Solving AccuWeather's app force close problem (Android).

If you're an Android user, you probably know that after the latest update, AccuWeather app stopped working and everybody complains about this (any device, any Android version). It simply force closes after the launch. It seems that AccuWeather is never going to update that app, so I found a way of getting AccuWeather data on your device, under the same interface.

There are more AccuWeather apps in the Market, if you search for them. However, I've found one which really works, so if you search for "ACCU WEATHER Quick" (yes, ACCU WEATHER with capital letters), you'll get an AccuWeather app which really works. It seems to be released by Accuweather.com (nobody knows exactly), and it has a few bugs, but at least it works. Some users reported problems with the widget, problems that I don't confirm. There were also reported some problems with the accuracy of displayed information, but as I've just downloaded it, I think that the information is quite accurate.

So, go to the Market and download "ACCU WEATHER Quick" app to see if that one works for you.

AccuWeather Android app gets an update which breaks it.

AccuWeather.com is probably one of the most known weather websites in the world (together with weather.com), and it has, of course, a dedicated app in the Android Market. It has been recently updated (I don't know exactly when because I just came from Greece and I couldn't see there any updates because of the weak connection I had), so I updated it today.

It has a much cooler interface than before, but, unfortunately, it crashes every time I try to open it. It can be used for about one second, then, it stops working and has to be force closed. I'm running Android 2.2 on a Nexus One, but it seems that this doesn't matter, as everybody reports the same problem after update. I've already reported the problem, and the guys from AccuWeather have to move fast, because even if the app currently has 3 stars and a half, I'm sure that its rating is going to fall soon.

Syncing Palm handhelds (running PalmOS) with Ubuntu 10.04/10.10.

If you have an Ubuntu 10.04 or 10.10 and a (older) Palm handheld, you probably want to synchronize them, especially to install programs on your device (I have a Zire71, which doesn't have WiFi, so the only way of installing applications is via a computer). We'll be using "gnome-pilot" in this purpose. So, go to Synaptic Package Manager (System | Administration | Synaptic Package Manager), search for "gnome pilot", and install it. 

After you installed gnome-pilot, go to Start | Preferences | PalmOS Devices, and click Add. Now make sure that the port/hub in which the handheld is connected is working, and your device has enough battery. If you had your device synced before, click on "Get from PDA" button, and tap on the sync button on the dock. If that doesn't work or it's the first time you sync your device, give it an owner name, and an ID (it doesn't matter what  ID, I put 1000), click "send to PDA" and tap the sync button on the dock.

If that succeeded, close that window, and on the "Conduits" tab, enable all settings you want. Make sure that conduit "File" is enabled. When you're ready, right-click on panel (the bar with Applications, Places, System, etc) and click "Add to Panel". There, select "Pilot Applet" and click Add. A black-and-white icon should appear on the panel (if you can't find it, ask for help). 

All that you have to do now is to download applications for your PDA, and to drag and drop them over that icon. When you tap on the sync button on your device, it should be automatically installed on your device. I know, it isn't intuitive, but you can't say that it's difficult. 

If you have any problems, don't hesitate to leave a comment and I'll be happy to assist you.

Yahoo! launches broken Android application.

Yahoo! launched two own applications for Android, Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Mail. I've installed them both, and I must tell you that I am disappointed by both. The messenger is completely useless. It connects to Yahoo!, but it doesn't display any contact as online. All my contacts are seen as offline, even if I currently have about 45 of them online (and visible, of course).

Regarding to the mail, it works, but it does it really slow. Too slow for a mail client, in my opinion. Viewing through the content of the mails is fine, but the time from when you select another mail and you view it, is simply too much. On a 1 GHz processor and 512 MB of ram, with Android 2.2 Froyo installed. OK, if it works like this on Nexus One, how does it work on slower devices?!

Have you installed these two programs? How are they working (if they are...) on your device?

Is Yahoo! Messenger for Mac going to be a beta version forever?

I bought my Mac almost a year ago (10 months), and when I received it I hoped that it would support Yahoo! Messenger by default. I knew that Mac OS X is a very stable and a very complex OS. And mainly, so it was. Except that iChat, the default chatting application from Mac OS X, doesn't support anything else than MobileMe, Mac.com, AIM, Jabber and Google talk accounts. So here started the problem...Apple didn't implement a client supporting Yahoo!, so it was clear that I had to use Yahoo!'s own application.

I was surprised that at least there was a program developed by Yahoo!, for Mac. It was a beta, and it was the only option that I found for Mac. After installation, I noticed several problems, such as: unexpected crashes (prior to this the application becomes unresponsive), a bug which doesn't allow you to click on a contact (you have to move the pointer in order to do that), and the most...idiot problem, that one which displays you as "available" even if you logged in as "invisible". OK, you are "invisible" for all others, but you see yourself as "available". And this happens always.

What I consider that sucks is that you see only the small avatars of your contacts in the list, and if you move the mouse over a contact you will see only its name and status, without the picture. If you want to view the picture in "large" size, you have to open a window chat for that person. On Windows version of Yahoo!, you can view large pictures even on the list with all contacts (there's an option for that).

Those aren't critical problems, but they are very annoying because they seem that they will never be fixed. Yahoo! didn't launched any new version since I first installed it (it's still 3.0 beta (191946) ) and I don't think that Apple is going to move a finger to do something. But I still hope that Yahoo! didn't abandoned at all developing their application for Mac...

Microsoft offers free antivirus protection for Genuine Windows users.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free antivirus program for those who have genuine copies of Windows. As I'm not using (at all) any OS from MS I wasn't able to test it, but I can tell you some details and what is being told about it. So, what's good is that it is free (of course, if your copy of Windows is licensed) and it is made by Microsoft, who knows exactly what's inside the operating system so they can fix any vulnerability faster than a regular security company.

They say that it protects your computer against viruses, spyware and other kinds of malicious software, all in real-time. What I think that is bad, simply because it is made by Microsoft, is that it may fail regularly in different situations (fake alarms, issues when running, weak detection and stuff). But this is not something proven and is based on my past experience with Microsoft's products.

Those who tested said that it detected and resolved several threats better than NOD32, and even used less resources, but I doubt that this is something relevant (as I haven't seen any "serious" tests). There are comments on blogs where this product was reviewed in which the people told that it is a very bad protection program, because it wasn't able to detect important trojans/viruses so my doubts come also from here.

You can download and try Microsoft Security Essentials from http://www.microsoft.com/Security_essentials/ .

Seesmic. Probably the best Twitter client for Android based devices.

When I was planning to buy my Nexus One, I was quite decided what Twitter client I was going to use, because a friend of mine said that Seesmic is the best option for Android. And so it was. After I got my Nexus One and I found a free WiFi AP, the first thing I did was to download Seesmic. And I wasn't disappointed at all.

Seesmic is probably the best Twitter client for devices which are running this OS. It offers a very clear (high resolution) interface, combining light colors (where the tweets are received) with black colors (where are the options), and a red line in the upper part, which makes the application look better than any other Twitter client I have ever seen (on any other mobile OS).

The application doesn't just look excellent, it also moves excellent. Anyway, it has no reason not to do it since the device has 1GHz processor and 512 MB of RAM. There are plenty of options offered by the application, so it can be easily compared to a desktop client (TweetDeck for example).

The scrolling is not as smooth as it is on the iPhone, but the main advantage here is that if you move the finger across the screen fast, it scrolls down until the bottom of the list automatically. Plus, while you scroll down, the list of older tweets is automatically fetched.

The application is always running in the background, and I discovered this because I was woken up several times during the night every time I got a reply or a DM. Actually, the application is not making any kind of pushing because new tweets aren't loaded until you open the application, but it just checks periodically for any replies or DMs.

It has also a pretty annoying bug (or it's just a communication error with Twitter), which makes all the tweets which were sent up to 1 hour ago to appear as sent 1 hour ago. I mean, if somebody sent a tweet 15 minutes ago, it appears as sent 1 hour ago. I didn't observe any other bug into the application.

To get it, simply search "Seesmic" into the Market.

Seesmic web, or another type of twitter.com .

Seesmic has its own twitter.com like site. It lets you access your twitter account, but with lots of options, like on a dedicated client (such as Tweetdeck). Except that it is just a website. The idea is that it was created especially for incompatible platforms with Seesmic applications (Linux), but it is also great for general use, and it's ideal for slower computers.

The website is really customizable, and its a pleasure to use Twitter via this way (it's much better than on twitter.com). And what I like the most is that you can choose between two skins, a light one (white) and a dark one (black). The website is also available in more languages: English, Chinese (I think), Deutsch, Romanian (this is my language, but I really wasn't expecting this), Portuguese, Spanish and again something like Chinese ( I don't know those languages at all).

Link: http://seesmic.com/app/

HTC has plans about launching an own OS, but how about Android and Windows Mobile?

HTC, which is the company that has about 30 mobile devices available at this moment, announced that it has plans about launching its own OS. I don't know what is in HTC's mind at this moment, because I think that this is a stupidity. It sold lots of devices, with both Windows Mobile and now mainly with Android (because they are migrating to Google's OS), and it wants its own OS.

If HTC will have its own OS, it will definitely compete with Google's Android, and this is something bad considering that HTC is making devices for Google (Nexus One). The relation between these two companies can get cold really fast if this is going to happen, considering that HTC is the main factor for Android's impressionable ascension on market.

I didn't even mention Windows Mobile because it is clearly going to...nowhere. Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 7 recently, which won't be having an unimportant feature (in Microsoft's vision), but one which everybody uses, "Copy & Paste". Additionally, Windows Mobile 7 won't have multi-tasking. And will be quite incompatible with earlier versions of Windows Mobile. So, in my opinion, Microsoft is going to destroy Windows Mobile....

HTC said that it thinks about its own OS because it want to reduce its dependence of outside developers. Wait a second...what dependence ?! What is HTC talking about ? Dependence on Android ? I don't think so. On Andoid, HTC can do what it wants. It implemented its Sense UI, and can implement many others, and even contribute to market.

I think that HTC should think again about this, because, Andoid is the best option for their devices (I don't think that they will be able to create something better, for the customers).

Ubuntu: the change is coming - April 29th.

The new version of Ubuntu, 10.04, is almost near the corner. On April 22nd the last step before the final release in coming, the Release Candidate. This represents usually about 90-95% of the final release, and soon after, on 29th, the final release is going to be available.

This is a LTS update, or Long Term Support. This means that this version will be supported for 3 years on Desktop version, and it is launched every two years (while normal releases are supported for 18 months and are launched every 6 months). Thousands of updates are coming daily for those who are using Beta 2 at this moment, so this is an evidence that the community is seriously working for 10.04 LTS.

This is a list of the most important updates that Ubuntu 10.04 has so far and what is supposed to come in the final release:

• Much better hardware support
• Improved speed
• 2 new default themes
• By default, Ubuntu has windows buttons on the left
• Splash and login screens are now modified
• Gwibber is installed by default (social client - Twitter is included)
• Boot time under 10 seconds (for the final release)

Regarding the themes, an article can be found by clicking here. However, articles about Ubuntu can be found on the entire blog. You must only find them by typing "Ubuntu" in the search box.

Ubuntu is still under full development, so the many applications and even the system can get serious errors, so if you need a stable system it is not recommended to update yet.

The stable version (9.10) and 10.04 beta 2 are both available from the official site: http://www.ubuntu.com/ .

Apple banishes aggressively (and abusively, I think) apps from AppStore.

A large number of applications from the App Store capable of searching nearby access points, offering many details about them, and connecting to them, had disappeared recently. Today, I was surprised to discover this thing. So, I've googled a little, and I found that Apple pulled from the App Store intentionally some of that kind of applications.

There were more cases in which Apple pulled from App Store some applications, because they said that...they did it because for some legal reasons. I can't think of what could 6 WiFi manager apps (for current case) have violated, but I'm pretty sure that they did it because that's what they wanted to.

Recently, Apple published a clear list of apps that will not be approved or will be pulled from the App Store if they exist, in case that they will not respect that list. Apple said that that apps were explicitly referring to adult content. A completely abusive behavior of Apple, in my opinion. That apps were not really referring at what they said. Their official explication was that they "want to protect children".

But lets return to what made me angry today. I searched for eWiFi into the App Store, a way better WiFi searcher than what Apple offers by iPhone's settings, but it was not there. I found that a number of 6 apps of that type were banished: WiFiTrack, WiFiFoForum, yFy Network Finder, WiFi Get, eWiFi, and WiFi Analyzer. I was not able to find anywhere a clear explication from Apple regarding this situation.

That's not cool, Apple. I was some time ago a big fan of Apple. Today, I am a fan of them because of their laptops. Aggressive and excessive restrictions from iPhone made me a fan of Google's Nexus One. I think that its OS is definitely superior at the moment compared to iPhone's.

Spawn Lite: a free light show play on your iPhone (entertaining).

Spawn Lite is an iPhone App which will make a light show on your phone. It has some hidden features, which I'm going to describe you. You have to move two fingers in the same or opposite direction, on the following side:

• (vertical) on the left side to change the length of the lights
• (vertical) on the middle of the screen to change the length of the lights
• (vertical) on the right side to change the color of the lights
• (horizontal) on the middle of the screen to change the movement speed of the lights

It's simple. But because it's a lite version, it includes advertising (on the bottom of the screen). Multitouch is supported. Please leave a comment if you like it. Below is a video to demonstrate you how it works.

Search it in the App Store: "Spawn Lite".

INCREDIBLE how the voice search from Google App works (iPhone).

Google has its own App for iPhone, which offers a large number of features (they are not included into the App, they are only listed there, and launched in Safari when tapped):

• Gmail
• Calendar
• Docs
• Talk
• Tasks
• Reader
• News
• Notebook
• Photos
• Translate
• Maps
• and YouTube

The App has its own browser, which has Voice Search option. And this is an amazing feature. It's so far the best App of this type I've ever seen. It recognizes perfectly everything that I say to it. I know, it's not a big thing for an English native speaker, but for me (I'm from Romania), it's the first application I've ever seen that is able to "understand" any word I say to it.

I've also tested Microsoft's App, named Bing, but it really sucks here. From 10 words I say to it, it understands only 2 of them, while Google understands at least 9, most of the time all of them.

So, search it in the App Store: "Google" or download via your PC/Mac from here. (remember to activate voice search from settings)

Take pictures or record with your webcam on Ubuntu.

Taking pictures or recording from webcam on Ubuntu is not hard at all, because Ubuntu has all drivers needed. You just need a software which is able to do "the job". "Cheese" is the application that can help you here. It's so far the most compatible software of this type for Ubuntu, and it can let you take pictures or record directly from your webcam. And you have an additional option, named "Burst". Using this, you can take multiple pictures automatically (by default it takes 4 photos with a delay of 1 seconds, but you can change this in preferences).

Search in Ubuntu Software Center for "Cheese".

Why Yahoo! has never created a messenger version for Linux?

Yahoo! has created different versions of their messenger for both Windows and Mac operating systems, and for mobiles (iPhone, Blackberry, etc), but they have never launched an official version for Linux. And I can't understand why. If they worked for so many versions (for all operating systems), how hard would it be for them to crate one more, for Linux?

There are available many applications capable of connecting with Yahoo! (such as Pidgin or Empathy internet messengers, and a very complex dedicated application, named GYachE), but a proprietary messenger application would be well-welcomed. This can avoid from repeating the problem that millions of Linux users occurred just after Yahoo! updated the way users were authenticated on their servers (for Yahoo! Messenger 10). That made their servers to refuse almost any trial to connect from Linux operating systems. The problem was fixed, but that took some time.... And, on an official version, any functionality that Yahoo! can offer should work normally.

I really can't understand why they didn't made any version for Linux. Probably, they don't really care about users.

How many do you know about your battery ? (Mac only)

The batteries found on the MacBook computers are extremely good, I would say that are the best batteries for laptops. But Mac OS X won't tell many things about it. Here you can use a little application, called coconutBattery, which will tell you the current battery charge, maximum battery charge, its current and original capacities, and other informations.

For example, I've got a 13.3 inch MacBook (white). It's the old model, so it has a battery that keeps about 4 hours and a half. coconutBattery says the following for my battery:

• Current Battery Charge: 5137 mAh
• Maximum Battery Charge: 5137 mAh
• Current Battery Capacity: 5137 mAh
• Original Battery Capacity 5020 mAh (it results that my battery is 100% health)

Additionally, it will tell how many battery-loadcycles your battery has, age of your Mac (since it was made, not purchased), if the charger is connected, and if the battery is currently charging.

Newer models of MacBook White have better batteries, which keep up to 7 hours, and support up to 1000 charges.

And, if the Current Battery Charge is lower than Maximum Battery Charge and your Mac says that battery is charged, do NOT panic! It is something normal. Current battery charge usually fluctuates between 100% and maximum 92% of its current capacity. It is something known.

Download coconutBattery from here: http://www.4shared.com/file/217080977/1d9ac5ac/coconutBattery_265.html

Informations about skiing locations on your iPhone.

Getting informations about skiing locations from all over the world on your iPhone is very simple. There are several applications that can do this job, but the application that I'm using is called "Snow Report". After the last update, the application loads really fast, and works without any problem. It can automatically detect the location where you are via GPS, or you can choose the location from a list. The maximum number of locations it can store is 12.


For each location, it will display how much snow is expected for the following 24 hours, 48 hours, and the following 7 days, the depth of the snow on top and on base, then, if the resort is open or not and how many lifts and trails are open and closed. Then it will show the temperature at the resort and the condition of the skiing surface, followed by three buttons which will show the following when pressed: five day forecast, resort webcam, and resort information. At the bottom, it will show how much time ago the informations were last updated.


The application is, of course, free, and it can be found on the AppStore by searching "snow and ski report by rei" (the application will have an icon on which is written "REI").