Do this before swapping out to new router

For Windows, go to command prompt and type in

ipconfig /release *

Get more space on SugarSync

SugarSync is an online data storage service with backup and sync features and has good support for mobile devices.

SugarSync is currently having a referral program where you can get an additional 500MB for every free service referral. Go here to signup.

Every time you refer a friend that isn’t yet signed up on SugarSync, we’ll give you and your friend bonus storage space. And for the next 30 days, the bonus amounts are double the size, with no limits on how many people you can refer.

* If you refer a friend that signs up for a Free account, you will earn 500 MB of free bonus storage.
* If you refer a friend that signs up for a Paid account, you can earn 10 GB of free bonus storage (requires that your friend completes the 30-day trial and becomes a paid user).
* When your friend signs up using your referral, he/she will also get a signup bonus of 500 MB or 10GB, depending on whether they sign up for a free vs. paid account.

After July 15th, the bonuses will drop down to 250 MB for a free referral and 5GB for a paid referral, so act fast.

For more details about this referral program, check here.

Moved to Dropbox

Google announced the termination of their Google Pages service to all users recently and provided an option to migrate to its Google Sites. I store most of the file downloads found on this blog and it is most unfortunate since I loved its simplicity. Google Sites is a Wiki and not exactly a good place for general file storage. I have looked at other similar free storage offerings and eventually decided on Dropbox (get an addional 250MB space with this link!). I have an account with them since its beta days and finally there is a reason to use them.

Get Dropbox!

PS: I have no affiliation with the Dropbox service. The referral link gives new account holders additional 250MB over the free 2GB and also gives me an additional 250MB.

Youtube goes native for S60

Youtube has released a new Youtube app which is now a native S60 app and is 90% faster than its previous Java version. Use your phone and download from http://m.youtube.com. You may also download the SIS file from here.

Read more [Youtube blog]

I have tried it out and it is really much faster at streaming Youtube video on a S60 device with this new app than before. The menus are very responsive and not sluggish like the previous Java version. However I still prefer emTube which unfortunately has been broken due to Youtube site changes and the developer has been MIA.

Opera Mini 4.2 released

Opera Mini 4.2 is out of beta and released with new features such skin, improved speed and notes. Update your Opera mini today. www.operamini.com

Gmail 2.0

The Gmail mobile client now has support for easy access to multiple accounts and offline email composition. Also other improvements you can read here: Gmail blog: Gmail for mobile: faster, smoother, and now in more languages

Point your phone's browser to m.google.com/mail to download.

Sony Ericsson Xperia's "Who is Johnny X?"

Sony Ericsson has created a viral ad campaign with an episodic movie to promote its upcoming Xperia X1 mobile phone.

Watch the video at www.whoisjohnny-x.com. or find out more about the Xperia X1.

Firefox Mobile browser Concept UI

The Mozilla Labs team working on the Firefox Mobile browser has released a video introducing an interesting concept UI that uses a desktop type space to create and arrange webpage tabs for a touch interface device.

Firefox Mobile Concept Video

I like how the page view is presented without any UI object clutter like toolbars or scrollbars while viewing the content. This is very important on a small screen devices where every bit of space is precious. The navigation functions like forward and back buttons can be easily called up by moving over to the left edge. The way you can "throw" the page by flicking it to any of the edges of the page to return to the main desktop view is quite clever.

Read more about it here and even download the mock-up to test it out in your desktop browser. Test drive it here in your browser.

Firefox 3 Download Day

Let's set Guinness World Record for most software downloads in 24 hours.

Pledge your support!

Cheap Nokia 770

From a tip at SPUG forums, Expansys is selling the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet at an attractive price of S$199.22 (~US$130). I reckon Nokia is clearing our their inventory of this product hence the low price. Also Nokia has apparently dropped support for this product since the introduction of the much improved Nokia 800 that supersedes the 770.

The Nokia 770 is a decent Linux based device for mobile internet surfing especially if you are in a Wifi hotspot. This device has been on the market for quite awhile so there's already quite a substantial user base for support and hacks on the internet to enhance its capabilities. The main issue I find is that 770 only accepts the less ubiquitous RS-MMS card which might be a bit harder to find and cost more than the usual SD cards.

Nonetheless it is still a good deal at S$200 if you like something affordable with a good looking screen to surf the Net when on the move.

Singtel MobileM@il: Free mobile email access

Singtel Mobile is offering its push-email for free with ad support. You need to subscribe to the service and download the Java midlet to access emails. Accessing the WAP portal to subscribe to the service will incur standard GPRS charges but after that GPRS access via the email app is free - this is the attractive part of this service.

The setup is pretty painless if your device is supported. I tried it on my Motorola E398 which is not on the supported devices list but it works well although its a bit slow which is due to my phone's poor processor.

You can access emails from SingNet, GMail, Yahoo and a few other supported accounts for up to 5 email accounts. You can perform the usual simple email tasks such as composing and checking emails. A major annoyance would be the ad space takes up almost half of the screen space when in email view which is a bit of a pain when reading emails. Alas there's little to complain since its free.

You can subscribe to the Singtel MobileM@il service here.

Opera Mini 4 beta

The next version of Opera Mini is big in features such as zoom-in and virtual mouse control. It is currently in beta and your feedback to the Opera development team will help make it even greater.

Check it out now : www.operamini.com/beta/

You may download the jad and jar files here:

JAR: http://mini.opera.com/global/opera-mini-4.0.8462-advanced-int.jar

JAD: http://mini.opera.com/global/opera-mini-4.0.8462-advanced-int.jad

When is the bus coming?

SBS Transit has an online information service known as iris (Intelligent Route Information System) which can help you plan your bus trips. One of these services is the NextBus, which the name itself describes, estimates the time the next bus will take to arrive at a particular bus stop. This is especially useful for mobile users as this can be easily accessed on a mobile phone that has a web browser.

iris NextBus is our latest iris service and it offers bus arrival time estimation on a real time basis. You now have the convenience of knowing how many minutes away your bus is from your bus stop or how long more before the next bus departs from the bus interchange. iris NextBus is on trial at the moment and we would like to invite you to be among the first to try out the service and give us your feedback. This will help us enhance iris NextBus to serve you better.

Overview of iris (Intelligent Route Information System) | iris NextBus @ mobile devices

You can easily access the mobile page at www.sbstransit.com.sg/mobileiris. You enter the bus service and the bus stop number which can be found on the bus stop pole. It will then display the number of minutes expected for the bus to arrive.

Unfortunately the information is limited to SBS Transit's fleet of buses so SMRT bus users will have to continue to wait patiently at the bus stop.

Let Google make your website mobile-friendly

I suppose this is old news but I found an entry over at PalmAddict where a Palm user had an app called Moxy which is a proxy launcher based on Google's mobile to access the web on his Treo 680. Intrigued, I decided to check it out. One link led to another and I found out you don't even need this app. The Moxy site even has its web version.

The URL is http://www.google.com/gwt/n and bookmark the page since its not a straighforward URL. The page loads a form with a space for your URL to load, a checkbox option to omit images and of course a "Go" submit button. It will then load a mobile-friendly version of your website and all the links on the page are appended with the proxy redirects. Actually it does exactly what Skweezer does but I prefer the Google's no-frills start page.

Going mobile with Opera Mini and GMail

It is getting easier to get on the web with your mobile phone thanks to great connectivity software that will allow you to surf the web and check email on your Java-enabled phone. You don't need any fancy high-end expensive smartphone to do it as most new phones come with Java support out-of-the-box. Now all you need is to install Opera Mini by Opera and GMail app by Google by simply loading the following URLs into your phone's webbrowser. It will check your phone's make and prompt you to download the correct version for your phone.

Best thing of all, the apps are free.

Opera Mini by Opera - http://www.operamini.com/
The default phone browser on your cheap phone is usually horrid. It is slow and navigation is a pain. Opera mini is an excellent browser for viewing on the tiny screen of your mobile phone as it reformats the webpages via its server. It also cuts down the unnecessary bits of code usually required to render on a standard web browser on your PC and this can save you time and money if you are on a data plan that charges by time or volume.

GMail app by Google - http://gmail.com/app
It is actually not necessary to have the GMail app but it is especially useful if you have a GMail account(Everybody should have one. :) ). The Opera mini browser is still able to access the GMail Mobile site or any of your favourite web emails easily.

Mobile Selections

Update (19 Jan 2007): The latest update list can be accessed from http://snipurl.com/molife.

Here's a shot list of links to sites which formatted for mobile devices. I will add on to it when I got time. :)

News
BBC Interactive
Business Times Online
Channel NewsAsia
Straits Times Interactive

Portal
Google
Yahoo! Mobile

Information
Changi Airport Arrival/Departure
Singapore Lottery
Singapore Street Directory
CNA TV Guide
MediaCorp TV