Via the Google Docs Blog, news of the new mobile (”m”) version at docs.google.com/m. Currently, you can only view — not edit — documents (the post indicates that’s a feature on its way). I’ll be trying out the “presentation” feature later and will add a video to this post of what that looks like. If it works and there were an output-to-display “jack”/function/device (whatever?) on an iPhone, (update: see comments) I think this could one day be a road-warriors dream. In the meantime, the above shot is what a spreadsheet looks like. It’s a vocabulary list the 17-year-old and I made for SAT prep.

Later: I experimented with Google Docs presentation on my iPhone and discovered a couple of things. At least in my quick experiment, an imported Power Point presentation into Google docs was extremely slow in the mobile version. Discovering that, I tried creating a quick (as in five minutes) presentation natively in Google docs and the presentation zooms. Here’s a two-minute video of my test, using my quick presentation called: “”Six tips for a presenation you want to share via docs. google.com/m”

Not that you’d ever want to, but you can see the Google Docs version of presentation here if you don’t use Safari. You don’t have to log into Google Docs, but you’ll get a screen making you think you do.

Here are the “Six tips for a presenation you want to share via docs. google.com/m” — saving you from having to watch the video or presentation:

1. Think of a better way — like maybe talking instead of presenting.

2. Don’t use background color or fancy text or graphics or graphs. (It’s tiny and you’re doing this over the Internet so don’t add stuff that will slow it down).

3. Use really big type. (On a tiny screen, even 68 point type will be tiny.)

4. Don’t use bullet points (don’t ever use bullet points. Or numbered tips for that matter).

5. Think vertical and top-heavy. (The control pointer covers up the bottom of the screen so your presentation will look better when displayed vertically. All you need to do is leave plenty of room at the bottom of each slide.)

6. Don’t try to be funny. (Don’t ever try to be funny in a presentation unless you’re a trained professional…and then don’t.)

I’m not even going to comment on the ‘bubble’ part, I’m merely amused the rather rookie typo (billion for million) in the screen grab above (full shot here) could go unnoticed for so long on the International Herald Tribune’s photo caption accompanying a story on wild valuations of startups. If, as the typo in the caption suggests, the startup’s valuation plummeted from $200 “B”illion to $850 “M”illion, that would be a story dis-proving the premise of the article. However, it does support my on-going premise that reporters and editors have trouble with the whole numbers thing.

(As I often note, this “personal” blog is a glass house when I throw rocks like this. Fortunately, the “professional” media associated with my name has a proofing process managed by professional editors and champion spellers who must feel when reading my extemporaneous posts [and the resulting extemporaneous syntax, grammar and spelling) a bit like George Bush's speech-writers must feel when he starts ad-libbing.])

As I said when AmazonMP3 launched a few weeks ago, “the iTunes Store needs all the competition it can get.“

Well, score “1″ for the marketplace: The Wall Street Journal is reporting, “Apple is reducing the price of all songs on its iTunes Store without anti-copying software to 99 cents from $1.29, bringing Apple’s prices on such tracks closer to those offered by Amazon.com Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other rivals in online music.”

As I said in my original post, “I’ll still use iTunes (the desktop software) and I believe there are certain free things on the iTunes Store — iTunes U, for example — that are modern marvels. But there’s no magic — and a lot of potential agony — in purchasing music via the iTunes Store.”

Personal observation: The AmazonMP3 service is, if you’re a regular Amazon.com user (guilty), a “frictionless” experience and fully integrates with iTunes (the desktop software). I haven’t figured out their pricing policy (I’m an impulsive, opportunistic music customer), but they have a variable pricing strategy and many times “hits” are discounted below the 99¢ price point — typically, 89¢. Such “variable pricing” has, historically, been an issue for Jobs & Co. (according to reports) but the iTunes Store has been slowly showing some flexibility there, as well. Today’s announcement indicates that, while Walmart.com may not hit Jobs’ radar, Amazon.com does.

Also, yesterday’s re-launch of The Hype Machine (with a wonderful new design by my friend, Taylor McKnight), integrates AmazonMP3 and eMusic purchase options, along with iTunes. As the Hype Machine and services like it are how more and more people are being introduced to new music, being at the “click” end of that introduction and showing side-by-side prices with a 30¢ difference is, well, as I said, competition is a wonderful thing.

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