PPCFinder 1.0.0.5 released

 

About a year ago we released the freeware Pocket PC search program PPCFinder.  This program has had literally thousands of downloads subsequently with only a single release.

I’m proud to announce the first public update of the program since it’s original release.  The maintenance release 1.0.0.5.

The “backstory” of PPCFinder is a plane flight home from Sydney to Brisbane.  In the past I found the inbuilt Windows Mobile search completely inadequate.  The available freeware alternatives seemed unpleasant to use and the commercial ones seemed to be as an ajunct to filemanager functionality.    It was time to write my own….In only a few days, PPCFinder was born. 

PPCFinder is a simple program that still addresses an important need on the Windows Mobile Platform.  That is the need to find files, particularly large ones (the definition of “large” has changed since the default search application in Windows Mobile was created), in order to get extra memory.

PPCFinder gives you all the “advanced” search options available to the original Windows XP search, including the cute doggy mascot that I’m sure you find excellent.

If you need all this, give PPCFinder a go.

The full release notes for the new version are available at the forum.

If you are a fan, please leave a comment and let everyone know about it.

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Timesnapper – Perfect

 

 

Lately I’ve been coming across some very clever software.  There is certainly some amazing stuff out there.  

I must give pause and thanks to Leon Bambrick in particular for the brilliant program that is “Timesnapper”.

The program takes snapshots at regular intervals of your screen and applications.  It then allow you to “play your day like a movie”. 

There is indeed a “wow” factor to this.  Originally the program was developed to assist contractors in billing their time, as they could “go back” and see what they’d been up to.

The reason for this post is not the “movie” aspect.  (Although this is cool).

The “Pro” version of Timesnapper has the concept of a “Productivity Scorecard” that uses various rules to provide a percentage of how productive you were.  You configure this statistic based on which exes were running and window titles.  This works brilliantly. 

In my day to day work I don’t even think about timesnapper.   It uses minimal resources, it doesn’t “suck”.   Now and then I go in and there’s everything I’ve done, along with the Productivity Scorecard to confirm or deny my memories of the event.

If you use a computer alot and need to manage your time, get it now.

http://www.timesnapper.com

Scribd

Now and then you come across something special, something quite profound.

I usually resist the temptation to use this blog as a “link factory”, but I found another website that I just have to post about.

The website I’m refering to is “Scribd”.  Someone described it as doing for documents what Flickr did for photos.   

There are many thousands of documents on lots of different topics.  Mostly it’s rubbish, but there are some gems.

  What I find very interesting and cool about it however is the ability to download an mp3 computer-read version of the text.  This is generated using some sort of batch program on their servers.  It’s using a pretty good voice (in my opinion) as well.  Quite listenable.  (There’s even an online player)

I am always on the lookout for things to play on my Pocket PC whilst riding my bike, so I found it useful.

Links

Scribd - The Site

Greetings!

Hello there Blogsphere!  This is my first development blog, so be kind.

I find the blogs and other web resources invaluable.  This is my way of giving something back. (This inspired by the DotNetRocks podcast with Jeff Atwood about how developers should record their programming adventures for the enrichment of the development community…..I think it’s a great idea)

Just like other developers, I frequently find answers to problems that noone else on the net seems to have come up with, so I’ve decided to share.

My particular area of expertise at the moment is development on the pocket PC.    I’ve authored a few publically availble programs in this area, including Webby Mobile and PPCFinder.    During the development of these and other programs I have discovered a few things, which I’ll share.

If you’ve got questions about mobile development using the Compact Framework, feel free to drop me a line.