Here is MUST HAVE info for Pocket PC owners!!!
1) Shoutcast offers many internet streams such as music, news and discussions at 16 to 40 kb/s speeds for us low bandwidth users. And treobits offers a pda friendly interface for browsing these streams. Here is the link to treobits internet radio. It is a free service but of course you would want to use the unlimited data option from your service provider on your pda/phone. TREOBITS
2) Of cours the best player for these pls and m3u files is The Core Pocket Media Player (TCPMP). It is completely free. I myself keep a folder on my memory card full of my favorite pls files. I remane and move these with a file manager from the my documents folder on the handheld when I find a station I like. I can then use them as book marks and browse to the folder with TCPMP. The Core Pocket Media Player
3) Here is a free program that allows user to vew running programs from the today screen. It also has an excellent battery status indicator that shows itself as a white line on the top of the today screen. After installing tap the majicbutton icon in the programs folder, then go to the today screen then tap and hold the house symbol on the status bar at the top of the screen, then go to settings and choose "auto start" and "battery status".
Majic Button
4) The best free mapping program for pocket pc or any phone is the google maps http://www.google.com/gmm/index.html
5) The stock file explore is very limited but luckily the best file manager is free. My favorite thing about Total commander is that I can create shortcut links by going file>A>create shortcut. So my start menu has folders I created with links to my favorite stuff. Such as I linked to my PIE favorites folder. Total Commander
6) I have not found use for it but here is a free task manager. For the download to appear you have register with the site. It is a great site with a bunch of developers who are always creating useful free programs. They are world famos in the PDA world. I dont believe the file manager is a cab, just an exe so you may put it in your programs folder or on the card with a link in the programs folder you create with total commander. Task Manager
7) PIE (pocket internet explorer) does not support java script so if you can't click certain buttons in PIE you may want to try NetFront. Its not free but it is a must have. It allows sites that use java script to work properly. Some sites that use java script offer a wap version that allows non javascript browsers to access the needed functions for instance here it yahoo Yahoo And here is wap yahoo for non java script browsers . Wap Yahoo
Here in NetFront if you dont like wap NetFront
8) Here is a handy dandy free weather plugin for the today screen. It says its a trial but its well known in the PDA community that the author is no longer trouble shooting the app hence no longer charging for it. Here is a thread on the subject because it is a tricky app to set up. The proper install link for WM5 is on page 3 or 4 maybe. Weather Panel
9) Here is the best photoviewer software for Pocket PC It is not free but it might as well be because the only limit on the trial is that it won't support some types of image formats when the trial runs out. That is no big deal so I have been using it for years without paying for it. PhotoViewer
10) Here are some good free cabs. The Sudoko one is good. There is also a free pdf reader on ther if you need one.
Cab Site
11) If you don't have a zip/unzip utility here is an excellent free one It does zip and rar files.
Pocket RAR
12) Here is the free registry editor that everyone uses
PHM RegEdit
13) Here is another map program that is extremely useful when you know there is a specific buisness in a specific area you can pull up a map of that area and do a search in just that area for that specific buisness. I love it. It requires the net compact framwork which is ok since its something you may use for many free programs Map4PDA
14) Here is yet another mapping program from windows. I'm not to excited about it but some love it.
Windows Live Search
15) This is the best resource to find the best apps. They are not biased. The ones that win are simply the best but sometimes they are more feature rich than what you may need. Pocket PC Software Awards
16) If you need a case I have a long thread on the best case for your PDA. It focuses on the treo but all the links to sites have cases for every handheld and the iunfo I give is universal since the design of the case is consistant no matter what device it is designed for.
My PDA case thread
Here are some useful links:
For phone number look ups. http://m.yp.com/mysearch.php
Here is a great weather link that gives long range as well as hourly forcasts http://weather.msn.com The hourly is the best when planning those picknick outings :D
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