This week the mobile browser Skyfire released it's long awaited 1.0 version, for use with smartphones, taking the company out of a hugely successful beta period that has seen 1 million people downoad the free service.
Skyfire is free to download at: www.get.skyfire.com
The service is currently available in the UK, USA and Canada, and runs on Windows Mobile (smartphones and PPC) and Nokia N and E Series (Symbian S60, 3rd Edition) phones. With its release yesterday, thousands of people lit up on fire with excitement for Skyfire and have been reporting their experiences on Twitter, with many tweeting that the service is the iPhone for other handsets. Skyfire is feeding the strong popularity and desire people have to get connected to the internet by their mobile phones, for instant access to social networking sites, viewing videos and reading their RSS feeds, among other features. Skyfire describes its service as bringing the full web experience to handsets, and it is the only mobile browser that supports Flash, Silverlight and Ajax, technologies that normally crash when attempting to access the internet from a handset.
Skyfire's 1.0 release means millions more people will be able to catch up on Facebook, Twitter and watch YouTube, BBC iPlayer from their mobile, and this rich-media content experience bodes well for brands who are increasingly using the mobile internet for advertising and marketing. The excitement for this new milestone in technology captured the attention of mainstream media and bloggers, who have given the service rave reviews. Here's what some have said:
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“You see, Skyfire isn't a 'proper' browser, more of a content viewer, with all the serious processing handled by the company's proxy servers, the pages then being 'rendered' onto your phone. Just like the Opera browser in fact, but with more whistles, bells and streaming video.” – T3’s David Walker
“The release brings with it a host of improvements, such as improved navigation, zooming and interaction and a faster launch, lower power consumption, and new search functionality. Also, while the new version of the browser starts up, you can begin typing URLs or search queries into the box at the top, saving time. The company is operating a closed alpha for the BlackBerry platform, so that'll likely be next for release.” –Pocket-lint.com’s Duncan Geere
“Their browser is fast and responsive, and Skyfire’s goal is to give a faithful representation of web pages that is equivalent to the desktop browsing experience. One important focus for Skyfire is in the area of video rendering… Skyfire’s approach is to introduce their own video-crunching servers between, say, YouTube and your Nokia N95. These servers take full Flash (Flash 10) and then video transcode the signal in real-time, giving a lower frame rate (8 frames per second), and a smaller screen rendering for mobile. The result is that the Skyfire browser can render an original YouTube page or Vimeo page, or even blogs with embedded video, so that you have access to the entire video catalogue, live on line.” –Martyn Davies, The Really Mobile Project
Watch The Phones Show hosted by AllAboutSymbian.com's Steve Litchfield, for an interview with Skyfire’s VP of Business Development Raj Singh, who offers extra insight to the browser’s features and hints of what’s to come.
CNET was among the first outlets to announce the news yesterday, and just prior to Skyfire’s 1.0 launch, The New York Times named the browser as “App of the Week”.
My consultancy the Hai Media Group handled the UK/EU media outreach for Skyfire, teaming up with our fantastic US media partners VSC Consulting to orchestrate this highly successful PR 2.0 outreach programme.
Still finding more and more coverage results for Skyfire,
-Lisa
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More and more popular among business gatherings is effort by organizers to create a new approach to the traditional format of bringing an industry together. Instead of trade show display booths filling a venue, and a roster of lectures from industry leaders being the standard highlights, the new business generation is seeking out events that offer more interaction, collaboration and fun.
Last week in London at The Hub in Kings Cross, social entrepreneurs attended Shine 09, billed as an "unconference" that offered up one-to-one mentoring, creative brainstorming, a social collaboration game, and a party where the British Urban Collective performed. Over the unconference's two day run, participants joined in on workshops that aimed to cultivate new ideas, and help steer these concepts to execution. *Note, definitely better to refer to everyone as a participant than just a passive attendant, as everyone got invovled!
“The difference here is that last year’s event was a very urban-guerrilla, anarchist feel to it and this year it is business, with a focused switch from pre- to post- recession and a real display of determination of people who want to make real world change happen,” said Cliff Prior, Chief Executive of UnLtd.
Shine joins a number of creative conferences coming up, both in the UK and USA, that are styled after predecessor's BarCamp , Foo Camp, and SXSW, all which take inspiration from the unconference concept. While there is still a market for, and a majority expectation, for the traditional business conference, which is a billion-pound industry, new thinkers are mixing things up and attracting a diverse combination of brand-name sponsors, high-profile participants, and entrepreneurial micro-businesses that seem to all benefit from exchanging energy and ideas with each other. “Our aim with Shine is to never have talented people sit in a room and just clap, we need to give interaction, space and structure to fill out the event with ideas and see inspiration turn to perspiration,” Prior said.
Upcoming untraditional conferences include: bTWEEN (11-12 June 2009, Liverpool), an interactive digital media forum. 2gether09, a London summer conference run in festival style, that aims to explore and celebrate how technology can be used to promote social progress. Over The Air, a September London mobile development gathering spaced over two days of fun, learning, hacking and socializing with participants camping over night.
Fees for the events are affordable and range from £30-£100, often free for students.
I've also written about Shine09 on DigitalJournal.com, please see my post here.
Shine on,
PS: Have you attended a non-traditional conference recently, what did you think? Are you going to a creative conference? Which one? Comments about creative conferencing welcome.
The deadline is fast approaching for UK mobile developers to get in entries for the Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition that will see a talented idea get €150,000 to produce a new mobile site or service.
This is the first time the compeition has run for the UK, and developers have until Thursday, 14th May 2009 FRIDAY, 22 MAY 2009.
It is an opportunity to show the mobile technology industry that Britain's got mobile developer talent, and for last year's winners, it was a financial and professional success.
"As a judge for this year's Vodafone Mobile Clicks competition, I'm very excited at the prospect of seeing what Britain's talented mobile internet developers have to offer," said Helen Keegan, a specialist in mobile marketing, advertising and media, who heads Beep Marketing and pens the blog Technokitten. "It's a great opportunity for developers and folks with good ideas for mobile internet applications to win the cash to deliver and develop those ideas further. The entry criteria are straightforward and as long as you're over 18, resident in the UK or Netherlands and are in a start-up or are planning to form a start-up with your idea then you pretty much qualify to enter."
Winners last year included:
-Nulaz, a location-based social networking service that let's people see where their friends are, share locations and view local information.
-Tipspot an events guide
-Map the Gap, an idea-sharing application for mobile phones.
More information in the press release here.
Mobile industry bloggers are getting the word out about the competition, visit:
AllAboutSymbian.com
AlexKinch.com
MobileMarketingMagazine.co.uk
Vodafone Mobile Clicks is a close cooperation between Mobile Monday Amsterdam, Mobile Monday London, Vodafone NL, Vodafone UK, PICNIC and Trend8.
Glad to see some funding going toward mobile innovation,
Nevermind the depressive recession, and more news that friends and families are losing jobs and homes, there is still affordable fun out there, especially in the city of London this weekend, as joy comes to a boat on the Thames River for the debut of *****Tropical City***** this Saturday evening.
Bright neon lights, a festive crowd adorned in day-glo colours that are sure to flip your switch from winter-blues blah to spring and summer super happy. The musical line-up will inspire the most devoted wallflower to venture out on the dancefloor and get down. There will even be a Krumping dance crew, Funk Physics, popping battles, and teaching a few tricks. This party is a celebration of a mix and mash of urban cultures from warm and cold climates. It is hip-hop and reggae meet electro, for what looks like Miami Vice, and the original UK combination of it all is going to see this boat quaking and shaking into the wee morning hours.
Organized by Fake Ornate, the producers of other creative London parties The Nativity Hoedown, The Human Zoo and Cosmic Disco, this new creation is a kick-off for the group's summer festival tour season. Next stop, Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party and Bloom.
"Tropical City is a ghetto-fabulous themed party, run by Fake Ornate who are inspired by the underground scene, and comitted to bringing the world cutting edge entertainment," said Kate Risker, aka the fabulous Miss Risk. "Think Santogold to grime to Krump battles. Let's get tropical!"
Headlining the evening, and the group that inspired the tropical theme is De Tropix who will get the boat swaying with electro reggae step sounds and deep bass beats that will quiver up and down your spine. Also featuring:
Supreme grime from Conrad The Scoundral,
A.J. Holmes the king of the electric high-life, The Heatwave - skankin dancehall and tropical tunage from DJ Gabriel Heatwave,
and sweet female vocals from MC Cherry B.
Want to come to the Tropical City?
RSVP through the Tropical City Facebook Group Saturday, May 9, 2009, 8pm-1.30am, £7. Dress Code: Ghetto Fabulous/Tropical/neon. Location: Tamesis Dock (on the Thames) SE1 7TP. Street: Albert Embankment, London, United Kingdom.
More information here.
I'll be on the boat,
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Lisa Devaney
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Last login: 16 Nov 2009
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