Jason has been pimping Mazingo ever since it was announced, so I got around to checking it out the other night. I am not sure why he likes it. I guess it is easier to work with than AvantGo for content providers, but it seems a bit slow to me. When I open the Pocket PC Thoughts channel it takes several seconds for it to load the full page, during which you cannot move up and down through the page using hardware buttons. Another problem that I noticed is that it works like IE on Pocket PC 2000 in that the back button returns you to the top of a page rather than at the link location. But perhaps the biggest problem for me is that I can't get it to synchronize anything other than the Pocket PC Thoughts channel. I don't know what is up with that, but the problem pretty makes Mazingo useless.
Update: The folks at Mazingo have fixed the problem I had downloading channels, and I can now download more than Pocket PC Thoughts. Now that I have had a chance to try out other channels, I see it can run faster than when it was just rendering Pocket PC Thoughts. I guess Jason and the gang have been thinking too much, making the top page very large. Anyway, I feel better about Mazingo now, it might indeed be a very viable alternative to AvantGo.
I do have Mazingo configured to save content to a storage card, which may be one ot its best features. You can configure AvantGo to put content on storage cards but it requires a registry hack. BTW, I think Mazingo is going to have problems with Pocket PCs that have multiple storage card slots. The software allows you to designated storage cards for content, but doesn't allow you to select which storage card. If I have a Toshiba e570 will be probably use an MMC card for data storage, which means that is where I would want Mazingo to put its content. Question is, would it go to the MMC card or a CF card?
I have gone ahead and signed up this web log to Mazingo's directory, and I will be putting a link on the bottom of this page for you to subscribe if you wish.
posted by Frank McPherson 12:11 PM |
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InternetNews - ISP News -- Rumors of MobileStar's Demise Greatly Exaggerated I guess MobileStar might not be dead after all. We'll see.
posted by Frank McPherson 3:49 PM |
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PCWorld.com - GMate to Unfold a Linux-Based PDA Yopy lives! It seems like every Comdex sees a new Linux PDA that never makes it to market.
posted by Frank McPherson 3:46 PM |
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AtomicDB.com - PocketPC - ADB Idea Library I checked out this program after reading about it at Pocket PC Thoughts. Some times you have to wonder what the heck software developers are thinking. This program appears to provide the ability to store information in a categorized manner. It allows you to create text-based information, voice recordings, images, and attach files. Sounds good enough, but there is one small problem. While you can create text-based notes, the program provides no way to go back and edit those notes. Doh! And there doesn't appear to be a way to move items around. Off it goes.
posted by Frank McPherson 2:40 PM |
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One of the things I don't like about Pocket PC 2002 is the two-taps required for initiating infrared synchronization. I don't really understand why Microsoft did that. When you place the Pocket PC in front of the IR port of a PC, the PC correctly identifies the device. So the communication is there, why can't I simply tap the Sync button in ActiveSync instead of tapping Tools | Connect via IR.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:54 PM |
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Why does DeveloperOne's OutALine expand everything when ever I move an item? That's annoying.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:44 PM |
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Yesterday I wrote about losting image file associations on my HP 565. I later found out that the HP Image Viewer has a setting for restoring file associations. Tap View | Options and then tap the Restore Previous Associations button. I had to do a soft reset after to get the assocations back.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:39 PM |
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New ARM core to boost PDA performance "ARM Ltd. on Wednesday will unveil a new version of its microprocessor core for handheld computers and other gadgets, promising to boost the performance of audio and video applications and help extend battery life, a top ARM executive said.
The sixth-generation design, known as the ARM Architecture v6, isn't expected to appear in products until the middle of next year, he said."
posted by Frank McPherson 1:33 PM |
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A Window to Real-Time Communication "SIP, which became an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard in 1999, lets a user initiate any type of real-time communication session—such as text-based messaging, voice, video or even application-sharing—with another user over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. Extensions to SIP enable instant messaging.
Because SIP is lightweight, it can work not only with PCs but also with other devices, such as mobile phones or personal digital assistants. For instance, a PC user equipped with the right software could make a voice call to a colleague on a cell phone.
Microsoft is so bullish on SIP that it's putting a SIP stack and application programming interface into its entire Windows family, including XP for PCs and embedded devices, CE for the Pocket PC and the Windows .Net Server operating system, says Mark Lee, a lead project manager with the company's Windows team."
I wonder, is that CE 3 or CE 4?
Computer World's Knowledge Center research information on Session Initiation Protocol.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:27 PM |
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Good news! PocketNAV now supports the Pocket PC 2002 user interface, including themes.
posted by Frank McPherson 9:22 PM |
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Yahoo - Ilium Software Releases ListPro 3.0 and eWallet 2.1 Two of my favorite programs have been updated!
posted by Frank McPherson 5:12 PM |
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WESTTEK - ClearVue Here is a complete set of document viewers that I found out about from Pocket PC Thoughts. I downloaded and installed the ClearVue Suite to my HP 565, and it works as advertised. Be warned though, the full suite takes up 2.5 MB of storage space! To test the viewers I popped a CompactFlash card into my notebook PC and copied over a Word document with plenty of tables, an Excel workbook with a graph, and a PowerPoint presentation. I also tested the Image viewers with some images I already had on my Pocket PC.
The Word document was most significant test because it was 20 pages long with tons of tables. It took several minutes for ClearVue to open the document. At a couple of points I thought it choked and locked up my Pocket PC, but it was working. I was impressed with the results as it displayed the document with graphics and tables flawlessly. Once the document was open moving from page to page was pretty snappy.
The Worksheet viewer was not as stressed as my test spreadsheet was easy to open. But the graph loaded with no problem. Likewise, the Presentation viewer worked as expected and it seems to be good enough for viewing presentations. I don't think it can be used for giving presentations. I found the Image viewers to be a bit difficult to work with. The default method for viewing images is in landscape where in most cases I would want to view images in portrait. I also found it a bit difficult to view all the image files in a directory in the portrait format that I want. I think something like Applian's PictureViewer is a better tool for viewing images. Actually, for me the hp image viewer that comes pre-installed on the HP 565 is good enough.
Each viewer installs separately so if all you want is the Document viewer, you don't need to suck up all the storage space on your Pocket PC.
Here is a warning. If you remove the ClearVue Image viewer you will lose any file associations. Prior to installing ClearVue JPG files were associated with the hp image viewer on my 565. After I removed ClearVue I lost the file associations.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:18 PM |
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The Pocket PC hardware accessories continue to come. This morning Jason points to the Vito Technology: Smart Pager. It sounds interesting, but how do you hook this up with a paging service, say like Skytel?
posted by Frank McPherson 12:21 PM |
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Welcome to PocketPC New York Is there real demand for these conferences, or conference planners jumping on the band wagon? I noticed their speaker roster has no entries.
posted by Frank McPherson 12:09 PM |
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Siebel readying mobile apps for Pocket PC "SIEBEL SYSTEMS IN late 2001 plans to announce upgrades to applications that enable tracking of consumer goods inventories and pharmaceuticals on handhelds, but the offerings will only be supported on Microsoft's Pocket PC platform and not on Palm OS."
posted by Frank McPherson 10:50 AM |
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Microsoft to fill in .NET picture "Groove next week will demonstrate a prototype of a client-based p-to-p product designed to work with Microsoft's upcoming Pocket PC." That's interesting. Groove is a "corporate" peer to peer solution designed by Ray Ozzie of Lotus Notes fame. Groove has received a lot of acalades mainly due to Ozzie's reputation, but when I played a bit with it I had trouble seeing the value. Apparently Bill Gates digs Groove since Microsoft has signed a deal with Groove to work together for .NET solutions.
posted by Frank McPherson 10:28 AM |
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WinTel to resurface on the hand According to this Infoworld article, Fall Comdex will be the place to be to see Intel's X-scale processor running Talisker (Windows CE 4). What may be interesting is to see whether at the time Palm comes out with an ARM-based product, Pocket PC moves to X-scale.
posted by Frank McPherson 10:15 AM |
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Vindigo : Subscribe to Vindigo for Pocket PC I am not sure what the big fuss is, but Vindigo is an often asked for application and it is now available for the Pocket PC. It costs you $29.95 per year. Portable Internet has been available for the Pocket PC for more than a year now and it provides coverage for more cities than Vindigo. Portable Internet how also supports GPS and voice navigation.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:15 PM |
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InternetNews - Business News -- Sony Rolls Out Thin CLIE Is it just me, or does it seem like there is a new Palm OS device announcement every other week? How are these companies making money manufacturing all these different types of devices?
posted by Frank McPherson 12:44 PM |
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Hacker cracks Microsoft anti-piracy software - Tech News - CNET.com Another person has cracked Microsoft's DRM software.
posted by Frank McPherson 12:43 PM |
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The Nando Times: PRODUCT REVIEW: SiPix Pocket Printer A6 out of sync with its promises I don't know if the SiPix printer is supposed to work with Pocket PCs. They have a product page that shows an iPAQ 3135 beaming to the printer, but they don't specify Pocket PCs in their literature. Anyway, the Nando Times couldn't get the printer to work with their Palm OS devices. That plus the shoddy product page leads me to recommend avoiding this product.
posted by Frank McPherson 12:40 PM |
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Starfish Software TrueSync is another synchronization program for Pocket PC 2002. TrueSync provides multi-point data synchronization between desktop PIMS and wireless phones and devices. Desktop PIMS include Outlook, Schedule+, ACT!, Lotus Organizer and Lotus Notes, Sidekick, and Palm Desktop.
posted by Frank McPherson 12:15 PM |
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For the last couple of days I was out of town as Ruth and I traveled to Indiana to attend a funeral. I took the Pharos Navigator with me to guide us on the trip, and I have concluded that it sucks. The biggest problem is that it breaks up states into sections and there is no link between those sections. For my trip between Detroit and Northern Indiana I loaded maps for Detroit North, Lansing, Battle Creek, South Bend and Gary. We drove through each one of these sections and as soon as you went from one to the other you have to load the new section. That's not very convenient nor really workable while driving. Since these sections all boarder against each other, you would think that Pharos would have made a way so that it knows you are crossing from one section to the next and automatically load the section you are traveling in.
What is worse is that you cannot plan routes across those sections. In my case my origin and destination were in two different sections that didn't boarder each other, so there was simply no way to plan a route.
By contrast, with TravRoute's Pocket Co-Pilot you can select entire areas of a map, which can go across states and it will download your section to a storage card. The selection size doesn't seem to be limited. You can select 30 MB files or 2 MB files. By supporting such selections you can then plan routes across greater geographical areas, and the map continues to show you the way.
So the bottom line for me is that I will go back to using and recommending Pocket Co-Pilot. I can't really recommend Pharos' Pocket Navigator for anything more than planning routes within metroplitan areas.
posted by Frank McPherson 12:08 PM |
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