The miniature marvel we know as the Windows Mobile device can do a great number of amazing things, but it's the few things it CAN'T do that tend to frustrate us! In my case, I've tried to position my devices as full replacements for a laptop when traveling on business or pleasure, and to have access to all of my business information when out and about and away from the desk.
Sure, Office Mobile (née "Pocket Office") handles my Word and Excel docs, and I have e-mail at the ready, but there are times when I wished I had access to that 3rd quarter sales report from 2005, or need to log into a particular vendor's overly Java-laden website that the less than stellar IE Mobile browser can only render as a blank page. At times like that, I REALLY tend to rethink my decision to rely on a mobile device instead of lugging along seven pounds worth of laptop and chargers.
However, you can have the best of both worlds- the portability of a mobile device and the power of your desktop or laptop via a remote control service. Anyone who listens to talk radio had probably heard the host-personalized ads for "GoToMyPC," a subscription service that lets you log in to your desktop from your laptop, and how the talk show host couldn't live without it. GoToMyPC, and competing services, also work from many Windows Mobile devices. Again, my cheapskate nature being what it is, I look for the cheap/free angle whenever possible. As one of my business mentors, a successful retailer, always preaches- "if you can't sell it, don't buy it!" which was his shorthand way of saying that cutting unnecessary expenses to the bone was as important a part of success as maximizing income. (I'm sure his employees' stories that he hangs used paper towels on a rack to dry for reuse are exaggerated, however...) In that vein, I use LogMeIn (http://www.logmein.com/,) a similar, but free, service that brings up a view of your desktop or laptop on any Internet-connected PC or Windows Mobile touchscreen device and lets you operate the remote PC as if you were sitting at it.
While remote access can be accomplished a number of ways, including with tools included in Windows XP Professional and many Windows Mobile devices natively ("Remote Desktop"), LogMeIn is MUCH easier to setup, offers a better display, easier to use interface, and renders faster on Windows Mobile devices than the Microsoft Remote Desktop app.
Setting up is very simple. Go to http://www.logmein.com/ from your desktop PC and set up an account, including your passwords for your account and up to three PCs you want to access remotely. Download a small app onto the PC that allows LogMeIn's servers to connect to the PC, and you're ready to try remote control. Now just go to logmein.com from any Internet-connected PC, (or www.logmein.com/pda from your WinMo device) log in to your account, and you'll get a list of your PCs that are online and able to be accessed. Select a PC to control (the first time you do, a small app will download to the PC or device that runs in your browser to allow remore access) and shortly the display will show what your remote PC is displaying. On the WinMo device you can zoom in or out, scroll around, and use the keyboard and touchscreen as if they were the keyboard and mouse of your remote PC.
Like many of the free services I discuss here, LogMeIn offers both free and paid services, with the paid version offering more features, obviously. The LogMeIn subscription will allow you to print to a local printer from the remote PC, hear the remote PC's audio (important if you want to listen to MP3s on the remote PC I guess?), and let you cut/copy/paste info from the remote PC to the local PC or PPC. None of these features are critical to me, so the free version works fine for my needs, particularly since, with a little creativity, there are often workarounds for the limitations. For example, while I can't drag/drop a document from the remote PC to my Windows Mobile phone, I can simply e-mail it from the remote PC to my WinMo phone by controlling Outlook on the remote PC. And, while I can't print locally, I can e-mail or fax a document to myself from the remote PC and access it via webmail on whatever PC the printer I was going to use to print from is connected to, like a hotel's public lobby PC, for example.
So, in addition to being a phone, an e-mail device, an MP3 player, a navigation aid and everything else it does for you, your Windows Mobile device can also be a remote display and keyboard/mouse for your PC back at the office, and eliminate the need to lug that laptop around. If nothing else, when you're poking around your office PC's display remotely with your stylus, other Smartphone owners looking over your shoulder will be scratching their heads wondering how and where you obtained a phone that "runs" Windows XP or Vista!
Sure, Office Mobile (née "Pocket Office") handles my Word and Excel docs, and I have e-mail at the ready, but there are times when I wished I had access to that 3rd quarter sales report from 2005, or need to log into a particular vendor's overly Java-laden website that the less than stellar IE Mobile browser can only render as a blank page. At times like that, I REALLY tend to rethink my decision to rely on a mobile device instead of lugging along seven pounds worth of laptop and chargers.
However, you can have the best of both worlds- the portability of a mobile device and the power of your desktop or laptop via a remote control service. Anyone who listens to talk radio had probably heard the host-personalized ads for "GoToMyPC," a subscription service that lets you log in to your desktop from your laptop, and how the talk show host couldn't live without it. GoToMyPC, and competing services, also work from many Windows Mobile devices. Again, my cheapskate nature being what it is, I look for the cheap/free angle whenever possible. As one of my business mentors, a successful retailer, always preaches- "if you can't sell it, don't buy it!" which was his shorthand way of saying that cutting unnecessary expenses to the bone was as important a part of success as maximizing income. (I'm sure his employees' stories that he hangs used paper towels on a rack to dry for reuse are exaggerated, however...) In that vein, I use LogMeIn (http://www.logmein.com/,) a similar, but free, service that brings up a view of your desktop or laptop on any Internet-connected PC or Windows Mobile touchscreen device and lets you operate the remote PC as if you were sitting at it.
While remote access can be accomplished a number of ways, including with tools included in Windows XP Professional and many Windows Mobile devices natively ("Remote Desktop"), LogMeIn is MUCH easier to setup, offers a better display, easier to use interface, and renders faster on Windows Mobile devices than the Microsoft Remote Desktop app.
Setting up is very simple. Go to http://www.logmein.com/ from your desktop PC and set up an account, including your passwords for your account and up to three PCs you want to access remotely. Download a small app onto the PC that allows LogMeIn's servers to connect to the PC, and you're ready to try remote control. Now just go to logmein.com from any Internet-connected PC, (or www.logmein.com/pda from your WinMo device) log in to your account, and you'll get a list of your PCs that are online and able to be accessed. Select a PC to control (the first time you do, a small app will download to the PC or device that runs in your browser to allow remore access) and shortly the display will show what your remote PC is displaying. On the WinMo device you can zoom in or out, scroll around, and use the keyboard and touchscreen as if they were the keyboard and mouse of your remote PC.
Like many of the free services I discuss here, LogMeIn offers both free and paid services, with the paid version offering more features, obviously. The LogMeIn subscription will allow you to print to a local printer from the remote PC, hear the remote PC's audio (important if you want to listen to MP3s on the remote PC I guess?), and let you cut/copy/paste info from the remote PC to the local PC or PPC. None of these features are critical to me, so the free version works fine for my needs, particularly since, with a little creativity, there are often workarounds for the limitations. For example, while I can't drag/drop a document from the remote PC to my Windows Mobile phone, I can simply e-mail it from the remote PC to my WinMo phone by controlling Outlook on the remote PC. And, while I can't print locally, I can e-mail or fax a document to myself from the remote PC and access it via webmail on whatever PC the printer I was going to use to print from is connected to, like a hotel's public lobby PC, for example.
So, in addition to being a phone, an e-mail device, an MP3 player, a navigation aid and everything else it does for you, your Windows Mobile device can also be a remote display and keyboard/mouse for your PC back at the office, and eliminate the need to lug that laptop around. If nothing else, when you're poking around your office PC's display remotely with your stylus, other Smartphone owners looking over your shoulder will be scratching their heads wondering how and where you obtained a phone that "runs" Windows XP or Vista!
1 comment:
i like yr blog how do i subscribe to it so that i can get it when there is something new
thks
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