January 2008

Raketu has a Windows Mobile client that combines (among other things) instant messaging, video on demand and VoIP calling. Here’s a review from 2006 and here’s another review that’s from a few weeks ago. Both are similar in that they don’t particularly like the user interface but the PC World article is a bit more harsh, which indicates to me that it was done by someone who’s not a phone geek 🙂

Personal preference for my mobile use? I’ve got a couple of AIM accounts, some Yahoo! IM accounts, a couple of MSN Mobile accounts, several Google Chat accounts and a few others that are pretty obscure. On each service, I maintain separate IM accounts for work and personal use, I prefer Palringo for instant messaging because I can sign in to all of these services and also be simultaneously signed in to the same IM service with multiple ids and send and receive both work and personal instant messages at the same time. I read RSS feeds in my web browser with Bloglines. Their mobile version looks great on my phone’s browser. Since it’s web-based, it can be a little slow but I don’t have to worry about keeping my RSS feed in sync. Long distance is included in my mobile calling plan, I don’t really make too many international calls and I use GrandCentral to aggregate inbound calls (including my VoIP lines) and ring all my phones so I don’t have much reason (yet) to use a VoIP client on my mobile phone.

Still, it’s an interesting client and no doubt helps advance the industry as a whole so it’s worth noting.

This nice, short article from Wired reviews AutoNet Mobile. They have a wireless router that talk on both the Sprint and Verizon networks, plugs into your car’s cigarette lighter or into an AC adapter (in your hotel room, for instance) and gives you relatively high-speed Internet access (600kbps-800kbps, typically). WEP encryption but it’s better than nothing. No pricing on the site but you can get it for about $11/day when you rent a car from Avis in their Avis Connect program.

Abbreviations, you gotta love ’em if you’re in this business. And yet we all fall behind. Txt msgs, IMs, heck, they’ve even crept into email and F2F conversations. Here’s a handy list of abbreviations from Instant Messaging Planet.

Everybody else is talking about it so I might as well, too. Skyfire has a new, free mobile browser in beta. It’s server-based, meaning that all your requests go through their servers but the experience is supposed to be very much like desktop browsing including Youtube and Glash support. Engadget has a blurb here which includes links to a video demo, which is good for me because I still haven’t received my beta invitation.

Was chatting by email with one of my friends and I was reminded of one of my most satisfying “converged”, “connected” experiences. A friend and I were driving to her parents’ house a few hours away. On the way, we lost our favorite radio station. So, I pulled out my trusty Windows Mobile phone with 3G access, connected it to her car’s radio/CD player and I streamed radio via my phone. We listened to the Internet broadcast of the terrestrial station for a while and, when we got bored with that, switched over to one of the Internet-only stations and flopped between them and one or two others. Eventually, we found nothing we were interested in so I fired up Radio365 Mobile and listened to some Live365 stations, all with nary a hiccup or dropout. Coming back, we didn’t even bother with the car’s radio but started right off with my phone. I was in geek heaven!