Up On the Roof…

Since the iPhone is so good at trying to find and connect to available WiFi hotspots, it is no wonder that security companies are working hard to come up with solutions to improve on security.

The iPhone’s browser supports SSL websites, but often websites don’t offer SSL on all the pages they should be protecting, or maybe your accessing corporate intranets, etc. that also aren’t as secure as they should be.

I came across a security package from GoTrusted.com. They already make security products for the PC’s and now are offering a 7-day free trial to use their security system on the iPhone platform.

iPhone InvisibleShield Sales – 5% off all ShieldZone product on ifrogz.com

In my quest for cool stuff I came across a mobile translation tool for the iPhone. It is a web-based tool that provides common phrases translated from English into French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.

The coolest part is that they provide you with audio clips of the phrases, so that you can listen to the phrase a few times and practice saying it.

I found the program extremely simple to use. They did a great job creating a custom interface for the iPhone.

They also make an iPod version, and versions for various Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones, which I haven’t tried.

BTW the link from your iPhone is http://www.coolgorilla.com/iphone or for their main site, click here Also, when you visit the page, be sure to click on the “Talking Phrase Books” It doesn’t look like a standard web link so I had to click around to find it.

I don’t have an iPhone, but I’ve got a Blackberry 8100, aka Blackberry Pearl. Since I’m unable to perform product comparison, I’ll review my experience with the Pearl and details on how I sync it with the Mac.

I’m using a MacBook Pro (15″ running OS X 10.4.10) and I use Apple Mail, not Microsoft Entourage. I use POP3 internet email, not an enterprise or exchange server. I also purchased a 2GB MicroSD card, with a full-size adapter for using in a standard SD card reader. This is important to know, because it makes a difference when syncing Music and Photos.

For the synchronization software, I had been using PocketMac’s product, which is now the free software that RIM provides for Mac users, but I have been using the MissingSync for Blackberry, by the people at Mark-Space.

The product install requires a restart, because it adds a startup item and other system tie-ins. Note that if you had PocketMac software on your Mac, you should do three things:

1. do a last sync to make sure your up to date
2. backup your Address Book and iCal data (super easy, open those apps and its a selection under the File menu)
3. uninstall the PocketMac software.

Also, when the install asks to allow syncing with Contacts and Address Book, etc., click Allow. It will talk to Mac OSX’s syncing services. It’s detailed here.
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