Did you just take advantage of the free 50GB Android account mentioned in my previous post? Did you already have a box account from the iOS or Sony Ericsson promo? Or do you just already have a Box account?

I’ve got to admit, the web interface on the desktop is pretty clunky. There’s no way to drop and drag folders into your account, so if you want to do that you have to recreate folders and subfolders on your Box account and copy files in at a file level – a slow, laborious, and time-consuming exercise.  Below, I’ll outline the procedures for setting up your Box account as a network drive with Windows 7 or a Mac. I assume that you can do it with Linux as well Instructions and screenshots after the jump…

Open up Windows Explorer and click on “Map Network Drive”

Click on “Connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures”

Enter “https://www.box.com/dav/”

Enter your Box.com login details.

Name your Network Location

Click Finish

Voila ! Your Box account now appears in your Explorer Windows under Computer ( see LHS ).

I don’t have a Mac so can’t give you screen shots but the procedure is:

• Open Finder
• Click on Go->Connect to Server
• Enter https://www.box.net/dav/
• Click on Connect
• Provide your Box.com login details
• Finished

You can now drag-and-drop files or folders directly into your Box account without having to worry about the file structure.  By recreating this network drive on multiple computers, you can share the account, and therefore files, between them easily without having to go through the web interface.  Note however that the copy process is pretty slow.  It just took me around 6 minutes to copy the 1.42MB of files shown above.

Hope this helps someone out there. Enjoy !

Filed in categories: Articles, Miscellaneous

Tagged: Cloud, How-To

How to Use your Box Account as a Network Drive originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 27, 2012 at 1:00 pm.

I bought a used CLIE NX70v
on eBay a few weeks ago for AU$200 because I wanted a PDA that I
could use at school to enter data with. I recently trimmed down to
just carrying an imate SP5 smartphone (very similar to the SP5m
reviewed on The-Gadgeteer) which is fantastic as a phone and
read-only PDA, but it was terrible for text entry. The first week
back at school had me longing for my touch-screened, keyboarded PDA
(previously the imate KJAM) for entering homework and other stuff
into my PDA.

I got the NX70 because of
its high-res screen, keyboard and reasonable price. I also secretly
got it because a flip CLIE is something that I had wanted since the
day they came out

When I received it I loaded
up everything onto it, bought a few accessories (USB sync/charge
cable, AAA battery extender), as well as a Sony WL110 CF WiFi card
(still to receive). After a few days I found the NX70 really
sucked. The eBay seller hadn’t stated battery performance, so I
didn’t really have any recourse with him. I knew that the life I
was getting was not near-new, as only about 1hr of standard use
(and max of 30-40mins music) would have battery warnings going off
everywhere. I knew this would be even worse when I stated to use
the WiFi card, which made me start looking around for a replacement
battery.

I initially thought that it
would be reasonably difficult to do, replacing the battery. After a
few Google searches I found some very rudimentary instructions on
how to do it. It seemed that all I needed to do was undo 5 screws
on the back/side and I would have access. Sounds easy? Read on to
find out just how easy it was. This procedure will be identical for
the NX60 as it is the NX70 without the camera.

First thing I did was use
the built-in backup utility to backup my device. By disconnecting
the old battery, all RAM will be cleared (aka.
Hard-reset).

One thing to remember is
that if you use a Memory Stick Pro (or Pro Duo in a MS adaptor) is
that it won’t be accessible after the hard-reset because it
requires an update. To use it again, I created a new Hotsync ID to
just install the MS Pro Update. Once that is installed the card is
readable again in your NX70 and you can restore your backup. You
can then delete the new Hotsync ID from your computer.

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The battery I bought
generic one branded “Power Runner” and rated at 1100mAh. It was
quite cheap, only costing me AU$19 (about US$14).

"/assets/replacement-battery-clie-nx70v3.jpg"/> "/assets/replacement-battery-clie-nx70v4.jpg"/>

It arrived quite quickly
and in a sealed (not sticky-taped) anti-static bag.

The back screws on the NX70
are star-shaped, but I found my small Phillips (not flathead)
screwdriver worked perfectly and griped the screw without any
slipping.

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First thing to do is remove
the five screws. There are 4 on the back and one on the left side
below the hold button. When removing the screw on the side it will
release a small panel. Unfortunately this does not let you remove
the battery like I first thought it might. Continue to remove the 4
back screws.

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When all the screws are out
you will be able to remove the back in a simple vertical manoeuvre
(aka. Lift it straight up ). You will be presented with the
motherboard, CF slot and our target: the battery.

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The battery is basically
just sitting there, but it is attached to a piece of tape. This is
just plastic, and not anything functional like a ribbon cable.
Rather than try to put it off with force in such a delicate space,
I just snipped it with a pair of scissors. My tape was affixed very
well to the battery, but yours may not be.

"/assets/replacement-battery-clie-nx70v11.jpg"/> src="/assets/replacement-battery-clie-nx70v12.jpg"/>

Once you have cut/unstuck
the tape you will be able to lift the battery out. Disconnect the
cable connecting the battery to the motherboard.

"EN-AU">NOTE: At this point your
device will loose ALL power and will be hard-reset (all
settings/programs/data erased).

"/assets/replacement-battery-clie-nx70v13.jpg"/>

The replacement battery is
the same size and shape as the original.

"/assets/replacement-battery-clie-nx70v14.jpg"/>

Before connecting the new
battery, make a crease in the cable about halfway along (as shown
in the picture below). The new battery’s cable was straight, but to
fit it must have a crease in the middle and be stacked at the top
of the battery.

Connect the new battery to
the motherboard with the contacts FACE UP. I believe it to only go
in one way (slight force did not allow it to go in upside-down for
me) so you shouldn’t have too much problem trying to insert it the
correct way. When I connected it my device turned on straight away
(you will here the CLIE boot sounds). Just press the power button
to turn it off.

"/assets/replacement-battery-clie-nx70v15.jpg"/>

Once the cable is
connected, seat the battery in about the sync connector. Make sure
that the cable is folded above the battery like the original
was.

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Once the battery is seated
you can put the back case back on. Screw the 4 screws in, but don’t
do them too tightly as it could break something. Make sure they are
firm, but don’t over do it. Then attach the battery door on the
left side. I had to reseat the battery cable as it was poking out a
bit. I used the battery door to push it back in when tightening the
screw.

"/assets/replacement-battery-clie-nx70v17.jpg"/>

When you turn it on you
should be presented with the Palm OS welcome screen. After you
complete this, you can restore your MS Backup. If you have a MS Pro
or Pro Duo follow my instructions above (when you were creating the
backup).

Make sure you dispose of
the old battery properly according to whatever procedures your
local area has regarding that sort of thing. I am going to keep my
original battery in case I ever need it.

"/assets/replacement-battery-clie-nx70v18.jpg"/>

And there you have it, a
CLIE with a brand new battery! My CLIE has been functioning great
with the new battery. Today I used it as much as I had previously,
and where my old battery showed 60% the new battery still shows
100%! I will update this when I have used the battery a bit
more.

I highly recommend this
replacement to anyone who has a CLIE with a dying battery who wants
to keep their current model. This procedure should work fairly
similarly for other NR/NX CLIEs too. My replacement was bought off
eBay and is compatible with the
NR70/NX60/NX70/NX73/NX80.

UPDATE 3/2/2006: I
have been using the new battery for several days now and it is
excellent. I can get several days of use from the CLIE without a
problem. That includes use of the PIM functions, several games and
other playing around. Using WiFi I get about 2.5hrs of use. It has
definitely improved the usability of the CLIE, as now I don’t have
to constantly check the battery level.

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Article, How-To

Installing a CLIE NX70v Replacement Battery originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 13, 2006 at 1:15 pm.

It’s funny how some forms of technology can be around for years before some
of us ever really notice them. Case in point: RSS feeds. Most of you have
probably heard of the term RSS before. Some of you are probably even using it.
This article is for that group of people that have heard of it, but never took
the time to understand what it is and why you might want to give it a try.

First things first. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.
This is a standard that has been around since 1996-97. In a nutshell, it’s a way
to allow people to see the latest content from their favorite sites without
having to actually go to those sites to check to see if something new has been
posted since their last visit. Think of it as an AP newswire for your favorite
websites.

Using an RSS reader can save hard core surfers a heckuvalot of time. Instead
of wasting time visiting Gizmodo every
other hour to see if they’ve posted about some cool new widget, I can just let
the reader tell me when something new is there. I can then spend my time doing
more important things… like writing reviews ;o)

So what does a RSS feed look like, and how do you access one? First you will
need an RSS reader for your desired platform. They have reader applications for
Windows, Mac, Linux, Palm, Pocket PC, etc. The reader that I use is called
RssReader (clever huh?) for Windows XP.
It’s freeware and very easy to use. All you have to do is look on your favorite
sites for a link that shows the URL for their RSS or XML feed. Once you have
that little bit of info, you paste it into your reader and you’re all set. If
you take a look at the first image below, it shows the kind of information that
typically makes up a feed. Usually it is very basic info… a title, and a small
snippet of the associated article. With RssReader you can either launch a
browser window to read the whole article, or read it right inside the reader.

Click thumbnails to see full size images

Depending on the reader, there are features to have a notice popup whenever
one of your subscribed feeds has new info. This way, you never have to go
looking at a site to see if something new has been posted. The reader will alert
you every 30 – 60 minutes or so, depending on how you have it setup.

PDA users can also get in on the fun! There are several readers for both the
Pocket PC and Palm OS devices such as
PocketFeed for the Pocket PC and Hand/RSS
for Palm.

If you don’t want to install yet another program on your computer, and don’t
really care to have automatic notices every time new content appears on one of
your subscribed sites, one of the simplest ways to play around with RSS feeds is
with My Yahoo! or a RSS reader enabled
browser.

I love My Yahoo! It has been my homepage on both my home desktop PC and work
PC for as long as I can remember. Just this week Yahoo added RSS reading
capabilities. Check out the screen capture below.

Don’t like Yahoo? No problem, there are web browsers with RSS reading
features. My new favorite browser is
FireFox. Besides being a
billion times better than IE, it will automatically detect if a site has an RSS
feed, and display a small box in the bottom right corner of the browser window.
Clicking on the box will give you the option to subscribe to that feed.

Click thumbnails to see full size images

Once you have subscribed to the feed, it makes a bookmark that looks like a
folder. When you click on it, you see the latest headlines for that site and can
go directly to them. Nifty huh?

Well, those are the down and dirty details about RSS feeds. I know I have
just skimmed the surface on this topic, but hope that this might make things a
bit clearer for those of you that have been wondering about this great way to
stay up to date with your favorite sites. Have fun and let me know if this
article has caused you to go out and give it a try.
 

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Article, How-To

RSS Feed Primer Article originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 30, 2004 at 12:00 am.

Studies have shown that 67.89% of gadgeteers own digital cameras, and that
99.8% of my studies have been conducted on a Ouija Board. Nevertheless, I’d
wager a bunch o’gadgeteers own digital cameras, and I’d further bet more than a
few have lost photos to corrupted media – whether the camera (or operator)
accidentally deletes those precious shots, or has happened twice in my case, the
camera ate my digital homework.

I’m not an expert, but I’ve unfortunately had some experience in the matter.
My experience is limited to smartmedia and my Olympus 340 & 360 cameras – I have
not tried any of this on other media, though it should work the same.

Smartmedia (and I believe the other digital media) are essentially treated as
funny floppy disks. In fact, smartmedia is also referred to as SSFDC – solid
state floppy disk card. To your computer, it is
basically a disk. I have experienced what I believe are the 2 situations you can
face – either you can access the media and your information is basically gone
(which is good!), or you can’t even access the media (bad, boo, hiss).

In the event you can access the media, the question becomes – what happened?
If you had a surge or even a bad block, the files may well still be present, but
the FAT tables may be damaged. I’ll explain. As with all things computer, data
(like your photos) are stored as 0′s and 1′s. The computer (and media) doesn’t
know what it is, nor does it care. The FAT (File Allocation Table) basically
says, "This chunk of data belongs to this file, that chunk to the other file" –
in other words, it maps out your media. As long as the media has not been
erased, by physically writing 0′s and 1′s, your data is still there, even if it
can’t be found yet. There are manual ways to look at the media (WinHex comes to
mind) where you can find the start and stop of blocks of data, look for the code
standard to all jpgs (a crazy hexadecimal string which I don’t remember by
heart), and then you can basically cut and paste the data – voila, instant file
restore. Or you can use software that does this for you.

I have a full blown version of photorecovery software from LC International.
You can download a demo of their award winning software
here:
http://www.lc-tech.com/photorecovery.asp I have found them to be very
helpful and well meaning.

Other software to consider include photorescue from
http://www.datarescue.com which seemed
to work better, and finally my favorite, a FREEWARE program DIR (Digital Image
Recovery) from
http://home.arcor.de/christian_grau/dir/index.html. It is the freeware
software which prompted me to write this brief article, to give credit where it
is due.

In a nutshell, my most recent failed smartdisk died while looking at photos
in the camera (hey, I’m not THAT ugly!) – I didn’t have my PRC at home, so I
downloaded the demo from datarescue – that tantalizingly found and showed 199
photos on my screen. For $29, I could upgrade to the full blown program and
actually save the photos – tempting! But I knew I had a full, legal copy of PRC
at the office, so I brought my card reader to the office (as the PRC folks
stressed you get best results with a USB reader over a flashdisk or pcmcia
adapter) – anyway, I used PRC at the office and it produced 179 found photos –
not bad -but where was my other 20? I copied my PRC (only about 639k) onto my
ipaq, and then uploaded to my home computer – plugged in the USB reader – and
sure enough, it found 179 images, but I could view none. Huh? I tried again
after a reboot – this time it found only about 154 – defiantly not going in the
right direction – plus I couldn’t even view them, and the computer crawled to a
halt. To be fair, my home machine is a Pentium II 386 notebook, and the office
machine is a Pentium III – perhaps the code is processor specific? Datarescue
again found the 199 photos, but I was feeling very cheap.

Okay, back to the office. This time I burned the 179 found photos from PRC
onto CD for transport back home (hey, who has 64 meg of memory free on their
iPAQ? Not me!) – anyway, as I searched the web a bit more, I stumbled upon the
freeware program dir. When I tried it back home, it effortlessly found all 199
photos and saved them to the hard drive. There are very few options with DIR, so
it is basically fool proof. I never did get PRC to work well at home.

Photorescue also worked seamlessly, but also had a few minor additional
features, such as the ability to dump your card onto the hard drive – so you can
play with the log file and leave the card alone.

Finally, I did try Easy Recovery Professional Edition, and found it
unsuitable for these purposes – while I BELIEVE Easy Recovery will help with
damaged floppies and hard drive partitions, it didn’t do much good for finding
files – nor did it have powerful configuration options.

Okay, so far I have spoken about a card you can access. If you can’t access
the card (like I couldn’t with my first smartmedia card) then your choices are
more limited. Programs like winhex (and for that matter, PRC and DIR) look for
the media, and open it as valid media. I could not access my first damaged
smartdisk with winhex or any other program. I eventually formatted it and pulled
the card out quickly, hoping to at least establish some file structure the
computer could access but without losing all data. No good – when winhex did
finally work, I had a completely blank card. Photorescue has a feature that lets
you choose a physical or logical drive – a logical drive would be, say, drive D
if you partitioned your hard drive into C and D. PERHAPS if I used the physical
drive feature, I could have forced a read of the smartdisk, but I really think
that bad boy was long gone.

General tips for photo recovery/restoration:

1) Don’t do anything to the media – using, formatting, etc. will diminish
your chances of recovery
2) Don’t use checkdisk or scandisk unless you’ve made a backup of your data –
and they probably won’t do what you want anyway
3) Try the freeware program dir first – if it works, you got free photo recovery
4) If DIR doesn’t work, try photorescue and/or prc’s demos – if they work, shell
out the bucks for the program
5) Regardless of your success, at some point consider chucking that media – if
it died once, it could die again.

Good luck, and remember – if it’s important, take a film camera as well!!!!!

 

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Article, How-To

A Brief Primer to Recovering Lost Photos Article originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 12, 2002 at 12:00 am.

First, let me thank Julie and Judie for the opportunity to write this article for the
Gadgeteer. Julie was one of the first to recognize the true potential of the
Stowaway keyboard in her review when we originally introduced the keyboard.

As the co-founder of Think Outside, I have strong opinions about keyboards
for handhelds that are based on our research and our experience in selling
close to 2 million units (making us the leader with 75% market share), by far
the most successful accessory for PDAs ever. My opinions may be considered
biased, but in fact, they are my actual beliefs based on my own criteria.

I’d like to point out that Think Outside’s products are the ONLY full-size/no
compromise keyboards currently on the market. We decided from the start not
to compromise on the typing experience in order to make the keyboard smaller
when folded. We felt that people would appreciate this because it is our
belief that only a full-size keyboard allows error-free touch-typing with no
adjustment needed when moving between a desktop or notebook keyboard. It’s
easy to design smaller keyboards that fold to smaller packages, but we
weren’t willing to sacrifice the typing performance we wanted to provide.
(By the way, the International Organization of Standardization [ISO] has
defined what qualifies as a full-size keyboard, and it includes the spacing
between keys – 19 mm ± 1 mm – and a key travel, or how far a key depresses
when you push it, of 2.0 to 4.0 mm, with 3.0 mm being the “magic” number for
desktop and laptop keyboards.)

What you can do with a keyboard

Think Outside has heard from hundreds of its customers about how they are
using their PDA-plus-keyboard combination. Here are some of these uses: . An engineer writing email while in flight, synchronizing with the desktop
in the office to send out the messages
. A student taking notes in the classroom
. Mobile workers writing email and sending by wireless networks (e.g., Palm
VII, Sprint wireless card on iPAQ)
. A product manager taking notes in a meeting and beaming the notes to
attendees before they leave the meeting, along with a list of assignments . An adventurer keeping a diary using a Stowaway keyboard and a Palm PDA
while scaling the Himalayas
. The NY Red Cross gathering information on building damage and family
situations in NYC after 9-11, using Stowaway keyboards with Visor PDAs . A well-known wine merchant taking tasting notes in the chateaux of France . A flight attendant writing a letter during a short break . A doctor recording patient information with his Palm PDA and Stowaway
keyboard while making his rounds
. A couple keeping a travel diary while touring Europe
. Navy men writing email on the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier . A reporter taking notes in Afghanistan . An author writing a book while traveling . A student learning to touch type . A college student writing a paper while sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop . A sales director returning from a convention and typing in new contacts
while on the plane
. An explorer using a Palm PDA and Stowaway keyboard where no notebook could
go: on an expedition to Antarctica
. Researchers for Interplast taking notes while interviewing patients . A policeman taking notes at the scene of an accident . A lawyer taking notes at an interview in a courthouse . A researcher taking notes at the library

PDAs are evolving quickly from fancy organizers – great for keeping
calendars, scheduling meetings, maintaining up-to-date addresses and contact
information – to powerful computing and communications devices. In some
cases, people find they can use their PDAs as laptop replacements, some or
all of the time, while they’re on the go.

But even with their increasing sophistication, PDAs still lack some of the
capabilities of a laptop computer, notably a “real” keyboard. If you’re
ready to move beyond Graffiti and stylus-tapping for entering information
into your PDA, you have a number of options for keyboards. Deciding which
one to choose depends largely on how you use your PDA.

If You See a PDA as Potential Laptop Alternative…

It’s easy for “road warriors,” students, and other on-the-go people to grasp
the appeal of a PDA as a laptop replacement: No more lugging a relatively
(compared to the PDA) bulky and heavy piece of equipment, no more waiting as
the laptop boots up.

On the other hand, the PDA on its own doesn’t offer a keyboard that’s
comparable to that of a laptop, so entering information – taking notes in
meetings or in class, composing thoughtful or lengthy e-mail responses,
generating memos or letters or reports – can be tedious and inconvenient.
That’s where an add-on keyboard becomes invaluable.

If you want to be able to touch-type, you owe it to yourself to get a
full-size folding keyboard. A 100% full-size folding keyboard is ideal for
just about any typing activities you would do on a laptop or on your desktop
computer. It presents a no-compromise solution: It folds up small for easy
mobility, yet unfolds to a full-size keyboard for complete typing
functionality. The key layout and size of the keys, and the tactile feedback
you get as you press the keys, make it feel comparable to a high-quality
laptop keyboard.

If you want full size but don’t care about mobility, there are adaptors
available that allow you to use a desktop keyboard with a PDA. This option
means carrying a rather large, non-folding keyboard with you, as well as
purchasing a serial cradle.

The next step down from a full-size keyboard would be one of the sub-size
folding or non-folding keyboards. Sub-size keyboards are OK for occasional
use of up to a couple of sentences at a time, but most people find that they
are not touch-typeable. Their more cramped layouts make it easy for
human-sized fingers to hit the wrong keys, which translates into lower
accuracy and can also lead to discomfort for many people if they type more
than a few sentences. Often they compromise on key placement, which causes
errors. Without the design constraints of full-size keys and standard key
layouts, sub-size folding keyboards can be lighter and smaller when folded
than a full-size keyboard – but only by sacrificing the typing functionality
of full size.

The Stowaway keyboard was designed to last 8-10 years of daily use and
withstand drops and severe environmental conditions. It is constructed of
steel, aluminum, glass and carbon-filled plastic and uses the most expensive
key switches – the same used in the keyboards from the major notebook
manufacturers.

The smallest keyboards available are “thumb keyboards.” Extremely small and
portable, thumb keyboards can be stored with your PDA as a single unit.
They’re an excellent substitute for Graffiti or the PDA’s on-screen keyboard
for entering a few words at a time, and they can be used while standing up or
even (if you’re very coordinated) while walking. However, they are not
appropriate for longer messages or “serious” typing.

There are many thumb keyboards available in the marketplace today. In my
opinion, none of them approach the performance of that used on the RIM
Blackberry. Still, although some think the RIM’s success is a result of
their keyboard, I think it is in spite of this keyboard, which demands that
users become proficient in an entirely new way of typing.

If You’re Most Interested in a PDA as an E-Mail Device…

You still need to decide if your priority is short messages or longer
e-mails. For short emails (a word, a phrase or one sentence) any keyboard
will work. For longer e-mail messages, or note taking in a meeting, you
should consider a full-size, touch-typeable keyboard – for all the same
reasons already discussed previously in the “PDA as Laptop Alternative”
section.

If Your Top Priority is Using Your PDA While Standing or Walking…
You know who you are: The people striding through airports, along city
streets, or across parking lots, earbud in place for talking hands-free on a
cell phone and/or using one hand to type messages or memos into a PDA. Or
maybe you want to be productive while you’re standing in line, waiting for
planes, commuter trains, or buses, or at the post office, bank, or lunch
counter. If it’s a rare moment that catches you actually sitting down to use
your PDA, you might want to focus on keyboard solutions that can be used
one-handed.

If You’re Spill-Happy or Work in a Wet or Dirty Environment…
A roll-up or fabric keyboard may be of interest. Besides being easy to carry
and store, some do withstand soda or coffee spills, dust and rain splatters.
(Though your PDA might not be able to take the same amount of punishment,
which might limit the keyboard’s actual versatility.)

But do not expect to be able to be able to do fast or accurate typing on it.
Unfortunately, my experience of using one is like typing on a bathmat more
than anything identifiable as a keyboard. Some have described it as like
trying to type on your microwave keypad, which obviously doesn’t come close
to replicating the tactile feel of an actual mechanical keyboard. The poor
tactile feedback of the roll-up keyboard makes it difficult to type
accurately or to touch-type at all, leading to high error rates.

If a Physical Keyboard Strikes You as Unnecessarily Mundane…
A new approach is the non-physical “air” or projection keyboard, also known
as a virtual keyboard. It works by projecting a keyboard layout into thin air
or onto a tabletop or other surface, and you “tap” your fingers in the air to
“hit” the desired keys.

This sounds like a great conversation starter, but otherwise I consider them
virtually unusable. Because they provide no tactile feedback, it’s difficult
to know when you’ve “hit” the right key. Touch-typing – which you should be
able to do without looking at either your fingers or the screen – is not an
option with an air keyboard. In fact, accurate or quick typing of any kind
is extremely challenging with this approach. And where do your hands rest
when you’re not actively typing? Suspended in the air?

If You Depend on Certain Software on Your PDA…

Be sure that any keyboard you’re evaluating not only works with your brand of
PDA (an obvious first criterion to consider), but also that its drivers
support all the software you want to run. While you’re at it, if you want to
use your PDA in a language other than English, check to see that the keyboard
is available in the languages you want. The software that comes with the
keyboards varies. I suggest you check to see if it requires you to initiate
the application each time you use it. Does the keyboard work with all
applications? Are there convenient shortcut keys? Does it support widely
used applications such as WordSmith, Pocket Word and Pocket Excel? (Think
Outside has a developer program offering a developer’s kit and email and
phone support. We have nearly 1,000 software engineers that have signed up to
support and enhance their applications to work best on Stowaway keyboards.)

There are obviously several options available. After reading my assessment
of the variety of keyboards in the marketplace, I hope you’ll be inspired to
add one to your PDA.

Good day and happy typing!

Phil Baker, founder and president of Think Outside, has been a major
contributor to the field of handheld computing and has extensive experience
in business and product strategy in the high-technology area. He previously
managed product development for Seiko, Apple Computer, Polaroid, Polycom and
Proxima. At Seiko, he was responsible for the product development of consumer
and computer products. At Apple, he was responsible for developing the
second- and third-generation Newton MessagePads, served as director of Entry
PowerBooks and orchestrated Apple’s development and manufacturing strategy in
Taiwan for portable products. Baker holds more than 35 patents. He received a
bachelor’s degree in physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in
Worcester, Mass., a master’s degree in engineering from Yale University and a
master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from Northeastern University.

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Article, How-To

How to Choose a Keyboard for Your PDA originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 16, 2002 at 12:00 am.

After purchasing an iPAQ 12 months ago, my long daily commute with this Pocket
PC and Avantgo left me with a feeling of wanting "something more." Not wanting
to spend a lot of additional money, I avoided the cost, bulk, and wait for
wireless networking alternatives, such as the now defunct Ricochet. These
solutions typically require a PC card adapter, the wireless card itself, and
hefty monthly subscription fees.

Fast forward 1 year later – I’m still loving every minute with my little buddy.
But today, I successfully connected my iPAQ to my shiny new cell phone. The
result? True mobile internet access, at the cost of my regular air time (my plan
has 300 peak minutes, and 3,200 off peak), at a speed of 14.4k. What does this
mean in English? With the purchase of the connecting cables, I now have internet access
through my cell phone provider (Verizon)
for the cost of a regular cell phone call.

The Nitty Gritty

You have two choices for connecting your cell phone to your iPAQ:
One way is to cobble together a cable and various adapters. I already had a
serial autosync cable from the days when I used my little buddy to control my
computerized telescope (fodder for another article here!).  As I recall, I
paid something like $30 for the cable. In addition to the serial autosync cable
(forget about using USB – it won’t work), you will need a null modem adapter (I
didn’t say dull, I said null), and a gender changer. I found a nice compact
gender changer at Radio Shack for a few dollars which lets everything fit
together nicely.

-or-

You can buy a Compaq (the iPAQ’s daddy) cable created just for the purpose
you want. It is a RS-232 serial connection cable, Part Number 236251-B21,
available from Compaq for $26 clams plus their shipping and handling (which
might be close to an additional $26 based on my experience with Compaq). The
link is here:

http://www.compaq.com/products/handhelds/pocketpc/options/pc_connectivity.html.

This $26 cable should remove the need for the null modem adapter, the gender
changer, and a rubber band to hold approximately 4 or so feet of extra cable.

Whether you go with my hodge-podge autosync and adapters route, or the smarter
Compaq cable method, you will still need a serial cable for your phone, and of
course the service from your provider. You will be using the cell phone as a
wireless modem, so you need to make sure your phone has this feature. If your
phone has a serial cable as an option, and your provider allows it, you should
be in business. In my instance, my phone is a fancy-schmancy Motorola 270c –
which means I basically overpaid, as the free phone with my wife’s plan (the
LG-TM510) also has the capability. For Verizon, you can check
http://www.verizonwireless.com. For
the other providers, well, I wouldn’t know where to send you, but checking their
home page would be a good place to start.

Next, you need to have digital service in your area. Nowadays, most of these
phones switch to analog as a fallback if digital is unavailable or in a fringe
area. If you allow your phone to fall back to analog, you’ll lose your internet
connection for that outing. I guess there are worse things in life… But, if
you have a critical connection you’ll probably want to switch the phone to
digital only, at least for that session.

The service from Verizon is called Mobile Office. They offer various "kits" for
several phones which include a phone specific serial cable, and a null modem
adapter. The kit differs from the loose cable in that software is included. They
did not have a kit for my phone (the price of getting the latest and greatest).
That’s okay – you knew your little buddy didn’t need a driver for this, right?

The Verizon page has a great .pdf file for installation to a Windows CE device –
I upgraded my 3630 to Pocket PC 2002 (regrets galore, but that would be yet
another article), and although there were few differences, it all worked out in
the end. I must concede that I did have a tad bit of trouble getting the
connection to work. I had configured my CF modem without much effort, but for
some reason my phone kept displaying 111 instead of 777 (for Verizon, your
system may differ). I called Verizon, and about 10 minutes later I was running
(ok, jogging) at full speed. The problem seemed to be that I needed to create a
new connection, rather than rehashing the existing ones. I had also tried
setting the iPAQ to dial my ISP, however that is no longer necessary.
Configuration is required for e-mailing – basically you just copy the settings
from your desktop.

I have not used instant messaging wirelessly, though I have tried it with the CF
modem. It should work without incident.

So, what were the costs, and was it worth it? The cable for the phone ran $41
(but actually closer to $60 with phone-configuring software which allows a
primitive contacts manager and scheduler – Outlook does a much better job). I
already had the autosync cable and adapters, so they were free, otherwise they
would have likely cost around $50 – which is roughly double the cost of the
shorter, more intelligent Compaq RS232 serial cable. So for about $65 plus the
cost of your normal phone calls, you can have wireless internet access on your
iPAQ via Verizon. As with all things in life, your mileage may vary. For roughly
$65, I can have "emergency" internet access on my iPAQ. I wouldn’t post any
e-bay ads, download files, or run graphic intensive web pages, if I could help
it.
I can, however:
a) fax as necessary – not sure exactly how, but Verizon says I can and I believe
them.
b) take digital photos, go presto-chango, pop em into the cf sleeve (or add the
appropriate adapter of your choice), and e-mail my photos on the spot.
c) if I get this faxing thing figured out, I can print documents by sending to a
fax machine.
d) I can pay bills, order things on-line, etc. while on the go
e) I can use http://www.mapblast.com or
the various other mapping sites to get directions. NOW – the old way, with
Avantgo, did not make for real time mapping. (Yes, I’m a gadgeteer, and I
already ordered my next car with satellite navigation).
f) I can get or send that important e-mail now!

The Future of Wireless

Bluetooth is coming. It’s been slow in the U.S., but rest assured it is on
it’s way, and will likely make quite the splash in the next few years, as it has
in Europe. I’m just sorry I have to wait. What is Bluetooth? In a nutshell, it
is a wireless protocol. With Bluetooth enabled equipment, you can throw out all
those wires within say, a 30 foot range. I overpaid on my Motorola 270c because
of 3 reasons. It has a nifty joystick and a big screen for the wow factor, it
has a built in speaker phone (gadgeteer’s delight), and IT IS THE ONLY U.S.
RELEASED CELL PHONE WITH BLUETOOTH CAPABILITY. Sure, that capability will cost
you $300 clams right now, which includes a module that goes on the back of the
phone and requires a larger rear cover (think iPAQ expansion sleeve), and it
includes a PCMCIA Bluetooth card for your notebook. Jump ahead to the
forthcoming iPAQ 3870 with Bluetooth built in, and you can start to see where
we’re heading – Bluetooth phone, Bluetooth iPAQ, and with the included PCMCIA
card, you have a Bluetooth computer connection – the wires are quickly
disappearing. (Sony has a Bluetooth video camera for Europe, not released in the
U.S. – that would mean bluetoothing to your iPAQ, computer, or internet (via
Bluetooth phone) – can you start to see the possibilities?

In a nutshell, connecting your iPAQ to the internet via a cell phone is an
inexpensive way to surf or make transactions on the net. Though it is slow, you
no longer need to lug a notebook as an internet gateway, and it increases the
functionality of the already incredibly versatile iPAQ.

Pros:
Inexpensive true internet access

Cons:
Slooooooow – 14.4k, 1/4 the speed of CF card 56k modem
Lots of cables – jump rope anyone?
Can’t use Stowaway keyboard or other "bottom connected" accessories at same time

Filed in categories: Articles

Tagged: Article, How-To

Cheap Wireless iPAQ Article originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on January 7, 2002 at 12:00 am.

Many people have wanted to connect to the Internet with their Pocket PC’s, but don’t know do not know how to, or they have some questions. Many of these questions are regarding the “extra steps” that are required to connect to a MSN ISP. I use
MSN too, so in the bold words you can find the extra steps that are required for MSN. Well, lets get started!

I have a Casio CF modem (which I highly recommend, by the way) that I connect to my E-115. When I first got the modem, I wasn’t able to connect to my ISP. This problem is most likely with MSN, so I went hunting for information. I went to many websites and tried everything written, but I wasn’t able to find anything that worked. Well, finally I found what I was looking for, but more on that later. 

Here are the steps to “get connected”:

1. Insert your modem 
2. Go to Start>Settings>Connections>Modem
3. Click on “New Connection…”

4. Select your modem. If you have a CF modem, it should appear in the drop-down menu.
5. Select your baud rate. I put my baud rate at the fastest setting since the modem will automatically connect as fast as possible.

6. Press “Next.” (I didn’t find any need in clicking “Advanced” and going through all those weird questions. If you want to know what my connection has, here it is:
(this might help MSN users)

7. Put in your ISP phone number. This is the problem that I didn’t find any help for anywhere. This problem was pretty weird. I am using the same ISP that my PC modem uses, so when I had to fill out all this information on the bytes, speed, and number, I just copied what was on my computer. This should have worked, but it didn’t. 

I finally found a MSN site that had the phone numbers for its servers. I entered my area code and about 5 servers came up. I found the one I was dialing into (this one wasn’t working), so I picked a different server to dial into. I put the new server’s phone number into my Pocket PC and pressed “Connect” and it connected! This is
http://supportservices.msn.com/us/phoneaccess.asp.

8. Click “Next” I didn’t have to change anything in this part, so you shouldn’t at first. Just make sure you don’t need to change anything, but if your Pocket PC doesn’t connect, then it would be smart to fiddle around with these settings.

9. Press “Finish” and you are back at the “Modem Connections” page. The next step is to tap-hold on the connection you just made and click “Connect.”

10. A window pops up showing the Status. Eventually it will get to “User Authenticated” and then it says “Device Connected.” At that moment, you are ready to surf the net!

11. Now, go to Pocket Internet Explorer and start browsing the web!

There are two other ways to get connected: one is through the “Connections” folder that is found under Start>Programs. You click on the “Connections” folder and then on the connection you want. You then go to a screen that asks for your username, password, and domain. You don’t have to fill out the domain. After you are done with that, press “Connect.”

The second way to connect is through Pocket Internet Explorer. Go to Internet Explorer, then Tools. The top button is labeled “Connect.” Click it. You then go to a screen that asks for your username, password, and domain. You don’t have to fill out the domain. After you are done with that, press “Connect.”

When you press “Connect”, you will get a window similar to the first time, so I don’t have to go over this again. 

You are now connected to the Internet! Have fun!

Filed in categories: Articles, Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Article, How-To

How To Connect Your Pocket PC To The Internet Article originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on December 21, 2000 at 12:00 am.