The second panel at the International Online Journalism Symposium focused on mobile platforms and how journalism is adapting to new devices such as the Apple iPad. The first speaker was Dan Treinish, director of content acquisition & business development, Skiff, a platform to distribute content to mobile devices. Skiff was incubated as a start-up by Hearst about three years ago. The business model is based on the migration of ad

The BBC’s Darren Waters has written about the pros and cons of using a mobile phone as a reporting tool on the dot.life blog. He has been using a Nokia N95 during a reporting trip to California to test the limits of what is possible with these kind of devices. Overall, as I too have found, the video quality of the N95 is impressive, especially in a well-lit environment. The

Are cellphones the platform of the future? They are, according to Eric Schwartz of Foneshow. Talking at an ONA panel on the future of publishing, Schwartz went al evangelical about mobiles. He argues cellphones are the future because there are more cellphones than toasters on the planet – 2.7bn mobiles worldwide. Cellphones outsold iPods 20 to 1 in the US, says Schwartz. To do news, you have to be a

Barely a year after it first appeared, Star P.M. from The Toronto Staris bowing out. Star P.M. was a downloadable PDF, intended as an afternoon edition of the newspaper. According to Toronto Star editor-in-chief Fred Kuntz, it is scrapping the PDF because of technology advances. Instead, Star P.M. will be “replaced by two more powerful products, offering greater flexibility, interactivity and value”, namely the new mobile.thestar.com service, and improvements to