Windows Marketplace for Mobile on my Epix!

I saw yesterday, thanks to Microsoft’s Mobile Facebook feed that Windows Marketplace for Mobile had been released for phones running Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 users – and since I’m still waiting for the 6.5 update to be released for my Samsung Epix that’s me!

It’s still a little light in the amount of apps available at the moment but that should change given some time. I have already found a couple that I’m loving and it’s great to have a one stop shop for apps instead of having to Bing or Google to find cool apps for my Windows Mobile phones. Here are a couple of screen shots of Marketplace:

To download a Windows Market place on your own Windows Mobile phone, visit this link (from your phone of course!):

http://mobile.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/get-marketplace.mspx

Check it out and let me know if you stumble on any really cool apps!

Microsoft “Courier”

As a huge fan of the under appreciated tablet PC and avid note taker, I’m really excited about the concept this dual screen tablet from Microsoft code named “Courier.” Can you imagine how cool OneNote will be on this device???? I can’t wait to see the actual product that is developed! Pardon me while I create a new google alert for this :D… enjoy the video courtesy of the folks @ Gizmodo

A little rant about hulu….

UPDATE: Skyfire's post about the hulu ban on them and a "non-response" from hulu to a user about the same. conclusion? use fancast and tivo the rest. >:/

I have been a huge hulu.com fan for a long time. They’d done successfully what others before them had failed to do – offer FREE online video streaming of titles I actually wanted to see. When my Tivo could only record 2 shows at a time, I watched over 50% of my shows via hulu.com. When I was on the go, I used Skyfire on my cell phone to watch a TV show or movie on hulu.com. I raved about hulu here on my blog and on twitter and got a lot of my friends to start using the site as well. In short, I was a one woman cheerleader for hulu.

Last night, er, early this morning I discovered that hulu has BLOCKED skyfire users from being able to access their videos. WTH? I tweeted about it, left a comment on their discussion boards expressing my disappointment and tried to sleep it off. But it is still bugging me…and it’s not just because I can’t watch my fave shoes on my cell phone anymore but because it DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. Skyfire did not strip any of hulu’s advertising so they weren’t losing any money so what is the logic behind that decision???

Maybe hulu is trying to develop a mobile app of their own. Maybe they’re in cahoots with the wireless providers to try & stifle peoples usage of their “unlimited data plans.” Whatever the case, I’m just glad I know own a DVR that can record 4 shows at the same time because I don’t feel like watching anything on hulu.com right now. Wait…maybe THAT’S their plan – to lose one little user here and there. :D

I dismissed it in favor of hulu last time but I’m off to give fancast.com a 2nd chance. Rant over.

NOTE – yes I realize, I’m a few months behind the official date that hulu blocked skyfire users.

Samsung Epix FTW!

 

I’ve been tweeting a lot lately about the problems I’ve had with my Samsung Epix – from the numlock defaulting in my apps to the gibberish in the facebook app’s label/text fields – but last week the little guy kicked some butt! iphone 3GS butt too ;)

***Now before you iphone fans give me grief – I’m talking ONLY about battery life (which you need to run all those cool apps & I’m SURE you’ll agree currently sucks for your iphone) and the camera.***

One of the stops on our road trip last week was the San Diego Zoo & if you’ve ever been there you know it’s an ALL DAY event.  So the fact that my battery lasted until 10 PM on an 80% charge while I facebooked, tweeted, emailed, texted and took photos all day was AMAZING.  Meanwhile, my friend’s fully charged iPhone 3GS battery drained from just tweeting and fbooking all day >.< and the camera doesn’t zoom LOL

I neglected to bring a camera on this trip so I was left using my cell phone to take photos. That’s when I discovered something great – my Samsung Epix camera has some great features (zoom, white balance settings, different shooting modes, timers and effects) and takes decent photos. 

• This was taken from one of the buses @ the zoo on max zoom

     

• This was a close up shot using the “sunny/outdoor” white balance setting

    

• “cloudy” white balance setting

            

• no special settings with this one but it’s included because I’m a geek LOL – a fully functional, arcade style Pong game @ the Redondo Beach Pier

Checking out Windows Live Writer

Windows Live Writer is a desktop application that is supposed to let you update your blogs from a Word like editor. I’d heard about it but since I’ve been working primarily in OSX lately, I didn’t bother checking it out until it was featured in this month’s issue of PC World.  When I read that it works with popular blogging sites like Blogger (not just Live Journal) I decided to check it out and so far I’m impressed.

One of the biggest issues I have with blogger is when I add pictures or screen shots to the post.  The pictures are always inserted at the top of the post and it’s often a pain to drag it into position in the little window of the Blogger editor.  With Windows Live Writer, the picture is inserted where the cursor is positioned and moving it around is very easy.

Another advantage to using this desktop application for blogging is that you can blog offline, or on the road, from the same interface you use to publish.  This comes in handy for me when I travel and am often blogging offline until I can get to the next Internet cafe.  What I’ve done in the past is keep a “travel journal” in Word, OneNote, or Evernote and then copy/paste it into blogger when I had internet access.  That should all go away with Windows Live Writer but we’ll have to wait & test it out on my next trip. 

Windows Live Writer works with most of the popular blogging sites like Wordpress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, etc. Just a word of advice before you download, make sure you pay attention to the check boxes in the installer and UNCHECK all of the unwanted software (toolbar, mail, etc).

I’d love to hear from other bloggers. Do you use Windows Live Writer or any desktop application? Why or why not? If you do, which app do you prefer?

RtoTD - 06/15/2009 Geek vs Nerd

from @CincyRecruiter, http://twitter.com/CincyRecruiter/statuses/2183998163

I've been a really bad blogger this month - allowing life to get in the way of blogging - but I did see this tweet that I wanted to post because it made me laugh. I guess, if you go from this, I'm a geek but then you know that already! =)

Cool WinMo App of the Day - Microsoft's Facebook app

I've dropped the "Blackjack" from the cool app posts because my BJii died and I've upgraded to the Samsung Epix (aka the Blackjack 3). The good news is that most of the apps work just as well on the Epix - you just need to make sure to choose PPC or Smartphone depending on which device you have if you have a choice!

Anyway, today's cool app comes to us courtesy of networkjew.com again because without his post about it I would have never known that Microsoft released a WinMo Facebook app of their own. It's a nice and easy to use app - much better than the "other" WinMo facebook app that's been out for a while. Here are a few screen shots for ya!

UPDATE: Doh! Here's the download page link.