I have been reading about some stability issues with this Fireworks release which seems to be crashing or generating unexpected behavior at different workflows. I would request all the designers to be a little more patient and post some of the workflows here so that we can investigate them deeper.

We would be really happy to hear from you to make Fireworks a better product. Please try to provide me with as much information as possible like the steps involved, which platform you are designing on. In case it is possible to share the fireworks png file, it will be even better.

If you don't feel comfortable posting all these details here, you can mail me. Or you could post a message so that I can contact you. Any way of communication works for me till I am able to solve your problem.

Thanks once again for using Fireworks!

Although text messaging is still one of the favorite pastimes for children and adults alike, software firm, Geodesic believes mobile instant messaging will cannibalize SMS and become the de facto form of communication through cell phones going forward.

Because of that, the company offers a tool called Mundu IM, which recently entered its fourth iteration. The software provides users with an IM service over AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, and Jabber with collaboration across the Web and wireless devices.

Mundu IM is currently supported on most mobile phones running Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and Java platforms. The service also has an iPhone page, which allows iPhone users to log in to their favorite IM application without requiring a download through the App store.

(Credit: Geodesic)

I had the opportunity to use the Mundu IM service on my iPhone 3G and found it worked quite well. I was able to log in to my instant messaging services without a problem and upon doing so, I found that chatting with others through the software was quick and just as simple as chatting with them on my desktop.

But where Mundu IM really shines is in its extras. The service allows you to share pictures taken from your phone with friends, transfer files, and cross-conference with contacts across IM services, making it much simpler to talk with people regardless of their preferred IM software.

Mundu's design is second to none. It features stylish icons that make it easy to choose your IM service and the interface during chat was simple, which made the experience far more usable.

(Credit: Geodesic)

Although the software itself is simple and elegant, I'm not quite sold on the implementation. It's nice to have a full-fledged IM service on my iPhone that will help me save money on SMS, but why not make it an iPhone app and offer it on the App Store? Making Mundu Web-based seems a bit odd and takes away from an otherwise fine service due to Safari's annoying quirks and hiccups that become frustrating after some time.

When evaluating Mundu's competitive environment, it becomes clear that its IM service takes aim at Agile Messenger, which currently charges customers $44.95 for lifetime use. Based on my findings, the experiences both titles offer is simiar, but Mundu IM's $11 one-time fee puts it over the top and makes Agile Messenger less appealing.

(Credit: Geodesic)

It would have been nice if Mundu IM was free, but I understand Geodesic needs to turn a profit too and $11 is more than affordable considering you'll have your phone for at least two years.

With all the versions Mundu IM offers, it should be noted that "your mileage may vary" depending on the version of the software you use. Although the iPhone version works as advertised and provides an experience that would make me want to use it on a regular basis, phone differences, mobile OS quirks, and other considerations become an issue when applying that opinion to all versions of the software.

Because of that, I need to qualify my recommendation when I say that Mundu IM is worth using on the iPhone if you use multiple IM services and you don't mind accessing them through the Safari browser. But if you only use AIM, I simply don't see a reason to use Mundu IM -- access the App Store and download the AIM app instead. It's free.

Many content publishers will be interested in how they can serve their content on as many different internet platforms, designing layouts to work in all browsers and also allowing users to visit their sites on mobile devices.

Internet-capable mobile devices have been gaining in popularity over the last few years but with the release of Apple’s iPhone, websites can be served in their full glory via a 3G or Wi-Fi network. This, however, does not mean that developers aren’t keen to make iPhone compatible websites to keep their users happy. I am happy to report this can also be the case for website owners running the ever popular Wordpress platform.

Today I wish to share with you how easy it is to make any Wordpress installation iPhone compatible.

Step One

Firstly you need to check that you are at least running Wordpress 2.3. If you aren’t, upgrading of your Wordpress installation is highly recommended to patch known bugs and to enable you to use the plugin noted below. This tutorial is based on an installation of Wordpress 2.7 Beta 3, which has minor changes to the style of the admin area. Readers using a previous version of Wordpress will still be able to locate the same areas described in this post.

Next, we will need to download the plugin that makes it all happen. The plugin in question is called WPtouch and is developed by Dale Mugford & Duane Storey of BraveNewCode Inc. I have linked to the download hosted on the Wordpress Plugin Directory as many Wordpress website owners will be familiar with it.

Once downloaded, extract the archive and upload the resulting folder to the plugins folder inside your wp-content directory.

Step Two

Log into the Administration panel of your Wordpress installation. Inside your Plugins screen, activate the recently uploaded plugin.

Without doing so much as uploading and activating a plugin, you have made your Wordpress blog iPhone ready - but we’re aren’t finished just yet.

Step Three

The final step is changing some of the WPtouch preferences to work better for your blog. Clicking into Settings -> WPtouch will bring up a preferences page allowing to select how the plugin will serve your iPhone ready blog.

The first section you will encounter will be Optimization & Template Options. This section will allow you to enable or disable AJAX controls (allowing smoother comment submissions and page loading), decide whether you wish to enable Gravatars or even allow the submission of comments on your Pages (not to be confused with blog posts).

In the next section you can choose how your Wordpress iPhone pages will look. It’s simply nothing more than choosing a colour palette similar to the full version of your site and applying it inside this preference screen.

Wptouch allows you to configure many more options inside its interface.  These include:

• Post Listings Options - Select which post-meta items will be shown beneath titles on the index, search & archive pages.
• Available Icons - You can select which icons will be displayed beside corresponding pages enabled for your iPhone ready blog.
• Default Menu Items - Enable/disable items from appearing in the WPtouch dropdown menu.
• Plugin Support & Compatibility - This allows you to configure plugins that you use to work with WPtouch. Some currently supported plugins include FlickrRSS, Blip.tv and Tag Cloud.

When you have finished amending the sections inside the Administration panel, save your progress by clicking Save Options at the bottom of the page.

Your blog should now be ready to be viewed by all iPhone users. Development of this plugin is ongoing and the team are adding many new features with every release. There are already a few tools that exist to make your website iPhone compatible (MakeUseOf uses a service called Mofuse for example) but for ease of use and customization, WPtouch is a safe bet.

(By) Matt is a twenty something married man hailing from the UK. He works as a Web and IT Admin for a small company specialising in training courses. In his spare time, he operates his own media consultancy firm and can be found pwning n00bs on Xbox Live. He knows his Twitter's from his Plurk's and is probably the best football (soccer) player this side of the Atlantic.

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Maps
If you've ever used the maps application before, then you know how useful it can be. Apple has added cool new features with this update, including Google's Street View service. Street View provides a full 360º view of some streets in the US (this isn't available for every street). To try it out, enter an address in the search field. When it's found, click the head icon in the bubble that appears above the pinpoint. The Maps application has a very cool transition from the 2D map to street view.

Gallery: Maps.app in iPhone 2.2

In addition to Street View, Maps also includes public transit and walking directions. When you drop a pin to remember a location, Maps can tell you which address it is near. When you drop new pins, you will also have the option to add the address as a contact (a very nice touch, literally). When you view details for a location, or pin, you can now share this location via email. When you click "Share Location," a new email will be generated with a maps.google.com link.


Read on to learn about Safari, iTunes Store, and additional notes.

Continue reading iPhone/iPod touch update 2.2 Walkthrough

TUAWiPhone/iPod touch update 2.2 Walkthrough originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.