Remote Controller for Windows Mobile Devices

Couple of years ago when I was developing for Windows Mobile devices I used Pocket Controller as remote controller. It costs money but we had licenses for it.

Recently I joined Excitor company as WM client developer and had to find freeware alternative to Pocket Controller. I found great application EveryWAN Remote Support. It has free personal edition with the only limitation: device has to be connected to desktop via ActiveSync using USB or Bluetooth. It's OK for development purposes, so EveryWAN Remote Support Personal Edition is a great replacement of Pocket Controller.

Disabling MSN in Outlook Express

When Outlook Express starts it automatically starts MSN. But there is a way to stop this behavior:

1. Start Registry Edit (Click Start, then Run, type in 'regedit' and click OK).
2. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > Software > Microsoft > Outlook Express .
3. Create new DWORD value with name "Hide Messenger" and set value to 2.

Now you just need to stop MSN, and restart Outlook Express. You will see that MSN Messenger no longer appear.

A Reminder of Who We Should Be

Just saw an excellent quote of George Bernard Shaw saying how active people behave:

"The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can't find them, make them."

Linkpool: .Net Compact Framework

Today I need to refresh my knowledge of developing for Windows Mobile. So I surfed through my favorites tagged as Compact Framework and here is what I found:

• .NET Compact Framework version 2.0 Performance and Working Set FAQ - it's an articles from Compact Framework creators. So I thinks thats the best place to start.
• .Net Compact Framework Tips and Tricks - although this presentation overlaps with previous article in many items, it also has some unique useful points like class vs structure performance.

Both articles are concentrated on older versions (1.0 and 2.0), but they still a good place for those who just need refresh knowledge or start developing for Windows Mobile.

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

"Turn it off and on again" is almost as canonic recipe as "Ctrl-Alt-Del". Here is an excellent video about first from "The IT Crowd" series:

Bjarne Stroustrup's wish came true

Yesterday I saw a quotation of Bjarne Stroustrup:

I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone.

My wish has come true.

I no longer know how to use my telephone.

To my mind this three sentences show that sometimes marketing people can turn even the simplest thing to a swiss knife. And these electronic swiss knifes are not so intuitive in use.

Linkpool

I'd like to share some stuff that I read/listen recently:

• Speed Up Your Website with Better Image Optimization in Photoshop includes optimization of JPEG, GIF and PNG images for usage on web.
• The Steve Jobs method article is about how Apple can be successful company without doing market research.
• FLOSS Weekly 79: David Heinemeier Hansson is a podcast with the man who developed Ruby on Rails in which he talks about how he came to Ruby and Rails and some other interesting stuff.

I believe this post will be a start of regular sets of articles that I find really exciting and interesting.