I just got an email from our good friend Clinton Fitch, owner of the popular review site, Clinton Fitch(dot)com.  In his message, Clinton announces the newest redesign of his site, as well as the new URL.  I have always been a huge fan of Clinton’s reviews, and I am thrilled to see the redesign of his site, which features a much more traditional look and feel, as well as fantastic search engine optimization.  You can check out all the new features at http://blog.clintonfitch.com/  Don’t just take it from me, though.  Here is Clinton Fitch himself to tell you the rest:

After countless hours of work, some of which you have seen already, the new 5.0 version of ClintonFitch.com is officially launched!

The new site is the culmination of feedback from fellow bloggers, readers and research and brings you what I hope to be the best experience on the site yet.  ClintonFitch.com has attracted nearly 24 million visitors since its opening in August 2004 and each time I do a site upgrade or design change I keep you, the readers in mind.  It is my hope that you will find the new site easier to navigate, easier to read and generally more attractive to view.

The list of changes that have been made to ClintonFitch.com are really too numerous to layout but I want to touch on the highlights that really impact you, the readership.

• The layout is much cleaner and easier to read on the Home Page.  Now you get the first couple of paragraphs of an article at most with the ability to click and read further if you choose to do so.  Links are easily identifiable in each article.
• Every article now allows you to share it via your Twitter or Facebook account.  This was the number one requested change of the site and I’m glad to have it as an option.
• Advertisements are clearly identified and in the same location in each article and in the sidebars.  Like them or hate them, advertising pays the bills at ClintonFitch.com and your clicks on ads and purchases at the affiliate stores are greatly appreciated.  But I want you to know you are clicking on an ad or affiliate store so I have clearly labled them as such with the only exception being the easily identifiable Google advert at the end of each article.
• The site has been completely optimized for Bing and Google searches making it far easier to find articles using your favorite search engine.
• The new search funtion located at the top right of each page allows you to easily search ClintonFitch.com
• New RSS subscriptions for posts, comments and daily email updates are available via the links at the top right of each page
• Completely new color scheme which is easier to read both on big and small displays
• New mobile version of the site optimized for today’s advanced devices.  The mobile site autodetects if you are on a mobile device so no need to keep up with a different URL.  Just go to http://blog.clintonfitch.com straight from your mobile browser.  It has been tested on Windows Phone, iPhone, Android and WebOS.
• Ability to leave comments on each article, the 2nd most requested feature change
• Links to fellow mobile community sites in the left sidebar on each page of ClintonFitch.com
• Twitter feed updates from what I am Tweeting on at any time (you can follow me at http://www.twitter.com/clintonfitch)
• Updated About and Advertising pages

As you can see, the list is extensive but that does not mean it is perfect.  Your feedback is critical.  If you like a feature, let me know.  If you hate a feature, let me know!  My goal here is to keep you coming back and making the experience better is my goal.

A huge thank you goes out to Judie Lipsett over at Gear Diary.  I consider Judie my closest friend amongst many colleagues in the mobile blogging community and her input and testing of components of the site have been a huge help.

While the visual and functional side of ClintonFitch.com has change, the content hasn’t and won’t.  My main focus has been and will continue to be to provide software and hardware reviews of Windows Phone, iPhone and Android base mobile devices as well as Windows-based PCs.

Finally, thank you for your readership.  ClintonFitch.com started as a small project that has turned into a great fun and passion.

Welcome!  Come in and stay a while!

So, don’t forget to redirect your web browsers and RSS feeds to the new site.  You won’t want to miss a single review!

According to Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein, we can expect a whole lot more details to come via an official announcement at the upcoming Mobile World Congress.  This apparently inadvertent announcement of Microsoft’s intentions for the February event in Madrid, Spain, comes as big…huge news for the Redmond based firm.  This is expected to be the largest overhaul of the operating system….pretty much ever.  Rumor says that it can even make toast…though we have not confirmed that feature.  Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more news out of Mobile World Congress.

[Via PocketNow]

I have been using MicroB, the default web browser for the Nokia N900, for a couple of months now. It is hands down the best web browser I have ever used on a mobile device. Being a power user, I thought I knew everything there was to know about using the browser until I stumbled upon an article on WAP Review that really breaks down the basics of MicroB.

I learned some new shortcuts that are possible using the keyboard that really come in handy during daily usage. My favorite shortcut is using the backspace key to go back one page. The weakest part of MicroB to me is the lag when you use the back icon because it brings a visual history of recent webpages. Using the backspace key makes going back much faster, so this is my new favorite, even if I do have to slide out the keyboard to use it.

So, if you are interested in finding out some more about the Nokia N900 browser or you just want to make sure you are taking advantage of the shortcuts available to you, head over to WAP Review and check it out.

How do you make the web browsing experience on the Nokia N900 better? Give users options. That is what the Firefox team has done by dropping the beta tag from their “Fennec” project for Maemo.

There is nothing wrong with MicroB, the default browser on the N900. In fact, it provides the best mobile web browsing experience that I have ever seen, hands down. But, just like on my computer, I enjoy having options when it comes to web browsers. I mainly use Firefox at home and work, so having the option to use it on my phone is a very welcome bonus.

One interesting piece of information that is in the release notes for Firefox Mobile:

Due to performance problems using Adobe Flash within Firefox on many websites, especially those with multiple plug-ins on them, we have disabled plugins for Firefox for Maemo 1.0. We plan to provide a browser add-on that will enable you to selectively enable plugins on certain sites, because some sites, like YouTube, work well.

So, it looks like Apple is not the only company that is not happy with how Flash performs on mobile devices. Of course, the default N900 web browser does indeed support Flash…which could be a positive or negative depending on the website you are visiting.

You can get more information about Firefox Mobile here. Keep an eye out for a review of Firefox Mobile here soon.

While it seems like the whole world is in love with Apple, that they can do no wrong, not everyone is looking at an oversized iPod Touch through rose colored glasses. Honestly, I have to say that for the most part, I agree with this article. Sure, Apple is going to tout the iPad as a “game changing device”… they are trying to sell it to you. They want your money. They stand to potentially earn MILLIONS of dollars by selling it to you… so you be the judge. Is there really a market for the iPad, or is Apple just trying to create one and cash in? I’m hard pressed to see the real market for these devices. How about you? Share your thoughts with us using the comments option below.