Google Reader users might salute the release of version 0.5 of Speed Reader, a Google Reader client for Windows Mobile Professional 5 and above, .NET Compact Framework v3.5 enabled.
Quote from the release notes:
V0.5 - May 17, 2009
-Implemented Mirabyte Touch UI for finger friendly lists and scrolling
-Fixed bug where Google API token would expire preventing the application from marking articles as read after some time
-Fixed crashes where no network/internet access exist
-Fixed bug where an article marked as read on the home tab wasn’t marked read in the Tag tab
-Fixed issue with screen layout/sizing problems on devices with lower screen resolutions
-Fixed backwards scroll when scrolling through lists

Popout

Qik just announced a new version of their live video recording software for Windows Mobile phones, Qik 0.2.44, which adds a lot of new features. Top on the list is the addition of a feature that lets you send and receive video messages using the Contacts application on your phone. All you have to do is go to Contacts, press Menu, and select “Send Qik video message.” The message, once recorded, is sent as a SMS link.

Another new feature involves sharing your videos. Now you can share your recordings directly from the phone by going to “Options > Share.” You’ll then see a variety of sharing options, including sharing via SMS, email, or even upload to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and more.

The new version of Qik also allows you to upload video you had previously recorded on your device into Qik’s video-sharing service. So even if you’ve never used Qik before, you don’t have to wait to start using the service – you can just share video you already have available. Videos can be uploaded to qik.com and shared as described above.

Other improvement to this application include support for more languages (French, Russian, German, Italian, Spanish and Chinese were added) and a number of quality improvements like the ability to stream at higher frame rates even in low light.

That’s a lot of great features for a free software application! You can get the new version of Qik by visiting d.qik.com on your phone or, if already installed, just launch the app and wait for the upgrade prompt.

The Windows Mobile Emulator, as the name suggests, allows you to emulate Windows Mobile (5, 6, 6.1) on your PC. This is especially helpful to developers but what about the rest of us? Well, maybe your old WinMo device can’t run cool new programs like the Last.fm player or the Iris web browser and you want to see if it’s worth buying a newer device that runs WinMo 5 or better. Sounds like a great reason to test drive a newer OS using Microsoft Device Emulator.

The Microsoft Device Emulator just got more useful by adding Bluetooth emulation as well! Have a look at the Bluetooth for Microsoft Device Emulator site. It shows how to install and configure all of the necessary components. This includes the FreeBT Bluetooth stack, which has to be installed on your hosting machine. But heads up — FreeBT is still in its alpha stage so if you’ve got any problems, be sure to check out their troubleshooting section.

Overview

Twikini offers a powerful and efficient way to use Twitter on your phone. It conveniently updates your favorite feeds in the background, and leverages the camera, GPS, media, touch screen, keyboard, graphics and storage capabilities of your device.

Twikini is currently in public beta - you're welcome to download and use it for free.

Our goal is to make Twikini the best designed Twitter app for Windows devices in the world.

Main Features

• FAST! Unlike other Twitter apps for Windows® Mobile, Twikini is written entirely in native C++ code for maximum performance and the fastest load time possible.

• Simple, uncluttered, and customizable user interface. Choose from a variety of themes for the best reading experience. (Screenshot 1, Screenshot 2, Screenshot 3)

• Post tweets using a full screen editor. Optionally, set your location (either manually or using GPS) along with your status updates. (Screenshot)

• Twitpic integration to post photos with your status updates. Select existing photos or click new ones from your device's camera.

• Read status updates just like browsing a web page. Quickly reply, retweet, favorite, or email other people's tweets. (Screenshot 1, Screenshot 2)

• Windows Media Player integration. Automatically tweet the song and artist you're listening to.

• Single download that is compatible with all Windows® Mobile devices - both touch and non-touch.

• And lots more...

Get it here http://www.trinketsoftware.com/twikini/

Over 36,000 radio stations on your Phone! Download a FREE TRIAL now!

Wunder Radio, an already popular mobile application, became available to users of Windows Mobile phones just last week. The service provides access to nearly 36,000 radio stations delivered by Radio Time. With this app, you can access over 400 different genres including music, talk, sports, entertainment, and more. In addition to providing streaming radio services, the application can also help you tune into local stations with ease. By using your phone’s GPS capabilities, Wunder Radio can generate a list of all the local stations in your area, which you could then save for later access.

Version 1.5 features include:

• Huge directory of stations
• Currently playing information displays current song and artist
• Listen to your local hometown radio station from anywhere in the world
• Find specific stations using the extensive search function
• Use GPS capabilities to generate a list of all local stations
• Keep up-to-date with international news and current affairs
• Listen to live commentary and sports talk
• Build a list of your favorite stations and shows
• Play back popular shows at your own leisure if you missed the live broadcast
• Check emergency scanner streams from ScanAmerica.us
• Check weather conditions on local NOAA weather radio streams
• Get local railroad information from RailRoad.net

One of the very cool tools available in the Windows Mobile 6 SDK is the Cellular Emulator. The Cellular Emulator allows you to use the Windows Mobile Emulator to emulate making and receiving phone calls, as well as sending and receiving of SMS messages. However, getting it to work with your emulator is not so straight-forward. Follow the steps outlined below:

1. Launch Cellular Emulator from Start -> Programs -> Windows Mobile 6 SDK -> Tools -> Cellular Emulator.

2. Observe the COM port number used by the Cellular Emulator. For my example, it is COM3. You may see something similar or different (like COM4).

3. Launch the Windows Mobile 6 Professional Emulator (make sure it is not the Classic emulator) from within Visual Studio 2005. You can do so from Tools -> Device Emulator Manager and right-click on Windows Mobile 6 Professional Emulator and select Connect.

4. In the Windows Mobile 6 Professional Emulator, select File -> Configure... and click the Peripherals tab.

5. Under Serial port 0: enter the COM port number used by the Cellular Emulator. For my example, I enter COM3. Note that you have to manually enter the COM port; it is not listed in the dropdown list.

6. Finally, reset the Windows Mobile 6 Professional Emulator by selecting File -> Reset -> Soft. This step is essential!

You should now be able to get the Cellular Emulator to "talk" to the Windows Mobile 6 Professional Emulator.

Some common problems

1. From experience, you are likely to encounter problems with the Cellular Emulator if you install the Windows Mobile 6 SDK on a notebook. You are likely to see an error that says "COM17 is used, please verify" (or something similar). There is no official way to resolve this, but it seems like some folks managed to solve this by first uninstalling the Windows Mobile 6 SDK, then disable the Bluetooth services, followed by installing the Windows Mobile 6 SDK again.

2. If you find that the Windows Mobile emulator is not receiving SMS messages/phone calls made from the Cellular Emulator, the first place to check is the COM port settings in the Emulator Properties page. I encountered instances of this problem when the emulator started to lose the COM port settings after a while of use.

Get it on your phone at http://m.google.com from your mobile phone.

The software gives you faster searching on your Windows Mobile device, with easy access to your favorite Google applications from the Today screen.

Following last week’s big news introducing Google Sync for Windows Mobile (and iPhone), Google’s finally decided to loop Windows Mobile users in with their own Google Mobile App, which can be downloaded from your mobile phone at http://m.google.com.

Wow with only 28 million + Sales last year of windows mobile devices why would anyone want to release for WinMo?

My Phone  a backup and storage service for your phone. It moves everything from your phone up into the cloud so that you can access and manage it from anywhere, allowing you to look up and edit contact information on the Web, share photos and videos with friends, or even move your text messages and calendar appointments to a new phone. The technology is possible thanks to Microsoft's acquisition of MobiComp in June 2008.

Back up phone information to a password-protected web site

Microsoft My Phone syncs information on your mobile phone to a storage space on a web site hosted by Microsoft. If your phone is lost or stolen, or if you upgrade to a new phone, you can easily restore the contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and other information that you stored on My Phone to a compatible new or replacement phone. Most phones that run the Windows Mobile 6 operating system are compatible with My Phone service.

Access and update your contacts and appointments on the web Microsoft

My Phone enables you to view and manage phone information by using a web browser. In your web account, you can add, edit, and delete contacts and calendar appointments, and the changes will appear on your phone the next time that you sync.

Share photos with friends and family

Microsoft My Phone makes it easy to view photos on your computer that were taken with your camera phone. From your web account, you can save photos to your computer or can e-mail them to family and friends.

How much does the Microsoft My Phone service cost?

Microsoft does not charge a fee for the My Phone service at this time. But the data plan you have with your mobile operator may require you to pay data-transfer charges when you use the service. If you are unsure of your plan coverage, please contact your mobile operator.

What information can I back up on Microsoft My Phone?

The first time that you run the My Phone application on your mobile phone, you will be asked to accept or change the recommended settings. Recommended settings will synchronize contacts, calendar appointments, tasks, photos, videos, text messages, music, and documents between your phone and your My Phone web account. However:

• If you have an active connection with Microsoft Exchange server (which is frequently used for corporate e-mail), My Phone will not synchronize your contacts, calendar appointments, or tasks.
• If you have Windows Live installed on your phone, it will synchronize your Windows Live contacts with the Windows Live web site, and My Phone will synchronize your other contacts to your account on the My Phone web site.
• If you have an external memory card and selected My Phone's recommended settings, information on the external memory card will not be synchronized.
• If you store contacts on the SIM card provided by your mobile operator, My Phone will not synchronize these contacts.
• If you have any documents stored outside the My Documents folder on your phone, My Phone will not synchronize these documents.

How much data can I back up?

Your Microsoft My Phone account gives you 200 MB of free storage on the Microsoft My Phone web site. If a synchronization would result in exceeding this limit, you will receive an error message on your phone and your account on the My Phone web site will only include information received prior to reaching this limit. Any files in excess of this limit will not be saved.

Does Microsoft My Phone back up my phone information automatically?

If you accept the recommended settings, Microsoft My Phone will automatically synchronize information between your mobile phone and your Microsoft My Phone web account once per day between 11:00 P.M. and 5:00 A.M., except when your phone cannot connect to your default data network - for example, when your phone is turned off, out of range, or roaming. You can also back up your data manually at any time by selecting Sync in the Microsoft My Phone application on your phone.

Will Microsoft My Phone work on my mobile phone?

Currently, Microsoft My Phone works only on phones that run the Windows Mobile 6+ operating system. This includes phones from many different manufacturers and mobile operators. To check which version of Windows Mobile your phone is using, click Start > Settings > About on your phone.

According to the unofficial roadmap, Microsoft is already planning My Phone versions 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0. While version 1.0 will be a free and ad-supported, a subscription-based premium service will come sometime this summer, when Microsoft starts testing version 1.5. Officially, there are no plans to offer the service for non-Windows phone operating systems, but unofficially there are plans to extend it to non-Windows platforms this summer. Version 2.0 will be integrated with other Microsoft properties like Live Mesh and the new Windows Marketplace for Mobile, providing users with a way to buy and store applications and their data on remote servers.

Well sort of ….Here is the pics that have been showing you already but this time not leaked.

So first the bad News.

• No current phone will be upgraded.
• No phone will have the OS till Q4 09..WTF

Good News

• IE mobile seems to be improved , but let's face it, it's not as if it could get any worse
• The new OS version makes an array of subtle but important usability changes in the user interface, including much greater capabilities for touch screens: multi-touch and gestures. Microsoft officials say it’s the first release that lets users do away with the handling of a stylus.
• Its a new release of windows mobile..Hey its positive

Lets face it. WinMo is not going anywhere its still on way more devices then IPhone could dream of and well its Microsoft so they are going to be dominant in the business space where IPhone/apple is still catching up. Most of the writers in the blogosphere are calling this a pig in with lipstick but hey Microsoft was just blind sided by the IPhone and the fact is there rev cycle was using the waterfall approach where they need to be using a more agile method. I am still excited to see what is coming out at Mix09 around silver light mobile. Lets hope this year we a get a release!

Microsoft debuted Microsoft Recite at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week. Recite is a note taking and search application for Windows Mobile phones that lets you record a voice message, then retrieve the messages later using pattern recognition technology (see video below).

The main problem with voice notes has always been retrieval. If you label your notes you may as well have written them out, and don’t label them you will never be able to find what you recorded.

Microsoft Recite uses voice recognition to record, search and retrieve voice notes without navigating menus or tapping out text.  You just speak your mental note to store it. Later, when you need the information just search and retrieve the remembrance using your voice.

This is one of the funniest things i have seen in awhile. Great add for windows mobile…

Google has just release a new tool called Google Sync, a service that syncs your Google Contacts and Calendar wirelessly to your iPhone, BlackBerry, Symbian, or Windows Mobile phone or any phone that supports the SyncML format with your Google Calendar and Gmail contacts 

Google used a patent from Microsoft to get the sync to work….

Horacio Gutierrez, Deputy General Counsel and VP, Intellectual Property & Licensing, Microsoft:

“Google’s licensing of these Microsoft patents relating to the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol is a clear acknowledgment of the innovation taking place at Microsoft.  This agreement is also a great example of Microsoft’ s openness to generally license our patents under fair and reasonable terms so long as licensees respect Microsoft intellectual property. This open approach has been part of Microsoft’s IP licensing policy since 2003 and has resulted in over 500 licensing agreements of the last five years.”  

At the same time. The soon to be announced SkyBox, Microsoft’s effort to a server-based cloud technology, is now called My Phone and has its own beta sign-up site. All this is supper good news for everyone in the mobile world.

If you were at CES then you probably saw Steve Ballmer had to show off  Netflix Manager for windows mobile. This app has just been released!

Windows Mobile now offers a mobile application for Netflix. The new Netflix application for Windows Mobile phones makes it simple to manage your Netflix experience from a mobile device. You can search the entire Netflix library for your next film, get complete movie details, and even manage your DVD queue. Easily update your queue by moving films up, moving films down, or removing films from your queue.
A feature exclusive to Windows Mobile is the ability to play previews right on your Windows Mobile device. After watching a preview, you can then add the movie to your Instant Queue so you can instantly watch the movie on your Xbox 360.
Managing a Netflix account while mobile has never been easier, thanks to Mobile Manager for Netflix and a Windows Mobile phone.

Microsofts Live Search team has published a significant update to their Live Search Mobile client application which leverages Microsoft Virtual Earth.  You can usually just get it by auto update on your phone but if you are running windows mobile (WinMo) and you still don't have got to m.live.com and you can get it there. There is actually two products that might get you a little confused .There is mobile.live.com an live search mobile. Yes i know this is awkward sounding but they do different things. The list below combines the two feature set. The new release of live search mobile has some exciting features including Walking Directions, Collection import and Bird’s Eye photography! Location is so critical for mobile applications. I have to say I loved this product before the launch but since it has gotten a update it has gotten even better. Some of the features need to be refined for fat findered people like myselef, but this product isa must have for all WinMo users.

Live Search Pictures

Live Mobile Pictures

Mobile offerings from the live search an live mobile

Local Search = Find local businesses, restaurants, and shops that are nearby.  Quickly see ratings and reviews to see what others have said.  Click to see additional info such as storefront photos and detail reviews. 

Movie Showtime = Find opening movies and show times in your area.  Read movie description including cast, plot summary, critic ratings and genre

Share Locale with SMS = Send place of interest (business, restaurant, movie theater) with address to friend via SMS.  Clicking on link in SMS brings up location on map at m.live.com

Cheapest Gas Price = View nearby gas stations to find the cheapest gas.  After locating, get driving directions there

Locate me = no more fumbling around with your phone trying to enter your exact location. Location detection helps you automatically find your location even if you're not on a GPS-enabled phone. This pretty much just gets city information. I haven’t gotten it to drill down to the street level yet

Birds eye view - View area of interest from an aerial view for a 3D-like perspective. 

Voice Input - Quickly enter text by using voice input rather than dealing with your mobile keypad.  Voice input can be used to enter in search queries or specify location. This works relatively well

Query Projection = Save time from typing full queries with predictive query suggestions.  Enter a few letters and see a populated list of predicted or previously entered queries. This does really work for me

Product Search Instant Answer - Search and compare products on the go - detailed product descriptions, customer reviews, price and brand filter, find local retailers

xRank Instant Answer = Stay current on your celebrity, musician, or politician of choice with pictures, news headlines, and bio snippets

Mapping and Traffic Instant Answer = Quickly find map and traffic info about your location at the top of your search results.  This snippet will show up on the m.live.com homepage when you return in the future.

Movies Instant Answer = Find opening movies and show times in your area.  Read movie description including cast, plot summary, critic ratings and genre

Weather Instant Answer = See the local 5-day forecast for your city of choice. 

Stock Instant Answer = Buy, hold, or sell?  See how your favorite stocks and the market performed.  See the local 5-day forecast for your city of choice

Walking Directions  = Find step-by-step directions for walking from point A-to-B.

Adaptive rendering = No more awkward web pages on your mobile phone.  See PC-formatted web pages automatically rendered to display properly on your mobile phone. mobile search is light years ahead of the competition on this for WinMo Products.

Mobile Web Crawler = Displays mobile-formatted websites, marked with a mobile phone symbol, informs users that this site has been customized to display mobile phones

Find local =  businesses, restaurants, and shops that are nearby.  Quickly see ratings and reviews to see what others have said.  Click the phone icon to call the business to find additional details. 

What would you like to see from Microsoft mobile team?

Microsoft may be set to launch three brand new mobile offers at the  World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona next month. Building on Ray Ozzie’s Idea of Software Plus Service platform  These offerings will incorporate a software on the phone and cloud based storage and sync to pull it all together.

According to Neowin the offerings will break down like this

"SkyBox" is a service for users to sync a phones information with the web. Microsoft will be offering automatic backup and restore services, access and management of phone data and provide easy communication and sharing with others. The service will also allow syncing of contacts, email/SMS, calendar items and pictures into the cloud, similar to Apple's MobileMe. The difference from Apple's offering is Microsoft could be set to offer this out to non Windows Mobile devices.

"SkyLine" will be aimed at small businesses. Offering similar functionality to SkyBox, businesses will be able to setup their phones with Microsoft's Exchange hosting with their own domain names.

"SkyMarket" was originally discovered in September 2008 when Microsoft advertised several external job positions. SkyMarket is the codename for Microsoft's mobile marketplace, a competitor to Apple's AppStore and RIM's Blackberry application center. This service will only be available on Windows Mobile devices and will showcase the 1000s of Windows Mobile applications available today.

Microsoft is also expected to unveil Windows Mobile 6.5 at the MWC. It was revealed in November that 6.5 was being tested by device partners and would be unveiled in 2009 Q1. Little details are available on the 6.5 upgrade but we can confirm that those leaked 6.5 screenshots are genuine concept shots for the honeycomb web start menu.

Microsoft mobile is in desperate need of a update as those loyal to platform are looking geriatric comparatively to the iphone friends.