Simple email alerts via text message

Here's a mobile tip for you that could save you plenty of time and even help you make some cash. Ever wanted to have immediate text message alerts when something happens of if you received an email or order etc... while away from your PC? No problemmo, you can easily email messages to your mobile via simple text message using your "special" email address from your carrier. For example, I now receive a txt alert is someone orders a job posting on our website. The system that receives our orders and provides notification simply also sends an email to phonenumber@tmomail.net - very simple. Below are the codes required so that anyone (almost) can do this themselves. Enjoy and give a try for yourself by sending an email to your number in the format appropriate for your carrier.

T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com
Cingular: phonenumber@cingularme.com
Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com
Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com

where phonenumber = your 10 digit phone number

Nokia Maps 3 and Location-Based Triggers

Interesting to see that on the heels of the official release of Nokia Maps 2, the company already has hinted at Nokia Maps 3, or at least what may be part of Maps 3... enter Location-based Triggers. Case in point, a filing at the World Intellectual Property Organization

So, what are location-based triggers? From the filing document, Location based triggering (LBT) can be utilized when providing services for various users to define actions that are triggered based on physical locations of objects, people, or any other point of interest (POI).

See more at WIPO - http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=2008056283

Thanks to TechAHA for providing us with this tip - See http://techaha.blogspot.com/2008/06/nokia-hints-at-nokia-maps-30.html

Several leaked Nokia devices Nokia N85, N79

Looks like someone blew it again and posted some photos on flickr showing devices from Nokia that have not yet been released. Among them, the Nokia N79, Nokia 5800 Express Music, Nokia N85 (slider), and Nokia 6260. See more
Seems to me that perhaps if an app like Geomarc was embedded into cameras it would be useful in tracking metadata on such "leaked" images

Forum Nokia Code Camp Competition winners - Flickret and CityLite

Forum Nokia has announced the winners of the 2008 Code Camp Competition - CityLite by MSCorp of Coral Springs, Florida. A mobile guide to night life and Flickret a mashup that combines the Flickr photo-sharing app with MapQuest APIs. The contest aimed at inspiring Forum Nokia Code Camp attendees to build Web Runtime (WRT) widgets and Flash applications. See more

Job opp J2ME mobile app developer

I have another colleague in search of developers if your interested. Company X is looking at developing a very cool mobile application - J2ME - supported by Symbian S60 smartphones like the N73, N95 etc... Ideally the app will also involve streaming data (like vids, photos) to a web server from the mobile and perhaps integration of the gMaps API into the web service. this is a very interesting opportunity for those interested also with a short timeline so someone is needed ASAP. Contact glenn at gisuser dot com if you want to be considered or need more info.

Qik live video streaming on my N95 8GB

Thanks to Robert Scoble for introducing me to Qik, a way cool app that enables smartphone users to stream live video to the Quik site. You can also chat in real time... way cool! See quik.com

N-Gage Game Inspires Human Snake

This out of the Nokia Press Bulletin Board... Snake, the most iconic mobile game franchise of all time, was the inspiration behind what could be arguably the world’s longest human snake. The streets of Lisbon, Portugal set the scene for the stop-motion film titled ‘Get out and play’ where more than one thousand volunteers took part in forming the famous snake.

Nokia World 2007 Video from Amsterdam

Just realized that I never shared my Nokia World video montage from Amsterdam last December... enjoy

Nokia releases Nokia Maps 2.0 - Drive, Walk, Discover

Finally out of Beta, Nokia Maps 2 is here. Updates include enhanced pedestrian navigation, new satellite images and support for integrated compass orientation. Nokia Maps 2.0 has improved its optional Car Navigation, enhanced its pedestrian navigation, added multimedia city guides, now offers satellite images, and is sporting a redesigned user interface. Nokia's mapping and navigation solutions give people navigation features, local content and world maps directly on their mobile device, in a way that only connected devices can. The tagline from Nokia... Drive, Walk, Discover... see http://www.maps.nokia.com

Nokia Labs - Nokia Text Messenger

The application fetches you the latest text messages from your connected Nokia device. Naturally, the latest messages are displayed first. A gadget for Windows Vista, Nokia Text Messenger comes in two different sizes. If you want to place the application in your Windows Sidebar, you can opt for Nokia Text Messenger in a smaller size. The sidebar gadget lets you view three text messages at a time. See more at http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/textmessenger

Nokia Beta Labs Introduces Nokia Step Counter

This comes from Beta Labs Blog... Nokia Step Counter does what it says on the tin: it counts the number of steps you take by analyzing how you ’shake’ your phone. Since most people have their phone with them everywhere they go, it is natural to use the accelerometer in an S60 product to track your daily activity. Download at http://www.nokia.com/betalabs/stepcounter

Tip - Nokia Labs' Location Tagger

With Nokia Location Tagger, you can automatically tag your location data to your pictures. As you take a picture, your GPS coordinates are saved to the EXIF header of the JPEG file. You can use this data later, for example, to locate your pictures on a map. Try it out!

GeoTagging with Shozu explained

Are you a mobile camera power user? If so then you know about Shozu (I hope) if not then you should, particularly if you like to blog your photos, flickr them or share them with others. Shozu recently updated to R4 and the geotagging support has been enhanced - to date I was never really happy with the results. Over on the Shozu Blog the team has provided a nice primer on how the shozu GeoTagging works and provides a cool tour of San Fran - see also shozu.com

Win a Nokia N95 from Utterz - see Get My Message Contest

Utterz has announced a chance for users to win a cool smartphone. Simply create your very own commercial, embed on your website and you could win. See details or jump to utterz.com

Nokia's Mobile Games Innovation Challenge

Nokia today launched the worldwide Mobile Games Innovation Challenge. the Mobile Games Innovation Challenge seeks the best in groundbreaking ideas and game concepts from the brightest and most creative minds in mobile gaming today. Sponsored by Nokia Publishing, the Mobile Games Innovation Challenge invites developers to submit mobile gaming concepts to help drive mobile gaming to the next level, relying on the advanced features and functionalities of N-Gage compatible devices, and Java- or Symbian-based Series 40 or S60 devices from Nokia. developers wishing to compete for the Mobile Games Innovation Challenge can submit their game concepts online at http://developer.n-gage.com/innovation

Deadline for submission of all applications is August 20, 2008 at 11:59 p.m. GMT.

User generated content, WHERE platform, Nokia N95 - hot at LBS Challenge

One couldn't help noticing a few trends in this year's Navteq LBS Challenge - perhaps you watched the award ceremony via live webcast? Some of the obvious trends that I noticed while getting the skinny on the finalists:
- the uLocate WHERE developer platform is the developer tool of choice this year for LBS apps - 10 of the top 15 apps used WHERE!
- The Nokia N95 seemed to be the device of choice for demos - most of the demos I saw were running on the N95, although not the N95 8GB... odd!
- According to Navteq, more than half of this years' apps incorporated some form of user-gerated content - of note, last year the hot trend was social networking apps.
See more at www.lbschallenge.com or www.lbszone.com

The latest from Shozu ?

I recently updated my Shozu to the latest release. I have to admit, I'm on the fence with this update. I'm constantly having issues getting uploads to go through (ie. they are all stalled in a queue). The navigation is way diff than the last release and as far as I can tell I can no longer get flickr comments sent to my device - a feature that was awesome! Contacts backup is no longer supported either. See www.shozu.com

Event of interest - Explore the Mobile Future

Heads up on this one... Carnegie Mellon, UC Berkeley Conference to Explore the Mobile Future, April 22. Details - Acknowledging the rise of handheld mobile devices as a dominant computing platform both in the United States and abroad, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California at Berkeley have joined together to sponsor “The Mobile Future: Technology Revolutionizing Our Lives.” The one-day conference gathers leading academics, researchers, pundits and industry experts to discuss their visions of this mobile future, along with technology and business models for achieving them. The conference will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., April 22 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, Calif. For more details, please visit http://west.cmu.edu/sofcon08/13867052.html.