When I arrived at the conference area to grab breakfast before entering, Tim McAfee was there to greet us, handing out REDFLY t-shirts. I was hoping for a medium, but some of the other guys had already beat me to them; he made it up to me by giving me two larges. Ha! After getting set up and then eating my food, I settled in with the others to listen to the first presentation on the Microsoft Zune.

Creative Strategies Presentation

Ben from Creative Strategies started a two hour discussion with the question “How is technology going to better integrate and improve people’s lives.” He gave a quick overview of the personal computing experience over the past couple decades, and about how many of the systems we had bought were basically versions of the current enterprise models. In the last few years, the trend has become about choices - colors, configurations, various sizes, making the whole experience more optimized and personal for each individual.

CS’s view of the Digital Future is that “No device is an island,” meaning that all of your information will be synced with all of your devices, in all of your locations. I’m ready for that…

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Today I will be flying to Seattle for a Microsoft facilitated Mobius Event. I hope to be able to share a lot of Windows Mobile coverage with you over the next few days, but at the moment I have no idea exactly what or which companies will be covered. I just know that John Starkweather and the gang will have once again managed to line up an exciting list of OEMs who will speak with us directly. Whatever happens, I will share everything with you that I can.

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One of the treats we received at Mobius Thailand this year was a Vaja case for the HTC Hermes / Dopod 838Pro.

You would have thought it was Christmas!

John Starkweather had no sooner announced that Vaja had made custom cases for our new Windows Mobile 5 Phones, when the room erupted with “oooooooohs” and our eyes grew wide; there was a good reason for this.

Vaja has been around since 2000, and in that time they have managed to revolutionize the case making industry. No longer the new guys on the block, they are now the leather craft company that every other case-maker aspires to be. From the beginning they have created form-fitting, well made cases constructed of aromatic Argentinean leather which complemented the PDAs carried inside. But before long their innovative designers chose to not only create the highest quality cases, they also began to offer custom designs that allowed their patrons to personalize the case-making process in a way never done before. Whether the case is from their Classic line or the slightly edgier iVolution line, Vaja items all have a few thing in common - they are impeccably made, they look beautiful, and they all smell yummy!

So today we’ll take a look at the HTC Horizonal Pouch, which is made to fit Pocket PC Phones - with or without a sliding keyboard - that measure no larger than 4.45″ tall x 2.3″ wide x 0.5″ thick. This pouch is very similar to the Vaja HT41 Pouch which I previously reviewed.

The case itself measures 4.53″ long x 2.6″ wide x 1.35″ thick. It is composed of black aniline leather with a deep red aniline accent stripe. The subtle Vaja logo is the only branding evident anywhere on the pouch.

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On the last day of Mobius 2006, John Starkweather, Jenneth Orantia, Derek Snyder, Joel Evans and I went to the Phuket Cobra Show. What happened next was nothing short of amazing!

Click these links…if you dare!

My new friend, the photo-op snake

One guy, two cobras

One guy, three lightning fast vipers

One guy and a really huge king cobra

Pay no attention to our squeals as the snakes do their thing. And just to keep this post relevant, here I am with my JasJar…and my new bud, the Phuket photo-op snake! ;-)

To add to the fun, Nandini at Born Rich has posted another snake picture (minus the JasJar).

If you would like to see more pictures from Mobius 2006, click here. For a few more home movies from the trip, including several from an evening of Muay Thai boxing, please click here.