So the New York Times just did a write up on Bill Gates' impending (semi)retirement and what it means for Microsoft. Of course the message is that all is well, nobody's worried, everything's fine, move along, nothing to see here, etc etc. On page two, though, we get some nice bits about how Microsoft feels about the oft-rumored Google Phone. Let's take a look:

“How many products, of all the Google products that have been introduced, how many of them are profit-making products?” he asked. “They’ve introduced about 30 different products; they have one profit-making product. So, you’re now making a prediction without ever seeing the software that they’re going to have the world’s best phone and it’s going to be free?”

Zing!

I have a few thoughts on this quote and a bit of editorial after the break. Because Apple's entrance into this space and Google's rumbling have finally made this the conventional wisdom about smartphones: It's the software, Stupid!

Read the rest of this entry »

Why all the Yahoo go attention here at WMExperts? Because it's a great app, or at least it was the last time I actually got to use the thing, which was a long time ago. Two weeks ago Yahoo released the app for landscape-style phones, but today I see that it's available for all Windows Mobile phones.

That's good news, because it means that Windows Mobile now has push email solutions in two free flavors (for Windows Moblie 6, anyway) - Hotmail and Yahoo. Throw in an Exchange server for your work email and suddenly your smartphone isn't pinging the server every hour on its own. Seriously, folks, it's 2007, I shouldn't have to do that.

Read: Yahoo Go for Windows Mobile

More evidence that the Kaiser is definitely coming to AT&T: FCC approval. Now FCC approval in and of itself isn't necessarily a guarantee that AT&T will pick up the device, but in this case I feel pretty confident. Why? Because HTC actually got three versions of this wunderphone approved:

• The Kaiser 100 is a camera-less version (think business use)
• The Kaiser 110 has one 3mp camera
• The Kaiser 120 has two cameras - the big one in the back and the little one for video conferencing on the front.

The 110 is the one to pay attention to here. Just as with the Blackjack, AT&T (well, it was Cingular back then) took in the single-camera version, as having two cameras sort of makes it a little too obvious that their network isn't all it could be. Why would HTC bother making a less-powerful, short-a-camera version of the Kaiser if not for AT&T to snap it up? That pitter-patter sound you hear is my heart.

The Kaiser is a full-fledged Windows Mobile 6 Pro slider (flip-up, no less) with 3G, built-in WiFi, and built-in GPS. Please hurry. I'm getting tired of Sprint's Mogul being the hottest thing on the block. The rumor used to be "late July", but we're just about fresh-out of July, so I'm thinking mid September (i.e. after the Sept. 8th FCC confidentiality agreement expires). Which is funny, because I'm also thinking AT&T will finally bequeath Windows Mobile 6 unto the Blackjack, 8525, and the Treo 750 around that time. Heck, AT&T, you may as well do it all on the same day - and as long as you're at it, throw in a free pony.

Read: WirelessInfo.com via Boy Genius

I have written before (and will surely write again) about how I'd like something like Quicksilver for Windows Mobile: A simple text entry field that I could enter short, simple text commands into do Get Things Done.

I'm imagining a text field on my today screen, or barring that a little app that indexed contacts, favorites, applications, and settings via Windows Mobile 6's Smart Search (which also works on email, hint hint). Being able to put a "s" in front of a search would make it go search the web for your terms. Or "t joe I'm on my way" would send Joe a text message that I'm on my way. You get the idea. You can see I want this. I'm not the only one.

Enough background. I came across this sweet, hardcore (in a good way) Windows Mobile development blog and was largely mystified. Until I saw that you could do this: "tap and hold down the ‘Action’ key while tapping and holding the stylus on the clock shown on the nav bar." "Action key" is your center button. This'll work on a Pocket PC / Pro edition phone (but not, strangely, a Treo 750). What pops up is essentially the same as Desktop Windows' 'Run' dialog.

Within this dialog you can enter the path to any executable, as well as any required command line parameters.

Examples you may like to try out are as follows:

calc.exe
iexplore.exe
ctlpnl.exe cplmain.cpl,4,0

Read: Windows Mobile Development » Blog Archive » Windows Mobile Tip: Accessing the Run dialog

Yeah, it's not what I dream of. It's not even all that useful given that it's tough to get to and it doesn't auto-complete or search all the places I'd like it to. But there you go, Windows Mobile has a flavor Run dialog. nom nom nom.