PBS and NPR have teamed up with local public stations to offer the Forum Network — a library of lectures on a wide range of topics.  They have some interesting content, and overall the site looks nice.  And there is a lecture that I would like to listen to, on my mobile device (Blackberry or iPod) while commuting on the train.  But I can’t figure out how to do it.  I try the download link, which promises to provide an MP3 — it actually delivers a file in an flv format, which is tough to play — VLC did the trick, but what a pain.  I tried to access the site through the Blackberry mobile browser — the player won’t load, and the site it pretty tough to navigate — a mobile style sheet would be nice.  They offer an RSS podcast feed, but it is so general I have little confidence that it would supply the specific lecture I want.

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George Mason University’s Center for History and New Media has a new resource site on the use of mobile technologies in reaching museum visitors.  The site itself is well done, and a great starting place for any cultural organization.  As with many of the CHNM projects, their program examples are all open source, based on their wonderful Omeka project.  They stress the importance of cross-platform solutions, and the reuse of content in multiple delivery formats (traditional web, mobile, etc.).  And lest we forget the audiences, they stress the importance of meaningful engagement.  The site encourages museums to experiment with mobile, and provides resources to help them get started.

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What is your browser of choice? Or better yet how many do you have loaded on your computer?  I use and design first for Firefox.  For testing purposes these days I treat Internet Exporer as my canary in the coal mine.  If whatever I’m working on web-design-wise runs in IE I figure I’m OK.  Probably not the best testing strategy, but it works for me.  Who really has time to include Opera, Safari, and Google Chrome, testing in all the various operating system permutations — plus don’t forget mobile.  I’m a veteran of the Netscape vs IE browser wars and with only two it was painful enough.

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Do you still keep track of the how many kilobytes, or even megabytes, your web pages are delivering to the customer?  Back in the day of dial-up modems your minimized files sizes or perished.  But not that we all have speedy cable/dsl connections does it matter anymore?  I think so, and here’s why: Read the rest of this entry »

It seems to me that a quasi-public service, such as the folks running train service in and out of New York City (MTA), would applaud wider distribution and availability of their schedules.  Especially considering how un-mobile-friendly their current web site is, they were practically begging for someone to make it better.  And someone did with a popular iPhone app.    How did they respond?  With a claim that their schedules are copyrighted and the app developer infringed on that copyright — what!???  Even if they are correct from a legal/technical standpoint what does this say about their management, and their concern for providing quality service?

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I’ve been a long-time user of the FeedDemon RSS reader, coupled with the Newsgator web service and FeedDemon Go on my Blackberry.  The beauty of this combination is I could read things on my Blackberry and ‘clip’ items of interest.  Later, at my computer, I could give those items a closer reading, and with the FireFox extension ScribeFire easily quote them in a blog post.  But nothing lasts forever, and the glue that held this all together, Newsgator, is gone at month’s end.  Following their instructions I’ve moved to Google Reader with FreeRange on the Blackberry.

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