Swedish carrier planning iPhone MMS app

Swedish iPhone users may soon have a way to send each other pictures and video via text messaging.

Telia, Apple's carrier partner in Sweden, is going to develop its own MMS (multimedia messaging service) application for the iPhone, according to a report from MacWorld Sweden. The lack of MMS is perhaps one of the most common gripes about the missing features of the iPhone, second only to cut and paste.

But instead of adding that function itself, or allowing a third-party developer to build it for the App Store, Apple is apparently going to let Telia enable MMS on its own. And it doesn't sound like the rest of the world is going to get a crack at that application, based on the translation, which was verified as legit by a few Daring Fireball readers conversant in Sweden.

Telia will have the application up and running in two months, it told MacWorld Sweden. There were MMS options available to those who wished to jailbreak their iPhones, but this is apparently an officially sanctioned way to text pictures to your friends.

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Punareen under LIONS control

The Sri Lankan Government says its armed forces have entered a strategically important town in the north of the country.

Until now it has been under the control of Tamal Tiger rebels.

Troops entered Tamil Tiger-controlled Punareen this morning according to Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence.

A statement said soldiers had crossed the marsh lain south of the town during the night and then marched into what was described as the rebels' last bastion on the western coast.

It added that the Tigers were putting up stiff resistance and pitched battles were still going on in the area.

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Featured Freeware: gMote

gMote is one of the easiest to use mouse gesture tools around. gMote's dual-pane configuration interface makes it a snap to create and program mouse gestures, and takes extra steps to teach new users how it works via a prompt on first run to check out the built-in tutorial.

Press the create button, make your mouse gesture in the test window, and then use a pull-down to assign one of the 30-plus actions. The actions center on browser, media player, and word-processing commands. However, program execution, Web site selection, and hot-key combinations are also easily added actions.

To make sure normal mouse movements don't invoke gesture actions, you can chose a key combination, the center mouse button, or the right mouse button to hold as you make the gesture. The gesture draws a temporary line on the screen to help users make the correct movement. The app then helpfully displays the gesture in a pop-up box before invoking the action. Gestures are easily saved in sets and are as easily deleted when no longer needed. gMote warns users when new gestures are too similar to older ones, a sharp feature that's a must in this kind of program.

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Featured Freeware: Stellarium

Open-source and currently in use by planetarium projectors, cross-platform Stellarium brings astronomer-level features to stargazers of all levels of interest. It's not quite as robust as its competitors, but it's also a much faster program. It doesn't suck away your RAM into a black hole when loading or running. Be aware that it only runs in full-screen mode, making any other programs you're running inaccessible except for the ALT-Tab switcher.

The default catalog includes 600,000 stars, with upgrade modules that can push that up to 210 million stars. The constellations of 10 different cultures are included, as well as illustrations and asterisms to help you visualize what the ancients saw. There's a full Messier catalog of nebulae, too. The dawn, dusk and atmosphere backgrounds were good, but not great on our monitor. They probably look better on a planetarium dome, which is why it's useful that Stellarium also includes a fish-eye view for curved surfaces. Besides equatorial and azimuthal grids, users also get shooting stars when appropriate, eclipse simulation, and skinnable landscapes. Stellarium incorporates star-views from the moon.

The controls are a bit hard to find, but there is a nifty record feature to make your own planetarium shows. Some of the interface features could be revamped and improved, including the somewhat confusing options settings and the hard-to-see interface controls. Users who need something more academic and less distracting than Google or Microsoft's offerings, as well as those who have a need for an open-source planetarium, will be impressed with Stellarium. Fortunately, that could be any of us.

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5 Reasons Obama Is Good For Geeks

Ron Paul seems to be the hands down favorite presidential candidate for many geeks, however Barack Obama sports many geek friendly features as well as strong plans for universal health care, Iraq, poverty, and improving education.

Net Neutrality
Unlike geeks, most regular citizens are unaware of the vital importance of Network Neutrality. Obama has a clear understanding of the implications and has supported bills protecting Net Neutrality in the Senate. While Ron Paul's amazing internet support would not be possible without Net Neutrality, he does not believe the government should prevent big corporations from ruining the internet.

Online Fireside Chats & Town hall meetings
Obama knows typical Americans have little involvement in government and is worried that "messages are filtered through the media, and many times the hard questions are not asked." That's why as president, Obama would hold interactive fireside chats as well as have his national security officials hold periodic national town hall meetings via Web cast to discuss foreign policy.

Online Government Transparency
Obama sponsored the "Google For Government" law which makes records of every dime the government spends available online. This allows the public to keep tabs on where federal tax dollars go and creates better checks and balances for government spending. Obama has also promised to make every bill needing his presidential approval available online for the public to better understand the issue and his presidential stance before he signs it.

Fighting the man
Unless the man is Steve Jobs, the geek community always has it out for the man. Obama believes strongly in fighting the big corporations and special interest groups that control Washington. He does not accept donations from lobbyists and believes that special interests are the biggest obstacles for change and why the government no longer represents the people.

Prove It
Geeks are notorious for the phrase "pics or it didn't happen". With expert fact checking skills, most geeks pride themselves on not being sheeple. While I hear Ron Paul's policies everyday, I have yet to see how he can prove they will be implemented or successful. How does Ron Paul plan on providing reliable public education to poor children with no Department of Education? A better question would be how does he plan to disassemble the government without support of the House and Senate? (Does Ron Paul understand the powers of the president?) Obama has introduced detailed plans for his proposed policies, and his ability to work well with both Democrats and Republicans gives hope that change is possible in Washington.

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Father of iPod Quits Apple, Replaced By Godfather Of PowerPC

Tony Fadell, Apple’s senior Vice President of iPod division, who incidentally is also dubbed as the father of iPod is quitting the company for some personal reasons.

However, Mr. Fadell is resigning from the full time position only, and he will continue to serve the company as an advisor to CEO Steve Jobs.

Mark Papermaster, a former executive of IBM Corp., will be replacing Fadell to join as a new VP of Apple’s iPod division, sources said.

Furthermore, Mr. Fadell’s wife, senior VP for HR at Apple, Danielle Lambert, has also announced her departure at the end of this year; however, Apple says that the pair is leaving their positions to “devote more time to their young family.”

Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs have acknowledged the contributions made by the couple over the past eight years, and said in a statement, “We’re sorry to see Dani go, and are looking forward to working with Tony in his new capacity.”

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motorola good mobile launched in sri lanka with Ridgecrest Asia PLC

Motorola's award-winning Good Mobile Messaging software and service helps make enterprise mobile email and application access more personalized and productive, while enhancing IT control.

Get Things Done More Easily. Mobile professionals receive so much email that it’s often difficult to find the information they’re looking for on their smartphone and complete tasks from start to finish. Good 5 introduces innovative email and PIM capabilities that help enable mobile users to easily find what they need when they need it and get work done. New features include:

Group and find by conversation and sender: sorts and groups emails by conversation thread and/or sender, helping users to easily pinpoint important messages and save time by filing and/or deleting an entire thread or group
Complete calendaring: helps invite participants to a meeting, provide real-time visibility into their free/busy status; and automatically suggests and reserves conference rooms based on past preferences and availability
Edit and send documents: securely accesses corporate intranets using Good Mobile Intranet (GMI); enables downloads of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe PDF documents directly to the smartphone; allows users to edit files and attach them to outbound emails
Dial without password: dials a contact from a password-protected phone without requiring users to enter the password--all while keeping email and contacts data secure
Third-party access to contacts: option to provide third-party applications, such as voice dialing and SMS, with access to Good contacts, helping to enhance device usability

Have a More Personal Experience. Being productive on a smartphone has been challenging in part because the phone doesn’t adapt to users’ specific preferences, needs or workflow the way they are accustomed with a desktop or laptop. Good 5 introduces a number of new customizable features that personalize the mobile experience:

Mobile RSS reader and subscription manager: helps keep users current with information from preferred sources—including business news and alerts. Subscribe to, manage, and preview feeds—all without having to leave the email inbox, launch a third-party application, or navigate a mobile Web browser
Priority mail: helps quickly identify messages that are important to individuals based on their unique preferences; defines and distinctly marks priority mail by sender, distribution list, who’s in the to: or cc: fields, and other user-selected criteria
Personalized notifications: assigns unique sounds and alerts to priority emails, so that users are less likely to miss the emails that matter most

More IT Control. Even with greater usability and personalization, IT doesn’t have to sacrifice control or security. In fact, Good 5 helps provide more control by giving IT professionals all of the advanced device and data protection capabilities previously available only through the Good Mobile Defense product, through a single-management console and complete over-the-air controls. Features include:

Mandatory applications: helps set and enforce the installation of mandatory applications like anti-virus checkers to ensure that users have what they need—both to do their jobs and to comply with corporate security policies Application lockdown: blacklists and prevents the launch of unapproved applications Device lockdown: locks down the camera, infra-red (IR), WiFi and/or Bluetooth wireless technology ports; enforces SD card encryption Advanced password management: enables administrators to set granular criteria for password characteristics, restrictions, and expirations Advanced encryption management: provides rules-based enforcement of SD card and database encryption policies Simplified load balancing: enables IT to move users across servers to facilitate load balancing—without the need to re-provision

“The holy grail of mobile email lies somewhere between complete IT control and unencumbered usability; products that try to close that gap often compromise the mobile experience,” said Rick Osterloh, Senior Director Product Management and Marketing, Motorola Good Technology Group. “With Good 5, we’ve successfully bridged the divide by giving end users the usability and personalization they want, while arming IT with even more manageability and security.”

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