It’s been about a month since I purchased my Macbook Pro, and despite a rather bumpy road in the switch to OSX, I’m not missing the MSI Wind with WinXP at all. Not even a little bit. There’s something about having desktop power in a 13″ device that totally justifies the two pounds of extra weight that my Macbook has on the Wind.

Granted, netbooks aren’t knockovers either. The Wind handled pretty much everything I threw at it, with the exception of iTunes for Windows — but that can be sluggish even on my desktop. I wrote a lot of articles for JAMM on that machine, and it had a 160GB HDD just like my current machine. That being said, I can’t help but feel that netbooks are in the situation that WinMo and UMPC’s are in — they’re stuffing the ideas of a big-screen OS into a smaller package. It was good to have Windows on the netbook and retain access to all of my usual PC apps, but without some sort of killer feature like a slide-out 13″ screen (which would add to the cost), I can’t see myself ever going back to something that small again. Websites fit on the 10″ screen, but a lot of web apps like Google Reader, and even native apps like Live Writer, just felt like they were being smushed onto a smaller screen.

So what the heck is this post all about? You know, it’s basically just me checking up on myself out loud.  I don’t hate netbooks, and they definitely still have a market as long as they don’t cost too much (*cough*, Sony, *cough*), but I’ve learned my limits in the land of laptops. I’ve got to have at least a 13″ screen to process information and to enjoy web surfing with a desktop browser. I think it’s gotten to the point where I’ll refer friends to ultra-portable laptops instead of netbooks.  How about you folks?

Good news for all of our Blackberry fans out there!  I just got word from Evernote that they have updated the Evernote for Blackberry application.  The latest version brings it to 3.0.245.  The new version brings some needed bug fixes, but their site doesn’t list which ones.  The blog for Evernote  reads that the new application runs more smoothly.  They have updated four versions of it now.  My guess is that they are going to keep up the bug fixing until they have updated all the versions that they offer.

Below are the functions and requirements:

Features

• Create and edit new notes on the fly
• Snap a photo right into your account
• Record a quick voice memo
• Attach files to notes
• Search and find all of your notes

Features may vary depending on the capabilities of your BlackBerry smartphone.

Compatibility

Evernote supports the following BlackBerry smartphones:

• BlackBerry Curve™
• BlackBerry Bold™
• BlackBerry Storm™

The great thing about this application is the fact that you can take these memos, files, pictures, and audio notes on the device and then, when it finds reception, it will automatically upload the media; that is the pending notes feature.  It also allows for the GPS as well.

I think that this application just doesn’t get enough airtime.  It is a great little tool.  For all of you Blackberry fans out there, try it out and let me know.  Shoot me a comment.  Below is the link for the download page for Evernote for Blackberry.

Evernote for Blackberry

AT&T acquired what was thought exclusive rights to the iPhone, and up until now those rights have stuck. Whether Apple have recognised that releasing the device on other networks will give them more market share, or just want to leverage a wider market base in the US.You’d have to live under a rock, to have not seen the rumours of the iPhone coming to Verizon.

So AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, has let what seems like a rather submissive, comment, add some fervour to the rumour mill, that is grinding a Verizon Apple alliance, into Apple pie in the near future.

“there will be a day when you are not exclusive with the iPhone”

Let’s face it, it had to, has to happen eventually, if you don’t market a device on all available networks, eventually it limits the units you can move.

No where else in the world, was network exclusivity applied to the iPhone. So it seems inevitable that Apple should, by now want to spread the love!

Will the iPhone un attach itself from it’s foster parent?

Source:

EnGadget

Verizon and Apple

For as long as I can remember, I have been a comic book junkie.  A comic-aholic, if you like.  I don’t buy new comics the way I used to, but I do still have my entire collection boxed up and ready to be passed on to my boys (much to my wife’s chagrin.  In fact, even though I do not actively collect comics anymore, I still consider myself an addict.  For me, walking into a comic book store is like taking an alcoholic to a bar.  It just never ends well.  So, you can imagine how thrilled I was to learn that ComiXology had released a new comic book reader for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  Read on for the full press release and watch for my full review coming soon.

Today at Comic-Con International, Iconology Inc. announced the launch of its Comics by comiXology App on the App Store. The Comics by comiXology App is a digital comic store, library and reader for iPhone and iPod touch that is launching with over 100 titles available from twenty popular comic publishers and many independent comic writers.

“The stunning display and innovative multi-touch user interface of iPhone and iPod touch have finally made comics appealing in a digital format,” said David Steinberger, CEO of Iconology, Inc. "By combining great comics with iPhone OS 3.0’s In-App Purchasing and location awareness features we are creating a revolution in the way comics are sold and read which could only happen with iPhone and iPod touch.”

The Comics by comiXology App heralds an entirely new comic book publishing and connected commerce model. With the Comics by comiXology app, comic book enthusiasts can not only read their comics in a format designed to preserve the comic book experience on an iPhone or iPod touch, but also locate and connect with local retailers to purchase the printed version of the titles. Through relationships with comic book retailers, Comics by comiXology will increase both digital and print sales of comics and deliver a powerful mobile marketing tool for comic book publishers and retailers.

Comics by comiXology offers a "guided view" that keeps the entire page of a comic intact, unlike other solutions where the page is cut into individual pictures the user browses like a photo application. Comics by comiXology is a reader app that contains all a user’s comics and offers its own digital comics store that supports multiple publishers.

Among the twenty publishers that have already signed up to deliver their titles through Comics by comiXology are many well-known industry icons including:

• AdHouse Books
• Arcana Comics
• Asylum Press
• Bluewater Comics
• Com.X
• Creative Impulse Entertainment
• Digital Webbing
• eigoMANGA
• Evil Twin Comics
• First Salvo
• Image Comics (Active Images, Allred, Kirkman, Wagner, Brunswick, Revel and more)
• Markosia
• Moonstone
• Red 5
• Slave Labor Graphics
• Th3rd World Studios
• Zenescope

Additionally, popular comics writer Robert Kirkman has agreed to deliver his titles exclusively through Comics by comiXology making it the only place to get “Walking Dead” and “Invincible” for iPhone and iPod touch.

None of the big name publishers, like Marvel or DC, have signed on yet, but don’t let that dissuade you.  There are some great independent titles to be found here.  To be honest, maybe not finding X-Men or The Avengers on here works out better for me.  It keeps the price of the inheritance a little higher for the boys…

The Comics by comiXology App is now available, and included over 30 free comics.  Check it out now for the low-low-low price of $0.99 from the App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

SBSH Software has just released an update to their RSS reader application, GoNews Touch.  Version 1.1, a free upgrade for registered users of 1.0, incorporates several new features, most notably including support for syncing with your Google Reader account.  The update also includes better support for automatic updating and several usability enhancements.

Keep reading for the full GoNews Touch 1.1 press release from SBSH Software:

What’s New With GoNews Touch 1.1 – Give Me The Details!

1. Google Reader

With this new version we’ve focused on one of the most requested features we’ve been receiving from our users which is Google Reader Syncing support! This means that you can easily configure your Google Reader account details within GoNews Touch configuration and GNT will automatically add the same channels you’ve been following within your Google Reader account to GoNews Touch!

Once you configure your Google Reader account information within GNT, GNT will sync with your Google Reader account content upon each of your regular content updates. The entire syncing process is completely automatic and require no special handling after initial configuration.

GoNews Touch offers an advanced syncing capabilities with your Google Reader, so apart from the regular channels and articles syncing, GNT will also sync the read-status of each of your articles from Google Reader to GNT and vice-versa. This means that if you read an article and the read-status changes from unread to read, upon your next data-syncing the new read-status flag will also be updated within your Google Reader account, and of course this works also the other way around.

With this new Google Reader syncing implemented, GoNews Touch provides the best touch-design user interface for your Google Reader content directly on your Windows Mobile device! This brings far more powerful capabilities to GNT!

2. Auto-Updates

GoNews Touch auto-updates implementation was vastly improved. Our first goal was to improve the way auto-updates are implemented, then we worked some more to add powerful auto-update options to GNT, such that will help each user to configure the best auto-updating behavior for his specific needs.

One of the limitations we had with previous versions of GNT was that auto-updates worked only when GNT process was running at the background of the device. This limitation caused many users to miss their scheduled auto-updates with GNT when they didn’t had it running at the device background. With this new version we’ve re-implemented completely the way auto-updates are working, taking far better advantage of some of the unique Windows Mobile backend systems, so auto-updates are now triggered properly even if GNT isn’t running at the background at the time of the scheduled auto-update!

In addition to the ability to auto-update even if GNT isn’t running at the same time, we’ve added new configuration options that will help you configure auto-updates exactly when you want it to run! With this new version you can now have auto-updates running only if the device is connected via ActiveSync, or, try to auto-update if any connection of any type is available.

We’ve also added the ability to setup time-based auto-updates so the user can configure a certain hour of the day he would like the auto-update to run.

We believe that good auto-updating capabilities is a vital part of a newsreader type of application such as GoNews Touch and therefore we placed a lot of focus and work time improving GoNews Touch auto-updating capabilities! I really hope that this is something many of our users will be glad to see improved with this new version.

3. More Gestures and Increased Display

Some good new improvements are waiting for users at the Article Display dialog. The first thing you will notice is that you can now easily navigate between the different articles using horizontal gestures, this means that swiping your finger on the article page from right to left will take you to the next article and an opposite swipe takes you to the previous article – this way allowing you to navigate between different articles similar to regular newspaper page swiping.

Additionally, when viewing an article longer than the screen height we removed the OS scrollbar on the right side, this way achieving larger screen display so more content of your article can fit in the screen. Scrolling still works in a similar way using vertical finger swipe as before, only that this way users can enjoy more screen real estate for their article display!

4. Usability Improvements

This new version brings lots of small changes, all together vastly improve the user experience with GoNews Touch! To list a few of these small changes you will find with this new version:

4.1. Better Read Status Mark – Read/unread articles within the channel view display are now marked with a gray vs. colored article type icon. This means that articles that were already read will have a gray article-type icon (RSS/Full text icon), while the article-type icon for unread articles will be colored, as it was until now. This improvement comes in addition to the use of bold/regular font type to indicate read/unread status. We’ve added this as an additional measure to help users easily identify the read-status of articles after many users mentioned the bold/regular font type isn’t always clear enough.  The beta testing team were very happy with this new addition and I’m positive this is something you will find really useful!

4.2. Improved New Channel Wizard – The New Channel Wizard which is used to add new channels to GNT was re-designed to include better logic. Among the changes you will find a special option to import OPML channel files, making the import process much simpler than before, the new Google Reader configuration option and more changes. The overall navigation within the wizard was also improved to make it easier and more powerful.

4.3. Redesigned Touch Items – All of the full-screen menu items used with GoNews Touch within all of the different views were re-designed, featuring a new and far better looking style with it!

4.4. Bug Fixes and Download Speed Improvements – Apart from the above you will also find lots of great new improvements available with this new version which I’m sure you will notice while playing with this new version. One of the last important improvements we’ve been working on with this new version is code optimization related to the download speed GNT uses which should help improve the content download speed rate nicely with this new version!
Registering and Upgrading GoNews Touch 1.1

GoNews Touch costs $14.95 and can be registered via our online store at the following link:
http://hce.handango.com/HCE/checkout/Cart….://www.sbsh.net

Users who registered GoNews Touch in the past are entitled to upgrade to the new version for free. To do so, simply download the new version from the link below and install it on top of the current version you are using. Your registration information will automatically carry to the new version and you will be able to enjoy all of the new features right away!

GoNews Touch 1.1 Download Links
Click here to download GoNews Touch PC installer
Click here to download GoNews Touch OTA (CAB) installer

Future Plans and Development Thoughts
We really hope that you will all enjoy the new GoNews Touch release! We’ve been working really hard on the development and design improvements with this new version and we plan to continue and improve GNT with each of our upcoming new updates in the future too!   We’ve already started defining and designing our path towards the upcoming update so you can be sure we plan to maintain this fast development pace with lots of additional things that are waiting ahead for us!