If this all does make sense to you, then you’ll probably be happy to know that NovaMind has updated its well known mind mapping software with some snazzy Web 2.0 features such as glass branches that you can apply rectangular, chamfered, rounded or oval, that can, “Instantly add that extra visual pizzazz.” Additionally you can pictures with sweet looking reflections being able to apply the same effects as you can to the branches.
Themes have been updated as well with new themes being added to take advantage of the new visual styling features. According to NovaMinds, “This gives you professionally designed themes for your Mind Maps to make them look great by simply applying a theme.”
Take a look and start making your brain work easier!
Astraware(R) is excited to announce the release of Bubble Babble - a brand new word game for Palm OS(R) and Windows Mobile(R) smartphones and PDAs.
Challenge your word power with this undersea bubble-bursting brain teaser! Link together letter bubbles to form words and impress Wordsworth Smartygills - your friendly fishy host! Bubble Babble includes a fun interactive tutorial to teach you how to play with the bubbles and make words from them. Score points for each word you make. Impress Wordsworth with more complex or unusual words and he’ll reward you with shiny shells for your collection!
Bubble Babble has 4 entertaining play modes which are perfect for both adults and children, for all levels of skill or vocabulary:
Challenge - create a set number of words against the clock,
Target - reconstruct the separated word from the letter bubbles,
Mystery - try different permutations of letters to find the hidden word,
Freeplay - just enjoy making words to boost your points score.
Each day Wordsworth Smartygills will tell you the Word of the Day. Make this word during play to earn a special award!
Use multiplier bubbles to enhance your points score, and get help from Stella Starfish, in her wildcard bubble! Unlock higher difficulty levels as you play - it can help you keep your brain sharp and maybe learn some interesting new words!
Bubble Babble is available for smartphones and PDAs running Palm OS(R) 5 and above, and Windows Mobile Professional, Classic and Standard devices running Windows Mobile 2003 and later. The game is available from http://www.astraware.com/bubblebabble priced $19.95, with a limited time new release discount.
Astraware and Pazzazz Games are excited to announce the release of GTS World Racing for Palm OS(R) and Windows Mobile(R) smartphones and PDAs.
GTS World Racing is the must-have sequel to the highly acclaimed GTS Racing Challenge, and has been created by Pazzazz and published by Astraware.
Fans of classic coin-operated arcade racing games will love the retro style graphics and exhilarating sound effects. Experience the roar of engines as you select your car, race your opponents, set the fastest laptimes, score points for most race wins and burn rubber to gain championship victory!
GTS World Racing offers 64 track layouts across 16 worldwide locations - from snowscapes to dusty deserts; 3 car types to choose from each with their own handling characteristics; and 4 difficulty levels from Easy to Extreme!
The game offers 4 play modes to satisfy every level of expertise:
Single Race - check out the tracks and practice your skills before heading for the main event;
Challenge Cup - race at each of the 16 locations and achieve the required finishing position for your chosen difficulty;
Grand Tour - complete all 64 tracks in all 16 locations and achieve the required finishing position in each; and
Championship - complete the full 16 race season and score the most points to win the championship.
GTS World Racing is available for a wide range of smartphones and PDAs running Palm OS(R) 5 and later, and Windows Mobile(R) Professional, Classic and Standard 2003 and later.
So you’ve got a Mac or a Windows box with disk encryption and you’re feeling pretty good about your data’s safety. Bitlocker on Vista and File Vault (developed for the Depart of Defense even) on OS X put you at ease with its promises of using some super hard encryption scheme to defeat. The only way anyone’s getting in is via a key. Guess what? Hackers now can get that key.
A video on YouTube demonstrates just how easy it is to retrieve the very key that unlocks your hard drive. From start to finish, the video shows the retrieval of a laptop, the sniffing of a key, and then the opening of all the “protected” files. Just like that.
Now granted, the hacker will need physical contact with your computer in order to grab your key; however, this isn’t that reassuring if you think about it. In recent months, there has been a slew of reports of lost laptops from not just business professionals, but from government agencies such as the FBI, CIA, and of those in Congress. These laptops are in danger of losing very important and highly classified data. If enemies of the state are able to obtain such a nugget, it’s no telling what could result from the breach.
Again, the video does demonstrate a small window of opportunity in data retrevial; however, in our busy lives, it is easy to lose track of our laptops for a few minutes. That’s just enough time for someone to simply walk by and grab it without you even knowing.
The easiest and best way to protect yourself is to insure your laptop is OFF and not in standby when in public. Make sure it has been off for at least 30 minutes prior to placing yourself in a vulnerable situation. These two measures alone will greatly reduce the chance of the key residing in your memory and thus keep your data safe.
i-mate(tm) (London AIM: IMTE), the specialist in Windows Mobile powered devices, today unveils the latest devices in its Ultimate range, the Ultimate 9502 (picture) and the Ultimate 8502 at Mobile Congress World.
The Ultimate 9502 and 8502 are the latest devices from the Ultimate range, a collection of four devices in various forms to suit individual preferences, from classic PDA to a notebook replacement and were designed to provide the latest and best in phone and PDA technology. With a wide variety of features ranging from to HSDPA and HUSDPA connectivity to the 262k colour TFT screen , every component of the device is specified at a very high level.
The Ultimate 9502 represents the flagship of the Ultimate range and delivers an all in one Windows Mobile® device. Powered by 3.5G (HSDPA & HUSDPA), and WiFI and Bluetooth connectivity, the Ultimate 9502’s VGA display is perfect for multimedia viewing, or checking through maps using the its integrated GPS functionality for navigation. There are dedicated shortcut keys all around the 9502, allowing easy and fast access to often used applications.. The 9502 includes integrated support for Direct Video Out capabilities, providing you with the option to connect it to monitors or projectors and watch videos off it or even use Windows Mobile on a larger screen. This feature was especially included in a business sense so users can perform video conferencing or project slideshows and presentations from the phone itself, making it a viable alternative to a notebook.
The Ultimate 8502 delivers a customised out of the box experience in a slim line QWERTY keyboard form factor. With a 2.6 inch touchscreen with 65k colour TFT backlight, it is fully loaded with Microsoft Office Mobile giving users access to popular applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint on the go. This device also comes with built-in GPS navigation functionality offering users satellite navigation. The 8502 can play video clips directly and a variety of music file formats on the inbuilt Windows Media Player 10 Mobile media player.
“2008 sees i-mate(tm) continue to deliver on its iconic devices and sophisticated services,” said Jim Morrison, CEO, i-mate(tm). “The Ultimate range has already won plaudits on its design and strong specifications. The Ultimate 9502 and 8502 will continue to build on i-mate’s, the best of breed combination of innovation, design and technology. Each of our devices is designed with different users in mind giving our customers real choice.”
As part of i-mate(tm)’s service proposition, Mobile World Congress will also mark the launch of i-mate’s(tm) I-Q Services, a portfolio of services that ensure the best wireless experience out of the box. With I-Q, i-mate can immediately customise user devices, fully support devices on a 24/7 basis and fully protect and if necessary, remotely wipe devices that are lost of stolen. little as 48 hours. Mobile Operators can use i-Q to improve their services to the enterprise segment and to accelerate their time-to-market with new mobile devices to address the rapidly expanding mobile workforce. IDC estimates that the worldwide mobile worker population will grow to 878.2 million in 2009 to account for 21.3 percent of the global work force*.
Morrison concludes, “The mobile industry is starting to develop an approach where a customer can select a device based on what they want and need, not because they are restricted by available options. With the latest Ultimate devices powered by Windows Mobile and customised for the enterprise, we believe we are delivering what our customers are asking for.”
UPDATED: Take a look at our other post with showing the 9502 opened.
Ergonis Software today announced the release of PopChar Win 3.3, the Windows version of its popular tool for inserting umlauts and special characters into the text of any application.
The new version comes with a new magnifier tool that provides an enlarged view of characters to clearly show all subtle glyph details, including their position relative to the baseline. PopChar Win 3.3 also supports Unicode 5.0 and delivers a number of other improvements and fixes for user-reported issues.
PopChar solves a problem faced by every technologist and multi-lingual worker. Inserting special characters into application documents can be frustrating and result in a steady loss of productivity. With PopChar you never need to search for and remember keystrokes any longer. Just pop up the PopChar window, click the desired character, and the character appears in your current document.
Visit Ergonis Software’s website at http://www.ergonis.com/popcharwin to learn more about specific enhancements and fixes contained in this release and to download a trial copy.
Availability and Ordering:
PopChar Win 3.0 and newer runs on Windows Vista, XP, 2003, and 2000. For older Windows versions the usage of PopChar Win 2.2 is recommended.
PopChar can be purchased securely on the Ergonis Software website. The upgrade to the new version is free for anyone who purchased a license in the last 2 years. For further information about purchase of PopChar, including enterprise licenses, volume discounts, and upgrade pricing offers, visit the website at http://www.ergonis.com/popcharwin. Any PopChar purchase or upgrade entitles the owner to free updates and upgrades for 2 years from the date of purchase.
The iPhone has been doing an impressive job at hitting Steve Jobs self-made goal of 10 million in its first year with making the halfway point in December of 2007. Sending PocketPC, err, Windows Mobile devices scrambling, popular hardware maker HTC quickly answered Apple’s call for ease with the the Touch. While attempting to fix many of Microsoft’s ills on the mobile platform, it’s still no iPhone. But still, a nice phone in itself and now Alltel users can have one.
The following is the press release sent to SvenOnTech today.
The compact and stylish HTC Touch provides customers with a new way to stay connected and access music, photos, information, games and more. This sophisticated smartphone is easy to operate by using a finger to simply swipe or tap the innovative touch-screen “cube” interface. Alltel’s HTC Touch features four panels on the “cube,” including an Alltel-exclusive panel that provides customers with quick access to the latest smartphone applications to personalize their phones and help do more on the go. Customers can also customize the phone with ringtones, themes and games, in addition to pre-programmed links to shopping applications.
The additional panels provide easy access to contacts, including the ability to assign photos to each name; allow users to launch their applications at the touch of a button; and launch the HTC Touch’s multimedia functions, such as the music player, photos and video, with a tap of the finger.
The smartphone also provides access to Alltel applications, including the new Voice2TXT service from Spinvox that converts incoming voicemails to text and sends them to the customer’s text inbox, allowing them to discretely respond to voicemails via text messages without dialing their phone.
“The HTC Touch provides our customers with the information they want, and the personalization they desire, right at their fingertips,” states Brian Ullem, director of device strategy for Alltel Wireless. “This elegant, modern smartphone is perfect for style-conscious buyers who want the functionality of a PDA with swift access to their photos, videos, music and more.”
The HTC Touch features a 2MP camera with video, Windows Media Player, a MicroSD memory card slot, Bluetooth Wireless Technology and Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional. It is also preloaded with a variety of applications on the Alltel exclusive fourth panel of the “cube,” including:
One of the biggest gripes with most for all the other iTunes wannabe types is the lack of Mac software. Universal yanked its content from Apple’s popular video downloading service for its own little venture with the likes of Fox called hulu. As you may have guessed, hulu is Windows only and at this point, is a private beta. Sources have indicated to SvenOnTech that only a few episodes are available for viewing of each show and it is using Adobe’s Flash technology. Your stuck to your PC screen.
SyncTV wants to change all that. It wants to share the video love with Windows, Mac, and Linux users. Giving each of them a client, now everyone can enjoy their favorite shows, now or later. Unlike hulu, all shows will be downloadable and will eventually even support portable media devices. What ever you choose to download, you can go a la carte or get every episode of every year. No restrictions. While this all sounds like iTunes, sans the Linux version, Apple won’t give you any of its content in HD. SyncTV does. To prove how good it looks, SyncTV is showing off its service on a 1080p HDTV at CES this week.
As for content, this seems to be the limited aspect of SyncTV. Only recognizing one show, Dexter, SyncTV has a long way to go before it can take on Apple or even hulu. Fortunately though, the Internet has removed the boundaries of “popular” and with “networks” such as Revision3 and ZiffDavis, featuring DL.TV, the old school TV networks may find itself lost in the shuffle just a few short years from now.
Social bookmarking has become a very popular, and powerful tool, on the Web in the last year. Nearly every blog, ours included, contain easy to use links to add a story or clip to your favorite bookmarking site. But what to do while on your mobile device such as your Blackberry, Treo, or iPhone? No worries, mate, that guy who brought you PalmInfoCenter now is bringing you PhoneFavs.
MobileInfocenter’s PhoneFavs works with any device, mobile or desktop, from smartphones to iPhones, to PDAs, to tablets to those new micro-computers to your big ‘ol PC. Heck, you can even access it at pfavs.com (I love short lazy URLs!) to help on finger fatigue. With this new site, you can, “store, organize and share bookmarks and access them on their mobile phone, anywhere,” as told to SvenOnTech. Organized into three categories (Bookmarks or Favs, handpicked mobile link directory, and a “mobilizer” that automatically adjust web pages for your device), PhoneFav’s makes it easy to navigate right from the main page. PhoneFav will help keep your favorites organized while on the go.
“PhoneFavs is a portable tool-chest for enriching your browsing experience on a mobile device,” said Ryan Kairer, founder of MobileInfocenter and principle architect of PhoneFavs. “With PhoneFavs at your disposal, you can save cool sites and longer articles to read on your phone in a mobile friendly format at your leisure. It also serves as a gateway to discover new sites and services designed especially for the mobile web.”
Bookmark PhoneFav on your mobile device today.
What’s with this cat? Apple had two years to make it happen as good as Tiger and yet, things all over the hard drive don’t spin like they should. While I’m not quite prepared to call this a Vista issue like some are, I am disappointed. Ironically, I’m more grieved with Apple’s update, 10.5.1, than the out-of-the-box version. As previously blogged, the update does more harm than good. Constant crashes, complaints of applications not responding to log outs, and permission issues, Apple’s update to fix its network copy bug is just horrible. I couldn’t believe that Apple’s very own iMovie 08 would not open for the life of me after installed last week. I never did get it to open under 10.5.1. Carbon Copy Cloner made a perfect copy of my not-so perfect install and I went back to 10.5.0. Things are better but still, minor issues are there.
Now Oliver Rist at PCMAG.COM has a whole different feeling on Leopard. He thinks Apple pulled a Vista. While his article has some valid points, I find it a bit comical to go that far. His first point is the “wait for the service pack” before you install it. Since I’ve already established the 10.5.1 is actually worse than 10.5.0, and since it only corrects the network copy bug with a few other minor fixes, this already is untrue. Granted, it kind of puts more credence into his statement, but only at face value. The truth is (and by the way, NEVER move files people, COPY and you’ll be just fine), Vista has been out just nearly a year now and there are still tons and tons of issues that the upcoming SP1 will supposedly to fix. The number one issue with Vista is hardware. No one can get even peripheral less than a year old to work in Vista. Ah, last I checked, this isn’t an issue in Leopard. Read the comments in Rist’s article and you’ll find one poster stating that he used his PowerBook (Apple stopped making these nearly three years ago) to upgrade to Leopard and then download drivers for his Vista machine!
Other complaints from Rist include “useless” visual effects. He thinks Apple’s translucent Finder menu bar is very much like Vista’s all-over-the-place translucent borders and title bars. I agree with Rist, Aero is horrible. I turn it off any Vista machine that I must work on. Apple’s single bar on the top is not that bad. Unlike Aero, it actually grows on you. Rist also poo-poos the Dock and I do agree, the dinky shinny star as a running application indicator is a poor choice for a company known for it’s expertise in user interfaces. The reflective Dock, though, ain’t that big of deal to complain about.
Other issues, such as networking (outside of my fluke first install, I’ve had zero issues with networking), and Rist’s whining of Time Machine as a poor bundled app, again, does not make this a Vista comparison.
In summary, I agree, Leopard has its issues and I am quite annoyed with Apple for allowing this to happen; however, Vista it ain’t. When a multi-billion corporation has nearly seven years to update it’s operating system, the mistakes should not be as great as it is with Vista. There is not a mass exodus of Mac users returning to Tiger as there are Vista users running back to eXPerience (remember that? 
) With major PC manufacturers going back to Windows XP as a pre-install choice and Vista installs with a “Go Back to Previous Version” options, I really can’t see how anyone could honestly call Leopard Apple’s Vista. No, Microsoft has earned its smelly fish of an operating system all by itself.