Idea Lab

Going Beyond Point A to Point B

by Leslie Rule
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Phones use one of two methods to figure out where they are (and if you happen to be carrying it, where you are). The first is built-in gps. Nokia is leading the way with these smart phones, having announced four new phones earlier this month at the Mobile World Congress 2008, where 50,000 people (including keynote Robert Redford) gathered in Barcelona to talk all things mobile (but mostly about devices and less-than-innovative uses of these devices). The second way to locate your device is how Apple is doing it. Late to the game and experimenting with workarounds, location-based applications found...

• February 26, 2008
• 1 comment

Political Blogs Engage; Steve Jobs Doesn't

by J.D. Lasica
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

I had a contrarian reaction to Steve Jobs' keynote at Macworld Expo last week. Sitting in the convention center, tapping away at my laptop once again, I couldn't help but think that some of the magic of Apple had left the room. Jobs, now on the board of Disney, has been slowly morphing into a creature of Hollywood, more interested in doing deals that let consumers view streaming blockbuster movies than in helping to revolutionize Web video for users to take the next great leap forward. It wasn't a sell-out -- Apple answers to its shareholders, after all -- but...

• January 22, 2008
• 6 comments

Apple and Google Agree: It's All About Mobile, It's All About Location

by Leslie Rule
2007 Knight News Challenge Winner

Can't have missed the news of Android, an open source, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices. Android is the flagship product and raison d'etre for the Open Handset Alliance. Many major players, including telcomms, handset makers, and chip folks. Respectable group and a full service offering...everything you need to make the gphone, without having to make it. One of the major problems with using, and certainly developing, robust apps for mobile devices is the lack of a consistent operating system or basic standards of any sort. Nothing moves forward without standardization, and with such a nascent technology, it's like the...

• November 8, 2007
• No comments