If you are having trouble getting a mobile device to connect to your PC with ActiveSync, one of these articles might be helpful. I was especially surprised to see the note about Windows Live Once Care interferring with the USB connection.

Why isn't Windows Mobile connecting to my PC?
Note that Windows Live Once Care can interfere with the USB connection to your PC.

ActiveSync USB connection troubleshooting guide
This topic also applies to ActiveSync 4.5

We've discussed the new Windows Phone 7 and whether it was going to be an appropriate OS for a Data Collection device.

The latest information we have is that there is going to be a separation between Windows Phone 7 and the traditional Windows CE and Windows Mobile 6.5 line. Here is a post from Microsoft describing the changes.

The bottom line appears to be this:
Windows Phone 7 is based on the Windows CE 7 core, and is aimed at Consumer devices only.
Windows Mobile 6.5 will still be available, as will Windows CE, and will be used on Data Collection devices.

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!

We are often asked about ITScriptNet OMNI communications, how best to provide security of the data. To address these questions, we have posted a whitepaper entitled Security Considerations for ITScriptNet OMNI Communications and posted it to the ITScriptNet Knowedge Base. The paper discusses topics such as Wireless security, WLANs, VPN, and ActiveSync.

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.

We've talked before about the new features of Windows Mobile and Windows Phone, and whether they make sense in a Data Collection device. Here is an article from earlier this year on this topic.

Honeywell has announced that they are retiring the entire Transaction Terminal and Image Kiosk line of devices. We have not seen very much interest in these devices, but we do have support in ITScriptNet.

Our plan is be to support them until the next release of ITScriptNet after the retirement date. At that time, we would also retire our support for these devices. They would still be supported in previous versions of ITScriptNet, but would not be included in any new releases.

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.

Unitech has released the HT680, a successor to the HT660. This device features Windows CE 5, Bluetooth, WiFi, and Available GPRS. It is available with either Laser or Imager barcode scanners.

We have tested the HT680 with ITScriptNet 3.1b, and it works correctly with the existing Unitech CE client. We will be officially adding the HT680 as a supported device soon, but you can use it now with the HT660 client selection.

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.