The Widsets 2.0 beta (update: now live on main site too) site recently went live which means you can now download and test the latest version of the Widsets client. New features include better integration between Widsets and the rest of the device including the ability to initiate a phone call or open a browser window. Widsets is a way to get web content on your mobile via widgetisation. Read on for more.
Four links of interest to the same source, so I'll group them together 8-) Over at SMS Text News, there's an item on Vyke (VoIP) being added to Nokia's Download! - although it hasn't appeared on my N95 8GB, there's an update on Scribe, the Wordpress blogging client for S60, plus a lengthy rant on how customer service can sometimes get it soooo wrong, including revelations about a secret N95 4GB, and news that Vodafone actually have a forum intervention team, scouring the Internet for Vodafone-related issues to sort out. Coo.
No, we haven't gone raving mad - it's just that Ewan (currently on walkabout in the USA) has been tweeting from Twibble. Err... that's sending Twitter updates by SMS, in plain English. It's a useful Java application, that's for sure, saving time and bandwidth. Here's Ewan's review of Twibble.
It's Monday and it's time for our new Insight podcast. In number 15 (aka AAS podcast 63), we look at news, geotagging privacy concerns, recent handset designs from Nokia and Ewan reports on truly mobile software. Give it a listen on the way home from work. Here's the RSS feed if you want to subscribe regularly.
CorePlayer has been inching up to a major new release, 1.2, for a while now. Registered users can upgrade to a special 'preview' version of 1.2, which includes better support for file type associations, streaming video, plus support for Speex and GSM audio. (via p@sco)
Oxygen Software have been plugging away at their Phone Manager product for years, and they've just announced a major revamp, rebrand and relaunch. OxyCube is released yesterday and is compatible with a wide range of handsets and provides syncing and file browsing functions. (via SymbianOne)
It's not every day that you get direct feedback from the team behind a major manufacturer's software project. Following on from my Maps 2.0 preview, Nokia got in touch, answering some of my criticisms and giving more information about the future of the product. What's going to be added next to Maps, how to plan routes for free, why the satellite images aren't quite there yet, integration with Location Tagger and news of a future web-based map sync tool, it's all covered.
Yahoo!'s (is that even correct punctuation?) woes continue. The search provider has been dropped by leading mobile browser company Opera and Google will be the default search engine for downloadable copies of Opera Mobile for all platforms as of March 1st. Google will also automatically appear as the front page search engine for all Opera Mini users as well. Opera's press release follows.
Ewan's not one to beat around the bush - when he thinks that an application is essentially pointless, he comes right out and says so, here in his review of Yahoo! Go 3.0. In Go 3.0's defense, it IS pretty and it DOES make sense if you're a heavy Yahoo! user, but in essence it doesn't really do anything you couldn't do just as well using Yahoo's mobile site. Or Google's, and so on.
In this podcast we cover current developments around Nokia's Ovi strategy including Sync, Share, N-Gage, plus we chat about all aspects of the Nokia N96, following on from our hands-on preview. Finally, we rant and rave a little about Google's new native search 'client'. Here's the link: Insight no. 14, plus the RSS feed to sign up for the future.
One component of Nokia's Ovi which hasn't had quite so much attention is Sync. This just popped up on the main Ovi toolbar, trailing what Sync will offer. See below for the details.
Google has released a native client for Google search for S60 phones. The application, available via the Google mobile site, places a shortcut to a Google search box on the Idle screen (unfortunately only for devices with either a 'Ctrl' or 'pencil/edit' key), but is also accessible via the usual application launcher on all devices. Typing in a query to the search box and pressing search opens up Web and takes you to the results page for that Google query in one go. It uses the new Google Mobile search service we mentioned a few weeks ago. Read on for more.
Popcap Games (or the online gaming equivalent of crack cocaine) have inked an agreement with Nokia to bring a number of their titles to mobile, and to use the SNAP mobile platform to provide multi-player support for the Java based titles. In rough terms, SNAP is similar to the N-Gage Arena, but primarily for J2ME applications, and it can also be run by a network provider as their own gaming portal (eg YourNetwork Gaming Portal, SNAP powered), which should make the networks as happy as the gamers.
In All About Symbian Insight #13 Rafe, Ewan and Steve discuss their first impressions of Mobile World Congress 2008. Rafe gives his impressions from the show floor while Steve and Ewan pick out their highlights from the various announcements and cover a variety of news from last week.
Playyou, the social gaming network that lets you build your own games (Hmmm, why does that sound familiar) has a nice Q&A on their blog with Kars Alfrink, who does consulting work with them. Partly it's to highlight his upcoming talk at the Games Developer Conference on Casual Social Gaming, but also about Playyoo's Games Creator software.
