Mobile Website for Mobile Widgets
July 16th, 2007 MobileFreak
I caught a great little discussion of mobile websites over at Torres Talking, the blog of Microsoft employee Mike Torres.
Mike’s initial comments really hit home for us:
“Finding good mobile websites (aka sites for PDAs, phones, and smartphones) is still a total chore; most sites don’t automatically redirect to a “mobile friendly” version when you browse with your phone,…” “So it’s really a lot of “hit or miss” when it comes to finding the best mobile sites… you know, the ones you actually want to use on a daily or weekly basis.”
We could not agree more! (It’s exactly why we started MobileMammoth!)
Getting back to the discussion, you’ll notice several mobile websites both in Mike’s post and even more in the comments from the readers. The one that popped out at us was from Vic, who highlighted WidSets, a mobile website that provides free widgets for your mobile phone.
The idea is that you pre-select certain websites from WidSets, then you’ll get an RSS feed of that site’s content on your mobile phone. You can also use it for email, or virtually any other web service. Their FAQ says it best:
WidSets FAQ excerpt
WidSets brings you information normally accessed via the Internet, directly into your mobile phone. Using mini-applications called widgets, it sends you updates made to your favorite websites. The system uses RSS feeds to push information from these websites directly into your mobile phone the minute they’re updated.
Many of our customers are already familiar with RSS, but those of you that aren’t can check out the What is an RSS feed? section under FAQ.
The best thing about WidSets is its simplicity. You simply install WidSets on your phone, select the widgets that interest you (or create your own in the Studio), and start using it. As soon as one of your chosen websites is updated (e.g. a news service, blog or weather forecast site), the widget for that website sends you an alert. Wherever you are, you are always kept up-to-date.
One aspect of this service that I like is that if your favorite site does not have a WidSet, then you can easily create one yourself. Of course, developers can get much more advanced using the WidSets SDK as well.
We are going to create a MobileMammoth WidSet too – we’ll let you know when it’s available.
One word of caution — WidSets does not currently work on T-Mobile or Nextel phones. No word yet on when they will be supported.
Mobile Website:
Entry Filed under: The List,Tools
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cool blog… i like it… congrats
btw i like your blog’s name… very creative :))