Here comes Fennec!!! (Release note)

It’s been a whole year since Firefox first announced that they were developing for their mobile version, after the not-so-successful Minimo for WinMo, and they finally released this public alpha for Nokia N810, whose default built-in browser is already Mozilla-based MicroB.

Unfortunately neither I or my beloved DeviceAnywhere has N810 device, so I tried the one for Mac OS.
Because this is for N810 WVGA screen, so the browser window is set 800×480 pixel, and support touch screen (so you need flick the screen to navigate). I am wondering how comfortable with the UI on other smaller screen devices, or how non-touch screen UI would look like. (Or are they even planning to support one?)

Anyway, I was playing around and tested some pages quickly:


(left) Startup screen, and (right) Yahoo! search.



(L) My twitter home page. Editting was a bit pain because I don’t see a cursor on this emulator. (R) Run Acid3 test. 90/100 is good (better than iPhone Safari but doesn’t beat the latest Webkit which gets perfect score).



(L) iCuteOverload. Looks like it supports iUI nicely. I need to take out the “-webkit” prefix to see if border-image works on Fennec. (R) Some tests on event - not seems to support (both results “true” on iPhone Safari)


Anyway, overall I think this is pretty sweet. I am excite to see the battle among Webkit - Apple vs. Google, and vs. Mozilla.Also, if you are lucky enough own N810, try install it on your device!

Today, Opera launched Widget SDK, enabling web developers to deploy web apps on desktop, TV and mobile devices. Unlike Apple’s iPhone $99 SDK, it is free of charge.

Watch the step-by-step instruction video:

More Mobile App/Widget SDKs:

• Apple: iPhone SDK
• Google: Android SDK
• Yahoo!: Blueprint SDK (this is what I am working for)
• Nokia: Widset
• Openwave: Mobile Widget
• Plasmo: Widget

OMG, OMG, OMG!!! A Hello Kitty mobile phone charger!!!

The Charger comes with cables that compatible with Nokia, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson major devices, and powered by three AAA batteries.

OK, I am sick of being judged with stereotypes and prejudice, but one thing I know about myself that perfectly fit a typical “Japanese girl” is the Hello Kitty obsession.

I admit that I want one really bad!!!

Source (and the photo):
IntoMobie

自分がコアメンバーの一員として制作したプロダクトが日本のニュースでも紹介されているなんてちょっと嬉しいかも。

Anyway, it’s pretty sweet that I can show what I’ve been working my ass off for, to my friends and family in Japan. I wish we could launch this in Japan, as well as Europe and Asia that we’re planning to launch soon. But since Y! Japan is operated separately from us, I dunno if they will…

Well anyway, I’ve tried oneSearch in Japanese (see the screenshot), although we are not supporting Japan. Well, the temperature is shown in fahrenheit in weather section, because well of course, this is a US product. -will I18N’d later… Pretty neat, right? Seriously Y! Japan should consider, since Apple will start selling iPhone there sooner or later. I guess.

I found more news by searching just now:

• 【2008 International CES】米Yahoo!、「Yahoo! Go 3.0」を発表。
• ヤフーのヤンCEO、CESで講演–「Yahoo Go 3.0」ベータなどを披露
• Yahoo!，モバイル機器向けアプリ開発プラットフォームや「Yahoo! Go 3.0」を発表
• Yahoo!、モバイルサービスを刷新
  

We finally launched Yahoo! Mobile Web beta (http://beta.m.yahoo.com) for limited high-end devices including iPhone, Nokia N-Series, also Windows Mobile incl. Moto Q, Palm Treo this morning.

Next project - launching for more devices, and int’l support for 3GSM. Nearly all engineers gave up Vegas… so can we go to Barcelona next month instead? Pretty please por favor?