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I'm looking for things to do to keep me occupied on trips where I don't have wifi. i know there are games but i dont really like playing games that require a stylus (i HATE using the stylus and it ruins my screen protector). theres always music and videos which i've got, but what do people like to do offline with their pocket pc's or phones?
You can try reading e-books using some of the readers (MobiPocket reader, microsoft reader or Haali reader). You can carry all of your books with you and read them anytime. It is quite convenient.
You can play games that you had installed, you can see movies that you upload to your PDA.....
ebooks rule,
also watching movies is the best if you have a seat on a tram, train or bus (just watch the content)
ive also done python programming,
on games there is a few that i dont mind using the stylus with,
check out one called Slay thats turn based so isnt so bad also dont mind the game "the quest" im playing that one for the second time at the moment.
So, I've got my Fuze... customised... flashed numerous roms, downloaded tons of games and other software... I've figured out a few tricks... And it does a lot of really handy stuff... I can edit schedules for work, carry around all of my information etc... But people constantly ask me... "what do you need a phone that does all of that for?"
So I was wondering if anyone uses their phone to do anything exceptionally cool...
Just looking to get the most out of my device and always looking for new things to tinker with...
Didn't really see a thread dedicated to ideas like this so I thought I'd post one...
i use my phone to play xbox live at work.....oh yes!!!! thank god for internet sharing
I bypass my work's proxy to play online games at work and browse websites they won't let me
Oh, and I sometimes use it to call.
mostly use internet to stream music at work, but that's if i can get a dadgum 3g signal
but i have used it as a level to hang a pic before. that drew some wtfs
I use it to provide near instant support for my Web site's readers. (It's a news site... serves a very general audience.) With my mobile device, I take readers who are angry because they can't find something and have all but given up, and turn them around with my quicker than quick replies. We use exchange, so the real push notifications make near instant replies possible.
Other than that, I use it for true mobile podcast listening. No need to synch my device with a computer to have the latest podcasts.
I also use the device to run our news organization's twitter and facebook updates, as well as live wireless video reporting using Qik.
So, for a newsie site operator, this is a damn good device. With a keyboard.
Play NES and Gameboy ROMS. Browse flash websites with skyfire. Draw using mobile paint programs.
Most exciting, four days ago pocket Blender3d was revived after a two year break.
http://www.blendernation.com/2009/03/12/blenderpocket-248a-is-now-available/
http://russose.free.fr/BlenderPocket/
There are no phones out there that can do this. Its mostly handy for showing off your work in a 3d environment, but you could feasibly create something on the spot as well.
Oh and taking panorama pictures.
whats the best snes or gb emulator for us anyway?
I use Winamp remote to watch tv/movies...decent quality too.
I use it as a graphing calculator.
well, it makes a dandy paper weight. it's also a very cool alarmclock, I use it to read books, I have even used to for a "avoiding irate wife" tool, and it's always been an awesome "irritate wife" tool. it's a gps thingie, a great money eater, and it works awesome to awe and cow the technically illiterate.
lets see
- upload pics of my one year old to facebook, as soon as I take 'em - instant share with all my family and friends!
- upload videos directly to facebook using the new Facebook app
- my defacto ebook reader when I travel
- my MP3 player for my gym work outs
- watch hulu.com on skyfire to catch missed TV epsiodes (on the elliptical)
- podcasts, newsfeeds
- FM radio for listening to the TV in my gym
- i use OneNote Mobile to make all my lists - grocery, shopping, important numbers etc
- English-Spanish dictionary, when I travel
- traffic updates on Google maps
- Weather and Stocks on TF3D
- Tomtom navigation, when I really need to ASK for directions
You guys should check out Alloysoft's Signal:
http://www.alloysoft.com/
With this, I can use my phone as a remote control to Windows Media Player or Itunes on my computer. It's great if you link up your computer to a big screen or stream music through an Apple Airport. I don't even have to get up to change a track, pause a video, or fast forward.
Wake On LAN is great too so I can turn on my computer from virtually anywhere in the house using my phone
Have it Fart!!
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=61479
Let's see:
- Watch movies / series in the train
- Listen to music
- Check internet for information / news / train delays
- GPS in Google maps let me find things easily. With lattitude
my wife knows where I am without calling, which can be good and bad
- ScummVm plays me Monkey Island 1 and 2
- I can use it as a lightsaber
- Appointments & tasks
- Notes
- Use it to control my home computer with remote desktop
- Oh wait, it can call and sms too.
How did you use it to level a picture? Is this an app?
Thanks,
Dave
I'd love to use mine for some of this stuff. Now if I could only find something to get rid of those 40-50 calls I get a day.
when i did the level thingy i just used the gsensor calibration thingy as i didnt have this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=411550
yet.
ooh ooh and you can use the fuze to read them 2d barcodes. i grabbed the quickmark freeware one. and i found a code on a box of insulin. it only had the lot and expiration date but it was dang cool
XATAGuy said:
How did you use it to level a picture? Is this an app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Start -> Settings -> System (Tab) -> G-Sensor
Just don't hit the calibrate button! hit ok when done.
wonder fuze powers activate! form of... an ice banana!
My Stuff
Well, I use my Touch Pro for fun and work:
Custom software that hits databases, including SQL Mobile and HandDBase, to maintain expenses/income and clients for partner's business, and my own wine list, cocktail/mixed drinks applications, and such
Update serveral blogs directly
Goof off on the web, and TV, and Instant Messenger
Use to get several different emails, including work, so I can pretend I am working from a bar
Used as a flashlight with "Torch" - comes in handy when sneaking around in the dark, or looking for dropped items in dark areas
it has my music on it so it is my portable MP3 player that I connect to my car and everything
Stream TV, some movies, video clips (yes, even porn)
Edited Microsoft presentations, Excel files, and documents for work and clients
use as GPS navigation in my car, in case you didn't know, some software will work with the GPS in the phone but will use a "voice" to read the directions, and if you just plug your phone into your car Aux. port, it will come across the speakers in your car. Pretty cool to show off.
Of course use it as portable storage, no longer carry around the stupid USB drive sticks
So, some is fun, some is cool, most is work stuff. LOL
I've been thinking about using WP7 again, for a longer peroid of time this time, but my gripe is the lack of a microsd card or larger storage sizes of the phones. I don't mind tearing it apart and manually installing a microsd card, but would prefer to not have to do anything extra, and risk killing a 32gb card in the process.
What would your guys best solution be for me, is there a really good streaming service that I can stream my 5000+ songs to it? I really like the lumina 800, i would prefer to stick to something smaller than the titan as well, probably smaller than the hd7 too.
davebu said:
I've been thinking about using WP7 again, for a longer peroid of time this time, but my gripe is the lack of a microsd card or larger storage sizes of the phones. I don't mind tearing it apart and manually installing a microsd card, but would prefer to not have to do anything extra, and risk killing a 32gb card in the process.
What would your guys best solution be for me, is there a really good streaming service that I can stream my 5000+ songs to it? I really like the lumina 800, i would prefer to stick to something smaller than the titan as well, probably smaller than the hd7 too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well theres skydrive ut that prob wont handle 5000+ songs.......honestly if you want that many songs you should prob go for an ipod or a zune.....a dedicated MP3 player...the wp7 has the capability to play music but its not an mp3 player its a phone.
best of luck!
I know you want to play your collection but is subscribing to Zune Pass out of the question? Since you are already streaming it seems like the way to go unless you don't want to spend the $10 a month.
There is zune pass which has a lot of songs and is directly integrated into the windows phone os. If that's not enough, there are many music streaming services that provide you with a wide variety of songs.
The only drawback is that they will cost you for their service.
5000 songs OMG
you can listen for a years ^^
My Zune pass and Last.FM app along with Google Music give me access to all the music I could ever want. Third party Pandora apps in marketplace too. Music is one of the top reasons I waited for WP7 to launch last year.
It is really interesting how practical it's become to find and gain access to things that easily loved. Just take music, as an example. Music is the oftentimes the most affordable but certainly not at all the worst thing anyone can give or receive from anyone, be it as a present-day, a reminder, a note or an expression of the self to some other.
Just 2 decades ago, if one enjoyed a particular song, one had to buy the entire cassette or CD the song is roofed in. The World Wide Web had yet to become popular and a guitar of the masses to achieve quick use of a variety of data, so that it was hard to obtain back ground on the myriad forms of music and the various artists creating them in various styles. Lacking subscribing to most of the music journals, one was forced to rely mainly on TV programs dedicated to latest pop attractions or shows like VH-1 and MTV.
After gaining adequate home elevators available music and the facts of songs and pictures, only then would one visit the music shops and make a sensible purchase. Then one had to move skip forward through the recording to be able to listen and perform to the song one had been really, really looking forward to hearing and singing along to (and then repeating for an endless amount of times). It's just regrettable and plain terrible if it happened that the one track was the thing worth listening to in the complete album because of the cost of getting to purchase the explained album just for it; but it was a threat one had to take.
Today, its simple to select single, individual tracks from total albums and purchase that certain single track and exclude the rest! It is no further essential to scrimp and save your self merely to manage to buy a CD if one just had enough resources for some songs. And thanks to the web, it is now simpler to listen to snatches and snippets of ones favorite song, or even the complete song it self due to different site providing videos. Technology has significantly changed how people tune in to music, and its now much, much simpler to obtain music for entertainment, not forgetting cheaper.
Easier since there are now specific things like the itunes code generator and the iTunes card which is often distributed as gifts to iPod-toting friends and family members. It is simple to obtain an on the web iTunes gift card and easier still to give away because after all, who not want to receive one? And cheaper since, well, it really doesn't cost an arm and a leg. It still creates an impressive reward since it means that the giver is in with the occasions, and understands what cool and hip when it concerns music-slash-technology.
I'm not that old, but I saved my lunch money to buy Queen albums for a long time in middle-school and high-school. I'm still an album consumer - putting an album on and not having to worry about playlists and flow and such - plus, I tend to prefer bands that can put out solid albums and not just "a few singles and mostly otherwise filler".
I feel that Amazon is a better source than iTunes - that way it doesn't limit the gift-receiver. For example, I feel like I can't get the most out of the iTunes store any more now that I am an Android user and no longer even have an iPod.
I think in another "development" in your chain of events, people are going to be moving away from the iTunes store itself as more and more people are using non-Apple devices for music.
idk, I have the flu and I don't know what I'm doing right now
There was a time when apps like Plex, Kodi, etc. were very attractive to provide a great multimedia experience at home. People would download movies, TV series/ shows, etc. using Torrents, manually edit the tags, and save them to their NAS boxes.
A media server would then present all the info in a very attractive manner that would be pleasing to the eye. They would even download missing information or correct incorrect tags. The one problem with this was when these servers would go beserk when updating content.
At one point, I realised these servers are of little to no use to me. If I need to watch something, I'll browse to the file (I would keep my files well organized) and simply play it. So I stopped using them.
Things are changing now.
1. Internet data is becoming increasingly cheap and available 24x7.
2. Music and video streaming services are rising and are available at very reasonable prices. More importantly, they offer plenty of additional benefits:
They make content available legally.
The content is available in very good quality.
New content is available shortly after they are released. No need to wait for weeks or months.
Their database is far more accurate with information about each media.
Users don't have to worry about losing their files (because of a hardware failure, system getting infected/ hacked, etc.) or upgrading their hardware.
Going forward, I think local media servers like Plex, Kodi, etc. would disappear due to no consumer interest, and people would use NAS primarily to store their own content (such as camera roll) due to privacy concerns.
Even NAS boxes would become a thing of the past as a simple computer with a large storage attached to it would be far more convenient to operate as the software that runs on NAS boxes are often closed/ locked and not very versatile as a normal computer.
How long before these products become a thing of the past?
The only way home servers will die out is if streaming services have access to every piece of music or film ever made. Example: my personal music collection contains quite a bit of content not available on any streaming service. To play these files remotely I need a server.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
The only way home servers will die out is if streaming services have access to every piece of music or film ever made. Example: my personal music collection contains quite a bit of content not available on any streaming service. To play these files remotely I need a server.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very niche case. How much storage does such content (those that are not available) take in your case? Do you really need a NAS or a media server just for that?
Plex is bigger than it ever was before.
The issue with streaming services is that they've followed the same route as cable did back in the day.
People got tired of ads on free TV. Cable companies came along and said "Pay us a subscription, and watch what you want without ads!"
Then people got tired of ads on cable. The cable companies said "You can buy access to premium channels for ad-free content."
Then people got tired of ads on premium channels. Streaming services said "Pay us a subscription and watch whatever you want as much as you want ad free!"
Then people got tired of ads on streaming services. The streaming services said "Pay us extra for premium access and ad-free content."
And so it goes. There comes a point when streaming just isn't worth it anymore. I have a 4TB Plex server at home with around 2,000 movies and several dozen shows, soon to be upgraded to to 8 or 12TB. Never mind how I acquired all that media, point is I don't have to deal with subscription services being turned into cash cows by greedy marketers.
V0latyle said:
Plex is bigger than it ever was before.
The issue with streaming services is that they've followed the same route as cable did back in the day.
People got tired of ads on free TV. Cable companies came along and said "Pay us a subscription, and watch what you want without ads!"
Then people got tired of ads on cable. The cable companies said "You can buy access to premium channels for ad-free content."
Then people got tired of ads on premium channels. Streaming services said "Pay us a subscription and watch whatever you want as much as you want ad free!"
Then people got tired of ads on streaming services. The streaming services said "Pay us extra for premium access and ad-free content."
And so it goes. There comes a point when streaming just isn't worth it anymore. I have a 4TB Plex server at home with around 2,000 movies and several dozen shows, soon to be upgraded to to 8 or 12TB. Never mind how I acquired all that media, point is I don't have to deal with subscription services being turned into cash cows by greedy marketers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How often do you watch something again? I would say less than 1% of what you have saved in your own hardware would be content that would be watched a second time.
When we complain about subscriptions, we completely forget how much we pay for the hardware that we invest in (because this is something we do once in a few years or so) to locally save files, and also money spent in running and protecting them. If you do the math, you would often see that there is no real savings by having content locally, and more so if you take into account the effort required for upkeep of data.
Companies offering subscription services have to make money, so as long as their services are reasonably priced, they are the future as we save a lot of time and headache in not having to acquire and maintain content.
TheMystic said:
How often do you watch something again? I would say less than 1% of what you have saved in your own hardware would be content that would be watched a second time.
When we complain about subscriptions, we completely forget how much we pay for the hardware that we invest in (because this is something we do once in a few years or so) to locally save files, and also money spent in running and protecting them. If you do the math, you would often see that there is no real savings by having content locally, and more so if you take into account the effort required for upkeep of data.
Companies offering subscription services have to make money, so as long as their services are reasonably priced, they are the future as we save a lot of time and headache in not having to acquire and maintain content.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They already figured that cost when they initially priced their services. It was more than enough to cover their hardware back end. They didn't need advertiser revenue, nor did they need to charge people more for ads; they're only doing it to maximize their profits.
I watch plenty of things more than once, and I'm going to continue to expand my NAS because to me that's money better spent than paying for a subscription service. Plus, I get to curate what content is on my own media server; this is especially important to me as a soon to be father, because I don't want my daughter watching the garbage that most streaming services consider "child friendly".
V0latyle said:
They already figured that cost when they initially priced their services. It was more than enough to cover their hardware back end. They didn't need advertiser revenue, nor did they need to charge people more for ads; they're only doing it to maximize their profits.
I watch plenty of things more than once, and I'm going to continue to expand my NAS because to me that's money better spent than paying for a subscription service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see far far less movies these days compared to a few years earlier. Never been into watching TV shows either. So we see things from different perspectives.
V0latyle said:
Plus, I get to curate what content is on my own media server; this is especially important to me as a soon to be father, because I don't want my daughter watching the garbage that most streaming services consider "child friendly".
Click to expand...
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Congratulations!
This is the new challenge of this generation. There is indeed a lot of garbage that we need to shield children from. A very big challenge indeed.
TheMystic said:
Congratulations!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
TheMystic said:
This is the new challenge of this generation. There is indeed a lot of garbage that we need to shield children from. A very big challenge indeed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely. Most of the stuff touted as "child friendly" by the mainstream providers isn't even stuff I would watch. Can't really get into the details because our site host is paranoid about controversial topics but I think you get the point.
Maybe it's time to go old school and see if I can find Veggie Tales on DVD...
V0latyle said:
Absolutely. Most of the stuff touted as "child friendly" by the mainstream providers isn't even stuff I would watch. Can't really get into the details because our site host is paranoid about controversial topics but I think you get the point.
Maybe it's time to go old school and see if I can find Veggie Tales on DVD...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ease of smartphone availability and access to content online is indeed something to worry about. Children become smarter than parents much before they realise. The most effective way to keep them away from it would be to keep them busy the whole day with some activity under someone's watchful eyes. This is something the previous generation did not have to deal with.
TheMystic said:
The ease of smartphone availability and access to content online is indeed something to worry about. Children become smarter than parents much before they realise. The most effective way to keep them away from it would be to keep them busy the whole day with some activity under someone's watchful eyes. This is something the previous generation did not have to deal with.
Click to expand...
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Well, I grew up playing in the dirt, she can too!
V0latyle said:
Well, I grew up playing in the dirt, she can too!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Easier said than done. I wish you best of luck!
TheMystic said:
Their database is far more accurate with information about each media.
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Click to collapse
Your probably right about this for movies and music.
Where you're dead wrong is library book borrowing with OverDrive/Libby.
There's no way to even get the year of publication.
"The Great Gatsby"? 2003. Hmm, probably the year the ebook came out.
Renate said:
Your probably right about this for movies and music.
Where you're dead wrong is library book borrowing with OverDrive/Libby.
There's no way to even get the year of publication.
"The Great Gatsby"? 2003. Hmm, probably the year the ebook came out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do people use media servers for books too?
TheMystic said:
Do people use media servers for books too?
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Click to collapse
Mmm, kind of.
I keep all my books organized on my desktop and sync them to all my Androids and ereaders.
But I was more speaking of the willingness to codify metadata.
Even gutenberg.org can't tell me the year that "The Great Gatsby" was written.
Spotify will tell me that "The Lord is Listenin' to Ya, Hallelujah" was released in 1982.
But it won't tell you that Michael Mantler played trumpet on it.
Renate said:
Mmm, kind of.
I keep all my books organized on my desktop and sync them to all my Androids and ereaders.
But I was more speaking of the willingness to codify metadata.
Even gutenberg.org can't tell me the year that "The Great Gatsby" was written.
Spotify will tell me that "The Lord is Listenin' to Ya, Hallelujah" was released in 1982.
But it won't tell you that Michael Mantler played trumpet on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's probably because there is usually just one information that people look for in a book: the author.
But for a music or a movie, there is a whole lot of additional information that people are interested in: the actors, director, producer, music, lyricist, ratings, performance at box office, budget, etc.
There is a lot of work required to put all information together for each movie and music. A streaming service takes care of that, and you don't need terrabytes of storage to worry about in case of books.
As with some information missing, may be it isn't something the majority users would look forward to.
The point of OP is this:
People are not saving nearly as much as they think they do by maintaining their own servers in place of an online streaming service. Maintaining own server means substantial investment in hardware every few years, costs of running it, keeping it safe, keeping one or more backups, etc. Plus the time required in managing it.
All these add up to an amount that can well be more than what we pay monthly/ annually to a streaming service whose economies of scale allow them to price it reasonably.
I thought of buying an old Pixel (5 or before) to avoid upgrading my Google One subscription. But when I did some math, I found out that there isn't much savings in it, if at all. The annual subscription that I pay today and what I'll be paying in future (including upgrades) isn't all that expensive than buying a 3 year old device today which can be expected to last for the next 7 or 8 years only. I have done the analysis here.
This is a very similar calculation. The only consideration for people going forward will be to use these for privacy reasons, such as saving their camera roll, screenshots, etc.
TheMystic said:
Very niche case. How much storage does such content (those that are not available) take in your case? Do you really need a NAS or a media server just for that?
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Click to collapse
Not a niche case at all, and quite a bit more common than you think. As for my music, 95% of it is in FLAC, which requires more space than a MP3. But I also have two binders full of DVDs - I never had a blu ray player - that I haven't yet digitized. Who knows how much space that would take?
I recently (within the last month) just got a Synonlogy NAS ds420+ got 2x 16tb drives and 2x 4tb drives. I just installed plex and got the lifetime pass. I have all my old movies on it. I love being able to start watching something in my TV in the living room, then moving to my kitchen, (Both are Sony A90k 48" Oled's). Even can continue watching something on my Amazon Echo show 15 in the bedroom! The big thing for me was being able to start watching on one device, then picking up where I left off on another device. Previously I had a USB drive plugged into the back of the TV, but that was a pain.
Plus I have content on it I actually like. I have amazon prime and netflix, but barely watch anything on them. I am also that person who likes to watch stuff again every once in a while.
Plus I setup my NAS to file sync my pictures and documents between my desktop PC and laptop. I am even thinking of upgrading them from 11 home to 11 pro. From there I can set the NAS up as a domain controller, DNS server, DHCP server etc. Have a full blown network in the house. I am toying with the idea of doing it natively with the available applications on the NAS, or by running a windows server 2022 VM and doing it that way.
Simple NAS boxes are just external drives with a network connection.
When you focus on specific NAS boxes with a management plane, virtualization, and other features like web server, database etc. then you have to ask yourself why you just use this thing to throw your music and movies on that.
You can use such "NAS boxes" for hosting container virtualization to run apps, host own web services, calendar, private phone books, wifi controllers, pi-hole, and much more.
Sure, you can use it just to store files, and yes, those files might also be stored in a public cloud or streamed from a hosting service. But with a synology, qnap etc. there are a lot more ways possible.
-> You all use your smartphone to... Make phone calls but that's not the only feature it can provide, right?
strongst said:
Simple NAS boxes are just external drives with a network connection.
When you focus on specific NAS boxes with a management plane, virtualization, and other features like web server, database etc. then you have to ask yourself why you just use this thing to throw your music and movies on that.
You can use such "NAS boxes" for hosting container virtualization to run apps, host own web services, calendar, private phone books, wifi controllers, pi-hole, and much more.
Sure, you can use it just to store files, and yes, those files might also be stored in a public cloud or streamed from a hosting service. But with a synology, qnap etc. there are a lot more ways possible.
-> You all use your smartphone to... Make phone calls but that's not the only feature it can provide, right?
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Click to collapse
Could not agree more. I was at first looking at a full blown server, running windows server 2022, but they are vastly expensive. I can do the same with my NAS as I could with a full blown server.
'Cinema Halls' are losing their attraction and will probably disappear in the next decade. The rise of OTT platforms that make content available on fingertips, at the user's convenience, and most households having a good home entertainment system, make these the future.
Although I watch some comedy shows more than once (I don't think there is any other genre that people would watch more than once, with rare exceptions), I found that the amount of storage I have was simply wasted by files that I'm unlikely to watch again. And to preserve these, I was spending on electricity (since NAS runs 24x7) and investing in hardware every few years to keep them backed up and safe. The effort and the money was totally not worth it. Countdown has begun for domestic media servers.
Stephen said:
I was at first looking at a full blown server, running windows server 2022, but they are vastly expensive. I can do the same with my NAS as I could with a full blown server.
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You don't get the kind of control over NAS software that you do with any Desktop OS like Windows, macOS, Linux, etc. And you don't need a Windows Server for running a media server. A simple PC running on Windows 7 too will do a better job than a NAS system. The only advantage a NAS box offers is its compact size.