So you have Windows 7 and you are all fired up about installing it on your netbook. The problem is that your netbook doesn’t have a CD or DVD player built in which means that DVD media that Windows 7 comes on is pretty much a coaster. You can solve the problem by popping $80-90 bucks on an external drive, but what if you could make that 4GB USB flash drive do the magic for you? Well you can, and it is pretty straight forward to do. All you need is a 4GB or bigger USB flash drive, a little bit of patience and your Windows 7 media.

Continue Reading

It is not a so-well-kept secret that I travel quite a bit for my day job. While 2009 has seen a slow down in travel for me, I still will easily make my American Airlines Platinum status for the 4th year in a row. As a reminder to everyone: Airline status is not something to be proud of. It means that you spend too much time on airplanes and that you know exactly which seats and rows have power outlets… but I digress. Since September 11, 2001 the single biggest challenge with air travel has not necessarily been the airlines but the security process you have to go through in order to get to your gate. I’m not complaining – security has kept us from having any significant airline issues since 9/11 – but it can be challenging, especially for seasoned travelers.

Normally when you go through the security checkpoint at the airport you are required to remove your laptop from your bag and put it in a seperate tray in order to be x-rayed amongst the other things you have to removed from your person – shoes, belts, etc. For most this is not that big of a deal but for people who have a lot of stuff in their bag along with their computer, it can take a minute or so to get the computer out of the bag and onto the belt. Meanwhile, the seasoned travelers are tapping their toe behind you waiting impatiently.

To help solve this challenge of travel, Skooba Designs has released a wide range of bags they refer to as their Checkthrough series. This series of bags are approved by the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) for allowing your computer to remain in the bag and be x-rayed. It is a tremendous time saver, especially on those days when the airport security is exceptionally busy. Skooba Designs was kind enough to send me the Checkthrough Roller bag for this review and after several trips with it I have to say it is a winner. Not only does it help you get through security checkpoints but it is a roomy and functional roller bag.

The Skooba Checkthrough Roller Bag

Continue Reading

Today is a pretty cool day for Windows Mobile developers. Today Microsoft has begun accepting submissions to the all new Windows Marketplace!

Starting today, registered developers and ISVs can upload their application, game or widget to the platform and Microsoft will begin the certification process of them according to their published process, policies and guidelines. They are certifying applications on a First In, First Out basis. The certification process takes about 10 business days but you can always check the status of your application online. If for some reason your application does not get certified you will get a detailed explanation of why so you can try it again. The good news is that Microsoft has published all of the guidelines and policies as well as the tool set they will be using. Frankly, there shouldn’t be too many surprises.

To encourage developers, Microsoft has created a contest named The Race to Market Challenge. The prize? Two winners will get Microsoft Surface tables – the Developer edition no less – along with online marketing and promotion of their application. Oh, and you get a cool trophy as well!

Applications will be judged on:

- Most downloads of a free app
- Most valuable app (downloads x price)
- Most useful (as judged by Microsoft panel)
- Most playful (as judged by Microsoft panel)

The contest ends on December 31, 2009. For more information, visit http://mobilethisdeveloper.com.

One of the challenges with any MacBook or notebook PC is cooling. While these devices are made to be a bit more heat tolerant than their desktop tower counterparts, they still can overheat which can cause damage or diminish performance. Getting air flowing through the cooling fans and vents on your MacBook or notebook is they key to avoiding potential disaster and the team at Just Mobile have come up with a sleek, stylish and amazingly simple solution for MacBook users. The CB-200 Cooling Bar is an solid, all aluminum bar that you rest the back of your MacBook onto. This lifts it about an inch from your desk surface, providing plenty of space for the cooling fans and vent to work properly. Although designed with the MacBook in mind, the CB-200 works well with any notebook PC as well and it has a hidden benefit that Mac and PC users alike can benefit from while using it.

Continue Reading

Earlier this week my fellow MVPs Johan van Mierlo and Remo Knops launched the complete revamped MobilityMinded website.

The site, which provides news and information around the mobile community, now has a great contribution staff which will bring a freshness and unique perspective to the site.

Be sure to check them out at http://www.mobilityminded.com

This morning at CTIA, HTC announced the all new Windows Standard Phone, the HTC Snap (US version is the S522). This is the true successor to the very popular HTC Dash and sports some impressive specifications, a sleek new look and a pretty darn cool story behind it.

Continue Reading

Editors Note: This review appears both here on Gear Diary and on Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!

As I have stated many times throughout my reviews here and at Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!, I travel quite a bit for my “day job”. Just so everyone is clear: American Airlines Executive Platinum isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It means that you have had a lot of time on airplanes. But I digress….

Understanding this, anytime I am able to find a tool that makes travel easier I’m automatically going to be interested. Once such tool has been Spb Traveler. Traveler was introduced in June 2007 and quickly became one of my must have applications while on the road. Traveler had everything I needed: Weather reports for multiple cities, a trip planner, currency converter, unit converter and a tip calculator just to name a few items. It was everything a traveler needed in one application.

Building on the success of Traveler 1.x, Spb has now released version 2 of the application and it is terrific. The all new user interface draws its inspiration from Spb’s other applications – Mobile Shell and Online – while providing you all of the tools that any traveler will need at some point or another. Add in a significantly improved flight planner, a 3D globe, and a flight search tool and you get the makings of a must have application for any serious traveler. The beauty of this application however is that even if you are the casual traveler, some of the tools that are built into the application you will find helpful. Regardless of how much you travel, every Windows Mobile owner should have a serious look at Spb Traveler 2.0.

Traveler requires you have a Windows Mobile device running Windows Mobile 5.0 or higher. It can be installed either in your device’s main memory or a storage card and will require approximately 8MB of storage space. Additional space will be necessary as city information and weather is downloaded so bear that in mind when you install Traveler. Many aspects of Traveler do require a data connection on your Windows Mobile device so keep this in mind as well as you use the application.

Continue Reading

As Wayne posted earlier, HTC announced three new “Touch” devices today: The Touch HD, The Touch 3G and Touch Viva.

If you are looking for high resolution images of those, head over to Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! where you can download them, print them and have drool material.

The US version of the HTC Touch Diamond is now available from Expansys. This version of the Diamond is identical to the EU released version except is now adds HSDPA/WCDMA: 850/1900 MHz support. This means that if you are an A&T subscriber, you can get all the 3G goodness!

The US version is the same price as the EU version, $684.99. You can get more information or purchase at this link and remember that you can use PayPal as well!

In the first part of my review of the HTC Advantage X7510, I covered the physical hardware of this new device that resides somewhere between Handheld PCs and Ultra Mobile PCs. If you haven’t had a chance to read the first part of the review, you can do so here and then pick up this review afterward.

In this part of the review I will be covering the software aspects of the device now that I have received the final shipping ROM from HTC. I will start by covering Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, the Operating System of the X7510 and will then go into the specific applications that come with the device. I’ll conclude with a general discussion of what I like and don’t like about the Advantage and if this is a device that you should consider.

Continue Reading

While most of you know me as Clinton Fitch, writer for Gear Diary and owner of Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!, I do have a day job. That would be the Unified Communications Product Manager for Spanlink Communications. While we are not the biggest Cisco Systems partner on the block, we are one of the best when it comes to applications in Unified Communications and Contact Centers. As you can imagine, I have email constantly flowing into my inbox and thus onto my HTC Advantage on a variety of different topics, customers and solutions. My answer to managing all of this email are sub-folders. I love them. I have them for just about every category out there and it makes it quick and easy for me to find a message. This is great on my Windows PC but by default Windows Mobile does not synchronize any folders other than your Inbox via ActiveSync or Over-The-Air (OTA) Push Mail. Fortunately this is somewhat easy to change and in this How-To I’ll show you.

Now for a word of warning: What I’m about to demonstrate requires that the folders you are wanting to synchronize are on your Exchange server. This will not work if you are trying to synchronize folders that are stored in your PST file on your PC. It could also be that your Administrator does not allow folder synchronization beyond the Inbox through policies set in place. You will need to check with them if this does not work for you. Secondly, this will require a lot of bandwidth depending on how much you have to synchronize so make sure you have an unlimited data account. Gear Diary is not responsible for your $5,000 data bill!

Continue Reading

HTC has finally released the Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional update for the AT&T Tilt. The new ROM Version 3.57.502.2 WWE brings Tilt users up to the news OS from Microsoft and includes:

* HTC Home
* Remote Desktop Monitor
* Video Share Calling
* Managed Programs
* Threaded SMS
* Push-to-talk button can now be reassigned
* MS Voice Command
* OneNote Mobile

The download is approximately 88MB and you should make sure you follow the instructions closely. You can download the ROM by clicking this link

UPDATE: Okay, so it appears that HTC has built out the page for the update but it is still linked to the older Windows Mobile 6 ROM.

I travel. A lot. While I’m sure that some of you reading this travel more than I, by then end of 2008 I fully expect to have covered well over 75,000 airline miles this year. The fact that I’m writing this review from the comfort of my townhome is, well, rare? Most of the reviews that I write both for Gear Diary and Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com! are written from hotel rooms… but I digress. You get the point.

As you can imagine, with as much travel as I do, receipts – and more specifically receipt management – can be quite a challenge. In the multiple years of business travel I have experienced, I have tried just about every method you can think of to try to keep track of receipts. Like most of you, I have to submit receipts when I submit weekly expense reports. That’s find and dandy right up until you have been on the road for 3 straight weeks in 6 cities (real trip, February 2007 – Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, Houston and Oklahoma City) and you are trying to keep track of about 50 pieces of paper! That is where the Neat Receipts scanner comes in handy. With Neat Receipts you scan your reciepts using a self-feeding wand scanner which stores, organizes and creates PDF files of your reciepts. Further, you can export your receipts to Microsoft Word or Excel, giving you the ultimate flexibility to meet your companies receipt requirements. All of this in a small, slim package that easily fits into a travel computer bag. If you are a road warrior who is receipt management challenged, the Neat Receipts scanner could prove to be a real life saver.

Neat Receipts Scanner

Continue Reading

In part one of my review of Celio’s REDFLY, I covered the REDFLY’s physical attributes. For part two I will cover the functionality of the device.

First, it is important to remember that the REDFLY will only work with Windows Mobile 5.0 or 6 Professional (PocketPC) and Standard (Smartphone) devices and currently only a small subset of the total number of devices available. For a complete list of what devices are supported visit http://www.celiocorp.com/smartphone. Having said that, I did test the REDFLY with a number of devices including several that were not on the Celio website. All of them worked just fine although older O2devices did tend to have a little graphics trouble. All of the HTC devices I tested – The AT&T Tilt, the T-Mobile Wing, and HTC Advantage – worked fantastically well. The same is true for current MWg devices – Atom Life and Zinc II – although I did not test it with the new Atom V. More devices are being added as Celio does more testing but if you use a device not listed on their site, they will not provide technical support for that device and the REDFLY.

Continue Reading

With Windows Mobile devices coming with ever increasing quality of digital cameras built into them, the need for applications to view those photos in a quick and easy way has also increased. While the built-in Photos & Videos application of Windows Mobile 5.0 and 6 does a reasonably good job, it still is somewhat stylus intensive. Fortunately the VITO Technology team has seen this as well and has developed a truly easy to use, simple and finger friendly – not stylus – application to meet the need – EyePhoto. EyePhoto is available through VITO’s iWindowsMobile division and is a simple but effective photo viewing application. EyePhoto does not have any editing tools built into it – it is strictly a viewer both of individual photos and in a slideshow. That said however, it is fast and easy, turning any device into a virtual photo album in a snap.

Figure 1: EyePhoto Main Interface
Continue Reading