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Four short links: 16 November 2009

By Nat Torkington
November 15, 2009

Choose Your Own Adventure -- numerical and visual analysis of the Choose Your Own Adventure novels. The distinguishing characteristic of My Kind Of People is that they appreciate the quantitative study of the commonplace. (via Bryan O'Sullivan) Tracking Droid Numbers -- uLocate, the makers of the Where app for Android, have been tracking the growth of the Droid phone...

It's in the Bag! The Apple Tablet Computing Device

By Mark Sigal
November 13, 2009

In the past 25 years, the 'personal' computing revolution has evolved from tethered (desktop) to luggable (portable) to joined-at-the-hip (mobile). The author argues that the next wave of computing will extend this level of personal attachment to the bag-carrying consumer (think: purses, backpacks and briefcases) when Apple releases it’s much rumored Tablet Computing Device. Read more

Four short links: 10 November 2009

By Nat Torkington
November 10, 2009

A children’s toy inspires a cheap, easy production method for high-tech diagnostic chips -- microfluidic chips (with tiny liquid-filled channels) can cost $100k and more. Michelle Khine used the Shrinky Dinks childrens' toy to make her own. "I thought if I could print out the [designs] at a certain resolution and then make them shrink, I could make channels...

Why the Adobe/RIM announcement is important

By RJ Owen
November 9, 2009

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen was at RIM's annual BlackBerry developer convention today with some exciting news about the ways that Adobe and RIM are working together to bring great experiences to the BlackBerry. In this entry we'll discuss what the announcement contained and why it's important to you.

Qwitter: Accessible Twitter client (uses TTS) (via @doctorow)

By Andrew Savikas
November 5, 2009

Just make sure not to follow anyone who's a member of the Author's Guild ... "The Qwitter client enables blind individuals to interface with the Twitter service globally, regardless of...

Despite recent gains for books, Games still dominate in the App Store (via @dliman)

By Andrew Savikas
November 3, 2009

O'Reilly's Ben Lorica slices and dices current app trends for iPhone and Android (nice data points on price stabilization too): "While it might be true that the number of Book...

Games Top the Charts in the iPhone and Android App Markets

By Ben Lorica
November 3, 2009

While it might be true that the number of Book apps is growing at a faster rate, Games continue to dominate the list of popular U.S. iTunes Apps. Games accounted for about a fifth of all iTunes apps over the past week†, but the category continued to have a disproportionate share of the Top 100 charts, accounting for 52% of...

New info on upcoming Ibis Reader from @liza's threepress -- another books-in-cloud model

By Andrew Savikas
November 2, 2009

Our part of this open ecosystem is Ibis Reader, an in-development digital reading system for a range of internet devices that provides access to books both online and offline....

"E pluribus tunum: Uniform prices for online music are no way to maximise profit"

By Andrew Savikas
November 2, 2009

This research suggest maximum value in a digital media market like iTunes (for both producer and consumer) comes from a combination of subscription/membership fee and per-item purchase: "Charging an "entry...

What feature do you use most on your mobile phone?

By Rich Tretola
November 2, 2009

With all of this talk lately about the Flash Player coming to mobile, I thought I would ask a very simple question. What feature do you use most on your mobile phone? Please take part in this poll by clicking...

A summary for Flash 10.1, Flash Mobile, Flash on iPhone, Air Mobile

By Alessandro Pace
November 2, 2009

Here is a summary for Flash Mobile support and development that I put together from various sources: Flash 10.1: supports mobile features and capabilities. Runs both AS3 and AS2 code. Flash 10.1 will be a browser plugin. Flash 10.1 &...

The Meaning of Droid | Monday Note

By Andrew Savikas
November 2, 2009

Nice competitive analysis of next moves for big mobile players (via @jafurtado)"One year later, we have a new situation, a real contender for the lead position in the exploding smartphone market....

Android's Impact on eBooks, Reading � Kindle Review - Kindle 2 Review, Books

By Andrew Savikas
November 2, 2009

The big Android question is - Is Android going to provide a fourth big channel for ebooks? Well, Android might be Very Important for eReading The first reason is that Mobile Devices and Mobile Internet...

O'Reilly Ebooks Now in Aldiko Online Catalog for Android

By Andrew Savikas
October 30, 2009

The iPhone gets a lot of the attention when it comes to smartphones, but signs point to Android playing a huge role in the growing smartphone market, with 20+...

iPhone Killers, Blackberries and Chicken Parts

By Mark Sigal
October 28, 2009

While a steady stream of so-called iPhone Killers are filtering into the market, Apple's momentum continues unabated. Inspired by his own experiences upgrading to the Blackberry Tour, the author ponders why so many solution provides confuse delivering a bunch of 'chicken parts' with producing an actual, living, breathing chicken.

Hard Numbers Behind the Current and Coming Mobile Future

By Andrew Savikas
October 20, 2009

Every year at Web 2.0 Summit, Morgan Stanley's Mary Meeker does a fantastic whirlwind tour of economic and technology trends she's watching, and in addition to a terrifying look at...

The Right Stuff: Apple's Q4 Earnings Call

By Mark Sigal
October 20, 2009

The Fourth Quarter was Apple's most profitable quarter ever. Yesterday's earnings call was about two things. One, the iPhone Platform continues to deliver the goods. Two, the continued impressive growth of the Mac, especially MacBooks. As such, it was about the power of the platform as much as it was about the device itself. Read more...

Land and Expand: Why Apple Allowing In-App Purchases in Free Apps is a Big Deal

By Mark Sigal
October 16, 2009

Yesterday, Apple announced that they are now allowing In-App Purchasing within free apps. I think that this is a big deal, an entree into what I refer to as 'land and expand,' and yet another reason that Apple remains the gold standard of mobile computing.

Has your strategy changed on mobile (now that Flash Player mobile has been announced)?

By Rich Tretola
October 12, 2009

Adobe has announced that the browser based Flash player 10.1 will soon be running on every major mobile platform (Windows Mobile, Android, Blackberry, Symbian, WebOS) except Apple's iPhone. (See my opinion on Apple here). They also announced that although Apple...

The iPhone as a Gaming Platform: Share of Top Apps By Category

By Ben Lorica
October 8, 2009

As a follow-up to my recent post on the Top Grossing Apps list on iTunes, I examined three lists highlighted in the app store: the Top Paid, Top Free, and Top Grossing Apps. Believing that many users scan these lists, developers covet a spot on any of these Top 100 charts. In my previous posts, I've highlighted that Games is...

Should Apple Give a Rat's Ass that Developers Aren't Getting Rich off of the iPhone Platform?

By Mark Sigal
October 7, 2009

Apple's iPhone Platform is a runaway success relative to just about any metric that you can throw at it, save for one. Where are the breakout successful developers for whom the platform is a 'True Wealth' inducing moment? Read on...

Customer Loyalty for Mobile Devices

By Andrew Savikas
October 6, 2009

Some of the most interesting data on trends in mobile development has been coming from Flurry, an app analytics company (developers insert little snippets of Flurry code in their...

Review: Kerchoonz K-box Portable Speaker

By David Battino
October 6, 2009

Does this iPod-size, battery-powered vibration speaker with the gooey bottom really deliver amazing bass? Gel, yes!

The Price of The Top Grossing iTunes Apps

By Ben Lorica
October 6, 2009

In response to developer complaints that more expensive apps were getting buried at the bottom of popularity rankings, Apple recently introduced a separate ranking based on revenue. (The Top 100 Paid apps ranks apps are based on number of downloads.) In this post, I'll validate that compared to downloads, the Top 100 ranking based on revenues does contain pricier apps....

The Mobile Frontier - The Future of the Sustainable Network

By Sarah Sorensen
September 30, 2009

The mobile network has created unprecedented opportunity for the world. It truly is pervasive - spanning out across geographies and socio-economic boundaries to enable sustainable participation, growth and potential prosperity on a previously unimaginable scale.

Do the Math on Your Mobile Apps

By Andrew Savikas
September 29, 2009

One of my favorite sources of interesting reading material these days is Hacker News (follow them at @newsycombinator), and this week they pointed me to a piece from Derek...

Economist on "Mobile Marvels" in Emerging Markets

By Andrew Savikas
September 29, 2009

Though here when we talk about mobile it's usually in the context of mobile reading and media, that's just a small piece of what's happening as we move to...

Collaborative Publishing: One Brand New Title, One Success

By Keith Fahlgren
September 29, 2009

Another site focused on collaborative publishing, Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, launches while we look back on the first attempt to improve manuscripts by engaging the community in an open and collaborative dialog with the authors, Programming Scala.

New Poll: How soon would you buy a new phone if you could get the Flash Player on it?

By Rich Tretola
September 28, 2009

It has been known for quite some time that as part of the open screen project Adobe has been working with chip manufacture ARM on getting the Flash Player onto many devises including mobile and set top boxes.

Mobile Banks in the Developing World Prove Simpler is Better

By Ben Lorica
September 17, 2009

Recent initiatives designed to make U.S. consumer financial products simpler and intelligible to customers, reminds me of a study we did on Mobile Banks† in the developing world. Designed to work on the simplest mobile devices and originally targeting the unbanked, mobile banks evolved from simple services (transfer of mobile air time) to become widely used money-transfer and mobile payment...

iPhone, the 'Personal' Computer - Future of the Mobile Web

By Mark Sigal
September 15, 2009

The iPhone is the first truly 'personal' computer; more personal to its owners than the PC ever was. Talk to iPhone owners (not to mention, the 20M iPod Touch owners), and this truth bubbles to the top again and again. Read on...

Resetting Expectations: Some Augmented Reality Links

By Ben Lorica
September 9, 2009

1. Mobile Devices and AR: Besides employing the location of users (Wikitude), there are generally two ways to overlay data onto the real world: through markers ( (2D) bar codes) or through automatic object/image recognition algorithms ("markerless"). The Economist gives a good overview of the different mobile applications that are starting to emerge and lists a few areas where AR...

Four short links: 8 September 2009

By Nat Torkington
September 7, 2009

jQTouch -- jQuery library for mobile web app development. (via brian on Delicious) GData API to Google Book Search -- search full text, get back metadata, modify "my library" collections, etc. Open and Free Courses at the CMU Open Learning Initiative -- rather than just a lecture and handout dump, it has interactive exercises and questions to help you...

Mobile as New Medium

By Andrew Savikas
September 7, 2009

While prepping for my talk tomorrow on mobile publishing at the Digital Publishing Group in New York, I was also popping in and out of a related ongoing email conversation...

Five Things to Consider When Buying a Netbook - Tips from J.D. Biersdorfer, Author of Netbooks: The Missing Manual

By Sara Peyton
September 2, 2009

People buy new gadgets for every imaginable reason. In J.D. Biersdorfer's case, an apartment renovation prompted her to purchase one. "I wanted to have an extremely portable PC with me when I was living out of a duffel bag and sleeping on people's couches while my own place was unlivable," explains the author of O'Reilly's Netbooks: The Missing Manual. "It turned out to be a great solution because many of my friends have wireless networks (or neighbors that have unsecured wireless networks), so I could stay linked to the Internet even while couch surfing all over the city." Based on her personal experiences and research for the book, J.D. offers five important things to consider when buying a netbook.

The Most Popular iTunes Apps Aren't Always The Cheapest

By Ben Lorica
August 27, 2009

While the most popular aren't always the cheapest, on average, the Top 10 Paid apps† tend to be cheaper than less popular ones (those ranked 45 to 55 or 91 to 100): The situation varies across categories and in this post I'll briefly examine a few of the larger ones. In both the Books and Games categories, the mean price...

Why is HTML Suddenly Interesting?

By Simon St. Laurent
August 26, 2009

After a decade of quiet, HTML is a hot topic once again. While there is pent-up demand for new features, the conversation reflects a more basic change in the Web's landscape.

Where 2.0 2010 CFP is Now Open

By Brady Forrest
August 25, 2009

The CFP for the sixth annual Where 2.0 is now open. The three-day conference about location, mapping and geodata will be held from 3/30 to 4/1 in San Jose, CA. This year our focus will be on location-enabled platforms, mobile apps, user-generated geodata, sensors, and augmented reality. Here is more about the conference below, Mobile: The iPhone, Android, and...

Four short links: 24 August 2009

By Nat Torkington
August 24, 2009

Making Sense of Revision Control Systems (ACM Queue) -- good introduction to the subject from Bryan O'Sullivan, author of Mercurial: The Definitive Guide (aka Distributed Revision Control with Mercurial) that covers Subversion, Mercurial, and git. Under the distributed view of revision control, every commit is potentially a branch of its own. If Bob and Alice start from the exact...

Touch Traveler: London, Paris and only an iPod Touch

By Mark Sigal
August 21, 2009

Recently, I spent two weeks vacationing in London and Paris with only an iPod Touch for communications and connectivity. Mind you, I am not suggesting that this was a wise thing to do, but it's what I did, and this post captures the good, bad and ugly of the experience.

The iTunes App Store Rolls with the Travel Season

By Ben Lorica
August 10, 2009

Sometime last week, the iTunes app store passed 70,000 unique apps (70K apps have appeared in the app store since it launched). One of the fastest-growing categories in the U.S. iTunes app store has been Travel, displacing Education to move into the top 5 largest categories. Welcome to summer vacation! Next to the Book category, Travel is the most competitive...

Summer of Flash Episode 4 - Mark Anders

By Garth Braithwaite
August 4, 2009

Mark Anders, Senior Principal Scientist at Adobe, joins us to discuss upcoming versions of Flash Player for mobile devices, the Open Screen Project, Ashton Kutcher's appearance at Adobe's offices, and Adobe's magical rings of power.

iTunes App Store Incubation Period Increases In Most Categories

By Ben Lorica
July 31, 2009

Over the last few weeks, media coverage of the iTunes app store often touches on concerns about Apple's approval process. Some apps drew enough complaints that Apple pulled them off the app store. With thousands of developers wanting to launch apps and Apple unable to come up with a more efficient vetting process, I'm revisiting an earlier post on the...

Four short links: 28 July 2009

By Nat Torkington
July 27, 2009

CNMAT Resource Library -- The CNMAT Resource Library is our fast growing collection of materials, sensors, gestural controllers, interface devices, tools, demos, prototypes and products - all organized and annotated to support the design of physical interaction systems, "new lutherie" and art installations. (via egoodman on Delicious) PyGoWave Server -- first third-party Google Wave server, based on Django. Mobile...

Four short links: 21 July 2009

By Nat Torkington
July 20, 2009

On Data Reconciliation Strategies and Their Impact on the Web of Data -- For years, I’ve been a fairly vocal advocate for the elegance and scalability of a-posteriori reconciliation via equivalence mappings as a superior mechanism (scale-wise) to a-priori reconciliation efforts… but this started to change very rapidly once I started working for Metaweb and saw first hand how...

News Providers are Embracing the iPhone

By Ben Lorica
July 16, 2009

To mark another iPhone milestone (1.5 billion app downloads in a year), I checked our iTunes app store data warehouse†. I was expecting the Books category to continue to register the fastest-growth but was instead greeted by an explosion in News (and to a lesser extent, Navigation) apps: On any given week, about 22% of all apps in the U.S....

The Next Wave of iPhone Apps

By Raven Zachary
June 18, 2009

This is the biggest week of the year for iPhone users, as Apple released iPhone OS 3.0 on Wednesday and will be launching the new iPhone 3GS on Friday. The iPhone OS 3.0 Software Update provides a significant number of enhancements to the operating system including spotlight search, cut, copy, & paste, voice memos, support for landscape keyboard usage in...

SkyFire Mobile Browser 1.0 and the Flash User Experience

By Kevin Suttle
June 16, 2009

As we all know, Flash on mobile devices is nothing new. Flash Lite is on 400+ different mobile device models and 800 million total devices. It's hard to argue with those numbers. However, with the advent of the iPhone, netbooks, and new mobile operating systems such as Google's Android and Palm's WebOS, users are demanding an experience that mirrors the desktop. Others, as in Adobe and the Open Screen Project, want to take that notion a step further, and bring desktop Flash to mobile devices. The SkyFire mobile browser aims to do just that.

Hands-On with the iPhone 3.0 OS; Search is the Winner

By Brady Forrest
June 15, 2009

The iPhone 3.0 OS is going to be released this Wednesday. It will be available to all iPhones (for free) and iPod Touches (for a small cost). The iPhone 3GS will ship with it. The new OS became available last week to those willing and able to try it out a bit early (see Gizmodo for details). This is...

Verizon Mi-Fi2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot

By Brian Jepson
June 5, 2009

The folks at Verizon Wireless and Weber Shandwick Worldwide sent me a review unit of the Verizon Mi-Fi2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot. It's a great device that combines the broad coverage of EV-DO (the 3G cellular data system used by Verizon...

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