Shootouts: Weather applications, on MyTodayScreen

I just got an e-mail from Doug Goldring over at My Today Screen, about their new project Shootouts. Often people see a review of one application and want to know about the competing software, but the reviews of that older application are older, written in a different style, etc. So what would be better than having one amazingly long review which covers all the important players in the field, and compares them?

Such a review is a very big task to complete, and that’s probably the reason that you don’t see a lot of them out there. However, MyTodayScreen just published their first Shootout, and I believe that there are more coming. The subject of the first shootout? Weather apps!

Here it is.  High Noon at the MTS Corral.  We’re standing at the crossroads in the center of town.  Ahead of us, the doors to the saloon swing open as our first competitor strides into the street…Fizz Weather.  The wind starts to blow gently, just enough for a tumbleweed to kick up some dust on the far side of town.  As the dust clears, we can see our second competitor striding up the road…Spb Weather.  The two stand at opposite ends of this crossroad, staring each other down, their hands gently resting on the six shooters hanging from their hips.  Then, a noise sounds behind us.  SBSH Pocket Weather has arrived, irons hanging loosely from his belt.  The game is afoot. We move quietly out of the way as these hardened competitors draw closer to one another. Three will enter this battle, but we already know only one will escape unscathed.  Let the Shootout begin.

Check out the Shootout here!

Bloggers Unite For Human Rights

On April 19th I received an e-mail from BlogCatalog about their Bloggers Unite initiative. This initiative has been designed to

harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place. By challenging bloggers to blog about a particular social cause on a single day, a single voice can be joined with thousands of others to help make a real positive difference; from raising awareness for cancer, to an effort to better education systems or support 3rd world countries.

That day, I immediately wrote this article, to be posted today on may 15th automatically, when bloggers all over the world write about Human Rights, their successes, and their violations.

I’m a law student and I’ve always been interested in human rights, so I think that this is an excellent initiative, and I gladly support it. I don’t pretend to know solutions to problems on the world, and I won’t say that my contribution will be worth a lot as far as it’s content is concerned. I just hope that even people who don’t keep reading after the break, will at least be activated and persuaded to think about the status of human rights a bit. That’s all I’m asking for. But, of course, feel free to keep reading, there’s more after the break.

VITO updates SMS-Chat (version 1.05)

Normally I don’t post press releases, but today I’m making an exception. Ever since its release I’ve liked VITO SMS-Chat a lot for the way it looked, and for what it did. I’m not (any more) someone who upgrades my device with custom ROMs, so I don’t have WM 6.1 and if I want threaded messaging, I need to look for third party software.

The one thing I didn’t like about VITO SMS-Chat was that it copied all your messages to a different, VITO SMS-Chat specific, custom folder, breaking compatibility with other programs. However, when I read the press release I received this morning, I saw that this was no longer the case: all messages stay in your Inbox, Sent Messages folder, etc.! That alone was enough reason for me to install and activate SMS-Chat ( already owned it, just never used it), but there are several other good enhancements, so reading the entire press release is recommended, if you’re looking for threaded messaging software. (In fact,

The press release if after the break.

Bloggers Unite for Human Rights.

From http://unite.blogcatalog.com/ :

While the words might change from country to country and are sometimes taken for granted, human rights represent one of the universally agreed upon ideas — that all people are born with basic rights and freedoms that include life, liberty, and justice. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations.

Bloggers Unite For Human Rights challenges bloggers everywhere to help elevate human rights by drawing attention to the challenges and successes of human rights issues on May 15. What those topics may include — the wrongful imprisonment of journalists covering assemblies, governments that ignore the plight of citizens, and censorship of the Internet. What is important is that on one day, thousands of bloggers unite and share their unified support of human rights everywhere.

Twitter - trying to get started

Just registered at Twitter the day before yesterday. However, I don’t know anyone in real life that uses it. In the Netherlands there are not that many social network hypes, just a few that are pretty here, like Hyves. Additionaly, not a lot of people use internet on their mobile devices. I attended a lecture yesterday about Communication and Media Law, and we were asked how many people used internet on their mobile devices. Only 2 people out of ~70 raised their hands, me being one of them. So there’s just not a lot of potential for Twitter here (yet).

That’s why I’d like to know if anyone of you know about some fun people to follow, or if you want to share your Twitter username here. I’m thinking about famous people, news sites, etc. Or just people I know from SBSH or other forums or blogs. :)

I’d like to get more familiar with Twitter because it seems really nice, but without followers or people to follow it’s quite pointless. ;-)

For now you can find me at http://twitter.com/spmwinkel