By danc
On February 27, 2009
I had the opportunity to test out ZumoDrive’s cloud storage service when it was in private beta recently.
I liked the slick interface and the fact that, on my Mac, the "storage" icon appears both in my menu bar and as a mounted drive.
In order to move files to the cloudIs storage I simply needed to move them into the drive. I also appreciated the fact that the files are saved as the files unlike other services which store the file, an image, and more when syncing. A resident application for the iPhone was promised but not yet available. In addition, early advertising spoke about unlimited storage and yet, once you signed up for the service, truth in advertising was — 1 GB of free storage and unlimited storage so long as you’re willing to pay for it.
That in itself felt like a loss leader to me and I stopped using the beta.
Now the service is back, has change their pricing, and has an application for the iPhone — and I’m actually rather impressed.
I’ve become a huge fan of Hulu and other online tv and movie streaming services. Today CBS went the mobile route by offering a new free app- TV.com.
TV.com streams clips, and even full episodes of shows. The offerings are limited but the app works well and is yet another step toward truly mobile tv.
TV.com is a free download and is available now.
By danc
On February 26, 2009
While it isn’t there yet (I’m still waiting for access to Skype-Out) Truphone holds the greatest potential for bringing excellent VOiP access to our favorite handhelds.
It is already quite powerful, though. With it you can call–
• Other Truphone users with an iPod touch (a free call)
• Any phone number in the world (a low cost call)
• Other Truphone users on iPhone and Nokia devices (a free call)
• Google Talk users (a free call)
Sure you need an iPhone or a second generation iPod Touch (plus a headset with microphone and headphones), but if you have them… Truphone is amazing!
You can
I’m a big fan of the iPhone game Poker Stacks. It is
based on games like Bejeweled 2, Tetris, or Bubbles and builds on them in that you are trying to match real poker hands to clear the board and move to the next level.
The game is great!
Here’s is how the game is played-
The idea is to select poker hands to clear the board so that all of the remaining card tiles fall into the given bottom rows(arrows on the side) before the time runs out. Advancing levels bring new challenges. You can slide your finger over up to 5 cards to select the poker hand. Order isn’t important so straights don’t have to be in order and pairs don’t have to be right next to each other. Tiles not directly involved in the hand’s scoring,’kicker cards’, will remain on the board. Bigger hands mean bigger points. You can also swap a piece exactly once with an adjacent piece between each hand played and the back will then turn blue showing the swapped piece is frozen in place. Finally, you can slide pieces vertically into open spaces, gravity will pull them down if it can.
I started playing the game and, quite honestly, didn’t want to put it down.
By danc
On February 25, 2009
New to the iPhone streamed radio world is a little application MoveRadio. It has a slick interface and is priced right since it’s free. Let’s take a quick look at it…
Here’s Move Radio’s description-
Move Radio is a mobile music portal powered by DJs around the world. Our network brings together a community of DJs who provide the hottest music mixes to anyone with a mobile handset or portable music player. The service is directed to avid music consumers and DJs with ties to nightlife culture on an International level. Our vast array of music content is distributed online, via mobile WAP and direct-to-handset applications. Consumers have unlimited access to more than 400 DJ shows, and 20 DJ powered music channels for free. The service allows consumers to discover exclusive mixes & unreleased music from all genres.
DJs Make It Happen, Move Radio is built around the DJ. Our platform is designed to promote the DJ, sell the DJ,and let the DJ be heard. With a custom interface that allows the DJ to upload streaming mixes across our music network, Move Radio has made it simple to stream & promote mixes. Move Radio strives to be authentic. This is all about DJs and music, offering the world’s best social, user-generated platform that lets DJs and listeners come together and revel in the music that shapes our lives.
We top it off by offering our music channels as mobile and online-based applications. With Move Radio Mobile, users worldwide have continuous access to our channels via their mobile handset or wifi-enabled portable music player. Anywhere, Anytime.
What did I think?
By danc
On February 24, 2009
I’ve made no secret of my fondness for the RSS reader Feeds ever since WOiP reader Derick gave me a headsup on a huge update.
The update brought seamless, quick sync with Google Reader, tagging of posts, integration with Instapaper and "swipe left to star, swipe right to mark read/unread" navigation.
In all, it made for a great RSS reader.
There were, however, a couple of minor bugs that made the app crash on occassion.
After a long awaited delay (there remains no logic behind what Apple approves quickly and what takes forever) an update that solves those bugs is out.
Now Feeds really is the superb RSS reader I’ve come to depend on.
Best of all, we’ve got Promo Codes to share… to enter to win one just tell us one MUST HAVE tech feed.
More on Feeds can be found HERE on the site or HERE on iTunes.
By danc
On February 23, 2009
Macworld’s Jason Snell has a superb piece about his time with an MSI Wind hacked to run OS X. Having created and used a similar Hackintosh I have to agree with his conclusions- the Wind make a fully functional, exceptionally inexpensive Mac.
Ultimately, however, he concludes that Apple’s argument for not entering the netbook fray holds up to scrutiny- it isn’t in Apple’s interest to go there since there are too many compromises and not enough profit.
And THAT is where he makes the comment relevant to a post on WhatsOniPhone. Snell writes….
By danc
On February 22, 2009
In 2004 psychology professor Barry Schwartz wrote a fascinating book entitled- The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less.
Schwartz suggests that we now have far too many choices and that they offer "an illusion of a multitude of options when few honestly different ones actually exist".
When we are faced with a bewildering array of choices, he writes, we become flooded and increasingly anxious. In short- we THINK more choices are better and make us happier when it may well be exactly the opposite.
Case in point- the iTunes App Store.
There are now more than 15,000 applications available for download. Since the App Store went online iPhone and iPod Touch enthusiasts have downloaded apps more than 500 million times. And yet…
By danc
On February 21, 2009
I’ve had the opportunity to look at a beta version of Zinio’s upcoming iPhone resident application. I should note that they have made a web-based application available for quite some time. While the webapp offered free content it was rather awkward to use due to the required amount of constant pinching and zooming. Sure, it worked, but it was not an intuitive process. It seemed to me that it would have worked much better if pages were not presented as static documents but that the text was flowed and, therefore, quickly and easily resized.
I was hoping that the resident application would resolve these issues and offer an easier, more intuitive experience.
Unfortunately that has not been my experience thus far
Great point! While it would cut down on the speed and simplicity it would save a lot of potential grief!
To which he wrote-
It they implemented the feature but made it user selective it would be perfect.
This way if you were Jotting something important you could choose to preview it. But if it was just going to a friend you could send it without previewing.
Turns out it IS possible to preview messages!