GLOBAL – It’s the end of another busy week and thus time for this week’s pick of articles offering industry comment, research and miscellany from across the mobile blogosphere and mainstream media. Hopefully, there’s something here to excite your interest and imagination. Do let us know what you think about this week’s selection and about any tid-bits we’ve missed in the comments.
- First up, we reported on updated software for the Nokia 6700 Classic, but it’s not the only device that’s had an upgrade this week. The Nokia E66, E71, N97 and N97 mini have also received some TLC. You can download the upgrades through your desktop software or over the air, in some cases. Not all regions/operators may yet be included, so our apologies if you can’t get yours yet. Here’s Symbian World’s take on the N97 upgrade.
- The US government has released four new smartphone apps this week, reports the Washington Post, “allowing tech-savvy Americans to track nutritional information for more than 1,000 foods, wait times at airport security checkpoints, UV Index and air quality ratings and updates on product and food recalls”. Good work – more of this, please.
- Steve Litchfield, over at All About Symbian, posted a well-considered rant about mobile apps that are little more than websites with a fancy icon. He points out that many major brands and publishers have managed to create perfectly functional mobile websites, and so maybe a bookmark in your browser would make more sense. Talking of the AAS guys, they’ve just launched a site and forum devoted to MeeGo.
- Brush-up on your Internet facts and figures with this in-depth presentation from Morgan Stanley. The first 18 slides are all about the growth of the mobile Internet. The data is heavily US-focused but the overall picture is very useful.
- The boffins in the beta labs have been busy once again. Launched this week is Videocuts for S60 v5 touchscreen devices which makes it easy to navigate around videos, plus a new Software Updater application. As ever, this is very early-stage software: no warranties apply, don’t use it if you care about your data, etc.
- And finally, some good news for mobile bloggers from WordPress.com. It’s now possible to phone in your blog posts on the platform. The results appear as audio podcast-type enclosures. When I first read the news, I thought they’d employed a team of stenographers. One day, one day…
Anyway, let us know what you think – and any tip-offs for next week’s round-up in the comments.