A few days ago I purchased a few songs from the Zune Marketplace and as usual I received a purchase confirmation detailing the transaction. Who charged my account? Zune. Well today something caught my eye. I bought a song today from the Zune Marketplace but it wasn’t Zune who charged me. The purchase was charged as Xbox Music! We know that the changeover to Xbox Music is coming but now we get confirmation that the backend changes have already started. On a humorous note I couldn’t help to see the old Windows Phone logo being used and the tag Windows Phone and Zune Better Together.

Seems like eons ago when I reported on a suite of apps from Two Dollar Apps that were designed to allow you to print from your phone. Well, after several dozen email exchanges, countless test versions, log files and plenty of disappointment, the apps are finally working. Actually, to thank me for my persistence, developer Paul Mariotti has invited me to explore his wine cellar the next time I happen to be in Italy. Things are not yet perfect, and Paul continues to work on making things better, but it’s a good start. The apps don’t have a trial (the developer is working on a solution) but if you feel a bit daring, or lucky, you may want to give it a try.

There are a total of 5 apps, all with the same print engine, but with different capabilities. WordPrint, ExcelPrint and PDFPrint ($0.99 each) do what they say. They will print any file on your SkyDrive in that specific file format. PrintSuite ($2.49) will print all three formats, again provided the file resides on your SkyDrive. ImagePrint ($0.99) will print any photo, either on your device or on your SkyDrive. They all require a Wi-Fi connection and a PC with at least one connected printer, running the WP7 Print Helper software, available for free download from Two Dollar Apps. The app is also capable of printing to public or web based printers.

I am going to post a step by step guide tomorrow describing exactly what you need to do, but as a quick summary; Download and install the WP7 Print Helper software, open port 8000 (or whatever port you selected in the WP7 Print Helper setup) on your PCs Firewall Then on your Wireless router, open port 8000 (or your preferred port) to your PCs IP address, and you are good to go. It is also recommended you reserve your IP address in your router so you don’t have to do all of this more than once.

Print Helper will run in the background on your PC, always available for you to print. After your PC and router are setup, all you do is open the app on your Windows Phone, setup your IP and port credentials, select a file and hit print. Or, if you are using of the web print solutions, enter the appropriate web address. If you have more than one printer connected to the PC you will be given a choice to select a printer, along with a few options for portrait/landscape, paper size, etc. I have successfully printed to an HP P2050 Laserjet, connected directly to the wireless router at home, and a Canon Office Copier/Scanner/Printer at work (connected directly to our switch). Unfortunately, I have been unable to print to a Canon MP830 Multi-Function machine at home which is being shared through a Vista desktop. Even after installing the driver software and connecting the printer directly to my laptop, I was still unable to print to the multi-function. Disappointing indeed.

As mentioned, there is no trial and as it could be hit and miss depending on your printer setup, there is some risk involved. But if you are adventurous I would suggest trying ImagePrint for 0.99 (who has not had a photo they wanted to print without plugging in). If that works for you, adding PrintSuite would cover everything else. Until there is a way to test the app with your unique PC/printer setup I am afraid there will be a fair number of disappointed users. But, for the cost of a candy bar, what the heck. Go for it.

I have given Paul a couple suggestions, like saving your IP/Port info so you don’t have to change/re-enter info every time you print through a different PC, and maybe a way to see thumbnails of SkyDrive images instead of a list of those cryptic named files to select from. He has assured me there is more to come. You can find all of the apps from Two Dollar Apps in the Microsoft Store here.

What is JEOPARDY!

Yesterday, I noticed that an official Jeopardy app was available in the Marketplace, so I grabbed it this morning. I grew up on Jeopardy, and my husband is a fountain of trivial knowledge.

You can play solo, vs. 2 AI players, or pass & play. I haven’t tried that last option, but I’m very happy to see that there. There are 3 difficulty modes.
The categories are great, and if you decide to answer a question you get 3 choices. (I’m sure open-ended answers were too hard to deal with in practice.)

It’s a great implementation, it’s fun to play, and the questions are good. At $1.99, if you’re ANY kind of trivia fan, this is a no-brainer.

You would think with 100,000+ apps in Marketplace there would be enough of everything by now. Not talking about those popular titles like;Instagram or Pandora. Personally, if these big titles don’t think Windows Phone is important enough to invest  a few thousand dollars on an app, because market share has not reached critical mass despite the fact that their entire existence (back end) most likely depends on Microsoft, I say to hell with them. There are alternatives. But I digress. No, I am talking about useful apps from indie developers. Those little things that help to make your life a bit easier. Maybe that’s why an App Store needs a half million offerings, so that you can find the 100 or so that will work for you. Not sure.

Pretty certain if I gave this some deep thought I could come up with a slew of projects to keep developers busy for months. But here are two that are so close to being “available” I can taste them (and have).

App # 1 – Not sure what you want to call this one. Catalog app, my stuff app, remember stuff app, whatever.  I need an app that will allow me to do the following; Take a photo of an item, give the photo a title, add some additional comment in a separate field, organize said objects in self-titled folders, backup the data to the cloud. That’s it. Seems simple enough. Good luck finding it. What would you use something like this for? Well, say you are at Sam’s and you see a big bag of dog food, or maybe some Canon inkjet ink. If you don’t already know, a very large percentage of SKUs at warehouse club stores (and Walmart) are customized for that particular chain, which happens to drive up the price for everybody btw. Could be the net weight or maybe the way a combination of items are packaged. This of course makes it hard to compare apples to apples, which is “exactly” what the retailer intended. But wouldn’t it be nice to photograph the description placards for these items and add additional comment, so the next time you are at PetSmart or Staples, you can compare products and make an “educated consumer” decision. I know, I can scan the SKU and then spend 10 minutes searching for the best deal, filtering out incomplete entries. But shipping a 25lb. bag of Iam’s from Amazon is not exactly an optimal idea. This is but one example of how this kind of app could be used. I am sure there are many others.

How did I come up with such exact detail for for my imaginary app? Well, I had it on my phone way back in 2011. It’s called Remember All and has a whopping 3 reviews, including mine from 3/2/2011.  The app does everything described. Plus, as a bonus, it also records the exact location the photo was taken. So you will know where you were when you snapped that whatever. So what’s missing? How about a backup solution. I used this app for several months and collected nearly two dozen entries. Then I needed to hard reset my Surround. Guess where all my effort went. That’s right, into that magnetic alternate dimension where all lost data gets stored.  After starting to collect info again, and again needing an hard reset (back when I was tinkering with Registry Endpoints) I gave up on this app. Tried contacting the developer but got nowhere. As the app has not been updated in more than a year, the project appears dead in the water. I have searched and searched for alternatives and downloaded a few, but they all lack a backup solution. Something that is absolutely necessary for any app that will be collecting a large amount of user data. I did find a Home Inventory app that does most of what I have described above, and does have a backup solution, but it is so customized for its purpose I couldn’t use it for my needs (ok, where did I put the dog food photo, in the Kitchen or Living Room). Maybe my request is just to niche though, and I will forever be stuck without a viable solution.

App# 2 – This is an app that would compile expiration dates for; your passport, license, registration, anti-virus subscriptions, app and magazine subscriptions, XBox, Zune Pass, MagicJack, App Hub, domains, etc. You could see them all listed alphabetically or by expiration, and add/edit as needed. Then when an entry was coming due, you would get a notification reminder. Now wouldn’t this be a good idea,

So good that someone already thought of it. That’s right. It’s called Expiry Date Pro, the app with the most horrendous app icon in Marketplace (can’t be more than 2×2 pixels, taken with a blurry cam). Another app that’s more than a year old , and abandoned. Although the app design is a bit odd (this developer never read any Metro guidelines) I had everything I needed, including a backup solution. Well, sort of. When I first downloaded the app, I noticed there was no link to SkyDrive or Dropbox for backing up, so I had to ask. The response from the developer was that he was using some Azure platform thing and his backup was more secure than any other alternative. Right. While not perfect, the app worked. Prior to picking up my Lumia 900 on pre-launch day, I got all of the apps that provide for Cloud backup and did a sync, so I would be all set when I installed everything on my new device the next day. But when I tried to backup EDP, I got a failure message. Thinking it was a temporary thing I proceeded to install all my apps the next day, but couldn’t find Expiry Date Pro in Marketplace. Only Expiry Date, a free version (which does not include backup) released a few months after the paid app. So I downloaded Expiry Date and found a link within the app to upgrade which brought me to a hidden link for Expiry Date Pro. Downloaded ( I already paid for it) and tried the backup/restore function again without any luck. So there I was transferring about 35 entries from my Surround to L900 manually. That was almost five months ago and the backup feature is still dead, as are these apps. So much for that Azure solution. Dropbox would still be working, even with an app no longer receiving updates.

There are a couple alternatives in Marketplace, but none include a backup solution. And there are several that keep track of expiration dates for things in your refrigerator (would someone actually take the time to record the exp date for a bottle of salad dressing), but again no backups. I am thinking of maybe using the new web interface for Clever-To-Do (task app) and entering all of my expiration dates as tasks. I could categorize them all in a different context or project to keep them organized. At least I would have a viable backup for transitioning to another, or multiple devices. But this app just handled this function so well. I would miss it.

While on the subject of backups, I know WP8 is supposed to offer some type of global backup solution, probably to SkyDrive. But honestly, unless there is some type of “app specific” restore/sync function, it won’t work as well as you may think. Several of my apps not only backup, but sync data to the Cloud. So I can keep multiple devices up to data with my SkyDrive or Dropbox app specific backups. And what about app deletions/reinstalls. We have all encountered an app that needed to be uninstalled/reinstalled for new updated changes to take effect. How will data from a global backup be restored to that specific app? Lots of questions.

So, any developers out there interested in taking on a challenging project? How about contacting these developers and picking up where they have left off. That would make things somewhat easier, wouldn’t it. Can’t offer much more than one guaranteed download and a good review if the app is deserving. Oh, and a Mobility Digest app feature of course. And for non-developers, any indie apps that you wish were available to you today? Some app categories are saturated with alternatives, while others are sparse at best. Give the coders something to think about.

Been living in Florida for almost two years and this will be my first close encounter. While there is only one path in the spaghetti scenario at right that would have an impact on me, a co-worker who has lived here most of his life, and spends hours mulling over this stuff, predicts that’s where Isaac will go, ala Charley in 2004. While the chance of this storm adversely affecting Central Florida is low, those living along the west coast of Florida or southern Mississippi and Alabama better hold on to their hats. Even if this is only a fire drill for me, better to be prepared than sorry. Something I learned from the Boy Scouts I think.

First piece of advice will be to have a fully charged phone if (or when) the power goes out. Probably wouldn’t hurt to turn on the Battery Saver feature (both options) to eliminate any unnecessary syncs. If power or your broadband connection does go out, turn off your WiFi as it will have nothing to connect to. Beyond that you will be at the mercy of the fury of the storm and the preparedness and responsiveness of your utility company. Here are a couple more things to consider though.

Battery Backup

I will have a total of 9,000mAh of backup power available to me via four USB backup devices; (2) at 3,000mAh each, (1) at 1,500mAh and a 1,500mAh Solar Charger which is getting a booster as we speak. These could give me a couple days of reliable phone service, assuming I have service, should things go bad. I usually keep one in my bag, the solar charger in the car, and the others around the house to give me a little boost if I need it before going to sleep. I used to have a AA Battery Charger (from Boxwave) that worked with my old PocketPCs, and later my phone, but it got misplaced during the move. I know it’s around, just don’t know where. Paranoia set in and I ordered a replacement from Boxwave while typing this article. Still the same $19.95 that I paid nearly 10 years ago. This one uses (4) AAs for 6v, where other only use a single or two batteries. Don’t imagine they are very effective.

Let There Be Light

Not directly related to mobility, but can’t argue these items help you to be mobile. Aside from essentials like; water, food and medications, light helps out when you have no power. Especially when nature calls in a windowless bathroom. A couple LED Mag Flashlights, the brightest lights on the planet, along with a fluorescent lantern or two will help you to navigate in the dark. Oh, and don’t forget those “D” batteries.

Apps, Apps, Apps……

While it might not be a good time to play Angry Birds and running down your phone’s battery, there are a few apps that you might want to have to keep you in touch with what’s going on nearby. Weather Channel, or the general weather app of your choice, will get you the basics. And it might be all you need, but there are a few more that go into more depth from a radar perspective. And who doesn’t like tracking a hurricane and watching that swirl on screen.

RAD Now! is a simple, free, radar app that I have been using since it was released. Opens quickly and give you the info you need. I like the way I can pinch to zoom in or out and navigate around the country. Good when the Yankees are in a rain delay so I can check the venues local radar and make the call long before MLB does. I am still evaluating a new app, RadarTile, which features an updatable Live Tile. It’s a simple, FREE, single screen app that will give you radar for the region you select. Sure, Weather Channel has radar on the back of their Live Tile, but it only provides about a 25 mile radius. So when it’s all green (or yellow, or red) I know it’s raining out but don’t know much else. RadarTile gives me a 250-300 mile radius so I can see what’s coming or how much longer the current wave of moisture will be around. It uses a Background Task so I assume it updates every 30 minutes or so. In honor of Isaac (gotta respect these storms) I purchased Hurricane Tracker yesterday. Provides a lot of valuable data and charts to give you an idea of what’s coming and what to expect. Living in Florida, it was a worthy $0.99 investment.

For those that are in the track of Isaac, here is hoping it passes by with no more than a few scattered deck chairs and fallen branches. Oh, and probably lots and lots of rain. Just remember to prioritize. When the power goes out, prep your phone and drink all the beer “quickly” before it warms. You should already have bottled water, and the ice might last for a day or two, so the hard stuff can wait till later. Stay dry my friends.

I am sure most of you have been reading about how Windows Phone Marketplace is experiencing problems with some apps not installing or updating properly on certain devices. Microsoft has narrowed the problem down to Gen 1 devices; Focus, LG Quantum, Surround, Arrive, HD7, Trophy, etc., that “did not” have Mango pre-installed. Apparently there is an issue with security certificates that were implemented when App Hub was recently overhauled. As a precaution, all new app and update submissions have been temporally halted. I can attest to that as I have been patiently waiting for some app updates issued by a developer to Microsoft on August 6th, that still have not been approved or rejected.

Some apps, including WhatsApp, Microsoft Translator and NY Times were cited as examples of apps that were recently updated and can’t currently be installed/updated on these Gen1 devices. When I read about this yesterday I decided to verify with my Gen 1 HTC Surround. Although I have Translator on my L900 (actually got an update for it the other day, with the new certificates I suppose) I never got around to installing it on the Surround. Found it, selected download, and a few seconds later it was installed on my “Gen1” phone. So how could that be.

Well…..I did force update my Surround to 8107 a few months back after waiting what seemed like forever for AT&T to fix my disappearing keyboard issue. My memory is not getting any better but I do recall that after the Mango update there was a minor update which included some “security certificates” that most carrier passed up. That was followed by 8107, the disappearing keyboard fix. So, could it be possible that only Gen1 devices NOT currently running 8107 are affected by this Marketplace bug? Does this make any sense? As AT&T has yet to release 8107, and they represent a large share of all Gen1 Windows Phone devices, my money is on the lack of 8107 (which includes the security certificate update) being the real culprit here.

Maybe there is finally a way to twist AT&Ts arm in getting 8107 out to the tens of thousands of users who have suffered with the disappearing keyboard bug for way too long. Then again, it is AT&T.

If you have a Gen 1 device with or without 8107 installed, maybe you can try to install one of the apps noted above and provide your results. Curious to know if I was just lucky or stumbled upon the real problem.

Actually, I think that’s a Jackpot in Bingo. I was a little bored tonight playing with my phone and when I tapped the alpha search on my App list I was reminded that I still had 5 letters (well 4 + the World Icon) with no apps. I thought, what the heck. Might as well fill them all in. My missing letters were; J, K, Q & X, despite having 190 apps installed. So it was off to Marketplace and a search of each letter.

“J” brought me Jack of Tools, an interesting FREE app that includes; Compass, Level, Position, Altitude, Velocity, Sound & Base. Not sure if I will use it much but will probably keep it around for now. “K”, well that was easy, Kik Messenger. Don’t know anyone using Kik so this guy probably won’t last the day. But it was free. “Q” had several QR code apps, so I picked one, QR Code Reader. Tried to read the tag for an app in Marketplace and it worked great. But then I remembered I already had Microsoft Tag App installed. Interesting, when I opened that app, all that’s left is a tutorial on how to use Bing search to scan QR codes. I already knew that but didn’t realize that the Microsoft Tap app was officially obsolete. Guess I get a chance to delete two apps now. No worries though. I have 13 other “Ms”.

“X” was a little more complicated. Several games start with X, but they wouldn’t populate my App list. And then there is XE Currency, which I actually already have downloaded. But that app, thankfully, displays as Currency, making it much easier to find. So my only choice was the “non-trial” X-Ray machine for 0.99. Now I know why it has so many 1 star ratings. It sucks! Oh well, I took one for the team. The World icon was easy. Found out a week ago that any app that does not use English characters in the app title will wind up in this category. So I picked one. Don’t want to figure out how to type in Japanese, so I provided a couple screen shots instead.

How close are you to filling up your grid? With the addition (and eventual deletion) of these 5 tonight, I have 195 in my App list and another 37 in my Games hub, for a total of 232. You want a breakdown? Ok. #-1, A-9, B-12, C-15, D-4, E-6, F-9, G-2, H-4, I-8, J-1, K-1, L-6, M-14, N-6, O-4, P-12, Q-1, R-4, S-30, T-16, U-4, V-4, W-15, X-1, Y-4, Z-1, World-1.

Might be time for a little housekeeping. You think.

Oh, and I just checked my People Hub. Only need 5 more; #, I, Q, X, and the World Icon. Guess I need to (selectively) find some new friends.

Google is finally making some much needed and long overdue changes to some of the policies in Android’s Google Play store. After years of malicious apps plaguing the Android ecosystem, Google has taken steps to cut down on one of the most prevalent issues with Android.

Spam and placement in the store has become rampant over the years, but repetitive content, misleading product descriptions, loading keywords, submitting multiple ratings to affect ranking, using an automated tool to create an app, and driving affiliate traffic to a website are no longer allowed. Apps are also not allowed to send an SMS, email, or any other type of message without user consent.

Google is also preventing impersonation of other apps and developers. “Don’t pretend to be someone else, and don’t represent that your app is authorized by or produced by another company or organization if that is not the case,” it says on Google’s policy page. The use of icons and names similar to those already in the marketplace is forbidden, and products and ads cannot mimic the functionality or warnings from the OS or other applications.

“We are constantly striving to make Google Play a great community for developers and consumers,” Google said in an email. “This requires us to update our policies when we launch new features, like subscription billing, and also when we see unhealthy behavior, like deceptive app names and spammy notifications.”

These are all positive steps toward making the Android platform a safer place. Violating any of the terms could result in a permanent ban, and that should hopefully deter enough developers from spreading malicious apps and loading Google Play with spam. We can only hope that these changes make the Android marketplace a more enjoyable experience for all with some peace of mind there to comfort you.

[via Google Play, Mashable]

I was really excited when I saw WordPrint from TwoDollarApps in the “New Apps” category about a week ago. Based on the description, it would give me the ability to print directly from my phone, through a Print Server installed on my PC, to a connected printer. And all for free, except for the cost of the app(s). Sure, I could just sync with my PC and print anything I want, but this had a “cool” factor. And what about printing through a PC that doesn’t have Zune Software. As I was able to do this with my PocketPC back in 2005, I was glad to see that the Windows Phone Marketplace had advanced to the point that print capability was finally here again.

As there was no trial, I put up my 0.99 and was on my way. First stop was to go to the developers site at www.twodollarapps.com and download the free Print Server software, WP7 Print Helper. Although the instructions on the site for setting the Print Server up were pretty slim, after opening a port through my PC and router firewalls I was finally connected. The WP app allows you to browse your SkyDrive for associated files, download the file to your phone and then “theoretically” print through the connected Print Server software. Everything was good till I got to the print part. Each time the WP app searched for a printer I would get the following message. “WP7Print cannot retrieve any printer information. Printing will be disabled.” Well, that’s not good.

So my first thought was to reach out to the developer and see what I might be doing wrong. The developer, Paul Mariotti, retired after a long and distinguished career in IT and consulting (his words, not mine) seemed like a nice enough guy. Checked all over the website but no email address anywhere. Checked the contact form and there are Home and Mobile numbers for Paul in Italy, but no email. Trust that I have been tempted more than once to call. Ah, but he does have a support forum. I could try that. First thing I noticed was that there were 0 posts in every sub-forum, but hey this app was only released last week so that’s not that unusual, right. Tried registering for the forum, as Guests can’t post. But that threw up an HTTP 500 Internal Server Error. So I tried again, and again, and again….for more than a week. No dice. The stats at the bottom of the page say the forum has 122 members. How did they register?  But again, not a single post, and most registrants have not visited the forum since registering. Did someone simply copy and paste all this info into the forum. Suspicious if you ask me.

The day after installing WordPrint I took a closer look and found a bunch of apps from TwoDollarApps, all without trials. And all with no or poor ratings.

Most of the apps are related to the Print Server software in some way. While it was admittedly like throwing money into the wind, I decided to purchase PrintSuite to see if that app would perform any better. PrintSuite is basically all the other apps; PDF Print, WordPrint, ImagePrint and ExcelPrint rolled up into one. But as you would expect I got the same result.

As noted, the Print Server information is vey sparse so I may be simply doing something wrong. Correct that, the three or four users who have taken the risk on these apps so far may all be doing something wrong (no one has reported it working yet). My current setup has an HP LaserJet shared across my home network with a fixed IP. Additionally, I have a Canon InkJet Printer connected to a Vista machine and shared across the network. I made sure the Vista machine, and both printers were awake and ready to go before trying to get this to work. After two days of frustration, I even disconnected the Canon from the Vista machine and directly connected it to my XP machine, just in case a printer needed to be plugged in to the same machine that the Print Server software was running on. Nope, that didn’t work either.

So here I sit, $3.48 poorer, and still no printer solution for Windows Phone. My guess is either the Print Server software is bugged or I am missing something obvious, questions that can only be answered by Paul Mariotti, who must be thoroughly enjoying his retirement, as he has not found the time to read the horrible reviews his apps have gotten. Or, maybe this is all a scam to steal information. This requirement was a little troubling:

For release 1.1 and above, you will have to give the name and password of a user that is enabled to use the computer.

Each time I am finished fiddling with these apps, I close the required ports and disable the service for the Print Server software, just in case.

If anyone has a suggestion I am all ears. Just want to be able to print a page from my phone. You know, so I can say that I can.

Our Windows Phone new app watch dog David K just emailed me and said that there was a new app to the Windows Phone Marketplace called Kodak Pic Flick. Check out the list of features:

Features:
 
1. Access photos on your Windows Mobile*** device.

2. Preview & edit your photos for printing or sharing. Editing features include pinch zoom and rotate to crop, black and white, sepia, polaroid and tilt shift.

3. Send your photos over wi-fi to any supported KODAK All-in-One Printer* or Digital Frame** connected to the same network as your iOS device.

* All network connected KODAK All-In-One Printers are supported, EXCEPT ESP7 and ESP9

** All network connected KODAK EasyShare Digital Frames are supported.

*** Windows Phone 7.5 and greater are supported.

Pretty cool app that let’s you connect your Windows Phone to most Kodak peripherals and show off your picture taking skills! Head on over to the Marketplace and grab this free app:

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/2d72c9e6-76ff-44ed-a2b0-72c4ce1992d2