"Microsoft must embrace the mobile space if it wants to get its act together. The company has a bunch of semi-independent units that don't seem to talk to each other very much: Windows, Windows Mobile, Xbox, Zune, and whatever has grown out of their acquisition of the Danger/Sidekick team. As Apple has shown, you create compelling experiences by acting as one company, not as five. Unfortunately, it looks like Microsoft still isn't talking to Microsoft."

Sascha Segan at PCMag delivers a stinging critique of what's wrong with Microsoft's mobile strategy. It's not that we haven't heard all of this before, but the lost data disaster at Sidekick, rumours of trouble at Project Pink, and the relative modesty of the updates brought in by WM6.5, kinds of brings it home. A year's a long time in the mobile space, and with WM7 slated to be released only in late 2010 (RTM is supposedly in about six months time), MS is going to lose even more ground in the mobile sweepstakes. Android has really come on strong in the past six months with a bevy of sexy devices hitting the shelves and the backing of some major names, and no bets that Steve Jobs has something more up his sleeve for the coming year. Will WM7 be enough to turn the tide? Sound off in the comments.

"Despite intensifying competition and the loss of some high-profile licensees, the usage of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile operating system in smart phones will nearly triple from 2009 to 2013, allowing it to reclaim the No.-2 position in the global market, according to iSuppli Corp In 2013, 67.9 million smart phones will use the Windows Mobile operating system, up from 27.7 million in 2009. This will give Windows Mobile a 15.3 percent share of the global market in 2013, second only to the Symbian operating system, which will control 47.6 percent."

Analysts are a big like fortune tellers: no one ever goes back to check their track record to see how often they're wrong. iSupply is predicting that by 2013, Windows Mobile will control 15.3% of the global market share, second only to Symbian. Sound far-fetched? Maybe not - it's important to remember that on a world-wide scale, Apple's iPhone and RIM's Blackberry devices are still minuscule players compared to the global number of phones shipped. As a Windows Mobile enthusiast, it's easy for me to look at the current situation and think "Oh, that's it, Windows Mobile is doomed". Taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture, the reality is far different: the fancy smartphones we've been using for years are still only a blip on the world-wide market of cell phones. Most of the world doesn't yet own a smartphone, so there's a long way to go for all the big players.

"Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today unveiled Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1 software for smartphones, smartbooks, netbooks, PCs and other Internet-connected devices, allowing content created using the Adobe Flash Platform to reach users wherever they are. A public developer beta of the browser-based runtime is expected to be available for Windows® Mobile, Palm® webOS and desktop operating systems including Windows, Macintosh and Linux later this year... Flash Player 10.1 is the first consistent runtime release of the Open Screen Project that enables uncompromised Web browsing of expressive applications, content and high definition (HD) videos across devices. Using the productive Web programming model of the Flash Platform, the browser-based runtime enables millions of designers and developers to reuse code and assets and reduce the cost of creating, testing and deploying content across different operating systems and browsers. Flash Player 10.1 is easily updateable across all supported platforms to ensure rapid adoption of new innovations that move the Web forward."

The usability and performance of past Flash Player releases for Windows Mobile have been laughable at best. But this time around, Adobe is promising that 10.1 will deliver a new and improved experience. Don't get too excited yet, though. Such claims are best taken with a grain of salt until the release of the beta later this year.

"Microsoft will no longer be offering the Microsoft Recite Technology Preview as of December 31, 2009. After this date you will no longer be able to access Microsoft Recite from your mobile phone. The Microsoft Recite Team thanks you for your valuable feedback on this product. The ability to capture notes and reminders is an area we are still focused on and we will continue to consider your feedback to build out these rich experiences in upcoming products."

If you have any data on Recite that you want to keep, you need to head over to the Recite blog for instructions on how to get your data into a format you can keep, because come New Year's Day, the service will be shut down. Hopefully the technology will come back in another product, but for now it is a shame it is going away.

"In just five weeks, you'll have a bunch of new Windows phones to choose from. But before we show you some of the cool, new phones that will be coming out, I want to explain how we're trying to make phones even better with Windows. When we started work on Windows phones, we met with people all over the world who were likely to buy a smartphone and talked with them about what's important to them in their phone. Looking at the U.S. market, for example, we found that about 15 million people in the next year will buy a new smartphone. Of the people we talked to, 74% listed productivity as the top feature they value in their smartphone. We took this feedback to heart, making the user interface more touch friendly and improving notifications and updates from e-mail, text and calendar items."

The post at The Windows Blog goes on to mention that "most people who carry a Windows phone don't realize it's running Windows Mobile", which is interesting, yet not that all surprising. We're in a time now when the iPhone and Android handsets are dominating headlines, and device manufacturers such as HTC and Samsung work around the clock to develop UIs that mask many of Windows Mobile's less-than-desirable qualities. You would think that Microsoft would do anything to promote its brand, and urge its partners to do the same, so that quoted statement almost comes across as an admission that a lot more needs to be done to increase public awareness of Windows Mobile.

There's now the chance to do just that with Windows Mobile 6.5, starting with a new and improved look (honeycomb haters will disagree), a new name for its devices (all hail the "Windows phones"), and a host of partners (listed below) to kick off the show. Mark October 6 on your calendar, because that's when we'll be able to get our grubby hands on a wide range of Windows phones to suit our varied tastes, needs, price points, and geeky pleasures.

• North America: (Mobile Operators) AT&T, Bell Mobility, Sprint, TELUS and Verizon Wireless; (Phone Manufacturers) HP, HTC Corp., LG Electronics, Samsung and Toshiba Corp.
• Europe: (Mobile Operators) Orange, Deutsche Telekom AG and Vodafone Group Plc; (Phone Manufacturers) Acer, HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba
• Latin America: (Mobile Operators) TIM Brazil; (Phone Manufacturers) HTC, LG Electronics and Samsung
• Asia Pacific: (Mobile Operators) NTT DOCOMO Inc., SOFTBANK Mobile Corp., SK Telecom, Telstra and WILLCOM Inc.; (Phone Manufacturers) Acer Inc., HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba

"Word dropped this morning that Torch Mobile, makers of the Iris Browser, had been purchased by Research in Motion. That's great news for BlackBerry fans, who have been in dire need of a browser for, well, ever. However, this is bad news for Windows Mobile. We just heard back from Torch Mobile spokesman George Staikos, and the response is unequivocal: 'The company will no longer continue developing for Windows Mobile or Windows-CE.'"

I just can't help but think that if another large company in the mobile market, such as one that may also be chronically dogged as anti-competition, were to do this, people would be outraged. But since it's RIM, I suspect no one will make much of a fuss. Pity to see a WM browser alternative bite the dust over purely financial reasons.

"For many (if not most) iPhone developers, the App Store's overheated competition and bloated inventory have led to scorched-earth pricing that makes it virtually impossible to parlay mobile development into a valid for-profit business model without turning to subscriptions or in-app advertising.... "I know, 99 cents is interesting -- yes, consumers like to pay 99 cents for applications," admits Microsoft's Loke Uei, "but 99 cents, come on, I think your app is worth more than that."

The Apple iPhone App store has been one of the things that has radically changed the mobile phone market, but as it grew to 50,000 apps or so, it was pretty obvious that there is just some crap in there. Sometimes less is more and a well maintained library is better and more useful than one that just has everything you can possibly throw in it. Microsoft apparently feels the same way and is going to try and keep the menu respectable and manageable.

Do you think 99 cents is ok for the majority of apps, or should Microsoft encourage more reasonable price structures that would allow developers to make some money and make it worth their time to spend more energy on improving their apps.

"In a confirmation for the ages, Dell spokesperson Andrew Bowins has clearly stated that the company is "developing mobile devices for China Mobile," giving the Round Rock powerhouse access to the biggest mobile subscriber base on the entire planet."

Scuttlebutt has it that the first Dell smartphone will run a version of Android, but given Dell's previous history with Windows Mobile there's always a chance that WM may fit in there somewhere. And even though China's the initial target market, I find it hard to believe that Dell would confine itself to marketing smartphone's there. I'd say there's more than an even chance we'll see Dell branded handsets elsewhere, and hopefully with Windows Mobile.

Product Category: Utility Software

Manufacturer: Morose Media

Where to Buy: Company Website

Price: $29.99

System Requirements: Windows Mobile 5 AKU 3.3 or newer or Windows Mobile 6, Both a WiFi and a cellular data connection, an installed and working version of Internet Sharing, 15 MB of free device memory

Pros:

• Easy to use;
• Exceptional setup wizard;
• Multiple connection options.

Cons:

• A bit pricey;
• Would love it to actively try to restore dropped data connection.

Summary: Tethering your handheld to your computer has come a long way from the days of strange connection strings, special cables, and slower than turtle speeds. WMWifiRouter provides a 1-click method for getting connected, but is it worth the price? Read on to find out!

What it Does

Simply put, it turns your Windows Mobile device into a broadband wireless router, the same kind you could buy for quite a lot of $$$. It does this by routing your cellular data connection (e.g. 3G or EDGE or even GPRS) through the device and out to the WiFi interface. Just like Internet Connection Sharing on a Windows machine, WMWifiRouter includes all the necessary components to assign addresses (DHCP) and route them (NAT) through the device. Windows Mobile does not have a simplistic networking design by a long shot. It features a fairly robust TCP/IP stack and thus supports things like non-traditional routing setups. The problem has always been exploiting that in a way that is easy for the end-user (you or I) to use. WMWifiRouter packages all of the bits and pieces up, and lets you quickly configure your network and start it easily. Assuming that your carrier or data plan allows tethering, you then have a running WiFi router to your cellular data connection.

Figure 1: The connected screen, showing status of the router.

Connection Setup

I discovered WMWifiRouter while on a train. Literally while wondering if such a polished product existed, I ran a quick search and downloaded the CAB file from their website. Upon running it, I was presented with an extremely nice setup wizard that walked me through the entire process of setting up the connection. I could choose the SSID or wireless router name, set a WEP encryption key to keep others out (or at least make it harder for them to get in), and configure other options. Each option had a nice description of what it did, which I thought was nice for individuals who aren't quite sure what each item may mean to their networking setup. After Setup, I clicked on the Cellular to WiFi icon on the homescreen, and got the screen shown in Figure 1. After about 30 seconds of it updating the status (telling me what it was doing), it was ready to go. I fired up my iPod Touch and found my new network, plugged in my WEP key, and was off and running

"Eltima Software, global software Development Company, has released SyncMate version 2.0, software for multiple sync, which simplifies the process of all data synchronization between Mac and Windows Mobile devices, other Mac computers, Nokia S40 phones and online accounts. SyncMate is offered at two versions, Free and Expert, and provides all users with even more synchronization possibilities than before. SyncMate Free Edition enables you to sync Address Book and iCal entries in your Mac with their analogues in supported devices and back up these data to Online Storage Account. Google Contacts and Google Calendar synchronization is also available."

Eltima Software's Mac-based, all-in-one sync solution, SyncMate, has hit v2.0. It's available in two versions, Free and Expert; both support Windows Mobile, although the Expert Edition adds a plethora of sync options and integration with iPhoto, iTunes, Safari, Firefox, Mail, folders, time, and more. Visit the Eltima Software web page to try or buy. The Expert Edition costs anywhere between $39.95 to $59.95, depending on the license type.

"SPB Software, a top mobile applications developer, releases SPB News 2.0 - formerly known as SPB Insight - an intelligent news reader that makes full-text articles (including images) available for offline reading on Windows phones. SPB News gives users the freedom to read the daily news from online sources of their choice, at a time and place most convenient to them. SPB News 2.0 has a new user-friendly touch interface, supports gestures, automatic updates, and smart scrolling in articles. Users of SPB Insight 1.x are entitled to a free update to SPB News 2.0."

Formerly known as Spb Insight, Spb News 2.0 is the latest release of this RSS/offline Web site reader. Improvements in this new version include a new touch-oriented interface, automatic and scheduled updates, smart scrolling in articles, and a bunch of fixes in overall stability and performance. Since it's not available yet in our affiliate store, you can grab it directly from Spb's Web site. Though the Web site doesn't mean Windows Mobile Standard smartphones, the information I was emailed does, so this should be compatible with both platforms.

Avantgo is a service that scraped websites and sync'd the content to your mobile device allowing you to read articles on the go. Effective June 30, 2009, they are dropping the service. I am actually surprised it is still around. It was neat to use when few mobile devices had online access or even lacked a real browser, but for several years not, just about everyone has full time all-you-can-eat data plans. The exact wording on their page is a bit strange:

"AvantGo is changing! From June 30, 2009, AvantGo will no longer be providing mobile content."

That makes it sound like the company itself will be sticking around, but doing what I don't know. They recommend you move to a product called Snac, but it requires Java and only works on some Windows Mobile devices. I used AvantGo as early as the late 90's with my first PDA, and in a way it is sad to see it go, but honestly I'd almost forgotten about it. I haven't used it for at least seven or eight years.

Over on the private Mobius discussion list, Ed Hansberry pointed to this article by Walt Mossberg where Mossberg talks about the forthcoming Palm Pre. Mossberg talks about the smartphones he considers to be compeditors in this space: the iPhone, the Blackberry Storm, and the Android-based G1. Windows Mobile isn't part of the discussion, even though there are phones running Windows Mobile that compare quite well with those other phones. I thought I'd share my reaction to that article here, in no particular order:

1) If Walt had one wish, it would probably be that Microsoft as a company be destroyed by nuclear attack. Expecting him to be fair toward Microsoft is like asking a cat to not eat a plate of tuna. It's just not going to happen.

2) People understand single-device models. It's easy to talk about the iPhone vs. Pre vs. vs. G1 vs. Blackberry (people use it as a catch-all term for all Blackberry phones). It's much harder to talk about a single phone vs. an ecosystem of phones. Once there are more Android phones on the market Google will have a similar problem. It's cumbersome to try and weave the platform narrative together. With HTC releasing their new phones in Europe/Asia first, most North American press don't register the fact that there are legitimate competitors out there running Windows Mobile. There's also the reality that even though there have been some great-selling Windows Mobile phones (the million+ club) there isn't really a "hero" phone that stands out from the rest and is a poster-child for Windows Mobile. That needs to change.

3) I thought it was hilarious that an app nuked Walt's Pre, took out all his data, and he just sort of shrugged it off as being not a big deal. This is the phone that's launching in a few days? And the applications aren't sandboxed in a way that prevents massive data loss? Imagine if a Windows Mobile phone did that to him - he'd have a fit.

4) Despite less-than-stellar sales, notice how the Zune has tremendous mindshare against the iPod? Other competitors rarely get mentioned, even though I'm sure Sandisk sells more MP3 players than Microsoft does. Windows Mobile has the same problem it's always had: selling an operating system or a platform is hard; selling a shiny piece of hardware is easy in comparison. It's easy to hold up a device and say "Here's our new thing". Holding up a platform and saying "Here are our 20 new things" - that's hard.

That's my take on Mossberg's article - what's yours?

"As far as I'm aware, the "connectors" and "Unified Storage" referred to here is a new concept for WM7. Unfortunately the job description doesn't go into any details, but in the context of communications, I'm predicting it's a new framework designed to handle all the communication storage needs on a phone in a single, structured and open-access system...If my prediction is correction, as opposed to the current method where each application has its own proprietary storage model (ex. Outlook Mobile, Facebook application, Twitter applications), this new framework would allow applications to store and retrieve any communications data on the phone in a consistent and managed manner, allowing for far richer integration."

We know that Windows Mobile 7 will be a big step forward from the past, and here's a hint as to what may be in store beyond a new UI and multitouch interface. Ironic what a "simple" job ad can reveal - especially about the potential for Zune intregation. Will all this come to pass? Hard to say for sure, but it's fun to speculate. Read on for more!

"USB memory pens have become the default way to carry and transfer data, but until now it has been impossible to connect them to mobile phones and PDAs. Elan's Mobidapter enables connection via an SD slot so that you can transfer your files anywhere - without a PC!"

You'd definitely want to be careful not to let the adaptor dangle - the pressure might be too much for the microSD card slot on your phone - but this is a cool solution for those people who need to get information from a USB flash drive onto their phone. I'm not one of those people mind you, nor can I imagine the scenario in which this would be a needed accessory, but hey, maybe you can!

Microsoft's My Phone service is still in beta but you no longer need a registration code to get started. If you haven't yet subscribed to the service on your Windows Mobile 6.x device, now you can. It will back up your text messages, emails, contacts, appointments, documents, music and photos from your device or storage card.

It can be scheduled to back up in the wee hours of the morning so you never have to mess with it. It won't back up any data that is tied to an Exchange account though, as it assumes that is your backup plan for that data. Supported documents only includes what your device natively supports, like Word, Excel and text files. Third party documents, like those added by ListPro or HanDBase will not be backed up.

It is free and requires you to install an app on your device to get going.

Update: I forgot to mention, it is now available in 25 languages, so this should now work on a number of devices that couldn't participate in the earlier beta stages.

"Windows/Mac/mobile: SugarSync, a previously paid-only syncing service that got quite a few shout-outs in our feature-by-feature online storage chart, now offers a free 2GB plan that keeps documents synced across Windows, Mac, and mobile platforms."

SugarSync is a really slick service with some amazing features, but I've never wanted to use it before now because it's not a replacement for Mozy [Affiliate] based on my needs. Why not? SugarSync's pricing plans. I've got 267 GB worth of data backed up with Mozy, and it's costing me less than $5/month to do that. SugarSync's biggest plan offers 250 GB of storage and would cost me $20.83/month. With the vast majority of my files, I don't need to access them via the browser, so there's no ultra-compelling justification for the extra $15/month I'd need to pay for SugarSync. Thus, I haven't ever used SugarSync.

Well, that's changed now because SugarSync is offering a free account with 2 GB of storage - and it includes mobile sync. There are a couple of limitations with the free account - namely that it's limited to two computers and upload speeds are capped - but neither of those bother me. Because I have a hosted Exchange account, I rarely if ever do a desktop sync - and because of that, I rarely have an updated copy of my FlexWallet (yeah, I haven't switched to eWallet) file. With this free 2 GB acocunt, and their Windows Mobile client, suddenly I have a really easy way to keep my FlexWallet file updated on my device. Sweet!

"New from Windows Mobile: a Facebook application for your phone! Download the new Facebook application for Windows Mobile and: Send messages to any of the people in your Friends list; Take pictures and videos on your phone, then upload them right to Facebook; Send messages or call people in your Friends list; Manage your profile and post anytime, anywhere. Keep up with the latest news and posts with Facebook on your phone. Now your status updates can be up-to-the moment accounts of what you're doing. Photos and videos are about as close to live-action as you can get. Show your friends what you're up to, while you're out and about. Connecting and sharing on Facebook just got a lot livelier!"

In typical fashion, this had been leaked elsewhere previously, but now it's official: the release version of the software is public and available for immediate download. What I find most interesting about this is that it's a Facebook application developed and released by Microsoft. On the iPhone, Facebook developed their own app for it. On Windows Mobile, Microsoft had to do it. That doesn't say much for what Facebook thinks of the Windows Mobile platform, now does it? Looks like RIM developed their own app for the Blackberry though, so this isn't without precedent. Guess the people at Facebook just love their iPhones.

The app will work on all Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 smartphones, both Professional and Standard - sorry all you Windows Mobile 5 owners. You can grab a mobile download here if you wish. I haven't taken it for a spin yet, but will shortly. Let me know what you think of it!

"In-house development delays are putting a stealth Microsoft-Verizon smartphone project in danger of collapse, Channelweb.com has learned. Microsoft and Verizon Wireless have reportedly been working on a Microsoft-branded touch-screen smartphone that Verizon could launch on its network as early as next year. The smartphone, code-named Pink, would consist of Microsoft software running on a third-party device, according to sources familiar with the project. However, Microsoft has encountered major setbacks that have affected its schedule for bringing Pink to market, sources said."

I lost count of the number of rumours and points of speculation in this article, but it would seem there's something to this given the sheer number of rumours strung together. The question is, though, is whether this is a Windows Mobile device. What if it's a Danger Sidekick running a bunch of Windows Live software? It's hard to say given how much rampant speculation there is in this article. What's not speculation though is that Windows Mobile 6.5 devices are still not here yet, and Windows Mobile 7 is even further out. Has anyone else noticed that Windows Mobile isn't even mentioned in many of the articles talking about the major players in the mobile space? Microsoft sold north of 15 million licenses world-wide last year, yet somehow they're not considered a serious player in the market.

"Spb TV is a subscription-free mobile IPTV viewer, designed for tuning in to publicly available digital TV channels from all over the world. A downloadable software client, Spb TV makes a wide range of international live TV channels available for viewing directly on Windows Mobile phones. Spb TV does not only provide users with access to a world of live TV streaming on the go, but it offers exclusive on-screen controls and an integrated TV guide. Spb TV supports fast channels switching, use of intelligent stream correction, picture-in-picture mode, and export of show reminders into Outlook, brining the genuine TV watching experience onto mobile. Spb TV requires a high speed mobile data connection which may be available via 3G, Wi-Fi, or WiMax networks."

Spb Software has just added over forty new international channels to Spb TV, bringing the total channel count to close to a hundred. The majority of them were suggested by users, so if you can't find your favourite channel in the list, simply suggest it; there's a good chance that Spb Software will take it into consideration. If you've yet to try or buy Spb TV, head over to our affiliate software store (Classic/Professional, Standard).

Last week a reader e-mailed me to ask a few specific questions about one of my previous articles. Amid a few comments about switching from Windows Mobile to other platforms, the pitfalls and the advantages, he asked about a feature I'd never really thought about. He wanted to know if there was a way to edit the call log on a Windows phone. Specifically, could he delete missed calls while still retaining calls he wanted in the log. I did a bit of digging and found a few demo applications that could dump the call log records into a database (from which you could edit them, however the original logs on the phone would remain unaffected), and a few suggestions on how to read the database off the phone (Which were way more useful for a developer than an end-user), but no one seemed to have any idea or simple program that would edit the logs directly (If someone knows of one, please share!).

This simple feature isn't something I think is planned for the future of Windows Mobile, and perhaps not something everyone would need. But then again, there are many features of my device I don't particularly need, but would be nice to have. Many of us install third-party applications in order to get these features, but perhaps it would be a good idea to start a 2009 edition list of the "missing" components to Windows Mobile. What feature, ability, or tweak would you make if you had the ear of the Windows Mobile development team?

"Virtual Mobile is an online service allowing you to backup and control your whole mobile life. It allows you to securely remote control your mobile device and its data from any computer with an Internet connection. Virtual Mobile is a combination of all our award winning software. Secure your mobile device online with our new integrated Backup, Device Management and Security solution."

This is from the team that does Sprite Backup, but now it is online. Features include:

• Backup and manage your contacts, calendar, sms, photos, calendar and call history securely online.
• Control up to four phones from one VM account.
• Restore or Migrate your data across your phones.
• Remote Mobile Device Security like Remote Lock and Wipe
• Management of phone content / functions online

The beta is free, though I am sure there will ultimately be a cost. It supports Windows Mobile 5 and 6.x. If you are interested in trying it out, head over and sign up.

"There is little question that Windows Mobile has been primarily geared for the enterprise market. While many - including me - have faulted Microsoft for forgetting the consumer market (or seeming so at time), few if any can question their ability to take the Windows Mobile platform and develop it into a world class mobile operating system for enterprise users. The platform simply does everything: Email, Word editing, Excel editing, PowerPoint viewing, OneNote synchronization, some have printing and PDF applications included (mostly HTC devices)... the list goes on. Which which phone is really the best when it comes to business needs?"

The "which is best" is a always a personal question - my needs in a business phone might not match up to your needs - but Clinton Fitch does his best to compare four phones on the market from the perspective of a frequent business traveller. He looks at the HTC S740 Windows Standard Phone, HTC Touch Pro Windows Professional Phone, HTC Advantage X7510 Windows Professional Phone, and the MWg Zinc II Windows Professional Phone. Check out his article and tell me if you agree with his assessment of these devices - for me, having a small and light email triage tool is the most important thing, so the Touch Pro and the Advantage wouldn't even be on my list to start (I'm using a Blackjack II right now). For some, data entry and document managemnt are more critical, so bigger phones with a better keyboard carry the day. What device do you carry, and why?

"Never mind the cut and paste. Never mind the picture messaging, or all the other stuff that should have been in iPhone 1.0. Never mind the new payment methods that will shake up the mobile shopping marketplace. The most radical thing Apple said at the iPhone 3.0 software release was: "The upgrade will be available for free, this summer, to all iPhone owners." Why can't any other smart phone vendors do this?"

My fellow Mobius alumni Sascha Segan nails Microsoft and RIM to the wall in his article, and he's 100% right. There are many reasons why I prefer Windows Mobile to the iPhone, but I'll give credit where credit is due: Apple's ability to easily upgrade the phones of its users is exactly the way things should work, and it makes the rest of the industry, especially Microsoft, look ridiculous in comparison.

Everyone has been harping on Microsoft to improve this since the very first Pocket PC operating system patch came out. Even if you were lucky enough as a user to be "blessed" with the official operating system upgrade, or even an AKU (think service pack), it would wipe out your device, forcing you to re-configure everything from scratch. Compound that problem with the complete lack of intelligent sync of settings - things like pushing down email account settings from Outlook - and you'd end up with an upgraded phone that would take a good hour or more to get back up to functioning status.

That problem is one of the main reasons why I hardly use any third party applications on my devices any more - it's just too frustrating and time consuming to get it back to the way it was before the upgrade. I often use the example when talking to Windows Mobile team members of desktop Windows: "What would you think if, when a Windows Service Pack came out, you had to re-format your hard drive to install it?". No one ever had a good answer for me because that would be sheer insanity to require that in the desktop world - yet in the mobile world, Microsoft deems it perfectly acceptable.

The upgrade story, in this era of software-focused smartphones, is perhaps the single worst thing about Windows Mobile. There are signs on the horizon that this is going to change, but I've been fed the Microsoft party line of "We're working on that..." so many times I refuse to believe it's going to get any better until it actually happens.

"In the fourth quarter of 2008, worldwide sales of smartphones to end users reached 38.1 million units, an increase of 3.7 per cent on the fourth quarter of 2007, according to Gartner, Inc. Global sales of smartphones for 2008 reached 139.3 million devices, up 13.9 per cent compared with 2007."

By vendor, HTC was ranked 4th selling 5.8 million units, about half of what the iPhone sold. For operating systems, Windows Mobile came in third with 16.5 million licenses. RIM's Blackberry was second with 23.1 million licenses. Symbian was first, but for some reason, I just don't count that as a serious smartphone platform since it is so fragmented and many users with a Nokia treat their phone like a feature phone, never installing an app or syncing with anything.

"Verizon is currently sending out notification letters chock full of legalese to its customers. Here's a summary: You have 45 days to opt out or you "agree" that Verizon can share your personal data."

I cannot tell if this is for Verizon land lines and internet service, Verizon Wireless or both, but in any event, be sure to check your statement, and as the article points out, if you only get your statements online, you won't get any special reminder about this. It just shows up in the small print.

"In January, I had an opportunity to hear a presentation by Eric Lin, the Online Community Manager at HTC. Many of the Windows Mobile smartphones on the market today are made by HTC, even if they don't have the HTC name on them, so when it comes to smartphones, HTC is a market leader. The presentation covered several different topics, but the one I found most interesting was the question of how specific hardware design decisions impact the usability of the phone. When you pick up a Windows Mobile smartphone, the shape, size, weight, and feel of it give you an impression about the product - but did you know what kinds of decisions went into the final product you're holding? The answer may surprise you."

Read Jason's column on tethering? Well, here's another one. It discusses the design decisions that go into the phones you're carrying today - from the size of the screen to the feel of the keyboard and the sound it makes. Who knows? You may learn a thing or two that will help you choose the right phone the next time you're in the market for one.

"A MOBILE phone loaded with top-secret software given to Telstra boss Sol Trujillo has apparently been stolen by a pickpocket. The new-generation software was on a phone given to Mr Trujillo in Barcelona, Spain this week at the World Mobile Congress - a haven for pickpockets."

What I've found most interesting about this saga is, according to some other sites, MS was able to send a command to not only wipe the data (something available since Windows Mobile 5), but it also wiped the ROM, removing the top secret operating system on the device.

"In exchange for picking Microsoft, LG will work closely to better integrate the operating system with devices, which has proven to be a problem for Windows Mobile in the past. LG has created a new user interface called S-Class, which makes Windows Mobile more modern and touch-screen friendly. The companies will create joint teams for research and development, and partner on marketing efforts."

Hot on the heels of the launch of LG's new WM phones, LG and Microsoft have tied the knot. I applaud this move, as it's a big vote of confidence and can be nothing but good for Windows Mobile. On the other hand from a corporate perspective, LG is taking a bit of a risk, as they're putting most of their eggs in one basket. I can't imagine this making their shareholders very happy. Reading between the lines, it looks like Microsoft is looking to get more involved on the hardware side, which is about time I'd say! Read on for the full press release.

LG Electronics Deepens Alliance with Microsoft by Selecting Windows as Primary Smartphone Platform

Barcelona, Spain, February, 16, 2009 - LG Electronics (LG) and Microsoft Corp. announced today an expanded alliance to dramatically increase the number of LG phones running Windows. As part of the agreement, LG will make Windows its primary operating system for its smartphones and will increase both the number of Windows® phones in its portfolio and the total volume of Windows® phones it distributes. This will create a tenfold increase in the volume of Windows® phones available from LG in 2009 and bring up to 26 new Windows® phones to market in 2012 alone. Overall, the agreement can result in over 50 new LG Windows® phones.

"New LG phones running Windows will take advantage of the excitement in this dynamically growing market," said Yong Nam, vice chairman and chief executive officer, LG Electronics. "The Windows platform brings flexible and customer-friendly software that ties into the Web and the PC, giving our phones a wide range of new capabilities to address an increasing number of segments and markets."

"Windows® phones enable people to tap into digital experiences that span their lives so they can connect to the people, information and services they care about most," said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. "Integrating Windows software with LG's design leadership will bring new experiences to help enrich people's lives."

The agreement also includes a commitment by both companies to create joint teams for R&D, to focus on creating phones with powerful features built on tight integration between hardware and software. It also details joint marketing efforts to expand the reach of these phones at a range of prices in markets across the globe.

This agreement follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed by LG and Microsoft on November 3, 2008, which put in place strategic collaboration on the converged mobile device business.

Complementing the expanded alliance, LG also announced the LG-GM730 which incorporates LG's signature style with a slim (11.9 mm) and seamless profile and rounded edges. The Windows phone user-friendly with features like one-click email set up and easy finger navigation while browsing with the latest version of Internet Explorer Mobile. Available in the first half of 2009 on Windows Mobile 6.1, LG will add Windows Mobile 6.5 version to their portfolio in the second half of 2009.

# # #

About LG Electronics, Inc.

LG Electronics, Inc. (KSE: 066570.KS) is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications, employing more than 82,000 people working in 114 operations including 82 subsidiaries around the world. With 2008 global sales of USD 44.7 billion, LG is comprised of five business units - Home Entertainment, Home Appliance, Air Conditioning, Business Solutions and Mobile Communications. LG is the world's leading producer of mobile handsets, flat panel TVs, air conditioners, front-loading washing machines, optical storage products, DVD players and home theater systems.

LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company (LG) is a leading global mobile communication and information company. LG creates handsets that provide an optimized mobile experience to customers around the world with its cutting-edge technology and innovative handset design capabilities. Increasingly, LG is pursuing convergence technology and mobile computing products. LG will continue to take leadership in the mobile communication environment with stylish designs and smart technology. For more information, please visit www.lge.com.

About Microsoft Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

I posted about My Phone last week, but my understanding of it was incorrect - which is kind of funny given that I was part of a briefing about it at Mobius in late 2008. What can I tell you other than it's painful to try to keep track of all these Microsoft "sky-codename" services.

My Phone is, currently, strictly a backup program. It's not "Exchange for everyone else" like I thought, though clearly the team is thinking along those lines. At launch, My Phone is simply a way to keep your contacts, calendar, tasks, text messages, photos, videos, music, and documents backed up to Microsoft servers so, in case of phone loss or damage, your stuff will be protected. It's not a cloud sync tool like I first thought, but the pieces are certainly there to allow for that. It's not a substitute for a program such as Spb Backup [affiliate] for instance, because it won't keep an image of your device with all your programs installed.

Document types supported for sync are ppt, xls, doc, one, wks) as well as txt, rtf, pdf, html and xml. It's kind of curious that it wouldn't just allow you to specify a folder and take everything in it. It will work over WiFi, so if you have a limited data account you can use WiFi for your initial sync then use your data plan for updates beyond that.

At launch, Microsoft is offering 200 MB of storage, and the service is free. Right now it's advertising driven, but it's simple enough for Microsoft to add carrier branding and you'd have "Verizon My Phone" or something similar. It will work with any Windows Mobile 6.0 or 6.1 smartphone, both Standard and Professional devices. If your phone already has Exchange sync, that takes priority over your Contacts / Calendar / Tasks, which makes sense. Multiple phones are going to be supported - apparently it's going to be as many as you want. I suspect that 200 MB is per account though, not per phone, so if you have four phones you'll still have 200 MB total. Premium accounts with more storage is an option Microsoft is considering. After the break are some screen shots of My Phone.

This is the service we've formerly heard referred to as Skyline Skybox. Scott Rockfeld, Director in the Windows Mobile group at Microsoft, gave this public statement today:

"Today, Microsoft's My Phone Web site went live prior to its scheduled debut. However, we are excited about the new Microsoft My Phone service, which will be available as a limited, invite-only beta. This is a significant milestone for Microsoft as it connects the phone to the PC and Web, making mobility a key pillar for the company's software+services strategy.

This new Microsoft cloud service syncs critical information (e.g., contacts, calendar appointments, tasks, text messages, photos, video, etc) on a user's mobile phone to a password protected Web site. Once synchronized, people can easily back-up and restore mobile phone data. My Phone provides an easy to use Web portal where people can access and manage content on the phone, and share that information with others.

My Phone helps people:

• Keep their information backed up if they lose or break their phones.

• Transition information if they switch to new phones.

• Access the same information from their phone or PC."

This is shaping up to be a very interesting service in a number of ways - first, at launch it's going to be free. Second, if you've already got a phone synching with an Exchange server, your calendar/contacts/tasks. This is, essentially, Exchange ActiveSync for the rest of the world who's not using Exchange. We'll see how it plays out - especially how locked-in it is to Windows Live services. Will it play nice if you're using other services? Even if it doesn't, this could be THE killer reason for some people to switch to Windows Live services instead of competing services from Google, Yahoo, etc. Check out the My Phone site for more details.

"The new Spb Wallet 2.0 - a secure repository of most valuable private information, such as PINs, passwords, keys, account, passport, and credit card numbers - has versions for non- and touchscreen Windows Mobile devices, Symbian Series 60 smartphones (including Nokia 5800 touch screen), Apple's iPhone and iPod, and a desktop component. The new multiplatform approach allows users of Spb Wallet to keep their private data safe, even when they swap phones or mobile platforms. Spb Wallet securely stores sensitive information AES 256-encrypted and password-protected, supports automatic lockup, clipboard cleanup, and protects from phishing. The data can be synchronized between (and accessed from) multiple PCs and mobile devices. The virtual, electronically stored items, such as cards and passports look like real ones: Spb Wallet 2.0 offers an integrated online database of over seven thousand most popular cards, and the option to order more custom images - for free. The new Wallet 2.0 for Windows Mobile boasts Autocomplete for PIE, new finger-friendly UI, adaptive skins, smart scrolling, gestures, animation effects, and a new logon panel. The desktop version offers advanced integration with web browsers, automatic supply and capture of websites login information, password generator, migration wizard from custom CSV formats and other wallet applications."

There's certainly no shortage of new and improved features in Spb Wallet 2.0. It's in our affiliate software store (Windows Mobile Standard and Classic/Professional) in the form of a free trial version, or a full version for $29.95. However, if you're an Spb Wallet 1.x user, you can upgrade to Spb Wallet 2.0 for $14.95 - or for the sweet price of $0, if you purchased it within the last 90 days. Check out the press release for links and additional details.

"Courtesy of 'some well-connected sources who've asked to remain anonymous' ZDNet has come across a roadmap for SkyBox. SkyBox 1.0 will be able to backup and restore data, manage content, and share that content with other users. It will go into beta in mid-February and will be free for customers thanks to an ad-supported Web portal."

More details are emerging on Microsoft's alleged charge into the cloud. According to the article (the news first broke through ZDNet), there will be two further enhancements of Skybox. The first, Skybox 1.5, will launch in the summer and feature a premium service along with a free standard service. Skybox 2.0 will be integrated with SkyMarket as well as feature greater integration with other Microsoft cloud services, although no timeline is available for this version. Things appear to be heating up, and we're still two weeks away from MWC when hopefully all things will become clear.

"A couple months ago, Tasks launched in Gmail Labs. Tasks lets you easily create and manage to-do lists right in Gmail. Now, you can access and manage your task lists from your phone, too. Just go to gmail.com/tasks in your mobile browser and log in."

For many Windows Mobile users this won't be of much use. As of right now, there is no way to sync your tasks to your phone, or Outlook for that matter - at lest not without jumping through hoops. I've seen articles that will let you sync Google tasks with Toodledo and then sync them with Outlook, but that seems like too much work. You'd have to have tasks set up to remind you to sync all of the services.

However, for some Windows Mobile users and other phone users that are more interested in having tasks in a central location on the internet rather than locked down to your PC's copy of Outlook, this may be the ticket. The only real issue is you need a web connection for this to work on your phone. It won't sync to your Windows Mobile tasks database, so there will be no task maintenance, or even review, in places with low or no signal, like in a plane or subway.

"Following the global success of the inituitive drag and drop mobile application development tool MobiForms Developer, the team at MobiForms are proud to announce the release of the MobiForms Advanced edition. The MobiForms Advanced edition includes the MobiForms Developer and the new MobiForms Sync Server. The MobiForms Sync Server (MSS) is a complementary tool to the MobiForms Developer offering a true offline wireless store and forward capability with sophisticated online synchronisation, replication and offline data buffering."

The latest release from MobiForms allows devices to connect to a variety of databases through a dedicated MobiForms server system. Rapid application development plus over the air database access can put together a mean package on the handheld!

"SmartphoneNotes is a powerful text notes organizer for Windows Mobile-based Smartphone. With SmartphoneNotes, you can easily create and manage text notes directly on your Smartphone and synchronize them with Microsoft Outlook® on your desktop computer"

This app appears to make Notes on your device behave a bit more like they do in Outlook, allowing you to color code and categorize them. All of the settings are synchronized back to Outlook. Be sure to look at the requirements. For the Smartphone (aka WM Standard) it supports all the way back to 2003, but for the Pocket PC, you need Windows Mobile 5 or later. Vista and XP are supported, and it is compatible with Outlook 2000 or later, assuming the OS supports it. I am not sure if Vista and Windows Mobile Device Center support Office 2000 or not. We could have a discussion as to whether it supports 2002, 2003, or 2007 as well, but that is really for another thread.

There is a trial version for both platforms. The Smartphone version is $17.95 and the Pocket PC version is 19.95.

"What do you get if you take an iPhone, remove the clean UI, user friendliness, nice industrial design, battery life, cachet, functional OS, and in general everything else that makes it worthwhile? The new Microsoft phone, powered by Nvidia. Yeah, you heard it right, MS is going to make its own branded phone, after all, everyone kicking the company around the block has one, so it should too! If you were wondering why Nvidia never mentions the phrase Linux when talking Tegra, even though it is the most appropriate OS for the chip, now you know. NV appears to have sold Linux out to get the MS flagship deal, how nice of them"

This is easily the snarkiest, most acid-dripping hack job I've seen in months - and I was shocked until I saw that it's syndicated content from The Inquirer...then it all made sense to me. Putting aside the ridiculous excuse for journalism - it's really an editorial, not a news story - there are some interesting rumours. Is this the fabled Zune phone? Or some other phone-based project? I refuse to believe that Microsoft would sacrifice all their gains with Windows Mobile partners all over the world by releasing their own Windows Mobile phone - that's just not going to happen, despite some people believing that it's the only way we're going to get the "ultimate" Windows Mobile phone. Is this a Zune phone then? Possibly. When you consider that the third-generation Zune hardware is identical to the second-generation hardware other than a capacity bump, the Zune team has had to be working on something. If Microsoft did release a Zune phone, they'd cause major rifts with their Windows Mobile partners, and those partnerships are worth a lot more to Microsoft than the MP3 player partners they alienated when they released the Zune.

2009 is going to be a very interesting year, that's for sure!

UPDATE: CNBC says this phone is code-named "Pink", but doesn't have much else to say about it.

"Spb Software releases Spb Wireless Monitor 3.0 - a powerful software solution that offers full control over all types of smartphone data connections by monitoring them in accordance with configurable tariffs and data plans, and providing per application data traffic reports. First brought to market in 2002, Spb Wireless Monitor, formerly known as Spb GPRS Monitor, accounts for the lack of a built-in data tracking tool in Windows Mobile devices. A four-time prize winner in the Smartphone and Pocket PC magazine’s Best Software Awards, shipped in over a dozen devices by ASUS, HTC, O2, Samsung, and T-Mobile, the Spb Wireless Monitor has over 3,000,000 loyal customers worldwide. The new name of version 3.0 comes with massive enhancements in features and abilities. With the growing popularity of mobile Internet and captivating online services - crossing the data plan limits and receiving painful phone bills is common, especially with the high cost of roaming. Spb Wireless Monitor 3.0 prevents unwanted mobile service charges and gives subscribers control over their mobile data spending, by measuring data traffic, calculating the network charges, warning of costly data usage, and reporting which application exactly generates what kind of data traffic. The new Wireless Monitor supports both touch and non-touch screen devices, it can manage CDMA, GPRS, 3G, and even Wi-Fi and USB connections. Spb Wireless Monitor can provide per application traffic and cost reports, allowing users to single out guilty applications, responsible for high data charges. The new version has a modern, multilingual user interface and can manage several connections simultaneously."

Spb GPRS Monitor is dead. But, all is not lost, as the new Spb Wireless Monitor 3.0 is now available for all flavours of Windows Mobile. Head over to our affiliate software store (Pocket PC - Professional, Smartphone - Standard) for free trial versions and/or full versions for $19.95. Upgrades from Spb GPRS Monitor 2.0 are $9.95.

Being so heavily Windows Mobile-centric, I find it interesting when I can get my hands on devices from companies that compete with Windows Mobile. I had an opportunity to play with a RIM Blackberry Bold earlier this week, and was extremely impressed with the hardware. I thought it might be useful to share what I thought was good about the Bold, if for no other reason than to point out to anyone from Microsoft, HTC, etc. reading this site that Windows Mobile devices are lacking somewhat in the area that the Bold inhabits.

The 2.66 inch, 320 x 480 screen was simply gorgeous - very crisp, with great contrast. It made everything look excellent - I think the Blackberry OS, for all its faults, gets many things right on the home screen - the indicator icons on Windows Mobile are huge in comparison, so even by making them smaller, things look sharper and more organized on the Blackberry home screen. The keyboard felt really good, although I thought the width of the device was a bit much - it's closer to the Motorola Q9h in width, while I prefer the more slender Blackjack II. Not a deal-breaker though, I'd put up with the extra width to get that screen. Device thickness and weight were reasonable.

Performance was very snappy - apps just flew, screens appeared and vanished quickly. I've always felt that other Blackberry models had a nice home screen, but looked like pagers once you dug a layer deeper, but the Bold has a pretty good second level as well. Video playback was very impressive as well - there was a Speed Racer sample clip that looked amazing, the best I've seen on a mobile device in a long time. The media player software was pretty weak though - it was a combination of VCR-like buttons and a DOS-like directory listing of videos. I'm spoiled by how fun and easy media browsing is on my Zune, and everything else pales in comparison.

I could only sigh as I heard my friend explain that he leaves WiFi turned on all the time, and still gets 2-3 days of heavy use out of it, because the WiFi is smart enough to stay in a super low power mode until it detects he comes home, then it connects WiFi and uses that rather than 3G. When he leaves the house, it seamlessly moves back to 3G. Now that's smart software! There were certainly parts of the software that screamed "I used to be wireless pager software!", but RIM has done a pretty good job sprucing up the look and feel of the operating system.

Oh yeah, it didn't have a high-gloss back that attracted smudges (are you listening HTC?). It really is a great hardware design. I'm sure if I spent a week using it I'd see more flaws in the software and hardware, but I have to say that as first impressions go, the Bold makes a good one - and first impressions are generally what sell phones to the public. I can't think of any Windows Mobile device that comes close to matching the Bold in terms of hardware, and that's really unfortunate.

I'm convinced that HTC in particular is so fixated on beating Apple in the touch game, that even though they don't have a great touch-friendly operating system to work with (Windows Mobile Professional is still far too stylus-based), they're ignoring the popular consumer market that RIM is making big inroads into now. When I hear a 25-year old female friend gush about how much she loves her new Blackberry Curve, a device I'd always perceived as a business device, I know there's a missing piece in Microsoft's consumer strategy - a very big piece. RIM has somehow pivoted with their product strategy just enough to allow the carriers to heavily promote Blackberry devices as being consumer devices, and based mostly on nice hardware design, consumers are buying Blackberry devices in big numbers. Microsoft and their hardware partners have to come up with a solution to this problem - and a good start would be a device that competes head-on with the Blackberry Bold and wins.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He has a thing for high-resolution screens.

"Spb Software, world's leading mobile software developer, invites all mobile users to participate in its fifth annual Spb Survey. The Spb Survey is a mobile software industry report that identifies the changing user profiles, mobile device preferences, and handset use cases. Spb Software will release a report on the results of its fifth annual Spb Survey in the beginning of December 2008. Issued by a mobile software usability expert and a recognized brand on the consumer market, Spb Survey reaches out to mobile users directly, bypassing the prism of mobile operators and professional analytical houses. This year's survey has a more compact structure, new questions, and is supported by eXpansys, the world's leading retailer of smartphones and handheld devices with wireless connectivity. A few lucky, randomly picked Spb Survey participants will receive valuable 'thank you' gifts, such as a Windows Mobile device or software by Spb."

As well as providing the industry with a valuable insight into changing trends, the annual Spb Survey is a chance for you to win big. This year, Spb Software House will select participants on a random basis and offer them prizes. Said prizes range from bundles of Spb software to any Windows Mobile device and related accessories valued at up to $1,000 USD. Now, if that's not attractive enough to encourage participation, then I'm not sure what else is.

Microsoft has patched the bug in Windows Mobile 6.1 where the email database could become corrupt and you are unable to send emails via POP3 or IMAP4 through an SMTP server. Outlook/Exchange emails, as well as SMS/MMS messages were unaffected. We discussed this here recently.

"This behavior is associated with a feature that is introduced in Windows Mobile 6.1. The feature allows for mobile operators to specify an alternate SMTP server name that is used if e-mail messages cannot be sent by using the user-specified SMTP server name. If the mobile operator does not specify an alternate SMTP server name and if the Windows Mobile 6.1-based device does not connect, the e-mail account is corrupted and cannot send e-mail messages."

There is a 105KB CAB file to copy to your device and install from there or a 652KB MSI file to install while docked to your PC. I haven't tried to download directly from that page on my WM6.1 device yet. I don't understand why the MS site says this is supported on WM 6.0 as well as 6.1. My understanding is this bug is the result of a new feature in 6.1. It does affect both the Smartphone and Pocket PC variants, so if you have WM 6.1 and use POP3 or IMAP4 email, you should install this patch, and keep it handy. I suspect it would be lost if you hard reset your device for whatever reason.

Microsoft has patched the bug in Windows Mobile 6.1 where the email database could become corrupt and you are unable to send emails via POP3 or IMAP4 through an SMTP server. Outlook/Exchange emails, as well as SMS/MMS messages were unaffected. We discussed this here recently.

"This behavior is associated with a feature that is introduced in Windows Mobile 6.1. The feature allows for mobile operators to specify an alternate SMTP server name that is used if e-mail messages cannot be sent by using the user-specified SMTP server name. If the mobile operator does not specify an alternate SMTP server name and if the Windows Mobile 6.1-based device does not connect, the e-mail account is corrupted and cannot send e-mail messages."

There is a 105KB CAB file to copy to your device and install from there or a 652KB MSI file to install while docked to your PC. I haven't tried to download directly from that page on my WM6.1 device yet. I don't understand why the MS site says this is supported on WM 6.0 as well as 6.1. My understanding is this bug is the result of a new feature in 6.1. It does affect both the Smartphone and Pocket PC variants, so if you have WM 6.1 and use POP3 or IMAP4 email, you should install this patch, and keep it handy. I suspect it would be lost if you hard reset your device for whatever reason.

"This has been rumored to be coming but VZW E dropped the bomb on us all by leaking a Verizon Wireless document detailing some drastic changes to Verizon’s data plans. Starting November 14th, 2008, all new PDA / Smartphones will require a $29.99/month or greater data plan. Gone are the pay as you go data plans, 1X data block plans and the 10 MB $24.99/month plans."

The good news is though, if you are on any of those plans now, you can keep them until you switch out your phone, at which point you'll be required to move to the one of the more expensive plans. That is one of the advantages of the GSM phone with a SIM chip. You can swap out phones without the carrier being able to do this to you. If you are on Verizon, are you on one of the more inexpensive plans?

If you have an HTC branded device running Windows Mobile 5 and would like to upgrade to Windows Mobile 6, you only have a few days left.

"October 31st is the last day to take advantage of the free upgrade to Windows Mobile® 6. The upgrade link will be removed from HTC’s website at 12:00 pm (noon) GMT on October 31st.Removal of this free upgrade may affect users of the following devices: HTC S621, HTC S620, HTC P4350, HTC P3300, HTC Advantage."

"CIO: Why has Microsoft developed Zune?

Ballmer: At the end of the day, one of the big trends is that all content is going digital. And if we don't have the software and services that are useful, helpful and valuable for the consumption of music and video, we are sort of not really a player. Now, we built the Zune hardware with the Zune software - and what you'll see more and more over time is that the Zune software will also be ported to and be more important not just with the hardware but on the PC, on Windows Mobile devices, etc."

What can I say other than IT'S ABOUT FREAKING TIME. I feel like I've told this story 1000 times by now, but here it is again: about four years ago I was at a Mobius or MVP event (I can't remember which) and a Microsoft person came up to me and asked me if I thought they should scrap Windows Media Player Mobile on the device and instead implement the Portable Media Center interface as the way end users would access their photos, videos, and music. I said "Yes, absolutely" before he was even finished talking. The first generation PMC hardware might have been pretty suck-tacular, but the UI was easy to use. The Zune is an evolution of that UI, and while the Zune still needs improvement on a number of levels, the Zune UI is very easy to use - easier to use an an iPod in my opinion. If Microsoft really cared about the consumer market, they would have implemented that media UI years ago and we'd be having a different discussion today. They didn't because they're focused on the enterprise market first and foremost, but that's slowly (oh so slowly) changing.

Putting the Zune software onto Windows Mobile gives Microsoft a bunch of advantages: first, it lets them stop developing Windows Media Player Mobile, a piece of software that has sadly languished for years, hardly getting any updates or improvements. Secondly, it gives end users a great UI for media consumption, and assuming they go all the way with this, it gives users a media management solution (the Zune desktop software) that enables them to easily manage music and podcasts, and somewhat more easily manage photos and videos.

I see this as a win-win all around if implemented properly. I can't see a single down-side to this - what do you think about it?

"Unless you’re Google, these look like rough times to launch a mobile operating system. That puts Palm (PALM) in an awkward position. Things have not been going well for the beleaguered smartphone maker, whose founders arguably kickstarted the smartphone revolution 12 years ago. Eighty percent of its sales come from the troubled U.S. market, its Treo phone has given up market share to the BlackBerry and it has lost buzz to the iPhone."

The article goes on to list a number of reasons why it makes sense for Palm to consider using Google's Android as the basis for its next platform rather than sticking with its homegrown OS, code named Nova. Had Android come out a year earlier, I am sure Palm would have given it serious consideration, but now that they are relatively close to releasing Nova (9 months is close when you consider their last OS was released in 2002) could they really switch now? I think long term that would be a good solution, but short term it would be a very rocky road.

"Microsoft just released the first beta version of its Phone Data Manager application which looks like a serious alternative for some of the Nokia PC Suite features as it support wider range of mobile devices including most of the Nokia S60 2nd and 3rd edition phones."



REALLY Microsoft? This is what you are spending your time on? Would it be too much to ask to fix ActiveSync 4.x and Windows Mobile Device Center first?

"Hey suckers! Did you buy DRM music from Wal*Mart instead of downloading MP3s for free from the P2P networks? Well, they're repaying your honesty by taking away your music. Unless you go through a bunch of hoops (that you may never find out about, if you've changed email addresses or if you're not a very technical person), your music will no longer be playable after October 9th. But don't worry, this will never ever happen to all those other DRM companies -- unlike little fly-by-night mom-and-pop operations like Wal*Mart, the DRM companies are rock-ribbed veterans of commerce and industry, sure to be here for a thousand years. So go on buying your Audible books, your iTunes DRM songs, your Zune media, your EA games... None of these companies will ever disappear, nor will the third-party DRM suppliers they use. They are as solid and permanent as Commodore, Atari, the Soviet Union, the American credit system and the Roman Empire. "

I don't advocate stealing music from the various services out there - I tend to buy my digital music from Amazon's MP3 service, which has no DRM. However, if I had purchased music that was tied to my PC and I couldn't move it to another PC because the DRM service was shut down, I'd have no problem "stealing" that music again to get what I paid for. Hopefully, if you purchased music like this you can burn it to a CD then re-rip it DRM free. That is what I used to do when I purchased tracks from Naptster and Yahoo before I moved to Amazon. As for Audible books, who buys Audible books with the intent of keeping them and relistening to them?

Head over to the article lined to above to see the heart-warming letter from Wal*Mart to their loyal customers.

Laridian has released a number of new books for their PocketBible program in the last month or so.


New Living Translation Bible Study Notes

Here is a quick rundown:

• New Living Translation Bible Study Notes - This book weighs in at over 32MB and contains maps, over 25,000 notes, illustrations and more. It will work with any installed translation, not just the NLT. Just use the Sync to Verse function to keep your favorite translation sync'd with this reference book. It is $14.99.
• New International Readers Version - This is geared towards younger readers, so if you have any children that you've passed down one of your Windows Mobile devices to, they might enjoy this translation. $14.99, and roughly 3.5MB is required.
• Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Matthew/Mark Vol. 11 - This is part of an 18 volume series on the Bible. $19.99 and needs roughly 1.3MB of space. You can read more about the Cornerstone Biblical Commentary at Tyndale's site.
• Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Romans/Galatians Vol. 14 - Another book in the Cornerstone series. $19.99 and about 1.3MB.

Be sure to check the system requirements for each of these before buying. I believe they will all work with the most recent releases of PocketBible 3 and PocketBible 4, but confirm that on the product page if you have a Smartphone (non-touch screen device) or PocketBible 3 on the Pocket PC. I know they all work with PocketBible 4 for Windows Mobile. If you haven't upgraded to PB4 for Windows Mobile yet, you should. You can read a review of PB4, released earlier in 2008, here. If you are just getting started with PocketBible on your mobile device, consider some of the bundles available at the top of this page, which will give you substantial discounts on a lot of content.

"DataViz®, Inc., leading provider of Office compatibility solutions in its 25th year in business, today (Aug 25, 2007) announced the availability of its flagship mobile office suite Documents To Go® Premium Edition 3.0 for devices running Microsoft® Windows Mobile 6.x Professional and 5.0 for Pocket PC Phone Edition. Already available for Windows Mobile Standard, BlackBerry, Symbian and Palm OS, Documents To Go, will now allow users of Windows Mobile Pocket PC devices to view, edit and create Microsoft Word, Excel® and PowerPoint® files (Windows: Office 97 - 2007, Mac: Office 98-2008) as well as view PDF files on their devices and in their native formats."

As noted, the non-touch-screen devices already had this available, and now it is available for the Pocket PC/Pro crowd. If you think the included versions of Excel, Word and PowerPoint aren't powerful enough for you, you should give the DataVis product a shot. There is a free trial, and you can buy it for $29.99 at the Pocket PC Thoughts Affiliate store. It requires Windows Mobile 5 or higher and runs on just about every screen resolution out there.

"Life as a Windows Mobile developer is rather difficult, and in an effort to expand the ways that developers can offer their products to end users, I have been exploring the viability of a bundle offering. If you are a Mac user in particular, you will likely be familiar with the concept of bundles. In a nutshell, for a purchase price of around $49.99, you receive a selection of top applications at a massive discount. The Bundle.One project has been a considerable amount of time in planning and discussion but I am now at a stage where I need to solicit feedback from your guys to help test the viability of the bundle! Of course, the developers are offering their applications to the bundle at a considerable discount, so the success of the bundle is based on volumes of sales."

Would you be interested in buying software in a bundle like this? Visit the Modaco site to get more details on exactly what Bundle.One would include, then vote Yea or Nay in their poll

"Microsoft Synchronization Services for ADO.NET 1.0 provides the ability to synchronize data from disparate sources. Rather than simply replicating a database and its schema, the Synchronization Services application programming interface (API) provides a set of components to synchronize data between data services and a local store. Applications are increasingly used on mobile clients, such as laptops and devices that do not have a consistent or reliable network connection to a central server. It is crucial for these applications to work against a local copy of data on the client. Equally important is the need to synchronize the local copy of the data with a central server when a network connection is available. The Synchronization Services API, which is modeled after the ADO.NET data access APIs, gives you an intuitive way to synchronize data. It makes building applications for occasionally connected environments a logical extension of building applications where you can count on a consistent network connection. Synchronization Services for ADO.NET 1.0, which released with Visual Studio 2008, enabled synchronization between a server database and a SQL Compact 3.5 client database running on a desktop. With this download, you can also synchronize between a server database and a SQL Compact database on a Windows Mobile 5 or 6 device."

Developers, head over to the Microsoft Download Center and grab Sync Services for ADO.NET on Windows Mobile. The prerequisites are SQL Server Compact 3.5 SP1 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1, so install those if you already haven't done so. Happy syncing!

Virtually no electronic device I own has battery life that impresses me, so the hunt for new ways to keep them powered is never-ending. The ECOSOL Powerstick, with it's small size and simple operation, intrigued me so I requested one for review. I wanted to test the Powerstick in a worst-case scenario, so I completely drained the battery on my HTC Touch Diamond. I then charged the Powerstick fully, and connected the Touch Diamond using the included miniUSB cable. About two hours later, I noticed that the charging circle on the Touch Diamond wasn't pulsing any more - sure enough, the Powerstick was completely drained. The Diamond showed 60% power - which is about right given that the Powerstick battery is 750 mAh and the Touch Diamond has a 900 mAh battery. There's always a bit of efficiency lost when one battery charges another, so I'd guess that the Powerstick would only fully charge a battery that's 700 mAh or less in size. I was also able to recharge my HP iPAQ GPS unit to about 50% capacity (it has a 1700 mAh battery).

Figure 1: The Powerstick includes ten different adaptors. Their Web site says nine, but I counted ten in the package they sent me.

I started re-charging it at 5:25 PM and by 7:00 PM or so it was finished charging, so you can figure it takes around 90 minutes to recharge the Powerstick. You connect your device to the Powerstick using one of the ten included adaptors. It's handy that they provide so many, but many are for mobile phones. There's an iPod adaptor, and a miniUSB adaptor that can be used in a variety of devices, but there's no connector for my Zune for instance, nor my Samsung Blackjack II smartphone. There's a compatibility chart on their Web site that helps you narrow down if your device is supported by one of the bundled tips, but it throws errors in Firefox to view it using Internet Explorer.

The Powerstick is available from Best Buy Canada (hopefully in other places soon) for $69.99 CAD, and herein lies the biggest problem with this product: it's quite expensive for something having such a small battery. It's handy that it comes with so many adaptors, but that seems to add greatly to the price, and if you have devices that aren't supported like I do, they don't sell additional tips so the usefulness of this product is diminished. Compare the Powerstick and its 750 mAh battery with proprietary cables for $69.99 to the PPC Techs Lil Sync Mobile USB Power Pack and its 4400 mAh battery with a USB charging port for $59.99 USD, and you realize that if you want to have more power and more flexibility, albeit at the price of more size and weight, the Powerstick might not be for you. On the other hand, if you have devices that the included cables support, the Powerstick might be exactly what you're looking for: it's small, light, and is very easy to use.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog.

"Today at ITU Telecom Asia, Spb Software, the world's leading maker of Windows Mobile software, releases Spb Online to mobile network operators. Spb Online is a set of premium online services for 3G networks that stimulates subscriber uptake of mobile entertainment. Spb Online makes the following services easily accessible from handsets: Mobile TV, Online Radio, News, Weather, Online Games, On-device Catalog. Spb Online radically changes the on-device user experience, functioning as a clear single entry point to advanced online services from mobiles, and allows mobile network operators capture multiple benefits from 3G networks: Increased ARPU, Branding through fully customized content and UI, Improved subscriber loyalty through quality mobile experience. Spb Online, with its breakthrough patent pending TV technology and unparalleled on-device usability, is a solution that tackles the issue of weak user interest in multimedia services, fuels subscriber content discovery, and unlocks the potential of 3G."

Spb has just announced the availability of Spb Online for Windows Mobile Standard and Professional. But, before you rush off to the Spb Software House web site hoping to download it - while salivating uncontrollably, of course - you should know that it's only available for mobile carriers at this stage. End-users will get a shot later this year.

Jump the break for more screenshots.

"KeyToss mobile is extremely customizable, and similar in concept to iGoogle for mobile, but it's got a lot of cool and unique features, including: the ability to search using dozens of different search tools (e.g., Google, Amazon, IMDb, UPS Package Tracking, Acronym Finder, Dictionary.com, Wikipedia) from one search bar; local searches on Google Local, Yelp, and yellowpages.com based on your stored location; RSS and Atom newsfeeds with mobile-optimized links; localized links (so you don't have to enter your location when you click on Fandango, for example); the ability to organize modules on multiple pages; and file transfers between PC and phone. You can also get sports scores for your favorite (US-based) teams, weather, stock quotes, etc. And you can manage your site from your desktop at www.keytoss.com."

Mobile data is great to have, but while some sites either scale nicely or offer a seperate mobile version, others can crash your browser as you see "heavy" entry pages. A mobile portal is a convenient way to be able to pull frequently requested data into one location. Speaking of location, KeyToss will access location-aware data without requiring GPS so you won't have to re-enter a zipcode on some sites. WapReview compared it very favorably to iGoogle. You can check out a desktop representation or visit the site directly on your smartphone or other mobile device at http://m.keytoss.com. For those that use a mobile portal, does KeyToss offer enough unique features for you to switch?

"Imagine if web sites could provide you with customized information based on your current location, even if you don't have GPS. Today we're launching the Gears Geolocation API for mobile and desktop browsers, while two third-party developers are launching the first location-enabled web apps using this API on Windows Mobile. One of the most popular travel sites in the Europe, lastminute.com, has now location-enabled their new mobile restaurant finder to help you find restaurants near you without requiring you to type in where you are. If you're in the UK, just go to fonefood at m.lastminute.com, click the "Find your location" link on the home page, select the type of restaurant you want, and lastminute.com will automatically work out which neighbourhood and city you are in and find matching restaurants."

Google Gears continues to evolve, and now with the ability to integrate location based information to Gears based apps, a step closer to taking all the information your handheld can handle and merging it together for useful purposes has been taken. I wonder if the next multimillionaire will be someone who monitors police band radio, enters up-to-the-minute speed trap information into a database, and beams it to my handheld as I drive! Of course they'd remember where they got the idea when they're sitting at the top ;)

"Kinoma Play ($29.99) is the new media player we've been hinting at in our series of media player reviews this past week. It's essentially a super-charged media player that aims to make media you find on the internet as easy to find, play, and interact with as the media stored locally on your memory card. Those of you familiar with Kinoma Player EX on the Palm OS are going to be pleased to hear that all the functionality of the PalmOS's player is here and then some."

I've seen a lot of software come and go on the Windows Mobile platform, but watching this video and reading about Kinoma leaves me with the impression that this is one of the most impressive media players I've ever seen. The functionality, and the blending of local and online content, is extremely impressive. From an audio playback standpoint, it's a shame so many device makers use miniUSB or 2.5mm headphone jacks - I hate having to use adaptors. Check out Kinoma's Web site for a trial download.

One thing that Kinoma doesn't seem to have a good grasp on though is getting the software onto the devices. Kinoma Play isn't available in any of our software stores at MobiHand or Handango, and when I downloaded the software directly from their Web site it was only a CAB file - normally I wouldn't mind a CAB file, but when I tried to install it I received an error on my Blackjack II: "Installation was unsuccessful. The program or setting cannot be installed because it does not have sufficient system permissions." I've installed two other programs via CAB files today, so I'm not sure why Kinoma Play won't install. Hopefully you'll have better luck than I did!

For the next 11 hours or so, ListPro by Ilium Software is 51% off. Most of you know what ListPro is, but may not have taken the leap yet to buy it. For those of you that don't, think of it as sitting somewhere between your Outlook Tasks and a rich flat-file database. A ListPro list can be nothing more than a simple checklist of items or can be as elaborate as having dates, columns that automatically perform calculations based on data in other columns and even trigger alarms if desired.



If you've tried it but never taken the plunge, now is the time at only $9.95. If you have never tried it, you can download a trial version at Ilium Software's site, but don't spend too much time playing with it. At midnight EST (I think), it reverts back to its normal price

ListPro runs on Windows XP, Vista, Windows Mobile Pro/Classic (Pocket PC), and Windows Mobile Standard (Smartphone) and will sync list files via ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center between your PC and mobile device, assuming you have purchased the correct clients.

"Starting this fall, T-Mobile USA will take the extraordinary step of ditching its traditional deck on the phone and replacing it with a platform that's open to almost any developer, multiple sources have told us. Think of Apple's App store, but for the entire carrier's handset line-up from smartphone to feature phone. As one developer, who was briefed on the matter, said: "The App store was a big deal, but that's one phone. This is an entire carrier." In other words, we are talking about T-Mobile's 31.5 million subscribers today vs. the 10 million iPhones Apple expects to sell by year-end."

That could be a really good experience for the end user, and quite a benefit for application developers as well. T-Mobile is committed to supporting the Sidekick and Windows Mobile phones, as well as those that support Java applications. The cut T-Mobile takes will depend on the bandwidth the app uses, so a streaming video app would garner a larger cut for T-Mobile than a PIM app that may rarely, if ever, use the network directly. There are no details on how the end user will access this, though I assume it would be some app on the phone itself that would be like a catalog. I hope T-Mobile makes this app, or whatever the mechanism is, available to people with current phones and even unlocked phones that have a T-Mobile SIM in it.

There's a fresh breeze going through HTC HQ at the moment. The company has opened up ROM updates to almost everyone. I say "almost", because you still need your device's serial number to download the updates, but that's a heck of a lot better than the notoriously flaky process of registering your device in the e-Club.

With ROM updates available in the Support section, the e-Club now serves as a hub for mobile content. While only twenty ringtones are up for grabs at the moment, they're surprisingly decent. Four of them are the tunes featured in the Touch Diamond promo videos. The rest are a mix of electronic, folk, rock, hip-hop, and new age beats. You do need to be an e-Club member to download them, but it's free for anyone (even non-HTC customers) to register.

Another interesting discussion came up on the private Mobius discussion list, and my response was a bit long so I thought it was worth sharing here. One of the Mobius group members made a comment about how it was time for something to be done to separate the firmware from the customizations that operators made - allowing for easy OS and application updates. My response, slightly expanded for public consumption...

We were at that point back in 2001 when some of the first generation Pocket PCs were denied upgrades to the new OS. This has been a sore point for Windows Mobile from the start.

iPhone = Two phones + one OS + one company = easy updates

Zune = Three devices + one OS + one company = easy updates

Windows Mobile = Dozens (hundreds?) of phones + two OS' + dozens of companies = nightmare update scenario

This issue has come up time and time again: because of all the different phone hardware, and the low-level software customization required for drivers and whatnot, OS updates and even simple patches are much more complicated than they could be if the underlying system was simpler. Every time there's a new version of Windows Mobile, we hear that updates are going to be made easier, but it never seems to translate into actual updates for users. Someone smarter than me can probably explain this, but on desktop PCs (at least with Windows) you have a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) that takes care of certain important things related to hardware and software talking to each other. Here's part of the Wikipedia definition:

"A hardware abstraction layer (HAL) is an abstraction layer, implemented in software, between the physical hardware of a computer and the software that runs on that computer. Its function is to hide differences in hardware from most of the operating system kernel, so that most of the kernel-mode code does not need to be changed to run on systems with different hardware. On a PC, HAL can basically be considered to be the driver for the motherboard and allows instructions from higher level computer languages to communicate with lower level components, such as directly with hardware."It's easiest to understand the HAL by thinking about the fact that you can install Windows on tens of thousands of different types of PCs, from old to new, and there's usually some generic driver that will give you basic functionality. There is no HAL on Windows Mobile phones, so every chip that's different from one phone to the next requires customized software and firmware. This means extra work for the OEMs, and every OEM has to decide if it makes business sense for them to put the resources into developing the update. We've all seen the results of that.

Why isn't there a HAL for Windows Mobile? Adding a HAL would reduce performance and efficiency, worsening battery life and speed - one estimate I heard was 20%. I'd gladly take a 20% hit in battery life and performance if it meant receiving regular updates from Microsoft to a Microsoft operating system. Would you? That's the question that Microsoft should be asking users. The phone networks probably could care less, because they don't make money off updates, but Microsoft should care because it's their operating system. Microsoft ceded too much control to the phone networks - they had to do that to get into the game years ago, but now that they're an established player in the market, it's time to regain control of the customer and their operating system. It's a matter of brand control and customer perception - when something goes wrong on their Windows Mobile phone, the customer isn't going to mutter a curse at Verizon or T-Mobile - they're going to mutter that curse at Microsoft.

There's also no good distribution mechanisms for updates either: iPhone users connect to iTunes, get notified of updates, and install them - all without losing any data. Windows Mobile users? Only the geeky ones hear about AKU updates or OS updates and track them down either on the phone network sites, or maybe the OEM sites if they're lucky. And they'll probably have to re-install all their programs and re-sync all their data. What kind of a system is that? And I haven't even mentioned the mockery that is the never-used device-side Windows Update. If the user were to be notified about a new version of their operating system when they connect to Windows Mobile Device Center for instance (great idea Rocco!), and given the option to purchase it, I'm certain the OEMs would see more revenue for their efforts. Microsoft needs to solve the problem of updates wiping out user data as well - that's just ridiculous. Who would have installed Vista SP1 if it meant re-loading the whole damn operating system?

The Windows Mobile system for updates is broken from top to bottom. Too much power is in the hands of the phone networks, and Microsoft hasn't done enough to claim control over their own operating system. We've all known how broken this system is for years, but the simplicity of iPhone updates drives the point home in powerful way: updates to a smartphone should be fast, simple, and user-friendly. Now what are you going to do about that Microsoft?

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He's envious of the speed and simplicity with which iPhones get software updates.

Some good news for our Canadian readers: I just got off the phone with Rogers Canada, and according to the woman I spoke with, the 6 GB of monthly data for $30/month is an open offer to all 3G smartphones, including Windows Mobile phones. There are some caveats on this, the biggest being it has to be a new three-year activation, or involve a hardware upgrade. The reality is that Rogers wan't to either acquire you as a new customer, or get you to drop a few hundred dollars in hardware, in order to qualify for this offer - but even with that, this still seems like a staggeringly good deal. So good, in fact, I'm not sure I'm going to believe it until I've switched from Fido and see my first bill. Any of my fellow Canadians going to jump on this offer? It apparently ends August 31st (though that may just be marketing hype).

The insanity for us Canadians continues - I posted about the original rumour, $30 for unlimited data, with a sense of enthusiasm. Then I was crushed when the pricing was officially announced and it was completely idiotic - no unlimited data plans, and even the data caps were pretty silly (400 MB doesn't last long when you're browsing full Web pages and streaing YouTube videos). Engadget reported on a rumour that Apple was ticked off about this as well and they actually diverted a good chunk of the iPhones meant for Rogers to Europe - highly amusing if true. ;-) And now we have another rumour: 6 GB of data for $30/month. I have no idea of this is true, but I can only hope it is - and I can equally hope that I'll be able to get one of these plans and use it with my Windows Mobile phone. I guess I'll know pretty soon...

If you're a gadget freak like me, you carry lots of electronics with you most of the time. My new car has only two power outlets. So what do you do if you're on a long trip, your GPS unit's power supply is taking up one of your power outlets, and both your cell phone and your companion's cell phone need charging?

Proporta comes to the rescue with their Car Power Supply with Dual USB Sockets ($14.95 USD). Many new devices use a USB cable for charging, so Proporta's supply is just the ticket in this situation. It features 2 USB sockets flanked by the ubiquitous blue LEDs on either side. I've grown to rely on quality materials and construction from Proporta's products, and the power supply lives up to those expectations.

And how well does it work? Very well indeed. My Garmin GPS unit, Sansa View music player and Plantronics Bluetooth headset were all accommodated nicely by the Proporta charger. However, be aware of the fact that some devices don't support charging in this manner, even if they will charge when the USB cable is connected to a computer. My Motorola Q smartphone is one example... it will charge when connected via USB to my laptop, but not when the USB cable is connected to a power adaptor. So while my Q doesn't work with the Proporta charger, it's the phone's fault, not the charger's.

The Car Power Supply is ideal for long trips and emergency use, and $14.95 is a small price to pay for so much convenience. Highly recommended. You can order one online here.

Doug Raeburn is a data architect specializing in data warehouses. He lives in Pewaukee, WI.

• Graphical phone experience featuring user avatar, status updates, and media gallery
• Mobile access to photos & videos located on your Dashwire web account – even if the actual media files aren’t on your phone
• Photo uploads from your computer to your Dashwire web account, which then automatically appear on your phone
• Media editing, blogging, and sharing with friends – on the go as you’re capturing your experiences
• Direct status updates to Facebook & Twitter
• Privacy controls & media publishing"