Google: Millions of Books on phones, for free.

Written on 7th February 2009                                                                                                              4 COMMENTS
David Petherick, Contributing Editor, United Kingdom

Google has announced that the 1.5 million public domain books it had scanned and made available free on personal computers were now accessible on mobile devices like the iPhone and the T-Mobile G1.

“This is our first step, but it is an important step,” said Frances Haugen, product manager for Google Book Search.

Unlike the desktop version of Google Book Search, which displays scanned images of book pages, the mobile version simply displays text, making downloading material faster via wireless networks.

>> New York Times have more details, and updates from Amazon about their Kindle.

google, google book search, Mobile Internet Device, Mobile Web

4 Comments »

Intel acquires London-based Linux experts for the next mobile web

Written on 30th August 2008                                                                                                              0 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

The next web is mobile, that’s for sure. For some, it already is the recent web, especially those who walk around with the nifty little tool called the iPhone. Which basically is a mini computer with a phone function. Problem with the shiny object though, is that it’s one of the most locked-in devices we’ve seen in the last years. Open alternatives are on its way, of which the Android platform is probably the most famous one. Android is based on Linux, the OS that lays the foundation for open mobile platforms.

Intel probably acknowledges this, based on their acquisition of London-based Opened Hand, a company which specializes in mobile Linux development and services. Cnet reports that the chip company will ask these British Linux mobile experts to focus on the Mobil Software Platform community, “an open source community for sharing software technologies, ideas, projects, code, and applications to create an untethered computing experience across Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), Netbooks, and embedded devices”. The first devices have found their way to the market earlier this summer.

In short, they’re laying the foundation for the next, mobile, open and thus more exciting web. Developers will have all the freedom to build the mobile devices and software, not limited by a mighty company.

Computing platform, iphone, Linux, Mobile Internet Device, Mobile Web, open source

No Comments »