Citizen Reporters becoming more integral to News

As the recent news reports from Mumbai and Bangkok have shown, "citizen reporters" and mobile handsets are becoming ever more important - both for reporting news, and for those involved to find out more information.

The process for providing details to news organizations is as easy as sending an email to a specific address - either from your handset or your computer. Below are a few addresses:

BBC: yourpics@bbc.co.uk
CNN: ireport@cnn.com
Reuters: pics@reuters.com
Expressen (Sweden): 71717@expressen.se

Our thoughts are with those affected by these recent events on this Thanksgiving Day.

Problems saving Mobile Profile on YouTube

I've been trying to update my Mobile Profile on YouTube this week, but unfortunately keep receiving the message "Error while updating your mobile profile". Is anyone experiencing the same issue - and any suggestions for solving? Unfortunately, I've tried contacting customer support, but as of yet have not received a reply.

Thanks for your help!

Leprechauns, Tapas and Skis

What do Leprechauns, Tapas and Skis have in common, you ask - why Momail, of course! Momail just announced it is now available in Ireland, Spain and Switzerland. So whether you are wandering through Ireland's emerald green hills, sampling the wonderful tastes of Spain or skiing on Switzerland's beautiful Alps, you can keep in touch with friends and family while on the go with Momail on your mobile.

Don't forget, with Momail it is also easier and less expensive to send and receive photos of your adventures than with MMS. And.... you can even quickly upload photos into your favorite online photo site with email uploads.

Airline Boarding Passes via Mobile Email

Per this note on MocoNews, American Airlines has become the 5th US-based airline to accept boarding passes from your mobile phone. All you need to do is request that your boarding pass is sent to the email address on your phone, and then open the link, which includes a 2D barcode, for scanning by security and gate personnel at the airport.

One doesn't need a PDA or Smartphone to be able to use this solution. Consumer focused mobile email solutions, like Momail, will also work for those of us on a budget. Registering for Momail takes just a few minutes - and will help you both keep in touch, but also minimize the need for extra paper to keep track of while on the road.

Interest in consumer mobile email continues to grow

Recent news in the mobile industry raises expectations that email access for consumers on their mobile handsets will soon be as commonplace as webmail. For example:

- Nokia recently not only completed its acquistion of Oz, a consumer focused messaging platform, but also announced the release of a number of new handsets focused on the lower-end market, and all including email from its Ovi platform.

- Blackberry continues its push into the consumer handset market with the Pearl, the flip-Pearl, and its iPhone competitor, the Storm.

- In another platform play, it appears iSkoot will also be developing a messaging platform for AT&T, which will include Skype, email, instant messenger, and social networking functionality for lower-end phones.

As Mary Meeker mentioned at the recent Web 2.0 Summit, these developments continue to prove that mobile is increasingly turning into a Web-centric model, ie, more and more of what consumers know from the Web will become easier to use and more widely available on mobile handsets.