Clutching onto my Nokia E71 (one of the 3 cell-phones I use on a daily basis) I just read on Mashable how Nokia announced the slow phasing out of S60 for the iPhone / Android competing opensource-asized Maemo. The phase out is expecting to occur on all Nokia Smart Phones by 2012.

Could Symbian really not shape up and build a killer touch phone OS the way Palm did? I mean if Palm could do it… maybe Maemo is the hiatus they will need.

Stan at Mashable was a bit bold indeed when he said S60 is not good enough. For what it is it is very good. I often feel a sense of ease when using it on my E71. But he is right, it is no flashy Android iPhone killer. If Stan is right in reporting that Symbian will remain the main platform for E-Series devices that makes sense. I have friends that work in regular corporate jobs who runaway screaming when it comes to using an Android or iPhone like device for work… its just to much, to distracting and not capable of dealing with the fast blackberry like pace of business as usual.

But Stan also makes a good point. “While we’re thrilled to see more Nokias on the powerful Maemo platform, running two mobile smarpthone OSs and two separate app stores will definitely cause confusion to the customers.” From a branding perspective he is correct.

Nokia can lessen the confusion a bit if they market it well. Symbian as a business like device, Maemo for everything else.

But the larger question here in the US is, does anyone care. I mean, I am a Nokia fan boy that for the most part does not use a Nokia (my main phone is still the iPhone). I am still convinced that as far as phones go, Nokia builds the best of them…I mean a majority of the world cell phone users cannot be wrong. But the question remains, will Americans pick up the Maemo lingo like they have picked up “Android” and “Windows” and “Palm” and “iPhone.” Or will these just remain fancy and expensive Nokia’s. It seems these days the Operating System is king, so they better hope not.

Full story: NSeries Nokias Say Goodbye to Symbian, Hello to Maemo

As many of us know, Apple announced a new iPhone, the 3GS, within days of the Palm Pre’s launch. The release was widely believed to be rushed out the door to steal some of Palm’s thunder since the Pre seems to be treading on all sorts of Apple’s turf (syncing with itunes comes to mind).

The primary difference between the iPhone 3G and the new 3GS is the speed of the CPU and graphics. Most of the time, end users won’t notice any performance difference (the platform was already pretty speedy), however this speed boost is planned to spark a whole new set of high end games, further pushing the iPhone platform as a gaming device.

Ready for the irony?
ZodTTD, developer of PSX4all (an app that plays full-blown Playstation games on mobile devices), has just released a Palm Pre version of his game platform to follow up his version for the iPhone 3GS. And you know what? The Pre version outperforms the iPhone 3GS!

I, for one, find this rather disappointing for Apple. Its bad enough that many iPhone fans are already dismissing the 3GS as not substantial enough of an upgrade to renew- but it turns out that new customers who want top notch game performance might also now dismiss the 3GS (the Pre’s keyboard may prove more useful for game controls as well).

Which begs the question- what demographic is the 3GS for? Is it simply for people who want 32GB of storage?
I’m not really concerned for Apple, however- I’m certain that there are enough fans out there who will buy the 3GS. I’m just underwhelmed.

In a rather shocking announcement, the upcoming Palm Pre is not only capable of being a music player (that standard 3.5mm headphone jack sure is handy), but it will in fact also pretend to be an iPod when connected to iTunes, sucessfully syncing all your music and photos as if it were a ‘pod itself.

This alone may make the Pre the most compelling iPhone rival yet.
And to think, some tech bloggers such as CruchGear had the audacity to call the Pre an “Also Ran” today (click the link for more info).

I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the Pre now fellas…

Folks, this is the end of an Era. Palm’s Operating System has been around since the term PDA entered the vernacular (and for a change, didn’t have anything to do with public displays of affection).
With everyone all excited about the Palm Pre’s new WebOS, and the high-end business minded Palm devices already running Windows Mobile, the last nail on the Palm OS’s coffin appears to have been unceremoniously nailed in.
Unceremoniously, that is, until the Hong Kong PDA Users Group (HKPUG) decided to throw a little farewell party of their own.

The group members met up recently, and gathered up as many different Palm OS devices as they could find for a truly unique photo shoot. I’d (tastelessly) compare it to an open-casket funeral, however surprisingly the devices on display were still completely functional- including some Pilot 1000 devices. Many of these are reportedly still in use by their owners, so Palm OS may be out of production, however it is quietly being kept alive by those few, those faithful, those brave… Palm loyalists.

We salute you, men.

HKPUG site
More details (in English)

Palm enthusiasts have known that something was up behind closed doors at Palm.

Rumors have been flying around about Nova, the new OS, and Castle, their new flagship device that would run it.
Many people thought it was too little too late (myself included).
But, I’m happy to say we may all be surprised.

The Palm Pre (formerly known as Castle) was just announced at CES yesterday, and it looks GOOD. Wow, did I just say that?
Personally, I’m just happy that Palm is actually releasing a device that I’m excited about for a change.
So, will it do well, or is Palm too far gone to be revived?
You can read my thoughts on the matter on my personal blog here.

Hello! And Welcome To the 41nd Carnival of the Mobilists brought to you by MOpocket and Khosla Ventures who awards $250 to the author of the best post each month. This weeks Carnival also has a special dedication in honor of my parents Stuart and Paula Oberman (pictured above) who celebrated their 32nd Anniversary last Friday August 18th. My mother is looking for a new cell phone and is open to suggestions . I love you Mom and Dad, thanks for everything and I hope we celebrate another 32 anniversaries and more!

There are a lot of great contributions to this weeks carnival but before we get to them their is some Carnival and Mobilist business that we have to take care of. REMEMBER, IF YOU FIND YOUR BLOG MENTIONED HERE IT IS ONLY COMMON COURTESY TO LINK BACK. If you don’t my parents may be very disappointed in you .

MY JEWISH MOTHER SAYS VOTE NOW!

My mother told me to remind you that If you have not already done so please go over to the Carnival website and vote for July’s best post. This is an essential part of the now well sponsored Carnival by Khosla Ventures and such great stuff should not go to waste, my mother says. Its always good to listen to your Jewish mother If you vote maybe she will cook you her famous brownies… yummmmm.

DAD SAYS LETS PARTY IN LA.

Always the party social networking man (he is the CEO of a major insurance brokerage firm) my father feels obliged to tell you about the 2nd CTIA Gathering Of The Mobilists and urges those interested to RSVP and attend. “My son and other influential mobilists will be there,” he says, “it would be insane not to try and make it. The event will be held at Cicada Restaurant on Tuesday September 12, 2006 and invitations are limited. For more information visit the information source for the event at Rudy’s M-Trends.

And by the way, if anyone out their is looking for insurance and or an insurance broker you should contact me as me and my brother can take special care of you. We have some amazing policies for technology companies and firms, even web freelancers. The company is a very well known and highly respected insurance brokerage.

And now, as my parents dance to their wedding song… I present to you this weeks Carnival of the Mobilists:

We Begin With Carnival Newcomers Or At Least Blogs That Are New To Me

Sprint’s $3bn 4G Gamble

Kevin Evan’s in Kevin’s Mobile Industry Commentary, a blog I just discovered because of the Carnival, talks about Sprint’s move to WiMax and, to be frank, tells it like it really is. [Read]

Access’s Latest Press Releases

Tam Hanna has a Palm specific blog titled TamsPalm: The Palm OS Blog in which he deconstructs Access’ latest press release about the growing momentum of Access’ Linux OS Platform for Palm. [Read]

Now Lets Talk About Mobile Influences On Our Lives And The Way We Live Them

Can Mobile Devices Help You Get Things Done?

Mat Miller over at ZDNet in his Mobile Gadgeteer Blog has a great article about the everyday life and mobile devices which discusses the ways in which we organize our lives and get things done via our mobiles. [Read]

Mobile Phones, Social Coordination, Urban Environments

Howard Rheingold from Smartmobs has an interesting little ditty on “hyper-cordination” and the way mobile technology is influencing our societal ergonomic discourses (especially regarding the philosophy of waiting). [Read]

Connecting Cultures Through Music

From the Mobilist daddy himself, Rudy De Waele of M-Trends.org sends in an article he wrote for Vodafones Reciever Magazine in which Rudy talks beautifully and eloquently about the ways in which mobile technology makes music into a social networking phenomena the likes of which we have never seen. While Rudy’s article is meant to be about music specifically it has some real buried treasures deep inside its discourse that can be used to discuss the greater impacts that mobile technology will have on our smartmobby like existence. [Read]

Lets Get Technical For A Moment Here

I am Now Cingular 3Gified! Or Am I?

My own submission to the Carnival in which I talk about my run in with Cingular’s (an America’s) UMTS and HSDPA standards, its technical difference with its European counterpart and why that means I can;t really use it yet. [Read]

People Over Process And IT In Mobile Workforces

Rod McLaren’s blog over at Mobbu has a really interesting article that I was intimidated by at first but then found actually really enjoyable and interesting. So don’t get the “IT” jargon get to you ever wanted to know if a synchronous/asynchronous data model between mobile device and a server mean that users can get horribly out of sync, leading to catastrophic real-world failures to public service infrastructures that need it the most you need not worry says McLaren. [Read]

The Mobile Service Architecture Specification

C. Enrique Ortiz in his same-named titled Mobility Weblog points to an article he wrote in the Sun’s Mobility Development Center which, he says, introduces JSR 248 and next generation platform for Java ME devices. See how the pieces of the new platform fit together. I link to his blog, the rest is up to you. [Read]

Mobile Technology and Politics, A Favorite Topic Of Mine

Women Voter Registration Goes SMS Mobile

From the Personal Democracy technology and politics blogosphere we have a post about the ways in which a Women’s voter registration organization is using the ubiquitous nature of mobile technology and SMS to increase voter registration drives amongst women. [Read]

BBC Wap Use Flourishing In Africa

From the mobile technology and political activism blog MobileActive Ken Banks from Kiwanja.net writes about how Africa (and in particular Nigeria) is dominating international mobile phone access to the BBC website and how this is a great example of what the economics of broadband versus mobile phones means in developing countries. [Read]

Why Not Learn Something On You Mobile Every Once In A While

Mobile Learning Reading List

I blogged about this post from Stephanie Rieger’s blog Keitai: Mobility, Culture and User Experience earlier on MOpocket and I am glad to see in this weeks carnival. Simply put its a collection of projects and resources that Stephanie has collected regarding the theme of mobile learning and education. [Read]

Little Kids Need Converged Mobiles

Judy Breck, my literal NYC neighbor (she lives like one block from me) writes a reaction to a New York Times Article about kids going back to school with laptops and cell phones in her blog Golden Swamp. Her concern is with yet the not so easily converged uses of these technologies for children and discusses how the convergences between the two can be better improved. Judy, we still have to get coffee sometime, ping me. [Read]

Although, Lets Not Forget The Importance Of Mobile Marketing

Google Coupons – But Where’s the Mobile Element?

Russell Buckley over at MOBHappy sends in his thoughts on Google’s lack of mobile thinking vis-a-vis creating the ability for local business to coupons against their products and services via Google Maps allowing users to simply print them and then then redeem them as usual. Join the debate [Read]

Yelp Mobile

Dennis the WAP expert from WapReview applies his expertise to analyzing and critiquing Yelp’s Mobile site. For those of you that don’t know, Yelp.com is a site featuring user generated reviews of businesses, services and attractions mainly in major US cities. [Read]

What Can Your PC Do For Your Mobile

Nokia PC Suite Wishlist

Listen up Nokia! The Mobile Diva herself, Darla Mack in her newly decorated Darla Mack blog talks about the often underestimated power and beauty of Nokia PC Suite and talks about a few features she would like to see in future versions with the with the newer S60 devices and all the cool new features installed. I would just like to add that I wish they made one for Mac. [Read]

How to Share Your 3G Connection

Martin Sauter of Martin’s Mobile Technology Page (aka Mobile Society) takes a break from his summer holiday to talk about what I basically would tart to think about as Fon for mobile data. Simply put, Martin describes how to share your 3G connection using the Internet connection sharing functionality of Windows XP. Anyone try it on a Mac? [Read]

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Dear Mr Leonid Iakovlev. You submitted the link http://wblog.livejournal.com/15992.html#cutid1 which does not link to a post or an article. So I do not know what you want me to do but the Carnival rules are rules. So I will just mention that you sent this in in case an error was made.

THE POST OF THE WEEK

As part of Khosla Ventures‘ sponsorship to the Carnival they pay-out 250 dollars to the best post of the month the contestants of which are decided by the various sites hosting a Carnival during that month. It is therefore my responsibility to vote for a post or article that I believe merits this type of attention and award. It is therefore, on those grounds that I award Rudy De Waele’s Connecting Cultures Through Music article the honorary Stu and Paula Oberman post of the week award and therefore submit the article into the voting pool for Augusts mobile technology post of the month. Congratulations Rudy! As an extra bonus my mother has agreed to cook you a batch of her famous brownies, yummm.

In Conclusion…

Well, thats it for this Carnival. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I have had writing it. And if this was your first visit to MOpocket then welcome and I hope to see your referral links here again soon Stop and stay a while, read some old or new articles and enjoy.

Next weeks Carnival of the Mobilists will be hosted by MobileActive. Full a full list of upcoming Carnivals visit the Carnival websites schedule page.

For a full list of past Carnival of the Mobilists visit here.

Want to submit an article to the Carnival of the Mobilists or perhaps even host? Don’t delay, its really easy. Just visit the Carnival’s about page for more information and instruction.

To send my parents a happy anniversary message send an email to Stuart and Paula Oberman via Bluesites_at_aol.com

Technorati Tags: 3g, 4g, access, bbc, carnival of the mobilists, cotm, dad, education, elections, fon, google, i.t, insurance, khosla ventures, kiwanja, learning, linux, mobbu, mobile, mom, mopocket, music, nokia, oberman, palm, pc suite, politics, sms, sprint, sun, vodafone, wap, women

British born artist and cuneiform/writing expert Tom Kemp could very well be an artist close to MOpocket’s heart. Kemp uses drawing tablets, scanners and a Palm Vx handheld with TealPaint software to produce works of art that explore the relationship between the human hand stroke and the digital medium. The largest of these works of art, Analysis (4 feet by 16 feet), is made up of one-thousand smaller works which were made on a Palm Pilot and then reproduced and enlarged either by printing or laser cutting. Each mini work was then laid out in a zig-zag down the page, starting at the top right. After each successful palm painting was completed it was added, chronologically, to the work. Some works also stand on their own and have been shown in galleries and art shows throughout London and the European continent.

Kemp explains that “The digital quality of the painting is quite apparent. The Palm screen has a low resolution. Because each small painting is printed at actual size the individual pixels are clearly seen. These contrast with the obvious swiftness and complexity of the movements used when wielding the tiny electronic brushes. The graininess of the pixels can’t hide the humanity of the original movements.”

Kemp also created works of art with a software he developed called “Particle Painter”,“ which mimics the movement of charged particles. Each positive and negative particle leaves a colored trail of its movement around the screen as it interacts with other positive and negative electrons (kind of like the apartment I share with my girlfriend). The colors, type of trail and movement of the particles can be adjusted and manipulated at anytime. A Particle Painting by Kemp entitled ”You Live Here“ was commissioned by Oxford Publishing last year to celebrate the 125th anniversary of its famous bookshop in Broad Street. It ran down the entire length of the building at Beaver House tower at Blackwell Ltd.

You can ”try your hand“ at ”Particle Painting“ for yourself here.

A signed, limited edition poster of Analysis is available. Click here to find out more

Technorati Tags: analysis, art, mobile, palm, particle painter, tealpaint, tom kemp

Today at their 3GSM Press Conference, ACCESS and PalmSource talked about, not a new barrage Treo’s, but an ACCESS Linux Platform (ALP). A new commercial-grade Linux-based platform designed for smartphones and mobile devices is the latest evolution of PALM OS for Linux.

Trying to move beyond their Treo Success, the duo’s goal is to make ALP the platform of choice for the development of high volume, feature rich smartphones and mobile devices for high performance networks such as 2.5G and 3G around the world.

ALP will replace Palm OS and there will be no OS 6. The look and feel may no longer be “Palmy” as well. In other words, the Palm system is going to have a major overhaul, if, that is, you (or they) can still call it Palm when its all done and released in 2007.

The transformation of Palms OS to the Linux based ALP system comes after almost two years of zero upgrades on the current Palm OS. Palm is also leading mobile Linux out of its fragmented existence and into the real time practicality lime light. They are, of course, also the founding member of the Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) forum.

The ALP software Developer Kit (due to be released and available for licenses by the end of 2006, “combines best-in-class open source Linux components with proven mobile technologies developed by PalmSource and ACCESS’ Linux expertise,” said Toru Arakawa, president and CEO of ACCESS. “As a commercial-grade, flexible, open, robust and standards-based mobile Linux based platform, ALP is designed to provide handset manufacturers with faster time-to-market while supporting the goal of operators to offer revenue-generating services, applications and content.”

Here is the geek stuff…

The major make up of ALP consists of a standard, commercial-grade Linux kernel (version 2.6.12 and above), an optimized, implantation of GIMP ToolKit (GTK+) which provides popular open source libraries for the creation of graphical interfaces, GStreamer (an open source, modular and multi-threaded streaming media framework) and SQLite (a high performance database engine commonly used in embedded devices).

ACCESS and PalmSource technologies incorporated into ALP include the ACCESS NetFront Browser, PalmSource’s messaging and Telephony middleware as well as their various mobile applications including PIM’s, multimedia, messaging, HotSYnc and Palm Desktop.

ALP features MAX, a new application framework that will deliver the new user interface for the new OS as well as the ability to run the plethora of already existing Palm Powered applications via an emulator (so you wont have to get another version of the Palmasutra ) ALP will also have built in J2ME and open source support, which is a major leap to what they have now.

One important fact to pull from that is that the new OS will be able to run your already existing Palm Powered applications on a powerful emulator.

The move serves to benefit developers, handset vendors and mobile operators alike by providing a much broader open source range of new technologies that is also commonly understood while, at the same time, building a foundation that allows for continuos improvement and enhancement.

The open source platform also allows a lot more flexibility to accommodate unique operator requirements.

It was not made clear if the new operating system would also apply to Palm’s standard PDA’s like the Tungsten and Zire, or even if they would continue to make them.

Technorati Tags: 3gsm, access, Access Linux Platform, linux, palm, palm os, palm source