After downloading the free application and loading it my BlackJack II, I found the interface to be nice and smooth, and exaclty what you’d expect from a Facebook application on your mobile device.  The only problem I found was that the subtle different shades of blue used throughout the menu areas make it difficult to determine which menu item you’re currently viewing. There’s no easy way to get back to the HOME screen for the application. Regardless of this minor flaw, this application is a welcome addition

Here’s the link: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/facebook.mspx

In theory, you should be able to simply set up Internet Sharing on your Windows Mobile device with Bluetooth PAN. Then on your Mac, simply create a BlueTooth PAN connection. The problem with this is that you run the risk of eating up your mobile device’s battery much quicker as its using its 3G connection and its bluetooth connection simultaneouslly. Even though it should work, I never could get it going, anyways. Ideally, we want to plug the phone in via USB, so that it is charging while sharing its connection. OSX won’t support the standard ActiveSync USB Internet Sharing method, so you’ll need to do a little work to get it going.

First download these files

Unzip and Copy all three files to /Library/Modem Scripts

Back on your Windows Mobile device, in the USB connection settings, change USB to mode to MODEM instead of ActiveSync. You may get a warning here that ActiveSync won’t work when Modem is selected. Remember to change it back later when you are ready to sync up again with a Windows computer. Once you’ve selected modem, plug your device into your Mac via USB.

Now, go to your Network Preferences menu.

On the left side, you should see your list of Network Interfaces. Click the little “+” sign to add an interface. Click Interface drop down menu, and you should see a choice for “Samsung CDMA Technologies”. Go ahead and choose it, and click CREATE. it should populate itself on the left-hand pane now.

Highlight the new Samsung Entry, and on the right side make the following entries:

Configuration: Default

Telephone Number: wap.cingular

Account Name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM

Password: CINGULAR1

Now click Advanced…

On the Modem Tab, make sure Vendor is Samsung and Model is GPRS (GSM/3G)

On the PPP tab:

For Session, Uncheck “Redial if Busy”

Next to Settings, choose CONFIGURATION and select “Send PPP echo packets” and uncheck: Use TCP header compression.

Apply all these changes and lock the Network Preferences, and you’re ready to test.

Its a good idea when testing to disable your Wi-Fi so you can be sure you’re genuinely using your mobile devices WAN.

Now, highlight the Samsung modem, and on the right side, click CONNECT. If all goes correct, you should see a little meter with your connection strength, and you should now be able to surf the web. Go for it!

In theory, you should be able to simply set up Internet Sharing on your Windows Mobile device with Bluetooth PAN. Then on your Mac, simply create a BlueTooth PAN connection. The problem with this is that you run the risk of eating up your mobile device’s battery much quicker as its using its 3G connection and its bluetooth connection simultaneouslly. Even though it should work, I never could get it going, anyways. Ideally, we want to plug the phone in via USB, so that it is charging while sharing its connection. OSX won’t support the standard ActiveSync USB Internet Sharing method, so you’ll need to do a little work to get it going.

First download these files

Unzip and Copy all three files to /Library/Modem Scripts

Back on your Windows Mobile device, in the USB connection settings, change USB to mode to MODEM instead of ActiveSync. You may get a warning here that ActiveSync won’t work when Modem is selected.  Remember to change it back later when you are ready to sync up again with a Windows computer. Once you’ve selected modem, plug your device into your Mac via USB.

Now, go to your Network Preferences menu.

On the left side, you should see your list of Network Interfaces.  Click the little “+” sign to add an interface. Click Interface drop down menu, and you should see a choice for “Samsung CDMA Technologies”. Go ahead and choose it, and click CREATE. it should populate itself on the left-hand pane now.

Highlight the new Samsung Entry, and on the right side make the following entries:

Configuration: Default

Telephone Number: wap.cingular

Account Name: WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM

Password: CINGULAR1

Now click Advanced…

On the Modem Tab, make sure Vendor is Samsung and Model is GPRS (GSM/3G)

On the PPP tab:

For Session, Uncheck “Redial if Busy”

Next to Settings, choose CONFIGURATION and select “Send PPP echo packets” and uncheck: Use TCP header compression.

Apply all these changes and lock the Network Preferences, and you’re ready to test.

Its a good idea when testing to disable your Wi-Fi so you can be sure you’re genuinely using your mobile devices WAN.

Now, highlight the Samsung modem, and on the right side, click CONNECT. If all goes correct, you should see a little meter with your connection strength, and you should now be able to surf the web. Go for it!

Installing XBMC Sirius Script

You’ll need an original Xbox running Xbox Media Center for this. I haven’t tested this on any other XBMC platforms.

• Download the python script here:
• In the Sirius folder, edit RunSirius.py. Look for this snippet of code and enter your Sirius username and password in quotes:

# SET ME!  SET ME!  SET ME!
USERNAME = “USERNAME”
PASSWORD = “PASSWORD”

Save the file.

• If you’ve got Xbox Media Center running on your modded Xbox, I assume you already know how to initiate an FTP connection to your Xbox.  Go ahead and connect and upload the entire Sirius directory to your SCRIPTS directory. On my Xbox this is on the Q: drive.
• Back in the XBMC gui, navigate to Scripts, and run the RunSirius.py script. If you like you can rename this file later to default.py, and then when you click on the Sirius Folder it will run automatically.
• If all goes well, you should be greeted by a list of categories. Work your way through the menu and click on the station you want to stream. You should see the media player kick in and give you a message about caching the content.  Then your sweet digital music should begin to play.

A few notes:

1. You can pay a few Sirius a few bucks more a month and increase your bitrate to 128 mb/s, which sounds as good as the satellite receiver.  Supposedly they are changing this pricing structure in the near future, so its possible this script may break.
2. If the caching is taking too long before your tunes start playing, go into your XBMC center settings and decrease the cache size for “Unknown type Cache – Internet”. You can drop this down to 256K or whatever figure works best for you.
3. Since it’s caching audio and the song title lookup is live, often it will display the next song’s title

Installing SiriusWM5 on Windows Mobile

• Install TCPMP for for your device. Here’s a link to smartphone edition for Windows Mobile 6.1. This works on the BlackJackII. Download the file, transfer it over to your device via ActiveSync.  In file explorer on your mobile device, click on the cab file to install it.
• Download the wmv9 codecs for TCPMP here
• Unzip the files and place both .DLLs and copy them to your /WINDOWS folder on your mobile device via ActiveSync.
• Download and install via ActiveSync SiriusWm5 cab file here
• Open SiriusWM5 on your Windows Mobile Device
• Go to File > Settings.
• Enter your Sirius Account information. Check USE TCPMP and, if its installed to your memory card, choose “TCPMP on MemCard”. Additionally, if you’ve anted up for higher quality stream, select “CD Quality Stream”. (CD Quality works great over Wifi or 3G, but will probably fail on Edge or lower). Save your settings.
• Choose your station, and click Connect. You should be prompted to enter some CAPTCHA info, then TCPMP should start playing your stream.

note: Song Titles won’t display.

1. One of the great and sometimes not-so-great features of WinMo is true multitasking. You can have several applications running simultaneously. This can sometimes be a battery killer, but for better or worse, it’s nice to be able to stream music while checking google maps, switch to your web browser and back.
2. There are a TON of applications available for Windows Mobile. It’s been around for years and there is a strong developer base creating all kinds of applications.  Sure Apple has the App Store, but there are real robust enterprise productivity and business applications developed for WinMo – including Office. Most of the apps I’ve seen for the iPhone look fun or useful for about 5 minutes. If you do just want fun on your BlackJack2 or other device, there are apps like TCPMP (plays all those DIVX movies, mp3′s, etc.,) Opera, Google Maps, Live Search, Pandora, Last FM, Skyfire (which includes real FLASH support))…
3. GPS – Apple touts it’s GPS functionality like no one has ever used a GPS before. I use  Garmin software on my BlackJackII and it gives me turn-by-turn directions, gas prices, etc., Microsoft Live Search does Turn-by-turn text for free.
4. Exchange ActiveSync. Now, I know the iPhone  has this, but if you’re running an Exchange environment, its the best sync system out there. It works great, and it works best on a Windows Mobile device. Raise your hand if your Blackberry went down last year along with RIM?  Exchange ActiveSync leaves it in your (admin’s) hands.  Unless you bring the servers down it keeps running. Push Email to the masses. Not to mention Enterprise class features including AD management, remote Wipe, corporate policy restrictions for free.
5. Works with all types of form factors – Over the last several years, I’ve tried models with touchscreens, keyboards,  flip phone, candybars, Ruggedized. The OS adapts very well to multiple hardware designs.
6. Works with different manufacturers-One of the things I look forward to with Android is that multiple manufacturer’s will be producing handsets with it running.  I’ve used WinMo on devices from the likes of Samsung, HTC, Motorola, Pantech, HP and others. Although WinMo offers consistency among the devices, it leaves room for each OEM to tweak it to their liking. I think the compettion among them has pushed MS and them forward in the development of the Mobile OS.  If y you like the iPhone, for better or worse, you’re stuck with Apple.
7. Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP) – I love washing the car or riding my bike  listening to my Motorola-S9 bluetooth headphones
8. Tethering – I can tether my laptop via USB or bluetooth without any crazy hacks. This has been a lifesaver many times.
9. Familiar Windows Interface – Theres something nice and familiar, however boring it may be, to have that little old start button there to get you going.  Additionally, I like being able to simply drag and drop files onto the device once I’m synced.
10. Skype – Although there are 3rd Party apps to make this work on the iPhone, as far as I know, WinMo is still the only mobile OS that supports a true Skype Client.

I could just as easily write another article about 10 things I hate bout Windows Mobile, but we’ll leave  that for another day. Sure, the iPhone and Android have some of the features above, and do many of them even better; but neither of them have all of them. Hopefully Apple and Google have lit a fire under Microsoft’s ass and the next version of WinMo will rock.