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Lightning Developer Mike Shaver Interview

Published on May 20, 2005 in Palm, Software

Check out the interview with Lightning developer Mike Shaver. It looks like Palm syncing will not be available in version 1.0, due this summer. The good news is, though, “Michiel van Leeuwen (mvl) and Dan Mosedale (dmose) have been working hard on it, though, and have made sure that sync issues have been considered at all points in our architecture decisions, so I’m hopeful that we’ll end up with a very good sync story when the time comes”.

Lightning is the project name for an extension to tightly integrate calendar functionality (see Outlook) into Thunderbird.

Blogger Mobile About to Be Launched

Published on May 6, 2005 in Palm

The New Google Blog is reporting that Blogger Mobile is about to be launched.

“Blogger is to launch a new service that allows users to post new contents (text and photos) from their mobile devices. You most only send via MMS the subject, your pic and a caption to the email address ‘go@blogger.com’.”

In addition there is an editoral about Blogger Mobile entitled “On the Go with Blogger Mobile” at the site.

The Mobile Web as We Now Know It

Published on April 26, 2005 in Web

Russell Beatttie recently talked about the state of the mobile web on his blog. He believes the mobile web, in it’s current form, is in a sad state of affairs with too many different technologies and hardware to support. Many are ancient and bug prone. I could not agree more. The mobile web is in a “sorry state of affairs” at the present.

I do not see things improving dramatically anytime soon for two reasons. The first is more easily solvable: there are so many different competing technologies out there (Flash, SVG, RSS, Java) and very little standardization. Unless I have a motivating financial incentive why even get into the mess. Let others be the first adapters and try to figure things out. Basically, I agree with Russell, stick to web standards and wait for other devices to get replaced. This is not an IE/web standards thing where one browser controls 95% of the market and you have to support it. Trying to support all mobile browsers would just drive you off of the deep end.

The second reason that I do not see the mobile web changing dramatically anytime soon if consumer behavior. As a developer, sure I want to be cool and create all of the latest and greatest things, but as a consumer who cares. What benefits does the mobile web bring to me? I have a high-speed connection with a large monitor at home and at work. I have no desire to look at a tiny screen, with slow loading and dumb-downed sites, and pay extra for the whole process also. I currently have mobile web options on my phone but rarely use it for anything. I use it occasionally to check sports scores and maybe do a few local based searches, but can easily live without it.

For any of this to change some company out there, with the necessary resources, is going to have to find an avenue that provides them with a competitive advantage and new revenue streams. Someone is going to have to come up with a new way of doing things that makes the whole experience more pleasurable. Then and only, then I may use the mobile web more frequently to do things like local searches, order movie tickets, scan the latest news etc.

Update to ZLauncher Noia Icon Set

Published on April 24, 2005 in Palm

The ZLauncher Noia icon pack has been updated as requested. It can be downloaded from here.

iPalm iSpin Skin Update

Published on in Palm

An update is available at PalmGear.

Changes:
* Rebuilt for iSpin version 1.0.b9
* Added a Zodia DIA
* Changed several icons
* Added a lo res version

Google’s My Search History in Beta

Published on April 20, 2005 in Web

Google has jumped onboard the user search history bandwagon. Go to My Search History (you will need to create a Google account) and your search history will be part of every Google search you do. While others have been on the forefront of this concept, this is a major move for Google.

The question is whether I want Google to store all of my searches. In some situations I can see how it would be useful. The good thing is that they allow you to pause the recording and remove searches from your history.

Internet Explorer To Mozilla Migration Guide

Published on April 19, 2005 in Firefox

An useful overview of CSS and DOM differences between the IE and Mozilla an nexgenmedia.net.

Who Am I?

Leslie Franke Profile

Leslie Franke:[les-lee fran-key]; 1. Husband and proud dogowner; 2. Seventh-day Adventist; 3. Web Designer; 4. Atlanta Braves Fan; 5. Northeast Ohio Native; 6. Bottle Caps Lover; 7. Certified 'Freakonomic';