My Mobiler: Control Your Windows Mobile Device from Your Desktop -- for free!

Its been years since I've used/handled a Windows Mobile device. When I did have a WM device, one of the things I wanted to do was to control the WM Device from my desktop. Fast forward to a few minutes ago:

I discovered a free application that can do what I wanted to do... years ago... and for FREE!

My Mobiler supports PocketPC, Windows Mobile 2003, WM 5.0 and WM 6.0 but in order to use it, Activesync must be properly set up and running. My Mobiler also has limited support for Windows SmartPhone edition.

technorati tags:Windows Mobile, Smartphone

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Portable Apps Suite: Now You *CAN* Bring it With You

John T. Haller of PortableApps.com finally did it! His site has just released the PortableApps Suite -- a suite of useful and free programs that can run directly from a flashdrive.


The PortableApps Suite has three "flavors" -- the Standard Edition, the Lite Edition and the Base Edition. All flavors of the PortableApps Suite has an integrated PortableApps Menu system and a backup utility.

The Standard Edition has the following portable software in one bundle and it is an 85 MB download(occupies 260 MB on the FlashDrive):

• ClamWin Portable (free anti-virus)
  
• FireFox Portable (web browser)
  
• Gaim Portable (instant messager)
  
• OpenOffice.Org Portable (office suite)
  
• Sudoku Portable (puzzle game)
  
• Sunbird Portable (calendar/task manager)
  
• ThunderBird Portable (email client)

The Lite Edition has the following portable software, is a 30.4 MB Download(occupies around 105 MB on a FlashDrive):

• ClamWin Portable (free anti-virus)
  
• FireFox Portable (web browser)
  
• Gaim Portable (instant messager)
  
• AbiWord (word processor)
  
• Sudoku Portable (puzzle game)
  
• Sunbird Portable (calendar/task manager)
  
• ThunderBird Portable (email client)

The Base Edition only has the PortableApps menu system, the portable backup utility and custom folders, icons and autorun. It is a less than 1 MB download and once installed and configured, users can customize which portable application they want to add to the mix.

Google Desktop 4.5: Its so Purty!

Google has again updated their Desktop (now at version 4.5) and its so gosh darn purty I want it in my desktop pronto!


It can be downloaded on the link shown above.

Fairuse4WM: How to Make MS Release Patch Faster

One of the niggling problems of using Microsoft Windows is Microsoft's slow/delayed release of critical patches that plugs security holes that allow hackers into your system. This allows hackers/crackers to be one step ahead of users in terms of protecting themselves against security vulnerabilities.

But wonders of wonders, Microsoft was able to deploy a patch that prevents a program called FairUse4WM days after it was released. FairUse4WM is neither a virus nor a security vulnerability. FairUse4WM allows users to strip out the DRM of audio files (mostly music or MP3 files) and allows users who purchased these music to do whatever they want to do with their purchase.

This is a rather disturbing fact since they (Microsoft) prefer to delay legitimate fixes to their inherently flawed OS while they rush over themselves to release a "fix" when their DRM is in jeopardy. What I find really goofy about this is that Microsoft has stopped issuing security patches for "older" Windows versions making users of Windows 98, Windows ME and Windows NT fair game to crackers and botmasters while they have dedicated a team to work around the clock to counteract FairUse4DRM. Is DRM more important than user security? Do they prefer to have a secure DRM than a secure computing environment that is free from virus, spyware and trojans?


FYI: Microsoft releases patches for security vulnerabilities once a month -- a day now dubbed as 'Patch Tuesday'.

Software does judge's job in China

A report from INQ7.Net says that in China, a software is being tested to provide "advice" on giving out verdicts on cases. According to the INQ7:

The Zichuan District Court in east China's Shandong province has installed programs on judges' computers that provide advice on the proper verdicts in criminal cases, the state-run China Daily reported.

The move appears to be aimed at ensuring standardized decisions and addressing common complaints that China's judges are ill-trained, corrupt and make arbitrary rulings.

...

In the Shandong experiment, judges simply enter the relevant details of the crimes plus mitigating circumstances -- and the program immediately comes up with an appropriate verdict, according to the paper.

But the penalty calculator will not have the final say. Judges will retain the power to hand down their own sentences, depending on circumstances they deem particular to a case.

Now, if only a similar system can be installed locally so that the ranks of the so-called hoodloom in robes can no longer give out obviously biased verdicts.

Check your Mac's Pedigree with coconutIdentityCard 2.1

The fellows at coconut-flavour.com did it again!

They released a Universal App (application that runs on both PPC and Intel Macs) called coconutIdentityCard 2.1 which checks where your Mac was built, when it was manufactured *and* cross references an online database of stolen Macs.



My three-plus year old iBook was manufactured in Taiwan and was built sometime between May 26 2003 and June 1, 2003 (I bought the unit June 30, 2003 -- and its not the graphic shown above).

From the looks of it, both my iBook and iPod are *not* stolen -- as they should since I bought both from authorized Apple retailers

One neat feature of the coconutIdentityCard 2.1 is that you can actually check a Mac's or iPod's place and date of manufacture under its "Custom" tab. Pretty handy when you intend to buy a pre-owned Mac or iPod. I only wish that automatically check the online database if the pre-owned Mac or iPod is also stolen.

"Pirated" Virtual Weapons from China?

First, pirated DVD's and CD's, then they came up with "pirated eggs", now some enterpreneural Chinese are selling pirated MMORPG weapons from The Legend of Mir.

According to INQ7.Net:

The software weapons -- essentially just bits of data -- are given out to players at high levels of the massively popular game "Legend of Mir," produced by Shanghai-based Shanda Interactive Entertainment Ltd.

A former Shanda manager, Wang Yihui, is accused of manipulating the game's software to illicitly award weapons such as the highly coveted "dragon slaying blade," the Oriental Morning Post said.

Microsoft Vista now out of Beta...

The latest version testers of the upcoming Microsoft Vista (the next version of Windows) is now RC1 (Release Candidate 1). Although still far from going "gold" which means ready for DVD pressing, RC1 will most likely show what Vista will be once it is finally released next year.

According to CNET, Microsoft Vista RC1 was released last Friday to testers. Well, it looks like Microsoft will meet their self-imposed deadline of getting this out in the market in the first quarter of next year.

Expect to buy these at your friendly neighborhood Greenhills stalls within this week.

CrossOver Mac Beta: Now available for download

Owners of Intel-based Macs can now test the first Beta release of Crossover Mac. Crossover Mac is Codeweavers' port of Wine (windows emulator) which was originally wrtitten for Linux, which was then subsequently ported over to Darwin under the monicker Darwine.

Once installed, Windows applications will run windows-based applications under OS X without the need to install a virtual machine (such as Parallels) or to re-boot (to actually boot into Windows via Boot Camp). Initial reports say that installation of Crossover Mac is a bit kludgy and that it does not really work too well at this point. However, this is just minor setback because I'm pretty sure that once its ready for primetime, Crossover Mac would be the ideal solution to the problem of running a Windows application without actually installing and using Windows.

Nokia Does OTA Firmware Updates!

Finally Nokia wises up and enables over-the-air (OTA) firmware updates on their phones. This used to be one of the problems early adopters of cellphones suffer -- they get the latest and greatest device only to discover that its not exactly ready for primetime. More often than not, the problems encountered by these early adopters can be easily fixed by a simple update of its firmware. However, in order to get the firmware updated, users have to go to the nearest Nokia service centers.

Now, newer Nokia cellphones can have its firmware updated over the air. Details of this service can be found here. Supported phones are as follows:

• Nokia N70


• Nokia N72


• Nokia 6131


• Nokia 6630


• Nokia 6680


• Nokia 6681


• Nokia 6682

Hopefully, their yet-to-be-released models can also support OTA firmware update.