I am currently sat in the British Library waiting for the start of the London stop of the FogBugz world tour. In theory this is an opportunity to see the latest version of FogBugz but in practice I suspect that many people will be here simply to hear development guru Joel Spolsky speak.

I would like to say that the audience were a real mixed bunch but they are not. It is 99.9% Mac touting male geeks wearing jeans and trainers. If anyone wants to find the stereotypical developer this would be the place. So I guess, by extension, that unless I fill that 0.01% I am a geek too. Not necessairly. Spolsky too runs a small but successful development company and publishes an equally successful blog on the business of running a development company. His views very much align with my own and how I would like to shape AppSwing. So this is an opportunity to further tap into that success and help me find new ways of accelerating my own business.

Post seminar note: I was very impressed by FogBugz and the thinking behind it and this it could really help accelerate the development practices here at AppSwing. I will be taking a closer look with the team at how we might moved from our current collection of tools to FogBugz.

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Today AppSwing are releasing some applications that we had written for our clients but could be useful for others too so you can now download them from our site. What the apps do is allow you to put an icon on the desktop of your device (either BlackBerry or Windows Mobile) and have it redirect to a fixed URL when started. Not earth shattering but still very useful and saving a few clicks which is all important on a small screen device.

You can get more information and download from the following link: http://www.appswing.com/ota

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One of my favourite smartphone productivity tools Oxios ToDo List has just been updated Oxios allows you to view and manage your tasks while on the move.

Made up to two parts: the home screen plug-in and the task manager itself Oxios ToDo List gives you the ability to capture your tasks as you think of them rather than having to wait until you get back to the office. For me this means I don’t miss anything and if I finish an action I can mark it as completed there and then. We I do return to the office the tasks are sync’ed with Outlook and kept up-to-date.

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CNET have reported that browsing from a mobile device is becoming “mainstream” with 27% of the more affluent over 35s doing so at some point during 2005. This is an increase of 6% over 2004.
What is significant about this is that the consumer led usage is likely to have a significant positive impact on the workplace usage of devices for browsing. This is because if individuals become familiar with the concept in the comfort of their own homes they are likely to be more comfortable to do so at work with a business application. Without this gentle introduction there would likely be some nervousness about the introduction of such new technologies.
What the report does not state is what the individuals were browsing for. From my own usage I can assume that it is likely to be the latest sports news.

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I have finally taken the plunge and upgraded my Axim X50 from Windows Mobile 2003 to Windows Mobile 5 (WM5). Actually, as I was nervious of the effects of such a drastic change, I carried out the operation on one of the spare Axims at work before I committed it to my own machine.
The main reason I waited to do the upgrade was because the software that I use on a regular basis, such as TomTom Navigator, Pocket Informant and Softmaker’s Planmaker and Textmaker, hadn’t been updated to work with WM5. Now that they have it seemed time to make the switch.
The upgrade itself was pretty straightforward and painless - apart from the fact that the device is completely wiped of course. So what about in use?
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