Words cannot express the gratitude that we at MobileMammoth have for the contributions that Steve Jobs made to the mobile industry. Yet his impacts went way beyond any single industry, or any single country. His impacts were felt worldwide, and they were as much cultural as they were technical.

I remember seeing Steve Jobs one afternoon near Palo Alto, as we were both parking at a jogging trail near Stanford known as ‘The Dish’ for the giant satellite dish which stood next to the trail. This was back in 2001 before the iPhone and just months before the first iPod came out. Yet I was still in awe because of what he had accomplished already.

Steve Jobs was indeed a visionary. He went against the grain. He turned industries on their heads.

Thank you Steve.

For those who use our text messaging tool, it is currently unavailable while we incorporate new functionality, including additional security measures. Unfortunately, a few bad apples have abused it, and we cannot let that go on.

Please continue to check back here, or follow us on Twitter for updates.

While we’re at it, let us know what else you’d like to see in the tool, and thank you for your patience!

Be prepared for Hurricane Irene by getting text message alerts from The Weather Channel.

From the Outer Banks of North Carolina all the way up to New York City and the coastal New England cities, Hurricane Irene is set to cause serious damage to the entire East Coast. The Weather Channel offers multiple ways to stay updated on the latest hurricane developments from your mobile phone.

Remember, with possible power outages and landline issues, your cell phone might be the only communications device available during or after Hurricane Irene. See what options below might work best for you to stay informed.

Mobile Website:

The Weather Channel website will auto-detect for mobile browsers and will render the mobile version of its website.

Severe Weather Alerts by Text:

Choose from a number of alert options, including severe weather alerts, that apply to the zip code you enter. Access it here.

Notify!

Subscribers to The Weather Channel Notify! service will receive alerts by phone when severe weather warnings are issued in their area. Note this is a PAID service.

Weather Channel Android App:

www.weather.com/services/android.html

Weather Channel iPhone App:

www.weather.com/services/iphone.html

Weather Channel iPad App:

www.weather.com/services/ipad.html

QR codes (Quick Response codes) are 2-D images that provide immediate access to digital information or actions that are relevant to what the user is doing at that moment. When a user scans a QR code, typically using the camera on their smartphone, it can open a URL on their mobile browser, or initiate a text message, email, or IM from the phone itself.

Popular uses of QR codes include companies linking to their websites or specific landing pages, enabling a phone call to the customer service or sales departments, or to help market a text messaging (SMS) campaign.

Here at MobileMammoth, we posted this QR code on our home page which, when scanned, connects users to our online text messaging tool. That way they can send text messages from their mobile browser and avoid text overage fees from their wireless carrier.

Anyone can quickly generate a QR code for free at sites like myQR.co and Kaywa.

QR codes are seeing quite an uptick in use this year, and for good reason. We highly encourage companies and individuals to start using them now and experiment!

The normally bright folks at Twitter recently changed the terms of service for the Twitter API, and in the process dealt a blow to the many developers who’ve helped make it so successful. That is not good news for a platform that is celebrating its 5th birthday today.

The actual changes to the terms of service are highlighted in this excellent post by Matthew Somerville, and show a clear shift towards restricting the development of new apps that let users interact with the platform in different ways.

Clearly, Twitter is trying to gain control over the interactions with end users, and that by itself is completely understandable. They are looking for more ways to monetize, and who can blame them?

However, our opinion here at MobileMammoth is that they are deeply lacking in any creativity around how to go about that. Locking down the developer community, precisely the audience that has without question increased the value of Twitter at least threefold (the Twitter UI still sucks), is not bright. It is shortsighted at best, and could very well encourage the growth of other, more open, (better, faster, stronger) Twitter-like platforms. Folks are already suggesting them now.

Fred Oliveira has some very solid suggestions. Start there.

Oh and don’t forget to Tweet this;)

Tweet

Yesterday we wrote about the Softbank disaster message board, which helps find out the status of Softbank mobile phone users in Japan.

We we ran across a few other Japanese mobile phone service providers who have also created disaster message boards in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami. NTT Docomo, KDDI / au, EMOBILE, and WILLCOM, in addition to Softbank, have all created disaster message boards, many of which were made available prior to Friday’s earthquake and tsunami.

Japan Mobile Phone Operators Disaster Message Boards:

• EMOBILE
• KDDI / au
• NTT Docomo
• SoftBank (in case you missed yesterday’s post)
• WILLCOM

Again, it’s important to point out that just because someone has not posted a message, does not necessarily mean they are not safe. It only means they either are not aware or have not had a chance to post their status, and it would make sense that there are certainly many, many people in that category.

Do you know of any other resources that can help find out about the status of loved ones in Japan? Please share with your fellow readers in the comments below!

Trying to find out if a friend or family member is safe in Japan following the disastrous earthquake and tsunami? If they use a Softbank mobile phone and you know their mobile phone number, then this tool can help you.

To use the Softbank Disaster Message Board, simply enter the mobile phone number of the person you are trying to find out about, and it will tell you the message that person has posted, if any, to the message board. This is for any Softabk mobile phone users in Japan, and you must know their mobile number.

It is important to understand that if you do not see a message, that does NOT necessarily mean there is anything wrong — it only means that person has not posted their status on the Softabk Disaster Message Board.

Softbank Japan Disaster Message Board:

dengon.softbank.ne.jp/E

Our thoughts and prayers remain with all those impacted by the recent devastation in Japan. If you know of other helpful tools like this, please add them in the comments below or send them directly to us here.

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2011 has kicked off in Las Vegas this week with plenty of fanfare from all across the web.

So what is your favorite new gizmo at this years’ CES? Vote below or add your own choice! (Add a comment after you vote and you may just win our famous MobileMammoth t-shirt;)

Last week’s Google Maps update includes a number of new features now available on Android devices.

Google announced last Thursday the following features are now available:

• New design for Place page reviews (now desktop consistent with mobile)
• New filtering options
• Real-time updating from Google Latitude (experimental)

One of our favorite updates is the ability to filter based on what is ‘open now’.

Go get the Google Maps 4.6 update from Android Market, and be sure to let us know what you think!

For those mobile developers who feel a bit late to the iPhone app bonanza, we at MobileMammoth encourage you to open your eyes.

As our Twitter followers are aware, Microsoft today announced their Mobile Advertising SDK for Windows Phone 7 Apps, together with the Microsoft Advertising Exchange for Mobile. This means that you can start integrating ads into your WP7 apps.

Lest you start to assume that it’s only worth it to develop apps for the iPhone or for Android (which is stealing market share from everyone else), remember that also means there is less competition as a result. So for every 300 finance calculators there are for the iPhone, chances are there will be a small fraction of that number for Windows Phone 7 phones for some time to come. That coupled with the fact that Microsoft is ready to spend huge amounts of marketing dollars on the Windows Phone 7 rollout, and you have a nice opportunity in front of you.

So stop wondering what if you developed your iPhone app 12 months ago, go download the SDK, and get your Windows Phone 7 App out there. Go!