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2nd-Jan-2000 11:42 pm - Jon's Gadget Bag

What Lies In The Bags Of A Geek?
My gadget bag is very full when I pack it up with all my gear.  Here are the stats on what I use, and what I think of it!

The Bag: A
Roadwired MegaMedia Bag (Leather Edition).  Yea, I know, the price is REALLY steep on this one.  Retailing for $179 for the nylon version, and $249 for the leather, cheap old Jon bought the bag Used on eBay for $70 or so.  That being said, this bag simply kicks ***.  Pockets for everything, a nice feel, not too heavy, not too light.  It's a perfect overnight bag, daily driver, etc..  I only buy bags from 2 companies: Roadwired & Targus.  Why? They have lifetime warrenties.  A must if you're on-the-go.  I also alternate between this bag and a Targus Matrix backpack depending on where I'm going, what I'm doing, etc...  I also have a Roadwired Podzilla for camera trips or day long techie outings.

The Computer: An Acer Travelmate C110 Tablet-PC Convertible is my trusty travelling companion.  I'm very happy with it, it's small, and it has Bluetooth and WiFi built in.  I also have a Compaq Evo n800c that used to be my travelling system, but it's lately been my home system.  It's nicely docked in my make-shift server cabinent.

The Pocket PC's: Currently I own a i-mate K-JAM
.  My heavy lifing machine is a borrowed i-mate JasJar , which I love!  I've set up an additional blog entry for my Pocket PC software titles, available here (Once written).  I recently sold my Dell Axim x50v & an HP iPAQ h6315

The MP3 Player: For my birthday I bought myself a 60gb iPod Video, which stores all my media (Music, Pictures, Video) and if I don't take that along for music, I usually use my Pocket PCs for my MP3 listening. I used to use a
Creative Nomad Jukebox 3  I'm one of those people who have always liked the Nomad Jukebox's look (like an average CD Player) and massive HD size.  It backs up all of my music files and is portable enough to take with me in the car or on frequent grass cutting trips. As a plus, you can leave it out in your car without really worrying about someone stealing it, since it looks like a $20 CD player (Although I don't leave any of my babies out, even if they are inside my always-locked Caddy...) The Nomad now lives at my mother's house so she can listen to music.

The Headphones:
Bluetake iPHONO Bluetooth Headphone Kit. While these headphones have a few shortcomings (i.e. the range is kinda restricted when you're moving around with them, and my head is a bit too big for them), once I'm on my way with them comfortably in place, they are worth the price.  Given to me as a gift, my i-PHONOs are always on me when I conduct Lawn Wars (i.e. the cutting of the grass), connected to my Nomad above.  As a plus, they can also be used as a BT headset!</td>

The Bluetooth Headsets: Jabra BT800, Jabra BT250 (Retired),
Motorola Bluetooth Speaker (Special Use - Car Visor Clip On):  The Jabra is my daily headset, with the motorola along for long car rides or trips (It comes with a nice cover that can clip onto a visor).  The nice thing about these three is the battery life.  Previously I had other BT headsets that lasted 1 - 2 hours MAX (Which didn't work when I used to call Karey all the time for 3 - 4 hours a night....).  These are charged once a week or so, and I never have to worry about them.  Simple, Reliable, just like they should be. 

Mobile Peripherals:
ThinkOutside Bluetooth Mouse & Keyboard:  This nice pair, which I don't use all that often, work nicely with all my PPCs and my Tablet PC.  For mobile typing / mousing, they are the best I've ever used.  The prices on their website is a bit misleading - you can grab these gems for around $70 (the keyboard) and $40 (The mouse) on other sites (I got mine on Amazon).

2nd-Jan-2000 12:36 am - Jon's Pocket PC Application Listing!

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!
Oh Lord, If I have a vice it's Pocket PC Software.  Over the years I've racked up A LOT of registration keys for these things.  So here is the list of software I own, use, or have used, and my comments. Affiliate links for Pocket PC Thougths are provided if available.  My preferred store is Handango, although you could use PocketGear just as well. In April 2005 I purchased the Pocket PC Magazine Best Of Everything CD which entitled me to register a lot of software.  Software I registered through it are marked with an *. 

Key:
Unused - I never really used this software as much as I thought I would, or I bought / registered it while it was on sale in case I ever would need it (Obviously, I don't need it...). If I bought this and never used it (and it has no * next to it, indicating that I paid honest to goodness money at the time), you might want to stay clear unless you're SURE you'll use it!
Retired - I used it for a period of time, but gradually stopped using it for one reason or another.  Perhaps the functionality was built into a new PPC, newer software, etc..
Active - I'm currently using this program full-time
Part-Time - I use this application part-time, or when need calls for it.

 NamePrice Status Comments Link
 Agenda Fusion 7* $29.95 Unused Registered it just to have it handy.  PI is still my preferred PIM. Handango
 Calligrapher $39.95 Part-Time Nice Text imput tool, and version 8.0 is better than ever. Handango
 Cell Profiler Pro $24.95 Retired Neat little tool to change the profiles on your Pocket PC Phone Edition as you moved from cell site to cell site.   Handango
 CityTime for Pocket PC $14.95 Part-Time Registered it as part of the Best Of Everything CD.  Works great when travelling, as calculating Time zones in my head is tricky for me! Handango
 CodeWallet Pro* $29.95 Unused Registered it, but haven't used it yet.  Looks useful. Handango
 DoubleLauncher $9.95 Retired Used it when I had limited hard buttons and wanted to get the most from them.  It's a pretty sweet app for that purpose! Handango
 Fonix VoiceDial $15.95 Retired Used it before MS Voice Command.  Works great. Handango
 FourOStudent.net $29.95 Retired Used it as an undergraduate - great way to keep track of what you need to do. Handango
 Gigatask $10.00 Retired Great task switcher Handango
 GPSGate* $29.95 Unused Registered it, but haven't used it yet.  Looks useful. Handango
 Handmark Games (Tetris, Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit) $19.95 (each) Part-Time These games are really fun and addicting.  I install them whenever I anticipate a lot of time to kill.  Monopoly is the best, IMHO Handango 
(Monopoly)

 NamePrice Status Comments Link
 HudsonMobile Phone Dashboard $14.95 Retired Used it to keep track of my minutes when I was on a more minute-crunching cell plan.  Moved off that plan and haven't needed it since.  Great app! Handango
 Ilium Software: eWallet $29.95 (Pro) Active What I use to store all the registration numbers! and all my other life-saving important information.  It does this nicely, with a desktop component! Handango
 Ilium Software: ListPro $29.95 (Pro) Active Lists. We all have them, this program has it covered.  I particularly like some of the stock lists on their site, such as the PHP reference! Handango
 Ilium Software: Newsbreak $19.95 Retired One of the first, and nicest PPC Newsreaders, I only retired it and went to Egress because of it's lack of enclosure support.  Otherwise, rock solid and a nice design! Handango
 IM+ $29.95 Unused Used it for IM ing for a bit, but the registration / activation scheme was a hassle. Handango
 imov Messenger* $19.95 Unused Registered it, but haven't used it yet.  Looks useful. Handango
 MeetingMute $8.95 Retired Used it to auto mute my phone when I had more appointments during the day.  Less appointments and leaving my cell in my office when I'm just a few doors down meant not worrying as much. I bought it at $14.95 and thought it was a great deal then! Handango
 MemMaid $11.99 Part-Time Cleans out garbage files.  Who could ask for more. Handango
 Mobidial.NET $14? Unused Nice interface for phone dialing, but crashed my i-mate a few more times than I would have liked.  Hard resets aren't fun. Handango
 Mobipocket Reader Pro $29? Unused Bought it, never used it as much as I thought I would. Homepage
 MTux Software (All Titles!) variable Unused All their programs are great but a little bare-bones & buggy.  Fun to play with, and cheap to buy, take a look at www.mtux.com Homepage

 NamePrice Status Comments Link 
 MyPhoneProfiles ? Unused Used it, but not for long.  Don't have pleasant memories, but you may have different experiences with their software. JGUI
 NetFront v 3.1* $29.80 Unused Registered it, but haven't used it yet.  Looks useful. Handango
 Odyssey Client 1.3 variable Unused  Homepage
 Ostia variable Part-Time  Homepage
 Personal Vehicle Manager  Retired  Handango
 PhatPad  Part-Time  Handango
 Photogenics*  Unused Registered it, but haven't used it yet.  Looks useful. Handango
 PI CorrectTime   Unused  Homepage
 PI Today $10 Retired  Handango
 PlanMaker 2004  Unused  Homepage
 Pocket Backup Plus (Sprite Backup)  ActiveWaiting for the WM5 upgrade to this, as it would be nice for saving configuration settings, even with persistent storage in WM5 Handango

 NamePrice Status Comments Link
 Pocket Breeze*  Unused Registered it, but haven't used it yet.  Looks useful. Handango
 Pocket Controller 5* $30.95 Active Great for controlling my PPC from afar.  Awesome on my Mpx smartphone as well. Handango
 Pocket Cook Deluxe Web Edition*  Unused Registered it, but haven't used it yet.  Looks useful. Handango
 Pocket Informant $29.95 Active My favorite PIM replacement.  Just makes things look prettier and easier on the eyes! Handango
 Pocket Mechanic*  Unused Registered it, but haven't used it yet.  Looks useful. Handango
 Pocket DVD Studio*  Active  Handango
 PowerStart  Retired  Handango
 Reensoft PIEPlus   Retired  Handango
 Repligo for Pocket PC  Unused Thought I'd use it alot... I didn't! Handango
 Rudeo Control for WMP*  Unused Registered it, but haven't used it yet.  Looks useful. Handango
 Snapture for PPC  Unused Thought I'd use it alot... I didn't! Handango

 NamePrice Status Comments Link  
 Softick Card Export II  Active  Handango
 Spb Arkaball  Part-Time  Handango
 Spb Finance  Retired  Handango
 Spb Full Screen Keyboard  Retired  Handango
 Spb GPRS Monitor  Part-Time  Handango
 Spb Imageer  Active  Handango
 Spb Pocket Plus $24.95 Active Simply one of the best applications I own.  Slows down performance however, which can make it really annoying.  Most of the time, however, it lives on my PPC. Handango
 Spb Time   Active  Handango
 Spb Tips & Tricks  Part-Time  Handango
 Spb Diary  Active  Handango
NamePrice Status Comments Link 
 Textmaker 2004  Unused  Handango
 Tweaks2k2.NET*  Unused  Handango
 Vito ButtonMapper  Retired  Handango
 Vito SoundExplorer 2005*  Unused Thought I'd use it alot... I didn't! Handango
 WebIS Mail  Retired  Handango
 Egress (10/22/05)  Active  Handango
 Microsoft Voice Command $39.99 Active Tell your phone / PDA to do stuff and it does it, enough said! Handango
 Resco Explorer 2005 $24.95 Active Best File Explorer replacement out there.  There are also some good freeware tools too, but this is the most inclusive tool I've found. Handango
     
     
     
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