Category: Software

Volumex is a fantastic alternative to the default Windows Mobile volume changer. Using big friendly buttons & a nice set of features, is it a must have for any Windows Mobile user ? Read on to find out.

Read more at BestWindowsMobileApps here.

The above video is the first part of a presentation to developers explaining the best practice implementation of 3D gaming on the new Windows Phone 7 series phones.

See below for part 2.

Via Pocketnow.com (1) and (2)

I know it has been months since I last made a post talking about this, but thanks to one awesome XDA member, we are cooking. The member goes by the codename cedesmith, and after what seemed like years, he has finally finished his TG01 ROM Tool. The tool is available to the general public to try and get their own ROM going, but rest assured, WMPoweruser is committed to bringing you the first cooked TG01 ROM.

I already contacted two of our many fine cooks, and they are already working on it. They just got their hands on the tool, and they will give me the verdict tomorrow. Remember, they are cooking pretty much blindly, because they do not own a TG01, and the software is a little unusual to them.

I will post more on this as the news comes in, but at this time. I am still waiting on the verdicts from my cooks, and once we have that. They will be make a test ROM, and we will need some testers. Maybe I will have it a private test by people I select.

That is neither here or there, but just know this. Wen, and WMPoweruser are working on it.

Visit the thread that contains the chatter.

Are you one of those people who collects stuff? Not material items, but little tiny scraps of information, be they photos, places, products, text snippets, ideas, or plans? Then maybe, maybe, you should try Springpad. More »

Here is another session from GDC on Windows Phone 7, tackling the touching issue of multi-player gaming.

Again, as previously mentioned,multi-player gaming is designed more on the level of web-based flash gaming than Halo 2, which is a bit of a pity.

Via Pocketnow.com

At GDC, Microsoft has finally lifted the veil on Windows Phone 7 Push notifications. I think most people would recognize the system as very iPhone-like, which is rather interesting considering Apple’s recent actions against HTC.

The system is clearly not high-bandwidth, and we understand real-time multi-player systems either over WIFI or bluetooth will not be available initially.

Are our readers satisfied with notifications as a substitute for multi-tasking? Let us know below.

Via Pocketnow.com

We know about Tumblr, don’t we? It’s the simple and easy to use blogging platform which stands just in between Twitter and other more-robust platforms like WordPress and Blogger. People like Tumblr because it is quick, fun and engrossing.

One of the best things about Tumblr is its community. It has recently been pushing out features that allow users to interact with readers and other fellow users. For instance, they recently released a “reply” feature that let followers of a blog send comments right from the dashboard. Other intuitive features include “likes”, “reblogs” – tumblr-speak for retweets and the ability to ask questions and submit content.

People can post content through different mediums: Web, mobile, bookmarklet, a phone call et al. However, there hasn’t yet been an official desktop client. No worries though. With the additions to the Tumblr API made recently, the lives of developers (and users) have been made even easier. The updated API allowed applications to fetch content from the dashboard, that is, fetch the posts of people a user is following. Also, applications can now “like” a post right through the API.

Tumblweed is a desktop tumblr client that has been in the scene for quite a long time. However, in it’s baby-days, I found it to be a little buggy and unstable. It also lacked timely updates. We can’t blame the developer for that. He might be a college student working only on weekends or between semesters. You never know in the of the internet. Tumblweed has now been updated, and it’s got some cool new features.

• A real dashboard: Earlier, the application used to show only your posts. Now you can juggle between your dashboard and your latest posts.
• New UI: The interface has been revamped. The experience feels much more polished.
• Support for tags, setting the publishing date, saving as draft, custom url and adding content to the queue.
• Webcam support: Time for GPOYW? It’s a click away with inbuilt webcam support.
• Set custom Twitter message that goes out to your twitter feed with a link to the published post.

Like earlier, you can either upload or link to audio files while creating audio posts and as Tumblweed is based on Adobe Air, it should be ready to hit the road on any of the OS platforms.

Finally, this is how the application looks

The application works well without any problems but I do have a few gripes with it. First off, the dashboard – while doing it’s job and showing us the latest posts from our contacts – is a really lame one. You may think I’m going over the radar with this but seriously, the dashboard provides no ability to “like” a post or “reblog” it. Adding to it, it doesn’t even link to the post. So basically, if you browse through the dashboard on tumblweed, you will be able to access the links within a post but you won’t be able to access the post in a web browser whatsoever.

Tumblweed has seen major updates after a really long time, lest it would have been lost unto oblivion. For its will to survive and prosper, I give it a 4 out of 5 on the techiebuzz scale.

Download Tumblweed

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Pocketnow, who are attending GDC, have published this video overview of Windows Phone 7 presentations at GDC.

Part 1 givens an overview of the Xbox Live service on Windows Phone 7, and part 2, after the break, provides some more detail.

Source: Pocketnow.com (1) and (2)

Thunderbird 3 left a lot to be desired, and many users who used it had lots of bad things to say about it. Many did say that Thunderbird 3 was probably a rushed project by Mozilla, however, the past is past and Mozilla has already begun to fix the problems in the new version, Thunderbird 3.1.

Mozilla has released a new beta for Thunderbird 3.1, codenamed Lanikai Beta 1, which fixes around 100 bugs and improves performance for the email client.

Some of the major fixes includes:

• Fixes to improve upgrading from Thunderbird 2
• Fixes for auto complete, tabs and activity manager
• Design improvements and corrections to the interface
• Stability and memory improvements

You can view a list of the full list of bugs that were fixed here. Lanikai Beta 1 has also dropped support for Windows 95, 98, ME and NT and Mac OS X versions prior to 10.4 Tiger. You can find more information about the changes in the Thunderbird 3.1 Beta 1 release here.

Thunderbird 3.1 Beta 1 is available as a download for Windows, Mac and Linux. You can find and download the appropriate version for your OS from here.

[via gHacks]

Don’t miss these Related Posts:

• Download Thunderbird 3 Release Candidate 1 (RC1)
• Download Thunderbird 3 [Final Version]
• Download Thunderbird 3 Release Candidate 2 (RC2)
• Del.icio.us for IE, Flock Beta 1.2 with Digg Support and Thunderbird 3.0 alpha codename Shredder
• Thunderbird 3 RC1 Release: Due Next Week

Join Techie Buzz on Your Favorite Social Networking Sites

• Become a Techie Buzz fan on Facebook
• Follow Techie Buzz on Twitter

  So claims MSMobiles.com, with some anecdotal evidence to back him up.  At present, in theory there is no real way to back up the installation file of your Marketplace software.  In practice that is of course a different story , but most users will not have the know how to hack their devices to save the cab prior to its deletion.

In theory also, when a developer leaves Marketplace the app will no longer be sold, but will still remain available for download and re-install.

In practice however, it appears that this is not the case, and if a developer does not renew his yearly $100 subscription or leave marketplace for whatever reason, it appears in a number of cases apps have been removed from the catalogue and are no longer available for install.

If true, this may become a major issue, with companies like Skype effectively being able to remove applications from the phones of users if they ever decide to hard reset and re-install (after a ROM upgrade for example).

Read more at MSMobiles here.

Is this a problem any of our readers have experienced? Let us know below.

Erin Kutz wrote:

Boston-based Rapid7, a network security software provider, has sold $2 million of a planned $4 million equity offering, a regulatory filing shows. Members from Bain Capital Ventures, an existing Rapid7 investor, are listed as directors on the filing for the round, which included eight investors. Bain pumped $7 million into the company in 2008.

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Google has updated its YouTube Mobile app for Windows Mobile to version 2.4. Google claims this version is faster, and now supports user accounts, just like the website. 

It also supports search query suggestions, and features a new home screen optimised for larger screens.

To download the app on your phone, m.youtube.com/app in your phone’s browser.

Cookie Home Tab is a becoming a very popular mod/application, and in a recent update, it brought some major improvement. From the last time we wrote about this mod, there have been many new changes. The are now even more tabs, than before. The mod is faster, smoother, and many bugs have been fixed.

Here is the change log:

Update 7-Mar-2010:

Version 1.6.1 released. Bug fixes, small additions and changes – see details here.

Posts about v1.6.1 start from number 2294 .

Update 4-Mar-2010:

Version 1.6 released. Uninstall the old version and soft reset before upgrading.

uninstalling, and restore it when you install the new version.

Posts about v1.6 start from number 1915. Change log:

-[new] 3×3 layout added and 5×5 repositioned slightly

-[new] reworked animations with 4 levels and an animation toolkit

-[new] dynamic notifications – autohide call history and quick links

-[new] up to 5 appointments in extended view, 2 in main view

-[new] enabled swiping between tabs from home

-[new] option to set the number of quick link pages

-[new] option to hide shortcut text and text background

-[new] option to hide page indicator

-[new] weather animation on/off switch

-[new] localization support

-[new] setting for date, clock and weather buttons

-[new] option to set a custom operator name

-[fixed] leftmost and rightmost column sensitivity on 4×4 layout

-[fixed] wrong date for multiday appointments

-[fixed] quick links bug on up key / volume key

-[fixed] appointments now always update on home tab load

-[fixed] added back htc start menu shortcuts

-[fixed] unfinished animation before switching to remove/rearrange view

-[fixed] re-enabled operator logo

-[fixed] a few bugs in VGA mode

Give the Mod in its thread

Mindy Mount, Chief Financial Officer of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division, home of Zune, Windows Phone and Xbox 360, spoke at the Jefferies Annual Global Technology Conference this Monday.

She gave the collection of analysts a tour of Microsoft’s new upcoming products, including Windows Phone 7.

She notes that Windows 7 Phone has a “very, very sharp focus on the customer” and that Microsoft was “taking full accountability for the customer experience.”

In the past, we’ve allowed our partners to overlay user interfaces that confused a customer. And this stopped with the Windows Phone 7 Series. Look, people don’t want three different ways to get into their e-mail, and three different ways to get out. They just want one simple way to get the stuff that’s important to them.

She went on to day that the E&D team took the best assets from all across Microsoft, like Bing, and Zune, and Xbox, and Office and integrated them in deep services on the phone. She gave a run down of the hubs and for the music hub mentioned access to various web streaming services, likely to include at least Last.FM and Pandora, as these have been mentioned previously.

An area not well demoed so far is the Office hub, and there she confirmed some of the rumours we heard previously regarding the live syncing of documents:

Office is another thing that people are very excited about. Bringing Office to the phone where you’ll have Office Mobile, but also access to SharePoint and OneNote, and it’s all on the same phone that has your Outlook e-mail.

I can’t tell you how many analysts like you guys I’ve seen where you keep track of your notes on your Blackberry and you’re typing it away. Just think of it now, you could actually be typing into OneNote and it will immediately sync and be on your PC without you having to do anything, which I think will be very, very handy for folks.

She finally confirmed a “very, very strong launch, as we head into the Holiday 2010” that will leapfrog competitors stuck in a sea of sameness with really fresh thinking and innovation.

She ended, noting Microsoft was “not just playing games, but we really are playing to win in this business.”

Read the very informative transcript here.

Does Microsoft have the tools and resources to win, even so late in the game? Let us know below.

Já aqui tinha falado do Synergy e hoje falo do Synergy-plus.

Basicamente o Synergy é uma aplicação que permite com apenas um rato e um teclado, controlar os vários computadores de uma rede. Uso frequentemente este software quando estou sentado em frente à minha secretária, evitando assim ter que utilizar os 3 teclados dos portáteis e do desktop.

O Synergy-plus é um novo projecto para continuar o desenvolvimento do synergy. Pode ser acedido através do Google Code aqui.

WebTuga – Synergy-plus – Partilhar o rato e teclado entre vários computadores

Not being a musician, I must admit I don’t quite understand this application, but the music synthesizer appears pretty cool, and the narrator’s voice is also pretty hypnotic.

Here is 4Pockets.com’s write-up of this rather expensive$44.95 application:

Whether you are an experienced musician or don’t have a musical bone in your body, you can make great music on your Pocket PC.

Aurora is our pattern based musical sequencing software for the Pocket PC. By simply choosing a musical scale every note you play is in perfect tune, leaving you to make your own great sounding music.

If you are a more accomplished musician you simply switch Aurora to advanced mode and you get full control over the built in instruments and effects, as well as many advanced modes such as the Atomizer and XY Mode which allows you to manipulate sound in real-time. You can create your own instrument from recordings made using the built in microphone. Just think, a full drum kit of you beatboxing into the microphone!

Aurora allows a mixture of pattern based recording and live performance. You can piece together complete compositions or simply improvise a performance. All of which can be captured to a file, for use as a ringtones, or to share with others.

An integrated mixer, combined with the ability to add audio effects and layer automation means that you achieve a sophisticated sound in a fun and user friendly way.

Thankfully the app comes with a free trial, which can be accessed at 4Pockets.com here.