Local weather on the HTC Touch

how to get a forecast a little closer to home – xda developers hack hacked

I’ve been long term testing the  HTC touch ready for an imminent review and one of the interesting applications is a weather forecasting plugin that sits on your home screen and displays a localish weather forecast.

The weather plugin is great but for the UK the default list is pretty sparse,  I can only find Manchester, London or Edinburgh and living in Nottingham that’s useless.

XDA developers to the rescue, it’s through a registry hack (so usual caveats apply)  the suggestion is

just navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\HTC\HTCHome\Weather\Settings

And change the Location key to the name you want displaying  and LocationCode to the new city’s accuweather location code .

You’ll  find the codes here and all the Nottinghams here  

Nottingham in Nottinghamshire is EUR|UK|UK189|NOTTINGHAM however when i altered the code to this … it doesn’t work, you get an unable to download data error

there’s a long and complicated fix here with clever use of a generous soul’s server to interpret the data.

However with a little reg rummaging I discovered that in the registry both London and Manchester have nearly identical codes EUR|UK|UK001|cityname despite the fact that the accuweather codes are  EUR|UK|UK124|LONDON and EUR|UK|UK189|NOTTINGHAM.

So I changed my Touch code to EUR|UK|UK001|NOTTINGHAM and it seems to work I certainly get different weather from London Village and God’s own City. anyone else tried it?

Technorati Tags: HTC, Touch, Weather, accuweather, registry hack

open Source VoIP and Microsoft Unified Messaging

How to get Asterisk working with Exchange 2007

I’d alluded before about my dabbling with Asterisk as an open source SIP PBX and how I hadn’t mustered the energy to try and get Exchange 2007 which uses SIP over TCP to talk to Asterisk which uses SIP over UDP. at the time I was considering a patch,  well with one thing and another I still haven’t got round to it but I do get a emails  asking about it and I recently was directed to a very useful post by Ryan an antipodean IT pro who’s reluctantly dipping his data toe in the voice water. I came across Ryan’s post through Dennis over at MSGoodies.

The key is to use sipX which happily eventually acts as an intermediary with SIP over both UDP and TCP in it’s lexicon.  Ryan gives an excellent account of setting the whole infrastructure up within VMware so you can familiarise yourself with some of those novel VoIP protocols

maybe, just maybe, I’ll get round to trying it soon

Technorati Tags: SIP, Unified communications, VoIP, Asterisk, Exchange 2007

Blackberry and Exchange Total Cost of Ownership White Paper

real world experiences qualify a lab based paper

Jason has posted a link to the new revised RIM v’s Microsoft TCO white paper, which has been updated to include interviews with actual enterprise users of both technologies.

The original paper’s findings  back in 2005 were validated by interviewing a very small sample of 10 RIM users and  Microsoft and WiPro have extended the interviews to 160 enterprise users of one or the other mobility solutions.

the user communities of the interviewees are large, averaging over 50,000 email users with over 10,000 mobile devices.

to be honest this revision doesn’t move the debate forward all that far, it does give some insight into actual experience of users which can be supported per server in a BES environment and there are a few assumptions I’m not all that comfortable with, such as the comparative data plan costs in either environment and the relative support costs.

One of the interesting facts is that 89% of Blackberry respondents used Outlook web access before mobile deployment with only 88% of Windows Mobile respondents, following deployment the RIM figure stayed the same (unsurprisingly) whereas the WM figure rose to 96% just shows that Windows Mobile is part of a range of portals you can use to access your messaging and diary systems.

if you haven’t read the original paper this is worth a read however I don’t see it changing many minds.

Technorati Tags: Blackberry, BES, Windows Mobile 6, Flexible working, Exchange Activesync

support for Office 2007 comes to Windows Mobile devices

Office Mobile 2007 comes to a range of Windows Mobile devices

Jason has revealed that Office Mobile 2007 will be available from Q3 this year – I mentioned my disappointment that even though the Windows Mobile 6 and EVO launches were so close that the docx format was not supported in WM 6 this update redresses the balance – the terminology suggests that this is an application upgrade rather than an AKU / ROM update so  there should be no need to backup / wipe and start again,  the update will support .pptx .docx .xlsx and FAX documents on both WM6 and WM5.0  devices 

I’m increasingly coming to view my WM6 device as a portal to a sophisticated back end and this will help reinforce WM6 as a handportable part of the EVO environment, I just wish that Microsoft had included office 2007 support in the initial WM6 release,it should have been an intrinsic part of the WM6 and WM6 should have been launched as a portable office portal device.

Technorati Tags: windows mobile 6, docx, office 2007, upgrade

Exchange 2007 and Windows Mobile 6 feature matrix

Windows Mobile 5.0 & 6 with exchange 2007 from an Exchange perspective

This Deep Dive into Windows Mobile 6.0 and Exchange Server 2007 from the exchange team blog is essentially a rehash of the Jason’s earlier post  but from an exchange perspective ( of course ).

The post has the benefit of showing just the WM6 and Exchange 2007 synergies and also of actually showing the comparative glory of HTML mail on a WM5.0, a  WM 6 and an Outlook client which is a useful illustration.

The biggest message to take away is that the deployment of an Exchange 2007 server in the Client Access Server (CAS) role (what we used to call a front end server)  is not enough to enable the advanced functionality.

The WM6 functionality is dependent on the version of exchange the mailbox server is running not the front end server. This is different from the Exchange 2000 / 2003 mixed environment.

Be very careful here as I also hear from our deployment teams that the Exchange 2007 CAS in an Exchange 2003 environment is over complex and doesn’t quite do what it says on the tin, at least not without a bit of tweaking.

there seems to be an error as I can definitely make use of Fetchmail ( inline message fetch ) to download the remainder of the message from within the message on my E650 which is connecting to a Exchange 2003 production environment.

technorati tags: Exchange, Windows Mobile

Banish another annoying sound from your Windows Mobile Device

stop (well hide) the beep at the start of a call on your Windows Mobile device

annoyed by the beep that your windows mobile device makes when you start / initiate a phone call? you might not have noticed it but you will now and it’ll bug you soon …

Neil over at openNETCF has posted a solution, you can quieten it if you don’t want to do away with it – my Bluetooth headset seems to amplify these  alerts to eardrum rending levels so this is a big thanks to Neil from my ears.

technorati tags:tweaks, Windows Mobile

Microsoft Announce Unified Communications endpoints

9 vendors unite with the giant to produce UC hardphones

This via the Unified Communications Team Blog

Yesterday Microsoft announced a pretty ( and some not so pretty ) mixed bag of handsets designed to compliment Office Communications Server 2007 – available as part of the beta program the endpoints are either standalone IP endpoints with Communicator built in  (my preference) or as USB handsets that are driven by Office Communicator on the desktop.

These are the first handsets to use the new unified comm’s interface

which closely mimics Office Communicator 2007 there’s a great video over on Channel 10 which at 6:19 in shows you the Polycom x700 in operation, including the touch screen in action, a bit salesy but worth the watch.

You’re about to think you’re seeing double, here’s the Polycom version of the IP endpoint in all it’s glory:

and here’s the LG / Nortel

(rofl)

and here’s the USB equivalents:

(the right order this time )

polycom :

and LG Nortel:

Polycom do extend the range with a wirefree device the CX400, shame it’s USB though and desktop , I’d much prefer a true WiFi device. 

the CX400 screen displays communicator information so it’s a cut above the normal USB handset but as I’ve said I’d much prefer a true WiFi device.

there are more devices on show at the UC image gallery.

to my mind the USB devices are just pretty much more of the same, Communicator interaction is a great enhancement but the addition of Communicator Client to a IP Hardpoint in the The LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540 and the Polycom CX700 really wins for me.

Like most people I’d rather not have to turn my PC on to communicate, call me an old stick in the mud but I’m a two device man in this environment.

technorati tags: Unified Communications, Office Communications Server 2007, IP phones

Broadband broken? – call a judge

a firm of mortgage advisors whose broadband was cut off by accident sued BT to get it back on again.

this from thinkbroadband via the Greater Merseyside Digital Development Agency.

the essentials of the story are that a BT engineer accidentally cut off a Mortgage Advisors Broadband and when BT suggested that they could not reinstate the line the company took them to court for breach of contract.

It’s an interesting proposition as I suspect it was a BT OpenReach engineer that caused the cafuffle in the first place and that the company had a contract with BT retail through BT Business Broadband so good luck to them in their compensation claim.

the widespread adoption of broadband as a cheap and plentiful source of Internet bandwidth is going to throw up a lot more of these problems.

The company I work for has deployed several thousand broadband connections both as public Internet BT Business Broadband connections and as wholesale IP Stream services and we’ve had some horror stories. the worst of which involved a customer having intermittent service disruption for several months. 

the moral of this story –

if your business relies on your Internet service buy an Internet service your business can rely on.

Multimegabit leased line Business strength services are surprisingly cost effective these days and you don’t leave your customers fighting over the limited upstream bandwidth ADSL afford them.

The problem stems from marketing, the cheap cheap cheap for more more more message really deforms customer expectation however with a little bit of thought it’s easy to realise that you can’t go to the le Mans 24 hour race in a Ford Focus and sue Ford when you don’t win.

the concept of Business  continuity with broadband is a little hopeful as well as it’s normally beyond the ken of the average customer to successfully manage the multitude of parties necessary to ensure that Business is even reasonably continuous.

the simple message is that if you want a business class service expect to pay a business class price which is more likely to be £1000 a month rather than £30. FGS most companies spend more than that on Coffee for the kitchen.

technorati tags : broadband; business continuity

Response Point – Software and Hardware principles

Jeff Smith Senior Product Manager reveals a little more

as I supposed Microsoft’s new SIP PBX killer is XP embedded under the lid, I missed this item  first time round but in an interview with windowsfordevices.com Jeff Smith is quoted as saying that Response Point is :

a “go-to-market” software stack based on Windows XP Embedded, similar to how Windows Mobile is a go-to-market variant of Windows CE. And, like Windows Mobile, Response Point will only be marketed directly to major device OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and ODMs (original design manufacturers).

he is quoted as going on to say

Microsoft played a role in developing reference architecture, but is not controlling the hardware design. Each OEM is building its own variation based on the Response Point reference design, explained Smith. Response Point is currently beta testing and available on a very limited basis. Beta 2 is now working, and should be released in early April.

oh well definitely no software only option then and I won’t be holding my breath to see a version in the wild in the UK  for a while… ho hum.

wonder what the UM Team’s thoughts on RP are?

technorati tags: Response Point, Microsoft, beta, VoIP, SIP

Network Adapter Proritisation on Vista

How to make sure you’re connecting by the best means possible

Location independent workers routinely connect via WiFi or 3G when roaming around the countryside, however when you come into the office you won’t necessarily be connected by the fastest means possible.

Like James O’Neill‘s – the Vista man –  our hotdesks have  one of those old fangled wire thingies yet my notebook decides to connect by WiFi or occasionally both WiFi and Wire (confusing to the poor beast) this obviously means you might be chugging along at shared WiFi speeds when you could have that lovely switched connection  all to yourself.

James has posted a great tip on how to fix your network adapter priority in Vista – through manage your network connections > Advanced > advanced settings

now I looked and couldn’t see the advanced menu, until I clicked Organize (sic) > layout > menubar to reveal that old style windows favourite grey banner of helpfulness.

then just a simple matter of navigating to the advanced setting dialogue box and adjusting priorities as James suggests.

technorati tags: Vista, WiFi, Flexible Working, tweaks, tips

Orange SPV E650 – really revealed

Hi Res pictures only I’m afraid – still awaiting the hands on.

this via Coolsmartphone.com

yep that’d be the Vox that would, I’m keen on this but loathe to go back to a 2G device after my m3100, it’s great to be able to get emails / surf the web at 3G speeds whilst talking on the phone.

it’s a shame, it’s such a nearly but not quite machine, hopefully I’ll get a hands on soon – I keep pestering Orange for one.

 technorati tags: E650, Orange , SPV

OWA, Vista, IE7 & me

Microsoft have broken OWA on Vista & IE7 , so here’s how you fix it

OWA (Outlook Web Access) has long been a tool for those of us that have a need to check emails on the move, get web access, get email. Lately OWA has been superceded in my armoury by Outlook Anywhere ( I prefer the Rich client experience) but I had the occasion to use it at the weekend when at a friends house. 

BTW OWA on Exchange 2007 is getting closer to the rich client experience, anyway.

My friend has taken the plunge and gone all vista-ified and lo and behold when using OWA on Vista and with IE7 because of the removal of DHTML editing (which OWA requires) you are presented with the following unedifying screen when you try and compose  or edit an email.

oops 

This happens with unpatched systems running Exchange 2000 or 2003.

I’d forgotten all about this as, as I said I tend to use Outlook Anywhere but the IE blog posted about this last year and it’s obviously becoming a recurrent problem as they’ve reiterated the post and detailed the solution more recently. 

To quote the post

The update does not require a reboot of the Exchange server and will fully enable OWA to work for clients using IE7 in Windows Vista. If you run into this problem, we highly recommend that you contact your Exchange 2000/2003 administrator to make sure they have installed this update.

I’ve already contacted the Exchange admin to rectify the problem this might help any of you people out there with a similar issue.

technorati tags: Vista, OWA, IE7, Exchange , Outlook Web Access

Office Communications Server 2007 Public Beta registration

Eileen has posted a link to the registration site for the public beta of OCS 2k7, sign up to be notified 

can I freeze …..

OFF TOPIC alert

this from the national center for home food preservation via Lifehacker

it’s a valuable resource – I’m always wondering how to freeze my oysters ;)

exchange 2007 SP1 details – leaked

Eileen has the details it seems an evangelist over seas over evangelised, you can tell Eileen was rushed into this as her post is uncharacteristically a little muddled, a more structured post can be found over at EHLO.

it’s still beta and it’s just (officially sanctioned) rumours so be wary but I like the Mobility and OWA enhancements.

lets hope they make it to RTM

why Joel is great

this kind of thing is why I love Joel Spolsky.

I’m no coder, beyond

• 10 print hello
• 20 goto 10
• run

in WH Smith of course (not strictly true but I’m not much cop and  don’t do any anymore)

so why do I read Joel? because although ostensibly Joel is mostly blogging about software development he comes up with gems like that . I can’t even remember where I came to his blog from.

the fact is that many of the principles he applies to his projects and business just work, across the board, in life and business.

god I love the blogosphere

searching for a way to change the world?

do a little every time you search by using this page or you could try the UK localised one

don’t even ask how much per search, because it’s something, for nothing and a really worthy cause

not my discovery – saw it on Steve’s blog

Orange E650 – revealed

the SPV E650 the existence of which which was leaked announced  by Microsoft  the other day  is definitely  to be the HTC Vox as reviewed by Engadget here.

Highlights:

• Windows Mobile 6 (see below)
• Candy Bar format
• QWERTY pullout keyboard and Trad Phone Keypad
• WiFi

nolights:

• Windows Mobile 6 Standard (No touch screen)

lowlights:

• NO UMTS/3G support so no HSDPA !

it’s also not UMA capable so no answer to BT’s announcement I blogged earlier

{EDIT} I have one – see the front page for my thoughts

Windows Mobile 6 is on it’s way

 

Windows Mobile 6 is a GO

Source: Jason Langridge’s WebLog – MR Mobile! : Windows Mobile 6 is a GO!

well crossbow is now Windows Mobile 6 they must have agonised over that one for ages ;), as usual we’ll have to await our mobile service providers position on upgrades, my thoughts are …. don’t hold your breath.

how to kill piracy?

I saw this post by James Senior about subtle ads for vista hiding in TV show trailers,  sorry James if I saw that ad I’d remember Lost not flip 3d.

To be honest I opened the full post because  for a horrible moment I thought that Microsoft had decided to inject ads into flip 3d ….. now there’s a new way to pay for an OS :) that would kill piracy stone dead.

get our product but don’t pay for it however initially you’ll be exposed to tailored ads when flipping or alt tabbing the frequency of which will decline over time. You can buy the full product at anytime at which time the ads will stop the price will fall the longer you use the product until it reaches a baseline.

I like it – remember I thought of it first