ZenZui, a spin off company founded in the Redmond based Microsoft research labs, is developing a new mobile browser that allows users to navigate the mobile web via a series of widgets.
The product is quite confusing but luckily a promotional video (see below) explains a bit more about how the browser works. Essentially the user can zoom between widgets and browse sites that are included in the ZenZui version of the web.
TechCrunch has the best summary of the application although they don’t seem to have had a hands on demo yet.
Don’t expect this to hit your phone anytime soon - its still in the very early stages.
Microsoft are testing a new service this week allowing camera phone owners who are lost in the Seattle area to get a map and information about where they are.
Users simply take a picture of their location and send it to a central database which matches local landmarks and pinpoints the users location. The service is being displayed by Microsoft at a research event this week.
Microsoft has taken millions of pictures on Seattle’s streets capturing its landmarks from every angle. The images are stored in a database and indexed by their distinguishing features.
Xing Xie, a Microsoft researcher, commented:
When you are using a mobile phone, then inputting text can sometimes be difficult. So we decided to make the camera the input.
The application is still being tested and doesn’t seem particularly scalable but if it works then it will be very useful. Having been lost on numerous occasions the ability to take a photo of a nearby building and have a map sent straight back to me showing my location would be invaluable.
Yahoo is making further progress in their drive to beat Google in the race to mobile device domination this week.
A partnership with Taiwan’s High Tech Computer company has allowed Yahoo to put its mobile software on virtually all recent Windows Mobile devices.
Ojas Rege, senior director of Yahoo’s mobile phone business, commented:
Windows Mobile phone users tend to be consumers who are relatively data savvy. They are a pretty attractive group of users both from the standpoint of being early adopters of new services and in terms of advertising demographics.
Yahoo is already in partnership with manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and LG offering services such as web search, email and maps as well as Flickr integration.
Gizmodo has a very positive review of the new Windows Live Search application which has been released today.
Apparently the service offers maps, local business search and great usability. The final version also includes contact list integration so you can get directions to people in your address book as well as the ability to save search results and send SMS search results to a friend.
Google has extended the popular Google Maps Mobile application to include Windows Mobile phones and PDA’s.
The downloadable application has been available on standard phones for some time but until now couldn’t be run on Windows Mobile.
We covered the launch of this service last July and it has become one of the most popular download applications.
Like other versions of Google Maps for mobile, with this Windows Mobile version you can find businesses and see real-time traffic updates, along with unique features like contacts integration, GPS support, draggable maps, and tap and hold menus.
Microsoft, the world’s largest software company, are in talks to acquire Third Screen Media, a marketing company with high profile client’s and technology to deliver adverts to mobile phones.
Analysts believe that Microsoft are trying to get an early foothold into the mobile advertising market before Google has chance to take a lead. Mobile phone advertising spend is expected to reach $1.3 billion by 2009.
Third Screen Media displays about 70 million adverts per month and are mainly using text messages to show the ads at present. More advert styles are in the pipeline but advertising is limited by the small screen sizes and low bandwidth of mobile devices.
Google has extended the popular Google Maps Mobile application to include Windows 
