Enter Microsoft…in their infinite wisdom, they now are putting ‘TAGS’ on their advertisements that you can use your cell phone to ‘read’ and then you will be instantly taken to a website with your in-phone browser. My reaction: Cool technology…but, what a waste. My next thought…it’s CUECAT all over again. So, now our brains aren’t good enough to remember SQLServerEnergy.com, so we should rely on our cellphone to read a fancy barcode and take us there automatically. ( http://gettag.mobi )
Give me a break. Computers have already been blamed for helping to turn out a generation of students that struggle with basic arithmetic without a calculator. Anything that makes us lazy (mentally or physically) concerns me. We already have a nation of overweight children and middle-aged adults that die of heart attacks. (I must admit I worry about myself in that latter) Can’t technology be used in ways that helps us, without making us more lazy?
I don’t really think Microsoft Tags are going to ruin the world, but I just wonder if this is one of those times that people with new bad ideas should look to history at old bad ideas and make sure they aren’t repeating mistakes. Maybe technology solutions are seasonal and what works at one point in time might not work at others. I hope for the Microsoft Tag people, this is the season for this technology to blossom. I’m not holding my breath…
-BEH
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( 2.9 / 297 )There I was...sitting in the Jewish Hospital waiting room, with about 8 hours to kill. I decided to do my usual 'check' for new browsers for my Windows Mobile phone, that for the past 2 years has yielding nothing of value...but then...before my eyes...Iris.
I had never heard of this browser, but everything I read was positive, so I decided to give it a try. Boy am I glad I did.
I simply registered online and downloaded straight to my phone from the Torch Mobile website. ( http://www.torchmobile.com/download/ ) Then within minutes, my Moto Q9m (recently upgraded to WM 6.1) was finally able to actually browse websites in a manner similar to a PC or at least an iPhone.
Some of the features that stand out for me are:
1. Mouse cursor - even on a smartphone that allows easier navigation and clearer clicking on sites.
2. Page Thumbnail - as you are navigating a page, you are presented with a thumbnail 'aerial' view of the entire page you are browsing...genius.
3. Zoom / View Control - Great ability to zoom to many levels and scroll through multi-screen viewing as needed.
4. Import Favorites from IE - nice feature to allow easy migration.
Now on my Moto Q, this isn't perfect. I have experienced some out of memory errors and other problems. (the MotoQ doesn't meet the minimum recommendation) But overall, this has opened some abilities for browsing that I simply didn't have before.
Great work Torch. Keep on improving Iris!!!
-BEH
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( 3 / 613 )Assuming that you have the cellular plan to legally tether this entry is for you. We accept no responsiblity for this if your cellular service decides to bill you extra as a result of this usage. Tethering is of course using your SmartPhone as a modem for your laptop/pc to connect to the internet, either by wire or Bluetooth.
Not only can you access the internet using your SmartPhone but you can also use it to provide Internet access to your laptop. This is great when your laptop is not near a Wi-Fi, public LAN, or your only way to access the Internet is through a pay "hotspot", or even worse...dial-up.
The instructions I am going to give are for connecting your SmartPhone to your laptop using the USB data cable. You can also do this using BlueTooth, and it works equally well, but it is a little more complex to step through as the process requires getting your SmartPhone and Laptop handshaking on the Bluetooth connection. Specifically I am performing this using a Verizon Motorola Q9m, but most others should be similar. This exact process may only work on Windows Mobile 6.0 or 6.1 OS as well. It does not appear that WM5 devices have the needed executables. (At least in our limited testing.)
With your SmartPhone connected to your laptop, use ActiveSync to Explore Smartphone, go to the \Windows directory. Scroll down until you find a file named "InternetConnectionSharing". Right click on it and select "Copy". Now go to \Windows\Start Menu and again right clicking and select "Paste Shortcut". This will create a shortcut to IntShrUI.exe and it will be named something like "InternetConnectionSharing(2)". You can leave it like this, but I would rename the file and drop the number (2) from it (you can do this by right clicking on it and selecting "Rename").
You are now ready to use your SmartPhone as a modem for your laptop (or PC or desktop, etc.). Make sure that your laptop is connected to your SmartPhone using the USB data/sync cable. If your laptop is currently hooked up to a network (wireless, ethernet, dial-up, etc) disable the network card for this test. Once you are sure you are no longer connected to the Internet, go to "Start/Internet Sharing" on your SmartPhone (directly on the phone not using ActiveSync) and click on the icon.
The application will start on your phone and you will have to click on the left hand soft key named "Connect" (the options should be already filled in for you, but if not, they should be "PC Connection = USB" (or "Bluetooth PAN" for Bluetooth-Paired phones) and "Network Connection = Broadband Access"). That's it, you should now be able to surf on the Internet from your laptop. When you are done, bring up the Internet Sharing application and click on "Disconnect". Don't forget to re-enable your network card if you previously disabled it for this test.
So now when you are out in the real world and have no Internet connectivity on your laptop, you now can use your SmartPhone to keep you connected. I highly recommend you go the next step and get it working Bluetooth, because those USB sync cables just never seem to be around when you need one!
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