Testing the wpToGo app on android.

I reviewed the TimeBridge scheduling service back in April. The service has just gotten better. Here’s a quick list of new items:

• A fresh, redesigned look and feel
• A streamlined scheduling wizard
• Faster, smoother web conferencing services
• Support for use of multiple Google Calendars

The old UI was not my cup of tea, but the service that they offered made up for that.  Now it’s all good!  Good job TimeBridge team!

One issue I noticed was that my availability calendar wasn’t showing my schedule…could be a bug.

I’ve been using the Twitter client TweetGenius for a few weeks now.  Here are some of my observations…

The app has an amazing UI, however, what good is a UI if the functionality behind it is buggy?

Here’s a list of pros and cons:

Pros:

• Beautiful UI
• Great built-in notifications
• Nice division of tweets (friends timeline, replies, and dm’s)

Cons

• Makes my 8900 crawl when running in the background
• I’ve yet to be able to successfully upload images
• Inability to change font size (the timeline font is too small for those quick glance moments)
• When viewing a user’s profile, the profile always launches in the other twitter client I have installed!
• App hangs while receiving updates.

Final verdict: if you are a BlackBerry user and want a quality Twitter client where the functionality is superb, download ÜberTwitter as TweetGenius just doesn’t have that functionality down and is not worth the $9.99 they are charging for it.

Yesterday I posted a review of the meeting scheduling service TimeBridge. Today, I’m going to cover another great scheduling service called Tungle.

Sign up is quick and easy and allows you to sync your account with Google, Outlook, and iCal/Entourage.

One of the great things about Tungle is that you can sync multiple calendars and email addresses with your account.

Setting up a meeting takes 4 easy steps:

1. Enter meeting details
2. Invite people
3. Propose times
4. preview/send

Just like in TimeBridge, you also have a link you can distribute amongst your contacts so they can see your availability. One added feature, however, is that you can set on a per-contact basis whether or not your contacts can view meeting details or a simple free/busy annotation in your calendar.

The feature I like most about Tungle is the smartphone compatibility when it comes to responding to meeting requests, however, I’m unable to view my account or setup a meeting via my mobile device.

Scheduling a meeting with a group of people is a little different than it was with TimeBridge.  With Tungle, if you want to meet with a group of people you’re connected with, you can view their calendar and propose the best times.  The last person to input their preferred meeting time is the one who books the meeting.

Oh, and you also have a personal RSS feed to view meeting progress.

Check out the full feature list and give it a try.

Here’s one webapp that I’m completely hooked on: TimeBridge.

The TimeBridge service allows you to send your meeting attendees up to five proposed meeting times. Based on their response, the service will auto-confirm the best proposed time for your meeting. You just add attendees, select the proposed times, select that you want to auto-confirm, and leave the rest to TimeBridge.

What’s even better is that you can sync TimeBridge with your Google Calendar, Outlook calendar, or iCal. I had some initial problems getting the connection with my Google Apps account setup so I was using their iCal connectivity tool. Now that the Google Apps connection is solid, I’m able to schedule meetings and have that sync over-the-air (OTA) with my Google Calendar as well as my BlackBerry (using Google Sync).

Other cool TimeBridge features:

• Ability to exchange your availability — lets your contacts see your availability and lets you see theirs
• Web conferencing / conference call service
  • Unlimited free-conference call facility (US only at this time)
  • Web conferencing & collaboration at $8.95/month with no long term contracts.

Kudos to the TimeBridge team!

Update: Bullet points have been updated based on a comment left by Yori Nelken, TimeBridge’s Founder & CEO

Recently I’ve been making a habit of compiling a todo list and sticking to it to make sure all of my tasks are done quickly and on time.

The tool I currently use is Remember The Milk (RTM).  Why? It lets me add/modify/delete tasks in a multitude of ways, but most importantly, it syncs with my BlackBerry’s native tasks application.

How do I add tasks? It depends on where I am and what I’m doing.  Here are some of the ways I manage my tasks with RTM:

• Web
• Email
• Twitter
• BlackBerry
• Quicksilver (a must-have app for all mac users)

Compare that to Gmail Tasks:

• Web
• Mobile Web

Not much there huh? Gmail tasks is really easy to use, however, I’m limited to managing the tasks via the web, and their mobile site is not to my liking (via my BlackBerry anyway).

If Gmail Tasks synced with my BlackBerry’s tasks application I may give it a try again, but for now it’s not my cup of tea.

Last night after I got back from the gym I found out that RIM had released their BlackBerry AppWorld, a downloadable app for RIM’s app store.

After downloading the app the installation was quick and I was able to quickly launch and start downloading apps, the first being shazam!

I can’t wait to see the 3rd party apps showing up in AppWorld.

I took some screenshots before heading to bed…

The latest beta version of TwitterBerry is available for download (link goes to the OTA page).  This new version looks much better than the previous one.  Here’s a list of changes:

• OS 4.2.1+: Includes improved TwitPic support. Look for the ‘Send to TwitterBerry’ menu in the Media application when viewing images. TwitPic uploads are sent over direct TCP connections, see ‘Connection Help’ in the Settings page
• OS 4.2.1+: TwitPic progress bar, to show the progress of the upload
• OS 4.3.0+: WiFi support for all connections
• Full tweets on the list screen. No need to click to open new tweets
• Improved network connectivity, adding support for WAP 2.0
• Hyperlink “@username” in tweets to visit their timeline
• Re-Tweet tweets from timelines or tweet views
• Optional HTTPS SSL support on all authenticated requests
• Background on close under ‘Configure’
• Multiple bug fixes
• New localizations: Portuguese

And some screenshots:

One of the added pluses of owning an iPhone that is hooked up to AT&T’s service is the availability of visual voicemail, which allows you to view who has left a message before listening to them.

When the service first came out I wasn’t too keen on it…I didn’t receive enough calls to warrant wanting the service.  That has changed now.  Since I’m using the new Blackberry 8900, I wanted to see if I could find a service/app that would fit my needs.

I came across PhoneFusion’s Fusion Voicemail Plus a little while ago, and after setting it up (which took all but 5 minutes), I had visual voicemail!

This is what you do:

1. sign up
2. get a code sent to your phone for verification, enter that code on the site to finish the account setup
3. install the blackberry app
4. change your call forwarding settings on your phone to the PhoneFusion number they provide in your confirmation email.
5. start viewing your voicemail!

I had my buddy Mike from HardwareGeeks give me a call to test out the app.  His call showed up as green on the Fusion Voicemail Plus app:

You can select the call, download, and hear the message right from the app:

Yes, the GUI isn’t as fancy as on the iPhone, but it gets the job done.  One of the other cool things about Fusion Voicemail Plus is that it allows you to setup multiple sources so you can manage the voicemail of multiple sources all from within Fusion Voicemail Plus.

Here’s what the web interface looks like:

I’m anxious to see what Google Voice will have to offer.  I don’t think they have the visual voicemail feature, but they do have voicemail transcripts.

Gmail Labs has released a useful tool called Multiple Inboxes which allows you to quickly items in your inbox.  It’s really useful, however, they need to add some padding (see image below)!  I use the standard gmail interface (no theme) and everything is all smushed together.

Give multiple inboxes a try!