gotomobile’s mobile cam provides a highly adaptable and easy to use platform to for imaging mobile devices during testing. It allows you to view and record the keypad and screen from the user’s perspective during a usability or other interface test - practically impossible in person without rubbing cheeks with the user!.

The goto cam device is small, easy to use, quick to setup and highly adaptable to different mobile devices. It is also easily adaptable to screen sharing and other usability testing packages such as Morae from Techsmith.

Ingredients:

• Web Cam 1.3Mega pixels or greater (1280 x 1024 native, without software enhancement) Microsoft LifeCam VX-6000 ~ $100
• Goose neck lamp with clamp
• Halogen, Hardware store
• 1/32” thick x 3”x3” plastic sheet
• Empty detergent bottle, Recycling bin ~ Free!
• Split-Loom Tubing - 5 ft, ½” diameter, RadioShack ~ $5
• Cable Ties, RadioShack ~$3
• Ball-head tripod mount SLIK SBH-60, Camera Shop ~ $20
• ¼ ”x20 T-Nut, Qty. 3, Hardware store ~ $0.33/each
• ¼ ”x20 Bolt and washer, Hardware store ~ $0.10/each
• Polyethelyne Cutting Board, Hardware store ~ $13
• Velcro or similar 3M Picture Hanging Strips part# 17201, Hardware store

Tools:

• Philips screwdriver
• Knife
• Drill & bits
• Hand Saw (preferably fine tooth)
• Hammer or vice

Instructions:

1. Remove bulb, glass and wires from lamp

2. Cut a retainer out of the plastic sheet to hold the camera to the lamp.

3. Screw the retainer and camera to the lamp (reusing the screw that were holding the glass in place)

4. Cut split-loom tubing to length of goose neck and place over goose neck

5. Route USB cable of camera through the split-loom tubing

6. Secure split-loom tubing at either end with cable ties

7. Drill 5/16” hole through top clamp

8. Secure ball-head to clamp using ¼”x20 bolt and washer

9. Cut appropriate shape for mobile device mounting out of cutting board

10. Drill 3/8” hole through mobile device mounting board
11. Press T-Nut into hole in device mounting board using vice, hammer or other means
12. Screw device mounting board onto ball-head

13. Attach velcro strips to mounting board

14. Attach mobile device with velcro, done!

Usability testing of a Sony 910 with the gotomobile cam:
usability-testing.flv

Concept: Kelly Goto
Design & Fabrication: Nicole Armbruster & Leif Bansner

Hopefully with a lot more interesting stuff to come, excellent initiative!

“The Mobile Web Initiative’s goal is to make browsing the Web from mobile devices a reality”, explains Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the Web. “W3C and mobile industry leaders are working together to improve Web content production and access for mobile users and the greater Web.”

Recently they published a major update of the basic guidelines as Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 and are now inviting the designers of Web sites and content management systems to read the guidelines, make implementations, and test their results with the alpha version of a guidelines checker.

I recommend all designers and developers to start working with it, it’s not ideal yet but if everyone starts using it and send consequently his/her feedback back to W3C Mobile Web Initiative working group, we collectively benefit to make the mobile web a reality. Try it! I’m sure you’ll learn about some interesting progress going on in mobile web development, also you can see how others are developing and respecting W3C guidelines. Surprises guaranteed :-)

Note: the checker tool is still an alpha release and has not been assessed by the Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group yet.

I was out in the garden yesterday, shooting a short sequence on video recording tips for the N70 and N90 for my free Smartphones Show. At the end of the piece, I remarked to camera that I had no doubt that DVD-quality recording on your smartphone was probably less than two years away.

One webcast later and I had to axe that section of my footage. The Nokia N93, announced today, has full VGA (640 by 480 pixel) recording at 30 frames per second, with professional optics, mechanical zoom, easily enough to sideline just about every amateur video camcorder in existence.

When you consider that in my piece yesterday I was enthusing about the quality of the Nokia N70/N90, themselves a league ahead of anything else in a smartphone, the N93’s stance is all the more impressive. Mind you, we’ve still got another four months before it’s officially on sale anywhere (at around 550 Euros, or about £400) and probably a good six to eight months before it’s available widely, but it certainly sounds like it’ll be worth the wait.

Read the whole article from Steve Litchfield on the N93 on All About Symbian here and full review with lots of images at Mobileburn.com.

… In wireless broadband, certain data and multimedia service the US market is right at the cutting edge, but there is still a huge contrast between the US and the European markets. This is partly a result of market differences, but it is also due to cultural difference in usage patterns.

…

The idea of device convergence which seems to have been championed by the smartphone in Europe is far less prevalent in the US. Even within the enterprise sector, where open platform devices are more prevalent, mobiles are often considered extra devices (people will also carry a PDA or a laptop) and are dominated by the need to mobilise email, with a resulting emphasis on thumb board based input devices (such as the Treo or Blackberry ranges). This means where open platform devices are being used they tend to stop being phones and morph into PDAphones.

… the fact that a company as big as Verizon is showing such strong support for this mobile platform certainly has large implications for handset manufacturers and developers alike.

Adobe’s official pressrelease anounces the alliance with Verizon Wireless will start a mobile ecosystem built around Flash® technology that will allow developers to create new interactive mobile content experiences for Verizon Wireless customers.

John Stratton, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless adds:

“At Verizon Wireless we recognize that an exciting and simple to use mobile experience will accelerate customer adoption of new data services now offered across our network. Our relationship with Adobe will help us deliver a rich, seamless and branded experience across mobile devices and at verizonwireless.com.”

The book written by Carola Zwick, Burkhard Schmitz and Kerstin Kuhl covers the history as well as the most up to date devices and new communication techniques. The book gets into the nature of small screens from a UI and navigational perspective.

For newbies, the Carnival features the best writing about mobile from around the web in the last week.

The article I wrote last week on user context and the Mobile Web is his recommended reading of this edition.

You can read Dorrian’s excellent wrap-up of this week here.

Today Sling Media, Inc. announced the release of SlingPlayer Mobile as part of a public beta. From the press release: “SlingPlayer Mobile is a new software package that gives Slingbox owners the ability to watch and control their home TV from any network-enabled mobile phone or handheld computer (PDA) powered by Windows Mobile.”

“This is an exciting time for people who want a single mobile device that does more than email,” said Scott Horn, general manager, Mobile and Embedded Devices Division at Microsoft Corp. “While Windows Mobile enables people to stay on top of their job and connected to the people they care about, the platform also supports solutions such as SlingPlayer Mobile that give users the freedom to watch their favorite television content while on-the-go.”

Sling Media Inc. is a Digital Lifestyle products company creating a family of consumer electronics solutions that are a natural extension of today�s digital way of life.