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Hand / RSS

I’ve noted StandAlone’s Hand/RSS Palm news reader previously, but I’ve been using it much more lately and think it is definitely a winner. In my brief email exchanges with them, it’s clear that they are not only listening to the users, but also working to make some serious improvements to the app. I was emailed a version last night which fixes the main gripe I had – no cut and paste for for adding subscriptions. This allows you to import, though one-by-one, subscriptions from a memo file. Eventually, there may be a more true import function and possibly a desktop sync. I’d be happy with that!

If this app could post to blogs, it would be a killer communications tool. As it stands now, my practice has been to simply mail articles I want to read more on. This is a pretty simple process though it took a bit of trial to make it even easier. By setting your email address within the defaults (not to be confused with resetting the app to it’s defaults), you can drop an item in an email to your self in seconds. You simply tap and hold on any article, hit mail article and an email addressed to you is initiated in your email app of choice (SnapperMail in my case). I’ve been sending these to my outbox rather than sending immediately since I am usually reading while on the subway or I just know there will be others to mail soon enough. This lets me batch them in one shot and receive them back at my computer to then either read more fully or blog through NetNewsWire. You can also choose to open any item within the Palm browser if you choose… what you do all depends on your method of connection.

It costs 14.95 and is definitely on my list of apps to buy.

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moblogging!

Finally got things going… Buzznet is in the blog. On the left side, you can now find some images taken in passing and in the moment. I’ll be shooting them on the go via my mobile.

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Rich Palm blog posting?

I can’t seem to find any way other than the Palm Browser to fully post from my Palm to moveable type. I’ve tested Kablog and Blogplanet which are essentially the same java apps. I know about Pop2Blog, but I can’t set up the necessary details on my host. So far the only (and most complex) way is to login to the MT site from the Palm browser and post the way you would from any browser. This totally works as you would expect, but is not terribly efficient.

I’d love to be able to either attach an image to an email and send or find an app, like netnewswire or kung log for palm. Hand/RSS is read only rss for now…

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Knowing you’ve made the right carrier choice…

As I’ve now mentioned many times I am switching to T-Mobile and actually have a phone and data plan active with my previous number forwarding from Nextel until 11/24. They seems to be the most sophisticated in understanding a few things…

  • Users want to be in control of a rich feature set and wide choice of devices.
  • Plans should be flexible, competitively priced and offer add on options so you can enhance your service without having to jump to a significantly higher tier.
  • Coverage should obviously be good.

I’ve been feeling good about this so far but today I am very pumped with a new discovery. Within your account settings on the site, you can create a web interface login for multiple email accounts. These same accounts can then be accessed through the WAP function T-Mobile calls T-Zones. You can create accounts for corporate mail – Exchange and Notes and actually connect to mail and calendar services without having to run a desktop client which is an amazing advantage. In most cases server software is required for this level of functionality and ends up involving your IT department with which most end users don’t have much leverage unless they are more senior in their organizations.

In my case I can now access my work Lotus Notes account through a more sophisticated web interface than was made available by IBM directly. The iNotes interface on Windows is comparable but on Mac, it is a wretched experience. Not anymore…

T-Mobile takes it another step. Accounts set up through the web client can be queried and utilized as though they were regular POP accounts, something you can’t do usually with Lotus Notes. Now I can – which means I can use any device connected to the T-Mobile network to check my work email. On my phone (Sony Ericsson T-610) I can also set up POP or IMAP accounts – 2+ the one built in for the phone by default. This is faster and richer than the WAP experience and actually takes advantage of the network connectivity by allowing scheduled checking of messages for each account.

Even better – I now know that I can use a Treo 600 connected through T-Mobile and SnapperMail to stay connected to my email in the very near future. I can’t wait!

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Feature Discovery…

The more I’ve messed with the T-610, the more I really like it.

I tried my Bluetooth Headset this morning after a full charge (needed 8 hours!). It was very easy to pair and seems to be a good addition, though I am wondering if instead of the Plantronics, I should have just gotten a Sony Ericsson model. It’s lighter but the battery only gives you about 2.5 hours of talk time instead of the Plantronics 8 hours.

While doing some reading on my phone I discovered a feature built-in called QuickShare. QuickShare lets you use Bluetooth or IR to transfer ANY file between phone, PDA and computer. I tested this by beaming a picture I snapped yesterday to my Palm… it opened right into my Photos app. I then beamed a bunch of events from my DateBook to my phone… awesome – right in! With bluetooth and iSync, this beam action won’t be necessary, but very cool to know it works. QuickShare immediately makes the phone much more friendly in a multi-device world…

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Hello MacSurfer!

Yesterday I posted a feature request for Safari which has now been picked up by Macsurfer which has been generating a great amount of traffic my way…

First – wow – and thanks!!

Second – there are some additional features being requested/discussed within the comments you might also be interested in checking out. I don’t usually get many comments, so getting a dialog going is pretty exciting.

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Friendster rivals merge; Evite enters

InterActiveCorp says its Evite service will compete with Friendster, and a San Francisco start-up acquires a competing personal networking service. [CNET News.com]

Evite 2.0, which will launch as a test or “beta” version, will mimic social networking sites, such as Friendster, with the introduction of personal profiles, called “My Info” pages, and bulletin board messages. The test phase is scheduled to end in the first quarter of the coming year.

“This new version of Evite (Evite 2.0) will then become a close competitor to Friendster, Craigslist, Emode, Meetup, etc., but still maintain a unique service,” Evite said in a statement.

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Feature Request for Safari ….

I’d love to see the addition of a warning for windows being open when you accidentally hit Apple+Q instead of Apple+W. Sometimes I move too quickly and lose a window full of open tabs… Mozilla asks if you are sure you want to close the XX tabs.

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Investors snub Friendster in patent grab

The chief executives of Friendster and two similar networking Web sites are commonly thought of as friends. All three–Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn, in Mountain View, Calif.; Marc Pincus of Tribe.net, in San Francisco; and Jonathan Abrams, of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Friendster–invested early in Friendster, and all began their various networking sites with the understanding that the market would be big enough to let each specialize and not compete with one another directly.

Friendster was to be the purely social site where friends could introduce one another, match make and date. LinkedIn, which on Wednesday is expected to announce a Series A funding round of $4.7 million led by Sequoia Capital, would cater to professionals looking to network and hire. And Tribe.net was meant to integrate a classified ads model with a personal network.

Now that venture capital money and influence is raining on the start-ups, the friendly atmosphere among the three entrepreneurs is beginning to deteriorate.

As Friendster was hammering out details of its most recent cash infusion–a $13 million Series D investment led by Benchmark Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers–Pincus and Hoffman formed a limited partnership without Abrams, in order to purchase the so-called “Six Degrees” patent for $700,000. [CNET News.com]

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Microsoft does Friendster…

Microsoft Research is looking at how to leverage blogs, RSS feeds, Wikis and other social-networking tools. [Technology News from eWEEK and Ziff Davis]

…Wallop doesn’t seem to fit into any one existing software category. While part of the application is a blogging tool, it also includes other “social networking” software.” It builds off of several existing Microsoft Research prototypes, including Sapphire, technology for simplifying and unifying data storage/retrieval; Stacks, technology for organizing photos; Personal Map, technology for organizing contacts; and MS Connect and Point-to-Point, which show connections between people (via Active Directory), as well as between individuals and groups.

All of these projects look at how to make use of metadata and organize information around clusters, Cheng says. “We’ve also been influenced by the Longhorn team’s thinking around how programming databases influences end-user experiences,” she says.

Looks interesting. I wonder if this will be real (not private beta) before Longhorn eventually arrives.

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MotionApps for Treo

MotionApps has a set of utilities for Treo Smartphones….

  • mSafe lets you lock your Treo via SMS should it be lost of stolen.
  • mRIng lets you set different ring tones per person in your address book.
  • mLights controls the backlight in the keyboard so you can save battery power during the day.

    Look good – I’ll definitely want to try these out when I eventually get the Treo 600.

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    Steve Jobs on Longhorn

    They’re hoping in 2006 to be where we were in Jaguar, basically. That’s what they’re hoping. Obviously we’re going to have a few more releases before 2006 so we’d be way ahead of them by then. But that’s what they’re hoping for, and maybe they’ll do that. They have a lot of people to work on it, but it’s a rough row to hoe. [SeattlePi via anil]