mobile
Communicate
Mobile Gmail Showdown: The Webapp Versus A Mail Client
2:00AM Gina Trapani | Now that Google’s made some much-needed improvements to Gmail’s mobile webapp, should you abandon your smartphone’s email client for its browser? Let’s find out. More »
Fix
12:00PM Angus Kidman | Netbooks are an obvious candidate for mobile broadband, but often require a little tweaking before you can get them to work. Over at our sibling site Gizmodo, Nick details the process for getting 3’s Internet key to work on notebooks like the HP Mini 2140, which has a lower resolution screen than 3’s software expects. If your problem is getting 3G broadband working on a Linux-based Eee PC, check out our earlier guide but bear in mind that some more recent modem models won’t work without some significant hacking.
How To: Get Your 3 Internet Key Working With Low-Res Screened Netbooks [Gizmodo]
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Get 3’s Internet Key Working On Smaller Screens
12:00PM Angus Kidman | Netbooks are an obvious candidate for mobile broadband, but often require a little tweaking before you can get them to work. Over at our sibling site Gizmodo, Nick details the process for getting 3’s Internet key to work on notebooks like the HP Mini 2140, which has a lower resolution screen than 3’s software expects. If your problem is getting 3G broadband working on a Linux-based Eee PC, check out our earlier guide but bear in mind that some more recent modem models won’t work without some significant hacking.
How To: Get Your 3 Internet Key Working With Low-Res Screened Netbooks [Gizmodo]
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Money
1:30PM Angus Kidman | The experience of accessing banking sites on a mobile phone is often highly variable, so we’ll be interested to see how the Commonwealth Bank’s new mobile banking site, which claims to work on “any internet enabled mobile phone”, works in practice. One minor restriction: you have to be registered for the bank’s SMS security system before you’re allowed to use the mobile platform. Aside from the expected balance checking and funds transfer features, one sensible option is to search for the nearest ATM (driven by Google Maps).
NetBank Mobile
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Commonwealth NetBank Swarms Onto Mobile Phones, Still Needs SMS
1:30PM Angus Kidman | The experience of accessing banking sites on a mobile phone is often highly variable, so we’ll be interested to see how the Commonwealth Bank’s new mobile banking site, which claims to work on “any internet enabled mobile phone”, works in practice. One minor restriction: you have to be registered for the bank’s SMS security system before you’re allowed to use the mobile platform. Aside from the expected balance checking and funds transfer features, one sensible option is to search for the nearest ATM (driven by Google Maps).
NetBank Mobile
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Work
Firefox Mobile (AKA Fennec) Hits Beta
1:30AM Kevin Purdy | Mozilla’s Firefox-like mobile browser, Fennec, has reached its first beta release, with TraceMonkey-backed JavaScript, better support for add-ons, “gestures” and no-button browsing, and a few other neat developments. The full release notes show what’s new in Beta 1, but most people will want to know how to get it on their phones. And the answer is, still, not quite yet—this release is only officially supported on Nokia N810 tablets, or in a kind of emulator for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Most of the changes between the alpha releases and this beta are faster, faster, and faster—panning, zooming, start-up, and other performance tweaks. Check out the video walkthrough of the Beta1’s new features. Fennec is a free download for Nokia N810 tablets and Windows, Mac, and Linux systems. Fennec M12 (Beta 1) for Maemo release notes [Mozilla via Gizmodo] More »
Work
Google Spreadsheets Adds Mobile Editing
8:00AM Adam Pash | A year ago, Google enabled read-only access to your Google Spreadsheets from your mobile browser. Now the Google Docs team has added editing capabilities to Google Spreadsheets from popular phones, including the iPhone and Android phone. The excitement you feel at this announcement probably depends on how big of a spreadsheet junkie you are. For example I love the idea of tracking expenses from my phone using one of the many personal finance templates available at the Google Docs template gallery—but I was born at least a quarter spreadsheet junkie. If you’ve got your own killer use for a little spreadsheet editing on your mobile device, let’s hear it in the comments. Add, edit, sort, and filter: Improved mobile access to spreadsheets [The Official Google Docs Blog] More »
Work
Mobile Firefox Alpha May Release Next Week
9:15AM Adam Pash | A few months back we gave you a sneak peak at Fennec, the innovative version of Firefox for mobile devices, and now it looks like the mobile browser could hit your Windows Mobile device as early as next week. On the first alpha release, Mobile Firefox will target the HTC Touch Pro, so it may not be up to snuff for most WinMo devices, so if you’re really aching to test drive Fennec, you can always install and test it on your desktop. [via Download Squad] More »
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Video MobileConverter Formats Flicks For Small Screen
9:00PM Kevin Purdy | Windows only: BitTorrent super-host The Pirate Bay claims its ViO MobileConverter tool reduces nearly any video’s size by 20 percent and converts it for mobile devices faster than anything else. Let’s see about that. More »Christmas Gift Guide: Indestructible Phone
9:00AM Kym Weathersten | There’s nothing more infuriating (or expensive) than a mobile phone that doesn’t stand up to the most everyday of activities, like being smashed by a hammer, dropped in a beer bath or strapped to a rocket. If you’ve ever found yourself in this situation, Sonim has a sturdy solution to your woes. Engineered for sports enthusiasts and those who work in harsh environments, the military-spec, Bluetooth and Push-to-talk enabled XP1 is shockproof, waterproof, dustproof, extreme temperature-proof and, considering the 3-year unconditional warranty, moron-proof. Despite having been on the overseas market for over a year, the indestructible mobile remains the only one of its kind in Australia and is available at Crazy John’s for $549 outright. The device is hardly pretty, but it is something to consider for any adrenaline junkie, drunk, klutz, brickie or astronaut on the lookout for the ultimate in non-breakable mobiles, this Christmas.
[Christmas Gift Guide]
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Organise
Improve Your Google Experience With iPhone Optimised Sites
10:45AM Lifehacker US Edition | While you can load Google’s normal webapps in your iPhone browser, Google has iPhone-optimised versions for most of the popular ones. Google System compiled a list of URLs to bookmark on your iPhone for Google’s homepage, Apps, iGoogle, Gmail, Calendar, Reader, Docs, Talk and News. You can also use these on other mobile phone browsers, unless you have Windows Mobile and Mobile IE like I do. Want to see how the iPhone half lives? They’ll load just fine in Firefox as well. More »
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