With the release of the iPhone 3G version the door has been opened to a whole new world of digital content. The slow speeds of previous mobile networks have made it difficult for content providers to get into high end content such is streaming video or video chat applications. Now, because of the speed of 3G, all of that is certainly going to change. According to Wikipedia, "it is expected that IMT-2000 will provide higher transmission rates: a minimum speed of 2Mbit/s for stationary or walking users, and 348 kbit/s in a moving vehicle", [1] the ITU does not actually clearly specify minimum or average speeds or what modes of the interfaces qualify as 3G, so various speeds are sold as 3G intended to meet customers expectations of broadband speed." The article continues to say that the current EDGE network, used on iPhone is part of the 3G standards, but as an end user, I can assure you I don't get anywhere near those speeds.



In Japan, Softbank, the country's third largest mobile provider, has the rights to sell the iPhone 3G. There's been no word on whether or not this is an exclusive deal or not, but they will apparently be selling the iPhone later this year. Now, I've heard stories that commuters on trains are already watching live broadcasts and high quality streaming video on their handsets. If the 3G rates mentioned above hold true, this is easily understood. The near-DVD quality of video found on iTunes would stream over the stationary rates quoted above, and as you can imagine the small screens on hand sets wouldn't need even a quarter of that screen size or data rate, making full motion video a realm to watch for digital content creators eyeing the mobile market.

I know that I personally have been eyeing mobile content for some time, though it may not be the ideal venue for the types of shows I want to do. Before this site, I was always found holding a Sony PSP and had intended to create comics and graphic novels for that amazing screen. Now I am enamored with creating the same for the iPhone. It's touch screen seems ideal for it. If I could produce animation fast enough, I might even consider that, and with the 3G handset, the streaming of said animation would actually be possible. I see a future with huge potential and I, for one, can't wait to see what kind of amazing products come out for it.

Tags: Mobile Content, iPhone, TV, Japan, Pop Culture

Well, it seems my favorite iPhone packing Vampire will not be returning for another season as MoonLight has been cancelled. It's a sad day for pop culture appearances of the extremely popular mobile device. Thanks to the recent writer's strike, Moonlight had a very short season and didn't really get enough time to catch on. Another iPhone filled show I wrote about, the spy comedy Chuck, hasn't seen a new episode in weeks. I don't know if it will come back or not, but Moonlight is unfortunately fading into darkness. I, personally, enjoyed the show for its short 16 episode run, and will surely miss it. I guess the fate of Beth and Mick St. John will have to be left to the imagination.

Not surprisingly, the show did have its loyal fan base and they tried to keep the show alive, but as with other efforts to save doomed TV series, nothing could put the bite back into this supernatural detective show. Websites like savemoonlight.com are still fighting the good fight. The say, "This DOES NOT have to be the end of the show though. Until Joel Silver closes up shop there IS hope." They are asking fans to contact CBS and let them know they desire a second season. There is even a petition online to save the show that, to date, has 6106 signatures.



Moonlight was actually closer to home for me than many might think. That is due largely to this man (pictured right), actor Gideon Emory who, believe it or not, lived across from me in my apartment building. He appeared in episode 8, titled 12:04 AM. I wrote a post about it back in November of last year. He played the vampire who picks up Mick St. John's iPhone and uses the contacts menu to find the victim he is after. I never knew it was him when I saw the episode, but when I last ran into him he mentioned playing in Moonlight and after describing the episode I realized that I had seen it, and didn't even recognize him.

Who knows? Maybe the fan reaction will prompt popular producer Joel Silver (The Matrix, Speed Racer) to try another venue. If not, I have the iTunes versions of every episode and will have fond memories of vampires using the iPhone.

Tags: iPhone, TV, sightings, Pop Culture

Who says you can't learn anything from TV? In the latest episodes of McG's NBC spy show Chuck, Agent Walker gets a call from the title character and the camera slowly zooms into her iPhone showing his photo as it rings. Now my first thought was that they faked this just to add some spice to the technology, but I should have known better. You can associate any photo in your library to any contact and that picture will display when the person calls. I guess it's just a matter of my still being unaware of all the cool things the iPhone can do.

In the following episode, the iPhone saves the day and we get to see some good use of its touch screen technology in the show. Chuck is sent a picture of from his best friend's boat trip. Using the touch screen to zoom in and pan around the picture, he spots the bad guy in the background and cracks the case. I knew the iPhone could do this, but it was still cool to see it worked into the show so well. Still, this made me think it was time I really delved into all the other cool things the iPhone is capable of.

In quest to discover more of the features of this device, on of the things I came across was the use of web apps. Apple has quite a list of them on their page. The great advantage of web apps is that they run in the Safari browser on the IPhone meaning they are available anywhere, unlike content synced with iTunes. These can include puzzle games, news feeds and even video sites similar to the Youtube included on the iPhone. In fact, one of the web apps I checked was a Chinese video site, similar to Youtube, which plays content from Chinese TV. They have a lot of current anime in Japanese with Chinese subtitles, but if you know Japanese, that can be cool to see.

Now you may say, Well the iPhone has a full web browser so it's just like going to any web page. This is actually not the case. These web apps are designed specifically for the iPhone's screen size and touch screen features. Some of the puzzle games make use of the screen in ways that wouldn't play well on the desktop. Also navigation of the apps is designed for the gestures available on the iPhone screen. Many of them are very similar to apps running natively on the iPhone. These web apps aren't just limited to fun and games either. Just check out the latest releases on Apple's page today.

As you can imagine from the use of iPhone in the shows I mention, a lot of industry pros probably use the device. It's easy to see how these web apps could be useful for quick information. Of course I had to try them out just now... The footage calculators from Digital Rebellion are really cool. Imagine if you're in the studio or on set and need a quick calculation of the film or video footage you're shooting or editing. Being available on the iPhone as a web app is convenience defined.

You may also notice that Google released quite a suite of apps for the iPhone. I just tried it out and I have to say I am very impressed, especially with having a iPhone sized Google reader on my handset at all times. The gmail feature is cool too. These tools, of course, have existed for the desktop browser for ages, and the iPhone could easily navigate to and use the full size pages, but having iPhone specific versions makes all the difference.

You know I'm going to have to write a web app now right? Can you guess what it is?

Tags: iPhone, Pop Culture, TV, sightings

It was like iPhone central on the most recent episode of the Joel Silver produced, CBS, vampire series Moonlight. The episode opens with the iPhone front and center as an angry waits outside a prison where an execution will be held. Onlookers are seen taking pictures with their cell phones and, of course, there had to be an iPhone user in the bunch.

Personally, I find it interesting as a user. When I first got it, being the first cell phone I ever had, I had specific purposes for it in mind and didn't always keep it with me wherever I went. Only now am I getting to that point where I am actually getting attached to it. There is a reason for that which I will explain later. Anyway, even when I have it, I rarely remember that I can take great pictures with it. I've let some good things go by when I had a camera right in my pocket.

That's not the only use we see for the iPhone in this episode of Moonlight though. The vampire Mick St. John is tracking the bad guy and he loses his iPhone in the scuffle with him. The about is about to depart the scene when he notices the shiny little device on the ground next to him. Naturally, he picks it up, dusts it off and cycles through Mick St. John's contacts to find his address where the vampire is keeping the victim the bad guy is after. How this bad guy who spent the last fifteen years in prison knows how to use the device so well is a testament to the ease of use of the great touch screen interface design.

If you're wondering why there is a gap between my updates, I am currently recovering from a devastating computer crash. I installed a software update and the computer decided not to boot again since then. Since I do most of my manga drawing on a Tablet PC, it hasn't affected this site so much, but most other things were blown back into the dark ages. This gets back to what I was saying about getting more attached to my iPhone recently.

Thanks to the shiny little device, I lost no email or web information. All my bookmarks were safe and sound and I was never out of communication as would normally be the case when my main computer went down. I didn't miss a beat in that regard. The thing is, in the days without a computer, I became more connected to my iPhone. I started getting really fast at typing on it. I felt I could begin to understand how so many people in Japan and other parts of Asia, who usually don't have access to full size PC's of their own, do everything on their mobile devices. It actually started to feel freeing that I could be outside hanging with my neighbors or out and about and still check and respond to mail or read forums. I wasn't tied to my desk for those things.

As for this site, it's time to give it more direction. Aside from, of course, filling it with more cool manga for your iPhone or iPod Touch, I want to start writing more about actually creating the manga. I want to write more about the processes, the way I come up with ideas and the troubles I might encounter along the way. I may still pop up with some news on the world of mobile manga here and there, or even a cool iPhone sighting in the pop culture world, but I want to start grounding things more. When I start to do some serious traveling soon, things will really get interesting.

Tags: iPhone, Pop Culture, TV, sightings

I finished up my tour on the Serenity today with watching the feature film spawned from the Firefly series. I meant to watch it last night, but got some ideas for a character and did some drawing instead. After watching the film, I decided to watch the extra features, even though I saw them when the DVD was new, just to be reminded of some things.

One of the great themes in the Firefly TV series is freedom. It's about not being under the heel of anyone. That's what the Serenity represents to her crew, her captain and, I think, to Joss Whedon, the show's creator as well. This is an idea really brought home in the series episode titled Out of Gas, which shows how the characters and crew came to be together. This idea permeates the extra features on the Serenity feature DVD as well. The movie that defied the system and yet lives. I think there is a spark somewhere in that idea that is very attractive to people. I think there is spark which leads to all things that makes Serenity and the Firefly universe something people can fall in love with.

One of the things Joss Whedon talks about in the extra features, concerning the fans and the San Diego Comic-Con, is that his goal is not to create things people like, but things people love. The scenes from Comic-Con show that he greatly succeeded. This is really what I have always wanted to do. This is what I am hoping to do with iPhone Alchemy. I am hoping it is my freedom.

Imagine taking a boat, that you own, out into the black... no one telling you where to be or what to do. All that open space is yours. You are free, free to come and go as you please, to travel where the win takes you. The internet can open such a door for content creators. You have a whole world out there searching for something new, searching for good content. They are searching for something they can fall in love with. On the net, the creation of that thing is anyone's game. It's not just "the alliance" of media conglomerates and studios and distributors who control what is available in other fields.

This is why I am excited about iPhone Manga and the possibilities here. It's my chance to create and, more fully, create things people love. This is something I have dreamed of for a long time, as far back as when I was on the floor drawing comics through my spiral notebooks for school as a child. I just wanted to create something people loved then too. Now, with iPhone Manga, it may just be that I can not only create it, but the means are there for so many to see it as well. That sounds like freedom to me.

Tags: Manga, TV

Last night I was watching Joss Whedon's epic sci fi series Firefly, finishing up the series for the first time. I has seen a few episodes when it aired and was given no real chance to find an audience, so I knew the characters well enough to truly enjoy the feature film Serenity (which I will be viewing again tonight). Still, I had never before watched the entire series straight through. It was great to see more of these characters in action as, for me, it was like watching new material with the characters I liked from the movie. When something is truly as enjoyable as this, though, you have to ask, "Is that it? Is this all we get?"

According to Publisher's Weekly, that's not the case. "The sci-fi western about a group of rogue space travelers started out in 2002 as a TV series called Firefly, but it was canceled after only 11 episodes. Whedon then managed the impressive task of bringing the property back to life as a feature film called Serenity."

"And he’s not done with it yet. In November Dark Horse is releasing a hardcover collection of the Serenity: Those Left Behind miniseries he co-wrote in 2005, and he’s already got another miniseries in the works for early 2008."

As with Buffy, Whedon's characters and universe can remain alive in the world of comics. In this world he has more control and because it doesn't have the cost constraints of a major TV series or feature film, it can keep going. While there's no word on a mobile content version of the firefly comic, so it may not be coming to an iPhone near you just yet, with the growth of the mobile content market, it's only a matter of time, right?

Tags: Manga, TV

Apparently even cool spies gotta have their iPhones as was seen in this week's episode of the NBC action-comedy Chuck. In the one hour spy adventure from Charlie's Angels producer-director McG, Yvonne Strahovski plays the CIA agent Sarah who needs to rescue her partner, the rival NSA agent Casey, played by Adam Baldwin.

She finds her rival tied to a bed in his boxers and seizes the opportunity to make use of the iPhone's camera features to his embarrassment. I am getting the idea that this device has already so penetrated the pop culture mindset that soon you won't be able to go anywhere or watch TV without seeing them around. Of course, with the iPod Touch being visually indistinguishable from it, we may see more than we think we do.

The great thing is, when it comes to iPhone manga, it won't matter whether it's an iPod Touch or an actual IPhone. They will both show the full color visuals in all their glory. Now with the release on iPhone in other international markets, the need for content will be immense. Some are predicting that because of piracy in some Asian markets, mobile phone content may be the holy grail for content producers, especially as mobile carriers are more than willing to shell out the big bucks to get it.

The future is bright for mobile publishing and iPhone manga will be a large part of that. The printing costs for full color comics are a large part of the reason most manga you see is black and white. Now, in the digital world, any manga can exist in its full color at whatever level the mobile screen can handle.

I've been able to see what the mobile has done for manga and art in general in Japan. In the past, being published by one of the majors was essential to even getting noticed. Then came the rise of the doujinshi world where amateur artists could create their works and find outlets for them through self publishing. The problem is they still have to deal with printing costs and few of these books became big sellers. Those that did were usually snatched up by the major publishers. All that has changed now with web and mobile content publishing.

Today manga artists have numerous outlets to show their work, even if it is just a collection of images, and some are doing very well! This is the most exciting time to be in the arena of content creation. Mobile devices on the level of the iPhone are standard in Japan. I can't wait to see what happens next!

Tags: iPhone, Pop Culture, TV, sightings

It's only been out for a few short months and already the iPhone has infiltrated so many avenues of pop culture. It's the mobile device to have, at the moment, and it is showing up everywhere.

On the CBS vampire detective series Moonlight there have been quite a few appearances of the popular hand held device. A couple of weeks ago, the character of Beth Turner played by Sophia Myles of Underworld fame, whipped out her iPhone to receive a call from the vampire himself, Mick St. John.

In last week's episode, the vampire, Mick St. John, tries to use his iPhone to call for help while stranded in the desert in the deadly sunlight. He doesn't go up in flames instantly, but sunlight will eventually kill him. His phone has a cool diamond around the embossed Apple logo. Mine doesn't have that.

In this week's episode, Beth Turner is working on a story and goes to the coroner for a favor. He asks her what is she going to get him for this and they both say in unison, "iPhone." Good product placement definitely doesn't hurt, especially when the iPhone's beautiful screen is all like, KAKOW!

As for other places where the iPhone is showing up, I haven't seen it myself but word on the street is that the iPhone not only appeared in last nights episode of the NBC series Bionic Woman, but that the character was actually holding it upside down! One poster on the macrumors forum wrote, "I was laughing hard when watching Bionic Woman tonight..."The Bad Guy" Victor had Tom "CIA agent tied up in Chair...Tom gets a call from Jamie "Bionic Woman" on his Iphone. Tom at least knew how to hold and talk into the Iphone, however when Victor grab the Iphone he held it upside down and was talking into the earpiece. Took a bit to notice but I got a good laugh."

Apparently, even the guys on Mythbusters have an iPhone. I guess it really is everywhere. This is of course why I see it as the perfect outlet for iPhone manga. There will be more content read on mobile devices than in print one day! It may already be getting to that point in Japan. The Japanese version of this site will be going online soon. Until then, I'll keep watching out for the iPhone in pop culture, and getting cool manga onto it!

Tags: iPhone, Pop Culture, TV, sightings