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Anyone involved in developing, testing, or deploying mobile software applications has a keen appreciation for how challenging and complex that process can be.
Cascada Mobile apparently has a good answer to that challenge. The idea is that mobile app developers can focus on writing their application once, and Cascada Mobile’s Breeze platform will take care of porting it to ensure it works on virtually any mobile phone.
If this can do what they say, there is definitely a big future for this company.
One of our loyal readers, pinetrees10, recently posted an excellent comment that included a list of ten free directory assistance numbers. That’s right - no more paying for your carrier’s 411 service! I’ve posted the comment below in it’s entirety, including those directory assistance numbers.
The original comment was made in regards to our April 16 post about free 411 services. I said at the time we would highlight it in a post later on, as many folks don’t get a chance to read all the comments from every post.
At long last, here are the 10 most useful free directory assistance (411) phone numbers out there today:
Don’t try just one….When it comes to free directory assistance, you have LOTS of choices. They differ in some important ways, so try them all out and see which one(s) you prefer. You may want to try them all every so often just to see what’s new! Grin!
I prefer the ones that have operators to help when the automation doesn’t recognize me, that get me ACCURATE information fast, and that also don’t restrict me to only business searches - sometimes I need to find people, too!
What do Yahoo! Finance, Scottrade, eTrade, and most other finance portals have in common? Their free stock quotes are all delayed by at least 10 minutes (Yahoo! Finance does offer a free trial for their service, but you must sign up for it).
Google Finance made a big leap forward today by announcing their quotes are now displayed in real-time. That’s impressive.
So what does this have to do with mobile, one might ask? You may be aware that Google offers a free SMS service, which includes providing stock quote information. Simply text message the ticker symbol to GOOGL (46645), and you will receive the current, real-time quote in a return message. I did multiple tests today, and each time I received a response within 18 seconds or less. That’s much better than the 20 minute market delay you’ll find at Scottrade or eTrade — and those are on their regular website.
Developing and deploying a mobile application can be an incredibly arduous task, and the biggest time and money sink is typically in testing the app across the various hardware and software platforms. A new company with a fresh approach to mobile app testing may very well be the answer to this problem.
Mob4Hire, launched in October of 2007, has attracted individual testers from around the world who have signed up to test mobile games, applications, and websites from their own phones (for a fee, of course). Browsing through Mob4Hire’s current list of testers, they run across a number of different phone models and countries.
Let’s look at their description of the service from the Mob4Hire website:
Mob4hire is a bidding system for mobile application testing. Testers will bid on various projects specific to their handsets. Developers will choose the testers that they require and will deploy test plans for the mobile application they are developing. The mobile application tester will test the application and will report back to the developer. On completion of the test, the mobile tester will get paid for the work. Mobile testing could not be easier.
I know a few mobile application development companies that literally have a hundred or more cell phones in their testing lab, and it’s a mess to manage. This resolves much of that pain, and is worth a look.
Mail2Web offers access to your email accounts from your browser. They also have a version for PDAs and mobile phones, and I can tell you that people use these mobile sites ALL THE TIME.
Try it out for yourself and let us know if you will make it one of your faves…
Sears has begun publishing it’s promotions and sale alerts via text message. This week’s specials cover outdoor lawn, landscaping, and gardening equipment. Not a bad idea to sign up if you are waiting for a big ticket item, such as a lawnmower, or patio furniture, to go on sale.
To find out more about getting Sears discount information to your desktop, go here.
As expected, there is no charge from Sears to sign up for the alerts, though keep an eye on your text messaging plan from you wireless carrier to determine if you might go over your text message limit.
High gas prices are hurting the wallets of many of us, and there does not seem to be a near term solution. The good news is that you can save a buck here and there by checking out the lowest gas prices in your area, right from your phone.
Today’s mobile website is from GasBuddy, which helps hundreds of thousands of people across the country find the cheapest gas prices in their area.
Despite the fact that many people use these services and they can indeed be helpful at times, keep in mind they will not save you a dime if you drive out of your way to that one gas station with the cheapest price. In fact, drive more than a mile or two out of your way, and it will cost you more money.
So my advice is to go ahead and take a look at the gas stations along your normal commute to see which one offers the lowest price. That is the smartest way to use Gas Buddy To Go, or any other guide to local gas prices.
If you dial 411 from your mobile phone, stop. Almost all carriers charge a fee, and those fees can add up over the course of a month or a year.
The good news is there are several mobile 411 services available for free today. One of those is Goog411, from Google. Simply dial 800-GOOG411. Take a look at the Google video below to see what it’s all about.
If you use any other 411 services from your mobile phone, let us know what you thought!
For the longest time, I checked my Gmail account from my BlackBerry by firing up the embedded browser and navigating over to gmail.com like it was 2005. That worked just fine and dandy, but it was slower than I would have liked and was not the best mobile interface. After breaking down and downloading the suite of Google mobile applications for the BlackBerry, I may never go back to my old ways.
Google Mobile Apps
So I downloaded the entire suite of Google apps, which includes the Google Mobile Updater to keep them all up to date. Here’s a quick list of what the Google Mobile applications include (in order of what I use most often):
Gmail
Google Reader
Google Search
Google News
Google Sync (syncs your BlackBerry calendar with your Google Calendar)
Picasa
Google Docs
Google Maps (I’m a guy. I don’t need directions.)
All the icons for these apps appear on your main screen. I can now check my Gmail much faster, and it’s got a cleaner mobile interface that I can do things like reply or compose emails so much faster. I now use Google Maps instead of the default BlackBerry maps application.
If you use Gmail and have a BlackBerry, trust me when I say this will make your life easier. Go ahead and pull the trigger on the Google Mobile apps for your BlackBerry, and call me out if you disagree!
Downloading Google Mobile Apps to Your BlackBerry
To download Google Apps for your BlackBerry (or any web-enabled mobile phone), navigate to mobile.google.com from your mobile browser, and select Google Mobile Updater. The download process will let you pick and choose which apps you want, or you can do what I did and download them all.
Tip: Here’s a tip straight from the folks at Google Mobile. To get instant access to Google Search from your BlackBerry, press the Convenience Key, then go to Options->Screen/Keyboard->Convenience Key and select ‘Google Search’.
I want to take a few seconds to thank YOU for reading, commenting, and simply for being part of the growing MobileMammoth community! My earlier article on the Orbitz mobile website was officially our 200th post! Coincidentally, we also reached 200 email RSS subscribers just last week, and that list is growing fast.
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Many are not aware that I do just about everything for this site on my own. Except for some excellent design work done last fall by a fantastic web design firm, I handle everything else. It takes a great deal of effort, but I love doing it and I continue to be amazed by the positive feedback I get back.
I’ve taken enough of your time, so thank you again, please come back often, and enjoy the rest of your week.
The original comment was made in regards to our 