IT Blogs

Handcent SMS

I wish to introduce "Handcent SMS". That is a very nice SMS client. Firstly, it looks much better than the black and white Default SMS Client.

Android Default SMS Client

Moreover, it supports "Text to speech" and "Voice Recognization"(I can't test it because I have not installed recognizer"). In additional, there is a set of SMS template. Yeah! I love it a lot. It saves me a lot of time to type, becuase my sms messages are always something like, "where are you" and "I'm running late.", those kinds of simple stuff! Now, I just need to select from the template for the reply!

SMS Templates

Google Chat Send a file

Google added a new feature in iGoogle and Orkut. That is the "Send a file" for Google Chat in the widget of iGoogle and Orkut.
I used this feature, that is quite good! I don't need to install any plug-ins. I just logined into iGoogle and click a contact in the "Chat" Section. Lastly, I clicked the menu option under "Actions". That is it! The file is sending now!

Sending a file

Sadly, GMail has not this feature yet!

Reference Link
Google Blog

Facebook App

I was wondering where is the facebook app in Sense UI. In the settings, there is a section to enter facebook details. There should be an app for this. Today, I found it. We can see our friends' status updates under People! That is a good concept, grouping the facebook into the contact list. That is much better to have a standalone facebook app!

SenseUI - Timer

I found another great stuff in Sense UI this morning. Sense UI comes with a Timer and Stopwatch app by default. Before I upgarded to Sense UI, the default Android 1.5 has not any applications for timer or stopwatch. I had to download some third parties apps. Their interface is not as nice as Sense UI - Timer and Stopwatch. HTC should released Sense UI upgarde earlier! Now, I felt I entered an "improved" Android world!

SenseUI - Stopwatch

I found a lot of improvements in Sense UI. The first things I found, the email client got a new interface. You can choose to view the email grouped by conversations, rather than the traditional inbox. That makes more "Sense"! Because in the most of cases, I was dealing with a few issues at the same time. So, a lot of replies back and forward. Without the "Conversations" mode, I will lose the track of discussions! Yes, that is the reason I love Gmail a lot. Now I can use it in my Android Phone Email client too!

I have been waiting for HTC Magic Sense UI ROM Update very long. Today, I go to HTC website. I found they have released the ROM Update in Australia last week. I downloaded and installed it tonight.

The sense UI is much nicer and the on-screen keyboard got better touch experince too. Moreover, I love the digital clock. That is more stylish! Another great feature of Sense UI is those HTC Widget, such Bookmark. They are very nice.

The one I love most is the weather widget, becuase I like to go out for bush walking. I wish to know the latest weather forcast for planning my trip!

I found a "new" feature. I put my mouse cursor on a name, and it will popup a preview of that person's twitter. I guess that may a feature in there for long time, but I realized the existence of this feature this morning.

I am living in Australia but I came from Hong Kong and I have not backed to there for around two years. I don't know what does my home in Hong Kong look like now. Then I heard about Google Street View is avaliable in Hong Kong. I did a search for my home address. I found it. Moreover, the photo in Street View seems to be very recent. In the photo, I can see there are some constructions on the external wall of the buildings which I lived in Hong Kong. I remember my family told those constructions near the end of last year. So, the photo should be taken not long ago.

Related website:
Google Street View Hong Kong

I was trying to align some buttons in the center of a windows form. I was tried to find any properties in a button can set it to be center aligned. But there is no such property! I tried to use layout controls. The table layout control can be very similar stuff. That is still not what I want. Of course, I can do it in the windows resizing, changing the button positions by codes. But that is too complex! Finally, I found a simple way. I just drop a panel at the center position and set no achor. I think that makes it flow at the center.

And then, you can drop buttons in the panel and set their achor property to "Top, Bottom, Left, Right"

Then it will move to the center position when the windows is resized.

One of my twitter friends mentioned "Microsoft Tag", so I had a look in Mirosoft Tag website. That looks like a Bar code. Actually, that is very QR Code. But you need to download the scanner program from Microsoft. No worries, it supported in the most of platforms,Windows Mobile,iPhone,Blackberry,Symbian S60 2nd, 3rd Editions,J2ME. Even I tried on my Android phone as well, there is a Microsoft Tag reader app in the Android Market. The app worked fine in my HTC Magic. One interesting point I found is all URL directs need to go through Microsoft Servers. When I scan a QR Code with a web address, a web browser will be poped up and load the URL directly. But when I scan a Microsoft Tag, it will load a URL with Microsoft Server Address. I believe the reason for this is tracking the scan. After I logined at Microsoft Tag, I can generate a report about the number of scans for each tag!

Well, that is another interesting technology. But I am more prefer to use QR Code because that is a "opened" standard!

I got an eye infection last week, so I had to stay away computer screens for a few days. That is the reason I cannot update my blog. Today, I got some spare time to catch up the IT news. I found a new feature from Google Web Seach.

That is refining the search result by location. For example, I did a search for "Supermarket", then I can click the custom location and enter "New York". Then only "New York" supermarket will be shown! That is cool! But I found this feature is only available in US. I had a look in Google Australia, I can't find the flter, "Nearby".

Related Link:
Google Blog