Save $55 On Pocket PC Themes

Jumbo Clocks Pack is a Money-Saving collection of 18 of the best professionally designed clock themes developed by The-Web-lab.com.
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Go Wi-Fi! E300 SDIO Card

Mobile productivity products company Socket Communications is out with an SDIO 802.11b Wi-Fi card they say is the smallest and fastest in the market to date. The Go Wi-Fi! E300 Card is designed for Windows Mobile 2003 devices with a SDIO Now! interface. (continued...)

The Go Wi-Fi! E300 Card, said Socket, is available now for $89. It measures a mere 1.57” x 0.94” x 0.08” and weighs 0.1 ounces. It comes with Wi-Fi management software and offers up many features, including finding Wi-Fi networks with advanced functions such as network pings and trace routes, a power saving mode, enterprise class Wi-Fi certification with WPA2 (AES) support, support of multiple levels of encryption, support of infrastructure WLAN and ad hoc peer-to-peer connectivity and wireless ActiveSync. A led on the card also shows WLAN connection status.

"Wi-Fi growth is rapidly increasing as mobile users continue to embrace the technology for its convenience and as a means to improve productivity," said Shail Talati, product marketing manager, WLAN Products at Socket Communications. "With great performance for IP based phone calls, its small form factor and improved ergonomics, the Go Wi-Fi! E300 is a perfect fit with devices such as i-mate JAM. It is three times faster than our previous SDIO Wi-Fi card, has enterprise level Wi-Fi security and is as small as SDIO Wi-Fi cards get. It comes bundled with our industry leading Wi-Fi Companion software, offering the most enhanced Wi-Fi experience on the market today."

Read More At The Socket Website

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Opera Mini

Opera Offers Web Browsing For Low-End Mobile Phones
Opera Software on Wednesday unveiled a cellular phone client and server that make it possible to access web pages with low-end cellular phones running a Java-based application platform.

The Opera Mini technology, which is based on Java 2 Mobile Edition standards, is meant as an alternative to the Norwegian company's regular mobile browser. The Mini targets the 700 million low- and mid-tier Java-capable phones worldwide that are currently incapable of running a web browser, the company said. (continued...)

Rather than run a browser on the phone to process web pages, the Opera Mini server pre-processes the page before sending it to the client on the phone. As a result, people with low-end phones would be able to access the web without upgrading the device, giving wireless carriers or mobile content providers the ability to offer more revenue-generating services immediately, the company said.

"Mobile Web surfing has until now been limited to more advanced phones that are capable of running a browser," Jon S. von Tetzchner, chief executive of Opera Software, said in a statement. "With Opera Mini, the phone only has to run a small Java-client and the rest is taken care of by the remotely located Opera Mini server."

Installing the Opera Mini client is as easy as downloading a ring tone, the company said. Norwegian television station TV2 is testing Opera Mini to deliver mobile content.

Opera Mini is currently in beta. General availability will be announced at a later date, the company said.

Source: InformationWeek

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eReader

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Windows Vista Beta 1 Guided Tour

Scot Finnie takes a long, detailed, and expert look at the features, foibles, and functionality of Microsoft's upcoming OS.

Click Here For The Guided Tour

Source: InformationWeek

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Buying Tip -- Storage Cards

By: Steve Bralovich

No need to buy storage cards from device manufacturers.

If you want to buy a storage card, call up any Pocket PC or SmartPhone manufacturer, they will most likely tell you that you need to buy your storage card from them to "ensure compatibility" because they only support the cards they sell. (continued...)

The reality is that storage cards don't need very much support and one purchased from another source should work fine. Device manufacturers usually charge premium prices for windows mobile accessories and you can save money on storage cards by purchasing them from other sources.

TigerDirect.com and the eCost.com have super deals on all kinds of storage media, and a search on PriceGrabber.com will help you find bargains.

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Krystal Gives Away Wi-Fi

By Eric Griffith

Free Wi-Fi is not hard to find, but you usually don't find it in big corporate chains. Places like Starbucks, Borders, McDonalds and others have teamed with big providers and usually charge a fee, whether hourly, daily, or monthly, for access on their in-store networks.

So it's somewhat unique for a 73-year-old hamburger-joint fast-food chain like Krystal say that all 243 of its company owned restaurants will be offering free wireless Internet access to customers. Many of the 180 other Krystal locations run by franchisees have decided to offer wireless as well. (continued...)

Embracing free Wi-Fi wasn't an overnight move by the company, which has locations all over the southeast United States (over 10 billion Krystals Eaten, says the company Web site). Over two years ago, the company started out by unwiring the locations in its corporate hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. As of June last year, 50 locations had 802.11b-based hotspots. David Reid, CIO at The Krystal Company, says the company initially had an integrator help with installation, but has since perfected its setup of the Cisco equipment it uses so that the company help desk can overnight hardware to any location for plug-and-play Wi-Fi. "We are our one integrator," says Reid.

Krystal Hotspots launch also coincides with the company's offering customers the ability to pay using credit and debit cards—like most fast food, Krystal used to be cash only. This is similar to how McDonald's is using Wayport's Wi-Fi World program. Wayport puts in Wireless and it is used for not just hotspot access (at $2.95 a hour to start) but also for point-of-sale (POS) terminals and other features.

All the Krystal locations (at least those owned by the company) use broadband connections for communications with the Chattanooga HQ, so piggybacking on that was not a problem. Franchisees also have had that option if the use the same POS package. Those that don't get recommendations from Reid about third-party "hotspot-in-a-box packages" they can purchase.

The equipment for each location is about $1000, which Reid calls "minimal," since the broadband was already in place. The system includes filtering turned on "so customers don't get on our restaurant systems," and filters for content to keep connections "family friendly."

As cyber-squatting seems to becoming an issue, at least at some coffee shops and cafés, Reid says it hasn't been at Krystal and he doesn't expect it will be. In fact, he thinks free wireless is likely to bring in customers who have gravitated to the drive-thru in recent years. "Our dining rooms are underutilized all day long, with lunch time as the possible exception. Wireless is a good way to get people in," he says.

Krystal "only would charge if the entire rest o the world went to a pay model," says Reid. "But I see it going the other way."

Security tunnels lock the connection from the access point to the Krystal network operations center. Like most free hotspots, however, there's no security built in for the end users. Connections are free to anyone who seeks out the SSID "KrystalHotspot." Customers can bring their own security though if they use services like HotspotVPN or JiWire's SpotLock.

Usage seems to be good. Reid says with what little tracking they've done shows about 1000 individuals a week using the hotspots in the 243 owned branches, almost four users average per restaurant, though he admits that "some have 50 people and some are lucky to have one." The users signs on an average of 3.5 times per week.

At this time, Krystal doesn't have any plans to try partnering with other Wi-Fi hotspot providers like Wayport or Boingo or the like. The company is keeping it simple, promoting the hotspots on online directories. Locally each venue will have posters that feature a colorized mix of emoticons, the old warchalking symbols that never really took off, and what Reid says looks like a smiling Krystal hamburger sitting on its side: (See top of page)

Source: WiFi Planet
(See Sidebar for More WiFi Related Articles)

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Skype Goes Boingo For Wi-Fi

By: Steve Bralovich

It is now easier to make Skype-based Voice over IP calls over Wi-Fi, thanks to a new partnership between Skype and Boingo Wireless.

The companies have recently announced a new service called Skype Zones, which enables Skype usage across the Boingo network of 18,000 global hotspots. The service is being initially offered at $8 a month for unlimited Wi-Fi access for Skype calls, which is significantly less than the $22 a month that Boingo currently charges for unlimited data access. (continued...)

Skype Zones includes access to Skype P2P voice network, as well as Boingo's connection managements, roaming authentication and Wi-Fi sniffer features.

Boingo is not the first Wi-Fi hotspot firm to go after Skype users, and Skype isn't the first VoIP service to be offered by Boingo. In March, UK ISP Broadreach partnered with Skype to offer Skype calls across Broadreach network of 350 hotspots.

In October, Boingo announced a partnership with Vonage. The partnership was planned to provide Vonage subscribers with access to Boingo Wi-Fi hotspot network. At the time, Boingo indicated that the partnership was the first step in Boingo comprehensive VoIP strategy.

Beyond Vonage and Skype, Boingo which was founded by EarthLink founder Sky Dayton could also potentially offer its own home-grown service.

In September, EarthLink began testing its own SIP-based peer-to-peer network. Called SIPshare, it is only a prototype and is not yet a supported EarthLink product.

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Latimes.com Wireless

You can read the Los Angeles Times anytime, anywhere using your Web-enabled phone or wireless handheld computer. (continued...)

To get today's top news, business, sports and local stories on your web-enabled phone, enter the address http://mobile.latimes.com in your phone's browser.

If you have a handheld computer with wireless connectivity -- a Palm i705 or VII, or a Handspring Treo, for example -- visit http://latimes.com/pda to view today's top stories.

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Seeking Software Testers

The-Web-Lab.com is looking for a few testers for a new security product for notebooks and desktops. Get valuable software for Free in return.(continued...)

The product is in an early alpha phase and is working but has no documentation or installer so you must be comfortable with copying files and running programs manually.

We're mainly looking for laptop users that connect to the Internet from various locations such as work and home.

Desktop users are eligible if they access the Internet from behind a corporate firewall.

This is a non-destructive program that does not write anything to disk. However, as an early product it may cause memory conflicts and require re-booting your system.

The reward for your participation will be a copy of the final program worth around $40 with free lifetime upgrades. This is dependent on the amount of feedback you provide when we ask for your evaluation.

Successful applicants will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement prior to downloading the test files.

Please contact me at The-Web-Lab.com to begin the process and see if you qualify for the test.

--Steve

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