Webware

Question: If you didn't have to use your Symbian Series 60 phone every time you sent a text message, shared a photo, or listened to your voice mail in the order you received it, would you?

Ford Davison, the entrepreneur behind Dashwire, hopes you answer "no." Starting late November, the online phone manager will embrace Symbian Series 60 phones in a private beta. That will put it about three months behind the timeline we were quoted, but it so far looks like the wait will be worth it.

(Credit: Dashwire)

Dashwire's free application, currently available on Windows Mobile handsets, acts as a conduit between the details on your phone and your online dashboard from which you'll be able to text your contacts, add new contacts and bookmarks, share photos and videos, and enter a status message that updates to Facebook and Twitter.

Dashwire will become even more like a social networking site when it debuts a few key additions in November for both Symbian and Windows Mobile phones. First it'll get the Mobile Application Storefront, a section of the online dashboard to filter popular applications based on your phone's make and model. Specialized app stores are now popping up everywhere, from Apple's iTunes App store to the Google Android and BlackBerry stores. This integration makes sense for Dashwire's revenue stream and status as a connected mobile service; for consumers, it provides another outlet for discovering apps that are all but guaranteed to work on their handset.

Next up is what Dashwire is calling the Network Address Book, a reworked contacts list that archives your text messages, calls, notes, and photos with your friends. There are so many players trying to do this with social address books that I'm initially a bit skeptical of its utility. This is one of those features whose role will become clear when it's implemented.

Finally, there will be true integration with social networks, a feature we've been anticipating for some time. If you set it up, you'll be able to authorize your photos to auto-upload to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and FriendFeed. Dashwire says multiple image uploading will also be wrapped into the package.

Another App Store hopeful.

(Credit: Dashwire)

While a lot of these features represent large strides for Dashwire, we'd be happy if some of the more mundane managerial omissions received half as much attention. Dashwire still doesn't govern files or programs, for instance. It doesn't perform small, essential tasks like deleting calls or conversation history or mass delete voice mail. Despite the capability of higher-end models, it doesn't read or initiate e-mail. These don't detract from what Dashwire does well, but as the product offerings grow and multiply, the ability to at least clear your contents on the phone or on your online dashboard are low-hanging fruit that have been sadly overlooked.

As someone who tires of cramped menus, I've been impressed with Dashwire's service so far. For those of us who tend to let voice mail pile up, being able to prioritize messages via CallWave's visual voice mail is a windfall; for the compulsive sharers, the auto-uploading feature adds a lot of social value.

Symbian Series 60 owners can sign up to join the first-come, first-serve private beta via Dashwire.com.

(Credit: Yahoo Inc.)

Updated on 8/21/08 at 3:54 pm to correct information about the models supported.

Starting Thursday, searching the Web with a Nokia series 60 phone will be a little faster.

Yahoo's mobile team has released a free shortcut for OneSearch, Yahoo's search engine, that will live on your phone's home screen. The OneSearch widget promises to cut your labor two ways; first, by giving you a place to begin a Web search as soon as you turn on the phone and second, by suggesting search terms as soon as you start typing.

The home screen search widget has already been in effect on other mobile platforms, but this add-on software gives it greater prominence than it might otherwise receive.

The convenience of the home screen search bar could also make this OneSearch widget the most effective of Yahoo's latest experiments in pushing its search platform, including last April's launch of OneSearch 2.0, a version that accepts voice search.

Yahoo has its stalwart supporters, but this application's degree of success will depend on just how many Google search-loyalists end up suspending that preference in order to save time with Yahoo's search bar.

Yahoo's OneSearch shortcut will work immediately on all Nokia series 60 phones, including N70, N95, N73, and E65 models, with support for other platforms reportedly coming soon.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

There's no real killer app yet for retrieving listings information on your mobile phone, but there could be soon.

On Aptil 11, FreeMobile411 launches the consumer version of its carrier-offered services. Visting FreeMobile411.com from your mobile browser gets you a decent-looking ad-supported WAP site that simplifies directory search and helps you avoid long waits while listening to ads from dial-in services like 1-800-FREE-411.

Enter the search term--it can be a business name ("Blockbuster"), business type ("video store"), or person ("Bill Blockbuster"). Then select the search type, and fill in either the city or zip to search or browse listings. From there you'll have a spectrum of choices to plot on a map, get directions to, dial with a click, or use as an anchor while searching for nearby gap pumps, hotels, banks, and so on. You'll still be able to connect to the operator at the usual carrier rate, but with this useful, easily navigable app, it's doubtful you'll ever need to. P.S. It even looks decent on the RAZR!

Microsoft's Silverlight browser plug-in will be bringing videos and other rich media to Nokia smartphones later this year.

The two companies on Tuesday at Microsoft's Mix '08 conference are scheduled to announce that Microsoft will write a version of Silverlight for Nokia's Series 60 (S60) smartphone software that runs on Symbian OS. The software, which will be available later this year, will also run on Series 40 devices and Nokia Internet tablets.

Silverlight videos are coming to Nokia's N96 smartphone.

(Credit: Nokia)

For people with compatible devices, it means they will be able to see content, notably video, written for Silverlight, which Microsoft is pushing as an alternative to Adobe's Flash Player. Microsoft has been signing on content partners to use Silverlight for media streaming, including MLB.com and online Olympic games broadcasting with NBC.

For Microsoft, the deal with Nokia is a step in its pledge to make Silverlight "ubiquitous," that is, capable of running on multiple operating systems.

The software giant is trying to lure Web developers toward Silverlight--and away from Flash--to build rich Internet applications or media-oriented Web sites.

The strategy, which Microsoft detailed at last year's Mix conference, hinges on creating tools that let traditional Microsoft developers write Silverlight Web applications with familiar products like Visual Studio and ASP.Net.

Silverlight now runs on Windows and Mac OS, and it has a deal with Novell to build a distribution on Linux.

A version of Silverlight for Windows Mobile will be available later this year, said John Case, a general manager in Microsoft's developer division. "The whole Silverlight strategy is to provide one programming model and ubiquity," he said.

Microsoft chose to work with Nokia because it has the largest market share of mobile phones, but it will sign on with other handset makers to create ports of Silverlight, Case said.

All the main features of Silverlight, including video and interactive Web application development, will be included in all mobile versions.

But there will be some device-specific restraints, which means Microsoft will create editions of Silverlight for different mobile platforms, he said.

Hello, hello. It's me, the Beselo worm calling, and, man, do I have a new trick for your Symbian-based phone.

But security researchers are advising users of the Symbian S60 second-edition phones to just hang up.

(Credit: F-Secure)

The Beselo.A and Beselo.B worms are in the wild, looking to lure Symbian S60 users into clicking on their incoming malicious files, according to a warning issued Tuesday by F-Secure.

The Beselo worms are tricky, in that they use common media file extensions, rather than a standard SIS extension, in sending their malicious payload.

Like the Commwarrior worms, the Beselo worms rely on MMS and Bluetooth to get around, with some social engineering thrown in to trick users into installing the SIS application installation file. But because this file has a common media file extension, such as beauty.jpg, sex.mp3, or love.rm, users are more likely to click "yes" to an installation prompt when opening the file, notes F-Secure.

F-Secure offers this word of advice: just say "no" to such a request.

"There is no reason for any image file to ask installation questions on the Symbian platform, so any image or sound file that does something else than play immediately is without question something else than it claims to be," warns F-Secure.

That's the latest twist on smart-phone worms, which debuted in 2004 with the arrival of the Cabir worm. The Beselo worms, meanwhile, were initially clumped in with the pervasive Commwarrior worms, until a discovery was made about their use of common media file extensions.

Update your status, and keep an eye on your buddies with Jaiku's freshly updated Nokia S60 app.

(Credit: Jaiku)

Jaiku's got a freshly updated mobile app for owners of Nokia handsets running the latest version of the S60 OS. Once installed, it lets you keep track of your Jaiku buddies without having to resort to your phone's Web browser. The real pull however, is presence, which lets you see what your Jaiku friends are up to live--or go back and take a look at their previous messages using a feature they call "stream view." With the new presence system, if you see one of your friends online, you can begin a conversation with them, turning the app into a near-instant messaging client.

Another big change users of Jaiku's previous mobile iteration are going to notice is a new option to swap back and forth between an "always on" mode, and one that checks in only when you re-enter the app, which cuts down on battery drain. There's also an improved way to share your presence with your friends, including your geographical location, which the app will pull up based on what cell phone towers you're connected to (handy for non-GPS phones).

Still missing is a way to access the app via Wi-Fi, which you can get around if you visit the slightly less featured mobile version of the site on your phone's browser. The Jaiku team is planning on adding this functionality in the next release.