What, more devices that are racking up multiple Mobile phone functions? Bring it on please….!

The Mintpad is one of those crossover devices that aims to do a lot of things – it’s been in the market a little while, but I’m never one to discount a device out of hand for that reason – we all miss gems now and again. The device is running Win CE 5 Pro, which again might not seem like a great reason to check it out, but let’s persist…

First of all, it does look very cool – certainly there’s no hint of Win CE poking through, as has been the case with less successful UI overlays delivered by other device manufacturers. Secondly, it’s quite diminutive, packing a lot in to a very small frame – and third, it claims to have very good audio indeed!

Here’s the specs:

I guess what  a lot of you might be thinking is yeah, but I can get most of this in an iPod Touch – yes, that’s probably true, and the Touch is smaller too – but not everyone wants one of those, so it’s nice to be able to see the alternatives from time to time – of which this is one.

If you want one, hope on over to Advanced MP3 Players, who are selling both 4GB and 20GB variants of the device.

[Via: Advanced MP3 Players]

It’s been a little while since I did a NetLingo Word of the Day, but here’s the latest one:

A Web site that serves as a starting point to other destinations or activities on the Web. Initially thought of as a home base with links to other sites in the same subject area, portals now attempt to provide all of a user’s Internet needs, in one location. Pioneered by Yahoo!, portals aggregate other people’s content. MSN and AOL are also popular Web portals.

For example, portals commonly provide services such as e-mail, online chat rooms, games, shopping, searching, content, newsfeeds, travel information, stock quotes, horoscopes, weather, and so on. Portals grew out of the technology inherent with the Internet and are an excellent example of how to take advantage of “user loyalty” via sticky content.

Additional definitions include these: A personal portal is a site on the Web that typically provides personalized capabilities to its visitors, providing a pathway to other content (such as Invesor’s Business Daily). It is designed to use distributed applications, different numbers and types of middleware and hardware to provide services from a number of different sources. Business portals are designed to share collaboration in workplaces (for example SharePoint). A business-driven requirement of portals is that the content be able to work on multiple platforms such as personal computers, PDAs, and cell phones.

Of course, we all know and love the word ‘portal’ from those simply spiffing Operator Portals that some clever bods at the Mobile Networks dreamed up years and years ago. It’s scary to think how much they invested, and let’s think now – did they ever release figures on how much return they have made from them? Nahhh, ‘course not

[Via: NetLingo]

A recent survey of Ontarians has revealed that a wooping 90% are in favour of upcoming legislation that will ban texting while driving across the province. Over 20% already have necessary hands-free hardware, but that leaves a significant opportunity for accessories (be they Bluetooth or wired headsets and speakerphones) to fill a mandated demand. Sadly, 8% admitted they will be ignoring the ban, but hopefully legal and social pressures will squeeze that minority even lower.  Here are a few other interesting stats on people’s attitudes regarding texting while driving:

• 62 per cent of men strongly agree with the legislation and 25 per cent moderately agree compared to 76 and 16 per cent of women respectively.
• Compliance is lowest amongst those aged 18 to 34 with 14 per cent saying they will likely continue to use their hand-held communication device regardless of the law.
• The highest level of support was among respondents aged 55 plus with 94 per cent indicating that they will comply and only three per cent planning to ignore the ban.
• Regionally, Northern Ontario has the highest level of compliance with 98 per cent planning on complying with the law and no longer using their hand-held device while driving compared to 82 per cent in Eastern Ontario.
• 85 per cent of men are aware of the ban compared to 79 per cent of women.

[via Sony Ericsson]

Can I have a portable one of these please? Oh, and can you put the screen and remote inside the box please?

Okay, so Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s Rock ‘n’ Roll announcement was very nice, and had some good updates and new products. Particularly the new little Nano with video capture – very cheeky, and perfect for the ‘gimme now’ generation…!

But Apple’s announcement disappointed a lot of people on many levels – that in itself doesn’t matter so much you can bet one or another announcement over the next six months will hoover up all the requests that people are making  – but in the meanwhile people will continue to ask for stuff – inlcuding me!

I’m not Kerr-azy with the scope of my requirements – in fact, I have only one requirement – I want a portable Apple TV please.

Now this portable device should surpass the features found in the current Apple TV, but also be thin/light enough to be portable (and useful) – and don’t tell me it ain’t possible, people thought the iPhone couldn’t be done until Apple rolled it out!

The Apple TV has (oddly) turned out to be the device that Apple hasn’t focused on – for reasons unknown to many. But it has the potential to be something great, if it were re-packaged as a Mobile device. That Mobile device could even take the form factor of the Apple Tablet that many are talking about, but it would need to have some key features:

• HD Video playback – 1080p please
• Nice big screen
• HDMI out
• Video Capture – perhpaps not 1080p, but passable
• Multiple Connectivity options – so that streaming is an option
• Nice big rack of solid-state storage – 32GB+ please
• Other secondary features – touch keypad anyone?

I suppose in some respects I might be making a case for an Apple Tablet, but then again I wouldn’t want the Tablet primarily as a device that you could email/browse on. Instead I primarily want a multimedia hub that I can take with me, and plug in to a TV anywhere.

So will Apple give me one? Well I’d bet on an HD iPhone within the next year, so maybe that will do most of what Apple TV does – only time, as they say, will tell!

Have you ever had one (or more) of those occasions where someone else has been thinking exactly the same thing as you, and then written/said it at the same time? Well I can’t say it’s me in this instance, but instead our very our Stefan, and Dr. Jim Taylor (who I’ve mentioned before – see here) – in this case, they are both talking about how technology has somehow cheapened or distilled real relationships in to nearly worthless ones and zeros.

We cover a lot of news at IntoMobile, but my suggestion is that you take the time out to read both articles, since they are well-written by intelligent people (Stefan, you can give me that $10 later )

I’ve included a paragraph from each below, so you can get a feel for things:

Stefan says:

Before social networks, and trust me, there was a time before social networks, building arelationship with someone actually required some investment of your time. I remember, as a kid, calling my friends after school on a land line phone and seeing who was free to play basketball. I remember having to make a choice about who to tell about my date last night with the girl in our chemistry class. I remember that my best friend, by process of elimination, was the guy who I spent the most time with and revealed all my deepest secrets, fears, and desires to, and he would do the same. Back then my relationships with people involved contacting them to arrange a lunch or handball game at the local park, and then catching up. Today, thanks to technology and our need as a species to be as efficient as possible, we all tell Facebook, Twitter, and our blogs what’s new with our lives, and expect the people we care about to read/watch/listen to the media we produce.

Dr. Jim says:

I see life as connecting with the world directly rather than through a conduit of computer and communication technology. Life is moving something other than my fingers, and experiencing the world with all of my senses, not just with my eyes and ears. It is about connecting with others in a substantial way. Life is about caring deeply about things that directly impact my world. What makes life life for me is its inherent imperfection and untidiness, its intermittent chaos and uncertainty, its occasional blood, sweat, and tears. Can we find that with this kind of technology? I’m not so sure.

Link to Stefan’s article here. Link to Dr. Jim’s article here. Read ‘em both, they’re very good.

While BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) has become something of a standard issue for many enterprises, it’s gradually turning into an HR headache as the threat of employees demanding overtime on mobile devices looms. Keeping time sheets for personal/business mobile use is a bit impractical – some companies simply institute mandatory BlackBerry blackouts in order to save themselves the hassle. A UK employment law firm, Peninsula, has conducted a study of some 600 BlackBerry-toting employees, revealing they’re spending an average of 15 more hours a week as a result of the little digital ball-and-chain, and concluded that employers should promote a healthy work-life balance to avoid burnout.

“Bosses should encourage staff not to work from home unless necessary. Inform staff that they should limit working from home. If they are happy to work away then ensure they agree to opt out of the maximum working week and have this signed. Limit the extent to which employees are using their devices when they choose to do so; unrested employees will be less productive during the working day.”

The 15-hour figure, however, may help some enterprises organize their workforce accordingly as a rule of thumb – if it’s understood that your boss is taking into account 15 hours spent on mobile, then you’ll be obliged to be available when out of the office. That expectation of constant availability is implicit in some environments, although only semi-legal if you’re not getting paid for it. Keep in mind that the study was also conducted in the UK, where standard practices for businesses may differ; I’m tempted to think in North America, we spend a lot more (read: way too much) time on BlackBerrys, and probably have a larger figure over here. In any case, smart companies should have a policy to properly compensate for mobile activity, and studies like this could help solidify one if it’s not already in place.

[via Telegraph]

Wow, here’s a contentious one.

Dr Jim Taylor, writing as the Tech Shrink, has written an open letter to Steve Jobs, asking him if the core of Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) (joke, geddit?) is rotten. He makes a number of points relating to both the way in which the company is run, and the lack of openness in many respects.

It’s certainly one of those posts that you can see dividing the haters and the fanboys, if those are indeed the correct labels for the detractors and supporters, respectively – and it’s not one of those arguments I’d want to get involved in!

At the end of the day, your Tech, and the way you use it, should be there to make your life more efficient, effective, and enjoyable – and as I’ve said before, if it ain’t doing that, then you need to ask yourself why you continue to use it. It’s the same logic I used when I moved from PC to Mac, and my perspective is that it’s made my life much simpler – however, that could be seen as taking a side (which I’m not), so I’ll let you read the full article and decide for yourselves.

If nothing else, it’s well-written, and deserves a read – you can find it here.

I’ve posted before about the writings of Dr. Jim Taylor, who covers the area of ‘Psychology of UI’ – given there’s a huge crossover in to Mobile, his work is of real interest to me, and that’s the case again on his latest communication to me.

He has written a blog post on Computerworld.com, talking about the psychological effect on some people when Twitter suffered a cyberattack recently – including the fact that in some case, for some people, they felt lost without that tool to help them!

Now given that a lot of people Tweet via a mobile app or via text, I thought this was really interesting- if you combine a mobile device, the ability to text, and updating your Twitter feed, you have the potentially for people to become incredibly reliant on their devices, perhaps to a psychological detriment.

Anyway, I am not going to spoil the post, because I think it’s a really good read – so click here to check it out, but be sure to come back and let us know what you think in the comments!

[Dr. Jim Taylor via: Computerworld]

It’s been a while since I posted a NetLingo definition up – but seeing as this one is mobile-specific, I thought it a pertinent one! I guess a lot of you might know the term, and it’s not one that perhaps trips off the tongue that simply:

mobisode

A media industry term to describe a broadcast television episode made especially for viewing on a mobile device. These video snippets are brought to you by a wireless provider and are available on a variety of topics.

Interesting combination of ‘mobile’ and ‘episode‘ there – again, not sure it’s the most elegant term – but as I did spend a good while working on delivering mobile content such as this (back in my Operator days) then I’m more than familiar with the term – and if you weren’t before, you are now (also)!

If you fancy checking out the house of tech-speak that is NetLingo, click here.

[Via: NetLingo]

Research from Monach University on heavy mobile users aged 11 to 14 revealed quicker results, but more inaccuracies in IQ-style tests. These results are a product of mobile usage cultivating bad habits on impressionable minds, but there are no doubt other digital lifestyle factors (instant messaging on desktop, for example) to which frequent cell phone users might also be prone. The most immediate casualty in these kinds of developmental changes are obviously the handling of words, as truncated, frequently-used versions quickly replace real English, but these tests sounded well-rounded – an overall tendency towards speed over accuracy is a little startling, and should be a wake-up call for parents with text-crazy kids. For more info and the free abstract of the research, take a look at the Bioelectricalmagnetics Journal over here.

[via Gizmodo]