Today Aliph, creator of the Jawbone Bluetooth Headset, unveiled the new Jawbone. The new Jawbone is 50% smaller than the original award-winning Jawbone, and features breakthrough noise elimination technology to provide even better voice quality.

Read the full press release

(press release) Emansio, a young energetic software company
based in the United Kingdom, has today announced the release of its
Emansio Push Mail software. Emansio Push Mail is set to revolutionise
the way that users of mobile phones in the Consumer and Small Business
sectors can access their email on the move.

Emansio Push Mail software provides a direct connection between the
user's mobile device and existing email server, offering unprecedented
flexibility in the selection of mobile operator and email provider
without the need for any additional server infrastructure. This means
that millions of users of AOL, GoogleMail, Yahoo, other mainstream email
providers and private email services will be able to enjoy the benefits
of having their email pushed to them on their mobile devices for the
first time.

"We spotted a gap in the market that was not being properly addressed by
the mainstream providers of push email solutions", declares Robin Major,
VP Business Development at Emansio.

The Emansio pocket outlook plug-in for windows mobile turns your email service into a Push Mail service, without requiring any additional server hardware. Emansio connects directly from your phone to your e-mail server, without any middle man, just like your PC!

I recently bought an Asus Eee 8g UMPC and I am generally pleased with the Intel Celeron CPU. Of course I am overclocking it and applying the appropriate cooling. I am even more excited about the new Intel® Atom™ Processor that will be going into upcoming Asus Eee UMPC's. But even more exciting is the application of the Intel® Atom™ Processor to other devices like future Windows Mobile devices. Check out the Intel Atom. A power conscious Power House.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy many aspects of the Windows Mobile (WM) experience and WM will continue to be the OS for my main business phone. However, every so often I use one of my other non-Windows Mobile phones and the user interface (UI) is just so much easier to use. Will Windows Mobile ever appeal as-is to consumers? Yes, yes I know, the new Touch-Flo helps, but, is that the answer going forward? Customization upon customization. It is also interesting to read other peoples take on what the real issues are concerning Windows Mobile, especially as compared with the rising Apple iPhone.

Recently TechRadar.com posted some good points on the Windows Mobile dilemma. They write "Looking at HTC’s Touch Diamond handset, you’d think it was cutting edge. Touch FLO 3D interface? Check. 7.2Mbps HSDPA? Check. But as we said in our hands on piece – there’s one problem, and it’s nothing to do with HTC itself. Nope, it’s that pesky Windows OS it runs on. Microsoft knows that Windows Mobile is not up to scratch. It made that clear during its consumer pitching at February’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. We expect Windows Mobile 7 and 8 to seriously challenge Apple and Nokia on interface usability."

TechRader says "After all, Windows Mobile still makes a mobile work like a PC. And that, as we’ve seen with the iPhone, is not the way a mobile should work." You can read the TechRadar piece here.

Contrast the TechRadar take on the PC like interface with the observations in an article titled "HTC's Touch Diamond Won't Touch iPhone 2.0". from NewsFactor. The article points out that Apple is creating a significant user experience based on "Apple's major differentiator is the ecosystem of iPhones and full-blown applications, both Web-based as well as native, that really sets it apart from their competitors," Bajarin said. "While the new HTC (diamond) phone is important to the smart-phone industry in general, it will have almost no impact on Apple," Bajarin said. "Apple's iPhone is unique in that it is based on a full operating system -- Mac OS X -- and has a full browser. And with the new apps that are coming out soon, it will be more like having a real PC in your pocket, not just a phone."

It is obvious Windows Mobile is crippled in that it can't handle full fledged applications like a real web browser, full Office support, etc. It appears that the work around is custom code from various vendors to fill gaps like Touch Flo to improve the user experience and to try to compete with the iPhone for the consumer. We can only hope that Windows Mobile 7 and 8 will be far more robust, provide a better native UI and better application support. Otherwise, I think many consumers are going to be looking at Linux, android, Apple Mac OS X and other systems that already provide a richer mobile experience. Are you satisfied with the Windows Mobile user interface?

HeroCraft's Hexxagon Labs is their latest Windows Mobile brain teaser based on playing against the best American and European professors brains that were implanted in the game’s artificial intellect system. The tactical logic game includes 17 original hard-to-solve levels. Read our review of Hexxagon Labs here

It seems like the Windows Mobile device manufacturers have hit the wall with more of the same thing. The HTC Diamond is the latest example. What is innovative about this phone? A 2.8-inch screen? The 3.2 mega pixel camera may be an upgrade. I like the GPS. Anyway, check it out and see what you think. Specs

Highlights

• 2.8-inch touch screen, with four times the pixels of most phones.
• Vibrant TouchFLO 3D user interface, responding perfectly to your finger gestures when scrolling through contacts, browsing the web, and launching media… all vividly displayed as photos and artwork powered by the 3D graphics processor.
• HTC Weather - providing a constant view of weather at home and abroad.
• Surf and download at broadband speed with HSDPA internet connectivity.
• 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera for quality stills and video.
• 4GB of internal storage to preserve more photos, music, files and exchanged data than ever before.
• Integrated GPS for use with maps software for a full turn-by-turn satellite navigation experience.

Smartphone and PocketPC Magazine has initiated their 8th Annual Best Software Awards for Smartphone and PocketPC. During this process the top Windows Mobile applications are nominated for judging by a Board of Windows Mobile Experts. Once the nominating is complete the judges score the various application in their respective categories and submit scores and comments to Smartphone and PocketPC Magazine. The scores are tallied and the best software in each category as judged by the Board of Experts is awarded the "Best Software" award. I use the the Best and Finalist Software list to help select software that I may want to try on my Windows Mobile devices.

There have been over 15,000 games, utilities, and applications written for Windows Mobile Smartphones and PDAs. To be considered for the Best Software Awards, developers need to enter their product description in the Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine Encyclopedia of Software and Accessories (free listing). Roughly 20% of the 4000 software products in the Encyclopedia are nominated by the Board of Experts. These experts vote in over 180 Smartphone and Pocket PC categories to determine finalists and winners.

I am judging again this year and would like to know what applications you would like to see nominated for the Best Software Awards 2008. So check the Encyclopedia of Software and see if your favorite software is listed. Just PM me or respond to this thread with your favorite Windows Mobile nomination.

Microsoft is working on some cool innovations including Live Mesh. Live Mesh connects your digital world, seamlessly connecting you to the people, devices (yes Windows Mobile), programs, and information that is important to you. Max Zuckerman over at Channel8.msdn provides a nice overview of Live Mesh in his interview with Live Meshers Noah and George. Max covers "the basics of Live mesh: synchronize files between all your PCs and even devices, synchronize files between your local desktop and 5GB of space in "the cloud" (that's code for "online"), and my favorite: remote into any of these Live Mesh-ified machines via the web." Check out Live Mesh Some day we all might be getting Meshy.

We have added a new forum category "Windows Mobile News" that feeds the latest Windows Mobile News from sources across the internet. Our goal is to make your Windows Mobile Life Simpler. We have also added a link to the "latest news" on the main menu.

The final beta is here! You can now download and try out SoftMaker Office 2008 for Pocket PCs, the new generation of the mobile office software from SoftMaker. In an ideal world, you could create a file in Microsoft Office on your desktop computer, put it on your Pocket PC, edit and format it on the road, and then send it back to the office, with content and all formatting still intact.

Unfortunately, it does not work that way. Microsoft's Office Mobile is, after all these years, still not able to reliably open Microsoft Office files without massive data loss – all functions and formatting that it does not know, are silently stripped and thrown away. After Office Mobile touched them, many files share only a distant resemblance with their older versions.

Enter SoftMaker Office 2008 for Pocket PCs. This full-featured office suite lets you open, edit, and save any Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint file on your Pocket PC. Directly and without conversion, retaining all the formatting, functions, and contents of your Office files.

Commercial Times, April 28; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Monday 28 April 2008] Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) has reportedly landed orders for the assembly of second-generation iPhones from Apple supporting 3G, with shipments to begin in June this year, the Chinese-language Commercial Times has quoted sources at foreign institutional investors in Taipei as indicating.

The Commercial Times also cited sources at component suppliers as saying they have been instructed by Apple to begin preparing material supplies by the end of May. Shipments of the 3G iPhone are expected to top three million units in June with the model likely to ship a total of 24-25 million units throughout its life-cycle, the paper added. Read More at Digi. Watch out Windows Mobile they include activesync.

Over at Modaco, MVP Paul developed a simple free Windows Mobile application to remove duplicate contacts and thought what if simple applications could be developed and maintained in a Windows Mobile community environment. He suggests Popfly could be an easy way to facilitate community development. Great idea.

Paul says " The idea is that projects such as DupeDeDupe, NoData, DoNew etc. could be Open Source and completely viewable by the community at large, to help drive updates, improvements and education for those wanting to get started in development. Projects like these are ideal because they are generally small and simple, with lots of scope for tweaks. The best way to enable this seems to be Popfly.

Check out the "Come share development with Popfly" at Modaco.

AT&T and Starbucks announced the beginning of the rollout of AT&T Wi-FiSM service at company-operated Starbucks stores, kicking off a nationwide effort that will continue through 2008. At the 2008 AT&T Inc. Annual Meeting of Stockholders in San Antonio, chairman and chief executive officer Randall Stephenson announced that the companies have already started the deployment of AT&T Wi-Fi service at Starbucks locations in San Antonio, making it the first market to deliver the complete AT&T Wi-Fi experience in the U.S.

Also, as of May 1, qualifying AT&T high speed Internet and Wi-Fi customers will have complimentary Wi-Fi access at more than 7,000 Starbucks locations nationwide. For millions of AT&T customers, that means more speed in more places — and for free — is on its way.

"With the power of our Wi-Fi network, and through our partnership with Starbucks, we're strengthening our ability to meet the needs of today's mobile consumer virtually anywhere and everywhere," Stephenson said. "Expanding our reach across company-operated Starbucks locations nationwide helps us bridge the gap between our wired and wireless offerings and affirms AT&T's commitment to connect people with their worlds, everywhere they live and work."

Read More

HeroCraft announces the forthcoming release of an amazing logic game Hexxagon Labs for PDA & Smartphones.
Hexxagon Labs is a classical puzzle game which will provide not only fascinating entertainment, but will also give much interesting information. The game suggests launching intellectual battles on 17 various arenas. The main goal of each party in three different game modes is to occupy as many cells on the field as possible by repainting opponent's chips and not loosing your own. Rules simplicity turns unlimited profundity of tactical maneuvers and artful tricks. At that you can play both against a computer and also the two or even three together on the same phone device!

Do you want to make a show of your erudition and strike imagination of your friends and buddies? Hexxagon Labs will help you: after every level you have passed you will learn just another interesting and unexpected fact from a scientific world.

Game features:

- Play with one or two friends

- 17 complicated levels / 3 bonus tutorial levels

- 3 game modes

- Original set of amusing facts from the scientific world

- Stylish music

- Attractive and bright graphics

The detailed information about the game, including screenshots and trailer is available on the HeroCraft PDA site - http://smart.herocraft.com/hexxagon-labs.

Along with the video review of the Verizon Wireless XV6900, you can look at a First Look thread with photos, and read the Comprehensive Review including a Pros/Cons list, and comparison with the Sprint Touch list.