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The SkyQube multi-phone mashup
Qool's had a few arbitrary devices over the years, but we definitely had to look twice at their SkyQube and SkyQube². It's apparently still early on in development, but the box gives you calling every which way possible, often using Skype as a call conduit: USB to PC audio / Skype, Skype to POTS forwarding, Skype to (integrated) GSM forwarding, Skype to Skype, SkypeOut, Skype messaging to SMS, followme to/from Skype -- all of which you use with your POTS telephone. It's also got conference calling and integrated contacts, just one giant Skype love-in, supposedly to go for $80 for the SkyQube and $150 for the SkyQube². We're just not ready for that much Skype though, man, you know?
Alltel announces "Office Sync" push email solution
As if there weren't already practically more push email options than capable phones out there, Alltel ("America's Largest Wireless Network," according to their own dubious claims) is throwing their very own "Office Sync" solution into the ring. The software runs on Palm and Windows Mobile devices, and costs $40 a month, which includes unlimited data. Based on the SEVEN push email platform, Office Sync has both a Personal Edition and Enterprise Server Edition, which cost the same, but offer different functionality and integration. [Via MobileMag]
Gmail Notifier does message tooltips
This is certainly a minor tip at best, but I thought it was handy enough for a mention: the official Gmail Notifier does message tooltips, as you can see in my screencap. Hold your mouse over a new message in the list and you'll receive a little tooltip containing the first line or two of the message. Nice.
Geoff Goodfellow, early inventor of wireless email, profiled
Back in the early 80s a man by the name of Geoff Goodfellow had an idea: to relay electronic mail from Arpanet to his alphanumeric pager. He published his concept on an Arpanet mailing list in 1982 (he called his piece "Electronic Mail for People on the Move"), and went on to found RadioMail in the early 1990s -- a wireless email service (surprise, surprise). After working with such small clients and partners as Ericsson, Motorola, and RIM, Goodfellow left the biz in 1996 and moved to Europe. But he was contacted in early 2002 by James H. Wallace Jr., a lawyer of patent-holding firm NTP, who thoroughly researched Goodfellow's contributions to wireless communications as they were gearing up to take on Research In Motion. In fact, Wallace once introduced Goodfellow thusly: "Geoff's the inventor of wireless e-mail. My client patented some of its implementation workings." The New York Times seems to think Goodfellow's prior art should have been disclosed during the RIM / NTP dispute, but wasn't; that Goodfellow should have been available as a fact witness, but wasn't. So why has no one ever heard of the talented Mr. Goodfellow? Because NTP paid him close to $20,000 for "consulting" in 2002, which included several sessions with NTP's lawyers in noteless meetings, as well as a contract and NDA that essentially barred him from discussing the case while it proceeded. You'll have to read the Times profile for the full story, but whether or not NTP acted ethically (or illegally), or preyed on Goodfellow's disdain for patents or his free-market attitude isn't exactly making the bad taste in our mouths from the settlement taste any better.
Use CSS in your Mail signatures
I'll have to agree with Dvorak that mail apps that don't allow HTML are lame lame lame. Apple's Mail will allow you to see HTML emails, but not compose them. I guess that's supposed to be a security/annoyance feature, but sometimes I would really like to make an HTML email... But at least we can have CSS for our signatures. CSS, for those who don't know, is a way of styling web pages. It's more precise than plain ol' HTML, and quite frankly, more powerful and better looking. My personal site uses CSS exclusively (much to the chagrin of Netscape Navigator 4.7). Anyway, Melvin Rivera has a step-by-step tutorial on using CSS in your Mail.app signatures. You may want to learn a little CSS first, if you've never tried it before. Just like using a Mac, you may never go back.
eMail for dumb millionaires
Ok, so you've dropped some serious green on your Aston Martin Edition Nokia 8800, diamond encrusted iPod nano, and Samsung Q1 and you've still got that mad spending jones -- what to do? How 'bout dropping another few hundie ($399 monthly) on an exclusive millionaires24.com "Upper Class" email address. For that you get such pedestrian features as 512MB of email storage with uh, "unlimited eMail traffic," 1GB file sharing, address book, antispam/antivirus, and just about every other feature (and less) available on your run-o-the-mill, free email service. But if this is the kind of hard posing you need to remember your social status, then have it son, and double-quick 'cause the service is limited to only 10k of your well-heeled peers. Oh, just so you know, that "24" tacked onto the name means, well, nothing apparently. The folks behind the service are just too cheap to buy the domain rights to millionaires.com. 'Nuff said, eh?[Via Newlaunches]
RIM's BlackBerry to battle "RedBerry" clone in China
In a surprising turn of events, China has decided to create a cheap domestic rip off of a popular product. With RIM finally readying the BlackBerry for its Chinese release, after a couple of years of delays, China Unicom has launched a "RedBerry" service that will offer push email to current subscribers on their existing CDMA handsets. Never the type to shy away from copyright infringement, China Unicom issued a press release stating: "The RedBerry name extends the vivid name of BlackBerry that people are already familiar with, and it also combines the new red symbol of China Unicom." Good to know they're feeling chipper about it. So far there's no word from RIM, but if a lawsuit doesn't end this there could be some stiff competition in the low-end between the services since the RedBerry offering sounds to be considerably cheaper than RIM's.[Thanks, Paul]
Make a Delivery Automator app
I haven't tested this yet, but Make a Delivery sounds like a handy little Automator action that will create a .dmg file from the Finder items you have selected, then attach that .dmg to an email. One quirky thing, however, is that you have to move a resource folder into your Applications directory; it isn't just an action that you can use or turn into a right-click Finder plugin.In any case, if you prefer an easy way to create .dmg's for emailing (instead of zip archives), Make a Delivery might be just what you need.
Yahoo!, RIM partner on Blackberry content
RIM and Yahoo! have taken CTIA as occasion to formally announce their courtship, which will result in tighter integration of popular Yahoo! features such as email, IM, and search into the Blackberry operating system. Perhaps the biggest benefit to users from this partnership will be the ability to push Yahoo! email messages onto Blackberry devices, while maintaining a sync with the online mailbox, and delivering them to an interface that is already familiar. Furthermore, Messenger will receive enhanced features like emoticons, Yahoo! calendar and address book data is promised to be more accessible, and the Blackberry launcher will sport a button for opening the browser to a certain non-Google search engine. After the rollout of these initial services, Yahoo! and RIM will introduce a version of Yahoo! Go for Mobile, which will bring even more juicy search and information features to our favorite 'Berry (no offense, Chuck).
MailTags 1.2.1 available, 1.3 to feature IMAP syncing
Dave Caolo posted about MailTags last August, but in case you're unfamiliar: MailTags is a fantastic plugin for Mail.app that allows you to both tag your messages and create iCal todos right from within Mail. MailTags' abilities go far beyond simply adding a few keywords though; you can also set projects, categories and priorities for messages and use all this new metadata to create a far more robust organizational system than simply filing messages in a 'todo' folder. Once MailTags is installed, a whole new set of search and rule criteria (such as due date, project, keyword and more) are baked into Mail.app for running searches or creating Smart Mailboxes and rules. It's a pretty amazing plugin, and I urge you to check out Scott Morrison's Indev site for the full details on everything MailTags is capable of.While MailTags 1.2.1 issues a host of bugfixes but no serious new features, I found out about it from this Hawk Wings post in which Tin Gaden states that MailTags 1.3 will have a new feature many users have been wishing for: IMAP tag syncing. So if you use Mail.app and MailTags on more than one Mac, you can soon keep your tags, as well as (I'm hoping) projects and priorities all in sync.With all that said, go take MailTags for a spin. It's donationware, so show Scott some PayPal love for the hard work he's putting into this most excellent of plugins.
Hands-on with Samsung's T719
We got a chance to take a good, long look at Samsung's new T719, their SureType-equipped slim flipphone with BlackBerry connect. The 1.3 megapixel camera and slim design are all well and good, but the keyboard is obviously notable for a non-smartphone Samsung device. The BlackBerry integration was so seamless it was actually invisible (emails just showed up in the unified email / SMS / MMS messaging app); the rest of the interface was the usual Samsung UI we've come to know and tolerate like. The handset itself? It was surprisingly light, solid, and the keyboard was bright and tactile. Plus, how can we fault a phone that had "Engadget" in the dictionary (or at least was able to predictively guess our weirdo name)?
Make iCal automatically email people at a specific time
I've been on a productivity kick ever since I found that kGTD plugin for OmniOutliner, and I thought this script/app would be a nice addition to the collection of anyone who works in a collaborative environment, especially for those who live and die by email or just can't seem to remember to do X at X o'clock.iCalMail 1.3 sets up a new calendar into which you can add events that will automatically email anyone you want at the event's time. iCalMail is clever too, allowing you to use different fields of the iCal event to compose each email, and the breakdown works like this: event name -> subject location -> attachment attendees -> recipients notes field -> message text I haven't tested this yet, but it seems like a great idea, especially since there is a method for including attachments. Check out the script at ScriptBuilders, as well as more information at Chris J. Shull's site.
New Password Scams
Apparently there's a new set of password scams going around. These e-mails, apparently from security@blizzard.com, will request your account and password information. Community manager Drysc reminds us that Blizzard will never send ask for your account password via e-mail, and any messages you may receive requesting passwords information, no matter how legitimate looking, is most likely a scam to steal your account. If you've gotten an e-mail that looks suspicious, you can write billing@blizzard.com to confirm its validity. Additional information about scams and account security can be found on Blizzard's support page, as well.
Engadget Podcast 073 - 03.28.06
The Podcast is back! We've been out of the action for a couple of weeks but we aren't going anywhere -- except to Vegas next week for CTIA. But we're catching up this week on all the video game news and rumors surrounding the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Revolution (or should we say Go?), the first new TiVo we've seen in, well, a while, and Microsoft's latest delay for Vista, which puts us squarely back to January 2007. We also decided to snag a couple of those emails you've been sending in and give 'em some air time, so listen in to the latest ep, we'll do our best to make sure it's worth your wait. Get the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3). [RSS] Add the Engadget Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically (MP3). [MP3] Download the show (MP3). [AAC] Download the show (enhanced AAC). [OGG] Download the show (OGG). [Vote] Vote for us on Podcast Alley! Hosts Peter Rojas and Ryan Block Producer Randall Bennett Music J J J - 'Suits' in Japan Format 45:45, 20.9 MB, MP3 Program 01:50 - Vista delayed (for consumers) till early 2007 08:42 - Dell buying Alienware for undisclosed price 13:35 - Nintendo Revolution = Nintendo GO? 18:30 - Sony confirms PS3 controller redesign 22:32 - Dual tuner TiVo pic spotted? 25:27 - Cablevision to rollout remote-storge DVR service 31:58 - Palm's 10th anniversary 35:30 - Listener email LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast: 1-888-ENGADGET, Engadget (Gizmo Project) or podcast at engadget dawt com
Two free book chapters for .Mac members
Check it out, .Mac subscribers: In the "Members Only" folder of your iDisk (that still makes me think of the jackets), you'll find two chapters of Joe Kissell's book, Take Control of .Mac.The first chapter focuses on using Mail, and is extremely thorough. Discussions include making use of aliases, .Mac webmail vs. an email client, working with attachments and configuring the online preferences. Chapter 2 looks at Groups, a relatively new .Mac feature. Topics include creating a group, managing your members, adding content to your homepage and working with the integrated calendar. Again, I found them very informative, and the best part is that you can use a hyperlink within the PDF itself to get the full book at a 30% discount. This one is recommended.
Mail annoyances
Dave at The Consultant has written a short rant regarding what he calls "minor annoyances" in Apple's Mail. First, he misses being able to page down from message to message with the space bar, Eudora-style. He also complains about Mail not warning him of invalid addresses prior to sending.I'll add my own. I've only got two, and they are in fact minor, but they still irk me every time I use Mail. For some inexplicable reason, Command-O will not open a message. Also, I cannot use the arrow keys on my keyboard to move from mailbox to mailbox. It's the little things that drive a person crazy.
Apple ad archives: sending "electronic mail" at 670 million mph
Anyone feel like sending mail at 670,000,000 mph? Apparently Apple's customers did, as they used this slogan in an ad back in the (what I believe to be) Apple III days. Check out a much larger version of the ad for more better details on an Apple ad from the days of sending email "late at night (when phone rates are lowest)."[via digg]
A NNW script to email a selected headline
A code ninja by the name of Robert Daeley has answered the prayers of NetNewsWire users everywhere and created an AppleScript script with one simple (and essential) purpose in mind: sending the currently selected headline to a Mail.app message. Installation is simple, since there's no setup or editing needed; just grab the script from Daeley's Celsius1414 blog, toss it into your NNW scripts folder and start emailing away.I think I speak for a lot of NetNewsWire users when I say: thanks Robert Daeley!
SpamSieve goes universal
Today, SpamSieve has been updated to version 2.4.1. For the uninitiated, SpamSieve is a customizable spam filtering application for Mac email clients, including Mail, Mailsmith, Entourage, PowerMail, and Eudora. As the title suggests, this version is a universal binary. Other changes in version 2.4.1 included: Various changes have been made to the application's HTML parser to improve accuracy. Filtering of messages containing attachments has been improved Added Apple Mail settings to control whether messages trained as spam are marked as read and/or left on the server. Better at finding notification sounds that are built into mail clients. You can purchase a single license of SpamSieve for $25US, and it requires Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later (10.3.5 or later recommended).
Gmail Notifier updated, offers opening of Gmail messages
Growl is a utility that, like the drunkenbatman, has become a necessity in my daily work. As far as email is concerned, even though I can't bring myself to ditch Mail.app and Address Book completely due to device synchronization issues, Gmail has certainly found its place in my daily tool-belt as well. To my delight, the email notification utility by the name of Gmail Growl (which we've covered before) has been updated with a slick feature: the ability to click on a Growl message notification to be taken to that specific Gmail message in your favorite browser. The nice part about this is that you can specify which browser to use; you aren't simply limited to the system's default browser - handy, when you consider the fact that Firefox supports all the rich text editing options Gmail has to offer, while Safari is still lagging behind (disclaimer: I don't know if that's a WebKit or a Gmail issue, so don't flame me). Gmail Growl can be had, for free, at the author's site. As usual with great freeware like this, I encourage you to make a donation to help keep great utilities like this alive.[via Hawk Wings]
