Kinoma Play Skinned at Last!
For some of us that enjoy tweaking and skinning everything that’s on our devices and was a little board with the default Kinoma Play skins can now rejoice thanks to l3it3r of Mobility Digest and XDA Developers.
l3it3r has found the method needed to add new skins and is continuing down the path of a complete reskin. l3it3r will be creating a “how to” guide over the next couple of days after he experiments some more.
Text Message Nuisances…Gone!
I know some chef’s have fixed this but us common folk have two basic nuisances involving text messaging. The first is that when we go to a text message (or reply to one) you have to tap the screen before you start typing. Otherwise, you realize that you’re typing and nothing shows on the screen. The second is that when someone sends you multiple text messages and you open the thread only the last one is marked as read and the other ones remain unread so you have to click through them manually. Well loserskater has provided a cab that fixes both of these issues. Just install the cab, soft reset and you’re done. Good job. That was pretty annoying and I’m happy to be using the past tense:)
Bridging The 6.5 GAPI
Some of you have already taken the leap into 6.5 and the rest of us will eventually make it there as well. But most people using 6.5 will run into some problems with games. The reason is because of GAPI. Who?
The Games API (GAPI) was a technology that allowed Windows Mobile 2003 applications to quickly draw graphics onto the device screen. It also contained functions that allowed an application to request all button press messages, even the ones that were normally intercepted by the Windows Mobile operating system.
The graphics component of GAPI was replaced by DirectDraw (which allowed hardware acceleration) in Windows Mobile 5.0. Application compatibility was maintained so that older programs would still work.
Oh…that GAPI:) That quote, from a Windows Mobile Team Blog goes on to state (emphasis added) “Although some devices may still support GAPI, there is no longer a requirement for device manufacturers or mobile operators to ship or test for compatibility with GAPI. This means that applications that require GAPI will provide an unpredictable experience for users on Windows Mobile 6.5 devices.” Crap…so what do we do about older games? Just use this application created by aceviper2 to enable GAPI so you can play games again…man that was close:)
For my two cents, I understand that MS is trying to force the issue and that ultimately leads to a lot better game performance but it’s still hard to swallow that they would take it this far. Thanks again to aceviper2 and to Brian who pointed this out in our comments to Numpty Physics.
Numpty Physics Ported!
Just over a month ago Steve made a plea to the developer of Crayon Physics to port it to WM and received a meh in response. Well Numpty Physics is here to the rescue (which is similar to Crayon Physics but open source). Numpty Physics is a strategy game with simple graphics. You need to use physics to complete a given task. It’s hard as hell:) Oops that was a spoiler I wasn’t supposed to give away:) Each level has an objective and it’s not that simple to figure out parts of the game (like I said…hard as hell) but that’s what makes it challenging and fun. You use your finger to draw lines that leads to reactions. So to move an object you may want to draw a wedge and then circle the object you want to move and put a counterweight on the opposite side 
of the wedge to pull it up. If a level is too hard just go to the next one:) The controls are as follows:
UP - previous level
DOWN - Next level
RIGHT - restart animation
LEFT - seems to exit the game
centre button – undoes the lines you’ve drawn
If you need to practice on your desktop you can download it for your PC as well:) This is the work of cthulu for porting it and zwi and limestone for cleaning up the cab which made it install properly. The VGA version (works on the Diamond/Touch Pro/Fuze is available here while the QVGA version (Tilt) is located here. Great work all around guys!
What’s Your UI?
I was just reading the headlines and noticed how much Windows Mobile users focus on the user interface (UI). Just think about it – Toshiba has that crazy one with the bold colors; Acer has a custom UI; Omnia has its widgets; Xperia has its panels; HTC is releasing TF3D 2.5 (that extra .5 means a lot apparently:)) and there are rumors about the HTC Sense interface. Personally, I am buying time before I upgrade to 6.5 and TF3D2 was great but started to wear thin on me so I’m going through UI’s like I go through underwear (one a month or so:)). Anyway, I figured we were due for a poll so everyone can share their thoughts on what interface is the best. And remember, there’s no right answer so cheating is allowed!
LED Emulator – Say It With LEDs
You know those windows signs that scroll words with the LED lights in them? Why not have one in your pocket?:) XDA member xiaojin1985 created a neat app that lets you take a phrase or a picture and turn it into LEDs. So you can write out a message to that car tailgating you in real time:) You can control the speed, color, size of the LED dots and of course, what it says. In fact, you can even take a bitmap (.bmp) pic and drop it into the folder on your phone and it will turn the picture into an LED image. Take a look at the pic of the Fuze (that’s the drink:)) that it turned into an LED image.
This is just an .exe so there’s no installation so you just copy the folder onto your phone and run the .exe file from your phone to start it up. There’s a picture in the XDA posting on where to press the screen to control the app with your finger (by the way, press and hold it for a second to get to the settings – just pressing will exit the app). Simple to use, very neat and fun. Very well written in fact. This is really a good toy:)
Click here to download LED Lattice Emulator.
The World At Your Fingertips
Thanks to Shylomonster’s inquiry about good travel apps and David (Special) K’s follow-up, I
have a tremendous free (or paid with additional services) app that will be a must-have for travelers. It’s call WorldMate Live and it does pretty much everything a traveler would need (except give free upgrades or a massage). I just installed it, downloaded my upcoming travel itineraries, and I’m all set to go. And I love the clothing-size converter!
Description (from freewareppc.com)
WorldMate is the "Swiss Army" knife of Mobile travel. Equip your Windows Mobile (Pocket PC) with the world’s no. 1 travel software.
WorldMate travel software for Windows Mobile provides you with critical travel information when you need it the most. WorldMate turns your handheld device into the ultimate travel assistant, saving you time, money and stress. Get WorldMate for Windows Mobile free of charge.
Learn about the features below the page break.
Hey Buddy, Can You Spare a Euro (or Peso or Yen)?
If you ever travel abroad, you know what a hassle it is to figure how much that miniature Leaning 
Tower of Pisa or sombrero or German beer stein costs. You know the exchange rate (at least you did a few days ago), but it’s hard to do the math in your head when it’s 1. 83 Deutsche Marks to US$1. You try to round up or round down. You’re not sure whether to multiple or divide, or which goes in the numerator and which in the denominator.
Well, let me introduce you to CurrencyConv from Vicott Wong. This great little app does all the work for you. You choose the currencies you’re interested in (up to three). CurrencyConv downloads the latest currency rates (not sure where from). Then all you do is input the amount and out pops the accurate amount in good old US dollars (or whatever currency you want; the list is very long). So now you can be totally confident that the genuine (really) Chinese tea set that Grandma would love is only $3 instead of $300.
And while you’re at it, check out his other useful apps, including ClearTemp (frees up storage space on your internal memory and UITweaker (customize colors in WM)
Change Your Carrier Name…with Personalizer
If there’s something that can be changed then let’s change it:) Here’s the latest from CodyPPC which is an updated version of Personalizer – an app that lets you change the carrier name on your phone to anything you want. So no more AT&T in the corner…for now on I presume you’ll all have FuzeMobility as your carrier, right?:)
The app can be turned on and off or removed entirely to revert back to the stock carrier. It also survives a soft reset. You can download it from PPCGeeks and of course if you like it feel free to buy a cup of coffee for CodyPPC. Thanks also to l3it3r and LcBoi in our forums for their testing.
New Kinoma Play update: Even Better Twitter, configurable Close, and more…
Your memory isn’t failing you —they’ve already updated Kinoma Play once this month. But they just can’t help making it better and cooler!
In addition to the general speed and reliability improvements they make with every release, here’s what’s new,
- Faster — Now remembers (“caches”) your Home and Personal timeline tweets across launches, making it even faster.
- Supports more photo services — Did you know Kinoma Play automatically displays Twitpic and yfrog images inline, right inside tweets? Now it supports flic.kr and Mobypicture as well!
