What sports do you do?

As a geek I’m guilty of perhaps not getting as much exercise as I need. Part of the problem is finding the time but that comes down to motivation. With the wonders of this socially networked age it’s easier to use technology to help with that motivation.

The geek in me likes stats. If I know I’m doing good, and overall improving against myself or friends then I have the incentive to keep going and doing better. You can do something simple like maintaining an excel spreadsheet or twittering your workout but as someone who’s recently rediscovered cycling after 20 years in cars I’m really blown away by SportsDo. All you need is a Windows Mobile device with GPS capabilities, a data connection and … to get off the computer and get some exercise!

Your first step is to register on the SportsDo.Net website and create a profile. From there you can download and install the Windows Mobile client (other devices are supported) or you can visit their over-the-air provisioning site directly from your phone (you can try out the application before buying – you’re just limited to the distance you can cover).

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Rhapsody "embracing" the iPod

Rhapsody is offering songs online and via partners including Yahoo Inc and Verizon Wireless,that will be sold in MP3 format, so iPod users can now take the challenge … iTunes or Rhapsody.

Described as  “Music Without Limits”, Rhapsody will be available on mobile phones via the Verizon Wireless VCAST Music service. Buyers of a song over-the-air directly from phones also will be able to download that song to their computer. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc and Vodafone Group Plc.

Reuters

How to Trigger the Use of Mobile Devices at Work

We all agree that Mobile Devices are a great tool, there is no question about that. Regardless of your platform of preference, they all facilitate a multitude of tasks that used to require of us doing work at the office/home office. From email to remote access to administer a server, mobile tools are a great solution.

However; not every company has a mobility strategy, some will just purchase cell phones to some of their key employees and management, some only management, some have no strategy at all. If your company falls under any of these scenarios, here are some ideas to turn your company into a mobile device user:

If you see yourself in the first or second scenarios you will probably have an easier task convincing your management to turn into mobile devices. If not, you may have to do a little bit more work. In any case it is very likely that you will be successful.

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Remove Toshiba Bluetooth Drivers and Install Microsoft Bluetooth Stack

One of the biggest issues we always here about are those folks that just cannot connect their device via bluetooth to their PC or laptop.  Well you are not the only one and “fyiguy” from BostonPocketPC has experienced the issue too.  It really was not a major issue for him since he generally syncs mostly over the air with Exchange but Steve was was recently trying to use SideShow to setup for the Boston Pocket PC meeting and it wouldn’t work so he tried a few “work arounds” and finally got it to work.

This is a MUST READ and definitely an item to BOOKMARK for later reference. 

Check it out here at the BostonPocketPC

Good Question. Who the hell is Verzio? Verzio Envii

I love to catch companies getting on board with a WinMo device and here is another that i’ve never heard of. Verzio. This is probably for good reason too. There isn’t much press here for companies outside of North America and Europe and this one seems to be out of the Philippines.

Well, I caught this one over at Pocket Now and had to do some investigation and it looks like one hell of a device. Too bad it’s not for the US. It’s a Tri-band phone. It seems that this one made it out there into the Asian/Philippine market sometime last month.

This user friendly PDA phone hits the stores this March in the Philippines, making the country the ideal launch pad before a global rollout that initially targets Asia-Pacific. Verzio Envii boasts of the best-in-class Marvell PXA270 processor at 624MHZ - a high speed processor that performs faster than those used by other leading pocket PCs. Running on Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 platform, Verzio Envii gives access to information and operations including Microsofts Office applicantions, media player functions,Outlook Mobile with Direct Push, mobile Internet Explorer, Active Sync, and other vbasic functions that are usually accessible only from desktop computers. It also has a large built-in 1GB Flash ROM that can be extended to 4GB with the use of Micro SD.

For more info, check out Verzio’s Website.

Samsung Omnia Software Walkthrough Video

Here is some more video of the Samsung Omnia for your viewing pleasure. This time it comes from my buddy Arne over in Germany. Arne’s 20 minute video walks you through almost every aspect of the software GUI. I posted about another video shot at a show last week, but this one is far more detailed.

Head over to the::unwired to watch the video.

Diamond and Touch Pro - end of August?

Dieter Bohn from WMExperts said that  after using the European version he believes that you’re going to want one of these when they’re available in the US.  I tend to agree with him from what I have seen.  It appears that a couple of sites are claiming that they know the date and will let you pre-order the Quad-Band version of the Diamond and the Touch Pro now.

On The Go Solutions is showing the Diamond and the Touch Pro for $869.99

Mobilecity Online has the price for the Diamond at $699 but is saying Sept. 2nd.

What we do know is that they are coming, you may have to “dig deep” but they sure have promise of being neat devices.

New version of Tweaks2K2 Released

Version 3.31.0 of Tweaks2K2, the ultimate registry hacking tool for Windows Mobile Devices has been released.

3 new hacks have been added to this release. Mobility Site Forum members can buy the program at 33% off.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 First Impressions … WOW!

Looks like the Boy Genius Report got their hands on the XPERIA by Sony Ericsson and their first impressions are WOW!  Great specs from your local flavor of UMTS/HSDPA, to an optical joystick, to the 800×480 VGA screen, and they loved the “cool funky notification lights”!

They say they can’t wait to play with a final production unit so I guess you would have to assume that they were impressed. Are there flaws? Yup but you will just have to wait for their review to find out about them but in the meantime, check out their picture gallery by clicking on the picture above.

One week with the HTC Touch Diamond

HTC sent Matt Miller an HTC Touch Diamond last week and he posted some unboxing and first thoughts on it later that day that we posted here.  So now he has had it a week and put his thoughts together about the device.  It is well worth the read as describes performance, battery life, camera functionality, and more.

 

What were his final thoughts?  This is part of his conclusion:

The HTC Touch Diamond is not perfect and there are a few issues that need to be updated soon to provide for a solid experience, yet I think these can be addressed with a firmware update. I will be buying one of these as soon as the U.S. model that works with AT&T or T-Mobile’s 3G network is released.

Check out Matt’s thoughts here at The Mobile Gadgeteer

Some Pictures of the Samsung OMNIA Windows Mobile Smartphone

Arne Hess from the::unwired got his hands on the Samsung SGH-i900 OMNIA (really a prototype) and has quite a few pictures for you to see.

Running on Windows Mobile 6.1, the Samsung i900 is powered by a Marvel I 320LV which supports quadband GSM/GPRS/EDGE and UMTS/HSDPA up to 7.2 Mbps. Furthermore, WiFi b/g and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR are on board as well as a an FM radio and a GPS receiver. The 3.2″ WQVGA (240 x 400 pixel) touch screen features haptics and vibrations give users feedback when the display is touched. The built-in autofucus camera supports 5.0 megapixel and Samsung will offer two versions of the i900 - one with 8 GB and one with 16 GB inbuilt memory which is even expandable with microSD memory cards.

Further features are TV-out and according to previous information, a TV-out cable comes with the device. At a size of 112 x 56.9 x 12.5 mm, the i900 features a 1440 mAh battery.

Click the link above and check out this device.

Warner passes on some "hot" advice

It is HOT here today already and the temperature is expected to rise to the mid- 90’s.  Usually I leave my PC on and often have several mobile devices in my pocket (and car).  This is the kind of day when the humidity is high and the temp is rising that you need to give a little thought to those precious devices and Warner Crocker from GottaBeMobile has a little reminder up on how to “Keep Your Mobile Devices Cool In Hot Weather”

Heat is the enemy on many fronts for mobile devices. Just about anybody has felt the heat from a laptop or mobile phone that is running hot. But external temperatures on a hot day can make things worse. Here on the East Coast we are in our first (and very early) heat wave of the summer. Summer heat forces me to change up what I do in order to protect my devices, or at least let me play mind tricks with myself by doing so.

• Normally I will have several mobile devices stuffed in my backpack. In more moderate weather I don’t think twice about leaving the pack locked in my trunk when I’m out on errands. I also don’t think twice about leaving a GPS unit in my glove compartment. But in hot weather that all changes. I don’t leave anything in the car for more than a minute of two, and in fact I frequently don’t carry devices with me, if there’s a chance I won’t be using them.

• I change my overnight habits and don’t leave devices running overnight in order to save a bit on heat build up. Yeah, my home is air conditioned, but I think that this is giving them a little breathing room overnight.

• I’ll also shut devices down more frequently and also pull the battery for a bit when I do. Usually this happens overnight as well.

• I change up where I’m doing some of my mobile computing to avoid rooms that are hotter due to sunlight.

• Although not really a mobile solution, in my office, I’ll shut my printers down (I have two in my office) unless I need to use them.

• Even with air conditioned rooms, I keep a fan (celiing or otherwise) moving air in the rooms where I have devices turned on to keep air circulating.

So Warner is asking what precautions you take for your mobile devices during extremely hot weather.  Why not head over to GottaBeMobile and pass on your thoughts so others can share in your favorite “hot weather” tips.

"Physical feedback can immerse you in a game"

This is a comment from Matt Miller as he was blown away after spending a  spent a few hours with the HTC Touch Diamond.  He just had to post about the accelerometer and physical feedback that just blew him away on the device. 

The real shocker for me though, was what happens when the ball hits a wall/side. You physically feel the hit in the actual area where the ball hits the wall. Plus, the vibration/feedback varies by how far the ball travels before it hits the wall/side. I played the unlocked iPhone version of this game, but the feedback on the Touch Diamond adds a whole new element. My wife is not easily impressed by my devices, but this alone made her say she wanted a Touch Diamond.

Check out Matt’s thoughts here at The Mobile Gadgeteer

The HTC Touch Diamond, an unboxing and first look

Matt Miller from ZDNet got an HTC Touch Diamond and has a couple of videos to share with you.  The first is an unboxing that is rarely Matt’s thing but he did one and it was worth watching.  Matt said that he thought you would enjoy the unboxing video below, I did and I expect you will too.

 

He also did an initial turn on and setup video for you to check out and promised that he’ll do a 2nd look post with a video of the TouchFLO 3D in action. Take the time to read his thoughts and check out all the pictures in his gallery of photos at The Mobile Gadgeteer .

 

Why Developers need to know about SQL Server Compact Edition (SQL CE)?

So you are a developer who works on applications that run on the desktop; or you are a project manager who has only heard of SQL Server Compact Edition… In any case, if you have hardly heard of SQL Server CE, or you are assuming that SQL Server CE runs only on portable devices, then you should read on to learn about some new powerful options available for your environment of choice.

Well, SQL Server CE in not only intended for devices who run on the Windows CE platform (Windows Mobile, Xbox 360 and many others among then) but also for PCs running XP and Vista:

WHAT? You didn’t know? Never mind, keep reading then…

While SQL Server comes in many flavors, SQL Server Express is not the smallest of them all. Yes, it’s free and it can run in your desktop if you want it… but do you really want to run a SQL Server on your desktop? Is that the smallest you can go?

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