Keypad Letter Dialer for Windows Mobile 5/6/6.1

December 7th, 2008 bruceatk

I just recently got a new phone. I had intended to upgrade my Samsung i730 to a Samsung Saga, but I discovered I couldn’t do it without getting a data plan. So I switched back to using a regular Pocket PC (I bought an HP 111 off eBay) and I upgraded for free to a Motorola Q9c).  The Q9c is a Windows Mobile Smartphone without a touch screen and with a full qwerty keyboard.  One of the first things that I had a problem with was dialing phone numbers that are a name like (1-800-COMCAST or 1-800-PROGRESSIVE). There isn’t a phone keypad to look at when you dial, so I wrote this program to let you enter the number by name and it will convert it for you.

You can get it here: Keypad Letter Dialer v1.2

It requires the .NET Compact Framework 3.5 or you can download just the .NET CF 3.5 CAB file.

I set a speed dial to launch it, so whenever I need to dial a number by name I just hit the speed dial and then I am able to type the name of the number and press dial.

Updated:

It has been updated to Version 1.2. The following modifications were made:

• Detects if a phone is available and if it isn’t it disables the dial menu. Added for Pocket PC devices that do not have a phone.
• Added ability to add converted number to contacts. The text name is used as the name and the converted number is added as the phone number. If the contact already exists a message box is displayed letting the user know that the contact exists.
• Added “copy to clipboard” menu item.
• Pressing the enter key (or OK button) will dial the number.

  

Posted in Pocket PC, SmartPhone, Windows Mobile

Quake 3 Biker Wood Carving is completed.

October 31st, 2008 bruceatk

Todd has finished the wood carving of the Quake 3 character that I use when I play Quake 3. It was enetered in the New England Wood Carvers Annual Competion and got first place in it’s class. Last Thursday Todd gave it to me. I have put up a series of pictures that show it’s progress from last April through Oct.

Quake 3 Biker Model Wood Carving

Posted in Games

It’s a shame that Vista gets a bum rap

July 16th, 2008 bruceatk

I’m sick of Vista getting a bum rap, so I figured I would write a few posts about what I like about it.  My first post is just me complaining and starting to explain about my experience.  I will have several posts in the future explaining about the things that I like and find useful in Vista.

What’s wrong with Vista? Nothing.

Posted in Vista, XP

Quake 3 Biker Model Wood Carving

July 12th, 2008 bruceatk

A friend of mine (Todd Wisell) is carving me a replica of the Quake 3 model called Biker.  He sent me several images showing the progress, so I decided to put up a web page to document that progress.

Quake 3 Biker Model Wood Carving

Posted in Games

Send To Toys - Replacement for SendToX PowerToy

May 27th, 2008 bruceatk

I’ve been a user of the MS SendToX PowerToy utility for years. I especially like the Send To–>ClipBoard (As Name). I use it everyday. One problem though it doesn’t work in Vista. Instead I’ve been using a feature of SmartStartMenu which adds “Copy Pathname” to the explorer context menu. This is useful if you need to copy only one fully qualified filename to the clipboard, but doesn’t help if you have several filenames to copy.

I recently had to copy many filenames multiple times and ended up resorting to doing DIR /b “*.whatever” at the command prompt. So I looked around and found that someone had come to my rescue and had made a replacement for SendToX and it works for Vista and XP. He also added a few extras by giving you several options in how those clipboard entries are built.

One option is to have filenames that contain spaces get enclosed in quotes. You can also have multiple files end up as a list of files or all on the same line. Very useful if you are constantly copying and pasting filenames and paths.

This utility has several other useful functions that replace or enhance the features included in the original SendToX powertoy.

• Send To “Clipboard (as name)”
• Send To “Command Prompt”
• Send To “Default Mail Recipient”
• Send To “Favorites”
• Send To “Folder…”
• Send To “Quick Launch”
• Send To “Recycle Bin”
• Send To “Run…”

There is also a Send To “Clipboard” command line utility.

You can get Send To Toys at http://www.gabrieleponti.com/software/

The configuration utility that comes with let’s you manage what is in your “Send To” menu and the options of the included features in Send To Toys. So goto Gabriel’s site and if you like the utility click on Donate.

Posted in SendToToys, Utility, Vista, XP

PowerShell and iTunes

February 20th, 2008 bruceatk

PowerShell is Microsoft’s CMD.exe replacement. It is a very powerful shell that does an excellent job of bridging the gap of the DOS command line, COM objects, vbscript, and .NET. It is hard to describe it’s capabilities. You really have to experience it for yourself and have your own epiphany.

For my first PowerShell script I decided to replace the combo batch file and javascript file that I currently use to load all of the podcasts that I subscribe to into my iTunes. The old way was to run the batch file which scanned a folder and all subfolders looking for files with the archive bit set. For each file that it found it would then call the javascript file, which would load the one file into iTunes. The whole process was kind of crude. It would load any file modified in that subfolder. The files would sometimes include jpg or pdf files or even partial downloads.

Using Powershell I was able to easily include in one script the recursing of the folder structure for files with the archive bit set, selection by file extension, and calling the iTunes COM object api. It works quite well.

I basically have a server that runs Juice 24 hours a day collecting podcasts. When I get ready to synch my iPod I just run the PowerShell script and iTunes is updated. I have smart playlists that automatically organize the podcasts when they are loaded.

For links to the script and a detailed explanation go here.

Posted in PowerShell, Utility, Vista, XP