Thursday, January 24, 2008

For years, I used FlexWallet on my Treo 700w to keep track of my passwords and such.  Recently, FlexWallet was merged into eWallet, so I had to install new software and remove the old.  Always scary.

Since eWallet's file format is different than FlexWallet, an import was required.  It failed.  So I e-mailed support, and after exchanging a couple e-mails, they sent me a link to an updated eWallet.  The import worked this time, and I've been very happy with eWallet.  Thanks to Kevin for speedy response!  I've updated my Treo 700w must-have list, replacing FlexWallet with eWallet.

Thursday, January 24, 2008 9:37:53 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Several of us in the Treo Brotherhood at work are trying to convince a corporation of Blackberry users to make the change.  To show off the capabilities of the Treo, I usually show some of the following applications.  There are the ones I recommend new Treo owners install right away (in no particular order):
 
Windows Live Mobile (free)

You know that cool demo in the iPhone commercial, where the user searches for sushi, gets a list of restaurants on a map, and then can dial one from its result?  That's not the phone, that's the software, and this is what you need. Web search, maps, movie times, traffic, local businesses, etc.  You can do all that on your Treo with this freebie from Microsoft.

eWallet ($24.95 w/ desktop app, free trial)

It's amazing how many websites require a free user id and password, and it's tough to keep track of them all.  eWallet is not just for passwords, though--you can also store frequent flyer logins, combinations, serial numbers and warranty info, and more can design your own cards as well.  I recommend the desktop application too, and one will sync with the other to keep all your information straight.  You owe it to yourself to use the free trial.  For many years I've used FlexWallet.  Recently, FlexWallet and eWallet were merged, so I've updated the link.
Windows Live above will also do maps, but it never hurts to have a second set of directions.  As with Live, maps can be dragged around and zoomed, and display traffic information.

Kevtris (free)
The best Tetris clone on any system.  Something to do on the man seats in Ann Taylor Loft.

PocketWeather ($9.95, free trial)
 
Excellent weather application--current conditions, future forecasts, for one or more cities.  Again, check out the free trial and see its full feature set.

Good sites
Wednesday, July 18, 2007 11:31:46 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Thursday, November 02, 2006

There seem to be a lot of SE referrals as to how to erase data from a Treo 700w.  The easiest way is to do a hard reset, where you hold in the red power button and press and hold the reset button (under the pattery cover) at the same time.  Your Treo will start to reboot, and you'll be prompted to erase all the information.

This will reset your Treo back to factory settings (if you installed the update with MSFP, this will be retained).  All e-mail settings and messages, any thrid party software, etc. will be wiped.  Information on your SD card will not be touched.

Thursday, November 02, 2006 7:29:32 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Thursday, October 19, 2006

I've heard of Orb, but wasn't fully aware of its capabilities.  Seems like a good way to access photos and such from your home PC, but if you have a Media Center or record video to your PC, you can stream that to your Treo 700w as well. 

Orb is both the name for the service and the software itself. You install it on any Windows XP-based computer, and it transforms your computer into a powerful solution for serving up your media from any browser, anywhere – including the one found in your Windows Mobile device. The service was initially fee-based at launch, but is now free and advertising supported. Orb is made even more useful when installed on a computer with a TV tuner as I'll explain below, but will work fine without one.

Full story at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/articles/orb.mspx.

Orb also gets a mention in an episode of Hanselminutes (http://hanselminutes.com/default.aspx?showID=11).  If Hanselman uses it, it must be good.

Thursday, October 19, 2006 3:47:47 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Friday, October 13, 2006

I keep telling people how much the Treo 700w rocks, but here's more proof:

Scott Wilder, a cameraman for the network, had been about 20 blocks away on another assignment when the crash occurred. Wilder ran uptown and reported live from the scene using a hand-held Palm Treo smartphone that uses the existing mobile network to transmit video to the Fox News control room. From there, Fox News sent it out live on TV to supplement other video being shot by local traffic helicopters

...

CometVision runs on a Palm Treo 700-series PDA via the Windows Mobile operating system. The technology is able to transmit video over non-3G networks, using much less bandwidth than would normally be needed, Comet CEO Howard Becker said.

Full story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061013/wr_nm/treo_dc.

Friday, October 13, 2006 1:22:16 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Friday, August 25, 2006

WebIS has released FlexMail 2007, a replacement for the Pocket Outlook which ships on Windows Mobile 5.0 devices.  This is a significant upgrade to the FlexMail 2006, which I've used for several months now on my Treo 700w, but found myself wishing for a few more features and faster performance.  My few wishes and then some seem to have been taken care of in this new release.

FlexMail is far and above better in how it displayes messages with HTML formatting, and handles IMAP accounts better than Pocket Outlook.  GMail POP3 SSL is supported, as is storing messages on an SD card.  The featurelist is long, and everyone likes different things, so just go check it out for yourself.

Full story at http://webis.net/products_info.php?p_id=mail.

Friday, August 25, 2006 6:59:25 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Friday, July 14, 2006

This is one from the SE referrals in my logs.

There does seem to be a problem deleting messages when an account is set up as IMAP.  The “empty deleted items” option doesn’t seem to delete the messages from the server, and they come back with the next sync.  I’m not sure of the technical details, but in Outlook, deleting messages from an IMAP account is a two-step process—first, the delete, then the Purge Deleted Messages.  The empty deleted items on the Treo seems to be only the first step.

I have no problems deleting messages when I reconfigured the accounts as POP3 accounts.

<update 2006–07–30>

If you want your IMAP to work properly, look into .  FlexMail is a complete replacement for Pocket Outlook, and then some.  IMHO, FlexMail handles IMAP accounts better than desktop Outlook does.  In addition to properly deleting items in IMAP accounts, FlexMail will perform POP before SMTP, which is a requirement to send e-mail on many hosts.  Pocket Outlook does not have this option.

If you sync to an Exchange server, set that up in Pocket Outlook and let FlexMail automatically import the settings.  If you have POP2 or IMAP accounts alreadey set up in Pocket Outlook, just delete them and set them up again in FlexMail, since there are more settings for these accounts than are available in Pocket Outlook.

Friday, July 14, 2006 9:06:01 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Thursday, July 13, 2006

has a review today of sync service.  What sets this service apart is that no only will it sync with PCs, it will sync with your cell phone.  Specifically, Walt used a Treo 700w for his tests.

Now, a small Silicon Valley start-up called Sharpcast is introducing an impressive, free service that synchronizes data among PCs, phones and a Web site at lightning speeds. I tested Sharpcast for several weeks, and found that it works really well.

The service is limited to photos right now, which means it's more mashed potatoes than gravy:

With Sharpcast Photos, any change you make to an album of photos on one of your devices is replicated within seconds on your other devices. If you add a photo to an album on your PC, it shows up within seconds on your phone and on your Sharpcast Web page. If you rotate a photo on the phone, the same photo is rotated within seconds on the PC and Web page. If you delete a photo on the Web page, it's immediately deleted on the PC and the phone. And if you take a photo with the camera on your Sharpcast-enabled phone, it will show up in seconds on your PC and your Web page.

It's not a huge leap from instant replication of modified photos to instant replication of spreadsheets, Word docs, etc. 

You can also share your albums with other Sharpcast users, and receive shared albums from them.

Sharing = collaboration.  MS's next version of SharePoint will be mobile enabled, but there's a large buy-in and overhead, not to mention connectivity issues.  Instead of sharing a photo album, imaging sharing a project folder.  By the time your plane lands, you have the updated files on your phone, and will get them as soon as you connect your laptop to the Internet.  Sweet!  And, probably with less overhead.

Planned improvements include sync of contacts, appointments, etc.  Not such a huge issue for me, since we have an Exchange server, but very useful for a lot of people I know.

Full story at http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20060713.html.  The possibilities are exciting--this is definately a company to watch in the near future.

Thursday, July 13, 2006 2:43:30 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Wednesday, July 12, 2006

When you install the MSFP on your Treo 700w, you can use Exchange 2003 SP2 to enforce security policies on the PDA functions.  One policy includes an access PIN, which locks the phone after a certain period of inactivity (5 min doesn't seem bad in testing, but you might want to make it longer in real life).  This policy seems to be a must for the remote wipe to work correctly.  Additionally, in case the phone is ever lost, you can send a command from Exchange to the phone to wipe it clean of data the next time it tries to sync.

As a proof of concept, my phone was wiped 7 or 8 times yesterday.  Here's a short overview of what happens:

  1. The phone retains full functionality.  Whomever finds the phone is free to make all the calls they want if you don't have a PIN policy.  This means that if you do get the phone back, you don't need to go through that Verizon configuration procedure again.
  2. Even if you enforce a PIN policy on the PDA functions, the phone can still recive calls.  The ringing phone can be answered without entering the PIN, but no caller ID information is displayed.  Calls cannot be made from the phone until the PIN is entered.  You can set the PIN policy to wipe a device after a certain number of failures, too.
  3. The phone basically undergoes a hard reset.  Any aftermarket software that was installed is removed.  Any data stored in system memory is lost.  All configured e-mail accounts (be they POP3 or Exchange) are deleted, as is all the e-mail.  All contacts, appointments, tasks, etc are removed.  Registry settings are removed.  The MSFP is retained.
  4. Custom ringtones and other add-ons are also removed.  I have to find that WAV of the Monday Night Football theme again.
  5. Data stored on a storage card is not lost.  Don't put confidential/incriminating information on the storage card, or at least don't leave the cards in your phone all the time.  There is an option to store e-mail attachments on the card, and it appears these are removed when the e-mail is wiped.
  6. If you get the phone back, or get a new one, your contacts, tasks, etc. will be restored with the next ActiveSync.  You will probably have to reinstall the software yourself.  Make sure you keep good records of your registration codes.

The Remote Wipe will not function if the device doesn't have MSFP installed.  The Remote Wipe functionality is an Exchange plug-in, apparently something you need to download separately from SP2, but I'm not the Exchange admin.

The PIN policy (called the password policy in most of the forums) seems to be key in getting the wipe to work.  If you don't set this policy, then the user is prompted to apply a security setting when the wipe is triggered.  Choosing No means the device isn't wiped, and this is a very common thing in the forums.  Also key is that the phone is sync'd directlty to a Windows 2003/Exchange 2003 SP2 server.  Our bastion Windows 2000 server doesn't pass out the policies to the phone, but the phone can be sync'd against the bastion server, and the wipe is passed through the server as well.  But we had to sync against the Win 2K3 server once (and probably every time we want to upgrade the policies).

Wednesday, July 12, 2006 1:08:17 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Thursday, May 18, 2006

If you use a Treo 700w and SplashBlog, don't perform their automatic upgrade.  Their upgrader installs the wrong version of the software on your phone, and the client won't start.  There are two versions for Windows Mobile devices, one for those without a touchscreen (which they call the SmartPhone version) and a separate version for devices with a touchscreen (which they call the Pocket PC version).  Treo 700w users want the Pocket PC Version of SplachBlog.

Get the correct version at http://splashblog.com/portal_download.aspx.

Thursday, May 18, 2006 11:08:28 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Wednesday, May 03, 2006

The freeware app ADBWeather Plus runs on a Treo 700w!  This was my favorite weather app on my Axim X5, and with the EVDO network, forecast info and satellite images download fast.  You can install this using a CAB or a desktop installer.  Sweet!

Wednesday, May 03, 2006 12:47:05 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
In his "Replacing Start/Run" episode, Scott Hanselman talked about TiddlyWiki as a great little organization tool.  Pocket IE doesn't support JavaScript, so there's no hope of using TiddlyWiki with that.  Opera's latest release is so tantalizingly close to working with TiddlyWiki (which would make both a very useful app for me).  Opera can almost render the page correctly in full page mode, and the rendering leads to navigation difficulties.  But it's soooo close.  I'm not sure if it's an issue with Opera or TiddlyWiki.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006 10:05:11 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Tuesday, May 02, 2006

My fabvorite Today screen replacement is now available for Windows Mobile 5.  I blogged about this previously for my Axim X5, and was hoping it would be available for my Treo 700w. 

Full information at http://www.sbsh.net/products/pocketbreeze/.

Technorati: | |  |

Tuesday, May 02, 2006 9:38:56 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Sunday, April 30, 2006

So I returned home, and the temp files were still deleting.  Taking a chance, I stopped the File Explorer, and simply renamed the Temp directory to Temp2, and created a new Temp directory.  That was actually quick.  I un-selected everything I could to sync, and did an AvtiveSync.  It took a bit, but it sync'd.  I started the updater, and after a moment or two, it told me I already had the update installed.  So I called Palm again.  Kudos to Palm support--second ring, an actual tech support person answered and we tried to fix it.  We deleted temp files, soft reset and rebooted, reinstalled the updater, still no dice.  After 45 min, I had to go to a 6th B-Day party, still with no phone.  The install hung right at the end of copying files, and never began the Updating step.

We came home, and I tried it again.  Deleted the few files in my new Temp directory, deleted the TreoUpd123 folder, removed the PalmUpd program, rebooted everything, re-installed the updater, changed the VERS file to 1.12, and let it go.  Removing the PalmUpd program is something we did the first time I called support, but not the second.  Finally, everything worked perfectly, and my phone is back online.  Not to mention ActiveSync is a lot quicker since I cleaned up the error I was getting.  Direct Push e-mail is awesome, and MS seems to have fixed a few things with the POP/IMAP e-mail as well.  Frustrating for a bit, but it's all better now.

The third page of the installer site (http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/treo700wupdater/verizon.html) has some troubleshooting which talks about some of the problems I had.

Technorati:

Sunday, April 30, 2006 7:48:36 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Friday, April 28, 2006

The Treo Updater has been re-posted.  You can find it at:

http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/treo700wupdater/verizon.html

Friday, April 28, 2006 1:39:24 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

If you're trying to call my cell phone, you need to e-mail me instead.  It's going to be another day or so.

When I got home last night, the Treo Updater was still stuck.  I called Palm, and on the first or second ring, a real support person answered--pretty cool.  I don't know if I dialed in at a magic moment, but I was expecting a long hold.

We killed the update process, soft reset the phone, checked some settings, and found that the update had partially installed.  Not such a good thing.  We cleaned out a PalmUpd123 folder, removed a Palm Update program, and soft reset the phone.

Then the fun really began.  I had been getting some ActiveSync error, but all my information was updating fine, so I ignored them.  As it turns out, the updater is extremely finicky, and you need to have a perfect ActiveSync in order to get the updater installed.  The tech support guy had me look in a temp directory for some files that may be piling up.  This directory normally contains a few files; mine had almost 5000.  It takes 30 min or so to delete a couple hundred or so generated during installation (this is that "cleaning up" step).  I was obviously going to be waiting for some time once I started the delete process.  I stopped the process this morning after 11 hours, and there were 1800 still to go.  So I started deleting again and left the phone plugged into the charger.  I imagine it'll be ready when I get home tonight.  24 hours to clean out the temp directory--ugly!

These temp files are often the result of ActiveSync problems, probably the problems causing the error I was ignoring.  I had my phone set to sync mail, calendar and contacts from my company's Exchange server, and calendar and contacts on my home PC.  Palm tech support informed me that you shouldn't be able to sync calendar and contacts in both places.  Someone forgot to tell my phone, and I've been sync-ing both for some time now.

My next steps are to finish deleting all those temp files, turn off the PC sync for calendar and contacts, soft reset (just because), perform a good ActiveSync, and then try the updater again.

I'm going to hope that future iterations of Windows Mobile do a better job of managing these temp files, because this is a real nuisance.

Friday, April 28, 2006 11:40:37 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Thursday, April 27, 2006

I am sans-Treo today.  I know better than to do these things in the morning, but one of my co-workers didn't have a problem upgrading, and I just couldn't resist the lure of direct push e-mail.  What a mistake!

The upgrade process went well for the Treonauts (http://blog.treonauts.com/2006/04/treo_700w_updat.html), so I was hopeful.  I started the installation, and the update screen claimed it was a 30 min process.  The preparation step went quickly, and then the actual update started.  I fed the dogs, showered, walked the dogs, packed lunch, made breakfast, kissed wifey a few times, and after 75 minutes, I was still at the beginning of the upgrade step.  I placed a quick call to Verizon, who said that you can expect about an hour total (about 30 min for the upgrade, and about 30 min for the cleanup).  When I told them it had been 75 minutes on the upgrade step, the said that was a problem, and tried to patch me through to Palm.  Palm was conveniently closed, not comnig to work until 6 am Pacific.  Since it was 7:45 Eastern (4:45 am Pacific), I headed off to work.  I left the update process running, hoping 8 or 9 hours might be enough.  We'll see when I get home.

There is an elapsed time counter on the update screen, but it doesn't roll the hours.  After 66 minutes, the clock read only 6 minutes had elapsed.

Thursday, April 27, 2006 11:34:27 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Friday, April 21, 2006

Direct push e-mail is now available for Treo 700w users--the MSFP has been released!  w00t!

There's also an updated Picsel PDF viewer.  Maybe this one works.  And, that little bug where the internet connection os closed after POP mail is retrieved is apparently fixed.  E-mail from Palm below; additional info at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/business/5/default.mspx.

Palm(R)

***********************************************************************

Treo(TM) 700w smartphone users with Verizon Wireless service:

An important new update for your Treo 700w smartphone is now available.

This update offers Palm and Microsoft enhancements as well as Microsoft's latest feature pack, including:

Microsoft(R)'s Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP)

- Direct Push Technology for automatic wireless synchronization of

email, calendar, contacts, and now, tasks*

- Wireless access to your company's Global Address List*

- Enhanced business security features

Memory modifications

- Updated memory management

Email enhancements

- More support for push email solutions, such as WirelessSync and GoodLink(TM)

- Enhanced email synchronization capabilities, such as the ability to

maintain an "always on" data connection after POP or IMAP email

synchronization and the ability to auto-synchronize all email accounts

based on user settings*

And More

- Latest version of the Picsel PDF viewer, now available for download at

http://www.palm.com/us/support/downloads/picsel/index.html

- Wireless Manager provides updated interface for turning wireless radios

on or off

- Updates to the Pictures and Videos application

To access the software update and installation instructions visit Customer

Support: http://www.palm.com/700wupdate

You can also download the new Treo 700w User Guide.

http://www.palm.com/us/support/handbooks/treo/treo700wvzw_ug.pdf

Get the most from your Treo 700w smartphone -- download this important update today! Consult your company IT department on software upgrades if appropriate.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

* Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) upgrade required for Direct Push Technology and Global Address List lookup. Mobile email and web within wireless coverage area only. Requires data services from a mobile service provider at an additional cost. ISP and/or VPN may also be required.

 

Friday, April 21, 2006 2:27:40 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Tuesday, April 04, 2006

via Betanews:

Microsoft is preparing to beta test a new software client for Windows Mobile 5.0, which will replace the Pocket MSN application with Windows Live based services formatted for smartphones. Pocket MSN features currently include one-click access to Hotmail and Messenger, along with viewing alerts.

With Windows Live services set to succeed their MSN counterparts throughout the year, Microsoft will update the mobile client as well. The company is seeking beta testers to trial the new software, which requires a Windows Mobile 5.0 device such as a Treo 700w. The test, only available in the United States, is open to join through Microsoft's Connect beta site -- users can find an application survey under the "Available Programs" link.

Part of the program requirement is a compatible cell phone (such as a Treo 700w) and a good data plan.  Click through to the connect site, sign in with your Passport, and fill out the survey.  The program is near the bottom of the list.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006 1:30:19 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Thursday, March 23, 2006

The Treo 700w comes with a VPN client, but my company uses a Cisco 3000 VPN concentrator, and the bundled VPN client doesn’t work with this.  I am trying a demo of the VPN client from Anthasoft, and it’s working like a charm.  Installation was a snap—copy a certificate manager CAB to the device and install it, then install the VPN client from the desktop and sync.  Somehow, the user guide didn’t make it into the distro, but if you e-mail them, they’ll send it to you.

Once I got the user guide, setup was easy, and I connected to my company’s VPN in only a couple of minutes.  I then fired up the terminal services client which comes on the Treo, and I was able to log on and administrate a couple of server.  In a pinch, this combo will work great, but I can’t see too many people working full time on a 2”x2” screen.

Now playing: The Raconteurs - Steady, As She Goes

Thursday, March 23, 2006 11:37:12 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Friday, March 17, 2006

According to Download Squad, SplashBlog (the photoblogging app I use with my Treo 700w) has been bought by the makers of Movable Type:

Six Apart, the company that owns popular blogging software Movable Type and web services TypePad and LiveJournal, has been busy lately. According to TechCrunch, they've raised $12 million in VC funding and, more interestingly (to me, at least), acquried SplashBlog. SplashBlog is a service for blogging and photoblogging from mobile phones and PDAs, and it's reasonable to expect Six Apart to integrate SplashBlog's offerings into its current line-up.

That's the entire post, but if you're interested, full story at http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/03/16/six-apart-gets-funding-buys-splashblog/.

Now playing: The Human League - (Keep Feeling) Fascination

Friday, March 17, 2006 10:59:21 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Tuesday, February 21, 2006

The Treo 700w series phones are equipped with Bluetooth, which allows one to use wireless headsets, but also potentially opens up some vulnerabilities.  Informit recently published an article discussing vulnerabilities with Bluetooth devices:

The other major problem with current Bluetooth devices is that some sensitive functionality is exposed to unauthenticated users. When designing a Bluetooth-enabled device, system designers may want to provide certain pieces of functionality to non-trusted users. Unfortunately, sometimes more functionality is exposed than is intended, and attackers can read and/or write information to which they shouldn’t have access. These types of vulnerabilities are device-specific; for instance, cell phones from one manufacture may be vulnerable while those from another are not.

Read the full article at http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=442341.  If you use Bluetooth connections with your Treo, check with Palm to make sure the various vulnerabilities have been patched (remember that new ones may be found also).  If you don’t use Bluetooth, turn it off.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 7:23:09 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Friday, February 10, 2006

My buddy Nathan comes through with this today--www.minixm.com.  This is XM Radio's official lightweight stream site, meant for devices like the Treo 700w.  Access the site through your Pocket IE, and choose your channel.  When the stream begins, Windows Media Player will start and handle the playback.  You can get the "now playing" in either WMP or PIE.  The sound quality isn't fantastic, but good enough, especially for the news programs.

Bad news for Treo 650 users--the XM stream requires support for Windows Media Player 9 or better, which apparently isn't available for the Palm OS.  Trying to open the stream crashed Bob's 650.

Friday, February 10, 2006 2:03:48 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Sunday, January 29, 2006

You can download many of the famous Steeler fight songs as MP3s or WMAs from http://steelergridiron.com/fanzone/songs.html.  The Treo 700w can use WMA format for ringtones, so any MP3s will need to be converted first (see below).  Some the the songs are right-click-and-save-as, some you need to un-zip afrer you download. 

You can download the “Puhlahmahlu” song as an MP3 from http://www.flidop.com/flidop/detailband.php?BID=184 (scroll down—link under the letter).  Since this is a full-length song, you should probably edit it down to your favorite parts before turning the whole thing into a ringtone.  You really only need 30 seconds of a ringtone, since your voicemail will pick up after that.

To convert MP3s to WMAs, and edit the songs as needed, I use the free .  This is extrememly easy to use, and I think I’ll be creating ringtone monsters by pointing this out.

To get the ringtones on your Treo, you can copy them to an SD card, or put them in your file sync folder and sync your device (advanced users can navigate directly to the Rings directory on their device).  Then, navigate to the files using the File Explorer, tap and hold on the song, and choose “set as ringtone” from the pop-up menu.  This will copy the song to the ringtones directory.

Then, go to Start >> Settings >> Phone, and click the “set ringtones” link.  On the tones screen, choose the Phone event (known caller, unknown caller, etc) and then select the ringtone.

If you want to really go crazy, you can set different ringtones for each person in your contacts.  Once you get your tones in the Rings directory, open up your contacts, and find the person you want to set the ringtone for.  Scroll down in their contact entry, and you’ll see a “Ringtone” entry partway down the contact information (just under where you enter the mobile phone number).  This is a dropdown list containing everything in your Rings directory.

Just remember to turn of those phones when you’re in a movie, restaurant or at the symphony.  Please!

For more information on creating rongtones for your Treo 700w, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/mobile/pocketpc/makeringtone.mspx

<update 2006–02–03>

If you don’t have a Treo 700w, no big deal.  Any SmartPhone or will work like this.  If you have a normal cellphone, you can probably still make your own ringtones.  All you need is a USB data cable to connect your phone to your computer (these are often available at the store where you got your phone, and almost always available online, just Google for the model of phone you have and you’ll find one), and the freeware BitPim to transfer the song to your phone.  There is a list of phones you can use with BitPim at http://www.bitpim.org/help/, and links to cables for the phones.  Make sure the data cable includes the USB drivers for your phone.  Use Audacity to cut out about a 30 second chunk of your favorite song, connect your phone to your computer using the data cable, and transfer the song chunk using BitPim.  BitPim will automatically put the ringtone into the proper folder, all you have to do is choose it.  I used to do this with my old LG-VX4500 and it worked like a charm.  Most phones can use MP3 or MID files as their ringtones, but if you’re having problems, just Google for your phone type and you should find some additional information.

Sunday, January 29, 2006 8:17:12 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

I found two new ‘moblog’ apps for my new Treo 700w, both powered by .NET: and .  Each app allows you to post photos from your cameraphone to an account on the respective app’s site.  Both apps are available for a number of devices, and each app’s site is developed in .NET.  Picoblogger looks a lot like Community Server, SplashBlog uses a different but simple interface.

SplashBlog can post to Blogger or TypePad; Picoblogger claims it can post to any blog service that uses the Blogger API (such as dasBlog), but I couldn’t find the configuration on the server, and the client app crashed when I tried to use it.

Not to get into a comparison of the two here, but I think it’s pretty cool that .NET is powering two new Web 2.0 apps.

Sunday, January 29, 2006 4:09:11 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Sunday, January 22, 2006

One of the big ironies of the Treo 650 vs. Treo 700w decision is that the Treo 700w has a higher resolution camera (1.3 MP vs. 0.3 MP), but a lower resolution screen on which to view the captured photos.

Bob and I pulled out the gadgets again, shooting almost identical images of a classic work of art (almost identical because it’s difficult for us to pull out the gadgets without exposing ourselves to considerable harassment).  On the left is a shot with my Treo 700w; on the right with Bob’s Treo 650.  The color separation on the 650 is a little stronger than on the 700w (which looks a little washed out), but the image from the 700w is a little crisper and considerably larger.  You can almost read where the fries are from in the photo taken by my 700w.  Clicking on the thumbnails will open the unmodified original images for comparison.

This one’s a toss-up.  Color processing is better on the 650, but image resolution is better on the 700w.

Photo with Treo 700wTreo 650 Image

 

Now playing: The Babys - Back on My Feet Again

Sunday, January 22, 2006 9:04:20 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Off to the Scoble-fest here in Pittsburgh tonight in a few, but I'm testing Opera 8.5. Hat tip to Stefano Paschal, Opera is less CSS compliant than Pocket IE, but the dasBlog admin interface does operate using Opera (albeit a little limited).

Wednesday, January 18, 2006 5:09:38 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Tuesday, January 17, 2006

The first “bug” I’ve found is actually on Page 2 of the manual.  If this were a coing, it would be a serious collector’s item.  Any takers on a manual?

Second bug is when using Mobile MSN Messenger.  If you type your password in wrong, the error message comes back that the server is not responding.  I’m not sure if that’s a true bug, or just a crappy error message.  The server seems to respond just fine when you enter your password correctly.

Third bug is when changing your ringtones to an audio file stored outside of the Rings folder.  The 700w can use WAV files as ringtones, and you can set the ringtone by tapping and holding on the file name in File Explorer, then choosing “Set as ringtone” from the menu.  You get a message back that the file has been copied to the Rings folder and has been set as the ringtone.  The file does get copied to the Rings folder, but isn’t set as the ringtone, despite whayt the little message says.  You need to set the ringtone manually.

Now playing: The Call - Let the Day Begin

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 6:28:24 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
 Thursday, January 12, 2006

My coworker Bob has a Treo 650, which has a 320 x 320 screen.  The Treo 700w has a 240 x 240 screen.  When we compared them side-by-side, images were markedly better on the 650 thanon the 700.  In some cases, the images were pretty close.  However, in images that contained wording (like on the front page of MSN), the words were crisp and readable on the 650, and unreadable blobs of white on my 700w.  Not even a comparison--his 650 won hands down.

However, the 700w supports Verizon's EV-DO network, and the 650 doesn't.  My 700w smoked his 650 when downloading web content.  Not even close.  My connection speed was clocked at 445 kbps in a bandwidth test.

Below is a side-by-side comparison of the Treo 700w (left) and the Treo 650 (right) viewing the same image on the MSN homepage.  You’ll see the words are clearly readable on the 650, but almost unintelligable on the 700w.  Click the image for a larger view.