Electric Pocket Limited’s popular BugMe! application for creating notes and setting alarms, that Doug had previously reviewed for the Pocket PC platform is now available and updated for the Blackberry Devices running OS 4.6 and above – that’s the Tour, Curve, Bold and Pearl & Storm, and they also have a version available for Pocket PC and Palm OS devices.

With BugMe! on your Blackberry it is now possible to share your BugMe! notes by SMS text or email, or store them in your Calendar or Task Manager. Please see the press release and Electric Pocket Limited’s Website for additional details.

Here is the Press Release:

Wye Valley UK, September 30, 2009 – - Today, Electric Pocket Limited has brought BugMe!, the simple, fun and essential mobile app, to BlackBerry users. For well over a decade, PDA and smartphone users have been using BugMe! to create notes and set reminder alarms to keep them on-task and on-time. BugMe! for BlackBerry makes it easy to quickly jot notes, ideas and tasks on-the-go and set any note as a reminder. BugMe! will automatically sound an alarm and pop-up an alert at the exact moment a reminder is needed.
BugMe! is in its 12th year as the top note-taking and alarm application for mobile devices. The BlackBerry version is among the most advanced versions to-date, not only enabling users to jot quick notes and set reminder alarms, but launch web addresses, email addresses and phone numbers through live links on the note. BugMe! notes can be created from emails, texts, tasks and appointments, and shared with anyone via SMS, text or email.
For those who need help staying organized each day, BugMe! makes it simple to manage daily tasks. Notes can be prioritized by flagging those that are urgent then marking them as done when they’re complete. BugMe!’s search tool also enables users to find notes with certain keywords or tags, and makes organizing and finding information simple.
The BlackBerry version of BugMe! further simplifies note-taking with a rich set of keyboard shortcuts, making it quick and effortless to complete just about any BugMe! action.
BugMe! for BlackBerry is available for US$2.99 at BugMe.net.
About Electric Pocket Limited
Electric Pocket is a privately held company offering leading-edge mobile and wireless computing solutions and services from its base in the Wye Valley, UK. The company’s product portfolio includes a rich set of wireless media and messaging applications and solutions. For more information, visit www.electricpocket.com.

If you would enjoy some Free WIFI with your coffee while out on a future bookstore adventure at Borders, you are in luck, as Borders and Verizon announced Yesterday that beginning sometime in mid-October they will be providing Free WIFI for their customers. 

It will be really nice to be able to look up authors,book titles and reviews while book shopping, as I think that this will be a really helpful innovation for shoppers, including myself   Borders will also be advertising their latest specials, utilizing this new service, via a Home Page that will be displayed when connecting to the Service.

This news follows on the heals of AT&T’s recent partnership with Barnes and Noble offering FREE WIFI at their locations.

Here is the full Press Release from PR NewsWire

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ — Borders Group (NYSE: BGP) today announced that it has signed an agreement with Verizon to provide free Wi-Fi service in virtually all of its more than 500 Borders stores nationwide. Borders and Verizon are well underway in the process of equipping stores to offer free Wi-Fi, with service expected to be available by mid-October.

"Re-engaging with customers as a serious bookseller is one of our strategic priorities," said Borders Group Chief Executive Officer Ron Marshall. "By offering free Wi-Fi, we are extending the open atmosphere of exploration that is at the core of every great bookstore experience and furthering the sense of community we have always fostered at Borders."

Verizon’s platform will allow Borders to create a splash page that customers first experience when they log on to the free Wi-Fi service, giving Borders the opportunity to feature compelling content such as news of hot titles, special discounts and the opportunity to join Borders Rewards((R)), the retailer’s free customer loyalty program that has 34 million members. Among other benefits, Borders Rewards members earn $5 in "Borders Bucks" for every $150 of annual qualifying purchases made both in store and at Borders.com.

This agreement builds on an existing relationship between Borders and Verizon that encompasses a number of advanced communications and IT services, including wide area networking and voice-over-IP services, Internet connectivity and e-commerce operations support.

About Borders Group

Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., Borders Group, Inc. is a leading retailer of books, music and movies with approximately 1,000 stores and over 25,000 employees. More information on the company is available at www.borders.com/media.

SOURCE Borders Group

Website: http://www.borders.com

I first encountered TwelveSouth, makers of Mac-only products, on the MinimalMac blog. I became an instant fan of their style through pictures of their BookArc MacBook stand, and I was delighted when I was given the chance to take a look at their SurfacePad for JAMM. Unlike the two other other products that TwelveSouth currently offers, the concept behind SurfacePad is probably something you’ve seen before. However, the form and feel is what really makes this leather layer for the 13″ MacBook Pro stand out.

[It should be noted that I say 13" MBP for a reason: the SurfacePad only fits this particular MacBook.]

Installation
There are a couple of points that could be improved upon here, but I like the attention to detail that TwelveSouth gave the process. The SurfacePad is essentially a gigantic Napa leather sticker (bet you’ve never heard that word combo before), and you stick the whole thing onto your aluminum computer in three stages. Each stage is labeled with a coloured tab, and the process helps you apply the sticker from the bottom (trackpad) and work your way up so that the SurfacePad frames the keyboard and trackpad perfectly. The installation took me a try-and-a-half (darn small wrinkles!), but it went pretty well overall.

One major warning for people new to the SurfacePad is to be careful of folding it. I took a few pictures of the tabs for this review, and so I bent the SurfacePad a little in order to read them: that was a mistake, and it’s one that has showed ever since in the form of wrinkles that run along the base of my MBP. I’ve convinced myself that this is par for the course with leather, but were I to do the installation again, I’d definitely be a lot more careful.
Testing the claims
TwelveSouth’s website says the SurfacePad adds a layer of “luxury comfort”, but I think they chose leather because most other materials would look cheap on the MacBook’s aluminum shell. Thats not to say they didn’t make a comfortable working surface, because they did. It’s just not a huge, noticeable difference to me. What I’d really recommend this product for is its sense of style.
I never had any complaints about the feel of the aluminum before, but I’m quite happy to have the SurfacePad on now because of how it makes me feel about the whole machine. It’s an extra layer of customization that is mine alone, and it just makes me feel as though the black leather accent makes my computer stand out amongst the other brushed aluminum bodies out there. I see the SurfacePad as another way to make the MacBook Pro classier, and the flowery textures along the bottom aren’t emasculating – but awesomeating instead. I’m going to just leave you with that fake word and move on to the next paragraph.

From the way the lid MacBook’s lid still closes perfectly, to the cut-outs for the keyboard and trackpad – working with a SurfacePad is a totally unobtrusive experience. What I mean to say is that working with a SurfacePad is business as usual, but clad in leather (if that’s allowed at your workplace). The pad really is gorgeous, though, and I think the design definitely deserves some praise. Aside from the keyboard and trackpad accessibility, I like how the leather doesn’t cover the whole surface of the MBP. The length and width stop just short of the edges so that the pad is accented by the silver of the aluminum, and it also stops short of the power button, which made the installation process much easier. It’s always a real pain when you have to fit a sticker over a button.
My only concern in the appearances department is that the flower engravings won’t last through long-term use. The tips of the flowers are already feeling a little flat, but this isn’t a feature of the pad I’ll miss all that much. In fact, the flowers are almost invisible until you look closer (they are black on black, after all).

Durability
I’ve only had the SurfacePad for a little over a week, but aside from the flower degradation issue, I think that one SurfacePad should stay on a 13″ MBP for quite a while. The adhesive on the back isn’t meant to be re-applied, but my experience has shown that it can take at least one “oops” and maybe even an “oops, I did it again” due to a wrinkled application. There’s also the fact that the SurfacePad is completely protected when the MacBook is used, and none of the corners (the usual culprits when a sticker peels) are under any major pressure at any time.

Conclusion
If you’re looking for spill or dust protection, then the SurfacePad is going to look quite expensive and completely ineffective to you. Actually, even if you are the right kind of user for the product — someone looking to spruce up the 13″ MacBook Pro’s look and add a little texture to the computing experience — then the $40 asking price might still seem a little high. However, while the SurfacePad doesn’t totally fulfill its promise of “luxury comfort” (the leather is just too thin for that), I’d be perfectly comfortable paying $40 for the luxury of the gorgeous design should anything bad (stay away, cat!) happen to this one.

—

You can pick up your own SurfacePad for $39.99  (or six of them for $199.99) from TwelveSouth’s website.

When I heard about the dual-processor Swordfish Net 102 Dual Netbook Computer, I really wondered what the creators were trying to accomplish. I would love to have more power on smaller notebooks – but the whole machine has to become more powerful for me to take advantage of that change – not just the processor. I’m no huge computer tech spec expert (just an ex-netbook user), but I feel like doubling the processing power of a netbook is like turning the upper half of your body into the Terminator while leaving everything below the torso as the same old scrawny human parts. You get a lot more power, but it seems like you’re really limiting your general mobility and power balance.

That’s because the Swordfish comes with a mere 3-cell battery that already doesn’t last very long with a single Atom processor, and it doesn’t seem to have any more graphical power than any other netbook on the market. I don’t blame them for this, since the netbook casing is already so small…but that begs the question (again): why the extra processor, guys?

If you know a use for the extra power, hit us up in the comments. I’m sure there’s got to be someone who could take advantage of it, but it’s useless to me for games or quick video editing without a better integrated or dedicated graphics solution. If you are interested in the 450 USD Swordfish, check out the full tech specs and deatils on the Swordfish website.

[news via Wired]

We all know how crazy malware can be. Bad software such as viruses, trojans, and retro viruses (anti-anti-virus) all fall under this umbrella category. Protection from it was sadly not included into Windows….until now. Microsoft is pleased to announce the release of Microsoft Security Essentials. Handling virus, spyware, and malware threats, this program is free for Windows users who are using genuine Microsoft software. Kudos, Microsoft. Looks like you’ve done ok yourself by catching all test bugs with no positives! Well, that’s a start. How will it fare in competition to the other anti-virus software available out there? Will it beat out Avast, AVG Personal, AntiVir Personal, and those other free antiviruses? What about ESET’s NOD32 and other commercial antivirus software? Time will tell…but while we wait for the days to go by, go check out this article for what some of the industry professionals are saying about Microsoft’s small footprint antivirus on NetworkWorld.

Download Microsoft Security Essentials

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