I picked up a new T-Mobile Dash this week. Since my job has me on the road a lot at client sites I needed a way to receive and reply to email. With all of the devices out there I had to do my research and the Dash had all of the features I wanted.

I knew I needed a device with a keyboard for typing. Trying to write an email using a regular phone keypad blows, IMHO! The other thing I really like about the Dash is that it's light and thin.

I had a bunch of people tell me I should have gotten a BlackBerry. A few of our clients use them and I can honestly say they suck. If you don't have access to their Enterprise Server software the BB is a real pain to get working correctly if the user doesn't want to have the Redirector software running on their computer because they want to turn the PC off at night.

My most recent client wanted to get his Outlook email on his BB. To accomplish this, I had to create an email account for the BB on his provider's website. I then had to create a Contact with that address in Active Directory and forward his email to it and his regular inbox. I then have ANOTHER email address setup on our server. Shit I can't even remember all the steps and forwards...that's how convoluted it all is. I actually made a Visio diagram to keep it straight.

The end result is that all of this guy's email comes into his BB. But wait! He wants to have a copy of any messages he sends from the BB for legal reasons. That means I had to create another Account in Active Directory so that the copies of the emails wouldn't end up in a endless loop.

All of our clients have Microsoft Small Business Server which has Exchange for email. With the latest version if you have a Windows Mobile based phone you can accomplish the same thing I tried to do with the convulted mess I described above with ease.

What were the steps for getting my Dash to synchronize with my email server? I entered our Outlook Web Access URL, my username, and password and hit OK. Done!

Not only do I get access to my email, I get my contacts, calendar and tasks. Any changes I make on the Dash are reflected to the server. If I send a message from the Dash it automatically saves a copy in the Sent Items folder.

If you want to learn more about the device or win one click here.

Labels: Technology

posted by WarWolf at 6:47 PM 0 comments

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Monday, August 14, 2006

Windows Live Writer

I'm testing out the new Windows Live Writer beta which can be found here. So far it seems like a pretty cool program that makes posting very easy. It also makes working with pictures easier than ever. It allows you to even add watermarks automatically to the image so you don't have to do it manually in your image editor. It will also automatically link to a larger image if you want to shrink a picture to fit your post.

The whole thing is done graphically, no HTML code to learn. You just focus on your post and that's it. It even keeps track of your recent posts so you can quickly and easily edit them.

Windows Live Writer even allows you to insert maps quickly and easily. I have added a satellite view of where the Nekton Pilot usually docks when it's in Fort Lauderdale.

Nekton Pilot Dock Site Satellite View

Labels: Technology

posted by WarWolf at 2:31 AM 0 comments

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Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Web Albums

Google is beta testing their new Picasa Web Albums feature. What it does is allow you to upload your pictures from Picasa directly to the web. It's pretty seamless and allows you to add captions to your pictures and also allows people to add comments about your pictures.

I've setup a few web albums here. Take a look and add some comments since this will help me test the program.

Edit: Turns out you need a Web Albums account to leave comments right now. If you have a Gmail account you can sign up for the Web Albums beta here. If you don't have a Gmail account it's a pretty good service and you might want to sign up for one.

Labels: Technology

posted by WarWolf at 5:20 PM 0 comments

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Monday, May 22, 2006

Satellite Radio

When I sold my car, I gave my Sirius satellite receiver to my dad. He was planning some long road trips and I figured he would get some use out of it. Plus, I wanted to get a different, smaller unit for myself at some point.

I gotta say I do miss it big time now! With the new car I've tried listening to regular FM radio. Yep, it still blows. Nothing but annoying DJ's and commercials and very little music. I tried burning MP3's to CD, but it's all music I've heard so much before that I got bored with it quickly.

When I first got satellite radio it was the new music angle that drew me in. With MP3's I never hear new stuff unless I hear something on the radio or someone recommends a song. I then have to spend time trying to find it and download it.

Ah well, I'll be making money again soon and I'll be able to purchase a new unit for the car. Of course with all the hot chicks around here, I'll probably be on the bike more often than not :)

Labels: Technology

posted by WarWolf at 5:22 AM 0 comments

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Tuesday, May 16, 2006

CommunityWalk

I've always wanted a map to record all of the places I've been or lived. Sure I could have bought one of those giant maps to hang on my wall and used push pins, but I can't really share that with people.

So I decided to do a internet search and I found this free site: CommunityWalk and started working on my own map.

You can see my work in progress here. I thought it would be quick to do, but damn I have a lot of stuff left to add still :(

I'll put a permanent link on my site at some point since this will probably be an ongoing process.

Labels: Technology

posted by WarWolf at 12:25 PM 0 comments

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