An iPhone App that Sells Cars?

Next time you go to a car dealership, you may see the salesmen typing on their iPhones. Don't worry, they aren't goofing off, they could very well be speeding up your purchasing process. AutoRevo announced today the release of an iPhone app, AutoRevo Mobile. The app supposedly allows car dealers to keep up with their inventory via the iPhone.

With the app, dealers can decode a VIN from a photo of a VIN barcode, update prices, edit vehicle information, and shoot and upload photos. They can also run CARFAX Vehicle History Reports and manage leads. AutoRevo Mobile makes it possible for car dealership employees to manage inventory anywhere, at any time.

In a press release, Chad Polk, the CEO of AutoRevo, said he thinks the app will change the way the entire car industry works, "We had several dealers buy out their existing contract and upgrade to the iPhone in order to be an early adopter of AutoRevo Mobile. That tells me we have a game changing product that will move the industry forward. You can literally have a car advertised on your site before the ink dries on the bank draft."

AutoRevo is a provider of car dealer websites and software for car dealership marketing. The company's internet marketing platform, FastLot, provides dealer websites with integration with any automotive shopping site, real-time inventory pricing tools, lead management, digital customer delivery documents, advanced reporting and more. Founded in 2003, they are headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and are aligned with the car industry's top e-commerce sites including everything from eBay Motors to AutoTrader.com, CARFAX to Google, and hundreds more.

Nokia's 6788 is First Based on TD-SCDMA

Earlier today, Nokia announced it's new product, the Nokia 6788, which is the first device from the company for TD-SCDMA, China's domestic 3G standard. When you have the world's largest mobile phone operator collaborate with a company like Nokia, the end result is the 6788.

"Nokia sees TD-SCDMA as being central to the successful evolution of 3G in China, and so is full committed to this 3G standard. With a wide range of integrated china Mobile applications, the Nokia 6788 marks a new level of collaboration with china Mobile and offers enriched experiences to China's 3G users. Nokia plans to introduce more TD-SCDMA phones in the near future, further boosting the development of this 3G standard in China." said Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, CEO of Nokia.

According to Vice President of China Mobile Communications Corporation Mr. Lu Xiangdong, "We are excited to see the launch of Nokia 6788. With extensive experience in the China market, Nokia will provide Chinese consumers with TD-SCDMA solutions that are perfectly catered to their needs. Such cooperation between the world's largest operator and the world's leading mobile phone manufacturer will provide an important boost to the development of TD-SCDMA in China."

The Nokia 6788 has been specifically designed to work on China Mobile's network. Because of this, it offers rich data services and is an all-in-one device that provides users with faster download times and internet speeds. The Nokia 6788 has a ton of cool features that are sure to please the subscribers to China Mobile. The 6788 comes with a 5 megapixel (2592x1944) camera with a dual LED flash, a 2.8" QVGA display, 4GB of memory with microSD expansion, GPS, 3.5mm headset jack, Bluetooth 2.0 EDR and the highly successful Symbian S60 platform, 3rd Edition.

The design of the 6788 is highly influenced by the traditional furniture and architecture of the Chinese culture. The 6788 incorporates Chinese design elements like traditional patterns which are seen on the back of the slide and battery cover. People in China are already very excited about the Nokia 6788. with all the cool integrated features and slick design, the subscribers of China Mobile can't wait to get their hands on one, all 500 million of them. The Nokia 6788 will be available by the end of December.

Barnes & Noble Introduces Nook

Yesterday, book-selling giant Barnes & Noble introduced "Nook," a new e-reader that experts say will give Amazon's Kindle a run for its money this holiday season. The e-reader market is expected to see a lot of business with a projected three million devices being sold by the end of 2009 and six million are expected to sell by the end of 2010. This particular device will be available in Barnes and Noble's 800 American stores by late November, however the store is already taking pre-orders.

Barnes and Noble says Nook will allow users to share most books, a function that puts it a step ahead of Kindle. For wireless, Nook will use AT&T and Google's Android Mobile platform. It also features a unique dual use of display and color. A small color display, located below the main display, allows users to browse titles at the bookstore. It also uses e-Ink technology for easier reading. It can hold up to 1,500 books (the same as Kindle) but it does lack a web browser.

Nook books can also be viewed on Blackberries, iPhones, PC, Macs and other personal electronic devices. This publishing standard is called the ePub format. It also acts as antipiracy protection from Adobe. Barnes and Noble is well prepared for the release, with a newly opened bookstore of over 700,000 titles, over twice of what the Amazon store has to offer. Another advantage is that users can connect the device to free Wi-Fi when shopping inside an actual Barnes & Noble store, something Amazon/Kindle users can't do.

Several other e-readers are expected to hit the market soon, but none with the relationship Barnes and Noble has with publishers, which offers another advantage. Upon announcing the Nook, yesterday, Barnes and Noble stock shares rose 10 cents on New York Stock Exchange.

An App a Day

iPhone apps can be confusing. The App Store contains thousands of applications for your iPhone or iPod touch and often, so many of them do the same exact same thing. A quick search for third party Twitter apps brings you over 170 results. But how do you know which one is the best without wasting hours pouring over websites and reviews and asking your friends?

With "App of the Day" you don't have to spend the time looking for quality apps, the suggestions come to you. It features applications that are community-nominated and featured on the homepage each day. iPhone users have the opportunity to comment, submit app ideas and leave feedback for potential app buyers. Each user can only nominate one app per day with the highest nominated application being the winner each day.

The concept is so simple and will add a lot of ease to iPhone use. Many are asking why it's taken so long to make it happen. The website was founded by Jordan Satok, a 15-year-old Toronto-based entrepreneur who focuses on web startups in the software field. Satok built the site, which is hosted on Rackspace Cloud, in less than ten days.

Keeping Your Laptop Secure Outside of the Office

Professionals are traveling outside of the office more and more these days and they are taking their laptops with them. Whether working at another location, visiting a client or simply having lunch at a local cafe, one thing that is often overlooked is laptop security. If it's your personal laptop, a work laptop, or even a laptop rental, chances are it's loaded with files that are important to your life and your business. Whether you are looking to prevent a snoop from gathering your personal information or preventing a thief from taking your entire laptop, there are several good measures everyone should take and a few good habits you should develop.

Starting with the basics that every laptop owner should know, if you're worried about being hacked or robbed while visiting a public Wi-Fi spot, you are right to be paranoid. There are so many different ways criminals can get into your system these days; one of the first things you can do is turn on your firewall. By turning on your firewall, you block unwanted intruders whenever you are in a public place. This is such a simple way to keep yourself secure and everyone should know how to do it. If you are a PC user, simply click on Windows Firewall. If you are using a Mac, go to System Preferences, then Security, and find the Firewall tab.

Another important thing that everyone can do is password protect or unshare your shared folders. Folders of documents and photos that you may want to share with other computers on your home network, might not be something you want everyone on a public network to have access to. Fixing this is simple. See to it that your folders are password protected when you are in public or better yet, turn off any sort of sharing you have enabled on your laptop.

Other ways to protect yourself involve what you do when you visit various websites. Whenever you're visiting a website, use a secure connection if it's an option. This means using "https://" instead of "http://." This option is usually available when checking your email on the web (Gmail and Yahoo Mail for example) or using any type of personal calendar program. Several other site have the option, as well. Another tip is to don't save your passwords in your browsers. Sure, it makes life a lot easier, but if your computer gets into the wrong hands - whether it be a thief or even a co-worker, they will be able to see everything you may not want them to see.

Of course there are several more obvious options. Most people are aware that anti-virus and malware software and programs are an important part computer ownership. And it's important to keep a back-up of all your important data. Whether your computer is stolen or you just spill your coffee, having all of your important files backed up can save you time and agony. If you have to leave your laptop unattended for any reason, a laptop lock is inexpensive and will keep your computer stuck to any table or desk.

If these tips don't ease your mind, there are always a few extra precautions for the tech-savvy. With a number of tools, you can encrypt your hard drive or just a few files which essentially means scrambling it up so it's unreadable to anyone who does not have access via a master password. To do this on a Mac, you can do this by creating an encrypted disk by using the disk utility application. Windows Vista and 7 also offer a data encryption application. There are also a number of free programs such as TrueCrypt that serve the same purpose.

Securing your network with an SSH tunnel is also an option, but again, this is usually reserved for the most tech-savvy of laptop owners. An SSH tunnel is a secure connection to an outside computer to connect to the internet. An outsider trying to break in would think you are sending encrypted information to a single destination when in reality, you're using a trusted remote server as a proxy.

Adope Flash Player 10.1 For Some Smartphones

Adobe has announced that it will release Flash Player 10.1 for Windows Mobile and webOS, with Android, Symbian and Blackberry to follow shortly after. Whether or not they will release it for iPhone is still up in the air but quite likely. A spokesperson for Adobe says they are still waiting for some cooperation from Apple.

So what exactly does this mean? Well, expect more flash-heavy programs and a wider, more diverse range of apps for your mobile devices. Count on more games, GPS services, social networking and videos. While most smartphones have always had a version of Adobe Flash, it has always been a lower-power version because of limited processors in the various devices. But with the release of the Beta version, software developers will be able to get their hands on it by year end and new apps should be in the works sometime during the first half of 2010.

About 75% of all websites use Flash for video and running online advertisements, which should be extra incentive to various websites for creating mobile versions of their brand. Many websites depend on advertising to survive, and in the past, many of them have blocked mobile access due to the lack of ability to properly advertise. Sounds like the new addition of the more advance Adobe Flash is a win-win situation for both consumers and retailers.