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Windows Mobile 6.1 is a solid operating system and, while it has numerous faults, I'm overall happy with it. You need to do some tweaking, though, if you want to handle your mobile using just your finger. Unlike iPhone, out-of-the-box WM6 devices don't offer graphical interface customized for finger control. But thanks to the third party applications, you can enjoy some of the advantages, too. I can recommend SPB Mobile Shell.

This app installs like any other, but then, depending on your setting, can perform various different tasks the Windows Mobile usually do. I use it all the time, making it the default screen after device is turned on or woke up from sleep. It offers three screens: Now screen, Applications/Menu and Contacts. You can always find the three SPB screens with a nice smooth finger gesture: slide your finger from top of the screen to the middle and then, still sliding, choose one of these screens. Gestures are also used to switch between screens as if sliding (you can set the animation mode).

Now screen on SPB Mobile Shell

Offers you the weather information - very nice graphics, inboxes, time and calendar. Weather is informative and sleek, quick button for switching on or off the ring tones, or switch to vibrate. New messages are shown, as well as missed calls. So far the best default screen on any mobile, I think even better than iPhone.

Applications

You can customize this screen very thoroughly, and it also customizes itself based on how you use it. Extremely usefull and, compared to any other way of starting an aplication, very pretty.

   

Contacts

You have not nine (Touch Flo) but 16 places for the pictures of people you often call. Well, it's fifteen, actually, since one place is reserved for the Contacts button. This Contacts button is actually one of few weaknesses: it is fairly quick and easy to use, but it doesn't offer searching by firsta and second name combined (writing jsmi for John Smith) doesn't work. They might fix it before we know it, the developement seems quite active.

Using SPB Mobile is easy, you can play arounf with lot of setting to make it just right and customize all the details. The Shell is also supposed to work with other apps from SPB, but I haven't tried them much.

If you want to control your Windows Mobile mobile with your finger touches, I can strongly recommend checking this out. Reviewed SPB Mobile Shell runs smoothly on HTC TyTN II, but also on much older HTC Wizard, which shows it is not too hardware-demanding.

Video of SPB Mobile Shell

Here is a video review I found on YouTube.

Conclusion

English Learning software is virtually a must if you want to learn grammar by examples, and you want the learning to be interactive. But many products lack the complexity of what Advanced Grammar in Use form Cambridge has to offer you. The software accompanies the book very nicely, and offers interactive exercises from what you learned from the book. There are writing exercise, multiple choice exercise and many other types. I like that they actually tell you where you went wrong, how to fix it and where in the book is the explanation of that very matter.

There is a lot of lessons, covering probably all important grammar aspects:

• tenses
• modals
• articles
• verb complementions
• nouns
• clauses, relative clauses
• adjectives and adverbs
• prepositions
• and many more

I can really recommend this product, especially since the book is really good resource for anyone who needs to learn English grammar in all its complexity, or who just wants to peak in time to time for some specific explanation.

Important: Windows Vista users may have problems running this application. You might get the error: "Class not registered" and then another message about missing the Flash plug-in flash.ocx.  When encountering this error, don't worry, there is easy solution, it was only hard to find, hope this helps:

1. Download Flash Player (use Internet Explorer to get the right plug-in, or select it from the options)
2. Download and install the official Cambridge update form this site and everything should be fine - AGU.exe will no longer report any errors and run smoothly.
3. Make sure there is nothing funny set on Compatibility section of the properties of the agu.exe you're running (if you didn't touch it, it probably isn't).

It's an easy fix, but took me few hours to find, so hope this helps you.

David Allen and his Getting Things Done system are now notoriously famous, yet there is hardsly better resource to this time-management techniques than Getting Things Done book by Allen himself. I was quite sceptical at first, having read "organize your life" books before, but Allen got me hooked from the beginning. Many books would tell you that "you have to change everything in order to put your life together." David goes the other way: "You are probably doing a great job with planing. Time to time, that is. I want to show you that you could gain amazing benefits, if you apply these planning principles to the rest of your life."

And his book is, in this aspect, really wholesome. His principles are well sourced, thorough and yet the requirements aren't over the top. It took me a week to get my life into the rails of the Getting Things Done system, more or less. Here are some of the principles that I found very helpful:

• Calendar is for things that have to happen in that specific time. Tasks don't go to Calendar, but to the Tasks list. That way you can improvize without disobeying the Calendar. Calendar should be sacred - what is in a Calendar can take place only in that time - meeting, lecture...
• Task is everything you have to do - article to write is a task, buying new soap is a task, seeing the film you want to see is a task. There is no difference between tasks for job, school, family or your pleasure. You can have them on different lists, but you should handle them the same.
• If task is more complicated (organize party for your spouse), it has to be broken into smaller chunks (invite friends, reserve restaurant, buy present, send rsvps...). So there is a project "Party"
• Every project has an outline (what do you think you have to do), a next action (what is the next thing needed to be done for the project to proceed) and final result (what has to happen for you to say this project is finished)

These are just some of the tips and guidelines. But the book offeres so much more - it offers perspective. So you not only know what to do and how to do it, but also why you are doing it. This is extremely helpful for your understanding and motivation.

I am using Microsoft Outlook to synchronize my lists to Windows Mobile XDA, but this system GTD can be adopted with pen and papers just as well. I think this book is extremely useful for anyone who needs to do various things for various reasons. It will allow you to be efficient in a way you couldn't imagine before.

More info: Getting Things Done - Allen's webpage, GTD on Wikipedia

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity on Amazon

Probably cheapest airlines in Europe, Ryanair.com offer some return tickets well under 10 EUR/USD. Sometimes, buying ticket across Europe for less than a price of a McDonalds' menu, you have to wonder, how do they do it? How come Ryanair is so cheap?

But it is quite reasonable: they make the basic cheap and they charge you for anything extra, then. Extra bagagge, extra check-in fee (but on-line check-in is quick and free), you pay for on-board food, you pay extra fee if not paying by Visa Electron etc. But bottom line is, Ryanair.com is super cheap and you should at least check out their destination to see if they have something to offer for you, too.

Destinations of Ryanair

Ryanair has now covered almost all the European countries. Of course, not everywhere they travel to the capital cities. That is another way of saving money for them: flying to less exposed airports, thus paying lower fees.

You should check their site to see what destinations do they fly from the airport near you. Sometimes it is even useful to check other close airports and travel there by train or bus.

You enter your airport in the upper box, the lower will then show your possibilities. After search, don't panic if nothing is found, simply use arrows on the screen to see if there is flight available on the next/previous day.

Competition: EasyJet, SkyEurope

More info: Ryanair results, Ryainair route to Riches

Related products: ArtOfTravel

As you probably noticed by now, searching for reviews of specific product in Google doesn't often bring the best results, does it? It's because there are too many shops hoping to catch our attention, and they keep using the keyword review, customer review or comparison all over their sites.

What is the solution? Well, I have no definite one, but I am testing one right now. Using now improved Google Custom Search, I created:

Quick Review Search tool

I hope this searchbox will help you find the review you want, without having to go through too many ads and "false reviews".

I also welcome any comments on the search, especially regarding the trusted domains. Is there some domain I should include? Is there some domain I should exclude?

How it works?

Because here is the deal. The custom search will only search for your keywords on these pre-selected domains:

zdnet.com/*
cnet.com/*
dpreview.com/*
wikipedia.org/*
ehow.com/*
time.com/*
pcworld.com/*
photozone.de/*
youtube.com/*
nytimes.com/*
gizmondo.com/*
engadget.com/*
complete-review.com/*
notebookreview.com/*
bbc.co.uk/*
hardwareanalysis.com/*
and many others

These were chosen based on my experience with review searching. They are slightly biased towards Digital Photography and other gadgets, so there's definitely some room for improvement. Thank you for your comments under the box. I will gladly add some domains to include wider variety of review sources.

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