Control the linux-based Dreambox, produced by the German multimedia vendor Dream Multimedia, remotely with your Windows Mobile smart phone and WMDreamRemote

If you’re reading this, you probably already know all about the Dreambox, one of the most popular lines of digital television series ever to be produced.

Dreambox 7000-S via Wikimedia

Given all the fuss over these digital receivers being remotely controlled by an iPhone, owners of smartphones powered by Windows Mobile are probably feeling left out in the cold right about now. Is there any way to make Windows Mobile-based mobile phones remotely control a Dreambox as well?

“What in the world is a Dreambox?” you still may ask.

Okay, a quick review of the Dreambox reveals it to be a highly-popular series of Linux-based set-top box receivers for DVB satellite and cable digital television channels. These Linux tuners even support terrestrial television (that means your standard plain-jane TV channels, for you non-technical folks out there). It was originally produced by Dream Multimedia, a German multimedia company. The Dreambox series used Linux-based software originally developed for DBox2, another Linux tuner. The DBox2 was originally distributed by KirchMedia, another German company that has since gone “kaputt” due to a bankruptcy. The bankruptcy was a boon to Linux geeks worldwide, as it flooded the market with unsold Dreamboxes available for hobbyist tinkering. The low-cost Dreambox hardware makes Digital Video… Read the rest

Microsoft’s SONGO mobile search architecture shall make your real-time search easier and faster with the search ‘on the go’ function

SONGO mobile cache architecture enables users to search the web instantly and access information (personal files, search results, local businesses, ads, etc.) across all of their devices (phone, PC, cloud, etc.) from their smartphones.

Overview of the SONGO web search cache architecture

SONGO in action: real-time web search results

SONGO in action: real time business lookups.

images via Research Microsoft

At the TechFest 2010 event, which is this year’s version of  Microsoft Research annual show-and-tell event Microsoft could announce  more information about SONGO mobile web caching architecture (cached) according to Mary Jo Foley via  ZDNet

Google Earth for Android phone available on the Android Market and Androlib

Android User eagerly awaited the release of the Google Earth app for the AnDroid phone. (When will google earth be available on Android???)

For exploring the world from the Android smartphone in your hand,  flying around the planet, view the same 3D imagery which is available in the desktop version. Use the searching by voice for cities, places, and businesses function, etc.

Screenshots

Package name : com.google.earth

Images and download the free Droid app from Androlib

hint via XDA-Developers

via AndroidCommunity

update 2/22/2010: Your Android phone must be rooted

(A video guide to rooting your DROID! EASY PEASY!)

The Google Shopping Android Application just launched on Android Market.

What will you get when you have a combination of a Barcode Scanner by ZXing Barcode, Google’s Google Goggles and the Shopping Tab on Google.com.

Google Mobile Shopper

Image via Google Mobile Shopper

Why should this separate other product exist? Why not integrate that into Goggles.

Google Shopper

“Shopper lets you find product information quickly by using your phone’s camera. It can recognize cover art of books, CDs, DVDs, and video games, along with most barcodes. You can also speak the name of the product you’re looking for.” via

Google Shopper Android App is slightly different, its goal could be more a direct hit against Amazon.

Google Shopper Android App will save your history that you can store easy the product and price information. You can favorite items but you also can share your selected items with your friends. Google Shopper helps you to find product information quickly by using your phone’s camera.

View everything you have purchased in the past, you can track your orders and your deliveries, you also can contact the sellers and this from one one web page.

Will Google Shopper revolutionize Online Shopping?

Shop with your Android Phone wherever you are make a picture of a pair of shoes you like and get the address of the next shop where you can buy it.

Manage all Online Stores with one account.

More related information via the Official Google Mobile Blog

No native apps allowed in Windows Phone 7 Series

Windows Phone 7 is only three days old, but leaked docs from Microsoft supposed to show that the requirements for the developer have turned up (via XDA-Developers)

#WP7 will use both Silverlight and XNA, this decision makes sense it will it the Xbox 360 integration.

Microsoft has been rebuilt their Mobile devices Windows-Mobile from the ground-up, the result could be described as the Zune Phone, the Zune HD has impressed many people

The only allowed apps will be:

XNA-written apps – mainly for games and full screen immersed apps, that don’t use standard controls; XNA uses .NET technology (managed, not native)

.NET apps (probably Silverlight?) without possibility to invoke native API, i.e. only “managed” APIs allowed

MSMobile via wmpoweruser

Applications that were made for Windows Mobile 6 are compatible with Windows Phone 7 Series.

via xda-developers

Developers though, can look forward to Microsoft’s legendary documentation and support.

Windows Phone 7 Series Features Video

The old Windows Mobile name is now gone, replaced by a longer name Windows-Phone-7-Series.

I have seen WiPho 7 or “Could WinPho7 Be a Contender?” around the web, which one is your favorite?

Android mobile applications and Web-Based-Apps for all Google Android Mobiles to manage your social network — Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Reddit, Twitter, Meebo, Google.

Image credits via web 2.0 futures

The new Android Mobile OS from Google has very quickly been accepted into the mobile phone market. It has some features that dominate other mobile operating systems, the primary one being the easy-to-understand Software Development Kit that has allowed a large number of computer programmers make Android applications that you would usually have to buy on an iPhone, or would simply be unavailable anywhere else. All of the gloss and shiny parts the android has to offer are really quite useless if you can’t use the phone for connecting to friends. The GPS system that automatically integrates with Google Maps is awesome, unless you don’t know where your friends are hanging out.

That’s where the fun part kicks in.

Facebook

The first thing I wanted to do when I got my Android phone was tell all my friends on Facebook about it. Forget telling them from my computer, I wanted to tell them from my new Android phone. I had to search for the right app to do it with, and I found several options. The first one to catch my eye was the Bloo project. Bloo is simply gorgeous, and is so much like the Read the rest

You won’t be unproductive again with your Droid-phone when you use these top free productive Android apps for business

In this economy we need to be frugal with our spending and efficient with our time. An opportunity for business may arise at any given moment and could be one we cannot afford to miss. I have compiled a short list of the free Android apps that makes my life a heck of a lot easier. So here’s what I’m calling my “Stranded on a deserted island, and still need to get work done app list”.

AK Notepad: Do you forget things 30 seconds after you’re told about them? Do million dollar ideas come to you spontaneously? With AK Notepad, you’ll always be ready to jot something down in an instant. AK Notepad is one of those easy, yet invaluable apps. Put simply, you take notes on your smart-phone. Use it in meetings, write down quick to-do lists and attach alarmed reminders to specific notes.

Today the Android developers team (Android-SDK-Tech) announced several updates for the Android SDK

The Android 2.0.1, revision 1 release “includes minor API changes, bug fixes and framework behavioral changes” here is the direct link to the summary of API changes. This update fixes a Bluetooth enable bug and saving contacts issues.

The Android developers provides an update of the Android 1.6 platform to revision 2, which “includes new features for users and developers, as well as changes in the Android framework API….”

The SDK-Tools have also been updated by the Android developpers to the  revision 4 these updates mainly fixes bugs in the SDK-Manager.

Updating the SDK-Tools and SDK-Manager includes also an update of the Eclipse-plugin ‘ADT 0.9.5‘ read more about the latest at this ADT Plugin Notes.

Xavier Ducrohet the Android SDK Tech Lead states

“…developers of applications affected by the behavior changes should start compiling and testing their apps immediately.”

Go ahead and update today and start compiling to develop the greatest Android-apps.

Are there any hints, experiences, thoughts and critics out there?

Comparisons to the iPhone-SDK? Are there links available?

In my mind is Android-SDK vs. iPhone-SDK. “SDK showdown: iPhone vs. Android” I am interested in that because of you know Gartner says Android sales to outstrip iPhone’s by 2012 (2012 is this not the Mayan date of the end of our world?) and because of I want to know what you think about programming on both platforms iPhone-SDK and Android-SDK

Check out the Motorola Droid Ultra FAQ

- – – Hardware features – – -

What’s the resolution of the Droid?
854×480

What do the two dots/holes at the top of the Droid do?
The one on the left is an IR emitter and sensor to blank the phone during a call when it’s against your face. The one on the right is a light sensor to activate automatic brightness.

Follow the most influential Android Geeks, Experts, and Groups on Twitter, Facebook and Google-Groups

Android is Google’s proprietary mobile phone operating system. It’s seen less media saturation than the iPhone, but its reach is growing, and it already has a passionate following online. There are literally hundreds of Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and Google groups dedicated to discussing news, applications, features, marketing, and everything else related to Android. If you’re at all interested in pursuing this underdog of an operating system, be sure to follow some of the more popular . Information on the Internet is all the same, anyway – it all gets around. Popularity on the Internet is based on each individual’s take on and dedication to the information.

Social-media-image credits to SearchEngineWatch

Here are some unique, popular sites for spreading information on all things Android.

Chrome-OS developper hardware list revealed

Warning: This page is for developers who both know how to build Chromium OS and aren’t afraid to take a screwdriver to their computer.

via The Chromium Project

Full list via getting-dev-hardware/dev-hardware-list

Google: Let the world develop! Make it excellent and for free!

Protecting Your Hard Drive and Filesystem On Windows 7

Following any OS release, there’s always a lot of excitement as well as a bunch of new wrinkles to iron out. Nowhere is this more true than with Microsoft’s Windows platform. While often touted as the easiest and most user friendly system out there, it tends to make up for that with more than its fair share of glitches and bugs.

As far as overall computer life is concerned, taking good care of your hard drive is of paramount importance. So here, in no particular order, are some of the best free software tools available at the moment for Windows 7 to keep your HDD humming smoothly and without incident.

Garbage Collection
Unwanted programs, applets, redundant files and other junk have a funny way of piling up over time so stealthily that, before you know it, you have untold Gigs of space eaten up by random trash. Rather than go through your entire registry entry by entry, these programs can easily sort through and rid your hard drive of all that detritus that you don’t need.

In this department, the clear winner head and shoulders above the rest is CCleaner. On any version… Read the rest

Google Maps Navigation in-depth instructions for those who are living outside the United States

Yesterday before I wrote a post about ‘Google Maps Navigation’ update is available for the Android.

Right now the Google Maps Navigation Android-app is officially only in the USA available

“Sadly, the service is still U.S.-only, and Google warns that it’s still in beta,...”

via Techcrunch

But here is the solution, for people who are not living in the US, but also want to navigate with Google Maps on their Android.

Thanks to h3g3mon, for his comment on Google Maps Navigation’ update is…, he mentioned

[Think Tank #2 - SOLVED] Modifying Maps to enable Navigation outside USA as solution for all non-US citizens.

“Edit: Solution
Brut.all and TAPP got it working. Here are some more in-depth instructions for those of you having issues: …”

start the tutorial

Leave a comment we want to know your thoughts about this tutorial and your experiences with this app.

BTW here is the Google Sky Map Android-app NJoy

Essential Windows 7 Security Internals

Securing your desktop computer against threats is an essential task for everyone, therefore we will inform you about the most important Windows 7 security tools.

Windows 7 includes several new security features that can help you protect your system.

These features include:

1. Improvements to User Account Control (UAC)
2. Enhanced security for Internet Explorer
3. Ability to define network-specific firewall rules
4. Ability to protect data against theft

UAC helps prevent attacks by using a standard user account as the security context for performing non-administrative tasks. If a member of the Administrators group attempts to perform an action that requires elevated permissions, the user is prompted to confirm the action. You can configure whether the action causes the desktop to dim. You can also configure whether standard users are prompted for credentials if they attempt to perform an administrative task or install an application. You can use User Account Control Settings to select from

4 different levels of UAC settings:

1. Always notify – prompts if a user attempts to change a Windows setting or install a program
2. Default – prompts if a program attempts to make a change, but not if an administrator makes a change directly
3. Notify me only if a program attempts to make a change – displays the notification dialog, but does not dim the desktop
4. Never notify – elevates permissions automatically for administrators,

… Read the rest

I’m a very big fan of Ubuntu Studio

In the last month I couldn’t use it .

I can’t find a netinstall location for this sepcial music mixing oriented operating system.

With a friend we set up his home system with Ubuntu Studio now he has music everywhere.

I like it more quiet in the nature and the woods, when I am not sitting in front of my system.

This is all about you, this Blog and our posts all we do is only for our readers.

Today I thought to share this howto with you as I stumbled upon this gorgeous Linux How-To on digg.

No it hasn’t reached the frontpage till now.

“How To Setup a Home Theater PC using Ubuntu 9.10 and Moovida”

NJoy the HowTo and comment your opinion in our comment area, but when you have the time, please read ahead and watch the next videos below I’ve found via youtube. Before you set up Moovida watch these videos and then you can decide.

moovida media center on ubuntu 9.10

It could be that you have seen this video on youtube before, it is from the 17th June 2009.

Here is another one, the last one, also in spanish

Moovida for ALL Windows and Ubuntu