5 Good Windows Mobile Apps
Last Updated on Thursday, 3 February 2011 10:02 Written by Alan Sunday, 31 January 2010 08:00
1. Microsoft My Phone
Price: Free
- Back up your phone automatically
- Share photos on your favorite social networks
- Access your contacts, text messages and more online for free
- Locate your lost phone
- Ability to instantly view and update your queues
- Watch trailers on your phone
- Search for movies that you want to see
- Access complete movie details from your Windows Phone
- Free maps and directions
- Find local shops and restaurants
- Search for anything on the Web
- Instant answers when you need them
- Search with your voice, save typing
4. MoTweets
Price: $3:99
- Translate Tweets and Search Twitter topics with ease
- Ability to upload pictures using your device’s camera or from the photo album
- Post your location manually or by using your device GPS
- Support for multiple Twitter accounts
- ReTweet, Follow, Unfollow, Direct messages, Replies, Favorites, Conversations and much more!
- Send messages to any of the people in your Friends list.
- Take pictures and videos on your phone, then upload them right to Facebook
- Call people directly from your Friends list
- Manage your profile and post anytime, anywhere
Software Review – Dropbox
Last Updated on Wednesday, 9 March 2011 09:07 Written by Alan Saturday, 30 January 2010 08:00
Dropbox is a file sharing utility that you can use to share files among your own computers or with others on the internet. You install the Dropbox app on all of your PC’s and your phone and then anything saved to it is available across all of those PC’s and and phones. It’s also available on the Dropbox website so you can access your files from any PC anywhere. It works across Windows, MAC and Linux. There are both private and public folders so you can decide what you want others to access.
The free account allows up to 2GB of storage, or you can purchase up to 100GB. For most uses the free account is plenty, but if you plan to start sharing large amounts of photos with friends and family then you may need to purchase more space.
I found uploading and syncing of files to very fast. The average file is available from all PC’s almost instantly. Of course these results may vary based on your connection speed, but since most files you’ll be putting in Dropbox are probably under 5MB and DSL or cable connection should be more than sufficient.
Shared folders are visible only to those you grant access to and uploads and storage are both encrypted.
For a full list of features you can click HERE.
Using FTP
Last Updated on Wednesday, 9 March 2011 09:09 Written by Alan Friday, 29 January 2010 08:00
Most of you have probably heard of File Transfer Protocol (FTP). As the name suggests, FTP is used to transfer files between computers on a network, such as the Internet. You can use FTP to exchange files between computer accounts, to transfer files between an account and a desktop computer, or to access software archives on the Internet.
Why would you want to use FTP? Basically, it’s for uploading or downloading files. For instance, I have a home server running FreeNAS which I have all of our important files backed up on. FreeNAS supports FTP access and I have enabled it. Now, when I am away from home and need a file I can simply access the server via FTP and download the file to whatever PC I am at.
You can use FTP in your web browser simply by replacing the “http” with “ftp” in the address bar. But if you want a more powerful option then you will need a dedicated FTP program. There are many good, free ones available. My recommendation would be Filezilla, but you can try others and find one you like.
Filezilla also has a portable version available, which you can keep on a USB key. Now whne I am away from home and don’t even have my laptop with me I can plug in my USB key to any PC, open my FTP program and get whatever file I need from my server.
Most FTP sites grant “anonymous” access. This means you do not need a user name or password. There are thousands of these sites that contain a myriad of programs, data files, and informational text. At these sites, public directories and files that may be read by the rest of the world via FTP are set aside. These directories are usually named /pub. You can usually find specific directions and information about the site in greeting messages or in files with names like README.
Below is the basic connection screen for Filezilla. All FTP programs will have this same basic interface.
In the Host field you would enter the web address. For anonymous access leave the Username and Password fields blank. You may or may not need to enter a number into the Port field. If you do, then it will likely be included in the address – something like 192.168.0.1 Port 21.
Below the above screen you will have a two-pane window displaying your PC on the left and the server your connected to on the right. Double click the folders to access their contents and then use the upload or download option to transfer a hightlighted file from one to the other.
That covers the basics of FTP. For more in-depth information you may wish to look online, but this will get you started and doing most of what any average user requires.
