San Francisco (CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment Exposition) September 27, 2005 – SplashData, Inc., the leading developer of “virtual wallet” applications for mobile devices, announced that its award winning SplashBlog  photoblogging solution is now available for additional mobile devices—Windows Mobile and Symbian Series 60 and UIQ. Also, new features have been added to the existing Palm OS version and web photo-hosting service. Further, the company is announcing a new business model for SplashBlog that will enable anybody to start and maintain a photoblog of up to 100 images at absolutely no cost.

For the first time, users of Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC and Smartphone handhelds and Symbian Series 60 and UIQ wireless devices, will be able to instantly publish photos to a “photoblog” for friends and family members to see. Supported devices now include those from manufacturers such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, Motorola, HP, i-mate and others. Users will also be able to subscribe to group photoblogs to share photos on their handhelds with their friends.

SplashData will be demonstrating the new versions of SplashBlog at the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment Exposition from September 27 – 29 in the Nokia, Palm and Handango booths.

The process of “blogging,” maintaining a personal journal on the Internet that is frequently updated, has been steadily growing in popularity. SplashBlog adds an entirely new element to blogging—instantly publishing a photo diary from a wireless device. SplashBlog users can snap photos of vacations, newborns, and other momentous occasions, and wirelessly publish those pictures to their personal photoblogs within seconds for friends and family scattered throughout the world to enjoy.

SplashBlog streamlines the process of mobile photoblogging, allowing users to capture an image and publish it to an online photoblog in as little as two clicks. SplashBlog includes everything users need to publish their photos online, including free software for the mobile device and a free online photoblog account at SplashBlog.com. Users who publish more than 100 pictures can subscribe for additional hosting space at SplashBlog.com for $29.95 per year.

New features in SplashBlog include the ability to maintain multiple SplashBlogs from the same account—for those who may want to set up different photoblogs to suit different audiences, such as personal and business associates. And each photoblog can be configured with different access privileges enabling users to require a password to view the photoblog, or the ability to allow some or all users to post photos to a shared group blog.

A vital ingredient to blogging that has made it a global phenomenon is the ability to add personal comments to an original post, fostering a spirit of community and even controversy as differing views are expressed. The new version of SplashBlog follows in this tradition by allowing visitors to post their own comments about each published image. Comments can either be posted on the Web by visitors using a PC, or from a wireless device using SplashBlog. The user experience for reading and replying to comments using SplashBlog on a wireless device is similar to that of an instant messaging client and provides a whole new level of wireless communication with pictures and words.

While SplashData has greatly expanded both the feature-set and potential number of SplashBloggers by adding versions for Windows Mobile and Symbian OS devices, it has also made it possible for wireless device users to start and maintain online photoblogs with no out-of-pocket expenses at all. Anybody can create and maintain a SplashBlog of up to 100 images for free. Those who want to store more than 100 images at SplashBlog.com can purchase a subscription for unlimited photo hosting for $29.95 per year.

“The beauty of SplashBlog is the immediacy in which users can capture, organize and share photos, which is made possible by the tight integration between the SplashBlog handheld software and the online photo sharing site, SplashBlog.com. SplashBlog has changed the way people share photos by eliminating the hassle out of creating and maintaining an online photo album,” said John Chaffee, president of SplashData. “We believe that as camera phone image quality continues to improve and the wireless networks continue to get faster and more affordable, SplashBlog will become the primary way users capture, organize and share photos.”

Availability and System Requirements

SplashBlog is available now and may be downloaded from www.splashblog.com. It supports handhelds with wireless connectivity running the following operating systems:

• Palm OS 4.1 or later (Palm Treo)
• Windows Mobile 5.for Pocket PC and Smartphone (HP, Motorola, Samsung, i-mate, etc.)
• Symbian Series 60 (Nokia)
• Symbian UIQ (Sony Ericsson) – Coming soon

There is nothing worse for me than running out of battery juice when I am mobile.  To help prevent that I have two standard batteries for my HP tc1100 Tablet PC which gets me between 6 and 7 hours of total battery life with power management set to be gentle on the battery.  This is OK when I am out on short trips and meetings but I knew that I would be having 10 and 12 hour sessions at the MVP Summit so I looked for alternative solutions.  I only had to look as far as the PowerPack 130 external battery from Batterygeek.net.  Due to delivery delays caused by Hurricane Rita my delivery was delayed by UPS and I didn’t get the 130 before leaving for Seattle so the good folks at Batterygeek shipped one overnight to my hotel in Seattle and it was waiting for me when I checked in.

My 130 came fully charged which was a nice touch and I set out to use it right away to get some work done on my Tablet PC in the hotel room.  The PowerPack 130 comes with 9 connector tips and choosing the right one for my HP was simple.  The battery is smaller than I thought it would be for such a powerful battery (8 x 4.75 x .75 inches, 2 lbs.) and it comes with an attached cord to hook up to the laptop or Tablet PC once the connector tip is plugged in.  It also comes with an AC adapter to recharge the 130.

When I connected the PowerPack 130 for the first time the internal battery on my Tablet PC was at slightly less than 40% because I used it on the flight to Seattle.  The beauty of this external battery is how it recharges the internal battery while also powering the Tablet PC.  The notebook or Tablet sees the battery as an external power source so most people will want to adjust their power management settings to maximize the life of the external battery but in this case I did not as I wanted to see how long the 130 would last.  During my marathon work session the 130 recharged my internal battery to 100% and ran for 6.5 hours before the low battery light came on.  This life is phenomenal since my power management was set to never dim the monitor nor cycle down the hard drive.  With good power management settings I could see getting over 8 hours out of the 130 easily.  It is thin so it fits handily in my backpack with my other gear and I hardly know it’s there.  Now I never have to look for a power outlet when I am in extended meetings and it is so liberating.  At a four hour work session at the Summit today the guy sitting next to me was using one of those big external batteries that is the size of a laptop and sat underneath his convertible Tablet PC.  He was very impressed with the PowerPack 130 because it is so much smaller than his battery and costs slightly over half what he paid for it.

The PowerPack 130 has a “fuel gauge” bank of LEDs on the top of the unit that light up when you push the TEST button so you can quickly determine the remaining charge at any time.  When the unit charge gets low a red LED lights up and a low warning sound emits from the integrated speaker.  I estimate that with my two HP batteries and the 130 I can get over 15 hours of continual use!  Now that’s true mobile tech.

The PowerPack 130 is available on the Batterygeek web site for $189 and comes standard with a 30 day return policy and a 1 year warranty.  I am extremely pleased with the Batterygeek PowerPack 130.

I am having a blast at the MVP Summit in Redmond this week and have seen some really cool stuff.  The very best part of the Summit for me is finally getting a chance to meet so many people I have been talking to online and via email for so long, in some cases for years.  Here’s a brief roll call of the folks I’ve met this trip:

Tablet PC MVPs:

• Dennis Rice
• Spencer Goad
• Linda Epstein
• Terri Stratton
• Trevor Claiborne
• First Family of the Tablet PC- Lora & Loren Heiny
• Chris Hassler
• Reed Rinn
• Fritz Switzer (OK, I met him in Miami earlier this year)
• WNewquay
• Dr. Neil Roodyn

I’m sure I’ve missed some so don’t be upset- I’ve met so many people the past few days I can’t remember everyone.

Mobile Devices MVPs:

• Mauricio Freitas
• Ed Hansberry
• Janak Parekh
• Don Sorcinelli
• Steven Hughes
• Eric Hicks
• Chris de Hererra
• Dwayne Lamb
• Dave Shier

I have also met many other folks from other technical competencies but my brain is too fried to recall them.  I can state with confidence that in every case each person I’ve met is either younger/ older and taller/ shorter than I pictured.  Two people have told me that I’m taller than they thought I’d be, and two other people have approached me while I was talking to someone else and introduced themselves.  They recognized my voice from the podcasts.  Cool.

The F2K FlashPhone is a “personal communicator” that allows you to make VoIP calls from a little USB memory stick.  Just plug the F2K into any computer’s USB port and instantly make calls with Google Talk, MSN, SIP or Skype.  The F2K has the following features:

• Compliant with USB 1.1, 2.0 full speed operations.
• Compliant with USB audio device class specification v1.0
• Embedded USB audio device to soundcard required.
• Embedded high performance 16 bit audio DAC with earphone phone buffer.
• Compatible with Win2000 / Win XP without additional driver.
• Power by USB Port without additional power.
• Volume up, volume down, and playback mute support. (Some version maybe no this function).
• Echo cancellation, loss noise reduction
• Full duplex communication.
• Embedded 5V to 3.3V regulator for single external 5V operation.
• 48 K/44.1KHz sampling rate for both playback and recording.
• 32-bit DSP modifies and enhances the audio signal
• Include microphone and speaker.
• USB Plug and talk unplug and leave.
• Compliant with USB 1.1, 2.0 full speed operations.
• 128MB/256MB/512MB flash Storage capacity to store your file.
• Program/Erase locked during Power transitions.
• 400,000 Program/Erase cycles. (Tested data provide by flash manufacturer)
• 10 years Data Retention. (Tested data provide by flash manufacturer)
• Can be configured as removableor HDD type disk by utility software.
• Support Autorun feature in removable type disk.
• Free MPLAT voice machine for skype. Answer machine plus voice recorder.

Besides, you’ve always wanted a personal communicator, haven’t you?  $40.

(via TRJF)

 mobile.review has published a preview of the Fujitsu Siemens Pocket Loox N520.  Expected to be released at the end of next month (October 2005) this Windows Mobile 5.0 device sports GPS, 802.11g (yes G) and Bluetooth.  Estimations put the release price of the N520 in the $400 neighborhood which, IMO, makes this a pretty hot GPS/PDA device.  The preview has a ton of pictures and benchmark results if you’re looking for more.

Grainy cell phone photo of the Channel 9 guy doing the Tablet PC.

Tatung has announced two new Tablet PCs that are designed to be ultra-thin and light.  The TTAB-A12D is a 12 inch slate with a either a Pentium M 1.6 GHz processor or a 1 GHz Celeron and only weighs 3.08 pounds.  It is designed for professionals who must carry the Tablet PC all day.  The TTAB-910E is a 10.4 inch Tablet PC that is available with the Celeron processor only.  Both new slates come with a wide range of integrated connectivity with the exception of Bluetooth (which I’m trying to verify)? 

(via Mobile Mag)

Pocket PC magazine (soon to be renamed Smartphone & Pocket PC) announces Finalists in its Fifth Annual Best Software Awards at www.PocketPCmag.com/awards/

Over 80 Windows Mobile experts have cast their on-line ballots to determine the best Pocket PC and Smartphone software. They voted on over 700 software titles in 85 Pocket PC, 23 Smartphone, and 22 Developer Software categories. Finalists from the voting have been announced at www.PocketPCmag.com/awards. Finalists, winners, and judges favorites will be described in the 2006 Smartphone & Pocket PC Buyer’s Guide magazine due out early November. Software demos of finalists and winners will be found on the 2006 Best Of Everything demo CD, available to subscribers in February.

The awards process began in May when New Products Editor, Diane Dumas, and experts selected nominees from over 3000 software titles from the Encyclopedia of Windows Mobile Software and Accessories (www.PocketPCmag.com/enclopedia. Nominees were announced in July and voting took place in August and September. Members of the Pocket PC magazine Board of Experts include authors of Pocket PC books, Pocket PC magazine contributors, Microsoft Windows Mobile MVPs, and Webmasters and editors from top Windows Mobile sites. Experts and their qualifications, plus details on the awards process can be found at www.PocketPCmag.com/awards.

Backgrounder: Pocket PC magazine

In November 2005 Pocket PC magazine with the publication of its 2006 Buyer’s Guide becomes Smartphone & Pocket PC. The bi-monthly magazine supports users of Windows Mobile PDA’s and Smartphone. Each issue includes hardware and software reviews, user profiles, practical tips, plus an "Enterprise Solutions" supplement. A bonus issue, "The Ultimate Smartphone & Pocket How-to Guide" dedicated to turning Windows Mobile beginners into experts, will be mailed to all subscribers in September, The magazine’s companion Web site, www.PocketPCmag.com, is updated each week day with news, hot downloads, Web sites, reviews, and tips. It also contains magazine archives, a directory of the best Windows Mobile Web sites, and an Encyclopedia of over 3500 third-party software and accessories products.

Met up with a group of Mobile Devices MVPs at a Starbucks this morning.  It was great finally meeting Steven Hughes, Don Sorcinelli and Jack Cook in person.  They are much uglier in person than I thought they’d be.    Seriously, these are all great guys and we had a good but brief chat.  Steven let me play with his OQO, it’s very tiny but cool, especially since he’s installed the Tablet OS on it.  I did find the screen was too ” squishy” for my tastes, but it’s a nice little device.  He also let me play with his Creative Zen Personal Media Player which is very nice.  Video quality was very good and the interface is the best I’ve seen on a video player.  He showed me some other stuff I can’t remember- he’s like a magician as he just keeps pulling cool device one after another from his bottomless bag.  More later.

It seems that engadget has the scoop on the new Blackberry 8700 and anticipates the official announcement to take place any day.  It’s another brick form factor, instead of the phone factor of the 7100 series, though supposedly thinner and narrower than the 7200 series.  You can’t really tell scale from the pictures alone, maybe it’s the angular lines that make it look bigger.