11:18 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Resco has released two updates of its winning Pocket PC tools. Resco Explorer 2003 V5.14 adds support for Windows Mobile 2003 SE (fully supports portrait/landscape switching and VGA resolution), fixes Infra-red OBEX beaming to non-Pocket PC devices, and includes an improved FTP client. Resco Photo Viewer V5.30 includes an enhanced edit mode, supports EXIF information, increases save quality, includes huge speed and memory optimizations, and adds an ActiveSync filter for PowerPoint conversion. Note that the Viewer requires a new registration code.

Download Resco Photo Viewer for PocketPC v5.30.

Download Resco Explorer 2003 for PocketPC v5.14.

05:34 PM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

While doing some WAP web browsing on my Samsung camera phone (not the one in the picture) I noticed that I have a halfway decent screen. It shows about a dozen short lines of text or more.

I couldn't help but wonder what sorts of mobile reading I could do on it beyond simple WAP browsing.

So now turning to our vast and highly resourcefull readers, I'm asking if anyone has found a way to successfully do either of the following:

1. Do ebook reading from a standard cell phone
   I guess this means creating a personal WAP web site interface to your ebook text, and an option to go forward or backward one screen, plus probably bookmarks to keep your place.

2. View text of standard mobile-friendly sites via WAP access
   This one seems to require the same approach, but with some heavy duty coding behind the scenes to manage the output for the tiny display.

If you have done either of these, or have an idea how to do it, please post a reply with some details.

04:18 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

One of my favorite resources for Pocket PC information is Pocket PC Magazine. I usually forget to check the web site, but now I have a print subscription that I look forward to each month.

First and foremost, if you are looking for a particular type of software, you can't really beat the best software awards. Currently, 2004 is the most recent, but I think they are in the process of judging for 2005 now also. There are smartphone and developer categories, but my favorite is the 2004 Best Software Award nominations list. It's an invaluable look at the best titles in each category. No one will agree with all the choices on any list, and I've yet to find a list that's both comprehensive and usable, but for my money this is the best source of info you'll find in one place. I just hope that they keep it free (you can get more detailed info with a two year subscription), and keep reeling in the subscriptions from that and the other web info. It worked on me.

Some of my other favorite information from PPC Magazine is from authors Jim Karpen ("What's Online") and Rich Hall ("Tips and Tricks" editor). They really don't seem to be as well known as some of the other bloggers in the mobile device world, but believe me they will become more well known if they keep up the great work. You can find some of their recent info on the web site, but here's a few highlights of tips and web sites from my last print edition to whet your appetite...

• Soft Resets -- Use them frequently to keep your PPC running smoothly. It clears out temp files and memory that doesn't get freed up. (I do it automatically each night with Sprite Backup.)
• Birthdays and Anniversaries -- If you add them to a contact item in the designated fields, they will become a repeating appointment after you sync with the desktop.
• ActiveSync Freezes Up -- Solve with soft reset, or delete the partnership and create a new one, or try a free PC program. ReSync (www.cewindows.net/applications/resync.htm) is supposed to close and re-open ActiveSync to solve the problem without any resets.
• CMU Studies PDAs as remote controls -- A study on how handheld devices can be better remote controls. Not just for TVs, but for offices, meeting rooms, classrooms, etc. Sounds interesting. I think they must be talking to Microsoft because I also heard someone on the Mobile Devices team saying that was the future... walking into a conference room and automatically connecting wirelessly to the presentation projector, the speakers, the lighting, etc and controlling it all with your Pocket PC.
• Get a single file from an ActiveSync Backup -- Use the desktop program "ActiveSync Backup File Restorer", which is supposed to be available for free at www.pocketgear.com. See www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/tipsandtricks/ for more info.
• Some sites where you can buy accessories online or get prices... www.mobileplanet.com, www.yourmobiledesk.com, http://shopper.cnet.com, www.pricegrabber.com, http://dealram.com for flash memory cards, www.freescreenprotectors.com, www.freecases.com, www.expansys.com
• MS has free tutorials for Win Mobile 2003SE -- www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/downloads/tutorials.mspx might be a good place to point your family member after you give him your next hand-me-down!
• Some mobile site portal/directories... www.wacklepedia.com/pdahotspots/pda_hotspots.htm, www.pdamobileweb.com
• Some streaming media sites... www.pocketpcmedia.com and www.radioshowlinks.com
• Mobile access to gmail... http://gmail.wiggster.com
• Free Google interface... www.twopeaks.com/site/products/GoogHelper
• Free news content... www.performancequest.com (works in conjunction with MobiPocket), www.newsinmotion.com sends RSS feeds to you as email, http://transpoman.com/ppcrss, and http://transpoman.com/ppccv for local city news.

I find that this post has become way too long. But, really, that's exactly my point... even just a very tiny bit of the good stuff from a single issue goes on and on.

Don't miss out on all the good stuff, and go to the site yourself to discover much, much more. I'm not real sure why they haven't received more publicity as a great info source, but hopefully this post helps make a few more people aware. And don't forget to buy the print version also for a treat each month! Or at least check out their RSS feed, or the mobile edition at www.pocketpcmag.com/mobile. (Don't know how much content is in the feed, but I know many of us are big RSS fans. Personally, I'm kind of waiting for the debut of the new Sunrise reader to use much RSS myself.)

And to answer the question you surely are asking in your head by now... No, I don't have any ties or financial interest in the magazine! But they do a great job and deserve the publicity.

09:23 AM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

A very nice site that many of you are certainly familiar with is Daily Gadget. Unfortunately, they were hacked last nite and have shared the news with Sammy at Palm Addict to apologize for emails sent out by the hackers without their approval. Hopefully that didn't affect too many of us.

From the Palm Addict post...

From Alan at Daily Gadget, "Sammy, I woke up this morning to find that someone had hacked the Daily Gadget site. Among a few other things they did, they sent out several emails to members that were rather unpleasant. Could you let your readers know that I deeply apologize for this, and that we're working on getting things back up to shape?"
- Sammy (Manchester, UK)

Best wishes to Alan. Glad to see you're back up and working again at the site.

07:54 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Three months ago Dell released the A02 Rom update for its X50 series. Today is another lucky upgrade day for all X50 owners. The 22MB big A03 English ROM image (X50v download, X50 download) includes various fixes and enhancements:

1. Improved the compatibility with certain CF cards
2. Improved the power management within the CompactFlash driver
3. Improved the WLAN driver for the unrecognized card issue
4. Improved Bluetooth memory management
5. Enhanced the processor speed scheme (Auto) for better balance between performance and battery life
6. Improved the compatibility of Bluetooth FTP
7. Make the wireless button driver more robust
8. Improved the compatibility of Switcher Bar application
9. Enhanced the compatibility of Data Backup utility
10. Enhanced the WEP key security
11. Updated the Funk Odyssey client
12. Improved the frequency change mechanism of 2700G (Axim X50v)
13. Fixed issue when pausing live streaming video (Axim X50v)
14. Updated 2700G display driver (Axim X50v)

Don't forget to backup before you perform the upgrade

[first found at Pocket PC Thoughts]

07:39 AM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | News

Unlike Nigel Newton, CE of Bloomsburry whom we reported on earlier today, David Kent, President and CEO of HarperCollinsCanada, gets it right: "The introduction of electronic books could be a blessing," he is quoted in a student newspaper of Lehigh University (Kent is an Lehigh alumnus). The blessing is, according to Kent, that in digital format, books can be delivered to any place in the world and brought by customers at any time they want.

There are other powerful statements in favor of e-books made in this story:

• trend toward electronic books could lead to an increase in reading;
• there will be a huge upheaval of how to attain information;
• "the great democratization of literature" (books for underdeveloped countries);
• less space would be needed;
• print your own books; eliminating the "elitist dynamic" associated with book publishing;
• e-books will not have a negative effect on writers;
• number of paper books will remain same ("We have plastic, but we still like wood" - love that analogy!)

Nigel Newton, is it possible that you went to the wrong school? Or perhaps Kent has been the smarter student (even at the age of 73!).

07:24 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Henry Cheung, sales director of wireless products for Asia Pacific at PalmOne, is saying that PalmOne will strengthen its marketing and its channels to boost sales of its smartphones in the Asia-Pacific, according to Digitimes.

Recognizing that growth in the PDA market is slowing down, PalmOne will continue to focus both on PDAs and smartphones, although the smartphone market has a high growth potential, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, Cheung stated.

06:01 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Company Impatica Inc. demonstrated on the Wireless Enterprise Symposium 2005 a beta of its Impatica for PowerPoint client-server solution that effectively transfers a Blackberry (running System 3.8 or higher) into a presentation device for fully animated, graphical PowerPoint files.

Presentations can be delivered to the BlackBerry over-the-air or uploaded via USB-2 or Bluetooth. Because of the slow CPU of the Blackberry, however, the PowerPoint presentation needs to be converted first with a server software into a compact format (it becomes impaticized). The resulting file is typically 95% smaller than a standard PowerPoint document.

Price and date of availability are still unknown.