Windows Mobile Louisville

Here is a great writeup from Engadget, which summarizes just about everything known about Windows Phone 7 at this point in time.

Another video from the Windows Phone Team website.

You know it’s a significant software change when you go from version 3.5 right to version 5.x! 

Unlike all the previous versions of SPB Mobile Shell available exclusively for Windows Mobile smartphones with touchscreens, version 5.0 is to be released for Android, Windows Mobile and Symbian. Thanks to the new portable SPB UI Engine, SPB Mobile Shell is planned to be spread to more mobile platforms.

Major updates to the new version include a new 3D engine and an improved social networking integration. The former means support for new types of eye candy effects such as 3D Media Player, 3D Photo Viewer, 3D Weather, dynamic 3D widgets and more, while the latter involves message, contacts, photo and status sync with popular services, namely Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

One important innovation in SPB Mobile Shell 5.0 is the Natural Interaction Engine which includes support for G-sensor and multitouch, a dedicated Feedback Engine providing realistic visual and haptic responses, and a Physics Engine responsible for the real-world behavior of all objects.

Can’t wait to see it!

Slacker is finally coming to Windows phones - sort of.  There is a CAB file available for download at XDA-Developers (scan the Microsoft Tag below to get the CAB file directly to your device), and yesterday, people were elated to have Slacker working on their Windows phones.  By evening, people were seeing an “Oops” error screen (including me), and the app won’t play at all.

Hopefully this will be resolved soon - heck, Slacker hasn’t even acknowledged that the app (which is supposed to be the real McCoy from Slacker) is available on their site! They might be waiting for next week to officially announce it at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, particularly since it’s anticipated to be a HUGE event for Windows phone announcements!

Scan the Microsoft Tag to automatically download the CAB file.  Hopefully it will be working soon!

The internets are a-buzz about Google Buzz!  Buzz shows that Google is very serious about social media, and is going for the juggler with Facebook and Twitter.   If you have Gmail, you will see a link to Buzz show up just beneath Inbox.  If you don’t see it, expect it to show up soon.

There is an app for the iPhone and Android (available by going to Buzz.Google.com) and soon, for Windows phones, Symbian and Blackberry devices.  In the meanwhile, Google Maps for Windows phones has been updated to version 4.0 and now contains a Buzz layer.  

When you Buzz from your desktop PC, you have the option of choosing if the update will be available to the public or just to select people in your contacts.  It appears that is not an option if you Buzz via Google Maps.  I’ll bet the app on the iPhone and Android has a lot more such capabilities, including the ability to post images.

In the few minutes I have been playing with the Buzz layer, it quickly became obvious that I could see Buzzes of all sorts around the city!  Check it out - this is just a random guy Buzzing out in the East End!

Here is the detail of his Buzz:

This has literally just come out of the gate, so expect to see and hear a lot more about this latest Google release!

Resco has been hard at work tweaking and improving their popular app Explorer.

Changes they’ve made in the 2010 version have been influenced mainly by their last big project, Resco Photo Manager. They’ve enriched Explorer with a bunch of ways to upload images to places like Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Picasa & Photobucket.   They’ve also added a thumbnail view mode, so you can easily find the exact image you’re looking for (the thumbnail loading is faster if you install both Explorer and Photo Manager).  There is also an enhanced list of supported image formats.

List of Main New Features in Explorer 2010:

• Image Upload to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Picasa & Photobucket
  The program is now able to upload image files to the most popular social networks (Facebook, Picasa, Twitter) including the biggest web image databases – Flickr.com & Photobucket. The upload is quick and easy.
• Thumbnails View Mode
  The new view mode displays preview of images.   Saves time while searching for images files in large or numerous folders.
• Interaction with Resco Photo Manager
  The new Explorer can utilize tools and strengths of Resco Photo Manager.  If you have both of these programs installed on device, you will sense that the thumbnail loading is faster as well as the fact that it supports all the photo manager image types.
• Customizable Today Plug-in
  Today plug-in got a new shape and becomes totally customizable.  Determine components of the plug-in yourself! Add or remove phone tools, applications or documents.  The eventual size of the plug-in, therefore, depends only on your choices. The plug-in includes a Task Manager.

Get it here

There is an interesting article over at Channelweb about Windows Mobile and Silverlight.  Here is an excerpt:

Several sources told Channelweb.com this week that they expect Microsoft to make Silverlight 4 the platform for building native applications in Windows Mobile 7 and future generations of Windows Phones.

Such a move wouldn’t be unexpected: Windows Mobile 6.5 is based on the Windows CE 5.2 kernel, which is the same version that powered Windows Mobile 5 when Microsoft launched it in 2004. Microsoft was expected to launch Silverlight For Mobile last year, but that has yet to come to pass. Partners have long clamored for Microsoft to support Silverlight in Windows Mobile because they believe the flexibility this would give them translates into easier application development.

“We need to have .Net available to developers in order to compete more effectively, and Silverlight is the key to taking back the application platform for mobile,” said one source, who requested anonymity.

 Read the entire article here.

VASCO Data Security has released DIGIPASS for Windows Mobile.  The new product will enable Windows Mobile users to have have access to m-banking, e-banking and e-commerce with DIGIPASS two-factor authentication.

The application is designed for corporate networks to allow secure remote access to business applications for employees. DIGIPASS for Mobile can be installed through as single download, or for corporate deployments a USB connection can launch the authentication application directly onto the mobile phone.

“Mobile phone users are increasingly embracing mobile services. As a result the mobile platform is becoming more and more attractive to hackers. Traditional Internet fraud schemes are moving towards the mobile environment. With DIGIPASS for Mobile companies offering their services online or mobile site service providers can enhance security of their online service channels through the authentication of their users and by digitally signing transactions. With DIGIPASS for Mobile becoming available to Windows Mobile users, we are convinced that the corporation will increasingly embrace the use of authentication,” says Jan Valcke, President and COO at VASCO Data Security. 

A demo of DIGIPASS for Mobile is available on: http://dp4mobile.demo.VASCO.com

Bing mobile (and the Bing website) both got a makeover.  There are some nice touches to the mobile app, though I’m noticing it run slowly on my Touch Pro2…

It is much more finger-friendly.  I like the features they’ve added to the maps (see image).

Download it from your device (using PIE, not Opera) by going to m.bing.com