Jim Szymanski 
There is a difference between cheap and broke. Yes, I am using a vintage 2004 PC running Windows XP, but that’s not by choice. Actually, right now I have no choice. My life was turned upside down in 2006, and things really turned to crap in 2009, followed by gut punches in 2010 and 2011. … Read more
I am sure most of you have been reading about how Windows Phone Marketplace is experiencing problems with some apps not installing or updating properly on certain devices. Microsoft has narrowed the problem down to Gen 1 devices; Focus, LG Quantum, Surround, Arrive, HD7, Trophy, etc., that “did not” have Mango pre-installed. Apparently there is … Read more
That’s right, a Notebook. For those of you who were still waiting for your second set of teeth to grown in, a Notebook came before Netbooks (cheap Notebooks) and UltraBooks (what used to be Notebooks). I picked up a Fujitsu P7010 Lifebook back in December 2003. I was doing a lot of travelling at the … Read more
SkyDrive, Microsoft’s free online Cloud Storage solution, has made some great strides this past year, going from nearly unusable to, well usable. I have been trying hard to make better use of that 25GB they have granted to my personal account, and the 7GB reserved for my employer (easier than FTP). But each time I … Read more
I was really excited when I saw WordPrint from TwoDollarApps in the “New Apps” category about a week ago. Based on the description, it would give me the ability to print directly from my phone, through a Print Server installed on my PC, to a connected printer. And all for free, except for the cost … Read more
I started my series of battery drain tests after reading countless theories and rumors about why our batteries lose juice. Don’t think I have solved every mystery, but I did separate truth from fiction in several areas. My BDOD (Battery Drain Obsessive Disorder) started back with my Palm II. I still remember the panic that … Read more
To conclude my Truths series for Windows Phone I wanted to check into an area that has bugged me for several weeks. Anyone who has been reading my test results knows that I have occasionally encountered anomalies, results that were worse than expected. I usually countered the odd duck result with a couple consistent values … Read more
Up until a week ago, if you asked 10 Windows Phone users why they didn’t have an option for persistent WiFi, at least 9 of them would have answered, “because it will kill you battery stupid”. I will admit that up until I found the iHeartRadio trick, I was one of those 9 people. But … Read more
Last week I stumbled upon a trick that will keep WiFi running on your WP device long after the screen has gone to sleep. The bug, or feature, was met with mixed reactions from; “great news” to “oh, we better tell Microsoft about this so we all don’t inadvertently kill our batteries.” That was enough … Read more
