This series is supported by Webtrends Mobile Analytics. Webtrends Mobile Analytics lets you monitor the adoption and usage of your mobile apps and mobile sites. To keep up with Webtrends Mobile, add their blog to your RSS reader.
It’s true: the mobile web is taking over the world, and by 2015, many predict it will be larger than desktop Internet use. It’s no wonder everybody’s racing to build mobile versions of their websites.
Some are simply better than others, though. While many companies just build stripped-down versions of their current sites with a few links and maybe an image, others have taken the time and energy to really think about the advantages of mobile and truly become destinations that can be accessed on any platform. These well-designed mobile sites provide a glimpse into what we can expect in the future.
For now though, here are six examples of brilliantly designed mobile sites, chosen from six different verticals. We couldn’t cover them all, so we encourage you to add your own favorites in the comments below.
1. Media: CBS.com
It took about 10 seconds for me to go from loading the homepage to watching a full episode of MacGuyver on CBS.com.
CBS is amazing to behold on a smartphone. It presents you with exactly what you want: TV shows. On both Android and the iPhone, it took only two clicks to play clips from hot shows such as NCIS or stream full episodes of classic shows such as Star Trek. There’s no way around it: it makes you want to keep coming back.
While NBC doesn’t boast full TV episodes, its video library is also easy to access via mobile.
2. Social: 0.Facebook.com
Facebook was presented with a dilemma in its neverending campaign of global expansion: how could it expand on mobile platforms internationally, when most nations charge an arm and a leg for wireless data?
The answer: Facebook Zero, a completely stripped-down version of the world’s largest social network. While it has almost all of the functionality of Facebook.com — status updates, news feeds, profiles, etc. — that’s not what makes it brilliant. What makes it brilliant is that use of 0.Facebook.com is free in 45 countries via over 50+ wireless operators through various deals the company has cut.
The result: a free and accessible version of Facebook for millions of people in emerging markets.
3. Productivity: m.dropbox.com
Dropbox has a great iPhone app and an Android app that’s just as good, but the mobile site version of the popular file-hosting service isn’t far behind.
It doesn’t matter what type of phone you have: you’re going to be able to access Dropbox. The website is smart enough to give you the right interface, providing you immediate access to your files, photos, and Dropbox activity history. The service’s ubiquity and usefulness across multiple platforms is what makes it brilliant.
4. Photography: m.Flickr.com
If you want simplicity and beauty in one package, then Flickr’s mobile interface is definitely a gold standard. Not only is it easy to navigate, but it places the focus on the only thing you probably care about: the photography.
Still, beyond the ability to browse, explore, and search for photography, Flickr’s mobile site lets you access your account, manage your albums, and view your activity stream. The only thing it can’t do: upload photos. You’re going to need an app for that.
5. Sports: ESPN.com
When it comes to being ahead of the technological curve, ESPN has consistently been setting the pace. The mobile versions of ESPN are no different.
The Disney-owned sports broadcasting company has versions optimized for nearly every mobile platform, and they all carry the most important sports stories of the day. However, ESPN’s mobile versions, especially the Android and iPhone versions, also contain video highlights, up-to-date sports scores, fantasy sports info, and a streamlined interface that lets you browse based on your favorite sport or team. It’s simply one of the best-built and easy-to-use mobile sites around.
6. Search: Google.com
You can’t have a list of brilliant mobile sites and not include Google.com. The search giant has managed to pack a ton of functionality into a tiny little package.
The familiar sparse interface of Google Search is still there, but through the mobile site, you can quickly pull up Google Maps, find local restaurants and destinations (if you phone has geolocation), watch YouTube videos, check Gmail, browse through your news feeds, translate on-the-fly, post updates to your Google Buzz account, and a great deal more.
Google for mobile is simply one of the best-engineered mobile interfaces around. It’s designed to do countless tasks while keeping the design simplistic. It succeeds in spades.
What’s Your Favorite Mobile Site?
It’s your turn: what mobile sites do you think are brilliant? Which ones catch your eye or stand out from the rest?
Let us know your answer in the comments.
Series supported by Webtrends Mobile Analytics
This series is supported by Webtrends Mobile Analytics. Webtrends Mobile Analytics lets you monitor the adoption and usage of your mobile apps and mobile sites. It provides near limitless customization in terms of the data gathered and depth of analysis across iPhone, Android and Blackberry. And the data resides side-by-side with your website analytics. To keep up with Webtrends Mobile, add their blog to your RSS reader.
Reviews: Android, Dropbox, Facebook, Flickr, Gmail, Google, Google Buzz, Google Maps, Google search, Twitter, YouTube, blog
More About: cbs, ESPN, facebook, Facebook Zero, features, Google, Mobile 2.0, Mobile Sites and Apps Series, mobile web
For more Mobile coverage:
- Follow Mashable Mobile on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Mobile channel
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad
Tags: cbs, ESPN, Facebook Zero, Lists, Mobile Lists, Mobile Sites and Apps Series, mobile web
If you cried during the iPhone 4’s FaceTime commercial (directed by Sam Mendes), you might want to grab a huge box of tissues before checking out College Humor’s parody of the ad.
Yeah, FaceTime will likely be a great way for folks in distant lands to keep in touch (folks with an iPhone 4 and access to Wi-Fi, anyway) — and to discover that they have no friends to call — but this spoof on the extremely sentimental original spot does make an interesting point: It’s increasingly possible to substitute digital interactions with real human communication nowadays.
All deeper meanings aside, this is a pretty clever take on Apple’s advertisement — except for the fact that there appears to be no future iPhone iterations in whatever terrible Dystopia these people live in. For those of you waiting in AT&T’s horrific lines today, perhaps that would be a blessing.
More About: apple, facetime, humor, iphone 4, pop culture, viral video
For more Web Video coverage:
- Follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Web Video channel
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad
Tags: facetime, humor, iphone 4, viral video
Hulu has finally announced Hulu Plus, its premium service with loads of long-requested benefits and content — but is it worth paying a monthly fee?
For $9.99 per month, you’ll get entire series and seasons in high definition, whereas most shows have up to this point only been available a few episodes at a time in standard definition. You’ll also have the option of streaming those episodes on a bunch of new devices, including the iPhone, iPad, PlayStation 3 and select Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players — and those are probably just the beginning.
It almost sounds like a great deal, but Hulu was careful to note on its blog that shows will still be ad-supported even for Plus subscribers. That’s a disappointment, given that Netflix offers all of that to subscribers without any ads at all. Netflix has a slightly smaller selection of big television shows however, and only a few of its shows are updated as new episodes air.
Ultimately, the users will decide whether or not Hulu Plus is worth the cash, so we’re taking a poll. We want to know if you plan on subscribing to Hulu Plus when it opens to the public. Feel free to give your reasons in the comments, too.
Reviews: Blu, Hulu, blog, iPhone
More About: hulu, hulu plus, netflix, poll, premium, subscription, television, tv
For more Web Video coverage:
- Follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Web Video channel
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad
Tags: hulu, hulu plus, ipad, iphone, netflix, Poll, premium, subscription, Television, tv
We’ve all heard legends about Apple’s great customer care. Is it great enough, however, to refund an iPhone 4 and iPad which have clearly been shot through with a rifle?
Two cheerful youths tried to find out, and captured the entire adventure on video. Pointless? A little bit, but interesting enough to capture our attention for the duration of the video.
Also, shooting through the iPad and the iPhone with a .50 caliber rifle looks cool, if you’re the sort of person who likes seeing gadgets blown up (we are).
Reviews: Facebook, Twitter
More About: apple, ipad, iphone
For more Apple coverage:
- Follow Mashable Apple on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Apple channel
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad
Beginning today, Yelp will provide business owners using the service with free mobile metrics that includes data on mobile checkins.
The additional metrics will now be included in the weekly newsletter — Your Business on Yelp — that business owners receive every Tuesday.
Mobile metrics will represent the user activity taking place in Yelp Mobile apps. This data could prove to be a very insightful supplemental for business users, especially given that 27% of all Yelp searches occur from within the Yelp iPhone app.
The following are the mobile metrics that business owners will now receive:
- Number of times their business is viewed via a Yelp mobile app
- How many calls were made to their business via a Yelp mobile app
- Directions to their business requested via a Yelp mobile app
- Check-ins
The mobile metrics will help Yelp remain competitive with Foursquare’s business dashboard, which provides business owners who claim their venue with checkin analysis. The competition between the two services can only be seen as a net positive for the average business owner, who will benefit from access to analytics and administrative features as the companies continue to try and best each other.
For now, Yelp business owners are limited to receiving the mobile metrics via the weekly newsletter, though Yelp does have plans to add them to the Yelp for Business Owners suite of tools.
[img credit: Yelp]
Reviews: Yelp
More About: business, checkin, foursquare, yelp
For more Business coverage:
- Follow Mashable Business on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Business channel
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad
A Portland-based company called Rumblefish will open an online store called Friendly Music tomorrow, specially made for folks who want to put music in their YouTube videos without worrying about having their content pulled for legal reasons.
When you buy a song on Friendly Music, you’ll be granted the right to modify it and use it in the soundtrack for your online video as long as you attribute the artist and you don’t use the video for any commercial purpose. That means you’ll be permitted to use it for your wedding or birthday video, but not for a product advertisement or an ad-supported web series.
The service resembles iTunes, but each track costs $1.99. You can search by artist or genre or even insist on or eliminate specific musical qualities. Artist selection is initially limited to lesser-known acts with just a few exceptions, but Rumblefish hopes to find some bigger names in the near future.
Though the legal rights apply to content uploaded to just about any video website, the company struck a deal with YouTube specifically to ensure that there won’t be any confusion about the legality of content that users of both services upload.
This is just another constructive response to the problem of illegal music uploads on the video-sharing site. The challenges aren’t 100% resolved, but we’re getting closer.
YouTube has already made big strides in dealing with the issue by implementing a system called “Click-to-Buy” that serves up iTunes or Amazon music store links for songs when they play in the background of a video. Furthermore, a federal judge sided with Google last week over a $1 billion lawsuit by Viacom.
Reviews: Google, YouTube, iTunes
More About: copyright, friendly music, license, music, rumblefish, video, youtube
For more Web Video coverage:
- Follow Mashable Web Video on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Web Video channel
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad
Tags: copyright, friendly music, license, rumblefish, youtube
It’s all good and fine to propose via Twitter these days or to change your relationship status at the altar, but when your love has faded and your thoughts turn to divorce, you’d better unfriend your soon-to-be-ex long before the ink dries. What he or she sees on your profile may very well be used against you in court.
According to a detailed report from the Associated Press, social networks are a new favorite source of information for divorce attorneys.
In fact, many of them seem downright shocked and delighted that our web-based oversharing has yielded such a wealth of personal information about our dating lives, party habits, attitudes and financial status.
Consider, for example, the mom who lost custody of her kids because she was playing FarmVille or World of Warcraft when she claimed to be spending time with them, or the husband who denied anger management issues but flamed like a true troll, complete with violent threats, on his Facebook profile.
And of course, those pics of you with your sexy new squeeze won’t be looked on kindly by your ex or the judge, especially if infidelity is a question in your case.
All in all, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers says that around 81% of its members have had to deal with — or have themselves used — evidence from social media sources, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. And a UK site reported that the word “Facebook” alone appeared in around 20% of its cases last year.
Apparently, judges don’t have many compunctions about admitting such evidence, the reigning wisdom being that it’s difficult to impossible to make a fraudulent entry of some kind on a user’s Facebook page.
What do you think? Is it unfair to include such evidence in a divorce case? Or should people just be more careful about what they post online and with whom they share it?
[img credit: Ed Yourdon]
Reviews: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
More About: divorce, evidence, facebook, marriage, social media, trending
For more Social Media coverage:
- Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Social Media channel
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad
Tags: divorce, evidence, mainstream, marriage, Web Apps
The iPhone 4’s much-discussed reception and antenna issues just might spawn a class-action lawsuit.
Law firm Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff is issuing a call for disgruntled users as part of their investigations of “potential problems with the release of iPhone 4.”
The lawyers write, “If you recently purchased the new iPhone and have experienced poor reception quality, dropped calls and weak signals, we would like to hear from you.”
What’s undisputed is that holding the new iPhone by its sides can decrease reception quality. As we reported the day before the device hit store shelves, since the metal sides of the device also function as the phone’s antenna, call reception drops dramatically if the phone is held by its sides in two places.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs claims that “there is no reception issue,” but he also cautions iPhone 4 owners to “stay tuned.” We wonder if this means an iOS upgrade will fix these call quality issues and avoid the need to replace devices or deal with ongoing complaints from unhappy customers.
Last fall, the same firm went after Facebook, Zynga, MySpace, RockYou and others for advertising scams and allegedly unauthorized charges to users’ Mafia Wars and FarmVille accounts.
This topic has caused a good deal of discussion in our own back channels; we’re not completely sure what to make of the iPhone 4’s reception issues. While we’ve been able to duplicate the same errors ourselves, we’re not sure a lawsuit is the best answer. Some of our iPhone-owning writers simply think the fault may lie with AT&T, not Apple.
What’s your opinion? If you have a new iPhone 4, are you experiencing issues with the antenna band? Do you think this issue is worth suing over? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Reviews: Facebook, MySpace
More About: apple, iphone 4, KCR, lawsuit
For more Apple coverage:
- Follow Mashable Apple on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Apple channel
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad
Greetings once again, music lovers! Thanks for checking out this week’s edition of Free Music Monday, where we give you 10 free tracks in honor of the #musicmonday tradition on Twitter.
We hope you enjoy this edition’s eclectic selection of free tunes we’ve collected. If there’s a genre you’d like to hear more of, drop us a line in the comments. And if you’d like to appear in a future edition of Free Music Monday, please check out the submission guidelines at the end of this post!
A note for FMM fans: the column will be going on vacation for the next two weeks whilst its author does.
1. [INDIE] Latch Key Kid: “Wide Open” — Folksy and feel-good, Latch Key Kid’s newest song goes out to Mashable readers today (right-click to snag it). Hailing from Manhattan Beach, CA, Gavin Heaney is the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist behind Latch Key Kid. Check out more on his website and on MySpace.
2. [POP] Bryant James: “Falling Star” — Boston’s Bryant James offers Mashable readers a free copy of this upbeat pop meets hip hop single featuring an ethereal female vocal hook. Right-click to snag your copy, and find out more about the artist on his MySpace page.
3. [SOUTHERN ROCK] J Roddy Walston and the Business: “Brave Man’s Death” — Hailing from Baltimore, J Roddy Walston and company craft indie rock with a solid Southern kick. They offer Mashable readers a free download from their Don’t Break the Needle EP [iTunes link] — snag it via the widget below and watch for their full-length album to drop July 27. Check out more about the band on their website and on MySpace.
4. [ELECTRONIC] Nichole Alden: “Home” — Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter and producer Nichole Alden (pictured above, right) develops genre-busting tracks from dark electronic with industrial flavors to sultry pop on into driving, in-your-face rock and roll. Her prolific catalogue has been featured in the hit series Dexter, high-profile international ad campaigns for Audi, Peugeot, Harley-Davidson and more. She offers Mashable readers a free copy of the pre-album promo release single “Home” off her forthcoming third full-length, set to drop in August 2010; snag it via the widget below and check out more about the artist at her website.
Home (Pre-Album Promo Release) by Nichole ALDEN5. [FOLK/GYPSY] Katzenjammer: “Tea With Cinnamon” — This Norwegian all-female quartet (pictured above) employs a wide and unusual array of instrumentation for their folk meets country blues meets vaudeville style of Eastern European-flavored circus pop. Snag your free download of “Tea With Cinnamon” below off the foursome’s debut album Le Pop and check out more about the band on their website and on MySpace.
6. [RAP ROCK] David E Beats x The White House Band: “We On (The Bond Song)” — Try to imagine Danger Mouse crossed with classic and stoner rock and you’ll have some idea of the sound emerging from this loud and high-energy new Brooklyn band. Flavors of everything from blues to metal to jazz to Hendrix can be found in this heavy guitar riff-laden track from their forthcoming EP Method dropping this July, all yours for the low price of your right-click. Check out more about the band on MySpace.
7. [CHIPTUNE] Little-Scale: Biometrics — Australian inventor and chiptune composer Little-Scale offers his new album entirely free; snag your free download from his website. Composed primarily using the iPhone sequencer/synthesizer/sampler app Nanoloop, the album showcases the creative possibilities of mobile music-making.
8. [INDIE/REMIX] Sebastian Waldejer: “Ode To The Farewell (John Derek Bishop remix)” — This track is a collaboration between Norwegian singer/songwriter Sebastian Waldejer and DJ/producer John Derek Bishop, the final result being an ephemeral and subtle mix of dreamy indie pop with a dash of jazz-flavored electronica. Snag your free track from the widget below, and check out more about the artist on his website.
Sebastian Waldejer – Ode To The Farewell (John Derek Bishop remix) by CCAP 9. [TRIP HOP] The Silk Demise: “Element of Red” — Lush trip-hop vibes out of Toronto characterizes The Silk Demise, combining the production talents of multi-instrumentalist Bill Litshauer and the vocal stylings of Olivia Zielinski. Atmospheric and prolific, the group offers a full download of the albums Music for a Film and Unlocked from their MP3s page; check out “Element of Red” on the latter work and more. Discover more about the group on their website.
10. [ELECTRONICA] Bankai: Teen Slut Pimp Strut — Not only does DIY music movement artist Bankai offer this six-track album for free, the Melbourne-based producer also offers the free stem source files that make up the album under a Creative Commons license. Stream or download the album from the widget below, and check out a ton more from the open source artist on his website and on Soundcloud.
Teen Slut Pimp Strut by Bankai
As always, big thanks to all who tuned in for this week’s Free Music Monday! If you find something you like in this feature, please feel free to share it with your music-loving friends. You can always check out the latest edition of FMM, plus all the past editions, on the Free Music Monday tag page, so be sure to tune in each week. We’ve also included the list of past Free Music Mondays at the end of this post in case you want to check out the back catalog.
Huge thanks to everyone who has submitted tracks. If you sent us something and we haven’t included it yet, stay tuned for a future Free Music Monday. Here is how to submit your music to FMM (please remember we’re going quiet for the next two weeks!):
Attention artists/labels: there are new submission guidelines for Free Music Monday. Please pick one track you’re willing to give away to Mashable readers as a free download and either a) include it as an attachment in your email to barb+FMM AT mashable DOT com (25 MB file size limit, please) or b) include a link to a location where we can download the song (use temporary file sharing sites like zshare at your own risk, because we may not get around to auditioning your track before the links expire). If you want to use “in exchange for email” or other specific widgets to offer the track to Mashable readers that’s totally fine — just send us or point us to the embed code. Please also include any relevant information about the artist (or link to their bio) plus their Twitter account, if they have one.
If you’d like to also point us to more of the submitted artist’s work online where we can stream and/or download it, please feel free — but you must complete either a or b to be considered for Free Music Monday. Due to overwhelming submission volume we are sadly unable to include each and every submission or even reply to every inquiry. If we haven’t posted your track yet, you are welcome to submit another new track at a reasonable and totally not pushy time interval. If we’ve already posted a track from your band or artist, we are unlikely to double up and post something else from you for some time — as much as we love all of you! This makes FMM more diverse and inclusive of new music. Thanks!
Free Music Monday Back Catalogue
- 10 Completely Free Downloads (April 12, 2010)
- 10 Entirely Free Downloads (April 5, 2010)
- 10 Free downloads and More (April 26, 2010)
- 10 Free Downloads Compiled For You (June 21, 2010)
- 10 Free Downloads for Your Ears (June 14, 2010)
- 10 Free Downloads Just for You (March 22, 2010)
- 10 Free Tracks (March 8, 2010)
- 10 Free Tracks to Download (May 10, 2010)
- 10 Fresh and Free Downloads (May 24, 2010)
- 10 Totally Free Downloads (March 29, 2010)
- Alternative Rock Edition
- Covers, Remixes, and Mashups Edition
- Free Music Monday: Download 10 Free Tracks (May 3, 2010)
- Electronica Edition
- Free Downloads for Your Collection (Feb. 8, 2010)
- Free Downloads for Your Ears (Feb. 1, 2010)
- Fresh and Free Downloads (Jan. 25, 2010)
- Get 10 Free Downloads Right Here! (March 1, 2010)
- Get Your 10 Free Downloads (May 17, 2010)
- Get Your 10 Free Downloads (April 19, 2010)
- Hip-hop Edition
- Labor Day Edition
- Live Edition
- Memorial Day Edition (May 31, 2010)
- Rock and Pop Edition
- Singer-Songwriter Edition
- This Week’s Free Downloads (Feb. 15, 2010)
- Tune in for Free Downloads (June 7, 2010)
- Video Edition
- Your Submissions Edition
- Your Submissions, All Downloads Edition
Reviews: Mashable, TwitterMore About: free music monday, mp3s, music, musicmonday, twitter
For more Entertainment coverage:
- Follow Mashable Entertainment on Twitter
- Become a Fan on Facebook
- Subscribe to the Entertainment channel
- Download our free apps for iPhone and iPad
Tags: free music monday, Lists, mp3s, Music Lists, musicmonday
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- October 2010
- September 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- February 2009
- July 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- About
- Alexis Dy
- Andrew Charalambous
- Contact Us
- Diana Levin Illustration
- Donate to Writing on Life. Helping you find Success!
- Featured Artists
- Featured Photgraphers
- Featured Writers
- Jonathan Gamboa
- Larry Moon
- Mark Bowden
- Pisces Iscariot
- So, Who’s This Will Sokolowski Guy?
- Submit Here and Get Featured Today!
- Snuggle Truck Game Swaps Immigrants for Fluffy Animals
- Eclipsed Sun Shows Mountains on Moon
- An IP Address Does Not Point To a Person, Judge Rules
- Planetary iPad App Turns Your Music Into a Universe
- Disruptive By Design: Freakin’ Cool Robots
- Adrian Dayton
- Cara Mandart
- Gatherings
- Healthmad
- Leaning Out the World
- Life Organizers
- Mashable
- Modern Woodmen of America
- Remarkable Journeys
- Shag N 4 U
- Slashdot
- Webupon
- Wired Top Stories
Twitter
Facebook