Mobile Computing | Technology Blog

iRSS Mobile Phone RSS News Feeds Reader

September 4th, 2008

No comments

Mobile Phones, smartphones, pocket PCs and oder mobile devices have been around for a while but using them to connect to the Internet is a trend that manifested itself in the last years. Apple’s iPhone is one prominent example of a phone that offers many functions that require an Internet connection.

One of the popular reasons to connect to the Internet is to catch up on the latest news. This can be done by browsing to websites and reading the news there or by installing an RSS News Feed reader and use its interface to read the news. The advantage of the latter method is the concentration of news in one application, the notifications of new messages and reduced bandwidth costs.

The iRSS mobile phone RSS News Feeds reader is just one application that can be used to read rss news feeds on a mobile device. One advantage of it is the compatibility with lots of different devices like smartphones, mobile phones and PDAs.

SpeedswitchXP Laptop CPU Frequency Control

August 20th, 2008

No comments

Laptop users love batteries that last longer. At least those laptop users who use their laptop on the road, those desktop replacement laptops are usually to big and heavy to be carried around anyway. One of the best ways to extend battery life is to reduce the cpu frequency of the laptop.

That’s usually not a problem unless the applications used demand lots of cpu power. That’s not the case when surfing the Internet, creating spreadsheets or writing a Word document. Both Intel and AMD provide techniques that reduce the cpu frequency of the laptop.

SpeedswitchXP is a small applet sitting in the system tray that makes use of those techniques. It provides access to four settings: Max. performance, Battery optimized, Max. battery and dynamic switching.

Ask The Readers: Mobile Device Recommendation

July 12th, 2008

No comments

I want to buy a new mobile device and think that the best way to find one that suits my needs is to ask the readers here at Ghacks. If a device like this exists you will surely know about it recommend the best fit for my needs. I will start this article by describing what I want to do with the mobile device and what it has to support. Those are the two most important aspects. At the end I will list those things that I do not need necessarily and that I do not need at all.

Since it is a mobile device I would like to be able to check my emails, manage my web server using SSH, connect to the Internet and write articles for my websites. The device has to support WLAN and make use of a QWERTY keyboard. I could live with an add-on keyboard that has to be purchased separately.

The device should be lightweight. I’m not sure if all those sub-notebooks like the Asus EeePC or MSI Wind fit the bill, prefer something for the pocket instead. It does not have to be state of the art as long as it does the job. The performance has to be sufficient for the tasks and there should not be huge delays because of a lack of CPU power or system memory.

Easy WiFi Radar

May 24th, 2008

No comments

I have been playing around with a software called Easy WiFi Radar on my notebook for quite some time which is probably the easiest way to find and use open wireless connections. The main advantage of the tool is its simplicity. All that needs to be done on the part of the user is to click the button of the application to start it.

It displays a radar like image with different colors dots. Green dots mark free wireless connections while red and yellow ones mark inaccessible ones. Once a green spot has been discovered by the software it automatically tries to connect to that Wireless access point to access the Internet.

It’s opening the default browser and loading a test website. A message stating the success will be shown if the connection was successful. It is truly amazing how easy it is to find open wireless access points in towns. Should be harder if you are living in a rural area though.

Use SyncKolab to synchronize your Thunderbird Data

May 23rd, 2008

No comments

If you happen to use an e-mail provider that’s offering an IMAP-server (or you are boosting your own (mail-)server), this might be for you, because chances are if you are using IMAP, you’re the “portable” type of user.

As some of the more regular readers may know, I’m all into the whole ‘portable’ thing, and am constantly looking for ways to use stealthy software, sync my data or access it wherever I go. So it’s not surprising I stumbled across the SyncKolab Thunderbird extension some time ago looking for a possibility to sync my contacts across different computers as easy as my bookmarks using Foxmarks. Didn’t turn out that time, I just couldn’t get it to work.

But now, you may have guessed it already where this is heading, version 1.0 is out and, what can I say, it works like a charm, and not only for my contacts, but for my lightning-powered to-do’s and calendar items as well!

Track your stolen computer with Locate PC

May 17th, 2008

No comments

If you travel a lot chance is that you will eventually fall victim to theft. If you happen to have your notebook or laptop with you most of the time chance is pretty high that the thief will have the desire to steal that one. Chances are pretty slim that you will see your notebook again after the theft but you can increase them a bit by using Locate PC.

Locate PC only works if the thief is stupid enough to boot your computer while being connected to an internet connection. I cannot truly say how many thiefs would do that but it can happen and that’s probably reason enough to use Locate PC. A slim chance is better than no chance at all, don’t you think ?

Locate PC (via Cybernet News) will send emails periodically whenever the PC is connected to the Internet, by default one email is send per day and another one for every IP change. The application is running in the background with an obscured filename and no system tray icon making it harder to identify. I would say that you do not need to worry about that though, if the thief truly boots the PC while it is connected to the Internet then you should not fear that he will discover the little tracking application.