+ UK: NHS websites grow in popularity (via Kable’s)

+ Free WiFi at the British Library from 1 October 2008

The Conference on Convergence and Connectivity 2008: Broadband, Wireless and Mobile: Archived Conference Webcast

The Conference on Convergence and Connectivity 2008 (CCC 2008): Broadband, Wireless and Mobile brings together the best available input from industry, government and academia to develop a vision for digitally connected communities with an emphasis upon the applications and services delivered to public, private and individual users. By gathering leaders from different fields in a neutral setting, we hope to address opportunities created by digital communications technologies, as well as to develop guidance of values in a long-term strategy for future innovations.

The conference took place on Wednesday, March 26, 2008.

Source: Rice University

Plenty of free content including:
+ Scores
+ News (also available in Spanish)
+ Standings
+ Photos
+ Rosters
+ Player Stats
+ More
Access the content by going to http://wap.mlb.com

in other mobile news…
+++ Britannica Reference Work Available for iPhone

From the announcement:

World Book Mobile offers dozens of topic-specific general reference datasets, providing mobile application developers and distributors licensing access to a wealth of content for children and adults; Mobifusion among first to leverage in the children’s content area.

U.S. Carrier Unlimited Roundup

For some, the BlackBerry carrier decision is easy - you get handed a BlackBerry by your company and use whatever carrier they tell you to use. For the consumer, the choice can be sometimes be equally easy - only one carrier actually provides good coverage in your area. For others, the decision is more difficult and comes down to the details - price, available phones, customer service, loyalty, etc. I think it’s safe to say there’s no one-best carrier for everyone — there are a lot of factors at play.

With carriers in the United States now offering unlimited plans, I thought it would be a good time to roundup some information on pricing and provide a little food for thought. I hope you find value in it - especially those of you thinking about jumping on the BlackBerry Addict wagon. Read on for more Info!

Covers pricing info for Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Alltel.

Source: Crackberry.com

+ Fired librarian plans to sue
++ Supervisors back library firing (Tulare Advance-Register)

The Tulare County Board of Supervisors Tuesday said officials had “legitimate business reasons” to fire Lindsay librarian Brenda Biesterfeld and that her dismissal had nothing to do with her reporting a child-pornography incident at the library.

+ Google sees surge in Web use on hot mobile phones (via Reuters)
See Also: Google Sees “Watershed Moment” For Mobile Usage (via Search Engine Land)

+ Dow Jones to Distribute Editorial Content from Agence France-Presse

+ Sports Illustrated, Action Engine debut MySI Mobile
Available only for Windows mobile devices.

+ Christian Science Monitor Launches New Election Site (via Info Today NewsBreaks)

Mobile: Beeb (BBC) offers smart version of mobile site
From The Inquirer article:

THE BEEB has introduced a new version of its mobile web site which is specifically targetted at PDA and smartphone users. It will concentrate almost exclusively on sport and news…There are now actually four different versions of the Beeb’s mobile site. The original three were a standard WAP version; an XHTML (or WAP 2.0) version; plus the option to view the Beeb site as if you have a desktop PC.

There are now actually four different versions of the Beeb’s mobile site. The original three were a standard WAP version; an XHTML (or WAP 2.0) version; plus the option to view the Beeb site as if you have a desktop PC.

Source: The Inquirer

Pew: Cellphones More Important To Users Than Internet, TV, Email

Anyone who doubts how important mobile phones are and will become as a platform and marketing medium needs only to look at the latest Pew Internet & American Life report. Cellphones are now more important to US adults than the internet, television, landline phones and email. In addition, an increasing number of consumers are using their mobile phones for things other than voice communications, including accessing mobile internet content.

Source: Search Engine Land

Direct to Full Text Reports:
++ Mobile Access to Data and Information

++ Seeding The Cloud: What Mobile Access Means for Usage Patterns and Online Content

Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project

+ Give the WorldCat Blog a try

+ More SportingNews Radio Coming to UpSNAP
Word document. Just like we talk about regularly, mobile access to information meets audio content.

UpSNAP services are available on nearly all 230 million mobile phones in the U.S. Mobile users can text “Flash” to 27627 to receive Sporting News updates throughout the day. This service is free, but carrier minutes and text messaging charges may be incurred depending on the network operator, or they can just call (646) 213-0006. For more information, visit www.upsnap.com.

+ Let the TechFest Begin!
Matt H. offers great coverage of the MS Research Techfest.
Materials from TechFest

+ Microsoft rolls out test of new Internet Explorer 8 (via Reuters)

Three mobile items to inform you about:

1) Yahoo onePlace: Think Of It As MyYahoo For Mobile (Greg Stering via SEL)
This downloadable application is “expected” to be released sometime in Q2, 2008. Official news release.

2) Shifting Google Gears to mobile (Google Mobile Blog)

Initially available for Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Mobile 5 and 6.

3) Utilizing Google Gears for IE Mobile is Zoho Writer, a web-based word processor and ResourceShelf favorite. Part of the massive Zoho line of web-based resources and tools.

+ White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
Mobile and PDA Sites

+ NOAA/NWS: Ocean Prediction Center EXPERIMENTAL Mobile Products

+ Pennsylvania, Philadelphia: The Philadelphia Courts

+ Virginia: Department of Taxation

+ Fairfax County, VA Mobile Web Site

See Also: Mobile Web: Seven Wireless Portals and Sites from Seven State Goverments #1

CBSSports, Facebook Connect
Located at www.facebook.com/brackets, CBSSports.com Tournament Brackets will be available to the site’s more than 63 million active users both online and via CBS Sports Mobile, creating a cross platform experience for all NCAA Basketball fans.

Source: NCAA

See Also: Facebook Mobile

Best of ResourceShelf: ResourceShelf’s Guide to Wireless “Mainstream” Media Sources (#2)

Source: RS

+ New Version of WSJ Mobile App Download Now Available
MS Windows Mobile Devices Only

+ NewsNow Extended is Now Live
One of the very best news aggregators (over 31,000 sources) has gotten even better. This includes improved headline search. More here.

+ E-News for ARL Directors is Now Online (Feb, 2008)