Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Android Cupcake 1.5 Video Walk Through

Saturday, April 25, 2009

$62,000 Phone Bill For Data Roaming

International Roaming Plans will save you from such outrageous bills, see bottom of the post for carrier links on roaming plans.
There are too many stories about outrageous phone bills these carriers are charging these days. Not too long ago someone mistook terms on his "Unlimited Text" contract and got a bill from T-Mobile for $26000 while verizon gave a massive bill for a teen for texting and Another for watching Football or Baseball game online.
If the carriers can detect (of course they can) they also can provide a warning to users for using roaming for data or video streaming. But I think it is time for a class action suite for roaming charges.
Anyway the particular user who got the $62000 bill, downloaded a movie, (WALL-E) while in Mexico over his Wireless Datacard. Then he complained to the carrier (everyone is hiding the carriers name, including CNN which interviewed the uninformed user.) they agreed to bring down the cost to $17000. One commenter left this comment on ARSTechnica, where I got this information;
Original charge: $62,000
Claimed cost: $17,000
Charge with plan: $100
Estimated actual cost: $20

Markup:
Attempted: 310000%
Claimed to be near 0%: 85000%
Definitely profitable: 500%
Yes it is criminal!
So folks, when you go to a foreign country (or in some cases near Mexican or Canadian border, not veified) Make sure you get a roaming plan and check your bills, online to see if outrageous fees being applied. Most carriers have International Roaming Plans, here are some;
T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint
ArsTechnica $62,000 movie download a result of poor travel planning

Friday, April 24, 2009

Ocarina, A Stairway To iPhone Entrepreneurship!

Ocarina by SMULE, a 99-cent app on the iTunes App Store turns the iPhone into a virtual flute. It is currently one of the best-selling iPhone's apps and has pulled in about $800,000 for SMULE. They also make a buch of other apps like Sonic Lighter, Sonic Boom, Sonic Vox, and Zephyr. The latest the company released is, Leaf Trombone.

SMULE Leaf Trombone

presidential BlackBerry 8830 On Its Way To White House.

Presidential BlackBerry 8830
As President Obama completes a very successful 100 days in the office, a device that President Obama wanted is making it's way into the White House. That is super secure Presidential BlackBerry 8830.
According to Washington Times "the top-secret BlackBerry 8830 is in the final stages of development by the National Security Agency, which will soon begin checking to make sure its encryption software meets federal standards. The device could be ready for use in the next few months"

Other than President Obama, top aides as well as first lady Michelle Obama expected to get secure BlackBerrys.

SecureVoice, developed by the Genesis Key Inc. of Washington is a key component of the device. SecureVoice can turn any BlackBerry 8830 or Curve into a device that is designed to defeat hackers, eavesdroppers and spies.

Washington Times

App Store Downloads Top One Billion

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Apple just announced that iTunes App Store downloads has passed one billion mark. This all happened in a span of nine months and I think itself is a record!
Yes the contest for the billionth app download has been won by a 13 year old! Connor Mulcahey, of Weston, CT as the grand prize winner will receive a $10,000 iTunes® gift card, an iPod® touch, a Time Capsule® and a MacBook® Pro. The one billionth app, was Bump created by Bump Technologies.
“The revolutionary App Store has been a phenomenal hit with iPhone and iPod touch users around the world, and we’d like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve the astonishing milestone of one billion apps downloaded,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “In nine months, the App Store has completely revolutionized the mobile industry and this is only the beginning.”

Thursday, April 23, 2009

OS 4.7.0.132 For BlackBerry Storm 9530 Leaked!

BlackBerry Storm 9530 OS 4.7.0.132
Looks like RIM workshops are leakier than my faucets. There is another Blackberry OS leak and this time it is for Blackberry Storm9530 devices. Previous leaks included BlackBerry Bold OS 5.0.0.90 and OS 4.7.0.90 for Blackberry Storm.
Then comes the ususal warning!
This is not an official Blackberry OS release and we do not know the state of the OS. It is up to you to decide to upgrade your device and please do not shoot the messenger.
BlackBerry Storm 9530 OS 4.7.0.132 : Link
CrackBerry Forum Thread where I learned about the leak : Link

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

16GB iPhone 3G (Refurbished) For $149

Refurbished iPhones
AT&T is offering a refurbished 16GB iPhone 3G with a 2-year contract for $149 and they are not much different from the other ones! unless you want polished brand new stuff.
AT&T via Gizmodo

Apple Reports Best March Quarter Revenue and Earnings in Apple History

Apple's Financial report
Man I thought economy was bad? (Yet I bought two iPhones in this quarter) and after reading Apple's Financial report, I feel like throwing those economical worries to the air!
The Company posted revenue of $8.16 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.21 billion, or $1.33 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 36.4 percent, up from 32.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple sold 2.22 million Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing a three percent unit decline from the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 11.01 million iPods during the quarter, representing three percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 3.79 million representing 123 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter.

“We are extremely pleased to report the best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings in our history,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Apple’s financial condition remains very robust, with almost $29 billion in cash and marketable securities on our balance sheet. Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter of 2009, we expect revenue in the range of about $7.7 billion to $7.9 billion and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about $.95 to $1.00.”

Apple

YouTube RealTime, Virally Social Video Watching

YouTube RealTime
TechCrunch is reporting about "YouTube RealTime" which is said to allow users to see which of their friends are currently online, the videos they’re watching, and comments they’ve left. Updates will be shown in a persistent toolbar, which means that users will be able to see them no matter where they are on the site.
Ok time to leave friendsfeed, opps got to wait a while, this is being tested on limited basis.
TechCrunch

Asterisk At Google Summer Of Code, GSOC 2009

Asterisk GSOC
Following Student / Mentor pairs have been selected and accepted by Google Summer Of Code (GSOC) to complete their proposals. Congradulations Students, and Mentors. (The asterisk itself was accepted GSOC earlier)
You can follow their progress at Google Code. I am very sure as we all set to benefit. I will try to follow these students as the time progress.1 - 4

Student	Title	Mentor	Status
Brett Bryant	Asterisk Data Storage API	Russell Bryant	accepted
eliel sardanons	Generic data export/retrieval API.	tilghman lesher	accepted
claude patry	CLI filtering	mark michelson	accepted
Giuseppe Sucameli	Customizable Asterisk Voicemail Menu	Luigi Rizzo	accepted

Asterisk 1.6.1.0-rc5 Ready For Download

Asterisk 1.6.1.0-rc5
The fifth release candidate, RC5 of Asterisk 1.6.1.0. Branch, Asterisk 1.6.1.0-rc5 is available for immediate download at Digium Downloads.
This release fixes a couple of issues with realtime music on hold that could cause Asterisk to crash, and an issue that caused hungup channels to stay up, leading to 100% CPU usage. Additionally, several minor issues and edge case scenarios have been resolved.
The complete Change Log Time to download and test!

India's Growing Wireless Market Adds 15.64 Million Costomers In March

Wireless Market
According to a report on Reuters, Indian wireless operators added a record 15.64 million customers in March, But they also added 15.41 million customers in January and 13.45 million users in February.
Then again those are not iPhones and I think Apple should get that iPhone Nano out and goto India, if they want to make numbers big, like other wireless device makers who thrive in those markets. I meant India and China, the other wireless hotspot

Time Warner Cable "No DOCSIS 3.0" We Put It On Hold Because You Said No Bandwidth Caps!

TWC No Bandwidth Cap, No Wideband!
I am twice happy that I do not live in an area where Time Warner Rules. But Even if I did, I think I will not be having their internet service that they call broadband. In any case 5GB monthly cap they suggested while back was the crux of road runner crap!
But now they seem to be laying more crap so their customers can stp on. According to Alex Dudley, VP of public relations for Time Warner, the wideband service, DOCSIS 3.0, is on hold because they could not launch tiered pricing. Time Warner planned to roll out both the services at the same time, therefore they are both on hold now.
Dudley on his twitter feed;
"@netpro2k It doesn't...just that the rollout was scheduled with the trial and now all of it is on hold"
@AlexTWC
He has also mentioned that the biggest cost associated with wideband roll-out is bandwidth allocation. Are sure it is not per house passed? I read some where that it costs us some where around $750 per house passed USA while Japanese do it for $20. I think what they refer to as bandwidth allocation is the infrastructure upgrade. They want you to pay for their network setup? I think the wolf is catching up!

All the while, Comcast started rolling out DOCSIS 3.0 last year, announcing this Tuesday that it had expanded into the San Francisco Peninsula. Yes Show them how it is done!

Good to be living in the San Francisco Bay Area!

Read more at PCMAG. "TWC: No Bandwidth Caps? Fine, No Wideband"

AT&T Sells More Than 1.6 Million iPhones In First Quarter 2009.

AT&T Sells 1.6 Million iPhones In 2009.
According to first quarter financial report, AT&T celebrated improved postpaid wireless growth with increased integrated device penetration, double-digit increases in Internet and strategic business services.
AT&T’s first-quarter revenues totaled $30.6 billion, net income attributable to AT&T was $3.1 billion, diluted earnings per share totaled $0.53 and cash from operating activities totaled $7.9 billion.
More Than 1.6 Million Apple iPhone 3G Activations. AT&T’s postpaid subscriber growth reflects continued success with iPhone 3G. In the first quarter, AT&T’s iPhone 3G activations totaled more than 1.6 million, more than 40 percent of them for customers who were new to the company. AT&T’s U.S. iPhone exclusive continues to deliver subscribers with ARPUs (average monthly revenues per subscriber) that are approximately 1.6 times higher and churn rates that are significantly lower than the company’s overall postpaid subscriber base.

“These results demonstrate focused and disciplined execution as we work through a tough economy,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer. “Our cost-improvement initiatives are on track, earnings and cash flow were solid, our balance sheet and credit metrics continue to be strong.

“Most important, during this down cycle we continue to invest in key growth areas like mobile broadband, more bandwidth to the home through our all-IP AT&T U-verse platform, and advanced global business solutions delivered over AT&T’s premier Internet backbone network. We have good momentum in all of these areas.

"I am particularly pleased with the success of our iPhone 3G initiative, which has driven strong high-end customer growth and delivered financial benefits ahead of our original outlook. Business and consumer expectations for mobility are on the rise, wireless innovation is flourishing and the opportunities ahead are substantial. AT&T is strongly positioned to lead in the next generation of wireless growth.”

AT&T Press Release

$26000 T-Mobile Phone Bill For Record Texting Attempt!

26K Texting Bill
According to a news item on the Yahoo News, Two friends attempted to bread the record set by 182,000 sent in 2005 by Deepak Sharma in India. Yes they did succeed and one of the also got a phone bill for $26000 from T-Mobile. At the beginning of the record breaking attempt, both the contenders assumed that their unlimited testing accouts would help the attempt. But;
"It came in a box that cost $27.55 to send to me," Nick Andes, one of the contenders said Tuesday. He said he "panicked" and called T-Mobile, which told The Associated Press it had credited his account and was investigating the charges.
Yahoo

WES2009, Eighth Annual Wireless Enterprise Symposium

WES2009
Research In Motion (RIM) is hosting the upcoming eighth annual Wireless Enterprise Symposium (WES). The Symposium is slated to be held from May 5-7, 2009 in Orlando, Florida.
WES 2009 attracts industry innovators and leaders from around the world to share insights on the BlackBerry platform and a wide range of other wireless products and services. I have always enjoyed the symposium in addition to learning a whole lot every year.
WES 2009 co-sponsors include Cisco, Hewlett Packard, IBM, AT&T, BoxTone, Brightstar, Chalk Media, Conceivium Business Solutions, Google, Lenovo, SAP, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless, Viigo, Vodafone and Zenprise. Leading experts from Forrester Research, IDC, Yankee Group, and CCS Insight will also be presenting at WES 2009.
The Symposium also adds an impressive line-up of keynote speakers:

Mike Lazaridis: Mr. Lazaridis is recognized in the global wireless community as a visionary, innovator, and engineer of extraordinary talent. He is Founder, President and Co-CEO of Research In Motion (RIM) and is responsible for product strategy, research and development, product development, and manufacturing.
Robert J. Picciano: Mr. Picciano is General Manager for Lotus and WebSphere Portal Software at IBM and oversees an extensive portfolio of collaboration tools designed to empower people to be more effective, responsive and innovative within the context of the work they do.
Laurent Philonenko: Mr. Philonenko is Vice President and General Manager of the Cisco Unified Communications business unit, which provides messaging, conferencing and desktop and phone client solutions including video and mobility.
Eric C. Haseltine: Mr. Haseltine is President and Managing Partner, Haseltine Partners LLC, as well as Former 'CTO' for the U.S. intelligence community and former head of Walt Disney Imagineering. Mr. Haseltine has more than 100 publications in science and technical journals, the web and Discover Magazine.
Shane Robison: Mr. Robison is Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy and Technology Officer at Hewlett Packard where he is responsible for shaping HP's overall corporate strategy and technology agenda and oversees the company's corporate marketing function.
Malcom Gladwell: Best-selling author of Outliers, The Tipping Point and Blink, Mr. Gladwell has been named as one of the 100 Most Influential People by Time Magazine. He is also known to have an incomparable gift for interpreting new ideas in the social sciences and making them understandable, practical and valuable to business and general audiences alike.

WES2009
(Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM)

Facebook On BlackBerry 1.5

Facebook On BlackBerry
The bew version of Facebook for Blackberry seem to bringing many new features as well. Now the mobile version of facebook can let you know of birthdays and iconofy your contacts with photos.
The App seem to be attracting users and there is an even a facebook group for Blackberry users, exchanging blackberry pins! (There is an app for that too)
From BlackBerry;
"With Facebook for BlackBerry smartphones, you can:

Receive instant notifications on your BlackBerry smartphones home screen.
Send/receive message or wall posts, pokes and friend requests.
Update your status, view and comment on your friends’ status.
Share photos from your BlackBerry smartphone with tags/comments and post to Facebook with just one click.
Connect your Facebook friends with your BlackBerry Address Book – including profile picture integration which brings a whole new meaning to caller ID.
Stay on top of your life with birthday reminders and event integration into your BlackBerry Calendar."

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

BroadBand Recovery Stimulus! Under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan

BroadBand Recovery Stimulus
Cisco has put together a small (but large) information package on economic stimulus opportunity for broadband and if you are in the business of dealing with broadband, it is something you should pay attention to. Along with a video of about 3minutes. The presentation provide you with information and guidance as how to best utilize the opportunity. The following links are also from the site but there are many other links and papers that are accessible from the link at the end.
I have seen these information before but not collected as Cisco has done. Thanks.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009

Legislation (PDF - 1 MB)
Recovery.gov, created by Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, is dedicated to public transparency for the $787 billion Economic Stimulus Package.

Broadband Initiative Resources

Economic Stimulus Opportunity for Broadband Cisco

Collaborative Predictions From Cisco's CTO

Enterprise Collaboration
"Collaboration Networks will be to Enterprises what Social Networks are to Consumers" is the first of the five predictions that Padmasree Warrior, CTO of Cisco will be making in a series of predictions that she has promised to provide us, about collaboration and the enterprise.
Looking at the the first prediction, I am sure the rest is going to be very interesting and promising. In this prediction she ellaborates the current state of social networks like Facebook, linkedin and of course Twitter and how these collaborative effects will filter down to business world. I have witnessed collaboration savings that could be achieved using the right tools and technology.
I particularly like the example she she put forward involving Mac users at Cisco and about a birth of a support wiki. You know this is a real business case when she ends the statement with; "this wiki has delivered an estimated $2.6M in value annually for Cisco."
"As collaboration networks evolve and proliferate, our challenge as an industry is clear. We need to develop Enterprise Collaboration Platforms that provide the same ease of use, speed and ubiquity that social networks offer in the consumer world. But we need to combine those qualities with the high level of security, availability, quality of service, and reliability that enterprises require."
Follow the link below for a very informative article.

5 Predictions for the Future of Collaboration

Cisco Edge Quest 2 Mobile On iPhone & iPod

Cisco Edge Quest 2 Mobile
The famous online game based of edge router is available for iPhone and iPod users now, fro free. You can download it from iTunes App store for free.
The mobile version of the famous online game is not different from its Web Cousin and equally enjoyable, with six lanes to jump and collect packets from!. But remember there is no leader board like on the web version where top scorers are ranked and listed.
You will be able to find the online version at Cisco.
The game is based on the versatile Cisco ASR 9000 router and I think it is a very nice way to introduce the one of a kind router capable of handling simple data packets to torrents of streaming video.
Learned about this at Cisco SP360.

Monday, April 20, 2009

QuickOffice Mobile Office Suite For iPhone, (Word, Excel, Email & WiFi) In The Apple APP Store!

QuickOffice For iPhone,
Invariably we all set to work on those dreaded application at least once in a while. Spreadsheets are more of my taste and field than word processing. Usually I hit Google Docs when I am away from my desk for my Excel, spreadsheet work and some letter or memo writing. It is great but tou loose the finesse when you try to do that through iPhone web interface. Yes I have Google Tools on my iPhone(s) but still I am not very happy like when I use them from a larger screen.
Enter the quickOffice, with QuickWord, QuickSheet, And QuickOffice Files.
So what it is so good about this app? from the look of it everything, the super spreadsheet features and word processing with cut and paste! Yep, I think that alone will bring a few customers.
There are some very attractive features that makes me want to have this app, capability to mount the device as a wireless drive via WIFi with drag and drop file transfer capabilities.
You need to check out the app and read more if you want to know about the all the features of Word and Excel capabilities. The quickoffice is available in many other flavors besides iPhone.
The app is available via iTunes and I will be downloading it soon.

Be An Astricon 2009 Speaker!

Astricon 2009
Astricon 2009, which is to be held in October 13-15, 2009 at Renaissance Glendale Hotel & Spa,
Glendale, Arizona — USA (Where I plan to be this year) is considering speakers for the event.
We all know we have a Asterisk experts and Gurus among us. There are many people who have done wonders with this great Open Source Communication Tool we recognize as Asterisk. Then again we have people who scaled Digium or other hardware in building a cluster of IP PBXs based on Asterisk.
Yes a whole world might benefit from your achievements and wonder and that could only be done if you share the story with us.
If you think you got the stuff, Astricon wants to hear from you and you can tell them what you got by filling out the speaker form, You might be telling me how to Asterisk!
Digium acquired Sokol & Associates and Astricon about two years ago.

New iPhone To Support HD Video? iPhone HD

iPhone HD
According to a post on Apple is consolidating it's Composite and Component AV cable in Simply Apple AV Cable, allowing connecting to HDtv and SDtv displays using the same cable, as the new cable will support both components and composite connection.
The phonenews is suggesting that the next generation of iPhone and iPod touch will have advanced HD display capacity on both the devices. Apple is likely to offer at least one version of the iPhone and one version of iPod touch with higher resolution screen, to attract users and would be users of Zune HD, HTC Touch HD and HTC Touch Pro2.
Current iPhones and iPods has 480i and 480p and the up coming devices are said to have 720p and 1080i like most video devices.
Perhaps this is Apple's new take on consumer video after lack luster response to it's Apple TV. Perhaps next Apple TV will be a entertainment hub to Apple's consumer video ambitions.
Phonenews.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Ashton Kutcher Bests CNN In Twitter Race

@aplusk
Actor Ashton Kutcher @aplusk beat CNN and Africa gets 10000 mosquito nets to beat Malaria on the continent!
I am also with one voter who mentioned that the race shout continue and CNN should donate $1 for each new twit (Twitter user) that follow the actor. I am not following either but it will be a big show today on Oprah as the all the tweeties will show up to see Oprah's first tweet.
I checked Oprah's twitter page yesterday but I was surprised to find that she follows Shaq but not Obama!
Will see today!

Thursday, April 16, 2009

iPhone App Give Away At MobileCrunch

iPhone App Give Away
MobileCrunch announced that they will be giving away 100s of iPhone apps tomorrow for some mysterious promotion. If I knew how to form an internet line, I would be the first. But I have done the next best thing. I have bookmarked the post ob my PC, and iPhone!
Go get your iPhone app at MobileCrunch.
PS Micheal and Greg both told us how to redeem the apps directly from your iPhone;
"You can enter the codes directly in the iTunes app (not iPod) on your iPhone by clicking on the Downloads tab and selecting the Redeem button on the title bar."

Tomorrow A Big Day For Twitter As Oprah Tweets!

Oprah Tweet
Talk show host Oprah Winfrey will be twittering for the first time tomorrow, @oprah, she announced on her Facebook today. Tomorrow she will be doing it from her show! Twitter folks are happy too as this might give them the largest jump of members on a single day.
Oprah is followed by about 37000 as of now (expect this to grow to hundreds of thousands tomorrow) and she just follows 9 people, like @EV from twitter, @Ellen DeGeneres
@ReakShaq but she is not following @BarakObama! Why Oh Why? making @ravenii
wonder!
Good for all! Let us go and make the next chiller!

Kyocera's EOS Folding OLED Phone

Image credit Sass

Kyocera EOS
This is the phone of the future and one that I would rather have than my bulky and rigid iPhone or that even bulkier and heavy Android!

"Shape memory allows keys to morph up from its surface when needed and fade away when not in use. The flexibility of the screen allows for greater adaptability of form and interaction “ it maintains a compact shape (the size of a small wallet) for simple phone calls, and unfolds to reveal a large widescreen display. The device feeds off of our physical interaction with it, translating kinetic energy into an electric charge via an array of nano-scale piezoelectric generators. The more we interact with Eos, the more energy it creates - without using batteries."
More photos and info at Core77

32GB iPhone Already In Analysts Books!

32GB iPhone
Lazard Capital Markets analyst is predicting that Apple will begin production on a high-end iPhone with 32GB of flash memory and a low-end 3G version this spring.
The recently patented technologies for iPhones will certainly be on these phones, an improvements to the video is expected.
The low-end iPhone is expected to run on a 3G network only and will not have WiFi but I do not understand the reason, to pay for a phone that only connects to a 3G network that behaves like a edge network!
The analyst predicts the shipments of new devices to be around 3.8 million to 4 million in the first quarter, much higher than the Wall Streets expectation of 3 million to 3.5 million units.
These coupled with 8GB,16GB and 32GB iPods and other iPhones should provide a busy period for NAND Flash manufacturers
Read more at Lazard Capital Markets

Apple's New Patents, Are they Android After thoughts?

Image via via MacRumors.com

iPhone Patents
"There is a need for providing a user interface in a personal media device that minimizes either or both a user's physical and visual interactions with the personal media device, especially while the user is performing other activities that require, for example, the user's visual senses"
As soon as I read this, the first thing that came to my mind was the work of TV Raman at Google doing with Android phones, the Eyes Free Project.
According to MacRumors.com Apple has filed two patent applications on features that incorporate motion and gesture user interfaces. The first was filed two weeks ago. And the second was filed Thursday.
Although fundamentally the same and different the companies will want to look what they are patenting, and I hope they are truly patentable.
Apart from motion from the motion-detecting technology, there could be a front facing camera on this iPhone, indicating videoconferencing on the iPhone, as per sketch of the device. Video Recording on iPhone is expected in the next release of the OS, iPhone OS 3.0 and the product that is rumored to be coming out this summer, of which we seem to know the iPhone Parts.

MacRumors.com

GeoCaching WIth iPhone.

GeoCaching WIth iPhone.
I have been a member of Geocaching.com for a while and when I visited today, I found a bit of news about a GeoCaching application for iPhone. I have played with a few geocaching apps for iPhone, so far was not very satisfied with the ones that I came across.
But GroundSpeak's geocching app for iPhone seems to be promising and I am certainly going to try. Utilizing the iPhone 3G use of GPS, Wi-Fi positioning and cell towers combination to determine your approximate location, Groundspeak's iPhone App finds geocaches near your location from the Geocaching.com database in real-time. The app is also capable of geocoding addresses, search using a location from your address book, or look up a geocache by its GC code.
May be this weekend will be a good time to test it out as it promises to bring some warm weather.
The App works best on iPhone 3G and iPod touch and iPhone 1G are also supported without all the jingles like navigation in iPhone 1G.
Another app for my iPhone App Collection.

Geocaching.com

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

New iPhone Parts List Leaked

iPhone Parts List
Digitimes is showing us a list of parts for upcoming iPhone and their respective manufacturers in an article mentioning who in Taiwan going to benefit from the much hyped and awaited phone.
If the list is right, there will be Memory and flash from Toshiba, Numonyx, SST and Samsung. WCDMA, GSM EDGA amps coming from Triquint and Skyworks. Infineon will provide baseband and A-GPS in addition to Power management IC. Omnivision will give the 3.2 megapixel CIS camera.

"TSMC have landed foundry orders for GSM EDGE power amplifiers, Bluetooth ICs and 3.2-megapixel OmniVision CMOS image sensor (CIS) used in the upcoming iPhone model, indicated the sources. Xintec will handle the packaging and testing service for the CIS whereas VisEra will manufacture on-chip color filters for the CIS. TSMC, Xintec and VisEra declined to comment on the report, citing customer confidentiality. "
Digitimes

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Video messaging with Google Latitude

Video Messaging
How about a simple way to send a video Message? Yes, that is what Google Latitude let you do among other fantastic stuff. You like to create a custom video to be sent via Google Latitude yourself. You can also pay a visit to the Google Mobile Blog to learn more

Official Google Blog: Send a video message with Google Latitude

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

Fartweet, When You Thought You Have Seen All Twitter Apps

Fartweet
Someone with a lot of time in hand and a bellyful of gas has designed a chair that could tweet his/her farts! Pffffffffft...
Hmmm
Instructables

Getting Adicted To iPhone! And It's Apps

iPhone Apps Addict
Well it looks like the person in spotlight, Deborah is addicted to iPhone Apps, that forms and assists her with daily chores. iPhone App for every waking minutes of her life.
Initially I had also gone for a torrent of iPhone apps, both paid and free, but since the initial urges, I have settled down, picked a dozen and deleted the rest. I use iPhone, not other way around!
I have a few Apps that helps me with my work, some iPhone VoIP apps, a bunch of locations service apps, translators and a few games adorn my iPhone mobile top!
But Deborah seem to have an app for every task of her life;
her iphone "is a pedometer, a voice recorder, a gym coach and a budget tracker. It promises to find my parked car, give me a shoulder massage and even repel mosquitoes, for free or 99 cents and up."

"At 7:30 a.m., my alarm clock app, goodNite Lite, wakes me with a gentle chord. Too gentle, some might say, so it's best to turn up the volume.
.....
......
......
......

Before I hit the pillow, I listen to Custom Hypnosis Lite. A soothing male voice tells me to relax and surprisingly, I do. I'm glad it doesn't tell me to do anything strange.

After a day of wall-to-wall apps, I'm amazed at all the things the iPhone can do outside of phone calls. Now if only my iPhone can do my taxes. Wait. There's probably an app for that."

If her story is true, I think she stands to will a prize at the billionth iPhone App Download contest.
Even though I do not like to promote AP stories, this one is an exception, Mercury News, that I read or see everyday carries the story of iPhone Addict.

QIKRoam, Roam Around With Video Streaming

QikRoam
QIK has introduced QikRoam, which is a special SIM card you can order today from QikRoam. The new SIM allows QikRoam users to use Qik from anywhere in the world (The SIM supports 134 countries worldwide), without having to worry about roaming charges. The savings come through deals Cubic Telecom has forged with many partners worldwide.

QikRoam has two packages and the first one is $34 dollars which gives $20 of calling credit, the next which costs $67.50,includes $54 in calling credit. The service uses a white-labeled version of Cubic Telecom’s MAXRoam product.

QikRoam

Monday, April 13, 2009

Ooma Phone Service Goes Down And Up

Ooma Down
UPDATE:
Ooma has announced that the service failure due to the their internet service provider and the system is back up. They also requested to reboot your Ooma hub;
"As of 5PM, most service has been fully restored. Some Hubs may not recover automatically in an expedient manner - if your ooma service is still down, please reboot your ooma Hub. Unplug power from the back of the device, wait one minute and then plug the power back in. The ooma Hub may need to download a software update, but it should go into service shortly thereafter."

Ooma Phone service based in Palo Alto, went down about 11:00 AM and remained down until late afternoon. The service was partially available at 5:00 PM.
Ooma improved it's services and gained much acceptance lately. The device is offered at BestBuy and tech stores like Fry's and Micro center. It was also noted when it added extensions for Google Voice recently. (Thanks to GoogleVoice, we were able to route our phone numbers to other phones)
The internet phone service (IP Telephony) provider has lately been releasing it's performances and targets for future.
We Use the service and have been quite happy with it!, except today!

Ooma's announcement regarding the service outage

iPhone Is More Productive And Better Than Other Smartphones In The Enterprise.

iPhone in the enterprise
Like Gartner went back on it's earlier recommendation and said that "iPhone is ready for the Enterprise", another think tank / research group has gone back on it's words regarding iPhone and recommending it for the enterprise. (Why are calling these think tanks if they continue to fail?)
According to Appleinsider; Forrester earlier warned "avoid iPhones when possible" due to the high phone prices and lack of security, now playing a different tune that these worries have been taken care by Apple's iPhone 2.x firmware. They also mentiones and uses Amylin Pharmaceutical, Kraft Foods, and Oracle on iPhone as examples of how not following their warnings and permitting the phones ultimately helped their respective bottom lines.
I am sure the early look at the iPhone 3.0 features made these companies to look back at their analysis of the iPhone. Perhaps we will hear these companies telling us only to use iPhone soon!
Read the complete article at Appleinsider.

CrunchPad, Web Tablet Spy Shots!

Crunchpad
People at APC (why?) got the scope on the new CrunchPad from Arlington, TechCrunch et al. As it was discussed before, the Web Tablet seem to be what intented to be, a web surfing, music and video streaming device.
“This machine isn’t for data entry.” Arrington stresses. “The virtual keyboard will make data entry a pain other than for entering credentials, quick searches and maybe light emails. But it is for reading emails and the news, watching videos on Hulu, YouTube, etc., listening to streaming music ... and doing video chat.” “The idea is to turn it on, bypass any desktop interface and go directly to Firefox running in a modified Kiosk mode that effectively turns the browser into the operating system for the device. Add Gears for offline syncing of Google Docs, email, etc., and Skype for communication and you have a machine that will be almost as useful as a desktop but cheaper and more portable than any laptop or tablet PC.” quiped the boss.

The price has gone up from Arrington’s initial target of US$200 to more realistic US$300, but I am sure there will be enough buyers, you got one here, may be two!.

read more and have a look at the spy shots here!

Android 1.5, Are You Ready? Cupcake Is Baked, Almost!

Android 1.5
Android 1.5, based on the Android cupcake, that we spoke about the cupcake upgrade, wrote and captured early cupcake screens, has been released for developers to take a taste. The new Android version introduces APIs for features such as soft keyboards, home screen widgets, live folders, and speech recognition.
You can download the download the developer early adaption Android 1.5 SDK, from the developer site.
There are also information on upgrading current development platform and introduction to what's new, also ready anyone interested.
As far as User interface is concerned there are many additions and improvments like system wide refinement of all core UI elements, animated window transitions which are off by default and provisions for accelerometer-based application rotations are prominent.

The System also get s a new Linux kernel, 2.6.27 and general system performance impovments like faster GPS aquisition and speedier camera setup and image capture which is also related to Video recording and playback features.
But the most interesting part is for developers, to whom this release is intended for. The Android developer tools and the structure of the SDK, themselves have under gone changes but for better. To quote Android Blog, (Find the link below) "Future Android SDK releases will include multiple versions of the Android platform. For example, this early-look includes Android platform versions 1.1 and 1.5. One benefit of this change is that developers can target different Android platform versions from within a single SDK installation. Another is that it enables developers to install Android SDK add-ons to access extended functionality that might be provided by OEMs, carriers, or other providers. We at Google are using this feature ourselves: this early-look SDK includes an add-on for the Google APIs. This add-on provides support for the Google Maps API, which was previously embedded in the "core" SDK."
While all developers are encouraged to use, test and get familier with the new early look, it is reminded that Android 1.5 APIs have not been finalised.
Hope all will become happy Androids, and creative developers!

Android Developers Blog: Getting ready for Android 1.5

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

Friday, April 10, 2009

High-Definition VoIP (HD VoIP) Say Good Bye To "What Did You Say"

"what did you say",
Jeff Pulver was interviewed by Alan Reiter and both got into a discussion about hD VoIP, and I found it very interesting even though if was brief for my liking. I too share their passion and want to say good bye to "what did you say", that I keep on repeating during many phone calls.
But Most interesting was a almost hidden announcement;
"Interested in HD VoIP? Register TODAY for the HD Communications Summit taking place in New York City on May 21st."
Too bad I will be somewhere over in Europe celebrating my Grand Pa's Birthday, during that time. But I suggest if you are or going to be around New York, on May 21, register for the HD Communications Summit!
Hope Jeff witll write about the summit so us folks who missed will know what happened!
Jeff Pulver

BlackBerry Bold OS 5.0.0.90 In The WIld

BlackBerry Bold OS 5.0
Crackberry has found BlackBerry Bold OS 5.0.0.90 online and has links for download. Reminder that this is not an official release and I have not tried it and do not know what it does to your BlackBerry Bold! So be careful
Crackberry

Download The Billionth App From Apple to Get Super Prizes From Apple

iTunes Billionth App Download
So far, all of us Apple iPhone and iPod fans around the globe have downloaded almost, one billion apps.
So Apple wants to say thanks by, when the meter hits a billion, giving you the chance to win a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card, an iPod touch, a Time Capsule, and a MacBook Pro. Just go to the iTunes Store, browse the App Store, and download your best app yet.

How to Enter. There are three ways to enter the Promotion:

You will automatically be entered into the Promotion by downloading an app from the App Store.
You will automatically be entered into the Promotion by downloading an app from the App Store using your iPhone or iPod touch.
Non-purchase method: Go to www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/entryform/, fully complete an online entry, including your name, complete mailing address (P.O. Boxes not acceptable), telephone number, and birth date. Once your online entry is complete, hit the “Submit” button to submit an entry. Entry via this method constitutes one (1) entry into the Promotion.

Enter to win without purchase* | Official Rules**

Anti Social Smartphone Users Busted!

Renny Gleeson, Busted! The sneaky moves of anti-social smartphone users at TED

A2Billing 1.4 Beta, A Billing And Management Solution For Asterisk Released.

Billing For Asterisk
A2billing is a LAMP (Linux Apache Mysql(Postgresql) PHP) application that interfaces with Asterisk using both the AMI and AGI interfaces. A2Billing has released the version 1.4 beta for testing. The solution combined with Asterisk is a telecoms platform and/or softswitch providing converged services, with self contained billing (pre or post-paid), reporting and statistics management. Download and get more information from A2Billing site.
A complete guide to installation of A2Billing 1.4 is available as well giving instructions how to install the product on either Centos or Debian based platcorm.

A2Billing for Asterisk provides Telecom companies and VoIP Solution providers a billing and customer care platform tied to Asterisk that go beyond traditional TDM and VoIP Soft-Switches and billing solutions. But the best feature of all is that the solution is free! meaning it is licensed under GPL.

A2Billing also provides consutancy and support and you can email sales@asterisk2billing.org giving us details of your project for a quote, or if you need further information.

A2Billing is capable of providing:

Traditional Calling Card services – A2Billing can be configured to provide standard calling card services via traditional “dial through”, with PIN or CID authentication.

Callback services, A2Billing supports a number of call-back methods including ANI, DID and web based call-backs.

VoIP residential services – Customers can be issued with a softphone or hard phone and be billed for calls made via Voice over IP.

VoIP wholesale termination - A2Billing and Asterisk can be used as a softswitch to terminate and bill large numbers of VoIP minutes from a number of sources such as resellers and distributors of your services.

VoIP termination for Asterisk and FreePBX systems. – With the growth of IP based PBX systems, as well as the asterisk based systems, A2Billing can be used to provide services and billing to IP PBX resellers and Asterisk system integrators.

DID termination and redirection. DID can be redirected to any SIP, IAX or PSTN destination with monthly charges and duration based charges.

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