Fantastic Contraption, from independent developer Colin Northway, requires players to move an object into a box. Several tools are provided to build a “contraption.” But the fun is seeing whether the contraption actually works. A week after Northway released the game, nearly 20,000 people were playing per day.

According to inXile, almost 3 million people have visited the site and created their own unique contraption since it launched in July 2008.

InXile’s founder Brian Fargo has been searching for unique web games with potential. His company turned Line Rider from a Flash-based sketching tool into a game for the Nintendo Wii and DS. Fargo, who founded computer game company Interplay Entertainment in the early 1980s, said web games can be just as addicting as games with a team of developers and multi-million investment.

Such games also offer the company more web traffic as users save their creations and share them online. Fantastic Contraption and Line Rider both get about 1 million unique visitors a month. The game has a loyal following and active user forum.

Related:

• Apple’s iTunes store adds Line Rider
• Line Rider 2 game ditches simple for slick
• OC’s Line Rider game turned into McDonald’s commercials
• Line Rider meets OC: The video
• Watch the original video with Bostjan Cadez explaining his pet project

Post from: Alt+Save with the Gadgetress

inXile buys ‘Fantastic Contraption’ puzzle, plans iPhone game

The Garmin Nuvi 755T, 765T, 775T and 785T were recently announced and will be available on the store shelves here in the coming weeks. I was able to get my hands on a Nuvi 755T unit ahead of their launch for a review of their new offering that includes a nice handful of including an updated interface that I think makes the dead easy interface even easier and more intuitive to understand; kudos to Garmin for this subtle but well done change. It makes understanding where to go and what to do even easier while rocketing down the highway. The unit also offers 3-D buildings as well as Lane Assist, a reality like image that helps you understand what to do in difficult highway interchanges. The Nuvi 755T, 765T, 775T and 785T also offer faster routing calculations and faster map drawing.

Finally, Garmin offers free traffic updates with an ad-supported model that I was a little hesitant about. After a couple of weeks of using the unit, I can offer that it's not a terrible thing. Read on for more details and the full review...

Design
The Garmin Nuvi 755T is like any other 700 series Garmin thin, compact and powerful. The Nuvi 755 sits on the GTM-20 mount with an easy mounting and dismounting action coupling the FM receiver in the Power cord to the Nuvi through the data feeds. The single slider switch on top allows you to turn the unit on and off as well as lock it while stowing it. The mount has a single cam lever action to mount it to the dash disc that is included or the windshield.

Interface - Improved Nuvi Ease
The Nuvi 755T comes with the improved interface that started with the recent Nuvi 2X5 series and is a definite improvement in customization and ease of use. Garmin is about as easy as it gets with their interface, and they have just made it better. The new look and feel is important, a simple update that makes the unit feel relevant but beyond the new skin there is some functionality that really makes sense. A lot of the information is concentrated down the left side of the screen. Distance to turn, turn direction, traffic delay, and speed limit.

Turn indicator - While navigating in the upper left corner of the screen there is a green arrow and distance indicator that makes seeing where to turn easy. By combining the two pieces of information, a quick eyeshot to the Nuvi gives you an easy assessment of what's going on.

Customizable Data Field - Take this page from a Garmin Colorado notebook; the right data field is customizable for your use. The Nuvi has two fields down the bottom of the screen that offer useful information while driving and navigating; the right one is customizable. By tapping on the field you can select from various fields: Direction of Travel, Elevation, Time of Day. While navigating, you can flip to another set: Estimated Time of Arrival, Distance to Destination, Estimated Time to Destination, Direction of travel, Elevation, or Time of Day. A quick tap of the left data field (Speed), brings up the trip computer, where you can see speed, distance to destination, moving average speed, Max Speed, Total Time Driving, Moving Time, and Stopped Time. The trip computer is resettable, and is great for those long trips where a data-hound is driving and trying to beat a land speed record to get to the destination.

Zoom Fields - While not new, the location on the screen has changed. Previously the "+" and "-" buttons were spaced out on the corners of the screen bit they are now conveniently located together, allowing for easy one handed operation to quickly zoom out then back in when you go too far!

Speed Limits - The Nuvi 755T features speed limits displayed on the unit's screen which is a relatively recent (but not new) movement for Garmin. I have seen this on other units, where the database is plagued by bad data, and offered to have warnings alert you when you were speeding. With a bad database, the warnings are useless. The data captured by NAVTEQ for speed limits was really pretty good in my miles of driving. The speed limits were present on state roads and interstates; the speed changes were also accurate within a few feet of a newly changed speed zone. If you like the feature, the data in my use was really good. If you don't like the speed limit display, I couldn't find a way to shut it off. With accurate data finally driving the feature, I liked it. An added plus is that the display is very much like a Speed Limit sign making it an intuitive image to understand.

Faster Map Drawing - It's a subtle thing, but the Nuvi 755T has a softer interface that seems to draw maps faster by selectively drawing different layers and fading in detail overtime. So, major roads draw on a background, then minor roads, then interstate markers draw in finally accented by more minor road names and then any texturize detail to the map. It's cool to watch and offers detail at about the rate you can understand it, and internalize it without leaving you with the feeling of thinking ahead of the unit's ability to draw.... you aren't left wanting for a faster draw.

Navigation
Navigation continues to be very good with the Nuvi 755T, and offers a variety of ways to select your destination, with a very complete POI listing of stores, businesses, and other municipal locations. The approximately 6 million POI's are broken down to 14 categories that make sense, allowing you to look at the category listing by closest proximity. If you had a specific location in mind, you can then search within that category by spelling out the name. Tap on one location and you can see the address, the phone number with the option to see the map of the location and then go there if you decide that's where you want to go.

The Garmin Nuvi 755T also allows you to search by addresses, remembering which state you are in (see right) so that you have an easier time limiting your search for a town and a specific address. You are able to search by intersection, which allows you to type in a road and the unit then offers you the cross roads as a place you can navigate to. The Garmin Nuvi 755T has the ability to navigate you to the city center via a stand-alone button, which is not under the "Address" button; easier searching to get to the center of a city if that's what you need. You can also navigate to a set of LAT/LON coordinates, which I think is very helpful, if you are navigating to a location like a trailhead where the coordinates may have been documented without an actual street address.

Optimized Routes
Garmin has continued their route-planning feature from the Nuvi 700 series that I still think is a great idea. Go to Tools Custom Routes to set these up. The planning is fairly simple; add locations from either "Favorites", Addresses, LAT/LON coordinates, intersections, recently found locations, cities, by browsing the map, or Points of Interest. Add either the start or end point and then build from there. The magic can come after a bit of entry. If you are smart, you can figure out the order of things yourself, and if not, you can rely on the Garmin to do it for you by hitting the "Optimally Reorder Points". In my testing the unit could optimize the points that are fairly well spread out as well as some city based routes that had some one-way streets and such thrown in. It performed well. Calculating a route with several stops does take a while to calculate, but overall, it's a good feature to have.

Routing to Photos - Panoramio
Garmin has is offering the ability to save images as locations or favorites that you can then elect to route to. The process is pretty easy and requires that you work through Garmin Connect, Garmin's website for sharing of routes, fitness data and pictures. You can log into Garmin connect, upload your own photos, or simply search and download existing photos to the Nuvi 755T via the USB cable.

The photos are geo-tagged and when they are downloaded to the Nuvi 755T, they are set with a location to navigate to. I selected a Logan Airport photo, downloaded it and found it in My Favorites: Where to? Favorites Panoramio Photos and then you select the image by its given title. They are arranged by how close they are to you, and you can search by title.

Faster Routing
Garmin has improved routing so that as you are selecting your destination, the route is already starting to plan in the background - very cool, very smart. A second or two after you select a POI, for instance Children's Hospital of Boston, the unit slides out a little tab of information from the "GO!" button showing what mode it is using - automobile, the distance and the time it will take. The Nuvi is calculating the route in the background and as a result, when the little tab shows, and you hit "Go" the route is already there - no more waiting. In my torture test of navigating from my house outside of Boston to Dodger Stadium, the Nuvi 755 calculated the route in about 15 seconds and displayed it on the screen. That's a bit faster than I have seen in other units, not earth shattering, but the impression is that due to this background calculation the obvious lag after you hit "Go" is long gone.

Overall the routing on the Garmin Nuvi 755 is very good and I have no complaints at all in this area.

Traffic - Free NAVTEQ Traffic Feeds
The traffic feeds for the Nuvi 755T are fed through an FM receiver that is integrated into the 12V plug that goes into your car power outlet. Easy, simple and no other wires hanging all over the place for the FM antenna. When the Nuvi 755T encounters a delay, it will pop up a small icon on the left side of the screen with a delay estimate in terms of minutes. (See the image above in the "Interface" section.) The calculated delays were a little too kind on the Boston traffic, as they were estimating lighter traffic than I experienced. Only the Dash Express two way connected GPS offers better traffic impact estimates on travel time. With its approach to peer based data gathering it is not a surprise, but overall the navigation experience on the Garmin is superior; a trade-off to make that can only be remedied in your mind for yourself. The Garmin was smart enough to, by default, plan a route around the traffic before I got into a big mess. A plus in my book.

Ad Supported - and I'll take it
The free traffic feeds are supported by the advertising feed that comes through the NAVTEQ TMC traffic feed. It has to be simple; there's not a lot of bandwidth there, and when I read that the new system was going to plaster ads on a GPS screen I was nervous. I have to say; it's unobtrusive, and if I get free traffic as a result; I'll take it.
The ads only pop up if you are stopped for more than 10 seconds - don't worry you won't be trying to read around the ads while flying down the highway. When they do, they are pretty small little coupon looking things that when tapped bring you to a POI listing of that business.

It's early in this ad supported GPS development, but I can imagine the day when you can bring in a promotion code to get a discount or a freebie. That will be very good, traceable, and a big step up.
In the image above, I was stopped in the parking garage at the airport, where a Wells Fargo ad popped up. Note the fact that I had a satellite fix, but at the time we were sitting under a bridge or some overhead structure for a while - thus no fix. I saw ads for Wells Fargo, and Walgreens while using the Nuvi 755T.

Lane Assist - Know Which Lane Before You Miss The Turn!

I have come to love these lane assist features. Totally saves you when you are approaching a difficult turn situation. Garmin isn't the first to the game with this feature, but it's welcome nonetheless. I seem to see the Lane Assist pop up on many

Review Summary
I was skeptical of how ads on my GPS were going to affect my ability to use it and frankly the feeling of them intruding on my life. For the free traffic service subscription, I'll take it, and since they are pretty unobtrusive, they aren't a big sacrifice. The navigation on the Nuvi 755T stands up to the test of Boston and came through offering good directions while Lane Assist helped to show the way while on the highway to get to Logan Airport. The navigation by pictures is a fun little addition, and might be a nice way to plan out a trip to some cool landmarks. Solid navigation, supported by a new and better interface makes the new Nuvi 7x5 generation of navigators an appealing set of models to consider when getting into the higher end of GPS units. With the no-subscription traffic alerts and advanced features like optimized multi-stop routing on top of an easier to understand interface with faster route processing, the Nuvi 755T is a fresh addition to the Garmin line that is worth checking out.

The Garmin Nuvi 7X5T series is expected to ship at Amazon October 1:

• Garmin Nuvi 755T - features above, including North American Maps
• Garmin Nuvi 765T - Adds Bluetooth Handsfree capabilities
• Garmin Nuvi 775T - Includes Bluetooth and Maps of both N. America and Europe
• Garmin Nuvi 785T - Includes North American Maps and MSN Direct Capabilities (Traffic, Movies, Gas Prices, and more).

  

  ]]> Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:34:00 +0000 garmin nuvi garmin nuvi 765t garmin nuvi 755t garmin nuvi 785t garmin garmin nuvi 775t nuvi 755t nuvi 755t encounters nuvi 755t stands Garmin Nuvi 755T Full Review http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/9d3b720d948b2e742ee673fd673d69ba http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/9d3b720d948b2e742ee673fd673d69ba
  New York, NY, USA - Visa Inc. (NYSE:V), the world's largest retail electronic payments network, and Nokia (NYSE:NOK), the world's largest mobile device manufacturer, announced plans today to deliver Visa payment and payment-related services - including contactless payments, remote payments, money transfer, alerts and notifications - for Nokia's next generation handsets beginning with the Nokia 6212 classic, expected to be available starting October 2008.
  
  The Visa applications will first be made available for trial use by interested financial institutions and will allow consumers with the Nokia 6212 classic and a relationship with a participating Visa issuing bank to use their Visa account to pay for goods and services; initiate mobile money transfers to other individuals with Visa accounts; receive near real-time notifications of activity on their Visa account; and "opt in" to receive offers and discounts from merchants.
  
  "Mobile payments and services are one of the most vibrant areas of innovation at Visa, as we seek to accelerate the migration from paper forms of payment to digital money," said Tim Attinger, head of global product innovation at Visa Inc. "Visa is already better money - more convenient, reliable and secure than cash. Putting Visa payments and exciting new services into the NFC-equipped Nokia 6212 classic adds another layer of convenience and security for Visa account holders and Nokia customers around the world."
  
  The Nokia 6212 classic includes integrated Near-Field Communications chipsets (NFC) which lets the mobile device behave like a contactless payment card, where consumers simply wave it within a few inches of a special point of sale reader to complete a Visa transaction. Nokia and Visa first demonstrated NFC technology in December 2005 with the launch of the first large scale NFC trial in the United States at the Phillips Arena in Atlanta.
  
  The plans announced today represent the next phase in an ongoing effort between Visa and Nokia to make mobile payments a reality for consumers around the globe. The long-term collaboration between Nokia and Visa has already resulted in multiple trials of Visa mobile payments enabled through NFC technology on four continents, including in the United States with Wells Fargo Bank; in Malaysia with Maybank and Maxis and most recently in London with Barclays Bank.
  
  "NFC-capable devices such as the Nokia 6212 classic are set to change the way mobile phone users interact with devices and services in their surroundings," says Jeremy Belostock, the Head of Near Field Communications, Nokia. "With our partnership with Visa, we're bringing the value of electronic payments and services directly into the mobile phone, making our customers' everyday lives more convenient."
  
  About Nokia
  Nokia is the world leader in mobility, driving the transformation and growth of the converging Internet and communications industries. We make a wide range of mobile devices with services and software that enable people to experience music, navigation, video, television, imaging, games, business mobility and more. Developing and growing our offering of consumer Internet services, as well as our enterprise solutions and software, is a key area of focus. We also provide equipment, solutions and services for communications networks through Nokia Siemens Networks.
  
  About Visa Inc.
  Visa Inc. operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world, and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com
  

  

  
  ]]> Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:33:11 +0000 visa visa account holders visa account visa mobile payments mobile payments visa applications visa accounts mobile visa transaction Visa and Nokia working together to deliver payment applications for next generation mobile devices http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/de1e28a76e32a20f9458586bfdfd9ded http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/de1e28a76e32a20f9458586bfdfd9ded

  Garmin might be offering a free lifetime traffic feature to the masses, but that comes at a “price” so to speak - it will feature ads.

  “One gripe: The nüvi 755T comes with advertisements. My evaluation unit arrived with three preloaded vendors (BP, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo). When you access the traffic menu, one of these advertiser’s names always appears at the bottom of the screen. Also, from time to time, one of these ads will pop up on the map view screen (they won’t appear when you are in motion). A single tap of the advertisers’ name will perform a POI search for nearby retail locations. Unfortunately, you can’t disable these ads, but it’s likely that they help Garmin offset the cost of the live traffic information that it offers free.”

  How much are you willing to pay to get rid of the ads, or are you fine with companies bombarding you with promotional material from time to time?

  Add a comment | From: Garmin Lifetime Traffic Is Ad-Supported | Visit Ubergizmo

  

  

  

  More: click here…

  ]]> Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:09:27 +0000 garmin garmin lifetime traffic ads feature ads time garmin offset advertisers live traffic information nearby retail locations Garmin Lifetime Traffic Is Ad-Supported http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/24547b44254545a591eb556ddf8e0c35 http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/24547b44254545a591eb556ddf8e0c35 Filed under: GPS
  
  

  It's not exactly a shocker, but it looks like Garmin's promised free live traffic information for life on its new nüvi 7x5 and 2x5 navigators isn't exactly the completely free ride some may have hoped it was, with it instead supported by, you guessed it, ads. According to PC Magazine, its review unit arrived pre-loaded with ads for BP, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo, which always appear at the bottom of the screen when you access the traffic menu, and occasionally pop up on the map view screen (but not when you're in motion). Naturally, when you tap on the ad you get a POI search of all the nearby locations and, no, you can't disable the ads. Not exactly an unreasonable trade-off, but Garmin could be a bit more up-front about it.
  
  Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

  

  
  ]]> Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:57:00 +0000 ads garmin traffic menu review unit unreasonable trade-off nvi 7x5 map view 2x5 navigators nearby locations Garmin's free lifetime traffic service comes with a catch: ads http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/0da3c6bbe1d9a737a05ce1bf53aced09 http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/0da3c6bbe1d9a737a05ce1bf53aced09 Garmin's new fleet of GPS nav units looks fantastic, especially in light of a particular feature: Free traffic alerts lasting the lifetime of your Garmin product. But according to the first review of the nüvi 755T by PC Magazine, Garmin is coincidently preloading map screen with clickable ads (probably to offset traffic alert costs). From PCMag:

  One gripe: The nüvi 755T comes with advertisements. My evaluation unit arrived with three preloaded vendors (BP, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo). When you access the traffic menu, one of these advertiser's names always appears at the bottom of the screen. Also, from time to time, one of these ads will pop up on the map view screen (they won't appear when you are in motion). A single tap of the advertisers' name will perform a POI search for nearby retail locations. Unfortunately, you can't disable these ads, but it's likely that they help Garmin offset the cost of the live traffic information that it offers free.

  I, for one, would rather lose live traffic updates than gain ads—or at least have the option to turn them both off. But that's just me. [PCMag via GPS Tracklog]

  
  

  

  
  ]]> Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:45:00 +0000 garmin garmin product live traffic live traffic information ads garmin offset nvi 755t clickable ads gps nav units Garmin's Free Lifetime Traffic Alerts Come at a Price [Garmin] http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/fe469ea9d53356f37c5f2c10bf945417 http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/fe469ea9d53356f37c5f2c10bf945417
  

  Garmin might be offering a free lifetime traffic feature to the masses, but that comes at a "price" so to speak - it will feature ads.

  "One gripe: The nüvi 755T comes with advertisements. My evaluation unit arrived with three preloaded vendors (BP, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo). When you access the traffic menu, one of these advertiser's names always appears at the bottom of the screen. Also, from time to time, one of these ads will pop up on the map view screen (they won't appear when you are in motion). A single tap of the advertisers' name will perform a POI search for nearby retail locations. Unfortunately, you can't disable these ads, but it's likely that they help Garmin offset the cost of the live traffic information that it offers free."

  How much are you willing to pay to get rid of the ads, or are you fine with companies bombarding you with promotional material from time to time?

  Add a comment | From: Garmin Lifetime Traffic Is Ad-Supported | Visit Ubergizmo

  

  

  
  ]]> Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:44:28 +0000 garmin garmin lifetime traffic ads feature ads time garmin offset live traffic information nearby retail locations evaluation unit Garmin Lifetime Traffic Is Ad-Supported http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/5c61abd23e59ba87e253039ba1aaa5f1 http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/5c61abd23e59ba87e253039ba1aaa5f1 **Four photos of Line Rider on iPhone below **

  Line Rider, the simple line-drawing game, is being turned into an iPhone game, according to Brian Fargo, chief executive officer of inXile Entertainment.

  Developers at the Newport Beach game company, which owns the rights to Line Rider, are putting finishing touches on the game and still need to go through the Apple approval process. Fargo hopes that it’ll be available at the Apple Apps Store later this month.

  The $2.95 iPhone Line Rider will look pretty much the same and play the same as what’s available at linerider.com for free. Fans have been enamored by the flash-based “game” where users draw on a screen and then hit ‘play’ to watch a bobsledder ride the lines until he crashes or comes to a smooth stop.

  In the iPhone version, players use their finger to draw lines. Also new: Sharing creations online will be instant, unlike the current Web version that requires messing with separate software to capture the video and upload it to YouTube. The videos will be hosted by inXile, which was already getting its sharing system ready for the upcoming launch of Line Rider 2 for Nintendo’s Wii and DS and PC.

  

  But what is missing from the iPhone version is something Fargo told me was the whole reason he was attracted to the iPhone: the accelerometer.

  “It’s the ‘A ha!’ factor, like when you first tried the Wii. The interface on the Wii is what really makes it so great. For the iPhone, you start picking it up and playing the games and it’s ‘A ha!’ That got me excited and when something gets me excited, my instinct is that others will get excited,” Fargo said. (more…)

  ]]> Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:26:58 +0000 line rider iphone iphone line rider iphone version iphone game game fargo hopes fargo nintendos wii Line Rider coming to an iPhone near you http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/de6dc30f7badbdd477771ad64739b66a http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/de6dc30f7badbdd477771ad64739b66a Visa along with 8 North American financial institutions — including PNC Bank, SunTrust Bank, U.S. Bank, Wachovia, and Wells Fargo in the United States, and Royal Bank of Canada, TD Bank Financial Group, and Vancity in Canada — is initiating a pilot program, involving 2,000 participants to test the delivery of real-time notification alerts on Visa accounts.

  The program is designed to “enhance the consumer payment experience” by alerting cardholders in (near) real-time of transaction activity on their Visa account. Participants in the pilot may choose to receive the following notification alerts from Visa via email or SMS:

  • cash withdrawal from an ATM
  • a transaction initiated cross border
  • an Internet or telephone transaction, and
  • a transaction that exceeds an amount that has been chosen by the cardholder.

  Once they receive an alert, cardholders can verify the transaction details and eventually contact their bank to help stop further transactions on the card. The service is designed to help cardholders keep closer track of their transactions and spending levels as they go about their daily routine.

  [Via: slashphone]

  ---
  Related Articles at IntoMobile:

  • Wells Fargo and Visa team up for mobile payment tests
  • Visa overstayers in New Zealand to get SMS reminders
  • VeriSign And Visa Team Up For Mobile Banking
  • AT&T limiting iPhone sales to one per person, credit card required
  • US to get emergency SMS text message alert system - FCC to announce nationwide text alerts
  
  

  

  
  ]]> Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:42 +0000 visa visa team bank suntrust bank transaction pnc bank visa overstayers telephone transaction card Visa tests SMS and email alerts on credit card transactions http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/cfb5ac44b869e83c8b3a9a51d0b6f842 http://www.gadgetratty.com/article/cfb5ac44b869e83c8b3a9a51d0b6f842 Finally, something free from Intuit, the Mountain View software company that takes my money every tax season.

  Intuit launched Quicken Beam, a text-messaging service to help people keep track of how much money is left in the bank. The company is pitching this to people who tend to get overdrawn. With overdraft fees upwards of $20, this free little tool could really help avoid overspending (though text-messaging fees apply).

  It works on any cell phone or mobile device (iPhones too) because it relies on text messaging. After you register various bank and credit card accounts (yup, you do have to hand over this private information), you dial 636363 to get your checking-account balance and then type in “BAL” or other abbreviation. That’s it! No data entry, no log-in screen, no web browser needed. More details on how to use the service HERE.

  You can also set up alerts in case the balance drops below a certain point or credit-card spending gets out of whack.

  Of course, this is not totally new. Bank of America offers a mobile service to check balances,  but you’ll need a phone with a web browser.  Wells Fargo has a text service. AT&T offers a banking service free to its customers. I’m sure there are others. The Quicken Beam service is just one option that is free, text-based and not limited to one financial institution.

  While researching the service, I also discovered Intuit Labs, which is the company’s test ground for new products and services. It’s a personable site with links to actual people. Quicken Beam was developed by Kristen Berman, who apparently can’t get enough of her cell phone. But other apps available include View My Paycheck, QuickBooks for the iPhone and QuickBooks Jingle Generator. Now, how about a service that will help me pay less taxes?

   Recent mobile headlines:

  • 1 month MobileMe frustration = 2 months free service
  • BillShrink quickly shows how to save on cell bill
  • iPhone not 3G for some of O.C.
  • Are all Bluetooth headsets created equal?
  • Are cell phone wallpapers worth buying?
  • Anaheim one of the nation’s top for mobile banking?
  • Free and cheap 411 alternatives
  ]]> Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:20:00 +0000 free service service free beam service months free service mobile mobile service phone text service Avoid overdraft fees with free mobile-phone service