One of the things you’ll notice about Chatter Email is the constant flurry of betas. If you are subscribed to the beta updates, you’ll receive about an email a day – sometimes 2 or even 3 – alerting you to an updated version. To some this may be disturbing, but I am always ready to install the next update. There is no question in my mind that Chatter Email was a smart purchase – the developer is fantastic, and is constantly working to add new features and dig out and fix any lingering bugs or flaws in the program. I say – keep them coming, and keep up the good work.

• Call auto-recording. If you simply leave Audionotes running in the background, ( one of the marvels of Windows Mobile BTW – I sure miss that on my Treo ) then Audionotes will record your phone call automatically, with no additional effort from you. The really neat thing about this is that the files are marked by the name or phone number of the contact , depending on whether you already have a name stored. Very intelligent design there.
• Ability to append previous recording – now you can add to a file after you’ve stopped recording, in case you don’t want to start a new one. This will help with file clutter if you record often.

I have to say I’m very impressed with the auto-record function, as well as the labeling of the files. This just makes Audionotes an even better application than it already was – and I thought it was quite impressive before. I’m going to put a purchase link at the end of this article – you’ll notice it’s not an affilliate link.
Make sure you pick up a large mini-SD card to hold all those phone-call recordings!
Buy AudioNotes. Read the full press release after the jump.

VITO AudioNotes updated

April 17, 2006 – VITO Technology updates VITO AudioNotes. Now it’s become easier to make your voice notes on the go and manage them with minimum keystrokes. Recently released AudioNotes has already received a lot of feedback from the avid PPC and Smartphone users and turned out to be a real must have application.

VITO AudioNotes is a WM 2003/ WM 5.0 Smartphone and Pocket PC recorder that supports major world-wide spread formats: WAV and MP3. It records voice notes either in MP3 or WAV with different quality – low, middle or high. Apart from taking voice notes, VITO AudioNotes is especially good at recording phone calls on Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphones.

Among indispensable features VITO AudioNotes offers you are: VAS (voice activated system) for gapless recording and Mic Auto Gain for increased microphone sensitivity. So that you don’t need to shout to record every word and when you keep silent recording pauses. User-friendly interface realized in form of control panels gives you full control of recording and playing your voice notes, lectures or phone calls.

Among new features presented in VITO AudioNotes there is an append option that allows you to continue recording to the same file after it has been stopped. Calls auto recording is self-explanatory: all you need now to automatically record incoming and outgoing calls is just have VITO AudioNotes running in background. Interface has also been tuned up: incoming and outgoing calls have the familiar differing icons and the corresponding name or phone number from your contacts.

VITO AudioNotes is available for $19.95 at www.vitotechnology.com. It supports Russian, English, German and Spanish. German and Spanish users can download AudioNotes from http://www.pdassi.de/

Useful links:

Company web-site: http://vitotechnology.com/

Program page: http://vitotechnology.com/en/products/audionotes_smartphone.html

Download: http://www.vitotechnology.com/en/products/download.php?ID=1616&BID=23

Buy: http://www.vitotechnology.com/en/products/list.php?BID=23&ID=1616

VITO Technology ltd. is known for its high-tech products in the field of Windows Mobile and Symbian software, GPS navigation and custom projects. Introduced in the present article VITO AudioNotes is an easy to use MP3 and WAV recorder for PPC and Smartphones.

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© Vito Technology 2006. All rights reserved.

Installing AudioNotes was very simple – just run the included EXE file and the installer takes care of everything for you. Once it’s installed, the shortcut is placed in your programs menu for you. When you run Audionotes, you get a screen that looks like this.

AudioNotes gives you several options for your recording. You can choose to save your files to main memory or you can save files directly to your mini-SD card. With space being so precious on the PPC-6700, I chose the memory card. To make the space-saving effort even better, AudioNotes gives you several options for sound quality. You can save files in full-size WAV format if you’re a stickler for quality. Most people will opt for the other choice – Audionotes can save your sound files as MP3’s – no need for conversion later. You’ll have your choice of bitrates – with low, middle, and high quality levels available. I would recommend using the high quality. Sound files do end up marginally larger, but I think the improvement in sound quality is worth it.

Another use for AudioNotes is to record those phone conversations that you don’t want to forget. Just press record, then answer the phone. It’s as simple as that. Now you don’t have to worry about who said what – you can listen to it later. Be sure to check your state laws before using this function – some states require that both parties be aware of the recording device.

The user interface of AudioNotes is very intuitive, and easy to learn. It’s very basic and too the point, but not spartan. It’s a very pleasing visual interface. AudioNotes also allows for the installation of several different skins, so you can change the look a bit, if that’s your cup of tea. Personally I like the default look just fine.

Conclusion:
AudioNotes does exactly what it is designed to do. It allows you to make short audio notes for yourself, and store them in a variety of ways. It provides just the right number of options – not too many so as to be confusing. And probably the best part of all? AudioNotes is priced right – currently just $19.95 at the Vito Technology store. Many software makers err by charging too much for their software – Vito Technology has this one priced right. I’ll confidently give me recommendation for this software – it’s a very useful tool.

As a sidenote, I do want to thank the team at Vito Technology for their support. I had some issues witha faulty PPC-6700 unit, and they were quite to help re-register AudioNotes, and happy to do so. Timely, friendly customer support is priceless, and not always easy to find. Kudos to the Vito team.

Lots more screenshots for you to enjoy after the jump.

Ivan Mitrovic over at uLocate has found a way to get the excellent Google Maps on the Treo 650. It involves installing Java on your Treo, so it does take up a solid amount of RAM.

He calls his creation “KMaps” , probably because GMaps would make Mr. Google unhappy .

Like I said, you’ll dowload Java for Palm before you can install KMaps. uLocate has a directions page – read it! It looks like KMaps is also available on the Blackberry, but I can’t seem to find any more info on that. Anyone know if the Blackberry comes with Java installed?

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Pocket Tunes – you should be. In fact, it really belongs as item number 7 on my Top 6 Applications for your Palm – based Treo Smartphone.

It blows away the default RealPlayer which is included on the Treo 650. The interface is much cleaner, plus you get the ability to use skins to further enhance it. Shoutcast support also adds to the package.

With the latest update, online music services such as Yahoo Music Engine, Napster to Go, and Rhapsody to Go are all supported. So all the music you download from these services as part of your subscription, you can take with you on your Treo.