Smartphone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"Currently under beta testing, Sprite Mobile Swipe works on any Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC or Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone, and once installed, hides away in the background until activated by the device's owner. The software cannot be uninstalled without a user selected password. If the device is ever lost, simply send a SMS from a previously specified �partner� phone and you can have the device locked. You can also go one step further, and send a �wipe� text message that will erase the entire contents of the phone, including everything on the memory card. If, on the other hand, your phone is stolen, and the thief changes the SIM card, you will automatically get a SMS on the designated partner phone so the user will know the new number."



There are a couple tools on the market that already do this, so it's nothing revolutionary. However, it is good to see a company like Sprite expand their Mobile offerings. I think Sprite has the best chance of making a product with the widest device support, and best integration due to their indepth knowledge of backing up Windows Mobile devices.

"Perdiemco Location & Tracking (PLT) software allows you to track your trip and lets others locate and follow you online. You set the passcodes so only those that you want can see your trip. You can also take pictures or leave messages with your pda or phone and put them online for others to see. You can set zones for tracking (with alerts) too. These are "boxes" you create. You can track inside a zone or be alerted when someone enters or leaves a zone. PLT offers privacy and 'a need to know', So you can turn off anyone's ability to locate you at anytime. PLT allows you to access and use your GPS on-the-fly from any location connected to the Internet. Get reliable, convenient and secure access to GPS information from home or on the road."

GPS seems to be a hot topic as of late. We're seeing a lot of GPS enabled applications springing up. Perdiemco's Location and Tracking software does just what you would expect - it logs your location information. To run Perdiemco's solution, you need to have a Windows Mobile Smartphone or Pocket PC, Bluetooth GPS, .Net Compact Framework 2, and Active Sync 4.1. Once you have everything in place, this free software will help you log your travels. :)

"Verizon Wireless plans to add a location-based service to accompany its cellphone, designed for young kids, called the Migo. Software for the location based service, created by Autodesk, will allow parents to track their child's Migo phone within yards of their own phone or Internet site. Amazingly, the phone will even alert a parent via a text message if their child leaves a pre-designated area. The service is expected to cost between US$10-15 a month and has a planned launch in May."

That sounds like a great service, but $10 a month? Isn't that a little on the pricey side? It looks like Verizon has a nice service here, too bad they're ruined it with the price. :(

"US District Court in New York has granted the government permission to track suspects by their cell phones for up to 60 days without a warrant. According to the ruling, law enforcement officers can ask a carrier for a record of what tower a user makes calls from during that period as well as a map of all tower locations. This court order does not include requests for e911-derived aGPS or triangulated locations, which are far more accurate."

The last line of this got my attention. It always makes me wonder if the US government even understands the technology it's trying to use.

"New York stock clerk who had his camera phone swiped from his car this month says he was able to peer into the life of the gadget's new owner. The thief evidently didn't realize the copious photos and videos he was taking with the hot phone were accessible through a web account. John Clennan, 23, says someone rummaged through his unlocked car while he was working the nightshift at a Long Island convenience store earlier this month. Several days later Clennan realized his Sanyo 5500 was missing from the vehicle, and he called service provider Sprint PCS to have the service cut off. Because the camera phone can only hold a limited number of images, Sprint lets subscribers upload photos from the device to a web account. "I decided to go and check out the web space and see if there were any pictures uploaded to it, and he had taken almost 40 pictures and five movies and uploaded them all," says Clennan."

I've always enjoyed reading computer crime stories like The Watchmen, The Fugitive Game, or Masters Of Deception. [Affiliate] And now we've got stories like this one, and the recent events over at MoDaCo. While these stories don't tell like the novels, they are interesting tales of how computer/cellphone crime is trickier than the average thief would think and are interesting reads. :)

"Palm OS losing grip on the enterprise"; "Nokia assumes top position in 3G handsets"; "Time Warner invests in mobile games" - Analysts are constantly making their predictions on what shape the market will take in the future. Sometimes, trying to stay on top of it all just makes my head spin and it's only going to get worse as this market continues to grow. Thankfully, there's a new blog on the scene that is focused on tracking the analysts comments on mobile devices, content, and services - Mobile Analyst Watch. If you're interested in what the analysts talking about, this site might be of interest to you. :)

Smaryo is a new expense tracking application for your Windows Mobile Smartphone. There isn't much information available on this, but there is a trial version! So if you've been thinking about doing some expense tracking, you might want to download the trial version and this possibly purchase a license. You can do all that from our affiliate store. :)

"Maury County E-911 dispatchers watched in fascination as their global positioning satellite system tracked a series of false calls Thursday afternoon � to a 14-year-old student on a school bus. ''When we saw a pattern to the calls, we started watching where they were being made from,'' said E-911 Director Freddie Rich. ''We could see the route the vehicle was taking, and we heard kids laughing in the background, so I called the school transportation department and asked if they had a bus near Theta Pike and Highway 43..."

Not the most productive, life-saving use of this technology, but hey, you have to start somewhere. :lol:

Syware recently released a free expense tracking application for Smartphones. The application is developed using Syware's FoneDB, their forms and database development environment for Smartphones.

"FoneDB Expense Tracker provides individuals with the ability to track expenses, such as food, travel, and lodging, then e-mail the information to other Smartphone devices or to a desktop computer. Using check boxes, dropdown lists, date categories, and notes, information can be entered with a minimum of typing. A summary of expenses can be automatically e-mailed to other phones or to a desktop computer. Using the associated ODBC driver, FoneDB data can be easily imported into other applications such as Microsoft Access, Excel, or Goldmine. Expense data can also be viewed and edited directly on a desktop computer."

Syware's announcement regarding FoneDB Expense Tracker contains two interesting aspects, apart from the actual product itself:

1. Syware does not seem to like locked Smartphones or Mobile2Market, and are probably not alone with that:
"In addition to FoneDB's intuitive development environment, individual applications developed with FoneDB do not have to be digitally signed before they can be run on a Smartphone. This means that the costly and time consuming task of securing a digital signature is not needed before a FoneDB application can be deployed on a Smartphone."

2. It can get quite expensive to use FoneDB as a development environment due to licensing costs:
"FoneDB is available for immediate purchase from the SYWARE online store at http://www.syware.com. It is priced at $399 and includes one license to create and modify the structure of a FoneDB database, one FoneDB ODBC driver license, and run-time licenses for 10 individuals. Additional licenses are available as follows: 10-pack run-times for $50, 100-pack run-times for $300, 1000-pack run-times for $1000."