Downloading a CAB file to install onto your Windows Mobile device can be a pain - after downloading the cab file to your desktop, you need to first copy it to your device, then find the cab file to install and then proceed to install it.

CABviaActiveSync is a simple, free program that adds a context menu to automatically parse the cab file on your desktop and install it via activesync. This can save you a bunch of steps and is incredibly handy if you are like me and are always installing/uninstalling programs to check out.

Download CABviaActiveSync from Modaco.

I recently purchased a Dell monitor and upon opening it up and plugging it in, I noticed a bright blue pixel ’stuck’ on towards the center of the display.

Note that a ’stuck’ pixel is different than a ‘dead’ pixel. A dead pixel will be dark, while a stuck pixel will be a primary color - red, blue or green and constantly on.

I read this article on fixing a stuck pixel. I also came across Jeff Patch’s article which refers to a video created by Nick Toohill. However, after practicing all methods for a good hour nothing seemed to be working.

I kept the video playing overnight; I also used more and more pressure to ‘massage’ the pixel. I’m not sure how to describe the pressure I used - it felt pretty unnatural to be pressing on your LCD screen that hard. At some points, you could see ‘crystal’ patterns below the pressure point and they would take a few seconds to go away.

After about two days solid of playing the video over the pixel in question, and randomly coming in to ‘massage’ the pixel, it started to flicker in and out. Another day and the pixel was gone for a good bit - I left the video playing another night, and I am happy to report that the stuck pixel is gone and hasn’t reared it’s ugly head again.

I am hosting the ’stuck pixel’ fixer video here in case it is taken down from the original source. This video cycles between all of the pixel colors, then does a white/black cycle. Keep this video looping over the pixel you are trying to fix.

To summarize:

1. Loop this video over the pixel you are trying to fix.
2. Massage the pixel and surrounding area using increasingly hard circular motions.
3. Use a damp rag to massage the screen - evenly distribute the pressure you are applying.
4. Go to step 1.

Hopefully you will have the same success at fixing that damned stuck pixel! This method should work for any LCD where you can play this video type and where the LCD isn’t behind a glass enclosure (I’ve heard this working with PSPs, Portable DVD Players, and monitors).

For Christmas my wife and I decided to replace our aging circa 1998 19″ CRT with a new LCD Monitor. After searching the web and reading numerous reviews, I decided to purchase the Dell SP2008WFP LCD Monitor. Some of the major features of this monitor are:

• 20″ Widescreen HD LCD Monitor
• 2000:1 Dynamic Contrast Ratio
• 1680 x 1050 native resolution
• 2ms Response time
• Built in 2MP webcam
• 2 side facing USB ports and 2 bottom facing rear ports

For full specs please see the Full Product Page.

For the first time ever I’ve compiled a quick video review of the Dell SP2008WFP - press play to watch the review. Look below for more in depth analysis.

Dell’s monitors come with a 3-yr advance shipment replacement policy, which means that if your monitor goes bad, they will ship you a replacement after you send your defective one back. This is one of the main reasons I ordered directly from dell rather than one of my other favorite places for PC Hardware - Newegg.

First Impressions

Upon first unboxing and turning on this monitor - my first thought was “WOW”! It looks so much sharper and brighter than my old CRT monitor, and even compared to my other Dell LCD monitors at work it looks very sharp. I even had to turn the brightness levels down a bit.

I put on a movie to test it out - when - CRAP! A stuck pixel! There was a stuck blue pixel right in the middle of the screen. Since this was my first experience with a stuck pixel, I was a bit discouraged. Furthermore, I read on Dell’s site that they will only replace a monitor if there are 6 or more dead/stuck pixels. Note that a ‘dead’ pixel is one that is black, and a ’stuck’ pixel is one that is red, blue or green. Upon doing some research - I found out that a ’stuck’ pixel is normally fixable and isn’t as bad as having a dead pixel. After using some methods that I had discovered, it did end up fixing itself after a day or 2, and hasn’t returned since.

Daily use

For daily use the SP2008WFP really excels. The brightness really makes your screen ‘pop’ and everything is extremely sharp. It is best to run at the screen’s native resolution - 1680 x 1050. Depending on your eyesight and how far the monitor is from your seat - you may find fonts to be a bit too small. This can be fixed by modifying the window’s default font size to ‘large’ and setting the default Firefox or IE font size. Personally I had no problems reading the font at this resolution but my wife said it made her eyes twitchy after a while.

The two side USB ports really come in handy for those who use USB Keychains (that includes me!). The bottom ones can be used for a wireless keyboard/mouse dongle or for other USB peripherals.

I added the optional speaker for this monitor. I realize that the audio coming out of it is not spectacular, but since we have a child I wanted to do away with my BASS BOOSTER powered system and this does nicely. The speaker is powered, and has a blue light to let you know it is on. The right side includes a volume control and the left side has inputs for headphones and a microphone. Another nice feature is that the volume control works for the headphone volume, thus eliminating the need to change the volume on the system. My one ‘gripe’ on the speaker is the the volume control does not let you mute the volume without turning it off completely. That meaning that it gets down low and then click off. I wish it would go all the way down to mute and then turn off.

Video

Video looks great on this monitor, even in a bright room. In a darkened room, I did notice some LCD backlight leaking through on the edges on dark scenes in movies. This effect wasn’t overwhelming and I only noticed it when I was looking for it. In a bright room, the blacks look very black and the colors still very crisp.

Webcam

The 2 Megapixel webcam is pretty decent. The drivers indicate that it is actually a Creative webcam built in. The quality is really pretty good, and worked right out of the box for me in programs such as Skype. The built in software allows you to record video, capture images, run motion detection (security) capture, remote monitoring, and ‘time lapse’ video. These functions are neat but not usable for me, so I disable this software to prevent it from adding unneeded system programs. Also, if this software is actually running, it will interfere with other capture programs such as Skype. If you need to run more than one program with your webcam, use Splitcam.

Conclusion

This monitor is a great upgrade from someone moving from a CRT and even from a smaller LCD. The price you can find on Dell’s website is not the cheapest 20″ Widescreen LCD, however it is one of the only non-iMac monitors you can find which includes this webcam ability - which other monitor manufacturers will surely follow. For my own personal uses, it seemed like I could get a 22″ plain LCD or a 20″ with webcam. Time will tell if this was a good purchase, but I think my desk really thanks me in that I have consolidated almost every item on my desk into this one item (excluding my scanner - I don’t think they will be merging monitors and flatbed scanners anytime soon).

At $289 this monitor seems like a good deal and I would recommend the purchase to anyone looking for a new monitor! I figure if I want more desk space in the future, I will move to a dual monitor setup and get a cheap 22″.

This happened on a few of my accounts - specifically the IMAP accounts on my Windows Mobile 6 device. Apparently this was a problem back with Windows Mobile 2003 but it seems to have resurfaced in Windows Mobile 6.

Even though all messages in an account are read; the “1 unread message” message still shows up on your Today screen. This happens when the internal unread message count becomes de-synced with the real message count. Instead of polling the server for unread messages, Windows Mobile keeps an internal database/registry key with this number. This problem also manifests itself in having “-1″ unread messages or another off-count.

Luckily, it is pretty easy to fix. Download this program from freewareppc. Transfer and run the .exe from your device. It analyzes your accounts and fixes the internal database “unread” count.

Meebo, which I have recently been turned on to, yesterday released an iPhone client which is basically a web interface to their chat website (which integrates AIM, Yahoo!, MSN, gtalk, and more). It looks great, take a peek:

That is great that they are developing this and I applaud them for their efforts of releasing updates on mobile devices.

Now, maybe I have iPhone envy, but wouldn’t it make sense to release this for Windows Mobile since the market share that Windows Mobile has is MUCH greater than iPhone? According to Gartner, Windows Mobile shipped a little over 3 million devices in the 1st quarter of 2007 alone (and that number does not even include “Smartphone” devices). iPhone, according to their own estimates [MacNewsWorld], will sell a million units by Sept 30th.

I asked Meebo about their plans for Windows Mobile. Here is the response I received from Sue:

As far as a Windows Mobile version of meebo, it’s
something that we’ve thought about and are interested in, but at the
moment we don’t have development time and resources to add support for
every device we’d like to.

Here is where it gets tricky. There may be a great market penetration for Windows Mobile - but it is not easy to develop a web app for it because there is no standardized browser platform. Sure, you have Internet Explorer Mobile, but let’s face it - IEM is program is not very good at rendering web pages and would be a nightmare to develop for. Each version of Windows Mobile has differences in IEM that designers would have to be conscious of. The other browsers that Windows Mobile users have the option of using: Opera Mobile, Netfront, Minimo - do not have enough market penetration to make it development worthwhile. [on a sidenote, Opera Mobile is the best browser for Windows Mobile, give it a try if you haven't already.]

Hence, we have the major difference between Windows Mobile and iPhone OS. Windows Mobile, although an “open” system that allows developers to create their own programs, has the problem of having a high cost to develop because you need to have Windows Mobile programming experience.

On the other hand, the iPhone, with it’s “Closed” OS, has a standardized browser that works well and is easy to write web code for. Web publishers around the world are free to write code for it in their native programming languages because the browser is the component that renders the graphics and takes care of the network.

So how is this problem resolved? Nintendo seems to have fixed this very same issue by offering Opera for Wii via the Wii Shop channel. Wii users who install this browser have many options available out there for web interfaces that are designed specifically for the Opera browser on Wii - most notable of these is Orb, which has a beautiful interface for the Wii. Microsoft, ever the profitable company it is, wants users to use IE on Windows Mobile and therefore bundles IEM.

Microsoft needs to get with the program and make their browser easier to write for and more standards compliant. If that doesn’t happen, then we are definitely looking at an iPhone future for mobile devices.

If you use Windows Mobile, please contact Meebo and let them know that you’d like to see a Windows Mobile version of Meebo!