Wireless all- In-One for Dummies- P11 pot

Chapter 3: Synchronizing Devices over a NetworkIn This Chapter ✓ Synchronizing with Windows Mobile ✓ Synchronizing with other operating systems ✓ Using RSS feeds I’m assuming that you’ve

Chapter 3: Synchronizing Devices over a Network

In This Chapter

✓ Synchronizing with Windows Mobile

✓ Synchronizing with other operating systems

✓ Using RSS feeds

I’m assuming that you’ve successfully connected your wireless device to

your wireless network and are ready for the next step: actually using that wireless link to move data across the network If you’re not there yet, check out Book V, Chapter 2, which provides the instructions for connecting

In this chapter, I discuss synchronizing your wireless device with tion on your desktop PC Wireless synchronization has made some prog-ress, but it has also taken a few steps back at the same time While that may sound contradictory, it’s very much true For example, most systems (hello, Symbian and iPhone) don’t have any wireless synchronization options avail-able at the time of press Windows Mobile, on the other hand, does offer a wireless synchronization, but not everyone can use it

informa-I also tell you how you can add content to your wireless device (such as news and articles) using RSS feeds and your RSS hub You can update your wireless device using the RSS hub and take reading material when you travel

Getting Windows Mobile to Coordinate

You can synchronize your wireless device using Windows Mobile with your computer in two ways You can

✦ Connect the device to your computer using a USB cable

✦ Connect wirelessly and update your device

If you are running Windows Vista, you will use the Windows Mobile Device Center to synchronize your device with your computer The version that shipped initially with Windows Visa has been updated, so be sure to update It’s important to make sure you have the most up to date version for com-patibility with the most recent wireless devices, which is available at www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/help/synchronize/device-center-download.mspx.

How often you synch really depends on how often you update your wireless device and computer Personally, I tend to only sync data such as contacts and appointments, so I only need to sync when I update Outlook However, I use my wireless or 3G+ connection to update other applications, such as RSS Hub, which I discuss later in this chapter

Running with Windows Mobile Device Center

Windows Mobile Device Center is the new and improved version of

ActiveSync, which went the way of the dodo bird when Windows Vista was released It has a much more intuitive, graphic-friendly interface that is easy and comfortable to use The first time you plug your wireless device to your computer running Windows Vista, it automatically opens the Mobile Device Center and configures your device with Windows

If you still need to start the Windows Mobile Device Center, here’s how

to do it:

1 Choose Start➪All Programs.

2 Select Windows Mobile Device Center.

The application opens and displays the name and a picture of your

wire-less device, if properly connected, as shown in Figure 3-1 If no device

is connected, a generic image of a wireless device is displayed and says

“not connected.” Your wireless device is automatically synced

3 Select Mobile Device Settings.

4 Click Connection settings.

Make sure that Allow USB connections is selected If you want to be able

to sync wireless using Bluetooth, make sure that the Allow connections

to one of the following option is selected with Bluetooth in the down menu

drop-5 Click OK.

Book V Chapter 3

6 Click Mobile Device Settings.

7 Click Change content sync settings.

8 Select which content should be synced, as shown in Figure 3-2.

Running with ActiveSync

You can use Microsoft’s ActiveSync software to wirelessly synchronize mation between your wireless device and your desktop computer Usually I don’t discuss Windows XP in this book, but since there are enough users still working with this operating system, do keep in mind that you must install Microsoft ActiveSync before you can synchronize your wireless device with information on another computer on your network You can download the latest version of ActiveSync from www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/downloads/microsoft/activesync-download.mspx

infor-Before you can synchronize your wireless device, make sure the settings are correct on the ActiveSync software running on your desktop PC

Now, let’s synchronize:

1 Click Start➪All Programs.

2 Click Microsoft ActiveSync.

The ActiveSync dialog box appears

3 Click File.

4 Click Mobile Device, if you have more than one device connected or registered with Active Sync.

Menu of available wireless devices appears

5 Select the wireless device that you want to synchronize, if necessary; otherwise your device appears as shown in Figure 3-3.

In this case, there is only one device, and it’s called HTC87 (Sometimes even computer stuff is easy to follow.)

6 Click File.

7 Click Connection Settings.

The Connection Settings dialog box appears

8 Confirm that this choice is selected: Allow Network (Ethernet) and Remote Access Service (RAS) Server Connection with This Desktop Computer.

9 Click OK.

Book V Chapter 3

Syncing information for your wireless device

Here’s how you initiate synchronization from your handheld computer from

your wireless device Be careful, though, this shows you how to initiate the

synchronization from your wireless device and not your computer; it doesn’t

show how to do it on a wireless network In other words, you need to have a

USB connection to do this Follow these steps:

When it’s done, the screen displays Not Connected The ActiveSync software

on both your PC and handheld show the last date and time they connected

to each other If the synchronization is not occurring, make sure you have

a working wireless connection and that your Pocket PC is close enough to a

wireless access point

Make sure Microsoft ActiveSync is also running on your desktop PC.

Syncing information wirelessly

You also can synchronize your wireless device by using Bluetooth wireless technology instead of a Wi-Fi connection Bluetooth works over a much shorter range — about 30 feet — but can be an easier way to connect your handheld to your desktop PC at close distances In addition, with the intro-duction of more and more Bluetooth-enabled cellular telephones, it’s also

a way to synchronize information between your laptop computer and your mobile phone

Book V Chapter 3

Getting Other Platforms to Coordinate

This chapter demonstrates how you can synchronize your wireless device if

you are using the Windows Mobile operating system, but it’s worth

remem-bering that all mobile device platforms offer this capability as well

Each platform has its own proprietary software package that allows you to

transfer data (e-mails, contacts, files, pictures) between your computer and

the wireless device In most cases, this is done using a USB connection I

recommend using the documentation provided for your wireless device that

will certainly show you how to set up synchronization

Generally speaking, your wireless device ships with a CD-ROM that allows

you to install the necessary software on your computer Once you

con-nect your phone to the computer using USB, your computer automatically

launches and recognizes the wireless device

For example, if you are using a Nokia N95, a suite of applications is provided

to let you synchronize your data quickly and easily, as shown in Figure 3-5

Not only do these proprietary applications provide you with

synchroniza-tion tools, but also addisynchroniza-tional applicasynchroniza-tions to help you handle other

often-used features, such as for photos and music

If you are using a Palm-based wireless device, such as the Treo, you can use

Treo Desktop to synchronize your data, as shown in Figure 3-6 This device

is a little more complicated, as it also requires you to have Palm desktop

installed, along with a sync user In other words, you need two separate

applications to sync your device!

Using RSS Feeds

When wireless devices first became the rage, there was a program called AvantGo that was extremely valuable to users It allowed you to take reading material when you traveled, or to update the information from your device while you were on the road over a wireless connection and read a miniature version of the newspaper

Of course, like all good ideas, it became copied and was soon made obsolete

by its peers This is the sad story of AvantGo, which was made redundant and eventually stopped publishing in June 2009 Though there are a number

of imitators available to take AvantGo’s place, the most useful application for obtaining information on the go is the RSS feed

This publishing format is a widely used standard for publishing Web content – including blog posts, news articles, and multimedia – as an XML file or feed that

Book V Chapter 3

can be read by a reader on your desktop computer or wireless device Likewise,

you can also “subscribe” to RSS feeds on Web sites that allow you to track its

content easily from your e-mail client or an RSS reader

Similar to AvantGo, an RSS reader (such as RSS hub) allows you to select

content sources (for example, Yahoo and BBC News) called channels to

which you can subscribe Using your wireless network connection, you

can update the channel’s content, which is displayed as a list of entries, as

shown in Figure 3-7

By double-clicking the article header, you can obtain the first few lines of the

article as shown in Figure 3-8, followed by a link, which can be clicked to

dis-play the rest of the article in your device’s Web browser

Using RSS Hub on a wireless device

A number of RSS readers are available for use with wireless devices Most of them offer a similar group of features; the right one really depends on your personal preferences I choose to use RSS Hub because it was included on

my wireless device and satisfies my requirements for getting information quickly

To use RSS Hub on Windows Mobile:

1 Click Start➪Web➪RSS Hub.

The program launches and displays All Categories

2 Click Refresh to update each channel in the list for the category.

If you wish to organize your categories, click Menu➪Categories➪Menu➪New You can also use this menu to rename an existing category

by clicking it and selected Rename, or to delete it by clicking Delete

Book V Chapter 3

3 Using your preferred input method, enter a name for the category.

4 Click Done.

The new category appears in the list of categories

5 To change categories, return to the list of channels and click the

8 Select the desired category.

The channel now appears in a filtered list

To add a new channel to RSS Hub:

1 Choose Start➪Web➪RSS Hub.

The program launches and displays All Categories

2 Choose Menu➪Channel➪New.

The New Channel Wizard appears

3 Select how you wish to select your new channel.

If you do not know the Web address to the channel’s RSS feed, you can either search for the channel or choose from a list of known channels Click Next

4 Use the scroll bars to select the channel(s) to select, as shown in Figure 3-10.

5 Click Finish.

The newly selected channel(s) appear in the list of channels

If you have an unlimited data plan and have the necessary battery life on your phone, you may want to set RSS Hub’s options to auto-update feeds This is of value if you find that you like to catch up on the news and read RSS feeds regularly The advantage is that the information is always up to date (you can determine how often it is refreshed), but it can also be a disadvan-tage First, if your data plan is not unlimited, you must watch that you do not download too often lest you go over your allotment for the month Also, every time your mobile device performs a content refresh, it uses battery power If you need to use your phone frequently during the day and don’t have the ability to charge your device until the end of the day, this could waste valuable batter life

To set auto-update settings, from RSS Hub, do the following:

Book V Chapter 3

4 Click the Notify tab.

5 Select how, or if, you should be notified of new content.

6 Click OK.

This button is located at the upper-right side of your mobile device, as shown in Figure 3-11

Figure 3-11:

Want to validate your changes?

Look up, and

to the right, while you’re

at it

Hopefully, now you have a good idea on how to keep your wireless device

up to speed — and in sync with your desktop computer Having a wireless device that has information, such as e-mail addresses, that isn’t available when you use your desktop can be pretty frustrating Save yourself some time, tears, and gray hair by making sure the two have the same information

Chapter 3: Synchronizing Devices

over a Network 279

Getting Windows Mobile to Coordinate 279

Getting Other Platforms to Coordinate 285

Using RSS Feeds 286

Chapter 4: Picking a BlackBerry

In This Chapter

✓ Setting up the BlackBerry

✓ Grabbing your e-mail

✓ Using BlackBerry as a phone

✓ The future of BlackBerry

Technology can be quite an amazing thing, especially when you think

about how far Internet and mobile technology have come in relatively

so little time Not so long ago, a little device that hooked on your belt and could make calls around the world, surf the Internet, and send e-mails seemed like something out of the year 3000

One device, called the BlackBerry, helped realize that future If you look back just a few short years, sure, it lacked many of the standard features that most people take for granted today, but it still was one of the first devices out there that truly helped you go mobile!

Of course, BlackBerry faces some stiff competition from other device facturers This competition resulted in BlackBerry improving and updating their offering to be more in line with what mobile office users really need today, including wireless capabilities and touch screen technology

manu-Whether or not to make the move to BlackBerry really depends on you, your preferences, and how you actually plan on using your mobile device For those who like the all-in-one nature of the device (e-mail Internet, applications), but also prefer having a keyboard for typing, you may want to check out the BlackBerry Web site at www.blackberry.com and see what’s cooking!

Avoiding a Raspberry

A BlackBerry is a suitable way to communicate for several reasons:

✦ It’s wireless, so you can take it with you wherever you go

✦ It’s small and light, fitting in a holster you can wear on your belt

✦ It gives you around-the-clock access to your e-mail

✦ It provides 24-hour access to the Web

✦ It works well with corporate e-mail systems, so workers can easily use their BlackBerrys to stay in touch.

✦ Newer models provide touch screen technology, which makes ing your device even easier

navigat-Of course, these features were once hot selling points, but now they are

so standard that I wouldn’t even tout these features As I said before, what really sets the BlackBerry apart from the rest — even after all these years —

is its keyboard feature

You can read more by visiting the BlackBerry Web site at www.blackberry.com

Which carriers offer the BlackBerry? Here’s a short list, which doesn’t include smaller telecommunications (or telecom, if you want to be sleek, too) providers:

Picking a Model, Any Model

The decision about which BlackBerry model to use may be made for you

if you have a particular cellular phone carrier in mind Whichever model that carrier has is the one you will get They may sell more than one model (Models with built-in cell phones are similar to the PalmOne Treo 600, which

is one of the mobile phones I discuss in Book VI, Chapter 1 They also are similar to the Sidekick II, which I write about later in this chapter.)

Ask yourself some of these questions when deciding which BlackBerry model to purchase:

✦ Is the newest technology important to me? Or do I just want functionality and can leave the stylish technology to the hipsters?