Teknovis

I have always been a very organised person for most aspects of my life, regardless of whether these aspects are real-world or digital. Unfortunately, I am also quite a forgetful person :( So notebooks and diaries were always a big part of my life! These ingenious tools enabled me to know where I was supposed to be, when I was supposed to be there, and what I was supposed to be doing there!

So it made perfect sense for me to buy a PDA when they first became available. That was so long ago that I cannot even remember what make and model it was! I am probably one of the few people who had a PDA before I had a mobile phone! Since then I have had several, but I usually use each one for a few years. I normally wait until there is a significant technological advantage to me in having a new one. So the technological advantages that have caused me to upgrade to date are:

• The introduction of a colour screen (even if it was only 256 colours!)
• The ability to use the PDA as a mobile phone (and carry one less device)
• The ability to use WiFi (I cannot live without it now!)

Finally, I suspect the next technological advantage that will cause me to upgrade will be a touch-screen, mainly because it will only require one of my hands. The fact that they look so slick is an added bonus :)

So what do I currently use? A black HTC P3600 (otherwise known as the Trinity) running Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0. HTC actually make a lot of the branded PDAs for other well known manufacturers. This is what it looks like:

HTC P3600

I am not going to write a full review here, because there are already plenty of reviews online. Also, I do not think that it is still available to buy! Instead, what I will do is write about the features that I use most often, the useful applications that I have installed, and the bugs I have found in it that are not well documented anywhere else on the Internet!

Perhaps the single questions that I am asked most frequently about it is “Should I get one?“. My answer to this is always “Yes, if you are the sort of person that currently makes lists on paper and keeps a diary“.

In general, mobile phones and PDAs are devices that I have a strong personal interest in, and I have worked with them in the past in a professional capacity. So I expect to write about them a lot on this blog!

Tags: HTC, Microsoft, Mobile Phone, PDA, WiFi, Windows Mobile 5.0

I was aware last February that Microsoft had made an offer for Yahoo, and that this offer was subsequently rejected because Yahoo felt it was too low.

I was not aware of the specifics of the offer, and I certainly was not aware of how it compares to the current market value of Yahoo. Then I came across the figures this afternoon…

Microsoft offered Yahoo approximately $31 per share, and this was rejected. Fast-forward to today, and Yahoo shares are trading at approximately $11 per share!

I am guessing that Microsoft must be feeling that it was very lucky, but I wonder if Yahoo is lamenting its decision!

Tags: Microsoft, Yahoo

The BBC are reporting that Microsoft stopped issuing new licences for Windows 3.11 at the beginning of the month in The end of an era – Windows 3.x. It is really hilarous to consider the hardware requirements for Windows 3.11 now:

• An 8086/8088 processor or better running at 10MHz
• 64KB of RAM
• 7MB of hard drive space
• A graphics card that supported CGA graphics or better

Apparently Qantas and Virgin Atlantic are powering their in-flight entertainment systems using Windows 3.11. I really wonder if they are powering more of their onboard embedded systems using Windows 3.11, and if this would cause people to be more cautious about flying with them!

I have not seen Windows 3.11 in use in a long time, but I do remember it fondly…

Tags: BBC, Microsoft, Qantas, Virgin, Windows 3.11

I like Microsoft Windows, and in particular, I love Windows 2000 and Windows XP. They are the perfect desktop operating systems for my needs. I think that the other main operating systems are great (and maybe even better than Windows in many respects), but I just do not like them so much.

Like all good users of multi-user operating systems, I use a normal account for my daily activities. I occasionally use the administrator account when I require elevated privileges. If the task is small, then I normally use the runas command from a Command Prompt.

Today I came across a description of launching applications with elevated privileges from within Windows Explorer. The process consists of pressing the SHIFT button before right clicking on an application! An extra “Run as…” option then appears in the context menu. I think that this is a small, but brilliant, time saver!

For more complete details see the Microsoft Knowledge Base Article.

Tags: Command Prompt, Explorer, Microsoft, Runas, Windows 2000, Windows XP