*Words of Wisdom From The Elder

I was in Redmond back in April and had the opportunity to load my Blackjack II with a pre-release of Windows Mobile 6.1.  I was traveling and didn’t want to wipe my device and start from scratch.  Plus I was informed there were a few bugs, some of which I couldn’t live with.  So I waited for the official release.  A few days ago Windows Mobile 6.1 was released from Samsung and I’ve really enjoyed this update.  If you just want to jump in and get started with the update to 6.1 here are the links to get started.

Windows Vista Samsung Blackjack II 6.1 Update

Windows XP Samsung Blackjack II 6.1 Update

Be sure you use the correct one depending on which operating system you are using. 

Blackjack II 6.1 Upgrade - Scary But Worth It

If you click on the links above you’ll notice a very long web page, lots of screen shots and a bunch of steps.  The update definitely looks scary.  Even I was intimidated to start it.  But honestly once I got going it didn’t take that long.  The longest part of the whole thing is writing the new ROM to the phone.  I started and then went and did something else.  I doubt most non-tech users will go through with this update, but honestly they should.  It is worth the trouble even though it is lengthy.  This is something that I’d like to see simplified on the Windows Mobile platform.  I don’t have the answer but there has got to be an easier way to do these updates.

Blackjack II 6.1 Screen Shot Heaven

For those that have a Blackjack II and are wondering what the update has in store here is a pretty comprehensive list.  The main thing to note is the new home screen, voice command, and better scroll support.  The base operating system has a lot of new features but Samsung also did a nice job of bundling in a nice software package. 

Default home screen.  6.1 changes the home screen quiet a bit to make typical things one accesses easier instead of having them buried down in the menus.  Notice the icons right below the time. This provides an easier way to view activity.	There are five items that bubble up under the home screen.  Missed calls.
Voicemail	Text messages
Direct push email	Another email inbox
Under messages is calendar.	The settings section has five different items.
Wireless manager (easy access to turn bluetooth on or off, also the keys fn-b by default will toggle as well)	I’m not into ring tones so this doesn’t excite me that it is under settings.
Change background image.  Again, not that exciting for me but I did set the background to a different one as you can tell in these screen shots.	Task Manager.  Which can also be accessed by holding down the home key.
Pressing the start button goes to recent programs.  This is new and I haven’t decided if I like it or not.  I was used to the old way.  Maybe I’ll come around.	Pressing “All Programs” on previous screen goes into the menu.  As you can tell I use the list menu since it can hit hot keys for items. This can be changed in Settings->Display.
Second screen of pre-installed applications.  The BJII has a built-in GPS chip and comes with a bundled GPS program which cost $10 / month to enable.  Personally I use it all the time when I travel.	Notice this screen includes Internet Sharing right out of the box.  A huge time saver.  Previous this had to be added via a hack.  The RSA SecurID is a program I added, as well as Screen Capture.
Voice Command is a nice feature that comes with the Blackjack II 6.1 upgrade.  This allows your phone to speak when certain things happen (new email, new text msgs, calendar popups, etc).  Skyfire and Tiny Twitter I added.	This shows the Office Mobile applications included.
These are the items pre-installed in the Applications menu. Probably the coolest app in this menu is Mobile Banking.  Currently about 7 banks are supported, Wachovia being one that I have one of my accounts at.  There are several steps to get things setup and you have to be at a computer to set accounts up.  Once complete, you can check balances and other options by simply entering a six digit pin number.  If only E*Trade would get on board.  Why an online bank would not be in the bank list is beyond me.	MobiTV is another application that is included.  This is an extremely cool application that allows the phone to stream live TV directly to the phone.  Yes, live TV!  It cost $9.99 to purchase.
MobiTV provides 40 channels of live TV and an easy to use guide.	This is MobiTV loading the Replican Convention from MSNBC.
Within seconds you can be watching TV from anywhere.  If you are stuck in the airport or wherever you can stay connected and not miss a show.  Be sure you have the unlimited data plan though.	Another view.
This is MobiTV running in full screen.  Note the connection I had while viewing this was Edge not 3G and I have to say that it is very impressive.	Of these apps there are a few duds.  Mainly the Movies Powered by IMDdb.  I’m sorry but I’m not paying for an application for information I can get in the browser for free. The weather app is really cool but I’m not going to pay for it either.  If it were free, sure I’d use it.  Smart search maybe smart but it should be called “Slow Search”.  People is just a demo and for me provides zero value.  The RSS Reader is ok if you only want to read a few things.  I recommend Newsgator Mobile which is free and syncs with the web, a client version and the mobile.
Finishing off the applications we have task manager and Office mobile.	First settings screen.
Second settings screen.  Of interest is the Key Settings.	A new feature is the ability to change the wheel speed.  Alleluia!
The default is low.  I’ve changed mine to high and it is a considerable improvement.	A little known feature is the FN key settings.  From the home screen you can press combinations of “fn-{key}” and launch a program directly.  After an install I setup several to hot launch including RSA, Twittery, Internet Explorer and Skyfire.
In the bottom right press add.	Choose a keypad assignment and an application.  Note you can type the first letter of the application in the value box to just to that app.  Once set, when on the home screen type fn-{key} and that app will launch.
As I said earlier, Internet Sharing is built into the ROM this time.  If you want to get your computer online if you don’t have free WIFI available, launch this app with the USB cable plugged into your computer and press connect.  Within a few seconds you’ll be on the Internet.  If you are on a 3G network, you won’t notice any difference.	Bundled AT&T / Telenav GPS program.  This is a great program that provides spoken directions and turn by turn guidance.  It even supports a pedestrian mode.  Again, it cost an additional $10 / month to use.

This is a welcomed update due to the fact it bundles Internet Connection sharing as well as fixes the sluggishness with the job wheel I mentioned in a previous review.  The GPS now seems to lock on faster as well.  This is something that has caused me trouble when traveling taking up to five minutes to lock on.  Lock on times seems to be about a minute. 

If you can get over the scary upgrade process I think you’ll like the update.  Give it go.

If you are in the surrounding Hattiesburg, MS area (Jackson, Mobile, Gulfport, Biloxi, New Orleans, Slidell, Vicksburg, Meridian, Laurel, etc) there is a free MSDN event coming to Hattiesburg on September 19th called the MSDN Southern Fried Roadshow.

The event is a four hour event with Developer Evangelist Glen Gordon and Architect Evangelist Chad Brooks.  Hattiesburg is the last stop of a five city tour they are doing throughout the South.

What is an MSDN Roadshow?

For those that have never gone to an event like this, this is where Microsoft sends their Evangelist out into the heart of America to make sure the development community is familiar with the latest and greatest software.  Think of it as free training!  There is no sales pitch, their job is to simply tell you about the latest releases and answer questions.  Larger events are done in bigger cities typically earlier in the year like Chicago, Detroit, etc.  Now is your chance to get the same material locally in your own area.  Definitely worth the price of admission!

Agenda

• See what’s new in Windows Server 2008:  Hypervisor Technology, IIS7, and others. 
• SQL 2008 is also packed with goodies for Developers;  see the geospatial capabilities as well as the LINQ enhancements. 
• Myriad of enhancements that come with the .Net Framework 3.5!
• REST with WCF, ADO.NET Data Services, and ASP.NET MVC

More information can be found on Glen Gordon’s blog.

Quick Facts

• Cost – Free
• Time – 8:00 – 12:00
• Food – Yes, food will be provided
• Giveaways – Yes!
• Where – William Carey University, 498 Tuscan Avenue, Thomas Business Building, Kresge Room, Hattiesburg, MS 39401
• Registration Required - Yes

Register For Event

Google Chrome just hit the press.  Here is a quick walk through of the installation on Windows.

Installing Google Chrome

The installer had a problem because it wasn’t run as an administrator. 

Once the install was restarted as an admin, things went much better.

Pressing customize settings brings up the ability to import settings from Firefox and Internet Explorer.

If Firefox is running it can’t import Firefox settings so I skipped this step.

First Google Chrome Launch

Like any blogger I had to pull up my own web site to see how it faired.  Pretty much looks the same as others.  That’s good.

The top of the browser appears to be the same as other browsers.  A navigation bar, back buttons, etc.  There was a little document drop down that caught my attention.  Note to self, hot key Ctrl+Shift+N for incognito mode.

Incognito mode has a sneaky icon at the top and some disclaimers about what it does or doesn’t do.

I decided to check out how it rendered source of a web page from the developer menu.  It put the source code into a new tab.  Syntax highlighting and line numbers make it nice.  I personally prefer any window that opens open into a tab.  That’s just me.

There is also a menu option when you right click that says “Inspect Element”.  Here’s what that produced.  Pretty nice.

Settings

Here is a quick tour of the settings windows.  Not hundreds of options but it seems to be fairly complete.

Imagine that, searchable history from a company that mainly does search (nothing new, just a different look to it).  My first thoughts were I liked having the history appear in a separate tab. 

For those curious, here is a Firefox comparison of history.

Acid 3 Test

For those web developers out there, here is the Acid3 test for Chrome. 

For fun I ran Firefox 3 through the Acid3 test as well.  Winner?  Chrome.

First Impression

Google Chrome appears to be a complete browser.  The initial download was 475KB.  I like the feature of being able to tear off a tab into a new window but I didn’t find a way to put the tab back to where it was to start with.  In the few other pages I visited with Chrome they appeared to render them all the same. 

There really isn’t much “chrome” to Chrome but it seems to provide a nice browsing experience and is snappy.  One question though, where is the Google Toolbar? :)

UPDATE
Tear Off Tabs:  I finally figured out that tabs can be placed back.  You have to click on the tab itself, not the window as I was trying to do initially.

Listen To This Episode

Last week Woody and I were at DevLink 2008.  While we were there we recorded several episodes that will be coming out soon.  The first to come out is a great conversation with Joe Stagner about security.  While Joe works for Microsoft, don’t let that fool you because he’s into all sorts of things including Linux and PHP.  Joe tells some great stories about security that I know you’ll enjoy.

Ways To Listen To The Show

There are several ways to listen to Deep Fried Bytes.

1. Directly From The Web Site (or click the link above)

When you visit the site look for this:

Clicking the triangle will launch the Yahoo! media player and automatically start playing the show for you. As long as you leave the browser window open the player will stay open. Clicking off the page WILL stop the player!

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If you have iTunes or Zune installed on your computer you can subscribe to our show. In iTunes open the Music Store and search for "Deep Fried Bytes". In the Zune software, go to the MarketPlace select Podcast and search for "Deep Fried Bytes" to subscribe to the show. You can also click either of the two icons below to automatically subscribe to the show if you have iTunes or Zune installed.

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I’ve been receiving a lot of phone calls, text messages and emails this evening about what’s going on with the hurricane where I live and how it is going to impact us.  Here is where things stand and our preparations.

Gustav’s Track

I’ve been using the following map to assist in tracking hurricane Gustav.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26295161/

Some of you have asked where I’m at so here is a map of where Gustav is supposed to track along with an arrow pointing where we are located.

As you can tell we are about 60 miles inland.  Right now it is roughly 8:00 PM on Sunday August 31st and we are already seeing outer band rains and winds.  The local stations are doing a great job keep us up to date on what to expect.  We are supposed to have power outages in the area but they will not be as wide spread as when Katrina hit.  Winds are estimated to reach up to 70+ miles / hour so definite damage will happen. 

Anything can happen at any time depending which way the hurricane tracks.  But as long as it stays to the west, I think we’ll be ok. 

Preparations

We’ve prepared pretty heavily for the storm.  Thursday I hit the stores getting supplies.  Mainly non-perishable items (canned foods, etc).  Saturday I got up and started working in the yard.  I went to the gas station down road to get gas for the lawnmower and it was crazy.  People had already started evacuating and there was a line.  While I was there I filled up the two cans I brought with me and then went back to the house.  I filled up the lawn mower and generator then took all five gas cans back to get them filled up.  I got the generator running pretty easily.  Surprisingly it started on the first lick.  I stabilized the gas and changed the oil.  In total we have 25 gallons of gas on hand and we have both vehicles full of gas.  Getting gas early is key because once the evacuations start, gas goes quickly as thousands upon thousands of people hit the highways.  Then of course, if the power goes out, gas can’t be pumped.

In case we have to go days without power we’ve got non-perishable foods, two coolers of ice, three cases of bottled water, 2 cases of Gatorade, a window air conditioner (that I’ll take back to Lowe’s if we don’t wind up using it), an extra chain saw blade to cut limbs and trees, batteries, a bathtub full of water, Sirius Satellite Radio to keep informed, extension cords, meat to cook with on the grill that is currently in the freezer, five bags of charcoal, lantern, 5 propane bottles, a shower bag, and  a propane stove.  Basically, if you want to prepare for a hurricane, just think about going camping and pack all of that.

This evening it was sunny and pretty so I broke out the video camera and filmed the place including the entire outside of the house, shed, yard, surrounding trees, and back of deck.  I mainly did that for insurance purposes and to remind us what things looked like before and after.  I was thinking about putting up a before and after video.  That of course depends on how bad the after is.

Staying in touch

To keep everyone informed I will more than likely be twittering events as things progress (follow me here http://twitter.com/keithelder).  Things aren’t supposed to heat up until early in the morning.  If you have me on instant messenger and see that I’m no longer online, then I’ve lost power and or cable Internet.  If things are like they were when Katrina hit, the power will go before cell phones.  Thus I should be able to get messages out.

Like everyone we are just hoping for the best.  We’ve prepared as well as we can and now it is just a waiting game.