.mobi
The .mobi TLD was launched on Monday. This is good because it is promoting the (currently struggling) mobile web, but bad because I think it’s the wrong direction. Why have separate domains for the mobile web than for the desktop web? We shouldn’t be making assumptions about how people are accessing our web pages. I think that web pages should be in a device independent language which can be transformed to be rendered in different formats (see previous post). It’s an issue of properly separating content and presentation, not of marketing.
Homebrew Mobile Phone Club
Following in a similar theme, I recently discovered the Homebrew Mobile Phone Club who work on open mobile platforms (with, I think, the ultimate goal of creating their own mobile phones.) They share the frustration that I have for the current range of available mobile phones. My frustration is that I know exactly what I phone I want, it just hasn’t been invented yet!
Gumstix
And to finish off, take a look at these awesome little Linux computers, the size of a stick of chewing gum.
Gumstix. There is lots of development support and a range of expansion kits.