Speedlink and TTFN...

I'm sorry to report that it's time to retire this blog, at least for now. Sorry, because it's a really exciting time for mobile content and the tramplers of hype.

Back in this post, I reported that I'd become a part-time professional blogger, and announced Mobile Discontent as a rough "practice" version of the blog to come. It's been a month and I think I'm practiced enough, but my employer is taking longer than anticipated to set up its official blog page. And since our deal was that I would get paid by the posting day, well...

Meanwhile, I've gotten a small flotilla of paying freelance work, and that has to take priority for now.

Sorry, Internet! I hope to be back on this soon. But what the Hell, let's give you a little going-away present: speedlink sexytime!

Don't count him out yet. Bill Gates is feeling the old competitive fires with Steve Jobs.

Oh, and there's another player in this space whose name rhymes with "frugal" but means the opposite.

Both of the above could be good news for mobile content developers, who are going to have to adjust to Jobs' software environment, which is even more closed than the infamous Windows 95. Quoth Jobs: "We define everything that is on the phone."

I'm not sure I could have called that: the big loser in the ApplePhone story appears to be the Blackberry. Other big losers: Pear Networks and Kumquantico! HA HA HA HA HA! See, I'm trying to make you not miss me.

Observing the iPhone, Voeveo boldly predicts that DUHHHHHHHHHH.

This is very interesting. I had no idea that songwriting royalties for CDs were only 9.1 cents per sale, and now the same can be said of the ringtone market. Wired bloggers mull some of the ramifications, but I think they're overreacting when it comes to personal use. The recording industry doesn't really care about individuals, it cares about aggregate action, and until there's a ringtone-sharing Morpheus, personal ringtone use is probably going to fly under the radar. Of course, a ringtone-sharing Morpheus is so Web 3.0, so we're probably only safe for another couple weeks, actually.

Hey, teenagers! Want a better world? What's your vision? "My own army of Lindsay Lohan clones" may not be what this charity is going for.

Hot, up and coming wrestling federation signs exclusive deal with mobile-content distributor you've never even freakin' heard of. But we know how this works: now New Motion can call itself "TNA's distributor" and parlay that into the next deal. If TNA starts calling itself "as seen on New Motion," we'll know the deal's in trouble.

Finally, in the name of "fun over news value," let's give the last word to my current addiction, those time-travelin' Time Friends: Click for popup image.

And that's it. Thanks for watchin'. Hope to see you again soon!