Exchange Activesync for Hotmail

August 31st, 2010 2 Comments »

I’ve been waiting for this for ages… finally it seems that Exchange Activesync for Hotmail has been enabled. Don’t know what that is? I shall tell you… In the old days, Activesync was a solution that allowed you to synchronise Microsoft Outlook on your (Windows) PC with your (Windows Mobile) PDA using a hard wired sync cable. Windows Mobile had a hard time keeping up with the new smartphone devices which could make use of over-the-air synchronisation. Microsoft did eventually create a product called Exchange Activesync, this allowed


users to synchronise their mobile devices over the air with their corporate Microsoft Exchange email server. Not much use for your average home user although for business users it could rival RIM’s Blackberry. It has been possible to get Hotmail on Windows Mobile devices ‘pushed’ for a few years using a special Windows Live app, but other platforms such as the iPhone or Android have had to make do with IMAP/POP3 or move to Gmail. Today, I noticed that Exchange Activesync is now enabled on my Hotmail account. Push email, calendar, contacts and tasks are fully synchronised between my phone and my Hotmail account, which is in turn fully synchronised between Outlook on both of my computers.

If you would like to try out Exchange Activesync for Hotmail and you have a compatible device, then you’ll need to use these settings:

Server Address: m.hotmail.com
Use SSL: yes
Username: your Hotmail email address
Password: your Hotmail password
Domain: Leave this blank
Email Address: your Hotmail email address

One more thing, by default on Windows Mobile it will add a “Sent from my Windows Phone” signature to every email – you can turn this off in the signature settings for Mobile Outlook.


How to watch The Gadget Show

August 30th, 2010 1 Comment »

Tonight I figured I’d have a relaxing bath. Unfortunately, the timing conflicted with The Gadget Show and although I had set it to record, I figured it would be a fitting tribute if I watched it in the bath. So… making use of a total of five gadgets, I lathered up and watched it. Here’s how:

Waterproof PSP

First things first, I needed something to watch it on: Gadget #1 – I figured my PSP would be the easiest to use seeing as my old mobile phone isn’t up to the job and my laptop would require power for any tasks over 30 minutes. But how to keep the water out? Well, on to Gadget #2, the Aquapac. This is a neat little pouch I purchased years ago along with my first PDA and GPS receiver. It is allegedly used by the US military too. Electronics are sealed up inside the water-tight pouch, protecting it from water and UV. The clear plastic is also designed not to fatigue and crack with old age, and I personally guarantee this case has taken a severe beating. I even own a second smaller one for my smartphone it is that good.

Okay, so we have a waterproof screen… now what? Well, avid readers of my blog may remember some other gadget purchases of mine? I own a Sony PlayStation 3 (Gadget #3) which allows a PSP to remotely connect and view video content stored either locally, or on DLNA enabled media servers. In this case though, I wanted to watch live television. Thankfully Gadget #4, the Sony PlayTV came in here – a funky little USB TV tuner for the PS3. Finally, in order to connect the PSP to the PlayStation 3 I required a decent WiFi signal. Thanks to the recent installation of a Netgear WG602v3 wireless access point in the loft my entire house (as well as my whole back garden and a decent distance down my road) has excellent coverage. Once my PSP had connected to the PlayStation 3, all I had to do was fire up the PlayTV software, open up the in progress recording of The Gadget Show, and relax… zzzzz.

And if you are interested in buying any of this kit, here are some links to the products on Amazon. In some cases you can’t get the exact products I own any more, so I’ve included their modern equivalent.

New Server – Part 1: Compucase

August 28th, 2010 No Comments »

It’s going to be a sad day, but it is coming soon – my trusty Windows Home Server is soon to be retired in favour of the new shiny soon-to-be-released Windows Home Server 2 (or “Vail” as it is known at the moment). My little Dell Optiplex is not up to the task of running the new 64-bit only server Operating System so unfortunately that means new server hardware. As you of course all remember, I recently installed a data cabinet in my garage so the obvious choice for a new case is the Compucase S400-J04 – a 4U rack mountable chassis which can take a standard ATX motherboard. Not only this, but due to its height, it can accommodate as many PCI/PCI-X expansion cards as your motherboard can take, a standard ATX power supply, four 3.5” hard drives (or three + one external bay), three 5.25” drives, or one 5.25” and three hot-swappable drives (if you have an optional caddy). It also includes four internal fans, each with 3-pin motherboard connectors and Molex power supplies to be fully flexible, 2x front USB ports and a lockable door. BUT…. those are not the main selling points. The reason this chassis is the best out there for me is due to it’s ultra compact depth – it measures in at 410mm deep. This is an absolutely perfect depth and when racked up in my 550mm deep cabinet it exactly fits front to back with a few mm spare at the front for the door, and enough at the back for the power cable.

This is the server before I started playing with it:

New Server 1

I then loaded it with the left-over components from my last PC upgrade, including an Asus P5B motherboard, Intel Core 2 Duo processor, an NVidia something-or-other-nothing-special PCI-X graphics card and 4GB RAM.

New Server 2

Finally I hunted around my boxes of bits in the garage and found an old DVD-ROM drive, a floppy drive, and an old 80GB IDE hard drive (well, I found three of these for some reason) and bunged them in for good measure. Once completed, I plan to put at least one new 2TB SATA drive in, but for playing around with at the moment I threw in whatever I had lying around.

New Server 3

Now the observant amongst you may notice one critical missing component. Got it yet? Riiiight, the power supply. Well I don’t have a spare one of these to hand and will have to purchase one later in the year. I only got the case early because I wanted to make sure that I had one. The dimensions were so perfectly matched for my cabinet that had I not been able to get hold of one when the new server operating system is released later this year I’d have been eternally miffed. So, to do: 1x power supply, 1x 2TB SATA drive, 1x custom made laminated sticker to put on the front, then wait for Windows Home Server 2… install, play, test, migrate.

New Discworld Book!

August 24th, 2010 No Comments »

Available to pre-order now and due for release next week (2nd September) is Terry Pratchett’s latest Discworld book “I Shall Wear Midnight”. Technically it isn’t part of the normal Discworld flow of novels as it is part of a side-line ‘young adult’ series, however I’m still counting it and the central character, young witch Tiffany Aching, is as established as any other Discworld character. I’ve ordered my copy.. go get yours and we’ll compare notes. Amazon seems to be the best price around and have free delivery – see the link to the left. If you want a signed copy then you’ll need to visit the official web site and pay full price + delivery.




My First 10km

August 20th, 2010 No Comments »

I did it… total time of 58 minutes and 33 seconds according to Nike+. I can’t figure out how to share the run in all its graphical glory on this blog, so just click here instead if you are interested.

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