What is the S60 Platform?

S60 is a the leading mobile operating system for smartphones.  Currently, there are over 200 million devices running S60 (you can find a list of all S60 devices here).  S60 supports Widgets through its browser software called Web Run-Time, which allows developers to create Widgets that access the special features of S60-enabled phones (such as contacts, location, and phone services) via JavaScript APIs.

           

s60.plusmo.com

Plusmo has created an S60 Widget Service which allows mobile users to easily discover and use thousands of S60 Widgets (simply visit http://plusmo.com from your S60 device).  All Plusmo S60 Widgets feature a simple user interface and one-click access to content and automatic updates, eliminating the need for constant browsing and wait times.  Further, the Widgets that are created on Plusmo’s S60 site also work on many other platforms, such as Windows Mobile and the iPhone.

Plusmo also provides a Widget Manager for S60 Devices (pictured above) which provides extended functionality such as offline access, device-native catalogs, etc.

Special Tools for Publishers at s60.plusmo.com

If you are a blogger or a content publisher, the Plusmo Widget Service enables you to easily create S60 Widgets in minutes.  Simply follow the directions listed at our tools page for content publishers.

Please stay tuned for our next blog entry when we’ll detail how the Plusmo Widget Engine improves upon the iPhone user experience.

A Widget is a “thin” (in the software sense), intuitive software application that does one task very well (e.g., displays the weather, stock quotes, news, flight status, etc.).  (For another definition, please refer to Wikipedia.)  The major modern OSes (OS X, Windows, Linux) all offer ‘Desktop Widgets’:

What is a Mobile Widget?

A Mobile Widget is also a Widget, but Mobile Widgets have some special properties.  First, since Mobile Widgets reside on mobile phones, they have to take into account any special characteristics of the mobile phone, e.g., if the mobile phone has an accelerometer or a touch screen, then the Mobile Widget should respond appropriately to user touches or shakes of the mobile phone.  Second, Mobile Widgets have the power to make a general purpose mobile phone feel like a dedicated device for the specific service it offers.  For example, if a Mobile Widget offers weather reports, it should be responsive yet deep enough to make the user feel as if they own a dedicated weather report device.  Mobile Widgets have the power to turn a mobile phone into any number of dedicated devices! Here are some examples of Plusmo’s Mobile Widgets:

Plusmo’s Widget Engine

So now that we know what Widgets and Mobile Widgets, we can tell you about Plusmo’s Widget Engine Platform.  We build a Widget Engine platform that allows developers to easily create Widgets that can run on many types of mobile devices.  The Widget Engine is based on some of the most popular web standards, yet it is powerful and flexible enough to take advantage of many of the special characteristics of the many mobile devices it supports.

To find out more about Plusmo’s Widget and its Widget Engine, please head over to plusmo.com.  In the next few days, we’ll be blogging more specifically about Mobile Widgets, so stay turned!

Also, all of our applications are also available for other mobile devices through our new Plusmo 3.0 client. Download Plusmo 3.0 by visiting http://plusmo.com from your mobile device.

As always, feel free to leave us any feedback here.

Bat an eyelid to replay your favorite iPod tune with a new Japanese remote control that works in the blink of an eye.When a user winks, movement in their skin is detected by sensors clipped to their glasses or headphones, said Kazuhiro Taniguchi of Osaka University’s Graduate School of Engineering Science, who developed the “KomeKami Switch” or “Temple Switch”.

The infrared sensors then generate an electric signal that a micro computer uses to work Apple Inc’s iPod.

Wink strongly for one second with one eye to rewind, use the other to skip to the next song, or close both eyes to pause and play, Taniguchi told Reuters in an e-mail interview.

Via Reuters

A Dutch company has squeezed a display the size of two business cards into a gadget no bigger than other mobile phones — by making a screen that folds up when not in use.

The 5-inch (13-cm) display of Polymer Vision’s “Readius” is the world’s first that folds out when the user wants to read news, blogs or email and folds back together so that the device can fit into a pocket.

Polymer Vision, spun out of Philips , whetted the appetite of gadget fans more than two years ago when it showed off a prototype. Now the gadget is in production and will go head-to-head with Apple’s  iPhone and Amazon’s ebook reader Kindle when it hits stores mid-2008.

Via Reuters

Plusmo is announcing tomorrow exciting new football widgets — one for the iPhone, and one for the web. Here’s an early look at the press release that will go out tomorrow!* * * * *

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Plusmo launches iPhone NFL, NCAA widgets

Also announces NFL , NCAA web widget for bloggers

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Plusmo, the world’s leading provider of mobile widgets, announced today the launch of free NFL and NCAA football widgets for the Apple iPhone. Plusmo’s sports widgets make it easy for iPhone users to get the latest action for all the teams, leagues and players. Users get live, play-by-play updates, game schedules, breaking news, game photos, search and more. A custom interface allows users to personalize the widgets and follow their favorite football teams.

The service is live at http://cfb.plusmo.com and http://nfl.plusmo.com

The Plusmo widgets are packed with iPhone specific features - they automatically refresh themselves with in-game progress updates and eliminate the need for users to constantly refresh web pages. The large icons make it easy to use on the iPhone’s tactile interface. The search driven portal with history personalizes the widgets and eliminates a lot of repetitive typing.

Plusmo’s NCAA and NFL service is also supported on nearly all web-enabled phones, including off-the-shelf feature phones and smartphones such as Symbian devices, RIM Blackberry devices, Windows Mobile smartphones, Palm Treos and Pocket PC-enabled PDAs.

“Mobile users love this streaming experience during a live game. The in-depth coverage, with content and graphics optimized for the iPhone, is superior to any existing mobile experience,” says Krishna Vedati, CEO of Plusmo. “Following a game using a Plusmo sports widget is the next best thing to watching it live on TV!”

NFL/NCAA widgets for Bloggers

Plusmo also announced the availability of its web widgets for NFL and NCAA football. Plusmo’s web widgets are easily embedded in blogs, websites and home pages. For example, bloggers can use these widgets to supplement blog posts with relevant live scores and team schedules provided by the widgets for any team. To add Plusmo sports widgets to a website, including a blog, publishers simply choose the team on the sports widgets web site. Plusmo e-mails them code, which they can simply paste into their page.

Evan S. Brunell, columnist and President, Most Valuable Network says “MVN is excited to be working with Plusmo on the Web Widgets because it allows readers to get instantaneous information on a live football game that they can follow while enjoying the blog experience.”

Plusmo widgets are mini web applications that offer traffic reports, store locators, games, blogs, specialized searches, live sport updates and much more. Content providers, media houses and bloggers can now extend their services to the iPhone through Plusmo widgets free within minutes.

Plusmo also enables users to create personalized widgets out of useful web services, XML/RSS based sources including news feeds as well as professional media, and user-generated content such as blogs, photos and videos, and other Web 2.0 content. There are currently 25,000 widgets available on Plusmo.

About Plusmo

Plusmo is a free mobile media service that delivers personalized rich mobile experiences through mobile widgets.

Plusmo launched in June 2006, and now gets more than 10 million mobile page views monthly. Plusmo enables people to extend social networking through mobile devices, anywhere, all the time on the move.

Simplest way to get mobilized — visit www.plusmo.com from any mobile device, download, register and personalize. Plusmo service is currently in beta.

Service is available on 2.5G, 3G and Wi-Fi

CONTACT:

Raghu Chandrapati
press@plusmo.com

Plusmo
4800 Patrick Henry Dr.
Santa Clara, CA 95054
www.plusmo.com

MobiCast and Plusmo will deliver live, ball-by-ball updates and cricket scores to internet/GPRS enabled mobile phones in India from ESPN Inc.’s subsidiary Cricinfo. To get the Cricinfo MobiCast on your cell phone, key in the URL http://ci.plusmo.com/ with your phone’s browser. (via Domain-b.com)

Today’s the big day! We officially unveil today our service for Apple iPhone users! We think Plusmo is the best thing to happen to the iPhone community since, well, since the iPhone!

Here’s our press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Plusmo extends Mobile Widgets service to iPhone

SAN JOSE, Calif. – August 1, 2007 – Plusmo announced today the availability of its free and customizable mobile widgets service to users of Apple’s new iPhone. A custom interface gives iPhone users access to more than 20,000 Plusmo widgets — most of them created by users. The service is live at http://iphone.plusmo.com.

Content providers, media houses and bloggers can now extend their services to the iPhone through Plusmo widgets for free within minutes.

Plusmo also enables users to create personalized widgets out of useful web services, XML/RSS based sources including news feeds as well as professional media, and user generated content such as blogs, photos and videos, and other Web 2.0 content.

“Plusmo’s personalized homepage makes it easy for iPhone users to discover, install and personalize widgets making them instantly available at the touch of an icon on the iPhone” says Mike Elgan, a leading technology blogger. “Plusmo makes text- and photo-based content far more readable than the iPhone Safari browsers zoom-and-pan interface. Plusmo also offers iPhone users easy access to external iPhone widgets” Mike added.

Plusmo widgets are mini web applications that offer traffic reports, store locators, games, blogs, specialized searches, live sport updates and much more.

“Plusmo is a wonderfully elegant mobile widget solution. I have come to find it indispensable. It’s everything one looks for - easy to use, fast, and nicely designed. No doubt smart marketers will find Plusmo ideal for mobile advertising too.” says Scott Kraft, EVP Marketing of Six Apart, one of the leading makers of weblog software and services.

Kelvin Chong, Chief Architect of Plusmo says “Plusmo widgets for the iPhone are standards based and use Javascript and XHTML. We eagerly await a developer kit for the iPhone so that we can support other Plusmo features for the iPhone such as idle screen mash-ups, and always-on support for widgets even when there is no connectivity.”

Apart from iPhone, Plusmo’s device agnostic widget approach supports most Java phones including Symbian devices, RIM Blackberry devices, Windows Mobile Smart phones, Palm Treos, Pocket PC-enabled PDAs as well as WAP-enabled devices.

About Plusmo

Plusmo is a free mobile media service that delivers personalized rich mobile experiences through mobile widgets.

Plusmo started in June 2006 has a gallery of more than 20K widgets published by users and on an average get 10 million mobile page views monthly. Plusmo enables people to extend social networking through mobile devices, anywhere, all the time on the move.

Simplest way to get mobilized — visit www.plusmo.com from any mobile device, download, register and personalize. Plusmo service is currently in beta.

Service is available on 2.5G, 3G and Wi-Fi

CONTACT:

Raghu Chandrapati

press@plusmo.com

(408) 718-5532

Plusmo

4800 Patrick Henry Dr.
Santa Clara, CA 95054

www.plusmo.com

• TIECon Flickr Stream
• Agenda
• News and Announcements

You can get these by searching for ”tie” from Plusmo on the web or Plusmo on your phone

Enjoy!

Samsung has created an entire island in the virtual reality game, “Second Life,” to promote their cell phones. Players can visit the island and, after answering a few questions, be given a cell phone to use inside the game. (via Gearfuse)