Every cellular carrier shows their coverage areas, but wouldn’t it be nice if you actually had your own map? Using a crowdsourced approach, Root Wireless offers software that creates voice and data coverage maps with far more details than what the carrier maps traditionally offer. Read more »
Radio chips and sensors under mats are an old-school way to broadcast race information when running. Now you can use the GPS in your phone and RunKeeper’s new Live service to share your race or exercise data. And it works for any non-stationary exercise. Read more »
Hunting for a home to buy or rent used to mean driving around, but not any more. Thanks to services like Zillow you can shop around on the web. It’s even easier to do now that Zillow offers a new Android application that’s fully featured. Read more »
Just before the first iPads with an e-book store arrive, Amazon delivers its Kindle for Mac client. After all this time, is it a full-featured client or is it watered down as much as — if not more than — the Kindle for PC software? Read more »
Just when I thought Evernote couldn’t get any better, it does. The information collection service always supported email entry of notes, but now you can specify which notebook to capture data to. And the new hashtag feature offers customized tags for your notes. Read more »
Previously only on the iPhone, ZumoDrive today introduced a mobile client for Android and webOS devices. It’s a top-notch solution for remote access to files, music or photos and works great for streaming tunes if you don’t want to carry all of your digital media. Read more »
Xobni is one of those email utilities that when you try it you wonder how you lived without it. It integrates into Outlook and turns your email into a personal assistant. Xobni Mobile for BlackBerry is now available and brings the program’s power to the phone. Read more »
Here in the U.S., March Madness is upon us. The three week national college basketball tournament brings out fans from all walks of life, but how does one keep up with the action? These eight mobile methods work on phones and computers from the first tip-off. Read more »
At today’s MIX10 event, Microsoft announced both the development tools and the software partners already on board for Windows Phone 7 Series. Several software title demonstrations show a very mature mobile platform that’s sure to impress when the new devices land later this year. Read more »
At SXSW, Rhapsody introduced a new feature for its iPhone client — playlist music downloads for offline listening. The app is slated for submission soon, but there are at least three reasons why I think this tune won’t play. Read more »
Palm’s Pre and Pixi have a new Facebook client, proving Murphy’s Mobile Law — I sold my Pre last month due to a lack of good software and now the software is better. The new version looks to be on par with the Android client. Read more »
Pining for a better browser on your Windows Moible 5 or 6 handset? Opera Mini just became another option, even if you don’t have a Java ME client. But why would Opera go native now when others are focusing on Windows Phone 7? Read more »
Even if you have sloppy handwriting, Google can search your smartphone with its newest Google Labs product. Android 2.x devices support Gesture Search, and aside from one data type, it’s pretty good at finding my contacts, shortcuts and bookmarks after I write a letter or two. Read more »
Need some extra real estate on your Google Nexus One? A $4 app adds two more Home screens, support for Home in landscape mode and a ton of visual customizations including an experimental 3D cube transition. There’s even a free version to try. Read more »
Skype yesterday pulled support for Windows Mobile 6.5, and today it’s Adobe’s turn. The promise of Flash 10.1 on Microsoft’s current handsets is a broken one, but the reason provided simply doesn’t make sense. Is this the sign of a bad trend for Microsoft’s phones? Read more »
If you’re looking to install Skype on your Windows Mobile handset, you can stop looking. Skype pulled the software and there’s actually a very good reason. It’s been the same issue that’s hampered the Skype experience for years on Windows Mobile devices. Read more »
Netbooks and UMPCs often have less power hardware to keep things cheap. Windows doesn’t always like such hardware, and performance can be improved by tweaking some of the many seetings Windows uses. Vispa is a free utility that is designed to make such tweaking easier. Read more »
When you see someone with an iPhone, do you automatically assume they can hear? I do — or at least I did until I heard about this free app that brings iPhone calling to the deaf and hard of hearing. Read more »
As a long time SugarSync user, it’s nice to see new features added. The latest one offers an easy “Upload by Email” feature to get file attachments to your account and to all of your devices. A new, larger plan is available as of today, too. Read more »
Ever wonder how much juice that application on your Android handset is really using? With this free software you can find out at the application level or even monitor the power utilized by the radios and other hardware components. Read more »
Gartner offers up the worldwide smartphone market share numbers and 2009 shows some continuing trends as the new guard marches forward. But as a consumer, why do you even care about these measures? There’s at least one good reason I can think of. Read more »
Want to hear your handheld music subscription when you don’t have connectivity? If you have the new Slacker software for BlackBerry or Android, you can. The mobile app just added wireless music caching for offline playback when there’s no signal to be found. Read more »
Most of us have those essential programs we can’t live without, and they are usually the first things we install on a new netbook. They are highly personal choices, and with that in mind here are my five must-have programs for netbooks. Read more »
Nokia’s N900 offers one place for all types of communications, aptly named “Conversations.” This catch-all bucket now supports Twitter as a method, but you’ll have to walk on the wild side — the repository for this update holds alpha and beta code. Read more »
Many can’t seem to break the habit of driving while texting or sending email. ZoomSafer has a software solution that leverages the GPS in your handset to disable the display and keyboard. The app can even respond to email automatically for you while driving. Read more »
RealNetworks is officially releasing a new version of its RealPlayer SP for Windows today that comes with some basic video editing features aimed at making the sharing of video clips more meaningful. Users are now able to trim a video and save only a selected part […] Read more »
LogMeIn Ignition is coming to Android and will provide remote access to a full desktop computer. With many tablets forthcoming, a remote desktop solution could actually help these devices gain some traction. Why carry a full OS in your pocket when you can access it remotely? Read more »
When Research In Motion bought Torch Mobile last year, we knew that a WebKit browser for BlackBerry had to be coming soon. It’s still “coming soon” — sometime this year — and RIM needs to hurry. Email and a good keyboard alone aren’t enough any longer. Read more »
In the weekly iPhone roundup there’s actually a good reason to reconsider the iPad if it looks like a meager performer upon first glance. Virtualization software on a large display could meet the needs of those wanting a full-fledged operating system. Read more »
Starting today, T-Mobile’s MyTouch 3G enjoys a new keyboard input method in Swype. Instead of pecking away at the keys, you simply swipe your words without lifting a finger. And it’s not just for Android devices — an upcoming Windows Mobile handset will see it too. Read more »
Spending time with the new Palm phones have given me a renewed appreciation of webOS, and the way the phones multitask so well. The phones multitask very well, making it desirable to have good apps installed. Here are my 5 must-have apps for Palm phones. Read more »
Have you noticed that many web-based services advertise themselves with the premise of “less,” or being “simple?” They say their programs reduce the time and energy that your team exerts using unecessary and distracting features, functions and options, letting them focus instead on just doing their work. Read more »
Another major music platform streams its way to webOS devices. Slacker is now available in the Palm App Catalog for the Pre and Pixi handsets, but there’s one key feature missing from the software for now. Read more »
Good news for Dropbox owners that don’t use an iPhone. The web storage and synchronization service is coming soon to Google Android and Research In Motion BlackBerry devices! Read more »
Enterprise customers often rely on Microsoft Exchange Active Sync for remote data wipe and device administration features. Now Google has added the same features to Google Sync for iPhone, Nokia E-series devices and Windows Mobile handsets. Is this another nail in Exchange’s coffin? Read more »
Want to write in ink on your iPhone or iPod Touch? A finger and this $0.99 application might do the trick. It’s a note-taker, but can be used for email or with Evernote. And it ought to run on Apple’s upcoming iPad too. Read more »
Now that Firefox Mobile for Maemo is out the door, where will Mozilla turn? The Windows Mobile alpha is long in the tooth, but might it get leap-frogged by Firefox for Android? Here’s a few sites where you can watch the development progress. Read more »
Want to watch Amazon’s Video On Demand content on a handheld? With a Windows PC, a Windows Mobile phone and Amazon’s Unbox Player software, the process is actually quite painless if you know what check-box to look for. Read more »
Good utilities are often those that do a single thing, but do it extremely well. That’s the case with the Logitech TouchMouse app for the iPhone. It connects to PCs and Macs over Wi-Fi and provides multitouch control over the computer, all from the iPhone. Read more »
Combining a smartphone with virtual information to see the world around you is certainly a value-add concept. But is the market too fragmented by different apps and platforms? Would it make sense to add these virtual layers to a more widespread, mainstream application? Read more »
