jamespr's WebLog

Thanks to Khush for pointing out I hadn't updated my blog in a long time! It made me realize I hadn't really signed off with this blog and had left everything hanging. YOu can find me, from time to time, blogging on http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile...

I got a mail this morning from our DPE star down in Brazil Fernando Zandona telling me that he's switched his blog from his native Portuguese to English. Personally, I think having a Portuguese blog was pretty cool but I guess it cuts down your readership...

If you missed the webcast this morning, Bill Gates (Microsoft), Ed Colligan (Palm) and Denny Strigl (Verizon Wireless) announced a partnership to bring a Palm device running Windows Mobile software to the Verizon network. You can watch the webcast...

This seems like it says what it can before Monday ... http://www.microsoft.com/winme/0509/25267/SFO_Teaser.asx

My good friend Mike Hall is wondering what PDC attendees are doing with the i-mate JASJAR they purchased. http://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archive/2005/09/15/468020.aspx

The results are in! The panel consisted of : Jim Mann (HP) Jeff Samitt (Lenovo) Mike Booth (Motorola) Bert Keely (MSFT, Tablet Architect) Jeremy Jacobson (MSFT, Windows Mobile Hardware Engineer) Derek DiPerna (MSFT, Cellular Network...

It was my pleasure here at PDC to meet Dave Glover. Dave is one of Developer Evangelists from Down Under (Australia). Dave showed me this cool 5.0 Smartphone app he's written for collecting informal surveys during presentations, meetings etc. Participants...

Any PDC attendees who ordered a Plantronics headset with their promotional device yesterday and were given a voucher when they collected the device, should bring their voucher to the Mobile Planet booth to exchange it for the headset. Good ole FedEx!

I'm hosting a panel this coming Friday (9/16) at PDC about "Future Directions in Mobile Device Hardware". I have a panel of experts from both Microsoft and OEM partners including HP, Motorola and Lenovo. We'll be covering both Tablet PC and Windows Mobile...

It's good to be back in LA for the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC). When I was here 2 years ago for PDC 03 I remember Whidbey (Visual Studio 2005) and an early build of Longhorn (Windows Vista) were the talk of the show. We - the mobile...

News.com ran an interesting article yesterday http://news.com.com/Write+once%2C+run+anywhere+not+working+for+phones+-+page+2/2100-1037_3-5788766-2.html?tag=st.num . It looks at the promise of "Write Once, Run Anywhere" on the J2ME platform. My takeaway...

After going through hoops to get my music from iTunes into my Media Center UI it got me thinking about music formats. When I started with my iPod, I chose M4A because it enabled me to save space on my iPod. iTunes now has a facility to transcode songs...

Syncing Windows Media Player and iTunes We've talked about me being an iPod owner and we talked about me building a Media Center PC - we did talk about that right? Maybe not! Well that's the topic for another post but for now let's take a step forward...

If you subscribe to Pocket PC Magazine ( http://www.pocketpcmag.com ) you'll know that they have an Ask Microsoft column. Hal, from Thaddeus the publisher, has asked me to answer questions for this month's column on developing for Windows Mobile. I'm...

I started thinking about Windows Mobile developers in the context of Longhorn today. I'm assuming - and I don't know because it's a closely guarded secret even within Microsoft - that Longhorn will be released in the next couple of years. The first thing...

I love to go to the cinema. It's safe to say that I'm pretty indiscriminate in my choice of films. I'm as likely to go and see something at one of Seattles many fringe cinemas as I am the latest blockbuster. This week I saw the latest blockbuster by which...

You may have noticed that since my trip ended the frequency of my blog entries has dropped off a bit! Well, first I needed to take a little time off so I disconnected and spent the week after my return recuperating at home. Thankfully I now feel fully...

Of course Murphy's Law had to come into play here. I'm 678 miles from home. The closest I've been in 3 weeks and - yup you guessed it - the incoming flight was badly delayed so my outgoing flight was delayed. I was tired and looking forward to getting...

Flight Game Plan : This is a LOOOONG flight. Get home ... just get home! Flight Number : UA888 Date : June 24th Class Travelled : Cattle In flight meal : Multiple. Rice and fish. Breakfast and another meal I think I slep through. Number of book pages...

I started Day 21 a little misty eyed - figuratively speaking. After all, MEDC China was the last MEDC event for 2005. At this stage, I'd been working on the events for nearly 9 months so they're very much a part of life and it seemed a little strange...

I had an interesting discussion with one of our leads from China when he was visiting Redmond a few months back. We were discussing cost of the event in China - which I felt was rather steep compared to other events we were holding AND of course I had...

Flight Game Plan : Stay awake as best I can otherwise i'll never sleep tonight. Flight Number : CX312 Date : June 21st Class Travelled : Cattle In flight meal : Declined. Figure I'll get something at the hotel! Number of book pages read (this flight...

Flight Game Plan : Do some, work, watch a movie, stay awake. Flight Number : CX134 Date : June 21st Class Travelled : Cattle In flight meal : Breakfast. Suspicious looking omletten and potatoes which ideclined to eat. Mopped up/croissant and packaged...

I'd been wondering how quickly I could get the keynote demos setup if I REALLY had to. I turns out, I can get washed, dressed, from my room to the keynote and set up the demos in 20 minutes. Now I think that's impressive. Let me explain. My sleep patterns...

Flying. Lots of flying. Well at least it seemed as much but only totalled 8 hours or so. We arrived in Melbourne a 5am on the 19th. I was disappointed that they didn't have the "fruit and vegetation" sniffer dogs in the customs hall this year. Last year...