Synching Multiple Calendars with Windows Mobile

I have been trying different methods of synchronizing my Calendars for many years, and I have finally settled on a method that works for me and is pretty much maintenance free.  That method utilizes Google Calendar as my hub and a combination of Google Calendar Sync and an excellent program called gSyncit ($9.99).

Google Calendar supports multiple calendars and lets you publish/share them to other calendar tools like Outlook. Google Sync will synchronize your Outlook calendar to GMail, but it has limitations, and will only synchronize one calendar.  I use Google Calendar Sync to synchronize my work calendar with Google Calendar.  I renamed my main Google calendar to “Work”.  Using Google Calendar Sync on my work computer, I push my work Outlook calendar to Google Calendar.  I have my work Outlook look at my other Google calendars as Internet Calendars.

At home I use Outlook to get my calendar to my iPod and Windows Mobile phone.  Pocket Outlook only has one calendar and Activesync will only sync one calendar to Outlook.   gSyncit is a way to get around that limitation.

gSyncit will synchronize all your different Google calendars to your Outlook calendar.  It does this by using categories. Each Google calendar ends up as a different category.  My Work calendar ends up as category Work.  There are several options for configuring the sync process and controlling what gets synced where. It is easy to setup, so it is very easy to try out before buying.  It worked so well for me I only used it for ten minutes before deciding to pay the $9.99.   gSyncit has other features besides the calendar sync, it will also sync your contacts with GMail and that includes photos.
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Celebrate Independence Day with Handmark Fireworks!

What better way to be festive for the American Independence Day, than with a newly updated application!  Links to the FREE download can be found at the bottom on the article.

Handmark Fireworks is a simple FREE application, showing sequences of fireworks flying and exploding into the air. Perfect for Independence Day, as 4th of July is traditionally a time for fireworks and celebrations in the USA, or for any other celebration when fireworks are used!

Handmark Fireworks features a selection of patriotic backgrounds including the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore and the Stars and Stripes, and offers a choice of stirring tunes including the Star Spangled Banner and Stars and Stripes Forever!

Handmark Fireworks is available for Windows Mobile® and BlackBerry® smartphones and for iPhone and iPod touch. The BlackBerry version doesn’t include music, so sorry BlackBerry-owners - this time round you’ll have to hum your own marches! What better way to celebrate 4th of July than with some Fireworks? Download your copy today - it’s available for a limited time only! Oh, and did I mention, it’s FREE?!

Windows Mobile (touchscreen): http://www.astraware.com/ppc/fireworks

Windows Mobile (non-touchscreen): http://www.astraware.com/wmsp/fireworks

BlackBerry: http://www.astraware.com/blackberry/fireworks

           

WikiPock - Wikipedia in your pocket

WikiPock is a utility for Windows Mobile devices and Blackberrys, that lets you search Wikipedia without being connected to a network.  The costs for this convenience is quite reasonable. The Basic version is $9.99 and the Plus Version, which includes updates for a year and two additional databases, is $14.99.  The additional databases are Wikiquote, and Wiktionary.  The wikipedia database is currently 5 gig in size.  If you don’t have that much free space and you need to buy a memory card, they sell an 8 gig microSDHC card with the database preloaded for an additional $15.00.   The database includes “full editorial content…except images”.

I have found it quite useful and a battery saver.  I find I use it every day.  You can read all about it here: http://www.wikipock.com

The search is real time displaying matches as you type.  Here are some screen shots showing the Search page and the results after searching for “HTC T” and then clicking on “HTC Touch Pro”:

Search Screen		Results screen

           

A portable scanner in my pocket! (or faxing from a mobile device)

I’ve been exploring creative ways to use the camera on my Windows Mobile device to boost my productivity.  Qipit provides a way to copy and email or fax documents to anyone at any time from any web enabled mobile device. 

Qipit works from any mobile device that has a web browser and is not limited to windows mobile handhelds, iphones or any other mobile device.  Qipit is almost like having a scanner in my pocket.

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What is Doodle?

That is what I said when I first heard of it.  Of course I was thinking of what I used to do during those long boring lectures I had to attend in school but in fact  it is something much more useful and certainly productive.  Doodle is a means of helping you find dates and times for group events (like an appointment, a conference call, a family get-together) and it is incredibly easy to use!  And BTW, Doodle is a free service!

What else can you do with Doodle?  Click READ MORE to find out!

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A Mobile Version of Bing

BaDa (Mobile) Bing!

Recently Microsoft introduced their  NEW search called Bing and my guess is that many, if not all of you, have tried it.  So far, I’ve been really pleased with the results and in fact it has been the ONLY Search Engine that I have been using since its introduction.  That is not because I think it is the best but rather because I really want to give it a good workout.  So to my surprise (again), there was yet another “quiet” release from Microsoft and that was the mobile version of Bing.

Have you tried it?  If not, you may want to run it through its paces as well.  I think you will like it.  So check it out and point your mobile browser to http://m.bing.com.

           

Vito Technology Contest and Discounts

Vito Technology is getting ready for the summer and announcing its Summer Actions -

a lot of cool initiatives to enjoy the hottest season of the year!

First of all the Vito Technology contest ‘Give a new face to Winterface’ opens today. 

A lot of Winterface fans have expressed the desire to create new skins for Winterface and now the opportunity is there for them to grab. So get creative and send Vito Technoogy your new Winterface skins.

- Vito Technology will collect them and show them on the http://blog.vitotechnology.com selecting “staff favorite” each week.

- Vito Technology will select the best skins, adapt them and let our users download freely additional skins for the new Winterface version coming out in summer

- with previous creators’ agreement Vito Technology will name the new skins with the title given by its creator (feel free to use your personal name or use your creativity for it)

- Great prizes are available for the best skins: a mobile device for the winner and bonus cards ($) for second and to fifth place. 

Few tips on how to take part in it:

• format of skins should be png or psd, each element in the separate layer (further details on how to make it and an example psd file find on our blog)
• send your skins via email to Olya at vitotechnology dot com
• follow updates and see your skins published on Vito Technology http://blog.vitotechnology.com/?p=78
• send skins in the following 3 weeks 
• winners will be announced one week after

Please note that Vito Technology designers will have to work on the files sent by the participants or make sure they fit with the new Winterface technical requirements. Some changes might apply.

Vito Technology also understands that during summer a lot of people feel like changing style. No better opportunity than this one to enjoy the super discount on Communication Suite now at only $24.95 (you save another $15). Communication Suite changes the style of your Windows Mobile Phone giving it a complete remake and functionality. It includes 5 programs: Winterface, Fun Contact, SMS Chat, ZoomBoard, Weather and you pay for each of them even less than $5.

           

VisualGPS releases BeeLineGPS v1.90

A few years ago, one of the first geocaching apps I used (successfully, I might add…) on my pocket PCs was BeeLineGPS by VisualGPS.  Now updated to version 1.90, this handy piece of software can be a geocacher’s all-in-one outdoor tool and is perfect for hikers, fishermen, hunters  and other outdoor enthusiasts, providing a convenient paperless solution to managing waypoints. Feature-rich, BeeLineGPS  offers the following:

• Tracks
• Export Tracks to Google Earth KML files (learn more…)
• Map Modes: Course Up and North Up
• Programmable navigation fields (Map and Trip screens) (Bearing, Bearing Symbolic, Cross Track Error, Distance to Waypoint, ETE, ETA. Heading, Heading Symbolic, Odometer,  Speed, Max Speed, Maximum Altitude, Minimum Altitude, Average Speed, Trip Duration and Altitude Difference (max-min), gradient (min,max and average), altitude total ascent/decent and more)
• Altitude, speed and acceleration profiling
• Waypoint management - thousands of waypoints (PDA memory limitations apply)
• Waypoint Averaging (Programmable Dilution of Precision (DOP) threshold to enhance average calculation / Standard deviation of the position to show the position accuracy)
• Waypoint Projection
• Support for GPX and CSV files
• Active waypoints - Trigger message events
• Setup active waypoints to play a sound file when they are within a programmable range
• BeeLineGPS can alert when you are near a geocache, safety camera.
• Multiple screens (Analog gauge panel - Altitude, speed, compass and vertical speed  / GPS Status - Position, Azimuth/Elevation, Satellite Signal Quality / Trip/Digital Panel / Map / Analysis)
• NMEA logging - recording and playback
• Differential mode indication
• Over 120 waypoint icons to choose from
• Support for any screen resolution
• Support for VGA screen resolution (any resolution)
• Support for landscape and square screens

• User configurable screens

For more information, navigate over to http://www.visualgps.net/BeeLineGPS/default.htm 

Price: US$29.95 (with free updates): http://www.visualgps.net/BeeLineGPS/Purchase/Purchase.html

Free 30 day evaluation version: http://www.visualgps.net/BeeLineGPS/Download/Download.html

           

HTC Touch HD – Fix for Device Not Vibrating

I’ve been using an HTC Touch HD for a while now and I am really happy with it. I purchased it in a not-so-successful transaction (see details here), but after a rough start, the device itself was just excellent. The high resolution screen is bright, clear and gorgeous looking; the device’s performance is just great, I’ve only had two issues so far with it and one of them I already knew from before I purchased it. Here’s what I’ve found so far…

The first issue is at&t’s lack of support for all 3G bands and the HTC Touch HD’s lack of support of the 3G bands used in the US. I already knew this when I bought it, and sometimes it is a bit frustrating having to wait for some pages to download. But, hey, I knew I would be going back to Edge when I bought my HD. It’s a pain in the neck, but I was willing to drop 3G in exchange for everything else the device has to offer. I still do. I am not going to get into the argument of why a carrier chooses not to support one of the available bands or why a manufacturer will not release the same device on different continents… too many variables come to play, and frankly the manufacturer is still at the mercy of what the carriers want to release within that particular device. The more configuration options the manufacturer offers the carriers, the more likely the carrier will use and support a device with positive results. On the other hand, I think that the unlocked version that is sold on the market, should have included all 3G bands so that no matter where you try to use it, it will work as intended.

Finally the second issue that kept popping up every now and then was that after some heavy usage, I would have the vibrating feature stop working both when replacing the regular ringtone and when pressing some of the buttons, including the device’s hardware buttons for picking up, hanging up a call, home and the back/cancel/OK button. I must say this issue was starting to drive me crazy. Setting a phone to vibrate is such a basic feature.

Read on to see the solution for this.

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Vito Tuned In Package

The Tuned in package offers a $7 savings when you purchase AudioNotes, SoundExplorer and RingtoneEditor.  $14 gets all three programs, but when purchased alone they are $21.

Most pocket pc devices have a built-in voice recorder that is very basic.  Vito uupgrades this capability with AudioNotes and SoundExplorer.

Vito AudioNotes

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Twitter by Voice … use TweetCall

I like Twitter and what I like even more are the very cool applications that have come out to make “twittering” even easier.  Applications like TweetDeck for your PC and Pocketwit for you devices make it a great experience.  But there is another one out there that is very cool just in case your fingers are getting tired typing that 140 character maximum.  It’s called TweetCall and it allows you to Twitter by Voice. 

It works reasonably well but there is often an error if I speak just a little too fast (I don’t think it quite gets a Boston accent).  That said, it is worth checking out and of course, it is FREE!

Speak your Tweets

Update Twitter from anywhere by simply speaking into a telephone. 1-877-TWEETCALL is completely free, start using it today!

How it works

1. Dial 1-877-TWEET-CALL

2. Speak your tweet

3. Your voice is transcribed and posted to Twitter as text!

Before using TweetCall, please log in to associate a PIN number with your account for security purposes.

Check out TweetCall - Twitter by Voice here.

           

Windows Utilities You Need - 2 Apps of the Day

Last night I was trying to figure out what was taking up so much memory in my pocket pc and my laptop hard-drive.  I used Windows Explorer and searched through all the files and folders for the culprits.  But it was very tedious because folders don’t show their size in the Windows Explorer columns.  Check out the screen shot below:

Find my solution after the break.

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FingerPoint for the Omnia

So if you don’t like it, make your own! 

In fact that is what an Omnia user did when he got tired of the application launcher on the Samsung Omnia.  So he decided to write his own and I think it is very cool!  Called FingerPoint, it is a sleek application launcher that is very finger touch friendly (as you watch the video you will see just how friendly it is).

So you like it huh?  Well if you have an Omnia then you just might want a copy and you can get it for FREE here.

PPCSG via  pocketpcfreak.com

           

Stunning Concept UI from Qualcomm

I caught this video today from Pocket PC Freak and I just had to share it especially if you are a gamer.  The future looks bright, very  bright!  In this video, Bob Morris from ARM talks to Qualcomm about their concept devices using an ARM-based Snapdragon Processor. Check it out and let us know what you think.

 

           

SBSH Calendar Touch 2.1 Video

Forge42 just posted a review on Calendar Touch that you should read.  Along with what Forge42 had to say, I thought you might like seeing a brief video that SBSH put out on this best selling PIM application. Featuring touch technologies like Touch Scrolling, Touch Tray Bar, and Full Screen Touch Menus, this may well become your preferred Calendar program.

 

 

Check it out here at SBSH Mobile Software