Zune 30 Freezing Around the World Today

I have an original Zune 30 that’s served me very well for the last couple years. This morning, I got into the car and plugged in my Zune to the power and auxiliary input on my car stereo only to have nothing happen. Upon closer examination I saw that the Zune was sitting on the boot screen. The little progress bar was all the way across the screen, but nothing more was going on.

When I arrived in the office, a quick Google search revealed a far bigger problem. Zune 30’s appear to be freezing around the world. I hope someone at Microsoft still has one of these z30’s and can figure out how to get it back up and running quickly. I was planning on loading it up with video’s for my flight to CES this weekend.

Here’s a link to the Google news on this problem. With any luck someone at Microsoft will be working this week and we’ll get an update shortly. Yeah, I know – fat chance!

Update: According to Matt Akers from the Zune Product Team, the problem is related to a bug in a driver used for the clock on the z30’s. This problem will self-correct tomorrow. All you need to do is allow the devices power to drain. Then plug it in and it should come up fine. At least that’s what how I understand it. It’s good to see that they managed to work out what was goind on so quickly. I’m a little dissappointed that such a simple bug was not caught prior to the meltdown. What does concern me is that Matt makes no mention of a patch being worked on. He repeatedly says that the problem will self-correct. My concern around what will happen 4 years from now. Can we expect the same problem again? I sure hope not.

Changing the Media Net and Cellular Video Buttons on the BlackJack II

A little while back I spent some time looking around for a way to change the destination for the AT&T Media Net dedicated button on my BlackJack II. There was a couple different solutions but they all seemed to be way to complicated or involved unnecessary executables that would reside in memory on the device. So after a short browse around the device, I’ve figured out how to modify the Media Net button along with the Cellular Video buttons on the BlackJack II. There’s no registry editing required, and no need to download a third party application that will intercept your key press’s and then launch the application or link of your choice.

The following steps outline how to change the Media Net button.

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The Future of Internet Connectivity is Your Mobile Phone

It’s true! They’ve done studies and talked with experts and they’ve come to the conclusion that your mobile phone will be the primary method of connecting to the internet in the next 12 years or so. All joking aside, this isn’t all that surprising to some of us. Using our mobile devices has become the primary way of staying connected while on the go.

A couple years ago I was talking about how the mobile phone will become your primary computer and you won’t have a desktop or laptop as we know it today. Instead, when you sit down at your desk you will just have a larger screen and a full size keyboard for you to interact with your mobile phone. At the time, people mocked the idea and said it would never happen. Well, now we have Celio making the RedFly which is exactly that – a larger keyboard and screen for interacting with your mobile device. This is just the first step towards making the mobile phone the center of your computing experience. And once that happens, then it only makes sense that you’ll find the mobile phone as your primary connection to the internet. But what do I know…

You can read more about how the mobile phone will be the center of your internet world here.

Top Applications of 2008 for Windows Mobile

“2008 marks the 5th year that I have published a end-of-the-year Top 10 applications for Windows Mobile. I enjoy doing this little round up each year as it allows me to take a look back at all of the new and exciting applications that came out in 2008 and narrow them down to the ten applications that I think every Windows Mobile owner should have on their device. The trick, however, is narrowing it down to 10 applications! 2008 marked a banner year for many developers in the community as virtually every major application available at the beginning of the year had been updated once if not twice by the time December rolled in.”

Clinton Fitch has posted a list of the top 10 applications released this year for Windows Mobile. It’s a pretty interesting list when you consider that the list is dominated by 3 different companies. There are 4 applications from Spb, 2 from Vito, as well as 2 from Illium. Resco and Astraware both have just 1 application. There’s no question in my mind that these companies make top-notch applications. I do wonder what’s happened to the software marketplace for Windows Mobile. Have all the small guys packed up shop and moved on to Apple or Google’s mobile platform? Or is this just a result of the best getting better?

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Finally An Excellent Twitter Client for Windows Mobile – Pocketwit

I’ve talked in the past about how there are no good Twitter clients for Windows Mobile, especially on the Standard or Non-Touch Screen devices. That’s all changed thanks to Pocketwit. This is hands down, the best Twitter client I have seen. The user interface is unique and stylish, yet still very easy to use. It fully supports both touch screen and non-touch screen devices. And while those things are nice, it’s just the tip of what makes Pocketwit such a great Twitter client. When you post a reply or an update, Pocketwith will automatically grab your GPS co-ordinates and update your location information to reflect that. As well, it fully supports TwitPic allowing you to either include an existing image or snap a quick shot with the camera while typing up your post.

If that wasn’t enough, Pocketwit will automatically check for updates on startup and ask you if you want to download and install them. I’ve been running Pocketwit for a couple weeks now, and I’ve seen 4 or 5 updates in that timeframe that add new features and fix the odd bug too. My point is this, the guys behind Pocketwit are working hard at updating and improving this app. Which hopefully means that this is only going to get better as time goes by. Pocketwit also has support for multiple Twitter or identi.ca accounts. This is great for those of you that are managing a personal twitter account along with a company or blog account. [ ..Read More.. ]

Mobius 2008 – Winter Session Wrap-Up

The winter 2008 edition of Mobius has come to an end and once again it proved to be a packed schedule over the course of a couple days. There was a lot of material talked about and the majority of it was NDA. So unfortunately, there isn’t too much that I can share with everyone. There was endless discussion and at times the talk got very heated. In the end, everyone means well and is trying to help drive Microsoft, T-Mobile, HTC, and others towards a better future.

We were lucky enough to get some pretty awesome gifts from HTC (s740 Smartphone), Microsoft (Flip MinoHD , Arc Mouse, Life Cam and of course, the travel and accommodation), and even fellow Mobian Shane from PPCSG who brought along some Singapore spices for us to try. I am already working on reviews of these products – including unboxing videos. HTC also put up some prizes for the evening events. Unfortunately, it would appear that I’m not the cook I thought I was and I’ve let the rest of Canada down with my poor skating ability.

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I’m Attending Mobius Seattle – December 2008

Earlier today I boarded a plane and made my way across the continent to Seattle where I will be attending the latest Mobius gathering. Microsoft was kind enough to invite me and pay for my travel and accommodation for the duration of the trip. On a side note; I received a new SlingBox HD for review and was hoping to get it setup prior to my flight. What better way to test and review the SlingBox HD than to stream content from my home just outside Toronto, across the continent to my hotel room in Seattle. Unfortunately, I was not able to get everything setup before my trip. So I guess I’ll have to suffer with regular old SlingBox until I return home.

Back to Mobius; The events kick off Monday evening. I’ve got lots of feedback for Microsoft, both good and bad, I can’t wait to share it. I’m honoured to be a part of the Mobius group and thrilled that I am attending this meet-up. I’ll be posting information about what’s talked about – outside of the NDA material, over the next couple days.

It’s All About Touch, Or Is It?

Apple changed the market a couple years ago with the initial release of the iPhone. I’m not talking about releasing a revolutionary phone, because I don’t think the iPhone is that. But that’s a topic for another article. What Apple managed to do was re-energize the mobile touch screen world. Before the release of the iPhone we were seeing a steady increase in non-touch screen devices as manufacturers tried to copy RIMs approach and market share.

With the release of the iPhone, many manufacturers are now releasing touch screen devices and the non-touch screen phones releases are dropping off. Is there a different demand from the public now versus before? I’m not so sure. I think that manufacturers are worried about Apple and feel that a device with similar specs and design would be the best way to mitigate that risk. When, in reality, the best solution would be to innovate and release a unique phone with new and exciting features that takes the market in a whole new direction.

Take a look at the latest release from Nokia; The N97 is loaded with all the bells and whistles that Apple loaded on their iPhones while adding a QWERTY keyboard and of course, S60 for an operating system. Another great example is the Samsung Omnia which has a very similar form factor to the iPhone with a stylish and eye-catching face lift for the underlying Windows Mobile operating system. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the looks, design and features of these phones, but I would rather spend my money on something different and exciting. Both Nokia and Samsung have built great phones with no touch screen in the past. But the latest releases from these, and other companies, are all focused on touching the screen.

So what’s the appeal with touching your device? For me it feels so “1990’s” – back when mobile keyboards were big and bulky. Most were add-ons that you had to unfold or plug the device into. And when it comes to everyday usage of a touch screen device, typically I find it’s slower and more awkward to navigate and enter data on the device. Maybe that’s just me, but I can move around my BlackJack II much faster than the Touch. And there’s no comparison when it comes to typing emails or entering data.

The other big drawback is the one-handed factor. There’s so much more I can do and access with a non-touch screen device using just one hand, than I can on most touch screen devices. It doesn’t take long on a touch screen before you have to put down whatever you have in the other hand and pull out the stylus or lick the ketchup off your index finger so you can poke away at the screen. Who wants to do that?!

Much like the rant I posted the other day in regards to flip phones; There is a demand for non-touch screen devices, but manufacturers are so caught up in coping Apple that they are losing out on other parts of the market. Here’s hoping that the manufacturers wake up and start to offer new and innovative products once again.