(Credit:
AT&T)
While I'm not yet sold on the idea of cell phones as gifts (really, a two-year contract is the gift that keeps on taking), I have to like AT&T's new mobile phone holiday gift finder.
It's a Flash-based Web site that lets you easily pick out the cell phones your loved ones will want based on their tastes, though I think it would be more handy for people who are looking at signing themselves up with AT&T or those looking to upgrade.
Whatever the reason you're at the site, you'll like the sliders on the left that allow you to select from basic to cutting edge, personal to business, form to function, and communication to entertainment. You can also mouse over each individual phone to see its features at a glance.
You can even sort by the type of plan your giftee has (contract or prepaid), and browse accessories. If they're happy with their gear, you can always get a ringtone gift card. I hear they look good in stockings.
KBB's new Web site optimized for iPhone and iPod Touch.
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET Networks)Kelley Blue Book (KBB), the popular Web site that rates and provides information on motor vehicles, launched on Wednesday its new version that's optimized for iPhone's display (both the original and the iPhone 3G). The new site also works with iPod Touch.
iPhone users now can easily access KBB's new and used vehicle information on their device anywhere they go. The site appears as a Web application that looks and feels very much like an independent application that you buy from Apple's Apps Store. In addition, iPhone users also have the ability to view the Web site's videos, images, new car reviews and can submit free dealer price quotes.
I tried out the site with my iPhone 3G and really liked the way it's organized. In many ways I thought it was even better than the regular full version KBB site that you access from a computer: very straight forward and there was no clutter. The new site responded fast with the 3G connection, when I turned off the 3G, it was slower, as expected, but still acceptable.
To access the new site, all you have to do is type www.kbb.com on the phone's Safari browser, and you will be directed to the optimized Web site automatically. You will also have the option of accessing the full version of the site on the phone.
In September I reviewed Zinadoo, a free service for creating mobile Web sites with a ".mobi" domain. Zinadoo, and now MoFuse, which joined the mobile Web site creation space last week, give individuals and companies a chance to put their wares in a format that will render well from the mobile phone each and every time, from any browser.
So the question is: which service serves you better? The bird's-eye answer is that they both purpose WYSIWYG editors to make site creation painless. They've both worked well, every time. Zinadoo is much more bubbly, graphics-rich, and a touch more gratifying to use.
Zinadoo's bright WYSIWYG site design page is also well-designed
(Credit: CNET Networks)MoFuse differentiates itself by emphasizing content through feeds; it wants to be the ".mobi" location of your ".com" site, particularly your blog. MoFuse populates the bulk of your mofuse.mobi site with that feed, though you can create static content and more capability is in the works. In many ways MoFuse caters more elaborately to users, who can add quickly widgets and redirect codes where serviceable to promote their mobile site. Customized ".mobi" domain names are also free with MoFuse, in contrast with Zinadoo, which charges 18 euros a year to drop the ".zinadoo" suffix from the URL. Zinadoo also sells text messaging credits. For the time being, MoFuse has shunned all premium services.
That's not to say it's shunned a business plan. Users can place ads from either the AdMob or Google AdSense with MoFuse's revenue sharing program; gains split straight down the middle. Zinadoo also places ads, but doesn't announce a revenue-sharing program.
While there are limitations to both sites in terms of interaction and universal click-to-call capability, MoFuse strikes me as a more practical and user-friendly site for the current clime, particularly for individual bloggers. Zinadoo, however, is better suited to create original content that's exclusively mobile.
A blog feed rendered through MoFuse
(Credit: CNET Networks)
My Zinadoo mobile app
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Zinadoo promises to create a home for you on the Web; a site of your own devising that will be accessible to your friends and jealous frenemies from any device. I'd yawn if not for the fact that Zinadoo, like so many other Webutainment or social networking sites, offers an engaging activity with good usability that really delivers.
Zinadoo.com's WYSIWYG authoring interface
Register a site name and it's smooth sailing to a four-part WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) site creator that's built with Adobe Flash Player. File controls that add another Web page, upload an image, and so on live on the left sidebar. It's also one point for publishing. You type your Web content directly into a large rectangular authoring field, and play with text formatting and hyperlinks from the nearby options menu. Click a button to preview the fledgling site on an emulator, and another to generate your site's URL (here's mine.)
Editing is as easy as logging in and typing over what you wrote, then republishing. The hardest part of the process is supplying the content.
Then you name your site, give it a description and tags, and start sharing by way of e-mail, text message, or publishing to MySpace.... Read more
(Credit:
Bob McCarty)
Today's dose of humor only a Web monkey could love is brought to you by Bob McCarty. The online entrepreneur--also of BugsGoneWild.com fame--has come up with a "My Name Is URL" line of shirts and other assorted items (a play on My Name Is Earl, the popular comedy about ordinary people and karma.)
The logo comes emblazoned on long sleeve and cap-sleeve shirts, plus tank tops, hoodies, boxer shorts, bumper stickers--and yes, even doggie garb. Let's hope Fido appreciates Interweb humor.
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