My Digital Life

What happened to JETware?

JETware Hands-free Bluetooth extension for Windows Mobile has been an invaluable piece of software to synchronize my device with my BMW in car ULF Bluetooth system. It allows me to synchronize my address book by category, view text and email headers on my navigation screen, display caller id information, and provide the appropriate status information for no signal and roaming. The software license is locked to your IMEI. I have been using it since my T-Mobile MDA and have switched phones several times. Each time I would send an email to support with my new IMEI and within 7 days I would receive a new activation code. In December I did the same for my new Tilt, however I never received a response. JETware did create an automated system to switch IMEI but for some reason I am not in the system (probably because I was an early adopter) and since support won't answer I am stuck. Watching the JETware forums, it seems I am not the only one having support issues ignored. What happened to the developer? He was offering a great application at a very reasonable price, maybe he was not making enough to invest the time required to properly support the product, just a hunch since selling Windows Mobile software is a tough and not necessarily a money making business. If that is the case he should say so and maybe offer his software to the open source community (xda-developers) so everyone can benefit.

My 30 day trial is now up and I to continue using it I have to purchase another license. In the end I don't have that big of a problem spending $14.95 (I need it), however that was not the deal when I originally purchased the product. I think JETware owes users an explanation of what happened. If anyone knows please comment.

PhatWare releases Calligrapher 8.6

PhatWare's just announced the release of CalliGrapher 8.6. This is a free upgrade to users of CalliGrapher 8.x.

I have been using Calligrapher on my Windows Mobile device since before the days of integrated keyboards. With my Tilt, I still use it quite a bit switching between the keyboard and handwriting using CalliGrapher's Write Pad. Calligrapher has gotten better with every version. Version 8.5 recognition was very good but slow, hopefully 8.6 will speed things up.

When I installed PhatPad 4.4, PhatWare also include their PhatUpdate utility which can update their software as well as WebIS' over the air. I used it to update CalliGrapher. I will report back next week how I like version 8.6.

Directv web based DVR Scheduler to be released on 1/23

dbstalk.com had reported that Directv would release DVR scheduling on January 17th. I tried signing on this morning and got the following notice:

The m.directv.com web site page after I tried to sign in. It looks like the 23rd is the magic date...

Get Pocket Informant 2007 free today and tomorrow

I am a big fan of WebIS' Pocket Informant. Along with SBSH's Pocket Breeze, it is the main applications, other than email,  I use on my Windows Mobile device. My last review of Pocket Informant was for PI 2007 Revision 1 (pocketnow.com review link),

pocketpcthoughts.com is offering a great opportunity to get Pocket Informant 2007 Revision 4 for free today and tomorrow. Follow this link and use coupon code PIFREE. If you have not used it, try it you will never go back to the Microsoft PIM.

Daylight Saving Times - Don't forget to update your Windows Mobile device if you have not done so...

In the US and Canada we will "fall back" into Standard Time on November 4th , If you have not updated your device previously, I would recommend doing to now. the Windows Mobile update can be found here.

You can download the update directly on your Windows Mobile device using Pocket Internet Explorer and this URL http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile.

The Windows Mobile mobile update page.

The week of October 29th in My Digital Life

Last Saturday, I received a Verizon Samsung SCH-i760 Windows Mobile phone to review for pocketnow.com. This phone has an interesting form factor with a numeric phone keypad on the front and a sliding qwerty keyboard. It has a 400MHZ processor and will be an interesting comparison to my T-Mobile Wing's 260MHZ overclocked processor. This will be my first video review. The video reviews are usually made up of 6 clips lasting about 3 minutes. They detail the aspects and operation of the device. I posted the  first in the series (the unboxing) today at pocketnow.com. This is an interesting medium, which requires more practice on my part...I am using my Sony DSC-W70 7.2 MP still camera to shoot the videos. I am consistently amazed at the quality of the videos it takes.

I finally finished my comparison of Windows Live Search 2.5 and Google Maps applications for Windows Mobile. During the process, I was amazed how much better Windows Live Search was than Google Maps. The article should get posted shortly on pocketnow.com.

These days it seems Apple makes news every couple of days. Today, the Wall Street Journal had article about Apple's new policy on the sale of iPhones. They will no longer accept cash and are limiting purchases to 2 units per person (the previous limit was 5). They are trying to stem the flow of sales to resellers. Tim Cook, Apple's COO mentioned in a conference call with analysts last week that Apple estimates that out of the 1.4 Million iPhone solds, 250,000 were purchased by customers intending to hack them (a fairly significant number). The iPhone dev team has finally put together a simple method to jailbreak version 1.1.1. Instructions can be found here. I may restore via iTunes this week and try it.

This week:

• Work on part 1 and 2 of my video review of the SCH-i760.
• Finnish a review of the iqua BHS-303 Bluetooth headset. Bluetooth headset are getting better and better, this one is quite impressive so far
• I am also adding a Sirius satellite receiver to my BMW. After my navigation computer and radio tuner upgrade, this should be plug and play. The real work will be installing the antenna inside the X5's rear spoiler, but the X5world instructions are excellent.

GMail gets IMAP

Google is in the process of implementing IMAP support for GMail (link). I mention in "process", since the option has not yet shown up on my settings page under Forwarding and POP, the new page link will display Forwarding and POP/IMAP.

It looks like they are targeting their help to iPhone users...

The week of October 15th in My Digital Life

As of yesterday Directv has launched over 70 of the 100 HD channels promised by year's end. They have started an all out media campaign to enroll HD subscribers by touting their lead over the cable companies. This is a good, given that it will take some time for the cable companies to react. The cable companies are stuck in the mire of having to transmit older analog signals which eats up a major portion of their bandwidth. They have to start managing bandwidth in the same way Directv has done from day 1. It will be interesting to see how many cable subscribers Directv is able to capture.

Last week the iPhone dev team finally broke through Apple's new encryption mechanism in the iPhone's latest firmware. Currently there seems to be only one solution to unlock the GSM phone; iPhoneSimFree (IPSF) is a paying service ($59.99) which seems to truly unlock the phone vs patching the baseband radio firmware. I plan on trying this method this week, however I have to first restore my baseband radio firmware in order to use IPSF. The process is the same as when I used patched the baseband in the first place, I just have to use Apple's original baseband firmware.

I have been working on a Windows Mobile Google Maps vs Windows Live Search comparison, just to learn today that there is a new version which includes voice recognition. This is a pretty big leap frog over what Google offers. I will have to see how well it works. My client update feature did not light up, so I downloaded it using Pocket IE at http://wls.live.com. The version is 2.5.2840.19676. The new version includes gas prices, pretty cool.

This week:

• Rework my comparison of Windows Live Search 2.5 and Google Maps for Windows Mobile.
• Update my iPhone to 1.1.1 and use iPhoneSimFree to unlock the phone.

Ilium Software releases Tipster 2.1 (a free Windows Mobile application)

Ilium Software just released version 2.1 of their free Tipster tip and tax calculator.

Per Ilium Software Blog:

"Tipster 2.1 is fully optimized for Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows Mobile 6, and is compatible with your Pocket PC (Windows Mobile Professional) or Smartphone (Windows Mobile Standard) device. Visit our free products page to download your copy of this great free application today!"

Windows Mobile - Daylight Savings Time update

Microsoft just released a Windows Mobile update for Daylight Savings Time for both 5.0 and 6. I thought the DST fix was part of Windows Mobile 6, I guess I was wrong.

From Microsoft:

"This release updates time zone registry data for New Zealand and Western Australia in addition to US, Canada, and Mexico DST related issues in 2007."

Download link.