Janak Parekh
08-29-2003, 05:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.mobilerss.com' target='_blank'>http://www.mobilerss.com</a><br /><br /></div>Two Peaks has developed a mobile RSS web client. <a href="http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2002/12/18/dive-into-xml.html">What's RSS?</a> It's an increasingly popular web standard for news feeds; it uses a structured XML document to allow other sites or devices to get a syndicated, lightweight, newsfeed. Most of your favorite news and blog sites (including <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/xml">this one</a>) have such a feed. What's cool about Two Peaks's solution is that it's entirely web-based, designed primarily for PIE; no application is needed on your Pocket PC, and indeed it should work with other handheld devices, like a Smartphone. Two Peaks is currently conducting a free public beta test, so you can try it on your Pocket PC and see if it's right for you.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20030828-twopeaks-rss1.gif" /><br /><br />I gave it a quick runthrough and found it to work exactly as advertised, even though it's a beta. The frontpage lets you set up a list of newsfeeds, which you can then quickly browse. The only downside to it is an inherent limitation of RSS: since providers can't tell who or what is syndicating the newsfeed, most RSS sites link to non-mobile-friendly full versions. I guess someone could develop multiple RSS feeds to solve this problem, but such a solution isn't prevalent yet. Overall, I think Two Peaks has done a commendable job, and it's worth a look if you want a lightweight solution to hit a variety of sites and check out the headlines.<br /><br />I've attached screenshots of PPCT's and Slashdot's RSS feeds using mobileRSS.<!><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20030828-twopeaks-rss2.gif" /><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20030828-twopeaks-rss3.gif" />