Whenever user connect a Windows Mobile device to Windows Vista Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC) via a USB cable, WMDC fails to connect to the Pocket PC (PPC) Phone device, causing synchronization not start or fail. Sometimes, WMDC may tries to connect to mobile device with “Connecting” message for a while, but eventually fails with “Disconnected” message. In some worse case, Windows Vista doesn’t detect any Windows Mobile device been connected, and no response or connect attempt action in WMDC.

In Device Manager, Windows Mobile-based device driver under Portable Devices and Microsoft Mobile Device Remote Adapter local area network connection under Network Adapters appear briefly before missing or disappearing again. Any connection established is terminated, dropped, disconnected, vanished and disappeared within a few seconds. When the connection is not established, user cannot or unable to sync the PC with desktop, and can’t install applications or transfer files. Soft reset or hard reset the device also does not help to perfectly fix the problem.

Microsoft publishes several troubleshooting tips to fix device unable to connec issue. One of the cause appears to be Windows Live OneCare that blocks the device connectivity. To allow the device to connect via Windows Live OneCare, enable (check) the ActiveSync/Windows Mobile Device Center – synchronize my mobile devices with my computer rule in Firewall Connection Tool button (Firewall tab) of Windows Live OneCare settings. Also in Firewall Tab, click on Advanced button and go to Ports and Protocols tab. Add and create a port called Windows Mobile Device Center with TCP Port Range as 5721, For Connections dropdown as Inbound [local ports] and Scope is set to Local network (subnet).

Other possible cause in failure to connect to WMDC is due to driver installation may not have completed successfully. If you think this may be the case, follow these steps:

1. Keep the WM device connected.
2. Go to Start > Start Search.
3. Enter Device Manager or devmgmt.msc to launch the Device Manager window.
4. Look under the Network adapters node for Microsoft Windows Mobile Remote Adapter. If this is not present, skip to step 5. Otherwise, right-click Microsoft Windows Mobile Remote Adapter and choose to Uninstall.
5. Look under the Mobile Devices node for Microsoft USB Sync. If this is not present, skip to step 6. Otherwise, right-click Microsoft USB Sync and choose to Uninstall.
6. Disconnect and reconnect the WM device. The device driver for the PPC Phone will re-install and Windows Mobile Device Center will launch.

If Microsoft resolution doesn’t help, try to disable the Advanced Network Functionality mode on the Windows Mobile device from the USB to PC icon in Connections of Start Menu Settings. After turning off Advanced Network Functionality, the device will be connected via a USB Serial driver, the sync will be done via native Smartphone USB Sync device driver and no LAN network connection is made.

However, the most likely and most possible resolution for dropped connection and not connected problem for Windows Mobile Device Center is related to Windows Media Player process. On connection with a Windows Mobile device, system will launch wmplayer.exe process, even though Windows Media Player is not ran or opened, and user is not syncing any music, song or media files at internal memory storage or SD memory card.

The wmplayer.exe process for unknown reason will terminate the connection, according to experience of a few users. As wmplayer.exe process won’t terminate itself, user have to end and kill the process as fast as possible once the Pocket PC device is connected to computer and wmplayer.exe process service is launched.

To manually terminate the wmplayer.exe, right click on Windows Taskbar and click on Task Manager. Then click on Image Name to sort the list of processes according to name alphabetically. Locate and highlight wmplayer.exe near the bottom of the list, and click on End Process button. After a while, the device will install with correct driver, connect and WMDC will sync. If the device still doesn’t connect and sync, try to disconnect and reconnect the device again, and kill off any wmplayer.exe service that run after connecting as soon as possible.

If system is not responding to or takes no action to detect, install connect any plugged in Windows Mobile device (and of course WMDC no sync action too), it may be causing by existing wmplayer.exe already existed, blocking future sync process. To fix the issue, open Task Manager (taskmgr in Start Search), and search for any wmplayer.exe service that is running, and kill or end all these processes. Re-connect the Windows Mobile device, and Windows Mobile Device Center should connect and sync properly.

Intel introduced the 36-bit physical addressing mode called PAE (Physical Address Extension, read Wikipedia reference or MSDN reference) since Intel Pentium Pro processor to allow 32-bit operating systems to use more than 4 GB of physical memory. However, even with x86 or x86-x64 PAE supported CPU processor, in most Windows system, PAE is disabled by default, and user has to manually turn on the PAE support in operating system in order to recognize and use more than 4 GB of physical RAM memory, with the exception of Windows Vista.

A lot of technical support and troubleshooting sites for Windows Vista publishes a tweak or tip that asking user to manually enable PAE support in 32-bit Windows Vista with the following command to use more than 4GB of memory.

BCDEdit /set PAE forceenable

According to MSDN Library article, “on a computer that supports hardware-enabled Data Execution Prevention (DEP) and is running a 32-bit version of the Windows operating system that supports DEP, PAE is automatically enabled when DEP is enabled (Data Execution Protection, DEP is enabled by default in Windows Vista) and, on all 32-bit versions of the Windows operating system, except Windows Server 2003 with SP1, PAE is disabled when you disable DEP. To enable PAE when DEP is disabled, you must enable PAE explicitly, by using /set nx AlwaysOff and /set pae ForceEnable.”

Thus, PAE mode is always enabled by default in Windows Vista as it’s required for hardware-based DEP / NX. And 32-bit client versions of Windows Vista (and also Windows XP) will never support more than a 4GB address spaces, even with PAE enabled, according to another MSDN Library article. Thus, 4 GB physical RAM memory limit on 32-bit Windows Vista is an artificial software based lock placed by Windows Vista operating system to limit the availability of the portion of memory larger than 4 gigabytes in a system with motherboard that support more than 4GB worth of physical address space.

Thus, many users disappointed and baffled that even though after ‘enabling’ PAE support in 32-bit (x86) Windows Vista (which in actuality is not necessary), they still cannot see full 4GB or more (most system showing only around 3.5 or 3.25 GB of memory due to some memory address space been mapped to use as reserve for system peripherals) of physical memory or RAM modules installed, although Windows Vista SP1 can correctly display the amount of installed memory (not memory available to use) up to 4GB in size.

Currently, the only known method to enable support for physical memory bigger than 4GB in size in Windows Vista 32-bit version is using the hack to replace the limitation files with copy from 32-bit Windows Server 2008, which supports and can see more than 4 GB memory. However, user using the hack has to deal with some consequences especially product activation issue, unless you have license or genuine product key for Windows Server 2008.

MailBrowserBackup is a simple utility for creating complete backups of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Windows Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, IncrediMail, Opera Browser, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, SRWare Iron, FileZilla FTP Client, eMule profiles.

Fujitsu Laboratories of America, Inc. had recently introduced Xurch, a new Web search browser plug-in that makes Web searching faster and a lot easier. Searching the web is often a repetitive and tiring process. Most of the time, you enter a search term only to realize that your query was too general, resulting in too many unrelated results. With Xurch, the computer helps you build the search you need, making it easier to find precisely what you are looking for and steer away from those long unmanageable lists showing millions of results.

The Venom Power Eco Alkaline batteries were certified carbon neutral after a detailed product life-cycle assessment of carbon emissions. What is Carbon Neutral? Carbon neutral or zero carbon footprint refers to the achievement of a net zero carbon emission by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset. As part of the carbon neutral project, Venom is supporting Carbonfund.org and the Return to Forest Project which is helping to reforest Nicaragua’s Pacific coast.

The President of Venom Group International, Clint Bower said, “Today’s consumers are more aware of global warming and the environmental impact of the products they use every day. Consumers are choosing Earth-friendly, sustainable products or those that reduce environmental impact over traditional alternatives.”

The Venom Power batteries are recyclable and will be available in AA, AAA, C, D and 9V sizes. Beside their eco-responsible features, Venom claims that the batteries display high quality performance that can rival other leading alkaline battery brands. The batteries are targeted to be shipped to retailers throughout North America during the fourth quarter of this year.

To cater particularly for professional such as musicians, reporters, etc, the award-winning audio recording specialists, Edirol, has introduced its professional and high quality portable recorder, R-09HR. R-09HR is a new leading member to Edirol’s R-series recorders. This high-definition audio recording device is able to capture 3D sound in high 24bit/96kHz sound quality. By incorporating the newly developed Isolated Adaptive Recording Circuit (I.A.R.C.), R-09 HR able to lower noise disruption during recording and improve the recoding quality.

The Eidrol R-09HR is designed as ultra-portable compact handheld audio recorder and it is easy to bring along on traveling. It features a user-friendly OLED graphic display to easy reading/monitoring the sound recording. It comes with a built-in preview speaker for instant playback of recorded sound, SD and SDHC memory card slots and a wireless remote controller. The R-09HR can be connected directly to PC via USB for importing or exporting audio files with a substantial high speed.

The high-resolution wave/MP3 recorder, R-09HR, is priced around USD520.

The Xtreme X series of scanning pen provides higher quality images, improved efficiency and functionality, as compared to their predecessor, the DocuPen 700 & 800 Series. The X05, for example, has maintained the small ‘Pen-sized’ profile but now bundles in a lot more with 200MHZ computer processor, 64 MB of fast SD Ram, with an optional microSD expansion slot, making it the fastest ever portable mobile scanners.

The DocuPen X05 and X10 models allow scanning in monochrome and 24-bit color modes while the X50 has additional features including higher resolution and grey scale modes. All three models support USB 2.0 for data transfer and battery recharging. The improved and brighter OLED Screen Display (in all 3 models) also makes it easier to navigate the pens’ functions. Users can now select file names, date and time, battery and memory levels, color and mono modes as well as compression level.

Another notable feature not available in previous DocuPen 800 series is the new Planon’s Crystal Line Contact Technology that provides extremely accurate imaging for near-precise reproductions of cheques, contracts, receipts, invoices, color pictures and more. All X-Series comes with a Lithium Polymer battery that is both lighter and longer lasting than Lithium Ion battery used in previous models.

Overall, the DocuPen Xtreme X-Series lightweight scanning pen will definitely redefine the way professionals carry out their works. And if used together with Planon’s PrintStik portable printer for instant hardcopy printing, working will no longer be confined only in offices. Now, that’s true mobility.

DocuPen Xtreme X-Series scanning pens are currently retailing from $369.99 and are available for online purchase through official Planon Store.

Amazon hopes to sell a million Kindles by the end of t

An Israeli hacker claims to have broken the copyright protection on Amazon's Kindle e-reader, reports say.

The hack will allow the ebooks stored on the reader to be transferred as pdf files to any other device.

The hacker, known as Labba, responded to a challenge posted on Israeli hacking forum, hacking.org.

It is the latest in a series of Digital Rights Management hacks, the most famous being the reverse engineering of iTunes.

The Kindle e-book reader has been very successful since it was launched in the US in 2007.

Amazon hopes to have sold a million devices by the end of the year.

It leaves it to individual publishers whether they want to apply DRM but books in its main proprietary format .azw, cannot be transferred to other devices.

It did not immediately respond to the news but it is likely it will attempt to patch its DRM software.

DRM has long divided opinion. While rights holders regard it as a crucial tool to protect copyright, consumers tend to hate it because it limits what can be done with content.

"DRM is not an effective way of preventing copying nor is it a good way of making sales. There isn't a customer out there saying 'what I need is an electronic book that does less," novelist and co-editor of the Boing Boing blog Cory Doctorow told the BBC when the Kindle was launched.

As soon as a new DRM system is active, hackers begin to try and break it.

Most famously Jon Lech Johansen, known as DVD Jon, cracked the copy protection on DVDs in 1999.

He went on to break the copyright protection on iTunes, leading Apple to offer DRM-free music.

DVD Jon now runs a company with an application to take the pain out of moving different types of content between devices.

source

Word 2003 and 2007 are the most common versions on the market

Microsoft has failed in its attempt to dismiss a court case that would stop it selling Word.

The software giant appealed against a ruling which found it infringed a patent owned by Canadian company i4i.

With the failure of the appeal Microsoft must now pay i4i damages of $290m (£182m) and comply with an injunction ending the sales of some versions of Word.

The injunction is scheduled to go into effect on 11 January.

Microsoft said the ban would prohibit the sale of all available versions of Microsoft Word and Microsoft Office software from the date that the injunction comes into force.

Versions of the software sold before that date, including Word 2003 and Word 2007, will not be hit by the ruling.

"We have been preparing for this possibility since the District Court issued its injunction in August 2009 and have put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products," Microsoft said.

"Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for US sale and distribution by the injunction date," it said.

"Beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are available now for downloading, do not contain the technology covered by the injunction," Microsoft added.

Microsoft was accused by i4i of infringing on a 1998 XML patent in its Word 2003 and Word 2007 programs.

Word uses XML, or the Extensible Markup Language, to open .XML, .DOCX, and .DOCM files.

The initial ruling in the court dispute between i4i and Microsoft was made in August. At that time Microsoft was found to have infringed the i4i patent and the Canadian firm was awarded damages.

The injunction on sales was imposed at the same time but a Microsoft appeal initially overturned that ban on US sales. The stay on the injunction has now run out and, as a result, Microsoft must stop selling infringing versions of Word.

Microsoft said it might file further appeals, but that it was keen to comply with the injunction.

"While we are moving quickly to address the injunction issue, we are also considering our legal options," it said.

source: link