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Will Diarist post to the new style blogger account? Yes! Yes! Yes!

BlogJet 2.0 troubles

Instead of a smooth evening's blogging last night I had nothing but frustration.

I had installed BlogJet 2.0 on my laptop and started to go through the setup process, only to find it would not recognise my blog, or rather it would not even get through to the outside world.

Having entered Blog URL and login or blog URL and manually seleting Blogger old for the API bits, all I was getting was EIdConnect Timeout.

Some good news was that I got a response from Dmitry within the hour when i posted on Codingrobots' Blogjet Forum.

Just before hearing from Dmitry I was triple checking my blogger login details. I signed in successfully at Blogger using capitals at the start of my username. When looking at my account I saw that my username appeared everywhere with all characters in lowercase.

When I went back to BlogJet and tried using just lowercase in my blog login name I got a different message. While the new error message said "Invalid payload received from xml-rpc server" I see it as a good sign and that it is communicating with Blogger at last. fingers crossed for my trying tonight.

Feeling sheepish

Well, not sheepish exactly but I did want to have a pun-ish title.

We were heading through the village today, on our way to Penzance. Passing along the harbourhead I could see sheep in the field above the harbour. As we turned the corner we saw around 20 of them on a steep, scrub covered slope next to what was once Cowls Garage and is now ground cleared for houses. They were a couple of hops from quite a busy main road, not a good idea.

I am not an expert on landowners in the village but I took a guess at whose sheep they were. After deciding to do the neighbourly thing, it occurred to me that I would need to visit Methleigh Farm.

Now to almost everyone the name Methleigh won't mean anything. To someone interested in local history it is quite significant. Porthleven is a village that only came into existence in the 18th century, whereas farms and a few cottages were around well before that. Methleigh is a name that appears in the Doomsday Book of 1086. The farm buildings may not date from that far back but it is the site of the Manor of Methleigh and, as such, has a lot of history attached to it.

I didn't quite have goosebumps as I drove up the lane to the farmhouse but it was significant all the same. It must be 30 years since I had been up that road and then I didn't give a thought to history. All those people over the years that had travelled the same road, awesome.

Bluetooth - world first in Winchelsea

While watching the BBC programme Countryfile I saw a report on what is believed to be a world first using bluetooth technology. (While this may not turn out to be totally accurate, I still think that this is a neat idea).

Winchelsea in East Sussex is a village reconstructed on higher ground after the old one was washed away in the 13th Century. It was once one of the major ports of England and 10 times the size it is now; for example, between Autumn (Fall) 1306 and April 1307 some 736,000 gallons of wine from Gascony, Bordeaux and Aquitaine was shipped through Winchelsea. These days it is a few miles from the shore.

There are remnants of its medieval past such as partial towers, it's church and cellars under a number of properties, where things such as the afore mentioned wine were stored.

The world first is a series of locations where bluetooth transmitters are to be placed. People walking around the village will be able to receive an especially created recreation of the scene before them on their bluetooth device.

On an aside, Winchelsea church yard is the place where Spike Milligan is buried.

My name is Phil

I don't think I have ever been shown the error of my ways in such a graceful way as Marianne in her post.

My name is Phil and I am a gadget tart.

I have to say that I have been lusting after a number of gadgets, a tablet PC and a UMPC for starters, that I can't afford. The toaster crept up on me and I saw it as an affordable alternative, (though how I would actually ink a post with it would be a challenge).

Thank you Marianne, if only all my errors could be corrected in such a way.

DVD watching Lesson 1

When watching a DVD that the other person does have an interest in watching don't supply them with a large bag of crisps.

In such a situation, make sure you know where the remote that brings up subtitles lies.

Thoughts of a friend on the mend

A friend of mine has had a major piece of surgery and is now in the recovery phase. I don't want to seem cryptic but I wish to respect his right to privacy (yes, I know, I'm blogging it but hey - I'm not perfect), while still sending our very best wishes for a rigourous recovery. Fast or slow I hope it will be complete and with the minmum of discomfort.

Another successful trip with the GPS

Well, I headed up to our Regional Office in Bristol this week, on the stormiest day in the UK for 17 years. I had no qualms about being diverted at any point, with the TomTom I knew I could always get back on track.

The best part of the trip up must have been how well the Arkon powered mount worked. It kept the x51v in view, in reach and, more crucially, amplified the sound; as well as being able to hear instructions over the road noise I could listen to podcasts.

One of those "why not before" inventions

One of those "why not before" inventions

Every so often comes an invention that makes me wonder why someone didn't think of it before. In this case, it's taking a long existing design and innovating.

Toast in the 21st Century.

Mobile tech comes through

Mobile tech comes through

I knew that note taking at the meeting would go smoothly, as it had done in London a few weeks back; Axim x51v and bluetooth Stowaway keyboard.

What actually worked extremely well was when a problem occurred this morning. A colleague, who was covering me while I went to Bristol, was caught in traffic following an uprooted tree in storms. Through a chain of phone calls I was reached as I drove up the motorway. Using the numbers stored in my p910i for voice dialing, I contacted and updated another colleague who was on his way in. All was well, until he was caught up in a diversion due to the storms. Another few calls and I had located someone just entering the building who could open it for the waiting visitors.

Without the use of a phone with voice dialling and bluetooth earpiece I would not have been able to sort it.

On the way back from the meeting today I stopped for a break and a coffee. There were a few ideas that occurred to me as part of the meeting, so I knocked off a few emails while at the coffee stop, (courtesy of the BTOpenzone).

Woodhenge

Just sometimes the things that help DON'T!!!

Aaaaaggggghhhh!!!!

I have my wifi connection on my Axim setup to use VPN for safety. I wouldn't have it any other way, it has been a boon, but not today.

Sometimes my HotSpotVPN-1 connection is refused for hours, after only being connected just moments before.

There are times when it "loses" the password, but I see that as a defensive measure rather than a glitch.

I have looked at the company's faq site but there doesn't seem to be a mention and very little current traffic at all.

Thank heavens for my small Orange data contract.

OK, I feel a little better now.

Uplifting posts

It's posts like this one of Marianne's "The Seven Sisters are singing tonight" that help me get through more dull moments.

After a day ploughing through pages and pages of manuals, walking through the rain, to find the next 2 offices I want to visit deserted, it's posts like that help me get through.

I feel much better now, sitting beside the roar of a coal tar rich fire, drinking a mocha coffee and with an episode of Morse on the television. I find it hard to comprehend that it's 20 years since the first episode. If I ever meet Colin Dexter I certainly owe him more than a pint, for all the pleasure his detective series has given me, (if I don't watch it for the mystery I get to see views of my favourite city - Oxford).

I'd better go and get a tray, I promised to prepare the veg if I was home first tonight, one of those jobs that can be done in front of the googlebox when sonething like Morse is on.

A few words for a new Axim x51v owner

A friend of mine recently picked up an Axim x51v and I promised to email a few lines based on my experiences; having done that I thought that it might be worth sharing on the blog.

I just realised I didn't take more than 20 minutes for lunch today so this counts as my break time.

For a list of the best pocket PC software you can't do better than either:

personal recommendation or the recommendation from a panel of people who represent users across the world.

[Three things I would not be without are a screen protector and either a spare battery or device to recharge on the go and a hard case.]

Software

In lieu of the first, have a look at the Pocket PC Magazine Awards 2006 - it gives you a list of some of the best programmes out there and which ones have been selected as the best for 2006.

Click on the link to descriptions, the software is in categories. They don't cover Office like applications: my personal favourite being Softmaker Office

For handwriting recognition, the Dell does well already (tap on the triangle next to the keyboard symbol at the bottom of the screen - it there's no little triangle tap once on the keyboard symbol, and pick the data input option you want) but I recommend Phatware's Calligrapher

I love Phatware's products. I use their Phatnotes programme as it gives much more flexibility in how I store stuff.

I have watched people blogging using their handwriting (known as inking in the Tablet PC world) and, from all accounts, I may have been the first in the world to do it from an Axim - see the December entries on my blog http://lowjib7.blogspot.com/. I use Phatware's PhatPad programme for this - it's a bit specialised and really for storing handwritten notes, not easy on such a small screen, I usually set the page size to A5 and zoom in to write, which gives me clearer handwriting but means I need to scroll quite a lot. For PhatPad to read handwriting and turn it into text at some point you need to also own their Calligrapher programme.

Other software I use:

Flexmail 2007 - for email, much more flexible but just a bit fiddly when setting up initial folders

Pocket Informant - essential PIM software

Skype - used over wifi connection

Hitchiker - programme for sniffing out wifi connections in the wild and attempting to connect (if it spots a conmnection where you have to pay e.g. Starbucks you at least know it's found one and then fire up your Browser to go through the login or pay/login process)

Opera - much more flexible browser, allows tabbing and handles java script

Listpro - great for all sorts of lists that you can use flags, check boxes, filters, etc on

Spb Backup - to periodically take a snapshot of my main device memory in case I ever have to hard reset (totally wipe progs/data on actual x51v

eReader - for occassional eBook reading

KeepTrack - track personal expenses

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Hardware
?
The main supplier of extras I use is Proporta
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I have their:

?magnesium case - for 1100 mAH standard battery

aluminium case - for 2200 mAh extended battery

screen protectors

power pack that takes rechargeable AA batteries and has an x51v conector on the end

I picked up a couple of 2200 mAh batteries on ebay (from Hong Kong I think) and pretty much use them and the aluminium case, though the powered pda mount I got for Christmas needs the Axim in it's thinner standard magnesium case.

If you ever try charging from just a USB connection be warned that the device has to be turned off, a normal USB connection only supplies enough power to use the device or charge it when the Axim is completely shut off.
Memory Cards - till now I use 7dayshop but UK Amazon ?have a sale on at the moment - something like 2Gb SD card for ?11

Other hardware:

BT GPS receiver - a sirf III device that tracks up to 32 satellite channels rahter than the standard (till now) 20 - eBay viaHong Kong? -? only good if you want to get into something like TomTom but it was my birthday at the time - using gps to Surrey the other week to try different routes, spot things like off road garages, Little Chefs and speed cameras http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/?(annual membership needed) was brilliant.

Stowaway (now known in many places as iGO) Universal BT keyboard - the latest version has a fourth row for separate numeric keys and I'd probably buy one except myStowaway keyboard is already soooo good for extended typing or taking notes at meetings.

Replacement stylii that have a pen in one end under the cap, plus a 4-in-1 pen that includes a stylus tip

SD/CF Card Reader - much quicker than Activesync to upload stuff from computer to card and vice versa e.g. large files or pictures.?

NB When synching data I use Activesync 4.2 but if yours is a slightly earlier version and you backup stuff via Activesync and then try to restore using the newer Activesync it will not work - hence I use a third party backup porgramme.

[By setting up a dialup connection and telling it to dial something like *99# the Axim can dialup your phone and connect to the Internet via whatever setup your phone has e.g. mine is set to connectvia GPRS wap when I surf on my phone and my Axim will use this when I am not near a wifi connection e.g. I get my emails on the bus when heading home. Be careful with connecting via your phone - unless you have a data plan in place that allows you unlimited or a certain amount of download bandwidth, it can be VERY expensive.]
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Sundry

make a note of your Owner name.? With mine I couldn't recall whether I had used my middle initial after accidentally wiping it out.? Some software unlocks only with the Owner name you declared when buying it e.g. I couldn't reinstall with the registration code till I had the correct owners name.

Register on the Aximsite Forums at http://www.aximsite.com/ a phenomenal site for info and advice - I am Philhellene on them and usually answer Hardware - Wireless questions when I can.

Clinton Finch reviews PhatPad 4

This is a great programme and it's good to see it getting some decent exposure. Clinton's Review

National De-lurking Week in the Blogosphere

OK all you lurkers out there; I have found out, thanks to my Scientic American widget that sits on my personalised Google page, that this week is National Blog De-lurking Week for people who visit blogs like my but never click on the Comment button to leave a comment.

I know some of my readers will email me after reading something but now is your time, come forth and post a comment, between you, me and the voices in my head we might get a conversation going.

Come one, come all

Pocket PC and keyboard

I am staying up way too late and will suffer for it in the morning. The trouble is that BBC1 has the film Paycheck with Uma Thurman and Ben Affleck and I am really enjoying it.

I just saw a scene in an FBI building where, just before the photo in that last link, a stenographer was taking dictation using a PDA and BT or infrared keyboard.

I am quite pleased, as I don't normally spot this sort of detail, certainly not at 11.40pm on a work night!

Time to set the video.

Goodnight all.

Late Christmas present

Well, if I wanted to cheer myself up this may be the way to do it.

I had ordered a couple of things for Cathy to give me as stocking fillers but they didn't come in time. I had forgotten about the two DVDs until HMV emailed me.

On their way are a double DVD set of the Jeff Wayne live War of the Worlds concert in London last year and a copy of the modern Battlestar Galactica series.

To top it off I also forgot, which would have been worrying if it didn't mean a present, that I had bought an Arkon Universal Powered PDA Mount CM795 from Morpeth Mobiles. They sent one just before New Year but it was a standard one, I returned it and the Arkon turned up today.

I can't wait to try it tomorrow in our car and then next week in the work one.

Catching up

This has been a while, I have no excuses about not having the opportunity, not when I am using an Axim. I have a 40 minute bus ride, up to an hour for lunch and an hour in the evenings.

I think I am getting in to bad habits again. This happened in the past, I have taken my eye off the ball before. A combination of late nights and general apathy. No excuse for that, after a terrific New Year, plus a great look forward to in February.

We are so looking forward to our friends coming over in February. It is the best sort of suprise , one that is unlooked for.
I'll try to post something more positive, now that I have dug out the keyboard it should pick me up.