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Zune podcast functionality on Windows Phone Mango was obviously designed by someone who never listens to podcasts.  I’ve tried to use it over the last three weeks and it is an exercise in futility.  There is one glaring problems that needs to be addressed before it is close to usable.  It all comes down to episode management.  Unfortunately, this is the most important factor of any podcast solution. Read the rest of this entry »

I have delusions of possibly making an embedded thermostat solution that tracks energy usage, inside and outside temperature and humidity and possibly online weather forecasts for setting house temperature.  For this to work, I need to fully understand thermostat wiring.  It took a bit of looking around the net to identify thermostat wire colors, thermostat terminals and functions, so I thought I would summarize it in a post.  Read the rest of this entry »

I'm testing both Android and Windows Phone on Sprint.  Both devices have free TeleNav service on Sprint, so the service using that application is roughly similar.  Both phones also come with stock turn by turn directions.  Android is a no holds barred knockout win.

The turn by turn directions in pre Mango Windows Phone is a joke.  You must tap the screen to move along, making it totally unusable for navigation when you are driving the car.  The Mango update provides considerably increased driving instructions.  If you follow the route given, the system works very well.  If you do not, you will soon want to through your phone out your car window.

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The "Mango" update for Windows Phone, or version 7.5 for those less fruity, adds many features.  This article is dealing with the podcasting capabilities.  On webOS, I made daily use of a brilliant piece of software called drPodder.  Moving from this almost clairvoyant app to the integrated podcast capability of Windows Phone is quite jarring.

I will be outlining the current successes and fails with Windows Phone which keep it from being an enjoyable podcasting experience.

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I've decided that I'll be exploring both Android and Windows Phone as possible replacements for my nearly dead Palm Pre.  HP killed future hardware and we need phones, bad.  I purchased an HTC Arrive off eBay, slightly cheaper than I would get it from Sprint under contract.  I've been using it as a WiFi only device for about a week.  Wednesday night, I upgraded it to the developer's release of Mango, the future update for Windows Phone.  Last night, I added this phone to our third "testing" line on Sprint.

This article will detail the pain points that will exist on doing a webOS to Windows Phone (and specifically the HTC Arrive) transition.  I will also highlight the cool things I see that aren't possible on webOS (at least Sprint available webOS phones).

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With webOS, Synergy just happened.  You don't realize how nice this is, until you try a system that doesn't really have it.  Windows Phone 7 with NoDo (the current "up to date" version for the public) has this problem.  The update due out September or October called Mango, or Windows phone 7.5, enables more Synergy like features, such as multiple calendars.  However, Google doesn't allow you to select more than one.  But there's a hack for that.

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This post is for those who have ripped their DVDs and other video media and would like to load it onto their HP Touchpad.  I started to encode videos for the HP Touchpad using HandBrake, which had given me success for video targeting my Palm Pre.   I used iPad profiles, as the display size is exactly the same.  It seemed that no matter what I tried, the files would not show up in Photos & Videos app.  I tried quite a few options and then just gave up.  Many issues that I had with encoding video for the Touchpad seem to have been fixed with the 3.0.2 webOS update. Read the rest of this entry »

I did not use InstaPaper until I received my HP Touchpad and started using Paper Mache.  I had a few tips that I've come across while learning how to use InstaPaper that might be helpful for people in a similar situation.  This seemed to be easiest to share with a video, so that I what I made.  (Watching this full screen is much better.)

Also, I forgot to mention on the video, but you will want to install the Patch for Send To Paper Mache if you use the Touchpad.  Adds to InstaPaper, as there are no Bookmarklets on WebOS currently.

While there is no doubt that software for the HP Touchpad is in its infancy, it is hard not to see the great usefulness and potential.  There are a few good writing apps for the Touchpad, including those for WordPress blogging.  I'm composing this in the WordPress App for WebOS tablet.  Any of these are much easier to use with a hardware keyboard, than attempting to type quantity on a virtual keyboard. The HP Touchpad Keyboard is mostly a success.  My largest annoyances with it can be addressed with software fixes in future WebOS updates.

At first I expected the chicklet keys to be annoying, compared to a full sized keyboard.  It was surprising to me that they were not.  The keys depress quickly, to give a feeling of depth, before stopping.  I have no trouble typing as fast as I would on my laptop.
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If you feel like following my hacking example to load .mobi format books onto the Touchpad's Kindle App, be ready to have to reload it. If the app has a problem parsing the book for any reason, you are done. With no back gesture on the Touchpad, there is no way to back out of the crashed book load. Each time you start the app, it will load the file into a crash situation. (This doesn't crash the Touchpad, just the app.)

The solution is to delete the Kindle App and redownload. I'm poking in the source to see if there is a cleaner way to test books against the hybrid components that parse the ebook files, without requiring this tedious reload. You have been warned.