Have some fun......

Nothing to say really, apart from I would really recommend anyone thinking of arranging an event to visit http://www.palmersport.com and have a great day.... ;-)

Just leave your Windows Mobile 5.0 device on the desk. You really don't want an email whilst driving at 120mph.......

When Windows Mobile isn't quite Windows Mobile...

I was reading a RSS feed from theregistry.co.uk which pointed out some interesting facts on an T-Mobile operator network, but I have heard of this before on other network providers.

It appears that even though you can obtain your favorite Windows Mobile device from many different carriers or independent hardware providers, you may not be able to use all the features you thought you could.

For example, in T-Mobiles case it Prohibits the use of VoIP or Instant Messaging over its network and has gone as far as having this included in the Ts&Cs for you cellular line contract. The Ts&Cs read "If use of either or both of these services is detected, T-Mobile may terminate all contracts with the customer and disconnect any SIM cards and/or Web ‘n’ Walk cards from the T-Mobile network."

So a word of advice; before you sign up to that contract for your favorite device, you might want to check you can use it…….

Wi-Fi to Cellular Convergence to Ship Soon

LAS VEGAS—Wireless mobility provider Trapeze Networks has teamed with DaVitas Networks, a new provider of mobility software and appliances, to deliver the ability for handset users to roam freely between Wi-Fi and cellular networks without interrupting a call.

 

eWeek.com

 

Tyring BlogJet

Thought I would give BlogJet a go to see what the result was.

Had a few problems getting the proxy settings to work, but by using the freeware Proxomitron utility it seems to work fine.

Warning to HTC Universal Users!

If you have bootloader v0.56 on your device, DO NOT upgrade to an AKU2 or you will turn it into a paperweight!

Read the article at: MSMobileNews.com

Grid Computing: Buying Computing Power, by the Hour

When biotech company Applied Biosystems "bought" 36,000 hours of computing time on 1,000 machines, it figured it could quickly translate data from a genetic project. But how much more quicker than doing it inhouse?

"It basically saved us a couple of months worth of computing time," De La Vega says. "The alternative would have been for us to expand our internal compute farm, and pay the electricity and cooling costs on that, even knowing that it would be idle probably 50% of the time."

Full Article

Averatec Pre-Announces UMPC-Type Device with Keyboard

Although one of the goals of the Ultra Mobile PC is for these devices to be pocket-size, all of the ones announced so far have 7-inch screens, making them too large for easy pocketability.

Averatec, though, has announced a tablet device with a 5-inch screen, making it more easily portable.

The AHI has another feature potential UMPC buyers might be interested in: a built-in keyboard. This can be hidden behind the SXGA (1280 x 1024 pixel) screen.

Technically, though, this won't really be a UMPC, as it won't run the version of Windows specially crafted for this class of devices. It will, however run the Tablet Edition of Windows XP.

Users of the AHI will have many connectivity options, as it will include Wi-Fi (802.11g), Bluetooth, Ethernet, and a modem.

It will also sport two USB 2.0 slots, an SD/MMC card slot, and a 2 megapixel camera.

When not being carried around, this computer can put put into a dock which includes a DVD player.

Averatec plans to have the AHI out by Christmas.

So if you are looking for a Mini-Tablet PC this could be the one……

Article Brighthand.com

Microsoft Explains Why Windows Mobile 5.0 Is Slower

One of the developers of Windows Mobile 5.0 explains why this operating system is sometimes a bit slower than previous versions.

As people have acquired Windows Mobile 5.0 devices and upgrades, many of them have noticed that these devices are a bit slower than previous Pocket PCs.

Until now, most people have chalked this up to this operating system's switch from using RAM for long-term storage to using Flash ROM for this task. Accessing Flash ROM is inherently slower than RAM.

But a recent posting on the Windows Mobile Team Blog by Mike Calligaro says it is a bit more complicated than this.

Full article Brighthand.com

Yorkshire Police turn to RIM for Blackberry connectivity to the ANPR (auto number plate recognition) system

West Yorkshire police are working out how to arm bobbies on the beat with links to their local auto number plate recognition (ANPR) system. They want bobbies to have savvy intelligence that can tell law abiding citizens from rule breakers at their fingertips.

By now the national system, which grew out of an existing MI5 ANPR camera network, should have been clocking 35m registration plates a day with cameras placed on roadsides in town centres and major roads throughout the country. Yet the national centre is a mess of wires while police techies boost the system's capacity to 50m spooks a day.

The national ANPR database was due to be fired up in March but will not see life now till mid-summer because the original blue print has been extended, said John Dean, National ANPR co-coordinator for the Association of Chief Police Officers.

The central database will also keep details of peoples' car journeys for five years, said Dean. A limit of two years will apply only to data kept by regional forces.

Paul Friday, director of information systems at West Yorkshire Police, said he had asked RIM, maker of the Blackberry handheld computer given to his coppers, about the technicalities of an ANPR link.

The police have most streets of Bradford covered by ANPR cameras, while Leeds is being wired. "Once that's stable we'll look at taking it onto BlackBerry," said Friday.®

theRegister.co.uk

Samsung files patent for virtual display for inputting characters on mobile devices.

Have you been struggling with the text input on you phone, when writing SMS message or entering calendar appointment? With the need to press phone key 5 times just to get to the desired character? Cell phone manufacturers have known about this inconvenience for a long time and have come up with different solutions to the problem. Folding QWERTY keyboards, predictive text input, on screen character display, etc. Still, they all have some shortcomings and none of them have gained wide acceptance among consumers.

Now Samsung has designed another interesting input method - Virtual Display for inputting characters and symbols on a mobile phone. According to patent application filed yesterday, Samsung is working on a:

…device and method for inputting characters or drawings on a mobile terminal using a virtual screen. To input characters or drawings through a virtual screen, the mobile terminal includes an electronic pen, a virtual screen generator, a position detector for detecting the electronic pen position, and a character recognition algorithm for recognizing a trail as a character. When a signal is input from the electronic pen, the mobile terminal detects the originating position of the signal and its trail. The mobile terminal recognizes the detected trail as a character and generates a virtual screen with the recognized character.

Report from unwiredview.com

 

The Earth in your dashboard

Honda will soon add Google Earth to its ‘internavi Premium Club’ navigation service in Japan. The advanced navigation system was first launched in 2003, offering a wireless connection to the internet to download the latest traffic information to the built-in computer. The technology is now being expanded to interface to Google Earth, which provides high-resolution satellite images of cities. So far, no word on plans to bring the technology to the U.S. In February, Leftlane News reported that Google and Volkswagen had partnered with nVidia to bring 3-dimensional Google Maps to car navigation systems. The companies promised the technology would make it to showrooms very soon.

TechFaith show Q Style device at CTIA

The Motorola Q isn't even out yet, but that isn't stopping TechFaith Wireless, our new favorite renegade Chinese handset manufacturer, from showing off an eerily similar knock-off here at CTIA (or at least a mock-up of a knock-off). We weren't able to get any specs or a name, but we did learn that this fakester will differ from (or improve on, depending on your perspective) the original by running the Pocket PC version of Windows Mobile 5.0 rather than Smartphone. Not sure when this thing will ship, but if TechFaith hurries up they might even beat the Q to market.

Article engadget