Rogers/Fido Release “My Account” iPhone App

A few months ago, Rogers/Fido updated their websites to provide customers with the ability to view their wireless usage in almost real-time. The information was updated every four hours and gave users a great tool to track wireless usage.

To expand on that functionality and to set themselves apart from the other two Canadian iPhone carriers, Rogers and Fido have released new apps called “My Account”. The apps require no inputting of account credentials and simply pull everything from your iPhone network connection and SIM card.

Both Rogers and Fido each have their own version of the app and both apps provide customers with their wireless usage. Like the website, users can see minutes, messages and data usage right from their iPhone, which updates every 20 minutes instead of four hours as on the Rogers/Fido websites. The apps also allow customers to view their current balance and make a payment via credit card.

A few things to note:

1.) The apps do not support Corporate Accounts.

2.) The apps do not support Prepaid accounts.

3.) You must have a data plan with Rogers/Fido, whether contracted or not.

4.) You must be on 3G or EDGE for the apps to retrieve your account information. If you are on WiFi, you will have to turn WiFi off and connect to 3G or EDGE. (This is annoying)

5.) The app icons are really weird.

Both of the Rogers My Account and Fido My Account apps are available on the iTunes App Store for free.

Top 10 Ways to Get More From a Cameraphone

The best camera, the saying goes, is the one you have with you. Whether that's an impressive iPhone 3GS or a $20-with-2-year-plan flip model, you can pull off great shots and make life easier with these cameraphone tactics.

10. Get macro-style close-ups

Macro shots aren't just for passionate foodies with tolerant friends. We've shown you how to use an old DVD lens to create a simple, portable cover-up lens to get serious short focus on whatever you're shooting. Lack an old player to tear apart? You can probably find some cheap add-ons for your makeshift macro shots. Either way, you've got a nice little macro package that's cheap enough to bring everywhere and shoot everything, without worrying too much about

9. Capture your car travel

iPhones and other web-capable cellphones can be used as turn-by-turn GPS navigators, so accessory makers have cranked out lots of mounting gadgets for them. That's very convenient, but not half as fun as directing a low-budget thriller about your drive to work. To give your character his mood-setting opening montage, simply drill a hole in the camera spot and find an app that allows for time lapse photography, or a video recording function that doesn't require too much fiddling while driving.

8. Find your car in huge parking lots

Remember where one parked is one of those skills everyone assumes they're great at until put to the test. The Digital Inspiration blog suggest that, among other creative uses of cameraphones, using it to snap a picture of the exit or elevator you're closest to in a ramp, or landmark or other marker in an open lot, might save you a lot of hassle upon returning from an epic shopping trip or sports event. It takes less time than texting yourself the coordinates, and you'll earn instant respect when you're the only one with a bead on where to find the ride at the end of the night. Photo by Luciano Meirelles. (Original post)

7. Document what you packed

A lot of bags are packed in frantic fashion, but take the 15 seconds to snap a shot or two of what you're throwing in the case before you close it. If the airline, hotel, or shuttle service loses or damages your luggage, you'll know exactly what's in your right to claim inside it. If you want to be absolutely sure you didn't pack sunglasses before you run out and buy them, you'll know whether to keep digging. Months or years later, you'll get a laugh out of how much you thought you needed to do nothing on vacation. Photo by Muffet. (Original post)

6. Create PDFs from document pictures

One hour and many arguments later, the whiteboard at work is filled with actually feasible ideas and team commitments. Now, how will you remember it tomorrow morning? Free camera phone conversion service Qipit can, depending on your camphone's quality, accept whiteboard snapshots, printed documents, or handwritten notes with white-ish backgrounds and convert them into plain old PDFs, then email them to your regular address. We just wrote out a potential work-related use for that convenience—let's assume you can think of many, many more interesting uses than that. And if you ever need to actually fax one of these documents, Qipit has you covered.

5. Punch them up on your Desktop

Some cameraphone shots capture perfect moments, but were taken in not-so-perfect conditions. Whether you like doing it yourself or leaving it to some well-considered software, it's fairly easy to drag a decent-looking image out of a rough snap. Windows users should grab the Mobile Photo Enhancer for a quick fix that corrects common problems. Got Photoshop, the GIMP, or another photo editing solution handy? Try Jackson West's tips on punching up a photo in under 60 seconds tested out on a pretty sweet shot of a bulldog taken with the lackluster iPhone (2G) camera. (Original posts: Mobile Photo Enhancer, Punch Up a Photo)

4. Enforce a diet

Back in the day, when the idea of phones with cameras was new to the world (okay, this was only 2005), the MyFoodPhone service offered, for $149/month, then $10/month, to have a dietitian review any photos you send in of your food and ping you back with a quick take or suggestion. As you might imagine, that service doesn't seem to be around anymore—perhaps because, for many people, the act of simply committing what they're eating to a camera, and maybe even making it public, is enough to start dropping pounds. It's akin to the idea of calling a parent every night you hit the town and telling them how much you had to drink or how much you spent—you would, almost certainly, cut back, and you'd also have photo evidence and reinforcement of the times you managed not to kill off that entire Cheesecake Factory plate. Photo by Sebastian Mary.

3. Grab and send photos without fees

Tied to an older phone that won't let you get pictures out without paying exorbitant MMS/email/'upload' fees? Enter BitPim, a free software tool that connects to your phone over Bluetooth and opens it up in a major way, even if your Bluetooth capabilities seem very limited. We walked through backing up and syncing your phone with BitPim, performed on a very limited clamshell model, the cheapest that came with a Verizon contract. Check to see if BitPim supports your phone. If so, feel free to reach into your little bundle of circuits and free the pictures, videos, and tunes that are rightfully yours. Oh, and throw some custom-made ringtones in there, while you're at it.

2. Master the form

Even with the high-end 5-8 megapixel models on the edge of being available, shooting with a cameraphone is not the same as with a standard handheld camera. The sensors, lens curvature, capture abilities—it's all been optimized for a device mostly meant to pass voice and data from twisted antennas. That said, you can learn how to get better shots out of the camera you always have with you, as Gina learned and related:

Plan for shutter delay
Like many consumer digital cameras, there's most likely a delay between the exact moment you press the shutter button and when your cameraphone captures the image. Plan for this: hit that button half a second in advance to get the exact moment you're looking for, and keep the phone steady for a few seconds after it's pressed, too. A little practice will help you perfect this.

1. Make it your second brain

Get a free Flickr account, and add your secret, automatically private, instant-upload email address to your phone's contacts. You've now got a tag-able, high-quality, almost infinite space to stash everything you're likely to forget or need to pool your thoughts on. Wine you want to buy, the perfect gift you stumble across in June, your new gadget's serial number—anything not already in this list, in other words. If you're more likely to actually organize your camera thoughts, Evernote offers a similar free space and private email address, but doesn't allow for tagging by email, making the otherwise brain-expanding service, oddly enough, a bit less useful for this hack you'll find convenient at just the right moments. Photo by solson.

Sprite Migrate Makes Changing Smartphones Simple

Windows Mobile/Symbian/BlackBerry/Android: If you've got an itch to flee your smartphone for another platform entirely, the prospect of manually dragging over your data is daunting. Sprite Migrate, a free transfer application, makes it easy to transfer pretty much everything.
Sprite's beta Migrate application, free until Dec. 1, should be installed on both the phone you have now and, when you get it, the phone you're moving to. From the phone being left behind, load up Migrate and tell it to grab bookmarks, call logs, contacts, SMS databases, photos, and anything else it can find. It dumps all that into a single file you can transfer by microSD or email, and you simply load up Migrate on a new phone and load that file in.
We lacked a second smartphone to grab and transfer Migrate data with, but Download Squad and online reviewers report that Migrate does exactly what it says. It's a free download for Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Android phones.

Sprite Migrate [Sprite Software via Download Squad]

Dual SIM Card adaptor Platinum 3G HSDPA

With Simore Platinum, go up a gear
Platinum is the latest generation intelligent device enabling you to install two SIM cards in one mobile phone. Dual SIM Card is universal and installed directly into the slot of your SIM card.

Platinum has been developed to support 3G and HSDPA networks and designed to be easily integrated into all phones, even those with an extremely thin SIM card slot such as the Apple iPhone, HTC, Nokia, LG, Samsung, Blackberry, etc… This brand new Dual SIM Card supports USIM and SIM cards from all mobile phone operators and allows users to take full advantage of Internet access and video connections via 3G networks – UMTS – WCDMA – HSDPA (High Data transfer speed)

Platinum guarantees connections to GSM, GPRS, EDGE, CDMA, UMTS, WCDMA, HSDPA

- Once inserted into your mobile, the Simore menu will automatically appear in the main menu of your phone. (You can also bring up the menu by dialling the Simore keyboard shortcut # 99) *
- The Simore menu allows you to manage your two numbers and to define your settings.
- You can switch from one number to the other in two clicks.
To achieve high quality products, Simore uses innovative and futuristic designs, together with the latest flexible printed circuit board technologies (Technology CoF)
Our focus on manufacturing quality, combined with excellent product components, allows us to create “best in class” products.
The micro-controller (high capacity) chip is now covered with film protection to ensure a safe use during handling.

Choose quality and enjoy a top-of-the-range product.

Simore Platinum has an active internal memory allowing you to store, manage and protect your contacts and personal information (secret agenda, confidential directory, secret SMS, etc. ..).
This Dual SIM Adaptor includes an encrypted SMS function which allows you to send and receive confidential information.
To use the “SMS encrypted” the mobile phone must support the storing or copying of received SMS messages in the SIM card memory.
The Platinum version requires the cutting of your SIM cards. Our system is reversible. We provide in every pack two recovery tools that enable you to restore your SIM cards to their original form and place each of them into two separate phones.

Integrate 2 SIM cards in your mobile
Certified ISO – 7816
Compatible with both GSM and 3G mobile
Multi-language menu (ENG-FRE-GER-ITA-SPA)
Manual switch
Automatic switch (flexible duration)
Name and display the active SIM card
Protected internal memory
Secret agenda secured by a password
Secret directory secured by a password
Send and receive encrypted SMS
Secured storage of encrypted SMS
Support GSM network
Support GPRS network
Support EDGE network
Support CDMA network
Support UMTS – 3G network
Support WCDMA network
Support HSDPA network
Shortcut function

http://www.mobil365.se/2009/09/13/dual-sim-card-adaptor-platinum-3g-hsdpa/

New Code of Conduct Says You Can Reject Cellular Contract Changes Or Cancel Without Fees

New Code of Conduct Says You Can Reject Cellular Contract Changes Or Cancel Without Fees: "
So here is an interesting development.

According to an entry on the Financial Post, Canada’s wireless phone companies, which include Rogers, TELUS, Bell, the new carriers and all the little guys, are going to begin to allow customers to refuse material changes made to their wireless plans while that customer is still under contract. Either that, or you can leave the contract without paying any cancellation fees whatsoever.

Good News?

This article has a lot in common with our recent coverage of terrible Rogers/Fido news (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15) and the Condition 15 news on your contract that allows you to reject a change, but only one time. In other words, it seems that something is actually being done here that will help the customer.

This also carries vibes from similar moves made by Sprint and T-Mobile earlier this year. Spring had increased the price of their administration fee and then allowed customers to cancel their contracts cancellation fee-free within a certain time frame. If customers did not cancel during that time, they accepted the change. Similarly, T-Mobile recently increased their overage rates and then allowed customers to cancel their contracts cancellation fee-free within 14 days from the effective change date.

The most interesting thing about the Spring/T-Mobile moves is that when they were making these price increases, they offered their customers a way out immediately. Contrast that with Rogers/Fido, who collectively have made approximately 15 price increases over the last few months and have given their customers no flexibility.

But looking back at the article, if you dig a little deeper, you will notice some not so good news. Apparently during the Code of Conduct negotiations, Industry Canada refused a tool that was designed to protect wireless customers because of pressure from the Wireless Industry. The tool was an online calculator that compared prices on plans across all of Canada’s Wireless Carriers but the Carriers were worried that the calculator would promote cheaper plans. So the Carriers engaged in some lobbying and got that tool destroyed.

You can check out the piece of the article below. Pathetic:

“The announcement comes as reports surfaced this week that plans on another tool designed to protect wireless customers were scuttled by Industry Canada allegedly because of pressure from the industry. University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist reported on his blog on Monday that an online calculator that would compare prices on plans across carriers was axed in June after federal officials met with the CWTA.”

“Prof. Geist wrote that “intense lobbying” from certain carriers, which were concerned that the calculator would promote cheaper plans, resulted in it being dropped.”

However, with this new Canada-Wide Cell Phone Code of Conduct, it would seem initially that things are going to change for the better. Who doesn’t like the idea of refusing changes or ending your contract without a cancellation fee? As good as this sounds, it does raise two concerns for me.

Code of Conduct Flaws

First, the wording of being able to refuse the changes or cancel the contract is somewhat unclear. For example, if Rogers makes a change that increases a price and you call to refuse it, does that mean you get what you asked for or does Rogers simply ignore you, leaving your only choices as deal with it or cancel the contract. As many of you have read regarding Condition 15 on your Rogers Wireless Contracts, under that Condition you can refuse a change once. So this new Code of Conduct could presumably extend that to an unlimited number of contract change refusals.

Second, what stops a customer from signing up with Rogers, getting an iPhone at promotional pricing of $199, then Rogers increases its rates, so that customer cancels and takes their new iPhone with them. Then they go sign up with TELUS, and repeat the process. Then with Fido and repeat the process. If anything, this new Conduct seems to possibly serve as a method for people to easily take advantage of promotional priced handsets from the various carriers. But I have yet to expose to your the truth beyond this Code of Conduct. More on that later.

The only immediate point that can prevent this type of behavior is if Rogers, for example, stops increasing its rates, which we all know is not going to happen.

Good News?…Not So Much

But as you may have expected, this new Code of Conduct is not anything new. If you read through the fine print, you will clearly see that this “new” Code of Conduct is nothing but regurgitated information that is already in use and being enforced by the Wireless Carriers of Canada.

For example, according to the Code of Conduct, this is what Wireless Carriers must explain to customers either at the point of sale or on their websites:

Monthly base charge for the plan;

Number of airtime minutes and/or data usage included in the plan;

Rates for additional minutes or data usage;

Rates for optional services, such as long distance calling or text messaging, that may be added to your service;

Notice that roaming charges may apply within and outside Canada;

Any additional taxes, fees or surcharges that may apply;

The duration of any service period (if required), any activation fees that may apply, any early termination fees that may apply; and the

Terms of a trial period, if one is available under the plan.

Guess what? All of that information is already explained at the point of sale or the carrier website.

However, the most disturbing piece of fine print from the Code of Conduct lies in the next quote:

To continue to meet this commitment, the member carriers of the CWTA promise to:

Protect our customers’ rights when we must change contract terms

We do not change the material terms of our contracts with customers, without giving them at least 30 days’ notice. In the case of such material changes that are unfavourable to customers, we either give them the right to terminate the contract without any additional fees for early termination, or allow them to remain on the unchanged contract. This does not apply to changes that are required by law or regulation or changes to those services and features that do not have a fixed term commitment.

The Truth Will Set You Free…Maybe Not

If you read through the above quote, you will notice three things.

First, the carriers are now required to give a customer at least 30 days of notice before materially changing a customers contract. The definition of “materially” in this case is unknown. However, it is worth noting that this is common practice with Wireless Carriers today, since any changes made to your actual price plan ($25 per month), and not add-ons, is made aware to you.

Second, if a customer disagrees with a contract change, they can refuse the change (presumably for an unlimited amount of changes) and continue on an unchanged contract or end the contract without any cancellation fees. Again, it is worth noting that the this is partially in place today with regards to the refusing changes part, but as it stands today (with Rogers at least) you can only refuse one time. In terms of a cancellation fee, up until this Code of Conduct, you were paying a cancellation fee if you cancelled early.

The third part, and the most disturbing part, is that the new option of allowing customers to refuse a change or cancel their contract sans cancellation fee only applies to services that are under a contract. In other words, any changes to a wireless contract that do not have a contract attached to them can be changed at will.

The problem here is that this is already what wireless carriers are doing.

The only services that your contract protects in regard to wireless services is your base price plan (so your $25 plan for example) and any data plan contracts. Your contract does not protect add-on services such as CallerID, Voicemail, Text messaging, Value Packs, Roaming, Overage minutes, System Access Fees and so on. These services that do not have a fixed term commitment are not covered by this Code of Conduct, only services that have a contract on them are covered, which essentially renders this Code of Conduct useless since that contract already protects you from changes to your contracted services.

Wireless Carriers today cannot change your contracted services without your consent but they can change everything else that is on your account that is not covered by a contract. So in the end, this Code of Conduct simply brings to light the same practices that Wireless Carriers in Canada are already doing.

In other words, nothing has changed. Thanks for playing.

Fido Says Which Add-Ons You Can And Cannot Have

Fido Says Which Add-Ons You Can And Cannot Have: "
And for your viewing pleasure I have yet another wireless carrier blunder. However, this time it is from Fido…but wait, Rogers owns Fido, so that means we blame Rogers for this! (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)

Fido Says…”Sit Customer”

This one is juicy.

According to the Terms of Use for Fido monthly wireless plan add-ons, it is stated that certain add-ons (things like long distance, incoming calls) cannot be added to a Fido account if that plan was activated before November 4, 2008.

11. Cannot be added to monthly plans offered before November 4, 2008.

This caveat has been quite unnoticed until recently.

In other words, if you have a Fido account and your Fido wireless plan is from before November 4, 2008, then you are not allowed to add certain wireless add-ons to your account.

What could be the reason for this?

The reason is most certainly that most older plans are better than current plans (in terms of dollars to minutes; not good for Fido) and if you want these add-ons, you are going to have to change your current price plan to a plan that is available today. So if you have the KILLER CityFido plan from way back when, or any other plan pre-November 4, 2008, you cannot have the following add-ons:

• 50 minutes outside CityFido zone ($5/mth)
  
  
• Unlimited Incoming Calls ($12/mth)
  
  
• 25 minutes Canadian Long Distance ($5/mth)
  
  
• Unlimited Canadian Long Distance ($20/mth)
  
  
• Unlimited North American Long Distance ($30/mth)
  
  
• Up to 70% off International Long Distance ($5/mth)
  
  

This SUCKS!

There are hundreds of people that could benefit from reduced Long Distance fees with a Long Distance add-on and even thousands more could benefit from Unlimited Incoming Calls. But Fido says Nay! How to beat this? Install Skype on your iPhone to call unlimited long distance in Canada/USA for $3/month!

And this is great news (read: sarcasm) that goes along nicely with the recent change in your Local Calling Area.

Fido may not charge a System Access Fee or have long contract lengths, but they will get you somehow! Afterall, Fido’s big Brother is Rogers.

Snaptu Packs Dozens of Social and Information Apps into a Phone-Friendly Platform [Downloads]

Snaptu Packs Dozens of Social and Information Apps into a Phone-Friendly Platform [Downloads]: "

Java-enabled phones: Hate the interface on your phone when it comes to wrangling social sites like Facebook and Twitter? Wish the layout gave the info you wanted like movie times and weather? Snaptu is a java-based phone interface that does.

If you can run java applications on your phone you can run Snaptu. The application provides an iPhone-esque tiled interface with a variety of tools like a Facebook client, a weather checker, and an interface for Google calendar among over a dozen other tools.

The Snaptu interface is easy to navigate whether you're using a touch screen or directional pad—all of the menus are numbered and keypad friendly. Before downloading you can check out the catalog of applications on the Snaptu site and see what the interface and menus for various tools look like.

Snaptu is a free download and requires a mobile phone capable of running Java. Thanks Dirkhaim!

Snaptu

Microsoft développe OneApp pour offrir Facebook et Twitter aux téléphones moins performants

Microsoft développe OneApp pour offrir Facebook et Twitter aux téléphones moins performants: "Microsoft a dévoilé aujourd'hui une nouvelle application permettant l'exécution de logiciels relativement lourds sur des cellulaires munis d'un processeur lent et disposant de peu de mémoire.

Ti-Agile Mobile

Bonjour chers lecteurs,

Votre blog préféré est maintenant optimisé pour être lu sur les appareils mobiles grâce au site Mobify.me

Rendez-vous à http://ti-agile.mobify.me pour me lire sur la route! ;)

BlackBerry App World now available online

Check it out here at http://appworld.blackberry.com/webstore

Mobile Phones - The Next Frontier - VMWare

http://blogs.vmware.com/console/2009/08/mobile-phones-the-next-frontier.html