The app store is moving fast and furious as it nears its official opening.  With the addition of these latest four apps yesterday, the store is now up to an even 45 (and further extending my 30 Apps in 30 Days series).   The new apps include:

• Yelp: a location based app that lets you search for restaurants and shops in your area
• Yahtzee Demo:  This i a limited time trial of the classic game…with a twist, as you combat various characters in multiple unique yahtzee-based games.
• Tetris Mania Demo: Another limited demo of a classic game.  Drop the blocks to form solid lines.  Clear enough lines and you will advance through the levels
• The Canadian Press Mobile:  Get all the news that is fit to print North of the border.  This will give you the latest headlines from The Canadian Press and CTV, as well as a myriad of other Canadian media sources.

On top of all that, both Pandora and ESPN Zoom have been updated in the last day as well.  The App Catalog is starting to build momentum now.  And I am especially excited to see some of the games which have been appearing.  I still have some questions about the purchasing experience.  So far, there are not enough paid apps to know how that will all work. 

Stay tuned, I am sure things are going to get more interesting in the coming weeks.

My question for all of you Windows Mobile Professional experts out there is simple.  What is the best Finance type software to run on the platform and why?

Please indulge me for a moment as I explain the reason for asking…  For quite some time, I have been happily running SPB Software’s SPB Finance.  All has been progressing fine until the other day when I ran into a somewhat irritating bug in the program.  Granted, there is a work around but it isn’t ideal.  SPB Software acknowledges the bug in their forums, as multiple user complaints have surfaced, but no action has been taken on it in over a year.  This leaves me to believe that there won’t be any official fix to the problem and that the development of the application is essentially “dead”.

I’ve read positive things about Cash Organizer Pro.  Is it really great?  One thing I’ve read is that the registration seems to be tied to the individual device instead of the owner name.  Is this correct?  If so, this is unfortunately an issue with me that may exclude a great title from consideration.  I’m always paranoid that a company will go out of business, I’ll upgrade to a new device and will then no longer be able to register my beloved program.  What are your thoughts on this?

Are there any others that I’m completely overlooking?  Am I crazy for not simply living with the workaround?  Is Cash Organizer Premium fantastic, as the reviews state?  Dear JAMM readers, please let me know.  Leave your comments in the section below, as I desperately need your advice!

PDATuner, an internet radio solution and TV player for Windows Mobile Smartphone devices, has just been updated to version 4.1 in the JAMM Store.  PDATuner provides support for over 4700 stream selections, with 1700 US / Canadian based and another 3000 international choices.  Beta3 ltd, authors of PDATuner, claim to test stations weekly for quality assurance, you should always be able to find a reliable station to check out!

You can download a free trial of PDATuner from the JAMM Store here.  It can be registered for $9.99.  Be sure to hurry though, as the price jumps up to $11.90 after August 31st.

While visiting the JAMM Store, be sure to check out the following new and updated Windows Mobile Smartphone software titles:

New Software

• WCI Translator-English<>Spanish for Mobile 6.x Standard v2.1.1
• WCI Translator-English<>German for Mobile 6.x Standard v2.1.1
• WCI Translator-English<>French for Mobile 6.x Standard v2.1.1
• WCI Translator-All 4 Languages for Mobile 6.x Standard v2.1.1

Updated Software

• PDATuner PRO LIVE Online Radio & TV v4.1
• Twins Snakes v1.1
• CorePlayer Mobile for SmartPhone v1.3.5
• PocketMiles for Smartphone/ Wm Standard v1.2

Eltima Software just released an update to their MAC synchronization software, SyncMate 2.0. This new version utilizes the Mac OS X platform to synchronize with Windows Mobile and Nokia S40 devices.

Please see our previous JAMM Post regarding SyncMate for more details on this application.

The full press release follows:

“Sync Your Mac and Windows Mobile, Nokia, Other Macs and Online Accounts with SyncMate 2.0!

With new SyncMate 2.0 by Eltima Software all Mac users can easily synchronize their Macs with Windows Mobile devices, Nokia S40 and other Mac computers, Google account and back up all data to Online Storage Account!

Bellevue, WA, USA: Eltima Software, global software Development Company, has released SyncMate version 2.0, software for multiple sync, which simplifies the process of all data synchronization between Mac and Windows Mobile devices, other Mac computers, Nokia S40 phones and online accounts.

SyncMate is offered at two versions, Free and Expert, and provides all users with even more synchronization possibilities than before.
SyncMate Free Edition enables you to sync Address Book and iCal entries in your Mac with their analogues in supported devices and back up these data to Online Storage Account. Google Contacts and Google Calendar synchronization is also available.

Additionally to sync features, SyncMate Free Edition provides you with opportunity to read your SMS right from Mac OS X computer, share Internet between Mac and Windows Mobile devices and visually analyze detailed information of the Windows Mobile devices connected (battery state or memory usage).

SyncMate Expert Edition provides all users with a full access to all synchronization features. Sync iTunes&Video, iPhoto, Safari and Firefox Bookmarks, Entourage and mail Notes, ToDo’s, Mail and even separate folders between your Mac and Windows Mobile devices, create, send or delete SMS right on your Mac computer.

With Expert Edition all users can install any .cab files to Windows Mobile devices right from Mac computer.

SyncMate Expert enables you to analyze Nokia S40 devices Calls history directly on your computer. You can also back up ToDo’s, Safari Bookmarks, Entourage and Mail notes to your Online Storage Account with Expert Edition.

SyncMate Expert allows synchronizing To Do’s, Safari bookmarks, Entourage and Mail notes and separate folders between two or more Mac computers.

And of course all features of SyncMate Free Edition are available at Expert Edition.

SyncMate installation is very easy. There is no need to unlock device in order to install SyncMate. Mac can be connected to Windows Mobile device via USB or Wi-Fi, Mac to Nokia connection is available via Bluetooth, and you can sync your Mac with another Mac via Ethernet.

SyncMate Compatibility.

SyncMate is compatible with Mac OS X platform (Mac OS X 10.4 and higher, Mac OS X 10.5). Device compatibility: Windows Mobile Pocket 5, Windows Mobile Smartphone 5; Windows Mobile 6 Standard, Windows Mobile 6 Classic and Windows Mobile 6 Professional; Windows Mobile 6.1, Windows Mobile 6.5; Nokia S40 devices.

Additional information about SyncMate, along with detailed technical documentation, online help, changelog, upgrade policy as well as free installation package can be found at: http://www.sync-mac.com/

You can download SyncMate 2.0 here http://mac.eltima.com/download/syncmate.dmg

This is a pretty simple app, but one which could be quite useful to those folks who spend a lot of time in their cars, whether that means travelling long distances, or commuting into town each morning.  This app lets you use your Palm Pre to track how many miles you are getting per gallon of gas, and how much money you are spending on gas.

To begin, just create a new account with the name of your car.  Enter the current odometer reading and you are good to go.  For the most accurate results, you should start with a full tank of gas. 

After that,each time you get gas, just enter the new odometer reading, along the amount of gas you put in your car and how much you spent to fill the tank.  The app will then spit out a summary showing how many miles per gallon you have achieved since your last fillup, as well as lifetime.  It will also tell you how much you have spent (on average) for 100 gallons of gas.

I thought this was a nifty little app which could be helpful to a real niche market.  Then again, what it offered was really not much above a basic algebra problem.  An industrious user could easily work out this information with a pendil and paper.  There was also a lot more this app could have done to increase its usefulness and usability.  For example, it could have given you much more information about your average cost per gallon, and plenty more. Heck, it could even tie into the GPS and give you more detailed information about how you used the gas along your route.  Overall, while I liked this app, I just thought it could have offered an awful lot more information that it did.