Frank McPherson: Handheld News

Tue, 08 Oct 2002 03:02:31 GMT

Let me hear you say "RSS"!. If you don't know what RSS is, don't worry, I'll explain later, but for those that do...enjoy. And if you're mobile? Here's a new way to enjoy the site. Point your RSS client at www.pocketpcthoughts.com/xml. [Pocket PC Thoughts] The new Pocket Thoughts is up and they have set up an RSS feed.

Wed, 24 Jul 2002 00:15:32 GMT

I have just applied one of Brian Bell's themes to this site. Since it uses CSS it degrades well onto my Pocket PC's screen.

Sat, 22 Jun 2002 02:17:45 GMT

I should play with PocketGPhone .

Sat, 11 May 2002 16:34:57 GMT

Bryce shares the info about a driver that is available for the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 that supports the Socket and Symbol WLAN cards.

Mon, 22 Apr 2002 21:10:36 GMT

Here are instructions for adding the Zaurus Zone package feed to the add/remove programs of the Zaurus SL-5500.

Mon, 15 Apr 2002 22:17:26 GMT

The TkcPlayer for the Zaurus plays MP3 and Ogg Vorbis files.

Sat, 13 Apr 2002 03:44:55 GMT

Now that we are well on our way to being able to do offline blogging from Pocket PCs, (way to go Bryce!) my next wish is an offline RSS news aggregator for Pocket PCs. One of the features of Radio Userland is that it downloads RSS newsfeeds to my PC, and provides me a way to browse them in what is called the News Aggregator. What I would like to be able to do is synchronize those feeds down to my Pocket PC, so that I could read through them at my leisure.

Without doing a lot of snooping around, I figure that the RSS feeds are stored in an XML file somewhere on my PC. So, I would think that all I would need is a way to get that file down to the Pocket PC, and then have an app that is capable of opening that file and displaying it's contents. The app should be able to work with Internet Explorer on the Pocket PC so that if I tap a link it would try to open the page, in case I am online.

Bonus points would be integration with Pocket Blog so that I could post blog entries from the RSS feeds in the same manner as Radio Userland. More extra points would be to provide the ability for the Pocket PC to directly retrieve RSS feeds if the Pocket PC has an internet connection.

As I see it, this offline RSS news aggregator would be an alternative to AvantGo and Mazingo for distributing content to Pocket PCs, and be an open and standard method to boot.

So, what do you think Bryce? Can it be done?

Thu, 04 Apr 2002 22:34:48 GMT

Bryce links to Walter Mossberg's negative review of the Sharp SL-5500. Bryce is correct in his assessment of Mossberg in being Palm-centric in his reviews. Walter has a dim view towards all PDAs not running Palm OS. After using the SL-5500 for little bit, I tend to agree that this is not a prime time device. Every comment and review that I have read about SL-5500 says the same thing. However, the buzz around this handheld is not so much how it is now, but what it could be. In my opinion this is a major test for the idea of putting Linux on handhelds. Sharp is a big name player in handhelds, and if they can't have success using Linux, who can? IMHO, Linux on handhelds is a tough sell if the SL-5500 is an indication. There is nothing that this device provides in terms of functionality that is not provided by a Pocket PC or Palm OS device today. And that is the rub... there has to be something to make people want to buy the device. Then there is the user interface, which beyond the home page doesn't look very appealing. Using the SL-5500 makes me have a deeper appreciation for the amount of work that goes into developing a GUI for handheld devices. The Pocket PC UI is better because it is simply more polished. Two things are going to happen with this device. Either the huge group of Linux/open source software developers are going to write good, compelling applications that will provide a reason to buy this device, or the SL-5500 will be heavily discounted and discontinued by Sharp by the end of 2002. And if Sharp doesn't succeed, one has to wonder whether Linux can succeed at all in handhelds.

Thu, 04 Apr 2002 22:34:48 GMT

This article suggests that the Sharp SL-5500 has root access exposed when connected to the network.

Thu, 04 Apr 2002 22:34:44 GMT

ZDnet on the Sharp SL-5500. Reports that Sharp will be launching a CDPD service at $29 per month and $99 for the modem. A CDPD offerring at this stage when there are faster services is curious. It is interesting to note that while the SL-5500 uses the supposedly cheaper Linux operating system, the device does not cost significantly less at $500.

Thu, 04 Apr 2002 02:39:21 GMT

I have the Sharp SL-5500 synchronizing with my notebook computer and Outlook 2002 and everything is working as it should. A "custom" version of Puma Technology's Intellisync is included with the SL-5500 for synchronization with Outlook or Palm Desktop. If I didn't want to sync with either of these programs I could sync with the Qtopia desktop program that is also included.

The other good news is that it appears the SL-5500 can co-exist with my Pocket PCs. I've been able to switch between the SL-5500 and my Pocket PCs and sync with no problems.

The next step is to see whether I can get the SL-5500 connected to my network.

Wed, 03 Apr 2002 23:11:51 GMT

There is a new toy in the house: the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500. This latest PDA incarnation from Sharp has PDA hardware specs (206 Mhz Strong Arm processor, 64 MB of RAM, CompactFlash and Secure Digital Slots) but runs Linux.

It has been home for a couple of hours and is currently charging. The initial impressions from the little I have played with it:

The UI appears to have been really designed for the thumb keyboard. Even though it does have a soft input panel that supports handwriting recognition, many of the apps do not resize properly when the input panel is open. The input panel also does not close automatically.
The UI looks very cluttered to me. The UI has as many elements as the Pocket PC, but is not as thought out. Some controls are too small, particular the spinner control used to increment and decrement numbers, and the scroll control. OK and close buttons are too small. However, the UI has a real close button.
The "hideaway" thumb keyboard is the most innovative hardware feature of this device, but my first impression is disappointment. The top and bottom rows of the keyboard are very difficult to get to with my fingers because they are too close to the frame of the device. They keyboard is set in from the top of the device by about a quarter of an inch so that you have to press down to touch the keys. The keys are too close together are too small. In short, this keyboard is no where near as good as RIM's.
I can't believe this thing does not have a built-in microphone. You have to buy an extra microphone that plugs in to the headjack port. One would think a $500 device would have a built-in microphone. Ironically, a voice recorder application is provided and is absolutely useless without the microphone.
Before one removes a CompactFlash or Secure Digital card you are suppose to unmount the cards by tapping a button on the task bar. Sharp warns that just removing the cards without following this procedure can lead to unexpected results.
For all the negative comments made about Pocket PCs and their Palm-size PC predecessors, the SL-5500's UI is remarkably similar. If I figure out how to do screenshots, I provide some comparisons. The SL-5500 comes with word processor and spreadsheet programs that have the exact same features as Pocket Word and Excel. So tables or footnotes in this word processor either. A Powerpoint viewer is also included.
There is no file manager and no terminal application, which are usual mainstays for Linux systems.
Out of the box the SL-5500 only synchronizes with Windows desktops. Ironically, there is no Linux support in the box. According to the box the SL-5500 can be synchronized with Outlook and Palm Desktop, as well as a desktop application that is included for the device.

What I am now interested in finding how is just how much the vaunted open source development community has done to fix some of the UI deficiencies. All of the system software is in Flash ROM so that it should be easily updated.

Sun, 31 Mar 2002 21:57:17 GMT

State of the MOB

I had taken a bit of a hiatus from the ] mob/">Mobile Offline Blogger project, but now am back on it with a vengeance. Designing the interface has been a serious challenge.

My development work in the past has centered around server applications and specialized command-line tools being used by highly technical people. My design philosophy has always been to make these applications as configurable and flexible as practical. Interface considerations are important but secondary.

With the Pocket PC as the target environment, the interface must come first. The screen is simply not big enough for large number of interface elements. A single screen for configuration options can display no more than a half-dozen items, a text-editing screen has room for just a couple of buttons.

Suddenly I find myself removing features because of their UI requirements.

Anyhow...

The interface is nailed down at this point, and most of the interface glue has been in place since the begining. Today I have been working on proper wrappers for handling XML-RPC payloads, they should be feature-complete by Monday. HTTP transport routines were written for a previous test project, they just need to be integrated. Local storage is up next.

With a little luck, Beta 1 should be available within a week. Category routing for "Radio" probably won't make the first release.

[Bryce: Bryce's PDA Channel]

Tue, 12 Mar 2002 02:06:34 GMT

Compaq support page for the 3800 series iPAQs.

Sun, 03 Mar 2002 02:25:29 GMT

This is interesting. Has anyone seen this interface on Google before? It is ad free and clean. [John Robb's Radio Weblog] Yes, that is the Pocket PC version of Google. You are benefiting from the smaller screen size requirements of Pocket PCs.

Sun, 24 Feb 2002 23:33:29 GMT

I will plug my book just this one time. How To Do Everything With Your Pocket PC, 2nd Edition is available from retail and online book stores. [PocketPCHow2 Log] I've added an RSS feed for my Pocket PC web log.

Sat, 16 Feb 2002 02:38:40 GMT

GSM-WLAN Roaming Enabled. Vendors to demo combined technologies [allNetDevices Wireless News] Very interesting.

Sun, 03 Feb 2002 17:29:17 GMT

Georgia State University is working with Vanderlyn Elementary to introduce Palm handhelds into the classroom.

Sat, 02 Feb 2002 02:37:25 GMT

Philips and TDK do Bluetooth for iPaq [PDABuzz.com]

Fri, 25 Jan 2002 00:20:29 GMT

Voice-enabled PDA on horizon [IDG InfoWorld] This is a combination of the RIM Blackberry and Motorola phone running on Nextel's service.

Wed, 23 Jan 2002 22:38:45 GMT

Lexar announce Pro 1 GB 16x card. Lexar has today announce it plans to ship its new 1 GB 16x Professional CF Type II card by January 31. This new card which has a retail price of $1,199 has a claimed write speed of 2.4 MB pre second and will be... [Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)]

Wed, 23 Jan 2002 02:45:32 GMT

Today I received the HP 56X Extended battery with MMC Slot for my HP Jornada 565. Here are some pictures of what the Jornada looks like with the battery.

Sun, 20 Jan 2002 01:26:24 GMT

Financial analysis of Boingo and wireless ISPs: TheDeal.com reports on Boingo in depth and talks about the market conditions for makers of equipments, wireless ISPs, and the near-term prospects for Bluetooth. [80211b News] The analyst seems fixated on comparing WiFI to Bluetooth, even though they are different wireless technologies. It makes me wonder how good this analysis really is.

Wed, 16 Jan 2002 20:10:27 GMT

If this works, I made a post using Radio Userland V8 to my blogger site.

Sun, 13 Jan 2002 13:22:36 GMT

SanDisk announces 256 MB SD card. CES 2002: SanDisk has today announced the latest step forward for the MMC/SD format, a 256 MB SD card. This new card uses a 1-Gigabit NAND flash storage chip. [Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)] The Secure Digital storage format is increasing, though prices will continue to be higher than CompactFlash for some time.