The Datalogic Pegaso is now available with Windows Mobile 6 and E-GPRS capabilities.  Previously, the Pegaso was only available with Windows CE 5.0.  Our Falcon 4410 Windows Mobile client should run on this device, but we will get one in to test.

We've run into an issue with Code 93 barcodes on Motorola / Symbol devices.  By default, Code 93 is not enabled on these devices.  To enable it, you must use the Advanced Symbology Settings.  The interesting issue is that enabling both Code93 and EAN/UCC Composite causes the device to accept all symbologies instead of just those two.

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.

At the Embedded Systems Conference today, Microsoft announced plans to rename Windows CE along with other products.  The new name for Windows CE, starting with what would have been CE 7, will be Windows Embedded Compact.  This release is scheduled for 2009.

The April 2008 ITScriptNet Product and Sales Training is underway in Orlando.  If you were unable to attend, we will post links to the training materials in the next few days.

We've been informed that a firmware update is available for the Symbol MC35 that upgrades it to Windows Mobile 6.  Note that there is a fee for upgrading from Windows Mobile 5 to 6.  Contact your Symbol Rep for more detail.  We'll upgrade our device to make sure that the Windows Mobile 5 client for ITScriptNet continues to work.

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.

Today at CTIA, Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 6.1.  This version is still built on top of Windows CE 5.0, not CE 6.0.  As far as we can tell, the primary update is improvement in integration with System Center Mobile Device Manager.  There doesn't seem to be much that will matter for data collection devices.

We've discussed Windows Mobile 6.1 before.

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.

Don't forget, the time change in the United States occurs this weekend.  This is the new, early time change.  Here is a link to all of our previous Daylight Savings entries, in case you need to find the Pocket PC patches or review the details.

Interestingly, a recent study suggests that Daylight Savings Time may not save energy after all, and in fact may increase energy consumption.  From the article:

Their finding: Having the entire state switch to daylight-saving time each year, rather than stay on standard time, costs Indiana households an additional $8.6 million in electricity bills. They conclude that the reduced cost of lighting in afternoons during daylight-saving time is more than offset by the higher air-conditioning costs on hot afternoons and increased heating costs on cool mornings.

Devicescape has released a new version of its Connect utility.  This program helps you connect automatically to public WiFi Access Points.  This could allow mobile users to collect data on the road, and then upload whenever they come into range of a public hotspot at a coffee shop, restaurant, or hotel.