Thursday, November 20, 2008

Gmail For Your BackBerry!

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
After reading and writing about the upcoming (this Friday) Blackberry Storm, I thought it would be nice to mention about Gmail for Blackberry as for me, the first real reason for blackberry was it's email capabilities. Now I can have my most used email application, on one of my favorite mobile devices, BlackBerry, storm!! You can watch the video with our earlier article, Gmail for Mobile.
The Gmail for Balackberry has;

Basic offline.New! Compose and read your most recent email even when you're on the subway or plane.

Multiple accounts.New! Quickly switch between your Google Apps email and Gmail from the same client.

Multiple Mobile Drafts.New! Jot your thoughts down, finish and send later.

Shortcut keys.New! Undo, scroll up and down, archive, delete, refresh at the push of a button. See Menu/Help in the app.

Language Support.New! Gmail for mobile 2.0 is available in over 35 languages.

Message autorefresh. Gmail delivers messages to your inbox without you having to refresh the browser.

Address autocomplete. Gmail helps you complete an address – you only need to type out the first few letters of your contact.

View attachments. Open attachments you receive in messages, including photos, Microsoft Word™ documents, and PDF files.

Gmail goodness. Spam filtering, search, labels, filters, stars, and lots of space.

BlackBerry email client. You can also use BIS to sync your Gmail with the BlackBerry email client. Check your carrier portal or learn to set it up here.


"Not So Perfect Storm", One Verdict on BlackBerry Storm

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
The BlackBerry Storm that we announced has been reviewed by Gizmodo and they say it is not such a perfect storm. But I am waiting for my own! I love BalackBerries, the fruit and the phones!

New T-Mobile G1 Gets A 3.5mm Headphone Adapter


http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

People who bought the G1 already, do not seem to have the chance of getting or buying one according to some posts and comments on the net. But this new head phone adapter allows you to listen to music that you bought at Amazon with your favorite headset or plug the phone into your cars aux port.
You can read about the headphone adapter here, where I got the above photo of the T-Mobile G1 Headphone Adapter.
I am happy about not buying one even though it was not simply because of headphones. VoIP, Battery life and perhaps because of all inclusive accounts I have from Sprint and AT&T. Even though now you CAN get VoIP on your G1, I will still not buy T-Mobile G1! I am looking for the next Android though!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Vocal Search On Google With Your iPhone

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

After an unexplained delay, the Google voice search for iPhone has arrived. And the reaction of users? Fantastic!
The voice search is a part of Google Mobile App for iPhone. In addition to letting you do searching via voice;

Voice Search.New! Speak your queries without even pushing a single button.

Search with My Location.New! Search for business, weather, and movie information without specifying where you are.

Local search suggestions on a map. See nearby business suggestions on Google Maps -- just tap the "near me" suggestions.

Instant access to search. Start a Google search with just one click.

Google Suggest. Get relevant search suggestions as you type, saving you keystrokes.

URL suggestions. Get to popular web sites quickly by tapping site web address suggestions.

Contact search. Quickly find contacts in your address book.

Search history. Get instant access to your previous searches.

Easy access to other Google products. Launch other Google products like Maps, Gmail and News from the Apps tab.

Get it from iTunes.


Monday, November 17, 2008

TEAM VoWLAN Business Smartphones From Motorola.

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/If you thought Motorola to bring out only cellular phones, here is a surprise for you. Motorola is releasing two VoIP ove WiFI (VoWLAN) phone based on Windows Mobile 6.1 devices, that are not cellular phones!, they are "business smartphones,"

This is what Motorola product introduction says;
"The TEAM VoWLAN business smartphones are part of Motorola’s TEAM VoWLAN solution, which turns the desktop into a pocketable virtual office, delivering comprehensive mobile access over the WLAN to the voice and data services needed to increase productivity, collaboration and customer satisfaction. The TEAM VoWLAN solution provides workers within the enterprise with a single device to meet all their communication needs. Built on the robust Windows Mobile® 6.1 standard, TEAM VoWLAN business smartphones will deliver mobile access to the fundamental communications services"

Citrix Systems Acquires Vapps, the HD Voice Conferencing Firm.

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

Update;
Andy from VoIP Watch had his hand in Vapps! Congrats Andy! He had following to say;
"To our friends Ben and John at VAPPS, and their investors at Azure Capital Partners, a big pat on the back for a very healthy exit. It was less than a year ago when Ben asked us to represent the company and we could not have asked for a better client or a better product to talk about. Congratulations to you all."

Citrix Systems has, according it's SEC 10-Q filings, acquired Vapps, a service provider offering high-definition audio conference services. Vapps works with VoIP and the company has partnered with Adobe, Skype, Gizmo, Yahoo and MSN to provide high-quality audio conferencing for SOHO market and Small and Medium Business.

Citrix has paid 26.6 Million alread and promised to make it 30 Million, if Vapps meet certain goals, in it's operations.

So expect to see HD Voice conferencing in Citrix's GoToMeeting service, enhancing the already a very nice offering.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Spamalytics, Email Based Spam Marketing Analyzed

Storm Botnet
http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Researchers from UC Berkeley and University of San Diego have conducted a study on spam based marketing, "Spamalytics: An Empirical Analysis of Spam Marketing Conversion" and come out with very interesting results.
The paper was presented at the 15th ACM conference on Computer and communications security which was held on October 27-31, 2008.
The study was conducted by infiltrating storm botnet and inserting two websites in the botnets link indexes. So the researchers were basically sending you spam, which was harmless, to study how these botnets operate and the profitability in such operations.
The study found that viagra raises the expectations of many and e-greeting cards are good vehicles to deliver botnet agents. Almost half a billion spam emails were sent and it is estimated that around 25% of these reached the users email boxes and actually small fraction of these reached the site. But they did make sales (Pretend) and managed to deliver more bots to the net, again pretend. So the shear number of bots in the stormbonet and based on who is selling what, spam marketting is profitable but not in millions of dollars in a day.
I suggest you read the paper published by researchers that gives a good education on how these spam botnets operate and how our preventive measures work. Even the experts will learn a thing or two.

"Spamalytics: An Empirical Analysis of Spam Marketing Conversion"

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Video With Your Gmail Chat

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

I was happy to find that Gmail, my chosen application for email communication, personal and business wise, has added video to the chat portion of the program. As the program will be rolled out in next few days, it will appear on your Gamil. But if you wat to down load it right away, visit http://gmail.com/videochat.
Video conferencing has been around for a while now with the likes of Skype video and it was mostly used among regular users. But the efficient marketing by Skype has many small business' using the video for Skype feature to communicate with suppliers, partners and in our case developers from all over the world.
Gmail having the video conferencing feature adds more value to the system and I am sure business and schools Google Apps for business will be happy to use the feature, just like the Gmail Team itself.
"Collaborating across continents and timezones is a fact of life for us, and it sure is easier (and greener) to click "Start video chat" than to get on a plane! And when I do have to visit another Google office, I can use Gmail voice and video chat to check in with my family."

Other than the Google Apps, this feature will set Google apart fom the popular email services like Yahoo and Live Mail.
See you in my Gmail Chat!



Official Gmail Blog: Say hello to Gmail voice and video chat

Monday, November 10, 2008

Mobile Millenium Project, GPS, And Mobile Phones To Ease Your Commute.

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/ (Download and project information link at the end of the report)

A new program by UC Berkeley, Mobile Millennium has been launched, in limited basis, to assist you with traffic information and ease your morning or evening commute. The program relies heavily on GPS enabled cell phones and traffic sensors already present or to to be placed in the future.
Once decided to participate in the program, Mobile Millennium project,(link below for downloading the program to your phone or mobile device) as you go driving around the city, GPS data will periodically and anonymously be sent to a collection of servers to be analyzed and presented to all the users. The data, which includes speed, location and other relevant information will be integrated with local maps to provide a traffic model consisting red, orange, yellow and green dots showing how the traffic moves on your friendly high ways. Which of course would have been green all over during the period of high gas prices, now becoming more of an orange yellow and red dots, with low gas prices.
The traffic information that you will be able to see on your mobile be just like those of morning news TV traffic reports.
Again community based project relies on the information provided by community and your participation will help a lot. If you are one of those civic minded people, you can download the program from project site, free of course, after registering. The program will work on most GPS-enabled cell phones that are capable of installing and running Java applications. The Web site mentions that it will be updated with a list of specific Nokia and non-Nokia phone models compatible with the software, continuously. (But with all those data flowing back and forth, a unlimited data plan will help a lot and is strongly suggested by the researchers).
The effort is a joint project by researchers from UC Berkeley's College of Engineering, Nokia Research Center, Palo Alto and UC Berkeley's California Center for Innovative Transportation and is a part of the Mobile Millennium project by . The new system uses digital mapping data from Chicago-based NAVTEQ, recently acquired by Nokia.
Mobile Millennium is supported by the U.S. Department of Transportation through the federal SafeTrip-21 initiative, which seeks technology solutions to improve safety and reduce congestion on the roadways, as well as by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).
Register and download the program

Raketu Client V3 With Video! Released

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/ (All images are from Raketu)
Raketu has released its desktop client for windows, Version 3.0. The new version allow users to navigate and use Raketu’s services much better than before. They have also improved the overall look and feel as well.
But most insteresting feature is the new VideoCalling service that allows users to make free videocalls with their friends, family and business colleagues. The new VideoCalling adds existing line of services where users can make international calls computer-to-computer, computer-to-phone and phone-to-phone, send sms-text messages, instant message, and email totally free or at Raketu’s ultra-low rates -- all from any device, even iPhone and iPod Touch, anywhere in the world, mobile or desktop/laptop.

“Raketu listened to our users suggestions around navigation and look and feel of the Raketu download client, and with the release of our new Version 3.0, we have made great steps forward in improving all aspects of the use of Raketu,” said Greg Parker, president and CEO of Raketu. “With the addition of free VideoCalling in combination with existing services, the cost of making and receiving video/phone calls is affordable no matter where our users are.”

Current Raketu users can download and start using the new services immediately, and new users can sign up and download at http://www.Raketu.com.


Tuesday, November 04, 2008

BlackBerry Bold For AT&T Reviewed

Image from Crunchgear
http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Techcrunch's Crunchgear has Reviewed BlackBerry Bold For AT&T. After going through everything from memory, network and software, Peter Ha had this to say;
"The Bold is unequivocally the best piece of hardware that RIM has ever put out. The Curve and Pearl series drew the attention of the masses while the 8800 series was the device of choice for the suits, but the Bold clearly appeals to both. It’s a more polished and refined BlackBerry than we’re used to. Is it perfect? No. If you’re looking for an app experience comparably to Android or even the iPhone then you’re going to want to wait until next year. But if you just want the latest BlackBerry then this is the one to get."
You can read the complete review here.

Monday, November 03, 2008

Google Gmail SMS Text Messaging Comes Out And Get Pulled Back

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
SMS directly from you Gmail Chat, I think it would be really nice. In fact it will be so invitable to many people who are restricted by high cost of texting yosing the mobile networks. So Google Labs released the SMS Chat For Gmail but sadly had to pull back du to some bug that the labs team discovered.
It is mighty nice of them to inform us what happened and I am looking forward to the release, as Gmail and Google Docs have become a part my daily staples.
But remember, Google Labs feature might not become the mainstay of regular Google offerings. But this one, I hope it does. There will be many people who will be joining Google, just foe the SMS.
Official Gmail Blog: Almost new in Labs: SMS Text Messaging for chat

AT&T Laptop Connect (Mobile Broadband) To Be Embedded On Lenovo Notebooks With The Help Of Ericsson Modems

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
This is indeed good news for road warriors who need more than a mobile device to be on the road. Usually mobile broadband means carrying a dongle around that you tend to misplace or break because it is protruding from your pc card slot.
My Lenovo X61 tablet has the broadband modem built in and since I received this notebook I have very rarely been out of the contact from any major city.
But with the following agreement, I think AT&T and Lenovo has both been nice to themselves as well as to all of us. I am already convinced that Lenovo notebooks are the best but now it confirms further as I am a happy AT&T customer as well.
Here id the news release from AT&T;

AT&T, Lenovo and Ericsson Break Down Barriers to Embedded Broadband Service in Notebook PCs

Dallas, Texas, Triangle Park, North Carolina, October 30, 2008

Business PC users now have a new, affordable option to access broadband-speed Internet via their ThinkPad notebook PCs thanks to a new alliance announced today by AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) and Ericsson. The collaboration significantly lowers the price premium usually associated with built-in mobile broadband technology by up to $150 per PC from previous pricing.

Under the agreement, AT&T's 3G service — the nation's fastest 3G network — is available on a full range of Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks, which come factory-equipped with Ericsson built-in mobile broadband modules that are enabled for AT&T LaptopConnect1. The service provides extensive broadband access both domestically and internationally2.

All three of the ThinkPad SL notebooks and all notebooks in Lenovo's T and X series are included in the offering. Customers who purchase the ThinkPad notebooks with the embedded mobile broadband3 and establish an account with AT&T will receive 30 days of free4 AT&T DataConnect service. The notebooks are sold directly through www.lenovo.com.

The agreement provides significant opportunity for small and medium businesses, in particular, to meet their needs for wireless PC connectivity. Among the highlights of the service are:

  • Exceptional coverage5 — AT&T 3G service is available today in more than 320 major U.S. metropolitan areas, and by year-end, AT&T expects to offer 3G coverage in nearly 350 major metro areas. AT&T customers can also use their AT&T-powered notebooks in more than 150 countries, including more than 60 countries with 3G networks. Additionally, Lenovo has designed multiple antennas and maximized its placement in the new ThinkPad notebooks to achieve enhanced wireless performance.
  • Fast access — AT&T LaptopConnect subscribers can realize typical download speeds between 700 kilobits per second (Kbps) and 1.7 megabits per second (Mbps). Typical uplink speeds range between 500 Kbps and 1.2 Mbps. Ericsson's integrated mobile broadband modules for high speed packet access (HSPA) will enable access to these speeds in the new notebooks.
  • Upfront IT savings — The new ThinkPad notebooks with AT&T LaptopConnect are available at approximately the same price as a Lenovo notebook without high speed mobile broadband technology, a savings of up to $150 per notebook from previous pricing.
  • Long-term IT savings — Users can enjoy their embedded mobile broadband service throughout the life of the notebook. A recent report by Gartner found "that 3G service offerings are becoming sufficiently stable to enable an embedded notebook solution to last three years without an upgrade6."

The announcement comes as wireless data use and the adoption of high speed mobile broadband connectivity on notebook computers continue to skyrocket. Gartner forecasts embedded modem sales to have a compound annual growth rate of 94.3 percent worldwide from 2008 to 20127.

"We have seen mobile data consumption quadruple every year for the past three years," said Michael Woodward, vice president of Mobility Business Marketing for AT&T's wireless operations. "Customers recognize the benefits of enhanced connectivity on their notebook computers, and this increase in consumption reflects that. The program we've developed with Lenovo and Ericsson is a simple, affordable response to this trend that we expect will be welcomed by business customers and mobile professionals."

Philippe Davy, vice president of Strategic Alliances and Emerging Products for Lenovo, said: "We've engineered our ThinkPad notebooks to provide an exceptional wireless experience. By working with industry leaders, Ericsson and AT&T, we've found a way to package the highest levels of wireless performance into a business model that gives users an affordable connectivity solution."

Mats Norin, vice president of Mobile Broadband Modules for Ericsson, said: "As users continue to demand high-performance connectivity solutions, Ericsson mobile broadband modules are an essential building block in providing a simple, secure and superior experience. Beyond providing excellent engineering, we are committed to working with industry leaders to shape a complete, end-to-end solution to drive increased mobile broadband adoption."

This program is the latest in a series of joint initiatives involving AT&T and Lenovo. AT&T and Lenovo are the major technology sponsors of the AT&T Williams team, which has been combining the companies' computing and communications skills to enhance the Formula One team's performance since January 2007.

1Monthly AT&T DataConnect Plan required.

2International DataConnect Plan required.

3 AT&T mobile broadband service not available in all areas. Check coverage area before purchase. All offers subject to availability. Lenovo reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice.

430 day FREE service offer: Requires activation of qualifying Lenovo notebook on qualifying $60 AT&T DataConnect plan with a two year term. After activation, a credit equal to the amount of the one monthly recurring charge will be applied to subscriber's account. Early Termination Fee: None if canceled in first 30 days; thereafter $175 decreasing $5 for each full month of the term completed by subscriber.

5Based on global coverage.

6Gartner, Inc. Forecast: Wireless Data Cards and Embedded Modems, Worldwide, 2005-2012 by Hugues J. De La Vergne and Michael J. King, June 25, 2008.

7Changes Coming for Embedded 3G in Notebooks, by Ken Dulaney and Leslie Fiering, April 28, 2008.

Source


Sunday, November 02, 2008

T-Mobile G1 OTA Updates, Please Keep On Waiting!

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/If you have not OTA Update, please keep waiting. That is the advise from forum admin at T-Mobile. He also mentions that he himself has not received the update and he has had his phone since Oct 3rd. Bummer! No Special favours! and the updates are being sent randomly.  
But once you done waiting and get the update, you will have the following on you T-Mobile G1 Phone;

  • Wrong field is focused when keyboard is opened in Messaging application: Now when the keyboard is opened, the focus will default to the compose (text entry) field.
  • Cannot associate with WiFi access point using shared WEP key: Should now be able to associate to access points with a shared WEP key.
  • Google Contacts/Calendar Sync (endless loop).
  • USB storage: Now a USB notification will appear in the notifications area when connected via USB. Users must select to use USB Storage if desired. 
  • Email notification doesn't disappear when the Email has been read (POP/IMAP Email client).
  • New Email notifications not received (POP/IMAP Email client).
  • Browser does not launch YouTube video when Settings   Enable Javascript is unchecked.
  • WiFi & Bluetooth occasionally disconnect while charging.
  • Support silencing of Email notifications (POP/IMAP Email client)
  • Amazon MP3 fix for files with underscores (_) in the filenames.

  • Tags: 
  • Android Market is open to all Android Developers!


    All the androids are walking into the Android Market now as the Android Market is open to all Android application developers. If you have not registered registered, then register yourself. Also keep in mind there is a token fee to register as a developer. But once through these minor details, developers have complete control over when and how they make their applications available to users.
    With the Android Market, Android developers can easily manage their application portfolio where they can view information about downloads, ratings and comments. 
    How about the updates and new versions of the application(s)? Yes, developers can also manage their updates and new versions of their apps.
    You can learn more about how to use Android Market at the Android Market help center. But you better visit the following article as it brings you more information.


    http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/Save as Draft

    Blog Widget by LinkWithin