Opera Mini is Opera’s feature phone browser — our browser for so-called “dumb phones.” It’s lightweight and fast, in part because it is a proxy browser. Requests for pages go from the user’s handset to Opera’s proxy servers. The proxy servers make the request to the requested web site, parse the HTML and JavaScript — [...]
[23 May 2011]
It’s not as obvious as it seems in the Installing the SDK documentation. You’ll also need to do two (small) extra steps. Step 1: Make sure your JAVA_HOME path is using the correct value Edit or create a .bash_profile file in your home directory and add the following line. export JAVA_HOME=`/usr/libexec/java_home` This will set the [...]
[22 Mar 2011]
But now some see a new “digital divide” emerging—with Latinos and blacks being challenged by more, not less, access to technology. It’s tough to fill out a job application on a cell phone, for example. … Fifty-one percent of Hispanics and 46 percent of blacks use their phones to access the Internet, compared with 33 [...]
[9 Jan 2011]
The fact that the user has a small screen in their hand is one thing – the fact that it is in their hand at all is another. The fact that the user may be walking, driving, or lounging is yet another. In fact, it’s quite likely that they really deserve different content and services [...]
[15 Oct 2010]
But the mobile Web means different things to different people. For more affluent populations, it generally means wireless access with a laptop computer. For poorer people it means a cellphone, which is not a perfect replacement for other forms of online access, said Mr. Smith and several others who study social issues related to technology. [...]
[8 Jul 2010]
I carry around a Nexus One and an iPhone. Karanja carries around a Nokia 1600, the cheapest data-enabled phone you can buy ($25). Why? He does this so that he understands what his customers need and use. His clients aren’t your upper-class Blackberry toting professionals, they’re the “wananchi” (the ordinary person). That’s Erik Hersman of [...]
[14 May 2010]
From Vice magazine’s interview with University of California at San Diego professor Ricardo Dominguez and his Transborder Immigrant Tool. We looked at the Motorola i455 cell phone, which is under $30, available even cheaper on eBay, and includes a free GPS applet. We were able to crack it and create a simple compasslike navigation system. [...]
[18 Nov 2009]
UPDATE: Turns out, I wasn’t wrong. I was just clairvoyant . WorldMate is working on an Android version of its application. Hrm. It appears I was wrong about a WorldMate application for Android. I managed to find an unused download page (by typing “android site:www.worldmate.com” in Google) that listed Android as an option. I assumed [...]
[30 Jul 2009]
Bokodes, a project of the MIT Media Lab. Bokodes are very similar to QR Codes, which are standard in Japan and becoming more popular in Europe. Like QR Codes, bokodes require a camera and software to decode the data. But unlike QR Codes, bokodes are much smaller and can store much more information. A typical [...]
[29 Jul 2009]
From yesterday’s post on the New York Times Bits blog, we get the news that the “digital divide” — in this case, internet access — is being narrowed by mobile phones. But the common characteristics of those two characters — they are both middle-aged and white — may no longer be a fitting stereotype, at [...]
[23 Jul 2009]