Wow, it’s already 9am and I haven’t posted a blasted thing. Blame FriendFeed, which continues to get more and more of my attention. Actually, I mean that in a positive way as I’ve noticed my Google Reader Trends diminishing daily due to FriendFeed. I’m finding a much wider array of information there than over my subscribed feeds, which are of course limited by my subscription actions. I’m also finding that I’m reading much more than I’m writing these days, so I may need to curb my enthusaism a bit.

So what does this have to do with you and mobile tech? Glad you asked. One of my new FriendFeed contacts, torr, has set up a FriendFeed room for the Nokia 810. A "room" in FriendFeed is like a private feed that members can view and participate in. While there’s no lack of good forums and on-line communities for the N810 and other devices, this might be another way to connect with those passionate about the devices they use. Stop on in and consider joining the room. Since it just started up, you’re getting in on the ground floor. Oh, and if I was Nokia PR and I was watching… I’d be participating there. Just a thought.

I have what could only be called a morbid fascination with working in the cloud.  I’ve watched Kevin toiling up in the stratosphere and listened to his findings and his excitement about it and it is certainly contagious.  I realize the advantages that can be gained by keeping all your data in the cloud, duly backed up and accessible from any device you might be using.  That’s pretty heady stuff and something that can be game changing for many folks.

I see the value of keeping all of my work in the cloud but where I’m not quite feeling comfortable is in the area of using only cloud apps to create new work.  One of the benefits of having my work performed on my local clients is that should I need to work with a document created 5 – 10 years ago I’m pretty sure I can do it.  Sure, the application that created that important document will surely have changed but with some effort I can probably get to the information in that old document in a pinch.  Will that same thing hold true for documents created with a cloud app?  What if the company that created the app goes under, or gets sold to someone else who changes it in a major way.  Will I be guaranteed the ability to interact with my older documents in either scenario?  That keeps me up nights worrying about that.  Having my old business documents around forever won’t do me a bit of good if I can’t open them or access the information.

The same fear applies even more for my old email.  Sure I don’t need to access an email from years ago very often but if I need to do that I really need to do that.  If I switch to a cloud email app like GMail will I be able to work with my older stuff in the future?  What about the GBs of archived Outlook email I have now?  If I switch to cloud email can I bring all of those archived conversations into the cloud?  You can see why I’m hesitant to embrace the cloud.  It’s a future accessibility thing.

I just heard from the Opera folks who have finally said that the Opera Mobile 9.5 beta 1 will be available on July 15th.  You can get full details from the Opera Mobile blog but from what I’ve seen I would jump on this beta with both feet.

Now that Google Browser Sync has gone bye-bye for Firefox 3, the search for alternatives is on. Foxmarks has been nominated by many of you, and for good reason, but let’s not rule out Mozilla’s own offering in the works: Weave.

Weave is still in a prototype state at version 0.1.30, but version 0.2 should be right around the corner. Actually, it was expected early this week, but we won’t quibble over a few days. Like Google Browser Sync, Weave is a server-based system to keep your browser settings in sync. You’ll need to set up a free Weave account and install the add-on to Firefox 3 to get started. After that, you can pick and choose what browser data you want synced through the cloud:

• Bookmarks
• History
• Cookies
• Saved Passwords / Saved Form Data
• Tabs
• Extensions / Themes
• Search Plugins
• Microformats

For most, the service is probably a little hit-or-miss at this stage, but this is worth watching. Especially for Firefox users with multiple devices.

(via Make Use Of)

Nomo, a long-time reader and frequent commenter here, forwarded me a note from Fujitsu just last night. Looks like the "end of XP" for sale with new computers has put a few (and old) Tablets and notebook PCs into the Fujitsu Outlet Store. You might be able to shop around and find better deals, but some of these look pretty decent to me. Some current examples:

• Some P-series notebooks are $400 off
• There’s a P1610 for $1,499
• A T2010 Tablet with 6-cell battery is also $1,499

Again, it never hurts to shop around, but if you one that prefers to buy direct from a manufacturer, now might be a good time. Just be sure to check the detailed specs. Thanks nomo!

As the lines between notebooks and mini-notebooks blur due to increased screen size and price, there’s a big camp that is all excited about the 10-inch screened notebooks.  The MSI Wind snuck up on everyone and has impressed on just about every level and the recent release by Asus of the EEE PC 1000h has many wondering how the two compare.  Joanna Stern of Laptop Magazine doesn’t have to wonder, she gets to play with every mini-notebook produced and she’s published an in-depth head-to-head comparison of the two notebooks.  She looks at build and design, keyboard and touchpad, display webcam and speakers, and performance storage and battery life so no stone is left unturned.  So which one did she end up pronouncing the winner?  You’ll have to read the review to see for yourself.  I’ll just say "the answer my friend, is blowing in the wind.  The answer is blowing in the wind."

Big props to JKK for shooting me the link to Sumopaint this morning. This free beta service is an online photo-editing application which could fit in nicely to my "web-only" challenge that’s still going strong. It doesn’t hurt that I nabbed that Canon XSi last night too… right before deciding to run a 5K race on a whim. Clearly, I haven’t lost all of my "race smarts" as I was drafting behind the big boys last night. Then again, with my 120-pounds of "bulk", pretty much anyone in the race could draft for me. (Thanks to the 12-year old in mile 2!)

I’ve only spent a few minutes with Sumopaint, but I’m impressed already. That could be due to not looking into other online image processing apps, so excuse me in advance if there are better tools out there… and please share them in the comments! I see plenty off editing options and effects, plus support for multiple layers here. Final images can be saved locally or online if you have a Snap account. Sumopaint might not have all the bells and whistles of some apps I just started looking at (Aperture and Lightroom to name a few), but it just might do ya for basic photo editing, especially if your device doesn’t offer a ton of horsepower under the hood. Thanks JKK!

Here’s a very welcome upgrade to the Nokia 800-series Internet Tablets. The latest firmware makes that pocketable device a little easier to update in the future thanks to over-the-air support. Yup, you’ll be able to download and install updates through WiFi or WiMAX instead of having to tether that tablet to a computer. If that wasn’t enough, the upgrade process iteself becomes a little more mainstream: this firmware supports what Nokia deems SSU. No, not Sonoma State University, but Seamless Software Updating. Read: you’ll be able to upgrade incremental bits of the firmware instead having to backup, flash and restore your entire device going forward. There’s a few other goodies in there as well, including support for A-GPS on the newer N810 series.

I still believe that the N800 devices aren’t yet appealing to most mainstream folks, but updates like this are definite step in the right direction.

(via BGR)

The moving process is slowly but surely getting closer to the physical act of hauling all of our stuff from the old house to the new one.  It’s a big process and one of the biggest tasks in planning the move is deciding how to arrange each room in the new place.  Room planning software is always good for that and I’ve tried a number of them in the past but the one I’m using now is the best for me.  Planning Wiz 3 is an online room planner that gives you complete control over defining the dimensions and shape of your room.  It provides either metric or imperial scales and has a big collection of object templates to put in your room.  Each object can be sized exactly and rotated to fit the desired placement.  It takes just a few minutes to try out a given room arrangement and plans can be saved and emailed to others.  Here’s the one I’m working on now for the new Mobile Tech Manor:

There are predefined room templates that cover every room in a house to a small office and the furniture objects are very rich and I haven’t run into an object that I couldn’t find in the collection yet.  It’s a cloud application so even Kevin can use it.

I could very well be in the minority here, but I don’t think sales of dedicated eBook readers are slow because the devices don’t simulate the reading experience well enough. The key issues in my mind have always been DRM challenges, lack of content and price. The universities of Maryland and Berkeley think otherwise, or that there’s an additional reason: current eBook devices only offer a single display and don’t allow for the act of page turning. As a result, there’s some prototypes with two displays in this video to allow for "page flipping" and other navigational uses.

Again, it might be me, but I’d rather see a single display with a simple but effective UI for navigation. I want my dedicated reader to portable and light; not double in weight due to a second screen. Still, these are interesting concept devices. Thoughts?