John at myITforum.com

"RIM did not file the second-quarter disclosure documents by the prescribed deadline under Ontario securities law, namely Oct. 17, 2006," and has not filed them since, the commission said in an order dated Oct. 24.

"It would be prejudicial to the public interest to allow the respondents to trade in the securities of RIM until such time as all disclosure required by Ontario securities law has been made by RIM," the commission said.

RIM insiders cannot trade its stock until two full business days after the OSC receives up-to-date filings.

RIM disclosed Friday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked it to voluntarily provide documents and information related to its stock-option grants and practices.

Palm has released a ROM update for Treo 650’s on the Verizon Wireless network.

Performance enhancements:

• Enhanced memory handling for opening larger web pages
• Optimized Bluetooth performance and added support for additional headsets and carkits
• Adds Dial Preferences screen to Phone Application
• Enhancement to Date/Time preference panel to address daylight savings time and network time issues
• Replaces Wireless Sync application with Wireless Sync over-the-air provisioning client
• Adds support for certain cradle-based accessories, including speaker docks
• Integrates the Treo 650 E911 Updater to improve the ability of emergency response personnel to locate users who dial 911 from the Treo 650 smartphone

Motorola Inc. cell phone chief Ron Garriques promised investors in May that the company's new Q smartphone would follow the same trajectory as its smash hit Razr cell phone, selling 750,000 units in the first 90 days and 5 million in the first nine months.

But early returns suggest that his forecast was optimistic, and that Motorola missed a chance to connect with the fast-growing smartphone market before rivals piled in with a slew of new offerings. Motorola sold 150,000 Qs in the second quarter, amid complaints about its high price, clunky software and tendency to freeze up.

"I went through three of them and had problems with each. I would go to make a call, and it would say 'dialing' and stay there forever," says Tracy King, a lease manager at a Ford dealership in Detroit.  A Motorola spokesman calls the complaints "isolated" and says, "We're getting good feedback on the Q."  But Sam Barhoumeh, manager of Presidential Wireless in Chicago, which sells a variety of smartphones, says customers returned about 10% of the Qs his store sold in the first month, a return rate he considers high. "It left a bad taste in people's mouths," Mr. Barhoumeh says.

Full Story here.

Microsoft Corp. said Friday that it would move forward with a movie adaptation based on its popular video game "Halo" after financial backers Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox backed out of the project.

The studios quietly cut their ties to "Halo" this month because of costs associated with the movie, which had a preliminary budget of $145 million, said sources involved in the project who declined to be named. Tensions heightened after the studios failed to persuade the filmmakers, including executive producer Peter Jackson, director of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, to renegotiate their contracts.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant had also refused to take a pay cut demanded by the studios. In the summer of 2005, when the studios signed on to the project amid great fanfare, they agreed to pay Microsoft $5 million upfront for the rights as well as 7.5% of revenue they received from theaters.

The deal guaranteed Microsoft and other key talent payment before either studio made a penny on the movie, scheduled for a summer 2008 release.

One source reported a power struggle between Fox and Universal over control of the movie. Both studios declined to comment.

Full story here.

DataViz® announced Documents To Go® 9 for the Palm OS® platform. Documents To Go is a mobile office suite which allows users to create, view and edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint files as well as view Adobe® PDF files on a mobile device. Version 9  has many new enhancements with the most significant being the addition of InTact Technology™ which ensures that ALL file formatting is kept “intact” when editing and e-mailing office files on a handheld or smartphone. Other new features include: An integrated file explorer, a new user interface, updates to Word To Go, Sheet To Go and Slideshow To Go. Customers who have a previous version or who received the Professional Edition on their Palm® branded device can upgrade for $29.99.

It should go without saying but…this functionality is built in to Windows Mobile Pocket PC phones.

I have a couple of users with a Sprint Treo 700wx that were complaining text messaging wasn’t working.  So, off I went to Google and I found that 700wx users are starting to complain that SMS text messaging to non-Sprint users are not getting through.  Incoming SMS text messages appear to be working fine, outgoing messages aren’t.  At least its not just my users.

According to Treo Central,

“I called Sprint to investigate and they confirmed that the problem cropped up last week. As might be expected, they blamed it on the phone itself. That seemed odd to me, as it had always worked before. In any case, I bit the bullet and did a hard reset. No dice, still didn't work.

A call to Palm's tech support yielded similar results. They're aware of the issue and apparently working feverishly to get it fixed. It's still unclear as of now what exactly the problem is. People have been getting different answers from different representatives of both Sprint and Palm, which is often the case with a new bug - issues as diverse as Sprint network updates to 700wx firmware flaws have been cited.

The fix, apparently, is most likely to come in the form of a software update at Palm's site. It's also theoretically possible that Sprint could update some settings over the air, though both reps that I spoke with were doubtful that would be the case.”

Full thread discussion here.

PocketDict is a Freeware English dictionary with for Pocket PC. With fast look-up and comprehensive definitions, this is a must have for all Pocket PC users. The provided dictionary is based on OPTED, a public domain version of Webster's 1913 Unabridged English dictionary.

With over 180 thousand entries, you'll never be let down. PocketDict can be expanded with its multiple dictionary support. Any number of PocketDict dictionaries can be loaded and switched from the menu. Additionally, UTF8-encoded dictionary support added in v1.1 allows you to use dictionaries with international character sets. Features include root-based and multi-thread searching, making it easier and faster to find words. Support for Cleartype, custom font size, allow you to customize your display, and a dictionary locator will search your Pocket PC for in a matter of seconds. Currently PocketDict only supports the ARM processor on the Pocket PC platform.

Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine announce the 2006 software award winners.  Check out the full list by category here.

Complete List in 2007 Buyers' Guide
A complete list of Winners and Finalists plus judges' comments on their favorites can be found in the 2007 Buyer's Guide. The Buyers Guide is send to subscribers and available on Newsstands from October 18 through November.

I’ve been using Spb software on my Pocket PC for awhile.  They’ve just released Spb Insight.  “Spb Insight is a new Pocket PC News Reader which provides full-text articles with pictures for handy and fast offline reading.”

You can read more about it here. There's a trial version, and they're asking $19.95 for the full version. I use a free version, not certain I'm willing to pay that much, but we'll see what the next few days of usage are like.

Features:

• Full-text website news using "optimized" channels
• Full RSS/Atom support (RSS 0.9x, 1.0, 2.0; Atom 0.3, 1.0)
• Offline reading with pictures
• Easy to use interface
• Simultaneous updating and reading
• One hand navigation
• Article thumbnails
• No desktop component needed

I blogged earlier about the Treo 700 used to capture the plane crash footage.   Further details revealed by Reuters indicates it was a Windows Mobile Treo 700.

CometVision runs on a Palm Treo 700-series PDA via the Windows Mobile operating system. The technology is able to transmit video over non-3G networks, using much less bandwidth than would normally be needed, Comet CEO Howard Becker said.

Miss DevCon?  Want to catch up on what’s going on with mobile and embedded?  Microsoft has released the Microsoft Mobile & Embedded DevCon 2006 DVD materials.

According to Reuters, Scott Wilder, a cameraman for the FoxNews network, had been about 20 blocks away on another assignment when the crash occurred. Wilder ran uptown and reported live from the scene using a hand-held Palm Treo smartphone that uses the existing mobile network to transmit video to the Fox News control room. From there, Fox News sent it out live on TV to supplement other video being shot by local traffic helicopters.

Is Ashley right?  I’ve read several “rave” reviews of the 750v, but Ashley Norris of the Guardian doesn’t agree.

“For a big fan of Palm's elegant operating system, it feels odd to handle a device sporting the Palm logo that runs the Windows Mobile operating system. Yet with the 750v, Palm has kept much of the design and styling of its Treo series of PDAs and substituted its own OS for a Windows one (a sad but inevitable move) and in theory should have a winner on its hands. Alas the 750v, available for the time being exclusively from Vodafone, falls a little short of the mark. Sure, it boasts the Treo trademarks of very usable QWERTY keyboard and an intuitive stylus-based interface. It also has 3G compatibility, which enables its web browser to grab pages quickly, and sports an easy-to-use home screen. There are a variety of push email solutions available for the device too. But it loses points for the absence of Wi-Fi (an inexplicable omission), a chunky design that's a world away from the slim lines of the BlackBerry Pearl, and a rather poor quality 1.3 megapixel camera. Overall the 750v is a reasonable handset, but you would have thought that the trio (Palm, Microsoft, and Vodafone) would capable of something more exciting than this.”

In scanning this, a couple of things should tip you off why the review went south.  One, note the parenthetical thought “a sad but inevitable move” regarding Palm’s decision to put Windows Mobile on the Treo.  Two, the comparison to the Blackberry Pearl?  Three, the next parenthetical thought “an inexplicable omission”.  My own comments to this one?  Palm has NEVER put wi-fi in its Treo series, including the Palm OS, so why is that an inexplicable omission?  Do all Palm Treo series phones have “inexplicable omissions”?  Which Blackberry has wi-fi? Are those inexplicable omissions as well?  Chunky design?  I may have missed other reviews but its been awhile since I’ve seen anyone accuse Palm Treo’s of having a “chunky design”.  A slim-lined version and a removed antenna?  I think those are very welcome changes among Treo fans.  Poor quality 1.3 megapixel camera?  Compared to what? 

For much better reviews, read VNUNet.com’s review, or Jason Langridge's review.  “In summary, the Treo 750v is one of the best Windows Smartphones we have ever used. Operation is easy and its construction is superb.”

Palm, Inc. will deliver the popular interactive mapping experience of Google Maps to Palm Treo smartphone users through a partnership with Google. Google Maps for mobile optimized for Palm OS based Treo smartphones is a free downloadable Palm OS application that offers directions, local search, moveable/scalable maps, location satellite imagery and traffic updates while on the go.

http://www.google.com/gmm/treo

Google Maps for mobile on Treo smartphones offers comprehensive information on traffic conditions in more than 30 U.S. major metropolitan areas, and partial information in many others. Users will receive detailed driving directions with traffic estimates to avoid congestions, plus one-touch recall of favorite locations and routes.

The software also brings integrated search results for business locations, restaurant reviews, hotel amenities and hours of operation, plus interactive maps to explore further, reaching beyond current locations.

Consumers will be able to see satellite and aerial views of the regions covered in the maps provided.

Google Maps for mobile has been optimized for the Palm OS-based Treo 680, Treo 700p, Treo 650, and Treo 600 smartphones.

I’ve been testing several devices recently from the Windows Mobile family.  As I’m going through the testing, I’ve had to hard reset and reinstall.  Which got me to thinking.  Each time I test a device, what apps do I want back on the device each time?  I have several apps loaded, but as I scan down the add/remove program list, some I always reinstall, others I bypass depending on how long I plan on using the device.  So, what apps to I install?

• Adobe Reader for Pocket PC (I wish I didn’t have to, but I get pdfs all the time via email)
• Virtual Earth Mobile (primarily for directions while on the go)
• Diarist (I have to be able to blog)
• Games – Microsoft Entertainment Pack and Mastersoft SuDoku (I’m an addict)
• Office Communicator Mobile (allows me to connect to our internal LCS)
• Microsoft Reader (great way to carry dictionaries, language translators, and books)
• One Note Mobile
• PocketRAR (allows me to unzip/zip files for email, some devices don’t need it)
• WorldMate (I just need to know the time and weather anywhere)
• Resco Picture Viewer (great picture viewer and screen capture utility)
• Pocket Streets 2006 (particularly with the GPS of the HP 6945)

I used to install Verichat, but they keep increasing the prices and I realized that I only really IM’d from MSN Messenger.  Since WM5 includes MSN Messenger, I found I no longer needed Verichat.  What about you?  Any apps you consider must haves?  When you change devices, what do you install first?

Brighthand is reporting from an anonymous source that the 8525 may be in Cingular stores within the next 30 days.

The 8525 will use the same general form-factor as the current model, which means it will have a landscape orientation, with a QWERTY keyboard located on a slider so it can be hidden behind the QVGA touchscreen.  Supposedly, the primary difference between this model and its predecessor will be the inclusion of HSDPA high-speed wireless networking, giving users data transfer speeds between 400 and 700 kilobits per second.

This GSM device will also include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.  Reportedly, the processor speed in the upcoming model has been doubled to 400 MHz.  A 2.0 megapixel camera and a microSD slot are expected to round out the specifications of the Cingular 8525.  According to widely available information, this will be a version of the HTC Hermes. If so, the rumored specifications will fit in with this device.

http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treo680/index.html?creativeID=HmPg_BB|treo680_announcement

Scanning through the device specs though, I'm wondering whether folks will jump to upgrade. 

Here's the Treo 650 specs:

http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treo650/specs.html

Here's the Treo 680 specs:

http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/treo680/specs.html

So other than going from 32 MB to 64 MB, and a slight modification in design, what's the difference between the devices?

Do you use a Windows Mobile/Pocket PC device?  Ever wonder why the "x" really doesn't close the apps?  The Windows Mobile team posted a blog in an attempt to explain it.   The reason?  "X" doesn't mean close, it means "go away".

One thing we did has been pretty contentious.  Along the way, we got feedback that users didn’t mind letting us manage the memory for them, but they really wanted a way to say, “I’m done with this.  Make it go away.”  So we put a “go away” button in the upper right corner of PocketPCs.  This button just sends the application to the background.  It doesn’t close it.  If the system needs more memory while the app is in the background, it’ll close the app.  But, if the system doesn’t need more memory, the app will stay in RAM and be ready to come back quickly the next time the user needs it. 

Now, in a move that some people consider brilliant and others consider unforgivably stupid, we made the “go away” look like an “X”.  Brilliant because anyone who has ever used Desktop Windows will know that an “X” button in the upper right corner of the window will make the window go away.  Unforgivably stupid because every one of those same people will assume an “X” button in the upper right corner of the window will make the app close.  Whether you think the move is brilliant or stupid is pretty heavily tied to how much you believe that users shouldn’t have to manage their own memory.

It's actually a good (and sometimes funny) read if you have the time.

Another website to add to your Favorites for your mobile device:

http://mobile.ask.com

Ask.com(R), a wholly-owned business of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the fastest growing search engine on the Web, today introduced Ask Mobile (http://mobile.ask.com ), a new service for searching the Web from mobile devices. Designed to minimize keystrokes, increase navigability on small displays and accelerate page loads, Ask Mobile offers a special interface and search tools to help searchers find what they are looking for faster. The announcement was made at DigitalLife, a consumer event in New York City dedicated to educating consumers on what the digital lifestyle means in every aspect of life -- at work, home and play. "Mobile is an increasingly important access point for searchers," said Jim Lanzone, CEO of Ask.com. "The new Ask Mobile makes it easy for users of Web-enabled cell phones, PDAs and other mobile devices to take advantage of the world-class relevance and industry-touted search tools offered by Ask.com."

Key Features

Special Interface for Mobile Users

Ask Mobile offers links to key search categories directly from the home page, making it easier to navigate to relevant results. The design saves significant keystrokes for many searches; for example, looking for the weather in the 94114 zip code requires 50 percent fewer keystrokes on Ask Mobile compared to mobile products offered by other major search engines. Fewer keystrokes is an extremely important concept when considering the difficulty of typing on mobile devices and the absence of full-sized keyboards.

"Ask Mobile is designed specifically for search on mobile devices, instead of shoehorning a PC interface into a mobile product," said Doug Leeds, vice president of product management for Ask.com. "Extensive testing showed that, by eliminating the search box from the home page and instead providing links to key search services, users were more successful in getting to what they were looking for, significantly increasing their satisfaction."

Ask Mobile utilizes Skweezer technology that "skweezes" Web pages to present content in a format that is easier to view and navigate on small displays and increases download speed. With the Skweezer technology, Ask Mobile allows more access to Web content by allowing pages to load that would otherwise be too memory-intensive for most mobile devices.

Search Services

Powered by Ask.com's proprietary ExpertRank algorithmic search technology, Ask Mobile provides users with highly-relevant search results, bringing authoritative sites within their topic community to the top of the results page, rather than simply ranking sites by their link popularity on the Web at large.

Ask Mobile provides direct access to important mobile search categories on the home page, including Web Search, Directions, Images, Business Listings, Maps, Weather, Bloglines(TM), Area Codes, Currency Conversion, Horoscope and Time Zones. Additional services, such as sport scores and movie times, will follow the initial rollout.

    To see how Ask Mobile works, consider the following examples:
    -- Web:  Try "Eisenhower" or "Angel Island." Note Recent Search and
       ability to Narrow or Expand queries.
    -- Directions:  Try "94114 & 94607." Note ability to select List or
       Turn-by-Turn options, Satellite or Aerial views and Send to Phone.
    -- Images:  Try "polar bears" or "Jessica Alba."
    -- Business Listings:  Try "Starbucks & 10036" or "Chinese & 94114." Note
       autodial directly from listings, Street and Aerial views of maps with
       overlaid location pins for matching listings and Zoom and Navigation
       buttons.
    -- Maps:  Try "San Francisco." Note the unique ability to select Driving
       Direction, as well as Walking Directions, navigation features and
       option to send maps and directions to mobile devices.
    -- Weather:  Try "10036."
    -- Bloglines:  Quick access to the Mobile version of Bloglines, the
       world's number one online RSS aggregator.
    -- Area Codes:  Try "Miami, Fla."
    -- Currency Conversion:  Try "100 EUR & RUB."
    -- Horoscopes:  Try "Leo."
    -- Time Zones:  Try "Monaco."

    Instinctive Search Tools

Ask.com has been touted by press and industry pundits for its search tools and features, which take search beyond the traditional "blue links", offering searchers a better way to find what they are looking for. Some of these features and tools are available on Ask Mobile, including Smart Answers, which provide shortcuts to answers and tools at the top of the search results page and Zoom Related Search, which provides conceptually-related suggestions to Narrow or Expand queries.

Availability

Ask Mobile is available immediately at http://mobile.ask.com . Users accessing www.ask.com from mobile devices will be automatically recognized and redirected to Ask Mobile.

The Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center Beta enables you to set up new partnerships, synchronize content and manage music, pictures and video with any Windows Mobile 2003 or Windows Mobile 5.0 powered device. The Windows Mobile Device Center Beta is only supported on Windows Vista RC1.

The Windows Mobile Device Center Beta combines an efficient business-data synchronization platform with a compelling user experience. Windows Mobile Device Center Beta helps you to quickly set up new partnerships, synchronize business-critical information such as e-mail, contacts and calendar appointments, and easily manage your synchronization settings.

The Windows Mobile Device Center Beta simplifies managing media between your Windows Mobile powered device and your desktop PC. With the picture acquisition wizard, you can easily tag and transfer all of the pictures from your Windows Mobile powered device to your desktop PC’s Windows Photo Gallery. Microsoft Windows Media Player helps you keep the music on your Windows Mobile powered device up-to-date.

Features include:

• Streamlined setup - A simplified new partnership wizard and improved partnership management.

• Robust synchronization - Synchronization of business-critical data such as e-mail, calendars, contacts, tasks, favorites, and files.

• Photo management - Picture management helps you detect new photos on your Windows Mobile powered device, tag and import them to the Windows Vista Photo Gallery.

• Media synchronization – Use Microsoft Windows Media Player to synchronize and shuffle music files on your device.

• File browsing - A new device browsing experience enables you more quickly browse files and folders and open documents on your device directly from your PC.

• Enhanced user interface – A simple and compelling user interface helps you to quickly access critical tasks and configure your device.

The Windows Mobile Device Center Beta is compatible with Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 5.0 devices.

Microsoft has a FAQ list for all the questions related to Windows Embedded.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/plan_faq.mspx

From the FAQ on the difference?

Windows Embedded CE is a customizable, embedded operating system for a variety of small-footprint devices. OEMs can use Windows Embedded CE to design platforms and customize applications to maximize the user experience for devices such as handhelds, thin clients, logic controllers, and advanced consumer electronics.

Windows Mobile is a complete software platform built on Windows Embedded CE. Unlike Windows Embedded CE, the Windows Mobile Smartphone and Pocket PC operating systems are specifically designed for devices that require a specialized hardware configuration. The software includes standardized interfaces and applications that ensure compatibility across hardware designs. For more information, visit the Windows Mobile Web site.

Windows Automotive is based on the Windows Embedded CE real-time embedded operating system. While it shares the rich platform and services of Windows Embedded CE, Windows Automotive enables features such as voice recognition technology, automotive power management, and other automotive-specific options. To learn more, visit the Windows Automotive Web site.

Granted, my primary device is a Windows Mobile 5 device, but I do test a lot of devices because I have to support them.  So, I’m looking at available IM clients that work on Blackberry’s.  I see that RIM offers Google Talk for Blackberry’s, Windows Messenger/LCS clients, and a Yahoo Messenger client, among several others (Novell and IBM Sametime).  Of course, Google Talk and Yahoo Messenger are free downloads, but you need the right service pack on your BES to get the Windows Messenger/LCS client.  Anyway, decided to take a look at Yahoo Messenger and tried installing it on my 8700c from Cingular.  Couldn’t get it to work, so I read the fine print.

* Yahoo! Messenger, designed for BlackBerry devices, is currently not available for customers of Cingular Wireless or customers whose Wireless Service Providers are based in China, Croatia, Egypt, Guernsey, Israel, Pakistan, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka or United Arab Emirates. These customers may download the software but will be unable to log into Yahoo! Messenger from their BlackBerry devices.

Now why is that?  Just another reason to drop Cingular I guess.

Microsoft has a great selection of webcasts on mobility:

http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/msdnmobility.mspx

What I didn’t know is that they’ve bundled all of the Windows Mobility Webcasts in to one download.

Microsoft Certification Exam 70-500 will be made available in Beta form again starting October 16^th and running through November 3^rd! This is a Technology Specialist exam for IT Professionals in the mobility space.  If you were unable to participate in the last beta because registration was full, make sure that you don’t miss this opportunity!

Audience Profile

This exam is intended for IT professionals who design, implement, and manage mobile infrastructures, mobile devices, and mobile applications in an enterprise or small or medium-sized business environment. The qualified candidate for this exam typically has:

The Preparation Guide is available for the Exam at: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-500.mspx.

To register visit one of the independent testing providers:
* Thomson Prometric: http://www.prometric.com/Candidates/default.htm
* Pearson VUE: http://www.vue.com/ms/

Please use the following promotional code when registering:  BTA500

Microsoft Corporation's Zune digital media player, which will support Wi-Fi connectivity, will hit the U.S. market on Nov. 14. The player is designed to compete with Apple's iPod, although that popular device does not offer wireless connectivity.

The digital player will feature wireless Zune-to-Zune sharing, which will enable consumers to share full-length sample tracks of select songs, homemade recordings, playlists or pictures with friends, according to Microsoft. The company has said that the addition of wireless connectivity to the device will help foster social connections between Zune owners.

The company plans to price the device at a suggested $249.99. The 30 GB digital media player will come pre-loaded with a selection of songs, music videos and film shorts.