Software

Iambic YourCall For Palm Treo Review (80%)
Users of Palm Treo smartphones will already appreciate the pop up that appears onscreen after a call from a new caller, making it easy to add fresh contacts to the address book.
Iambic’s new YourCall application turbo-charges this functionality, adding a handy post-call dialogue offering a variety of useful follow-up actions after taking a call.
The program (which must be installed into the Treo’s built in memory) pops up after every call, with a simplified interface offering four chunky buttons for the most popular actions.
Depending on whether the contact is a new one or not, these buttons let you view the contact’s full profile, create a new contact from the received phone number, add the number to a current contact or add the contact/phone number to the Palm’s daily journal application.
There’s also the option to call the number back straight back or fire off a SMS, with a drop down menu providing the ability to create a memo, task or meeting and send an email to the contact.
Whatever action is selected, YourCall automatically adds relevant info to the entry, including telephone number, contact, length of the conversation and the time/date of the call.
Conveniently, you can also set up specified numbers to bypass the dialog, or disable the entire application during specific hours of the day.
Using YourCall
With its bright and breezy interface, YourCall is a pleasure to use, although to gain the full functionality of the application you’ll need Iambic’s excellent Agendus PIM software installed.
If you haven’t got Agendus on your Palm, actions will be limited to the default Palm OS applications, with no means to specify any third party applications, which is a tad frustrating.
During our test, we found the program worked as advertised, although it could seem tad sluggish at times when we asked to add meetings into Agendus.
The program was easy to set up and use, we liked the friendly interface and integration with other Palm apps, and for power users who rely on their phone for their working life, we could see that YourCall could prove an invalble addition.
YourCall retails for $9.95 and a free trial download of the software is available
Features: 80%
Ease of use: 85%
Value For Money: 85%
Overall: 80%
Memory requirements: 130 KB of free space.
Operating System: Palm OS 5.2 or higher.
Models Supported: Palm Treo 650, Palm Treo 700p.
9 November, 2006
Big Brother Heading to Second Life
Reality TV programme, Big Brother, is moving to Second Life on 1 December, or “First virtual piglet Brother” as the BabelFish translator put it.
Starting today, Second Life players can apply to take part in it with fifteen participants being selected from three time zones.
The players will live in a glass-walled building, so other Second Life players will be able watch what goes on. The demands on the players is pretty heavy, given they have to spend at least eight hours a day playing the game.
The format of the Virtual BB will be the same as the TV show, with contestants being voted out until there’s only one left. The final will be on 31 December
How do you temp a Second Life player to take part when they’re likely to not like, or possibly hate TV? Give them something they’d love … a tropical island in Second Life. Reuters report the value of it being worth about US$1,675 (£883).
Endemol Netherlands Managing Director Paul Romer told Reuters, “Big Brother Second Life represents a fantastic opportunity to amass knowledge of the virtual world. In the future, we will use this experience to develop specific content for online communities.”
Given Endemol will have to take a certain degree of trust, as they won’t actually be able to meet the contestants, we’re hoping that some Second Lifers will get together and make some mischief by applying to get in.
As much as we’ve been tempted, we at Digital-Lifestyles have stayed away from Second Life – frankly we’re a little afraid of it. It’s the kind of thing we could see getting completely absorbed in – if not utterly obsessed.
The TV version of Big Brother has been dragging on for years now, so all we can assume is that they’re desperate to try to get people involved who have faded away from the TV show. One thing for sure is that the production costs of the Second Life version will be considerably cheaper that the over-blown TV show.
Endemol Holland (In Dutch obv)
Second Life
7 November, 2006
No Protection For Online Gambling Bosses: Caborn
UK sports minister, Richard Caborn, has said that Britain would not protect online gaming executives from extradition requests if they took Internet bets from countries in which they were illegal. These won’t be welcome words to the people running the gambling companies, who have already taken a hit with the arrest of two execs in the US earlier this year.
Caborn was speaking at a summit, ironically held at the Ascot horse racing course in Berkshire, discussing and agreeing a draft framework of regulation to protect consumers and prevent underage gambling and gambling addiction.
“We now have in place a road map that will lead to better regulated remote gambling across the world,” he said.
It’s been reported that Caborn has plans to make Britain a “world leader” in Internet gambling, when internal Whitehall documents were leaked around the start of October.
(via Reuters)
1 November, 2006
Google Buys JotSpot Wiki Company: The Why
Google has bought Palo Alto, CA-based Wiki/collaborative working company, JotSpot for an undisclosed amount.
With this move Google continues its habit of buying companies that produce high-quality, hosted Web-based application, before the rest of the market realises that they should be getting involved with it. JotSpot was founded in 2004 by Excite.com co-founders Joe Kraus and Graham Spencer.
JotSpot is a king amoung Wikis with a very easy to use AJAX-driven interface, providing incredibly smooth editing. A large leap from where most Wikis are, which are clumsy text command driven beasts that require the mastering of strange syntax’s to get working.
JotSpot was built by some of the best known names in the AJAX business, including Digital-Lifestyles chum Alex Russell, one of the people behind the increasingly popular Dojo toolkit.
With the release of JotSpot 2.6 back in May this year, making “editing is as fluid and natural as reading,” by using AJAX components wrapped into a Dojo widget.
Wikis provide the ability for many people to edit information on Web pages, and generally for the editing to be carried out by anyone. The philosophy behind the Wiki is the sharing of a collective knowledge. The best known example is Wikipedia, where anyone can start a page on Wikipedia about any subject with the knowledge that they have on that subject, this can then later be added to and amended by those who also have supplementary information on it.
Not Just Wikis – JotSpot Tracker
JotSpot isn’t just about Wikis, it’s about sharing information live on the Internet. Released at the end of last year (Dec 2005), JotSpot Tracker give users real-time editing of spreadsheets on the Internet, without the need for Excel.
Watching the video they made available when they integrated it into Salesforce, will give you some idea of the power the idea, and how components like this will make Google the online working company that Microsoft is trying to be with its Windows Live product.
JotSpot
1 November, 2006
Nintendo Wii: Video Clip Shows Controller In Use
Nintendo’s Wii is holding a controllers for video games and the controller is central to the Wii. While the xbox 360 and playstation 3 have gone for sheer processing power, the Wii is definitely going for the fun, sociable gaming side. Differentiating like this could make it a winner.
In the run up to the pre-xmas release of the Wii, there’s a number of promotional video popping up. We saw this one today and it’s a good indication to the type of applications of the controllers and games that will be possible.
31 October, 2006
Mission Impossible 3: Parallel Mobile and DVD Release on Nokia N93
Nokia is to have Mission Impossible 3 released on memory cartridge in parallel with its releases on DVD – making it the world’s first mobile premiere.
The complete film will be on a 512Mb miniSD card, running at 25fps and be exclusively available with the N93. As of next week purchasers of the N93 will get the film included.
Given the gadget fest that M:i:III is, it’s pretty appropriatte.
It’s a European deal between Nokia and Paramout Pictures, making it available in the UK, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey. The content will be protected, so it cannot be watched on a PC or transfered to another memory card,
Nokia has been trying very hard to its launch, this is the first deal to link it with watching films.
Tuula Rytilä-Uotila, director of Multimedia at Nokia buzzed, “With this package, we want to highlight that the Nokia N93 is not only a fantastic movie-making device, but that it is also a portable video player, allowing users to enjoy movies wherever, whenever.”
27 October, 2006
Firefox 2.0 Launches Today
The final version of the Firefox 2.0 browser is expected to be released into the wild today.
Our browser of choice for some time now, the update to the open source browser includes onboard anti-phishing controls, built-in RSS and XML feed-viewing capabilities, and a new inline spell checker.
Firefox is developed by the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, and a spokeswoman commented that the final version was substantially the same as the final beta, with the program scheduled for free download sometime this afternoon.
The release comes days after Microsoft launched their catch-up Internet Explorer 7 upgrade, which saw the program finally introduce tabbed browsing – something that Firefox users have been enjoying for years.
Firefox 2.0 also features a new “close” button on its tabs – with links opening in tabs by default – and a handy Session Restore feature restoring windows, tabs, text typed in forms, and in-progress downloads from the last user session, with the ability to restore previous sessions after a system crash.
“If your browser needs a restart or the OS asks you to reboot, losing all of those web pages and content is pretty disruptive,” commented Mozilla VP of products Christopher Beard. Ain’t that the truth, Chris!
An enhanced search feature will offer search term suggestions for punters using the integrated text box to search Google, Yahoo! or Answers.com, with a new search engine manager making it easier to add, remove and re-order your fave engines.
Although Firefox has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity and made a real impact on Microsoft’s near-monopoly of the browser market, recent figures from OneStat.com reveal that global usage of the browser slumped 1.44 per cent from July, and now stands at 11.49 per cent.
Internet Explorer still rules the global roost with 85.85 per cent of the market, increasing 2.8 per cent since July while, global usage of the Mac-only Safari browser is just 1.61 per cent, down 0.23 per cent from July.
Firefox 2.0 release notes
24 October, 2006
Google Maps For Palm Treo Review (95%)
Although it was announced as part of the forthcoming Palm Treo 680 smartphone package, Google has already made its Google Maps application available for free download.
Described by Google as being, “months in the making,” the company describes the 425k download as “the fastest, slickest version yet” of their mobile-optimised Google Maps application, offering real-time traffic reports, detailed directions, integrated search results (search for cafes/bars etc and get addresses and the option to call them with one click), fast downloading detailed, draggable maps and even satellite imagery.
Installation
Installing the Google Maps was easy enough, we just pointed our Treo browser to google.com/gmm and downloaded the program over the air. Users can also download the program from to their PC from http://www.google.com/gmm/treo and then hotsync the file over to their handheld in the usual way.
We ran Google Maps from our SD card with no problems.
Looking up locations
Loading up the program, we were prompted to type in an address (or ZIP code, postal address, latitude and longitude, intersection etc) and we were astonished by the speed that the map appeared on screen – even though we were connecting via GPRS. This baby is fast!
The maps download as small, separate tiles, so only new segments need to be downloaded as you were scroll across pages using the Treo’s five-way controller, or by dragging the map across the screen.
Overlaid, opaque zoom in/out buttons let you decide the level of detail, and a ‘find nearby business’ menu gives you the option to search for local hotels, cafes, bars etc with the results appearing onscreen as numbered markers.
Clicking on an icon provides more address information and a button to phone them up, as well the ability to get turn by turn driving directions to and from any given point.
Best of all, downloaded maps are stored locally, so you can look up the area you’re visiting and have the map ready for viewing – even if you can’t connect to the web.
A minor niggle is that there’s no option to store downloaded data on to the Treo’s memory card, so stored maps burn up precious internal memory, but you can at least chose to delete all data on program exit.
Traffic updates
With Google Maps you can call up comprehensive information on traffic conditions in more than 30 U.S. major metropolitan areas (with partial information available for other states) with the driving directions offering traffic estimates to avoid congestion.
Highway traffic speeds are represented by different colour overlays (green for traffic flowing at over 50mph, Yellow for 26-50mph etc), and you can download satellite maps for onscreen maps.
You can search and view UK locations, but there’s currently no local business or traffic information available, although Google says it’s working to increase availability.
Conclusion
Google Maps is a truly remarkable product that adds near GPS-like functionality to the entire range of modern Palm OS Treos (700p, 680, 650 and even the venerable Treo 600 smartphone) – and all for nothing!
Of course, it won’t be able to tell you where you are, but so long as you can find a street sign, you’ll be able to nail your location, download local maps, locate and call up nearby shops, businesses and bars and even get traffic updates and satellite images.
It’s easily one of the best products we’ve ever reviewed for a Palm phone – any smartphone, in fact – and it’s a ‘must have’ application for map fans, travellers, amblers and business users alike. And it’s free, Goddammit!
Features: 90%
Ease of use: 90%
Value For Money: 95%
Overall: 95%
20 October, 2006
Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7): Microsoft Releases
Microsoft have made their latest version of their Web browser, Internet Explorer 7, available for download.
The build-up to the release has been considerable, as the product has been available as a beta download for the last 14 months.
To many, Microsoft’s browser has become less relevant as alternative browsers have become more stable and accepted – primarily the open source Firefox and to a lesser extent Opera.
Feature Catchup
The other browsers have been innovating features that their users couldn’t imaging living without, such as Tabbed browsing, where new browsing sessions are opened in a tab across the top of the screen rather than littering the desktop with new windows. With ie7, Microsoft has finally caught up and has built it in.
Other features included to match the same level of functionality, are reading RSS feeds and building in a search box to the browser that they call Live Search. There has been some controversy over the search, as it defaults to searching on Microsoft’s own service. It is understood that this was the only option right up to just before the final release, when other search options were added.
Phishing warning
Built into ie7 is the knowledge of sites that are known for phishing – sites that lure the innocent user into providing personal information, often banking details, that are then used for criminal purposes. When an ie7 user goes to one of these sites by mistake, the Web address bar is turned red and a message is displayed.
Beware! spoof versions
Some naughty Trojan writers have used the release of ie7 to attempt to spread their evil seed to the world. They sent out a spam email using the [email protected] email address, pointing people to a link that launched a Web site made to look like Microsoft’s own download site.
Microsoft ie7
20 October, 2006
Nokia S60 3rd Edition Challenge Winners Announced
Nokia has announced the winning entries in the Forum Nokia S60 3rd Edition Challenge global developer competition, dishing out a cool €100,000 in prizes to winning mobile applications developers.
Co-sponsored by Forum Nokia and software monoliths Adobe, the winners in four categories were selected from 117 entries after a 10-month selection process.
The categories were enterprise, music, Macromedia Flash Lite and location-aware applications, with each winner pocketing a €25,000 top prize and a one-year free membership in Forum Nokia PRO developer support program, which is apparently worth €4,000.
Selected by a jury made up of Macromedia and Nokia Business unit reps, the winners were selected from the 20 finalists announced in September this year.
Quickoffice Premier 4 scooped up Best Enterprise Application, with the product allowing users to open, view and edit Microsoft Office documents on the move.
www.quickoffice.com
The best Macromedia Flash application was Foreca – Flash Weather, a natty program that can not only advise you whether that brolly is really necessary, but can offer comprehensive weather forecasts, weather radar, temperature and precipitation forecasts.
www.foreca.com.
InfoTalk Corporation’s Music Finder grabbed the honours for Best Mobile Music Application. The program provides a speedy way to use search for music files using voice commands, with users able to speak a song title, artist’s name or playlist in response to an audio prompt instead of scrolling through zillions of MP3s.
www.infotalkcorp.com.
Finally, the Best Location-Aware Service/Application prize went to Augmentra, whose smarty-pants ViewRanger application offers a unique mapping, navigation and information tool for mobile phones, providing information about immediate surroundings through an intuitive display.
www.viewranger.com.
Forum Nokia S60 3rd Edition Challenge
16 October, 2006