End of the weekend rumors part 4: Windows Mobile 6.1

Well, I actually plan to wait until the rumored April 1st official release of WinMob 6.1; like what Sammy has posted before at PA here. But with the whole news and interests on WinMob OS, I guess a little more recap is needed to complete this end of the weekend rumors post series. Thus for you who're fed up with rumors on WinMob 6.1 can pass this one out. It was Boy Genius Report (BGR) who got the news & screenshots of this aforementioned WinMob 6.1 update, according to them here are some of the new features:
Support for AT&T’s Video Share
New thumbnail browsing
New Albums feature
Send to your space (upload to your Windows Live account)
Updated camera UI Updated home screen (more music and multimedia features)
TV out
So this means AT&T handsets will get the updates first before other mobile wireless carriers, but looking back at the late update of WinMob 6 for AT&T's Treo 750; I would say we need to hope the update is not going to arrive even until Treo 800w out in July. The WinMob 6.1 is sure to be release, because Microsoft need to fill-in the gap between WinMob 6 to 7. Looking at Engadget screenshots of WinMob 7 here, we could easily tell that WinMob 7 is aim to be the "iPhone-killer" OS. It all looks very promising, but we need to find out when it's set to be release in 2009 or above; there haven't any confirmations from Microsoft Windows Mobile team yet on the launch date.
And if you're the proud owner of BlackJack, you don't have to wait until the official update of WinMob 6.1 for it; because the BlackJack community forum at TXCaesar's Rom Kitchen have released a working beta version of their own home brewed WinMob 6.1 firmware. Sources are from WMExperts via Engadget Mobile.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Levi's Red Tab mobile phone

Levi's has just named their latest mobile phone edition: Red Tab, the name is like their jeans line-up. Levi's been planning to sold this exclusive 100 handsets at 549 Euros, or around US$870. Where you could only purchase it at "the very chic online French retailer Colette.", as Gadgetell.com blog mentioned. The specs are the same with it's previous handsets, sporting these:
a 2-megapixel camera with flash
MP3 player
Bluetooth A2DP
black-steel metall casing
Within the selling package you could find a metal chain, a hands-free headset, and phone case; plus Levi's can put your name on it up to 13 characters. Talk about exclusive mobile phone, I just can't take my eyes from the model on this Red Tab commercial ads instead; see it on Gizmodo here.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Teens are likely will become deaf because of MP3 player

A recent study at two high schools in Netherlands shows that teens who use iPod or other MP3 player tend to blow-up the volume level to sky high, even they know that could cause hearing problems later; they still do it anyway. Ineke Vogel ~the lead researcher~ and Dr. Hein Raat who both work at University Medical Center Rotterdam, told Reuter Health that parents should take more action to suppress their children in using too loud headphones. Some symptoms such as ringing sounds in ears & muffled sounds hearing, could lead to deaf if not taken seriously. About 73% of parents who're being asked said they don't know about this matter, probably because they haven't know such device in their youth before. And this is mostly caused by the popularity of iPod in schools and colleges that I've discussed before at PA here.

Another alternative approach can be taken directly into the manufacturers of those MP3 players, where they could put some kind of warning sign; for example a flashing light or display screen when the volume level output has reach certain dangerous level. Vogel recommends if the sound reach 90 decibels (db) and above can be hazardous, so in general teens should only use 60% of their MP3 players volume capacity. Read the whole news on CNet article here.

Now my fellow Palm, Treo & Centro users; have you been pumping-up the volume of your Palm devices while using the headphones? We're not a teen anymore do we; let's make an example of ourselves before we give advice to the young ones.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Face Contact for Windows Mobile

Again this new application from CNetX called Face Contact is another proof that Apple's technologies & ideas are just too good. The Face Contact will bring CoverFlow-like interface of Mac into your Windows Mobile powered devices, it has those kinetic scrolling contact's photos line-up alphabetically according to your order. It'll not only integrated into your Today Screen, but also with Outlook contacts. Plus you can categorized each contacts, and managed them all with Contact Manager bundled in Face Contact application. You won't need photo editor to edit the contact's photos, because Face Contact provides picture adjuster in it too. Check out this new cool application at their website, source is via Gizmodo.
(blogged with my Treo 750v

End of the weekend rumors part 3: BlackBerry 9000

As I'm about to post the rumors about BlackBerry (BB) 9000 series, looks like Stephen Sorting has posted the sight of BB 9000 handset on the wild at Engadget Mobile, which a real photo proof of the "iPhone-killer" handset prototype from RIM. Then allow me to add more drools you've already put so much into your bucket (as quoted from Stephen S. blog).
At BGR's news here believes that the BB 9000 series will be launched July/August this year, this puts acceptable one year time frame from BB Curve released. Enjoy the close-up photo, courtesy of BGR.
Aside from the those rumors of this beauty's specs way back then, a certain features it'll bear are 3,5G network & WiFi. This one came straight from Mike Lazaridis ~co-Chief Executive at RIM~ told Financial Times during his interview, you can read Financial Times article here; or at BB PinStack Forums here.
Mr. Lazaridis has pointed out that the BB 9000 series with 3,5G connection is really fast compared to any previous BB handset models. But seriously Mr. Lazaridis, please spare us from any more teasers and get that BB 9000 out already!
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

My Treo is my assistance & my entertainer

I wouldn't guessed before that washing my car on rainy months like yesterday on local car washer shop, could held me waiting for more than 2,5 hours! Although I should've glad, because that would mean those car washer guys (too bad not females LOL) were doing a thorough job with my car. As I was sitting on the waiting room, I pulled out my trusty Treo and start sending text messages to my friends. I made two appointments & a date, which I immediately jotted down the time & place in WinMob's built-in Calendar.
In between of waiting and sending SMS, I tried the aforementioned Bejeweled 2 which looks amazing on Treo's 240x240 squarish screen; thanks to Astraware latest update. Indeed it is a game that can easily create an addiction to play it everytime. Next game was Robo, which was a recommendation from Lindsey Dyson who posted before at PA. I like it too because it's kinda exercise to my aging brain, but I got stuck at the Ruin level; Lindsey can you give a hint on how to solve that Ruin level? :-)
Before I knew it, hours passed by and the car washer guy told me that they've finished with my car. I'm glad I always bring my Treo with me, you'll never know when is the time you needed a personal assistance & entertainer at once.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

End of the weekend rumors part 2: 3G iPhone certainty

When an analyst from a high profile Gartner research firm spoken about 3G iPhone, Ken Dulaney his name is, surely everybody will believe him right? iPO has been able to interviewed Dulaney, where he mentioned that he heard from his Asian inner circles about the possibilty of Apple's second round order for more 10 million iPhone to become the 3G iPhone most rumored these days. He also speculated (warning: it's only a speculation) that this 10 million 3G iPhone will be using OLED display, to enhance the battery life that drained from the 3G chipset. Dulaney add another reason why Apple definetely release the 3G iPhone version this year, it's because the European sales of iPhone doesn't look good; and Apple need to boost up the sales with the handset that match European's 3G/UMTS available networks. Read on iPO news here.
A more certain news came from PC World article here, the Dow Jones Newswires reported that Hon Hai Precision Industry is in talks with Apple to make the next generation (3G) iPhone. Now everything have piled up into one big juicy rumors, all we need is just another news to burn it all up. Hopely something good will come up on the CTIA event...
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

iPhone firmware 2.0 is unlocked!

It has not even reached three days since the iPhone SDK kit beta 2 been released, and it hasn't yet 24 hours of iPhone latest official firmware 1.2.0 update; but right now Gizmodo have reported that iPhone firmware 2.0 is successfully unlocked by iPhone Dev Team. It's a great news for those who own jail-broken iPhone all over the world, but a sad (horryfying if you may called it) news for Apple engineers. Especially when the iPhone Dev Team have said: "Apple will not really be able to patch it this time." Take a look of the screenshots from Gizmodo here.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Video ads in Google & Yahoo search results

It's finally here, after some long debates whether advertising should step up to the next level into video or stay as text & pics only; the new video ads is showed now everytime you hit the search engine of Google and Yahoo! Elinor Mills (NewsBlog) has tried both, and it seems Yahoo is more pushing their video ads to users to watch than Google.
In Google search result, it only showed the hot link named "watch commercial" and if clicked it'll play only 2x2 inches window that can be paused & hidden anytime.
While in Yahoo search result, the hot link named "play video" and will be played on 5x5 inches window but the whole web page is grayed; so you have to deal with the video ads window first before continue working with the Yahoo search result page.
I've tried these on my Pocket IE, but it doesn't showed any video ads hot links mentioned. Perhaps the video ads is for desktop web browser for now, or perhaps it'll come later on each countries region. Anyone who've tried this and work, please post a review. Spread the knowledge I'd say. Read on Mills' blog here for further indepth review.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Rumors part 1: Gphone (not again!)

Well, it's the end of the month and the end of another slow weekend on exciting (and unconfirmed) rumors, let's start slowly with the most tighted-lip rumor on Google's Android mobile phone. I'm affraid there haven't been any new informations regarding the HTC's "Dream" Android mobile phone, but perhaps something will turn up from the CTIA congress; we'll never know. Because after all of those buzz Google have made about the "white spaces spectrum", the news itself has caused a lot of speculations that the Android phone could be coming out as close as this summer. In the meantime, please enjoy (again!) another real-shot of Google Phone ~a.k.a. Gphone~ prototype handset; courtesy of OneMoreThing blog here.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Palm snatched another Apple's executive

What is it about Apple that everybody wanted to have, it's not just Apple products but even Palm has been luring Apple's executives to work with them. After Jon Rubinstein became Chairman of Palm, he's been recruiting few of colleagues. Including Mike Bell, a 16 years veteran at Mac Hardware Division, and now he's the Palm SVP of product development. Now the latest recruitment was Lynn Fox, she still works as a PR but this time she work for Palm not Apple anymore. After these several harsh yet quietly recruitments, I'm sure Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) will find a sarcastic ~but in funny way~ payback with Apple usual comical ads that we love. Sources are from ValleyWag via PalmInfoCenter.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

AT&T Black GSM Centro now available

PalmInfoCenter is reporting that the Palm Centro GSM in obsidian black color is now available in AT&T corporate store online, it's the Palm OS smartphone. PalmInfoCenter also remind us that Palm has released an extended Centro battery, but with a white replacement battery door. No further infos whether Palm is going to release the obsidian black replacement battery door or not, so if you're interested in the Palm's extended Centro battery but more prefer the obsidian black color; you might want to think about it again. Read on PalmInfoCenter news here.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Twooced ot Tweeted?

There are great blogs posted by Daniel Terdiman, one of my favorite blogger, he has been always able to find intriguing subjects to talked about. His first post is about his new term of result from over-Twitter-ing activity: get fired from your job. Let me quote Terdiman own words: "If you've been around the world of blogging for a while, you probably know what being "Dooced" means. If not, it means being fired for blogging, and the term comes from the real-life firing of Heather Armstrong, otherwise known as the mega-popular blogger, Dooce." From there, he got the idea to called it "Twooced" for getting fired because of Twitter. Or perhaps we should use what Heather Armstrong called it in her own blog: "Tweeted" instead, what do you think? This could become a reality since more and more people are actively doing Twitter while working, and even with the help of their mobile phones.
Terdiman next posted that someone in Twitter-land is using U.K. Prime Minister's office address: 10 Downing Street, and it's been doing what appears to be the activities from Prime Minister's own press office. For an example: "No10 news: Sarkozy arrives at Number 10: The Prime Minister has welcomed French President.. http://tinyurl.com/36ghab."! So far there has been no official statement or news from the UK Prime Minister office about this Twitter account, what would you suspect is this just a prank or for real? Perhaps someday a paparazzi will capture U.K. PM Gordon Brown is twittering with his mobile phone, then we'll know what mobile phone he use.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Detect car speeding traps with your mobile phone

I have to admit this one is quite an interesting idea that no one has ever thought of before, an application named "trapster" can help you know where are the policemen and hidden traffic cameras at. The application works by downloading data from its server, and shows the area you've requested on where are those car speeding traps located. The data is collected from fellow trapster users, which means there should be at least 10 persons who are at the same area as you; and they've reported those traffic traps. The trapster use what they called "karma" points to determined whether the information from trapster users are legit or just a prank, and this is done also by the feedback input from other users.
The technologies behind trapster are include WiFi and wireless mobile towers, if your mobile phone has GPS then you could get more precise position of your where about. Plus trapster works with Google Maps & Jott.
If you're interested, you could go to trapster website here to download the application and to sign-up; you need to sign-up in order to use trapster service. Or download it directly from your web browser mobile phone here. The supported mobile phone OS are Symbian 60, WinMob 5/6, BlackBerry & Java enabled mobile phones. According to WebWare; iPhone will be included into their next roadmap, and because the application is still in beta phase you should be aware if there are any glitch or errors encountered while using it. WebWare cover the complete review of trapster, so read on here to dig more infos.
Personally I think that trapster works almost feel like social networking, but nevertheless even with trapster in your mobile phone; drive save all the time!
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Symbian UIQ devices gets more exciting

It’s been a rare sight of news on Symbian UIQ devices, but this time they got two juicy solid news; no mere rumors anymore like the unofficial yet of WinMob 6.1 (set to be announced at CTIA on April 1st / April Fool?). First is the OS getting updated into UIQ v3.3, which is only a minor tuned up & enhancement from the Symbian 9.3 foundation. The newest features include support for Opera Mobile 9.5 and Opera Widgets, the SDK kit for this new UIQ v3.3 is already out; that’s pretty fast compared to the slow iPhone’s SDK kit. See the user interface screenshots at Engadget Mobile here.
Second, according to BGR news here; Sling Player has announced their support to put the Symbian UIQ into the next stop for Sling Player, set to be released on summer this year. The designated Symbian UIQ devices will include these following mobile phones:
Sony Ericsson P1i
Sony Ericsson P990i
Sony Ericsson W960i
Sony Ericsson W950i
Sony Ericsson M600i
Motorola MOTORIZR Z8
Indeed Symbian UIQ devices market is not as big as its sibling; the Symbian 60 & 90. So those news would bring fresh air to those who own Symbian UIQ devices, don’t worry you’re not left behind. And if you have a Wiimote along with your Symbian UIQ handset, then check this blog from BGR here which says you could connect them altogether with the help from mobiPad application.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

EDGE Evo enabled iPhone anyone?

This post title got your attention? I do hope the Nokia Siemens Networks announcement about their newest software solution: EDGE Evolution, got Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) attention too. With only software upgrades, mobile wireless carriers can take the advantage of double up the current EDGE speed to 592kbps. The software is going to be available on Q3 2008, and followed up with another upgrade into EGPRS 2 with download speeds of 1.2Mbps and uplink speeds up to 473kpbs. Sounds so tasty ain't it? Read on Engadget Mobile here for the news update.
If AT&T and others wireless carriers, who are releasing iPhone are willing to upgrade their investment on current slow EDGE network into this new EDGE Evo; then iPhone owners all around the world will have assurance that their EDGE enabled iPhone is almost as good as the 3G enabled iPhone (when it'll ever be released this year). And all Apple got to do is only release a new firmware update to support the EDGE Evo network, then we all can live happily ever after...
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

An iPhone can cause a political controversy!

No one would see this one coming when they use iPhone; a political controversy only by using it in public! Sure, iPhone is irresistible to celebrities and even to men/women with power. As reported by Engadget Mobile here, Austria chancellor named Alfred Gusenbauer was being investigated by the call from Austria's BZO; because he was seen using an iPhone which hasn't been officially released yet at that time. The picture (left) was taken at an EU summit, so it would seems like the chancellor was using a jail-broken iPhone. And that's morally wrong for a high politic figure like him to do so, but no one is not guilty until the court of law says so right?
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Golf app for Windows Mobile

Now this one is not a game about golf for your Treo or WinMob devices, instead it's an application that search golf courses with a golf themed interface (as seen in the picture left). The Golf.com free app called Course Finder is still in beta and only available for WinMob device, where you can download the app here. Or you can just simply text message "GOLF" sentence to 58585 to get the free app. Jessica Dolcourt (WebWare) got the review: "...search for a course by name, location, or a customized preference. The returned results include a short list of entries with the course's name, address, rating, and price. The details page also lists amenities, has a click-to-call functionality, and can add the phone number to your contacts list.", read her blog here.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

No FireFox for iPhone

At the Mozilla "open house", Mike Schroepfer the Mozilla VP of engineering said: "Apple has not written a license that allows it to happen. We've got other places we're paying attention to, but that's not one of them". It seems like Mozilla is concentrating more on FireFox Beta 5, which will soon become RC1 in May this year. So they've got their hands full right now, and that statement is backed by John Lilly the Mozilla CEO; who sat at the same room.

But according to Rafe Needleman (WebWare), he saw both of Schroepfer & Lilly have iPhone sitting pretty on the table in front of them. Now, that's kinda naive...

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Convert RSS feed into iPhone Web App

Caught this amazing simple web application for your iPhone from iPhone Atlas, "A new service converts any well formed XML RSS feed to an iPhone-optimized version with the typical sliding style interface."
This web service is called iPhone Builder, the web site is very modest and easy to use: simply fill in the URL and hit the Generate App button. Try it in your bricked iPhone.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

A guide book to "hack" iPhone

One of many books I've read when I learnt about WiFi and IP protocols is published by O'Reilly, this publisher is well known by IT professionals for good resource of knowledge and informations. This time O'Reilly is featuring writer Jonathan Zdziarski, he's among the first hackers of iPhone and his book here is using techniques before Apple release the SDK kit. But even that, this book which called iPhone Open Application Development, can be considered an alternate method for developers who feel that the iPhone SDK kit is too limiting their apps. According to Tom Krazit (CNet News), the book's contents could be found scattered in the internet and help you to read one by one peacefully in one condensed book (quote). The first chapter's title will give you a heads up about what's inside the whole book: "Breaking Into and Setting Up the iPhone."
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

A set back in mobile technology use

I couldn’t help but to feel sad when I read the news on Engadget this morning, it’s about how the HTC “special” made PDA made for census in the US is reported being too complicated for the census workers themselves.

This “special” made PDA of HTC is ordered by Harris Corp, a Florida based company, and according to Engadget it has: EVDO connection, WiFi, a phone jack and a fingerprint scan. But the device presumably can’t make phone calls like usual mobile phone, there are no official specs since it’s planned to be launch in 2010. The Census Bureau who hired around 60,000 temporary census workers was blamed by Harris Corp. for a poor job spelling out technical requirements to them, Census Director Steven Murdock acknowledged in an interview Tuesday that "communication problems" between census officials and Harris Corp. have resulted in "serious issues."

That’s why census officials have been thinking of going back to use pen & paper to do census again, where there are millions of US citizens who don’t return back those census form that are mailed by them.

But the real culprit behind this set back is the inflated number cost of contract to provide the PDA from originally at $596 million to $647 million, and most likely will be $2 billion; said a report this month from the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. Thus resulting for the Census Bureau to scale back the use of this modern mobile technology to the most usual method: a desktop computer for head-to-head input data, what a sad-sad set back.

And the Harris Corp. said they are committed to work with the Census Bureau, but it looks like they’ll only get the technical support contract but not the hardwares. Too bad for those temporary census workers who tested the device and hope to keep on using it, it’s quite envious to held such “special” made device. LOL. Read on the CNN News article for more details infos.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Turn your mobile phone into HotSpot

Another great idea came from TapRoot Systems, a North-Carolina based company; CEO Bob Bicksler announced yesterday that their new software called WalkingHotSpot can turn any WiFi enabled mobile broadband into WiFi router. Although the software is only available for Windows Mobile and Symbian 60 devices right now. And TapRoot Systems is more recommending UMTS/HSDPA mobile phones than EVDO, because the limitations of using both data and voice call simultaneously in EVDO handsets; too bad for Sprint & Verizon Wireless. But don’t get excited yet, because TapRoot Systems doesn’t plan to sell this software to end-users. Read on PC World article here for more infos.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Sync Exchange-Outlook and Gmail altogether

That title is too good to be true isn’t it, especially for IT Managers; but that’s what exactly Cemaphore says about their newest product called MailShadow for Google Apps a.k.a. MailShadowG (in short). It’s like a dream come true for most small business who have been using Microsoft’s Exchange Server –email backbone server, because of Microsoft policy on licenses for each access & servers; the total expenses on IT is sometimes goes beyond what small business can afford. Not to mentioned how much time and efforts for them to maintain it, pheew… I just remember to do that tomorrow. So this is what Cemaphore thought of with MailShadowG, they cut through the Exchange protocols and sync the Outlook with your designated Gmail accounts. As described bluntly by Mike Ricciuti (News Blog): “Translation: If you want to get rid of Exchange and run your e-mail back end on Google, this is the product for you.”
Read on his blog here which really hit the spot to pinch out Microsoft “ugly side” of licensing their products, like what Cemaphore also mentioned at the site.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

findme is irritating?

I've just mentioned the applications that are available in social network websites, and I'm sure for you who uses Facebook have already know the application called "findme". This application basically works like Google Map, which uses mobile phone towers to tell where you're at. You'll be able to give tags for every new areas that findme detected, and it'll show the result in your Facebook account profile. Sounds a great idea, but not to Jessica Dolcourt at CNet Crave; let me quote what she said in her blog: "It's a somewhat good, somewhat limited idea that suffers from half-formed presentation issues. For instance, FindMe doesn't believe in grammatical standards when updating Facebook, nor in identifying FindMe-produced status messages with a proprietary icon." Read on here to know more what is so irritating about this Facebook integrated service, and if you have Windows Mobile or BlackBerry mobile phones then you may try it out yourself.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Social networking gets easier

What is it about social networking that attracts people so much? Is it making new friends, meeting with old buddies, fishing for a new partner, sight seeing on what kind faces other people have out there? Whatever it is, social networking has become a part of our modern digital life. There hasn’t one person I met these days that don’t have an account such as Friendster, Facebook, MyYearBook, Hi5, etc. Some even have decorated their home profile to look like a fancy superstar web site, but many just simply leave it by default and don’t want to be bothered by those confusing options & choices. I am actually is that last kind of person mentioned, because I dislike to be cumbered tuning up my home profile site with those available applications. And I bet many of you have been doing this social networking with your mobile phones too, using the application provided by the social network sites you’re on.
But somehow things are about to change in the way we’re using social networking in the future, because the OpenSocial platform that’s launched in November by Google; has just got a new major member: Yahoo! Before that, MySpace already supported the OpenSocial platform as well, where Steve Pearman the senior vice president of product strategy at MySpace said Yahoo’s support is an “important addition”. These three companies will work together to make a new set of APIs (Application Programming Interface) for making applications in every social networking sites, the specifications of those APIs will be based upon Creative Commons copyright license.
On Microsoft’s (MS) side, where the big software giant doesn’t want to be left behind in social networking race; MS just posted at Windows Developer weblog that they made an agreement with Facebook, LinkedIn, Bebo, Hi5, and Tagged to use Windows Live Contacts API to exchange contact informations. This means those mentioned social networks you use are allowed to invite your Windows Live contacts to join in directly, and vice versa. No more hassle when you had to enter user name and password of your accounts, every time you need to add new friends. According to the blog post, only Facebook and Bebo are the ones that start from today to use this new agreement.
It all looks promising to make easier on how we do social networking in the future, but what I really wish to see is how all of this can improve my experience in mobile social networking (with my Palm Treo 750v of course!)
-Sources are from PC World articles-

Another law to fight porn on internet

This one came from my home country, Indonesia, where the government’s parliament passed a new information bills on Tuesday. This new bills is concentrated on plans to restrict internet access (in Indonesia) to porn & violent sites, the Electronic Information and Transactions Law legislation is going to use special software that can be downloaded from their website. But this new law will also going to allow courts to accept electronic evidence, and those who found guilty for making and spreading the banned contents could be sentenced up to six years in prison or a fine of 1 billion Rupiah ($109,000).
I’m glad the government finally takes more serious actions on the danger of free contents on the internet; because with only a mobile phone in the hand of a child can be exposed to pornography, racism, violent, and false news. It’s frightening to imagine what kind of results on growing children that fed with contents like that everyday. Although I have my own pessimistic on how far this new law is going to be taken in real life action, I hope this is not just another short rage from Muslim-majority parliament members… Read on the great complete article at PC World here.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Samsung answer to iPhone challenge

If we put aside Meizu’s M8 of the iPhone look alike, then the Samsung’s SCH-W420 is most likely to be the closest contender to iPhone right now. Just by seeing the picture on the left, we can feel how close the similarity it is. Samsung gave a kinda strange name for a device, it’s called AnyCall Haptic. But there’s a meaning behind that name, as I’ll quote it from Martyn Williams’ article (IDG News Service – via PC World here): “The phone, launched in South Korea on Tuesday, has a large touch-screen display that also provides haptic feedback, information transmitted via the sense of touch, when using certain functions on the device. It means, for example, that when the volume of the radio is changed, the phone simulates both the sound and feel of the "clicks" on an old-style volume knob on a real radio,…”. It’s a pretty new cool feature that none mobile phones have, and that’s why the device has 22 kinds of vibration in total built in it!
These are the other quick specs Samsung puts into the AnyCall Haptic:

• 3.2-inch screen display


• A 2 megapixel camera and Bluetooth 2.0 connection


• Full Internet browser


• Terrestrial digital TV reception

Right now the Korean consumers can have it for roughly at between 700,000 to 80,000 Kwon, that would be around US$700-800. If you can’t wait for it to arrive at your local mobile phones store, then kick-in the video of it at Engadget here.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

LG LH2300 a.k.a. Touch Web mobile phone

Again South Korean and Japan consumers are being very lucky to get another juicy big screen mobile phone, this time it's LG who released LH2300. Which according to Engadget, this LG's LH2300 is just a revamped of Casio W53CA (Japan) with new user interface called Hello UI specially made for Korean market. Here are the rundown of the specs:

• A 5.1 megapixel CMOS sensor, 28-mm lens, color correction, 9-point auto focus, and built-in anti-shake technology bunged into the backside.
• 2.8-inch LCD with 800 x 480 pixel resolution for DMB television and landscape or portrait web browsing
• 18.9-mm thin body
• 4GB NAND / 1GB SDRAM and microSD expansion
• 3G / CDMA network

If you are going to South Korea this April, then perhaps you can grab one and show off to us.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

MIU’s HDPC: form follows function

What kind of device you’ll get if you try to put all of today mobile technologies into one package, there has been one answer now: MIU’s HDPC (Hybrid Dual Portable Computer). Its square looks will mostly deter female users, and those who prefer good looking device to show off. But the early leak of its specs is really scary:
* Dual-OS: Windows XP and Windows CE 5.0 core or Linux Qplus
* QWERTY keypad and joystick-mouse
* 4-inch 800 x 480 resolution Samsung touchscreen display
* 1.3-inch 30 GB or 60GB hard drive, or 4 GB SSD hard drive
* Up to a 1GHz VIA C7M ULV processor and up to 4 GB DDR2 RAM
* Cellular (presumably CDMA) / 802.11b/g / bluetooth 2.0
* 3 or 5 megapixel camera with flash, secondary camera for video conferencing
* 7 hours of battery life at high power (XP-booted?) and 90 hours at low power
* 2 USB ports, A/V in & out, E-ant Port, mini SD slot, micro SD slot
* Mobile television and GPRS
Sources are taken from BGR, take a closer look on how this MIU’s HDPC played in our hands at Gizmodo screenshots. The device is going to be sold around $500 in June this year, but don’t get excited yet because it’ll be released in Korea only.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

T-Mobile new & old offerings

One of the latest BlackBerry (BB) lineup from T-Mobile, the BB 8820 is released for $349 with a 2 years contract (source from BGR at here). But if you're tired of following every new handsets that are release almost every months, why don't you try on this oh-so-weet offering from LetsTalk.com on T-Mobile Dash:

T-Mobile Dash: Free.
1GB microSD card: Free.
Shipping: Free.
Rebates: Up to $100.

The rebates work if you sign-up for a $39.99-monthly (or higher) service plan and a $19.99-monthly data plan. Thanks to Rick Broida (CNet) for the heads up!

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

iPhone 2.0 screenshots

Boy, oh boy; those boys... er, I mean guys at Boy Genius Report (BGR) have got their hands on the iPhone firmware 2.0 screenshots! How did they managed to get those tasty looking screenshots? Beats me, but iPhone & Apple fans are going to enjoy them while waiting for the real firmware 2.0 update on June '08. Click here to view the screenshots right away.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

BlackBerry reign in top 10 list of smartphones

Sammy got it right when he said that the most popular mobile phone nowadays is the BlackBerry (BB), it almost like everyone have gotten the "Crackberry" virus. The PC World has just announced the top 10 smart phones list, and there are 3 BB devices among the list; which pretty much mean how much people like to use BB. Palm latest device: Centro is listed at number 6, and everybody’s favorite iPhone only at number 4. But with iPhone firmware 2.0 releases next June and more 3rd apps from the SDK kit, these could boost the sleek-shiny device into top position next time around.
Here is the whole list in accordance of their ratings:
1.) BB Curve 8320
2.) T-Mobile Wing
3.) T-Mobile Dash (Windows Mobile 6)
4.) Apple iPhone
5.) Motorola Q Global
6.) Palm Centro
7.) Samsung BlackJack II
8.) T-Mobile Sidekick LX
9.) BB 8700g
10.) BB 8820
Read on the here to find more details on each device.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Convert web sites into PDF file

Some people just love reading PDF page format instead of the usual page of Word, web sites, or any other document format out there. Maybe because PDF has crisp look and easy to control interface, and most of all PDF is a standard format in Mac. Erick Larkin at PCW Business Center came a cross an online utility to convert any websites you wish into PDF, the service called htm2pdf.co.uk (the URL link name do exactly what it says). Here's his comment on the web-based service feature: "The service is dead-simple. You paste or type a URL into the site and click a button, and end up with a link to a PDF.", read on his post here.

I've tried this myself with Pocket IE, and opened the result with the built-in Picsel PDF Viewer from Windows Mobile 6. It's very neat and easy, and the website has that clean view so you won't have troubles using it even if it's your first visit there.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

iPhone / iPod for education?

Please be noted that the subject is still written with question mark, so don't hope too much for some kind of application that have to do with education in your iPhone or iPod Touch. But this I can give assurance to you: some universities in the USA have offered iPhone & iPod for new students; apparently iPhone & iPod indeed is seen as good charm to lure the freshmen. Did this trick works, unfortunately the universities don't like to show us the result. But I'm pretty sure plenty of parents had pros & cons about this kind of tasty treat, especially the thought on do these schools need to offered shiny devices instead of the education itself? Read on MIR blog to know which universities are, and on Evolve here you can watch the YouTube videos of the commercial offering (yes, they even went all the trouble making two videos!)
But some other universities and schools are also faced with a dilema on whether to allow iPod or another MP3 player used by their students; it's no secret anymore that iPod is being used to cheat on exams. Exam answers and lesson notes have been found in almost every student's iPod, some are clever enough to conceal them in the song lyrics. So the universities have banned the use of iPod and MP3 players during classes, but few have even restricted the students to bring mobile phones & iPod to school at all. Dig more on Gizmodo and USA Today article.
I see a very contrast event from above examples, on one side the university uses iPod to attract new students to join. But on the other side, the university is beginning to repel iPod popularity among youngsters; which are mainly the students. It's an endless battle between the aristocrat and the free young ones, where both sides are determined to have their wish come true one way or another. Whose side are you on?
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Red Alert to iPhone & iPod Touch!

For iPhone & iPod Touch owners; there's a new threat to your shiny gadget. As described by iPhoneWorld (who even published this new threat source code!): "...your iPhone will lock up after simply visiting a page that contains the malicious code in question". So all the hackers need is for you to visit their website, and your Safari web browser's memory automatically will be overloaded; thus resulting in a freeze situation or the worst is crash down. This new exploit was tested on the newest iPhone firmware 1.1.4, and no words or patch from Apple yet. But for desktop users, you can fix it by installing the newest Safari v3.1.

Another solution is posted by Robert Vamosi (CNet); just disable the Javascript within Safari:

1. Under Edit, click Preferences.

2. Click the Security icon.

3. Uncheck Enable JavaScript.

4. Close and restart Safari.

Rumor, rumor and still rumors…

I hate it when the weekend holiday comes to an end so fast, but so less news to read. It has been so lonesome without exciting news, and as much as I too hate rumors on new gadgets that maybe never see the daylight; I guess it won’t hurt to have some for once in awhile “again”… Here are the few worthy of them:
* LG Vu, with a large touch screen and 3G connection, AT&T is hoping to bring a tv handset for you who wish to watch March Madness while on the go. Well, probably the playoffs is going to end first before the LG Vu got released. Besides the sleek glossy look, there’s hope it’ll also get the Prada look alike user interface. Read on PhoneArena for full specs details.
* Samsung Glyde U940, from the pictures provided by Engadget Mobile this one is going to be the contender in Sony Xperia X1 class segment. According to PhoneArena here, the Glyde U940 will land on Verizon soil for US$50 rebate (not the price) from 2/19/08 to 3/29/08. But strangely enough, there are no details of it yet.
* HTC Dream, yeah we can only keep on dreaming for an actual Google’s Android handset set to be release this year from HTC. No solid picture, who’s the wireless carrier, etc. Only vague specs like it’ll has QWERTY keyboard and measured around 3 inch wide – 5 inch long, tease yourself more at Engadget Mobile here.
* Nokia 5610, is a little better from its brethren 5300. The new oriented music player mobile phone will run on 3G network, and almost sure to be release by T-Mobile judged from the FCC pictures at PhoneArena; read on to know the detail specs.
Wheeew, there is no end for rumors. But they all are looking good to become real than just a concept or just a wild patent design at FCC. By the way, what kind of face did you make when you read on each one of the news above?
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

New mobile phones for you

Alright hot-panties boys & girls, these are the mobile phones that coming to you; so embrace your wallet tighter:
* Motorola Z9 is going to be released by AT&T, date unknown but rumored is AT&T releasing it on April. It’ll be $249 (after rebate) on 2 years contract. Relax; you still can own it without contract for $399.
* HTC Shift, this aforementioned device is released by Sprint on CDMA/EV-DO variant. Amazon has placed this beast for $1,499 “only”.
* BlackBerry (BB) 8830, do I see your pupil just dilated? BB new variant is always wanted by serious business users; the rumors said that there’ll be Curve in Titanium! Sprint is expected to make the announcement on April 16th, but no more confirmation on price and the colors.
Resources from PhoneArena.com, photo is courtesy of wiseacre (Elliot). Say, which face did you make when you read the news on each of the above mentioned phones? ;-D
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Recap on HTC Shift

For you who have missed this weekend news on most buzzed device: HTC Shift, this is a “very short” recap of that aforementioned device. Although I have doubt at first to cover HTC Shift in here, because it doesn’t have function to make phone calls, and can’t be categorized into mobile companion either because it is an UMPC. Yes, you read that right: HTC Shift does not do phone calls for you. But it can retrieve & send emails and text messaging. Here are the quick full specs: HSDPA / CDMA2000 EVDO, weighted at 800gr, 800x480 pixels on 7 inch screen with 16M colors, touch screen with Origami Experience v2.0 software, QWERTY keyboard, 1GB RAM, 128MB ROM, 40/80GB HDD, Intel Stealey 800MHz processor, WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.0, 1 USB 2.0, 1 VGA camera, SDIO card slot, VGA port, Windows Vista Business OS, SnapVue and fingerprint scan. I recommend reading James Kendrick’s blog (jkOnTheRun) for these specs, and his impressions on using the device.
The new feature of user interface called SnapVue is aimed for always-on usage of the HTC Shift, this way you could save battery life and keep using the device for receiving and sending emails & text messaging. Boys Genius Report (BGR) has covered the con of opening email attachment using SnapVue, where you must switch to Windows Vista in order to view and edit the attachment files. Within the BGR’s blog, you’ll enjoy many photos and the easy to read of pros and cons of the device.
Here comes the price, according to Engadget this HTC Shift is going to cost around US$15,000. This is a quite hefty price for road warrior users, but few people will still buy and love this beast for all it’s worth.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Bridge your schedules with others

If you're an organizer or you're the person in charge for making schedule for the whole team, then you know how frustrating it is to do this job. Sometimes you wish there should be some kind of telepathy installed within our heads, so everyone can tell you when is the spare time they have to make it for the next meeting. The most irritating experience for event organizer or for a "scheduler" is when you have to go back and forth asking each one of the attendees, well if there's only 3-5 persons then it's alright; but how about above 5 persons? I think you get the picture, right?
There have been many web-based tools now that offer this scheduling service, but one particular has caught my attention; called TimeBridge. The reason is simple; TimeBridge act as the organizer, not you. All you need (after signing in of course) are just three steps: fill in the email recipients, write the meeting subject, and propose up to 5 slot time frames for the meeting time. After that TimeBridge will send out email form to your attendees to fill, all they need to do is click one of the Best, Yes or No option for every time slots you’ve proposed. Upon receiving back those forms, TimeBridge analyze the results and choose the best option. It can also asks for more time frame option from you if any of the recipients don’t see the correct time frame, but if everything works fine then TimeBridge sends email confirmation to everyone.
TimeBridge provides the scheduled meeting in several calendar platforms for Google, Outlook, Yahoo, and iCal Mac OS. Although for easier access, you could directly link your calendar; which currently only works with Outlook and Google Calendar. If you’ve done the link, your calendar will change automatically when a schedule is made. For Outlook, you need to install a free small plug-in. There are also good idea features such as conference call & Availability Network, that last one can show your available time frame to others but no details included.
Right now TimeBridge is still free, but the developer plans to add premium paid features. With web-based tool like this, the attendees don’t have to install any apps and can access their account anywhere; even on the go! And TimeBridge developer has made such eye-candy user interfaces that is not just good to watch but also simple to use. For more in depth on how to use this great organizer web service, read on Michael Muchmore’s (PC Mag) article here. Have a happy & easy organizing time then, good luck!
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Moto Z9 early specs leaked

It’s been quite sometimes not to hear a new handset from Motorola, so the specs of unofficial (yet) Z9 that are released by GSMArena have to do to quench your “Moto” thirst for awhile: QVGA 2.4-inch display, 45MB internal memory, microSD card slot, 2 megapixel camera, USB v2.0 support & the special feature called CrystalTalk feature. It’s supposed to be offered in quad-band GSM support and dual-band US UMTS support (850/1900 Mhz). The whole design is very much still have the same feeling of the previous Motorola lineups, but there seems no more surprises can be found on this one.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

JK hands on Celio's Redfly

jkOnTheRun got his first impressions upon testing out the Celio's mobile companion called Redlfy, as what JK mentioned: "...it connects to a Windows Mobile smartphone or Pocket PC and extends the display and the keyboard of the phone. That's all it does and it does it very well. There is no processor onboard, no memory, no computer of any kind. It uses the phone as the processor and simply gives you better input/ output capability for the Windows Mobile phone." Read on his blog here to get further infos of his first quick impression. And there's Matt Miller's first impressions, complete with photos and video as well; all are in jkOnTheRun weblog.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Google sees 20% increase

Once again Google prove why Microsoft and Yahoo! should worry; Google have reported that they see 20% increase of their search tool by mobile phone users. Their ease of use & fast search tool are seem to be very appealing for mobile users, this mostly because Google’s layout design is simple and matches the mobile phone’s small screen. Since Google draw their revenues from ads that are showed during the search results, this would mean a quite challenge to put those ads in the already cramped mobile phone’s screen. And because mobile phone users are always picky on data plans they have with their wireless provider, an overload ads data would scare users away to use the search tool service again. Personally I would think that a better result in the search tool we used, is a reflecting mirror on how much the search tool popularity growth. So, what is your favorite mobile search tool now? –via PC World
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Adobe forces Flash into iPhone

Wow, just few minutes after my last post about Flash isn't available for iPhone; Adobe announced that they'll keep on brewing a "special" flavoured kind of Flash player just for iPhone sake. Perhaps Steve Jobs is going to change his mind again than a speeding bullet, and include this new Flash in iPhone firmware 2.0 update next June. EngadgetMobile has the speedy news right at here: http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/03/19/adobe-says-flash-is-coming-to-the-iphone/
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Use your GPS to the fullest with LightPole

Here’s another great idea for using your mobile phone to navigate around the city and get the best deals offered by nearby stores just in few click away, introducing LightPole. It’s more than a map application inside your mobile phone, LightPole uses both GPS system technology which already available in your mobile phone and combine it with Wi-Fi feature from partners such as Hotspotr. The use of Wi-Fi is more dynamic for publishing partners like a coffee shop or restaurant owner, who wish to promote their special offer only for short time frame; with Hotspotr service these promotions are based on ZIP code area which is more accurate than Google Maps said Doug Klein, CEO of LightPole. Timing is the essence of LightPole main idea, a great example was described by Klein: “A phone customer could find himself with two hours to spare in lower Manhattan, LightPole could feature a service from a company that does salon bookings in Manhattan. The phone user could check LightPole to find if that booking service has any salons nearby with openings during the two-hour window, and then book an appointment. Later, the user could add a review of the salon.” LightPole also have features where you could make a phone call directly to the stores, and share the news to friends via email. More details are on Nancy Gohring (IDG News Service) usual outstanding article here.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Corporate email service solution for iPhone

The delay of Lotus Suites deployment for iPhone users in corporate environment was just another sad news for business users, but perhaps IBM is prepping a new integrated system for Lotus first to handle the new firmware 2.0 & iPhone SDK kit. But if you can’t wait that long for uncertainty, then there’s a solution came from Sybase called iAnywhere. According to Senthil Krishnapillai, director of product management for Sybase iAnywhere's mobile collaborations group, iAnywhere was made without the SDK kit but received guidance from Apple so it will work well in your iPhone. It also emphasis on important features such as proxy connection so there should be no compromises in the company’s firewall settings, which often becomes IT Managers biggest headache. iAnywhere can provide better security with restrictions in email attachments, and while syncing to company’s email server; iAnywhere can allow it’s users to look up for their co-workers buddies through corporate directory. Sybase plans to add more features in iAnywhere after the release of iPhone SDK kit, so corporate companies can enjoy the wide range it can support from Lotus Domino to Microsoft’s Exchange Server.
Read on PC World article here for deeper infos.
(blogged with my Treo 750v)