There are plenty of apps out there that allow you to control your computer from your smartphones, but what if you want to browse your Windows Phone from your desktop computer? Well, then you’ll want to check out WiFi Remote Access for Windows Mobile. The new Windows Mobile app installs itself on your Windows Phone and acts as a bridge between the phone and your computer, allowing you to connect to your handset via WiFi and browse its contents through a web browser (like the one you’re using to read this very sentence).
Remote Access is still in beta, but doesn’t skimp on features. You can view photos, complete with thumbnails. You can listen to the music you have stored on the phone. You can even edit your Windows Phone’s registry through the app.
There’s no desktop installation required. Simply install the Windows Mobile app on your smartphone and point your desktop computer’s browser to the handset’s IP address. It’s that simple.
Find more information on Remote Access here. Grab Remote Access here.
Quick, raise your hand if you sent an MMS from your iPhone this past week. Okay, how about this past month? If you’re not raising your hand, your either A) not following the rules of this game or B) just like the millions of Americans that just don’t send out MMS (picture messages) regularly from their iPhones. I fall into the latter category. Today’s release of FunMail might change all that.
FunMail for iPhone automatically analyzes your text message and serves up relevant images that you can embed into your message. The idea behind FunMail is to bring MMS out of the dark ages and allow people to use images for rich communication. Rather than send your friend a text message asking them if they want to eat, FunMail would have you send them the same text with overlaid on an image of a burger. You can even send that messages to Twitter and Facebook.
The trick to making picture-chats convenient is FunMail’s “Media Brain,” which pulls out the semantic meaning behind your text and gives the user a set of pictures that might fit the situation. If you’re talking about going to lunch, FunMail returns images of food. Talk about a birthday, and you get birthday-related images.
The app is free in the iPhone AppStore, so it won’t hurt to give it a shot. I personally can’t see myself using FunMail for everyday communication, but it’s definitely worth trying out at least once.
This one goes out to all of you out there in Woodland Hills. In a puzzlingly region-specific announcement, Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless has announced that it has added a new cell site in Woodland Hills, California. Those of you living in the western San Fernando Valley will see improved 3G wireless coverage and performance on your Verizon handset.
Verizon’s press release also mentions that the carrier spent $600 million in infrastructure improvements in California during 2008. With all the back-and-forth between AT&T and Verizon these days, we can’t help but think that the $600 million figure is a jab at AT&T (NYSE: T). Although, we have to point out that Verizon is quoting numbers from a lifetime ago (which roughly equates to a year in the mobile world).
If you’re looking for a new BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) smartphone with no strings attached, you might want to look in T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) USA’s direction. The carrier has announced their T-Mobile Complete program, which gives customers a choice of four no-contract BlackBerry smartphones to be used with T-Mobile’s pre-paid plans. The kicker? T-Mobile is including the first month of service for free with purchase of a T-Mobile Complete BlackBerry handset!
Of the four options, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 will run $299.99, while the BlackBerry Pearl goes for $149.99. T-Mobile is offering several unlimited pre-paid plans that start at $50 per month. At those prices, T-Mobile Complete BlackBerry handsets would work really well as holiday gifts. Think about it, just buy the pre-paid BlackBerry kit (which, again, includes first month of service for free), wrap it up, and you’re good to go.
You’ll find T-Mobile Complete at Walmart and Best Buy locations.
There are now more mobile apps available in the AppStore than any one person could ever hope to try out in a single lifetime. Add in the myriad Java apps out there, and the sheer volume of mobile apps becomes overwhelming. How is anyone supposed to wade through the much and find truly unique and innovative apps? Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone app “Top lists” clearly aren’t cutting it. Another possible solution is mplayit’s mobile app discovery engine.
At the Under The Radar conference today in Mountain View, CA., mplayit was showing off their Facebook-based mobile app discovery platform. The idea behind mplayit is to harness the power of crowd sourcing and Facebook’s massive social network to give users a quick way to find new mobile apps. A live “Apptivity Feed” integrates with Facebook to show you, in real-time, what apps other Facebook users have been checking out. The “Featured Apps” section monitors apps that are trending hot with Facebook users, while the “Shared” and “Popular” sections display apps that have been shared the most or downloaded the most, respectively.
Once you’ve stumbled upon an interesting app, mplayit serves up app descriptions, reviews, screenshots, and even videos of the app in action – if it’s a Java app, you can even demo it through mplayit’s emulator. You can even download the app, add it to your “collection,” and share the app through email and Facebook right from mplayit’s platform.
At this point, only iPhone and Java apps are supported, but Android and BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) will be supported by year’s end. Windows Mobile and webOS will be coming in 2010. Check out the demo video below, and then hit up mplayit.com to see for yourself!
Instant message aficionados have been eagerly waiting on Cerulean Studios to bring their profile-synchronizing Trillian client to the iPhone. It’s been years, in fact, since we first heard of the Trillian iPhone app. Today, that wait ends. Trillian for iPhone has officially hit the AppStore with a $4.99 price tag!
The thing about instant messaging apps is that there are a veritable truckload of options available on the AppStore. Some really good apps are offered for free. If you’re not a hardcore IM user, you’re probably going to be just fine sticking with one of those apps. But, if you use instant messaging services like your life depends on them, Trillian for iPhone will probably be a worthy investment.
Trillian supports multiple IM services and allows you to switch between conversations with a tabbed interface. But, it doesn’t stop there. Trillian for iPhone synchronizes your IM accounts with their the Trillian Astra servers, so when you change your status or update your buddy list on the iPhone app, those changes will automatically be pushed to your Windows Trillian client and the web-based Trillian client. There’s also an option to have any instant messages pushed to your iPhone. And, since all chats are stored on Cerulean Studios’ servers, you’ll never have to worry about losing a chat transcript again.
Trillian for iPhone isn’t going to be for everyone, especially with its premium price-point. But, for power-users, Trillian is going to be hard to beat.
The very handy (or should I say hands free?) Drivesafe.ly app for BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) has apparently reached the 1 million user threshold. Wowza! Congrats to the folks at Drivesafe.ly. If you’ve never heard of the app before, Drivesafe.ly enables you to put your phone DOWN while driving your car. It reads emails and SMS messages to you, allowing you to focus on the road (which is what you should be doing in the first place). Other key features of the app:
Hands Free – No need to touch the phone while driving
One-touch activation – no complicated setup
Bluetooth and radio transmitter compatible
Reads text message shorthand (lol, brb)
Optional customizable auto-responder
Ideally you’d turn your device OFF, or throw it in the glove box out-of-reach, but Drivesafe.ly is the best compromise I’ve seen yet.
Versions for both BlackBerry and Android are available, and new editions for the iPhone and Windows Mobile are coming soon. For more information hit up Drivesafe.ly.
Today Virgin Mobile Canada released an official statement regarding iPhone availability:
Virgin Mobile Canada will launch iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in Virgin Mobile Retail Stores and online in Canada in the coming months.
I’m not sure if they could have been any more vague… But at least this is an official ‘it’s coming’ statement. My buds over at MobileSyrup believe ‘coming soon’ means February 2010. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case, but would be pleased if it does arrive sooner… I mean, the holidays are fast approaching, you think they’d want to cash in on that?
Pricing on the 3G is expected to come in around $100 for the 8GB and $150 for the 16GB. The 3GS should run you $200 for the 16GB and $300 for the 32GB model. Of course, you’ll need to sign the standard Canadian 3-year agreement too. Ugh.
OK Virgin Mobile Canada… Sounds great. But I’ll believe it when I see it. Bring the iPhone… Bring it!
Received an email this morning from the good folks at Dropbox. The news? They’ve released a Dropbox iPhone app… Cool! The app is of course free, and offers access to your Dropbox while you’re on-the-go. Access, view and download your files right from your iPhone for offline viewing. Take new photos or videos and sync them to your Dropbox… Or even share links to files in your Dropbox, all from the convenience of your iPhone.
In case you’ve never heard of Dropbox before, here’s the official skinny:
Dropbox is software that syncs your files online and across your computers.
Put your files into your Dropbox on one computer, and they’ll be instantly available on any of your other computers that you’ve installed Dropbox on (Windows, Mac, and Linux too!) Because a copy of your files are stored on Dropbox’s secure servers, you can also access them from any computer or mobile device using the Dropbox website.
For my own personal use I’ve used Dropbox to share files, pictures, movies and more. On the business side I’ve used it while collaborating on projects… uploading new documents, design files and more to a central location, ensuring the latest versions were always up and ready to go. Dropbox is truly a handy tool.
For more information on the new Dropbox app, hit up the App Store (iTunes link). For more information on the service in general (and to setup a free 2GB account) hit up Dropbox.com.
Sony Ericsson has a new plan to whip itself back into shape to compete with leaner and meaner mobile phone makers. The Japanese-Swedish joint venture is planning to close four facilities and cut some 2.000 jobs in an effort to streamline the company. Following a recent round of job cuts that left 450 employees at its Research Triangle Park R&D facility without work, Sony Ericsson (NYSE: SNE) has announced that it will be closing the RTP facility and cutting additional jobs around the world.
Sony Ericsson will close the doors to its RTP headquarters by the third quarter of 2010. The SE North American headquarters will move from RTP to Atlanta, with the R&D operations relocating to Redwood Shores, California. A facility in Miami, Florida will also be permanently close, alongside facilities in Kista, Sweden and Chennai, India. Sony Ericsson says that severance packages will be included, with some lucky employees getting a chance to apply for jobs in California or Atlanta.
The cellphone maker boasts 4.9% of the global mobile phone market, making it the No. 4 handset maker in the world. When it comes to smartphone market share, which we care about more than overall market share, Sony Ericsson isn’t really a big player. But, with leaned-out operations and attractive new handsets, like the Android-powered XPERIA X10, coming down the pipe, Sony Ericsson looks poised to make a big splash in the smartphone space in 2010.
This one goes out to all of you out there in Woodland Hills. In a puzzlingly region-specific announcement, Verizon (
There are now more mobile apps available in the AppStore than any one person could ever hope to try out in a single lifetime. Add in the myriad Java apps out there, and the sheer volume of mobile apps becomes overwhelming. How is anyone supposed to wade through the much and find truly unique and innovative apps? Apple (
Instant message aficionados have been 
Sony Ericsson has a new plan to whip itself back into shape to compete with leaner and meaner mobile phone makers. The Japanese-Swedish joint venture is planning to close four facilities and cut some 2.000 jobs in an effort to streamline the company. Following a recent 
