Most of the time the vendor, Apple in the case of iPhone and iPod, run those stores but on some platforms like Windows Mobile you don’t have to go through the app store to install apps.  The same goes for “jail broken” iPhones.  There are also independent app stores, often more websites really that offer a wide range of free and paid for apps.  There are also open libraries that allow developers to just add their stuff.  Google’s Android platform, which powers the Nexus one, is a kind of cross between open library and App store.

Are any of these a better or worse model than any other.  I don’t think so, not until you bring trust into the scenario.

So who do you trust to give you great apps and what are you trusting them to do?

I guess most people want explicitly:

• Applications that work on their device

There’s probably something implicit though in the offering of any application by the devices manufacturer.  That it’ll be safe.  That the application you just installed won’t try to steal your data, your identity.

There’s long since been a battle with Apple and developers for not allowing in some applications for some very out there reasons.  I wonder how many times it was because the App was trying to steal your identity?  I wonder if any got through?  One did into the Android marketplace and that was a problem, it was an application that purported to be a banking app but it stole your bank details.  Bad.  Very bad.

Did people install it because it was in the app store and so they believed there was “implicit trust”.  I suspect so.

What can you do about it

At the moment the best thing to do is to crowd source that trust.  Reviews on sites build trust, use that to your advantage and only install applications with lots of positive reviews.

Alternatively do your homework.  Get educated.  Learn about the developer and determine for yourself if they seem like they are worthy of your trust.

Will this be sorted out?

Sure if you start telling people that trust is important.  Finally, it feels like there’s a business opportunity in there to me…

This is really great news for businesses.  Microsoft have just opened up another avenue of devices choices for business road warriors and the clincher is that Microsoft System Center will be able to manage these Nokia devices.  That means that businesses only need to buy one tool to manage their estates, for  BlackBerry they need more servers and that that means more to go wrong in addition to more cost.

Questions:

• What does this mean for “project pink”? – My guess is nothing
• What does this mean for the Windows Mobile – A new manufacturer?
• What does this mean for HTC? – Competition
• What does this mean for Nokia – Help in the area they struggle, device management.

Microsoft have, through their developer network MSDN, released a case study on how to port an application from iPhone to Windows Mobile, the actual target device is a HTC Touch Pro.  The case study makes an interesting read, particularly for iPhone devs who want to make money through the Windows Mobile Marketplace that Microsoft are releasing very soon.  I really like this direct quote from the developer, it’s something that I’m sure everyone who writes C# already knows but there you go:

“What I’m finding is that it’s harder to mess up with C# than in Objective-C, which is used for iPhone application development. This makes any extra effort needed to customize the classes I want worthwhile,” commented Luke Thompson, Gripwire software engineer porting the Amplitude application.

So hopefully it won’t be long before those innovative iPhone apps become innovative WinMo apps and when porting becommes de rigeure hopefully  the fantastic WinMo developers can concentrate on function over form.

I picked up on this from twitter from the @Microsoft_gov account and Computer World which has an excellent article on the subject.

Having done loads of looking about the only really good thing I could find was from Y-CAM.  It’s now been delivered and it’s installed.  I picked the Y-CAM Black and bought from ebuyer, since it was about £30 cheaper than everywhere else.

Having installed it, at first it really wasn’t a great experience, it didn’t like my router and it brought down the whole network…I’ve done a firmware update now and all seems to work well.  Very well.

This camera sees really well in the dark with its knight vision, and the management software is pretty good.  Actually it’s a breeze to setup.  It can do motion alerts to email, which again was simple to setup and allows me to select 4 regions of the picture to watch for motion.

Two I need to work through at the moment:

• I need to setup FTP publishing to somewhere so that I can view the camera at work since I can’t see the active X control
• I need to get an app for my WinMo phone that allows me to view mp4 encoded RTSP…unfortunately HTC Streaming media won’t cut it.

Finally I’ve also emailed the manufacturer to find out if they have an API, so that I can develop something to easily arm the motion detection.

To test the functionality I will soon be releasing the fist of these applications as a preview of what will become integrated into HelloTwitFace.  If you want to be notified of the release as soon as it’s available simply subscribe to the RSS feed or follow me on twitter.

You can read the full review at Mobile Tech Addicts…

For the past week I’ve been toiling away on integrating Summize into HelloTwitFace.  Summize replaces TweetScan as HelloTwitFace’s replies and search tabs.  This was a challenge as I’d already built in RSS reading capabilities to read the TweetScan results, but Summize works with ATOM.  I did some diggining and finally got it working…and I have the start of a Summize .NET API.

I think this is the first Windows Mobile app out there to include Summize capabilities.  Summize rocks by the way, it is SUPER FAST!

Deets on how to use what’s new after the jump.

So how do those new features work then?  Simple, you click on “@” to see all replies sent to you, including those that just mention you with an “@” in there and thoser replies that come back when people have responded to many people at once.

Search is simple too, click the “Summize” tab and enter the search criteria.  All your searches are cached locally on your device.  Note not the actual results but the search criteria, I did that ‘cos like the rest of the app, I find it useful.

The final change is also one that’s under the hood, but it won’t crash now when TweetScan goes down.

Final comment, when you download me, follow me, @simonster , on twitter.  I release HelloTwitFace about 24 to 48 hours in advance on twitter and to AppToDate users.

]

A few sources are today talking about facebook opening up their chat application to jabber capable clients. I’ve talked about this before and I can see this being the killer thing for the fb chat platform, which to be fair has been lack luster in its growth.

I see this as being a kin to to twitter opening their api, just like most tweets come from other app’s that’s what will happen to the fb chat platform.

Notice that I’m calling it a chat platform.

Opening it up in this way is going to encourage some really cool app developers to come out with cool things! On the mobile front apps like palringo are gonna sky rocket in their use, any kind me identity aggregation will take off with high use of the elements the combine. The very widespread and diverse user case of fb will lead up to more people chatting. I think we will also see some asynchronous methods me using fb chat popping up, like sms to chat services.

This space is gonna get very cool, very quick, mark my words!

Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile

Via: Paul’s blog, techcrunch

In other news HTC are due to announce their “Manilla” or “Touchflo 2″ interface today, so we’ll see how that pans out.

It’s now fixed and an update is available through apptodate.

I’ve also included a sneak peak at the next release, with is using http://tweetscan.com to fine all your replies. hellotwitface is moving into a phase me becoming a mobile mashup for twitter and related services.

If there’s a feature you’d like comment on this post!

Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile

This was quite a major update, the main portion of which was moving away from using m.twitter.com to using the API and the great new tweets display that includes the image of the person twittering.  There’s what’s new:

• Nice twitter interface
• New De-Scobleizer tab – the ability to move one of your contacts into a separate tab
• New Icon 
• Automatic refresh at user set interval up to 10 minutes

Go get it from here!

The new version has a nice new twitter tab.

Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile

It was that big because I used an API I found on the net to do the twitter stuff. to get pound that I started to write my own code to interact with the twitter api.

Hopefully then a release is imminent. I’ll be staying with hellotxt for posting, and I have some more stuff. o do before I move the facebook tab to Api.

Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile

Lets start with the form factor of the device.  It’s a slider, like lots of other mobiles these days, and that’s probably one of the reasons it’s such a good phone.  Now I’m using Slide Actions it really works like a slide phone.  If I slide up the screen it will unlock s2u2, if I slide down it locks the screen with s2u2.  If it’s ringing and I slide it up, which I actually do much more than use the answer button, it answers the call.  Similarly if I slide it closed when in a call it hangs up.  I find I actually never use the call and end buttons.  The next fantastic thing about the form factor is the “proper” phone key-pad, by proper I mean it’s a 12 key keyboard just like most phones.  Why are these two things the most important thing about this phone for me?  Because I can now use this just like a phone, like everyone else.  It’s also great because it’s slick and thin and soft and rubbery in the hand.

Next, it’s the interface.  T-Mobile, who I’m still really impressed with, haven’t over customised the interface.  It’s fast and responsive and the touch cube is a great replacement for most of the physical buttons.  I find it works best if I just use the small area over the T-Mobile logo to start it.  I also find the D-Pad really nice to use, just like the keyboard it’s fast and responsive.

With all the mod’s I’ve made I don’t have to use the stylus all that much, but that again is a good little tool, it’s nice and solid and feels nice to hold too.

The camera suffers from the normal rubbish lens, but it’s a convenient little snapper and the newer software, version 5 of camera, is really good.  Out of the box the finger friendly Camera Album is really cool too – often makes people I show it to go “ooooh”.

All in all, this is really the best phone I’ve had for about 3 years now.

Previously I’ve bought a USB hub, a retracting USB cable with multiple phone adapters for charging, Cat5 cables and other stuff.  On Monday I picked up a USB to cigarette converter for charging anything USB in the car – actually this was a second one of these, they are just so useful when I saw they had them back in I had to get one.  I also bought a second retractable USB cable, not for the cable but for an adapter.  A micro USB to normal USB adapter.

Two quid well spent !

For now, as they’ve been requested and I need to upload them, here are two screenshots.

They are pretty basic so there isn’t much to say, I’ll post a mini review at some point.  It has all the basic features and it Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, comes with a car charger too.  I also happen to have a USB charger for it, think it’s a new Nokia style one.  It was simple to pair, pairing code is 1234, Let me know how you get on.

[EDIT:] I’ve now tested on two people with my touch dual.  Sound quality for me was ok, a little faint perhaps.  Sound quality for the person on the other end was described as “like listening to vinyl”…make of that what you will.  I’m happy for £5, but I’ll let you know about longer term usage.

Here’s a link to it on Tesco’s web site.

I think this is the first app to include hellotxt in any way, let me know on that one.

It’s a very simple Windows Mobile app that draws the mobile versions of the above into a tabbed environment and uses hellotxt to do the updates.  I’ve been using it for a week and it seems to work really well.  I’ve also built in MoDaCo AppToDate support and it works just great!

Now to tell people about it!  Oh and sorry about the rubbish Icon!

They’ve published their “top” (or all 10?) new features of WinMo 6.1 just here.  My favourite is:

3. Threaded SMS – threaded text messages make it easy to follow the conversation

By the way, channel10 is one for your TVtonic or BigScreen headlines subscription, their videos are great.  I got into them with their CES coverage.

From a usability viewpoint there is threaded SMS in 6.1 and PocketIE (PIE) can zoom out, so it’s better for big pages.  And some phone and security enhancements.

Also at CTIA there is news, and this could be a hoax given the date, that Nokia are going to produce a WinMo device – I’d like to see that.

One final note for the day, I agree with Jason on this, we shouldn’t be able to use mobile phones at 30,000 feet….Data would be nice though…but some would probably say getting there with your bags would be nicer!

Finally after 18 months with Orange and my Hermes I’ve moved on.  I’ve picked up a touch Dual, a.k.a Niki, a.k.a Touch Plus.  I’ve also moved to T-Mobile to get the best value package, after 5 years with Orange.  I have to say T-Mobile customer services have been superior in every way so far.

So the first thing I do when I get a new device is get it set up right.  That means getting extra software on to it to make it work just right.  The two best places for that are Modaco and XDA-Developers.

More detail after the jump.

What have loaded so far?  The obvious one is TomTom, but that’s a given really.  This what’s on there so far:

lokemup IE Slow Scroll Fix – by default IE on the phone doesn’t scroll at all right

Schap’s RSS Hub – Great software, I use this to download podcasts on the go

M&M wait cursor skin – makes the wait cursor look nice and slick

inigma barcode reader – reads barcodes, like the logo for this site

PPCSoft psShutXP – Nice on screen way to shutdown the phone

Oxios Memory – Lets you reclaim memory from leaky apps.

Gmobile Sync – lets me sync my calendar to my google cal

moBlog – nice little mobile blogging tool

FindMe – Updates my Facebook status with locations that I’ve told it about

Google Maps and Search – rather obvious

Windows Live – to sync my hotmail and to use messenger

Ionwerks SlideActions – now this one is fantastic, it adds actions to the slide action – something that should have been there in the first place, now I can hang up by sliding close and lock by sliding closed.

Q Inbox Extender – Adds “mark all as read” and “Delete all” options to mail boxes

Modaco Touch Dual “a” to “c” fix – fixes a really annoying bug, the XT9 keeps defaulting to c instead of the far more useful a, so you get sentences like “I would like to see c movie”!!!

TCPMP – Great media player for the phone

s2u2 by A_C – great locking software, makes it look like an iPhone in that respect – he’s got a great new project s2p, slide to play – looks great, won’t work on the Dual yet.

PointUi – Great UI!

So far I’m loving the phone, it’s actually a phone!  I’ll post a usability review in about a week.

First up I should explain how I use these services, firstly I’m very mobile, typically I don’t do two days running in the same office and I’m all over the country and I travel by train…you might see frustration in my twitter or my FB status.  Every day I use a personal laptop, a work laptop, my personal Hermes phone and my work BlackBerry Pearl.  I need my stuff to stay in sync.

Google Reader (Greader) – this is a great online reader, I use it to aggregate all my RSS.  I can access it from every device it’s totally web based and always in sync.  Why don’t I use something like News Gator?  Simple I can’t install it on my work laptop or BlackBerry.  The items I share in Google Reader appear in my FriendFeed and my Shared items.

FaceBook – rather obviously it’s a brilliant social site.  I update my status regularly and automatically with FBMCE and with FindMe and using the mobile version of the site.  When I finally get a code for HelloTxt that will be brill, I’ll be able to update my twitter status too, making HelloTxt a killer app…especially with an API!

National Rail Enquiries Wap Site – Lame I know, but the wap site is the most useful thing that National Rail do.

del.icio.us – Great social bookmarking, took me a while to get into it but now I use it exclusively and can see friends and colleagues bookmarks too.  Tagging makes it semantic and yes it’s part of my FriendFeed and you can find my shared bookmarks.

Google Browser Sync and Foxmarks- I use Firefox 2 for all my browsing and wherever I am, my Firefox stays in sync.  I use Firefox as a portable app too.  Foxmarks also keeps things in sync, but normally I use del.icio.us for bookmarks.

WordPress – That’s where you’re reading this.  I moved here from Live Spaces because it’s more flexible.  I get quite a few hits from the WordPress community, and WordPress tags.  I use the mobile version to view my stats and occasionally to post from my phones.  I have two blogs, this one and one for my house renovation.

Sharp Cast – I currently use Sharp Cast to hold all my photo’s, I moved there from Picasa, it’s great ‘cos it just keeps things in sync.  I think I’m going to move away though because I like idea of the Windows Live Gallery and Flikr hookups and because Flikr is much more customisable and semantic than Sharp Cast.

iGoogle – My homepage is iGoogle, I tried Live but I just prefer iGoogle.  I have a number of gadgets, including my stock portfolio (not as grand as it sounds) my scheduled recordings on Media Center,  my Gmail,  and Google Reader.  I’ve just added the FriendFeed gadget too.  What I really love, and what really suits my mobility is the PDA version, here I have BBC news, stock quotes and Google Reader items all in one place.

Hotmail – Obvious to all, but using Windows Live Mobile it sync’s with my Hermes.

I think that’s about it for now, but speaking of mobility, I’m currently on a train, writing this on Windows Live Writer packaged as a portable app, writing off line, and I’ll have to setup the vast array of links later.

cctv: I want to be able to remotely monitor the house while we are away from home. By that I mean being able to monitor the front door and have it capture the face of all visitors. I also want it to alert on approach to the house.

Media Center setup: I want to change the setup so that the current MC box becommes a WHS box. We’ll buy a new PC which will becomme the media center. In the master bedroom I want to have a v2 extender, or possibly an X360. In the kitchen I want a squeezebox to pull music down from the WHS.

The Phone: I’m currently thinking about upgrading to the Touch Plus on T-mobile, unless Orange an beat the deal! I’ll be moving to a normal data package, so I’ll be able to use it to blog during the day, to check the home cctv and setup and anything else good.

Home automation: I want the lounge to be on IR remote control from the Harmony remote. I want the rest of the house to be on HomeEasy and for all that gear to be controlled by the Media Center! Need to work out a way to control the loung on that…perhaps I should re think the IR control in the lounge?

Security: I want an alarm for the house that notifies us about all sorts of household alerts, doors / windows left open, smoke, motion etc. I also want some of the house lights to turn on on approach to the house.

I think thats all the tech projects covered…they may be changed a little with our trip to Seattle in May.

Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile

I really need to say something about this.

What these posts all seem to have missed is that WinMo is mainly targeted at the enterprise customer. Enterprise customers have hundreds of devices to manage…who want’s to manage hundreds of iPhones with no management software? No over the air activation? No policy enforcement? Your top exec running an iPhone, and not being able to fix his issues when your in England and he’s in Dubai?

Have a look at http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/mobile/default.mspx management is what REALLY maters to big Enterprise. Jason Langridge intrduced me to this at the last MMUG meeting.

Windows Live Writer Portable 2.0 Now with U3

Official Google Blog: Google Calendar Sync

An update to be posted on the success of this and how it works with my mobile lifestyle.

PointUI - I love this, it totally takes over the device and makes it very finger friendly.
TCMP – I don’t use CorePlayer, mainly because I’m tight, but this works perfectly.
HTC Audio Manager – Much friendlier on the fingers than MediaPlayer
TomTom 6 – I’ve tried other stuff but this is my current favorite SatNav
CMP - Comm manager pro, this does location based profile switching – I bought it
S2u2 – Really nice locker app
moBlog – Great application for blogging on the go!
FTouchFlo – TouchFlo for devices like mine that don’t have it.

I’ve also installed countless little fixes from my two favorite and probably the best WinMo sites, www.modaco.com and www.xda-developers.com

I generated this here: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/.

What I think is going to be really cool is the evolution of the MSR Lincoln project, you take a picture of an object and it tells you about the object…endless possibilities there.

Si

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The Greener Grass: Concept – Current State

This is an automation system that does remote control of sockets, but the killer feature is that it also monitors and reports the power consumption of those units! I’d love to be able to do that, it’s one of those things I’m starting to get interested in, how to make my tech more green.

For me making changes means understanding the current situation, to do that I’d need to measure my power output.

Also today I watched this video from MS Technet Edge about working out how much power your kit uses. They use a great little bit of tech to do their monitoring…I wonder how much I could get my consumption down to?….I wonder what my consumption is?

I’ll try this properly tomorrow…with a real free public hotspot very near my house.

Posted from moBlog – mobile blogging tool for Windows Mobile

I’ve just downloaded the CAB so we’ll have to see what it does…

Wefi

Sony Ericsson To Offer Windows Mobile Device? – Pocket PC Addict Forums