Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Google Mobile App
I never cease to marvel at the Google’s prolific development of new applications. The latest one to come to my attention is simply called Google Mobile App. It is a plugin that can be placed on your Today Screen for easy access or invoked from an icon in your Programs menu. Alternatively, you can program it to run from a hardware button.
Not surprisingly, it has a text input box for Google searches as well as two icons on the main panel bar. I suspect a larger screen or landscape screen would reveal more icons on the panel, but this is how it appears on my Treo Pro square screen. The two icons are for Gmail and Google Maps. Tapping on the plus symbol brings up a new screen with more icons.
The popup screen has an array of 12 icons that will give you access to many of Google’s popular applications such as Gmail, Maps, YouTube, News, Picassa, Calendar, Reader, 411, SMS, Orkut, Docs, and Blogger.
In case you are not familiar with all of these great services, let’s review them briefly so you will appreciate the usefulness of this nifty little application making them so easily accessible.
Google Search: the most popular search engine on the Internet. The nice thing about this search box is that you don’t have to wait to pull up a browser to initiate a query.
Google Maps: a great free mapping program that will find and call your favorite pizza parlor or give you turn by turn directions to it. If connected to GPS, it will track your progress on a map.
YouTube: Recently acquired by Google, YouTube is the most popular video posting service on the Web.
News: a nice news aggregator that compiles headlines from over 4500 English-language news sources worldwide and groups similar stories according to your interests and specifications—kinda like building your own customized newspaper
Picassa: This versatile photo application allows you to organize, edit, and turn your photos into movies (if you wish) and post them online.
Calendar: represents an online calendar most useful for collaborative synchronization of events and appointments that can be accessed and edited by specified others.
Reader: an application that lets you get and organize the latest news and updates from your favorite sites and share it with others via email or blog.
411: tired of paying up to two bucks for calling your phone company to get a phone listing? Use 411 for free.
Docs: Everyone who engages in collaborative writing projects should use this great application so that all participants are all on the same page at all times. It’s a great way to share documents or publish them online. It accepts Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.
SMS: the greatest and quickest instant access to information from weather to sports scores, from measurements to definitions, from finding businesses to movies and theaters, from postal codes to stock quotes, from directions to flight schedules, from Q&A to area codes and more. Just text 466453 (GOOGLE) to a set of keywords found here: http://www.google.ca/mobile/sms/index.html
Orkut: yet another social networking site that has not really taken off in the U.S. but most popular in Brazil for some reason—named after a Google employee Orkut Byuykkokten
Blogger: allows you to post photos and text directly to your Blogger- built blog sites from your mobile phone.
Conclusion
Clearly, the functionality of this application is a boon to mobile efficiency, and you would be well advised to make it part of your toolkit. The good news is that it is totally free, as are all the applications it connects too. You must have a Google account in some cases to enjoy the bounty, but that’s free too.
Sign up for a Google account, if you don’t have one, here: http://www.google.com/accounts.
Download Google Mobile here: http://tinyurl.com/epfz3. There is a version for almost any mobile platform, even iPhone. You can get it on your phone over the air here: http://tinyurl.com/clmz64. Or, visit m.google.com on your phone’s browser.
I’m surprised that other popular Google applications such as Talk, iGoogle, and Notebook were not included. Perhaps they will be in future iterations. What would be really nice is if you could add or subtract your favorite applications.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
New Mobile Shell 3.0
If there ever were an application that I would recommend above all others to install on your pocket pal first it would be SPB’s Mobile Shell. Apparently this is not just my opinion, for the program has received an abundance of accolades. However, with a program so brilliantly conceived that does so much for organizing and giving you access to the depths of your machine, it is a hard act to follow.
Yet, the SPB developers have managed to make meaningful changes, add features, and offer improvements in version 3.0. If you have gotten used to using 2.0, you may balk at first and wonder why bother with any improvements and having to learn a new and more robust system. While there may be a bit of a learning curve, I think you will find it worth the effort.
Frankly, I liked everything just the way it was, but I have to admit that after becoming familiar with 3.0 and its enhancements, I am delighted with it and amazed at its functionality.
New Features
There are so many new features, I hardly know where to begin. Perhaps it would be best to list the major ones and then discuss those that are not self-evident.
· The most noticeable new feature is widgets, which have become popular on most desktops these days. These are evident on the Lifestyle Home Screen and in Photo Contacts.
· 3.0 integrates with Facebook. This is largely so that you can grab pictures of your friends and put them into your favorites and contact folders.
· You can even edit contact photos with cropping and rotating
· There’s a new Media Player widget you can place on the home screen
· You can place a wireless manager widget on the Home Screen too
· There’s a new launcher format—I’m not sure this is an improvement however
· The program is extremely finger-friendly throughout with kinetic scrolling
· There is an inbound indicator for voice, email, and sms with a counter widget
· The task manager has definitely been improved
· A 3D screen carousel view rotates every available screen for quick access
· There is a similar carousel view of photo contacts
Remember the old Professional vs Classic layout in 2.0? Well, 3.0 has expanded the concept to Professional and Lifestyle layouts that you can switch between at will. The professional layout packs in more information in a constrained screen space, while the Lifestyle layout is more fun with widgets you can scatter around the screen to give you the information you wish.
Chances are, users may not even recognize the installation of Mobile Shell 3.0 from one machine to another because of the endless possibilities of customization of features, backgrounds, and wallpapers.
It The new version supports multiple email platforms and accounts. A powerful algorithm places the email account with the most unread mail first in line for convenience. If there is no unread mail, the last one to have email will be the first in line.
Version 3.0 pays a lot of attention to contact management. The innovative approach of Facebook integration allows users to drag and drop photos and even crop them. You can also drag and drop contacts into the Favorites panel and then move them around as you please with your finger. The 3D contact carousel is a fun feature too. MS allows you to set unique ringtones for your favorites if you wish.
When you select a favorite, a new screen appears giving you the choice of calling home/work/mobile or sending SMS or MMS messages. There’s a nice photo log of phone calls as well.
I’m not quite convinced that the new launcher and the SPB Menu are an improvement over the old system in which you had 12 of the most recently launched applications in small icon format above the six Menu folders. You could make any of the twelve items appear permanently for convenience, and you could edit the content of the Menu folders or create your own folder and content.
Now there is a Launcher with your three favorites at the top in simple mode and any number of recently used applications displayed in order of usage below. It appears that you could have the whole Program folder in here. In the advanced mode, you can easily add or remove programs to suite your purpose. The recently used function will still operate below the favorites panel.
Remember that SPB offers an integrated suite of applications along with Mobile Shell such as Traveler, Weather, Netflix Manager, and Plus. These all work more seamlessly with version 3.0.
Version 3.0’s developers created the application with Windows Mobile 6.5 in mind so that it will work flawlessly in that environment too when it is released.
Conclusion
While Mobile Shell 2.0 was a superbly conceived application that made using your pocket pal a dream, version 3.0 has managed to enhance it with many new features of functionality and navigation. Perhaps the most striking features are the carousels and widgets. Again, I have to rate Mobile Shell 3.0 as a must-have application.
It costs $29.95, but you can try it for free and upgrade it for 50% off the retail price. Please visit www.spbsoftwarehouse.com to check it out and get your own copy. I think you are going to be quite pleased with Mobile Shell 3.0.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Use Your Windows Mobile Device for Forex Trading to Make Serious Money in a Tanking Economy
With economic doom and gloom surrounding us and the world’s economy going down the drain, let me share with you a surefire method of making serious money using your Windows Mobile device. Forex trading or the foreign exchange money market will make you money whether it goes up or down.
I have been playing around with it now for a couple of months. At first there can be a steep learning curve with some costly lessons if you make mistakes through manual placing of orders. You have to know when to get in and when to get out. You can lose your shirt very quickly if you don’t know what you’re doing.
However, it doesn’t have to be like that. Let me share with you an amazing little secret that you will thank me for the rest of your life. It involves what are called Expert Advisors or EAs. These are automated trading programs that do all the trading for you. They are little robots that make money for you while you sleep. They recognize profit opportunities, place orders, whether long or short, place stops for safety, and exit almost always with a profit.
The good news is that you can use your little pocket pal to place and track orders. Mostly all you have to do is check up on your robot to see how your 
profits are doing.
Note that the markets are open 24 hours a day Monday through Friday so you can relax on the weekends and enjoy your profits for the week.
This past week I made $1837.40 on a $5000 account in five days of trading. On another $5000 account, I cleared $1560.11. Friday I opened another $5000 account and made $351.51 for the day before the markets closed in just 8 hours of trading. Projected over 5 days, that would be $1757.55 for the five day week. So, the total profit would be over $5000 for the week or $20,000 for the month on a $15,000 investment. You can do the math for a year. Not bad in a sagging economy.
Let me tell you what you need to get started. First you must find a Forex trading brokerage to work with so you can open an account. There are oodles of them available. Just Google Forex. Firms I have used include I-Trade Forex, Forex.com, and lotusbrokerage.com.
Next you will need to sign up for an account. I strongly recommend that you sign up for a demo account first. Trade for at least a month before you go live or wait until you are confident and know what you are doing.
Then you must download the trading software. There may be several choices depending on the broker you select, but you should select MetaTrader 4. In my opinion, it is the most sophisticated yet easiest to use. Besides, it is the only one that offers a Windows Mobile version so you can conduct this business on your PDA.
Download and install both the desktop and handheld versions.
Now comes the magic. I strongly recommend that you download Maestro. This is an expert advisor that will completely automate your trading. Just plug it in, let it run on autopilot, and watch your profits soar. It will cost you $167, which is the best investment you’ll ever make. There is similar software out there that costs much more but is not nearly as effective. This EA really works like magic.
Another hugely important consideration in my opinion is not only that the software works, it is all set up and optimized for you right out of the box. You do not have to tweak the settings, which can be a continual bother. Just follow the simple installation instructions, and you will be making money in no time. It’s truly amazing.
You have nothing to lose because there is a 60 day money back guarantee. If you are not satisfied, and I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t be, you can ask for a full refund no questions asked.
To get your copy, go to Maestro
where you can pay, download, and be in business in a matter of minutes.
You can forget about the wimpy stock market, tanking real estate, and every other pathetic form of investment. If you’ve been wondering where to put your money that will give you a decent return and recover your losses, the Forex market with Maestro is the place. And what’s really great, is that you can do it with your little pocket pal from anywhere in the world. It doesn’t cost a fortune to get involved either. Start with a little as $300 and watch it grow to $3000 before your eyes, in your hand, on your Windows Mobile cachinger.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Don’t Buy FAPTurbo Forex Trading System: Giant Rip Off! Total Scam!
This is a warning. Be aware of a Forex Trading system called FAPTurbo that is being hyped all over the Internet, which is supposed to double your money every month. It doesn’t! I could never even get it to work. After tweaking and tweaking, I got a couple of trades out of it, never made a profit, and then it just quit working altogether. I religiously followed the instructions and set all the parameters perfectly as recommended in the manual.
In the sales hype, they tout the excellent customer support. Well, let me tell you, it’s non-existent. They do not respond, leave you high and dry, and keep your money.
There is supposed to be a 60 day guarantee no questions asked money back refund. Well fergetabout it. No one answers the phone. The voice mailbox on the answering machine is always full. No one ever returns calls. No one ever responds to email.
I have been trying to get a refund for weeks without any success. In desperation, I spent the money to send a registered refund demand letter to the New York City address listed in the Website. The post office returned my letter as undeliverable. Someone wrote on the envelope “The person and company have never been at this location.”
All I can conclude is that the entire operation is a flim flam Internet scam. Do not invest in this software. It did not work for me, and I doubt if it will work for you. There is no customer support. They do not honor their guarantees, and they do not exist at the address listed on the Website. Do not get involved as an affiliate either, for you will only be perpetuating the scam and will probably never see any compensation for your efforts.
Spread the word: FAPTurbo is a scam and a rip off. Steve, Mike, and Ulrich the supposed geniuses behind this fraud should all be in prison. Maybe the law will catch up with them, and you can help.
Saturday, March 07, 2009
Friday, March 06, 2009
Find Friends Fast in MySpace with FriendBlasterPro
I
f you are into social networking for its powerful marketing potential, then the more friends you have, the greater your market reach. The trick is to attract a circle of followers who are kindred spirits who share interests similar to yours. Finding friends one by one could take a considerable amount of time before you have a decent group.
Enter FriendBlasterPro a brilliant friend-finding application to save the day. This program more or less automates the process and takes all the headaches out of it for you.
Here’s how it works. After installing, run the program, and log into your MySpace account from within FriendBlasterPro. Locate groups, forums, and classified ads that are related to your area of interest. Alternatively, conduct a search on the topic you wish. When the results page appears, click on the Gather ID’s [sic]. You can then instruct the program to collect just from the current page or all pages. Normally, you would want to harvest all the pages. By the way, you can gather friends from a Google search as well.
Depending on the size of the group, this operation could take a few minutes. The result will be a list of names displayed in the center panel of the FBP screen. You should save these data to a file for future reference. These files can be 10, 20, 30 thousand depending on the size of the interest group.
Next you will want to start requesting friends from this list of potentials you have just generated. Click on the Friend Requester tab. There are a couple of settings you will want to adjust. First is the Friends per day box. I recommend that you set it for 200 per day. Any more than this and you will risk having your account suspended by MySpace because they tend to frown on wholesale friend prospecting on a mass basis. This conservative setting will keep you well under the radar.
The second setting is important too, and that is the time delay. I recommend that you set it for 12 seconds so that it doesn’t appear as if you are blasting away like a machine gun. This will keep you under the radar as well.
There are many other powerful features in FriendBlasterPro. You can send out bulletins at a set time to a list. You can invite a list of friends to an event. You can accept friends automatically. You can send out comments and messages to a list. You can even filter your list for people, bands, comedy, film, gender, age range, last login, and location or multiple locations. The filters can be turned on or off for gathering or for sending. Are you beginning to see the power of this program? Just imagine what you can do with this amazing tool.
While this application is designed to be an autobot running happily along on its own steam, MySpace has thrown up some road blocks. Every once in a while the routine will halt and wait for you to input a Captcha code just to make sure you are a human and not a bot. There is no set number of records before this appears; you just have to live with it. If it weren’t for this minor annoyance, it would be a close to perfect program for putting your home business on autopilot.
I only wish that the developers would create a FriendBlasterPro for all the other social networks out there. We are fortunate to have it for MySpace at least, and you should be taking advantage of it to improve your marketing outreach.
Here’s the deal: You can download it and try it free for a limited time. You can purchase it for one MySpace account for $29.95. Unlimited MySpace accounts usage is $59.95. Upgrades from one to unlimited accounts is $30.00. To get your copy go to <a href="http://tinyurl.com/b9fzol. ">FriendBlasterPro</a>.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
How to forward text messages to your email inbox
When I was asked to review TxtForward, I had to stop and think about why I would want my text messages forwarded to my email inbox. Isn’t text messaging handy enough without cluttering up an already overburdened email inbox?
TxtForward is an application that will automatically forward your text messages to any email address you specify. You can determine if you want inbound, outbound or both forwarded.
Scratching my head, I began to ponder the possible benefits of forwarded text messages to an email address. The more I thought about it, the more benefits I conceived. Let me share with you the results and invite your comments if you see other uses.
First and foremost, I think the major benefit would be as a backup record to important texting exchanges as in the case of a legal transaction for business arrangements or travel plans. There is a log of text messages created in the Windows folder, but it can only be read in the client that created it. Having an email backup is more useful and makes more sense.
I’m playing around with the idea of creating a novel or a play based almost entirely on text message exchanges. I think it would be a hoot. Can you imagine a play that would have two people texting back and forth never saying an audible word to one another? The scenes would change from home to office to car to restaurant and so forth throughout the day, but texting would be the only interaction. The audience would be treated to two huge screens each representing the actors’ cell phones.
The problem my collaborator and I discovered was that some of the messages had been inadvertently erased. Some of the dates were screwed up and out of sequence when the machine was reset unwittingly and the date not adjusted. An email backup would have saved the day.
Besides backup, this utility could have a whole range of stealth applications. For instance, what about cheating spouses? The program could be surreptitiously installed in the unsuspecting suspected spouse’s phone and programmed to route an email to your lawyer, private eye, or perhaps to the other guilty party’s email. It’s also a way to make sure your kids are where they are supposed to be and with whom they’re supposed to be. When I was young, I used to go to the library a lot, or at least that’s what I told my parents. I wonder if kids still do that. Parents would probably just tell them to look it up online.
I must say that when I’m sitting in front of my computer working, it’s nice to have my text messages streamed in with my email so that I don’t have to deal with my phone. I use a program called True Connect from raspberry software.com the places a tool bar on your Outlook ribbon that allows you to create and answer SMS messages. This brings up a wish list item for TxtForward, and that is to be able to reply to messages from an email client.
Another nice feature of TxtForward concerns those of us who have a whole stable of phones. As a writer/reviewer, I am always juggling several phones at any given moment. Some people have a private phone and a work phone. Wouldn’t it be nice if all your SMS messages could be directed to one depository, your email. Of course, with TxtForward this is no problem.
Another plus is that if you change phone numbers or get a new phone or SIM card, with TxtForward, your SMS records remain intact.
Now let’s look at security issues. Unfortunately, email clients that I’m familiar with do not allow the encryption of folders, files, and messages, so if your communications are sensitive, you are at risk. About the best you can do is password protect your whole email program, but this is a bother and isn’t really all that secure. Another suggestion is to create an obscure email account that you can password protect and use that for your messages with security issues.
I have another approach. First you will need to get a copy of Resco Explorer, which is an amazing program in itself basically for Windows Mobile devices. It’s actually a whole suite of useful utilities. But of interest here is the fact that it places an item on your desktop right click menu button for encryption of files and folders. With this application installed on your desktop, you can then create a page in Word and simply drag your text message email over to the Word page taking care to keep them in order. You can annotate them and organize them. After you have saved the page you can encrypt it and password protect it. How’s that for a creative solution?
By the way, you have the choice of forward messages from the developer’s server or directly from you phone. Note that some services such as Gmail will not show messages sent to yourself. In this case, you would want to use Electric Pocket’s server or send them to another email account. Electric Pocket swears that you can have complete confidence and that they do not log, monitor or record messages on their server.
In conclusion, it seems that the usefulness of this application is only limited by your imagination. It should have a premium edition capable of sending to multiple email addresses. It would be nice if Electric Pocket addressed the issue of security too. TxtForward would be even more useful if you could respond to messages directly from the email program.
Take it for a trail run or make it yours for a mere $7.95. It’s available from www.electricpocket.com.
If you can think of any more helpful uses of this application, please share.
Sprint and Palm Announce Upcoming Availability of Treo Pro on 3G Network
Sprint and Palm Announce Upcoming Availability of Treo Pro on America’s Most Dependable 3G Network
Elegant Windows Smartphone Supports Blazing-Fast 3G Data Speeds, First Palm Phone to Offer Internet Explorer Mobile 6
SUNNYVALE, Calif. and OVERLAND PARK, Kan., March 4, 2009 – Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) and Sprint (NYSE:S) today announced the upcoming availability of the Treo™ Pro smartphone for the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network on March 15.
Treo Pro will be available through all Sprint retail channels, including www.sprint.com/treopro, 1-800-SPRINT1 and Sprint retail stores, for $199.99 with a two-year subscriber agreement (after a $100 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate, with an Everything plan with data or a $30 per month or higher data add-on). It also will be available through the Palm Store (www.palm.com/store) and Palm’s B2B sales organization beginning March 16.
Treo Pro is a sleek, full-function smartphone offering users the ease of use and robust features they demand while providing the reliability and manageability IT departments require. With the EV-DO Rev. A speeds of Sprint’s Mobile Broadband Network, Wi-Fi, GPS and Windows Mobile 6.1 capabilities, Treo Pro helps busy professionals stay connected on the go so they can structure their lives around their priorities without sacrificing work productivity.(1)
“Business decision makers require a product that not only integrates seamlessly into their existing IT infrastructures, but one that’s also cost-effective,” said John Traynor, vice president, business products, Palm, Inc. “Treo Pro delivers just that – a feature set that IT managers need to support their mobile work force.”
Treo Pro is the first Palm phone available with Internet Explorer Mobile 6, with options for either a mobile-optimized or desktop-like Internet browsing experience on America’s most dependable 3G network.(2) It blends a high-resolution color touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard with a removable battery that packs up to five hours of talk time and enough strength for the business user’s needs, offering a powerful yet effortless mobile experience. Palm’s Wi-Fi hardware and software innovations on Treo Pro make it easy to get online fast and manage network connections and power usage. The one-touch Wi-Fi button provides a clean, uncluttered Wi-Fi experience that gets Treo Pro users rapidly connected at home, in the office or in Wi-Fi hotspots.
“The combination of Sprint Mobile Broadband with EV-DO (Evolution - Data Optimized) Revision (Rev.) A technology and Windows Mobile 6.1 on a Palm smartphone creates a mobile solution that meets the needs of today’s mobile professionals,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president of product & technology development for Sprint. “For years, Sprint, Microsoft and Palm have worked together to provide businesses large and small with an affordable mobile experience that is second to none, and Treo Pro continues that collaborative tradition.”
Sprint EV-DO Rev. A, Exclusive Content and Services
In 2008, Sprint revolutionized unlimited pricing in the wireless industry by moving beyond its competitors to deliver more features for a flat monthly rate of $99.99. Sprint’s Simply Everything(SM) plan is ideal for smartphones that can extensively leverage wireless data applications and provides unlimited nationwide calling, messaging, email, Web browsing, GPS navigation and much more – all for the monthly rate of only $99.99.(3)
Treo Pro offers integrated GPS, enabling Sprint Navigation with turn-by-turn directions, maps and point-of-interest searches for locations such as restaurants or stores. Additional Sprint-exclusive content available on Treo Pro(4) includes:
• Sprint TV® – Allows Treo Pro users to watch TV or video-on-demand or catch the latest news, sports, weather, entertainment and movie trailers on the go.
• Sprint Music – Enables users to wirelessly download digital music tracks to Treo Pro and choose from hundreds of thousands of full-length songs from virtually every genre.
• Pocket Express – Retrieves customized, up-to-date Web content such as sports, weather, news, money and movie information with the push of a button.
Treo Pro users can easily stay in touch with family and friends using Sprint Messaging, offering threaded SMS, and the ability to share pictures and video with MMS seamlessly in one application. It also offers Sprint IM with access to Yahoo! Messenger, AOL’s AIM® service and MSN Messenger.
With an open network platform, Sprint is able to offer customers new business applications created through Sprint’s Professional Developer Program. A robust community of application developers that previously focused on desktop services is now finding it easier to generate services that can perform on both the desktop and mobile devices.
The Palm Experience on Windows Mobile 6.1
Treo Pro supports Microsoft Direct Push Technology(5) for up-to-date email, contacts and calendars. With the deployment of Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, Treo Pro can deliver increased security, easier smartphone management, and access to information on the corporate network. IT professionals can confidently manage large Treo Pro deployments the same way they manage PCs.
With Internet Explorer Mobile 6, Treo Pro brings users a new, full-featured, high-quality browsing experience. Users can choose to browse in a mobile-optimized mode or in a desktop browser mode. Microsoft brings a mobile Web-browsing experience on par with what end users and developers have come to expect from their desktops – the ability to easily view Web pages and multimedia on the Web and best-in-class capability to complete transactions, from banking to checking in for a flight. Treo Pro helps optimize business processes by mobilizing users with several Palm specific enhancements to the Windows platform, including:
• One-touch Wi-Fi button -- Easy, fast Wi-Fi connection experience (802.11b/g).(1)
• Ringer switch – Silences the device immediately.
• Clock and date screen saver – Lets users know at a glance – without turning on the device – what date and time it is and whether they’ve missed a call or have a new SMS/MMS message.
• New voicemail indicator – The center button flashes to let users know that a voicemail is waiting.
• Dedicated email and calendar buttons – Fast one-button access.
Sprint also launched Ready Now, a revolution in the wireless retail experience, in all company-owned Sprint stores last fall. With Ready Now, Sprint has trained and committed its retail associates to work one-on-one with customers to personalize phones, set up features and demonstrate how phones work – before customers leave the store. Treo Pro customers can work with Sprint retail associates to learn more about how they can fully leverage the strengths of their device on Sprint’s Mobile Broadband Network.
Pricing and Availability
Treo Pro will be available March 15 through all Sprint retail channels, including www.sprint.com/treopro, 1-800-SPRINT1 and Sprint retail stores, for $199.99 with a two-year subscriber agreement (after a $100 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate, with an Everything plan with data or a $30 per month or higher data add-on). It will be available through the Palm Store (www.palm.com/store) and Palm’s B2B sales organization beginning March 16.
NOTE: Photos of the Treo Pro smartphone for the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network are available from Business Wire (http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5909453) and Palm’s Multimedia Library (www.palm.com/mml).
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving more than 49 million customers at the end of the fourth quarter 2008; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.
About Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc. is a leading mobile products company, creating instinctive yet powerful mobile products that enable people to better manage their lives on the go. The company’s products for consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm® Treo™, Pre™ and Centro™ phones, as well as software, services and accessories.
Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).
More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
iPhone eBook Readers Still Stone Tablets
Zealot’s interesting iBook article published on the Mobility Site has compelled me to make a few observations about iPhone eBook readers. While I am pleased that eBooks are a growing and popular download item, I am disappointed with the iPhone platform. I have been a long-time champion of eBooks and have developed some strict requirements for a decent eBook reader. I am afraid that there simply is not a decent eBook reader for iPhone yet. Sadly, iPhone users do not even seem to know the difference. It appears that as long as you can turn the page with your nose-mining finger, that’s all that’s required. The Earth’s flat, and that’s that.
By all measures, Stanza is by far the best, preferred, and most downloaded eBook reader for iPhone and iPod. It receives good marks for being able to handle a wide variety of eBook platforms and even convert them for iPhone consumption. But, it apparently loses formatting in some cases. It has a nice interface for finger-friendly page turning, but it lacks an autoscroll feature for faster and lazier readers. It also earns points for its ability to change fonts, font sizes, font colors and page background colors. This all contributes positively to the eBook reading experience.
However, the eBook reading experience can be so much more powerful. What turned me on to eBooks and won me over instantly way back before the turn of the century was being able to tap on a word in any language and having the definition pop up on the screen. That was way cool and converted me to eBook reading and abandoning treebooks forever. Can’t do that on Stanza on an iPhone. What a pity. But then, maybe iPhone readers have such extensive vocabularies and are such polyglots that this feature is simply not necessary and is beneath their dignity.
Other features lacking in even the best iPhone reader as exemplified in Stanza include the ability to annotate text, index the annotations, and search them. Speaking of searching, apparently Stanza will only allow searching within chapters, not globally.
What about the ability to make drawings, sketches, and handwritten notes in your choice of colors on pages without destroying the book as you would with a treebook. Nope, not on an iBook.
What about highlighting text in your choice of color coding? No can do on an iPhone.
What if you want to copy and paste text from an eBook into another application for research purposes? Sorry, iPhone is anti-academic on this issue. Wouldn’t it be nice too if it automatically referenced the source? Actually, as I understand it, you can’t copy and paste anything on an iPhone, so it’s not surprising that this feature is lacking in eBooks as well.
Another problem is that there is a lack of up-to-date material on the iTunes site. You cannot download any New York Times best sellers for example. None of the popular authors are represented. Clearly, it must be a matter of digital rights issues that Apple has not yet resolved. Of course the same thing applies to audiobooks and the lack thereof for this platform.
It is sad that iPhone and iPod users cannot take advantage of the marvelous free eBook and audiobook download programs available at almost all public libraries these days because of DRM issues and incompatible formats.
Ebook reading remains a far superior experience on Windows Mobile devices. However, I am pleased that iPhone people are discovering eBooks. Perhaps when they learn the difference they will demand that developers bring readers up to speed. EBook reading and readers will benefit greatly, and that is what matters. Maybe, if the demand justifies it, there will even be some decent material available to read on iPhones that still has a copyright.
National Public Radio (NPR) goes mobile
I’ve had a love/annoyance relationship with NPR over the years. There’s lots to like about NPR, for it has some great content and unique programming along with being one of the few sources of classical music. I like Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor, and Car Talk with those zany brothers. I appreciate Fresh Air, All Things Considered, and the news.
On the other hand, NPR has some serious negative features in my opinion. On the weekends, it has that awful Celtic music, which is repetitive, boring, and banal. Who would choose to listen to that stuff? And yet it goes on and on, year after year. There must be some heavy-duty, deluded sponsor who keeps it going. Certainly there could be far better, more creative programming to fill that slot. For a supposedly commercial-free platform, I grow weary hearing about their sponsors incessantly, and solicitations for more sponsors.
An improvement I would suggest is broadcasting scrolling text for the music being played and the composer/artist. I certainly appreciate this feature when listening to satellite radio and many other AM/FM stations. News can be broadcast this way as well while multi-tasking with other programming. I suppose it could also be used for mentioning sponsors. Perhaps this will change when stations begin HD broadcasting. But then how many people will have radios capable of receiving HD signals?
Another problem with NPR is that it seems every time I turn it on there is a fundraiser going on and on and on. While it bugs me, I usually fork over a donation every year because I want to support what I do like. However, it is usually a major inconvenience to make a contribution. I would be much more inclined to do so and more regularly if it were possible to do on my mobile phone or with PayPal instead of having to write a check, find a stamp/envelope, go to post office—fergetaboutit. Dropping everything to call on the phone and digging out a credit card isn’t much better. Get with it NPR—go mobile.
Actually, NPR has gone mobile with a truncated version of its full Website. You can access it at www.mobile.npr.org. You’d think they would have used www.npr.mobi instead. There is a decent array of offerings there including “Local” News, Most Popular Stories, Story of the Day, Music, Politics, Business, Health and Science, Movies, Books, Interviews, Commentary, Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me! Quiz. Opening each of these headings brings up mostly text stories, but if the word “call” is next to a story, you can get a recording.
There are some 35 “local” stations representing only the larger markets. If you want to listen to one of these stations, you can place a “call” to connect. This could cost serious money if don’t have the right data plan. Hasn’t NPR ever heard of Wi-Fi? You can search for a station in your area by zip code or city name, but chances are it will not be online if it’s in a smaller market. There is also an opportunity to donate to your “local” station. But, again, it’s only the large market stations. The joke is that they give you a phone number to call. NPR just doesn’t get it and is losing out on the power of mobile phones as a tool for charitable contributions.
I think they need to retool their entire money-raising machine. It’s outmoded and annoying. I recently sent our regional NPR fundraising representative a proposal for an innovative approach to fundraising that would have generated a sustainable residual income. She didn’t even have the courtesy to respond. It’s a good thing she doesn’t work for me; she would be looking for another job without a recommendation.
What amuses me is that the mobile version does not even mention RSS feeds, Podcasts, links for iPhone/Blackberry, text only site, API archives, Newsletters, MobiRadio, or Mspot. What about Windows Mobile?
NPR seems to be totally unencumbered with any knowledge of the interactive possibilities of mobile technology. There isn’t even an opinion section on the mobile version, nor are there any blogs. NPR needs to hire someone knowledgeable in Web 2.0. NPR is missing so many opportunities. It should have a presence on all the social networks. It should be Twittering away with timely Tweets. It should be texting and allowing its sponsors to have contests, sales, promotions, conducting surveys, texting coupons, sending out optimized mobile sites, and MMS messages as well. What an incredible waste not to be building an opt-in subscriber base for fundraising and communication purposes. Shame on NPR. Does NPR stand for Neo-Paleolithic Radio?
I suppose congratulations should be extended to NPR for offering a mobile version, but it is so lacking in mobile technology features that it is pathetic. One does wonder in what century the mobile site was built. While it is certainly a start in the right direction, there is much room for improvement, which I hope will be forthcoming before the next ice age. Meanwhile I shall restrict my NPR experience to listening via satellite radio over Wi-Fi.
Monday, March 02, 2009
ASUS Raises the Bar for Mobile Web Surfing and Multimedia Enjoyment with P835 WVGA PDA Phone
Taipei, Taiwan, February 27, 2009 – ASUS, a leading producer of innovative handhelds, today launched the P835, a PDA phone that delivers an Internet browsing and multimedia viewing experience without equal. Designed for business-savvy professionals who appreciate a screen as big as their ambitions, the P835 is equipped with a large 3.5” touchscreen that runs at WVGA resolution—offering five times the number of pixels of most phones and delivering the best document, photo, movie and website viewing experience possible. Apart from being able to display more of a webpage onscreen, the P835 boasts features that greatly enrich users’ online experience, including blazing fast HSUPA 7.2Mbps download speeds, a responsive trackball that makes scrolling effortless and Opera Mobile, a user-friendly and full-featured Web browser. It wraps all of its impressive functionality in an elegant touch-optimized interface which is intuitive, interactive and attractive.
Unparalleled Internet Browsing Experience
The ASUS P835 is designed to help users get the most out of the Internet. It is embedded with Opera Mobile, a fast, user-friendly and rich-featured browser that brings a complete Web experience to the P835. Users will be able to perform the full breadth of online tasks—from hopping onto their social networking sites and updating their blogs, to checking email and viewing streaming video. The P835 also enables users to switch between 12-key, half-Qwerty and full-Qwerty virtual keyboard modes, allowing them to choose an input method that best suits their current task. A responsive tracking ball significantly improves scrolling, and the phone’s large 3.5” display ensures every webpage is displayed crisply and vividly.
Crystal Clear 3.5” WVGA Touchscreen
The P835 is equipped with a large 3.5” touchscreen that runs at WVGA (800 x 480 pixels) resolution—offering five times the number of pixels of most phones—thus rendering the P835 capable of delivering unprecedented clarity and screen real estate. Regardless of whether it is used for watching movies in full screen, browsing through photos, perusing documents or surfing the Internet, the P835 will provide visual enjoyment on the mobile platform like never before.
New Glide: The Best Mobile Interface, Now Even Better
The P835 features an updated, streamlined and enhanced iteration of ASUS’ exclusive Glide—the most innovative, intuitive and interactive mobile user interface available today. New Glide has been given a significant facelift over its predecessor, boasting new icons that take the beauty and interactivity of the interface up a notch—making the best even better. Subtle, bold, modern, swanky or sweet—the P835 has a theme that will appeal to everyone.
Doubles as a Wi-Fi Access Point
The P835 has the additional ability to function as a Wi-Fi Access Point. It can share its high-speed HSPA cellular data or Internet connection over Wi-Fi with up to 10 devices, such as laptops or other PDA phones. Connecting devices is a simple affair thanks to the P835’s user-friendly interface, and dropped connections are automatically restored.
Specifications
Networks
HSPA (DL: 7.2Mbps, UL: 2Mbps), UMTS 900/1900/2100
EDGE/GPRS/GSM 850/900/1800/1900, Class 12
Operating System
Microsoft Windows® Mobile 6.1™ Professional
Color
Black
Form factor
Bar type
Dimensions
115mm x 59mm x 13.8mm
Weight
148g (with battery)
Standby Time
350hrs with 3G and 300hrs with 2G*
Talk Time
6hrs with 3G and 7hrs with 2G*
Display
3.5” TFT, 65K-color Touchscreen, WVGA (800 x 480 pixels)
Processor
Qualcomm 7201A 528MHz
Memory
4GB Internal Storage + 288MB SDRAM + 256MB ROM
Expansion Slot
MicroSD with SDHC support
Connectivity
WLAN 802.11b+g , USB v2.0, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
WAP Browser
HTTP / WAP 1.2.1/2.0
Messaging
SMS / MMS / Email / MSN / Push Email
Battery
1100mAh Lithium
GPS
Yes (AGPS supported)
Business Applications
PIM
Word (editor), Excel (editor), PowerPoint (viewer), Adobe Reader, Windows® Live, MSN, Voice Commander** and Push Email (Exchange Server).
Other Features
Opera browser, Wi-Fi Access Point, YouTube, Flickr, ASUS Virtual Keyboard, Anytime Launcher, ASUS Today, EziMusic, EziPhoto, Google search and RSS Reader.
Multimedia and Entertainment
Camera
5 Megapixel Auto Focus
Video
Record: MPEG4/H.263
Playback: MPEG4/H.264/H.263/WMV
Video Call, Audio/Video Streaming
Picture Format
JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP
Audio Format
MP3, WMA, WAV, AMR, AAC and AAC+
Ringtone
Polyphonic (MIDI, 128CH), MP3, WMA and WAV
JAVA
J2ME (CLDC 1.1 + MIDP2.0)
* Talk and standby time are dependent on the network environment and on phone usage.
** Subject to region availability.
Specifications are subject to change without prior notice. Please visit www.asus.com for more details.
ASUS is a leading company in the new digital era. With a global staff of more than ten thousand and a world-class R&D design team, the company’s revenue for 2008 was 8.1 billion U.S. dollars. ASUS ranks among the top 10 IT companies in BusinessWeek’s “InfoTech 100”, and has been on the listing for 11 consecutive years.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Texting with Tatango
Recently, I published an article in which I maintained that text message or SMS marketing is the future of advertising. I even went so far as to declare that there has never been a more powerful marketing tool ever invented.
Today let me share with you a great way to get started in mobile marketing or just keeping in touch with a group through texting. Allow me to introduce you to Tatango.
Tatango was invented by some fraternity brothers who needed a way to keep the brethren apprised of meetings and activities which was always a daunting task. They came up with an application that allowed them to send out a text message to all the guys’ mobile phones simultaneously, and it worked like a charm.
Now, a few years later, the system has been funded by venture capitalists, and it is available for public consumption. The good news is that it is free, so it makes a great way to get started with the power of texting.
It can be used simply as a group communication tool for a soccer team or a church group. It can also be used my MLM junkies wanting to keep in touch with their downline. It can also be used as a recruiting tool by allowing people to text into the system requesting to be included on the distribution list.
There are two elements to SMS or short message service communication. First is a short code consisting usually of five digits instead of ten, making it easier for users. The second aspect is a keyword used for identifying the group and the appropriate response for the server to send back. Accordingly, suppose you were a realtor and you had a texting panel on your for sale sign. It would say something like “text mls12234 to 34567.” This instructs a prospective client to send a message to 34567 with the code mlm12234. This tells the computer to include this customer in the database and to return information about the particular property in question.
The beauty of SMS marketing is that that customer must request to be sent information on an opt-in basis. Recipients may opt-out at any time by merely texting the word STOP. They are automatically removed from the database. Ideally this is how it works and is mandated by the FCC. However, there have been instances of abuse by foreign servers over which the FCC has no authority. There will always be some people who abuse the system.
There are four ways for people to join your group. You can send an email invitation to an individual or list with instructions. You can send a text message to a mobile phone number with instructions. Tatango offers a widget that can be embedded in social networking sites such as MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin, a blog or Website that enables people to sign up for your group. This is a terrific tool for expanding your marketing list.
As I mentioned, this is a free service. However, the free service is supported by advertising. This means that each message contains a short ad from a sponsor. This may be tolerable for members of a team or a social group looking for an inexpensive but efficient means of communication. But it would hardly do for a professional association or for business marketing efforts.
Accordingly, Tatango has different levels of service ranging in price for varying numbers of ad free messages ranging from 200 for $9.95 to 3000 for $99.95.
You receive from one to 5 keywords depending on account level. Keywords may be used to identify different groups or different marketing campaigns. For instance, suppose you owned a pizza restaurant, and you wanted to identify vegetarians from meat lovers so that you could segment future marketing strategies. You could offer different specials with keywords identifying each group.
While Tatango is a great way to get started with texting for a group for free, I would not advise using the free service for a business. You will turn your customers off with the ads in the messages. If you want to use this service for your business, you would certainly use a paid plan that is ad free. The only ads you want in a message are yours.
Check out Tatango at www.tatango.com. Get a free account to see how it works. See if Tatango’s paid services will suit your needs. Keep in mind that there are other, more sophisticated service providers available that you may wish to investigate before making a commitment to a sustained mobile marketing effort.
If would like to learn more about mobile marketing, please visit my SMS Blog.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Auto Social Bookmarking Site Submitter Toolbar
Check out this nifty little toolbar that will submit your articles automatically to a wide array of social bookmarking sites.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Spb Weather 2.0—Don’t leave home without it
Clearly, weather plays an important role in our lives and can sometimes be a matter of life and death. Therefore, it is important to have ready access to these data, and what could be more convenient than having it in the palm of your hand on the Today screen of your Windows Mobile device?
Spb Weather 2.0 offers many attractive features in addition to the basic weather stats. It has a 3D globe, satellite images, temperature forecast movies, sky forecast movies, and an improved integration with Spb Mobile Shell and a finger friendly animated navigation approach.
You can add up to 10 favorite cities, which can be easily swapped or removed. While there is an onboard database of 10,000 cities, I found it lacking for my preferences. For instance, I was born in Santa Barbara, CA and like to keep track of the weather there. I was surprised that it was not in the database even though it’s the largest city in the county and the county seat while Santa Maria, a much smaller city was included. I now live in the state of Idaho where only two cities are listed for the entire state. Yes, it is possible to search for cities by zip code, airport code, or name and add them to the database. However, when I did this, no weather data were displayed, which was a disappointment.
Curiously, the weather city list that comes with Spb Mobile Shell does have my missing cities such as Moscow, ID and Santa Barbara, CA. And, the weather does display for these cities. So, go figure. Obviously the two weather programs are independent of one another with Mobile Shell’s being superior as far as the database is concerned.
Of course you can change the units of measurement and choose your favorite view. There are three weather sources available, and you can select your own, if you wish, from a list of 40 source templates that you can install for free.
The Today screen plug-in is a handy way to display your weather the moment you turn on your device. You can choose the display mode and determine what data will appear. The display can be in a multi-line view, or if you want to save screen space, you can have each city tabbed. Tap on the city displayed for a popup of even more detailed information and forecasts.
I was a little bit surprised that the Weather icon in Mobile Shell takes you to the set up panel instead of the today screen display.
While Spb Weather may not be the most robust weather program available, it is certainly more than adequate and worth your consideration. I am, however, concerned about the glitch in data lacking for cities added that are not in the existing database and hope that this will be corrected.
Grab your copy at www.spbsoftwarehouse.com. The registered version costs $19.95. You can try it free for 15 days. Owners of the previous version may upgrade for only $9.95.
Spb Wallet 2.0--a must have
I’ve probably said it before, and I’ll say it again: everyone should have an electronic wallet in which to store proprietary information in a single, secure location. Spb’s new electronic wallet will allow you to consolidate all your important information such as credit card numbers, bank accounts, insurance accounts, online accounts, passwords and other private information.
It will make it double secure with AES 456encryption and password protection. Wallet supports an auto lockup feature with clipboard cleanup and phishing safeguards. With a desktop version, it’s possible to sync between several machines such as desktop, laptop, and handhelds The desktop engine also syncs with Google mail and integrates into Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Another great feature that casts the winning ballot is the login auto-complete utility. You can pay $40 for software that does this, and it’s included free with SPB Wallet! Your login info stored in Wallet will automatically sign you into sites online with Internet Explorer or Firefox.
One of the things that has held me back from switching to a new Wallet is the problem of porting over the old data to a new format. Spb Wallet takes care of this problem with its import wizard. So don’t be bashful about trying out this new Wallet using your old data.
You have to appreciate the active fields feature too, which enables you to hyperlink to Websites, make phone calls, send email and text messages. You can also cut and paste data into and out of Wallet using its clipboard. This feature also works with handheld devices as well.
The visual aspect of Spb Wallet is superior with its look like the real thing credit cards, logos, and other free artwork to enhance the appearance of each record. There is a 7000 item database of templates. If you don’t see the template you need, you can order others free from Spb’s Website.
Free trails are available for 15 days. The registered version costs $29.95. Go to http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/pocketpc-software/wallet/download.html to download your copy.
SPB Wallet is available for Window Mobile touch and non-touch screens, Symbian, and soon for iPods and iPhones.
Spb’s new Wallet 2.0 is clearly a must-have application that everyone should pack, and one of the finest of its species.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Slingbox revisited
As far as I’m concerned, Sling Media is a company that has rocked the world, at least my world. I’ve been a champion of Slingbox since the beginning in 2004.
What will a Slingbox do for you?
A Slingbox is a small, sleek unit that connects directly to you TV or DVR. It makes it possible to watch live or recorded TV on your computer, laptop, or mobile phone from home or anywhere in the world. Anything you can do with your remote control at home, you can do with Slingbox on your computer remotely. You can record, playback, and send clips via email.
Technical Support
When purchasing a new product, especially when you are just getting starting and setting it up, it is important to know that there is good technical support available. I am happy to report that Sling Media’s customer support is superb. Phone support is available from 7AM to 7PM PST, seven days a week. Online support is available through email and live chat. It doesn’t get much better than that. I have found technicians to be knowledgeable and helpful.
Sling Media Products
My first Slingbox was a plain vanilla AV that worked without flaw for at six years, and then it developed some kind of a connection problem, but it was time to upgrade anyway. I have recently acquired a more powerful HD Pro capable of transmitting HD data and a much better resolution picture. It goes for $299.99. HD Pro lets you control and watch your home TV on multiple devices.
The Slingbox Solo only costs $179.99 and will stream a single standard or high-definition video input to a remote device.
The SlingCatcher is a digital video data amalgamator that brings entertainment to your TV set. With SlingCatcher, you can display data from a Slingbox, your computer, or any other data source available, including the Internet or from a storage device. This universal media player costs $199.99. You might think of it as a reverse Slingbox that displays video on your TV instead of displaying TV video on your remote devices. One drawback for the moment is that it will not sling HD content. It doesn’t work on MACs either.
If your router is in a different location than your TV and DVR, you don’t have to run a hardwire connection. Let SlingLink Turbo come to the rescue. Turbo boxes plug into ordinary power outlets in your home and use the wiring in your house to transmit data from your Slingbox to your router. All you have to do is plug Ethernet cables in from Turbo box to the Slingbox and from the Turbo box to the router. SlingLinks come in single port ($79.95) and four-port models ($49.95).
Software
The most recent version of Slingplayer software gives you an onscreen remote control that looks just the one at home so there is no learning curve. You can also display a complete TV lineup from your TV source complete with program descriptions. Slingplayer software for desktops and laptops is free as are updates. Display of remote and guide data is optional and you can select placement options for where it appears on the screen.
Updates for SlingLink and and SlingCatcher are available as free downloads.
Slingplayer software for mobile devices is not free and costs $29.95. You can try it free for 30 days. After that, a registration code is required. Slingplayer for mobile devices is already available for Windows Mobile, Symbian, and even Blackberry. It will soon be on iPhones as well.
Observations
I cannot even imagine leaving home without Slingplayer software installed on my mobile phone and laptop. The great thing about it is that it really works, even with HD TV, and there is no monthly fee.
News Flash: Dish Network recently acquired Sling Media. It will be interesting to see how this relationship unfolds. I first learned of this acquisition by the curious appearance of a four minute recording on my DVR. It was a nice little commercial for Slingbox at the end of which viewers learn that Dish had purchased Sling Media. It reminded me of AT&T spamming their customers with unsolicited text messages. I wonder if this is a portend of things to come with cable and satellite companies pounding their customers with SPAM. Shame on Dish.
However, we shall soon see the first favorable outcome of this new relationship. Echostar, the parent company of Dish, has already combined Slingbox technology with its new Echostar 922 DVR with 1 terabyte of expandable storage. This amazing device that won best of show in CES will be available soon.
Monday, January 19, 2009
A must have accessory
Proporta.com, the case place and purveyor of great gadgets and peripheral PDA paraphernalia has come up with a nifty, new gadget I think you will want to have too.
Do you ever get tired of those suction cups falling off your windshield and your GPS, MP3, or PDA goes crashing on the floor while in the middle of a traffic jam? That sucks. Well, here’s another solution that doesn’t suck.
It’s so simple that it makes you wonder why it didn’t appear long ago instead of the suction cup solution.
The Proporta magnetic dashboard mount is a little over 3 inches long and a shade over an inch wide. It attaches firmly to wherever you place it on your dash with a super strong adhesive on the back. Just peel off the protective covering and stick it on.
It also comes with a round detachable metal disk about the size of a quarter. Remove the disk, and attach it to whatever device you wish by means of the stickum on the back. It’s so thin that it is completely unobtrusive.
Now you just place your mobile device of choice on the dashboard unit. It attaches firmly magnetically, and it guaranteed not to fall off and turn your PDA into a laptop computer. Proporta recommends not using it for objects weighing over about four ounces. Many of my PDAs weigh around six ounces, but I haven’t had any trouble with them.
Check it out at www.proporta.com. One could be yours for only $12.95, which is way cheaper than a suction window mount for which you can easily pay $50. The Proporta Website says it comes with two disks so that you can use it for more than one device, but mine only came with one disk. I guess Proporta owes me a disk.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Twitter away your time for fun and profit
When I first heard of Twitter, I was amazed and amused that it was spreading like wildfire in a frenzy of popularity. It’s all based on a message limited to 140 characters that tells people what you are doing at the moment. My first reaction was, who cares? But apparently people do, and folks are not bashful about sharing what they are up to with others. So, why not use this proclivity to visit for word of mouth advertising or for spreading the word for a worthy cause? Your posted messages, by the way, are known as Tweets. Isn't that tweriffic?
Twitter is a social networking application that is also a mini-blogging service, which limits posts to 140 characters, even smaller than a 160 character text message.
As long as you are tweeting away telling others about what you are doing, why not tell them about your business and use this system to bring in some bling?
The first thing to do is to sign up for an account. It’s free. Go to www.twitter.com. Watch the video for a nice overview of how it works. Then signup by entering your name or email address and password. That’s all there is to it, and you can began to Twitter and Tweet by following your friends and making new ones. You’ll be surprised at how fast you will start attracting followers.
Be sure to fill out your profile and post a picture of yourself. Try to make your profile compelling. If you are promoting a business or a cause, you can add a one line bio and a URL for followers to view.
If you are away from you computer and still want to Twitter, you can do it on your mobile phone; it’s easy to set up. Sign in to your account. Click on Settings at the top of the page. Then click Devices where you will enter your mobile number. After verification, you will receive text message instructions on how to use the system from your mobile device by texting your Tweets to the short code 40404.
There’s even a mobile Website set up for Twitter. Check it out at www.m.twitter.com.
Now, here’s a little advice on how to go about marketing with Twitter. First of all, don’t abuse the system by indiscriminately spamming your followers. In fact, I would strongly advise against any sales message whatsoever in your Tweets. Simply offer worthwhile information. I suggest that you write a blog article, give the title, and a link to your blog or Website in your Tweet.
Some links may be overly long for the 140 character format. To truncate them and save space, try TinyURL at www.tinyurl.com. Here you can type in the long form and receive a much reduced form that you can include in your Tweet. You can also put a TinyURL button on your browser. Once the button is in place, all you have to do is click it, and TinyURL will create a short URL for the currently viewed page.
Another thing you can do is put a link on your blog or Website asking people to follow you on Twitter in return for following them to create more followers.
Don’t overlook the tools that come with Twitter for gathering followers. Click on Find People at the top of the page. Here you will be able to search for individuals by username, first, or lastname who are already Twitter members.
Click on Invite from Other Networks, insert your email address, and Twitter will search your contact list for current Twitter members on your list. A list of contacts is also generated of people who do not yet have a Twitter account. You can have Twitter send an email inviting them to get an account and follow you. The only problem with this is that it only applies to free email accounts such a gmail, yahoo, hotmail, etc.
However, you can click on Invite by Email, and a box will appear that allows you to enter a comma separated list of contacts to whom Twitter will send an email message inviting them to sign up and follow you and tells them a little bit about Twitter.
This is what the message looks like:
From: tshphd
Subject: tshphd wants to keep up with you on Twitter
To find out more about Twitter, visit the link below:
http://twitter.com/i/deafe017142140db7044566433da2c1d176ca9b9
Thanks,
-The Twitter Team
About Twitter
Twitter is a unique approach to communication and networking based on the simple concept of status. What are you doing? What are your friends doing—right now? With Twitter, you may answer this question over SMS or the Web and the responses are shared between contacts.
Remember too that you can sign up for RSS feeds in Twitter so that you can follow others and they can follow you, which represents an additional marketing opportunity.
Yet another way to spread the word is that you can share your Twitter Tweets on your Facebook account so that all your Facebook friends can see what you’re up to as well.
Finally, go to the bottom of a Twitter page and click on API where you will find some Widgets that allow you to use Twitter even more creatively. If you want more, there are additional Widgets on the Twitter Fan Wiki (http://twitter.pbwiki.com/Apps). Don’t forget to check out the desktop applications for Windows at the bottom of the page. You are invited to write your own widgets using API. The list is impressive and so is the array of creativity, which clearly demonstrates the enthusiasm for Twitter. Apps are available for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Android,WM, and Blackberry environments.
In conclusion, Tweeting is a great way to twitter away your time profitably by using this social networking phenomenon as a powerful marketing tool.
Now, if you want to follow me, please go to www.twitter.com/tshphd, click on Follow, and send me a Tweet. I’d love to hear from you; maybe we can sell each other something. But, I have to warn you that I don’t do MLM. What I’m looking for is a residual income of about $20K a month that requires that I don’t have to do any work. J
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)