The thing about useful stuff is

Is VOIP service EQO going off air? Monday, December 01, 2008

Image representing EQO as depicted in CrunchBase

Image by via CrunchBaseAlthough I've recently been using Nimbuzz on my Blackberry as my IM aggregator application because of its' inclusion of skype amongst the networks it covers, I have retained EQO as well. Whilst it performs a similar service to Nimbuzz, I much prefer the EQO interface and its superior usability.

Sadly it appears that EQO may be about to shutdown if reports on GigaOM and Techvibes are true. Having raised $13m in VC funding, it was apparently under pressure to find a buyer for the company but seemingly hasn't been successful.

I previously blogged about my use of EQO here.

Labels: blackberry, EQO, Nimbuzz. IM

posted by John Wilson @ 9:51 AM Permanent Link ,

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TinyTwitter - An excellent Twitter app for the phone Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Image representing Twitter as depicted in Crun...

Image via CrunchBaseDespite my failure to become a Twitter cult follower, a number of friends from the blogging and tech world have repeatedly nudged me to have another try.

However, each time I've tried to play with Twitter, a technology barrier impeded me. Having a blackberry, I tended to use email to interact with Twitter when on the move [avoided SMS costs!]. However, the service I began by using simply died one day [Emailtwitter]. Thereafter, several people recommended Twitterberry but having installed it, I simply couldn't get it to work on my Blackberry 8800 for inexplicable reasons.

Finally I was pointed in the direction of Tinytwitter, and if you are both a Blackberry user and Twitter fan then I recommend it. It installed easily and worked immediately. It seems very compressive and its' ease of use did encourage me to post. It's still very early days and I confess I still haven't got the Twitter bug, but maybe I'll have an epiphany sometime soon.

My Twitter id is johndwilson

Labels: blackberry, twitter

posted by John Wilson @ 3:55 PM Permanent Link ,

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vLingo - excellent Blackberry app [with unlimited data plan]

Image via WikipediaHaving seen references to Vlingo, which claimed to give BlackBerry smartphone users control over mobile information and tasks with the power of their voice, I thought I would give it a try whilst they were running a UK beta.

It was easy to install the application and it did work very well on my Blackberry 8800, with a reasonably good accuracy rate on speech to text and in following standard commands.

However, to use this service you really need to be on an unlimited data plan, as it appears that every translation involves interaction with the server across a data connection. Whilst this is understandable, I'm speculating that this will be a data hungry process [no evidence either way].

As I'm fairly quick at typing on a Blackberry , so the imperative for the application is less than it might be. However, the convenience of initiating calls, emails, sms and text entry was appealing and it quickly became something I adopted, albeit briefly. If only T-mobile UK offered an unlimited data plan, [and one that was reasonably priced], I would certainly continue to use the application. As it is, the data costs are likely to be too prohibitive relative to the value I derive.

Presently the application is free and I see from their web site that they have enabled Yahoo search within the application, which may well be generating some referral fees for the company.

Labels: blackberry, Smartphone, Speech recognition, t-mobile

posted by John Wilson @ 3:27 PM Permanent Link ,

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Google mobile maps adds public transport directions Friday, June 06, 2008

For anyone with a Blackberry or newish mobile phone, Google's mobile maps application is an absolute must-have application and best of all it's free.

I'm regular travel around London to attend meetings and having a easily accessible "A-Z" on the phone courtesy of Google maps is invaluable. I'm fortunate to have a Blackberry model that has GPS, which means I can also locate exactly where I am relative to my destination directly on the map. If the GPS signal is not good enough to get a location fix or if your phone doesn't have GPS, Google maps can identify your approximate location using mobile phone cell data. The service can even provides directions for you to follow to get to your destination - perfect for walking or driving.

Until now Google maps has lacked one feature - public transport guidance explaining how to get between point A and B of the sort provided by the Transport for London [TfL] website. As a consequence, I either have to use Tfl mobile site which isn't bad or head off to the nearest tube station. In release 2.2.0, Google have addressed this and now provide public transport information for Greater London directly within Google Maps. Very easy to install and use.

Go for it.

Labels: blackberry, Google Maps, GPS

posted by John Wilson @ 8:33 AM Permanent Link ,

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Google calendar synch isn't good enough Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Image via WikipediaAs a consequence of wanting to use several new services that only integrate with Google Calendar, I recently decided to cut-over to it as a trial. Sadly, whilst I've no issue with the Calendar itself, I've been having a bad time with the official Google synch program that links it with Outlook 2003.

Historically I've used Airset to maintain a calendar online, which I synch with a desktop running Outlook 2003, which in turn synchronises with my Blackberry.

The biggest issue for me is that the synch application doesn't allow you to parameterise the dates that you wish to synch. Hence, each time I synch it tries to compare thousands of very old entries which dramatically slows the whole synch down to a crawl lasting several hours. I did try to get round this by archiving my desktop calendar items in Outlook 2003. Unfortunately, an unknown "event" caused all of the calendar entry modified dates to be reset to a recent date, as a consequence of which unless I archive every historic calendar entry then they won't clear down.

It's inflexibility like this that is both its' strength and weakness. Yet it is sufficiently infuriating that I'm close to abandoning my efforts and reverting to Airset which worked very well, especially with its synchronisation service.

Separately, I would love to find an Imap equivalent for calendar entries on different devices to enable entries to remain in synch, but don't know of such a mechanism. Any suggestions / answers?