When I made the decision to “go it alone” last week with this blog, that’s exactly what I thought I was doing - going it alone.
But it so happened, that with only a few days notice, the highly respected editor of TheFeature was in Munich last weekend (seeing Siemens) and we arranged to meet for a beer (or four). I’ve known Carlo Longino until then only via the occasional email.
However, I’ve also known Carlo as someone who was totally on the same wave length as me when it comes to writing about mobile technology. Many a time I have started to write a post, only to find it has already been written comprehensively by Carlo (or equally often by Mike Masnick at TechDirt and regular contributor to TheFeature). I know that they found themselves beaten to the post by me, on occasion too.
Not many people know that TheFeature’s owner was Nokia. While they never interfered editorially or tried to set the agenda in any way, they felt that it was important for the industry to host quality writing and debate. They have now decided that TheFeature’s work is done and are shutting it down. While this is very sad for the industry, I respect Nokia’s decision and indeed, their foresightedness in starting the venture in the first place.
But I’m delighted to say that this also leaves Carlo free to join MobHappy, as my partner. We want to continue the best traditions of TheFeature of quality comment and opinion on everything happening in mobile technology. As both Carlo and I have always tried to do, we want to bring you the news that matters and try and analyse why it matters. And we have a unique combination of in-depth knowledge of both the US and European markets, respectively.
We really hope you’ll enjoy MobHappy and become active in your comments and vociferous in your opinions. If you’ve got ideas for article you’d like to see - or even write yourself - please email us or leave a comment. Oh - and don’t forget to pass the word to friends and colleagues who might like it here too, please.
Because this has all happened rather quickly, we’re stuck with pretty basic design and functionality right now, for the site. This will be improved in due course, but if you notice anything you’d like us to change, please feel free to point this out.
Anyway, enough navel gazing and back to writing. We really hope you enjoy MobHappy.
No Future for The Feature
Sadly, The Feature is no more. To me, it was a prime resource for all things “mobile”. An impressive line-up of writers, plenty of interesting, relevant and forward-looking information. I’ve always been intrigued by the concept since it was…
it’s a sad news
Even though the Feature will no longer be around, I definately look forward to what Mobhappy will bring forth… especially with such talent as Russell and Carlo. Good luck to you both!!:)
TheFeature :: Says Goodbye
Anyone who is anyone in the mobile industry must know of, seen or have been a member of TheFeature.com. I myself was a featured member for a week!! (Yeah that was something big to me) Well, today The Feature announced
“Things that are leaving are opening up space for new things to come…” Good luck to you both, Russel and Carlo! Am looking forward to witnessing how you’ll shape MobHappy!
Just want to wish you both luck with the new blog! You’ve for sure one loyal reader in Sweden.
Best of luck from me too!
I do have one request: could you please please provide full text feeds, like you used to on mobile-weblog.com? As I mentioned in a comment there once, if you read blogs through a rss reader on a mobile phone, full text feeds give you pretty much anything you want, without even the need to mobile-enable the blog itself. With the rdf feeds you’re prividing at the moment, I only get the first couple of lines, and then need to download the full story..
Cheers,
Mario.
Mario - we are providing the full text feeds, not abbreviated versions. I agree that the abbreviated type is annoying.
While we are having problems with some RSS feeds updating (assume they’re teething issues) you should be getting the full posts.
Please feel free to pursue and we’ll try to help you resolve the issue.
Russell
Hi Russell,
yes, you’re right - on closer examination it’s just down to the fact that the <description> doesn’t contain the entire post.
The way the FreeNews client (which I use on my phone) works is that it will save the description of a post on the phone when sync-ing/updating, but for the <content> you need to download the full story from their proxy.
I’m not sure if there are any guidelines out there with this kind of thing, but I can see
that theoretically it makes sense to have a short description rather than duplicating the entire post (as mobile-weblog.com does). On the other hand, as long as you don’t mind the overhead at update/sync time, it’s nice to have the entire stories on the phone. But that’s maybe just related to this particular client’s functionality/design and won’t affect most desktop readers.
All the best to both of you, I’m looking forward to what’s to come!
Good to see Carlo and Russ working together - keep up the excellent research and writing!
ceo
Carlo Longino has resurfaced at MobHappy
Yet another blog on Mobile? I think not. Russell (who comes highly recommended by mobilejones - here) has started a new blog with a huge potential readership and has hooked in Carlo from TheFeature (RIP) as a partner. Great duo.
Right-on.. Congrats
can u provide more info on this ?