If you have hundreds of contacts like I do, and you don’t like scrolling through them to find the contact you’re looking for (I don’t), here’s a quick trick to get the contact you want to call:

1. Go to the home screen.
2. Press and hold the menu button.  This presents the virtual keyboard.
3. Type the name of the contact you want to call.

This will bring up the contact’s details and allow you to select which number (if they have multiple) you want to call.  Pretty cool, huh?

At work, I have Windows XP loaded and running on my MacBook Pro laptop via VMware Fusion (v2.0.4) so I can use two Windows-only applications (both Telelogic-made).

I ran into some issues last week with my virtual machine where the good ‘ol DnD (drag & drop) functionality stopped working. I thought my install of VMware Tools was messed up so I uninstalled the instance that was running and attempted to reinstall the tools. Unfortunately XP decided that the virtual CD-ROM no longer existed on my computer so it wouldn’t let me install the VMware Tools (if you select “Install VMware Tools” from the Virtual Machine menu, all it really does is mount an ISO with the tools install file in that virtual CD-ROM).

Digging around on the web didn’t produce any useful tips that I could try, so I did some experimenting and this is what I did to get VMware Tools to install:

1. The ISO that has the VMware Tools on it is located at /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/isoimages/. Mount the appropriate ISO (in my case it was windows.iso) to your mac via Disk Utility.
2. Open the mounted drive and copy the contents to a USB stick.
3. Connect the USB stick to your virtual machine via VMware Fusion and copy the files to your desktop.
4. Run the setup.exe file.

Seems pretty simple, doesn’t it.

Seems Twitter is down for maintenance. What do you do when you can’t partake in the twitterverse?

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.

Received it today (unexpectedly).  Very Cool!

Its keyboard is different from the Bold, so it’s taking me a bit to get used to, but I love it!

This is kinda old but new to me. Now if only a phone could really do all that
PomeGranate Phone

I’m going to receive my 8900 by Monday. A quick write-up comparison between that and the 9000 will be put up shortly thereafter.

Skype’s beta version for the mac has a cool new screen sharing feature which works wonderfully.  Their website says that mac-to-mac and mac-to-pc screen sharing works right now, however, when I gave the mac-to-pc screen sharing a try earlier with a friend of mine neither of us could see the other’s mac while in windows.  Below is a screenshot of all I could see.

Has anyone successfully done a mac-to-pc screen share with the new version of skype?

Skype versions used: Beta v2.8.0.324 (mac), v4.0.0.206 (windows)