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If you've been a smartphone user running Windows Mobile and looking to play around with GetMobio's "lifestyle portal" for various Web 2.0 widgets, there's a new version made just for you. Windows Mobile users can grab it at http://www.GetMobio.com/nowwm, which will direct you towards a small download.

Both versions offer the same selection of the dozen built-in widgets, the most notable ones being a cheap gas finder, a lightweight and good looking version of Twitter, and an integrated RSS reader that remembers all your feeds. We did a hands-on with the service … Read more

This was the most entertaining idea at DemoFall so far, and probably the most ridiculous: MixGet (site not live yet). It's technology that turns individual cellphones into synchronized music players. So if you have a crowd of people together, one person's phone might play a guitar track, another vocals, another drums.

The presenter tried to justify this product as a potential new kind of ringtone, but I'm not sure I see it. This project is from Redsquare Ventures, which is trying to bring Russian entrepreneurs' ideas to market.

I love this idea. But I don't see … Read more

There's something to be said about Web services that have been set up to help people coordinate things in the least stressful way as possible. I dig sites like CircleUp (coverage) that offer a way to set up polls, or to solve quick logistical questions within a group, without requiring the creator or the users to agonize over the interface and execution. That's why MyPunchBowl's new checklist feature is pretty much the best addition to a party-planning service yet.

The idea is simple: you, as party creator, make a list of things you need for the party. … Read more

As Mary Jo Foley reports, Microsoft has pulled down its "Get the (wrong) Facts" website and replaced it with a "Compare" website.

Consider this the kinder, gentler version of getting the "facts." Unless, of course, you're Red Hat. The site doesn't talk about Novell or other Linux distributions. But it spares no criticism of Red Hat, the one vendor that hasn't bowed down to savor its toejam.… Read more

Among two-parent, Mom and Dad families, most women feel that the "Mom" role means that her brain becomes not only the family's collective memory store, but its search engine as well. Even Google can't answer questions such as:

"Mom, where's Princess Leia's shoe?" (At the bottom of the blue box in the playroom.)

"Honey, are we out of toilet paper?" (Look in the kids' bathroom.)

When are our property taxes due....when is my next dental check-up...what day is the dog's birthday?… Read more

Mobio has just added a handful of new services to their GetMobio phone app including Digg, Twitter, Kaboodle, and an RSS reader. Users download the small app on their AT&T or Sprint handset and get access to 11 different Web service widgets. It's reminiscent of uLocate's Where widget offerings, although there's no GPS support or monthly charges.

The Digg implementation is a little underfeatured, as there's no way to actually Digg a story from your phone. You can still browse through popular stories on the front page, as well as user's profiles. The … Read more

Following Facebook's launch of its application platform last week, we decided it was high time to explore the delicate balance that exists between it and social-networking juggernaut MySpace. And what better way to compare and contrast than a Get a Mac parody video? Sure, at this point it's about as passe as those Mastercard commercials, but somehow seeing our own Tim Moynihan dressed up like he got in fisticuffs with a lost-and-found bin makes it all worthwhile.

For more background on the things mentioned in this video read these stories:

Talking to the cable or phone company isn't anyone's idea of a good time. A new partnership between Sling Media and GetConnected Inc. (GCi) will help Slingbox users bypass both while upgrading cable or satellite services and connection speeds.

GCi is a behind-the-scenes service whose business is managing transactions between service providers--like Verizon, Comcast, AT&T--and other companies' end users. Dell customers can, for instance, use GCi, probably unbeknownst to them, to set up broadband services on a new PC.

Customers can use the SlingPlayer interface, and GCi's software will be able to tell in real … Read more

The group SMS service Twitter launched last year. Essentially it's a message board you can update from your phone via SMS, or from the Web or your IM account (the IM function is new). Twitter updates are limited to 151 characters each, which makes sense for an SMS service, but it does put a limit on depth, to say the least. Twitter's Web entry window even says "What are you doing?" which also encourages short and content-light updates, such as "I'm putting on my hat."

This raises the obvious question: Who cares? But … Read more