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The Batman Utility Belt

Back when I was an “on the road travelling software consultant,” our little “band of techie brothers” used to joke about how the demand for “on the spot “ contact had spawned the growth of the “Batman Utility Belt”.

You could tell the average techie by what he wore on his belt. A cellphone, if not two (one would be your home phone, the other for the company, the company being loathe to use valuable company cellphone minutes for your personal business) A Palm Pilot , a beeper ( yes, beepers were still required, even though you had a cellphone.) and very probably a small flashlight and tookit as well.

It was rediculous. You had these things riding around on your belt that you just had to have with you at all times, lest someone not be able to get in touch with you at some precious moment. I hated it, I utterly, totally and completely hated it. They weighed a ton, if you had to suddenly sprint somewhere, you rattled like a broken 25 cent kiddie ride in front of the grocery store. Heaven help you if you had to catch a flight with all that stuff because sure enough, you get it all cleared by security and one of the two phones goes off, but you can’t get to it and the nightmare of "missing the call" begins anew. Don’t forget that on top of all the crap, you still had your rather large and heavy mid-1990's era laptop to lug around with you.

Over time, I learned to loathe cellphones, because they just lead to trouble. If you give people the idea that they can get ahold of you any time day or night and sure as anything, they would do just that. Beepers? I still can’t stand beepers. Luckily the usefulness of beepers has fallen out of favor and their curse is slowly being removed from the world, and not a moment too soon if you ask me.

I quit being a “road warrior” back in the fabled year of 2000. You remember the year 2000, the year that all our electronic devices failed due to the now famous man made disaster caused by the Y2k bug that laid waste to all civilization and left half the human race as zombies and the other half living in backyard bomb shelters, holding off their former neighbors at gunpoint.

Oh? That didn’t actually happen? But it was in all the papers, "world doomed due to inability to tell what day it was" or something like that. That didn’t happen? Does that mean I can come out of the bomb shelter now? Or is this some trick by the cannibalistic zombies to lure more food out where it can be had?

But I digress…

When I came off the road, I also gave up cellphones. Like I said, I really hated cellphones back then. In many ways, I still hate them, but since 2000, they have improved dramatically. In 2000, I had that assembled bit of kit attached to my belt everytime I left the house, but in todays world I can get most of that stuff down to a single device which is much more comfortable to use and carry. In addition to just being a work tool, the modern “smartphone” is also, dare I say it, a nice thing to have.

Wow. Theres a transition for you! You see! I can learn new skills.

What I once thought of as being the “devils own horseshoe” is now a pretty nice thing to have? Well yeah, because now that same space and weight that you used to use just for a cellphone can also have much more functional use for recreational purposes.

About two years ago, one of my co-workers turned me on to the Nokia 8125. Knowing that I was rather legendary in my hatred and dislike for cellphones, my friend ran through the options for this new system and was a good advocate for its use. He made a good case but in the end, I was convinced to use it because of the low, low price since we were gettting them for through a special company deal, but that the cellphone could also double as a PDA.

So I gave in and I got the phone. It took quite a while for me to warm up to the phone but eventually I found that the key feature was how well the phone worked with my office PC. The fact that the phone was a Microsoft Windows system helped in my conversion from begrudging user to raving fan.

It’s not that Im a big fan of Microsoft Windows and I don’t hate it either. It’s a tool like any other, it just so happens that most of the software I use on the office deskop is Windows oriented. (This is not an invitiation to sell me on Apple or Linux. I actually have a 1984 128k Macintosh that I bought new in Febuary 1984, so I’ve been around Apple for as long as most of you have been eating breakfast. And I use Linux every single day, so save it folks; I’m already on your side. Its like telling someone your religious affiliation, suddenly half the room jumps up and tries to convert you to their side when in point of fact, the argument is already long over. )

There’s just a tremendous amount of software, really helpful software that can and does run really well on the Windows Mobile Platform. Heres a few examples of what is running on my Phone (which is now 2 years old):

1. Slingbox Mobile. Slingbox for those who don’t know is one of the best working, easiest to use pieces of technology ever invented. What does it do? Well, Tivo and the DVR revolution allowed you to break the bounds of “when” you watched your TV, Slingbox breaks the bounds of “where” you watch TV. If you are travelling and you want to watch what you recorded on your Tivo instead of the god-awful cable choices you sometimes get when you are on the road, all you need is an internet connection and there you go. You’re not watching someone else's TV, youre watching your TV from somewhere else. Slingbox Mobile allows you to use the Cellphone Wifi connection to watch your Tivo from anywhere you can get a Wifi connection. How does it work? It works great. Slingbox tied to a Tivo is the perfect combination.

2. Tivo-To-Go. Ok, so youre out somewhere where you can't get to Wifi and you want to be able to watch a movie or one of the shows you recorded to your Tivo. Tivo-to-go lets you download the recorded shows to your PC, or even your cellphone. My cellphone as a 2gb SD memory card, and on that card, I cant get 4 hours of recorded shows. Frankly that’s more than I can watch on the phones battery. I typically keep a couple of episodes of “No Resevervations” on it, just in case in stuck somehwere and I want some light entertainment.

3. Odyssey Mobile. This one is pretty cool. Having GPS in your car is becoming a “must have” but if you travel or move around, you don’t want to get back into the problem of having to take a GPS with you everytime you go, else the “Batman utility Belt” comes back into play. What would be better is if you could have a good GPS for driving that’s right in your phone. That’s what Odyssey Mobile gives you, a solid transportable GPS that you can use to help navigate in whatever town you land in.

4. Pathaway. Ahhhh. Pathaway. The “GPS tool of the gods”. Pathaway quite literally does everything that you would want a good GPS to do. Its ability to allow you to make your own maps from topology mapping software makes it particularly helpful when you are off in the woods. Its real selling point is the use of GPS Tracking, allowing you to track other pathaway users or allow other pathaway users to track your position from either their own pathaway systems on their phones or on a website. GPS tracking is the killer app for GPS systems but tie a GPS to a cellphone and its really fantastic.

5. Yahoo Go! Yahoo Go is a set of easy to use tools to make a cellphone easy to access the web. Frankly, this tool makes up for some of the shortsidedness of Windows Mobile, but it works and works well. Mapping, Information and websearch with an easy to use one-handed interface make it a must have for any Windows Mobile app.

6. ATT Remote. ATT Remote is probably one of the most underused thing that any homeowner can use to help monitor their home. Instead of signing up for a security company, you can use ATT tools to set up cameras and sensors all around your home. You can monitor your home or turn on lights all from your cellphone from anywhere in the world.

Yes, you can also use this litle device to make phone calls, but wheres the fun in that?

Posted @ January 17, 2008 04:50 PM | Current Affairs

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Posted by: Vootie at January 20, 2008 09:14 AM