Author Archives: Shaun McGill

PDA-247 January Sale: 50% off all Sunnysoft Titles!

Posted on January 22, 2009 by Shaun McGill

PDA-247 is having a January Sale of mammoth proportions. Each day throughout January we will be offering a huge discount on a new title, or a selection of titles, and each discount will run for 3 days.

Today we have 50% off any title from Sunnysoft! These titles include Sunnysoft Contacts, Calling Card and InterWrite Fullscreen. All you have to do is visit the link below and use discount code ‘Jan22′ at checkout to obtain your discount.

Link: All Sunnysoft titles.

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PDA-247 January Sale: 25% off all Vito Technology Titles!

Posted on January 21, 2009 by Shaun McGill

PDA-247 is having a January Sale of mammoth proportions. Each day throughout January we will be offering a huge discount on a new title, or a selection of titles, and each discount will run for 3 days.

Today we have 25% off any title from Vito Technology! These titles include ZoomBoard, iWindowsMobile Communications Suite and Winterface. All you have to do is visit the link below and use discount code ‘Jan21′ at checkout to obtain your discount.

Link: All 24 Vito Technology titles.

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PDA-247 January Sale: 50% off all Northglide Titles!

Posted on January 20, 2009 by Shaun McGill

PDA-247 is having a January Sale of mammoth proportions. Each day throughout January we will be offering a huge discount on a new title, or a selection of titles, and each discount will run for 3 days.

Today we have 50% off any title from Northglide! These titles include Uninstall Manager, Cleanup and OnGuard Backup for Palm OS PDAs and smartphones. All you have to do is visit the links below and use discount code ‘Jan20N’ at checkout to obtain your discount.

Link: All Northglide titles.

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PDA-247 January Sale: 50% off all Aerize Titles!

Posted on January 19, 2009 by Shaun McGill

PDA-247 is having a January Sale of mammoth proportions. Each day throughout January we will be offering a huge discount on a new title, or a selection of titles, and each discount will run for 3 days.

Today we have 50% off any title from Aerize! These titles include Card Loader, Email Alerts and Optimizer for BlackBerry smartphones. All you have to do is visit the links below and use discount code ‘Jan19′ at checkout to obtain your discount.

Link: All Aerize titles.

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New Site

Posted on January 17, 2009 by Shaun McGill

You may not have been expecting to see the site like this today, but for a variety of reasons the new design had to be uploaded. I will explain on Monday what further changes you can expect and how we are looking to improve the site further. In the meantime, feel free to comment on the new look (good or bad) and we will take every comment into consideration.

The URL to bookmark is www.pda-247.com and we are working on tweaking the domain to remove the ‘wordpress’ bit…

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PDA-247 January Sale: 50% off HiCalc and Lexisgoo!

Posted on January 16, 2009 by Shaun McGill

PDA-247 is having a January Sale of mammoth proportions. Each day throughout January we will be offering a huge discount on a new title, or a selection of titles, and each discount will run for 3 days.

Today we have 50% off HiCalc and Lexisgoo from PPCLink! All you have to do is visit the links below and use discount code ‘Jan16′ at checkout to obtain your discount.

Links: HiCalc / Lexisgoo

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Green shoots, the media and Steve Jobs

Posted on January 16, 2009 by Shaun McGill

We live in a strange old world don’t we? Apple’s share price dropped 10% two days ago because Steve Jobs is taking sick leave. A politician in the UK got slammed for mentioning the phrase “green shoots of recovery” in an interview about the economy and it appears that the fortunes of companies, industries and entire nations can turn on the will of the media.

The current economic crisis is obviously bad and it is affecting everyone, and it could be argued that the media has done nothing but make it happen quicker and could have also caused a deeper recession than was necessary. Negative media causes loss of confidence, and in some cases panic, and this causes companies to stop employing and so the circle spiral ever quicker until we are just starting at the hard earth, with no green shoots around to comfort us.

The paragraph above mainly refers to that great old institution we hold in such esteem in the UK- the BBC. Love or hate the BBC, it has huge influence and probably always will do. The amount of fuss it made about the iPhone when it was originally announced was no doubt party responsible for its success in this country, and occasionally it does cover our little smartphone world, albeit with a complete lack of knowledge of what the devices can actually do.

Analysts are the other people who seem to have a dramatic effect on company fortunes, or misfortunes in many cases, but at time I have to wonder what they do? Palm is a classic recent example-

Sell, sell, sell, it has no future!

(Pre and webOS announced)

Hold, hold hold, this could be good!

I could do that job. I am being deliberately ignorant here, and of course there is much more to the role than just the above, but it does feel as though most analysts are just running behind the game for most of the time.

We live in a world where rumour and speculation is king and this will either greatly help the entire mobile device industry, or it will cause some of the better devices to fall by the wayside because they don’t catch the eyes of the people who don’t understand them anyway…

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Didiom Brings iTunes to BlackBerry and Windows Mobile

Posted on January 16, 2009 by Shaun McGill

Didiom is a new service which has some unique selling points. It allows wireless streaming to Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices and with over 1 million songs you are not likely to miss out on the tracks you want (which I believe you can bid on at the moment?!)

“Listen to songs from your iTunes® library, right on your phone.
With Didiom, you can use your phone to access songs and playlists stored on your computer through wireless streaming. Just download Didiom to your phone and desktop and you’ll be ready to navigate the music files stored on your PC. You can stream them to over 200 phone models, including the BlackBerry® Curve™, for free.

Discover new music anywhere, and download to your phone and PC.
With over 1 million MP3 songs, the Didiom Marketplace lets you shop for music whenever you want, directly from your phone. You can name your own price and download to your mobile, PC or both. The mobile download will be available to your phone, and the PC download will be available online. There are never any membership or service fees. You only pay for the music you download through our secure, credit card service.

We recommend that you ask your carrier about an unlimited data plan before downloading and using Didiom. This way, you can enjoy getting your music, without having to worry about any extra fees.”

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Palm’s New Reach

Posted on January 16, 2009 by Shaun McGill

Palm’s New Reach is an excellent new article over at Newsweek- “You’ve probably never heard of Jon Rubinstein, but in computer-engineering circles, the 52-year-old former Apple engineer is a legend. He helped create two of the most iconic products of the past decade: the original brightly colored egg-shaped iMac, which saved Apple from going out of business, and the iPod, which turned that once-ailing computer maker into the hottest brand in consumer electronics. So in the summer of 2007, when Rubinstein (nickname: Ruby) joined Palm, the beleaguered consumer-electronics company, to develop a new smartphone, people in the industry began paying attention once again to an outfit that most had written off as dead. They also began wondering whether Palm could do what every other phonemaker has tried to do and failed: create a device that could outshine Apple’s iPhone. The result is the Palm Pre which debuts today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and will go on sale by the middle of 2009. It embodies Palm’s best shot at reclaiming both market- and mind-share.

Rubinstein, Palm’s executive chairman, was quick to downplay comparisons when NEWSWEEK met with him at Palm’s Sunnyvale, Calif., headquarters in December for a sneak peak at his latest creation. “We’re not trying to build an iPhone clone,” he said. And though Apple CEO Steve Jobs was furious about Rubinstein’s move to Palm, and grew even angrier when he started poaching some of Apple’s top talent, Rubinstein insists he’s not driven by a desire to upstage his former boss and longtime colleague. “I worked with Steve for 16 years. Now supposedly I’m a traitor. But this has nothing to do with Apple,” he says.

Still, over the course of two days, Rubinstein and others at Palm couldn’t help pointing out that the Pre outperforms the iPhone. Palm’s advantages include faster Web browsing, a better camera, and the ability to run many applications at the same time…”

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The Phones Show 73

Posted on January 16, 2009 by Shaun McGill

The Phones Show 73 is available to download or view online and includes the following- “Photos and news of the Palm Pre, plus a monster length video review of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, the first S60 5th Edition phone.”

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3rd-Party iPhone Web Browsers: What’s Useful, What’s not

Posted on January 16, 2009 by Shaun McGill

There is a useful article over at CNET which explores the potential, or not, of the new browser enhancements for the iPhone- “Apple’s decision to allow third-party Web browsers into the iTunes App Store has been met with developer enthusiasm. Coders, elated that Apple has reversed it’s previous, anti-competitive stance with regard to at least one application sector (mail clients and SMS applications still appear to be off limits) have pushed through a series of Web browsers ranging from the valuable to the useless, and the promising to the devoid of potential.

We’ve put a few of the available browsers through their paces, and tagged them according to their usefulness and potential for significant improvement.

Shaking Web (iTunes Link) $1.99. Largely useless, Some potential. Uses an algorithm that compensates for any movement of the iPhone: shaking hands, bumps on a bus or train, or footsteps. In practice, the result of the accelerometer functionality is generally without utility. The browser is usually either overcompensating or under-compensating, and the effect is more jarring then soothing when walking with a page open, i.e. readability is not enhanced. If future versions can improve responsiveness and become more image stabilizer and less ship deck, the $2 price might justifiable.

SafeEyes Mobile Site Link (not yet available in iTunes)). No price yet. Looks Useful. Potential uncertain. We haven’t yet had a chance to play with SafeEyes Mobile, but its purpose seems solid. Rather than parents blocking Safari completely on their young ones’ iPhones, SafeEyes uses the traditional “blocked-site database” method to bar entry to specific sites. The app’s developers say it should be available soon, and we’ll report back with further information when it debuts… “

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Medical leave for Apple boss Jobs

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Shaun McGill

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs is to take medical leave until the end of June, saying his health issues were more complex than he first thought.

Mr Jobs revealed last week he was being treated for a “hormone imbalance” but was staying on as the firm’s head.

Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook will stand in while Mr Jobs is away.

Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004, Mr Jobs had appeared increasingly gaunt at recent public appearances, sparking rumours about his health.

Speculation about his health had intensified since December, after Apple said Mr Jobs would not be making his annual keynote address at the Macworld conference in San Francisco. More at BBC.

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PDA-247 January Sale: Up to 75% off Mobile Stream Titles!

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Shaun McGill

PDA-247 is having a January Sale of mammoth proportions. Each day throughout January we will be offering a huge discount on a new title, or a selection of titles, and each discount will run for 3 days.

Today we have up to 75% off titles from Mobile Stream! All you have to do is visit this links below and use the discount codes quoted to obtain your discount off any of the titles listed.

Palm: use discount code Jan15
USB Modem – 50% discount
Card Reader – 50% discount
Meteor – 50% discount

Symbian: use discount code Jan151
Meteor S60 3rd Edition – 75% discount
Dreamway S60 3rd Edition – 75% discount
Jackpot Casino (S60v3) – 75% discount

Meteor Nokia E90  – 75% discount
Dreamway Nokia E90 – 75% discount
Jackpot Casino Nokia E90 – 75% discount

Windows Mobile: use discount code Jan15
Meteor (WM 320×320) – 50% discount
Meteor (WM 240×400) – 50% discount
Meteor (WM 480×800) – 50% discount

Jackpot Casino (WM 320×320) – 50% discount. Mobile Jigsaw (WM 320×320) – 50% discount use discount code Jan15

Meteor QVGA  – 50% discount Jackpot Casino (QVGA) – 50% discount Mobile Jigsaw (QVGA) – 50% discount use discount code Jan15

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iPhoned… AAARGH!

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Shaun McGill

A colleague at work was selling his iPhone 2G for a very good price and I stupidly bought it from him (mainly because I can sell my iPod Touch 2G and not lose too much money). Four days later it has become my main smartphone and I have absolutely no idea why?!?

I hate so many parts of the iPhone, yet somehow it can just about do what I need it to and it gives the added advantage of superb gaming, video and music playback. For many years I have been trying to cut down on my obsessive organisational habits and this is the perfect tool for the job. The calendar is dreadful. Email is poorly laid out and not easy to use when dealing with more than one account. The contacts application is bearable. Notes is useless. The whole system is so much slower than the Bold- why am I waiting a full 4 seconds for my calendar to open? Why oh why oh why am I using the iPhone?!?

It gets worse- I had to put a case on it because I am embarrassed to walk around with it to my ear. I am a 38 year old telecommunications manager and it just doesn’t look right. When you have no hair, a stomach that seems to be growing every day and look miserable all of the time, the iPhone looks too young and sexy to be attached to my fat head.

I am getting the hang of the keyboard, although I still consider it to be poor, and can now knock out one email in less than an hour. I can’t get a consistent signal in my house at all- always permanent 3G with the Bold. The voice quality and speakerphone are rubbish, yet still I am using it. Why?!?

(Had a 5 minute break to calm down a little)

The iPhone has a lot of plus points and is genuinely great at so many things, but the PIM aspect is starting to get on my nerves as each day passes. Apple needs to seriously address the general workings of the iPhone and make it a proper smartphone with credibility in the corporate world. The way it handles MS Exchange is not good at all and I can receive an email a full 5 minutes after it appears on my desktop.

Still, I will continue to use the iPhone for a while and see what happens over time- maybe it will grow on me and maybe I will become a fanboy, but I need something new to really satisfy my organisational and entertainment urges. The Palm Pre will probably do the organisational stuff very well, but entertainment may be lacking. The Bold is a master at PIM, but entertainment is somewhat limited. Who knows what will appear next and who knows why I use the phones I do?

Please excuse my immature rant which somehow ended up being an article…

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Palm WebOS and Third Party Applications

Posted on January 14, 2009 by Shaun McGill

Palm WebOS and Third Party Applications is an interesting developer focused article over at sheba nation. Thanks to Justine.

Super excited to be able to talk at least a little bit about our new Palm WebOS platform and the Palm Pre smartphone.

The main thing I’m responsible for is third party application distribution, and although we’re fairly far along in this area, its not too late for your input to count. So let me know what you’d like to see and/or not see. Here are a few questions to get things rolling, in no particular order:

    * how would you like to see application installation work? Application updating?
    * should palm provide a complete payment processing story or stay out of everyone’s way?
    * should payment be handled in-application or prior to download or both?
    * how should trials and tryouts work?
    * do you want to host your application “binaries” on your servers or on ours? Why?
    * should we treat open source applications differently? If so, how?
    * how should palm handle “featured” applications?
    * how should users be able to find/browse for your application?

These are intentionally leading questions, and I can’t promise that we’ll address any or all of these in our distribution system – all I can say is that these are things I think about and want to hear from developers about.

Reply with a comment here, DM reply to me on twitter (shebanator), or send me an email: andrew ***DOT*** shebanow ***AT*** palm ***DOT*** com.

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