Have you ever noticed that most popular wireless communications methods use 2.4GHz? This includes Wifi (802.11), BlueTooth, cordless phones, and more? Gizmodo provides a very understandable explanation. Basically, it turns out that the 2.4 GHz band of the RF spectrum was set aside by the FCC for unlicensed communications (this means you don't need an FCC license to run your WiFi Access Point or BlueTooth headset). Furthermore, because all of these systems use frequency-hopping technology (which means the radios check a particular frequency to make sure it is open before transmitting), you can have multiple products running in the same physical area without interference from each other.

We are exhibiting at Vartech 2010 in Cincinnati today. We are in both #816. We hope everyone enjoys the show!

Are you going to Vartech 2010 in Cincinnati? If you do, be sure to stop by and see us! We will be demonstrating several exciting products, and Tim will be giving a presentation. We hope to see you there!

GS1 Databar is going to be phased into Grocery and Retail applications starting in Jan, 2011. GS1 Databar is a stacked symbology, meaning it requires an Imager to read and decode. A Laser scanner will not be able to read it. Are you prepared for the transition?

We have posted the July ITScriptNet News. Read about the updates to Solution Packs and new Ready-To-Go applications in the works.

Motorola has filed paperwork to split into two companies. The Enterprise division (formerly Symbol) that produces portable data collection devices will be in the 'Motorola Solutions' company, along with the Networking business. The Mobile Devices and Home and divisions will be the new Motorola Mobility company.

The press release can be found here.

Here is an interesting article on recycling depleted mobile device batteries. Most devices use Lithium-Ion batteries these days, and these are very hazardous to the environment if simply thrown in the trash. The right thing to do is to recycle them properly. Call2Recycle is expanding their pick-up program with a new collection box. Make sure to dispose of your batteries responsibly!

We noted in March that Honeywell was retiring the Image Kiosk and Transaction Terminal product line. June 15th was the last day that orders were accepted, according to the retirement announcement.

As we noted before, we will keep ITScriptNet support for these devices until our next release, at which point it will be removed. ITScriptNet 3.1c will be the last version that supports these devices.

Seagull Scientific has released Bartender 9.3. Bartender is label design and printing software for the PC. We like it because you can use a feature called Printer Code Templates to design labels for portable printers and print them with ITScriptNet's built-in printing support. This is a handy way to design your labels with a visual design tool, yet still integrate with ITScriptNet.

Read the latest ITScriptNet News to learn about the release of ITScriptNet 3.1c, information about Voice Enabling your data collection programs, and more!

AIM has announced that they are reviewing a new 2-D symbology called the Han Xin Code. From the announcement, this code is described like this:

Han Xin Code is a unique, variable size, matrix symbology specifically optimized for two and four byte alphabets such as Chinese and other ideographic/pictographic alphabets. It is equally suitable for single byte ISO Code Pages such as English. Han Xin Code also includes an option for octet byte encoding for applications such as graphics and audio. Extended Channel Interpretation (ECIs) support is also included.

The review period extends until July 26th 2010. More information is available from AIM.

Intermec has announced an upgrade to the CN50 device, which now comes with 256MB of RAM. This should make the CN50 a good choice for voice-enabled applications, and for applications with large memory requirements.

We have completed our move, with only about an hour of website downtime. If you experience any problems with registration from this point forward please let us know.

We are moving to a different unit within our building. As a result, our website will be down for a short period of time while we move the servers. The tentative plan is to move the servers on Friday night, after business hours (East Coast time).

We will strive to keep the downtime as short as possible. We apologize for any inconvienience this may cause.

Honeywell has announced that they are retiring the entire Dolphin 7900 line and the Windows CE version of the Dolphin 7600.

The Dolphin 7900 is being replaced by the new Dolphin 9700, and the Windows Mobile version of the Dolphin 7600 is still being produced. The End-of-life plans for these devices call for the Last Time To Buy in October 2010.

Intermec published the results of a survey of Fortune 300 companies where they find 67 percent are interested in replacing their consumer PDAs, cell phones and smartphones with ruggedized handheld devices. Of course 'Interested in' is not necessarily the same as 'has the budget for', so we will see if spending in this area increases. We also found it interesting that only 38% are paperless, with another 29% transitioning. This means there is a large market for conveting paper processes to mobile, almost 40% of the surveyed companies!

Vartech Canada is coming up this spring, on June 7th and 8th in Montreal. If you are interested in attending, visit http://www.vartechcanada.com/ for all of the information.

Two brand-new Windows Mobile 6.5 data collection device are now available.

The Motorola MC75A has just come out, and is the successor to the MC75.

At the same time, Datalogic has just announced the Elf, which is a new PDA-style device.

We will be evaluating ITScriptNet support for both, but we expect our existing Windows Mobile 6 clients will work on these devices.

Tim is at the Motorola Channel Partner event in Las Vegas, and reports that he has made some interesting contacts. We'll have more to report when he returns!

Tim will be attending Motorola's Channel Partner Event in Las Vegas next week. If you will be there and would like to get together to talk shop please send him a message with a convenient day and time (Sunday evening or at breakfast, lunch or after classes Monday or Tuesday). We have exciting new products he would like to tell you about. He would also like to know what application challenges you have that we might be able to assist with using ITScriptNet, an inexpensive Ready-To-Go program or one of our high value Solution Packs. Have an RFID app? Need voice-enabled data collection? Let's talk!

AML has released an interesting new device with On-Screen Scan Verification. The AML M7225 will flash the screen green or red to indicate whether the barcode was sucessfully scanned or not.

ITScriptNet supports several AML devices, and we are evaluating whether our M8050 client will be able to be used on the M7225, or whether a new client will be required.

ITScriptNet has the capability to integrate with Vangard Voice Systems AccuSpeech system, which allows for voice prompting, navigation, and data entry. A properly designed voice input system can yield excellent productivity improvements. Vangard has a new Field Force Automation product that is targeted at mobile field-service applications.

If you are interested in learning how Voice integration can help you, contact us for more information!

Our offices will be closed all day on:

• Thursday Dec 24th
• Friday Dec 25th
• Thursday Dec 31st
• Friday Jan 1st.

We will be back in the office on Monday, Jan 4th.  Have a Happy Holidays!

Motorola has released a new RFID-enabled device, the MC3090-Z.  This device is built on the same platform as the MC3000 and MC3100, with a 320x320 square screen.  The RFID reader has an omnidirectional antenna, supporting EPC Gen 2 DRM  in the 902-928 MHz band (US).

Many mobile devices are now equipped with built-in GPS radios, and can be used for turn-by-turn navigation.  ITScriptNet supports collecting a breadcrumb trail while using such a navigation system on Windows Mobile devices.  However, what kind of system is best for you?

If you have a fleet with trucks and vans, consumer-grade navigation is not sufficient.  We like Electric Compass, which is designed for commercial applications and has good integration capabilities.  Electric Compass has published an excellent article detailing the differences between Consumer and Commercial navigation.

Recently PC Magazine published an article about the different processors used by smartphones, and how difficult it is to compare the performance of one device to another.  Although the focus of this article is consumer-grade phones, it got me wondering about data collection devices.  After all, Windows CE and Windows Mobile devices use ARM processors too.

What I've discovered is that it is just as difficult to compare data collections devices against each other as it is to compare phones.  For example, the Motorola PC9500 runs a Marvell PXA320 at 806 MHz.  Is that faster than the Intermec CN50 (the Spec Sheet simply says 'Main Processor ARM11 at 528 MHz)?  Not necessarily - what instruction set does the PXA320 have?  It's difficult to tell.  How about the new Honeywell Dolphin 6100, which has a Marvell XScale PXA300 at 624 MHz?

For further confusion, check out this chart on Wikipedia which attempts to group the various processor families.  Most Xscale processors are listed as ARMV5TE, but the PXA3xx series are not listed.

Another performance bottleneck to keep in mind is the speed of the Flash Memory store.  Not all memory architectures perform the same, and there can be a significant difference in the speed (particularly the Write speed) from one device family to another.  You won't find this information in a spec sheet.

What is the conclusion?  Like the author of the original article, we find that you can not use the manufacturers specifications to compare the performance of one device to another very easily.  For now you will have to rely on more subjective measurements.

Motorola has introduced the MC3100 series of devices.  These devices are the successor to the MC3000 series, with the same 320x320 square display.   These units feature Windows Mobile 6 or Windows CE 6.  Since they are EMDK compatible, our ITScriptNet client for Motorola will work on them.

Honeywell has announced that the Dolphin 7600 will be available with built-in GPS.  This is great news for customers looking for a low-cost, integrated device with GPS location ability for Delivery, Route Accounting, Pre-Sale, Asset Tracking, and many other applications.  ITScriptNet supports the GPS hardware through the Windows Mobile GPS Intermediate Driver, so no software changes are required to make it work.

More information on the Doplhin 7600 is available on Honewell's website.

Motorola has announce the successor to the 9000 series devices, called the MC9500.  This new device features Windows Mobile 6.1, but no CE version is listed.  It also has both barcode scanner and 3 megapixel camera options, a VGA (640x480) display, and both GPRS and CMDA radios.

The device family also features field-swappable modules, including the keypad and WAN radios.  This also marks the introduction of a Universal Accessory System, which appears to mean that common batteries and cradles will be used across devices.  We'll be interested to learn more about this.

We presume this new device will be supported in Motorola's EMDK, and if so the ITScriptNet client should run on it as-is.  We will test and confirm this as soon as we can.

Janam has announced two new devices in the XM product line.  The XM60+ is the next generation of the XM60, and the XM66 replaces the XM65.  The XM60+ is Windows CE while the XM66 is Windows Mobile 6.1.  We are adding support for both of these devices to ITScriptNet.

Honeywell has announced that the Dolphin 9500 series has reached its End Of Life.  Details are at the bottom of the Product Page for the 9500.  The Dolphin 9900 replaces the 9500, and uses the same batteries, chargers, cradles, and peripherals.  We will maintain support for the Dolphin 9500 for awhile, as there are many of them in the field.

Honeywell has announced the availability of Windows Mobile 6.1 for the Dolphin 9900.  This will be a free upgrade for all Windows Mobile 6 devices.

Also announced is the availability of the Dolphin 9551, which is a laser scanner version of the pistol-grip Dolphin 9950.

Intermec has announced two new devices, the CN50 and CN4.  Both devices appear to be similar in size to the CN3, and both run Windows Mobile 6.1.  They also have an imaging capability called Enhanced Mobile Document Imaging, which Intermec claims will allow taking full-page document images.

Assuming that the scanner and hardware interfaces are similar to the CN3, we should be able to add support for these devices to ITScriptNet without any difficulty.  Intermec says the devices will be available in Q3 2009.

We are pleased to announce that we are partnering with Vangard Voice Systems to offer voice-enabling for ITScriptNet.  We will be officially showing it for the first time at BlueStar's VARTECH show, August 13-15.

Voice enabling ITScriptNet will lead to faster, more accurate data collection by reducing the number of keypresses or screen taps needed to operate the program, reduce the need to look at the screen, and even allow collecting some types of data entirely by voice.

Integration with Vangard's AccuSpeech Mobile product allows for both voice prompting and voice responses to prompts.  Program navigation can be voice controlled, and the program can read back prompt and responses to ensure accuracy.  AccuSpeech Mobile runs on most modern Windows CE and Windows Mobile devices.

We'll present more information as we get closer to VARTECH, but in the meantime if you have questions about how voice-enabling can help your application, please contact us!

Motorola has released the RS507 Hands Free imager.  This device comes in a corded or BlueTooth cordless configuration.  It is intended for use with the WT4000 Wearable Terminal.  This gives material handlers a fast way to collect data as they move product without having to holster a device.

Honeywell (HandHeld Products) has introduced a pistol-grip version of the Dolphin 9900 series device, called the 9950.  This follows the lead of the 9550.  The grip makes the device easier to use for single-handed operation, such as warehousing applications.

Honeywell has introduced a new version of the Dolphin 9900 for Healthcare, with a disinfectant-ready housing.  This model can be cleaned with standard solvents without causing problems with the plastics used in most devices.

We've already discussed the MC55, but Motorola has now officially released it.  The details are available on Motorola's MC55 product page.  This looks like a nice device that fits between a consumer phone and a fully ruggedized device.

Z-Space Technologies is pleased to announce the release of ITScriptNet version 3.0!  You can download it now from our website.  If you are upgrading from V2.x, please be sure to read the Upgrade Guide before installing.  This release is the result of many hours of hard work, and we are happy to be able to finally bring it to you.

O'Neil has announced two new PrintPad versions, for the Intermec CN3 and CN3e.  The PrintPad is an integrated printer and mobile device cradle that allows an operator to carry one device for data collection and printing.  Supported devices now include:

• Motorola - SPT1700, SPT1800, PPT2700, PPT2800, MC9000-S (MC9060-S and MC9090-S) and MC70 (MC7004, MC7090, and MC7094)
• Honeywell - Dolphin® 7900
• Intermec - CN3 and CN3e

It's the second day of the Unitech Link 2009 show, and it's going very well.  We've met many intereting people, and learned a great deal.  We had one breakout session yesterday where we were able to demo our Solution Packs, and there are two more today.  In addition, we are making a presentation today.  Here is Tim on stage at the Palms!

We'll have more information after the show concludes.

Update: Here's Tim giving a Solution Pack demo at our breakout session table.

You can see the MR650, MT380 and the new MP350 portable printer.

Motorola has apparently announced the End-of-Life for the MC50.  This is not too surprising, as the MC50 is still running PocketPC 2003 and has never been updated to Windows Mobile.  The MC50 is not even listed on the Mobile Computers page on Motorola's website.  The MC55 is the newer model with similar features.

We will be at the Unitech Link 2009 event in Las Vegas, January 28th and 29th at the Palms.  We will have several demos, including Access Control and Time and Attendance programs on the MR650 and MT380 kiosks, our Solution Packs and iTours on the PA600 and HT660, and the MP350 printer.  If you are attending the show, please come see us!

The latest issue of ITScriptNet News is available.  Read about the release of the Check In / Check Out Solution Pack, the Unitech Link 2009 event, and ITScriptNet 3.0.

Following in the footsteps of the Dolphin 9500 / 9550, Honeywell has that the Dolphin 9900 is now available in a pistol-grip version, called the Dolphin 9950.  This device keeps battery and accessory compatibility with the 9500 series.  Honeywell will be displaying the 9950 at the NRF show in Chicago, January 11th-14th.

A few months ago, Honeywell (HandHeld Products) filed a lawsuit against Datalogic over 2-D imaging.  This suit has now been settled.

From all of us at Z-Space Technologies, we'd like to wish you a Happy Holidays and a successful New Year.  We are looking forward to an exciting 2009.  Thanks to everyone who has helped make 2008 a very good year.

Following on yesterday's announcement of the CN3 with Windows Mobile 6.1, Intermec has also announced that the CK3 will also be available with Windows Mobile 6.1.  The press release suggests that this device will be available in October.

As we mentioned last time, we will be exhibiting at this years BlueStar Vartech show.  We will be in Booth 518, previewing our new Solution Packs and some new ITScriptNet 3.0 features.

We are also providing the Registration System for the show, as we have for the past few years.  This year the registration system consists of an ITScriptNet program running on ELO touchscreen PCs with the PC Client.  There is a Metrologic fixed-mount presentation scanner at each station, a Cherry keyboard, and a Sato desktop label print.  For line busting, we will be using Honeywell Dolphin 9900 and Datalogic Kyman terminals, printing to Zebra QL 420 portable printers.  Check it out when you register - it is a good representation of the kind of solution that can be built using ITScriptNet technology across a wide range of hardware!

If you are coming to the Vartech show this year in Orlando, be sure to see our booth!  We will be showing our new Solution Packs, and previewing upcoming ITScriptNet innovations.  We'll post more details as they become available.  We hope to see you there!

We are pleased to announce our partnership with RACO Industries on Solution Packs.  Solution Packs are complete, end-to-end applications built around ITScriptNet Omni, that incorporate portable Data Collection programs, a PC Application for Database Maintenance, reporting, and configuration.  We have been working very hard to complete these applications, and we will be posting more information on the coming weeks.

We haven't posted much lately, but we have been hard at work!  We'll have news very soon on our new Solution Packs, new ITScriptNet features, and a website relaunch.  Keep watching this space for more!

Following the announcement of Windows Mobile support for the Pegaso, Datalogic has announced that the Kyman is now available with Windows Mobile 6.  This device can have a GPRS/EGDE radio for wide-area communications.

Honeywell (Hand Held Products) has announced the availability of the Dolphin 7600 with GSM.  This also upgrades the Dolphin 7600 to Window Mobile 6.  We are pleased that the ITScriptNet OMNI client and several Ready-To-Go^TM Applications are pre-loaded on the 7600 to give users a good out-of-the-box experience.

Honeywell is purchasing Metrologic, adding to the purchase of Hand Held Products.  It's too early to know how the two groups will be integrated, if at all.  Metrologic makes a line of hand held scanners, and a few mobile computers.  Only one is Windows CE based, the SP5700.

Do you remember when we mentioned that the US Census Bereau was using a Windows Mobile device for collecting the 2010 census data?  Well it turns out the project has not gone well, and will be scrapped.  Its too bad - its an interesting application with biometrics, wireless communication, etc.

Where have we been?  If you've noticed the lack of postings over the last few weeks, we've been hard at work on something new which will be announced at our Training Session in a few weeks.

Here are a few news items of interest that we've collected.

Motorola to split
Motorola has announced that they are splitting their handset business from the rest of the company.  We assume that the former Symbol Technologies group will be in the Broadband and Mobility divison, but that has not been announced yet.  It appears that only the consumer Handset division (mobile phones) are being split off.

Unitech PA500
We've received a Unitech PA500 device and we are working on a client for it.  This device is a small form-factor (PDA-style) data collector with a linear scanner.

Opticon
We're looking at the Opticon HT16 / 19 devices.  These are mobile phone-style devices with integrated scanners.  They are interesting units, and we are planning support in ITScriptNet for them.

This note came across the Intermec wire.  Honeywell, which just completed the purchase of HandHeld Products, has become an Intermec RFID licensee.  We'll keep an eye out for what this might mean.

We hope everyone has a Happy and Successful New Year.  We have many exciting plans in store for 2008, and we look forward to bringing them to fruition.

Here is a roundup of a few HandHeld Products related items we've found over the last few days.

Whitepaper: United Utilities Chooses Dolphins To Collect Meter Data (registration required)

Whitepaper: Siemens Uses Dolphins To Read Meters (registration required)

From Europe: Hand Held Products and Maporama International join their know-how in favour of mobile professionals.  This is about a system using Dolphin 7900 GPS units.

Aquisition news: Honeywell completes acquisition of Hand Held Products, Inc.

Happy Holidays to everyone!

HandHeld Products has announced a partnership with SOTI for MobiControl.  This is a remote device management tool used by enterprises to inventory, manage, configure, and troubleshoot portable devices.  According to the article, SOTI MobiControl will be available for all HandHeld Products mobile computers and kiosks.

Google has released a new version of Google Maps Mobile, including a native application for Windows Mobile similar to Microsoft's Live Search application.  The big news with Googe Maps Mobile is the My Location feature, which attempts to locate your position based on either a GPS receiver, or by triangulating cell towers!

Have you seen the mobile device slated for use by the U.S. Census Bereau in 2010?

The device has Windows Mobile 5, an SD card slot, and a Fingerprint reader.  It appears to be more rugged than a consumer device, but probably not as much as an industrial data collector.  It also has a wireless modem on the Sprint network, and a dial-up modem built in for areas with no wireless. 

It looks quite capable by todays standards, but I wonder what we'll think of it in two years.

AIM Global has announced the development of a new, royalty free Dot Code symbology.  This code was developed by Dr. Andy Longacre at Hand Held Products, and is a 2-D symbology intended for high-speed production line use.  It is capable of being printed by in-line inkjet printers since it does not require continous lines to be printed.

Here is another press release about the Dolphin 7900 with integrated GPS.

Also, GPS is now listed as a feature on the 7900 product page at HandHeld.com.

Update: Here is the press release directly from Hand Held Products

Today at CTIA, Microsoft announced System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008.  This is an Enterprise-wide system for managing Windows Mobile devices.  It provides a centralized mechanism for security, device management and data access control.

Recently we mentioned that UnIQue ID was supplying a GPS radio for the Dolphin 7900.  Now we find this article suggesting that Hand Held Products is making a GPS-enabled 7900 generally available.  No word on whether this is worldwide or limited to Europe.

Several Windows Mobile 5 devices are also coming with integrated GPS, including the MC35 and MC70, and generic Windows Mobile devices.  We are taking a look at adding GPS support to ITScriptNet in the near future.

This news just came across the wire:

Honeywell to purchase Hand Held Products

We just saw this item about UnIQue ID supplying Dolphin 7900s with Integrated GPS to a package delivery company in the UK.  Since we haven't seen any 7900s with integrated GPS, a little research turned up this article from last year, about UnIQue ID developing these GPS modules themselves.

Symbol has just announced that they are adding GPS capability to the MC70.  It looks like devices will become available in early 2008.

Here is some more information on the newly-released Hand Held Products 7850.  The specifications and details are now available on Hand Held Products web site.  Also, here is a press release regarding the release of this new device. 

Last week we attended Blue Star's Vartech event in Nashville.  Several hours were dedicated to CodeZone, which is basically a trade show.  We were quite busy as the traffic of resellers was continuous.  We obtained many good leads and talked a great deal about specific applications, most notably Route Accounting.

We were demonstrating a Controlled Access application using Unitech's MR650 kiosk with finger print reader.  It was a crowd pleaser.  We'll be spending the next few weeks following up with resellers with the hope of assisting them with successful data collection solutions.

Are you planning to attend BlueStar's Vartech event next week in Nashville?  The registration system you will be using at the event was developed by us with our ITScriptNet data collection program development software.  The system integrates the scanning of your Vartech ticket, the confirming of your information, and the printing of your Vartech badge.  We hope you enjoy using the system.

Please stop by the Z-Space booth (#126) to see various applications running on Hand Held Products, Motorola, Unitech and Datalogic devices that were developed quickly and easily with ITScriptNet!  Register your thumb at our showcase demo to win prizes!

See you in Nashville!

Our phone system is down this morning.  If you need to contact us, please use email while we work to resolve the problem.  We apologize for the inconvenience.

Happy July 4th!  We are closed today to celebrate the holiday, but we'll be back Thursday.

Microsoft Research is working on the AURA Project, which is a mechanism for scanning IBSN barcodes with a standard PocketPC or SmartPhone with a camera.

We downloaded and experimented with the package, using a Verizon vx6700 and had excellent success.  This device has a Macro lens, so it was able to scan and decode the symbols with good accuracy.

At this time, it appears that the decoder only supports EAN and UPC codes, but we will monitor this project to see what develops.  We would be very interested in integrating a decoder like this into the Standard Windows Mobile 5 client for ITScriptNet.

If you have an RSS or ATOM reader, you can subscribe to our feed.  You can subscribe to the entire feed, or by category.

Welcome to the ITScriptNet New blog.

We are starting this service as a way to provide information on Portable Data Collection topics.  We intend to keep you up to date on the development of ITScriptNet, the latest news on Windows CE and Windows Mobile, and portable devices that we hear about.

We welcome your input as well.  Please feel free comment on any topic, or suggest topics that you think are of interest.

Thank you for reading, and we hope you find this information useful!