We cannot respond to all letters or e-mail (but we read them all). Please send us questions, suggestions for improvements in the magazine, ideas for new software, or general comments. All responses, unless otherwise indicated, are from
Rich Hall, Editor of Pocket PC. You can reach Rich at
rich@PocketPCmag.com.
I recently turned in my faithful Palm IIIx, which I had used for years, for a new Toshiba e740 that allows me to run more business applications. With the Palm OS I was a long-time user of Pimlico Software's DateBk series of enhanced calendar applications, and really would like to find a similar calendar program for the Pocket PC platform. I've searched the Internet, but could not find any product that was comparable. Is there an enhanced calendar program for the platform?
JD Johnson
JD, you should take a look at the following two programs. Both have received excellent reviews. Free demo versions of the programs are available on the companies' Web sites.
Pocket Informant (www.pocketinformant.com) replaces the built-in contacts, tasks, and appointments applications with a single more robust application.
Agenda Fusion (www.developerone.com) lets you view and manage your personal information in six different views: Today, Agenda, Week, Month, Contacts, and Tasks.
I have been an iPAQ Pocket PC user since they were first introduced and am in love with them. I also drive a van for my business. I have a small camera mounted on the rear to see how close I am to people and objects; I view this on a small TV screen. I would love to view the output of the camera on my iPAQ. Do you know of any adapters that would let me do this?
George Harris
George, LifeView markets a product called FlyGrabber-CF for $119. It is a video capture card that slips into a standard CompactFlash card slot and, according to the product description, accepts input from any video equipment and displays it on a Pocket PC in 160x120 mode or 320x240 (full screen) mode. You can buy the product at the LifeView online store (www.ppcmag.com/45/?z=17).
The review of the PCS Connection Card CF2031 which appeared in the May 2003 issue of
Pocket PC magazine erroneously described it as a CompactFlash Type I card. The CF 2031 is actually a CompactFlash Type II card. Also, the time the review was written, the software for the CF2031 did not support the receiving of phone calls on the Pocket PC, but it has been updated since then, and can now receive them. The updated software can be downloaded from this Web site:
www.cf2031.com.
Is there any way of printing documents produced on an iPAQ Pocket PC without transferring the file to a desktop PC and then printing it from there? Would "beaming" a file to the infrared port of a printer do the trick? I don't have such a port on my printer so cannot check this for myself but, if this is a solution, I would certainly purchase such a port.
Nathan Ginsbury
Nathan, Microsoft did not include printer support in the device. However, third-party software developers offer solutions that add printer support for some Pocket PC applications. Check out the following products:
PrintPocketCE and other solutions from Field Software Products (www.fieldsoftware.com).
PrintBoy CE (www.bachmannsoftware.com/pbce.htm)
HP Mobile Printing (www.ppcmag.com/45/?z=18)
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