Moblogging

In responding to an inquiry from Steev in comments here, I realised it would be better served in a post. He has inquired as to the ins and outs of moblogging. I don't know a whole lot but this is how I understand it. Others may have more detail to add,

Steev, Mobile blogging or moblogging is as you say sending an email message over the phone to your site, given your blog server supports this. Basically it's done in text via email. More advanced form is via a multi-media message with images, however present carriers like Telstra allow only 160 characters of text and/or 100kb of image. It should be noted advanced moblogging requires a smart phone or PDA...

These are a class of wireless phones typically used to describe handsets with many features and often a keyboard. What makes the phone "smart" is its ability to handle data, not only voice calls. They are typically phones with a microprocessor, memory, screen and built-in modem. The smart phone combines some of the capabilities of a PC in a handset device. Most of the current models also include a Web browser.

My smart phone is the Nokia 7610. For moblogging I'm using a software tool called, coincidentally, Kablog which from memory allows 1000 characters of text. My Typepad server supports Kablog which is a blog-formatted tool. Cost US$20. It is downloaded into my Nokia and allows me to choose - publish or draft, edit, delete, new entry, insert tags, allow comments, line breaks, image access from phone gallery plus image resizing, title and body options. I'm still perfecting this.

For example, I demonstrated the above image by simply setting the phone/image to 'basic' resolution, giving <100kb, pointing and clicking. Then I opened Kablog from the menu to choose image, resize then publish. The phone prompted the GPRS connection and away it went.

It arrived onsite in a couple of minutes which I could have checked by web browsing. For explanation, I added the text later via my PC, though I could have done this onsite remotely with the image transfer. Earlier, the cameraman had laughed saying, 'Mate - predictive texting is the way to go !'. Like I said, I'm still learning...

It's worth mentioning most phone/cameras are VGA with 0.3 megapixel lens from which images appear pretty grainy on a PC. My Nokia uses a 1.0 megapixel lens which has a somewhat better image definition online but still far from ideal. I believe the new Samsung has a 3.2 megapixel lens !

Another form of moblogging is via voice reports. Audioblog is what I use, infrequently, which is also supported by Typepad. This is not an expensive exercise and I'm surprised not more are using it as it adds another dimension to blogging.

Finally, video moblogging is my next cab off the rank as my phone takes 10min. videos but carriers and servers are still developing support for this facility. However a web host called Text America has already developed it so it is possible with US carriers. To facilitate this I'm planning on converting my Nokia 64MB card to 1GB when I find out how.

Ultimately though, I'm hoping to be able to stream live video direct from the cab. Stand by....