Pocket PC Passion asks the question, "what are your top five productivity applications for your Pocket PC?" Here are mine:
A quick way to determine what are your top apps is took look at the shortcut bar at the top of the Start menu.
posted by Frank McPherson 7:33 PM |
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News: GPRS networks: wireless sour grapes? This is an interesting article about the problems AT&T, Cingular, and Voicestream may be having in rolling out their networks. Apparently AT&T has delayed orders for Sierra Wireless's GPRS PC Card.
posted by Frank McPherson 6:36 PM |
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One of the the things that you can with Bluetooth and Pocket PCs is to build simple adhoc networks between devices to communicate and collaborate. ProximityMail is an application that provides that type of functionality for Pocket PCs running Bluetooth. Right now it only works with Socket's CompactFlash Bluetooth card.
posted by Frank McPherson 3:29 PM |
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Toshiba e740 Review Ok, I am sufferring from Pocket PC envy after reading this review. This reads like *the* device to have, with built-in 802.11b, CompactFlash, and SD, 64 MB of RAM, and a 400 MHz X-Scale processor, all for $599. That's the same price that I paid for my iPAQ 3870, which doesn't have built-in CompactFlash or 802.11b. My only question is, how did this guy get his hands on this unit?
posted by Frank McPherson 2:13 PM |
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What do Pocket PC's and Harry Potter have in common? Why me of course! I don't know how Amazon goes about pairing items for their "Great Buy" but my book and the Harry Potter DVD is an interest combination.
posted by Frank McPherson 4:08 PM |
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Pocket PC Magazine has published my article about creating a home LAN with desktop, handheld, and pocket PCs. The complete article is on their web site, while a portion of the article runs in the printed magazine.
Today I received an email from a reader who owns an iPAQ and stores programs and data on a 256 MB CompactFlash card. He notes that with only one CompactFlash slot he cannot use the storage card and Ethernet network adapter at the same time. There are two solutions to this problem. One is Nexian's dual CompactFlash and Power Pak, which adds two CompactFlash slots to iPAQs. Another solution is Compaq's dual-slot PC Card expansion pack. You can use a CompactFlash-to-PC Card adapter to plug a CompactFlash Ethernet adapter into one of the PC Card slots, and another adapter for the storage card.
I am a bit surprised that Compaq (now HP) has not created another solution, which would be an expansion pack with a built-in 802.11b radio, CompactFlash slot, and extra battery. They already sell a Bluetooth expansion pack that is similar, but Bluetooth is not nearly as popular as 802.11b. Perhaps they think that the dual-slot PC Card pack or the Nexian pack is good enough.
posted by Frank McPherson 2:43 PM |
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Pocket PC Thoughts - How Many People Remember Atari's A blast from the past, Pong for the Pocket PC.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:13 PM |
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Adam, I am not sure if this is exactly what you are looking for but I think it is a step. At least it enables you to take outlines that you create on a Pocket PC, and pull it into Radio.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:07 PM |
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Those of you in the United States coming here via the link on Adam's site might be wondering if they can get an XDA in the US. Soon you will via VoiceStream. The word I got at the Pocket PC Summit as it will start becoming available in July. I think the current release of the XDA in Europe is a good lead indicator for the July release in the US. However, part of the problem in the United States is the time it takes to get FCC approval for new wireless devices.
The XDA uses the standard ARM processor, so its release won't be affected by any potential problem's with Intel's X-Scale processor.
I am also looking forward to getting my hands on this device. It might be a nice replacement to the iPAQ + CDPD connection that I use today. However, the lack of a CF slot for 802.11b is a disappointment, as is the fact that the SD slot on the device does not support SDIO, and hence no Bluetooth or WLAN capabilities via that slot.
posted by Frank McPherson 10:53 AM |
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Adam Curry is still digging his Pocket PC-based O2 XDA. Perhaps the XDA (and by extension Pocket PC Phone Edition) will draw people to Pocket PCs who otherwise wouldn't because it provides functionality not found any where else. Just about everyone I know of who is actually using an XDA says that they will never give it up. It might provide a rich enough of an environment on a device to make wireless data compelling. At least that is what Microsoft thinks.
Another very cool side effect of Adam's enthusiasm for the XDA is that he is the type that can and will push the technology. He is already asking about doing web services, which is something that definitely can be done. Case in point is WebLiquid by Christian Forsberg and Andreas Sjostrom. Another web service implement for Pocket PCs is Pocket Blog, and Pocket SOAP is under constant development.
I think that if wireless data is going to be successful, web services will be key to its success. Why? Well, web services provides communications between applications, regardless of the platforms on which the programs are running. IT departments like that type of thing because it means when you architect a back-end system to communicate via web services, say like an ERP, a multitude of front-end applications and devices can communicate to the back-end system using the same web services. It's a write once, talk with many form of communication.
Web services also helps route around data lock-in. For example, I would expect it to be entirely possible to synchronize data on a Pocket PC via a web service. Such data synchronization could work with any back-end system whether it was running on Mac, Linux, or Windows. (In fact, I think that is exactly what SyncML is all about.). The pieces are there to pull the data out of the Pocket PC, and use SOAP to transmit the data, all that is needed is a receiving end on the platform that can receive the SOAP message and process it.
posted by Frank McPherson 10:40 AM |
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Pocket PC Passion - DeLorme for the Pocket PC It seems as though GPS software is the second most popular product for Pocket PCs next to games, and consequently there are a bunch of different products available. DeLorme has thrown their hat in the ring with a product that has all the basic features, but doesn't include a receiver. If you already have a receiver then the $39 price tag might be appealing.
I used Travoute's Pocket Co-Pilot on our trip to Philadelphia, and it worked very well. There was just one problem when I got confused coming out of Philadelphia and started heading east when I wanted to go west. Co-Pilot re-routed me and informed me to take an exit on the right for South street that was really on my left.
I don't have Version 3 of Pocket Co-Pilot, but I want it because it adds several important features such as true text to speech to tell me to turn right on Main street, vs. turn right ahead. And it finally is integrated with Contacts on the Pocket PC so that I can simply select an address from the contacts list as my destination.
posted by Frank McPherson 12:12 PM |
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Pocket PC Thoughts :: View topic - Philly Pocket PC Summit - HP iPAQ Developer Conference Jason has posted some great additional notes from developer sessions at the Summit. The notes include HP's plans for devices beyond 2003.
posted by Frank McPherson 11:56 AM |
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I checked out the updated MSN Mobile page on my Pocket PC, and I think I will stick with Yahoo. MSN looks pretty, but you pay a price for all those graphics with slower download speeds, particularly on my 19.2 CDPD connection. Someday I may have a higher speed wireless connection, and maybe then the graphics on the MSN page won't create such a hit on performance.
posted by Frank McPherson 10:34 AM |
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Alan Reiter has a very dim view on the Microsoft & Verizon wireless data announcement. He writes: "The press release says 'users will be able to take their Outlook functionality on the road.' They've been able to do that for years. Can you spell 'B-L-A-C-K-B-E-R-R-Y?'" Well, not exactly. Blackberry works well with email, but what about calendar, contacts, and tasks. To my knowledge Blackberry does not synchronize those items over the air. Outlook functionality is not just email.
posted by Frank McPherson 10:12 AM |
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Scobleizer Radio Weblog: "Hey, did I mention I work at NEC in the Mobile Solutions division? If you're buying an NEC PocketPC I handle the order. Guess what, orders are going up."
posted by Frank McPherson 3:11 PM |
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Add Adam Curry to the ranks of Pocket PC users. (via the new O2 XDA). Yes, that Adam Curry.
posted by Frank McPherson 1:27 PM |
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PDABuzz.com Discussion Forums - Acer announces new Pocket PC 2002 devices More announcements for devices, but the question is, will these very make it to market in the United States?
posted by Frank McPherson 12:28 PM |
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If you want to access Hotmail using Pocket PC 2002, check out this new Hotmail plugin available now from Handango.
posted by Frank McPherson 12:11 PM |
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