Web review

The fifth version of the most popular browser for mobile devices is now released as public beta. Opera Mini is the Java version of the Opera browser: it can run on any J2ME enabled smartphone, bringing a good web experience also on devices with limited browsing capabilities.

The idea at the base of Opera Mini is to offer a fast browser that saves bandwidth with the help of Opera servers, that compress web pages and graphics before sending them to the final user. In addiction of this, Opera Mini tries to embed a number of features that are normally present only in desktop browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer… and of course Opera for PCs), like tabbed browsing and speed-dialing bookmarks.

Opera Mini 5 beta is available for free. You can download it directly from your phone, pointing it to http://m.opera.com/next .

Every blog based on Wordpress – the most famous CMS for blog management – is at risk since yesterday, because a new security hole that was discovered in this platform, until version 2.8.3. This bug allow the “injection” of a new administrator account in the blog; from this account it’s possibile to do anything. The suggestion for bloggers is, of course, to update their Wordpress installation to the last release (at this moment it’s the 2.8.4), that is immune from this vulnerability). Users with a blog that is hosted directly on Wordpress.com haven’t any concern, because the automatic update service that is offered by the network is already in action, protecting the blogs that are in hosting.

Raneri Web Design released a new free online service, thinking about eBay users: eBalert is able to create RSS feeds from any eBay search, on the fly. eBalert is for people that is looking for something in particular: it allows users to avoid the annoying activity to check daily on eBay, monitoring the same search, to discover which new bids have started.

You can do the search once (it works also with advanced filters, like geo-distance or the ordering by criteria), then copy and paste the URL of the results’ page to eBalert: it will instantly create your feed, updated every 12 hours and ready to be added to your preferred feedreader. The service doesn’t require any signup.

CrystalDiskMark is a simple, easy and free utility to test drive performances. Just choose the unit you want to benchmark (it works also with SSD and flash devices like USB sticks or SD card!) and click the “All” button to execute a complete test. The application will check sequencial e random read/write speed, showing you the results in a minimal interface. You can also choose the dimensions of the dummy file to be  used during the test, to fine tune it.

Here’s another useful information for lucky people with an Android phone (only a single model is available on the market, at the time of this post: the HTC Dream, also known as “G1″): one of the most annoying problems for Android users is that they can’t export their sent and received SMS, to stock them on the PC and – maybe – to import them back on another Android phone.

I want to thanks a user from the forum on modMyGphone.com, so I discovered that our SMS and MMS are stored in this file, in the phone’s memory:
/data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db

So, root users can copy them all on the SD card with a simple and single command from the terminal:
cp /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db /sdcard

This file must be copied on the PC and it can be copied back on the phone (for example, after a format) to recover messages. You can also browse it from your computer with a – more or less – comfortable way, using a SQLite client (for example: SQLite Database Browser).

The list of applications and games for Android phones is big, but not so huge as the ones for iPhone or Symbian devices: the operating system by Google is new and the road is long. Anyway, ports of the most famous multi-platform softwares are coming day by day.

Today we can enjoy the launch of the very good emulator of old LucasArts games: ScummVM-Android is the unofficial port, now available on the Market – directly from your Android phones. Now we can play Maniac Manson, Monkey Island, Sam & Max on our G1 (aka HTC Dream)!

http://sites.google.com/site/scummvmandroid/

MediaMonkey is a free audio player for Windows. I tried it while I was looking for a Winamp replacement, because of its bad management of media library (I lost all MP3 ratings exactly when I finished to order my collection). I was impressed by the wide choice of functions of this software: it has everything you could ask this kind of application.

Even if there’s a commercial version of the same app (the “gold” edition… MediaMonkey “free” will beg you a little with this offer), differences between the two versions are not so big, and free features are really generous. read full post »

This weekend I want to point out an interesting video from an italian guy that was able to connect an C64 (from 1982!) to the Internet. He used an experimental hardware interface that adds a standard ethernet connection to the Commodore and a special graphic operating system (with window manager), Contiki.

He loads Google.it page in the C=64 web browser and… it works!

As I stated some days ago, I’m testing Windows 7 beta 1. Honestly, I’m very satisfied by the new operating system of Microsoft, that seems to be “What Vista wasn’t”. Because of my satisfaction, I’m trying to give my little help sending feedbacks to Microsoft when I encounter some bug or when I find that usability/user experience is not optimal.
I’m saving my feedbacks locally to keep a trace of what I suggested… and maybe to check if these things will be corrected in the final version.

I will also paste them here to make others know… and to collect some comments from readers of Web Review. read full post »

I just released the very first version of gCalTasks, a free gadget (Windows 7, Windows Vista) that is able to record and directly log your activities/tasks to your Google Calendar. It works also with private calendars. Extended info and download link on the gCalTasks dedicated page on this blog.