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.

Google Maps for mobile devices

Google recently updated their Google Maps for mobile devices on Symbian S60 and Windows Mobile to version 2.2. For those no using such platforms, the Java version is also updated. One major new features is Transit which is available to around 50 cities at the moment.

The preferred way to download download the app is with your phone directed at google.com/gmm. It will check your web browser useragent and serve the corresponding page for download. There is no direct page to download with your desktop browser. For those who prefer to download to their PCs then transferring it to the phone, you can easily bypass this with the User Agent Switcher Firefox extension with the appropriate useragent info (search google for it) and download it with Firefox. The following are some of the links for the major mobile platforms.

Download Google Maps for: Symbian S60, Java Micro Edition, Windows Mobile
The Palm version is version 2.0.2.0: Palm OS devices

Singapore street map in your pocket

Street map services seem to be the rage these days and ever since Virtual Maps (owners of streetdirectory.com) got burnt by SLA (Singapore Land Authority) in the courts, a number of map services have surfaced. Even SLA launched its own free online map service.

Now SLA makes their maps mobile by partnering with Mapking to release a free Singapore street map for Windows Mobile devices.

SLA StreetMap Mobile

Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and MapKing (Singapore) Pte Ltd have jointly launched a mobile version of the online StreetMap@Singapore, named SLA StreetMap Mobile. It can be downloaded for free onto mobile devices running on Windows Mobile OS and can now be viewed on PDAs and PDA phones.

However it lacks features such as routing navigation and GPS support. I suppose that will be in a pay version marketed by Mapking.

iPhone UI for Windows Mobile

We have seen the mock-up program launchers mimicking the iPhone for Palm and Windows Mobile. Now a Malaysian programmer has gone one step further and made the slide lock and flick scroll features seen on the iPhone.

From the developer's (tzywen.com):

For a few days before Chinese New Year, I've actually been quite busy developing my very own iPhone interface for the PocketPC. After looking at the functions and interface on the iPhone, I was keen on bringing it over to my Eten M600 PPC. The iPhone interface was pratical, looked neat and it was way cooler than any wm5 theme. And it was unique as well. "Slide to Unlock" The iPhone home screen. The iPhone iPod scrolling effect. Watch the video below to see it in action. Everything is written using PPL1.20. PPL can be downloaded for free from http://arianesoft.ca Although this looks like an iPhone, it will never be an iPhone. But until it is released in July this year, all we can do is to try and imitate. I posted the video on youtube.

See it in action: iPhone UI for Windows Mobile I can hear Apple's lawyers knocking on his door... :D

Singapore Bus Guide for Isilo & Plucker

This is a simple unofficial electronic version of the Singapore bus guide for access on mobile devices supporting Isilo reader or Plucker. Both reader file formats are available in either PPC/WinMob and Palm OS Devices. Isilo is also available for Symbian S60 3rd edition devices (Isilo for Symbian S60 3rd Edition).

The bus guide has the full listings by bus numbers and road names for both SBSTransit and SMRT bus services. It also lists bus services at specific bus stops plying specific roads to allow easy cross-referencing when planning bus transfers.

Disclaimer: The data for Singapore Bus Guide is presented as-is. The author does not warrant the accuracy of the data provided or any failure resulting from its use. Use at your own risk.

The files are offered free-of-charge for personal use. Please feel free to share and pass it around.

Download the Singapore Bus Guide for Isilo or Plucker.

You will require the respective etext readers depending on the version you download. Follow instructions as per your device's OS for transferring programs and databases.

You may download the respective programs from the following sites.

Isilo format: Isilo reader, for both PPC/WinMob and Palm OS Devices. Non-free software.
Isilo for Symbian S60 3rd Edition. Non-free software.
Plucker format: Plucker, for Palm OS. GPL Free software.
For PPC Windows Mobile users, use Vade Mecum. Free software.

Tips for Palm OS users

For Palm OS users, you may pair it off with the Bus Guide for Palm. This Bus Guide app allows you to find the connecting buses based on your origin and destination point. Do note that this program has not been updated for a long time so it may not give correct results. However it can roughly help you to plan the general route you can take to you reach your destination especially for unfamiliar locations.

Singapore Bus Guide in HTML format

This version is specifically catered for 'the rest of us' who do not use Palm or Windows Mobile devices but have devices such as Symbian OS phones with web browsers that have the ability to read HTML files. It also provides a means for users to easily convert it to other file formats.

For Symbian S60 OS users

To use the HTML files, copy all the files in a folder on your phone memory or memory card. Use the file manager to locate the folder and execute busguideindex.html. It should launch the browser with the bus guide main page. Bookmark the current page so you can easily access it via the web browser. Alternatively, you can manually create the bookmark in the S60 web browser using the address "E:/yourfolder/busguideindex.html"(omit quotes) where yourfolder is the name of the folder where the files are placed.

Download the HTML version here.
Other useful stuff

For the MRT guide, refer to this excellent app called MetrO.

If you have any feedback or comments, click here.

Credits: Thanks to Ethan Tan, the developer of Bus Guide for Palm, for developing the original parser.

Changelog

Update (2 May 2010): General bus service updates. (354 buses, 781 roads, 5619 stops).

Update (8 June 2009): General bus service updates. (355 buses, 774 roads, 5610 stops).

Important note: There is currently no identifier for Premium flat fare services however it can be located for services with "0.0" for all fare stages.

Update (17 July 2008): General bus service updates. (360 buses, 771 roads, 5608 stops). Removed debugging comments from HTML code(road lists).

Update (4 November 2007): General bus service updates. (327 buses, 763 roads, 5555 stops).

Update (17 July 2007): General bus service updates. (325 buses, 769 roads, 5539 stops). Fixed broken StopID code caused by new fare calculation column. Removed debugging comments from HTML code(bus lists).

Update (16 May 2007): General bus service updates. (310 buses, 770 roads, 5573 stops)

Update (23 March 2007): General bus service updates. (317 buses, 767 roads, 5589 stops). Fixed missing road name for first bus stop in direction 2.

Update (29 January 2007): General bus service updates. (316 buses, 766 roads, 5610 stops)

Update (20 July 2006): General bus service updates.

Update (27 March 2006): General bus service updates. Tidied up data in road index. Removed bookmarks for Isilo, found to be redundant.

Update (16 December 2005): General bus service updates

Update (14 November 2005): Minor update for Plucker version. Added link to jump between route directions.

Update (26 October 2005): General bus service updates

Update (20 August 2005): General bus service updates

Update (28 March 2005): General bus service updates and correction of certain errors caused by poor code during compiling.

Update (11 March 2005): General bus service updates

Update (22 October 2004): High-res font support for Isilo(for supported devices). More detailed cross referencing by bus stops instead of roads. Separated individual alphabetized list of roads with bus stops for faster retrieval. Added bookmarks for quick access to index pages (for Isilo).

Updated (13 October 2004): Included cross referencing to road index for bus routes.

Updated (4 October 2004): Latest bus service changes. New reader version! Singapore Bus Guide for Plucker.