07:28 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

TIVR Communications promises to deliver one of the fastest H.264 software decoder for mobile platforms. H.264, also known as MPEG-4 Part 10, is poised to replace several popular formats such as MPEG-2 and DivX due to its better compression efficiency. TIVR claims to achieve real-time decoding on a 220 MHz ARM9 device for H.264 BP videos encoded in 320x200 at 256 kbps. Mobile platforms currently supported are Symbian and Windows Mobile; a Linux and Palm OS version of the software decoder are planned for mid-September 2005.

Related: Alex's account on TCPMP playing H.264-encoded movies on the Axim X50v.

05:27 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

What better way to kill time than playing games on your Pocket PC? I have to admit I am not a big gamer, mainly because I don't have the time left to kill. But with Arvale II: Ocean of Time, PDAMill easily knocked off my socks. Yes yes, had I known better before, Arvale II wouldn't be on my PDA now. For the past two nights, I've been killing orcs and ogres with a trusty sword and a silver hammer, while nothing has been more important to me than raising DeMenchev's character level to new unimagined highs. Being all sleep deprived now, I cannot concentrate at work, cannot even find relief in having a lunch break. And my colleagues know better to stay away from me today. So PDAMill, when you'll release Arvale III, don't miss to put a warning label on your game: "Beware, addictive!"

Some reviews: mobiletechreview.com, pocketnow.com, x50v.it, bostonpocketpc.com, PocketGamer.org

08:34 PM by Chaos in Miscellaneous | Lounge

After much speculation, Google has launched a new IM service... Apparently it's not 'supposed' to be public quite yet, but it works perfectly for me. And it's Jabber-based. Could this help the adoption of Jabber a great deal? Maybe. Unfortunately I have, as of yet, been unable to figure out how to talk with, for example, a jabber.org server account (when Jabber, generally, works for talking to any client on any server).

Smashworld has some details on how to use it.

As a note, using SSL and changing the port to 5223 works fine for me (in iChat), instead of port 5222 mentioned in the article. (However, in Adium - libgaim based IM client for OSX - using 5222, with TLS turned on works - YMMV.)

If you want to test it out, I'm currently on Google Talk (on the name, I personally think Google IM sounds better than Google Talk...) at jsnelgrove AT gmail.com (replace "AT" with the usual @ - don't feel like getting spam to that e-mail account).

[Via Slashdot]

06:00 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

I have made no secret of the fact that I am a Pocket Tunes Deluxe user, and really enjoy the software for listening to mp3 files. I'm currently using a thumb board skin (available at PalmFocus) which is perfect for thumb operation on a Treo. And, there seems to be quite active development on the product itself, such as the recent additions of Janus and Rhapsody compatibility, plus streaming audio from internet radio via wireless connections. More improvements are on the way.

As a MobileRead exclusive, I can tell you that the Pocket Tunes folks have confirmed to me that bookmark features will specifically be improved, and be a focus area for future releases. I think one can safely conclude that means they are going to address the one remaining significant weakness that I see in the software. Specifically, if I am listening to a set of files in order, say an audiobook with multiple files, it's not very easy to leave that audiobook to listen to something else and then return where you left off.

Technically, you can sort of do that with a bookmark, but when you return to the bookmarked location, you only continue to the end of that file. To continue to the next file, you have to open the corresponding playlist and find the right file to restart. Not too bad, but a bit of a nusiance. Ideally, you could return to your place in the book, and then keep on going even if it moves you to the next file.

So with the expectation of this sort of improvement, it's clear that if you are an audiobook fan or like to listen to music in album playlists, you can have some comfort level with jumping on the Pocket Tunes bandwagon. They haven't finalized all the details and are understandably reluctant to share the details so early (competitors are lurking everywhere!) But it's still exciting to know that these basic needs will be addressed. I can wholeheartedly recommend this great program for all your audio player needs.

10:13 AM by sUnShInE in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

CNBC reported last night that Research In Motion (RIM), creator of the business-popular Blackberry handheld, has agreed to a deal to use battery-saving chip technology from Intel Corp. This is the first push for Intel into the handheld market, and in return, RIM is supporting Intel's push to encourage WiMax.

Shares of RIM rose 5 percent yesterday, and Intel's shares rose almost 2 percent after the CNBC report. A formal announcement of the deal is expected later this week.

Read more here.

09:18 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Mobile Sites

If you are collecting directories of web sites optimized for mobile browsing, you can now add 4INFO to your list. It's not as complete as pdaPortal, but as a new kid on the block it still has all the potential.

[via SearchEngineWatch]

08:53 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

MSMobiles managed to get a peek at the forthcoming Pocket PC version of Opera Mini. Different from its competitors, Pocket IE and NetFront, Opera Mini runs in a Java environment, a fact alone why I wouldn't put my hands on this browser (Java isn't known for speed). Fortunately, the reviewer proves me wrong and argues that thanks to Opera Mini using the company's proxy server (privacy advocates may scream now), it is actually performing very well.

Ok, Opera, how about expanding your beta circle to allow us to test your new killer browser?

08:34 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

The BenQ P50 smartphone we've been drooling over for the past year may finally hit European markets this fall, though not under the BenQ label as expected but under Siemens. Digitimes quotes Chinese-language Commercial Times saying, "as Siemens has not been a strong player in the smartphone segment, BenQ has decided to initially launch its P50 PDA phone under a single-brand, in order to make up for the lack of new products during the four-month period from October 2005 to February 2006."

We don't care so much about the brand name as long as BenQ finally manages to get this gem on the market.