John at myITforum.com

Mostly gadgets, but I'll occassionally get sidetracked...

February 2006 - Posts

Addicted to weather? Check out Bev Howard's page.

If you’ve been following Pocket PC news and support forums for awhile, the name Bev Howard should ring a bell.  Bev must love weather, just like me.  Check out the PocketPC Radar Finder Bev has put up.

http://bevhoward.com/storm/ppcrad.htm

Note! Windows Mobile 2003 or above required for image animation.

Microsoft rolls out Windows Mobile Training Site

From the website:

This is your Windows Mobile Training resource center. In addition to courses, this site offers sales support tools and mobile device news.

*This site was developed specifically for use by retail sales professionals who sell Windows Mobile devices at a retail location.

Courses include Windows Mobile 5.0 Level 1 and Level 2, Windows Mobile vs. the Competition, Portable Media Center, Wi-Fi, ActiveSync Level 1 and Level 2, Microsoft Office Programs for Windows Mobile, Pocket MSN, and others.

Check it out!

http://www.windowsmobiletraining.com

Virtual Earth Technology Preview?

Microsoft has a technology preview site up here:

http://preview.local.live.com/

Take a drive through Seattle or San Francisco.

Posted: Feb 28 2006, 01:50 PM by jgormly | with no comments
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Free wi-fi coming to Cincinnati?

What a concept! 

http://lilypadusa.org/find.html

A unique partnership in the city of Cincinnati has begun to deliver Wi-Fi that is not only free of cost, but also free of pop-up and banner ads.

Called Lily Pad, the partnership combines efforts from the City of Cincinnati, Time Warner Cable, and the Lily Pad non-profit organization. The endeavor has already resulted in the establishment of more than 20 Lily Pads or "pods," each with numerous hotspots and still more access points. Another 55 or more are slated to be established in the coming weeks.

"We looked at other national (Wi-Fi) attempts," said Ryan Rybolt, a businessman who co-founded Lily Pad. "We thought other approaches were too expensive and we didn't want to ask for taxpayer or city money."

From Project Lily Pad’s website:

Imagine a region where people have wireless Internet access and information can be easily retrieved and sent on demand. Using a PC or a PDA, users can access information while sitting on a bench in the park, walking down the street or while dining at a local restaurant. All for Free…no strings attached!

Imagine having wireless capability throughout the Tri-State region and being able to log in to your data provider from Hamilton, Ohio, to Covington, Kentucky, to Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

Imagine providing a local community officer access to key information by simply driving into a park, eliminating the need to visit headquarters. Critical, life-saving information, on demand.

Imagine being part of the realization of such a project and helping enhance the quality of life in the Greater Cincinnati region and in your community.

Another small victory for RIM?

According to a blog over at CNET:

BlackBerry maker Research in Motion may have scored a minor victory its ongoing patent spat with holding company NTP.

In a six-line order filed on Tuesday afternoon and obtained by CNET News.com, U.S. District Judge James Spencer denied NTP's request to introduce new documents from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Those documents, which reportedly attempted to show evidence of shady dealings with RIM, were filed just before the companies' hearing last week.

NTP did not respond to requests for a copy of its motion. Last week, however, the company released a lengthy statement that described several examples of what it called "irregularities" in the Patent Office's reexamination of disputed patents in the case.

Google homepage goes mobile

Your Google personalized homepage puts the information you care about on one web page -- and now you can access that page on your mobile phone or device, in a phone-friendly format that's easy to read and navigate.

  • Preview your latest Gmail messages
  • See headlines from top news sources
  • Get weather forecasts, stock quotes, and movie showtimes
  • Choose from a variety of popular RSS and Atom feeds.

You'll need to use the PC version of Google personalized home to choose which content to add to your phone's homepage. If you haven't done this yet, click the 'Personalized Home' link in the upper-right-hand corner of Google.com (or, just click here).

  1. Access the mobile web browser on your phone or mobile device (note: this device must support XHTML)
  2. Type www.google.com in the URL field (if you get an error message, type www.google.com/xhtml)
  3. Select the 'Personalized Home' link, then sign in with your username and password. You'll see the same customized content modules you've chosen on the web.
Google News goes mobile...

Google News for mobile devices keeps you updated on current news articles when you're on the go. You can access top headlines, browse through news categories, or search for exactly the stories you want — all in a phone-friendly format that's easy to read and navigate. All you need is a web-enabled phone.

  1. Go to google.com on your mobile phone's browser and click the link to "News"
  2. Browse top headlines, or news in categories
  3. Search for the news you want
Treo's are catching up, RIM has plans...

BlackBerry founder Mike Lazaridis is preparing to add cameras and music players to the most popular hand-held computer to match Palm Inc.'s Treo and Motorola Inc.'s Q phone.

While Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry, is negotiating to settle a five-year patent battle that might shut the service, a bigger threat may be competition.

"There's a lot of room for new stuff" in the BlackBerry, Lazaridis said Monday. "Adding multimedia technology is inevitable."

More than 602,000 Treos were sold last quarter, compared with 645,000 BlackBerries, narrowing a gap that stood at 150,000 in the previous quarter. Competition may erode BlackBerry's market share to 50 percent in 2010 from 71 percent now, said FTN Midwest Research analyst Ben Bollin.

Camera’s and music players to Blackberry’s…oh my…

Posted: Feb 28 2006, 08:59 AM by jgormly | with no comments
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Is Microsoft's Feature Pack about to be released?

To get Microsoft’s “push email” directly from Exchange 2003, you not only need a Windows Mobile 5 device, you need the Messaging and Security Feature Pack.  Is it about to be released?  This posting appeared on Microsoft’s UK Windows Mobile website:

We are working on bringing new features and updates to your Windows Mobile device. The latest version due soon is the version required to get your email 'pushed' direct from the latest version of Exchange 2003. The new version will be available from mid March for existing devices and on all new devices from April.

The best place to get the latest software is from your mobile operator. The upgrade requires a download which depending on the operator's chosen method can be completed via a cable attached to your PC, or over the mobile network direct to your device. We will add links to the relevant mobile operator resources as soon as they become available.

Is the Motorola Q about to appear on Verizon Wireless?

Let’s wait and see.  According to Gizmodo, it could be as early as next week.

motorola-q-500x350.jpg

Judge Spencer warns both RIM and NTP

Judge James Spencer, who as most are aware is overseeing the RIM/NTP case, said in the hearing on Feb. 24 that he expects to rule shortly on whether to impose an injunction. After saying how surprised he was that the two sides hadn't reached a settlement, he warned them that neither would be happy if he had the final say.

"You let this be a court decision and you're going to get a court decision," he said. "A court-imposed decision will be imperfect."

Posted: Feb 28 2006, 05:46 AM by jgormly | with no comments
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Engadget posts pictures of the HTC Breeze and Trinity

Nice looking mobile phones on the way from HTC.

National Pancake Day?

Didn’t know there was such a thing, but it’s not like me to pass up free food.  Do you like pancakes?  Is there an IHOP near by?  From IHOP’s website:

FREE PANCAKES! NO STRINGS ATTACHED!

On February 28, 2006 from 7 AM to 2 PM IHOPs across the country will celebrate National Pancake Day (also known as Shrove Tuesday) by offering our guests a free short stack of pancakes*. This is going to be our biggest one day celebration in our history.

National Pancake Day has a rich history that stretches back centuries and has always been a time of celebration. National Pancake Day always falls on Fat Tuesday and this year it will be a celebration at IHOP.

So gather your friends, family and neighbors and come to your local IHOP and enjoy a short stack of pancakes on us. All we ask is that you consider making a donation to a great charity like First Book or other local, worthy cause. Where else would you celebrate National Pancake Day than IHOP? See you there.

Posted: Feb 26 2006, 08:28 AM by jgormly | with no comments
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MARA discovers first Pocket PC crossover virus

The Mobile Malware Researchers Association (MARA) has found what is believed to be the first malware to cross-infect a handheld PDA from a binary on the desktop PC.

The malware, a Trojan dubbed “crossover”, spreads from a Win32 desktop machine to a Windows Mobile Pocket PC handheld.

Detailed analysis and the malware binary are available to antivirus companies and security experts who qualify for MARA membership, which is free.

This proof of concept virus spreads from a desktop PC to a Windows CE or Windows Mobile device by running on every startup through an entry in the the registry, proceeding to wait for an Activesync connection to be detected. In every boot the virus recreates itself and again add new startup commands to the registry, which could over time lead to performance degradation on the host PC.

More information: http://www.mobileav.org/

Now I REALLY feel old...

It’s such a shame.  I see that Don Knotts died today at the age of 81.  Talk about a guy I grew up with.  From Andy Griffith to Three’s Company, Don was a regular in our house.  ABC News called him the “lovable nerd”.  Apparently Don died last night night of pulmonary and respiratory complications at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills.

Barney Fife will go down in history with me, no doubt about it.  I have many favorite episodes from Andy Griffith Show.  Henry Limpet from The Incredible Mr. Limpet is also one of my favorites, but I have a ton from Don Knotts.  The Shakiest Gun in the West, The Reluctant Astronaut, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, No Time For Sergeants, they’re all in my collection. 

Rest In Peace Mr. Knotts.

Posted: Feb 25 2006, 06:43 PM by jgormly | with no comments
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