MobileViews Blog

In this podcast, Todd Ogasawara and Jon Westfall discuss.

- The rumored Amazon smartphone. Refs: WSJ & Recode

- Windows 8.1 Update: Microsoft Surface RT update experience is different from the Asus T100 even though both have hardware connected physical keyboards

- Heartleed

Apps of the Week
- Todd: An oldie but a goodie: Sky Map. Was Google Sky Map. Now an Open Source community driven project

- Jon: An oldie but a goodie as well: TrueCrypt (Yep, not mobile, but it does protect data on the go)

Todd Ogasawara and Jon Westfall about the long-awaited (possibly too long) release of Microsoft Office for iPad in MobileViews Podcast 79. Other topics:

- Microsoft Office for Android (phones only) and iPhone available too. And, unlike the iPad version, can edit documents using these free versions.

- Microsoft OneNote for OS/X released (also, finally) for free. Note, this will only install if your Mac is running the current Mavericks OS/X release. It will not install on Macs running older releases. Note: As you can see in Jon’s screenshots below, OneNote for OS/X offers just a small subset of the features available for the Windows version.
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Google Search for Android recently gained the ability to activate the phone’s (or tablet’s) camera in snapshot mode or video mode (Marketingland). You do this by saying “OK Google” and then either “take a photo” or “take a video”.

This may seem trivial since it is easy to get to the camera even from a locked screen. But, it does have two useful features: If your camera is in snapshot mode, saying “take a video” takes you directly to video recording mode without tapping the screen a couple of times to switch to video recording mode. And, once you leave the video recording mode launched from Google Search, activiting the camera again puts you back in snapshot mode. This, again, saves a couple of finger taps and valuable time when you want to quickly capture a photo.

In this podcast, Todd Ogasawara and Jon Westfall discuss

- Why are Microsoft tablets sales still low/flat? (Ref: Computerworld article)

- Evernote, Keep, and other cloud note platforms
- Springpad
- Evernote is now on Pebble smart watch

Jon’s App Pick of the Week: Drafts (iOS), Specifically custom URL actions to Evernote notebooks, ToodleDo to do lists

Todd’s Anti-app pick: Apps for Chromecast (iOS/Android)

In this podcast Todd Ogasawara and Jon Westfall discuss long-lived products.
- iPad 2
- Windows XP
- Microsoft Publisher
- Digital cameras
- Computer monitors
- Cheap headphones, cables

Todd’s app pick of the week is:
Google Now Launcher for Android.

Jon’s Service (& iOS app) of the week:
IFTTT

I’ve made peace, more-or-less, with Windows after the 8.1 update became available. But, this screenshot from Feb. 24, 2014 (today as I type this) illustrates one of the big problems with the Windows 8.x app store: Flappy Bird clones? Really? And, so many of them…

Todd Ogasawara and Jon Westfall revisit a few recent topics in this podcast

- OneDrive/Microsoft Office Online now allows editing Office docs on iPad and Android via browser UI

- Bye bye net neutrality? Comcast buying Time Warner for $45B

- Comcast (was) & Verizon throttling Netflix (Netflix ISP Index)

Todd and Jon also discuss a couple of multifunction gadgets:
- HooToo HT-TM01 Charger, WiFi router, NAS
- D-Link DIR-505L: Wall charger, WiFi Router, DLNA server

And, check out Jon’s tip on his own blog: Jon’s Building Portable Netflix Post: http://jonwestfall.com/2014/02/building-personal-portable-netflix/

Microsoft SkyDrive delivered more than a name change to OneDrive today. It also added the ability for iPad and Android users to edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents using their web browsers. Selecting a file using the SkyDrive (for iOS or Android) app launches the web browser. From there, it is the same as using any of the Office for Web components on a desktop browser – It did seem a bit slower on Safari on my iPad mini than when using a web browser on my Windows notebook PC.

In this podcast Todd Ogasawara and Jon Westfall discuss the conflicting reports of whether Microsoft Office will be ported to Apple’s iOS (Office is NOT coming. Office is coming). They also discuss office suite alternatives for iOS and Android including: QuickOffice for iOS & Android, iWorks for iOS, Polaris Office, Smart Office 2, and Documents to Go.

Todd’s Anti-app pick of the week (something that used to be good but is now broken) is Google’s Waze. His Most Improved App of the week is Blastr for Android which finally actually works on that platform.

Jon’s app pick of the week is TapForms. This is a multi-platform database that syncs using iCloud.

Todd Ogasawara and Jon Westfall discuss:

Microsoft’s new CEO: Satya Nadella

App Picks
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for Android (free)

PopAGraph for iOS (free)

Apple Keynote for iOS – Jon’s cool two device presentation scenario

Site: NBCNews.com website
Price: Free
What I say:
- NBC decided to launch its redesigned NBC News site a day before the first 2014 Winter Olympics competition starts
- It was, apparently, redesigned by Pinterest
- It now takes much longer to scroll through just a few news articles
- Unless you have a large display (large > 21″), you will probably have to expand your web browser to fill the screen to read this redesigned website
- Rating? 1 cent on a 5 cent scale

Trying something new: A simpler, faster to write & post review format (read: the lazy man’s review format).

App Name: Paper – stories from Facebook (longish hard to remember app name)
Platform: iOS
Price: Free
What other reviews say: Best thing since sliced bread
What I say:
- Pretty but vapid
- Hey, someone tell Flipboard that Facebook copied its user interface!
- Difficult to read tiny type in preview thumbnails on an iPhone 5
- Difficult to look at pixelated/aliased UI on an iPad mini
- Would prefer Facebook throw a few engineers at its other apps and web interface to fix the severely broken status feed. When was the last time it sorted correctly for you?
- If Facebook dumps the current Facebook in favor of this new one, Google+ might start looking better to me
- Don’t forget the other and first app named Paper – Paper by Fifty Three

Addenda
- Facebook Paper’s Gestural Hell