It appears that Microsoft has finally wised-up and will stop using year numbers in their product names. So, instead of Windows Mobile 2005, we’re gonna get “Windows Mobile 5″:1. Thank goodness!

WM5 will upgrade the default applications like Word Mobile (the artist formally know as _Pocket Word_) and Excel, support hard drives, enable syncing over Bluetooth, support USB 2.0 and — best of all — keep your data persistent when the battery dies. I’ve put together a bunch of links related to WM5.

* Dave’s PDA “reviews”:4 of all the new features — a good round up.
* “Here’s”:2 a video of Bill Gates introducing it (look for the video entitled _Bill Gates Keynote from the Microsoft Mobile & Embedded Developers Conference in Las Vegas_)
* A Microsoft “presentation”:6 on WM5.
* Engadget’s “take”:3 on it
* And a “post”:5 saying that Dell will offer an upgrade for Axim x50 owners. Giddy up!

[6(theunwired hosts a presentation on WM5)]http://www.theunwired.net/photo/index.php?gallery=./Gadgets/Windows%20Mobile%205.0

[5(Dell will offer upgrade to WM5... yippie)]http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=83371

[4(DavesPDA blog on WM5)]http://www.davespda.com/special/wm5/

[3(Engadgets post on WM5)]http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000923042798/

[2(Bill gets his mobile 5 on)]http://www.microsoft.com/events/executives/billgates.mspx

[1(MSFT Windows Mobile 5 site)]http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/5/default.mspx

I’m slightly obsessed with the weather. I’ve probably got over 100 bookmarks specific to just weather information. We’re talking wind info, “fog”:5 images, “pressure”:6 images, “jet stream”:4 info, the real-deal-weather-forecast (and super-esoteric) NOAA “area forecast discussion”:1, tropical storm “maps”:3, “Quickscat”:2 satellite seawind scatterometer, etc., etc., etc.

Once you get your bookmarks set on the Dell, it does a great job of rendering most weather sites. Here are a few examples:

table{width:400px}=. | _SF Bay area forecast discussion_ | !/img/Dell_screenshot_AFD.jpg! |
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| _Northeast Pacific satellite pressure image_ | !/img/Dell_screenshot_pressure.jpg! |
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| _Bay Area winds_ | !/img/Dell_screenshot_SF_wind.jpg! |

So, where ever you can get some WiFi on, you can get to whatever web obsession you have… _instantly_. The Dell “Axim X50v”:7 is probably the best $380 bucks I ever spent. Dude, get your credit card out and www Michael today.

[7(Zoinger Dell Axim post)]http://www.zoinger.com/words/archives/2005/04/18/dude-i-got-a-dell-dell-axim-x50v-pocketpc-pda/

[6(NE-Pac satellite pressure image)]http://virga.sfsu.edu/gif/sathts_pac_snd_00.gif

[5(West coast fog image)]http://sat.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/2km/hnx/FOG2HNX.GIF

[4(300mb jet stream maps)]http://squall.sfsu.edu/crws/jetstream.html

[3(Tropical storms worldwide)]http://www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/

[2(Quickscat wind images)]http://manati.orbit.nesdis.noaa.gov/quikscat/

[1(The real-deal weather forecast)]http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/productviewnation.php?pil=MTRAFDMTR&version=0

Knock, knock Nokia. It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted to buy anything from you. Remember back in the late 90s when Nokia phones were *it*? The pinnacle of Nokia’s hipness was probably the 8110, aka the _Matrix phone_.

table{width:200px}=. |!/img/Nokia_8110-Matrix-Phone.jpg! |
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Since successfully hacking into the Matrix, Nokia has come up with some design doozies. Let’s review a couple of Nokia’s greatest misses of the 21st century beamed directly to us from deep, deep within the Matrix.

How about the famous “side-talking”:1, first-generation N-Gage?

table{width:20px}=. |

Or how about this one… the Nokia 3600? Works great — just as long as you don’t actually use any of the buttons. Who needs SMS anyway?

table{width:20px}=. |

And there’s a bunch of others, but no need to pile on. Recently however, it looks like Nokia just might just be regaining a clue regarding design. For example, there’s the Nokia 8800… a phone that actually looks, dare I say, _kewl_.

table{width:200px}=. |

Oh, and then there is the “much-hyped”:2, up-coming N91. The N91 is rumored to have a 4GB hard drive, an industry-standard 3.5mm headphone jack, support for of MP3, M4A, AAC, and WMA audio files, USB 2.0, 3G (WCDMA) and both built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. All for the low, low price of $900.

table{width:200px}=. |

I’m still really happy with my Audiovox “SMT5600″:3, so it’s going to take a lot to get me to switch phones. However, in a year and a half when my contract is up, I just might consider buying a Nokia. Hey, even being considered is a big step up for Nokia in my book. Welcome back from the Matrix.

[3(Zoinger mini-review of the Audiovox SMT5600)]http://www.zoinger.com/archives/2005/03/15/10.05.52/index.html

[2(Engadget hype on the N91)]http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000683041511/

[1(See what side-talking is... or was)]http://cellphones.engadget.com/entry/8817137592535560/