The Web 2.0 as it's coined is well underway. I am plundering my way through the enormous amount of ways to collaborate.

Real quick the Web 2.0 is not a static web. It's places like MySpace, Flickr, Wikipedia, the Blogs, and all the ways to collaborate on the net. The web is no longer static.

Once you start working with these new tools you kinda start to "get it". Where will this lead...Web 3.0? Who knows, but it's going in the right direction.

Of course some of it seems trivial such as the amount of MySpace or YouTube junk. But you dig around and you start to find ways to use these tools.

I'll post from time to time on things I come across on my venture into the Web 2.0

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/27/philippines.hostages.ap/index.html

About five minutes after I posted my last article on piracy citing examples in Manila this news artcle came across the wire.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/27/philippines.hostages.ap/index.html

Like I said earlier the rest of the world plays by a different set of rules.

Pirates on the open seas? Not exactly, more like pirates overseas.

I wouldn't call myself a world traveler but I've been to Thailand and the Philippines several times. In just those travels I see why software and movie makers always ask about exporting your purchase.

Take a walk on the streets of Manila and you can find a bootleg of every movie you can think of and there is no one stopping it. Vendors are embedded in the variety of beads, jewelry, and various other vendors crowding the streets and side streets.

The selling of pirated movies seems to be just another business. Considering the police I saw were carrying M-16s I assume they have bigger issues to take care of rather than worry about a copy of Rocky floating around.

I even caught a glimpse of "300" before it was in US theaters on a base in the southern Philippines. The attitude is, "this is how we watch movies." The bootleg had been shot in a theater somewhere as you would occasionally see someone stand in front of the camera and walk out.

I don't know what this costs the business. My guess they aren't too concerned considering the fact that the areas I was located couldn't afford buying DVDs anyway. Outside the US there is a different set of rules.

This is the second part of my series on The Mobile Web.

I will focus on the Mobile browser. Since I use Windows mobile it has a slimmed downed version of Internet Explorer. You can connect to the Internet through A GPRS connection or a WI-FI connection.

Your connection through the browser is just like any other Internet connection except you speed is something like a fast dial-up connection. With most of the web being suited for high-speed connections this can be a bit frustrating.

After some trial and error I've found some decent ways to use the web over this type connection.

One is going through Google. Yes Google comes through again. Google will recognize you are using a PDA or mobile phone and direct you to a slimmed down search page. You can also create a personal page with things specific to you.

The beauty of Google however is that you can goto a website through Google. Google will essentially make the page suitable for your mobile device. It will resize images and get rid of stuff you do not need. Though I run into a few quirks here and there it works well for having to browse the web through your mobile device.

Other sites like Yahoo will recognize your mobile device and send you to an appropriate page. This is nice for grabbing the weather, stock quotes, movie times, and other tidbits of information you need to survive.

A nice application that I found comes once again from Google. Google Maps has a mobile version and shows map as well as satellite images of the location you are searching. It also gives directions and I believe GPS integration. It's so-so on the speed but it does a nice job when you need a map.

Dig deeper into your Mobile device and you may find some surprises.
Part III tomorrow.

The mobile web. The term sounds cool but what exactly is it?

Really it could be different things to different people. I'll throw out what I use it for.

First my tool - A T-Mobile MDA phone. It's a PDA style phone with a hidden keyboard. It also has a stylus and touchscreen. The phone is nice and runs on Windows Mobile platform. My main complaints are boot up time and not having a manual keypad. The keypad really can't be changed and the boot up problem is solved by leaving the phone on.

I've had several people tell me "I hate that phone." I can see that. It's almost a love or hate item. The more I use it the more I like it.

Email-
First I use it to check email. The phone will go out and grab the first bits of your email so you can check your email from anywhere. This is nice and saves time in finding a computer to check email and lets you get back quickly to urgent messages.

Text Messaging
I also use text messaging. At first this seemed like a teeny-bopper application. But text messaging has it's place. Think about it. If you call someone to ask a quick question the call usually turns into various chit-chat. A quick text message can get you an answer without all the baggage. Also out of the country I've used it to stay in touch where it was to costly to call.

Picture Messaging
This also has a teen fell to it but I try to use it in a more "mature" manner. Some may disagree. I can update one of my blogs with an image and text. I've had to purchase something and sent an image to make sure I was getting the right thing. You can also use them for fun such as keeping friends and family updated with a quick picture.

Stayed tuned for next article where we dig deeper into the Mobile Web.
EB