PaulMonaco.mobi

I origionally started this mobile blog on a whim. Thought it would be cool to have a dot-mobi domain name and an accessible site but never really had a clear vision of where I wanted to take it.

Today while doing some routine maintenance I stumbled upon a mobile statistics tab that i somehow overlooked before. Well it showed that 9% of my traffic was coming from mobile browsers. Suffice it to say that lit (yet another) spark in my crazy mind and ideas are flowing again. Hopefully I can bring a few of them to fruition.

As the iPad was unveiled before me via my overtaxed broadband connection through an overtaxed internet in general I was filled with ooooh’s and ahhhh’s.   After all, nothing is more sexy then a new Apple product right?  After seeing it’s price tag start at $499 I even thought to myself that if it were available *today* I would be picking one up on the ride home.

Then came the ride home… my one hour commute in the solitude of my car where I rehashed the presentation.  Wait… 16M/32M/64M memory configuration?  It’s big enough for a hard drive.  Hmm… no camera?  It’s just an oversized iPod touch with optional 3G service from the (sporadic in my area) AT&T.  Quickly my enthusiasm dwindled.

My quick day one assessment….   It’s a good potential netbook replacement for those that want a lightweight machine to check email with while travelling that will provide good entertainment as well.

Biggest missing component… a camera.  Early speculations reported two camera, one user facing for conferencing one forward facing for picture taking.  Since AT&T is still the sole carrier for this device I suspect bandwidth issues may have been the determining factor for the lack of video.

Will I still get one?  Yea, probably.

Please excuse the dust as we upgrade many of our blogs.

Not long ago I have to admit i was pretty darned jealous of all the cool kids playing with Google Wave.  Then that day came, I finally got myself an invite.  Okay now what.. just me and one other person playing with what appeared to be a shared document.  Some weeks pass by and I became involved in some larger group discussions within wave.  Mostly bleeding edgers playing with this new toy, everyone learning the ropes, some attempting to cast rules of etiquette and others just randomly clicking and adding every extension they can find.

Though I havn’t had the resources to confirm it first hand, it did appear that the Mac users were able to use it more efficiently.  I always thougth of my Turion-X2 powered Vista64 machine with ATi Graphics and 4G of RAM was reasonably powered but Google Wave runs very sluggish for me once the wave builds up to any reasonable size. (Yes, even when using the Chromium browser.)

To test my theory, the closest thing I had to a mac was my 3rd Generation iPod touch.  Well.. see for yourself the message I got!  Now go back and look at that message again.  See the little “go ahead” link?  Well.. let’s just say say it’s still in beta.. didn’t quite work that great for me but what little that did work (seemed to depend on the content of the particular wave I was viewing) it was pretty snappy thanks to the smooth finger scrolling.

At the moment I’m not seeing Google Wave as the post email save all that others are seeing.  What I am seeing however, is a reasonable way to collaborate on documents from a mobile platform especially between mobile and desktop based users.

Google has a long way to go before Wave is ready for prime time.  Those of you still waiting for an invite, you’re not yet missing out on a whole lot.  If you’re really eager though, give me a shout I may have a few invites left.

Captured via Pulse Smartpe

Here’s a radical idea….

A pocket Notebook, the

kind that one would use

to maintain a shopping

list or 2-do list, is actually

a great little mobile

device. When combined

with a Pulse Smartpen

and the Livescribe desktop

it’s pretty radical.

- Paul

You gotta check this out if you haven’t seen it: http://www.livescribe.com/

Finally!  Super fast, intuitive QR Scanning on the Blackberry!  Rush to the  App Store and grab the latest version of BlackBerry messenger, you’ll a handy alternative to hand typing that cumbersome PIN to add a messenger contact while avoiding having to explain to the non-initiated that your BB PIN is not exactly the same as your bank PIN and should be shared if you want to communicate with your BB contacts.

From BBM Profile Menu

Feel free to scan and add me

Now in all lazyness (since I haven’t re-installed a 3rd party QR Code reader into my new Tour) I’m not exactly sure how that will scan outside of the BBM environment, but conversely.. the BBM scanner does read this sites URL embedded QR Code and properly invokes the default browser.

What impresses me the most is this thing scans at lightning speed!  Now.. when will we see a UPC scanner like this?

This is more of a test than an actual blog post. I just downloaded the Wordpress iPhone application and am running it on my iPod touch. Installation from the app store was painless and in no time I am intuitively posting to my blog! A five star winner in my book!

Both Facebook and MySpace have pretty decent mobile applications.  In my opinion (at least on the BlackBerry platform) MySpace seems to have a bit of an edge over Facebook when it come to slickness of the mobile interface and functionality.

Now in the desktop/laptop world, both companies have experimented with “apps” to increase their stickiness.  In the beginning there was a steep learning curve.  Users quickly took sides.  Those who liked them, really liked them and those who didn’t.. well yea.. they hated them.

Enter the new generation of mobile visitors.  A very unique crowd.  For some of them, their communication devices are also their primary computing device.  To this ever growing demographic the mobile-only online experience with many of today’s social networks leave much to be desired.

So with all that said… my “Gem for Genius” idea.  Develop a way (via application) for visitors to these social sites (and in my mind I’m thinking Facebook/MySpace) to experience more of the site then they are currently.  The multi-player games and other fun diversions need to be translated to the major mobile platforms.

With many workplaces blocking many of these sites from their networks, users are flocking to them via mobile device to get their fix.  Imagine if they could also manage their online gaming the same way?  Imagine the value of a banner ad showing nearly full screen on a mobile device that a viewer is totally focused on?  Yea.. now your getting the picture!

After investigating several options, I’ve partnered with GetResponse (non mobile line) as my bulk email provider.  I wanted to be able to provide a mobile friendly newsletter and GetResponse provided all the tools necessary to do that with.  During my evaluation process of various hosts, I was surprised to see most of them so top heavy in web 2.0 goo that I could see some destop users having difficulty with their mailing process.

My newsletter is in the draft stages now but rest assured it will be a low volume list.  It is fully opt-in and confirmed.  Unsubscribing WILL NOT add you to any other lists.

I would really appreciate your patronage in signing up.  Mobile users can scroll to the bottom of this page for the opt-in form while desktop users will find it on the right sidebar.

Happy texting!

If you’ve been living under a rock, the much awaited BlackBerry Storm OS 4.7.0.148 update is availble from Verizon.  Either visit the official blackberry.com/upgrade site or scroll Options > Advanced Options > Wireless Update, to get the new firmware.

Improvements include enhanced browsing, camera interface and new copy/paste tool along with several other improvements.

AD: Pimp Your Blackberry Smartphone With The Latest Movies, Videos, Ringtones & Wallpapers. Its The Easiest Way To Customize Your Blackberry Device!!