Kep Ring App by Mobestream Media

I love, love, LOVE this app!!!  First, I have to give credit to my other half for discovering this little gem on iTunes.  If you are like me then you have about a thousand discount or reward points membership cards for every store in creation.  I have Borders, Best Buy, the local grocery stores, clothing stores, Staples, and the list goes on and on.  I was happy when companies switched from cards to the little keyring cards.  However, now my keys are so bulky with all these ‘convenient’ little cards, which are nothing more than a collection of bar codes.  I am here to tell you that you can throw away those little cards.  Mobestream Media is here to the rescue!!!

Key Ring is a free app available for Android or iPhone.  Honestly, its about the simplest program I have ever used.  Once you download the app, simply hit ‘Add Card’.  If your card has a bar code, the program will use your phone’s camera to scan the barcode. 

Once that is complete, you will be able to select from over 650 retailers or add your own to assign to the barcode.

Completed Entry

You even have the ability to add cards without barcodes.  For example:  I added my membership number for National Rental Card.  I just typed it in, and selected National. 

The final piece that makes this just that much more useful is that your information can be recovered if you lose your phone or it dies.  When you create an account for yourself CardGuard is activated and you can then download your information onto any Android phone or the iPhone. 

Go check this out.  I can’t tell you how much its helped to organize me.  Plus, my keyring is much slimmer.

Speed up, as today ends our Herocraft JAMM Giveaway: this is your last chance to choose the game you prefer among those currently available from Herocraft.

Here are the rules: visit Herocraft site and see the titles now currently available. Then leave your comment in the Herocraft JAMM Giveaway post, explaining the game you would like to win and why before 11:59 (EST) today. Tomorrow we will randomly pick the winners.

Comment and good luck!!

Flexibility.  That is the real key to mobility…the ability to quickly and effortlessly swap between devices and platforms.  Seagate appears to have unlocked this mystery with their new line of portable drives, the FreeAgent GoFlex.  This is the first drive which can be all things to all users.  I mean, really, who has not suffered that sinking feeling of trying to share your photos with your friend, mother, sister, brother, or anyone else for that matter, only to find that their system was not compatible with your drive.  This is a significant problem, and one which Seagate aims to resolve with this latest offering.  Seagate was kind enough to send along a sample for review, so let’s go ahead and check it out.

Like most portable drives, the GoFlex looks deceptively simple on the outside.  Just a simple, silver box.  It is a little smaller and boxier than the FreeAgent Go that Seagate released last year.  I have to admit that while Seagate advertised the new GoFlex as being sleeker than the FreeAgent Go, I actually preferred the design and shape of the original Freeagent drive (in the picture above, the GoFlex is on the right). 

The big difference lies in the back.  Instead of the standard microUSB port, which can connect to any standard USB, there is an open end.  An endcap plugs into that open end.  By default, the cap has a USB connection dangling off of it.  Just connect the endcap to the drive, and then plug the cable into the USB on your computer (it will even work on a Mac).

Now, here comes the flexible part.  In addition to the default USB 2.0 connection, you can also add alternate endcaps featuring USB 3.0, Firewire 800, or eSATA connections.  This is plug and play at its finest.  Just pull off the endcap and replace it with whichever alternate cap you wish to use.  The advantage here is that you can significantly increase the speed of your device depending upon which endcap you choose to use.  In addition to the drive, Seagate also sent along the USB 3.0 cap (they call it a personality cable) and the Firewire version.   I absolutely loved how easy it is to switch from one connection to the next.  Plus, who doesn’t want a quick preview of the new, super fast USB 3.0.  Before you ask, no, I do not have a special USB 3.0 connection on my computer, and neither does anyone else for now.  Recognizing this, the USB 3.0 cable included a USB 3.0 Express Card. So, you can use it with any computer that can utilize the Express Card.

The really great thing about this setup, however, is what the GoFlex cannot do yet.  I have no idea what that might be, but you can be sure that some new connection is coming soon and your next computer will not be complete without it.  Unlike the good old days (last week) when a new computer meant all new peripherals, the GoFlex will upgrade right along with you.  So, go ahead and buy that new computer with the fancy new connection.  Just be sure to buy the correct GoFlex cable along with it and the whole drive will be ready to go.

That being said, I do have to admit that I really missed the desktop cradle from the FreeAgent Go.  Particularly the DockStar, which allowed me to connect the FreeAgent family of drives to my network.  Hopefully, more connection options, like these, will be coming soon.

Pretty much the only thing I could not connect the drive to was my iPad, which is a real shame as it would have been incredibly useful to have an extra 500 GB of storage on there.  To be fair, though, I do not have the camera kit, so there is still hope.

A wide variety of cables, however, is not the only flexibility and personalization option.  Adding to the fun are four color options (black, silver, blue, and red) and three sizes (320 GB, 500 GB, and 1TB).  The one I tested, for the record, was a 500 GB silver model. 

Like previous generations of Seagate drives, the GoFlex also comes with a pretty snazzy software package built into the drive.  That means the Meemeo, which features Instant Backup and other tools. 

The Meemeo Instant Backup is a really nice program.  On a single screen, it delivers all of the necessary stats about what is stored on your GoFlex drive.  Push a single button to backup this content from any drive straight to the GoFlex.  This worked great,and I was impressed by how fast the whole process was. 

In addition to the Instant Backup solution, you also receive a complete Meemeo software package, including Auto Sync, Share, and Send.  All of this just adds to the flexibility of the device, allowing you to access your important information from just about any location.

I have always been impressed by Seagate’s products.  Their external storage devices are absolutely incredible.  Some of the best on the market.  So, what happens when you take the best drives around and mix in a cup of flexibility?  You end up with the FreeAgent GoFlex, a single drive which can connect with virtually any computer, anywhere, now…and into the future.  What can I saw…this one goes to eleven!

The SeaGate FreeAgent GoFlex is available from SeaGate.  The 500 GB version I tested costs only $129.99.  Additional Personalization Cables cost rom $40 to $70.

One of my “lifelong” quests in the mobile arena has been the search for a great baseball scoring app.  That quest started with the Windows Mobile 2003SE-based Dell Axim, where I originally found K-Rakonza, which sadly did not work well at the time (it wasn’t their fault, it was designed for Windows Mobile 5).  I spent a lot of time over a lot of platforms trying to find that app again, though it was not until the iPad that I really found a truly satisfactory solution…two of them in fact, with Pointstreak’s K-forCE and iScore (now brought to you by ESPN).

What I love about both of these apps (and the companies behind them) are that neither are satisfied to just rest on their laurels.  Both are continually updating their offerings, and coming out with new and innovative options for baseball fans, coaches, and officials.  Now, Pointstreak Sports Technologies has come out with a fantastic mobile site for keeping real-time sports statistics.  Coming soon will be similar sites for other sports, including hockey, lacrosse, soccer, and plenty more.  In the meantime, check out the new mobile platform at m.pointstreak.com, and read the full press release below.

Pointstreak Sports Technologies Inc. announced today a mobile platform for their real-time sports statistics specialized for today’s mobile devices, such as the BlackBerry and iPhone. “Pointstreak Mobile” can be found by surfing to www.pointstreak.com on a mobile phone, or by typing in the dedicated URL m.pointstreak.com into a mobile phone’s web browser.

The first release of Pointstreak Mobile will display scores and statistics for Pointstreak’s baseball clients, but the company has intentions to roll out similar mobile sites for its other sports, such as hockey, lacrosse, soccer, etc., and for all levels of competition.

“Pointstreak is dedicated to providing the best experience possible for the sports fan. Since more and more fans are following their favorite team on their mobile phone, it was a natural fit for us to build a fan-friendly mobile site” said Scott Secord, President / CEO of Pointstreak, “We made a conscious decision to not just produce a stripped-down version of our stats website, but to tailor it to the mobile environment by taking advantage of today’s advanced smartphones and by keeping in mind the user experience. I also want to rest assure our customers that although our mobile strategy is starting with our baseball clients, we intend to quickly roll out mobile versions for our other sports and for all levels of play”.

The quickest way to create a mobile site is by taking your existing website and simply removing the graphically heavy elements that chew up bandwidth, slow down page load speeds and make navigation difficult. However, Pointstreak’s technical team had bigger ambitions and they set out to build a dedicated mobile site from the ground up. The result is a clean, fast, user-friendly and statistically rich mobile website that takes advantage of the today’s powerful mobile devices.

As an example, Pointstreak’s mobile baseball stats site completely replicates the company’s well-known GAME LIVE feature (part of the company’s Pointstreak Stats brand) which provides fans with real-time updates of the game’s score, including complete baseball statistics found on the regular stats website. Using the latest web browsing technology, there is no need for a fan to refresh their screen to see if there’s an update while following their favorite game; all updates appear on their mobile phone seconds after it actually occurred at the baseball diamond. For instance, on their mobile device, a fan can see the ball/strike/out count in real-time or how many, and which, runners are on base.

“We’re very happy with the mobile site our tech team produced. We did this the way it should be done and we think our clients and their fans will like what they see” added Dominik Szopa, Pointstreak’s VP of Technology.

All of Pointstreak’s baseball clients and their fans can immediately start enjoying their stats through Pointstreak’s mobile site at m.pointstreak.com.

I know we have a lot of users who rely on Google calendars to keep their busy lives in order.  Heck, here at JAMM, we use it to schedule all of the fantastic content we have coming your way.   My point is that sometimes the iPhone does not play well with the cloud.  So, some of you may be looking for alternatives which will allow you to effortlessly sync your Google calendar with your iPhone or iPod Touch.  Enter Readdle with their new Calendars app, with its deep integration with Google calendar.  Read on for the full press release.

Readdle today is pleased to announce the release and immediate availability of Calendars, a new iPhone calendar application deeply integrated with Google Calendar online service. It helps users to keep tracks of their schedule and manage events stored on Google Calendar with the iPhone.

A streamlined interface with the intuitive navigation lets users easily track events planned for a certain day, forthcoming weeks or months. But what makes Calendars really shine is moving events with drag-and-drop, which comes in handy for rescheduling events or just shifting them to another day.

Offline mode is another notable function of Calendars. It is possible to add, move and modify events even without Internet access. All changes made with Calendars in offline mode will be synchronized with user’s online calendars once the network connection is available."Calendars application is designed to be a prefect iPhone counterpart for the Google Calendar service," said Igor Zhadanov, Readdle CEO. "Calendars’ rare combination of power and ease of use makes it the best choice for the most Google Calendar users."

All important functions of Google Calendar service found their place in Calendars. Users can create, edit and delete events any time, add attendees to new and current events, manage reminders and recurring events. Even SMS reminders are available if there is a phone number listed in Google account settings.

Device Requirements:

• iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
• Requires iOS 3.0 or later
• 3.6 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Calendars 1.0.2 is $6.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available exclusively through the App Store in the Productivity category.

Readdle: http://readdle.com
Calendars 1.0.2: http://readdle.com/products/calendars
Purchase and Download: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/calendars-google-calendar/id371434886?mt=8
Screenshot: http://readdle.com/images3/screens/copy4-1.png
App Icon: http://readdle.com/images2/appicons100/Calendars.png