Announcing Yahoo! Contacts Sync

We’re proud to announce public beta testing of Yahoo! Contacts sync. Yahoo! is now available as an option for the contacts sync source for all NuevaSync users.

Features

• Synchronizes with almost every smartphone available, including the Apple iPhone, Nokia N900, Motorola Droid, Palm Pre and Pixi, and Windows Mobile phones.
• Secure OAuth authentication.
• Two-way synchronization of all contacts.
• Two-way support for contact categories.
• Synchronizes even unusual fields like Radio Telephone or Customer ID to Yahoo!
• Works with Contacts Capture.
• Avoids clutter by syncing only contacts that have more than IM info, such as a phone, email, postal address, etc. If you add more contact information to it later, the entry will be automatically added to the phone. (Optional)

Setup

To setup your account, open your service selection page and choose Yahoo!

On the configuration page, enter your Yahoo! id and click ‘Request Account Access’:

Sign in at Yahoo! with the account you want to sync:

After signing in, click ‘Continue’ to finish link your account:

And you’re done!

Notes

• We will be adding support to download contact pictures from Yahoo!
• Since each contact chooses their own photo, Yahoo! does not allow you to update the picture for a contact. However, the service stores any picture sent from the device to be used in subsequent syncs.
• Web site configuration validation isn't available yet for Yahoo! Until it is enabled, instead of a green ‘ok’ dot, the status page will show either a blue ‘configured’ dot or an orange ‘needs configured’ reminder.
• During the beta preiod features may be added or improved.

We’re eager to know how it works for you. If you have any questions or problems visit our forum.

UPDATE: Support for downloading pictures from Yahoo! is now available for testing.

New Feature: Contacts Capture

There's a new feature available today as part of the Premium Service package that we're calling "Contacts Capture". Inspired by a few users who have contacted us asking if we could provide an archive service, and also by this unfortunate incident, Contacts Capture stores contact data as it flows through the service and allows users to download their data from the web site. The popular vCard format is used. ".vcf" files can be imported into a wide range of applications and services.

Even contacts that have been accidentally deleted can be recovered (as long as those contacts had been sync'ed). So if a contact has been "seen" by the service (after capturing was enabled), then it is safely stored and available for download.

Capturing can is optional, and for existing Premium Service users must be enabled on the account settings page:



The device status page shows if your device's contacts have been captured:



Contact data can be viewed, and a snapshot taken of the current contacts state via the device management page:



Here's an example after contacts have been syncing and 4 contacts deleted. All the contacts, included the deleted ones can be downloaded from this page:




This example shows a snapshot (the lower table row) and the changes since the snapshot was taken. A snapshot allows recovery of contact data from the past even if the contacts have since been changed.




More information about this feature can be found on this page.

Windows Mobile Calendar Gets Categories

NuevaSync Premium Service users with Windows Mobile phones can now sync calendar events with a "category" tag matching the event's Google calendar. This allows multiple Google calendars to be managed conveniently on the device: a filter can be enabled to show only one Google calendar, and new events can be created in any of the user's Google calendars.

More information on this new feature can be found on our web site.

Remote Wipe Your Phone!

NuevaSync Premium Service users can now remotely "wipe" their phone if it's lost or stolen.

After enabling the feature on your account, the devices that are ready for remote wipe will be marked in the device management page on our web site. To begin the remote wipe process, click the "manage" link:



You'll then see a page like this with a "Wipe your lost or stolen phone" link:



The next page is the final confirmation before the wipe command is sent (so be careful if you're checking out the site!). A captcha must be entered at this state to prevent accidentally triggering the wipe process:



Now, provided your phone is still syncing, it will erase all stored data. Confirmation that the wipe command was received is displayed on the device management page (if the phone didn't respond you'll see a "wipe pending" status here).



If you trigger wipe for a phone that is turned off, or for some other reason doesn't respond, and you want to revoke the request, a 'Cancel' wipe link will appear on the device management page. Beware however that any device that has an active push connection will wipe very quickly (in less than a second typically).

See this page on our web site for more details on the new remote wipe feature.

Note that some devices don't support remote wipe yet: Android 2.0 phones such as the Droid, and the new Nokia N900.

Sync All Devices!

I'm very happy to announce that NuevaSync now works with all the devices that have an Exchange sync capability. Compatible phones include the very new Nokia N900, and the rather old Palm Treo. Also supported: the über cool Motorola Droid, and the slightly less hip PocketPC 2003. And of course, SonyEricsson, BlackBerry, iPhone, iPod Touch, WebOS, Windows Mobile all sync too.




Testing, debugging and fixing sync for all these device types has been a major undertaking both for us here and the many users who helped in the effort (thanks!). With this work done and 100% device coverage achieved, we're busy developing new features to be released before the end of this year.

New: Sync Tasks with Toodledo!

Beginning today Premium Service users (and free Premium trial accounts) can sync with the popular task management site Toodledo.



To sync tasks you need a compatible device (iPhones don't have tasks support yet but Windows Mobile, Nokia and Palm Pre phones do). Register for a Toodledo account (free or pro). Enable and configure tasks on our web site---enter your Toodledo username and password. Note that you need to enter your fully-qualified Toodledo username (typically your email address).



Finally enable tasks sync on your device. Windows Mobile setup looks like this:

Nokia Mail for Exchange will list tasks under the 'Content synced' once enabled:



The Toodledo API doesn't provide real-time change notification, so the service checks for changes every so often. Changes made on their web site will appear on your phone after a few minutes.

Sync your BlackBerry!

BlackBerry® devices can now be used with NuevaSync thanks to a $49 application from AstraSync (they have a free trial). Until recently there were a few compatibility issues with AstraSync and our service, but those have now been resolved. Contact, Calendar and Email sync are all supported, including Push Email service.



After downloading and installing AstraSync please follow these configuration instructions. Your BlackBerry device should show up on the device management page like this:


Check our new BlackBerry device forum for more information, or to report any problems.

Sync on.