In an effort to spread the celebrity news/filth/funniness even further, Perez Hilton is launching a mobile site. You can visit it in your browser if you’re curious. Basically, it’s a trimmed down version of the regular Perez Hilton blog, and obviously something the readers have been craving according to Hilton in a press release. He’s partnered up with Crisp Wireless, who are thrilled by the prospect:

“We are extremely excited to team up with Perez Hilton as he extends his global status into the mobile web, said Boris Fridman, Chief Executive Officer, Crisp Wireless, which hosts the mobile site and provides the ad serving platform to BlogAds. Perez realizes that mobile phones, Blackberries and iPhones are practically the lifeblood of the celebrity world and everyone that follows it. Without them, they feel totally disconnected. By tapping Crisp Wireless and BlogAds, Perez’s insights and information will be readily available by mobile. His mobile web presence should equal or surpass the success of his online site.

If you want to go mobile with your blog, just like Perez Hilton does, you could use a service like MoFuse. It’s not even difficult to do.

MoFuse, the service that makes your site mobile friendly, announced an interesting array of news via e-mail today:

• Improved recommendation engine
• WordPress comments integration
• YouTube video transcoded to mobile-friendly format

The first one on the list isn’t something I personally care about, MoFuse got this recommended reading links at the end of mobile pages, if you enable it, so that readers will find more content in the mobile web. However, the integration of WordPress comments, and automatic transcoding of embedded YouTube videos are interesting news.

Check out MoFuse if you want to have a mobile version of your site.

Mofuse, a web service dedicated to creating mobile versions of blogs (including one for the iPhone), is discontinuing their pro accounts and is instead giving away all of their premium features to new (and “freebie” users) without charging them a dime.
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I earlier wrote how ultraportable notebook computers can be a blogger’s best friend. I’ve been carrying my Asus Eee in my bag most anywhere I go, and I use it to do some work while waiting for the kids to finish their preschool classes, or when the wife goes grocery shopping. An ultraportable plus a public hotspot (or 3G connection via my mobile phone + Bluetooth) can do wonders.

It’s definitely a wonder how computer manufacturers these days have made these small gadgets so inexpensive and hence so ubiquitous with the gadget-crazy crowd. Sure, $100 PC was yesterday’s news, and the creators weren’t even able to meet the target price point (meant for students in developing economies). But what made ultraportables popular is their relatively low price point and availability to the general public. At about $300 to $400 each for a full-fledged portable computer, who wouldn’t bite? And so Asus had started a trend back in October of last year. This year, a lot of other manufacturers have followed suit with their potential Eee-killers (so to speak), which should make a lot of people happy, whether blogger or not.

There’s the HP 2133 Mini Note, touted as the “rich man’s Eee” with its classy styling and almost full-sized keyboard. This is one machine you wouldn’t be shy to take out of your bag at any high-end cafe. And according to reviews, the keyboard is a wonder to use. Perfect for posting lengthy blog entries, I think. The only gripe with the Mini Note is its use of the VIA C7 platform instead of an Intel one. Reviews say performance is not stellar, especially the editions that run Vista.

Acer has announced the Aspire One, and Dell has its upcoming Latitude E Series. MSI has its Wind, and even Asus had recently launched its EeePC 901 and the soon-to-launch 1000 series. These all run on the Intel Atom platform, which promises to give users five to seven hours use in between charges due to very low power consumption. That should be a big plus factor. None come close to the HP in terms of styling and design though–the keyboard is the HP’s killer feature.

There are a handful of other computer manufacturers who have showcased their own ultraportable offerings, whether these in the form of ultra-small computers or larger, but very slim and ultra light ones. Competition is tough, and it’s good in that computer makers are forced to price their offerings competitively.

With the influx of inexpensive ultraportable computers this year, there is no doubt that both professionals in the new media business and casual users alike would enjoy the wide array of mobility tools. And I think the term “ultraportable” should earn its place as one of the relevant words this year.

After launching a new feature for desktop users, the Google Reader team is experimenting with a new version of Google Reader for iPhone users.

(Official Google Reader Blog) To make our (and your) Reader iPhone experience better, we wanted to really take advantage of the iPhone’s capabilities. Today we’re releasing a new beta version of Reader designed for the iPhone and other mobile phones with advanced browsers. You can use it by visiting http://www.google.com/reader/i/ on your phone.

This new version is designed to offer many of the same features as the desktop, while making it quick and easy to act on items. If you’ve used list view, then it should be familiar to you. Scan the titles for an item that interests you, tap and it expands in place. Starring, sharing, and keeping unread are done in place, so you never have to leave the list view or refresh the page. We think it’s a very fast way to power through your reading list.

The first thing many iPhone users will notice is that the new beta version will display 15 articles/post “snippets” instead of the usual 9, as well as the ability to see the articles/posts underneath (or above) the one that you are currently reading.

Starring the articles is also easier, as iPhone users can now actually tap the star tab next to the story, instead of trying to place their “fat fingers” on the tiny add star link at the end of the article.
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Google launches mobile image ads, as in targeted ads for mobile phone pages. So let’s say you’re reading a blog on your mobile phone, since it’s got a mobile edition for you. Right, you get an ad. Would you click it? I wouldn’t, mobile browsing overall is too slow, and too much on the go, for me, although wifi enabled devices with bigger screens and faster internet connections might be a whole different matter.

As of now, just over 68% of the TechCrunch readers polled on this matter says no, with 10% saying yes, and the rest says “maybe”. Then again, maybe the TechCrunch crowd isn’t the target for these things?

Russell Beattie, an ex-Yahoo mobile evangelist, has announced the closure of his mobile browsing service mowser - located at mowser.com.

Mowser is (the site remains active as of this writing) a web service that processes a website and then optimizes the site for viewing via a mobile device. Mowser works quite well - and prior to becoming an iPhone owner last year, was my primary tool for surfing fullblown websites on the mobile browser on my Treo 700wx.

Beattie writes in his announcement post that he’s been self-funding the startup through his own funds and borrowing from family and friends:

Seriously… A salary will be a good thing to have again. I’m *thousands* of dollars in debt to my family and friends, maxed out on every credit card (all of which are in collections), on my last chance for my apartment (if I bounce one more check…), had my car repossessed *twice*, electricity turned off, cellphones switched off, landline canceled outright, and on more than one occasion (this weekend in particular) eaten little more than buttered macaroni as I waited for an overdue PayPal deposit to arrive (3-4 days? Come on!). Having a steady income will be a welcome mental break, believe me.

I can understand why he’s looking to move on at this point - he’s clearly given it his all.

Beattie is also pretty bearish on the mobile web - causing some, like Larry Dignan over at ZDNet, to wonder if perhaps the mobile web is over begin it began:

In some sense, he’s right. Mobile browsing stinks and frankly I want the same experience I get on my PC. That browsing ability is the secret sauce behind the iPhone and with any luck all devices will surf the Web the same way a PC does.

I can understand this viewpoint - for me, at least, the mobile web was something I went to only when I was forced to do so on my Treo. But since I became an iPhone owner, I’ve been using mobile web applications via the iPhone’s Safari interface quite frequently - and after having that interface experience, I’m not sure that I want to go back to a more limited mobile web browsing experience.

More from Read/Write Web

It is not just Firefox 3 betas these days, Opera Mini 4.1 just came out in beta. ReadWriteWeb’s got an overview that you might want to check out, otherwise just nab the beta and give it a go.

I had Opera Mini on my mobile phone for a while, but it never really worked nor loaded as fast as the native web browser, although it did handle traditional web pages better. Still, who wants to surf all grown up websites on a small mobile phone screen? We’re not in Japan, every phone isn’t a smartphone… I just might give it a go anyway, we’ll see.

If there is one thing most bloggers do not mind getting its traffic. Whether they post for attention or money (and sometimes both), bloggers are usually willing to pay any price (whether time or cash) to ensure their sites are optimized for their audience.

Even though most serious bloggers will make sure that their site is displayed properly in both Firefox (version 2 and the beta 3) and Internet Explorer (version 6, the dreaded 7 and beta 8), many however do not even consider making sure their blog can be displayed on a simple mobile phone.

Having a mobile version of your blog is important, especially if your site is receiving traffic from the eastern world (as the phones there are usually more advanced, as well as more affordable than a PC is in the west).

While most affluent bloggers and/or geeks have the spare change and time to optimize their weblogs, many bloggers do not.

Fortunately for the rest of the population (this author included), you do not have to worry about making your site mobile friendly, as a new startup called MoFuse will do the heavy lifting for you for free.
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Now that Apple has finally sanctioned the development of third party applications for the iPhone, Six Apart has announced that it intends to create a native version of its TypePad blogging platform.

Though TypePad is already available via an iPhone-optimised web site, a native application has the potential to run even more efficiently and further utilise the unique features of the iPhone.

“Our users are already embracing mobile blogging and the advanced capabilities of smartphones,” said Stephane Delbecque, mobile product manager of Six Apart, Ltd. “Providing a mobile option for our customers has always been a priority and we will continue to develop applications as the mobile market and our customers’ needs grow.”

Six Apart already supports over 80% of the smartphone market, thanks to software offerings for mobile operating systems including Symbian S60, Windows Mobile, and Palm OS.

It’s not clear from the initial press release when a prototype may be available, and whether there’ll be a charge for the service. Apple has stated that applications will be available via a special section in the iTunes Store from June this year. They’ll take 30% of any revenue generated from the sale of priced applications.