Petri writes:

I have developed a new orientation sensor game for Nokia N95, N95 8Gb and N82, that I think will interest you and your audience at geektronica.com.

The game is called “Marble Maze”, and the basic idea is from a classical game, in which you have a board with labyrinth and holes, and you try to guide a metal ball into the goal without dropping into a hole. The thing about N95 and N82 is that those phones have orientation sensor, that enables this kind of idea taken from physical world, to be implemented in the phone.

Check out a Youtube video of the game play with N95:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G3puULvn_E[/youtube]

Another with N82 (with rubber ball):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_C_pz3F8TY[/youtube]

Some features of the game include:

• Use of orientation sensor data of the device to control the game play
• 40 different fields
• Create and save your own fields (and share with friends)
• 3 different balls, with different bounce and friction (metal, rubber and pingpong balls)
• Saving of record times for each field
• Tactile feedback, you can feel the ball hit the walls

You can get the game (or read more about it) here.

Great way to take advantage of the built-in sensors - reminds of me of the slap-Mac hack.

While I don’t have an iPhone (yet), I’m very glad to see that Mark/Space has released the first edition of The Missing Sync for iPhone. I currently own an AT&T 8525, which runs Windows Mobile, and use The Missing Sync to connect it to my MacBook Pro. If and when I do switch to the iPhone, it looks like TMS for iPhone will let me move all of my data fairly painlessly - and far better than the OEM software.

I like The Missing Sync enough to post Mark/Space’s press release in its entirety:

MARK/SPACE RELEASES THE MISSING SYNC FOR iPHONE

The Missing Sync for iPhone offers powerful migration tools for smartphone switchers and adds useful synchronization capabilities not provided by Apple.

LOS GATOS, Calif. – December 31, 2007 - Mark/Space, Inc. today announced the immediate availability of The Missing Sync for iPhone. The Missing Sync for iPhone helps migrating smartphone users switch to the iPhone, and enhances current iPhone users synchronization features. Now SMS, call logs and notes data will no longer be trapped on the iPhone.

Mark/Space has, for some time, provided a lifeline for Mac users that want to use smartphones and other devices. Now that Apple has an attractive alternative to those devices, Mark/Space now lets those people migrate their data easily with The Missing Sync for iPhone. It also adds features for iPhone users that need to capture useful data created on the iPhone, like SMS messages, notes and call logs.

As Windows users are also switching to the iPhone, Mark/Space is also working on a Windows version of The Missing Sync for iPhone to be released in the coming months.

Brian Hall, Mark/Space CEO, said “Our business is based on connectivity and freedom of choice for consumers. So it makes perfect sense to develop a product that helps users migrate their data from one mobile platform to another. The Missing Sync for iPhone does just that, and it joins our other Missing Sync products in making sure that Mac users get a comparable, and often an improved, experience to Windows users using any smart mobile device.”

Migration made easy

The Missing Sync for iPhone supports migration from most smartphones using Palm OS, Windows Mobile or BlackBerry OS. The Migration assistant is a step-by-step utility that makes getting contacts, calendars and phone camera photos a simple task. Even if users never synced with their Macs before, The Missing Sync for iPhone makes it easy to transfer data from the old phone and load the information onto the iPhone in minutes.

1001 uses

The iPhone keeps only 1000 SMS messages, both incoming and outgoing, which means at some point users will start to lose older information. But The Missing Sync for iPhone collects that data so messages are safe no matter how prolific a texter you are. It also lets users view and search the SMS messages in a threaded view on their Mac, just like on the iPhone.

You rang?

Incoming calls aren’t always from people in the address book, and often they’re useful numbers to have. Syncing the call log means users can browse new contact numbers and add the useful ones to the Address Book on the Mac. It also means that incoming, outgoing and missed calls are logged, which is great for business users that need to keep track of costs. Need to claim expenses for that hour long business call to Paraguay? No problem, just check the call log.

A note about notes

The Notes application on the iPhone is a useful scratch pad for ideas, plans and to-do lists. But often those notes are more useful elsewhere, perhaps with other notes you have on your computer. The Missing Sync for iPhone will sync the iPhone notes, so you can read them in Microsoft Entourage, Yojimbo from Bare Bones Software, or Mark/Space Notebook, which comes as part of the package.

Pricing and availability

The Missing Sync for iPhone is available immediately as an electronic download from the Mark/Space Online Store for $39.95. A CD-ROM version will be available shortly at $49.95. Upgrades from qualifying Mark/Space products are $24.95.

Compatibility and system requirements

The Missing Sync for iPhone will run on any Mac with Mac OS X v10.4.9 or newer, native USB support, and an internet connection. Data migration supports devices with native USB capability running Windows Mobile 2002/2003/5/6, BlackBerry 4.0 or higher, Palm OS 4 or Palm OS 5. For detailed product requirements, visit www.markspace.com/iphone.

ABOUT MARK/SPACE, INC. 
Founded in 1990, Mark/Space, Inc., develops and markets mobile and wireless software, including SyncTogether and the award-winning Missing Sync products that connect a Mac computer to handheld devices from HP, HTC, i-mate, Motorola, Palm, RIM, Samsung, Sony, T-Mobile, Apple and others.

In a bold move, Verizon announced yesterday that it will open its network to other carrier’s phones, so users will not be restricted to Verizon-branded or unlocked phones.

The carrier will also allow any application to use its network, though it’s not immediately clear what this will mean for users.

Just a few weeks ago, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz called on wireless carriers to give developers more open access to their networks, to encourage third-party application development. He was speaking at a wireless phone industry conference, and was part of a slew of speakers and companies calling for more openness across the industry.

For example, Google’s Android project, which aims to develop a completely open cell phone operating system, received much press, and Sony Ericsson and Nokia are also making moves toward greater openness.

However, at the same conference at which Moskovitz spoke, a Verizon executive was quoted by the Seattle Times offering rather lukewarm support for the idea of opening Verizon’s network:

“I think we are looking at ways to step in that direction,” said Lee Daniels, staff vice president of consumer-product development at Verizon Wireless. “But we are spending billions of dollars on investments, and how can we justify that if we are nothing more than access?”

He said another problem is that customers expect different levels of care from the Internet vs. the phone. If something doesn’t work online, there’s no one to call, he said, whereas wireless users have customer service. If it’s a third-party application, the carrier won’t be able to help.

Besides, Daniels said, if it’s a good application, Verizon Wireless will want to offer it to its customers anyway.

“But it has to be tested,” he said.

That was in late October. Now, the company has changed course, and Daniels is not quoted in the Times story about Verizon’s latest move.

Verizon has long been the favorite carrier of the tech crowd, and while I’m an AT&T customer, I have no doubt that Verizon’s policies and services have been more customer-friendly. Now, it appears that carrier is starting to see itself as a provider of access as well as a full-service carrier.

This is a shift that, as Daniels implies, happened a long time ago with Internet access. Today, we still see cell phone networks the way we once saw CompuServe and AOL in the early days of the Internet - as semi-walled gardens that provided us both access and hand-holding for accessing what could otherwise be a dauntingly hard-to-navigate place for novices.

Verizon will not provide technical support for “bring-your-own” phones, but will still offer full support for the phones it provides. Since cell phone carriers typically subsidize the cost of phones, I don’t expect that this move will cost them much, and could win them business from people who would otherwise choose AT&T because they offer superior handsets.

I’m not sure if this will spell the end of premium prices on eBay for “unlocked” phones, but it will certainly be a step in the right direction.

mediatemple, which expertly hosts all of the WebbleYou Blog Network sites, has launched a cruel new product, which only adds to the temptation to buy an iPhone:

That’s right - ever the geek’s darling webhost, mediatemple now has an iPhone-compatible control panel, so that shiny piece of glass can now be considered a business expense.

I don’t have an iPhone, so I won’t be using this particular feature, but it goes to show how (mt) is always staying on the cutting edge.

They also just launched their new Nitro ($750/month) dedicated physical virtual (WTF?) servers, if you’re in the market for some power.

mediatemple is the reason WebbleYou no longer offers webhosting - they do it so well, they make the rest of us look bad.

As hundreds of thousands of people buy the iPhone and delight in its fabulous user interface, I predict that the following will happen:

• People will be disappointed with the network speed, as some have already reported
• People will love the UI and will show it off to friends. Some of them will drop their $600 gadget while showing it off. Big + shiny = easy to drop.
• Some people will think it’s made of iridium and not get a case. They will end up with a scratched iPhone.

  

• People will get irritated that other devices don’t have such good UIs. Enrollment in college courses focusing on user interface design will soar.
• Supply will remain strong, though some areas will sell out.
• People will gradually start to realize that half a dozen websites have iPhone-disassesmbly photosets, so they’ll stop trying to be the first to destroy theirs.
• Someone will figure out how to unlock it, so you don’t have to use AT&T
• The hundreds of auctions on eBay for the iPhone (currently ranging from $850 to $2,500 for the 8GB model) will result in a lot of people getting ripped off, just as we saw with the PS3 and Wii. eBay will start requiring the username to be written on a sheet of paper and included in the auction photos, but it’ll be a bit too late.
• eBay will have to shut down a lot of ridiculous iPhone auctions, like this one for $21,000,000 (which isn’t really fraudulent, since you can use the “make an offer” feature to pay a less-absurd-but-still-crazy price, but people will put in bogus bids).
• The torrent of ridiculous iPhone accessories will last until at least Christmas
• The next iPhone will be even better, and people who wait for the 2nd iteration will not be sorry that they did.

Other iPhone predictions as people take them home and start using them?

Prose from the Pros

Best hosting brings about the website promotion by using the latest technologies and apparatus for this purpose. affiliate business is also provided by some internet marketing companies who have affiliation with a number of other partners to boost up their marketing value. cell phone is a very innovative source of telecommunication sector by which you may have contact with anybody. verizon cell phones are manufactured by the well-known company, introducing a number of facilities in the model of the cell phone. There are a large number of companies which have very innovative cell phones plans to ensure the quality and usability of the cell phone.

Here are the details. Basically, you need a Cingular/AT&T 8525 Windows Mobile 5 smartphone, a USB cable, and a laptop.

Most wireless companies also offer a wireless broadband service (such as EVDO), but they require you to have a separate account for the wireless card (which has its own SIM card) or require you to use the SIM card from your phone. I will say that the claim of “broadband” speeds hasn’t been met in my experience, so don’t expect too much. In a wi-fi-less pinch, though, this could be a really nice feature to have.

I don’t know if you can use the phone for voice and data at the same time, as I haven’t tried it, but I’m guessing you can’t (though it did come with a splitter to connect the headset and the computer to the 8525 at the same time).

Again with the link to how to do this

Also in 8525 news:

• 8525.info will be launching soon as part of WYBN
• There is another Windows gadget called the 8525 - a very different 8525

I’m using Google Calendar to send me text message notifications of recurring events, which I don’t want to clog up my Airset calendar. Google has built some amazing features into the calendar app, and is giving Airset a run for its money.

While this isn’t a feature I plan to use right now, I found out today that you can txt Google and get a text message back showing you your next appointments:

to receive calendar information, just send a text message containing one of the following commands to the shortcode “48368″ (GVENT):

• Send “next” to get a notification regarding your next scheduled event.
• Send “day” to get a notification containing all of your scheduled events for the present day.
• Send “nday” to get a notification containing all of your events for the following day.

You can do tons more stuff with Google via SMS, though the above GVENT trick isn’t listed. You can even try the various features in their interface, so you’re not paying for actual messages while you try out the service. It’s of course free from Google, but may incur usage charges from your wireless carrier.

After some recent struggles to get my email working the way I want on my new Cingular 8525, I have at last achieved victory over this small handheld device and its settings.

First, a bit about my workflow, and why this has been an issue. I bought the device so I could read my mail on the bus, then handle any remaining items (those I can’t do from my 8525) at home in desktop Outlook (hereafter, “dO”). My account is with Gmail, but I read and respond to messages via Outlook, which works very well for me. Gmail has excellent POP support, so I was eager to use it with my Windows Mobile device (hereafter referred to as WMD {hehe}).

The problem is that the Gmail inbox in Outlook Mobile is separate from the Outlook Inbox. If that last sentence makes no sense to you, good - there’s only one inbox in my desktop Outlook, so I don’t know why I have to have two on my WinMob device. What’s worse, you can’t copy mail from one inbox to the other. So, anything in the Gmail inbox on the WMD never ends up anywhere else, other than “All Mail” in Gmail. Any messages I downloaded on the mobile device would never get downloaded by desktop Outlook, since Gmail marks them as already downloaded when the 8525 downloads them. (You can also view messages in the phone Java applet Gmail Mobile, which will also prevent dO from downloading them, unless you use the trick I described in my last post). You can specify whether Gmail should archive these downloaded-to-WMD items, but this is of little relevance since desktop Outlook won’t download them, and dO is where I need them.

The steps that follow explain how to set up Gmail in WM5 Messaging, so you can use it like any other WM5 inbox to send and receive messages. With this technique, they will not be marked as downloaded or read, so you can still view them in Gmail, Gmail Mobile, or dO.

Via evq.003 in this forum post (with a few edits for clarity):

First you need to enable POP in Gmail from a regular PC.

Log into your Gmail account and click on “Settings”.

In the Settings box, click on the “Forwarding and POP” tab.

Under “POP Download”, select “Enable POP for all mail (even mail that’s already been downloaded)” or select “Enable POP only for mail that arrives from now on”.

I recommend the latter if you have a lot of mail. Be sure to click “Save Changes”.

Next you need to setup Gmail on your Pocket PC.

Go to the “Messaging” app, and tap “Menu” > “Tools” > “New Account”.

In the textbox enter your full Gmail address. (ex. name@gmail.com) and then tap “Next”.

Your PPC will now attempt to automatically configure your settings.

When the “Status” bar reads “Completed” tap “Next”.

In the “Your Name” textbox, enter the display name you would like others to see when they receive email from you; (ex. Smith, John T) or some other alias.

In the “User Name” textbox enter your Gmail username, and your Gmail password in the “Password” textbox. Mark the checkbox “Save password” so that you are not prompted for your password every time you check your email.

For “Account type”, select “POP3” and in the “Name” textbox type in an account name (Default is “Gmail”). Tap “Next”.

The following textboxes may be populated automatically. For the “Incoming mail” textbox, enter “pop.gmail.com” and for the “Outgoing mail” textbox enter “smtp.gmail.com”. You may leave the “Domain” textbox empty as it is not required or you can enter “gmail.com”; both have worked.

NOTE: Do not tap “Finish”.

Tap “Options”. The “check messages interval” option and “connection type” is your choice. I selected “Internet” for my connection. Tap “Next”. The checkboxes “Require SSL connection” and “Outgoing mail requires authentication” must be checked. The “Check mail from ‘x’ number of days” option is your preference. Tap “Next”. When you come to the page with the “message header” option, select “Get message headers only” and check “Include ‘x’ kb of the message body” and enter “999kb” in the textbox. Tap “Finish”. link

It works, much like my other trick works; the difference is that you get to use Windows Mobile Messaging rather than Gmail Mobile, which is more geared toward cell phones than smart phones and WM5 devices. It’s hard to get to GMM on my phone (Start -> Midlet Manager -> Gmail -> Yes, Allow Connection), and a lot of the special keys that make the 8525 great don’t work, since Gmail Mobile doesn’t expect you to have them.

That, combined with Gmail Mobile (for when I do want to mark things as read and keep desktop Outlook from ever downloading them), will do it for now, but it’s still far from ideal. What I want to do is:

1. Download mail via WMD. This archives it in my Gmail account, and prevents dO from downloading it.

2. Read mail on WMD, flagging for follow-up, marking as unread, deleting, etc. as I see fit.

3. Synch with desktop computer, copying messages and their status (flagged, unread, read, replies, etc.) into dO.

I can’t do this because:

• There are two inboxes in WM Messaging, and the Gmail inbox doesn’t get synched with Outlook
• Outlook Mobile doesn’t have a “flag for follow-up” feature

Grrr. Someone please write a hack that will fix this.