Dec 16 Happy Holidays with free eBooks at eReader
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Mobile News,

Today eReader starts to give everyday free ebook to its readers by such big-name authors like James Patterson, Harry Turtledove, Erica Orloff, Roger Zelazny, Warren Adler and Darrell Bain.Chances are there will be one or two nice books for every taste, whether it's sci-fi, horror, romance or whatever.

At eReader i have found free e-books from some great authors like Michael Connelly, Christopher Reich.And some of other free ebooks that I haven't gotten to yet are very promising also, like Pirate Hunter from a previous daily giveaway.

Every so often eReader offers some daily free ebooks. Some people are frustrated by free book selections that are in the public domain anyway. But for others like myself, it's fun to check every day with hope to find some good ebooks in eReader format (which is my favorite reader for full length ebooks) and discover some new authors.

Visit eReader and stay in touch with their everyday ebooks for free.

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Dec 16 Windows Mobile Notifications and Power Management
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Tips,

One day i was thinking of such a piece of software that was supposed to take its data automatically from a remote server in the middle of the night, stopped working on Windows Mobile 2003 devices. More exactly, it had started to operate, but could not perform all the required steps. Not that it didn't work at all, no, but the PDA's screen was turned off, communications weren't opened, and so forth. a After quick search on the Web, I found that, to my great surprise, there is nothing that might solve the problem. Anyway, I've started to investigate the case, and so this article has begun...

This article isn't dedicated to all of title's topics in depth, but rather intends to combine bits from here and from there to get all the stuff working together. There is no need to dive into well-documented functionality, at least for Notifications. Windows CE Power Management articles are also presented in MSDN. It left us just to add one and one. Besides, Windows Mobile 5.0 gives a programmer a few more options for customization, so I will overview them as well.

Two Faces of Notifications

When one talks about Notifications under Windows Mobile, one usually means two main areas: shell notifications (defined in aygshell.h) and user notifications (notify.h respectively). The first type allows your application to inform the user that something important has just happened; for example, that a new message has arrived. The second type is used to deal with a dozen system-level events, such as network connection being established and so forth. This article will discuss both of the above notification types.

User Notifications

I will start from more traditional Windows CE notifications. Those of you who have developed for older versions of Windows CE are definitely familiar with them. You were able to program your application to respond to a set of system events or to be launched at some point in time. But, things have changed since those times, so now you can see the following statement in notify.h:

//
//Obsolete; provided to maintain compatibility only
//
HANDLE CeSetUserNotification (HANDLE hNotification,
                              TCHAR *pwszAppName,
                              SYSTEMTIME *lpTime,
                              PCE_USER_NOTIFICATION
                              lpUserNotification);
BOOL   CeRunAppAtTime (TCHAR *pwszAppName, SYSTEMTIME *lpTime);
BOOL   CeRunAppAtEvent(TCHAR *pwszAppName, LONG lWhichEvent);
BOOL   CeHandleAppNotifications (TCHAR *pwszAppName);

It means that all those old buddies you used to rely on can stop working anytime. Instead of the above functions, the SDK offers you an equivalent means:

BOOL   CeGetUserNotificationPreferences (HWND hWndParent,
                                         PCE_USER_NOTIFICATION
                                         lpNotification);
HANDLE CeSetUserNotificationEx          (HANDLE hNotification,
                                         CE_NOTIFICATION_TRIGGER *pcnt,
                                         CE_USER_NOTIFICATION *pceun);
BOOL   CeClearUserNotification          (HANDLE hNotification);
BOOL   CeGetUserNotification            (HANDLE hNotification,
                                         DWORD cBufferSize,
                                         LPDWORD pcBytesNeeded,
                                         LPBYTE pBuffer);
BOOL   CeGetUserNotificationHandles     (HANDLE *rghNotifications,
                                         DWORD cHandles,
                                         LPDWORD pcHandlesNeeded);

In fact, these are the same APIs but rewritten in other terms. Windows Mobile SDK gives you even more. It defines and uses a CE_NOTIFICATION_TRIGGER struct to declare how to trigger the required entity:

typedef struct UserNotificationTrigger {
   DWORD      dwSize;
   DWORD      dwType;              //dwType Notification type
   //dwEvent - type of event if dwType == CNT_EVENT
   DWORD      dwEvent;
   //lpszApplication - name of application to execute
   TCHAR      *lpszApplication;
   //lpszArguments   - command line (sans app name)
   TCHAR      *lpszArguments;
   //stStartTime - begin of notification period
   SYSTEMTIME stStartTime;
   //stEndTime   - end of notification period
   SYSTEMTIME stEndTime;
} CE_NOTIFICATION_TRIGGER, *PCE_NOTIFICATION_TRIGGER;

In addition to running your application (with the appropriate command line) at a given time or event, now you can specify a time period. Besides, Windows Mobile or CE.NET supports named events, so you may want to use it for lpszApplication instead of the application name in the form of:

"\\.\Notifications\NamedEvents\Event Name"

Shell Notifications

This kind of notification is also pretty easy. Quite a few functions handle all the job:

LRESULT SHNotificationAdd(SHNOTIFICATIONDATA *pndAdd);
LRESULT SHNotificationUpdate(DWORD grnumUpdateMask,
                             SHNOTIFICATIONDATA *pndNew);
LRESULT SHNotificationRemove(const CLSID *pclsid, DWORD dwID);
LRESULT SHNotificationGetData(const CLSID *pclsid, DWORD dwID,
                              SHNOTIFICATIONDATA *pndBuffer);

They allow you manipulate the notification's look-and-feel and features. Windows Mobile 5.0 slightly extends WM 2003's functionality by adding new members to the SHNOTIFICATIONDATA struct:

typedef struct _SHNOTIFICATIONDATA
{
   DWORD    cbStruct;     // for verification and versioning
   DWORD    dwID;         // identifier for this particular
                          // notification
   SHNP     npPriority;   // priority
   DWORD    csDuration;   // duration of the notification
                          // (usage depends on prior)
   HICON    hicon;        // the icon for the notification
   DWORD    grfFlags;     // flags - see SHNF_ flags below
   CLSID    clsid;        // unique identifier for the
                          // notification class
   HWND     hwndSink;     // window to receive command choices,
                          // dismiss, etc.
   LPCTSTR  pszHTML;      // HTML content for the bubble
   LPCTSTR  pszTitle;     // Optional title for bubble
   LPARAM   lParam;       // User-defined parameter
   // From here, this is WM 5.0 stuff
   union
   {                      // Defines the softkey bar for the
                          // notification
       SOFTKEYMENU skm;   // Either pass an HMENU in skn
                          // (and set SHNF_HASMENU)
                          // or two softkeys in rgskn.
       SOFTKEYNOTIFY rgskn[NOTIF_NUM_SOFTKEYS];
   };
   // Text to put on SK2 on the Today screen. If NULL, will
   // default to "Notification"
   LPCTSTR    pszTodaySK;
   // What to execute when SK2 is pressed. If NULL, the toast
   // will be displayed.
   LPCTSTR    pszTodayExec;

} SHNOTIFICATIONDATA;

The following code sample shows one simple scenario:

void ^157BOOL158^::OnBnClickedButton1()
{
   SHNOTIFICATIONDATA sn  = {0};

   sn.cbStruct = sizeof(sn);
   sn.dwID = 1971;
   sn.npPriority = SHNP_INFORM;
   sn.csDuration = 15;
   sn.hicon = LoadIcon(AfxGetResourceHandle(),
                       MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDR_MAINFRAME));
   sn.clsid = SAMPLE_GUID;
   sn.grfFlags = 0;
   sn.pszTitle = TEXT("Sample Notification");
   sn.pszHTML = L;
   sn.rgskn[0].pszTitle = TEXT("Dismiss");
   sn.rgskn[0].skc.wpCmd = 1003;
   sn.rgskn[0].skc.grfFlags = NOTIF_SOFTKEY_FLAGS_DISABLED;
   sn.rgskn[1].pszTitle = TEXT("Hide Me");
   sn.rgskn[1].skc.wpCmd = 1004;
   sn.rgskn[1].skc.grfFlags = NOTIF_SOFTKEY_FLAGS_HIDE;
   sn.pszTodaySK = L"Run Calc";
   sn.pszTodayExec = L"\windows\calc.exe";

   //Add the notification to the tray
   SHNotificationAdd(&sn);
}

Under WM 5.0, you can customize how your notification will appear when displayed for the user:

and on the Today screen:

Shortly speaking, both User or Shell Notifications API are intuitive enough; hence it isn't worth spending too much time on it now. There are a lot of samples all over the Web in C/C++ or C# or VB. That's not a point here. Real troubles start when a device gets turned off. And, here is when Power management can help us.

Involving Power Management

The Windows Mobile OS has a dozen functions that allow applications to control the power policy and query various information. Once again, I won't discuss them too much, but move on to the situation described in the preface.

When a device has been suspended and after any notification gets activated, the system turns to a "resuming" power state. In such a mode, the CPU is running, but the display is not powered to save the battery. Moreover, some of the PDA's features may be inactivated as well; for example, the GPRS modem. "Resuming" the power state continues for 15 seconds, and then, if nothing happens, a device will be suspended once again. Thus, you face the situation when your application is honestly called, but it can't interact with the external world or gain the user's attention. For background operations, it works like a charm, but for notifications, that is not the case. Thus, you need a way to turn on the system. The obvious answer is to call:

SetSystemPowerState(
   LPCWSTR pwsSystemState,
   DWORD   StateFlags,
   DWORD   Options
);

as follows:

SetSystemPowerState(NULL, POWER_STATE_ON, 0);

In other words, such a call simply wakes up the device and gets it to its full live state. That is exactly what you need in many cases. Later on, you also can call:

SetPowerRequirement(
   PVOID                   pvDevice,
   CEDEVICE_POWER_STATE    DeviceState,
   ULONG                   DeviceFlags,
   PVOID                   pvSystemState,
   ULONG                   StateFlags
);

to require an 'always on' state while doing some lengthly operation; for example, communications. And with that said, this story has its "happy ending."

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Dec 16 RSS for 3G mobiles planed by Optus
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Mobile News,

Mobile phones have always promised a lot but, in many cases, been disappointing for technically literate users used to the speed, customization and capacity of a PC.Mobile phones have always promised a lot but, in many cases, been disappointing for technically literate users used to the speed, customization and capacity of a PC.

Optus has launched its high speed 3G mobile network with always-on MSN Messenger for mobile phones and customisable news and info being pushed to mobile phone screens. But the best is yet to come, with the telco letting slip that it has already built the platform for any RSS feeds to be delivered to your mobile phone’s screen.

GPRS was the technology that was going to give you the internet everywhere, until it became obvious that it was far too difficult to hook up to a laptop or PDA for everyone but the most avid tech tinkerers, and it was slower than dialup.

3G has been promising a lot, but in general has failed to deliver except in the PCMCIA data card area, where the 384Kbit/s speed is a welcome improvement on GPRS. On the phone side of things, there’s been next to no interest in video calling, and browsing the web on a 3G phone often involves inexplicable delays of 30 seconds or more while waiting for a page to load. Sometimes the page never comes up at all. The latter problem is typically related to the delay of moving between mobile cells, which involves a ‘handoff’ process. Mobile phone manufacturers are also to blame for making mobile web browsers that don’t detect timeouts and handle them appropriately.

How Optus solved the problem?

Optus has recognised these frustrations with phones and come up with a nice solution: its 3G network keeps an IP tunnel to your phone open at all times and pushes content to your phone’s memory so it’s there and ready for instant viewing when it suits you. That doesn’t mean you will avoid the irritating delays when doing manual browsing - Optus acknowledges them and says it is working alongside the other 3G providers to fix these sorts of quality problems on their networks - but if you are just viewing content that has already been pushed to your phone, it’s an instant thing.

Optus has a selection of non-gimmicky content such as breaking news, top news headlines, different categories of sport, etc that you can switch on or off and your phone’s screen. And … drumroll … there’s also an online web-based interface to configure your mobile phone’s content. Thank God; it took mobile networks long enough to figure out that a mobile phone screen and keypad is infernally frustrating to try to do a batch of customising on.

Coming soon: RSS on your phone

If all of this looks and smells an aweful lot like RSS on your PC, you’re on the right track. Optus says it has already built the platform that will allow people to add their own RSS feeds and have them delivered to their phone. That means you’ll always have the latest Slashdot stories in your pocket. What more could a nerd want, other than mobiletopsoft.com on your mobile phone screen (I’m assured that RSS feeds of the site are on their way).

Optus and Nokia’s symbiotic relationship

Optus has married its fortunes of its 3G service to the success of the Symbian phone operating system, favoured by Nokia. The “Optus MyZooNow” software client that must be running to receive the news and content updates has been shoehorned in to actually replace the Symbian desktop, so it’s always there when you need it. On non-Symbian phones, it must be started as a Java app, which kills off the ‘always on’ experience.

Unfortunately Symbian is a love-it-or-hate-it thing… it is a relatively powerful operating system in mobile phone terms, but it can also be extremely confusing, requiring many clicks to do things that are relatively simple on purpose-built phone OSes. And it constantly asks you whether you want to connect to the internet while using Optus’ MyZooNow software. Optus says it’s aware of the problem and it’s due to the fact that it’s a ‘feature’ of Symbian that it asks for the user’s confirmation before doing anything that could incur a charge on their bill.

The workaround is to open the web browser at startup and leave it open in the background, but it’s a kludgy solution, because it’s all too easy to quit an application in Symbian by mistake by pressing the hangup key on your phone. The upshot of all this is that if you really hate Symbian’s complexity, then the cool features of Optus 3G won’t be available to you in their full glory… you’ll have to make do with a Java app that will only run on a limited number of phones.

MSN Messenger on your mobile

Apart from RSS-type news feeds, the other really interesting thing hidden away in Optus’ range of 3G phones is a mobile version of MSN Messenger.Instant messaging on mobile phones isn’t actually a new concept. A protocol for it was worked out long ago with the rinky-dink name of “Wireless Village”. Lots of handsets have support for it, and if you sign up with a free Wireless Village service such as Yamigo which integrates with existing messaging networks like MSN or ICQ, you can probably do IM on your mobile right now.

The problem is in the associated data charges: the Wireless Village client on your phone has to poll the Wireless Village server every “X seconds”, which adds up to a considerable GPRS bill at the end of the month. With mobile phone networks charging $5 - $20 per megabyte, “do it yourself” Wireless Village has never been viable in Australia.

As a network operator, Optus has dealt with this problem in the simplest, most elegant way it can: it has dropped the price. You gotta love it when a telco realises it has reached the end of the “milk run” and simply dumps the ludicrous data pricing. Also, it’s not using Wireless Village, which is both an inefficient protocol and inconstently implemented between handset manufacturers.

Instead, Optus is using MSN Messenger mobile, a software client that has been given the rubber stamp of approval by Microsoft, and logs in to the MSN network directly from your phone. It costs 95c a day to use (only charged on the days you use it), or $5.95 a month for unlimited usage, which is excellent value compared to the cost of using SMS at 25c a pop.

Rough edges

The software isn’t all that great though. Although it looks and feels like MSN Messenger, the fact that it is running on a mobile phone imposes some disappointing limitations. For example, although you can set it to start up when the phone is switched on, there’s no way to make it reopen if you accidentally quit it. On the Symbian version that runs on the Nokia N70 Optus supplied us for testing, it’s way too easy to accidentally quit MSN Messenger mobile by hitting the hangup button on the phone.

And there’s no T9, so entering messages when chatting with someone is very s l o w. According to Optus you should be able to access a T9 entry mode by pressing the “*” button on the phone, and while this does bring up an additional entry pane, the entry defaults to sstandard multi-press mode for us. There is no obvious item in the “option” menu to switch on T9, but it turns out that if you are a Symbian expert you will know that you have to press the ‘edit’ button (the key on the phone with a pencil on it… go figure) which will allow you to activate T9. This is bound to bamboozle most new users of MSN Instant Messenger mobile.

Other cool stuff

One nice freebie that Optus gives you on 3G is ABC and SBS TV rebroadcast to your phone. They started doing this over GPRS and the quality was so bad it could be hard to make out people’s faces. On 3G, it’s much better, and if you buy a phone with a supplied headset (such as the Nokia N70 we tested), it’s a great way to fill in time on the bus at no cost - unlike Vodafone’s 1-minute long ‘mobisodes’ which cost a few dollars a pop. What a ripoff in comparison!

Optus is also doing location-based mapping, so you can get a map on your phone screen of where you are right now. The network figures this out by triangulating your position between the three closest mobile towers. In our testing, it was accurate to within a couple of streets (at our Castlereagh St, Sydney offices, it said we were actually in the next street down, Pitt St, so it’s not necessarily going to be useful to you if you’re completely lost.) There are also some very useful content partners selling subscriptions through Optus - there’s a mobile version of YourMovies which lets you call up a list of movie times at your favourite cinemas in a couple of clicks, and YourRestaurants which lets you find restaurants in your local area. You can buy a package to have flat-rate access to both of them for a few dollars a month.

Conclusion

Optus’ 3G phones certainly provide the most interesting and non-gimmicky content we’ve seen on a phone yet. And the pricing is fair. The service has rough edges - you’ll be enjoying the full ‘early adopter’ experience - but out of all the 3G services on offer, Optus’ is the most compelling, especially for tech enthusiasts.

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Dec 16 SCH-B300, B330, B360 DMB Phones Unveiled by Samsung
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Devices, Smartphone, Samsung,

Samsung is taunting us again with a few snazz DMB phones.Samsung Korea introduced three new CDMA2000 DMB handsets at the ComBCon exhibition - the SCH-B300, SCH-B330, and SCH-B360 for SK Telecom.All of them are perfectly designed for cdma2000 1x EV-DO and have high definition camera module.If you live in Korea you have the unique oportunity to get these phones really soon.

SCH-B330 supports a 3 megapixel camera, business card scanning, Bluetooth connectivity, mobile printing. It has flash graphic UI, MP3 player and microSD card slot.

Features :

*CDMA2000 1X EV-DO (SK Telecom)
*262,000 color TFT LCD (QVGA)
*S-DMB
*3-Megapixel camera
*MP3 Player
*Flash UI
*Bluetooth
*PictBridge
*VOD/MOD
*TV-out

SCH-B300 has a 2 megapixel camera, MP3 player, mobile printing and microSD card slot. The body is coated with nano-silver.

Features :

*CDMA2000 1X EV-DO (SK Telecom)
*262,000 color TFT LCD (QVGA)
*S-DMB
*2-Megapixel camera
*MP3 Player
*Flash UI
*VOD/MOD
*TV-out
*IrDA
*PictBridge

SCH-B360 is a slide phone having a 2 megapixel camera, MP3 player, TV-out port and flash UI.

Features :

*CDMA2000 1X EV-DO (SK Telecom)
*262,000 color TFT LCD (QVGA)
*S-DMB
*2-Megapixel camera
*VOD/MOD
*TV-out
*IrDA /USB
*Flash UI

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Dec 16 New handheld expirience with Palm's Latest Offer
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Mobile News,

If handheld computers survive the onslaught on their market by mobile phones with their panoply of features that seem to multiply on a daily basis, it will be in large part, ironically, to their wireless Business Communication Tools capabilities.With the T|X, Palm has pumped new life into the handheld platform, and it's done it without losing the elegant simplicity that's been its hallmark since its inception.

With WiFi, you can connect to wireless hotspots or your home network and zoom about the Internet.With Bluetooth, you can perform tasks such as synchronizing information between the T|X and a desktop computer or mobile phone or linking to a GPS device.As I've discovered with other WiFi-enabled devices, connecting to the Internet with the T|X was very smooth. I tapped the Web icon on the main menu, the device found my home network, another tap to tell it to connect and there I was on the mobile Web.I was impressed with the speed at which the T|X, which has a 312MHz Intel (Nasdaq: INTC)Bulverde processor, slid through cyberspace. Response time to my screen tapping was very brisk.

When you log onto the Net, you're taken to Palm's mobile site. It has links to a variety of Web outposts like Yahoo news and mail , Hotmail and ESPN.

he unit has a very attractive color display. It measures nearly four inches diagonally and has a high resolution of 320-by-480 pixels. As with all Palm's top shelf handhelds, the screen can be instantly flipped between portrait and landscape modes with a stylus poke. The landscape view is very handy for displaying photos, which tend to be horizontal, and videos. And, of course, spreadsheets, which would be very difficult to look at without this mode.

You can enter text into the T|X with an onscreen keyboard or by using the Graffitti 2 handwriting system. The second version of this system uses characters that are more natural than the original version. Unlike some past Palm models, the T|X has a "soft" Graffitti area. That means the area can be wiped from sight, allowing more real estate for other functions. Historically, Palm handhelds were known for getting a lot done with very little memory. But multimedia files like music and video take up lots of space so Palm has appropriately provided the T|X with lots of internal flash memory -- 128 megabytes -- and an SD slot that takes cards with as much two gigabytes of storage.

n addition to those business programs, the Palm unit includes some entertainment software. Pocket Tunes lets you listen to MP3 files and Podcasts. You can create playlists with the program as well navigate through your tunes based on album, artist or genre. Sound through the device's stereo headphone jack is very good. There's also a video player and photo organizer that will let you create slideshows on the fly accompanied with tunes from your music library.

Check Latest offer for this great PALM device

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Dec 16 Einstein G-Smart Pocket PC phone Released by Gigabyte
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Devices, Smartphone,

Also known Einstein, Gigabyte's g-Smart has just been released in Taiwan. Gigabyte's gSmart is a tri-band GSM/GPRS (also 900/1800/1900) Windows Mobile-powered Pocket PC Phone that sports a slide-down keypad, WiFi, Bluetooth, a 2.1 megapixel camera, 2.4-inch, 262,000 color LCD touch screen, FM radion, TV tuner, and a miniSD card slot.

The pda phone let you receive TV program via the built in TV tuner. You have to plugin and use the earpiece from gigabyte as an antenna for TV and FM radio. Chinese - English dictionary is included for the model at Taiwan.

No words about the estimated price yet, but from the specifications, it looks like this PDA phone is quite smart and full of good features.

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Dec 16 FlexWallet 2006 copy free from Two Peaks Software
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Mobile News,

FlexWallet enables you to securely store and carry any type of information on your Windows Mobile™ Pocket PC device. Bank accounts, credit card information, emergency contact numbers, travel documents, software registration codes, online passwords, calling cards, gift ideas, clothing sizes, ATM Pins, you name it!

I personaly rate FlexWallet 2006 as my best favourite and most-used program on my Pocket PC - if I have a stock Pocket PC and FlexWallet installed, I can do 99% of what I normally do with my Pocket PC day to day.

Two Peaks offers up 10 copies of the software to give away, valued at $29.95 USD each. To win a copy, all you have to do is post a message in the discussion thread telling me how you'd use the software, what types of things you'd put in it, etc. Myself, I use it to track Web site usernames and passwords, credit card information, bank accounts, etc. But I've also created custom cards for keeping track of server information, cards for how much printer ink (and which colours) I have, and hardware cards where I record the serial number and warranty information for new gear I purchase. How would you use FlexWallet?

FlexWallet has a full-featured desktop version, industrial strength 128-bit encryption for maximum data security, the ability to create your own templates, over 110 colorful icons to visually identify your information, and much more.

Major Features
* Optimized for landscape, VGA and QVGA modes on the latest Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition and Windows Mobile 5.0 devices.
* Full featured desktop edition for easily entering and editing data. Automatic synchronization with your mobile device(s).
* Secure encryption of all your information using redundant 128-bit algorithms.
* Organize your information into multiple level categories and sub-categories.
* Use the built-in templates or create your own to store almost any type of personal information.
* Choose from over 110 attractive and consistently themed icons to identify your cards and categories. You can also use your own custom icons!
* Built-in Password Generator utility.
* Convenient ATM-style keypad for easily entering numeric passwords on Pocket PC devices.
* Quickly access frequently used cards using the Favorites and Recently Used Cards lists.
* Easily search for text stored in any card.
* Fast and robust C++ application built using Visual Studio 2005, with a professionally designed user interface.

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Dec 16 Turn your Pocket PC handheld computer into oscilloscope
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Software,

Virtins Technology, which publishes software that uses a PC sound card as the heart of several software instruments, has released a similar program for the Pocket PC.Virtins Pocket Instrument uses the sound card chip in your ppc to turn your windows mobile based handheld into an spectrum analyzer, a oscilloscope , or a signal generator.

The spectrum analyzer lets you view amplitude spectrum and phase spectrum. The signal generator supports multitone generation where you can combine up to 32 tones in each channel. It also supports arbitrary waveform generation through a user-defined waveform library.

The oscilloscope has a selectable sampling frequency of up to 96 kHz, a sampling bit resolution of 8 or 16 bits, and one or two channels.All specs depend on the capabilities of the Pocket PC's sound device.

Virtins Sound Card Instrument features zooming and scrolling function and allocates most of the screen for data display, all of which are essential for you to explore the fine details of the measurement data. In contrast, most of other sound card based instrument spent much precious screen space to simply mimic the panel of the conventional instrument.

Virtins Sound Card Instrument provides a comprehensive range of functions including wave form addition, wave form subtraction, Lissajous Pattern display, Voltmeter, transient signal recording, RMS amplitude spectrum display, relative amplitude spectrum display, phase spectrum display, auto correlation coefficient display, cross correlation coefficient display, function generation, arbitrary waveform generation, white noise and pink noise generation and sweep signal generation, etc.

For Virtins Sound Card Oscilloscope and Virtins Sound Card Spectrum Analyzer, it is possible to specify a trigger event for collecting a frame of data. A negative or positive trigger delay can be specified so that collecting data can be started before or after the trigger event. Virtins Sound Card Instrument features a specially designed data acquisition approach which is able to monitor the input signal continuously without missing any trigger event, before a frame of data is collected into the PC memory after the trigger event is found. This makes Virtins Sound Card Instrument suitable for transient signal recording for up to 500 seconds as long as the memory allows.

It is the first sound chip based oscilloscope, spectrum analyzer, signal generator pocket PC software in the word, the pocket PC version of Virtins Sound Card Instrument.

Download links to all applications by Virtins
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Dec 16 Are you Gmail-ing with the new Mobile mail service by Google ?
Published by root in:Mobile News,

Gmail - also known as one of the fastest and well made web mail service now has a new feature bringing its great capabilities to the mobile devices world. I’m sure most of us got at least one Gmail account (or may be more :) ready for mobile usage. Just point the web browser to http://m.gmail.com and its all done, you get e-mails synched along with all attachments ready to be converted and viewed thru the browser . That’s probably one of the best things in the new mobile gmail, ready all kind of word or pdf documents while on the road by just launching your mobile browser. Of cource not all of the original Gmail functions are supported but for sure you receive some extras like contact dialing if you happen to have phone numbers assigned to your Gmail contacts.



Google guys has released a list with the compatible devices that they have tested, you can check it right here.Don't give up if your device is not at the list ! We have done some tests and it works fine at most of the phones and Pocket PC's

Stay tuned at the MobileTopSoft news board as we gona keep you informed if we get any new options available at Gmail Mobile
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Dec 15 W-Zero3 Smartphone review
Published by Vesselin Nerdeff in:Devices, Smartphone, Reviews,

The W-Zero3 is probably one of the sexiest PDA phones that you have ever come across. The size of the screen is astounding and the features mind blowing. It is equipped with what is increasingly becoming the most popular OS for PDAs - Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 (this one has Japanese edition). The display is 3.7 inches in size and has a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels (65,536 colors - should have been more but Windows does not support higher colors).

The PDA is operated by the Intel PXA270 @ 416 Mhz. Flash memory is in the form of 128MB and SDRAM 64MB in the W-Zero3. The chief advantage of having a Windows based phone is of course that you get one of the best pocket browsers (Pocket Internet Explorer) which supports not just HTML 4.01 but also xHTML, CSS, Flash (again the latest version). Besides you get support for Word, Excel, Powerpoint all built in without the need for any third party clients. Media files can be played on the Windows Media player 10.

The handset / PDA seems to have it all when it comes to connectivity and organising features. Wifi (802.11b) ; USB and Bluetooth. For memory , there is a mini SD card slot. There is a 1.3 megapixel at the back of the handset with a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels (SXGA). Videos that are shot by the camera are stored in the WMV format. The latest Willcom device will even feature a full QWERTY keypad for e-mailing and editing documents. This 220 gram baby has dimensions of 70 × 130 × 26 mm and looks set to become a big hit.

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