Did you know that there is a limit to the number of times you can download a book to your Kindle (whether that is the Kindle, kindle 2, Kindle DX, or Kindle App for iPhone)??  Neither did I.  My good friend Dan Cohen, however, learned this troubling lesson the hard way.  According to his post over at Gear Diary, Dan received quite a surprise when he tried to redownload a book to his Kindle App on the iPhone.  In a word, it would not download…at all.  He called customer support, and this is what he was told:

The customer rep asked me to send every one of the books in my library to my iPhone. Most of them gave the message that they were sent but a number of them returned the message that they could not be sent. “Oh that’s the problem,” he said “if some of the books will download and the others won’t it means that you’ve reached the maximum number of times you can download the book.”

I asked him what that meant since the books I needed to download weren’t on any device because I had wiped those devices clean and simply wanted to reinstall. He proceeded to tell me that there is always a limit to the number of times you can download a book. Sometimes it’s five or six times he said but at other times it may only be once or twice. And, here’s the kicker folks, once you reach the cap you need to repurchase the book if you want to download it again.

WHAT?!!?!?  Apparently, Amazon or the publishers have imposed an unadvertised download limit on every book.  What this means is that once you reach the download limit, you will need to repurchase the book if you want to download it again.  The problem, however, is that this download limit is not visible anywhere on the Kindle or on the Amazon website.  They do not tell you that there is a limit, what the limit is, or when you are nearing the limit. 

Check out Dan’s full article over at Gear Diary, in which he discusses his experience with Amazon, and even offers some suggested solutions to this snafu. 

You have all heard of those unboxing videos right?  Heck, I think we have done a few here at JAMM.  Well, Wayne over at Gear Diary has taken this concept and turned it upside down…literally.  Earlier this week, he posted a 5 minute reboxing video of the Palm Pre.  No, he did not literally film himself putting the Pre back in the box.  But he does give a pretty thorough explanation as to why he is reboxing the Pre and sending it back.  It is a great video, and I highly recommend that anyone considering a Palm pre take a look.

You can check out the whole thing over at Gear Diary.

Agendus, Iambic‘s flagship PIM application, is now available for the iPhone / iPod Touch.  As usual, it’s available for purchase in the iTunes App Store.  You can grab your copy today for $7.99, which seems quite fair for the amount of functionality that Agendus provides.

The release of Agendus for the iPhone / iPod Touch really is great news for users wanting to achieve greater organization via their handheld.  Agendus, originally a powerful all-in-one PIM replacement application for the Palm OS, has recently gained a following in the Windows Mobile and Blackberry worlds.  Highly regarded for combining multiple types of PIM information, the iPhone / iPod Touch version promises to provide support for a several of your most used PIM actions.  Read more about the features, present and planned, from Iambic’s product information:

Version 1.0 includes a Today View, a Task List View, a Compact and Expanded Contact Views, and facilities such as Contact Linking, One Tap Dial / Email, quick item deletion, task categories, colors, grouping and filtering, over-the-air services such as integrated weather forecasts, and much more.

A number of new features are already being implemented and will soon be available in the upcoming version 1.01, with the topmost priority being the addition of calendaring capabilities.

I’ve been getting a little tired of keeping everything in my pockets, so when I got word of a new bag from Waterfield Designs I got pretty excited. Then I got even more excited when I saw the pictures. This wasn’t just a rugged bag to store gear in: it looked like it was trying to be stylish, too. A sexy “bomber jacket” leather exterior, but practical and gadget-friendly pockets on the inside – hell, if I can’t stop being a complete geek, at least I can try to be a fashionable one, right?

Look awesome while sitting on my couch if you agree, Muzetto bag. Yeah. That’s what I thought.

Anyway, the folks at Waterfield were kind enough to offer up a loaner bag alongside the offer of a discount if I ended up deciding to keep it. Well, Waterfield Designs, if you’re reading this (I sent you the link!), you can keep my money! I’ll keep this bag, thank you very much.

Here, let me explain.

Read More …

Resco announces the arrival of the Resco Contact Manager 2nd Edition Beta

Say hello to the new, fresh look of Resco Contact Manager, which sports plenty of enhanced features.  Resco Contact Manager 2nd Edition Beta has improved on an already amazing application.  It is now possible to integrate your contacts with Facebook and Google Maps.  Other new features include a customizable Today plug-in and also a Group Operations feature, that makes it easy to configure ring tones for contact groups and also makes it possible to send group SMS.

Scroll past the images for the full press release from Resco.

Here is an overview video showing Contact Managers Basic Features:

June 18, 2009, Resco, a supplier of Windows phone applications, announces today coming of Resco Contact Manager 2^nd Edition, follower of popular application managing your contacts, calls and SMS in a fast & pleasant way, now with enhanced Facebook integration.

Since its official release the application has gained strong attention and now many users find it to be the right contact managing tool they were looking for. 2^nd Edition is planned to be released at the beginning of July 2009.

The application allows you to easily navigate, search quickly using letter navigation, view text message conversations in a chat-like view and much more to make your phone calls and sending text messages a fun and easy activity.

“We understand the growing popularity and strength of social networks, and therefore, we tend to make it easier for mobile users to stay in touch with the most popular one — Facebook” said Marcel Šaffa, Resco product manager. “Facebook means great potential that should be utilized. Huge amount of available information about our friends such as birthdays or addresses can be really helpful in the future. Integration with Resco Contact Manager means a strong tool in each user’s pocket.”

Complete article about Facebook integration in Resco Contact Manager 2^nd Edition can be found at:

New features provide functions hard to beat:

• Enhanced Facebook Integration
  Get all available information from your Facebook friends to the phone and message them straight to Facebook.
• Support for Google Maps Application
  Locate contact on Map supports the application instead of online Google Maps.
• Customizable Today Plug-in
  Add or remove phone tools, applications, documents or simple contacts. Changing of phone profiles is also available now.
• Group Operations
  Determine a group of contacts and set a ringtone, delete or SMS to all the members.

Resco Contact Manager 2^nd Edition will be available soon! In the meantime, a 14-day trial of the BETA version can be found at:  http://www.resco.net/pocketpc/contactmanager