MobileViews Blog

Although I’ve been a vocal critic of the Celio Redfly dumb terminal device for Windows Mobile smartphones (I own the original C8 model), Celio’s Marketing Communications Manager, Colin Kelly Jr., was gracious enough to accept my invitation to talk about Celio’s various Redfly products for this podcast. We discussed a couple of upcoming products too including:

- Redfly Mobile Dock
- Redfly for BlackBerry
- Redfly for Android

The podcast is 40 minutes and 30 seconds long.

- You can listen to the podcast right now from your web browser by using the embedded player above.
- You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or this RSS feed.
- You can also point your smartphone’s browser at mobiletoday.podbean.com to listen to or download the MP3 file over the air to your phone.

I just found out that one of my long time favorite mobile software development firms has a Twitter account. You can follow Ilium Software at…

@IliumSoftware

Ilium’s Ellen Craw and Marc Tassin were one of the very first podcast guests on the MobileViews Podcast (then called the MobileAppsToday Podcast). You can listen to it using the embedded podcast player above.

I had the opportunity to speak with iHound Software’s VP of Business Development (and one of the firm’s founders) about their iHound for iPhone app that can help you recover a lost or stolen iPhone. The app normally costs $3.99 but is currently on sale in the iTunes App Store for $2.99. Purchasing the app includes 6 months of tracking service via their website. The annual cost for the service is $9.99.

Gary announced on the podcast that they just started providing code to enable other applications to use their service. This means, for example, that if a game is iHound enabled, if someone uses that app on your iPhone, it will broadcast its current position.

- You can listen to the podcast right now from your web browser by using the embedded player above.
- You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or this RSS feed.
- You can also point your smartphone’s browser at mobiletoday.podbean.com to listen to or download the MP3 file over the air to your pho

Case-Mate provided a review unit of their iPhone 3G Fuel – Rechargeable Battery Pack. I’ve got a pair of somewhat nit-picky issues with the unit. But, they do not detract from the product’s main purpose: Provide a convenient portable recharging solution.

YouTube video courtesy of demomoblin

I’m pretty happy with Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix. And, I don’t have another spare netbook to test Intel/Novell’s competitor Moblin 2.0 (beta) Linux distro for netbooks. So, I wasn’t planning to take a look at Moblin until I saw this video. It looks pretty interesting. I may have to invest another low-cost netbook to test Moblin. For now, I’m planning to see if it installs as a Guest OS under VirtualBox.

Do you watch TV with a netbook sitting in your lap or on a coffee table? I do. And, so does my daughter. I wonder if the rise of the inexpensive, lightweight and relatively cool-running netbooks (the ones I’ve tried run cooler than anything except my old 12″ Apple iBook) has people returning to the comfort of the coach and TV

Have you noticed that you spend more time watching TV recently because netbooks fit so well in that environment (living room, coffee table, lap)?

Nebur29: FYI After speaking with LiveScribe tech support I learned that I could sync my Pulse pen with multiple computers and platforms (Mac OS X and Windows) without doing anything special. Syncing the pen with Windows Vista, Windows 7 RC and Mac OS X based computers just fine so far. BTW, the LiveScribe inked text are searchable on the LiveScribe Desktop. I must admit it is pretty amazing.

Originally posted as a comment by Todd Ogasawara on mediabistro.com: MobileContentToday using Disqus.

Yes, I know that:

- Starbucks changed WiFi hotspot providers last year and that AT&T provides the service now while T-Mobile Hotspot users have about 4 years of free roaming on those hotspots remaining
- T-Mobile’s SSID is now hidden/invisible and that you have to manually configure it for WiFi access
- The T-Mobile hotspot login option is a tiny icon/link on the AT&T hotspot login screen

Here’s what I don’t know/understand…

I walked into a Starbucks that I visited just a few weeks ago and was able to use the hidden “tmobile” SSID with the AT&T provided hotspot. I walked into the same Starbucks this morning and saw the visible AT&T SSID but could not use T-Mobile’s. And, I did not see a T-Mobile hotspot login when connected to an Access Point with AT&T’s SSID. I’m going to give T-Mobile a call in the morning to try to sort this problem out. But, if anyone has an explanation for what I saw, I’d appreciate hearing it.

I’ve had my LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen (2GB model) for a week now. It won’t get a real-life field test until next week. So, I’ve been using this time to figure out how make the best use of it. One of the first things I learned that I was wrong in assuming that it could only sync its data (ink and audio) with a single computer. I’ve been syncing with three computers for the past week without any issues (Windows Vista desktop PC, Windows 7 netbook and a Mac).

The next issue that only occurred to me after getting the pen was: How do I just record ink (drawing and writing) digitization WITHOUT recording audio. Pre-purchase my main focus was the audio recording capability that synced with the ink (writing and drawing). After receiving my pen, the obvious struck me: It is nice to just capture ink without audio as when I’m writing notes.

I couldn’t find this feature in LiveScribe’s various documents, how-to videos, or knowledge base. So, I tweeted @livescribe to get advice and was told that solution was simply to do nothing but write. Yes, that’s right. All I had to do was NOT press the Record “button” on the bottom of each note page. Pressing the Record button begins recording audio synced with ink. I assumed that the pen ink activity was not recorded unless that button was tapped. This, however, is not the case.

As you can see in the image above, I digitally captured my writing by simply writing on the microdot paper without pressing the Record button. The only requirement is that the pen is turned on. The writing seen in the image above is, by the way, not a photograph. It is a screen capture of the synced digitized data on my Mac. Pages can also be saved as PDF files.

Very interesting item from Australia’s ITnews…

CeBIT09: McDonalds’ free wifi users soak up seating

McDonalds in Australia started providing free WiFi in their restaurants in November 2008. Unfortunately, as you might expect the average WiFi user stays seated around 35 minutes instead of the 10 minutes non-WiFi users do. So, they’re running out of seating bandwidth with WiFi users hanging around too long.

The 5GB monthly cap on 3G wireless data services in the U.S. means that many 3G subscribers are probably looking for free or low-cost WiFi hotspots to avoid going over their monthly limit. Hotspot providers that figure out a way to balance the longer seating time of WiFi users with their revenue generating products should be able to continue to attract customers of all types (WiFi using or not).

I was looking at this messenger bag built for netbooks (max 11 inch screen) because it is a Checkfast designed item (for getting through airport TSA checkpoints) and it is inexpensive ($29.99). While looking at the product photo closely, I noticed something amusing. The photographer (or his/her assistant) decided to add a couple of CD or DVD discs in jewel cases as props. Of course, netbooks don’t have optical drives so…

Ok, geeky humor. But, I found it amusing. Still considering buying the item.

I’m not sure when it happened. But, the…

MobileContentToday.com

…blog that I write for as a freelance writer has a mobile device friendly web interface now. I remember asking for it last year when I was editor of MobileAppsToday.com (which now redirects to MobileContentToday).