A friend of mine describes his life as a firefighter as "hours of boredom interrupted by a few seconds of terror". That's what my life is like, minus the terror :). I find myself in situations where I'm waiting for something or someone and the only entertainment within reach is my mobile phone. You know what I'm talking about. We wait for planes, trains, spouses, lattes, mechanics, and barbers. You can either stare into the distance and think deep profundities or check the latest sports scores.

I've also been in some situations where the need to use a mobile browser wasn't just for entertainment. Once my mortgage broker called me while I was driving to LA and said he needed information that I could only retrieve from my bank's web site. Another time I was checking into a hotel in France and was being told I didn't have a reservation. So out came the mobile phone and after a few minutes of sweating, cursing, waiting for large images to trickle down and panning around the page with my 176 pixel-wide screen, I produced the confirmation they had sent me.



Mobile web sites get no respect. I asked some friends of mine who recently launched a site for mobile media experiences if they planned on making a mobile version of their site. They sort of tilted their heads and shrugged and then explained that demand just wasn't there for it. I suppose that's the problem. Most people probably don't even know that they exist and perhaps, as a result, companies don't bother to make them. Well maybe we can change that.

It's interesting to see what a company chooses to put on its mobile site. They must dramatically prioritize their content because space is limited. For example, PayPal tells us what their most important functions are with four links: "Send Money", "View my balance", "Buy Something", and "Set/change my PIN". Netflix only has two things on it's mobile home page: a search box so you can search for movies a link labeled "View Your Queue". They want you to find and queue movies. The ratings and social stuff come second.

My mobile web experiences have given me a appreciation for companies that publish versions of their web sites that are formatted for mobile phones. So this post is my way of saying thank you to those who have them. Here is a list of the most useful mobile sites I have discovered, bookmarked, and used in my mobile browser. They are sorted by priority (which is always changing)

1. Yahoo! [m.yahoo.com]
   I use a lot of Yahoo!'s services like Mail, News, Bookmarks and Yellow Pages. Yahoo!'s mobile web site is well organized and easy to navigate. I use it primarily to check my email and to read news articles. I wish the mobile version of their MyYahoo news reader was better designed -- it requires too many clicks (and waits). This is at the top of my list because it's the first site I go to when I pull out my phone. BTW, I don't use the mobile version of Yahoo Local search because it's faster to send a text message to the Yahoo SMS service and then click on the link they send back. See the Yahoo! mobile site for details
   
   
2. Google [google.com/xhtml]
   Need I explain? Good: simple, easy to input a seach query and all the goodness of Google results, well formated for the phone. Bad: if you want to click on a search result, you still have to deal with web pages formated for desktop screens. Bad: the mobile version of search doesn't seem to support conversions like "quarts in a gallon" which I've needed at times.
   
   
3. NPR [thin.npr.org]
   A surprisingly good mobile site. No frills here, just basic text and blue links, and that's a good thing. Totally Rad: you can browse all the NPR shows we know and love and the click the [LISTEN] link and the show is streamed right to your phone. Perhaps the link is pointing to an MP3 file which my Windows Mobile media player is then streaming, but whatever, it works.
   
   
4. MSN Driving Directions [m.live.com/Search/RouteSearch.aspx]
   Directions are a handy thing is you don't have a GPS on you. I found the MSN driving directions to be better than Yahoo's. Easier to input (fewer clicks) and better looking results. I should mention that the way for mobile directions, short of a GPS unit like the HP Travel Companion (sorry had to mention that) is the Google Maps mobile application. I don't list it here because it's not a mobile web site.
   
   
5. Digg [mobits.com/digg]
   Browse Digg news. Clicking on a link still takes you to a desktop-formatted web page.
   
   
6. PayPal [paypal.com - auto-detects a mobile browser]
   
   
7. Flickr [m.flickr.com]
   A nice feature is the "Recent activity" link which lists all the comments and new photos your friends have posted. You can also upload photos or alternatively send photos via MMS.
   
   
8. Flight Status [mobile.orbitz.com/mobile/App/ViewTravelWatchHome]
   This is actually a link off of the Orbitz mobile site, but it's so valuable in itself that I've bookmarked it separately. I use it frequently when I'm traveling or when picking people up from the airport.
   
   
9. Orbitz [mobile.orbitz.com]
   I haven't traveled on a ticket purchased via Orbitz so I haven't used this mobile site to it's full potential. I often use Orbitz to book personal travel so I'll let you know how that goes.
   
   
   
10. Netflix [netflix.com/Mobile]
    Search for movies, add them to your queue, view and edit your queue. The essentials.
    
    
11. Vox [vox.com - auto-detects mobile browser]
    Vox.com is the site that I recommend to friends when they're interested in starting a blog. They do the basics of a personal web really well - blog posts, photos, video, audio, and books. A few friends of mine have their blogs on Vox and I like being able to leave comments on their posts from my phone.
    
    
12. Facebook [m.facebook.com]
    This would, of course, be at the top of the list for many people, but I'm not a heavy Facebook user yet. I could see this being a very useful mobile site for those who are addicted to their Facebook mini-feeds.
    
    
13. PopUrls [popurls.mobi]
    PopUrls aggregates all the popular news articles. This is the mobile version.
    
    
14. Cnet News [mobile.news.com]
    
    
15. Fandango [mobile.fandango.com]
    Purchase movie tickets online. Use the mobile site to do it from the theater parking lot.
    
    
16. eBay [wap2.bonfiremedia.com/ebayserver/...]
    I use this site a lot when I have a listing on eBay, especially as the auction is nearing the end. Once I sold a car on eBay (and old BMW 323i I drove in college) and Kristin and I were at a friends house for dinner. I checked the status of the auction every minute from my phone under the table.
    

Honorable mentions:

• Kayak [kayak.com/moby]
  Kayak is the unofficial Web 2.0 travel web site that people seem to like. And they have a mobile site. I haven't used it.
  
  
• SeatGuru [mobile.seatguru.com]
  Another travel site for picking the best seats on airplanes. Especially useful for those international trips.
  
  
• Edmunds [pda.edmunds.com]
  Look up used and new car prices. I've had friends call me from the dealer lot, since I'm the "car guy" and ask me if xxx dollars is a good price for the car their thinking about buying. I don't know, dude. Didn't you look it up? Now I can say pda.edmunds.com.
  
  
• Amazon.com [http://www.amazon.com/...]
  Books and stuff. I've never used it. Not even sure if you can make a purchase on the mobile site.
  

Some of these sites I discovered by looking at a compilation list of mobile web sites at Cantoni.org. A great place to start looking.

Finally, this is obviously a very incomplete list. What do you recommend? What have been your top three most useful mobile sites?