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Posts Tagged ‘Workaround’

Line2’s Google Voice For Businesses Can Now Juggle 3G, Cellular, And Wifi Networks

Last September, while the Apple/Google Voice fiasco was still in full swing, an interesting application called Line2 was allowed into the App Store. The application acts as a mix between Google Voice and Skype, allowing small businesses to add a separate, dedicated business line to their iPhones in addition to the phone’s “regular” number. The service also includes features conference calling, voicemail transcription, advanced call management, and more. And today, Line2 is getting an update that makes the app “dual mode”, allowing it to handle both inbound and outbound calls over cellular networks, 3G or WiFi (mostly) seamlessly. You can download the application here.

CEO Peter Sisson says that this is the first iPhone application that lets you use one phone number for both inbound and outbound calls over both WiFi and cellular networks on AT&T. So what does that mean? If you’re one of the millions of iPhone users who has to deal with AT&T’s shoddy network, Line2 can now intelligently receive a call over WiFi when it’s available (you don’t have to manually instruct the app to use WiFi — it will do it automatically). And if you leave your WFi network during the call, the phone can automatically switch to 3G.

Unfortunately, the new feature comes with a caveat: in order to receive an inbound call over WiFi, you’ll have to have the Line2 application open at the time the call comes in. Sisson says that the company is developing a workaround that uses push notifications (you’ll get an alert when someone tries calling you, hit OK, and the app will launch and receive the call over WiFi) but for now I suspect most people will still be getting inbound calls over the cellular network. Still, if you’re using your iPhone for business calls and are sick of dealing with dropped calls, this seems like a great solution.

Line2 offers a 30 day free trial, and costs $15 a month after that.

First Dual Mode WiFi VOiP Cell Phone App – Line2 from Toren Ajk on Vimeo.

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Adobe readies next mobile push with AIR and Flash

Adobe will be going on-stage today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with some announcements aimed at keeping the company’s Flash and AIR platform technologies relevant in an increasingly mobile and application-centric world.

Specifically, Adobe said it will demonstrate the use of Adobe AIR on mobile phones, starting with a device running Google’s Android operating system. Previously, Adobe offered AIR as a platform for apps that are installed on users’ laptop or desktop computers, usually with a strong online component. (For example, I’m currently using an AIR app to receive notifications whenever a member of the VentureBeat team posts a comment in our room on FriendFeed.) Now Adobe is also pitching AIR as a tool for building mobile apps that run outside the web browser on multiple phones.

The idea is that a developer to build a Flash-based application and release it in Apple’s App Store using Adobe’s already-announced iPhone exporter. Then, using the AIR format, they could release the same app in stores for other mobile devices. On each phone, the app would be slightly different to adapt to different screen sizes and other device features, but developers could reuse a lot of the same code.

The company has talked vaguely about bringing AIR to mobile devices before, but this will be the first public demonstration of what that will look like. Android will be the first platform supported, with Motorola (maker of the Droid and other Android phones) and BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion expressing public support for the project.

Adobe has endured a lot of negative speculation recently as Apple expanded its shutout of Adobe technologies. Flash doesn’t work on the iPhone, and last month Apple revealed it wouldn’t work on the iPad, either. The iPhone exporter that I mentioned is basically a workaround, so Flash developers can still get apps onto the iPhone, and soon the iPad, but Flash websites like YouTube and Hulu won’t work in the devices’ browsers. Combined with the improved capabilities in HTML 5 (the latest version of the web’s basic markup language), there’s been more and more talk of Flash’s irrelevance.

This announcement should help Adobe push back, because it positions Flash and AIR as technologies that can help developers get into the mobile app stores that are hot right now, and helps them build apps for multiple devices without having to start from scratch each time. (Something that Google’s Vic Gundotra declared even his company is “not rich enough” to do.)

Adobe is also emphasizing its plan to make Flash Player 10.1, which will work in the browser of pretty much every major smartphone except the iPhone, available sometime during the first half of this year. Strategy Analytics estimated that there will be 250 million phones available with Flash 10.1 by the end of 2012, according to Adobe.

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Exporting all of your playlist names to a text file

Filed under: How-tos, iTunes, AppleScript

The ability to sync albums didn’t exist prior to iTunes 9.0. My workaround to sync albums was to create album-based playlists with the following nomenclature: artist – album. This also made it easy for me to burn CDs of albums, as I could just navigate to a playlist and click on the “burn” button.

If you manage your iTunes library like this, and would like a way to export your playlists to a text file (to share your album collection with your friends and whatnot), then the Playlist Names to Text File AppleScript may do the trick for you. To install the script, first download it and then place it in your [username]/Library/iTunes/Scripts/ folder.

After running the script, you’re presented the option of whether or not you want to save a text file with the names of all the playlists (and folders) in your iTunes library. Playlist Names to Text File is available as a free download on Doug’s Scripts site, though I’m sure Doug will certainly appreciate any donations.

2009 for me wasn’t very musically exciting. To make up for lost time, I’ll be embarking on a journey to listen to 52 albums in 52 weeks during 2010. But I can’t do this without “a little help from my friends,” who’ll be reviewing my album list and make some recommendations.

TUAWExporting all of your playlist names to a text file originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Illegal Immigration: There’s an App for That

From a group calling themselves Electronic Civil Disobedience comes the Transborder Immigrant Tool, a simple mobile application intended to aid and abet border-crossers from Mexico to the United States by mapping the safest routes to take.

This GPS app is built to work on the cheapest cell phones available. It brings to mind every petty-but-illegal transgression the casual user could commit and stretches the boundaries of the permissibility of tech’s uses for plausibly illegal means. The next time you use P2P or bit torrent clients to download media or use an iPhone app to detect police radars, think about this mobile application and how it reflects on American law and the Internet.

Sponsor

The app seems to originate from a hacktivist group out of UCSD – hardly a historical hotbed of technological innovation, but close enough to the US-Mexican border to have a significant impact on the politics of technology in that area. The group also advocates DDoS-like digital sit-ins to bog down the resources of websites it deems offensive.

Hundreds of would-be immigrants are killed each year while trying to enter the United States.

Check out this Border Patrol YouTube video on the newly installed double-layered fencing between the U.S. and Mexico, a fence that stretches between 700 and 800 miles along the Rio Grande.

So, what do our readers think? Is a mobile app enabling illegal Mexican immigration to the U.S. a live-saving tool for those who seek better opportunities, or is it simply another law-breaking tool developed by tech hackers for life hackers, a workaround to cheat the system?

Discuss

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Weather Widget with time, updated for Snow Leopard

Filed under: Hacks, Widget Watch, Snow Leopard

Back in 2005, John Gruber wrote about Hacking Apple’s Weather Widget to Show the Time of the Last Update.

I was disappointed to learn that my customized Weather widget no longer worked in Snow Leopard, and for some reason John’s instructions no longer worked for the Snow Leopard version of the Weather Widget.

The culprit seemed to be the JavaScript that John had modified to calculate the time. Unfortunately I don’t speak JavaScript, but with a little help from Google I was able to find a workaround which will enable this tip to work again.

Continue reading Weather Widget with time, updated for Snow Leopard

TUAWWeather Widget with time, updated for Snow Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Media Center CableCARDs freed from OEM requirement

This just in from our team at Microsoft’s MCE event at CEDIA — the OEM requirement on CableCARDs has been officially lifted, freeing Joe Six Packs all over from having to buy whole systems. The photo above pretty much says it all — enthusiats (hey, that’s us!) can add CableCARD tuners to their PC. Even though a DIY workaround has been around for a while, it’s nice not to have to break/bend the rules to get your shows recorded, isn’t it?

Filed under: HDTV

Media Center CableCARDs freed from OEM requirement originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Can’t upload pix to MobileMe? Apple has a fix for that

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Internet Tools, MobileMe

If you’ve been trying to upload a picture from your iPhone to a MobileMe gallery, and are getting the message “Unable to connect to MobileMe” message you’re not alone.

The problem appears to be related to a bug in user name recognition. Apple has published a KB article dealing with the issue. The problem seems to be triggered if your member name is in mixed case, or if it is in all caps. MobileMe requires the user name be in all lower case letters, although the same rule does not apply to passwords.

Apple suggests you go to your iPhone settings, and under account info make sure your name is all lowercase. If not, a visit to the KB article would be advised. The fix is simple: just delete and re-enter your account details, getting your member name in a form Apple will like. When the bug is fixed, this workaround won’t be needed.

Apple needs to continue to pay close attention to MobileMe. My perception is it has become generally more reliable since the ugly launch in 2008, but the support page still reports a few new glitches per week. Lately I’ve noticed a few mail outages/slowness and difficulty getting to my iDisk.

TUAWCan’t upload pix to MobileMe? Apple has a fix for that originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone – Apple – Unofficial Apple Weblog – MobileMe – TUAW
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Google Voice iPhone app rejected, current GV apps lose connection with iTunes

Perhaps the big G spoke to soon when it said its new Google Voice service was coming to iPhone. First, GV Mobile developer Sean Kovacs relays a phone call he had with Apple where he was notified of his app being removed from the iTunes store for duplicating built-in iPhone features — an app that was originally and purportedly approved by Phil Schiller himself. Next out the door was GVdialer, and if you thought that was all bad, now comes word that Google’s official Voice app was flat-out rejected by Cupertino. Now it’s hard to say with certainty who’s to blame for these app rejections, but a good many fingers are pointing to the cellular carriers — and given AT&T’s previous statements about the SlingPlayer app, it’s hard to argue with that. For its part, the company hinted at finding a workaround via web apps, much like they did when Apple gave Latitude a cold shoulder — but doesn’t that feel just a little 2007?

[Via Apple Insider]

Read – Official Google Voice App Blocked from App Store
Read – GV Mobile is getting pulled from App Store
Read – Sean Kovac’s Twitter status on Schiller

Filed under: Cellphones

Google Voice iPhone app rejected, current GV apps lose connection with iTunes originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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