Blog From Your Cellphone?

seldo writes "The BBC has an article up about blogging from your mobile phone. The idea is not really news, but the interesting part is the host of links to interesting new (free) software that lets you do it, including: Manywhere Moblogger (Java), WAPBlog (Perl), and KABLOG (J2ME mobile Java, runs on devices like Palms, the Treo and Blackberries). All three of these interface to also-free server side tech which you need to set up yourself (KABLOG interfaces to the popular MovableType server and compatibles). The article also mentions the proprietary foneblog service which seems very easy to use, but it is software intended to be run by cellphone companies for their users."

Comments

Good to see

[jade42]

How many times does a blog-minded person lose something that was on their mind to time? Blogs re-tell life and a person cannot carry a pad of paper with them all the time to relate their feelings and observations. Most people already carry cell phones and this is a great natural extension.

Re:Good to see

[corsetboy]

a person cannot carry a pad of paper with them all the time
a small note-book and pencil are more robust, reliable and equally compact than any mobile phone or PDA. appropriate technology.

Re:Good to see

[arvindn]

Sorry, I've got to disagree. I'll give some concrete examples of how losing something on your mind may an Unfortunate Thing, even if you're Nobody In Particular.

• Remember Trent Lott's remarks on Thurmond? Consider a similar scenario. Mr Public Figure makes Incendiary Remarks, but Big Media misses it entirely. Now, whether or not the scandal ever sees the light of the day might depend entirely on J Random Blogger, who was in attendance at Public Figure's speech, is able to reproduce his exact comments, which in turn might depend on JRB's being able to Blog On The Spot.
• Your comment "weblogging is a form of vanity publishing" is very cynical, and also pretty representative of the /. view. Blogging is much more than that. For instance, one of the things blogging allows you to do is distributed cognition, in contrast to "group think" that happens here. For this to work, however, the activity must take place within the attention span of an individual. So the latencies typically involved in having to be near a computer in order to blog are unacceptable. Get the point?

How is this interesting?

[johny_qst]

Does anyone really need to type long blog entries on the terrible interface of the current wireless phones?

T-Mobile Sidekick/Danger Hiptop

[zemote]

The T-Mobile Sidekick/Danger hiptop is the perfect device for this type of blogging. There is already a growing community of these type's of Hiploggers over at http://www.hiptop.com/hiplog/ The nice thing about the Danger Hiptop is the querty keyboard, makes for a better mobile web experience. I bought my wife one of these and it is great.
--zemote--

Who was first?

[stuartcw]

Right now on Joi Ito's Chronology of Moblogging I am listed as the first person to post to their blog (in my case Livejournal) from their email enabled phone on January 4, 2001 at 4:16pm. I wrote a Python script over that New Year holiday that I hooked up to Qmail and used Livejournal's HTTP API to post the message. I'm sure that I wasn't the first person to do it as many people were discussing this around that time but I may possibly have been since at that time email enabled phones were not common outside Japan, where I live.

I'd love to hear from anyone who can show that they posted from their phone using email before then so we can set history straight.

On February 5th I added to graphic to help me remember that these were posted from the phone.

More boring and useless weblog

[crux6rind]

Most of the weblogs i ever come to belongs to some narcistic teenage girls writting bullshits. daddy bought me a new car. whoopie.... Posted by Trixie on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 08:00 AM EST (684 Reads) Read more... (459 bytes more) gotta go to school on my new car. oohh joy!!! Posted by Trixie on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 08:53 AM EST (684 Reads) Read more... (459 bytes more) oooh look!!! thats Jake (the cutes guy in my school) *drool* Posted by Trixie on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 09:00 AM EST (684 Reads) Read more... (459 bytes more) Why is that 18wheeler looks awfully close to my car? Posted by Trixie on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 09:13 AM EST (684 Reads) Read more... (459 bytes more) I cant feel from the waist down. (gotta call 911) i'll update later... PS; is that a gasoline i smell ? Posted by Trixie on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 09:19 AM EST (684 Reads) Read more... (459 bytes more)

yeah, until

[The Tyro]

Some genius decides to blog on their mobile phone while driving.

You know it'll happen, because you've seen 'em too... driving with their knee, phone in one hand, lipstick (or a McDonalds shake) in the other, chatting away.

I don't know about you, but mindless "yeah.. Uh Huh..." conversation is at least possible while driving (and with a hand-free headset). As far as eloquent conversation goes, you probably won't be Winston Churchill while your attention is on the road, but you can at least make guttural affirmative noises. Blogging, on the other hand, requires some coherent, focused thought (insert obligatory comment about Slashdot trolls here).

Talking on a cell phone may be challenging, but I find dialing while driving to be almost impossible to do safely. Blogging on a cell phone? Somebody's gotta be dumb enough... I hope they have air bags.

Bogging ?

[veg]

A friend of mine had this idea and suggested calling it 'bogging' rather than a blogging, as you could add entried whilst on the bog. That's where I have all my profound thoughts anyway.
(For non British, 'bog' = toilet).