Author Archives: Dennis Bournique

Opting Out of Transcoding

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Remember the furor that erupted on the web and the wmlprogramming Yahoo group over transcoders? Specifically, the ones that Vodafone UK and other carriers implemented with the goal of making non-mobile web pages more usable on mobile handsets? The issue was that these services had the (hopefully unintended) consequence of degrading or completely breaking numerous mobile web sites and services. Ring tone and game downloads no longer worked, some mobile web sites didn’t load or displayed malformed content. Sites that … Continue reading →

More Mobile Transit Sites

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I’m a confirmed public transit user. When I can’t walk or ride my bike, I take local buses, trains and ferries.  With global warming and ever rising oil prices we should all be trying to limit our driving by making at least some of our trips on public transportation.  Transit, a least when it’s working right, is a great way to get around in cities.  But it can be pretty frustrating too.  Like waiting an hour for a bus only … Continue reading →

Browser Comparison – TeaShark vs Opera

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It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of Opera Mini, the free full-web browser that makes it possible you use almost any website on most any phone. Amazingly, using sites designed for an 800×600 px screen on one a tenth as large is both practical and  pleasant in Opera Mini, thanks its combination of server side compression, smart reformatting techniques like content folding and fit to width and a brilliant user interface built a around one and two-click shortcuts … Continue reading →

Skyfire Beta Code – Good Until Aug 30th

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Skyfire, the much hyped, proxy based, full-web mobile browser for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 3rd edition devices is still in closed beta. That means that it is only available to a limited number of users and there is a waiting list.  However according to MobileCrunch, SkyFire has opened the floodgates to all –  but only for the next eight days. You have until August 30th the signup at www.skyfire.com/sign-up and you need to enter Michael8 in the Beta Code … Continue reading →

Joel Spolsky’s Nokia E71 Rave

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E71 image courtesy of Nokia Author and widely read tech blogger (Joel on Software), Joel Spolsky  published a rave review today of Nokia’s newest QWERTY business phone, the E71.  Ever since this phone was announced, I’ve thought it would be a huge success.  Smaller, thinner and lighter than the Blackberry Curve or iPhone; tons of memory; fast, stable, expandable S60 OS and a keyboard that just about every reviewer seems to like in spite of what appear to be minuscule … Continue reading →

Google Gears Opens Up Mobile LBS

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As promised in May at Google I/O, Google has added a geolocation API to Gears. It supports IE, Firefox and Mobile Internet Explorer. When the latest Gears is installed on a compatible phone, the API provides JavaScript methods to retrieve the device’s current location using Cell IDs and/or GPS. Gears provides a standards compliant way to share your location with mobile websites, opening up all sorts of possibilities for location based mobile web services. The announcement is on the official … Continue reading →

Orkut is Back for Opera Mini Users!

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It looks like the week long Orkut outage for Opera Mini users is over. jbpseudo just left a comment saying it was working again. I just tried and got right into Orkut.  This should make a lot of folks happy, especially in Brazil and India where most of Orkut’s traffic comes from.  As jbpseudo said;  thank you, Google, Opera Mini and especially ManneS, the Opera Mini forum moderator and user advocate who I suspect played a big role in escalating … Continue reading →

MyTreo’s Palm OS App Store

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When I was a Palm OS user, MyTreo used to be one of my favorite Palm news, review, download and discussion sites. For several years MyTreo had a mobile version of their forums created with Simple Machine Forum’s (review) built in mobile support, but the rest of the site was a bit less mobile friendly. I don’t have any Palm OS devices anymore and hadn’t visited MyTreo in quite awhile. I was pleasantly surprised when I dropped by the site … Continue reading →