It’s a simple program for the T-Mobile Shadow to easily allow users to enable the Camera application to take Panorama photos. Check the box to enable it, un-check the box to disable it. You will have to restart your phone for the changes to be loaded. Use this at your own risk as making changes to the registry can cause issues, of course it is much easier to fix registry issues on a phone than a computer. The original person to find this Panoramic mode was phatman81 at xda-developers.com, you can see his original post here.

Panoramic Enabler CAB

edit: updated the link to point to a zip download instead of a CAB download.

Get your T-Mobile Shadow information over at http://www.allshadow.com. Now with 100% more forum goodness.

Smart Travels.

An easy way to categorize a trip using photos, text, and a unique ranking system. It’s mainly in the planning stages but quite a bit is complete. Just got back from a vacation recently and had trouble remembering parts of it. So I thought, what can I do to stop people from suffering with the same problem I’m having, the “What was that place we went to once again?” vacation blues.

Over at Zunescene.com they have an article on how one would go about being able to share an MP3 with other Zune owners without having to worry about the three play limit. Seems easy enough. Read the whole article at Zunescene.com.

One of the early complaints about the WiFi sharing ability on the Zune was the rule that limits playback to 3 days or 3 plays on shared tracks. The Zune team eliminated the 3 day rule but left the 3 play rule intact with the latest firmware update. Many musicians who record their own music in the garage would prefer to share it free of this 3 play DRM restriction. Now there is an easy way to do it. 

It really is as simple as they say, the problem being is that you have to know what music you intend to share before hand since it requires you to make some changes to the music before you sync it to your Zune.

I didn’t realize how bad the video looked. I threw together a little something that will play in the right resolution. Enjoy this updated video.

Here’s a short video showing a game in development for the T-Mobile Shadow. The object of the game is to match the on-screen tiles to the pattern by pressing the corresponding buttons to cycle through the colors. You are presented with harder levels utilizing more and more colors with an ever decreasing time limit.

Enjoy the short film and look for the first release soon.

If you are planning on writing software for the Shadow and want to access the alt key (located in the lower left hand part of the keypad) by itself with out using it as a modifier. In my case to change an on-screen tile.

if (e.KeyCode.ToString() == “H, LMenu”)

This actually worked. The alt key by itself sends a KeyEvent that is equal to the letter H-then a comma-then a space-then LMenu. I hope I can save at least one person the time it took for me to find that one out.

Also, the F20 KeyEvent is controlled by the dial. As it spins it sends the event again and again.

Strange call on the alt button HTC.

I keep jumping around from one project to another. I wanted to test out a few ideas to create a game that would only be playable on the Shadow. Since the main difference is the scroll wheel and the “sure-type” inspired keypad I decided to focus on those elements.

Using the keypad (5 buttons across and 4 buttons down) you will be given a quick view of what the on-screen tiles should look like, you must match the color pattern before time runs out. You can get a hint by pressing a button, a screen shows you a small view of the pattern, but the timer doesn’t stop,  so you must be quick about getting back to the game.

As the game progresses the patterns are more complex utilizing more and more colors. The game scores you on speed of completion, with combo-type bonuses for setting tiles correctly in quick succession.

At this point though only the keys, scoring, and the timer are implemented.  With only one pattern to match it is rather easy though and my score is amazing.

Look for a release shortly.

I’ve been hard at work (since I’m spending a few days of well deserved vacation at home I have some free time) putting out one new Windows Mobile 6.0 program after another. It started with the points calculator, then came the reflexes game, and now comes Hoppper.

Hopper is a new version of a game I made a long long long time ago for the Apple Newton. Did I mention that I made it a long time ago? Farther back than that, it almost predates my website even.

The premise of Hopper is simple, you move around the board trying to clear as many tiles as possible. You can only move up, down, left, and right an exact number of spaces listed on the current tile.

The game is not available for download yet but it will be soon. Check back soon for updates, for now take a quick look at the screen shot I took on the Windows Mobile emulator.

Ever wanted to watch YouTube on your Windows Mobile Handheld / Smartphone and realized you can’t? Well this is a solution for you! YouTube Pocket will allow you to search all of YouTube in a mobile friendly format and stream the videos live in a fashion much similar to the iPhone. Best of all it is free of charge!

read more | digg story

Speaking of challenging. Starting out programming using Visual Studio 2005 has been more complicated than I expected. I wrote everything previously in UltraEdit 32 so it’s had it growing pains. It started off complicated when I started to find my Visual Studio 2005 install discs, then installing required updates, and finally downloading the Windows Mobile Standard (not professional) SDK.

Look how far I’ve come, in just a few short hours I’ve written something that could be useful. Thanks goes to jgeorge on SKDR for posting the same program years ago since his Sidekick bundle was the inspiration. It’s a WW Points Calculator, at least to some degree since it does tell you point totals. Enjoy the screen shot of the emulator in action and look for a release + source code soon.

Turns out the new Zune 2.0 player is not affected by simple registry hacks. I’ve spent some time today looking around to see if adding in MPEG and Divx file types to the new Zune 2.0 software. Turns out I wasn’t able to succeed. As you can see from the screenshot I was able to have the Divx file type appear but unable to have the Zune software import any  AVI files.

At this time do NOT use the registry hacks from before they will not work, they will add no functionality whatsoever to the Zune 2.0 software. I’m going to leave the files up for now but will add a disclaimer to the top of the Zune page. If I find something that does work I’ll certainly post immediately.

I’ve moved away-once again-to a new phone. The T-Mobile Shadow. I’m looking for something with a bit more expansion capability where more people would have access to my software. My wife did upgrade to the LX so I plan on porting all the software I’ve written so far to work on it once SKDR is updated to allow 4.0 and 4.4 bundles.

Also, for my opinion I like the build quality of the Slide; the slide action, the slightly rubberized back, the location of the headset speaker, and the loudspeaker on the back is very clear - but I didn’t care for the Slide when compared to the LX. The price point of the two devices isn’t a large enough divide to give customers two real choices. My wife originally wanted to try out the Slide to see how the smaller size would work out for her, after 4 days of the device randomly restarting she realized that she wanted the LX.

T-Mobile was very nice and friendly during the exchange process and encouraged us to come back if we weren’t completely satisfied.

I ended up with a Shadow and she with the LX. We will see who made the right choice in the future.

I updated Remember at skdr.net to include networked high scores. Check it out and see if you can top my score.

With the release of the latest members of the Hiptop family quickly approaching I’ve decided it’s time to upgrade. I’ve read the initial reactions to the new Sidekick LX and am quite pleased with what I’ve seen and heard. The recently released photos of the LX and Slide are certainly an eye candy upgrade to the Sidekick 3 (by no means is the LX or Slide going to revolutionize Danger’s handset it would be considered more of an evolution - similar to the Hiptop 3 vs. Hiptop 2), especially the release of two distinct color choices available at launch without requiring an additional $100 investment.

The colors are blue and brown (let’s hope the brown Sidekick isn’t affectionately referred to as “The turd” like my brown Zune is) and the differences from the 3 to the LX are immediately noticeable, at least to the trained eye.

• The larger screen jumps out at you when you compare the pictures side by side. The LX screen fills up the swivel while the SK3 keeps a large black border.
• The keyboard appears to have regressed to the SK2 keyboard, utilizing rubber keys instead of the plastic chicklet keys of the SK3.
• The battery cover matches the front of the SK to the back, except with a weird looking brown leather pattern extending from one side to the other.

The differences go on much deeper than what’s instantly visible; the LX uses MicroSD, can do MMS (technology found on most cell phone, but strangely lacking from the SK3 and SK3), and although is roughly the same size in length and width is much slimmer than it was before.