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Wed January 05 2005

New BetaPlayer 0.095d test build available

05:25 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Gabor Kovacs aka Picard has released a new test build (0.095d) of the upcoming BetaPlayer 0.096. The plugin supporting the Intel 2700 accelerator chip of the Axim X50v is now open-source! In addition, the final 0.096 will include the following new features and fixes:

+optional software volume handling
+windows ce shortcut support
+intel xscale lcd controller (flipping and hardware vertical scale)
+default install supports aac le,he,ps profiles
+intel2700g plugin added to main install (open-sourced)
+plugin sources are includeded in main source repository
-divx audio with windows media codec fix
-wince 4.x window media codecs on non pocketpc fix
-corrections with libfaad usage and mp4 file format
-another mpeg4 header parser fix
-avi framerate and opendml fixes
-taskbar can be hidden
-uninstall restores file associations
-user input thread priority changed (for buggy keyboard drivers)
-better handling of low memory situation
-perfering gapi over raw framebuffer with smartphones
-minor bugfixes

[ 2 replies ]


WM2005 better but not enough? - and other predictions

05:14 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

We're almost stifling a yawn this time around, but here is yet another prediction for 2005, and unlike some others one that is well worth a read.

Jeff from Writing On Your Palm writes that Windows Mobile 2005 (aka Magneto) will be better than 2003SE, but not enough better to really matter. Ultra-portable computers (UPS) such as the OQO will remain niche products. RIM will expand its smartphone market presence with the Blackberry device. PalmOne will remain profitable and focus on the consumer (not geek!) user. The HP iPAQ will be slowly discontinued in favor of upcoming UPS devices. Geeks will enjoy upcoming portable video recorders (PVR). The first PalmOS Cobalt-based smartphone will be released in 1Q'05 by Samsung. There will be a rebirth of PalmOS in the "feature phone" (less powerful than smartphone) world. There will be no PalmOS on Linux before 2006. Tapwave will continue to challenge the game console market.

I agree with Jeff up to the point of where he predicts that WM 2005 wouldn't be a big deal. Unlike the current version (WM2003SE), which is still based on Windows CE 4.2, WM 2005 will be based on Windows CE 5.0. Because of this change, Magneto will include:
- ActiveSync 4.0.
- Support for Security Zones in Pocket IE.
- Revisions to Pocket Word and Pocket Excel.
- Direct3D Mobile (D3DMobile), a graphics solution built on DirectX (mobile gamers and movie fans will love this).
- SQL Mobile database engine in both Smartphone and Pocket PC.
- Two-button soft-button interface for Pocket PC OS.
- Smartphone 2005 icon-based desktop similar to the ones used by Sony-Ericsson and Palm.

I am sure the Direct3D Mobile feature alone would be worth a switch to Pocket PC for a lot of game freaks out there.

[ 0 replies ]


Tue January 04 2005

Read e-books through RSS feeds

01:32 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Russell Beattie added a nifty new feature to his Mobdex ('Content for Mobiles') - project. You can now have small chunks of an e-book delivered to you daily via RSS feed. In other words, we don't accept any more excuses ('lack of time') for not having read classics such as H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. How-to-use, taken from Russell's blog:

Simply find a book, note it's ID number, then subscribe to the RSS feed like this:

http://www.mobdex.com/rss?book=116&id=russ

The ID can be anything, but because I'm not checking for duplicates or want to deal with a registration process, it's better to use something unique like your email or something secret yet unique. This RSS will return the first "page" of text in that book to your RSS aggregator. If the first few pages are gobbledygook (as Project Gutenberg books sometimes are) or you want to go back a few "pages", simply reset the counter (which increments +1 "page" per day you've checked the site) by appending a "page" parameter like "&page=12".

And if you're a speed reader and want the pages to be updated more frequently, add an "interval" parameter in minutes. This would produce another page for my aggregator every couple of hours:

http://www.mobdex.com/rss?book=116&id=russ&interval=120

And what is Mobdex?
Mobdex contains several hundred public domain e-books from Project Gutenberg, dynamically reformatted to be readable on the web and modern mobile browsers.

[ 1 reply ]


Mon January 03 2005

IM+ Instant Messenger for free at Handango

07:53 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Handango is giving out for free IM+ Mobile Instant Messenger for Pocket PC this week!

If you are looking for a complete mobile Instant Messaging solution, you should definitely get this free offer. IM+ works with AOL, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo! and Jabber, is a Pocket PC Mag Hot Download Pick and a Pocket PC Magazine 2004 Awards Winner.

[ 9 replies ]


Engadget Awards 2004 Winners

07:25 PM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Engadget has announced the winners of its 2004 Awards. Among the winners we find the Apple iPod 4G (who would have thought), the Dell Axim X50v, and the Apple AirPort Express. Interestingly, Engadget's pick for the "Disappointment of the Year" is palmOne's Treo 650!

[ 3 replies ]


Metacritic Books reviews

07:12 PM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Metacritic has been covering reviews for movies, music, and games for years. Now they are finally also covering books:

We are pleased to launch our new Metacritic Books section with a database of approximately 150 books drawn from the second half of 2004. To start, we plan on adding to our database by, on average, about one new book a day, and if all goes well, we'll pick up the pace a bit next year.

A must-stop for every book and e-book fan!

Let's hope that someone will soon update their mobile-friendly page to also include the book reviews!

[ 0 replies ]


Benchmark test of new 2GB SD cards

06:57 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Lisa Gade from PDA Buyer Guide has benchmarked ATP's next-generation 2GB SD cards.

Clear enough, the 2GB card (VFSMark: 740) tested on a palmOne Tungsten T3 beats out both the 256MB Kingston Elite Pro (VFSMark: 621) and 256MG SanDisk Standard (VFSMark: 229) cards in the test.

On the same page you also find a benchmark test on the ATP 512MB Mini SD card, which is surprisingly just as fast (VFSMark: 742) as its big 2GB brother.

Mrs Gade calls the cards reasonable priced; still, I hope the price for a 2GB SD card will soon be way below the MSRP of $249.

[ 0 replies ]


PdaMobileWeb - mobile web index

06:40 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Mobile Sites

The news is spreading fast today on almost every PDA-related site:

PalmZone.net's MobileWeb site index of PDA-friendly links has been expanded and now has its own PdaMobileWeb.com address. The new site name better reflects that the content is suitable for all PDA's and cell phones, including Palm, Pocket PC, and other operating systems. Several new site categories and subcategories have been added along with dozens of new sites since its initial release.

If you like the index site by Tim Nicholson of PalmZone, you should also visit Antonio Perrotta's PDAPortal.com, which is still my favorite place (after Mobileread of course!) for finding PDA-friendly sites.

[ 0 replies ]




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