Category: Software

Many in North America are still reeling from this weekend’s Daylight Savings Time change, and as I understand it, folks in Europe and Asia will enjoy a similar experience in the near future. There’s no experience like that of March Madness here in the U.S. though. Every year at this time, we participate in an exciting and wild nationwide college basketball tournament. The top 65 teams battle between the baskets in a bracketed elimination competition — win and you move on; lose and you go home. The three week event gathers fans all across the country, mainly due to the popularity of “NCAA pools” where would-be fortune tellers attempt to predict the winners. All in all, it’s a hectic event — possibly more for the observers than the players. Since we’re always on the go, here’s a number of ways to follow March Madness on a mobile.

1. CBS Sports March Madness on Demand (iPhone, iPod Touch = $9.99) — Ten dollars for an app with a limited shelf life sounds steep, but those suffering from a full case of March Madness will probably get their money’s worth. Live streams from all 63 games are available in the app from an EDGE, 3G or Wi-Fi connection. Brackets are constantly updated with scores and results, plus you can pause or rewind 30 seconds for another look at the big play.  You don’t have to keep game info to yourself either — the app includes hooks into Facebook and Twitter for virtual cheering. And for the times you can’t watch the live stream, the configurable notifications and live radio broadcasts function as a sixth man.

2. CBS Sports March Madness on Demand Lite (iPhone, iPod Touch = Free) — A lighter sibling of the paid app above is this free version. You won’t get any live streams for free, but on-demand video highlights are available from every game as is news coverage and updates galore. The Facebook and Twitter connections of the pay version are also included, so nobody needs to know that you saved the ten bucks.

3. Live Scores (Android  = Free) — Just looking for the basic scores and updates? Live Scores lives up to its name and is one of the few Android apps I could find. The software isn’t specific to March Madness, so after the install, tap the Menu and switch to NCAABB to follow along. After the tourney is over, you can use the app to follow scores for baseball, football, hockey and professional basketball.

4. College Basketball Live (Android = Free) — Like the Live Scores app, this title is simply good for keeping track of the live scoring. You can configure favorite teams though — handy to keep track of your top picks in the tournament. It’s great for the basics if you don’t want to use a web page to track scores and standings.

5. ESPN Tournament Challenge (iPhone, iPod Touch = Free) — This freebie offers nothing more than a way to manage brackets in either a private or public pool. ESPN is even offering $10,000 to whoever gains the most points using the app — each win gains you points, but the point values increase as the tournament progresses. Watch out for those upsets and don’t forget the Cinderella picks!

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6. ESPN Mobile TV (various platforms on Sprint’s network, Included with Everything Data plans) — Just in time for March Madness, Sprint worked a deal with ESPN for live mobile sports coverage on various handsets like the Palm Pre, HTC Hero, Samsung Moment, Samsung Instinct, Blackberry Curve. As part of the Sprint TV package, the service is included with the Sprint Everything Data plan. Expect to see 23 live games from the men’s tourney — some are from the conference championships — and 19 women’s matches.

7. SlingPlayer Mobile (Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian S60, iPhone, iPod Touch, PalmOS – $29.99) — The price is a bit misleading here because the software is only part of the equation. You’ll also need Slingbox hardware connected to your home television set, but once you do, you’re in control. CBS offers regional coverage of all games, so you can simply stream them yourself. Better yet — if you can’t watch a game but have a DVR, SlingPlayer Mobile can control and playback the recorded game. And of course, you can keep streaming content long after the madness is over.

8. March Madness on Demand (PC or Mac with Silverlight installed = Free) — CBS knows that not everyone has an iPhone, but they still want to get the games — and those ads — in front of as many eyeballs as possible. NewTeeVee says that with Microsoft’s Silverlight plugin, you can tune in via the web from a netbook or notebook and watch all the action live in your browser. Just watch out for those 5 GB bandwidth caps if you decide to stream on the run over 3G, ‘k?

How do you plan to fight the madness while mobile? At this point, I’m wishing that Apple’s iPad was shipping prior to the NCAA tournament so I could watch on the “big” 9.7-inch display. Instead, I think I’ll be tuning in on a full-featured computer. Perhaps I can dig out that ol’ Samsung Q1UP with Intel 1.3 GHz Core Solo UMPC and set up a dedicated 7″ device to the web streams.

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

The State of Social TV

What many feared (or briefly thought about without much emotion either way) has turned out to be true: Microsoft PR has confirmed that Windows Marketplace for Mobile will be the only source for Windows Phone 7 apps, meaning that you can’t sideload apps, and that Microsoft will be the sole gatekeeper for all apps on the platform. This is how the iPhone App Store works, and more importantly, not how Windows Mobile, even with the 6.x Marketplace, has ever worked. More »

You can download the Windows Phone 7 SDK right now from this link. Make us some good stuff, programmers. [Windows Phone Developer] More »

Earlier this morning, James shared news on Microsoft’s MIX10 event, currently in progress. MIX10 is a developers conference, but one I’m watching avidly thanks to video streaming from the event — I did have to upgrade my Silverlight plugin to watch, which is a very fitting topic. Silverlight will power the third party applications for Windows Phone 7 Series devices and although I had some doubts when I first heard this, the video demos have started to change my mind.

For instance, there was a Netflix app demo that allowed for live video streaming to the handset. I watch Netflix vids on my PC, which already uses the Silverlight platform — porting it over to mobile devices makes it that much easier for these service types on the go. Another example is the Graphic.ly comic-book software. Combining Silverlight with hardware acceleration enables fast, hardware deep-zooming when enjoying the latest comic.

Capabilities and toolsets aren’t the whole story, however. To offer a wide range of software titles, Microsoft needs to court large numbers of third-party developers. Based on the list provided in a press release, Microsoft is off to a good start:

• The Associated Press
• Archetype International Inc.
• AWS Convergence Technologies – WeatherBug
• Citrix Systems Inc.
• Clarity Consulting Inc.
• Cypress Consulting
• EA Mobile
• Fandango Inc.
• Foursquare Labs Inc.
• frog design inc.
• Glu Mobile Inc.
• Graphic.ly,
• Hudson Entertainment Inc.
• IdentityMine Inc.
• IMDb.com Inc.
• Larva Labs
• Match.com LLC
• Matchbox Mobile Ltd.
• Microsoft Game Studios
• Namco Networks America Inc.
• Oberon Media Inc.
• Pageonce Inc.
• Pandora Media Inc.
• Photobucket Inc.
• PopCap Games Inc.
• Seesmic
• Shazam Entertainment Ltd.
• Sling Media
• SPB Software Inc.
• stimulant
• TeleCommunications Systems Inc.
• Touchality LLC
• Vertigo Software Inc.

As I watch the MIX10 event online, I’m seeing more of how Microsoft is courting these development shops. The software development tools are freely available and build on platforms that Windows and Windows Mobile developers are likely familiar with. Even more important however, is the core integration of base services available to developers. Apps can access location data, use the Microsoft Notification push service for apps that aren’t running, or leverage the camera and microphone. In short, I’m seeing and hearing about development frameworks that open up the device potential in ways similar to the Android and iPhone platforms, to name a few. That’s exactly what Microsoft needs to do to maintain relevance in this space. MIX10 is only just beginning and there’s still many questions about Windows Phone 7 to be answered — but so far, so good from where I’m standing.

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Mobile OSes Are No Longer Just About Mobile

Erin Kutz wrote:

Cambridge, MA-based Pegasystems, a maker of business process management software, announced it will acquire Chordiant Software for about $161.5 million. The company will pay $5 a share for all outstanding shares of Cupertino, CA-based Chordiant, which also has offices in Bedford, NH, and specializes in customer experience management software. The Chordiant (NASDAQ: CHRD) and Pegasystems (NASDAQ: PEGA) boards unanimously approved the acquisition agreement, which is expected to close in the second calendar quarter of 2010. The Chordiant board rejected an unsolicited $3.46-per-share bid from CDC Software in January.

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Here’s the first demo of Netflix running on Windows Phone 7. Keep in mind, it’s technically a prototype, but equipped with show subscriptions and 3G streaming, Netflix is super hot on the platform. We want this. Now: More »

So this is how apps are going to look on Windows Phone 7: visually captivating, great animations, 3D transformations. It’s a very distinctive look and feel from iPhone apps, and may be just what Microsoft needs to establish themselves. More »

Erin Kutz wrote:

SS&C Technologies Holdings, a Windsor, CT-based financial services software provider, has set price range for its initial public offering of 10.725 million shares at between $13 and $15 a share, according to an amended SEC filing. The offering, whose total projected value is between $139.4 million and $160.9 million, includes 8.225 million shares to be sold by SS&C and 2.50 million shares to be sold by certain stockholders. SS&C has applied to list its stock on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker SSNC.

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Windows Phone 7 Series: It’s a thing! And it looks pretty great, so far. Last month’s announcement, though, left a lot of questions. Questions which will be answered here, in Gizmodo’s live coverage of Microsoft MIX 2010 keynote. Constantly updating. More »

Microsoft’s MIX10 developer conference is where we expect to hear the nitty gritty on Windows Phone 7 series.

Fortunately for those of us who will not be able to make it, Microsoft is also streaming all the sessions live, starting with the keynote.

To see the live streams, starting at 4 PM GMT, visit live.visitmix.com.

iTunes isn’t the only DJ available on those Apple iPhone and iPod Touch devices. Rhapsody last year joined several other music services on Apple mobile devices for music playback. Many thought the paid subscription service wouldn’t make it through Apple’s approval process, but there was a key reason I thought it would — listeners could purchase songs they liked directly through the iTunes store link in the Rhapsody client. The situation was a win-win for both companies. Rhapsody earns $14.99 a month from iPhone users who want a wide variety of tunes and Apple has another potential point of sale for every one of those subscribers. TechFlash reports that Rhapsody is taking it to the next level — the latest client version, shown off at this week’s South By Southwest (SXSW) event, offers offline listening. Here’s a look at how playlists can be downloaded for offline playback.

I’m anticipating naysayers who predict that Apple won’t approve offline music caching. This time, I think they may be right and if so, it’s not just bad news for Rhapsody — word on the street is that the Slacker folks are looking to add offline music caching to the iPhone client too. I can think of three reasons that Apple wouldn’t allow offline subscription music caching:

Apple bought LaLa for a reason — in December, Apple purchased a music streaming service as part of a perceived paradigm shift. While I didn’t predict the details, I wasn’t surprised by the move in general. We might not have the infrastructure to support it yet, but streaming music from the cloud is coming, just as I said only days before news of the LaLa deal. In my GigaOm Pro report (subscription required) called “Forget Syncing, Music, Let’s Put It in the Cloud!” I outlined how Amazon is already well-suited to offer online music storage and streaming. But Amazon doesn’t have a handset like Apple does. And until the LaLa deal, Apple didn’t have the platform for such a service. They do now — or at least they have the talent and experience of people who do.

Apple redefines existing markets — Apple is good at many things, but perhaps their core competency is in redefining products and markets. Apple didn’t invent the MP3 player, but they did create an iconic one that owns the market. With the iPad, Apple is trying to do the same. The company watched others try the tablet market with limited success and is now redefining the mobile slate. By now, Apple has seen and studied the likes of Rhapsody, Slacker, Pandora, Grooveshark, Microsoft’s Zune and others — the market for streaming subscription music is generally defined at this point. With iTunes, the LaLa purchase, and innovative data plans for new devices, Apple is poised to redefine another market.

iPhone OS 4.0 is coming soon — The next version of Apple’s iPhone OS is widely expected to hit this summer. It’s not likely a “point version” but a full step forward, which equates to potentially new and innovative features. While I can’t predict what those features will be, a music subscription service isn’t out of the question now that all of the pieces are in place. Put another way — I wouldn’t expect a new service to debut in an update to the iPhone 3.x operating system. A better fit would be with the next major version, which gives Apple talking points to generate buzz.

Since the new Rhapsody application isn’t yet submitted to Apple for approval, there’s time to get in on this March Madness (or the other one, actually) and make your pick — do you expect this feature to make it through iTunes App Store Approval process?

For the GigaOM network’s complete SXSW coverage, check out this round-up.

Press Release: VeriSign, Inc. the trusted provider of Internet infrastructure for the networked world, has been selected by Microsoft Corp. to provide code signing services for applications distributed through Windows Marketplace for Mobile.

Microsoft is relying on VeriSign® Code Signing Services to safeguard applications developed for Windows® phones. When a mobile application is signed with a VeriSign® Code Signing Certificate, it signals to Windows phone owners that the application comes from a trusted publisher. A code signing certificate serves as virtual "shrink wrap" for downloaded applications by applying a digital signature that is independently verified by VeriSign. A broken digital signature tells users that the application has been tampered with or modified, and protects them from hackers or malicious code.

"Code signing follows the best practices of software development, and helps to ensure that all Windows phone applications will install and run with the right privileges — and without limiting features or functionality," said Jason Lim, director of ISV and developer experience at Microsoft. "We protect applications with VeriSign Code Signing Certificates because only VeriSign offers the robustness and scale that a fast-growing applications store demands. This world-class, customizable code signing solution protects our investment in Windows Marketplace for Mobile, and gives us more ways to control the integrity and quality of the Windows phone experience."

Windows Marketplace offers people an easy way to find and purchase high-quality mobile applications for both work and play, while creating a new opportunity for developers to reach millions of people using Windows phones worldwide. In addition to an array of essential business applications, Windows phone owners can download applications for Facebook, MySpace, Netflix, Twikini, WunderRadio and ZAGAT, as well as leading game titles including Sudoku, "Guitar Hero World Tour" and the "PAC-MAN" series, all of which can be easily purchased and installed directly on a Windows phone. All purchased applications are certified by Microsoft to run on Windows phones and are backed by a simple return policy.

"Mobile apps call for the same kind of protections that PC applications have relied on for years, and that’s what VeriSign Code Signing Certificates offer to Windows phone app developers," said Michael Lin, vice president and general manager of SSL at VeriSign. "We’re delighted to serve as the code signing partner for Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Microsoft and the Windows phone development community can be assured that as the marketplace grows, VeriSign’s code signing platform will scale with it, providing the same reliable safeguards down the road as it does with every download today."

VeriSign’s role as code signing partner for Windows phone applications is the latest in a long history of collaboration with Microsoft. The companies recently announced plans for Microsoft to use proven VeriSign® Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Certificates and VeriSign® Code Signing Certificates to safeguard cloud-based services and applications developed and deployed on the Windows® Azure™ platform.

Now that ThrottleLauncher is out of beta and has reached version 1.0, what better way to celebrate than with a Windows Phone 7 theme.

The one above from XDA-Developers is by arley12 and is certainly pretty nice.

Read more about it at xda-developers.com here.

Via 1800PocketPC.com

TweetDeck is undoubtedly one of the best desktop clients for managing your Twitter account. The client supports column view for tweets, lists and groups and can save preferences so that you can restore them later on any computer. Here are two methods which you can use to backup and sync TweetDeck preferences across multiple computers:

Sync TweetDeck preferences using a TweetDeck account

1. Open TweetDeck and click settings (wrench icon) at the right top of the TweetDeck window.

2. Switch to the “Sync” tab and create a new TweetDeck account. Enter your email address and choose a password for the account which you are going to create. Please note that the email address used here need not be the same address which you used to sign up for Twitter.

3. Hit “Create account” and you are done. Whenever you reinstall TweetDeck on another computer or perform a system format, go to settings and enter the TweetDeck login credentials. The preferences, columns, lists and groups would be restored to match with the settings since the last time you used TweetDeck. (also read: Best Tips and Tricks for TweetDeck).

Backup TweetDeck Settings Without Creating any Account

What if you do not want to create a TweetDeck account to sync the preferences? Maybe you would not like to remember yet another username and password combination and want an easy option to back up the settings locally on your computer.

Enter TDBackup – a free batch script for Windows which lets you backup and restore TweetDeck settings. The script does not requires any installation and can be used from a USB stick.

Once you unzip the package, you will see two batch scripts -backuptweetdeck.bat and restoretweetdeck.bat.

Run the backuptweetdeck.bat script and it will create a backup folder in the same directory. Copy all the contents to a safe place and whenever you want to restore the settings, run the restoretweetdeck.bat script. If you are using Windows7 or Windows Vista, remember to run the scripts in administrator mode. Thanks LifeRocks.

Techie Buzz Verdict

Both the methods work well but I think the offline trick is more useful. Using the scripts, I can create separate TweetDeck environments and backup the settings locally in my computer. The online backup do not provide any option for multiple backups of a single account, although it’s easier than the offline one.

Techie Buzz Rating: 3.5/5 (very good).

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Luke Timmerman wrote:

The same people who cultivated their skills with 3-D imaging in the video game department at Microsoft have a new challenge in mind. They want to crunch some of medicine’s more complex 3-D images into a form that’s easy to use for the average physician and patient with a Windows-based PC.

That’s the vision of FiatLux Imaging, a Redmond, WA-based healthcare IT startup that has raised about $4.5 million from angel investors since it was founded in 2007. The founders, Quentin DeWolf and John Pella, left Microsoft to spend the last couple years developing visualization software that can take data-rich images from CT and MRI scans, and make it so the average specialist or primary care physician can store, analyze, and share them with patients. I heard about this idea from Max Lyon, the company’s new CEO, and a veteran of a number of medical device, software, and biotech startups over the past 25 years.

The company, whose name translates from Latin as “let there be light,” is still in its early days as a business. CT and MRI scanners are pumping out huge volumes of data-rich diagnostic images. Most of the time, these scans are read by a trained radiologist who uses a $200,000 proprietary 3-D reader program, Lyon says. The radiologist then writes up a basic report that says whether a patient has cancer or a torn knee ligament, sends the report to the referring physician, and stores the image on a CD-ROM. Doing things this way means that the average doc often doesn’t have access to the same image as the radiologist.

FiatLux hopes to make all this data much more accessible, by offering a free version of its visualization software that doctors and patients can download on a PC. By allowing doctors to test-drive this system for a while for free, FiatLux hopes that specialists will find it useful for planning surgeries, and that it will help them show patients what they intend to do when they cut out that tumor or repair that ligament. It also might be useful for medical students and residents studying anatomy and patient cases, the company says.

Max Lyon

“It’s difficult for physicians to get these images, read them, and know what’s going on with their patient,” Lyon says. “The founders wanted to do something more altruistic, something that would be helpful for humanity.”

The technology is newly available for download—you can check it out yourself here—but the business model is clearly on Version 2.0. The original idea was to sell a proprietary software program under an annual license to radiologists. But radiologists didn’t really need it, Lyon says. “The real need is with specialty physicians, general practitioners, and patients,” he says.

The new business plan is to go with a “freemium” model, Lyon says. The Visualize Free program will be available free to users in the beginning …Next Page »

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The Windows Mobile UI replacement ThrottleLauncher has finally reached its 1.0 release, and as can be seen from the video above is incredibly smooth on the HTC HD2.

To download the app visit  ThrottleLauncher.com here and this XDA thread.

Via FuzeMobility.com

Neosearch is a replacement for the default search that comes with Windows. The built-in search is a great tool to instantly search something, but there are some limitations to it also. The shared folders of any network are not indexed by the Windows search. So here is a nice work-around to help you remove this limitation.

Download Neosearch and install the tool. Once you have installed it, you will be prompted to broaden the search index by selecting full system index. Choose Yes if you wish to do so. The tool sits unnoticed in the system notification area, without causing any hindrance to your work. The very moment you need it just hit the keyboard combination Windows key + S. The search box pops up. You can do your search and then close it once you are done.

The indexing of partitions or specific folders also takes place without eating up large amount of your memory i.e it doesn’t hang up other processes. You can carry on with your tasks as the program indexes your files. The indexing process meter is shown to the bottom right corner just above the notification area.

Neosearch options can be configured to index your files automatically every day or manually whichever you prefer. You can also select some folders to exclude them from the search results.

Techie-Buzz Verdict

Neosearch is light tool(2Mb) which comes at no cost. The application is also very small in size(520kb). This tool completely replaces the Windows search tool with many more added advantages. Though this tool is not unique, it definitely is among the best I have tried. I recommend this free tool to people who rely mostly on Windows search.

Techie-Buzz Rating : 4/5(Excellent)

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