a lot more at Wunderground's generic mobile friendly site found at...
This generic mobile site provided what seems like a lot more inforamtion and what looks like near complete access to charts and graphs from the conventional website. YouTube.com Now Mobile Browser FriendlyAccording to the YouTube blog, YouTube just became more mobile friendly... YouTube Gets Smarter on the Small Screen Just point your mobile browser at... ...and you'll be redirected to a mobile optimized website. You won't get the full desktop experience, but you can login to your account (something the iPhone YouTube app can't do) and see your own videos (with view counts), favorites, playlists and videos published by accounts/channels you subscribe to. This is definitely a welcome enhancement for YouTube video addicts. New Yahoo! Mobile Friendly Web Design Gets a Thumbs Up
I've often said here that Yahoo!'s mobile friendly websites is one of my favorite web portals for mobile devices. So, I was very pleased to learn that... Yahoo Mobile site gets iPhone overhaul, syncing The article goes on and on talking about starting at at Yahoo.com and then getting redirected to m.www.yahoo.com. But, here's what I found: If you point the iPhone's Safari browser at yahoo.com, you see the conventional desktop view. The bizarre m.www.yahoo.com (I've never seen an "m" prepended to "www") also takes you to the desktop site. What works is what you see in the Safari address bar right in the CNET article's screenshot: And, as the rest of the article (which is accurate for everything but the URL) says, the new mobile friendly site has a nice clean design. Good to see one of the (now) grand old web companies producing a superior mobile product. Mobile Google Product Search Available for All Web Enabled Phones
Google's mobile web services development team just keeps churning out platform compatibility and feature enhancements week after week it seems. Here's the latest one... Google Product Search for mobile now available for more languages and phones iPhones, Android based phones and Palm Pre got mobile Google Product Search support a while back. Now, all other web capable phones in the US, UK, Germany and South Korea can comparison shop too by pointing their browser at... iPhone, Android phone, and Palm Pre users gained the Google Suggest feature for product searches. For example, I typed "touch pro2" and got the suggestion of "touch pro2 prices" which, after tapping it on the iPod touch's screen, resulted in the product list you see in the screenshot above. PreviouslyThe Weather Channel Relaunches Mobile Web Site: Good to see a Back to the Web Strategy Flash 10 Coming to Mobile Phones in October: Slow Heavy Mobile Flash Ads to Follow? NY Times 60 Million Mobile Views Per Month? iPhone App Downloaded by 2 Million? What Does it Mean that Opera's Phone Browser Overtook the iPhone? Mobile or Mini Versions? Nintendo DSi Will Gain Ability to Send Photos Directly to Facebook Bing Mobile Web Site & 800-BING411 bit.ly URL Shortener's Mobile Friendly Website New Mobile Friendly Wikipedia Web Site Looks Good on iPhone, But So-So on Windows Mobile WolframAlpha Knowledge Engine is Mobile Web Friendly Zoho Mobile Office Suite: But Has UI Issues on both the iPhone and Windows Mobile Google Mobile Search Adds Product Searching for iPhone and Android Gomez, dotMobi Deliver Mobile Web Benchmarks Mobile Tiny Url: URL Shortener Optimized for Phone Keypads! Evernote myEN Twitter Integration Sounds Great. But Does it Work? Ford Pickup Trucks Getting a New Option: Opera Browser dotMobi: 1.1m Mobile-Friendly Web Sites Opera Mobile 9.7 Browser Features: But, Would You Pay $24 For It? Opera Announcing Opera Mobile 9.7 at CTIA Next Week AdMob: Smartphones Generate 33% of Mobile Web Traffic HBO Offers Mobile Content in Europe, S Africa GO211.com Goes Mobile with Azuki Video Streams Push BOLT Browser to 15m Page Views Need a Mobile Web Site Right Now? Ubik.com Can Help. Mobile Web Access Up 71% Year-over-Year Google Adds Image Search to Android, iPhone US Kicks UK Out of Top Mobile Browsing Slot iSkoot Launches KalaidaLive SDK Mobile Web Popular with Global Execs Usablenet Mobilizes Nissan, Infiniti WheelsTV Drives onto Mobile with Azuki The Onion Goes Mobile with Quattro Wireless Jamba, Jamster Adding Paid Search Google Analytics Segments iPhone Traffic Guardian Prepping Ad-Funded Mobile Site Ottaway Local News Sites Go Mobile Buzzwire Mobile Lets You Decide What's Hot Mobile Web Becoming a Necessity Skyfire Adds Feeds, Better Text Views to Browser Handmark Expands through FreeRange Buy Bytemobile Widget Bar Makes Browsing Easy To Swallow Obama Gets to Keep His Blackberry, With Security Enhancements Verizon Taps Microsoft for Mobile Search Over Google, Yahoo USA Today Launches iPhone-Friendly News Application Nokia Implements Single Sign-On Through Ovi.com College Football Helps ESPN See Mobile Audience Growth Google Optimizes Web Search for iPhone and Android Google Releases Mobile Map Editor for Android Ski Report App from REI Provides Free Ski Information Keep Track of Change.gov on the iPhone Verve Wireless Signs Chicago Sun-Times, Time Out Chicago Penguin and Random House Go Mobile Study: Customers Won't Pay for Ad-Free Sites UK Mobile Internet Use on the Rise Snooth Launches iPhone Wine Site Viigo Announces Cellular South Content Deal Nielsen: Mobile, Online Still Tiny Share of TV Market Opera: Mobile Web Page Views Exceed 5B in October Southeast Asia Turns to the Mobile Web Myxer Gains in Nielsen Mobile Rankings IDC: Yahoo Should Focus on Mobile Citysearch Becomes More Mobile Mobile Data Revenues Skyrocket Alltel to Offer Free Navigation, XM Radio for 30 Days Mobile Content Adoption Rate Doubles: IBM Snakk Media Creates Massive Mobile Blog Network Virgin Mobile Launches Homeless Youth TV Network AccuWeather Adds Flight Delay Info to Mobile Web Site AP Launches Youth Sites on Virgin Mobile Microsoft CEO to Yahoo: We've Moved On Ringleader Launches Mobile Tracking Cookie Bango Touts Mobile Analytics Tool The New York Times' Mobile Election Coverage Yahoo Tops Mobile Destinations, Too Skyfire Browser: Now in Canada British Airways Launches Mobile Check-In Pac-10 Fitness Challenge Goes Mobile Hollywood Reporter to Launch Mobile Box Office AccuWeather Upgrades BlackBerry Service PixSense Joins with Philippines-based Globe Telecom FunMobility Launches Custom Wallpaper App on AT&T Amazon Kindle Launch in UK Delayed Lonely Planet Releases Cell Phone Audio Phrasebooks Stunning Revelation: Men Prefer Sex to the Mobile Web Myxer Launches Retail Store Ad Giveaway AT&T, AccuWeather Launch Weather On Demand |
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