How do I touch this?

Knowledge - how to touch this? Investors can say when they are holding their credit cards or even the money itself.
Last week google papers value in NASDAQ broke the $500 dollars boundary (not bad for a company whose has opened its papers for $85). But, did you ever touch in anything created by Google?
Submarino (Brazil) and Americanas.com jointed into a new company - a 8 billion company. But you cannot touch in anything from them, expect the sold products (whose are not produced by them). There's no factories, not a huge infrastructure - but a huge investment on T.I and accessibility.
It doesn't means that there will not be anymore factories in the world. It just means that the way the business is coming has changed. We need more than ever clothes, food, security and other services - but the way we get it, it's changing and will change much more.

SBCD 5.0 FREE for certified Java Programmers

Sun is providing the Beta testers for questions about Sun Certified Business Component Developer 5.0 - FREE OF CHARGE from today (11/24).
If you are a Sun Certified Java Programmer you can try.

Where do you wanna go?

I've waked up a day and completely forgot where my glasses was. I wonder about trying to Google it: "glasses, on my house". That doesn't seems so far as maps details has enhanced a lot last years/months/days. Maybe in a brief future...

There are many companies investing on services about maps, routes and tracking. There are many applications available, most known is Google Maps and Microsoft Live Search.
But specifically to my own country it does not exists a free and good routes service - so I'm trying Maplink. Both Google and Microsoft have single maps solutions and Directions. This is Microsoft Local Live for a Rio route I did:



A brief comparation between Google and Microsoft about that:
- Google has not a easily search for directions. I could not trace the same route.
- Google has the Hybrid view in detailed level.
- Microsoft is more easier than Google for directions
- Microsoft has not Hybrid view in detailed level.
- Tried but no roads/streets layers on Google Earth.

I am in Rio this week and I'm having a really good experience tracing point to point routes using Maplink. It also gives the Taxi's costs, shows attactions, theaters, museums and tourism places.




Maplink services are also available to a GPS HW which is being sell for R$2,299.00 - very expensive in my opnion as it doesn't cover all the country, but only main cities.

Mobility companies has already GPS integrated in it's released mobile phones as some in N-Series from Nokia. I believe this is make cheaper costs of this kind of service in the future, and no more attached to HW, but SW and content.

Belong the world you can research for other companies with the same business. I've read about NAVTEQ and TRAFFIC - companies whose are working on maps and routes in USA.

Update: Look, Google improvements on Google Local for mobile and about location.

What comes in new for mobiles?

It's really hard to identify single cellphones from the old smartphones. I'm wondering about how Palm and other's will join heavy in the cellphone market.
Nokia's S60 3rd edition is awesome. The "N-series" is innovative in too many aspects, mainly design. Nokia should invest - as they are doing - in it's designs phones. Motorola and others had really raised they market share for improving it. How many people did you heard speaking: "I liked it 'cause is so cute..."

Mobile market is really raising. IDC predicts that a billion new cellphones will have been sold this year until the end of the year. There are several companies really interested on this. The last news (a happy for Mac fans) is about Apple joining to this, making the "iPhone" a cellphone merged to iPod. It looks so thin as iPod, but have phone functions. But, this is not official to Apple - actually an Apple iPhone concept blog created by an Apple fan Okan Vardarova. All concepts are being sent by other Apple fans - creativy people!

And what about camera? Samsung is the leader in camera's market - and they are very agressive with and 10 MegaPixel Camera in cellphones. It will have auto-focus (not any new) and 2x optical zoom - 5x digital zoom, but also models to 3x optical zoom.

I wonder about a merging of all the best of each company to make the perfect cellphone: Motorola's Design, Samsung camera, Sony Ericsson walkman technology and Nokia SW and services!

Companies are heavily investing in their "weakness" - or you can read: strong points of the others. Nokia by example have pretty innovative designs to be launched - it was a result from it's R&D invest of last years. By example the Nokia 111 by Daniel Meyer, looks like a candy tablet, and when opened a triangle phone.



But my favorite is the next Nokia AEON Concept - it should be awesome! Look the pictures:



And what about the Network?
When I talk about this, some people sad I'm talking crazy, but - the next revolution in telephony operators survivors is not about technology, but billing. I believe services and content will matter much more than they are today. VoIP and other technologies are already in business, and what is about to happen in mobile telephony is near what already happened to the fixed telco - services. Voice is not the prior for mobility in the past last years, when SMS/MMS was starting to raise. WiFi and WiMax technologies, bundled into mobile will allow users to connect in city clouds more often then using the operator's network. I suppose that - here in Brazil - operator should still have market for long distances, or when mobiles are in handoff on the roads. Anyway, it seems like the mobile operators already know that, improving R&D and tests for WiMax and WiFi in big cities all the world.

For developers, there is a big market to be explored and too many companies really interested to invest in. As I heard once from a Telco Guru: "When market changes, the business model should do as well, and new opportunities comes up."


For developers, you can join:
Forum Nokia
Motodev
Samsung Developer's Club
Sony Ericsson
BENQ Portal

Nokia Bluetooth API Developer's Guide v2.0

Nokia merged documents for Bluetooth.
MIDP: Bluetooth API Developer's Guide v2.0

Gmail for mobile device

Point your mobile to: http://gmail.com/app
Check Google Blog