MobileViews Blog

I posted the MobileViews Weekly Podcast #2 summarizing blog items here for the week ending Dec. 29, 2007.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy mobile holiday season!

More mobile tech commentary and Back to Basics blog items are on the way to close out 2007 and start 2008.

I testing the idea of a weekly podcast summarizing and commenting on my blog entries here. You can find the RSS feed for the podcast at…

MobileViews Podcast RSS Feed

The podcast itself with a built-in web audio player can be found at…

MobileViews Podcast 1 20071221

I recorded the audio using Vito Technology’s SoundExplorer on an HTC Advantage Pocket PC Phone Edition. I recorded it outdoors using the Advantage’s built-in microphone. Based on this initial experiment, I’ll record indoors on windy days . I’ll probably experiment with recording techniques and topic presentation formats. So, please let me know if you have any, ahem, constructive suggestions.

I have no idea what to do on or with my Facebook account (now two days old). But, I created a MobileViews group there anyway. So, if you have a Facebook account, drop by the group (click on the link in the previous sentence) or use Facebook’s mobile friendly website on your phone or PDA and search for a group named mobileviews.

m.facebook.com

Although the MobileViews.com site has been around for many years, this version of the blog just reached its first anniversary since its relaunch on July 22, 2006.

The blog had been down for many months after one of those former web hosts and broken software sob-stories. And, it took a while to decide to get back to blogging after that horrible experience.

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to visit this blog more than once And, a special thanks to everyone who took the time and effort to comment on a blog post. When you agree, disagree, or correct an error on my part, it is all appreciated.

Well, in the category of, you sure took your sweet time to get around to doing this… I finally went over to AlexKing.org to download and install his…

WordPress Mobile Edition Plugin

If you visit this blog ( http://mobileviews.com/blog ), you should see a mobile friendly formatted view similar to the screencap above (viewed using a Dell Axim X50v running Windows Mobile 2003 2nd Edition). The top level page does not include images. However, viewing individual blog items does include images (if present).

I’ll be in San Francisco attending the O’Reilly/CMP Web 2.0 Expo this week. So, my blog posts may be lighter than usual this week (not daily). If you are at the Expo and see my name (Todd Ogasawara) on a name tag, say hello!

I’m flying to Seattle on Sunday and will spend the week there attending the Microsoft MVP Summit. I’m planning to update this blog while visiting Seattle. But, hang in there if I don’t post as frequently (daily) as usual.

Check out my MobileViews TumBlog. I’m planning to update it at least a couple of times a day with cameraphone photos while in Seattle. If you are unfamiliar with Tumblr TumbleBlogs, check out the blog item I wrote about it on my other blog focusing on Freeware, Open Source Software, and free Web Services at: OgasaWalrus.com.

See you on the net!

I rarely go off-topic on my blogs. But, I’ll an exception for this blog tagging game going on. I was blog tagged by Julie Van De Water from the Ilium Software Blog (Ilium produces outstanding products for Windows Mobile devices). I don’t know who originated this particular tree of the game, but here’s reference that explains what is going on: The Blog Tag Tree. There are two basic requirements after getting tagged: 1. Share five things about yourself. 2. Tag five other bloggers. So, here goes.

1. Although this blog tends to focus on Windows Mobile Pocket PC/Phone Edition and Smartphone devices (and an iPod reference now and then), I actually bought and still own a Palm OS device: A Handspring Visor from around, hmm, 1999 or 2000. I dusted it off, put in two fresh AA batteries, and, yep, it fired up right away (unlike all of the iPaqs I have which have all died - HP! Bring back the Jornada engineers!). You can see the photo I took today of the still functioning Handspring Visor above.
2. The reason I own one is that I briefly worked as a contractor for ZDNet from 2000 to 2001. Why? The whole group MSN ComputingCentral Online Managers had their contracts moved from the Microsoft Network to ZDNet when Microsoft tried to revamp MSN. Then, the whole group was disbanded in the Spring of 2001 as part of the great Dot-com Implosion period.
3. I prefer to use a Pocket PC because it has a much richer application universe but I generally carry around a Smartphone because it is easier to carry.
4. Although most people know me from the days I was a contractor for the Microsoft Network or as a proponent of Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Platform, the desktop or notebook in front of me is often a Mac. I pretty much use everything: Windows XP/Vista, Linux, and Mac OS X. And, I’ve really gotten to appreciate the Mac over the last two years.
5. I watch a lot of TV shows on the… Disney Channel (!?!)… with my daughter and actually enjoy a bunch of them. It is a nice change of pace from the often dark and grim shows on other networks. I don’t think I have yet sufficiently explained to her how Kim Possible is a descendent of the James Bond movies.

Now, here are the five bloggers I’m tagging…

1. Ryan & Jen Ozawa - The Transmission. Ryan and Jen became famous for their unofficial Lost Podcast. Ryan even made the front page of Wired.com after Ryan and Jen dropped the Lost Podcast at its height of popularity.
2. Burt Lum - Bytemarks. Burt’s one of the local uber-geeks in my hometown and gathers a group of other geeks for an extremely enjoyable in-person and informal monthly lunch gathering.
3. Derrick Story - The Digital Story. Derrick is an great professional photographer and the author of numerous photography and Mac-related books for O’Reilly Media.
4. Jaap van Ekris - Modern Nomads. Jaap, like me, has been recognized as a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) in the Mobile Devices area. You may have read some of the articles I’ve referred to in a couple of blog items here.
5. Frank McPherson - Pocket PC How2. Frank is the author of several editions (4th came out last year) of How to Do Everything with Your Pocket PC (renamed How to do Everything with Windows Mobile for the most recent edition). I had the privilege of helping a little by being a technical editor for the various editions.

There are currently three separate MobileViews blogs:

• Mobile News & Views
• MobileViews Q&A Mailbag
• MobileViews What’s New Here?

This is clearly two too many blogs for a small site like this one. So, these three blogs are being folded into this new single blog creatively named MobileViews Blog

So, you can visit here for news about mobile technology, my responses to questions I get in email (of which I have a backlog for which I apologize), and news about this site and ye olde editor: Todd Ogasawara.