Database Develop

Cool ways to use the GPS in the Kaiser

There are two apps that I have used that I must say make the GPS built into the Kaiser along with its data connectivity pretty cool. Of course, the GPS is a great tool for mapping software such as TomTom, iGuidance, Google Maps, MS Live Search, and others... but the possibilities of GPS in a connected device like the Kaiser can lead to many other great things. Two that I have found useful are Mobile Justice and 3d Tracking. Here is a quick description of what they are.
First, I have installed Mobile Justice which alerts you when a SIM card is changed and will send a text message to a number of your choosing when it is changed... for example it was stolen and a card was sent in. It can also send the current GPS location. In addition, you can send the device a text message with a keyword and request at any time, the current GPS location. You can also put a message on the device screen. I know people often cook this application into ROMs. I hope that someone does this for a future Kaiser kitchen. I learned about the new GPS features here: http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/mobile_justice_sms_your_phone.html
The other app that I have used that is kind of nifty is 3d tracking. It updates your GPS location in near real time to a website that you can use a PC to monitor. The mapping is done using Google maps. Very cool way to keep track of valuables such as your teenagers. ;-)
http://free.3dtracking.net/home.aspx
What other cool uses for the GPS have you found to use with your Kaiser?

I think the latest is the GPS photo functionality that was discovered to be built in. We were talking about this functionality at work but in an actual camera. Little did I know that i would discover this same function active in my TyTn II

y2whisper said:
I think the latest is the GPS photo functionality that was discovered to be built in. We were talking about this functionality at work but in an actual camera. Little did I know that i would discover this same function active in my TyTn II
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did see that in the forums which just made the camera in the phone that much more useful. Very useful when on hikes or vacationing to take a quick snapshot. Sure, the camera on the phone is not a replacement for a high quality digital camera, but it is convenient and in outdoor light, does a pretty good job. Combined with the GPS tagging, it is fun too. I hope we get to see even more uses for the integrated GPS.

Please explain
y2whisper said:
I think the latest is the GPS photo functionality that was discovered to be built in. We were talking about this functionality at work but in an actual camera. Little did I know that i would discover this same function active in my TyTn II
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please explain this function and how it can be used.
I am using Nokia's smart2go gps software in my Tytn-II and its working gr8, with Nokia's maploader u can download very detailed maps with very good databases particularly for middle-east.

Similar to your Mobile Justice product, here's one I saw the other day. Its kind of like LoJack for your phone:
http://www.pocketpc-live.com/pocketpc-softwares/ultimate-theft-alert-v3-for-pocket-pcs-2.html
It You can have your phone let you know where it is if its ever lost.

The company I work for does gps tracking for sports (running, skiing etc). I won't post the link, as i dont want to be seen as advertising.
But its pretty cool to be able to see how fast you ski (57.2mph is my fastest so far).

Someone sent me a note on this site that does something similar to 3d tracking. I will try it out now to see how it works.
http://gps.gpsxml.com/

Here is another tool that has a description with features similar to WIMP (Where Is My Phone) and Mobile Justice. Has anyone heard of it or tested it before? It is called Ultimate Theft Alert and has GPS as an add-on option.
http://www.pocketpc-live.com/pocketpc-softwares/ultimate-theft-alert-v3-for-pocket-pcs-2.html

I had no idea there were so many tools for GPS integrated mobile phones. Here is another freebie, this time from a well known PPC developer, VITO Technology. It is called FindMe
http://www.vitotechnology.com/en/products/findme.html

And for those with coding experience... here is an example with source code.
http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/FindMe.asp

swarnabhab said:
Can you please explain this function and how it can be used.
I am using Nokia's smart2go gps software in my Tytn-II and its working gr8, with Nokia's maploader u can download very detailed maps with very good databases particularly for middle-east.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basic use would be if you wanted to add pictures to a map (google earth i believe supports this) you take a picture and in geomarks your pic.
It is basically done by regedit - you can read more on this in this exact forum (should be on page one or two -- easy for us to say this while the kaiser forum is still fresh)

Have a look at this..... http://www.reperion.com/
Downloaded the software, registered an account and now my handset can be tracked by anyone with a pc.

yeah the file download was down before, working now, will try this one out

ericb said:
Have a look at this..... http://www.reperion.com/
Downloaded the software, registered an account and now my handset can be tracked by anyone with a pc.
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Click to collapse
This is free for now it seems. I will try it out. Do you know if it is any different than 3d tracking? That one is free too.

Had a quick look t 3d tracking, reprion looks to do asimilar thing.
Both seem pretty cool anyway

Some more interesting GPS software: http://www.jgui.net/gps/index.html
Personal observation: There should be a standard for SMS messages whereby the GPS coordinates of the sender can be sent along with text or mms messages. This would be handy for location based services and when chatting with friends.

AND wth pda's
ericb said:
Have a look at this..... http://www.reperion.com/
Downloaded the software, registered an account and now my handset can be tracked by anyone with a pc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AND PDA ! )
http://geocool.reperion.com

Somthing wrong with the GPS
Hi
There's something definitely wrong with the GPS happening from time to time.
Today, TomTom was off by nearly 1 kilometre using the internal GPS. Using BT GPS everything was fine.
After a restart: the location was spot on again.
It has happened to me 3-4 times now that the GPS is completely off the charts.
Wonder if this could be fixed with a Radio ROM update ..

swarnabhab said:
Can you please explain this function and how it can be used.
I am using Nokia's smart2go gps software in my Tytn-II and its working gr8, with Nokia's maploader u can download very detailed maps with very good databases particularly for middle-east.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to maybe possible hijack this threat a little. I am also using smart2go. But I can't download any maps to my MicroSD with the Maploader. It always complaint that there is no space in my card (which has 3.7GB free). How were you able to download the maps to your card?
Many thanks in advance!
PS. Never mind. I found out that Smart2Go probably has a problem with storage cards larger than 2GB as if I use smaller MicroSD cards, the Map Loader works fine. So the solution is to run Smart2Go with a blank 2G or smaller card, then copy the files to the 4G MicroSDHC. Then Map Loader works (with a size limit of 1.8G for map data).....

Ok so still having some problems.
As noted here
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=332811
Some programs don't instal for me, WIMP did install however (haven't tested it yet) so my assumption would be some kind of security setting that is on when installing cabs, do you guys turn it off? (i remember there was a way to do this with the Hermes) or do these apps just install out of the box (per se)?
EDIT:
Looks like its some kind of problem when i transfer the file over via activesync to the card. I put it on via straight pc to another card and it installs fine.

Barcode Reader Software?

Heya folks,
I'm looking for a solution to scan ISBN codes from my book collection into a some sort of library or catalog database.
I'm wondering if someone here would know of a software that can be used on the HTC TyTN II (at&t Tilt), or any Win Mobile device with a camera.
I've found the Barcode/13 program, but that's only for palmOne Treo 600. I could work with something similar just to create a CVS file of ISBN numbers and transfer that to another program on my PC, but would rather have an all-in-one software.
Thanks,
Zyir

I'm also looking for a way to integrate barcode scanning into a .NET app. For the enterprise...I'd like to keep track of assets.

sounds like you want to use the built-in camera.
I've used PPCs to do barcode reading using SerialMagic and the LaserCHamp Bluetooth scanner from http://serialio.com/
It works quite well.

lthown said:
sounds like you want to use the built-in camera.
I've used PPCs to do barcode reading using SerialMagic and the LaserCHamp Bluetooth scanner from http://serialio.com/
It works quite well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might have to go that route, but would rather find a software that will use the Kaiser's camera to read the barcodes.
I'm trying to avoid purchasing an additional device just to scan a couple hundred books.

http://www.quickmark.com.tw/En/basic/index.asp

lthown said:
sounds like you want to use the built-in camera.
I've used PPCs to do barcode reading using SerialMagic and the LaserCHamp Bluetooth scanner from http://serialio.com/
It works quite well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it's just that the idea is to avoid having them lug around a barcode scanner to track assets. If they have to carry something extra we can just get to a computer. =/

ZiYi said:
http://www.quickmark.com.tw/En/basic/index.asp
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Click to collapse
Will QuickMark scan linear (1D) barcodes like the ISBN on books? Everything I've found indicates that it only reads 2D barcodes (like QR Codes, etc.).

Take a look at MS A.U.R.A. at http://aura.research.microsoft.com

GSLEON3 said:
Take a look at MS A.U.R.A. at http://aura.research.microsoft.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't work...

GSLEON3 said:
Take a look at MS A.U.R.A. at http://aura.research.microsoft.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't get that now...
From the link... "Microsoft Research AURA project and all AURA services have terminated as of June 30, 2007."
From what I've found, that would have worked for what I want, but alas...

Batoo
There seems to be a free java implementation that decodes 1D barcodes. I had no success trying it on my kaiser: http://people.inf.ethz.ch/adelmanr/batoo/
Perhaps it is a good starting point to use this source to develope something useful.

I found this a while ago. I think I remember their SDK was free for 1D codes, or something. I forget, check the link. Cool video included.
http://www.mobileama.com/Barcode.htm
EDIT: Yep, this is what you want.

I was able to find a download for Microsoft's A.U.R.A.
It's kinda nifty to play with. It'll scan 1D barcodes, but I'm not finding any options to export the codes after they've been scanned. Also, it requires a 'manual' photo of the barcode; it opens the camera utility and ya use it like taking a normal macro photo (Zoom in, hope your hand is steady, and snap, then find a blurry image. Repeat multiple times until ya get a clear image that can be read).
QuickMark and i-nigma are great for 2D barcodes; they both make good use of the device's auto-focus and will read a 2D barcode without the need to manually take a photo. Though, neither of them will read 1D linear barcodes like the ISBN numbers on the books I'd like to scan.
Also, the one that Notten pointed out ( http://www.mobileama.com/Barcode.htm ) looks like it would work wonderfully, but I wasn't able to find any Windows Mobile software that uses it, nor a download for a working implementation.
So, does anyone else know of something that could be used by an individual who just wants to scan their books with an HTC Windows Mobile device?
I'm still hoping for something more like 'Barcode/13', or an inventory software that will make use of the device's camera.
Thanks,
Zyir
-----
I may just have to bite the bullet and buy a cheap barcode scanner to connect to my PC instead.

A solution for Bluryyyy photo
Jus look for a post where they have a new camera Apps to upgrade the one that comes with your TyTN II aka tilt, aka kaiser, aka etc. With this update you just need to do a halfpress release and it will autofocus and shoot, and there you go nog blurry images.
I used it with the Worlcard Mobile aplication to get a photo of our patients Health Plan Card, and without that new camera apps it would be a pain in the #$%$%@%@%.
So give it a try. Search for NEW CAMERA in the Forum.

Building my own
Since I haven't found any ready-made and free solution, I started experimenting on my own in C#. I have managed to develop a basic functionality where the application automatically takes snapshots (320x240, no autofocus... thanks to www.wimobot.com) and does the recognition. Well, the recognition algorithm is still in a very alpha-stage (it can detect the stop bits of a code-128)...
Anybody with some links to free C# recognition source to speed up things? I will also try the batoo code (java) sometime.
hypest

Thanks, udgn. I already have the 'new camera' and video framerates are greatly increased outdoors. Sadly, it didn't help the fact that I tend to move the camera a bit as I press the button, which is the main cause of my blurry photos with indoor lighting.
Back on topic...
I've also run across Google's ZXing project ( http://code.google.com/p/zxing/ ) but it's a Java implementation that doesn't run on Windows Mobile devices. Yet.
Zyir

Own application partial success
UPDATE: latest version can be found here
zyir01 said:
I've also run across Google's ZXing project ( http://code.google.com/p/zxing/ ) but it's a Java implementation that doesn't run on Windows Mobile devices. Yet.
Zyir
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great find Zyir!
I took the code, converted it into c# and incorporated it in the app I'm developing and... well, there was partial success! I have attached the binary (Usual disclaimer applies: I have NO RESPONSIBILITY whatsoever for any harm done!).
The application is in alpha stage but usable. Unzip in any directory and run using a file manager. Button "Shoot" opens the normal photo-shooting app to take a photo (thus utilizing higher resolution and auto-focus), while "Live" starts auto capture (320x240, no auto-focus). The whole "thing" is quite slow, as the decoding takes a while.
I had successful decoding using the "live" mode reading a code-128 barcode (that had previously shoot in my local supermarket) displayed on my laptop's screen.
hope to hear any feedback!
hypest

Great, I'll give it a shot!

hypest said:
Great find Zyir!
I took the code, converted it into c# and incorporated it in the app I'm developing and... well, there was partial success!
hope to hear any feedback!
hypest
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
I'll give it a whirl this evening and let ya know how it went.
Zyir

I didn't have a lot of time last weekend to check it out, but it didn't scan well for me. It wouldn't read any barcodes with "Shoot" or "Live". The Live ran at avout five seconds per frame, so was a bit of a challenge to get the camera on the barcode.
Might be due to the relatively low lighting in my house. Also, I'm using Nadavi's Camera 5.0.4.2915.00 with HTC Album, so I'm not sure if that might be part of my issue.
Zyir

OCR software

Is there an OCR software for Kaiser. I wish to photograph document and then scan/ convert it pdf or word?

I think that there isn't it. But depend of where did you buy it. For instance, I bought it in Taiwan, so there they use an OCR software for business card.
The name of this program is WorldCard Mobile. There are other name BizCard.
Sorry for my english.

Hey your in luck. The search function come up with some stuff.
http://www.google.com/cse?cx=000825531964825142534:cqr2sjirilw&q=ocr&cof=FORID:0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

www.ocrnow.com
you can upload the files from your phone and the results are great!!
greez

manu407 said:
Is there an OCR software for Kaiser. I wish to photograph document and then scan/ convert it pdf or word?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't run across true OCR (converting picture into editable text or doc). However scanR will get you part way there. You can convert photographed items into PDF format. And it's free. I think OCRNow will set you back a little money for continued use.

This thread is quite old, but while looking for some OCR software for my WinMo device, I found this SDK: http://www.abbyy.com/sdk/?param=56223
I haven't managed to find any software which uses it yet though...

One can always try to port Tesseract: http://code.google.com/p/tesseract-ocr/
It only supports TIFFs natively though.
EDIT: Or JOCR/GOCR: http://jocr.sourceforge.net/

OCR software

Have you ever used the WorldCard mobile software that is in original touch pro/fuze rom? It has an excellent OCR engine.. Its a pity that it can't scan an entire A4 sheet. So this is my question: is there a program that allows to scan and ocr a sheet on our touch pro/fuze?
Thanks

r6arrow said:
Its a pity that it can't scan an entire A4 sheet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that taking a picture of an A4 sheet won't be easy. I noticed that aven with worldcard, taking a pic of a card isn't always easy. Sometimes the text is too blury to be well recognized by the OCR
For an A4 sheet it means it will be more difficult to take a clear picture of the text, mean clear enough for an ocr application

well.. if the ambient light is good, and you set your camera as macro, you can take accettable (..readable) pics of an A4 sheet.
... after some tries... but you can

gloom said:
I think that taking a picture of an A4 sheet won't be easy. I noticed that aven with worldcard, taking a pic of a card isn't always easy. Sometimes the text is too blury to be well recognized by the OCR
For an A4 sheet it means it will be more difficult to take a clear picture of the text, mean clear enough for an ocr application
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds more like an opinion than a point of fact! I have personally taken many many many pictures of typed documents and perfectly OCRed them on my laptop! Easy as cake, and ain't nothing blurry about them either!

I'd love to see this cab'd out....
I've taken an image and transferred it to OneNote and done the same thing....it performed adequately.

sudermatt said:
I'd love to see this cab'd out....
I've taken an image and transferred it to OneNote and done the same thing....it performed adequately.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One Note have OCR???

shirreer said:
Sounds more like an opinion than a point of fact! I
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep yep, was my own opinion not a fact

You can get a trial version here:
http://store.penpowerinc.com/mobile.html
I'm not really sure what about this "trial version" is gimped (i.e. why you would need to register/pay for it at all) the trial version seems to work perfectly fine...
Being that it is a paid app, it probably wouldn't be kosher to post a cab of the registered version that was ganked out of a stock TP install.

bpapa9013 said:
You can get a trial version here:
http://store.penpowerinc.com/mobile.html
I'm not really sure what about this "trial version" is gimped (i.e. why you would need to register/pay for it at all) the trial version seems to work perfectly fine...
Being that it is a paid app, it probably wouldn't be kosher to post a cab of the registered version that was ganked out of a stock TP install.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it me or isnt this the app that comes with the Sprint TP?

One Note 2007, at least, does have OCR. I haven't used it yet though.
I'd like to see a mobile OCR program that can handle a full A4 page but it's probably easier to just do it on a PC with an OCR program once you have the image.

cd85233 said:
Is it me or isnt this the app that comes with the Sprint TP?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, WorldCard Mobile comes installed on the TouchPro. It works very well. I would love to see it's OCR engine used in a simple text OCR app.

Actually, you don't even need to download or install anything, assuming you have Microsoft Office 2003+.
Go to Start>>All Programs>>Microsoft Office>>Microsoft Office Tools>>Microsoft Office Document Imaging
Run that software. If you can convert your jpeg document file into .tiff (doable through photoshop), then you can have the document imaging software read through it and convert it into .doc. Through .doc, you can do whatever you want with it, like convert it to .pdf.
I use this software called ABBY Fine Reader 9.0.
Its a pretty powerful software that does OCR amazingly. But of course, you need to pay for it.

Starting to code for Windows Phone 8

Hi there,
I would like to start coding for WP8 - however, there are no books yet. That is why I just installed VS Express 2012 for Windows Phone and try to make a flashlight app which just has one button that switches on or off the led of my Lumia 920. I know how to make button, but I don't find any code that shows how to use the flashlight...
Can you please help me...?

For managing the flashlight use the camera api, I think.
There is no book for WP8 yet (or not? ), but you can easliy teach on the WP7.5, because it's a subset of WP8 API. For the rest use MSDN or even the Object Browser.

Why do you need a book? You can download documentation from visual studio or use msdn.

mcosmin222 said:
Why do you need a book? You can download documentation from visual studio or use msdn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course you can do this. But it's much easier to learn using book thank msdn+ google. Especially if you haven't used silverlight\wpf before.

Try this, it is for Windows Phone 7 but it's free!
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_p...mming-windows-phone-7-by-charles-petzold.aspx

There's a book from Microsoft Press called "Windows Phone 8 Development Internals", I've recently started reading it and it seems like a good one.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_p...opment-internals-preview-1-available-now.aspx

ap3rus said:
There's a book from Microsoft Press called "Windows Phone 8 Development Internals", I've recently started reading it and it seems like a good one.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_p...opment-internals-preview-1-available-now.aspx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this