Every super hero has a secret identity

This week we released the identity of the new Flash mobile-centric company that is being launched on July 1st - Moket.

Over the coming weeks we'll release some more info and start to flesh out the www.moket.com.au website a bit more in time for the launch date, but you might catch a few bits of info ahead of time here on the DRD blog if you're watching :)

We're really looking forward to putting energy into an exciting new venture and area of application development, and will be talking to as many telcos, content providers and suppliers as possible to put forward the case for investment in Flash Lite. Rich mobile applications are common in a growing number of countries, and we're looking forward to being part of that evolution here in the Australian and Asia Pacifc markets.

More details soon ...

Great news coverage for Flash Lite

I've borrowed this from Bill Perry's blog, as it's well worth a read. For those of you following the rise of FLash Lite and Flash on mobiles, it doesn't tell you anything you don't probably already know. But for those of you who are still looking for some evidence that this might actually take off, have a read and let me know what you think.

Read article here on business2.com

China in drive to register websites

From ABC News:

Chinese-run websites have until the end of May to register their sites or face being shut down as part of a new government campaign to police the Internet, a leading portal has announced.

The registration drive is an effort by the Ministry of Information Industry to clamp down on fraud and other "unhealthy" activity on the Internet, the portal Sohu.com said.

"If you have not registered by June, then your website could be ordered shut down," the portal quoted an official from the Beijing communications bureau as saying.

The registration drive started in March and aims to issue registration numbers to all China-based websites, including commercial, government and personal sites, it said.

Hundreds of thousands of websites are expected to be registered, the portal said, without giving a precise figure.

The move is the latest in China's efforts to police the Internet and follow stringent efforts - known as the Great Firewall of China - to keep content authorities seen as "unhealthy", like pornography and anti-government postings, off the web.

China already requires all users of Internet cafes to register before using the Internet, while major websites have signed on to a code of conduct to keep non-authorised content off their websites and chatrooms.

The Chinese Government forecasts the country will have 120 million Internet users by the end of 2005, a figure that would mark a growth of nearly 28 per cent from 94 million at the end of 2004.

China's online population has grown rapidly in recent years from just 620,000 in 1997 and is now the second largest Internet market in the world after the United States, according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

China welcomes the Internet as it is helping the economy leapfrog into the 21st century.
But at the same time it is worried about the way the web enables people to access information that the authorities consider subversive.

Last year, about 12,000 Internet cafes were shut down in China, many of them because they allowed access to pornography and under-aged gaming and some because they were not registered.

New mobile system uses phones as middlemen

Sourced from ABC News, this is sure an interesting idea for the future of mobile infrastructure. I wonder what they think it'll be like in regards to signal strength, data transfer speeds, etc ... ?

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The developers of a new mobile phone system which transmits signals by jumping them from phone to phone to phone, rather than using towers, believe it could revolutionise communications in the bush.

Scientists at the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre have designed a network where mobile phones work together to transmit calls.

The centre's chief executive, Mark Stafford Smith, says the technology should work better and be cheaper to set up than traditional mobile phone systems.

"[It] uses the different phones as the linkage, through from one phone to another to another to another to the person that you are trying to call," he said.

"The real value of this idea is that in remoter areas it's just not economically sensible to put in huge amounts of fixed infrastructure like big mobile towers and things like that.
"We expect to have some serious field trials later in the year."

It will start testing the system soon.

New Flash mobile venture set to launch

I'd like to announce that our new Flash mobile venture will be launching on July 1st 2005. We're keeping all other details under wraps at this stage (we do have a new name for it though!), but will be giving out more details as we have them ready for public consumption :)

DRD Interactive will continue in business as per usual, and will have a greater emphasis on web applications, allowing the new business to focus on mobile device development and Flash Lite. I'll be maintaining my position as Managing Director of DRD, but will be handing more responsibilities to others over time to free me up to work on the mobile side of things.

We're very excited about the future of Flash mobile and are looking forward to getting out there from July.

Always love a good dress up ...

I wasn't kidding in my earlier post aboout being a 32 year old geek - I indeed have the release of Star Wars Episode III set as a reminder in Outlook. But as if I really needed reminding? I've been in love with Star Wars since I was about 7 and I haven't found a good enough reason to grow up fully just yet :)

Yesterday I got my ticket for the midnight session of May 19, and the guys I'm going with are keen to go fancy dress. The linked story here shows that there are MANY of us who are willingly taking up the challenge of the "opening night dress-up" - even weeks before opening night!! I'm not sure which character to go as though. I went to my Grade 6 Fancy Dress Ball as Luke Skywalker because it was easy to wrap a sheet around with a belt and my hairstyle wasn't that different ;). My wife dressed as Princess Leia for my 30th birthday party (a super hero party to which I donnned the purple tights and became the Ghost Who Walks), so there's already a good tradition of dressing for the occassion.

I'll let you know what I decide :) but until then may the Force be with you.

Macromedia Acquire Strategic Stake in Indiagames.com (wireless games company using Flash Lite)

From Marco Casario's blog, I've read this interesting bit of info which restores some faith in the future of Flash on mobile devices. With Macromedia taking stake in such an advanced developer of mobile games (and one that has proven itself with the Flash Lite technology already), they continue to make important inroads into the mobile space. I for one am very happy, confident that the approach we're taking ourselves on the Flash Lite opportunities is the right one.

Read the press release (via Marco's blog)
Visit Indiagames.com