MobileViews Blog

Category: Mobile Devices

  • Windows Phone software written on the phone itself can be published in Microsoft’s Marketplace

    Microsoft Research’s TouchDevelop is a remarkable tool that lets you write software for Windows Phone right on the phone itself. The news today is that it is now possible to distribute software developed using TouchDevelop (again, this task is done right on the phone) through Microsoft’s own Windows Phone Marketplace.

    turn TouchDevelop scripts into apps on the Windows Phone Marketplace

    You can learn more about the preparation and submission process here.

    create app for Marketplace

    You can listen to the podcast discussion I had with Nikolai Tillman (Principal Researcher Software Design Engineer of Microsoft Research) in June 2011 when the tool was named TouchStudio




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  • [CORRECTION] Skype for Windows Phone beta available. But, there’s a trick to get it

    [CORRECTION]
    My old friend Don Sorcinelli (@DPSJ) pointed out a trick to get the Skype for Windows Phone beta to download and install. First, here’s what does not work.

    1. Going to the Zune Marketplace on a desktop PC running Windows using the link provided by the Skype blog announcement
    2. Searching for Skype in the Windows Phone Marketplace app on the phone

    What does work is following the link provided by Skype for the beta from the Windows Phone’s browser itself. This takes you to the app product page (that cannot be found using search within the Marketplace app) where you can install the Skype beta app. Here’s the link:

    Skype for Windows Phone beta < - View this blog item in a Windows Phone browser and click on this link. Thanks to Don for pointing out my error. (more…)

  • Apps updated for my iPhone & iPad in the past week: 45


    Forty-five (45) of the apps for my iPad &/or iPhone were updated in the past week. Apps that do not have comments in the list below indicates that the update is simply a bug fix release.
    (more…)

  • Mobile displays in 2012 vs. imagined future in 1997: PADD tablets treated like sheets of paper on Star Trek Deep Space 9

    I always find it interesting to look at future history – that is what people imagined the future would look like years ago. The two screenshots here came from Star Trek Deep Space 9 season 6 episode 9 (Statistical Probabilities) which first aired on November 24, 1997. In 1997, the touch screen Newton was on the wane while the Palm Pilot and Windows CE Handheld PCs were on their way up. Apple’s Newton was probably the closets thing we had to a tablet device.
    (more…)

  • Google Docs for Android gains collaboration features

    Google just updated the Google Docs for Android app.

    Collaborate and edit anywhere with the updated Google Docs for Android

    This means that: You’ll see updates in real time as others type on their computers, tablets and phones, and you can just tap the document to join in.

    The person in the video shown copying and pasting on a phone is a lot faster and accurate than anyone I’ve ever seen. I always have a bit of a struggle getting the right start and end positions.

  • Android OS 2.3 (Gingerbread) is the Windows XP of the mobile world

    I read Extremetech’s article about…

    Canonical reveals Ubuntu for Android

    …with great interest as someone who has used the G1, Droid, and Nexus One as a primary phone at one time or another. The phrase that caught my eye was this one: the developers have melded together the Ubuntu architecture with the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). So, while Google is trying to push 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and with information about 5.0 (code name Jelly Bean), a chunk of the world has standardized on the aging 2.3 release.
    (more…)