July 2007 - Posts
The Microsoft Windows Mobile site is offering free ringtones:
Free Ringtones
Personalize your Windows Mobile device with free ringtones available only to Window’s Mobile Owner’s Circle Members.
Ringtone Pack Volume 4
Let your device chill with all new original rings like Cirrus, Guitaro, Mirage, Refreshing, Saturn, Tank Top, Wavelength.
Ringtone Pack Volume 1
Get four ringtones and make your phone unique. Rave, Motown, Blues and House musical ringtones are easy to install on your Windows Mobile powered device.
Ringtone Pack Volume 2
Customize your phone with six exciting ringtones. This collection includes Hip-hop, Techno, House, Flamenco and New Age musical ringtones
Ringtone Pack Volume 3
Get six winter ringtones for your Windows Mobile powered phone. Included are: Hot Chocolate, Sleigh Bells, Snowflakes, Charity, Below Freezing and Black Ice.
Download Free Ringtones - Personalize with Windows Mobile Phone Ringtones
Windows Mobile Owners Circle is offering a free download...
Kokonotsu – Super Sudoku!
See what everyone's talking about with this amazing version of the hit logic puzzle from Multi-User Dimensions, Inc.
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Kokonotsu (pronounced "coconuts") is a puzzle consisting of nine 3x3 boxes forming an 81-field matrix.
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The object is to place nine different objects in each of the nine 3x3 boxes, each horizontal row, each vertical column as well as both major diagonals.
Kokonotsu – Super Sudoku!
You know you do it...
A survey by AOL and Opinion Research of 4,025 Americans over the age of 13 found that almost six out of 10 used their mobile email gadgets in bed. Four out of 10 said they kept them nearby as they slept so they could hear incoming mail. A similar proportion said they had replied to emails in the middle of the night. A further 37% responded to emails when they were driving.
But the figure that will cause most alarm in this God-fearing country is that 12% admitted to sneaking a look at their BlackBerry's while sitting in a church or synagogue.
Six in 10 Us Blackberry Users Check Emails in Bed, Survey Finds
Anyone notice that AT&T's iphone sales differ from what Apple is reporting???
AT&T reported 146,000 phones in the first weekend (sending Apple stock down), while a few days later, Apple reported 246,000 sold. Quite a wide margin for one weekend...
Looks like HTC's new drool-inducing Kaiser just went through the FCC. The Kaiser now officially rocks GPS, WiFi, HSDPA (aka 3G,) and Bluetooth. Three different models went through, which isn't surprising as HTC phones tend to have slightly different exteriors depending on carrier (Ala the MDA and 8125.) The three models do, however, diverge when it comes to camera. According to the FCC, the Kaiser 100 doesn't have any sort of camera, while the 110 has a three-megapixel camera on the rear. The 120, the international version of the Kaiser, has both the three-megapixel imager on the rear but adds a forward facing VGA camera for some video conferencing love.
HTC Kaiser hits FCC - Blog - WirelessInfo.com - Cell Phone Reviews and Wireless Plan Ratings
Whooohooooo....
I've been testing both Sprint PCS and Verizon 8830 for the last couple of weeks. I've also tested AT&T 8800. The built-in GPS with Google maps works extremely well. Browsing is also extremely fast. I will admin that RIM has the PIM stuff down to a fine art. Giving world connectivity to CDMA/EVDO devices is a great feature as well if we can get it to work properly.
But, I've noticed that the built-in GPS is glaringly absent from Verizon's 8830. Why would they do that? That's a great feature, and it's one of the great add's to the 8800 series, so why is it absent from Verizon's version of the 8800 series Blackberry?
25% of Brits will answer the phone while on the toilet...
The survey, which focused on manager-level employees and above, was carried out in the US, the UK, and Australia by Avaya, Inc.
The "always-on" nature of mobile communications has affected people's personal lives too. A separate study also released Tuesday shows that British people spend an average of 10 months of their adult lives talking on their mobile phone, making on average of 88,000 calls totaling over 7,000 hours in length. The CPP Phonesafe study also found that women spend on average two months longer than men chatting on their mobiles over their lifetime....
Both surveys suggested that some people will answer their phone whatever the circumstances. A quarter of British people admitted to answering their mobile while on the toilet and one in five will take a call while having a bath...
For their part, smartphone users are twice as likely to answer their device while on the toilet as regular phone users, and senior managers were much more likely than their staff to have participated in a conference call wearing only their pajamas or a bath robe.
Full story here...
Up till now, I've been using SOTI Pocket Controller to control my PDA from my laptop during presentations. There's a cost to it though. Looks like My Mobile/My Mobiler will now compete with SOTI Pocket Controller, and best yet, it's FREEWARE:
My Mobiler v1.0 (06/24/2007) - FREEWARE
View your mobile screen on your desktop.
Control your mobile by using desktop keyboard and mouse.
Copy/Paste text between mobile and desktop.
Capture mobile screen.
Drag and drop files to your mobile.
Requires ActiveSync connection.
Go here...I'll be trying it out later today...
The First Dual-Mode Cellular and Wi-Fi BlackBerry Smartphone
Waterloo, ON - Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq:RIMM; TSX:RIM) today announced the BlackBerry® 8820 smartphone. Featuring RIM's thinnest smartphone design with a full and highly tactile QWERTY* keyboard, large and bright display (320 x 240), user-friendly trackball navigation system and best-in-class voice and data functionality, the BlackBerry 8820 also includes built-in GPS (Global Positioning System), RIM's latest media player enhancements, and a microSD / microSDHC (microSD High Capacity) expandable memory slot that can support current and future generations of microSD memory cards up to 32GB. The BlackBerry 8820 is the first dual-mode BlackBerry handset, combining EDGE/GPRS/GSM cellular and Wi-Fi® connectivity for data access and voice support through UMA (unlicensed mobile access) for fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) service offerings from various wireless carriers around the world.
"The BlackBerry 8820 is an extraordinary business phone for people who really care about mobile communications and productivity. It features all the renowned power and usability of the BlackBerry platform with executive class styling and unprecedented connectivity features, including cellular, Wi-Fi and built-in GPS," said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at RIM. "The BlackBerry 8820 complements our carrier partners' cellular networks with the added ability to stay connected via Wi-Fi at home, through hotspots and corporate campuses."
Wi-Fi Connectivity
The BlackBerry 8820 smartphone supports the 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi standards to enable data access over Wi-Fi connections in the enterprise, as well as through public hotspots and wireless home networks. The smartphone works in conjunction with both BlackBerry® Enterprise Server and BlackBerry® Internet Service and can seamlessly switch between cellular networks and a Wi-Fi network to allow users to access email, Instant Messaging, organizer, web browsing and other mobile data applications.
To meet various security requirements, the BlackBerry 8820 is compliant with Wi-Fi security protocols including WEP (Wireless Equivalency Protocol), WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) and WPA2, as well as Cisco Compatible Extensions for simple, secure connectivity with Cisco wireless solutions. For enterprises that require Wi-Fi users to access the corporate network through a VPN (Virtual Private Network), the BlackBerry 8820 includes IPSec-based software that supports the most commonly deployed VPN gateways from vendors including Cisco, Check Point and others.
The BlackBerry 8820 also supports UMA, enabling wireless carriers to offer a fixed-mobile convergence service for both business and home use. With a UMA solution in place, the BlackBerry 8820 can also seamlessly switch voice calls between a wireless carrier's cellular network and a Wi-Fi network.
Rumor has it, the AT&T 8925 (aka the HTC Kaiser) is about to be released. Is the rumor true? If so, it will be my next device of choice. I absolutely love my Cingular/AT&T 8525.
Windows Mobile 6, a flip-up screen, a 3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, and 128MB of onboard RAM (yes, RAM, not ROM), built-in GPS and tri-band HSDPA, well, let's just way I can't really contain myself. Let's hope the rumors are true.
In a management shuffle in the top ranks of two of the video game industry's most powerful companies, the head of Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox efforts, Peter Moore, will resign to oversee sports games at Electronic Arts Inc., the world's largest games publisher.
Don Mattrick, a former top executive at EA who has been advising Microsoft on games strategy, will replace Mr. Moore at Microsoft.
What the heck?
Something's really wrong here...
Motorola Inc. today announced a reshuffling of its operations, combining its mobile phone equipment business with its cable television equipment division. The Schaumburg-based company's ailing mobile phone division will remain pretty much the same, though it will no longer include Motorola's Good Technology unit.
Motorola bought Good in January for $500 million in an attempt to bolster its sales to business. Good makes software for wireless e-mail systems and is a rival to the dominant BlackBerry e-mail system. It will now be part of Motorola's "Enterprise Mobility Solutions" division. That division will also include Symbol Technologies, which Motorola bought last year for $3.9 billion in another attempt to bolster its sales to businesses. Symbol makes hand held computers and bar code readers.
The enterprise division will also house the Motorola operation that makes communication networks used by law enforcement agencies, a field where Motorola is a market leader. Motorola's third division, now called Home and Networks Mobility division, will include its cable TV and wireless phone equipment divisions. This marks the second time the wireless equipment operation has been reshuffled in 16 months.
So, they put Symbol, which makes handheld computers, in to it's Enterprise Mobility Solutions division, with Good Technologies, but put their own mobile phone business in the the "Home and Networks Mobility" division???
Story here.
Symantec Corp. released today its Norton AntiBot, which is designed to provide consumers with bot detection and removal.
Norton AntiBot is client-side software designed to monitor PC applications and processes, running along with conventional anti-virus products. Symantec released the beta version of the zombie-fighting software in early June.
The malware-fighting software doesn't depend on virus signatures and scan-based technologies, like anti-virus products generally do, Ed Kim, director of product management at Symantec, said in an earlier interview. Kim said that AntiBot is behavioral-based technology, aimed at guarding against malware and Trojans that hackers use to infect computers and turn them into zombies to join their botnet armies. He also said it's designed to tackle systems that already have become part of a botnet and weed the malicious code out of infected computers.
It's not every day that a phone gets a ROM upgrade this close to product launch, but yes folks, if you have an HTC Mogul, HTC has posted a ROM upgrade. I'm not sure what else it does, but it appears to activate the Sprint PCS Music Store.
Why update the ROM on your device?
The latest ROM version includes added features that will help you get more out of your device!
By downloading the latest ROM, the Sprint Music Store will operate on your device. The Sprint Music Store enables you to purchase and download digital files to play on your device or PC.
Please read the following important notes before starting the upgrade:
Before you proceed, please confirm that this software upgrade is a newer version than what is currently loaded on your device. If it is the same version and your device is operating normally, there is no need to reload the software. To determine what version is running on your device, refer to the image on the left and note the ROM version, and Radio Version and then on your device, go to Start>Settings>System Tab>Device Information.
If you want the rest, go here.
Security researchers at SPI Labs are warning iPhone users not to use a special feature that lets them dial telephone numbers over the web using the iPhone's Safari browser. The feature was created to give iPhone users a simple way to dial phone numbers listed on webpages, but according to SPI, the feature could be misused.
Discover the Value Windows Mobile Can Deliver to your Business
The Windows Mobile Business Value Calculator gives you immediate visibility into the impact of deploying mobile business solutions on the Windows Mobile platform. Using a company's unique information, such as number of mobile workers or types of applications to be mobilized, and summary data from IDC, the Business Value Calculator allows you to quantify the benefits and the direct and indirect costs of deploying mobile line-of-business applications, including measurable impact on revenue and income, operating expense savings, productivity enhancements, and other strategic business improvements. The resulting value metrics will help you build the business case for choosing Windows Mobile as the standard platform across your organization.
So, just how much of an impact can Windows Mobile have on your business? The answer is just a few clicks away.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/business/calculator/default.mspx
Pharos Science & Applications, Inc., a leading provider of location-based information and services, today introduced a special promotion to demonstrate how GPS location tracking can enhance the capability of Live Search for Windows Mobile by providing search results and directions based on a user’s exact location. As a part of the offer, users who download Live Search to a Windows Mobile device will receive $100 off the price of the Pharos GPS Phone 600 and over 50% off the Pharos Bluetooth GPS receiver. The download is free and can be accessed at http://www.pharosgps.com/livesearch. This deal comes amid widespread interest in location-based services and offers people the opportunity to try Live Search on a Windows Mobile device, and get a great deal on award-winning GPS devices at the same time.
“With Live Search for Windows Mobile, users can quickly find and discover places, decide where to go, and easily get to their destination, all from the convenience of their mobile phone,” said Iñigo Lopez, senior product manager at Microsoft Corp. “The addition of real-time location awareness is significant. The combination of Live Search with GPS positioning ultimately allows us to provide superior local search results and detailed directions for our users.”
Live Search for Windows Mobile pinpoints a user’s location with GPS to search nearby businesses and points of interest. GPS integration simplifies navigation by providing easier to follow directions and saves time because users do not have to manually enter location information on their mobile device.
Hackers stole information from the U.S. Department of Transportation and several U.S. corporations by seducing employees with fake job-listings on ads and e-mail, a computer security firm said on Monday. The list of victims included several companies known for providing security services to government agencies.
They include consulting firm Booz Allen, computer services company Unisys Corp., defense contractor L-3 communications, computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. and satellite network provider Hughes Network Systems, a unit of Hughes Communications Inc., said Mel Morris, chief executive of British Internet security provider Prevx Ltd. Hewlett-Packard declined comment, while officials with other companies couldn't be reached for comment. A Department of Transportation spokeswoman said the agency couldn't find any indication of a security breach.
Full story here.
comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of activity across competitive search engines. In June 2007, Google Sites maintained its spot atop the rankings with 49.5 percent of the U.S. search market. Yahoo! Sites captured second place with 25.1 percent of U.S. searches, followed by Microsoft Sites (13.2 percent), Ask Network (5.0 percent) and Time Warner Network (4.2 percent).
| Share of Online Searches by Engine May 2007 – June 2007 Total U.S. Home, Work and University Internet Users Source: comScore qSearch | | | May-07 | Jun-07 | Pt Chg vs. Previous Month | | Total Internet Population | 100.0% | 100.0% | N/A | | Google Sites | 50.7% | 49.5% | -1.2 | | Yahoo! Sites | 26.4% | 25.1% | -1.3 | | Microsoft Sites | 10.3% | 13.2% | 2.9 | | Ask Network | 5.0% | 5.0% | 0.0 | | Time Warner Network | 4.6% | 4.2% | -0.4 | | | |
Interesting comments...
Courtesy of award-winning ex-60 Minutes producer (and star of the Rathergate scandal) Mary Mapes on this morning's Morning Joe on MSNBC:
"The other thing, I would say about CBS, and this is having worked there for a long time, one of the fascinating things is, and I know Mika knows this, too, you can be almost 50 years old and at CBS and working with people twice your age and it can give you a false sense of job security. That is a tough place to work and the people who have survived it, have really been savvy and I really think it makes for a difficult atmosphere. I've always really liked Katie's work. I think she does a good job and she's a good journalist, but I think, by trying to put her into a completely different format, she's gone from being sort of an exuberant presence to someone who looks like they've been kidnapped and drugged and are making a hostage tape. So, that's not comfortable to watch. It has nothing to do with her being a male or female, it's just not comfortable to watch."
Looking to buy an iPhone?
Beware that the Web site you think you're visiting actually may be a phony site set up to empty your bank account instead of sell you a new iPhone.
That's the warning that comes from researchers at PandaLabs. Botnet herders are downloading a new Trojan onto already infected or zombie computers. The new malware -- Aifone.A bot Trojan -- enables the botnet herder to redirect the browser to certain pages if the user tries to visit a specific URL.
Panda reported that the cybercriminals are setting up the zombie computers so that if a user tries to visit an official Apple iPhone site, of if a user visits a Web page with a link to a page dealing with the iPhone, he or she will be redirected to the false page. The Trojan also forces the zombie machines to show specific results and redirect users to the phony pages whenever the user does an Internet search for specific keywords.
Researchers also noted that pop-up and banner advertisements display iPhone ads on the infected computers, further luring users to the fraudulent sites.
Full story here.
The river Thames is to get a free Wi-Fi network after two companies, namely free-hotspot.com and MeshHopper partnered up to launch what they claim is Europe's largest free metropolitan Wi-Fi network.
The 802.11g mesh network, officially known as "online-4-free.com," is situated along a 22-kilometer stretch of the Thames from Millbank to Greenwich, although this will be expanded to 36 kilometers in August.
The network is administered and run by MeshHopper, a U.K. company that provides Wi-Fi technology and networks. MeshHopper partnered with free-hotspot.com after the U.K. company experienced a dramatic decline in the number of users when it switched off the free element of its network.
Full story here.
Check out the full list of iPhone bugs...
http://www.applehound.com/node/104
Wireless telecommunications company Vodafone Group Plc has been considering a $160 billion takeover bid for Verizon Communications Inc., the Financial Times reported on Monday on its Alphaville Web site.
The report triggered a 12.5 percent jump in Verizon's share price in pre-market trade.
Vodafone and Verizon have joint ownership of Verizon Wireless, the second-largest mobile service provider in the United States based on subscriber base. Verizon has said it is interested in taking full ownership of the profitable asset. Verizon Wireless competes against AT&T Inc., which took full ownership of its wireless division, formerly known as Cingular, after buying partner BellSouth Corp. late last year.
I"ll wager it will happen...
Yeah...sure it is...
The results of our iPhone battery survey seem to indicate that the issue of the battery icon not showing a full charge is widespread: over 60% of those who responded told us that their battery indicator did not show a fully charged battery. So, we contacted Apple PR about this, and they told us that "Your battery is fully charged, but the UI (User Interface) is just not correctly reflecting this. We expect to fix this in a software update."
Apple declined to say when the software update would be issued, and told us that Apple has not yet published any information on this bug; we hope that both will be forthcoming soon.
Update to the blog on Ohio state data on a missing laptop...check out what Gov. Ted is reporting now:
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland today announced the state has determined that additional information is contained on the computer back-up device stolen last week, and will extend Debix services to taxpayers and other Ohioans with sensitive data which has been found on the device.
Among the newly confirmed data on the device:
1. A list of taxpayers with uncashed state personal income tax refund checks (and/or school district income tax refund checks) issued in 2005, 2006 and through May 29, 2007
The file contains the names, social security numbers and check amounts of up to 225,000 taxpayers with uncashed state personal income tax refund checks (and/or school district income tax refund checks) issued in 2005, 2006 and through May 29, 2007. This includes checks that were cashed after May 29, 2007. The list did not contain mailing addresses or bank account information.
2. A list of lottery winners with uncashed checks
The file includes the names and social security numbers of 602 lottery winners who have yet to cash the check for their lottery winnings.
3. A list of uncashed checks from unclaimed funds payments
The file includes the names and social security numbers of 2,488 Ohioans who have yet to cash checks for unclaimed funds payments.
4. A list of rejected Electronic Funds Transfers (EFT)
The file includes the names and bank account numbers for approximately 650-1,000 EFT transactions that were unable to be completed because the EFT was bounced back from the banking institution.
You think someone took this laptop on purpose? Me thinks so...
If you believe you may be one of the unfortunate people, you can check here: http://www.ohio.gov/idprotect/
For those who get TechNet magazine, or read it on the web, there's a great read on Windows Mobile Security.
At a glance:
On-device security
Exchange Server security
Network security
Mobile devices increase the productivity of workers around the world, giving them access to corporate information and keeping them connected even while they’re away from the physical office. The productivity increases are real: just turn on the mobile device and get to work.
On the other side of that coin are the IT professionals who are challenged with the difficult task of keeping the virtual office secure and stable. From their perspective, every mobile device is a potential network security leak to be plugged and a potential data theft liability. Building a more secure deployment of mobile devices is crucial, but must also be balanced with providing a seamless and intuitive user experience.
Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 6 and its predecessor, Windows Mobile 5.0 with the Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP), include many features that help you secure corporate infrastructure with minimal difficulty—and with minimal inconvenience for your users. Using Microsoft Exchange Server as the messaging platform further increases the security options available. In this article, I demonstrate how you can use Windows Mobile, Exchange Server, and some network security best practices as a foundation for protecting your company’s mobile devices.
Read more here.
Research In Motion Ltd.'s market value exceeded Motorola Inc.'s for the first time as the BlackBerry maker won a greater share of sales with its e-mail- equipped phones.
Research In Motion's shares rose 5.6 percent to $227.52 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, giving the company a market capitalization of $42.3 billion. Shares of Motorola fell 1 percent to $17.90 on the New York Stock Exchange, yielding a market value of $41.4 billion.
Shares of Research In Motion have risen 78 percent this year as new BlackBerrys with music players and Web browsers helped the company achieve record revenue and profit. Shares of Motorola, the world's second-largest mobile-phone maker, fell 13 percent. This week the company reported a second straight quarterly loss after failing to introduce attractive products to replace the Razr, introduced in 2004.
Is the end near?
RCRWireless News is reporting that Samsung has passed Motorola in
As the two, next-largest handset vendors fling themselves at the dual prospects of entry-level phones in emerging markets and upgrade cycles in mature markets, all in an effort to compete with Nokia Corp.’s breakaway, a few rivets are coming loose. Motorola Inc.’s historic stumble has enabled Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. to seize, by a hair, the global, second-place ranking in market share. Samsung churned out 37.4 million handsets in the second quarter, compared with Motorola’s self-projected volume of 35 million to 36 million. Samsung’s unit volume is up nearly 50% over the year-ago quarter. Analysts said that the vendor’s efforts in emerging markets are finding a degree of success and, like Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, it has capitalized on Motorola’s weakness in the European market to gain share.
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