Adventures in home working

I already new that Office SharePoint 2007 was going to support mobile browser access,  but this article by Martin Kearn provides a good description and some images that show you what to expect (functional but ugly)

Anyway the post has an extra treat, it introduced me to the fact that you can download a networked emulator for the Pocket PC that you can use to actually try this integration with SharePoint out even if you don’t have a Pocket PC, and even if you do it should be great for demos over a web conference.  Here are the details from Martin’s site:

The easiest way to investigate this further is to get the Microsoft Windows Mobile emulator from http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/windowsmobile/downloads/emulatorpreview/default.aspx. Follow the instructions on the page for getting onto Betaplace and downloading the emulator.

Once you have the installation file, I suggest that you install it directly onto your SharePoint server. This way it is much easier to configure the networking between the server and the emulator.

The emulator will allow you to emulate a smart phone or PDA. I found that the PDA is easiest to work with. Follow these instructions to get a mobile view of SharePoint on your PDA emulator (you should be able to adapt them for SmartPhone if you are familiar with the SmartPhone interface)

-          Install the emulator and start the ‘Emulate Pocket PC-WM 2003 SE(Cold Boot)’ from your start menu

-          Map your real network card to the device by going to File > Configure > Network Tab > Enable ‘NE2000 PCMCIA adapter and bind to’ and click ‘OK’

Note: All of the following instructions are for the device interface itself, not the emulator application, unless otherwise stated.

My experiments with Smart Phones continue….  My daughter has an SPV C500 which I always liked but couldn’t use because it was locked to Orange and my business SIM is Vodafone and she loves it anyway so Dad’s not that mean!  Anyway an upgrade opportunity presented itself and for £29.99 I had a nice new C550, which 5 minutes later was unlocked with the aid of a freeware utility

I already have an excellent Treo 650,  but its locked down by my company so the camera and video don’t work and it’s got layers of security enabled to protect my corporate email, which makes using the media player and phone far too many clicks away for my liking,  plus I am unable to have push email active at the same time as the media player,  just too many compromises .  My colleagues and I have been discussing the options and most of us seem to be deciding that right now convergence is not quite there for us, and we are gradually migrating to two devices.  In my case that means:

• The SPV C550 used primarily as a phone and media player,  always with me
• The Treo 650 used primarily as a wireless email and calendar,  with me when I want to be working an extended day,  or need to be in touch with work while out of the house (I work from home)

This combination is probably not optimal, as it would may be better to use more specialised devices for these two roles,  but it will serve me for a while as I assess the pro’s and con’s of this approach.

I have already discussed the Treo 650,  which I rate very highly,  but what about the SPV c550?

• Very small and light (feels like half the size of the Treo – though its not)
• Fantastic high resolution screen
• Very easy to navigate around with one hand, much easier than a locked down Treo
• Excellent music player, with great hardware buttons that make it very easy to use.  The integration with the phone is great – pause and resume when you make or take a call
• I have added a 1GB storage card, which provides plenty of space for podcasts and music
• Calendar is pretty poor,  but ok as a last resort
• Address book is excellent,  I prefer it to the Treo
• Keyboard is ok,  but my fingers are small!
• Camera seems good,  I really missed the camera.  One of the reasons I was keen to get a working camera again is the functionality in the next version of OneNote that lets me sync photo’s straight into OneNote and then automatically OCR the content,  I am hopeful that this will be a revolutionary feature!!

So what’s not so good:

• I use Lotus Notes at work,  so to sync my contacts and calendar I have to use DoubleLook, (there are alternatives,  but this seems the best option as it also means I can drive Skype from my Outlook address book as well)
• My other headphones microphones (with 2.5mm jacks) don’t work,  the supplied ones are fine
• The USB and Headphone cover is just so inconvenient,  I pulled it out after 8 hours!

this is a great review

I decided I no longer wanted to compromise when it comes to interacting with audio,  I wanted a very easy way to switch seamlessly between the following activities:

• Record audio notes in OneNote
• Listen to music
• Take phone calls
• Listen to podcasts – mainly from IT Conversations

And I wanted to be able to do all of the above:

• From desk
• Walking
• Swimming – I already have a solution for this
• Chilling out at a Cafe or health club
• Shopping
• etc

I knew the solution needed to involve Bluetooth, and a headset that could switch from audio player to phone headset to microphone as required.   I think I have found the solution – Sonorix Bluetooth Audio Player –  its £50 off right now because it’s an old model.  I friend of mine had one about a year ago and loved it.  I have ordered one,  should arrive in a couple of days.

I picked up my Treo 650 last week, it’s a company supplied device and so it’s camera is locked down and they discourage excessive loading of applications, it also has anti-virus and data encryption which slow it down a little,  but these are relatively minor issues.  First lets look at why I wanted a 650:

1. I work from home,  but that doesn’t mean I sit at my PC in my study all day long,  in fact I spend a lot of time away from my desk:
1. beach walking
2. eating out, often working at a local Cafe
3. watching the kids doing sports for or waiting for the kids
4. beach games with the kids
5. travelling to and from yoga and swimming
6. shopping
7. on the train
8. gardening
9. etc
2. In fact I only spend about 4 hours at my PC so I really wanted to be able to stay as productive as possible and easy to contact during these other periods of the day.  I also wanted to be able to spend extended periods away from my desk, for example on a long hike.
3. I have a TC1100 Tablet and although its with me most of the time, always on email and web help me decide if its worth bothering to find a place to unpack it and start it up
4. I wanted to reduce the number of times I feel I need to get dragged into my study to check email,  too often I sit down and get distracted into working when I could be doing something better for me
5. I listen to a lot of audio conferences while walking, podcasts and live, and wanted a good solution for this 

How does it fare:

1. The audio quality is not quite so good,  last week I went on a 60 minute walk and had jitter maybe 15 times.  I have since rebuilt the device (very efficient automated process my company has put together) and installed fewer of my own apps and it seems better.  This is a VERY BIG issue for me,  I can not afford to not have a great MP3 player/Phone solution – see later
2. The screen is great,  its practical to read now in the sunlight, essential for email on those beach walks, especially as the Tablet is not very effective in sunlight
3. The resolution is now good enough to read eBooks,  I managed to get a free copy of  The Daily Drucker : 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the Right Things Done and the free eBook reader eReader.  Which should keep me busy for months just filling in those odd moments when I need a diversion.
4. Bluetooth sync is excellent
5. I have a Jabra 250 which seems fine,  pretty comfortable and loud,  my only concern is that when out walking I prefer to have both ears covered, so I may continue using my Seidio headset for a while.  I have two of these, one sent by mistake – which Seidio said to keep as a spare!
6. MailPlus, the email client supplied by Extended Systems, which connects to the OneBridge push email and calendar gateway seems functional, and certainly displays the maximum number of emails in the space available.
7. Hardware usability, very slick

So what extra do I have installed:

• eReader
• eWallet – I have a huge amount of info in my eWallet,  I have a replica on my desktop, Tablet and Treo
• SiEd – Text file editor
• FileZ – file manager

Extra hardware:

I have a 1GB SD card and I listen to over an hour of podcasts of technical conferences every day and many phone calls and audio conferences,  this adds up to over a $100 a day of time.  This is VERY important to me and I need a solution that meets all of these criteria:

• Enough storage space to hold 5 or more hours of content, so I don’t have to top up every day
• Excellent quality, so I can listen for 1–2 hours in comfort
• A comfortable headset that covers both ears and that’s loud enough to hear over the wind noise
• Seamless integration between the phone and the audio player, ie the player must pause when a phone call is taken and then restart when it finishes

A Treo 650, with Pocket Tunes, Freedom, and Seidio headset comes close to meeting this requirement,  but with the following drawbacks

1. The headset is tethered, and I am always catching it
2. The tethered headset limits where I can put my Treo
3. The encryption, anti-virus and always on email etc on my Treo slows it down a little, so the quality is in question – this may have been resolved
4. The extra software seems to impact on stability,  with the very limited amount of software I currently have installed I have not had any restarts for 3 days and counting, much better than my 600 and better than the fully loaded 650 last week.

So what have I spent my money on now ….  see next post!

I pick up my Treo 650 next week and I ordered a Jabra BT200 headset,  according to this post, I picked the wrong one I’ll let you know next week.

I will be getting a Treo 650 in 2 weeks time,  I already have a personal 600,  but this one will be provided by my company and will have wireless email, calendar and address book.  I am really looking forward to it.  I will also get to play with a Margi presenter-to-go kit, which should be fun,  I have never been convinced of the benefits of presenting from a PDA, but it will be interesting to experiment.

One of the reasons I have always liked wireless email is that I always forget to sync my PDA’s, the only one that was ever up to date was my Backberry and it was never in its cradle and the only time it synced to the PC was during a SW upgrade.

This is a good interview, where Bill Gates describes Microsoft’s approach to the phone.  A few things struck me from the interview and other stuff I have read:

• Microsoft don’t make any money on Windows Mobile, but they seem committed to the market for the long term
• Microsoft know that it won’t be long before the phone is powerful enough to take advantage of its operating system.  At that point they believe they will then have a real advantage over the people who squeezed their operating systems into current generation phones.  Of course as soon as the phone is this powerful it will make a great platform for Linux as well.
• Microsoft are waiting for the phone to be powerful enough to disrupt the portable game console market,  at this point I suspect they will be ready to compete
• Microsoft will leverage their integrated innovation strategy
• The connected car is a huge market, this post talks about the potential
• The carriers, rather than the phone makers are a key route to market for Microsoft,  I guess that Microsoft with its robust strategy around content and rights management is well placed to woo the carriers
• Microsoft is to be commended for being clever enough to keep on investing is a loss making business, until such a time as they are in a position to disrupt the market leaders

Here is a great discussion about device form factors by Graham.  I particularly liked the summary:

• Some people will use a big desktop with a big screen, because some people drive a Range Rover.
• Some people will use a titanium plated ultra-light, because some people drive a BMW Z3.
• Some people will utilise a standard laptop, because some people drive a Ford Mondeo.
• Some people will use a large form factor laptop, because some people drive a Renault Grand Scenic
• Some people will still use the device they have had for the last 10 years, because some people drive a vintage Mercedes sports car.

I am not sure what sort of car driver I am, using Graham’s Model, as I have a variety of different devices to suit the need, perhaps I am just one of those people who has a big garage, or in the UK a long drive (we fill our garages with junk)!  In fact I have a Peugeot 307SW  7 seater (4 kids) and a Ford Fiesta.