Custom Tattoo creation, there’s and app for that now.

Today, Amidio Inc released Instattoo for iOS, the world’s first tattoo generator. Now you can use your iPhone or iPad to generate random, unique designs that can be printed and transferred to tattoo thermal transfer paper and turned into your own custom tat. This app doesn’t allow you to draw the tattoo, it lets you choose one of 12 built-in styles and let it randomly generate the tattoo using a unique algorithm to ensure that it’s unique. After the tattoo is generated, you can move it around to modify the design. The styles range from tribal to floral patterns.

We consider this a real breakthrough in the tattoo industry and just a really cool entertainment / design app for the creative people.

The app employs an advanced algorithm to generate the designs on a random basis (no predefined pictures are used) and makes it possible to further manipulate them in a kaleidoscope-like manner with a simple swipe gesture. Thanks to the ability to change design sizes, modes and styles, Instattoo can be used to create literally billions of fantastic tattoos.

Features at a glance:

• The FIRST Tattoo Generator in the WORLD!
• ONE tap to generate a new UNIQUE tattoo
• Fully INTERACTIVE tattoo design process, NO DRAWING
• Easy controls: swipe to discover new shapes, pinch to zoom
• 12 built-in tattoo styles, male/female/unisex
• 5 tattoo sizes from S to XXL
• 5 tattoo generation modes
• “Revert to previous design” feature
• Share via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, email
• Print via AirPrint, broadcast to any external computer via Wi-Fi
• + Save Hi-Res picture to the Camera Roll
• + Save Hi-Res transparent .png to Application Folder

The concept is pretty cool but only if you like the styles offered. I am not a fan of tribal tattoos or random shapes/designs, I prefer realistic, contemporary style tattoos.

This app has given me an idea for tattoo studios. Instead of 1000′s of tattoo flash art on the walls and in books, transfer them to an iPad. When a customer walks in without an idea for their tattoo, let them choose from your design choices, allow access to your portfolio, and offer Instattoo all on one iPad. It would be an all in one idea book on the device.

The app is on iTunes for $4.99 now. For more information, check out their website.

Instattoo – World’s First Tattoo Generator App is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

The Facebook for Windows Phone team is listening to users and promises a big update soon. On their own Facebook page this morning, the team announced some of the  v2.5 changes that are being tested now. The more important news is that they are reading comments and listening to users. The initial version of Facebook for Windows Phone was awful and very limited, much like Skype is currently. The 1st major update to the Windows Phone Facebook app was great and added tons of functionality, but still not up to speed with the Android and iOS Apps. It’s great to see Windows Phone app getting some love now.

Stay tuned to the Facebook page for updates on the release.

What is in store for v2.5? Plenty.

• Full Facebook threaded messaging including group messaging, all in a beautiful Metro style design.
• Tagging - Now you can tag friends and locations in your posts in the ‘with’ and ‘at’ format.
• Delete posts and comments - Use the tap and hold context menu to delete posts and comments from your wall.
• Active links in posts - Tap on links in posts to go directly to the content.
• Updates to the photo comments and likes page - The photo comments and likes page has been updated to match the posts comments and likes page. You can see a hint of the image at the top of the page, pull down and you can see the whole thing.
• Like comments – you can now ‘like’ comments!

Since I don’t really use Twitter anymore, I now rely on Facebook to keep up with my online friends, High School and Navy friends, and family. One of the frustrations I’ve encountered going back and forth from Android to Windows Phone is parity. I was able to do things with Android that the Windows Phone app wouldn’t allow.

Source: Facebook (Via)

Facebook Planning a Big Update for Windows Phone App is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

On Friday, the guys behind ChevronWP7 announced that the program is now officially over. Those that participated in this program to unlock our Windows Phone devices were actually part of a “Beta Test” apparently. The program was put in place to give us an easy way to unlock our Windows Phone device. While many users like me used the unlock to be able to run “Homebrew” apps, the program was really in place for development reasons. It was meant to be an inexpensive way for users to dabble into app development.

According to the post on the ChevronWP7 website, this project served two purposes for Microsoft. The 1st was to get folks excited about unlocking and “Homebrew” and the 2nd was to get more developer support. They did a great job with the 1st goal, but admit the 2nd goal fell short of expectations. Microsoft knows it needs developers behind Windows Phone and I guess this was another way to try to get more.

If you recall, they announced that they would no longer be selling unlock tokens back in January, but they mentioned on Twitter that the unlock solution was officially sanctioned and FUTURE PROOF. What did future proof mean? I took it as my HTC Titan is unlocked for good. Apparently that wasn’t the case or I miss understood that meaning.

We’d like to remind folks that our unlock solution is officially sanctioned and is future proof. ^ RR

— ChevronWP7 (@ChevronWP7) December 15, 2011

What happens now?

If you have an unlock provided by ChevronWP7, you have 120 days left. I guess it will magically relock on August 11, 2012. You have an option that will extend your unlocked freedom though. Microsoft is offering a FREE Microsoft App Hub account. There is a catch, you have to sign up and pay for this account, sit back and wait for Microsoft to reimburse you. This account is for 1 year and after that, you’d have to pay $99/yr to continue.  How long will it take to get your money back?

All eligible refunds will be processed monthly 60 days after April 13, 2012. It may take up to 60 additional days for the refund to appear on your credit card statement.

Yes, you read that right. Microsoft will give you a free 1 year account, but you have to pay up front and then wait at least 60 days and up to 120 days later.

There are other options out there to be able to unlock your Windows Phone and I will start looking into to them soon.

I am pretty upset with all of this since I am one of many that purchased this unlock to be able to run apps that the “Homebrew” community provides us. Since the only app I really use often is to allow me to provide the readers of GBM screenshots, I am going to just let my 120 days expire. I don’t have the cash to float Microsoft and by the time the 120 days are up, I might have a new Windows Phone to use for testing apps and accessories. The lack of ability to take screen shots easily is a feature that I have been crying about for a long time. It’s time that Microsoft add this feature since Windows Phone isn’t really being marketed at enterprise users, there is no real reason to be concerned with the security reason that Microsoft says is behind the choice to leave screenshots out of Windows Phone.

After reading comments about this situation, some users seem to be happy with the offer of a free year, but others are with me in that they thought this was permanent. Getting a free year to use a service I don’t need isn’t enough to curb my disappointment and having to float Microsoft $99 for a few months is no way to do business with average users like me.

I think that this is bad news for Microsoft, not the negative publicity that they need at this point in Windows Phone’s growth.

ChevronWP7 for Windows Phone Shuts Down. What Does Future Proof Mean? is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

Today a reader commented on “Moving from Android to Windows Phone  7 Part 6: The Verdict“, an article I posted last fall when I switched from the Motorola Atrix as my personal daily driver to the HTC Titan. The comment asked me why I had returned back to the Titan and Windows Phone after I had announced that I was going to stick with Android. I started typing and before long, I realized that my reply was way too long to be a comment and decided to turn it into a post here on GBM.

The end result of the Windows Phone 7 series I wrote had me return to Android again with the purchase of the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket. I then switched back to the HTC Titan for a couple of weeks and returned the Skyrocket, and finally back to Android again with my purchase of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon. Since I updated that article in late November, I have been using the Galaxy Nexus as my personal phone and the HTC Titan on and off as my work phone.

Windows Phone, iOS, Android: Mobile OSes and Me! is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

After a few months of installing, removing, and installing more apps, hacks, etc, It was time to wipe the canvas and start over again. This weekend I wiped my Galaxy Nexus and returned it to stock to get set for trying another custom ROM I have read so much about. This one is called Gummy, but I believe some refer to it as GummyNex. For the last couple of months, I have been running Codename Android and prior to that Android Revolution HD. According to battery tests that on of our commentors performed on the main Galaxy Nexus ROMs, Gummy and Android Revolution lead the pack in battery tests.

Both of those were good ROMs and I didn’t have an ounce of trouble. Revolution HD didn’t have too many extras baked in, but Codename Android did. I was worried about all the extras I would have to install to keep the functionality I have got used to, but Gummy has a ton built it too.

Here are the features, as listed on XDA Developers.

• AOSP build based on 4.0.3 complied by me
• ImoseyON Lean Kernel OC / UV with OC’d GPU support for init.d and swap support - Credit Imoseyon
• Performance Settings – Credit CM / Jrummy16 / Kejar31 / Stevespear426
• GUI manageable init.d scripts tweaks – Credit Jrummy16 / Kejar31
• Customisable SystemU tweaks – credit Xoomdev / Syaoran12 / Kejar31
• Battery % always available in the lockscreen (now with the option to turn on and off) – Credit Syaoran12
• Faster rotation initiation – Credit XoomDev / Kejar31
• T9 Dialer – Credit CM
• Quad Lockscreen with open customizable seats, AOSP locckecreens and Rings Lockscreens
• Customizable battery icons options ( Hide, miui, stock, fat battery with %, side bar with % and circle)
• Softkeys can be turned on and off(only for G-Nex)
• LED settings – credit Romanbb
• ApexLauncher – credit Android Does
• Pulldown Widgets – credit – CM
• OI FileManager (compiled with the ICS SDK)
• Softkey Mod and settings – Credit XoomDev / Icons – WJD Designs
• FaceBook contact sync – Credit Roman
• AOSP Wifi tether enabled
• Busybox
• Su and Superuser apk – Credit ChainsDD
• Android Term – Credit jackpal
• Stk
• Livewallpapers compiled and included
• Custom Gummy live wallpaper
• AppWidgetPicker – credit boombuler
• All png’s are optimized during build via CM script and PNG Crunch
• Compcache support

 This ROM does it all.

It has a program called ROM Toolbox built-in too. This program offers a ton of funtionality that makes dozens of tasks easier for inexperienced ROM users like me. You can set system font, boot animations, adjust pixel density, install mods and ROMs, and much more without having to connect your phone to your computer to upload files. It helped me do things I was too lazy to do before. This isn’t part of the actual ROM, just an extra program the ROM added.

Instead of Nova Launcher I had been using, Gummy comes with ApexLauncher built-in. This launcher does what Nova did for me and more, but I am not using all the features it brings.

Gummy has a Power Widgets, a set of switches that are displayed when you pull down your notifications bar. You can turn LTE on/off without having to download another single mod to accomplish the same task. These widgets can be turned on/off and even reordered right in the system settings under the Gummy Settings sub section.

Plenty of UI tweaks are available including the ability to change the colors of many UI elements.

There is too much to say in one post to be honest. Here’s another of my ridiculously long videos taking you through some of the aspects of this ROM on my Galaxy Nexus.

I haven’t run the ROM long enough to comment on battery life, especially with all the time I have had it in my hands tweaking my new look. I will report back on this after a couple of weeks of use. I can say that it runs smooth and I haven’t had any issues over the last day or so. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask in the comments section.

The lock screen has a couple of options with the “Ring Lockscreen” style that I have chosen to use. (pictured right and center) You can unlock normally, unlock directly to the camera, and you can unlock directly to apps of your choosing as well.

On the right, you will see my setup. I have tweaked the pixel density down to 280 and using ApexLauncher, I have set the amount of screens to ONE, yes… ONE! That’s all I need. I set the grid, again using ApexLauncher, to 6×5 without the Google search bar. I have several different widget programs put together to create the top area. The vertical clock in the top left is a 1×4 One More Clock widget. The part that says Chris Leckness is a widget 2×1 that I put together using Simple Text and it’s linked to my Facebook app. The weather widget and the 4 1×1 switch widgets below it are part of Beautiful Widgets. The GottaBeMobile text is there to fill the big void that I had there and is using yet another widget app called AmazingText. It’s linked to my posts here so I can keep up with comments on the go. The folders have no background and this is accomplished via an option in ApexLauncher. I changed the color of the softkeys to white through settings that are a part of the Gummy ROM.

If you check out the top of the left screenshot, you will find the Power Widgets and you can see the custom carrier text option that I set to “Roll Tide” in the same screenie. On the right, you can see the return of individual volume controls. This is an option feature that is built right in to Gummy 0.9.0.

Here are the settings areas for this ROM. You can spend hours messing around with them too, trust me.

Overall, I am extremely pleased with this ROM and all that it offers. It makes something that I have always been too lazy to do, fun and simple. Happy Modding GBM’ers.

Disclaimer: You can jack things up messing around with ROMs if you don’t follow instructions. Please use caution. I am a ROM Noob myself and I am getting it done by reading, then reading again. Be careful.

The 3rd Custom ROM for My Verizon Galaxy Nexus, GummyNex 0.9.0 [VIDEO] is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

I am not exactly sure why I have been playing around with my phones so much lately, but it is fun to drastically change your phone’s appearance from time to time. Last night, I shared how you can make your Galaxy Tab 10.1 look like a Windows 8 Tablet and a while back I shared a neat Dreamboard theme that allows an iPhone to emulate the look and feel of Windows Phone 7. Tonight, I am sharing a way to get your Android phone to look like Windows Phone 7. So far, this has been the best Windows Phone theme I have tried on any platform. It’s actually a launcher and replaces your stock launcher, in my case it replaces Nova Launcher.

This launcher is called Launcher7. It’s free at the Google Play Store, but you can opt to buy the $1.99 version to eliminate ads. I don’t find the ads too intrusive as they only seem to be on the app launcher screen. As far as I can tell, it works on most versions of Android and I am using it on the Galaxy Nexus running ICS 4.03 with a custom ROM. You can run it without a custom ROM too.

Check out this video I recorded showing it in action:

Here are the files I used to pull off what I have set up so far:

• WP7Lock Lite - The Windows Phone lock screen.
• Launcher7 - The main component. This is the replacement launcher that pulls this all off.
• WP Contact - The contact list I showed.
• WP Calculator – I didn’t use this one.
• Listview Theme – I didn’t use this one.
• Photo Safari - I didn’t use this one. Turns your photo gallery into a Windows Phone gallery.
• Zplayer - I didn’t use this one. Give your music player the Zune/WP7 look.

The left screen shot is a product of WP7Lock Lite, the screen shot in the center is the main screen of Launcher7, and the right hand shot is the app launcher portion of Launcher7.

For icons and tiles for you to customize even more, head here, a blog for Launcher7 icons.

I might actually use the GNex with this launcher for a while. It’s pretty smooth and I haven’t run into any major problems. I only use 1 page with the standard ICS launcher anyhow. I don’t use widgets at all. This will work just fine for me and might even turn a few heads.

Windows Phone 7 on Your Android Phone is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

If you are into modding your Galaxy Tab, XDA Developers user BroBot175 has a fresh look for you, MetroUI. It’s amazing what kind of work people do with open platforms.

This modification brings the exciting look and feel of Windows 8 to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 now. The application that enables the look and the matching theme is flashable via ClockworkMod recovery. This mod is currently in Beta, but BroBot175 seems to be working hard on it. He has set up a website complete with instructions on how to set the mod up on your Tab 10.1 or Asus Transformer.

The most recent beta release added support for those running ICS. This modification goes way beyond a simple theme with icons that look like Metro, there are widgets being developed for the mod.

Metro UI is based on the new look of windows 8 and bits of windows phone. i have tried to style it as i think it should look on our tabs so it is not an exact replica of windows 8. 

It has a few working widgets but more to come.

A full system theme is to come also and support for most tablets to !!

Check out the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 forum on XDA for more details enjoy !

Check it out in action!

With this theme getting the attention it has grabbed already, it’s clear that people actually do like Microsoft’s Metro look. There are so many Microsoft hecklers are out there bashing Metro calling it, “boring”. I personally love it, but everyone is different. My son loves Metro on the Xbox 360 too.

What do you think of Metro? Fresh? Cool? Boring? Already Played out?

Source: XDA (via)

Metro UI Theme for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

It seems like quality Twitter clients for Windows Phone are popping up every day. There are already some high quality clients out there like Mehdoh, Carbon, and my favorite Rowi. The developers that brought us “…i’m a WP7!”, Liquid Daffodil, has recently released a pretty solid new Twitter client called glƏƏk! They tell us in the intro that it’s pronounced “Gl-uh-uh-ks” but let us know that we can pronounce it just how it looks, Gleek.

What makes this client different is an addition to the app that brings a new culture to Twitter. You have “Peeks”, which are random tweets from people you probably don’t even follow. As you are browsing through “Peeks”, you can “Gleek” a “Peek”. Basically, you have random tweets available for your viewing from people you probably don’t follow and you can retweet those random tweets. Peeks = Random Tweets. Gleeks = Retweets of Random Tweets aka “Peeks”.  Get it? Got it? Good. Took me 20 something minutes in the video to figure that out. If I would have read instead of just diving in, I could have mentioned that a lot sooner.

Here’s what Liquid Daffodi says about glƏƏk! on the Windows Phone Marketplace:

Get the coolest, fastest Twitter client available for Windows Phone!

glƏƏk! is the not only the most fully featured Twitter client on the Marketplace, but is also the ONLY app that will bring you random tweets (pƏƏks) from users around the world!

With glƏƏk! you get everything you’d expect from a full featured Twitter client including:

• View trends, searches, lists and memberships
• Send tweets, mentions, messages, replies
• Manage multiple accounts
• View tweet conversations 

But you also get: –

• Full landscape support, including Orientation Lock!
• Add text effects to your tweets, including ⓑⓤⓑⓑⓛⓔ ⓣⓔⓧⓣ!
• Pin everything to Start, including accounts, friends and lists!
• Full Light Theme, Dark Theme, and Today’s Pick support!
• Easy tap view of videos, images, and locations!
• View all retweets in a “jump list” 

If you have time, here’s a painfully long video I shot last night while I was checking glƏƏk! out.

I was impressed with the amount of detail that the developers put into glƏƏk, but there are some things that would prevent me from using the app for my daily use. The fact that I can not change the text size is a big issue. With all the real estate that today’s larger smart phones are giving us, I want to see as much as I can on one screen. The “Gleeks” and “Peeks” are trivial to me, but you can disable this function. There are some neat features that aren’t common in other clients, but they are not enough to set them apart. Don’t get me wrong, this is a well done Twitter Client, but I don’t need to replace other clients I am already using with it. For $1.99, you can’t go wrong either way.

Screen Shot Gallery

glƏƏk! – A New, Unique, Well Done Twitter Client for Windows Phone is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

Unless you are living under a rock, you know that Angry Birds Space was launched last week for Android and iOS. Windows Phone was left out as I expected, but later on launch day, Rovio changed their tune and said they would be working on a Windows Phone version. My assumption is that some higher power with a large bank account made it easier for the makers of Angry Birds to justify developing a Windows Phone version.

Over this past weekend, my son asked if I could grab Angry Birds Space so I headed to the store that Google has put together that is stocked with Android applications, games, music, and more. To my surprise, Angry Birds Space was free. I am not much of an Angry Birds fan, but I do recall versions on Android being free where the iOS version wasn’t. These free versions are ad-supported. I decided to give the game a whirl and let me tell you, I would rather pay $2.99 or so for the game than have an ad in my way. Sure, the ad can be pushed out-of-the-way and it even leaves on its own eventually, but it’s still annoying and cheapens the game in my opinion.

I had my wife check on her iPhone and Angry Birds Space for iOS is $0.99 and is ad free. I asked her if she would rather purchase a game for that price or get a free game with ads. She doesn’t agree with me, she said she would rather get the free app because she gets bored with games so fast that she has no regrets when it happens. Almost 90% of all the games on her iPhone are free apps. Some are free with in-game purchases that she opts out of buying and some are ad-supported. I guess that if it’s a game I don’t expect to play much, free is good, but I would rather eliminate ads and support developers, especially smaller shops.

What about you?

Take Our Poll

The Google store I referred to in the second paragraph is the Google Play Store. I think it was a horrible name change.

Here are links to download Angry Birds Space.

• iTunes (iPhone)
• iTunes (iPad)
• Google Play (Android)
• Amazon (Android)
• Nook (Android)

Also, don’t forget about bonus levels through Wal-Mart.

Free Games With Ads or Paid Apps Without? [Poll] is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

I have been working on a simple website for my son’s baseball team this weekend. The goal of the site is two fold, one to let parents know when the next game and/or practice is and to let the kids get excited seeing their names online with their stats. I thought this would be fun for the kids to track their performance.

I am using WordPress for the site and the layout is a mirror image of the main site for his league that I did.

I am not done with the site and still adding features. One of the features is the back end for the stats and results of the game. I have some CSS work to do for sure, but I have the players, teams, and schedules in place. Tonight, I was working on testing out the stat input. I had planned to keep a tradition book and transfer the stats to the database manually after each game.

As you can see in the screenshot above, the stats input is definitely manual, but not too tough looking. I was getting ready to input the stats from today’s Jamboree game that they won 8-4 and noticed that this WordPress Plugin, BaseballNuke, offered a way to import stats from a couple 3rd party scoring apps, iScore and Game Changer. Both allow for stat keeping using an iOS device or Android device. In addition, they allow you to access these stats online and use the data in other applications. I plan to try out the iScore app for Android (and possibly iOS as well) to track my son’s games and import the data into our website automatically. Tuesday is their 1st regular season game and I will put it through the 1st test then.

What is iScore?

ESPN iScore Baseball / Softball Scorekeeper is the easiest and most intuitive way to track a baseball or softball game. With the #1 Baseball Scoring app for the iPhone and iPod touch, you can score youth baseball/softball, high school games, college games, and even professional games just like the pros.

Features:

• Team Manager section — Manage teams, team rosters and lineup at game time.
• Quick Roster — Generate teams with any number of players.
• Scorebook Output — Record even the most complex plays. Every stolen base, pick-off and passed ball is tracked.
• Pitch Tracker — Tracks every pitch location, type (including Softball pitches!) and speed and includes a speckle chart, allowing you to review pitch history.
• Batting Spray Chart — Track hit locations as well as strength and type giving you an edge over the competition
• Built in iScoreCast and TwitterCast — Allows friends and family who are unable to attend the game to “watch” in real time from anywhere in the world. The entire game can even be replayed at a later date.
• Complete Scorebook Output — Beautiful traditional scorebook is automatically generated, even for people that don’t know how to keep a scorebook. Invaluable for leagues that require it.
• Intuitive Interview Scorekeeping — No need to learn cryptic ways of tracking a game. Even the most complex plays are scored with ease. Full base runner control means that every stolen base, pick-off and passed ball is tracked.
• Multilevel Undo/Redo — Return to any point in the game, from the first play of the game to the last.
• Data Sharing — Transfer games / teams between devices to save time entering data or to share statistics with others on your team or in your league

iScore seems to be the complete package for scoring baseball games, no matter what level or reason.

The support seems awesome too, they even have a series of videos demonstrating how to keep score with the app.

For more information about iScore, check out their website. You can download iScore for Android or iOS for $9.99.

iScore: Using Mobile to Score Baseball Games! is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

Yesterday was Twitter’s 6th Anniversary and KT put together a great list of awesome Twitter clients to honor this. The lone Windows Phone Representative was Rowi.

As you might know already, I have been doing a ton of Windows Phone Twitter client testing and videos. Back in November, I took a brief look at a handful of clients and I revisited the search last month and then did individual videos of my Top 3 Clients a few days later. Rowi was the winner by a slim margin. Needless to say, I think I have done more video showing off Twitter Clients for Windows Phone than actual device videos in the last few months.

Late last night, I received an updated version of Rowi from the developers. This was the 2.0 beta version that adds some neat new features to an already great app. I installed it an had a chance to give it a workout today. The current version in the Marketplace is 1.5 and sells for $2.99, which I might add is well worth the price. This version is not yet available and I don’t have an estimated date yet. The following video shows off some of the cool new features in more detail than you probably want, but here it is anyhow:

Note: In the video I mentioned that the Messages (DMs) were not threaded, they are. I got confused with another app. I don’t like showing this column in videos based on personal nature of DMs.

In the screenshots below you might notice that some have a dark background and some a light background. Rowi uses the phones theme/color in its own display.

So far, I love the changes. Adding options to allow the user to change some of the updates they’ve made back to the way they are used to is a great touch. For instance, the way you interact with individual tweets. Imagine the shock when someone that has been using Rowi for a while taps on a tweet expecting to head to the individual tweet view and they get the menu. If they like the way it was prior to 2.0, they can choose to change it back to the method they are used to. The “Now Playing” feature is a welcome addition. The metro style menu is nice as well but instead of scrolling left to right, I am thinking that stacking the tile options in 2 rows might look nicer. Maybe? Rowi was good before, now it’s better.

Links

• Marketplace Link
• Rowi Developer Video Preview

Windows Phone Twitter Client – Rowi 2.0 Beta Preview [Video] is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

Dropbox, the cloud storage service, just made it a lot easier to share your files with friends on Facebook. You no longer need to know your friends’ email addresses to share files with them, now you just need to friend them on Facebook.

Dropbox has added Facebook Connect to its service, so now you just need to go to the Dropbox website to share files with Facebook friends. The option works just like sending a message on Facebook. Just start typing your friend’s name in the text field, select them from the drop menu, and add a message if needed.

Yes, you can still share files in Dropbox using a friend’s email address, or by just sending them a link to the file or folder. All Dropbox has done is add a new way to share files.

The Dropbox service is good for more than just sharing files and folders with Facebook friends. It’s also a great way to keep some of your important files synced between multiple computers. Putting your files in the cloud with Dropbox is easier than carrying around a flash drive, though getting more than 2GB of Dropbox service is a bit more expensive.

Dropbox is also a great way to sync files to your iPad, smartphone, or Android tablet. There are many apps, particularly writing apps, that use Dropbox to store files so you don’t have to worry about finding a way to get them off your mobile device and on a PC or Mac.

With the new Facebook, sharing it means that you can write something on your tablet or smartphone and send it to your Facebook friend quickly. You might not even need to involve your laptop or desktop in the process.

Dropbox Makes Sharing Files With Facebook Friends Easier is a post by Shawn Ingram from Gotta Be Mobile.

Two of my friends have faced off recently about Windows Phone with different views so I figured I would chime in as well. Matt Miller, James Kendrick, and I are all friends from the similar background online. We’re all very passionate about mobile, all three of us were Mobius members, we each have a PDA background, and James and I were Microsoft MVPs at one point.

James started off with “Windows Phone: The passionless platform“ and Matt followed up with “I am passionate about Windows Phone, just give it a try“. Before those that don’t know either of them personally, they both give every platform a fair shake and both have spent time with the old Windows Mobile before the iPhone came along. James says that he appreciates and likes Windows Phone but the platform just doesn’t provide him with a level of excitement that he gets from Android and iOS. Matt comes behind him and says that you have to use Windows Phone for more than a couple of weeks to appreciate the platform. He says it doesn’t have the “Mindshare” the others do, but those that have adopted Windows Mobile are passionate.

As the only one of us that spent 6 years as a Windows Mobile/Phone MVP and the only one of us to have run a Windows Mobile focused website, I am in the middle on this discussion. You would think I would lean more towards Windows Phone than Matt even. Truth is, I want Windows Phone to succeed and I do want Microsoft to get back in the race, but there are several things holding them back. I want to get behind Windows Phone, but it’s tough to when I can’t even use a quality Windows Phone with my current carrier. Sure, I could leave Verizon and go back to AT&T, but I already spent $1,000 in early termination and new customer fees moving my family to Verizon in December. I can’t go back now. I know that this is a personal problem, but It shouldn’t be. Verizon and Sprint should have more than 1 token, outdated device in their portfolio. This isn’t my fault.

To the passion part of this. I have the passion. I want to use Windows Phone but I can’t.

• Android, while very versatile doesn’t excited me.
• iOS definitely doesn’t excite me.
• Windows Phone does excite me.

The good things that Microsoft has going for it with Windows Phone are Nokia and a unique OS that looks awesome, is easy to understand, and makes some tasks 10x simplier than the same tasks on the other platforms. If AT&T and Nokia weren’t behind Windows Phone as much as they are, I sincerely believe Microsoft would be in a bad place right now. They aren’t exactly in a happy place yet, but they are moving forward some.

What I don’t like about Windows Phone has nothing to do with the OS itself. It has to do with the specs and the marketing. While Nokia is marketing to what seems to be hip teens overseas, Microsoft is hopping on Oprah and Kelly type shows pushing the OS to “Mommies”. That’s fine, but don’t dumb down the OS down to appeal to soccer moms please. With the recent “Dumbing Down” of the hardware requirements, it’s clear that Microsoft is giving up on the power user in my opinion.

Like Matt and James, I have used pretty much every platform for extended periods of time. I will be honest and say that I have used Windows Phone the least between what I consider the main three. Part of that was during Windows Phone’s 1st year on the block. There were too many little things that were left out that needed to be there for it to be my daily driver. During that year, I used Android and iOS. I used the iPhone 4 for a few months and the Motorola Atrix for the rest of that time. During this time, I had the Samsung Focus and popped the Sim in every once in a while. After Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) dropped, I gave the HTC Titan a try before returning to Android and ultimately leaving AT&T for Verizon. Now I use the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. I have put my work sim in the Titan on occasion, but I am really waiting for the Nokia Lumia 900 to be released to use with my work sim or possibly get another AT&T line in addition to my Verizon line. The Nokia Lumia 900 is the Windows Phone “Flagship” phone I have been waiting on.

Unlike James, I have passion for Windows Phone but don’t use it. I think a lot like Matt in regards to Windows Phone.

I will say this again. Verizon and Sprint have to get behind Windows Phone for it to win in the US. I sincerely believe that Windows Phone does not have the power that Apple had to get people to switch carriers to use it. Instead of going backwards in hardware specifications, move forward. While it’s been proven that a phone with a single core processor can run Windows Phone as smoothly as a dual core running Android, why stop at that? Go Big, Go Dual, Go Quad. Give us more internal memory instead of making the carriers happy by pushing cloud storage!

Microsoft – I am passionate, but you guys are making it hard. Heck, I even made an offer to get a Windows Phone Tattoo.

Nokia – Thanks for helping Microsoft. Without you, they’d be in trouble.

I Am Passionate, But Can’t Use Windows Phone is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

Camera+, one of the most popular camera apps on the iPhone was just made a lot better thanks to an update that hit the App Store this morning. The update brought some new features for taking photos, easier photo importing , and a new API which will let other developers link to the app.

The API is easily the biggest new feature for Camera+ 3. With it users will be able to use Camera+ as the camera option in apps, assuming the app developers use it. The API has already been integrated into apps like WordPress, Tweetbot, Twitterrific, and Foodspotting. It might take a bit longer for Camera+ to launch as compared to the standard camera app, but it should result in better photos.

When taking photos Camera+ now includes the ability to lock your focus and exposure. With that photographers will be able to have more control over their photos.

If you have a number of photos in your photo library that you want to import Camera+’s Lightbox, that’s no longer an issue. The app finally supports multiple photo import from the photo library. After importing your photos you’ll be able to edit them in the new Lightbox UI, and share them over multiple Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr accounts.

If you want to share your photos right after taking them, you have that option. Or you can save the photos to the Lightbox and take multiple photos before sharing. The option is available as the new Workflow feature in the app’s menu.

The Clarity feature that makes your photos look better is now turned on. iPhone 4S users will see the biggest change with some new tweaks made specifically for that phone.

We were given an early look at the app before it hit the App Store, and the new features make the app a lot nicer than before. It doesn’t have as many filters as SmugMug’s new Camera Awesome, but the ones it does have are nicer and more distinct than Camera Awesome’s. The API alone make the app much more useful.

The only Camera Awesome features that seem better than the ones in Camera+ 3 are the ability to shoot video and that you can adjust the levels in Awesomizer. Otherwise the new Camera+ seems like the better app all around.

Camera+ 3 for iPhone Is a Major Improvement is a post by Shawn Ingram from Gotta Be Mobile.

Today’s touchscreens may seem instantly responsive, but Microsoft Research shows us how they could be so much faster.

In a video on YouTube, Microsoft Research demonstrates what they call “High-Performance Touch: A touch-display system with two orders of magnitude less latency than current systems.” By “two orders of magnitude less latency” they mean they can cut the 100 millisecond response delay you see in today’s touchscreens down to a mere 1 ms. Sounds like a negligible change, but wait until you see it in action before you judge.

Impressive, no? You can really see the difference between the tracking at 100 ms vs. 1 ms. The tracking unit shown clearly employs a projection-type device to represent the cursor, but I believe the actual touch-sensing technology is below the surface, beneath the touchpad (and crude, surrounding cardboard).

Of course, this is still a research project and not something that will hit the market soon, but it is encouraging to see how much touch technology can improve in a way that would not occur to most of us.

Where this will make a huge difference is with pen input. I’ve picked apart many a digitizer demo to spot delays between pen stroke and ink. The closer we can get digital ink to match the original model of pen and paper, the better.

Via LAPTOP Magazine

Super-Responsive Touch Tech from Microsoft Research (Video) is a post by Sumocat from Gotta Be Mobile.

The title sounds harsh, especially coming from a long time Windows Mobile MVP, but it’s true. Some people care, but it’s misguided. The Windows Mobile Marketplace was thrown together after seeing how well a consolidated marketplace like the iTunes App Store did. For years, Windows Mobile did fine without a consolidated market. There were some 3rd party markets that made it easier for users to find apps, but the main way we, Windows Mobile and Pocket PC users, got their software was directly from the developers. That’s the way it worked in the early days at least. Then came Handango, who ripped their developers off often until Mobihand came along and became a welcome store for Windows Mobile app developers. There were others that popped up and faded over the years too, but Handango and Mobihand were the main players. I used to resell for both of them and switched from Handango to Mobihand somewhere in all if.

Back in 2009, Microsoft opened the Windows Mobile Marketplace to offer apps directly on devices running Windows Mobile 6.5, the WinMo release that finally pushed me to try other mobile operating systems out with less of a biased eye. The day I posted my review of the Windows Mobile 6.5 on launch day was the day I bought my 2nd iPhone, the iPhone 3GS. This app store, like I said, was pretty much Microsoft trying to keep up with Apple’s infrastructure. I stopped using Windows Mobile so I not really sure if it got any better. Still, you could obtain apps and games from other 3rd party stores and direct from the developers since Windows Mobile wasn’t locked to an app store.

I caught the news from Julie Dejong this morning on Twitter. She tweeted a link to Microsoft’s Answers Forums.

Windows Marketplace for Mobile 6.x Discontinuation Notice

March 8, 2012

Dear Windows Mobile 6.x customer:

Microsoft is discontinuing the Windows Marketplace for Mobile service for Windows Mobile 6.x. Please review the details below to familiarize yourself with the changes:

Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace Service To Be Discontinued

Beginning May 9, 2012, the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service will no longer be available. Starting on this date, you will no longer be able to browse, buy or download applications directly on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone using the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace application and service.

Applications and games acquired from the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service installed on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone will continue to work after the service is discontinued on May 9, 2012. However, additional downloads of these applications and games from the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service will no longer be available.

Take Action

Microsoft recommends you review the applications or games installed on your Windows Mobile 6.x phone and install any available updates in advance of the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service shut-down on May 9, 2012.

Please note: All phone data, including applications acquired through the Windows Mobile 6.x Marketplace service, data and user-specific settings, will be deleted from your Windows Mobile 6.x phone in the event that your phone is wiped or “hard reset.” Any data on a removable storage card, if present, will also be deleted if your phone is wiped or “hard reset”.

Windows Mobile applications and games that are compatible with Windows Mobile 6.x may still be available directly from their developers or via third-party marketplaces.

Thank you for your continued support of Windows Phone.

-The Windows Phone Team

Ready for a new phone? Explore the latest Windows Phones – now with over 60,000 applications and games available!

Ok, I said this isn’t a big deal and who cares right?

1. You can still get apps from 3rd party stores.
2. You can still get apps from developers.

I am hearing, “What about my company, we have 10,000 Windows Mobile devices deployed. OH NO!” 

Well, to that I can say, your company probably uses custom software developed in-house or by an external developer. I am sure whoever develops your business’ app will still be around without Microsoft’s store.

The impact of this announcement could possibly leave a bad taste in some mouths, but really, the amount of people and companies still using Windows Mobile is so small that this will most likely be forgotten about quick. I think that people are blowing this announcement way out of proportion and this isn’t my inner WinMo fanboy talking.

In fact, one of the few people I know still using a Windows Mobile phone is Todd Allcock, another former Windows Phone MVP. He doesn’t even use this store!

Don’t look at me! ;)  I buy my apps from the developers directly or from Handango/PocketGear.  I never bought a single app from the MS Marketplace, since I never liked the delivery mechanism. When I buy an app, I want the app on my hard drive, and whatever product key it needs, not repeated access to a download server. 

If Microsoft would not have announced it and just did it, most wouldn’t notice. Plain and simple.

Windows Mobile Marketplace to Shut Down. Does Anyone Really Care? is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

With the bad news about Verizon and Windows Phone that I should have seen coming but was too optimistic to accept, this doesn’t have me as excited as it would if I was using Windows Phone as my daily driver right now, but it’s still good to hear. Sid Meier’s Civilization and Pirates are coming to Windows Phone as featured Xbox Live games!

Don’t know much about Sid Meier’s games? Civilization is one of the best turn-based single-player strategy games ever. During a time where PC games weren’t as matured as they are today, Civilization and Colonization stood out. Civilization won award after award in the early 1990′s and this was when I became hooked. Unfortunately and fortunately, I sunk hours upon hours into Civilization.

In a Sneak peek at new Xbox LIVE games on the way, the Windows Phone Blog announced these two games and the following as upcoming games for Windows Phone:

• Carcassonne
• DoDonPachi
• Gerbil Physics
• geoDefense Swarm
• Pinball FX2
• Shoot 1UP
• Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution
• Sid Meier’s Pirates!
• Wordament

Little by little, the Windows Phone Marketplace is filling up with quality apps. It’s growing faster that the Android Market and iTunes App Store but still has a long way to go until it’s comparable. I won’t be satisfied until companies have Windows Phone versions proudly displayed on their websites next to the Android and Apple logos. I know that I am asking a lot.

Here are few screenshots courtesy of Microsoft’s Windows Phone Blog.

 
Pinball FX2 (left) and Wordament (right)

Sid Meier’s Civilization and Pirates Coming to Windows Phone is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

With the�bad news about Verizon and Windows Phone that I should have seen coming but was too optimistic to accept, this doesn’t have me as excited as it would if I was using Windows Phone as my daily driver right now, but it’s still good to hear.�Sid Meier�s Civilization and Pirates are coming to Windows Phone as featured Xbox Live games!

Don’t know much about�Sid Meier�s games? Civilization is one of the best turn-based single-player strategy games ever. During a time where PC games weren’t as matured as they are today, Civilization and Colonization stood out. Civilization�won award after award in the early 1990′s and this was when I became hooked. Unfortunately and fortunately, I sunk hours upon hours into Civilization.

In a�Sneak peek at new Xbox LIVE games on the way, the Windows Phone Blog announced these two games and the following as upcoming games for Windows Phone:

• Carcassonne
• DoDonPachi
• Gerbil Physics
• geoDefense Swarm
• Pinball FX2
• Shoot 1UP
• Sid Meier�s Civilization Revolution
• Sid Meier�s Pirates!
• Wordament

Little by little, the Windows Phone Marketplace is filling up with quality apps. It’s growing faster that the Android Market and iTunes App Store but still has a long way to go until it’s comparable. I won’t be satisfied until companies have Windows Phone versions proudly displayed on their websites next to the Android and Apple logos. I know that I am asking a lot.

Here are few screenshots courtesy of Microsoft’s Windows Phone Blog.

�
Pinball FX2 (left) and Wordament (right)

Sid Meier�s Civilization and Pirates Coming to Windows Phone is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

I have a couple of friends still rocking the “Google Phone” that Google left behind, the Nexus One. One of them has moved on to Windows Phone, but is still quite bitter that the phone Google said would get all the upgrades isn’t getting Android 4. Google’s Hugo Barra confirmed this way back in October, but many Nexus One owners were hopeful that this was not true.

Why? Why can’t the Nexus One get ICS? According to Hugo Barra, the Nexus One is just too old and Extreme Tech explains this in more detail. The internal memory size and the older Snapdragon processor would pose issues that would cause the phone to run sluggish.

Let’s start with the Snapdragon S1 SoC, which is downright old, having first shipped in 2009. The clock speed is fine, but the chip does less work each clock cycle than newer Qualcomm processors. Of greater concern is the Adreno 200 GPU which is capable of just a fraction of the performance seen in other GPUs. Android 4.0 makes use of hardware acceleration for 2D drawing, so a sluggish GPU could be an issue.

Perhaps the most serious impediment to the Nexus One getting Ice Cream Sandwich is the small storage space. We aren’t talking about user-accessible SD storage, but the internal ROM where apps and the operating system reside. The Nexus One was designed by Google and HTC to have just 512MB of ROM, 190MB of which was dedicated to user apps.

Almost 5 months later, still nothing. The only real support for the Nexus One is the custom ROM route. After 2 years, the Nexus One is now “just a phone’.

Unfortunately, there are users out there still hanging on to old rumors in hopes that ICS will come to their old phone, eventually.

Both Gabe Cohen, Android Product Manager, and Android User Experience Director Matias Duarte, have confirmed that the Nexus S and Nexus One will definitely be getting an update to Android 4.0. Even better news for wider, existing community of Android phone users is the fact that Google expects most Gingerbread devices to get the update too.

It’s time to move along to another phone or hit up the XDA Community for a ROM that works. Be warned, most people I’ve chatted with that have installed ICS on their Nexus One ended up going back to Gingerbread. I don’t have the Nexus One myself, but if I did, this ROM looks like it’s getting some good support.

Nexus One Owners Need to Upgrade or Go Custom for ICS is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.

Twitter announced yesterday that they are about to start monetizing mobile even more soon. If you are running the official Twitter app on your iPhone or Android device, you’ll soon see promoted tweets in your timeline. And why not, you’re probably already following a celebrity that gets paid to tweet.

It’s easy to get upset at Twitter about this but you need to step back and think about it before you do.

Twitter is free.

While I am sure there is plenty of investor money behind Twitter, those investors need to see a reason to keep investing. Twitter has to profit somehow, right? If Twitter relied on ad money alone to pay its employees and continue to stay up, I think they would already have shut down. I might be wrong, but I don’t think so. Let them capitalize on the massive monster they’ve created.

We’ve had a simple philosophy since we first launched ads on Twitter, and it’s this: We strive to create products that put users first, and continue to enrich your Twitter experience. Today’s news represents another important step in our advertising efforts, and we hope you like it.

Also, how many of you actually use the official apps still? Android and iOS have some awesome 3rd party apps and I highly doubt many experienced users are still using the official apps. Again, this is me assuming, but I think I’m be right.

Personally, I use Tweet Caster for Android. I rarely use my iPhone, so I do still use the official app on it. If I used my iPhone 4 regularly, I would take the time to find a quality 3rd party app. I am sure Xavier, Josh, and the rest of the GBM gang would steer me to an awesome app quickly.

What are your thoughts?

Upset?

Don’t Care?

Like I said, I am ok with it. Twitter is a service that’s free to use and there really isn’t a way to monetize the service any other way.

Source: Twitter (via)

Android and iPhone Twitter Apps Will Soon Get Invaded By Paid Tweets is a post by Chris Leckness from Gotta Be Mobile.