Movable Beast

Press Release: SoftMaker Office 2008 for Pocket PCs

Steve Sande — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 13:39:53 +0000

Dear SoftMaker customer:

Today, we have some news for you that many users have been waiting for: SoftMaker Office 2008 for Pocket PCs is shipping!

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Now available: SoftMaker Office 2008 for Pocket PCs
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After extensive beta testing, we are proud to announce that SoftMaker Office 2008 for Pocket PCs is shipping and ready for purchase.

This new version of our mobile office suite has significant advantages:

NEW: SoftMaker Presentations, the mobile alternative to PowerPoint
NEW: PDF export in all Office applications
NEW: Printing from all applications (JETCET PRINT is bundled)
NEW: Many new features in TextMaker 2008 and PlanMaker 2008

If you wish to edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files on the Pocket PC without losing formatting or content, SoftMaker Office is your only choice. There is no other mobile office suite that reads and writes your Office documents as faithfully as SoftMaker Office 2008.

Find out more:
http://www.softmaker.com/

If you own an older version of TextMaker, PlanMaker, or SoftMaker Office, you are entitled to special upgrade pricing — you can find the details on our web site.

Here Come Da Judge!

Steve Sande — Sat, 03 May 2008 01:49:29 +0000

For the sixth year in a row, I’ll be a judge for the Smartphone & Pocket PC Magazine Best Software Awards. If you use a Windows Mobile Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone, or Smartphone, be sure to let me know what your favorite applications via the Contact Us page so that I can make sure that they’re included in the nominations. I always enjoy judging the Best Software Awards, although about the only time I use a Windows Mobile phone these days is when I’m doing the judging!

WTF with Movable Beast, Steve?

Steve Sande — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:41:12 +0000

You’ll all find out soon enough. In the meantime, the site is going to be focusing back on its roots - mobile devices. I’m going to have another outlet for my Apple fixation soon enough! Stay tuned (and sorry about the mess right now…)

Press Release: FlipSide MP3 Player for WinMo

Steve Sande — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:16:45 +0000

FlipSide MP3 Player, Featuring “Swooshing” Album Art as Part of Acclaimed Visual Interface, Now Available for Windows Mobile

WYE VALLEY, UK (April 29, 2008) - FlipSide, the MP3 player from Electric Pocket that has had BlackBerry users buzzing, is now available to users of Windows Mobile devices such as the Treo 700xw, Mogul, Ace, and Blackjack. The feature that has made FlipSide such an instant hit among BlackBerry users is its iPhone-like interface that allows users to visually “swoosh” through their music quickly and easily.

Navigating through music and selecting tunes is a simple process with FlipSide: scroll through the Album Covers, or flick through them using your finger on the screen, then click on the navigation button to open up a vertical list of the tracks. The spacebar is used to start, pause and skip songs, while the navigation button is used to scroll either left or right to either fast forward or rewind within a song.

While FlipSide comes with the features expected of any MP3 player, the feature that gets the most buzz is the attractive user interface that makes FlipSide both visually enjoyable and very easy to use. Its ability to “swoosh” through the full-color cover art of an entire music collection within seconds using the navigation control button makes FlipSide stand-out as both a simple and fun MP3 player. FlipSide downloads and displays the cover art of each album and even links to FlipSide Extras to provide biographies of the artists, recommendations for similar artists and more.

FlipSide for Windows Mobile plays music stored on memory cards in MP3 & WMA formats. FlipSide retails for $19.95 and a free trial download is available now from the FlipSide website at http://flipside.fm

Chumby Love

Steve Sande — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:44:45 +0000

About a month ago I was glancing at some tweets that had come in and noticed someone commenting on “Chumby“. Since that is one of the four million names I have for our cat Ruby, I immediately took notice and did a quick Google to see what this was all about. What I found was a really cool product that isn’t very mobile, but it IS very useful. (Read more after the break)

The Chumby is hard to define, but easy to love. Think of a small display surrounded by a rubberized bezel and wrapped in leather, and that’s what it is. The display shows an unending and constantly updated stream of widgets. These are small Flash programs that display just about anything. For example, while I’m writing this, I am looking at a live Times Square webcam, which was just replaced by a Shamu webcam (yes, that Orca), followed by the latest stock prices for my portfolio, followed by a list of recent earthquakes from the USGS, etc… It gets all of this info through my WiFi network, which is easily set up through a virtual control panel on the display. While Chumby is displaying all of this information on a bright color display, it’s also blasting out music from my iPod.

Huh? Yeah, it has a couple of USB ports on the back. Plugging in an iPod turns it into a pretty cool speaker system, since you can choose the iPod as a music source and use the Chumby’s touch screen as a control for the iPod. It doesn’t appear to work with iPhones, although I can plug in my iPhone to get a charge at the same time I’m channeling music through the Chumby.

I can see some great uses for this device! If I were a college student, this would make a great alarm clock (it does multiple clock displays) and iPod recharger. I’m seriously thinking about getting one for my parents for Christmas. I can just set it up at their place and pick widgets for them through the web-based interface, send them Chumby eCards to let them know that I’m still alive, and show them all of the pictures in my iPhoto Library. It would be even more fun to have a webcam showing them what’s going on around our house, but that could be infringing on my privacy! Since my mother refuses to use email, I’m considering setting up a one-way email system for her. I can send her email and she can read it, but not respond to it, through the Chumby. That’s exactly what she’d prefer.

There’s more to the Chumby than meets the eye. Go take a look at their website and see what this is all about. I frankly find this to be a very compelling device, almost something that Apple would have developed. It’s unobtrusive technology that just works.

Technorati Tags: iPhone, iPod, Chumby

MacBook Air: A user’s report

Steve Sande — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 04:30:41 +0000

I’ve had my MacBook Air for three weeks now, so I thought I’d do a little progress report on what I like and/or dislike about the MBA. After all, if you’re considering purchasing a MacBook Air, you don’t want to base your purchase on some of those breathless unboxing videos or on the flames about the “lack” of certain features on the slimmest notebook out there. Read on to hear my opinion of the MacBook Air after using it for travel over the last three weeks.To start with, the lack of weight really does make a difference. I find that I can use my old “briefcase” type MacBook case for the MBA and I have plenty of room for all the various cables and add-ins that I usually bring on trips. It’s a hell of a lot lighter than I thought, and I no longer get shoulder and neck pain after carrying it around for a few hours.The battery life isn’t as good as Apple says, but it is close. On a recent trip to Florida, I was able to check email in the Denver airport prior to departure, use the MacBook Air for close to 3 hours in the air, and then do additional work at the hotel. Total time? About 4 hours and 15 minutes, which is a new record for me with a laptop. How did I do it? For most of the time I was not using WiFi, I had Bluetooth turned off, and I had the screen brightness turned down. I also turned off the key backlighting for most of the trip.I purchased the 1.8 GHz MacBook Air with the 80GB internal hard drive. You would think that this machine would be slower than the 2.0 GHz “original” MacBook that I still have, but it had a Core Duo CPU, not a Core 2 Duo processor. That seems to make a difference in terms of speed because it does a great job of crunching through most applications.How about Windows compatibility? Well, I made the mistake of trying to run Windows Vista on the MBA. It runs, but not well. My next try will be to see if I can get Windows XP SP2 running on it under VMWare Fusion, and I’m hoping that the lack of OS bloat will let me run some Windows apps that I want to try out.The screen is much more than I expected. It’s extremely bright and makes my old MacBook screen look positively dim by comparison. The keyboard is very usable, and I find that my typing speed has actually increased. I’m not exactly sure why this has occurred, but my fingers just seem to fly on the new keyboard and not get tired as quickly as they did on the old model.It’s fun to see the reaction of people when they see a MacBook Ar in person for the first time. On a recent vacation, I was constantly approached by people who just wanted to feel how thin the computer was! My father-in-law, who is amazed by anything technological (hell, he was born in 1914 so he’s seen a lot of progress) kept squeezing the screen because he couldn’t believe how thin it is. Chalk that up as a test of the MBA’s durability as well!The one negative I’ve run into is an occasional clicking noise that seems to occur either when I have an unpowered USB 2.0 hub attached or when I’ve powered the MBA back up after a long sleep. To get it to quit, I usually have to reboot. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the hard drive is about to go bad. However, I’ve done diagnostics on the drive and it looks fine.The MacBook Air was definitely the best investment I’ve made this year. Would I buy one for my wife? Probably not - she wants to play Windows-based games on the machine, and I just don’t think the MBA has the horsepower to make her happy. Be sure to think about what YOU need a laptop for before you buy one; don’t buy the MacBook Air simply because it is skinny and light. If you need power, get a MacBook Pro. Need something less expensive with the same size screen, FireWire and a larger hard drive? Buy a MacBook. The MBA is definitely going to appeal to those of us who need something light, relatively fast, and connected.

Nokia Smartphones: Functional, but boring

Steve Sande — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 03:47:54 +0000

The first smartphone I really loved was the Nokia 3650. It was kind of a goofy phone - instead of the traditional 10 key pad, it had a “ring” of keys around the exterior of the key area. It was fairly easy to use (Symbian OS), took decent photos, and was one of the best sounding phones I have ever owned.

I’m in the process of looking for a Symbian smartphone for a project I’m working on, and although there are a lot of different models I’m finding I am having a hard time making a decision for two reasons: first, all the phones are just plain boring in terms of design, and second, they’re all ridiculously expensive. As for the second point, I’m wondering if the strength of the euro versus the dollar has something to do with the prices being out of this world (i.e., $905 for the Nokia E90 Communicator). But for the first point, I am saddened by the lack of design pizazz provided by the Finnish geniuses at Nokia. Their phones from the last decade and earlier this decade were really impressive. Now they seem very square and stodgy.

In fact, the only device that really excited me was the N810 Internet Tablet (which I can’t use, since it’s not a phone). The N95 is pretty cool, but expensive - $699. Considering it’s a device that has only 160MB of working memory (you can add a 2GB microSD card), that’s quite steep. Get a model with 8GB of internal flash and the price goes up to $779 AND you lose the ability to remove the expansion card.

What I’ll probably end up with is either the butt-ugly E61i because it actually has a built-in keyboard and “only” costs $499, or maybe I’ll see if I can get an unlocked N95 for less on eBay. The iPhone definitely has me spoiled.

Technorati Tags: iPhone, Nokia, Symbian

New Movable Beast TV - MacBook Air Unboxing

Steve Sande — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:57:42 +0000

Hey, you can watch me unbox my new 1.8 GHz (no SSD) MacBook Air that was just delivered. The video is after the break so it doesn’t hose up my wonderful formatting here on the site. You can also see it down in the center of this page (although there are unsightly scroll bars!).Have fun watching!

Another Airport That “Gets It”

Steve Sande — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:47:32 +0000

I’ve had the pleasure of traveling to Columbus, Ohio twice over the last year. Last August, I was here to do a two-day class on my way to a conference in Cary, NC; now I’ve been here for four days doing a Business Analysis Boot Camp for ASPE Technology. One of the reasons I like flying to this city is that their airport is small enough to not have many delays, but large enough to cater to the many business people who have to fly in and out of the airport serving the huge insurance business here.

This is an airport that “gets it” when it comes to connectivity. I’m sitting here in an ex-phone booth that has been outfitted with a power plug, using the free WiFi that permeates the airport. And what’s really nice is that unlike the “free” WiFi at my home airport (Denver International Airport), CMH provides extremely fast and ad-free service. When I’m at DEN, I have to wait through a 30-second mandatory ad, then put up with banner ads at the top of every page. To top it off, the service is slower than mud.

They’re also one of the many airports that put their police force on Segway Personal Transporters. I love these devices - they’re a great way to get around and if my fargin’ state would ever get off of it’s dead ass, they’d approve ‘em for use on city streets, sidewalks, and bike paths like most of the states in this country.

Let’s hear it for Port Columbus International Airport in Columbus, Ohio!

Why the MacBook Air will be a successful product

Steve Sande — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 02:09:19 +0000

Reading a lot of the posts or comments on other Mac-related web sites these days, you hear a lot of talk about the MacBook Air. People either love it or hate it, with not much common ground. After holding one in my hands at Macworld Expo, I knew I had to have one, not because it is so supermodel thin and sexy, but because it is a product that is aimed at me. (Click link to read more)

Who am I? I am a rather successful middle-aged, technically-oriented American. The MacBook Air (or AirBook as I prefer to call it) meets my needs perfectly. I’ve been carrying a Mac around since the early 80s when “portable” meant lugging my 512K Mac in one of those big honkin’ carrying cases. My first portable Mac was a Mac Portable, which wasn’t much better than carrying the Fat Mac other than the fact that it had a handle that folded out of the case. I bought a PowerBook 140 as soon as they came out, and then moved on to the dockable PowerBook Duo 230 when it appeared on the scene. A stint at IBM meant that I had to carry around a heavy ThinkPad for a few years, but then I moved back to a 12” PowerBook G4 as my part-time (I use a desktop Mac for the rest of my work) companion. That was followed by my current MacBook, which will be replaced in a few weeks by a MacBook Air.

Why is the MacBook Air so attractive to me? First, I’ve got the money. The $1799 base price tag doesn’t faze me a bit. Is it more expensive than a MacBook? Damned right. But it’s cheaper than a MacBook Pro, and I don’t need a MacBook Pro. Second, it’s lightweight. I’ve had people say that they wouldn’t be able to notice the difference in weight between a MacBook Pro and a MacBook Air. Let’s put it this way – I could definitely tell the difference between when I was carrying my 1 lb. Newton MessagePad 2100 in my backpack along with my MacBook during the Expo, and when I had the Newton stored back at the hotel. The 1.5 lb. weight difference will make a difference to me. I have cervical stenosis (a compressed nerve in my neck) and every bit of weight that I don’t have to carry helps.

Mobile device pundit and Microsoft apologist Jason Dunn of Pocket PC Thoughts has stated in several Mobius posts that he doesn’t consider the MacBook Air to be an “ultra portable” because it sports a full-size 13.3” screen. That’s one of the features I love about the MacBook Air! Rather than one of the dinky screens (some as small as 7 inches) that you see on ultra portable PCs, I can actually read the bright screen on the MacBook Air with my aging, bifocal-assisted eyes. My guess is that someone my own age approved the design of the MacBook Air – Steve Jobs – and that he can’t read small print either! I did notice him peering over the top of his glasses at the iPhone screen during the Macworld Keynote, something I’ve been known to do…

And let’s not forget the final reasons the AirBook is going to be a success – it’s sexy and it isn’t running Windows. The first is big – yeah, people tend to love the coolest looking devices. That’s probably why I see so many businesspeople carrying MacBook Pros around right now. But the second reason is even bigger. Just about every Windows laptop coming out of the factories right now is running Vista, and if anything is driving PC users to the Mac camp, it’s that operating system. The “I’m a Mac” ads aren’t just marketing hype, they’re pointing out the major differences between two rival operating systems. Unfortunately Windows still has the major market share because most people don’t think they have a choice.

Is the MacBook Air perfect? No. I’m personally thinking I won’t recommend one to my wife, who wants to be able to run Windows-based games under VMWare on a Mac. Why? It’s probably not going to run those games very quickly, although I am able to run them with a good deal of speed on my Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo) based macBook. But the hue and cry about the lack of Firewire is ridiculous (buy a MacBook Pro if you need FireWire!), as is the concern about not being able to upgrade the memory (just wait, I’m sure someone will come out with an aftermarket RAM upgrade) or replace the battery (a lot of people carry an extra battery pack right now – will it kill them to carry a battery extender pack that plugs into the AirBook?). And how many people who use laptops really need to have an optical drive anyway? When I want to watch a movie, I’ll either rip it to a file using HandBrake on another machine and transfer it to my AirBook, or I’ll rent it via the iTunes Store. My MacBook’s SuperDrive has been broken for over half a year and I haven’t missed it.

All of my comments here are based on supposition, of course, since I don’t actually have my MacBook Air in my hands yet. But in another week or two I’ll be working with one and I’ll definitely offer you my opinions – good and bad. Stay tuned to Movable Beast for more information about the MacBook Air in the near future.