Are there bugs in the WM6.0 implementation of the IPAQ 21x and 11x?

iPaq 21x, 11x users Notice:FlexMail is not compatible
with these devices at this time. We believe there are bugs in the
implementation of Windows Mobile 6 that HP has on these devices that
cause data corruption and crashes with FlexMail. At this time we do not
see any resolution until HP updates the ROM.

The IPAQ 110 that I reviewed was a loaner that I had for about a
month. I didn’t experience any significant problems with it, but
having a loaner for a month is not the same thing as owning and using a
Pocket PC every day. Reading through the forums here and around the
internet, these new IPAQs do appear to have some issues.

It is interesting that a credible Pocket PC software developer, like
WebIS, has posted a statement like this one on their web site.

Have you encountered what you believe are bugs with your new IPAQ?

http://mobilitysite.com/

Post Cards from the Edge - AMD 780G, NVIDIA 790i, Gigabyte 680i

For a bright-eyed teenager in 1976 that had high hopes of
becoming a journalist one day, the satirical film Network was a revelation suggesting maybe choosing another
profession would be a wise move. (Ed: Look at where that got you.)
After years of intense investigative coverage
of Watergate and the resulting rise in credibility of the journalistic
profession, it seemed the right - maybe even honorable - field of study
during the college
years... until that fateful New Year’s Day in 1976.

In 1976, the country was celebrating its bicentennial, trying
to put Watergate and the Vietnam War out of our minds, and looking
forward to an election that would chart a new direction in American politics. (These subjects sound familiar 32 years
later.) Top films of that year
really did represent what we were going through, and to some degree what we
would become in the near future.

Rocky found us in
love with the underdog who never gave up. All
the President’s Men gave us a short synopsis of the Watergate scandal from
the perspective of the journalistic team (Bernstein/Woodward) that broke the
story and proved that journalists were sexy, provided you resembled a young Robert
Redford. The Bad News Bears allowed
us to take a humorous look at sports obsessed parents realizing that winning at
any cost had taken the joy out of playing the game for many kids (kids who
would become today’s Soccer Moms and Dads).

I enjoyed many other movies that year with my friends, which more or
less fit in with our very sarcastic yet humorous personalities.
Some were dark like Taxi Driver, Marathon Man,
The Omen, Obsession, and Carrie,
while others were on the lighter side such as Silent Movie, The Pink
Panther Strikes Again, Silver Streak,
and Mother, Jugs & Speed. Of course, we also had the breakout science
fiction films, Logan’s Run and Futureworld. (Told you we were
sarcastic.) All told, it was a decent year for
film, and some thirty years later we still have Rocky, Pink Panther, and King Kong remakes.

However, there was one film that year that left a lasting impression
on us; that film was the aforementioned and critically acclaimed Network. All the President’s Men
did to glorify the journalistic profession; Network
succeeded in displaying the dark and seedy side of media. In
retrospect, it also provided a fairly accurate glimpse of where
TV/Print
media was headed along with society. Sensationalism - some would say
yellow
journalism - sells and is what a large cross-section of society enjoys,
whether they openly admit it or not.

In Network, Peter Finch played the aging news anchor, Howard Beale, who
at one point in the film makes an impassioned speech that resulted in an
extremely popular catch phrase of the time. He persuaded his watching audience to step outside and shout, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take
this anymore!” This phrase struck a chord with mainstream
America during that year and with us now.

It has been a couple of rough weeks for the
motherboard team. Our best laid plans
have been thwarted for a variety of reasons, most of which have us shouting the above phrase, and we are sure some of
you feel the same way. Since the news and review sections are fairly quiet over the weekend,
we thought it would be a good time to discuss those items that put a
burr under our saddle - to address issues that our readership is having
with the technology and companies that we cover on a periodic basis. Believe it or not, we rarely get
to rant (and for very good reasons), but sometimes it's necessary to say what one
thinks. So here is Rant Session #1 for your weekend enjoyment.

AMD 780G Goes Boom

Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 runs Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1

Microsoft today officially announced Windows
Mobile 6.1, a minor upgrade while waiting for version 7. An update for
the current version 6 will also be released.



Sony Ericsson and Microsoft today officially confirmed that the
upcoming Xperia X1 smartphone will be running Windows Mobile 6.1
beneath Sony Ericsson's Xperia panel user interface. Carriers will also
be able to custom build the touch panels that run on the Xperia X1, to
provide users with targeted carrier services. Sony Ericsson also plans
to align with key partners to enable them to develop applications for
users of the Xperia X1.


Windows Mobile 6.1 promises new scheduling features, easier
navigation and management, as well as increased security safeguards.
Microsoft also unveiled the newest version of Internet Explorer Mobile
at CTIA Wireless 2008 today, which adds desktop-grade Web browsing to Windows Mobile phones.



Taking advantage of Internet Explorer 6 technologies and supporting
established and upcoming industry standards such as H.264, Adobe Flash
and Microsoft Silverlight, the updated Internet Explorer Mobile
promises to give users a richer mobile Internet experience than
earlier. The update, which enables full-screen viewing of Web pages and
multimedia, will be available to mobile phone partners in the third
quarter of 2008. The first Windows Mobile phones using the new version
is expected to be available by the end of 2008.


Windows Mobile 6.1 features several key updates based on
customer feedback, including the capability to make the most critical
information readily available at a glance, quicker phone setup, and
enhanced features adapted for the small screen. More specifically,
version 6.1 will offer a new home screen where users can look at and
respond to notifications such as missed calls, upcoming appointments
and new messages, as well as play music and share photos. Other new
features include the ability to flag, delete or move groups of messages
and keep track of conversations through threaded text messaging.


In addition, if coupled with System Center Mobile Device
Manager 2008 or Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Windows Mobile 6.1 is claimed
to provide a better experience for IT professionals to manage mobile
phones for businesses.


Most Windows Mobile partners are planning to offer Windows
Mobile 6.1 updates in the second quarter of 2008, while the Sony
Ericsson Xperia X1 is planned to be released in the second half of
2008.



Click here to compare new and current Windows Mobile 6 smartphones.

[via] infosyncworld

Nintendo DS Review: Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates

It's so cute.

Really. I've never been much afraid of losing my masculine image, so
let me say this with all the gleeful abandon of a high school girl: Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: Rings of Fate is as cute as a button, darn it, and it's a pretty decent game, too.

With Ring of Fates, developer Square Enix has crafted an addicting action RPG that throws me back to the days of Diablo 2. Ring of Fates
is notably more cheerful than Blizzard's epic, of course, but whether
I'm clicking frantically or feeling my hands cramp from holding the DS,
both games possess that addicting quality I've come to fear. Realizing
that I've been playing my DS for three hours straight is more than a
little depressing at times.

The Crystal Chronicles series started back on the Gamecube in
2004. I've never played the original title, I'll admit, mostly because
of the difficulty in doing so. Getting a game going with friends
required multiple Game Boy Advances, a luxury I had neither the friends
nor the patience for. Ring of Fates effectively eliminates that
difficulty by moving the franchise to the DS, opening up the wide world
of Wi-Fi for all sorts of co-op or party gaming. Unfortunately, the
multiplayer aspect of Rings of Fate is surprisingly limited, forcing players to use the local wireless between systems in order to feed the addiction.

It's a strange move on Square Enix's part, in my opinion. The idea
of being able to create a character and venture out on quests with
friends in another part of the country is very appealing, particularly
with the DS's inherent portability. By limiting the multiplayer to
local wireless, however, I would be forced to gather my friends
together and have us all game in the same room, a picture which is so
dorky I don't dare think of it.

This left me with no choice but to play the single player portion of
the game. Thankfully, Square Enix has crafted an adventure entertaining
enough to last me through the game's ten or so hours, with character
dialogue occasionally hilarious and never tedious. The
hacking-and-slashing to go with it is enjoyable, as it must be, seeing
as how there are only a few things you'll do during the adventure:
kill, loot, and forge equipment.

It's a simple setup. I'd take my character to a new dungeon, murder
a new set of monsters, steal items from their still-quivering corpses,
and dash off to town with every intention of making a new weapon to do
the exact same thing somewhere new. The process is made interesting by
the fact that every item - hat, armor, or weapon - is individually
modeled and displayed on your character, tapping into my vain desire to
have the most stylish mass murderer ever.

http://blogcritics.org/

McDowell's lucky charm also survives Friday's horrific crash

NASCAR notes

FORT WORTH, Texas - Before today's Sumsung 500 starts, Michael McDowell hopes to have his lucky pine tree air freshener inside his No. 00 Toyota. Along with the driver, it was the only thing to survive Friday afternoon's horrific crash during pole qualifying.

The
air freshener became a good luck charm a year ago when he was driving
in the ARCA Re/Max Series. His team put one on his rearview mirror, and
he responded by winning. That same freshener was with him a week ago
during his Sprint Cup Series debut at Martinsville,
Va., and it rode through a hard impact with the first turn wall and
eight fiery barrel rolls that didn't end until he was on the
backstretch.

"We had (the air freshener) here at Texas," McDowell said Saturday. "I feel lucky about (Friday). I'm going to find it (for today's race)."

McDowell said he wasn't sore when he woke up Saturday for a pair of practice sessions leading up to today's main event at the Texas Motor Speedway. In fact, he was more concerned with getting his backup car up to speed.

"It's
pretty remarkable we're here today," he said. "I woke up feeling great.
I'm done being the test dummy for the (Car of Tomorrow)."

David Gilliland blew an engine a couple minutes before McDowell's lap. Jamie McMurray and Clint Bowyer both qualified after safety crews cleaned up Gilliland's mess, but McMurray said there was a lot of oil on his car after his run.

McDowell
there were three possible reasons for his car lurching out of control
going into the first turn: something broke, he slipped in oil or the
absorbent material or he made a mistake. "I'm going with the first
two," he said.

McDowell was 37th-fastest in the final practice session Saturday. His best lap was 177.160 mph - well off the quickest lap by Carl Edwards at 185.052.

Lonely at the top

Former Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson used to say, "The wind blows hardest at the top of the mountain."

Jimmie Johnson knows what that means.

As
the two-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion, the driver now has
to deal with fans who don't like his success. In fact, he's learning
how to deal with fans who boo him.

"I watched the Patriots last
year and the negativity surrounding them and the Super Bowl and
everybody wanted the underdog to win, so I can see how that can take
place," he said. "I haven't really experienced much of it. It's pretty
early in the season. If people don't want to see us succeed and if it
makes fans mad, not fans of the (No.) 48 mad, I want to make them mad.
That's my job. I need to go out there win races, win championships, and
I hope we get back to our ways and have a bunch of people mad at us."

Johnson knows people love to cheer against the Patriots, New York Yankees and his teammate, four-time champion Jeff Gordon because they don't like prolonged domination. He hopes to find a balance.

"I do recognize how tough it is to stay on top, and when you see guys go on runs like Lance Armstrong won seven Tour de Frances in a row, I watch what the Patriots have done, you look at Jeff Gordon's
four championships in our sport, and I look around at other sports
organizations and their success," he said. "It's a tough thing to do."

No fear factor

Jeff Gordon's hard crash at Las Vegas in February and Michael McDowell's vicious accident Friday at Texas hasn't changed Tony Stewart's mind about safety in stock car racing.

He said he's never felt concern for safety, although he understands there are considerable risks at racing at more than 180 mph.

"I
don't think there ever going to get them 100 percent safe, and when you
do get to that point you're going to have guys wrecking all the time if
they know they can't get hurt if they wreck," he said. "It's not saying
that you don't want to make them safer, but you're still driving
3,400-pound cars at 190-200 mph and at the end of the straightaway is a
corner that is based with concrete. It's still laws of physics. It's
not like we're going to come up with one magical solution that's going
to solve this."

http://savannahnow.com/