The German mobile service "Call a Bike" shows, that mobile services do not only need to be virtual. This year the mobile phone based bike-sharing service is rolled out in Stuttgart, the city you probably know as the home of DaimlerChrysler.
The system is quite simple to use: At all major crossings within the city users can rent a bike with a mobile phone call – and return it. The user receives a code via SMS to his or her mobile phone and is able to open the electronic lock of the bike. Returning the bike is as easy as renting it: Just leave it at a major crossing and check out with another phone call and the deactivation code of the electronic lock. The registered user is charged by minute. More …

The new Quicktime and iTunes update is available via Software Update. But be careful: Some users has serious problems after the update installation.
This time the update bug catched me, too: After finishing the update of iTunes 7.1 and Quicktime 7.1.5 via Software Update the Finder crashed every 90 seconds and restarted. Restarting the Finder brings all Finder-windows in the foreground – even if you are working in an other program … Steve would say … "Yuck!"
In my case, the StuffIt-Engine of StuffIt Deluxe was the problem – thanks to the glorious bug tracker Robert from the Apple-support discussion forum.
So this means wait, see and hope that Apple will fix that conflict – or update Quicktime, iTunes and StuffIt Deluxe.

Links: Apple-Support discussion forum

The UNIX foundation of Mac OS X and JAVA as a platform independent programming language show their advantages when you search for development tools on the Mac.
You better don’t look back to the times of Mac OS 7, 8 or 9 and the beginning of the web revolution: most of the time you had to deal with stone-age tools as a web developer on the Mac.
But, how can you setup a productive web development environment on the Mac, today? Which software supports the development of server- and database-based web applications? More …

Net Applications is analyzing market shares of the different operating systems according to the Internet usage of these computer systems. It’s basically the same technology of services like Google-Analytics, but Net Applications is not only analyzing the visitors of their own website – they are using much, much more data. More …

You probably did not win one of the academy awards this year – and if you did: Congratulations! But if you are experimenting with mobile phone video – you should take a break in the French capital Paris. For the third time the Pocket Film Festival is taking place in the art center Centre Pompidou. The festival is focusing on art films realised with a mobile phone. It’s interesting to see how art is using that new media channel – and this technology is getting part of our culture.

Entry deadline for submissions: March, 30th, 2007.

Source: festivalpocketfilms.fr