Microsoft’s MSDN site has an article titled…
What’s New for Developers in Windows Mobile 6
You might want to take a look at this article even if you are not a developer. You might get an idea of the possibilities for new or upgraded software for Windows Mobile 6 devices.
I find lists very useful. So, I use Ilium ListPro, Excel Mobile, Tasks, and (with some embarrassment admitting this), 3×5 index cards (I buy ’em in bulk). I also use Wikis a lot to jot down information in a semi-structured way. But, I didn’t really see any web based solution that worked with my phone the way I wanted to work.
Today, however, I learned about gubb.net. Like many things that I find interesting and useful, it does variations on a single theme: Manage lists online. What really impressed me though were the options it gave me from a mobile perspective. You can use SMS like other mobile services do. But, I don’t like to use SMS because my provider charges for each one and I generally do not use SMS enough to justify an add-on service with more SMS units. You can also use email to add to or request a list. Now, this is something that seemed very useful to me. It would let me add to a list even in a disconnected mode (e.g., on a flight somewhere) because I could just add things to a list in email messages and then send them off when connectivity was reestablished. It also has a nice simple mobile formatted site at http://gubb.net/m. This stripped down site looks and works fine on my Smartphone. And, it works from a desktop too. So, you can use it even when in bandwidth challenged situations (e.g., on a notebook connected to the net via an EDGE connection).
I’m looking forward to seeing how this site’s service develops.
Microsoft’s Live Labs has a preview release of an enhanced browser for Windows Mobile 5 (or, presuably, 6) Pocket PCs and Smartphones.
Deepfish Technology Preview: Enhanced Browsing for Windows Mobile
The website says Deepfish is currently only available by invite only to a small number of beta users. However, download versions for both the Pocket PC and Smartphone appears to proceed without any issues. You can see a video demo of it on Microsoft’s On10.net website.
EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: New mobile web browser – Deepfish!
The Windows Mobile Pocket PC (I refuse to refer to it as “Professional Edition”) defaults to displaying on the next upcoming appointment on its Today screen. Did you know you can change this? Here’s how…
If you head back to the Today screen, you should see a list of appointments for the current day and often spilling over to the next day’s appointments.
One of Windows Mobile 6’s more interesting new features (and it doesn’t have many) is the ability to encrypt data on a storage card. Ah, but pay close attention to some gotchas in these two blog entries from Microsoft Windows Mobile staffers…
Jason Langridge’s WebLog – MR Mobile!: Storage card wipe and encryption – What’s the deal?
Windows Mobile Team Blog (Scott): Windows Mobile 6 Storage Card Encryption FAQ
The scarier info comes from the FAQ above. Why scary? Consider this… If you forget your PIN, the only way to recover is from an escrowed recovery PIN stored on an Exchange Server. But, what if you don’t use Exchange Server? Ah, you see the problem there.
What if the Windows Mobile device is hard reset? Um, basically the response is tough luck.
The moral to this story? If you choose to use storage card encryption, make sure you understand all possible consequences and create manual policies and procedures to make sure you can get access to data on storage cards used in devices under your control.
Every so often I think about starting a podcast or videocast. This lasts about as long as it takes me to remember how much work it takes to put one together on a regular basis :-)Â If I create a mobile themed podcast someday, it would seem appropriate to actually record it on a mobile device once it a while. Here’s a freeware tool for Windows Mobile Pocket PCs that might make this task a little easier.
Audacity Personal DVR for Pocket PC