My apologies gang, but we’re going to have to cut this one short today. Still, I don’t like to leave all of you empty handed. So before I go, I will give my brief opinions on the four apps covered in Wednesday’s Showdown.

1. MotionX GPS – It’s a nice program. It really is. I just can’t figure out how to work the thing properly. It will eventually come to me … I hope.
2. GasBuddy – I said it before and I will say it again: Anything that is designed to get me cheap gas is a good thing.
3. TripIt – I question whether or not signing up for a travel based social network is worth the hassle. I am leaning towards “yes,” but I am still not entirely sure yet.
4. Traffic – If it will help me get past those construction-related tie ups in West Virginia and Pennsylvania without losing my mind, then this app will quickly become my best friend.

…And there you have it. Be sure to tune in Monday for part two of our travel-themed Showdown extravaganza. Until then, I bid thee adieu.

As you probably have heard by now, Yahoo Search is no more. In a move that totally surprised no one everyone, Yahoo has decided to jettison the “search” end of the business in favor of Microsoft’s shiny new Bing engine. The folks at Redmond, in return, will receive complete, unfettered access to the likes of Yahoo BOSS and Search Monkey. Despite the grumblings of a few “disgruntled” stock holders, the big brass at both companies actively welcome the change, calling it “a complete game changer” and “a great day for Yahoo.” If all goes well with the government, expect to see Bing in a Yahoo search bar near you within eight to nine months.

This isn’t the first time a major tech firm attempted to play nice with another massive corporation. Anyone who remembers running Microsoft and IBM’s OS/2 operating system on their brand new desktop featuring an Intel-branded AMD 286 processor knows exactly what I’m talking about. Still, our story isn’t about the manufacturing of microprocessors or the internal bickering between Bill Gates and Big Blue. No, today’s story involves a search engine, a cartoon mouse, and a web portal that time — and the majority of the Internet – has forgotten. And what is this portal that we speak of? Go.com.

Once upon a time, the site now known as Go.com was once a search engine called “Infoseek.” Started in 1994 by prolific inventor Steve Kirsch, Infoseek was one of the first engines to actively allow users to incorporate Boolean modifiers into their searches. Because of its sheer willingness to try something a bit off kilter, “Mr. Kirsch’s pet project” became the talk of the town, both online and off . It was so popular in fact, that the company felt the need to create “Ultraseek,” an engine designed specifically for enterprise users. This success lasted until 1998, when the folks at Disney — yes, that Disney — swallowed the company whole. On the surface, the deal appeared to be a match made in heaven for everyone involved. Disney now had a world class search engine at their beckoned call, while Infoseek had a proverbial “800 pound gorilla” backing them up. The merger of the engine with the newly acquired Starwave development house helped to excite users all the more. Within months, both companies were gone. In their places sat Go.com, a web portal designed to bring the so-called “House of Mouse” into the Internet Age. The days of Infoseek were officially no more.

Needless to say, the entire project was a failure of epic proportions. Within four years, the search section was gone for good. In its place sat a box for its new “search partner,” a little site called Yahoo. (Funny the way the world works, isn’t it?) While Go.com does still officially exist, it is now little more than a host site for the likes of ESPN and ABC. The Infoseek name is still used in both Japan and Australia, but these sites have little to do with the “engine that Steve Krsch built.” (The former is run by Japanese shopping kingpins Rakuten, while the latter is controlled by design firm Orange Digital Media.) The only technology to make it out of this entire debacle alive was Ultraseek, which is still trying to deliver enterprise search to the masses. As for Yahoo, well … you know.

…And there you have it. Be sure to tune tomorrow for part two of our “Summer Travel Showdown.” Until then, we bid thee a fond adieu.

As many of you are already well aware of, we in the Northern Hemisphere are knee deep in something that we like to call “summer.” Now to most people, summer means only one thing: complaining about the heat seeing movies in which things explode for no apparent reason going places. On part one of our special three part Showdown extravaganza, we will be taking a look at four apps and services that are designed to make the summer trip just a tad bit easier. But before we do, however, our good friend “Triple N” (aka “the dissenting opinion”) has something to say.

Triple N: “Hey … What gives? I thought you said that there would be more marketing stories.”

Us: Don’t worry about it. There will be. Besides, you don’t have to use these tools on vacation. You could always employ them on your next business trip. There’s more to “work” than just staying in the office, you know.

Triple N: Good point. Carry on then.

…With that said, here we go:

Tool #1: MotionX-GPS

Service Provided: GPS
Platform: iPhone
Programmer/Host: Fullpower Industries
Why We Checked It Out: To many, a good GPS system is a must. The problem is that we don’t necessarily have one. The closest thing we have is an unlocked Nokia smart phone that contains full maps for Finland and Germany. While that would be great if we wanted to drive from Helsinki to Dusseldorf, it makes driving from Atlanta to, say, Pittsburgh neigh impossible.
First Thoughts: I honestly have no idea what I am doing here. There is a compass, a scrolling banner and several intimidating looking buttons, all of which are doing something completely foreign. This is definitely going to be interesting…

Tool #2: GasBuddy

Service Provided: Gas station locator
Platform: Web/iPhone
Website: http://www.gasbuddy.com/
Programmer/Host: GasBuddy (Website); Bottle Rocket (iPhone app)
Why We Checked It Out: Finding a place to get cheap gas is always a good thing.
First Thoughts: The website is absolutely perfect for the rookie traveler, telling us everything that we could possibly need to know in a straightforward, timely matter. The iPhone app, however, left us scratching our heads in confusion. Still, the trip (and the Showdown) is still young.

Tool #3: TripIt

Service Provided: Social Travel
Platform: Web/iPhone
Website: http://www.tripit.com
Programmer/Host: TripIt
Why We Checked It Out: It’s always a good idea to keep track of your travel plans. Hey … It beats writing everything down on paper, right?
First Thoughts: The site, while a tad cryptic, looks to be rather promising. We will have much more on this intriguing looking social service in a few days.

Tool #4: Traffic

Service Provided: Traffic guide
Platform: iPhone
Programmer/Host: CLO Software
Why We Checked It Out: Just because we know the lyrics to “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” and “Feelin’ Alright” by heart doesn’t necessarily make us experts on “Traffic.”
First Thoughts: The reviews on the app store were the very definition of the word “mediocre.” Here’s to hoping that our experiences buck the current trend.

…And there you have it. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for a more in depth look at each of the services listed.

Hello and welcome back to “Web Programming for Smart Phones,” our landmark five-part series dedicated to unlocking the mysteries of the mobile web. Today we continue our journey with a frank dialog about load times.

I get how network speeds can affect the load times of my site. I just don’t understand how the various network speeds. – The major mobile networks work like this:

• GPRS – Also known as “2.5G,” users on this network generally experience speeds on par with a 56K dial up modem. Extremely slow and financially costly to the user, GPRS systems are primarily employed on older mobile phones and the original iPhone.
• EDGE – Also known as “2.75G.” Generally considered to be the “basis” of modern 3G networks, EDGE users can expect speeds as fast as 236 kb/s. While it isn’t the speediest network on the block, EDGE can still deliver the goods when needed.
• 3G – Considered by many to be the modern standard bearer for mobile networks nationwide, 3G enabled devices can perform such media heavy tasks as streaming audio and video without a noticeable delay. 3G can be delivered to the user in several different ways, including CDMA2000/EV-DO (Sprint Nextel and Verizon), and the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (T-Mobile and AT&T).
• WiFi – No explanation is needed here. Moving on…
• WiMax – Think WiFi on baseball/bodybuilder-level steroids. Instead of covering small rooms, WiMax is designed to blanket entire cities with broadband style access. As of this writing, WiMax is only available as a laptop “connect card” and to users who wish to ditch their current cable or DSL service.

Our Suggestions – Unlike our previous two installments, I cannot simply show you a site and say “site X’s load times are fantastic.” It has much more to do with the user’s mobile network and handset of choice than anything the programmer/webmaster has control over. After all, a laptop employing WiMax will undoubtedly get better speeds than a four year year old Blackberry connected to Metro PCS. That is not to say that you don’t have at least some control over how your site reacts. That is where our advice comes in.

1. Aim low.* – I know that that might sound a bit counterproductive, but hear us out. While your site might run perfectly on 3G beauties like the iPhone or the Palm Pre, it could crash and burn on older models that rely on EDGE/2.75G to get by. Lose them, and you will lose a sizable chunk of your audience. By making your site “EDGE compatible,” you essentially take loading times out of the proverbial equation.
2. Listen to your gut. – If you believe that that fancy new script that you have been toying with will put mobile users at a disadvantage, don’t use it right away. Sometimes, the old “gut feeling” is right. Pay attention to it.
3. Do the research. – Check out the specs of the major smart phones. Make absolutely certain that you understand what makes these handsets tick. Only then can you…
4. …Accentuate the positives and hide the negatives. – The goal is to make your site appear to be tailored made for whatever smart phone or mobile device the consumer is currently using. You can make that happen, provided that you have done your research correctly. Let’s say for a moment that I have five random devices sitting in front of me right now. Now according to my research, only one of those devices can run Flash properly. The conclusion? No Flash for you. Sure, it might look great, but what’s the point of using a technology that only one person has access to? It might seem like a pain now, but “hiding the negatives” will definitely pay off big at the end. Trust us on that. *Note: You might have noticed I said to tailor your site for EDGE, not GPRS. The reasoning for this is simple: GPRS is on the way out. There’s a fine line between being “inclusive” and just being brainless. Be sure not to cross it.

…And there you have it. Be sure to come back next week for part four of our series: Let’s Get Creative, People! Until then, we bid thee adieu.

Okay gang, it’s time for yet another highly popular round of “ask me a question.” So without further adieu, let us get to it.

Where is part three of “Web Programming for Smart Phones?” – Part three, tentatively entitled “The Waiting Is the Hardest Part,” will be hitting a web browser near your within the next few days. the series is very important to us, but honestly, we also wanted to establish our other concepts as well.

Oh? Such as? – Building our own mobile site, for one. High class, high quality mobile sites should not just be limited to the likes of million dollar computer firms or folks whose personal wealth rivals that of Scrooge McDuck. We intend to prove that it is possible to build, maintain, and most importantly advertise, a mobile site without spending a ton of cash. We are so confident that we can make this happen, that we set our design budget to an unthinkable, unheard of sum of zero dollars American. That’s right. We will have a top shelf mobile headquarters, and it will not cost us a dime. And the best part? A site like this can be yours as well. It’s all about smart design, forward thinking, and a great ad campaign.

Wait … I thought you said you were for tailoring your existing site to fit the needs of mobile users. What gives? – We still are. Still, it doesn’t mean that we cannot explore other options.

Will this be programming intensive? I hate programming. I have guys who do it for me. – Nope. This will be about theory, content, advertising, marketing, and overall presentation. Not one line of code will be printed in this blog. I assure you of that.

Works for me. How’s the text advertising project coming along? – As we said last Friday, it usually takes a little while for this kind of thing to register. Ask us again in a few days.

I hate the “geek” stuff. More advertising news, stat! – We hear you. We here at the Free Line promise that there will be more talk about marketing your site and/or product in the future.

Great. Do you have anything that I can check out right now? – I do, actually. For those interested in the emerging world of mobile advertising, I highly suggest reading “Mobile Marketing Without Being Annoying” by Chris Crum. Essentially an expanded interview with Yahoo’s Tom Foran, the article explains the ins and of out of advertising on the so-called “mobile web” without being too confusing or geeky. While some of his suggestions and tactics are not exactly “free,” the piece is still worth the old “once over.”

…And there you have it. Until tomorrow, we here at the Free Line bid you all good day.

As many of you already realize, there’s more to advertising your site, brand, or genuinely “hilarious” YouTube video than just posting a note on Digg. No, if you want your media project of the future to be a true success, you’ll have to do more than hang out at social hot spots. Mastering the basics (and possibly the intermediate level) of search engine optimization is always a good thing to do. Making sure that you understand the “ins and outs” of various browsers, hardware platforms, and programming languages doesn’t hurt, either. Still, there is even more that you could be doing to draw new faces to your site. And what is this magic fix that I speak of? Viral advertising.

Now I know what you’re thinking. “Is he crazy? I can’t pull that off! It’s too expensive and time consuming!” Now before you call the nice young men in the clean, white coats to take me away, hear me out. Not everyone who sets up a viral campaign is trying to pull off a J.J. Abrams style Alternate Reality Game or is trying to sell a badly put together ring tone to teenagers. In reality, most viral marketing campaigns are rather small, low-key affairs that deliver their pitch to prospective users with a minimal amount of trouble or annoyance. Simply put, it’s targeted advertising done right.

To prove the ease that I speak of, we will engage in our own campaign. Yes, that’s right. The Free Line is going viral. At the present moment, our campaign will rely heavily on SMSDelivery, a handy little service that allows us to create text message campaigns for free. Everything we do — our successes, our failures, and so on — will be reported here. Before we call it a day, allow me to answer a few questions.

So … which plan are you going for: free or paid? – Free, of course. We wouldn’t be able to call ourselves the Free Line if we actually paid for things like this. It’s against the rules.

I want to get in on the action. What do I text where? – Our account is still firmly in the “setup” phase right now. According to the official website, it sometimes takes as long as two business days to get things working properly. As soon as we get a number, we will definitely pass it along to you.

…And there you have it. Be sure to come back Monday for part three of “Web Programing for Smart Phones.” Until then, we bid thee adieu.

On today’s award winning episode of the Showdown, we will be reviewing four iPhone apps that went overlooked. Some are good. Others show promise. One … well… some things are best left unsaid at the moment.

Google Voice

Original Showdown: VoIP on Mobile Devices
Website: https://www.google.com/voice
Developer: Google
Country of Origin: US
Note #1: As of this writing, Google Voice is not a “VoIP” service in the strictest sense of the acronym. It is actually a “middle man” service that dials out to a handset of your choosing before calling the person or persons in question. The quality of the call will largely depend on the quality of your phone service.
Note #2: You are able to avoid all nationwide long distance charges with this service. You are not, however, able to avoid your cell carrier’s “monthly minutes.” If you decide to let the service call your mobile device, you will be subject to the terms of your phone plan.
Note #3: Since there is not an official “Google Voice” iPhone app, we used a third party app called “GV Mobile.”
Overall: N/A — Google Voice is a nice service, but the sound quality is totally dependent on your phone. Because of this, we will not be giving this service a concrete score at this time.

Oceanus

Original Showdown: Proprietary Mobile Browsers (iPhone Edition)
Developer: Vikas Singla
Rendering Engine: Unknown
First Impression: “It’s pretty. I like the load bar on this one.”
Ease of Use: 7
Positives: Everything we tried — search, tabs, even a speed test — was almost on par to what one would find on a traditional desktop browser.
Negatives: Full screen mode is a bit a odd to work with at times, and buttons on the toolbar are a bit too small for our tastes.
Overall: 8

Perfect Browser

Original Showdown: Proprietary Mobile Browsers (iPhone Edition)
Developer: Ingenious Creations
Rendering Engine: Unknown
First Impression: “I like the transparency on the bottom window.”
Ease of Use: 9
Positives: The Perfect Browser pulls off what both iCab and Oceanus could not: a full screen mode that actually works as advertised. We were able to hide, then re-enable, both the address bar and the icon list in a matter of seconds.
Negatives: Try as we might, we could not find an options screen to save our lives.
Overall: 9

Gaggle

Original Showdown: Proprietary Mobile Browsers (iPhone Edition)
Developer: Trippert Labs
Rendering Engine: Unknown
The Gimmick: Gaggle touts itself as the first “social web browser” for the iPhone.
First Impression: “Why is it giving me an ad?”
Ease of Use: 1 — “It’s not really ‘hard’ to use at all. It’s just dumb. Really, really dumb.”
Positives: As we mentioned above, Gaggle makes it easy to share links with your compatriots on Facebook and Twitter.
Negatives: So what is it that we hate most about Gaggle? Is the gigantic ad that sits at the bottom of the screen at all times? It is the horribly touchy zoom feature? Is the fact that for whatever the reason, the now standard “horizontal display” option has been permanently disabled? The answer: It’s all of those things, and so much more. Our apologies for sounding like elitist snobs, but we here at the Free Line would like the ten minutes we spent on this browser back.
Overall Score: Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

…And we’re back! What better way to celebrate our grand return than with a little bit of what we like to call “news of the weird.” First up: we have the very meaning of the word “irony…”

- A few days ago, the big brass at Amazon accidentally discovered (read: informed by a lawyer in an official sounding letter) that their eBook store was selling unauthorized copies of a few “well known” novels. The lawyer simply asked for the books to be removed from the store. Amazon, fearing the legal threat, decided it would be best to not only delete the “bootleg” copies from their servers, but from their customers’ Kindle eBook readers as well. As you might have already guessed, this did not sit well with Kindle owners, who said that they should not be punished for the mistakes of another company. In a statement, Amazon spokesman Drew Herdener apologized for the move, assuring everyone that this kind of thing would not happen again. So what were the books in question, you ask? 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell.

- It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice that advertising is seemingly everywhere these days. Video games have them. Sitcoms have them. Even other commercials have them. (Anyone who has been told by a pleasant sounding spokesman to “type ‘Pontiac‘ into Google” knows what we’re talking about here.) Still, there is one place that remains completely ad-free: the Moon. That is about to change. A company mysterious new entity called “Moon Publicity” has announced that they will be the first firm to bring advertising into the final frontier.  The company intends to pull this daring feat off using something called “shadow shaping” — a process by which a small little robot draws forty foot pictures into the lunar surface. The giant ads would then be visible to the citizens of Earth during “certain phases” of the Moon. Needless to say, not everyone is thrilled with the idea of turning a heavenly body into a gigantic billboard. Some have even gone as far as saying that the entire plan borders on comic book style super-villainy. The folks at Moon Publicity see things a bit differently, however. To them, it’s not about the ads. It’s about the very survival of the human race. “Any number of global catastrophes could and eventually will end live on Earth,” writes the company in a press release. “Space travel is more than just footprints and flags; it is vital to our survival. Just as we back up hard drives in case they crash, we need to back up mankind on other worlds. Creating images on the Moon provides a commercial incentive for turbo charging space travel technology.”  Those interested in this “unique” form of advertising have until October 20th to get in on the action. At the time of this writing, bids start at a “mere” $46,000 per shadow shaping robot.

My apologies gang, but due to a combination of things, there won’t be a Free Line today. Yeah, it stinks. I know and I apologize. We will be back up and running with full vigor tomorrow.

Hello and welcome back to “Web Programming for Smart Phones,” our landmark five-part series dedicated to unlocking the mysteries of the mobile web. Today we continue our journey with looking at your friend and mine, in-site content.

Why should I worry about my content? – As we mentioned last week, most of the major smart phones feature a screen resolution of 320 by 480. Having a wall of text that rivals Stephen King’s “The Stand” or tons of high bit rate images are simply not good ideas. This isn’t ten years ago, when mobile devices were as powerful as a graphing calculator and featured a small, blurry, monochrome screen. The iPhone, for example, is more powerful than the standard desktop built in 1999. Simply put, mobile users matter. Lose them, and you can potentially lose a large chunk of your audience.

So people on smart phones have short attention spans. – No, not at all. Look at it this way: staring at a pocket-sized screen is naturally harder on the eyes than staring at that beautiful flat screen you have at home or at work. Having a site with tons of small text and/or several massive image files will not be doing your mobile user base any favors. The “trick,” for lack of a better work, is to have a nice, easy to use site that is accessible to mobile users, while not insulting the traditional desktop and laptop crowd.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just make a mobile site? - Not necessarily. For the average site proprietor, spending a load of time, effort, and most importantly, money on a separate site does not make sense in this current financial environment. At this point in time, it would be best to concentrate your efforts into perfecting your main site.

Content gone bad – The “bad content for a mobile computing device” award goes to tech industry news site WebProNews. Every last article we clicked upon appeared to be nothing more than line after line of blurry, incomprehensible text. While it was nice that the ads were visible to the naked eye (we here at the Free Line prefer to live in the real world), they had a tendency to both overpower and overwhelm. For all of the effort it took just to make everything readable, we could have found a similar article on another site.

Good examples of mobile content – Out of all of the major tech sites — present company excluded, of course — TechCrunch fits the criteria described above the best. Each article and advertisement is easy enough to read on a mobile device, yet still carries all of the appeal and charm of a “traditional” news site.

Our suggestion – Our advice boils down to one, easy to remember phrase: keep it all within proportion. The last thing that anyone would want is a site filled to the brim with overpowering pictures and unreadable text. Still, you have to keep in mind that a site filled with pages and pages of text will bore the living daylights out of your “on the go” constituents. If you keep everything on an even keel, your site should be ready for any situation that might present itself.

…And there you have it. Be sure to come back next Monday for our part three of our series: Load Times. Expect the classic Free Line for the rest of the week. Until then, we bid thee adieu.