http://detectmobilebrowsers.mobi/

This is much slicker and faster than the old code, it has more options and is much more user friendly through having a tool on the website that helps you select which settings you want and produces the function for you.

Detect Mobile Browsers

Feedback welcomed here though support will only be issued to those folks kind enough to upgrade.

1. Is it really that much of a big deal?
2. Does the average end user actually care or understand?
3. Will it cure poverty, illness and hunger?

The answers as I see them:

1. Not till the repercussions of it have kicked in and every other phone OS has integrated the bits they can without stepping on toes. Like Apple kicked everyone into touch.
2. No, ask the standard bloke on the street who’s not a geek, gadget freak or CrackBerry addict about his mobile and he’ll say he uses it to call, sometimes text, sometimes look at tits or gamble. He isn’t going to get it, his grandchildren won’t care but will take today’s greatest technology for granted tomorrow. Ask a woman what she wants in her mobile and it would be a mirror. Hardly high tech.
3. Not even with the wealth they’ve got. We need famine and pestilence to cull some of the idiots on the planet, there’s simply not the room or resources for us all!

How is the average Joe or Jane in the street really going to benefit from Android?

Someone at T-Mobile or Google please send me a gadget to enlighten my ignorance…

And if it can do that it really is a gold plated miracle and would earn my approval!

As it stands there’s a long list of projects, all one, two or three day jobs.

I’m looking for someone who’s savvy with PHP, MySQL, XHTML and CSS. Mobile web experience and an understanding of small screen sites would be an advantage but not essential.

I will need two references and I will be doing background checks on applicants.

Non-disclosure and non-compete contracts will need signing.

Please email your CV, details of projects you’ve worked on, some code samples and sell yourself to me.

andy at andy moore dot info

Failure to follow the simple request above will result in your application being discarded. Why? Because you’ve shown an inability to follow simple instructions and if you can’t do that why the hell would I want to pay you to work for me?

Introducing wordpressmobile.mobi

Version 1.3 of the WordPress Mobile plugin is available!

Download here

New features:

• Google AdSense for Mobile Content
• Much more choice over style sheets
• Search
• Blogroll
• QR Codes
• Mobile only posts and pages
• Mobile only blog option (Mobile CMS)
• iPhone and Opera Mini options
• Lots, lots, lots more…..

Installation guide:

Download then unzip and upload to wp-content/plugins

Go to your plugin manager page and click activate next to WordPress Mobile Plugin.

Go the the Mobile Plugin admin page and configure with your Google publisher ID and / or AdMob site ID. You can also select where you wish to position the ads among many other options.

Your blog will now detect mobile phones and show them a version better suited to a small screen!

Version 1.4 is already in planning.

Traced it to the IP, that resolves and works so I ran a quick whois to see the ownership contacts have changed.

mTLD - .mobi are the new owners so we can be certain the service will stay alive once some initial issues are sorted, like the site not resolving…..

Seens neither Mike or Russ have mentioned it but the whois says it all.

http://whois.domaintools.com/mowser.com

Well done to the guys for getting a buyer and I can’t think of anyone better to run it than the .mobi movement themselves!

My bother in law (well sort of, girlfriend’s sister’s husband) is another with a background in radio broadcasting, we met up at the Carillon in Loughorough the other day when Caroline was playing and ended up anoraking about streamng radio.

That led to me setting up ShoutCast server and trying to get to grips with things to see how easy, or hard, it would be to set up a stream. It’s not amazingly hard but it’s SSH based and I’d prefer a nice user interface so I purchased an owned license for WHMSonic ShoutCast Admin Pro - this is now installed on NoSting Hosting and lets clients manage their radio stations with ease. It even comes with AutoDJ which shuffles mp3s you simply store in a directory.

Here’s my basic guide on getting a stream setup.

This guide assumes you have already signed up with a hosting provider who can support ShoutCast streaming.

For a web host with exceptional uptime, fantastic support and ShoutCast server hosting visit NoSting Hosting

You will need:

• ShoutCast Server IP address
• ShoutCast Server Port
• ShoutCast Server Administrator password
• WinAmp and ShoutCast DSP plugin
• Some creativity

Step One:

Download WinAmp from www.winamp.com/player/ and install. You’ve not got a media player which plays ShoutCast streams.

Step Two:

Download the ShoutCast DSP plugin from www.shoutcast.com/download/ and install.

This is the software that processes what you output and sends it to the streaming server.

Step Three:

Log on to your ShoutCast stream:

http://SERVER_IP:STREAM_PORT
Example: http://67.225.141.134:8000

You will see that the server is down. This is misleading as for you to be able to see that screen indicates the server is actually up, there’s just no stream for it to broadcast yet and rather dumb way of reporting that error.

Step Four:

Start playing some music on WinAmp

Step Five:

Tell ShoutCast / WinAmp which sound to broadcast, either the sound card’s output or the output from WinAmp. In this example it’s best to select WinAmp.

You’ll see how ShoutCast has detected the output from WinAmp already if the Input Levels dance.

Step Six:

Tell WinAmp and the plugin which ShoutCast server to send the stream to.

Under the Output tab enter your ShoutCast server’s IP address, the port which you broadcast on and the password.

You will then see the status update:

You should now be broadcasting!

Step Seven:

Check it out!!! Go back to your admin panel to see its updated and showing information about your stream!

Now to be certain the streaming radio is set up and working you should test it out on different players.

iTunes:

Click CTRL+U to Open a URL, or click Advanced then Open URL.
Enter the URL of your stream:
http://67.225.141.134:8000

Windows Media Player:

Click CTRL+U to Open a URL, or click File and Open URL
Enter the URL of your stream:
http://67.225.141.134:8000

WinAmp:

And in true “Here’s one we made earlier style” click the link and select WinAmp to play the stream:

http://67.225.141.134:8000/listen.pls

That’s not a live stream from here, it’s the Auto DJ software working away playing five songs on rotation.

Enjoy.

THANK YOU x 20,000

I just cracked open a bottle of Bollinger La Grande Annee 1997 to celebrate!

Thanks to everyone who downloaded my plugin, blogged about it, track-backed, commented……..

I’ll have a glass of Bodge for you!!

“I drink it when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it… unless I’m thirsty… Madam Bollinger

With AdMob Mobile Analytics you can determine the answers to questions such as:
· How did my visitors find my site?
· Which method of customer acquisition has the best ROI?
· What did visitors do on my site?
· Where in the world are my visitors located?

Okay, so I’m lazy and copied that from the mail AdMob sent out yesterday but you get the message……….

Sounds awesome to me, tracking for mobile!

AdMOb:

As part of our ongoing commitment to deliver optimal performance for our advertisers and publishers, we are excited to announce an enhancement to AdMob Text Link Ads.  Beginning early next week, we will allow advertisers the option of adding an image to their Text Link Ads.  Images drive user engagement by helping advertisers better communicate their message.  Early testing indicates improvements in ad performance when an image accompanies a text call to action.

Google:

Web services giant Google announced the launch of mobile image ads, a new version of its AdWords flagship advertising product redesigned to fit on device screens. According to Google, the ads essentially reformat its standard image ads for desktop web pages–each mobile image ad is keyword-targeted, priced on a cost-per-click basis and linked to a mobile web page. Google added it will only show one image ad per mobile page, promising publishers the choice to show text ads, image ads or a mix of both, with Google dynamically returning the ad it expects to perform best. Mobile image ads are now available in the U.S., U.K., Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Russia and Spain markets.

Seems like good news that things are moving forward like this but let’s be honest image ads are a bit 1997 ain’t they?