Pocket PC Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Hey everyone! This is a quick heads-up for you to check Digital Home Thoughts if you're interested in winning some free stuff. It's by far our #1 site when it comes to contests, largely because it covers a broad spectrum of topics which makes it easier to get giveaway items. We've been running a hard drive giveaway (3350 GB in total storage) for the past five weeks, giving away a variety of hard drives, and this week we're giving away a 500 GB Western Digital hard drive. Also going on is a giveaway for a Skooba Design Checkthrough Brief bag, and on Monday we're launching a contest giving away 10 copies of Corel Digital Studio 2010. Watch for it!

One giveaway down, another to go! Thanks to Eltima Software, we have two copies of SyncMate 2.0 Expert Edition (each valued at $39.95 USD) for you to snag. The sync application is compatible with Mac OS X, and offers a plethora of sync options between Windows Mobile (and other smartphones), Google accounts, and Mac OS-based applications such as iCal, iPhoto, iTunes, Mail, Address Book, Safari, Firefox, and Entourage.

So, what do you have to do to win? Read on and get commenting. Good luck!

• Leave a comment in this thread, stating the editions that SyncMate is offered in. And here's a hint: there are two editions, and we've already named one of them in this post. Still stuck? Perhaps the SyncMate web page will help you.
• Only one comment per person. Any more and your entry will be deemed invalid. Note that if you're registering and leaving a comment for the first time, your post probably won't appear right away as it needs to be approved by our friendly moderators.
• The giveaway is open to anyone and everyone, regardless of where you are in the world.
• Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM GMT on September 18, 2009.
• A total of two winners will be selected randomly and notified via e-mail, so please ensure that a valid e-mail address is linked to your Thoughts Media account. Each winner will receive a single copy of SyncMate 2.0 Expert Edition.

Without further ado, we're announcing the five winners of our Handy Weather 4.0 giveaway. And here they are, in alphabetical order:

• Cornelius, eliefrancis, toen, Trapperjohn, tsaojam

If you're one of the lucky five mentioned, keep an eye on your inbox (and your spam folder, just in case) for a message detailing how to claim your prize. Thanks to Paragon Software for their generosity. Stay tuned! We'll have another giveaway for you in just a tick.

Giveaway time! Thanks to Paragon Software, we have five copies of the new Handy Weather 4.0 (each valued at $17.95 USD per month) for you to snag. The weather application is compatible with Windows Mobile 5.0 and later, and offers a plethora of features such as detailed 7-day weather forecasts, satellite weather maps, a touch-friendly user interface, GPS/SMS/e-mail integration, and support for over 40,000 cities worldwide.

So, what do you have to do to win? Read on and get commenting. Good luck!

• Leave a comment in this thread, stating today's weather wherever you are in the world. You can be as basic or as detailed as you wish.
• Only one comment per person. Any more and your entry will be deemed invalid. Note that if you're registering and leaving a comment for the first time, your post probably won't appear right away as it needs to be approved by our friendly moderators.
• The giveaway is open to anyone and everyone, regardless of where you are in the world.
• Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM GMT on August 16, 2009.
• A total of five winners will be selected randomly and notified via e-mail, so please ensure that a valid e-mail address is linked to your Thoughts Media account. Each winner will receive a single copy of Handy Weather 4.0.

Okay, we're a little late announcing the winners of our Ringtone Expressions giveaway, but better late than never, right? Without further ado, here are the lucky twenty in alphabetical order:

• bellor, bulldogdude, Certs, DaViD_BRaNDoN, Dyvim, eviktus, fone_fanatic, GreatDay, hacqua, looneytoone, Lucy, mafaquem, maxnix, NathanBaron, rombo, srsabu, the_matrixx, timmy, timtam, triplegems75

If you're in the list above, keep an eye on your inbox (and your spam folder, just in case) for a message detailing how to claim your prize. Thanks to Gx5 for their generosity. Stay tuned! We'll have another giveaway for you in just a tick.

"Our strategy for all of this is pretty straightforward; we want to create a global marketplace for Windows Phones where developers and users meet to sell and buy high quality and high value applications that make work easier and life more fulfilling. We're creating a clear process and new opportunity for developers and ISVs to make money from their investment in innovation. The applications we feature will be well organized, easily accessible by PC or phone and backed by a money back guarantee. And when they're ready to buy, customers will have a variety of payment options to choose from. These are new customer experiences, and frankly, capabilities that will set us apart."

As of this morning afternoon, Windows Marketplace for Mobile is now accepting application submissions from all 29 supported countries - and the Race to Market Challenge contest also kicks off. That site is password protected at the moment but apparently later today it will be live. Yeah, a bit strange. This contest is a way to build up the content on Windows Marketplate for Mobile, and to give developers a "first mover" advantage in terms of getting their applications into the marketplace. I think Microsoft is taking a realistic approach to this - they're not saying "Develop for Windows Mobile, it's the best!" they're saying "Develop for our platform as well - we have something to offer".

Want to build your application? Here's the Windows Mobile 6.5 developer toolkit (it's not an SDK mind you - you'll need to use the 6.1 Professional or Standard SDKs). Want to submit your application? Here are the Application Submission Guidelines. The prizes are a bit unusual: winners get one of four Microsoft Surface tables (Developer Edition), online marketing & promotion of their app, and a challenge trophies.

Think you have what it takes? Let's see those apps!

"As Acer begins to launch more and more devices, we're giving you the chance to win an Acer Tempo M900 Smartphone! The Acer Tempo M900 runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, supports AT&T US 3G frequencies, and has a stellar 3.8 inch WVGA display and GPS! All you have to do to have a chance of winning this great prize is answer one simple question. The closing date for entries is midnight on Friday July 31st, 2009"

Do you enjoy having new Windows Mobile devices yet hate paying for them? It may surprise you to learn you are not alone. eXpansys has apparently known about you freebie lovers for some time and has organized a contest with a simple appeal: Win something for free. The something is an Acer Tempo M900, and you need to get your entry in by the end of the month. Good Luck!

Remember the iZel review that I published a few weeks back? Well, the makers of the iZel have offered us three to give away to lucky Thoughts Media readers! This contest is open to anyone in the US or Canada (sorry rest-of-world). Entering the contest is really easy: all you have to do is post a message in this discussion thread telling me what kind of device(s) you'd want to use with the iZel. That's it! I'll randomly select three entries and each person will win an iZel. Nice and easy! The contest is open until the 16th of July, at 12pm (GMT -7). Enter now!

UPDATE: Only one entry per person, and if it's your first post, please allow up to 48 hours for it to show up.

UPDATE #2: The contest is now over and the winners have been randomly selected. iZel has a little consolation prize for everyone though. If you use the coupon code 5OFFIZEL you'll get a $5 discount off the normal price of $24.95 from Amazon.com [Affiliate]. The coupon code is valid until midnight July 31st, 2009.

"Windows Mobile handsets are becoming more and more popular. The industry is known to be the fastest growing segment in the smart phone market. The growing popularity of Windows Mobile triggers an increasing demand for more creative and entertaining applications. To foster greater creativity among different sectors of the community and encourage development of a greater variety of Windows Mobile applications, Microsoft recently joined hands with The Pocket PC Channel, a popular online media in Hong Kong, and also the Cyberport IncuTrain Centre, to launch the "Windows Mobile Software & Game Design Contest". Winning applications will be made available for users to download on Windows Mobile Marketplace, the latest service to be rolled-out along with the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5 later this year, bringing in new business opportunities for the creative industry at large."

If you are capable of writing apps and want a chance to win HKD150,000 (that is about $19,300 US at today's conversion rate) and are at least 16, you can enter the contest. More information is at their site.

Giveaway time! Thanks to Gx5, we have twenty copies of Ringtone Expressions (each valued at $4.99 USD per month) for you to snag. The Windows-based application offers a quick and easy way for you to convert your music, YouTube videos, and self-recorded audio into ringtones for your Windows Mobile device.

So, what do you have to do to win? Read on and get commenting. Good luck!

• Leave a comment in this thread, stating your favourite music genre. Rock, R&B, psychedelic trance, or something else? Let us know. It's that simple.
• Only one comment per person. Any more and your entry will be deemed invalid. Note that if you're registering and leaving a comment for the first time, your post probably won't appear right away as it needs to be approved by our friendly moderators.
• The giveaway is open to anyone and everyone, regardless of where you are in the world.
• Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM GMT on June 24, 2009.
• A total of twenty winners will be selected randomly and notified via e-mail, so please ensure that a valid e-mail address is linked to your Thoughts Media account. Each winner will receive a lifetime subscription allowing unlimited use of Ringtone Expressions.

Last month, we had five copies of Paragon Software Group's Handy Assistant and five copies of PocketX Software's Business PRO up for grabs. Without further ado, here are the winners, selected randomly and presented in alphabetical order.

• Handy Assistant: cmusciano, DrAT, elnehi, smconstable, Tryster
• Business PRO: code-frog, dov47, jimmur, moti1010, wisniak

If your user name is in the list above, congratulations! Keep an eye on your inbox (and your spam folder) for an e-mail with your respective license. A big thank you to Paragon Software Group and PocketX Software for their generosity! Stay tuned. There'll be another giveaway later today here at Pocket PC Thoughts.

Giveaway time! Thanks to PocketX Software, we have five copies of the newly-released Business PRO (each valued at $29.95 USD) for you to snag. The application offers advanced phone profiles, a profile picker, advanced call filtering, an SMS answering machine, group e-mail and SMS messaging, support for unique ringtones and message tones, and photo caller ID.

So, what do you have to do to win? Read on and get commenting. Good luck!

• Leave a comment in this thread, stating the number of contacts in your address book. 10, 20, 500, 1000? More? Let us know. It's that simple.
• Only one comment per person. Any more and your entry will be deemed invalid. Note that if you're registering and leaving a comment for the first time, your post probably won't appear right away as it needs to be approved by our friendly moderators.
• The giveaway is open to anyone and everyone, regardless of where you are in the world.
• Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM GMT on June 3, 2009.
• A total of five winners will be selected randomly and notified via e-mail, so please ensure that a valid e-mail address is linked to your Thoughts Media account. Each winner will receive a single licensed copy of Business PRO.

You want an easy contest? You've got an easy contest: Expansys is giving away a Palm Treo Pro, and all you have to do is answer their question about which operating system the Treo Pro runs. I'll give you a hint: it ends in .1 and has the word "Professional" in it. Shh. Don't tell anyone I told you! The contest ends in 10 days, so enter now.

We have freebies that need claiming, and they could be yours! Thanks to Paragon Software Group, we have five copies of the newly-released Handy Assistant application (each valued at $29.95 USD) to give away. Here's a brief description of what it does:

"Paragon Software Group, the leading software developer for mobile devices and PC desktops, has released Handy Assistant, an advanced mobile phone application allowing management and customization of phone profiles, call processing and filtering, as well as other highly utilized phone features on Windows Mobile devices."

So, what do you have to do to win? Read on and get commenting. Good luck!

• Leave a comment in this thread, stating the ringtone you currently use. If you don't use one, because you simply adore the sweet serenity of silence, that's okay, too! Just mention that in the thread.
• Only one comment per person. Any more and your entry will be deemed invalid. Note that if you're registering and leaving a comment for the first time, your post probably won't appear right away as it needs to be approved by our friendly moderators.
• The giveaway is open to anyone and everyone, regardless of where you are in the world.
• Entries will be accepted until 11:59 PM GMT on May 30, 2009.
• A total of five winners will be selected randomly and notified via e-mail, so please ensure that a valid e-mail address is linked to your Thoughts Media account. Each winner will receive a single licensed copy of Handy Assistant.

"What's your most memorable Mobile Moment? Let us know! Upload a photo with a short description of your Moment—whatever mobile device you happen to use—so everyone can view and vote for their favourites. If you get the most votes by June 15, 2009, you could win $10,000! Plus, each vote automatically enters the voter into a draw to win 1 of 3 Samsung OMNIA™ devices."

Good news, Bad news time! Good news - Microsoft is currently holding a contest entitled Mobile Moments. As the description above states, you participate in the contest by pointing your browser to Microsoft's website and upload a photo of your favorite “mobile moment” and then give said photo a description. Users vote on your precious moment in time and after Jun 15th, 2009 one lucky person is chosen to win $10,000! Bad news time - This contest is only available to Canadian residents it appears, which is pretty lame... unless you're in Canada that is.

"We are busy building the next generation features for Mobile Phone Backup. Completely re-engineering backup to make the most of the features offered in Microsoft's new Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7. We would like to invite you to take part in a massive prize contest we're calling the Sprite Backup 7 Feature Hunt. You can win some great prizes..."

The crew over at Sprite Software are busy working on the next version of Sprite Backup, and they're interested in hearing from users of their software about what feature they'd like to see the most in version 7.0 of Sprite Backup. That's it - talk about an easy contest! The contest starts today (April 21st) and goes until May 8th. The prizes? Two winners will get the first prize, which is a Touch HD! Five winners will get the second prize, which is a Bluetooth GPS, and 30 winners will get the third prize, which is an 8GB microSD card. Nice! Winners will be announced on May 15th. Jump on over to their contest page and enter now.

The Microsoft My Phone Beta contest is over! The contest was originally for two registration codes for Microsoft's latest mobile Beta program but luckily Jason was able to get a third code from one of his sources so we have three lucky winners to announce today! The triad of winners is rockcnu, jkovacs and leslietroyer. Congratulations to all of the winners! I want to thank everyone that took the time to send us their disaster stories and hopefully within the future we will not have to deal with annoyances like syncing errors.

HTC has a pretty rockin' contest going on right now for people located in the USA (sorry rest-of-world) that's worth checking out: the grand prize is $25,000 in cash with two HTC Fuze devices, the first-place prize (given out to four people) is a $15,000 American Express gift card with two HTC Fuze devices, and the daily winner gets an HTC Fuze. That's a lot of prizes! So how do you enter? If you're in the USA, you'll no doubt see the green HTC Fuze banners on this Web site - click on one of the banners (turn down your speakers first), and once it loads, you'll see an orange "WIN" graphic in the upper-right corner. Click on that and you'll be taken to the HTC Fuze contest page. Have fun! The contest is open until the 5th of April.

Last month, we offered 25 copies of Pocket Watch Software's ActivePrint Traveler to you, dear readers. And without further ado, here are the winners, selected randomly and presented in alphabetical order.

• bhphotovideo, Catman51, Deemo, deenoo, dyrtnapr, freddiemac, hogger_jeff, Ha11y, Hx4700, Joel Crane, kerrins, laubin, markhartman, MikeStanley, psyjohn, SpriteGF, srsabu, stephen_yfc, tcassidy, tpeazy, twcook, Vapor03, WhyldMan, yawanag, yvilla

If your user name is in the list above, congratulations! Keep an eye on your inbox for an e-mail with your ActivePrint Traveler license. A big thank you to Pocket Watch Software for their generous contribution! Stay tuned as we bring you more giveaways here at Pocket PC Thoughts and Smartphone Thoughts.

If you missed the ActivePrint Traveler giveaway thread that was posted a little over a week ago, now's your chance to check it out and get your entry in before it's too late. There are 25 copies of ActivePrint Traveler up for grabs, which makes for pretty good odds. Simply head over to the giveaway thread, check the rules, and leave a comment. Winners will be announced next week.