I came across MobDB the other day thanks to one of those beta lists that I completely forget the name of. When I remember, I’ll update the post. Anyway this one really caught my eye as I think I could seriously use it for a number of applications.

Let’s take a step back. What’s the one problem every single interactive mobile application has? At some point you’re going to want it to hook into a back-end database, right? To store everything. And that’s where it gets annoying. You work really hard on the app, then you have to build a flipping API for it. And unless you’re doing something with a pre-existing database, the chances are you need to construct a whole MySQL (or similar) back-end infrastructure to link to that API.

It’s a bit of an arse.

Doable, yes, but a bit of an arse. It’s just yet one more thing you have to remember. And often it means almost double the work for an application developer — because he’s got to figure out both the app front-end then develop this back-end bit.

That’s where mobDB comes in. They’ve done it all for you. They’re using Amazon in the background and they’ve simply designed a lovely front-end API for your app to talk to the database. You do this via HTTP-POST. It couldn’t be any simpler. Within that HTTP-POST, you include some uber-easy XML that executes your query and you get the results back in XML.

For instance, if this table existed on mobDB…

Then all you’d need to do to access it is send this XML:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
 <request>  
  <key>CIWWP3-1Ss-Vy7mOvi36kGTtDU-G0210JFRsWoBSoScBJpadeatrtTYy5Qqa</key> 
    <sql> 
     </query>SELECT * FROM employees</query> 
    </sql>   
 </request>

Easy.

Making a query is simple too:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
 <request>  
  <key>CIWWP3-1Ss-Vy7mOvi36kGTtDU-G0210JFRsWoBSoScBJpadeatrtTYy5Qqa</key> 
   <sql> 
      <query >SELECT name, address, photo FROM employees</query> 
   </sql>   
 </request>

The service is in beta right now and therefore it’s totally free to use.

Why not check it out at mobDB.net?

Update: The website I mentioned at the start but couldn’t remember the name of? http://www.betabait.com/

We had a question posed to us this afternoon by reader Benjamin Lethbridge who asks:

What do you hear to be the best Android Twitter client?

I actually quite enjoy the plain vanilla official Twitter client — I thought it would be interesting to see what people suggest.

What do you use?

A quick nod over to the team at AlwaysOnMessage — the first chaps to be featured in our Mobile Developer Titan series. Their restaurant guide app has just been promoted to ‘featured’ status by the Apple iTunes editorial team.

Congratulations AoM!

I’ve just downloaded the app — it’s looking rather smart! You can pick it up here: iTunes, free

More from Jay:

I don’t want to surprise the hell out of you.

Because the headline is true.

I am seriously considering making an application and putting it into the Ovi store.

I know I’ve been telling the world just how bollocks Nokia has been in some aspects, in the past. But I think it’s time to put that behind us.

I think it’s time to pat Nokia on the back and say, ‘This Ovi thing… you know, the store… that ain’t half bad… let’s give it a go, eh?’

It’s time to put my money where my mouth is.

Nokia has a future. Symbian (I can’t actually write the text ‘Symbian’ without wincing, I have that bad an opinion of it) has a future. The Ovi Store has a lot of potential.

People still like Nokia devices. They are still nifty handsets. Well built, capable…

Time to make it happen.

Here’s what I want to do. I’m sick and tired of waiting for someone to develop and release a decent conferencing application for my N95 8GB.

Howler Tech / ROK Talk did it. I’m not entirely clear on where that’s gone or what precisely happened to it. All I know is that I don’t have it on my N95 and that quite simply isn’t good enough.

I want to do conference calls. Anyone working with large companies needs to do conference calls. And I can’t tell you how FLIPPING annoying it is when someone sends me their ‘conference details’.

It’s like being back at infant school. It’s like living in the 19-sodding-hundreds.

‘Here is my 0870 bollocks number’

‘Here is the PIN code you need to type in’

What am I? The brain of sodding Britain? No. I don’t want to be given your bollocks PIN number.

I don’t want to call some idiot-per-minute number.

Furthermore I’m sick and tired of the shite service offered by conference providers. To be clear, they can do the telephone bits fine. But the ‘service’ around it is 100% screwed. It’s because the conference provider doesn’t give a flipping flying flip about HOW you use the service. There’s no decent online click-here-to-start. There’s no decent mobile-activated conference system. I want to click, click, click in my address book and hit GO.

And I don’t want to pay 0870 ‘national rate’ rubbish call rates for the privilege either.

I have had enough of turning up to a group conference call at 2.30pm and spending the next 15 minutes dicking about waiting for Bob, or Bill, or Jim, or Linda to actually join.

10 minutes after that — so at 2:55pm, we actually get started. One guy’s had to pull over because he was driving and thought we’d be calling him. Another can only stay for two minutes because he’s ‘got a 3 o’clock’.

It’s rubbish. It’s not good enough. I want a system that just calls everyone at the appointed time. Better still I want it to send out reminders 5 hours from the time of the conference call. AND crucially, I want the ability to be able to do a live, off-the-cuff phone call immediately.

It’s time the market was served by something a lot better.

And I’d like your help to make it.

Who’s up for it? Are you a Symbian developer? If so, we need your help.

Are you interested in owning a bit of history and helping put our money where our mouth is? I need a few grand from a few people, I reckon.

Or, frankly, I’ll just pay for it myself.

Who do I need to speak to at Ovi to get the app on their store? Does anyone know?

As ever, I’m ewan@mobileindustryreview.com. Let’s talk.

Update:

Kerry Ritz, CEO of Palringo, responded right away with this gem:

you can submit apps to ovi store directly. there is a 3 step process to having applocations accepted/screened by nokia

Ah. Interesting stuff. Nice one Kerry. OK so that part of the process looks pretty straight forward…

If you are, I’d like to buy you a beer.

In London.

Regular contributor, Ed Hodges, is currently navigating the Ovi App Store challenges with the app that he and his team are working on. He tweeted earlier today asking if anyone else was doing similar.

His actual Tweet reads:

Anyone out there writing apps for the Nokia Ovi store? Wanna connect and talk through the difficulties?

Talk to Ed on Twitter — @Edd_Hodges.

Post a note below if you’re up for it — or drop me an email and we’ll arrange something.

I’m ewan@mobileindustryreview.com.

These are from the new version of Skyfire — version 0.9. They’ve really been innovating since I last took a look. The brilliance with Skyfire is that it gives you a ‘proper’ desktop browsing experience on your handset.

There’s many a time when you’re out on the road that you JUST NEED to have a proper web connection. Whether it’s because the site you’re trying to view has been built by neanderthals who wouldn’t know a mobile browser if it bit them on the arse — or if you simply need full fidelity flash/video without scrolling all over the place, Skyfire is most probably what you need.

It’s the sort of thing you definitely should try out.

This next version is nigh on completely new for the N and E Series Nokia handsets too. Look out for a much nicer installation and a lighter weight install.

Want to check it out? http://get.skyfire.com.

I got a note in from Pavel, our iPhone app developer, telling me that the Mobile Industry Review app has finally gone live on the iTunes Application Store.

I did a quick search — as I have been doing now and again — and today found this in the results:

Get IN!

I’m going to download it in a minute. Here’s what it looks like:

Now don’t expect an all-singing-all-dancing experience. I wanted the first version just to be a basic newsfeed. And then I wanted to garner ideas and suggestions and then launch the next version. It would, for example, be rather cool if you could submit comments, or vote or … see how many MIR readers are in your area. Heh.

When time permits, download it and have a play. You can get to the MIR App page here.

But a couple of months ago I signed up to a website to do with “students”, homework help, offers, competitions all that rather exciting rubbish really. And you know for some part it has been of some good use; then I got an update about a “Mobile Social Network”.

Originally, I though “ahh, I could review this, and see how incredibly wonderful it may or may not be!” then I clicked through, browsed at the website and spoke aloud to myself…

“Samantha, what are you doing? This whole idea is completely pointless, and certainly not “free” to you!”

It then suddenly hit me, like a brick that purely mobile social networks (Socials) are completely pointless, and useless.

The way I see it, with Facebook, Myspace and to some extent even the dreaded Bebo out there (plus many others), small little Mobile Networks such as “QEEP” which I was so close to reviewing, have not got a hope in hell to be of any use.

I’ll explain further; I was one of the first people out of my collection of friends to “migrate” to Facebook from Myspace; now encouraging my friends to move from their beloved Myspace accounts to something which in comparison offered no personalisation or customisation and looked rather bland was something of a headache. It was an even tougher job getting the Bebo users to realise what a pile of crap Bebo truly has become and convert them to Facebook also. Over a year down the line, if I want to see a certain friends’ latest photo’s I’ll still have to sign into Myspace of Bebo and have a browse.

Now as far as Mobile Socials go, I can’t see the point in it. A mobile phone for “most” people is merely a day-to-day tool; and I have to say there are still relatively few people I know who use their mobiles for any web-browsing need or desire. It’s simply not on the agenda.

Therefore it only appears apparent that for some young people Mobile Socials have absolutely no place in their lives.

Now for me, even though I do go on Facebook on my mobile (I think its part addiction), I go online because I know I have a few hundred friends, and that since the last time I looked at something it would have updated or changed. Similarly, I know that there is quite a large possibility I’ll have a status comment to respond to, or any other kind of notification.

But before any of that can even happen, you have to persuade your friends to migrate to this particular site or service. And that is by no means an easy task or feat; and then I realise, what is the point in having a Social just purely for the mobile?

As Facebook Mobile demonstrates, a platform you can enjoy on your Laptop, PC, Mac, PDA, and Mobile is quite possibly the best. Anyone can have access to it, and it’s relevant to you no matter what you’re doing. If I’m on Facebook at home, why would I update my under-populated profile on my Mobile Social?

There’s a time and place for Mobile Socialising, and I don’t know about anyone else, but for me it’s during times when I’m away from my computer, and when I have a bit of spare time on my hands. The hassle that I sense with even partially migrating to a new platform is pointless. There is nothing I can benefit out of a service which only serves a purpose at those very rare moments; I would much rather update my Facebook, or reply to a comment on my main form of internet socialising.

So does the purely mobile social network have any stability? Personally, I don’t think so; and just as the stories that have appeared on MIR over the past week about Twitter (and using it at home, work or play) just go to prove this. Any form of social network I believe, has to be usable and accessible no matter where you are, and what you’re doing. More than anything though, if you decide to migrate to a new platform you have to be able to ensure that your friends are going to want to follow you there; otherwise, what is the point?

I want to know what you think though. Am I completely wrong? Do you use a completely mobile, mobile social?  Feel free to send any e-mails into Samantha@mobileindustryreview.com

Also, before I forget; I hope everyone has a very good Christmas too!

I’ll keep you updated…

- – - – -

Ewan,

We don’t really do press releases but I wanted to ping you about what have been beavering away on here in Buddycloud Towers. We’re terrible at blowing our own trumpet but I figured that if we are going to talk about ourselves, then we’d rather tell you first.

This morning Ross received a newly signed build back from Symbian that rolls up all our development build goodness. Things like pushing status message to Twitter and Facebook and place syncing. eg: “Ross Savage met with Helge Timenes at Buddycloud Towers.” The chat and find-people-nearby stuff is also now looking good.

Helge has also been hard at work on our location engine, tweaking it to get even better, more accurate place bookmarks using just Cell Towers for location. And now, when a user is not at one of their place bookmarks, we share your general location with your friends (eg Ewan is on-the-road in Shorditch or Ewan is near to MIR Towers).

Helge has also been fixing some strange problems with using cellid for positioning (we discovered that all Starbucks use the same ethernet address!) The Wifi lets you be hyper-accurate but for the most part Cell Towers is “good enough”.

And I’m currently working with a university team in Munich and one in Vienna that are using our backend and handset code to develop a
carpooling and mobile dating service respectively. I’m also working with some of the standard boards to find a nice way to share location and find people nearby. Eventually we want Buddycloud, Brightkite, Fireeagle, Nokia Friendfinder etc all working together.

Some progress: A protocol we put together is now in the experimental phase
(http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0255.html)

A couple of weeks back we asked them to help us translate the Buddycloud application to more than just English. Within 5 days we were supporting 11 languages. (Thanks gang.)

I also updated our product description page if MIR readers would like to know more about us:
http://www.buddycloud.com/cms/node/56

(trumpt blowing over) If you would like something a bit more press-releasey ping me back and I could jot something down for you.

- – - – -

STEP AWAY FROM THE PRESS RELEASE, Simon. I much prefer an email update from the chaps who’re doing it. I’m pretty sure the rest of the readers here on Mobile Industry Review prefer that too.

I’m off to go and put Buddycloud on my handset…

Here’s the link you need to download.

It quite simply gives you an RSS news feed of our site in an easy to consume form. Nothing too shocking for our first app version.

The big challenge we’ve got though is designing a decent icon for it. Any ideas?

Pashik reckons that a red square with the letters “MIR” in white isn’t that stunning. He’s knocked up some others samples here:

I suppose we could probably use a small MOBILE INDUSTRY REVIEW … but it’ll be quite small on the device. Does anyone have any ideas?

For the last four hours I have been trying to get the G1′s IM client to add another account. I’m using my main Mobile Industry Review account on the device — but I have a load of other accounts that I’d like to use — MSN, Yahoo and so on — but I can’t for the life of me work out how to add them.

It appears to be possible judging by the screenshot of the video posted by the Google Android IM/Gtalk team.

I can’t find a How-To or a manual for this… has anyone figured it out?

Making the jump from 1.5.x to 2.0, a lot of exciting new features have been introduced with this release. On of the most annoying things about the app was the time when there was no signal. As per the team, their focus for this version was to make the whole experience faster and more reliable at the same time. Here’s what version 2.0 brings.

• Improved Performance: There’s a notable speed improvement and absolutely no lag while scrolling.
• Multiple Account Management: The new version lets your manage multiple Gmail or Google Apps account, allowing you to quickly switch between them. No more running two apps for Gmail and Google Apps.
• More Shortcut Keys: The new release adds more power to QWERTY phones, by adding even more shortcut keys for scrolling, undo, new and old conversation etc.
• Offline Support: At times when there’s no or bad signal, the app allows you to compose a new message or read through your most emails. Outgoing messages are saved to the Outbox and sent out automatically.
• Multiple Drafts: The new version can also store multiple drafts on the phone.
• Additional Region Support: The version 2.0 is now available in over 35 languages.

As usual, the latest version is available for download at http://m.google.com/mail

The team has also posted a fun video run-through of the new features.

When, on the 30th of October, you walk out your local T-Mobile Shop with your brand new G1 Google Android phone, what applications will you be able to download?

Well, I’ll tell you.

We’ve got the list from T-Mobile:

- – - – -

Shopping
Barcode Scanner v2.1 – Scans and recognises the barcode of any product
ShopSavvy – Compares prices online and on the high street
CompareEverywhere – Scans barcodes gives directions to local stores using Google maps

Lifestyle
Mandelbrot Map – Map viewer
Krystle II – Pet your phone
Pocket Seismograph – Monitors the phone’s accelerometer
Translate – Translation tool
Pro Football Live! – Football news / information
BreadCrumbz – Navigate via user-generated pictures
e-ventr – Event organizer and friendship scout
iMap Weatherâ„¢ – Weather application
Ecorio – Track and reduce your carbon footprint, “green community”
Cocktail! – Database of cocktails
Cooking Capsules Taster – Cooking application
Wikitude – AR Trav… Mobile travel guide
AccuWeather.com – Global weather

Multimedia
Shazam – Identify music, store and buy music
PicSay – Personalize pictures with text
Panoramio – Finds pictures of interesting places in your area
TuneWiki – Next generation social media player
BlueBrush – Draw with friends, share the same canvas
Video Player v.01 – Plays video files off of the G1′s SD card
Photostream – Photo browser for Flickr
Ringdroid – Create ringtones
SplashPlay – Music application

Productivity
QuickList – To do lists
WikiMobile Encyclopedia – Wikipedia for mobile devices
Maverick – IM compatible to Google Talk

Tools
Radar – Draw a bearing between the user’s current location and latitude/longitude
Task Switcher – Search-Space is the new “Alt-Tab” (need better definition)
Spare Parts – Android developing tool
Text-To-Speech Translator – Text-to-speech services
Any Cut v0.5 – Home shortcuts to “anything” on your web or your phone
Locale – Manages phone settings based on conditions (e.g. location)
Contacts De-Duper – De-duplicate your contacts to streamline your contacts folder
Shutter Spead – Detailed camera settings to make the most of the in-built camera and web access
DiskUsage – Utility to examine SD card content to manage what you store on your phone
Rings Extended – Replaces standard ringtones

Games & Puzzles
PAC-MAN by Namco
Metamath Solitaire
MisMisMatch
Anagrams v0.2
Slide Puzzle
Divide and Conquer!
CB Blackjack
Bubble Bash
Bonsai Blast
Balls 2 The Wall
Tetris
Android Says…

- – - – -

Get IN!

I can’t wait to get shopping. The innovation is just phenomenal. This is what’s it’s all about. Finally we’re getting there.

The days when you bought a ‘limited’ set of features are over, at least here in the West.

It is simply unacceptable for Nokia, Samsung and LG to deliver devices to the marketplace with limited functions. One set of features does not fit all. It hasn’t… for a long time.

You should be able to customise your mobile experience entirely.

Android, the marketplace and T-Mobile’s support is a step in the right direction. Bring. It. On.

I’m really liking the sound of this:

One application to take advantage of the T-Mobile G1′s camera and GPS functionality is Wikitude, which displays local information from Wikipedia live on-screen when scanning your local surroundings using the device’s camera.

And a few other tasters?

ShopSavvy, uses the G1′s camera to ‘scan’ product barcodes and then searches the web using the browser to find the best available prices. The application also features product reviews and ratings, lets you create shopping lists, connects you to shops selling the product and gives directions to the nearest retailer using Google Maps.

SplashPlay teaches users how to play the guitar by streaming video over the web, whilst Cooking Capsules and Cocktail! comb the web to provide recipes and instructions based on the contents of your kitchen or drinks cabinet.

Heh.

Fantastic.

He’s got some chaps to create a Symbian S40/S60 version of the service he’s aiming to launch — and is wondering how difficult it will be to convert the application to work on other platforms (e.g. Sony Ericsson).

What’s your view?

What’s new in 1.5?

1. Import and manage digital media from any device such as S60 phone, digital camera, memory stuck and even HDDs.The application also sports the ability to convert your media into the proper format so that it is correctly supported on your phone.

2. Viewing of the Geotagged photos and videos in the integrated map view.

3. Ovi support

As usual, it is a beta release, and may have some unwanted behavior. It is available for download here.

We just got information that the SlingPlayer Mobile has now been announced for Symbian UIQ phones. It’s been a while that the folks at Sling Media have toyed with us to give the UIQ version of the player. If you are as psyched as I am, head over to their site as they have a free trial for everyone. The new version is compatible with the following UIQ phones.

• Sony Ericsson P1i
• Sony Ericsson P990i
• Sony Ericsson W960i
• Sony Ericsson W950i
• Sony Ericsson M600i
• Sony Ericsson G700
• Sony Ericsson G900
• Motorola MOTORIZR Z8
• Motorola Z10

I’m not a security conscious person, and nor am I one to want to set up a webcam with it’s own I.P address so I can follow it wherever I may be; however for those of you out there who like this ability to remotely spy, Mobiscope might just be the thing for you!

For a one time fee of $29.50 (roughly £15), you can have complete unlimited access to the service. With this you get “motion detection alerts over email” and you can “Start recording when motion is detected”.

Although not an interested customer myself, I see the potential for this. For example, spying on Babysitters, or Nannies, or whomever you may entrust children with; this could be an ideal device if you’re particularly worried. Or how about you want to ensure your employees are working hard? Well, check up on the webcam stream on your iPhone of course!

Or maybe, you’re on Holiday? (Let’s forget about roaming fees here), but you can spy on your house to ensure no one has stolen all of your lovely possessions. Although, I fear that idea may be slightly flawed, as a thief may probably head straight for your computer thus ending your connection.

But even if you don’t want to “spy” as I have named it, you could always make use of the hundreds (if not more) security webcam streams on the internet, or even the “picturesque” webcams. There are plenty of open links out there that you can sit and watch for hours.

I’ve been testing the “Trial” version of this, and I’m quite impressed with the speed, and picture quality. Admittedly, I haven’t actually been able to use it on the iPhone as of yet, but if it’s anything like what I am able to see now, then it’s pretty amazing.  When I can, I’ll get it working, and see if I can hook up my own links, and see how good it really is!

So is this a new era of security? I don’t want to make any predictions here, but the way cameras and computers have decreased or let’s say “blemished” our trust levels, I think this may be so. As much as I think this is definitely a cool application, that has plenty of potential, I’m quite sad to say that we even have to resort to it.

More importantly, do you think there is any future in mobile video security?

Send any questions or anything really to samantha@smstextnews.com

We don’t obviously need it. There’s a web version, for example.

But it’s worth playing with, isn’t it?

Trouble is, I’m at a bit of a loss about what we could do with an iPhone application for the site. My ideas are thus:

1. RSS reader. So it’ll display the news.
2. Display the headlines in a rotating manner or flickable manner — like the new features box we’ve got on the frontpage. Would be nice to have pics.
3. Some kind of comments integration.
4. Maybe an iPhone shout-out facility that publishes one-liner sentences?
5. An ability to take a picture via the application and send it to us for publication (if you see something good and mobile related).
6. A survey/voting function.

Any ideas?

So far, says the magazine, 1,700 companies have applied for funding and just two have got it. The two in question are Pelago which makes a location-based app called Whrrl, which uses data from your social network to make recommendations and iControl “which makes a home automation application that would give iPhone users remote control over air conditioners, lighting, window shades, and so on”.

For a device that’s had the innovative label stuck to it far too often, you’d think that the iPhone would have inspired some unique applications – while these Pelago and iControl’s apps are doubtless clever, there are already shedloads of similar applications on the market. Apparently, the VCs behind the fund Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers have also made one other offer to a start-up and are looking at 10 others seriously. Hopefully, the iPhone may inspire some inventive applications yet.