DIY Mobile Networks

Ever dreamed of having your own mobile phone network? If so, Sonopia offers customizable, 'virtual' mobile networks for small businesses and nonprofit groups. Partnering with Verizon, Sonopia has offered networks to churches, rock bands, sports teams, and the National Wildlife Fund. Nonprofits can offers as an incentive to prospective customers a donation of profits to charitable causes.

Sonopia charges no setup fees, so even the smallest groups -- and even individuals -- can establish their own mobile networks.

Source: Springwise

The End of 'Cheap Food'?

From the end of World War II until now, most nations have enjoyed plentiful and relatively inexpensive food supplies. But now, according to the well-known futurist think tank Global Business Network, that era may be ending.

GBN cites the near doubling of corn prices on the world market in the past year as evidence that this trend has already begun. Factors that are driving up prices include increased demand by the growing world population, as well as the growth of Asian economies. The latter is significant because, as economies prosper, meat consumption increases... and with it, the need for livestock feed. Increasing consumption of bio-fuels will stress grain supplies even further. Throw global warming into the mix (crop yields can fall by up to 5% for every 0.9 degree F rise in temperature) , and the stage is set for possibly much higher food prices worldwide, shortages, and ultimately, mass starvation in the poorest countries.

Writes GBN's Gwynne Dyer, PhD, 'In the early stages of this process, higher food prices will help millions of farmers who have been scraping along on very poor returns for their effort because political power lies in the cities, but later it gets uglier. The price of food relative to average income is heading for levels that have not been seen since the early 19th century, and it will not come down again in our lifetimes.' [Emphasis added]

Source: Arlington Institute

5000 Android Apps

Google's Android Market now offers more than 4,900 applications for smartphones powered by the Android mobile operating system, according to the web services giant's vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra.

Speaking Wednesday at Google's annual I/O developer event in San Francisco, Gundotra said Android users have downloaded an average of more than 40 applications per user, adding that Android smartphones are now second in the U.S. in mobile web browsing, behind Apple's iPhone.

5000 apps is a pretty good number. We (Movaya) are about to launch our first premium app in the Android Market next week so we'll see how that goes.

Android Design V2: Now with stencils

[This post is by Android designer Alex Faaborg, on behalf of the entire User Experience team. —Tim Bray]

When we initially released Android Design, by far the number one request we received was for us to release stencils as well. The fine folks on the Android User Experience team are pleased today to release some official Android Design stencils for your mockup-creating pleasure.

With these stencils you can now drag and drop your way to beautifully designed Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) applications, with grace and ease. The stencils feature the rich typography, colors, interactive controls, and icons found throughout Ice Cream Sandwich, along with some phone and tablet outlines to frame your meticulously crafted creations.

Currently we have stencils available for those venerable interactive design powerhouses Adobe® Fireworks®, and Omni® OmniGraffle® and we may expand to other applications® in the future. The source files for the various icons and controls are also available, created in Adobe® Photoshop®, and Adobe® Illustrator®. Here are the downloads.

We'll be updating these stencils over time so, as always, please send in your feedback!

Happy mockup making,
— Your friendly Android Design Droids

Tweet Land, un alocado juego de carreras donde los tweets ponen la diversión

Hablar de videojuegos es hablar de mundos virtuales donde lo que ocurre queda desconectado del mundo real. Sin embargo, ¿y si los acontecimientos del mundo real condicionaran lo que sucede en un juego? A esta pregunta tenemos una respuesta: Tweet Land. Una propuesta curiosa, desarrollada en Costa Rica, que llegará a la App Store dentro de poco.

Bajo este nombre nos encontramos un juego de conducción donde nuestra carrera se verá eventualmente alterada por tweets en tiempo real. El juego criba diferentes mensajes de esta red social y nos va creando diferente obstáculos que debemos ir superando: la caída de un meteorito que cae del cielo, que nuestro conductor conduzca como si estuviera borracho, un accidente de coche…

También nos dará algunas ventajas claro, convertirnos en un helicóptero o en un tanque, que nos servirán para allanar el camino. El objetivo: llegar lo más lejos posible y sobrevivir a los cientos de tweets que complicarán nuestro viaje. Una idea divertida y bastante original, sobre el papel.

Como podéis ver en el vídeo, Tweet Land nos traerá un simpático apartado gráfico que apuesta por la estética pixel y un cierto aire retro. Una combinación bastante acertada ya que, a pesar de intentar recordarnos a juegos clásicos, no olvida en qué año estamos: las animaciones están muy bien conseguidas y el aspecto general no es añejo.

Tweet Land debutará en la App Store el próximo 31 de Enero a un precio de 2 dólares (1,50 euros al cambio). El juego contará con una versión gratuita de prueba para quienes no quieran pasar por caja previamente. Sobre la llega a otros sistemas operativos, de momento no hay nada confirmado pero, esperemos, que desembarque tarde o temprano en Android y Windows Phone.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PocketPcLive/~3/b0KcvZonoq0/carl-cameras-critiques-on-mollys-review.html

You may remember the recent challenges of Brandon Watson to Molly Wood to try Windows Phone 7, as she was frequently complaining about Andriod. She came up with some video reviews on her blog; one can see some of them in CBS news too.

1 Million Android-based G1's Sold

According to FierceWireless, T-Mobile USA has sold more than 1 million of its Android-based G1 devices during the past six months.

The figure was apparently 'buried' in Deutsche Telekom's earnings report. According to the German carrier's report, the G1 accounts for two-thirds of all of T-Mobile USA's 3G handset sales so far.

Initial sales of the G1 are certainly a lot smaller in comparison to Apple's iPhone. Apple sold around 3.7 million iPhones during the two full quarters after the device's launch in the summer of 2007. Keep in mind, however, that T-Mobile USA has less than half the number of subscribers than AT&T so on a relative basis, it's doing OK.