Lifecasting is a big thing at the moment. One step beyond blogging and tweeting is the ability to record and broadcast live video from a cellphone to share what you’re doing – and engage with your audience.

Qik is probably the best known of these, and is slowly rolling out an early beta service for Windows Mobile users. But Qik are not the only game in town – there are a couple of existing solutions that have great support for Windows Mobile users.

LiveCast provide a live video streaming platform for Windows Mobile and laptop or UMPC users. The video is synchronized with GPS position data so your viewers can see where you are when you’re broadcasting (or when they review archived footage where you were).

While the video quality on LiveCast is pretty good for high end phones the client is not the most intuitive (so expect to spend some time figuring it it), and the web site is a bit clunky.

LiveMedia from IncaX provides very similar capabilities – private or public broadcasting from either PC or Mobile device, though as well as streaming video it allows you to insert other media from your device to enhance the presentation.

The LiveMedia GPS mobile client (currently in beta) adds GPS location data to the broadcast from your phone, and also allows you to record a broadcast to local storage for later upload. This feature is particularly useful as it allows you to keep a record of a trip without having to worry about connectivity.

Although feature-for-feature these two solutions are fairly similar my preference is for LiveMedia. The video quality is slightly less fluid and there is no audio in the current beta version but the interface is significantly easier to work with and there are more options to share your broadcasts.

The great thing is that both of these products are at fairly early stages and are evolving quite quickly, as are the capabilities of the phones they run on. Missing features and complicated user interfaces will quickly give way to slick controls and, especially as bandwith increases, high quality video and audio.

Apparently there are some people using Gmail and the Google Calendar service rather than Live Mail or an Exchange solution and they’re not sure if they can still get their email, calendar and contacts synced to their Windows Mobile phone or PDA.

Well luckily for them (and me, yes I use Gmail as well) there are solutions – and they are simple (and free or cheap).

Although connectivity is pretty good I like to make sure I have a local instantly available backup (and you can’t check your web calendar on a plane yet). Being able to store contacts, schedule and email in Pocket Outlook and work with them anywhere is one of the biggest reasons I’ve used a Windows Mobile device for quite some time.

Email

To get the most of out Gmail you’ll want to use IMAP to sync your mail – leaving the technical stuff aside (click here if you want that) it’s a two way sync so if you read a mail on the phone then Gmail knows about it when you go back to the website.

To use IMAP in Gmail you’ll need to enable it first. Once that is done you can access Gmail over IMAP in any mail client – Outlook, Thunderbird and, of course, Windows Mobile Outlook Mobile. To set it up for your device follow the steps for Windows Mobile5 or Windows Mobile6 (the instructions are slightly different because the default mail setup wizard for WM6 tries to use POP3 and you’ll want to work around that!)

Of course if you don’t want to do this there is always the Mobile optimized web version of the Gmail site but once you‘ve tried using the Outlook Mobile client you won’t want to go back

Contacts and Calendar

What use is email if you don’t have all your contact details available (and after all it probably makes sense to keep your contacts details in sync across web and the phone).

If you get an email inviting you to a meeting or a party you want to be able to put it in your calendar… but unless your phone and the online calendar are in sync how will you ever keep your schedule straight?

Well, for Live Mail users there’s always the Windows Live client which takes care of keeping that in sync for you, but for Google users there is OggSync.

OggSync supports both Outlook and Windows Mobile clients so you can choose one or both depending on what you need. Personally I usually use the web interface from a PC so just have the mobile client.

The free version supports basic calendar syncing and the (very reasonably priced) pro version adds a lot more flexibility/control to the calendar sync (including support for multiple calendars) and contact sync.

With the pro version you can synchronize multiple calendars (with mapping) to a time schedule so you never have to lift a finger.

All of the sync functionality (in either version) is bidirectional so you can update on the phone or via the web and, like using IMAP for email, know that everything will be only one sync away from being up-to-date.

Check out OggSync and … welcome to the world of Outlook Mobile

Over the last 20 years I’ve worked on several systems that rely on pushing data around to the right place at the right time in order to be effective. Hotel reservations systems need real-time availability information, LPG distribution needs to know what state various tanks are in, streaming video to cellphones needs to get over the air to the user and live video needs to get over the network to the broadcast center.

40 years ago much of this wouldn’t have been possible as the lines of real-time communication didn’t exist or were prohibitively expensive (compare the cost of a telegram message in 1900 to a text message today, or a transmission from the Hubble Telescope.

In 20 years will networks exist as we know them today – patchy, unreliable and certainly not ubiquitous enough to rely on consistently? Or will the promise of an always on connected affordable  cloud become real.

Imagine film of a normal street right now, a relatively busy crossroads at 9AM taken from a vantage point high above the street, looking down at an angle as if from a CCTV camera. We can see several buildings, a dozen cars, and quite a few people, pavements dotted with street furniture.

Freeze the frame, and scrub the film backwards and forwards a little, observing the physical activity on the street. But what can’t we see?

One of the biggest problems with using the Internet for crucial day-to-day applications is when you can’t get connected. On a plane, at a WiFi hotspot you don’t really trust, or even in a building with poor data network reception for your phone.

For most desktop applications the answer is simple… your data lives locally and you work with it there not rely on connectivity, and then sync what you need to. At MIX this year for instance we demonstrated a prototype of a Cirque du Soleil application that demonstrated exactly that.

For web applications it’s a little harder as they run inside the browser sandbox, and for mobile web applications… well, logic dictates that should be even harder.

Well… turns out it’s not that hard for developers to build an off-line version of their site that’s able to cache data locally and the really interesting thing for me was discovering how well it works on Windows Mobile. That solution is Google Gears.

I use Buxfer to try and make sense of my personal finances (a pretty major challenge). The reason I’m leaning more to this solution rather than, say, Mint (an otherwise excellent solution) is that they let me take my data offline and access it on my Windows Mobile phone.

Now they could have developed a native Windows Mobile application to do this, which would have given them a rich UI and dynamic synchronization and probably a whole load of other goodness, but they reasoned that they’re web developers, they don’t really “get” mobile app development and there’s probably a dozen different platforms they’ll want to support so… why not let someone else do the heavy lifting (and that someone is Google with their Gears API and javascript extensions) – all they have to do is develop the application using the Gears API and they get, for very little additional development overhead, a portable offline solution that runs anywhere Gears does (Windows Mobile, OSX, Windows XP/Vista and various flavors of Linux)

I think it’s pretty impressive that Windows Mobile is the first supported phone platform and a testament to how popular it is as a data access device.

Gears is only a 0.2 release so there’s probably lots of things that will be added over time. My wishlist for those additions is pretty simple:

• Ability to synchronize changes back to the web (MS SQL Sync Framework supports this
• Ability to auto synchronize – as a user I have to manually choose to go “offline”… if I don’t do that before disconnecting then I don’t have the latest copy of the data. It would be great if a Gears enabled app could detect it was running on an authorized device and in the background update me and then if I try to return to the site in (say) Flight mode it automatically switches to offline mode.

Native apps will always have a richer interface and more powerful capabilities because they operate outside the browser sandbox, they have access to the hardware (eg camera) and features like the network stack directly so they are ideal for more sophisticated users. But for simple look-up applications like mobile versions of Buxfer or Zoho this is a great solution

I still have a stack of my official business cards but I wanted something a little different to try and explain what I do as an evangelist.

I was thinking about using one of the Blue Monster images that Hugh MacLeod (Gaping Void) and Steve Clayton have done such a good job of unleashing on the world but while I love the message (“Microsoft - Change the world or go home”) I wanted something a little different.

Hugh talks about these conversation pieces as social objects so I felt it was important to find an image and a message that summed up how I feel about what I do.

Microsoft has some amazing job titles. But at the end of the day a title is a label that can be used to pigeon hole you and how people perceive your role and function. Sure, waving the Senior or Technical parts of the title, or the descriptive blurb that defines your role in 3 words can be useful in some situations, most of the time what I do is is evangelize. So my card just say “Evangelist”

One of my first presentation courses (besides pointing out you never learn anything by showing a Powerpoint) pointed out that I have two ears and only one mouth and in any conversation that’s the ratio I should use them in. Over the years I’ve also learnt that while you can sell someone something that’s not what they need you’ll have a much better relationship if you help them find what they need. Sometimes you’ll sell them something. Sometimes you’ll help them find a different solution. Sometimes you’ll help them realize they didn’t understand the problem. Whatever the outcome I want them to feel they can trust Microsoft a little bit more than they did before (and then do my best to make sure they continue to have that experience).

I’m not sure if the dinosaur and meteor metaphor is always right – I don’t want people I talk to thinking that I feel they are doomed – but I want to make sure whoever I talk to I’m helping them find the right solution. In the case of the dinosaur it was evolution.

A big “thank you” to Hugh for a great image that really appealed to me.

As a Windows Mobile user I’ve sometimes felt left out of the whole “livecasting from the phone” revolution by those cool kids using Qik so I was really happy to discover PocketCaster from ComVu.

It’s a really simple app that you download and install to your Windows Mobile device, give it the username and password you set up on the website and then you’re good to go – livecasting or recording pieces to review later.

If you have a GPS equipped device (built-in or a bluetooth connected one like the Freedom GPS I use) then the livecast or clip can be automatically geotagged.

Just like Qik you can advertise to the world when you’re broadcasting via services like Twitter and automatically post videos to your blog.

PocketCaster works on both mobile phones and PDAs, but what’s cool is the same capabilities and functions are available in the PodcasterPro app for UMPCs, PCs and OSX.

Everything changes and the service now has a new name and a new logo – check them out at LiveCast. The new name defines what they do just as well as the old…

… but I’m still not very photogenic ;) Maybe it’s a good thing I don’t want a career as an internet livecasting superstar… but if you want a way to broadcast sights and sounds from your life then give it a go.

From a mobile device check out their Mobile optimized site – you can download the client and get started straight away.

One of the coolest things about my new job seems to be the number of toys that have gone rushing over my desk in the last few weeks.

Most folks assume that they just get “given” to us, and for some devices (such as the TyTN II and the Mirage) they are – but only for a very short time then they have to go back to the Mobile Demo team or their real owners because my excuse to play with them is over.

Most however have been paid for out of my very own pocket. Not expensed and not donated. I really must do something about that.

So… what is in the picture this month?

At the top is my UMPC. It’s a Samsung Q1U and I like it very much. It’s recently had some surgery to give it more RAM and it’s now very much more usable. I’m not a fan of the split keyboard though and to be a really useful machine it needs a better battery and a faster CPU (and a faster hard drive!)

Below that is the telephony suspects. My Shadow, then a BlackJack II, the TyTN II we used for the Silverlight demo at Advance08 and finally the Samsung Mirage (SGH-i780).

Because all of these phones apart from the Shadow have GPS I bought myself a tiny (keyring sized) Freedom GPS 200 bluetooth device (it’s going to have to share with the Q1U though!).

Last but not least is the answer to the keyboard woes of the Q1U. A Freedom Universal folding bluetooth keyboard. This device claims compatibility with both Windows/Vista devices and smartphones. Well, I had no problem what-so-ever pairing it with the Q1U and so I’m really happy with that.

The bad news is that at this point in time I am totally unable to get it working with any of the phones in the list above. First of all the driver install from the PC doesn’t work in Vista (you have to manually copy the files across and install it), the over-the-air installer doesn’t recognize any of the devices and for good measure even when I get the driver installed it wants to generate a unique unlock code for each device before it’ll let me pair… the website fell over when I tried to go it for the first device, and as you can see… I get through devices at a fair rate so locking me to one isn’t going to make me a fan.

I’ve logged a couple of support requests… when they get back to me I’ll have another look at the keyboard and report back.

Oh, and the neat little bag with “Windows Mobile” written on it… invaluable for lugging around chargers, USB cables, spare batteries, microSD cards and USB adapters and whatever else!

After my somewhat dismissive comments on the BlackJack II I’ve discovered that Samsung’s next leap is pretty significant.

Although the phone in the picture (an SGH-i780 aka “Mirage”) bears a strong resemblance to it’s cousin there’s a couple of clues that not everything is quite the same.

First up is the front facing camera. Okay, it’s a tiny little thing but you might notice it. Then there’s the screen – it’s bigger than the BlackJack II (and unusually it’s a square 320x320 format). Just below the screen is a weird touchpad thing in place or the more traditional D-Pad.

Oh, and I left the last big thing until last… that stylus you see next to the phone… your eyes are not playing tricks… this is a touch device.

Amazingly they packed all this, and 802.11b and g WiFi into a device that is pretty much the same size and weight as the BlackJack II without sacrificing anything – it’s still a 3G and GPS equipped device and even has a noticeably faster processor.

This phone fixes pretty much every complaint that I had with the BlackJack II, and even the keyboard is good enough that I’d consider this to be a better phone for every day than my Shadow (there, I said it!) but… the one thing that I’m not sure I like is the trackpad. In mouse mode (yes, you get an on-screen cursor) it’s just too small a surface to work with, and in 4-way pointer mode I miss the physical “action” of a D-Pad. I’d probably even say I prefer the pearl like rollerball (if you like it on the Blackberry wait until you see it on the VelocityMobile 111 – a Windows Mobile device).

Worse than the trackpad is the fact it still doesn’t come with a standard miniUSB connector/charger.

I’ve only got this for a few days while I work on getting a demo tweaked to fit the layout better but I think I’ll miss it when it’s gone! I won’t miss the connector though.

If you use a Blackberry Smartphone and wish you could be like the cool Windows Mobile folks who have access to Live services well… there’s some good news for you - Microsoft and RIM announced Windows Live Services for Blackberry.

This brings both Instant Messenger capabilities as well as access to Hotmail via Blackerry’s familiar push technology to keep you in touch with personal as well as business contacts on the go.

This adds to the existing Live Search capabilities already available for Blackberry.

Just because you use a Blackberry doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of Live services

While I really like my Shadow I needed to do some testing of a landscape app, and get a feel for 3G performance (I' was used to it in Australia but have yet to experience it here in the US) so I now have a wine red Samsung BlackJack II (aka i617) with an AT&T pre-paid SIM in.

First let me get a little rant at AT&T out of the way. I don’t mind pre-paid SIMs. I use them a lot when traveling. The initial purchase and setup was really slick and painless. But the fact I can’t get data on the cheaper plans is annoying as I have to sign up to a monthly renewal and more annoying in order to upgrade from the penny a Kb to unlimited data I can only reset it for the second month. If I didn’t want to try out their 3G service I’d have paid the unlock fee instead and stuck my T-Mobile SIM in.

Anyway, back to the phone.

First impressions are really great. It feels solid and robust, speakers are good, the screen is clear, camera – though only 2MP – is adequate. After the Shadow the full keyboard will take some getting used to. I prefer it to the Dash/Excalibur though.

I like the fact the BJII includes GPS (though you do need to jump through some hoops to enable it for apps other than the built-in ones), and of course the speed of the 3G data (I’ll like it a lot more when the unlimited kicks in). I really don’t understand why the decided to not include WiFi of any sort in this device though – in the office I get very poor signal coverage so WiFi is a must… so this phone becomes a paperweight.

So what were the first things I installed? TinyTwitter, Windows Live Search and (once I’d sorted out the GPS) Navizon.

The early experience has really been improved by the MyBlackjack2 and MoDoCo BJII forums – you should really pay them a visit if you’ve got one of these devices (or plan to)

Oh, and apparently there is a MicroSD WiFi card that would solve my connectivity complaint… but despite early announcements I can’t find anyone who actually admits to stocking it!

As I don’t plan to switch to AT&T just yet my Shadow will be the day to day phone, but the BJ II will be getting a good workout in the weeks to come… The other thing that would negate this being a day to day phone is the non-standard charge/data connection. Mini-USB works really well on the Shadow and not having one on the Blackjack II is a real negative for me.