Cell phone accessories blog

Remember that little old BlackBerry app for MySpace that premiered last week? Apparently it struck a chord with users because RIM reported just after midnight on Friday (EST), that it hosted more downloads for the product's first week than it has for any other app.

While 400,000 downloads in one week for the BlackBerry-compatible MySpace software is a drop in the bucket compared to Firefox 3's 1 million downloads in 24 hours, it did beat out the initial release of RIM's Facebook app.

RIM did not reply with comparative numbers.

In a statement, RIM's co-CEO Jim Balsillie regards the download count as a proof of "an evolving consumer lifestyle where social connectivity and information access are more important than ever." Yet, the spike could as easily correspond to a more concerted marketing push, to a growing adoption of BlackBerry phones among consumers versus business users, or to first-time BlackBerry owners responding to the sexier looks of the Bold and Storm.

Either way, RIM has a lot of work to do if it wants to join Mozilla in the Guinness Book of World Records.

(Credit: AOL)

It's been a busy two days for AOL Mail. On Wednesday, AOL launched a beefier version of the AOL Mail gadget for iGoogle. On Thursday, AOL won a few more fans with the introduction of its beta feature AOL Sync.

AOL Mail for iGoogle improves upon the previous gadget by replacing the preview-only capability with functionality that lets you compose, reply, and fully manage your in-box from the iGoogle page.

AOL Sync beta, launched today, targets mobile and desktop users with the ability to sync their AOL address book and calendar in real time to Microsoft Outlook, the iPhone, BlackBerry, phones running Windows Mobile, and phones made by Nokia, Motorola, and Samsung.

You'll get started on AOL's Sync site, where you'll sign in to get access to the mobile or Outlook plug-in. On that end, AOL has turned to Funambol, which brings open-source push synchronization to companies like AOL.

It's a little disappointing that AOL Sync beta won't yet sync e-mail, but we're always big fans of two-way syncing and if this beta catches on, message-syncing would be the next logical step.

(Credit: Torch Mobile)

Here's a fairly new, fairly stealth specimen for all you mobile browser buffs. The Iris Browser is a beta-only offering produced by Torch Mobile, a start-up that presented at last week's Under the Radar conference.

While the beta for Windows Mobile phones 5+ is publicly available, consumers won't likely be able to download it themselves in its full incarnation. The company will convert beta testers' feedback into a more robust product to sell to manufacturers, who will brand the browser as their own.

I've been trying out the Iris Browser nonetheless--it's got a full enough feature set to stand up to many of the third-party mobile browsers out there. Built on the open-source WebKit code, it's got a lot of what we already see in Opera Mobile, Skyfire, and Mozilla's mobile Firefox alpha, Fennec: search, various rendering views, zoom, bookmarking, a mouse, find in page, image capture, and tabs.

Iris Browser's resolution is good, but page loading was on the slow side. Because its mostly void of branding, it looks a little plain, but beta testers may appreciate the singular way it bounces when you switch tabs and the way links bubbles like boiled water when you click. For those of you Windows Mobile owners intent on browser comparison, Iris Browser beta is worth an informational look.

Click for more pics.

(Credit: CBS Interactive/James Martin)

V-moda has gained quite a reputation for its stylish, low-profile earbuds. The good word has been helped along by the fact that these 'phones are not just lookers, but they offer impressive sound quality as well. The latest model to be pumped out of the V-moda factory, the Vibe II, is no exception. This $128 pair offers: solid sound quality; a sleek design with a unique cable and a built-in mic for use with the iPhone and other music phones; and an updated plug housing that's designed to withstand more wear and tear than previous models. Just make sure that you love bass before plopping down the dough for these earphones.

What's better than jamming along to guitar rock on Guitar Hero Mobile? Smashing some drums and battling other players to climb the charts of mobile stardom on the latest in the mobile franchise, Guitar Hero World Tour Mobile (review).

The handheld version of Activision's Guitar Hero World Tour console game is making its way around the carriers; at the time of writing, it's already available on AT&T and Sprint (Verizon is expected on November 28.)

Before you subscribe or buy, check out our First Look video to see the new drumming gameplay, hear the better sound, and get the lowdown on multiplayer mode.

I beat my first opponent. Are you next?

P.S. For best results, play to the very end.

Updated on 11/20/08 to correct details about Qik's social uploads.

Last week I learned of mobile video-broadcasting application Bambuser. Since then, I've compared it side-by-side with its direct competitor, Qik. The similarities between the two are more than skin deep: both turn the cell phone's camera into a live recorder and stream the video online, both allow viewers to chat with the videographer by flashing the message on the screen, and both are currently in development mode. They also both let you integrate with Twitter, Pownce, and a variety of other social networks.

While Qik, in beta, comes out the clear winner in interface, features, privacy, and performance, Bambuser, in alpha, offers two reasons to keep paying attention: geotagging and support for Web cams.

Qik on BlackBerry.

(Credit: Qik)

Qik is more sophisticated application overall, but Bambuser can automatically geotag videos from Symbian phones or manually place you on a map online if you're using Windows Mobile.

In addition to harnessing the phone's camera, Bambuser can also configure your Web cam to stream your video live if your subject or stage is stationary--a litter of puppies, for instance, or your own face.

Qik has the better product and handset reach, but it could stand to learn from Bambuser's flexibility. They could both work on expanding their mobile applications to make it easier to publish videos to a variety of outside sources (like Facebook, the elephant in the room), and to add greater context both before and after streaming the video. I'm thinking of something along the lines of Juicecaster's rich photo- and video-sharing service, which wouldn't stray from the livecasting that makes these apps so ripe for generating instant newscasts and fly-on-the-wall videos.

Want to try Bambuser or Qik for yourself? Check your phone's compatibility here with Qik or Bambuser.

An iPhone sleeve that looks like bacon.

(Credit: Antje)

Do you like bacon? Do you like your iPhone? Would you want to dress your iPhone in bacon? Well now you can...sort of.

A German accessory company called Antje has created this delicious-looking iPhone sleeve out of a decidedly nonmeaty felt (Or at least it looks like felt from the pictures). It's only around 25 euros (or $31), so you can go and show off your bacon and iPhone love to the world. But make sure you don't accidentally stick your iPhone in the frying pan, OK?

(Via Engadget Mobile)

(Credit: LogMeIn)

There's some good news for BlackBerry owners with broken or misbehaving phones on their hands: starting Monday, service providers and company IT departments using LogMeIn Rescue+Mobile to remotely cure mobile phones from whatever ails them can now support BlackBerry phones.

LogMeIn Rescue+Mobile is desktop software with a mobile component that lets technicians access the phone's entire file system from their remote dashboard (previous coverage). Prior to this release for BlackBerry OS 4.3+, the remote control software was compatible for Windows Mobile 5+, Symbian UIQ 9.0+, and Symbian S60 7.0+, in addition to Windows desktop and Mac OS X platforms.

In case you start fantasizing about trying out LogMeIn Rescue+Mobile on your little brother's phone, one look at the price will remind you of the app's business purpose: the cost starts at $1,956 per technician per year.

Individuals who want to stick to LogMeIn's more casual remote log-ins for productivity or diagnostic desktop purposes should turn to LogMeIn (Windows | Mac) or LogMeIn Free (Windows).

Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch touts Flash for mobile phones at the Adobe Max conference.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET Networks)

SAN FRANCISCO--Inspired by a new generation of smartphones, Adobe Systems has begun a new, higher-power effort to spread its Flash technology to mobile devices.

The company has worked for years on a lightweight incarnation of its Flash technology for mobile phones, but it now is working to bring the full-fledged Flash Player 10 to higher-end smartphones, Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch said at Adobe's Max conference here.

"We are midst of evolving Flash Player 10 for mobile," Lynch said. "We're taking the full Flash Player and making that run on the higher end of the mobile market."

Adobe naturally isn't the only company that wants to supply the plumbing for applications that run on mobile devices as well as PCs. Sun Microsystems has had some success spreading Java to mobile phones, and it's been working for months on a fancier alternative called JavaFX. And Microsoft, which also has legions of programmers familiar with its technology and development tools, is working hard on Windows Mobile.

Still no Flash for iPhone
Lynch demonstrated Flash Player 10 on devices running Nokia's Symbian operating system, Microsoft's Windows Mobile, and Google's Android operating system. But the quintessential example of the new family of smartphones, Apple's iPhone, so far remains only on the wish list.

"This needs a little more baking. We need to pass the taste test of Apple's head chef," Lynch said as he retrieved an iPhone from a pan full of mobile devices, turning enthusiastic whistles and cheering from a crowd of thousands into a disappointed hubbub. But Adobe is working on it, he said.

Naturally, nobody from Apple shared the stage with Lynch. Google Android leader Andy Rubin, by contrast, made an appearance after Lynch's demonstration of Flash on a T-Mobile G1, the first phone powered by Google's mobile operating system.

That Adobe was able to bring its software to Android affirms Google's strategy of building an "open platform (intended) to give a better Internet experience on cell phones," Rubin said. "Today, seeing Flash 10 makes me feel really warm. It was exactly what Android was built for."

Flash is used for YouTube's streaming video, and Lynch demonstrated a Windows Mobile phone playing a video hosted on the Google service. (The iPhone can show YouTube videos, too, but only after they've been transcoded into a different streaming format.)

Fresh AIR
Flash got its start as a Macromedia technology that could give Web sites animation and basic games. Adobe acquired Macromedia and embraced its vision of turning Flash into a much fuller computing foundation. One key to that foundation is what's called AIR, the Adobe Integrated Runtime, a downloadable software package that lets people run Flash applications outside the browser and when offline.

The New York Times is working on an AIR application that will let people read the International Herald Tribune in a format that looks more like newspaper and less like a Web page. It includes keyboard navigation controls, a browsing mode for the equivalent of flipping through the paper, a crossword that could be filled out, and video advertisements.

The application checks for new content every few minutes, but it can be used offline, too, with the stories and photos that already have been downloaded, said Michael Zimbalist, vice president of research and development at the Times.

Adobe released AIR 1.5 Monday, a version that inherits Flash Player 10 abilities such as better text rendering, support for right-to-left text scripts such as Arabic, multichannel audio, and 3D effects.

Like Flash, AIR is headed for the mobile world. Lynch also demonstrated AIR 1.5 running on a Linux-based Aigo miniature computer--what Intel likes to call a MID, or mobile Internet device. It was using an Intel Atom processor, and the same New York Times application ran on it.

Making Flash Lite easier
Although Adobe has elevated the status of the full Flash Player 10 on mobile devices, it's still working on Flash Lite.

Lynch acknowledged that it's hard to actually run Flash content with existing technology. Now, though, Flash Lite applications can be shared as a simple Web address, he said, and if Flash Lite isn't installed, it can be retrieved automatically.

"You can package your application built with Flash and deploy it to smartphones like Windows Mobile and Symbian, and we hope to get to Android as well," Lynch said. "If you don't already have Flash Lite, it will detect that and install it on your mobile phone over the air."

Flash includes auto-update technology so users generally have a current version installed, and Adobe plans to keep that philosophy with its push into the mobile realm, he added. Partners to help enable that update process include Cisco Systems, NTT DoCoMo, Verizon, Comcast, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Qualcomm, and ARM.

Lynch also boasted that Adobe is exceeding its goals for Flash on mobile phones.

"Our goal (was to make) a billion phones Flash-enabled by 2010," Lynch said. "We're actually going to get 1 billion Flash-enabled phones by 2009."

Click here for more news on Adobe's Max conference.

SlyDial, the telephone service that lets you dial directly to someone's voice mail, has launched three new mobile applications for users on Windows Mobile, Research In Motion's BlackBerry, and Apple's iPhone. The new apps have direct access to your phone's contact list so you can begin a SlyDial call without having to first phone in to the service then remember your contact's number.

All three are free, and with the exception of the iPhone app--which is pending Apple's approval, are available right now. The iPhone version is also the only one of the three that does not require you to be a registered SlyDial user to make calls.

Since we covered SlyDial's official launch back in July, it's added a handy feature that lets you assign numerical shortcuts to contacts you think you're going to call frequently. This lets you call them by dialing in the first four letters of their name (or nickname) followed by the # key.

Below is a demo of how this works on a BlackBerry, effectively giving you the option to SlyDial from anywhere via contextual menu: