World's best overall Flash Lite application: Tube

Developers and experts from User Group gave the votes.

Croatian Flash Lite developer Alen Alebic won again most respected award among Flash Lite developers with Tube – interactive mobile guide for London's subway system ( Nokia s60 3rd edition ) .

Alebic is the head of Gideon Mobile development studio from Split, Croatia ( Split is 3,5 hours of normal flight away from Britain's capitol ).
I wrote many times before about my excitement with Adobe's tool for interactive mobile user interface .

Congrats to Alen and his Gideon Mobile team which again showed how small company with creative muscle, specialisation and orientation for global markets delivers brilliant product.
Gideon Mobile already released few Flash Lite apps ; FIFA World Cup 2006 guide, Woman's guide for ''those'' things ;)) etc.

Currently, they are developing complete mobile guides for Croatia and Slowenia.
Hope to hear more good news about them.

Related :
Flash Lite case study
LG Prada phone and its Flash Lite UI
Adobe's Mobile User Group of Boston

Japanese ''Terminals'' search for identity

Softbank's example and South-Korean innovation :)

I read over weekend NTT DoCoMo's Annual Report 2006. and familiarised myself more with Japanese mobile market. I am trying to put LG's Prada phone UI ( not Apple's ) inovation more into combined perspective .

I notice long ago that FOMA/mova handsets ( and those of other operators ) are not design's cutting edge but they are successful and selling well in Japan.
Above all , 3G usage penetration is almost 70 % in Japan and all that with handsets that are good-all clamshells and candybars.
Japan's market is by all means unique.

If we assume, there's wider shift in the user interface which will be supported by software (touchscreens and fluid/software Uis instead of buttons ) which will make easier using all these multimedia features and advanced mobile services ( payments, keys ), how will ''iphonish'' avantgarde concept make inroads into Japanese market ?
Is it relevant at all since usage of 3G service is not hampered by current generations of japanese handsets ?

I know there were some rumors about possible SoftBank's distribution of iPhone in Japan( SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son attended MacExpo in SF and Steve Jobs is his friend ) .
If true, whether that would have any sense since iPhone is not build and designed under control of mobile network operator and therefore hadn't had a chance to be adopted to operator's business goals ?

So, I am not talking about features of these future japanese handsets, but of design principle. Will they move building with their partners ( Sharp, Panasonic, Fujitsu ) those sort of touchscreen models with radical UI design proposition ?

I like Toronto Star's article and opinion from last January putting into perspective iPhone and more advanced mobile markets like japanese.

Call your favourite plant

Plants and humans finally talk

Botanicalls is a project of a team of four students at the ITP program at NYU.

Background notes :

The Botanicalls project is fundamentally about communication between plants and people. We are empowering both by inventing new avenues of interaction. Plants that might otherwise be neglected are given the ability to call people and request assistance. People who are unsure of their ability to effectively care for growing things are given visual and aural clues.

When a plant on the botanicalls network needs a little water, it can call a human and ask for exactly what it needs.

Brilliant.

On ot the stated goals is to keep the plants alive by translating the communication protocols of the plants (leaf habit, color of foliage, droop, etc) to more common human communication protocols (email, voice phone calls, digital visualizations, etc).

Brilliant.
Something not meant to be communicating is doing just that. I wonder, how many systems we can setup on top of Botanicalls idea ?

Related:
Botanicalls video
Botanicalls photos

Showcasing LG Prada phone

Touchscreen experience counts or not ?

Why LG Prada phone is interesting right now ?
It shows path toward touchscreen interface and its practical use.
It's a testing ground for ''iphonish'' interface.

Exclusive video over at Litechannel:



Lately, I've been reconsidering my thoughts about iPhone.
( earlier posts : 1, 2, 3, 4 )
At first, I thought it will be failure. I am skeptical about 1st generation of iPhone, but the 2nd generation will be most certainly standard for new multimedia phones ( Apple will learn mobility ).
There's for sure shift from ''brick'' to fluid interfaces in mobile handsets.
We are now at an early stage.

On top of that, LG Prada phone has Flash Lite UI.
Adobe has a chance to rule mobile ;)

Today's Relaxation : Lake Cambina

Croatian northeastern countryside near Hungarian border

Enough a bit about mobile.
Today was all for relaxation. My girl and I went to croatian-hungarian border on the Lake Cambina. It's a beautiful and peaceful landscape.
Some pics I took today in the Protected Landscape of Čambina.



Above: The road to Cambina Lake.



Above: Cambina Lake in front of hunting lodge



Above: Cambina hunting lodge



Above: We moved closer but they didn't care.



Above: Backwaters of Drava river

Faster Mobile Broadband in Croatia

Downlink of 7,2 ( magnitude ) Mbps

The word is out in the press that croatian mobile operator VIPNET will enable faster mobile broadband with 7,2 Mbit/s for his Vodafone Mobile Connect service ( HSDPA tech , PCMCIA card ).
Current offerings are here with three data plans.

The first HSDPA network in Croatia was launched by VIPNET ten months ago ( April 2006 ). At that time, Croatia was 8th country in Europe with 3,5 G technology in the air.

I don't have information for VIPNET coverage ( some say it is 35 % ) , but I know T-Mobile ( 3,5 G from December 2006 ) says their HSDPA network already covers 55 % croatian territory.