Tag Archive for 'weather'

Met Office launching mobile content service

Published by Stuart Houghton on June 16, 2008 in Biz & Tech. 0 Comments

weather_icon.jpgThe Met Office supplies meteorological data for news agencies and other content providers to repackage and pass on to consumers. Later this week Met Office Media will announce a new studio in Millbank that will enable it to publish its own tailored weather content directly to mobile phones and portable video devices, reports the Financial Times.

Through a deal with MobiTV, the Met Office has been producing static 2D-weather charts for use on mobile phones, but the new studio - plus some innovative 3G video technology - will allow 3D ‘fly through’ weather graphics similar to those seen on TV weather forecasts to be sent directly to handsets.

Although there is no shortage of mobile weather services, Met Office spokesman Phil Johnson stressed that the Met Office had an edge,  “customers want much more clarity and information around weather, and they want an authoritative voice.”

The Met Office earns around £6- 7 million from broadcasters every year.



Motorola Z8 and Z10 to get Handy Weather software

Published by Stuart Dredge on April 8, 2008 in Applications. 0 Comments

motorola-weather.jpgHey! Got a mobile and want to know what the weather’s like? All you have to do is leave your phone in your pocket and look at the sky. It’s failsafe.

Enough flippancy though. What if you want to get actual weather forecasts on the go, from anywhere in the world, in Celsius OR Fahrenheit, hmm? This is where Motorola hopes to tempt you, having signed a deal with Paragon Software Group to preload its Handy Weather application on the MOTO Z8 and Z10 handsets.

You pick a location, and then set how often you want the application to update its forecasts (for example, every four, eight, 12 or 24 hours). Worried about data charges? They’ve thought of that - it only uses 7kb of data per city forecast. More application makers should provide this kind of information.

There is a caveat, mind. If you buy a Z8 or Z10, you can use Handy Weather free for three months, but you’ll then have to subscribe for a year for “an additional fee”. Looking on the application’s website, I think Paragon charges $10.95 for subsciption renewals, which over the course of a year isn’t too bad.