Didiom Pro v1.0 Released To Marketplace
Last time we mentioned Didiom it seems like you guys really liked it. Well there’s an update. Didiom has now released Didiom Pro and it’s live on Marketplace. So what changed? They made the quality of streams higher and they gave you the ability to download songs to your phone, along with more stability and UI improvements. This can come in handy if you’re going to be traveling so instead of streaming you will have them available locally as well. There’s also a price tag now – it’s $10 which isn’t that bad in the scheme of things – it’s cheaper than getting a larger memory card. Here’s the description from Marketplace:
With faster navigation and new features, Didiom Pro connects you to your home computer’s audio collection, right from your phone. Stream anything from your Michael Jackson albums to CNN podcasts to Harry Potter audiobooks stored on your computer, or download your favorite tracks wirelessly to listen to on your phone offline. To use Didiom Pro, you will need to download Didiom Pro Desktop at Didiom.com/pro.exe and make sure it monitors the folders where you store your audio collection.
Features:
- Stream music, podcasts, and audiobooks from your computer to your phone.
- Download your favorite tracks wirelessly to listen to on your phone offline.
- Use your phone to listen to playlists stored on your computer.
You can read more about it on Didiom’s website. And yes, there are other apps to stream music for free but this one is very easy to setup and very easy to use. And it does appear that you can get the app from their website as well (for those of you who hat Marketplace) but it seems like the $10 is an annual fee while there’s no mention of that on Marketplace
Question: How Much Markup Is In Text Messaging?
I was just sent a link from one of our readers Bitbucket, on how much the markup is on a text message. I know we have all ranted about this before, but if you had to guess, would it be 100%? You aren’t even close. Guess again. 1000 Percent? Still way off. Last chance. Give up? Try 6500% markup on text messages from wireless carriers! Quoted from CNN:
Text messages are short, quick and cheap to transmit. So why are they adding so much to your wireless bill? The messages are such a tiny piece of data that they cost carriers only about one-third of a cent to deliver, according to computer scientist Srinivasan Keshav, who testified before U.S. senators on the issue last summer. But on a pay-per-text plan, the 160-character messages typically cost 20 cents outgoing and 10 cents incoming. That’s a markup of as much as 6,500%. OMG! "It’s pretty much pure profit," Keshav says. "Carriers would argue they put that money toward investing in new technology." Even if customers sign up for an unlimited texting plan for, say, $10 a month, carriers are still cashing in considering that their overhead is basically $0. That’s a lot to pay for a few LOLs.
Want to guess the mark up on pop corn at the movie theater? CLICK HERE
Thanks Bitbucket! Please send us tips on news you liked and want to share!
AT&T-Friendly Nexus One Submitted to FCC
Google just filed for FCC approval of a Nexus One modified to support AT&T’s flavor of 3G with WCDMA bands I, II and V (page 8 of FCC ID NM8PB99110). Given Google’s rifts with AT&T it is possible that Google could sell the NM899110 with or without AT&T being on board to offer partially subsidized purchases or to provide technical support as T-Mobile does. It’s worth adding that those WCDMA bands are also compatible with Rogers, Bell, Telus and most of Europe.
On the subject of Android, given Android’s rapidly growing market share which at the latest measurement I could find is over four times that of Windows Mobile’s and climbing, given the stunning demand and progress in the Windows Mobile community to run Android on a handful of the more popular HTC Windows Mobile phones, given that a lot of those people, to use them as representatives of more casual smartphone users, aren’t T-Mobile subscribers but use bands I, II and V for WCDMA, given that there appears to be no interest in consumers to run Windows Mobile on their Android phones, given that in spite of their conflicting digital philosophies with Google the Chinese government will welcome Android, given how more and more device manufacturers are focusing on Android, Windows Mobile 7 had better be supernaturally awesome, perfectly marketed and swiftly released to save Microsoft’s mobile platforms from being identified as “Other” in the pie charts.
As we get a steady flow of visitors from *.microsoft.com, if you want to do the company a favor go ahead and chime in right here about what you think were Microsoft’s biggest mobile mistakes and what they ought to do differently with Windows Mobile in order to save it from irrelevance which is its apparent present destination from where I’m sitting.
Doug Simmons
Smartphones Weekly Roundup
This week we have some interesting news, games and of course, one big fat iPhone… sorry, iPad.
WMLongLife: “Save Your Gonads And Battery!”
WMLongLife by the venerable and prolific developer Chainfire will make your device hop up from 2G to 3G when it thinks you need it and back down to 2G when you don’t, consequently keeping your battery level and sperm count high as resting on 2G, except under very unusual conditions, burns less fuel and emits less radiation than either using 3G or trying to jump to 3G chews up. When your phone is set for 3G but is on 2G, its fight to find and lock back onto 3G really punishes the battery. And when it’s set to 3G but doesn’t have a full signal, that’s when heavy power is spent and that’s when you really don’t want your phone on 3G unnecessarily. WMLongLife recognizes that there are occasions in your day during which 3G is called for, for instance if you start any applications you identify in the configuration as being worthy of 3G (like Opera and YouTube), at which points it will ramp up the connection. And when you either stop using the program or that program doesn’t appear to be needing 3G speeds for instance if the phone’s only using data either constantly or periodically for email, or if you start using wifi or plug into USB, it will pause data-using applications while ramping down to 2G to prevent any network error bubbles.
It’s a very sophisticated piece of software and it’s complicated to understand and describe to you everything that’s going on under the hood and as with radio management software your mileage may vary but it would be pretty strange if you installed WMLongLife and didn’t notice substantially improved battery life and there’s a decent chance that the brief delays of the software triggering your phone to jump from 2G to 3G, about five seconds, won’t be intolerable for what you get in return, especially if you tweak the configuration to suit your specific needs. To grab a copy hit his WMLongLife v0.65 thread on XDA but note that it may stop working on July 1st at which point you may have to throw down a few bucks (oh no!) to keep using it if he decides to go commercial or gets too fed up that not enough people are expressing their gratitude. Be advised this is beta software, though the odds are high that it is compatible with your WinMo phone (check the thread for a list). Yes it does do both GSM and CDMA.
Chainfire’s most famous for WMWifiRouter and if you want to see what else he’s up to check out his development blog. Even if you don’t care about battery conservation, if you’re at all intrigued by impressively designed software, WMLongLife falls under that category.
Doug Simmons
Location, Location, Location
I was reading about a patent Google just filed in an apparent effort to improve their ability to locate wireless users without having to rely so much on carriers cooperating and sharing tower tower information but getting better clues of our locations from our phones’ encounters with access points by letting us geo-datamine access points for them basically pinging them and measuring latency, throughput and transmission strength, cross-referencing that with other known information, and then using that data to help pinpoint us and in doing so Google takes another stab at the carrier middleman to show us the love directly and while reading about it I thought of the subtle joys of Google Latitude, some of which you may not be aware.
Now this isn’t fresh news but let me go over all the fun anyway you can already have with Google Latitude on Google Maps Mobile (cab). Google Latitude essentially lets everyone who wants to share their locations with friends or visitors to their blogs. Provided you have a Google account you can now enable Google Location History which, clearly inspired by TrackMe, keeps your past locations plotted down, visible either just to you or to everyone you share it with. Google Location Alerts, when enabled, will alert you over email and text when you’re near your Latitude buddies. I think if you can talk your ol’ lady into using it (or just sort of borrow her phone for a little while when she’s sleeping to set it up) you can be alerted when she’s on her way home from getting a facial so you know just in time when to crank up the window fan on full blast exhaust and fumigate the place with Glade while dumping your ash tray in the toilet and ziplocking and stashing it and your pack of Newpies inside your computer, washing your hands, splashing on a little aftershave and drinking some Listerine and she’s none the wiser all thanks to Google. So what if you can’t do it in awesome 3D like you could with Android phones — at least you get to have some me-time without getting your balls broken.
If you think what I just did up there, showing you my location instead of a goofy picture on the top right of the article, and you want to do it on your own site, piece of cake with Google Public Location Badge. And for you Google Talkers if you’re just dying to indicate the city you’re in to your Google Talking buddies without having to manually adjust your profile, Google Talk Location Status has got you covered. I didn’t say I was saving the best for last.
Doug Simmons
Fox News Gets More On Windows Mobile 7 At WMC
Looks like we have more confirmation that there will be at least an announcement about Windows Mobile 7 at Barcelona according to a Fox Video Interview with Peter Klein yesterday. Peter answers a question by Fox stating that:
“We are heads down working on Windows Mobile 7 and we will have much more to say about that at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February.”
Peter states that there will be “much more to say” but does not confirm much. He was even asked about the Apple iPad and would not beat on it much, so we will have to wait for Steve Ballmer for that. Check out the 4 minute mark for the Windows Mobile 7 quote and let us know what you think.
Fox News Video CLICK HERE
via: WMPU
Huge Resco Sale On Utility Package & Media Suite For PPC
One of the biggest names in Third Party Software for all of Windows Mobile and legendary for their File Explorer Application (with new 2010 version!), is running a huge sale on:
Buy the Resco Utility Package and SAVE more than 40%!
You now have the unique opportunity to have File Explorer with Photo Manager Standard Edition and Keyboard Pro all in one package for $74.85 $44.91 and save $29.90. Which Comes with:
- Resco Photo Manager Standard Edition Version: 7.03
- Resco Explorer 2010 – Totally Touchable File Manager Version: 8.00
- Resco Keyboard Pro for Pocket PC (v5.23)
And that is not all! Resco is also running a huge sale on:
Buy the Resco Media Suite and SAVE $ 46.85 !
Now you have the unique opportunity to have resco the best selling products;
Resco Explorer, Resco Photo Manager Standard Edition, Resco Audio Recorder and Resco Pocket Radio all in one suite for only $99.80 $52.95 and save $46.85. Which Comes with:
- Resco Explorer 2010 – Totally Touchable File Manager Version: 8.00
- Resco Photo Manager Version: 7.03
- Resco Audio Recorder for Pocket PC (v4.62)
- Resco Pocket Radio for Pocket PC (v2.02)
Resco also has single applications on sale when you buy any one of the suites. So head on over to Resco and save some huge money on their applications that some of the best you’ll find anywhere.
Windows Mobile 6.6 or 7 Announcement Coming To MWC?
There have been tons of rumors floating around about the release of Windows Mobile 7, and even a bunch of screen shots. We chase rumors here as much as anyone, but I have been hesitant to write about any Windows Mobile 7 rumors because of the continued delays, disappointments, and updates released to Windows Mobile 6.5. Even though Windows Mobile 6.5 was a much needed patch, to an outdated operating system and most especially, user interface, it was really only made better by the efforts of HTC to continue integrating their Touch Flo 3D and Sense technology deeper into the operating system leaving Windows Mobile’s flaws in it’s shadow.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Titanium and Chome were a much needed shot in the are for Windows Mobile 6.5. Both of which letting us say goodbye to the tired UI that dated back to Windows Mobile 5 was released in 2005. Oh, and by the way, if you want to see a great comparison between all of the different User Interfaces currently available for Windows Mobile, you must check out David’s article: What’s Your UI? As is usual for David, it is a very well done walk through all of the different ways that you interface with your device.
So that sort of brings us to today. The much anticipated release of Windows Mobile 7 and the savior to a platform rich in history and former glory. Even though the release of Windows Mobile 7 won’t mean much to current device owners with Windows Mobile 6.5, as WinMo 7 will only support devices like the HTC HD2 that use a 1gHz and have a 800×480 touch screen and is already released in Europe and coming to T-Mobile.
So what can we expect in Windows Mobile 7? We can definitely count on Zune and other social media like Facebook, Twitter and even XBOX Live. All this with native multi-touch and a massive reworking of the whole operating system making it all finger friendly and easier to use. But it was during a Microsoft Conference Call by CFO Peter Klein where he tipped us all off to the next version of Windows Mobile would be shown in Barcelona “in a few weeks” at the World Mobile Congress (WMC). But! Yes, there is a but folks, and I hate to throw this at you, but there is a rumor by Digitimes.com that says that Microsoft will not release WinMo 7, but in fact release yet another update to the current Windows Mobile 6.5 platform and calling it Windows Mobile 6.6. Digitimes suggests that slumping sales (ya think?) is because of competitors like iPhone (obviously) and Android that both support capacitive screens and multi-touch. So is this simply going to be the announcement? Windows Mobile 6.5 with a Capacitive Screen update to Windows Mobile 6.6? This does seem to have some believability based on the enormous setbacks Microsoft continues to have releasing the shiny new OS we have all been wait (and waiting) for for years. Because Windows Mobile 6.5 was released at last years WMC, and if Microsoft releases 6.6 and this years 2010 WMC, it is likely, or highly probable that Windows Mobile 7 could be setback (yet again) to 2011. I seem to be torn on this, even though I strongly want to see Windows Mobile 7 released ASAP, it would likely be fatal for Microsoft to release it before it was perfected. Let’s all hope for a Windows Mobile 7 release, but hope that good times will indeed return to Windows Mobile.
Foursquare Beta Available For WM
Foursquare is a pretty popular app particularly because it’s cross platform and already available for the iPhone and Android. It gives you a bunch of ways to stay in contact with your friends. When you get to a meeting place, for example, you can ‘check-in’ so your friends know you are there and you can then find out other places in the area. And when you get to a location you can find out tips from other Foursquare users (like to avoid the clam bake on Sundays). It sort of seems like a mix between Twitter and Google Lattitude. Anyway, more info on Foursquare can be found here. To get the beta for WM you’ll need to email the developer or complete a webform. The details for WM are located here. As a beta it has some limitations (listed here) and currently uses Goog locations and not GPS, doesn’t support push notifications and doesn’t tell you where your friends are. If you’re into Foursquare it’s a start so check it out.
via WMPowerUser
