Five years ago in 2003, I was a serious September wreck. I was in my last year as an undergraduate student, a new follower of Windows Mobile, and seriously obsessed with the i-Mate Pocket PC. It was rumored, debuted (in early October) and drove me to do some really strange things to finally get my hands on one in November. Four years ago I had new device fever over the HP iPAQ h6315. Three years ago I was absolutly crazy for an i-Mate JASJAR. Two years ago I had to have an iPAQ 6915. And last year the Kaiser called my name. If it's nearing fall, Jon's obsessing over a device. This year I thought the Touch Pro would be my new love, but perhaps not. You see, now that the Touch Pro is surfacing, I have come to a sad realization: It doesn't excite me.

Don't get me wrong, the Touch Pro is an awesome looking device. It boasts some great stats: VGA screen, GPS, 3.2 MP Camera, Qwerty keypad, TouchFLO and a nice look. However it occured to me today that while it may have the VGA screen adn the TouchFLO, for Kaiser owners, it really doesn't bring anything super stellar. It's not appreciatively smaller, and it doesn't include a newer operating system than the Kaiser. In short, if I combine my JASJAR and TyTN II (Kaiser) together, I have pretty much all the major features of a Touch Pro, minus .2 Megapixels and the sleek Touch design. I'm sorry, it probably isn't enough to coax out of me the same amount of money I spent on the TyTN II last year. It's just not exciting enough.

You see, with each generation of product I gained a feature I'd never had before. The i-Mate Pocket PC brought me Bluetooth, the first iPAQ provided Wifi, the JASJAR gave me VGA and a really cool form factor, the second iPAQ provided GPS, and the Kaiser brought a tilt and GPS/WiFi/Bluetooth in a landscape screen. The Touch Pro gives me all of that (Save the new form factor) in one package which is nice - and I'm sure users who haven't upgraded in a few eyars (e.g. those with a TyTN or a device released in 2006) will find it attractive. But for not for this old diehard.

Now I'm not holding solely HTC responsible for this. Yes, they could have added something new (or made the device super slim), but they can only work with what they currently have as an OS. Windows Mobile 6.1 feels dated - it gives essentially the same user interface that Windows Mobile 5 did, in 2005. Now Microsoft knows this, and certainly has plans continously in the works - but they simply can't roll out in time to make this year exciting for a vet like me. They would have had to push out the next version of Windows Mobile in May for that to have happened. So this year may be the first time in a long time I don't get all anxious and worked up over a device (Which will probably make my wife happy, as she's had to watch me pine away each year for the last several). The question I have after ruminating on all this is simple: How does Microsoft put the excitement back into Windows Mobile? Is it a snazzy new look or feature that would do it? A new browser? A free service that would sync everything to and from your computer to your phone? A personal butler delivered with the phone? etc..). And how can the ODMs and OEMs help? This time next year I really hope I have new device fever again - my "fun money" account just looks too weird if it has too much money in it!

"You needn't know GPS, you needn't learn too much, about this program. In just a few seconds, or a minute, you can review your position on the map, with no worry about pre-installed maps, because it's downloading from the Internet. The second, and even maybe more important, possibility of this program is, in the same short time, you can "ask" someone's phone (who has this program installed too), about his/her current location. In reply you review his/her position on the map, and the calculated distance and direction between yours."

JGUI has released a new piece of freeware that allows you to share your location, and find others via your phone. Now all you need to do is get your friends, pets, relatives, and enemies on board and you'll never wonder where they'll pop out from next.

"We can't really vituperate the i900 Omnia's standard looks, but we must say, this thing looks striking in white. Yeah, it's only the back panel (read: battery cover) getting the makeover, but word on the street has it that this thing will actually be offered in white (with the obligatory wavy pattern) in at least some regions of the world"

Prospective Omnia owners may be interested to hear that the device in white appears to be on the way in some way in some places. Existing owners may be interested in Arne's news that a Windows Mobile 6.1 Upgrade is now available!

"By now, we're well aware that Apple can make apps vanish without a trace (or explanation) from the App Store. But Jonathan Zdziarsi, the author of iPhone Forensics, says that Apple can actually remotely disable apps installed on your iPhone. Apparently, there's a blacklist URL in the iPhone's OS that he says "suggests that the iPhone calls home once in a while to find out what applications it should turn off."

So while Apple hasn't disabled anything they don't like to date (such as NetShare), this suggests that there are ways that Big Fruity can take you down a notch or two application wise (yea yea, I know - it's meant to disable malware... but that doesn't limit it to just malware!).

But then again, cool people respect Apple's authority and should be alright with this, right? As far as the Windows Mobile world goes, Microsoft can't really even get updates out in an organized fashion, so for better or worse, I doubt they'd be up to this type of potential control. (Microsoft: The Less Evil and More Disorganized company compared to Apple... :) )

"Moot is a brand new way to share and communicate using your mobilephone or PC. Moot is 100% free and with no catches. Moot is a piece of social software that brings you together with other people who share the same location - a local service for local people. It works at home,at school or on the move. When Moot is on, new impulses and possibilities will come your way, for example when you're walking down the street or taking the bus home - new impulses will come your way through interaction with other Mooters.Share, chat and express yourself - locally - for free - with no catches"

There once was a service called Moot,
and it was another social sharing service to boot.

The software was limited to standard you see,
but it soon should support Pro, Oh Whoopee!

So for now grab your touchscreen-less WiFi phone,
if trying it out is something you feel that you are prone.

And for heaven's sake write back some thoughts here,
or bad limericks will be the norm - a big fear!

OK, so I know it's probably not poetically the correct form, but I figured why not, spice up the usual news item post. Moot looks like an interesting service, although since it seems limited to WiFi hotspots, I'm not sure how amazingly social it can be (Since at any given time I am near exactly 0% of my friends on the same hotspot), but who knows, perhaps a crowd is forming. Are you one of the crowd members mooting?