MobileViews Blog

Category: Mobile Devices

  • Flixster Movies for iPhone Facebook Connect Publish Button Bug Fixed in Next Update

    I noted a bug in the way Flixster Movies’ Facebook Connect publish button worked over on the MobileContentToday blog. Looks like a fix for it is on its way:

    I am the developer of Flixster for iPhone. We are aware of the bug where hitting the “publish” button does not close the dialog (it is actually a facebook bug that they have been really slow to fix). However, we are taking proactive steps to have it fixed and it will be fixed in our upcoming update (currently under review by Apple).

    Originally posted as a comment by jeffgrossman on mediabistro.com: MobileContentToday using Disqus.

  • MSN Direct Outlook Plugin A Pile of Fail

    MSN Direct Outlook Plugin Failure
    MSN Direct Outlook Plugin Failure

    One of Microsoft’s unfortunate mobile strategy failures was MSN Direct and SPOT (Smart Personal Objects Technology). I say “unfortunate” because I have two Suunto SPOT watches and an annual paid subscription for MSN Direct Plus that gave me the ability to sync my Outlook calendar over the air with the watch.

    Unfortunately, the…

    MSN Direct Calendar Add-in 1.2.27824

    …does not install at all in Microsoft Vista. And, I just found that it fails at the end of its installation process in Microsoft Virtual PC (beta) Windows XP Mode (a virtual machine under Windows 7). You can see the failure message in the screenshot above.

    And, since the MSN Direct project has been dormant for a couple of years now, there’s no chance of a plugin update. To make matters more annoying, Microsoft doesn’t even provide contact information on…

    http://direct.msn.com/

    …to let me cancel my $69.96 annual subscription. I’ll start making calls to figure out how to do this the hard way over the next few days.

    I still think SPOT was a good idea that just never lived up to its potential.

  • Podcast 31: Bytemarks Cafe Radio Program – Gadget Panel Discussion

    This podcast is a rebroadcast of a radio program on Hawaii Public Radio named Bytemarks Cafe. Its hosts are Burt Lum and Ryan Ozawa. Paul Lawler and I were guests on this gadget oriented episode originally broadcast on July 22, 2009. This podcast version is reproduced with the permission of Bytemarks Cafe.

    This podcast is 38 minutes 31 seconds long.

    – You can listen to the podcast right now from your web browser by using the embedded player above.
    – You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or this RSS feed.
    – You can also point your smartphone’s browser at mobiletoday.podbean.com to listen to or download the MP3 file over the air to your phone.

  • Nokia N96 30.033 Firmware Restabilized My Phone

    I’ve noticed small quirky annoying problems with the Nokia N96 since I updated its firmware around May (if memory serves me correctly). The N96 couldn’t “remember” my voice mail number (123) after repeatedly entering it and seeing a message saying it was stored. Camera would not attach GPS geotags to photos even though I repeatedly set it to on in the camera app’s settings. The N96 also seemed to lose its Bluetooth connection to devices that had worked spectacularly well with it for months.

    On a whim I checked to see if a new firmware release was available for it today and installed version 30.033 dated June 18, 2009. So far it looks like the voicemail number setting is sticking. I thought the camera’s GPS setting was too. But, a quick just a moment ago showed it had reverted back to off in the past hour. I didn’t notice any Bluetooth drop to a BT car speaker. But, that problem only showed up a couple of times a week (not daily).

  • Podcast 29: Sony Ericsson Unlocked Phones

    Sony Ericsson has a number of powerful smartphones like the Xperia X1 and W995a Walkman phone. However, we rarely see them in the U.S. because they are not sold through any of the large GSM wireless carriers (AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile USA). I spoke with Sony Electronics’ Product Manager for Unlocked Phone in the U.S., Steve Media, to learn more about these phones. You can see The Sony Ericsson unlocked phones available in the U.S. at the…

    SonyStyle USA phone product page

    This podcast is 32 minutes and 3 seconds long.

    – You can listen to the podcast right now from your web browser by using the embedded player above.
    – You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or this RSS feed.
    – You can also point your smartphone’s browser at mobiletoday.podbean.com to listen to or download the MP3 file over the air to your phone.

  • Podcast 28: iFixit.com Gadget Teardowns – CEO Kyle Wiens

    iFixit.com is famous for its detailed photography and text descriptions of gadget tear downs (mostly Apple products). They were the group, for example, that discovered the 2nd generation iPod had an unused Bluetooth radio in it. They took apart the Palm Pre and its TouchStone induction charger this past weekend. I spoke with its CEO and founder Kyle Wiens to talk about iFixit, their tear downs and their new user contributed tear downs.

    http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown

    This podcast is 26 minutes and 47 seconds long.

    – You can listen to the podcast right now from your web browser by using the embedded player above.
    – You can also subscribe to the podcast in iTunes or this RSS feed.
    – You can also point your smartphone’s browser at mobiletoday.podbean.com to listen to or download the MP3 file over the air to your phone.