The main project that I will be working on over the coming year is the Fearless Mobile Muse project - placing smart phones in the hands of artists and residents in the DTES for the purposes of providing live coverage of a series of festivals in the heart of the city. 

This is an exciting project for me for two reasons. The first being that this is my first exposure to the politics of the Downtown Eastside and the second that this will be my first real work with mobile -- advanced smart phone devices that include wifi, cameras, web browsers, etc.

A report released the other day claims that one out of every five mid to high-end mobile devices will run Linux by 2013. To this end I have begun researching the available platforms and their various features and capabilities as well as general state of readiness. The reasoning for my ranking is explained  further below.

1. Trolltech's Qtopia. Recently purchased by Nokia this is the only only platform with devices that are presently available for purchase, including the OpenMoko. Nokia's purchase is particularly noteworthy since they are the largest manufacturer of smartphones in the world and have been heavily invested in Symbian S60 to this point. I predict they will start to release a great many devices that are a lot more open than the dismal Symbian S60 allows.
2. Google Android. Begun last year Google has put together a large alliance of hadrware and software developers around this project. They were able to demonstrate the first prototypes this spring and manufactuers are set to bring the first devices to market this summer (it seems likely that Samsung will be first). I'm hoping that I can get my hands on some eraly devices for the purposes of the Fearless project.
3. Ubuntu mobile. As a long time Ubuntu workstation user (and before that a Debian user) I'm very excited about this project. Set to release in conjunction with Hardy Heron (in two days time) this project is mainly targetting mobile internet devices as opposed to smart phones which is the only reason that it doesn't make first place in this list.
   

Those familiar with this space with notice that I haven't mentioned Symbian S60 - the current leader in handheld OSs'. I simply don't consider it open enough to deserve a place in this list. It will be interesting to watch their reaction over the coming months now that Nokia will be pouring resources into their own open operating system (the Qtopia).