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27 july 2000

lionessden goes live on avantgo today

Hurrah, hooray, lionessden.com goes live on AvantGo today! Let's grab our Handspring Visors and Palm Pilots and wiggle our butts with glee! If you don't currently own a handheld device (PDA in nerd-speak), today's life and stuff will definitely lack its usual toe-curling power for you. Never fear; I'll have a new review up before the day is over. Pinky swear.

(Speaking of reviews, you guys are in for a real hum-dinger next week. When I showed Shann the item, she grinned way big and said, "yessss!" In fact, this particular item has inspired me to add something new to the Den that I'll unveil next week. I think you all will be pleased. Oprah, eat boogers.)

Anyway, if you carry around the greatest thing since sliced paper (or you're just interested), then read up. Because after today, you can get your daily life and stuff, weekly reviews and (eventually) lid, the litmag downloaded onto your Handspring Visor, Palm Pilot, web-enabled cellphone, or Windows CE device from the AvantGo network. Then you can carry me around, like on the bus, the subway, and even during lunch! Wouldn't it be neato to have lunch with me?

For newbies, AvantGo is a browser that people can download onto handheld devices. Essentially, it's just a mini version of what you've got on your computer. The AvantGo browser is optimized for Palms and other devices, and those of us who have channels with AvantGo design those content pages to be "handheld friendly". This includes using a special META tag, keeping graphics to a minimum, and forgoing Java applets (which are filtered out anyway by the AvantGo servers.) I suppose that some of the e-commerce sites are a bit more complicated than mine, but you get the basic idea of what's going on behind the scenes. They hope to increase JavaScript functionality in the future, but for now it's a pretty straightforward HTML endeavor. Which is good, because the last place you need a bunch of stupid bells and whistles is on a handheld. Do I hear an 'amen'?

So, why have I decided to do this? It's pretty straightforward, actually --- location, location, location. And with AvantGo delivering me around the world, I can turn up in the most unexpected places. Like EVERYWHERE, and dang if that ain't scary. Wireless technology is huge in Europe right now. If you think Americans are nuts with their cellphones, head to Scandinavia sometime. Because conventional phone service is so expensive over there, competition between wireless providers is brutal, and therefore much more advantageous to the consumer. Currently, Finland is leading the world in WAP technology (being able to do more than call your mom on a cellphone). It's pretty amazing stuff when you look at the strides they're making. In fact, I know one North Carolina-based bank that is looking toward having wireless account access by the middle of next year. Wireless is turning up everywhere.

As far as PDA's go, Europeans have realized they can be used for much more than checking your stock ticker. In fact, they're a great way to download books, play games and get cool content to peruse all day. To my knowledge, however, AvantGo has very few columnists. In fact, I went looking, and the only one-man operation I saw out there was my friend Jason. Most of the channels are just smaller versions of the New York Times, Yahoo, and the aforementioned gobs and gobs of stock ticker organizations. And haven't we had enough of that?

So, my goal is to keep doing what I do right now. I'm going to write stuff. People seem to be enjoying the Den in increasing numbers, and for that I am humbled and wiggling my toes all giddy-like. Denizens, you rock! Hopefully, AvantGo will bring many more of them into our goofy little fold. Then we'll all work together to make the word, "neato" fashionable again.