Drupal users who have followed my blog will probably already know about OSMOBI, the online service to make your Drupal, Joomla! and Wordpress site Mobile. OSMOBI has been the brainchild of Siruna, a Belgian startup focussing on creating solutions to make mobile websites. Examples of mobile websites that are still running on Siruna technology are http://m.stubru.be and http://m.uitinvlaanderen.be. Examples of OSMOBI sites are not existing anymore since the service stopped at the end of June.
The Siruna technology, including OSMOBI focussed on mobilizing your existing Drupal sites and by the end of april 2010 more then 1200 Joomla! and Drupal sites used the free OSMOBI service to create their mobile website.
To get a feel on how OSMOBI worked, have a look at the screencasts that are still online:
http://www.youtube.com/user/SirunaOsmobi
Although the huge adoption of OSMOBI and the increasing need for Mobile websites, the service did not survive due to insufficient funding... This left more then 1000 developers stranded without any mobile sollution. So the natural question I have got was "what's next?".
Submitted by Tom on Wed, 07/14/2010 - 16:49
One of my most recent freelance projects has been the integration of SoundCloud with Drupal, and yesterday I created the first stable release of this module. The SoundCloud connect module helps module developers to easily connect with SoundCloud using OAUTH, and get access to secure SoundCloud data and services. This includes private audio files, account data, uploading songs to the users accounts, etc ...
SoundCloud is a service that simplifies the process of receiving audio files, sending audio files and distributing your audio.
Music lovers can use this service to receive tracks from others without having to worry about file sizes, file formats, download times, etc ... And at the same time you can easily upload your songs and publish them where you want using the SoundCloud widgets. As an example:
Decks Fxs and Martini - Acid Jazz / Trip Hop / Hip Hop Mix - Joey Muniz BUMP by TheBedroomRockers
Submitted by Tom on Thu, 05/27/2010 - 01:45
This week I launched a Foursquare module for Drupal.
The launch of this module fits in a local experiment that lists several NYC based bars. This effort resulted in http://www.buybacknyc.com.
Further, this twitter quote directed to me raises some serious issues that must be addressed thoroughly in the Drupal community ;)
Submitted by Tom on Fri, 04/30/2010 - 21:39
UiTinVlaanderen (dutch for 'Going out in flanders') is the biggest cultural events site in Belgium and it is powered by Drupal.
Amplexor, an IT services company specialized in content management systems, has now created a mobile version of the site optimized for all mobile devices.
The mobile site allows you to quickly navigate through all the events in your neighborhood and the mobile website augments the experience by taking your GPS coordinates into account.
The website provides an easy way to browse through all the events across Flanders, view event and location information.
Together with the recently launched mobile Drupal site of http://www.stubru.be, this is again an example of how Siruna powers Drupal in order to leverage a mobile audience.
The site can be accessed with your mobile device by surfing to http://www.uitinvlaanderen.be
If you want to experiment with creating a mobile Drupal site, surely check out OSMOBI
....with the release of m.stubru.be the mobile site of the nr.1 public broadcast radio station "Studio Brussel".
Studio Brussel, the nr. 1 radio station of the Belgian public broadcaster VRT has released last week it's mobile website using Siruna technology.
Submitted by Tom on Mon, 03/08/2010 - 22:48
From 3 to 5 may you will find a part of the Drupal, Joomla! and Wordpress community at CMSExpo Chicago.
3 days packed with knowledgable speakers such as Dries Buytaert, founder of Drupal and Wilco Jansen, one of the main driving forces behind Joomla!
The conference will be packed with sessions covering the internals and externals of the most popular open source CMS systems today.
This year I am very glad that Mobile has entered the schedule and that I was invited to give a talk about creating a mobile CMS.
Submitted by Tom on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 20:10
Next to my daily efforts in creating a Drupal, Joomla! and Wordpress mobilization service, i have been toying around with the creation of a mobile shop using Drupal, Ubercart, Mobile Tools and a multi-site configuration (public demo will follow soon).
Mobile commerce is gaining a lot of attention these days, and we see that more and more users try to make their Ubercart (Drupal) or VirtueMart (Joomla!) sites mobil with OSMOBI. This asks for some further study on the m-commerce drivers and the technologies available to do so.
There are several reasons why you should create a mobile web shop. First of all it has shown that during the recent Christmas holidays shoppers used their mobile phone to get in shop product information, pricing information and reviews.
Submitted by Tom on Wed, 02/17/2010 - 15:57We are working hard these days to make sure that OSMOBI enables Drupal and Joomla! developers to go mobile with their existing installations, and this by doing a minimum of effort (and cost).
Since our Beta launch on Drupalcon Paris, we have come a long way towards creating this service. Build on top of our open source content transcoder we allow automated transcoding of your site + optimization using a (hopefully :)) user friendly GUI.
And today we are happy to announce a new OSMOBI release. Most notable changes are:
For who want's to take a look at the architecture, we have published our manual.
Submitted by Tom on Wed, 01/13/2010 - 21:25This weekend another wel organized Drupalcamp New York took place: http://groups.drupal.org/new-york-city
I could only attend half a day of the conference, but enough to see that the rest of the day would be great... For the next edition, new locations are being sought that can accommodate more Drupal enthusiasts.
At the event, Siruna was of course sponsor in an effort to support the Drupal community (of course) but also to promote Osmobi: http://www.osmobi.com
(Before your read further, head to http://www.osmobi.com, create an account and mobilize one of your drupal sites!! ;)).
Submitted by Tom on Mon, 12/07/2009 - 21:10December looks like another month full of Drupalcamps. Siruna will be represented on many of the coming Drupalcamps as sponsors and where possible I will try to give some demonstrations on how to get the most out of Osmobi
Three of the drupalcamps where you will find us soon are
On saturday 5 december you will find me at Drupal Camp New York. The venue quickly reached it's maximum capacity so a big crowd is expected to talk about Drupal!
The week afterwards you there is Drupal camp chicago. If you are attending, hopefully I will meet you during one of my proposed sessions: Making mobile websites with drupal
And yes, the Drupalcamp Ghent will be the first Drupalcamp in Belgium and will happen next to the Siruna offices!
To bad I will not be there , but my colleagues certainly will be present!
This is one of the nicest Drupal Camp badges I have ever seen... Some similarity with the NYC badge cannot be denied ;)
If you are organizing your local Drupal event, drop me a not if you are searching for sponsors or speakers... Building the mobile site of your event can also be an option!!
Submitted by Tom on Tue, 11/17/2009 - 21:58In cooperation with
see Nokia for a list of mobile-code readers.