Category Archives: News Sites

New CNN International Site

Posted on by

I’ve criticized CNN in the past for their policy of blocking users whose carrier is not a CNN “partner” or if they are using Opera Mini. It looks like that may be changing. CNN together with Ericsson have launched cnnmobile.com, a slick new mobile news site targeted at users in the NEMA (Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America) markets but seemingly accessible from any IP address. Like the still restricted by IP address CNN US mobile site at mobile.cnn.com, … Continue reading →

Mobile NBC5.COM

Posted on by

Chicago’s NBC5 TV station (WMAQ) has a new mobile web site at wap.nbc5.com. I’m pretty sure that the site design was done by the same hand as the KTVU2 San Francisco site I reviewed recently. Both are very nicely done mobile sites that support both WAP1 and WAP2 phones with appropriate markup and images resized to just the right size to fill the screen on most devices. Content emphasizes local news, weather (with a radar map) and sports. There are … Continue reading →

MSNBC’s Hidden Mobile Gems

Posted on by

MSNBC, the cable TV news channel operated by Microsoft and NBC has a rather good mobile web site. There is no dedicated URL for the mobile site as far as I know, but if you go to MSNBC.com with almost any mobile browser, the site’s browser detection kicks in to serve mobile pages. It’s a typical multi section news portal much in the style of CNN’s and the BBC’s mobile sites. Unlike those two which use in house reporters extensively, … Continue reading →

Mobile KTVU.COM

Posted on by

San Francisco’s local Fox network TV affiliate KTVU Channel 2, home of the most popular TV news broadcast in the San Francisco market, has launched a mobile news site at wap.ktvu.com. Mobile KTVU.COM is notable in a couple of areas. The site uses browser detection to adapt output to the capabilities of different browsers. Image size varies from from 96 to 236 px wide to fit the screen width on most devices. The site delivers wml and .gif images to … Continue reading →

Newsweek’s Two Mobile Sites

Posted on by

Newsweek is Time magazine’s major competitor among US weekly news magazines. Before the Internet and CNN these two publications held great power in influencing mainstream politics and thought in this country. Nowadays both are trying to reinvent themselves on the web – including the mobile web. I covered Time‘s new mobile site recently so here’s a look at Newsweeks‘ mobile offering. Newsweek, like Time, has turned to Crisp Wireless to create their mobile site. Crisp seems to specialize in repackaging … Continue reading →

Mobile Minneapolis StarTribune

Posted on by

A user on HowardForums’s tipped me about the Minneapolis StarTribune’s mobile site. The site’s really designed for PDA’s but usability scales down to typical phones fairly well. There are links to about 35 breaking news stories on the front page. A top level menu links to other sections including a section for each of the area’s pro sports teams. The section pages each link to about 10 stories so there is a lot of content on the mobile StarTribune. The … Continue reading →

CNN Doesn’t “Get” Mobile

Posted on by

I really don’t understand CNN’s mobile web strategy. Their mobile site (mobile.cnn.com) can only be reached from phones on CNN’s network partners! The news network seems to be saying that they’d rather make a quick buck today from carrier deals than build their brand on mobile. This is all the more surprising because the CNN mobile site carries advertising which means lost ad revenue too. Wikipedia calls CNN the second most watched (after the BBC) TV news source in the … Continue reading →

Read your Local Paper on your Phone

Posted on by

Local newspapers are struggling, print circulation is dropping as more people turn to the web for news. Traditional newspapers are looking for ways to survive. Many are turning to the mobile web as an additional publishing platform. This makes sense as a sizable percentage of commuters read the paper on the train or bus. On my own commute, everyone’s face used to be buried in the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Tribune or San Jose Mercury News. Now about a third … Continue reading →