I'm kinda thinking of trying to have all my notes and emails and such in the cloud. Seems like it would get around my sync issues with my PDA since I could access everything from any device regardless of which software I had installed. Then I could revert my netbook back to Linux and not have to worry about running out of drive space with XP, etc.
I'm storing a lot of notes in evernote and my to do list is slowly being migrated to toodledo. I'm sync'ing my PDA calendar with google calendar. Experimenting with using meebo for instant messaging.
But, I was just fiddling with gmail today and found some entries in the forum about some recent changes google has made to the gmail interface. People were used to working in a particular way and google changed some code and messed up their systems. I had the same thing happen to me with hotmail years ago and it still bothers me. I like new software but I don't like having it rammed down my throat.
And there's the issue of backing things up. I have copies of my emails going back to my first tentative forays on to The Internet way back when I thought that the be all and end all was CompuServe. I want to keep collecting my mails and I don't want to be stuck in a situation where through misunderstanding or (heaven forbid) violating some obscure Terms of Use item my account is terminated any files deleted. I do like having control of my stuff.
It doesn't look like the cloud is quite ready for me to move in completely yet.
July 2009 Archives
Here is my Windows Mobile 6.1 Today screen which contains an array of plugins which making living in the WM world a little easier.
A: SPB Software Time which is very configurable and allowed me to have the time visible but not taking up tons of realestate on the screen. Also includes the date and a quick link for setting up alarms and timers.
B: Next is Twit Today which is a small plugin that allows me to update my twitter message without having to launch a full application or browser. I have Evernote and Toodledo set to accept messages through twitter as well so quick posts both of those can be made through here as well.
C: This is the Today plugin from the SPB Software Mobile Shell application. I'm using version 2 because, sadly, they've changed things in version 3 that I find make it less useful. Applications can be 'pinned' to the menu and can be started by clicking on them. It also includes a backlight dimmer (extreme left on top row) which is very handy for late night reading.
D: The built in Live Search plugin which I've modified to search google.com. Google has their own Today screen search but I find it overly large and, sorry to say, ugly.
E: Pocket Innovation System Monitor freeware plugin which shows memory and battery status.
F: WebIS Pocket Informant 8.51 which reads the internal PIM databases and displays the info in much more usable formats than the built in applications.
Currently I'm experimenting with sync'ing the tasks through Outlook to toodledo.com using a small Outlook plugin. This test has been moderately successful but I would prefer having a native Windows Mobile application.
No doubt the items here will change from time to time but this grouping is a good combination of usefulness and info for now...
OK, I really don't love it but at least after six months I've made my peace with it. I have Windows Mobile 6.1 on a HTC TyTN II. It's often sluggish, sometimes crashes and has issues with corrupting the data on the storage card if the battery level drops too low. But, it does synchronize data with my desktop PC and there are tons of applications available so I've been able to get it set up fairly well. It's no iPhone and in some respects that's a good thing: I can run several applications simultaneously, I've always had cut and paste and I can buy my applications from a variety of competing software aggregation sites. Oh, and I have a spare battery and storage card in my knapsack.
The TyTN II has a slide out keyboard which I prefer to the virtual keyboard of the iPhone for typing longer documents (this review was typed entirely on the TyTN). The screen tilts to a perfect angle for reading the news sites when set on the table next to the cereal bowl in the morning.
Which leads me into one of the biggest deficiencies of the Windows Mobile OS. The built in web browser sucks. This is well known, but honestly it only sucks as much as the built in browser on my previous device: the Palm TX. At least with WM there are a few third party replacements (Opera, Iris, Skyfire) that I can install and use instead. My personal favorite is Opera 9.5, which while it's a decent browser, falls way behind when compared to Safari on the iPhone.
I've learned to install applications on the storage card rather than main memory because the device slows to a crawl if there's less than 20MB free; I've come to accept that I have to reset the device fairly often to keep it performing; I'm now used to double checking my data after a sync to make sure it was all updated both ways correctly. I've given up trying to get a decent picture using the main camera. The shutter lag is horrendous and I don't know if it's a hardware or software issue. Windows Mobile 6.5 is due out soon and even though my phone was released just over a year ago it's considered old and likely won't be updateable.
But, as I mentioned, I'm slowly learning the tricks to getting it to work for me and have downloaded some plugins to add search and twitter and useful info to my Home Page so me and my WinMo are settling in with each other just fine. If I could get the darn camera to be somewhat useable I'd even crack a smile when I talked about it!
It was almost two weeks into the city workers strike when I trundled three weeks worth of garbage down to the temporary dump on the on the other side of the tracks this past sunday. I'm not a fan of the strike -- don't think they should be striking to keep benefits that those of us who're paying them would never get in a million years; ah, I digress -- but it started me to thinking that perhaps we should always have to take our garbage to some central place rather than having it picked up. It has definitely made me very conscious of what I throw out knowing sooner or later I'm going to have to load it into my buggy and cart it away myself.
It would be far cheaper to have permanent locations with big underground bins similar to the recycling bins in Amsterdam. There would have to be a lot of them spread throughout the city but a truck with a crane could swap these out lickety split with only a single operator. We, like most Torontonians apparently, opted for the smallest size garbage container and it's not even close to full when garbage day comes every two weeks. If the bin had slightly bigger wheels I'd be willing to make a garbage trundle every three weeks or so.
