20% Off Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide 2007 at Astraware
The movie awards season has drawn to a close and many fantastic films have been honored and highlighted in the last couple of months. If you’re feeling like you’ve missed out then Astraware has a great offer that will help you catch up with the latest and greatest movies at the cinema and on DVD. For one week only they’re offering 20% off the regular price of Landware’s excellent Palm OS(R) and Windows Mobile(R) application, Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide 2007.
Featuring complete details and capsule reviews for over 21,000 films, more than 9,100 DVD, 7,100 Laserdisc and 15,400 Videocassette entries, filmographies for over 39,000 actors, actresses and directors, and free updates during the year that encapsulate new film releases, Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide 2007 is an absolute must for every film fan! This special offer is available for a very limited time, so pick up your copy today at Astraware - http://www.astraware.com/all/lmmovie.
Technorati Tags: palm, Windows Mobile
The Best Teaser Ad Ever?
If you were watching the Academy Awards Sunday night, you may have seen the Apple iPhone “Hello” ad. I was just talking with a client of mine who is in the advertising biz, and she feels that this may be one of the best teaser ads ever. It will definitely be building buzz for what many are considering to be the first really usable mobile phone. Haven’t seen it? Check it out below:
New use for iPods: Flight Data Recorder
As author of the book “Take Control of your iPod: Beyond the Music“, I’m always fascinated to see how people put their iPods to work.
The latest is from aircraft manufacturer LoPresti SpeedMerchants, who will start using iPods (probably the 80 GB model) as flight data recorders for their Fury sport aircraft.
Flight data recorders, also known as black boxes, are used to capture huge amounts of data about the aircraft, its compoments and flying characteristics. The data recorders is used most often in the aftermath of an aircraft crash, at which time it is queried to see exactly what took place to cause the accident.
Since some car manufacturers are starting to talk about the need for automotive black boxes, maybe they’ll just start storing information on the same iPods that drivers are using to listen to tunes!
Technorati Tags: iPod
Why Palm Is Dying
Techworld, an online infrastructure and network knowledge magazine, is publishing a good series of articles starting today entitled “The decline and fall of the Palm empire“.
In the article, author Mike Elgan discusses how a company that was extremely innovative at the start got distracted by constant mergers, acquisitions, and spinoffs, none of which really accomplished anything for Palm.
Over the last couple of years I’ve felt that Palm has become increasingly irrelevant since Windows Mobile devices are becoming more “Palm-like” (i.e., less obfuscation, more usability) and even regular mobile phone handsets have more features that some Palm devices. By creating WM devices like the Treo 700wx, they made their own OS obsolete. The Access Linux Platform, heralded as the OS for a new generation of Palm device, is years behind schedule. Top that all off with the imminent arrival of Apple’s iPhone, and you have a seriously bad situation at Palm.
Keep an eye on the Techworld series this week - I think you’ll find it to be fascinating reading.
Technorati Tags: iPhone, palm, smartphone
XM Radio, Sirius To Merge
In the “It’s About F**king Time” department, XM and Sirius, the two sole providers of satellite radio in North America, announced today that they’re merging.
Both companies have been losing money since they have to pay so-called talent like Howard Stern megabucks to chat on the radio. I have to admit that I love XM Radio - I listen to Channel 6 (Sixties on Six) all the time. Sad, huh?
There’s no word on whether or not we’re going to get screwed into buying new receivers, but my guess is that they’ll just load their empty channel space with each other’s content until they can get a few new satellites up there.
Technorati Tags: satellite radio
Vehicle GPS “Winner”
I think I’ve finally made up my mind on what GPS unit I’m going to get for my new car. I have several requirements:
1) I’d like something with a large enough display that I’m not squinting at it constantly.
2) I don’t want to have an external GPS antenna on the vehicle.
3) I want it to tell me when and where to turn.
4) I’d like for it to work through Bluetooth with my mobile phone as a speaker phone and to allow me to dial people without having to pull the phone out of my pocket or off my belt.
5) If possible, I’d like to be able to use this same device for geocaching. In other words, I don’t want more than one GPS device!
(Read more by clicking the link below)
Technorati Tags: GPS, Vehicles
Press Release: Astraware Support for Mobile Linux
Astraware Announces Support for Mobile Linux and Joins ACCESS Connect Ecosystem Global Partner Program
THE MIDLANDS, UK - February 19th, 2007 - Astraware is excited to announce their first steps toward support of an additional mobile platform for their range of PDA and Smartphone games. The company has been working on updates to its own core technology library to enable its games to run on Linux
Thinking about in-vehicle GPS
I just got a new car about a week ago. It’s a wonderful little crossover SUV, a 2007 Honda CR-V. I really love this car and I’m impressed with a lot of features, but I didn’t feel like spending an additional $4k to include a built-in navigation system and XM radio, so I’m now looking at “aftermarket solutions”.
(Read more by clicking the link)
Technorati Tags: GPS, Vehicles
Press Release: Windows Mobile
BARCELONA, Spain
Press Release: Kakuro Mini
Kakuro Mini: Like Sudoku? Enjoy kakuro puzzles on your Pocket PC!
Kristanix Studios has released Kakuro Mini, a PocketPC version of the puzzle game that started in Japan, and is sweeping the world. As millions of fans discover Kakuro, these puzzles are appearing in magazines, newspapers, and books across the globe. Kakuro Mini lets you create and solve Kakuro puzzles on your Windows Mobile PocketPC.
Whether you`re an experienced Kakuro fan who wants a program to generate new and challenging puzzles, a Kakuro novice who wants a computer coach to help develop strategic puzzle-solving skills, or a puzzle enthusiast who wants to learn more about the addictive Kakuro phenomenon, Kakuro Mini will provide you with hours and hours of challenging fun.
Kakuro Mini brings the fun, challenge, and strategy of Kakuro to your PDA. The program generates puzzles in five game board sizes, from 6-by-6 to 9-by-9. You can choose three different difficulty levels, from easy to hard. You can even type in the puzzles from your favorite newspaper or magazine, and solve them on your handheld computer.
If you get stuck while trying to solve a puzzle, Kakuro Mini can give you hints, show you the contents of any cell, or generate the complete solution for you. You can save a puzzle you are working on, and load it up to continue to play it later.
Kakuro Mini runs under Windows Mobile 2003, 5.0 and later, costs $14.95(US), and may be purchased securely on http://www.kristanix.com/kakuromini/. You can download a free trial version from the same web site. For more information, visit the game site on
Windows Mobile 6 Coming This Week
After a leak by a European newspaper, Microsoft announced that they will be officially launching Windows Mobile 6 (aka Crossbow) this week at 3GSM in Barcelona. I had a chance to view WM6 at Mobius last fall and was impressed to see the many changes that Microsoft is making in order to keep the flagship member of their mobile offering up to the standard of Windows Vista.
If you’re a T-Mobile customer in the US, you’ll be among the first to have a chance at buying a WM6 device. So what’s new in WM6? First, you can expect better searching capabilities. Personally, this is something I’d love to have in my T-Mobile MDA. Right now, the fastest way for me to search for names in the Contacts file (and I have several hundred!) is to go in and just start typing the name. By the time I get to the end of the name I will have whittled my choices down to a few. With WM6, you simply type in a few letters of that name to get the list down to size.
HTML email is finally available in WM6, something that Windows Mobile devices will need to have to compete with the colorful mail app on the forthcoming iPhone. Unfortunately, HTML email requires that the server end be running Exchange 2007 - something that isn’t available to a lot of Windows users at this time.
There is support for Windows Live instant messaging and email. You can tell at a glance if a contact is online, and you can have their IM and email addresses pushed to you automatically. Security has been improved, which is important for devices that will be used in an enterprise setting. And now even Smartphone devices will include Office Mobile! The WM6 version of Office Mobile doesn’t support the native file format of Office 2007…yet…but will later this year.
Keep your eyes open for other news reports about WM6 that will no doubt appear this week. As soon as I have a WM6 device to play with, I’ll give you my further impressions of the new mobile OS.
Take Control “Month of Apple Sales”
The good folks at TidBITS and Take Control Books have designated February as the “Month of Apple Sales”. This is your chance to buy bundled ebooks from the Take Control series (including my very own Take Control of your iPod: Beyond the Music and Take Control of iWeb titles) at a tremendous discount. Different bundles will be offered throughout the month, so if you don’t see a batch ‘o books that you currently want, just check back later for more sales!
Be sure to enter the following code to get your special discounted price (CPN70205MOAS1).You can get even more info about the Month of Apple Sales at: http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/offers/moas1.html
Classic Apple Ad
1983. The year before the Mac arrived and the year that the $10,000 Apple Lisa demonstrated the first commercial graphical user interface to the world. You’ll find the actor in this video to be very, very familiar…
Apple, Inc. and Apple Corps Kiss and Make Up
CUPERTINO, California and LONDON
Will you buy an iPhone?
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Joy of Tech!
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MacLevelTen
