Applepie

411 Information on Cingular Wireless

While living in London, I appreciated the fact that most (all?) wireless operators would text you the phone number and address after a call to information (411 here in the US). This was handy for various reasons - if the number was busy, if I needed to call again the next day, etc. It frustrated me that US carriers (t-mobile and Cingular at least) did not send the information to my mobile, forcing me to write it down or call again if I needed the number once more.

It turns out that Cingular offers this feature if you simply say "Text me" during the reading of the 411 information. Best of all, you can subsequently request that they always send the information via SMS for all future 411 requests.

Pretty neat. Too bad my Motorola Razr does not detect phone numbers in an SMS and enable me to click dial it like my Windows Mobile and Symbian phones did.

Cris Pierry

Technorati Tags: 411, Wireless

Nimbuzz - mobile communication made easy

Very cool new mobile application Nimbuzz is a little piece of software that you install on your mobile phone.

To Chat and send Text messages for free within the Nimbuzz community.

To Chat with your buddies from other communities like MSN™ and Google Talk™.

Nimbuzz Voice is a revolutionary concept that will change the world of mobile communication.

With Nimbuzz Voice we will eliminate the huge tariffs mobile operators charge you for international calls you make with your friends.

Nimbuzz Voice services will change the way you use your mobile today. Experience the fun of mobile group calls with your friends, sending a voice message to all your co-workers, or calling your buddy on his PC.

See a full review at MobileCrunch.

Unfortunately, there is no Mac client.

Cristiano Pierry

Technorati Tags: Mobile, puppy, Technology

Free SMS serrvices

There are a few services showing up on the net that are looking to undercut the often expensive SMS service offered by mobile operators.

Start-up Hotxt lets UK mobile phone owners with a data connection send as many texts as they want to other Hotxt users for only £1 a week. UP to 35 messages can be sent to non-Hotxt users. One other caveat is that the sender also pays for the data transfer costs involved but this works out to be a fraction of a penny.

See BBC's article for the full story.

Cristiano Pierry

T-Mobile and Account Security

Here is my vote for the "stupid idea of the year".

t-mobile provides you with the ability to manage your account online - great! If you ever lose your password, just go to www.tmobile.com and the system will automatically SMS the password to your phone. Sounds smart at first.

What happens if you lose your cell phone? Now anyone who finds your phone can go to t-mobile.com and have full access to your account, including payment information.

One would think that t-mobile would have been more conscientious about texting a password that gives the user of the phone full access to the online account. But no, t-mobile wants to save on support calls and chose instead to compromise system security.

Not smart.

What a Joke - Rokr E1

Motorola today announced "The first mobile phone with iTunes. The Rokr E1".  What a joke.  The phone is nothing more than a limited 100 song iPod added to an average phone.  A mobile music phone must allow you to preview and purchase songs wirelessly.  With the Rokr, you can't purchase iTunes songs over-the-air, you must cradle the phone to the Mac and sync your songs. 

• Install the included iTunes desktop software

• Connect the phone to your PC or MAC

• Drag and drop up to 100 songs - pick the songs you want or let iTunes do it for you

Why bother?  Why launch a product that has zero innovation?  What a wasted opportunity.

Want to have a killer mobile music experience?  Check out what the folks at Melodeo are doing.

Shop. Preview. Purchase. Play. Store. These five words embody the Melodeo experience. We make it easy for users to discover new music, preview it, buy it, play it and store it on their phones to be enjoyed again and again. Melodeo puts customers in complete control of an enormous library of music and our clean, clear user interface will have even novices buying songs in minutes.

As for the Rokr E1, I will pass; I will take an iPod Nano instead.

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