Smartphone as PDA

After posting about potential PDAs 4 months ago, and spending several more hours researching alternatives, I finally concluded that the HTC Touch Diamond really is the perfect (or as close as the market will allow) device for me. Even better that it occasionally shows up on sale for about 30% off at Newegg, so I recently picked one up.

Several more hours of investigation have followed. I've seen it may be possible to upgrade the device to Windows Mobile 6.5, and even install Andorid. Not being ready for that kind of commitment, I've just been finding various programs and tweaks to turn it into my new PDA.

Thus begins the migration from my Palm z22 to Windows Mobile 6.1 HTC Touch Diamond

Programs

First programs I install are .NET Compact Framework 3.5, SQLServerCompact 3.5 Core, and full featured Japanese Display and Input.

After a reset, Dred Sensor, OpenMobileMaps, (Japanese) Pocket Dictionary (along with EDICT), JWPce (be sure to use the ARM "palm" version), Pocket Digital Clock, Total Commander Pocket.

System tweaks

• Settings -> Personal -> Menus -- Remove Phone
• Settings -> Sounds & Notifications -> Notifications
  • All Phone and Messaging options -- Disable all sounds/notifications
  • Event: Reminders -- Disable visible calendar popups
• Settings -> Today -> Items -- Deselect TouchFLO 3D and select Pocket Digital Clock and Calendar
• Settings -> Today -> Items -> Pocket Digital Clock Options -- Disable seconds display
• Settings -> System -> Error Reporting -- Disable it
• Settings -> Comm Manager -> Always keep Phone turned off

I hunted a long time for a (free) program to change button behavior. Dred Sensor had all the power I needed. Using Dred Sensor, I replace all the Send and End button behavior as shortcuts to Calendar and Notepad (similar to how my Palm was setup). I also set a long-press shortcut of one of the buttons to open Comm Manager for quick toggle of WiFi setting.

Copy a pic to the phone, then browse to it and select it, then set it as the background to change its translucency setting (you can't set that from Settings -> Today)

Google Maps is a very nice program, but pretty much requires constant connectivity--something I (thankfully) don't have (to pay for). So to save maps for OpenMobileMaps, first start OpenMobileMaps so it can setup its cache folders. Then download a fixed version of JTileDownloader, browse an area of interest on the OpenMaps site, download the tiles, and copy them into the cache folders on the Diamond.

I haven't yet needed to tweak the registry, but MobileRegistryEditor is my editor of choice.

Transferring Data

I've used HandyShopper on the Palm for years -- it's a brilliant program. Thankfully it's also available for Windows Mobile. Transferring the shopping list is a breeze. Just find the backed up database in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Palm OS Desktop\<id>\Backup\HS2_Shopping.PDB and simply copy it to the device. Browse to the PDB file on the device and just click on it. Your list is now available on the Diamond.

The biggest issue I had was getting the Palm Note Pad scribbles off the z22. Since Palm all but dropped support for the Palm OS and Windows 7, I had to download their latest (and final) version of the desktop client off their website. Unfortunately that version of Palm Desktop doesn't provide an interface for Note Pad. Forum posts suggested I had to find a computer with WinXP and install the older software that came with the z22 to sync those Note Pad images off the device.

While I still have XP on my lappy, it sure seemed like a hassle -- and what about people who don't have XP anymore? So I turned to Open Source for help. After installing all variations of Palm related software in Ubuntu, nothing seemed to provide a GUI for getting those Note Pad images. Then I happened upon a man page for a command-line tool called pilot-read-notepad. To my surprise, the following command actually worked

pilot-read-notepad --type=png -p usb: > list.txt

After pressing sync on the device, I found myself with all the images exported (some of the note titles with illegal characters had to be tweaked).

Blogging with Markdown

I haven't done much blogging lately, so most of the asciidoc esoteric syntax is gone from me. Meanwhile, I've been using Markdown on a couple of popular web sites. Markdown has come a long way since I first investigated a blogging markup language with code highlighting. There is now a Python module with the built-in CodeHilite extension. This post gave me the confidence that Markdown was ready for primetime.

Here's how I setup my new blogging solution with Markdown*:

• Install Python 2.5+
• Download Markdown source code
• Download Pygments source code
• Uncompress the Markdown directory
• Uncompress the Pygments directory
• From the Pygments directory, move the pygments and external sub-directories into the Markdown directory
• Apply this patch to the Markdown source files so noclasses configuration is exposted and fenced_code is also highlighted (I'm bummed this patch isn't included in the downloaded source)
• Download and install the jEdit syntax and Notepad++ syntax files

Now the following command will do the work**:

python markdown.py input.md -o html4 -x "codehilite(noclasses=True)" -x fenced_code -f output.html

I still have to manually create the blog post in Blogger, but then it's just a copy-paste of the html, and I'm done.

_{* I don't like installing Python modules because I rarely use them--hence the simple uncompressing and use in-place.}

_{** Like with my previous blogging solution, I like the syntax CSS to be inline.}

Using the iPod Touch as a PDA

I've been sporting the stylish Palm z22 for several years now (originally purchased for $100), and its battery is beginning to fail. Would it be too much to ask for something similar at a similar price point? Apparently it is. There is only one company that still makes normal PDAs: HP with their iPaq 111 (3 times the cost!) and 211. So if I can't get a PDA, it seems Portable Media Devices (PMD) are the only alternative.

The iPod Touch almost meets the bill, but still lacks a way to properly scribble notes. Researching compatible styluses led to the BoxWave Mini stylus, which is adequate, but falls short of my 5 year old PDA's accuracy. I could settle with that, if only there was a decent case that would hold it for me. Again, I must be asking way too much because there are currently only two* (2) on the market, and they are ugly as sin.

Fine, I won't get the iPod Touch. So what's left? The Creative Zen seemed to be able to sync with MS Outlook...about 4 years ago.

If I can't get a PDA, or a PMD, I guess I could just get a stinkin' smartphone and just never activate it. Lo and behold that's not such a bad idea. The HTC Tilt and HTC Touch Diamond are both available unlocked on Newegg for not terrible prices. Plus they even have a camera that's 3x better than my cellphone's. Just wish I could try out those devices before committing $half-a-PS3 to it.

_{* Got my links messed up. There is one case that I really like, but it's only compatible with iPhone.}

Parentheses

The fellows over at the newLISP fan club forums are a witty bunch. During yet another discussion in the long history of "how might all those parentheses be removed from Lisp" discussions, Elica solved this age old conundrum ever so gracefully.

There is one easy recursive solution, but I’m afraid you will not like it, although you may enjoy it. Here it goes:

To solve the problem with parentheses, we can replace them by square brackets. However, this will introduce a new problem - a problem with the square brackets. To solve it, we can replace brackets with parentheses, which will reraise the initial problem. Fortunately, we already know how to solve it.

So, everything is OK - the initial problem is reduced to a sequence of problems, each of which can be solved trivially.

Java and VNC on Windows

Sometime between JRE 1.6.0 update 3 and 1.6.0 update 15, something changed.

I use a VNC program heavily, and was surprised to see all Java Swing GUIs become almost useless because they would never refresh through VNC. Yet at the same time Netbeans still worked fine over VNC.

I sought high and low, but what kind of search string would you use for this issue?

As a work around at the time, I set the JAVA_HOME to an older JRE, and updated some of my Java program shortcuts to use "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_3\bin\javaw.exe"

Today I finally found the issue and fix.

J2D_D3D=false

This problem might occur with any other kind of Remote Desktop program, or perhaps it is just those that use a special video driver.

Oh and Netbeans seems to run under the latest JDK installed instead of the latest JRE. Guess I should update that sometime.

Aion Beta: Closed vs. Open

Q. What is the difference between all the previous Aion closed betas and the current Aion open beta?

A. The “open” beta also includes some lucky FilePlanet paid subscribers that got a limited “open” beta key.

Mozilla Store H4x3d

Over a year ago I ordered the satanic Firefox t-shirt from the Mozilla store. I really enjoy using Firefox on a daily basis, and can certainly stand behind it via t-shrit. Unfortunately the Mozilla Store experience failed to be on par with its advertised web browser experience.

Once I got the shirt in the e-kart, I had to create a new registration. Sure, registering for yet another web site is a pain (almost 50 different sites now have my credit card into, and each has their own username/password), but such is the internet today. However, after signing up, I was not re-directed to the checkout page. I assumed I needed to select the item again, so I annoyingly went back through the product listing and re-added it. This finally led me back to my shopping-cart, where I then found it contained 2 of the same item.

Removing the duplicate, I continued on and made my purchase. I then wanted to be secure by logging out, but after several minutes of searching, I was unable to find any link in which to log out. Went ahead and closed the browser, and assumed that was the last I needed to worry.

Later that day I receive an email.

Before we can release the order to ship, we need to verify the billing and shipping information. We have ran the credit card and show that parts of the billing information supplied to this order does not match the billing information for this credit card.

???

I’ve made several dozen online orders in my day, and I’ve never had a problem with my credit card. I checked the order confirmation email, and logged back onto the site. Both places had perfectly correct addresses.

Address line 1: 123 Main St. #555
Address line 2: <blank>

Even though this has never been a problem, I went ahead and added my middle initial to my name and put my apartment number on the address 2nd line. After confirming my updated info, I was dismayed to find my address displayed like this:

Address line 1: 123 Main St.
Address line 2: #555123 Main St.

!!!

I’m not particularly paranoid about security, but after all this, I hardly felt confident sending all my address information over unencrypted email. I replied that I double-checked my address info, and everything was correct. If they wanted me to re-send it anyway, I would appreciate additional details on why.

The patient fellow explained in his reply, "if you are a new customer ordering then, for your safety and ours the order gets held for verification purpose." Well that’s nice, but it still didn’t make much sense. He included my address in his email, which I added a few details that I didn’t think were necessary (middle initial and name of company at the shipping address). I eventually got my shirt, and have worn it ever since.

After all this, I can’t say I’m very surprised with the news that the Mozilla store was hacked. If my ordering experience is any indication of how the store’s backend was handled, then they were just begging for problems.