At the same time that I installed Voice Command, I also tried out Pocket Streets 2005. Now not only does the phone understand me when I talk to it, it can also show me where I am and display a map of the neighbourhood...

Microsoft Pocket Streets 2005

Pocket Streets 2005 displays maps on your Pocket PC and Smartphone. You can zoom in, zoom out, see points-of-interests, etc. If you throw in a Bluetooth GPS receiver, Pocket Streets 2005 will indicate where you are on the map. I cannot tell if this works well, since I didn't try it. It's important to note however that Pocket Streets does not give road directions and is not a navigation software.

Maps can be exported from MapPoint and some other software.

Here are is one of the utilities I installed a few days ago on my Smartphone. Not only is it extremely cool (and geeky), it can be handy from time to time too...

Microsoft Voice Command

With this product I can talk to my phone -- without needing to train it first! Some of the questions/commands you can ask are rather dull: "what time is it?", "what is my signal strength", "what is my battery level", etc. But some others are quite nice:

• What calls have I missed?
• What's my next meeting?
• What's my schedule tomorrow?
• Call <name> on mobile
• Call <another name> on work
• Dial +3227043000

Ok, what makes the "Call" command really good is that you don't have to create a voice recognition tag for everyone. The Voice Command software actually recognizes the name and looks it up in the Contacts list. To be honest, there is one problem though... I don't know how pronounce some Dutch names in American English. so it doesn't always work that well for all names, especially non-English names. To give an estimate, I would say it works for approx. 80% of the names, but that's only because of my lousy English.

There are many other instructions too, for example to launch applications, to play media files, and much more. Be sure also to check out the demo's on the Voice Command website.

With a price around $40, it isn't for free but it isn't expensive either. And I can tell you: it feels good to be on the bleeding edge of consumer technology...

Some people asked me it, so here is some extra info about the i-mate SP3i I just got. I bought it online at Expansys. And since there are so many SP3i's on that website, this is the one I ordered. It was paid for by CC and arrived 3 days after I placed the order by FedEx.

The phone arrived without Dutch T9 dictionary support. So after registering my phone on i-mate's website, I could download a new ROM image that contained the Dutch T9 dictionary. Approx. 10 minutes of flashing the new ROM on the phone and I had the new dictionary up and running.

In Belgium the i-mate SP3i will also be released as the Qtek 8020. As far as I know it is not available yet, but it should become available soon. More info on http://www.smart-phones.be (Dutch or French only).

This model - the HTC Typhoon - is also known as Orange SPV-500, Audiovox SMT5600 and T-Mobile SDA in other countries.

MsMobiles writes "HTC Typhoon - not just the smallest smartphone in the world but also the most modern one". I couldn't agree more.

Just as Stijn - Cutting the C# - Guillemyn, I bought an i-mate SP3i Smartphone. I'm not going to say much about it, except that I think it's a great device.

There was one thing difficult however: the configuration to get GPRS, WAP and MMS working correctly for Proximus. Their own website was much of help, but there were different other resources that all together helped me to get this working. These are the different configuration settings I had to do.

1. Set up data connections
Click "Start"; "Settings"; "More"; "Data Connections".
Open the menu and choose "Edit Connections"
Open "Dial-up Connections"
Open the menu and choose "Add"
Apply the following settings:
  Description: Proximus WAP Data
  Connects to: WAP Network
  Phone number: +32477151927
  User name: wap
  Password: wap
  Domain:
Click "Done" to save this dial-up connection. Click "Done" once again to go to the overview of different connections.
Open "GPRS Connections" now.
Open the menu and choose "Add"
Apply the following settings:
  Description: Proximus Internet
  Connects to: The Internet
  Access Point: internet.proximus.be
  User name:
  Password:
  Primary DNS: 195.238.2.21
  Secondary DNS: 195.238.2.22
  IP address:
Click "Done" to save this GPRS connection.
Open the menu and choose "Add" again
Apply the following settings:
  Description: Proximus MMS
  Connects to: WAP Network
  Access Point: event.proximus.be
  User name: mms
  Password:
  Primary DNS: 0.0.0.0
  Secondary DNS: 0.0.0.0
  IP address:
Click "Done" to save this GPRS connection.
Open the menu and choose "Add" for the third time
Apply the following settings:
  Description: Proximus WAP GPRS
  Connects to: Secure WAP Network
  Access Point: wap.proximus.be
  User name: wap
  Password: wap
  Primary DNS: 0.0.0.0
  Secondary DNS: 0.0.0.0
  IP address: 10.253.7.3
Click "Done" to save this GPRS connection.
Click "Done" to quit the list of GPRS connections.
Go to the home page.

2. Configure MMS
Click "Start"; "More"; "More"; "Configurations"; "MMS Settings"
Set "Connect Via:" to "WAP Network".
Click "Menu" and choose "MMSC Settings".
Edit the "Sample" entry or create a new one. Apply the following settings:
  MMSC URL: http://mmsc.proximus.be/mms
  WAP Gateway: 10.55.14.75
  Port 9201
  Max. Sending Size: 100K
Click "Done" and go back to the home page.

It is necessary that you activated GPRS and MMS with Proximus. If you don't know how to do that, call them from your cell phone on the number 1212 (or +32 (475) 151212).

I don't know if all these settings are absolutely necessary, but I do know that once I set up my SP3i like this he worked as a charm...

Of course, this is for informational purposes only. I do not guarantee anything...

In my previous post I talked about .Music, a band of Microsoft Belgium employees. Their first upcoming hit "Realize Your Potential" also has a video clip. This clip was created by 2 students of the Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen: Brecht Ameye and Dries Douterloigne. See who you recognize...

View the video clip at http://extra.msn.be/simonodil/video.asx.

... does amazing things. Or should I say: "amazing employees do amazing things"?

At the end of the year, many companies and corporations announce that they'll do a big donation to some charity organization. It is important that they do that, because without their genorisity those charity organizations would not be able to do their work as good as they do it now. But for many companies such a donation is, well, just a bank transfer.

But what if the employees of a company get together to support the charity organisation even more. For example, by using their knowledge and skills in advantage of that organisation... This gives, IMHO, an extra dimension to that charity work.

Just as last year, Microsoft Belgium & Luxembourg decided to support Simon & Odil. This project wants to lighten up the days of children that are hospitalized regularly and for long times. Therefore they created an internet portal site with the little dude Simon and his crocodile Odil. But Microsoft doesn't help them only with money and software licenses. At least one consultant of Microsoft Services (but there are more, I sure of that) is working on the getting the infrastructure in place. He does this during his spare time.

A number of other creative and musical employees at Microsoft decided to create and record a song. Therefore they joined forces and gave their group the name ".Music"... These Microsoft Belgium employees are probably the first employees of major corporation that make a record and sell it - with the support of that corporation. After preparing for days, weeks, yes, even months, they were finally ready to go to a recording studio. All the time they spent on this project was also in their own free time. Talking about a commitment. Even though I personally didn't participate in this, I must say I am impressed by the final result. But then again, I guess I'm a little biased. :) So, here's a little shout out to Katia, Mieke, Geert, Patrick, Roel, Raf, Erik, Wilfred and Gunther for their hard work to support Simon & Odil...

Unfortunately all this information is only available on the web in Dutch or French, the two major languages that we speak in Belgium & Luxembourg. You can hear a 30 second preview on this page of MSN Music. Just press the play button in front of the title of the song (under the cover). If you want to buy it, press the "Kopen" button.

The following links redirect to a page in Dutch or French:

• Microsoft page on Simon & Odil (French)
• .MUSIC, Microsoft Belgium's band (French)
• Buy the song "Realising your potential" by .Music (French)
• Get the song as ringtone (French)

Update: read more about .Music's video clip (and stream it) [9 December 2005: link no longer valid]

Updates 9 December 2005: several links are no longer valid.

A study of the Solvay Business School reveals that Microsoft Belgium indirectly employs 5.379 people in Belgium through more than 300 Certified Partners. Their partnership with Microsoft results in sales of 1.5 billion Euro...

Read more:

• Dutch press release
• French press release

From the Trend Micro website:

"Trend Micro™ Mobile Security is designed to protect data-centric mobile devices such as smartphones against viruses and short message service (SMS) spam."

Available for free but the product will expire on June 30, 2005 September 30, 2005 30 days after installation. Who would ever have thought a few years ago that he would have installed an antivirus software on his phone??

More information
Direct to download

BTW: In a previous post on my blog you'll find links to several antivirus products that you can use on your home desktop PC for personal use only.

Update (July 3, 2005): Trend Micro now has a new version for download that will expire on September 30.
Update (March 27, 2006): The free version has been replaced by a 30 day trial version.

Did you notice that all speakers of the MSDN Event on December 2nd are bloggers?

• Bart De Smet: http://blogs.bartdesmet.net/bart/
• David Boschmans: http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/davidb/
• Rudi Larno: http://blogs.msdn.com/rudi_larno
• Peter Himschoot (Regional Director): http://blog.u2u.info/DottextWeb/peter/
• Gunther Beersaerts: http://blogs.msdn.com/guntherb

A couple of weeks ago, Yves Kerwyn asked Jelle Druyts as a co-speaker for a TechNet Evening session on InfoPath. Some time before that, Jan Tielens already appeared on the TechNet Evening floor too.

Of course, there are the more famous names: Patrick Tisseghem and Rédo (especially known in the French speaking community).

Hey are you blogging too? Do you live in Belgium? Send me the URL for your blog; it won't hurt you... Just drop it in the comments or follow the instructions on the MSDN Belux bloggers page.

On top of the regular technical sessions, the Microsoft Belgium Developer & IT Pro Days 2005 also have a major community part. During the entire conference, there will be a big community booth (more details about that booth later). And during the evening of February 1st, the event's floor is reserved for the community.

One of these community sessions is organized by .NET community member and agile development adept Bernard Vander Beken. He wants to organize so called "Lightning Talks". These Lightning Talks are a series of 5-minute talks by different speakers on various Microsoft related subjects. You can tell Bernard that you want to give a 5-minute presentation on the Bernard's website: http://jawn.net/talks/.

Please note that the community evening is only open to people that are registered for the event.

I don't know if other countries have this, but Belgians can now register to receive Microsoft Security news through MSN Alerts. Now you can receive security-related messages through MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger and even on your mobile phone.

More information and subscription:

• Dutch: http://www.msn.be/alerts/microsoft
• French: http://www.fr.msn.be/alerts/microsoft

From the website: "During this session we will give you detailed insights in the new features and functionality of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 which will be released beginning of next year. We will show you practical examples on what has changed and will demonstrate how to benefit from these in your organization."

Note that this session will be given on Tuesday instead of the regular Wednesday! Registration can be done here.

Other sessions:

• December 1: Streamlining complex paper based administrative processes with BizTalk and Microsoft Office
• December 8: Overview of the Windows XP and Office 2003 Desktop Deployment Solutions Accelerator

Every attendee of the MSDN Event on December 2nd will receive a very cool DVD containing even more cool products that all integrate very nice in Visual Studio .NET 2003. What would you think about:

• A full version of ActiveReports for .NET
• AmberPoint Express
• CodeObject
• DeKlarit
• Sax Communication, Community Edition

And much more... 67 products (full versions, trials and demo's) in total. Great stuff! Register now for the MSDN Event and get your own copy by attending the event: http://www.microsoft.com/belux/nl/msdn/events/msdnevent.mspx.

Of course, you'll also get some great content:

• SQL Server 2000 Notification Services (this is not Reporting Services, for those that might be confused)
• Upcoming Patterns & Practices' Enterprise Library - A Sneak Preview
• Developing applications with Authorization Manager in Windows Server 2003
• Practical real-world examples for using XML features in Office System 2003

Metablogging the InfoPathHelper .NET library from Jelle Druys that adds offline support to InfoPath forms.