Just caught sight of a really good post by Robert McLaws: Windows Vista Edition : Windows SideShow for Windows Mobile Beta – FINALLY!
Awesome. This is really good news.
What is Windows SideShow?
Windows SideShow is a new technology in Windows Vista. With Windows SideShow, developers can write gadgets to send data from a computer to devices connected to that computer.
The beta requires you to have a device with either Windows Mobile 5.0 or Windows Mobile 6 Professional or Standard Edition. You will also need a Bluetooth-enabled Vista PC.
Even though Robert warns that the Beta is "version 0.01", I didn't have the first problem. It just worked. :D
The ScreenShot Tour
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| No gadgets available | No gadgets are turned on | Options |
Things are pretty dull when you first set up Windows SideShow for Windows Mobile.
Let's enable some gadgets for our Device. The HTC-8900 you see above is my AT&T Tilt phone. "Inbox - Windows Mail", and "Windows Media Player" gadgets are installed by default in Vista. And I think the "Office Outlook 2007 Calendar" find its way into your machine if you have Office 2007. I download the "Countdown" gadget, and the "Office PowerPoint Remote" from the SideShow Gadget Gallery.
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| [ Stopped ] | Albums | Browse Media Library | Genres |
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| Play now | [ Playing ] | Let's Get It Started | [ Stopped ] |
Great background. It's just eye-candy, but it really adds a lot of polish and class to the application. Nice feature set for this Windows Media Player gadget. And since it is so simple, it is fast. You can get to Albums, Artists, Playlists, and Genres very easily and get to your media quickly. You can see album art for the currently playing song, but it is very small. I think this should be updated. Notice, I added a second gadget, "Office Outlook 2007 Calendar, between the first screenshot and the last one.
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| [ Playing ] | No information available | Inbox - Windows Mail |
You can see the SideShow gadget from the desktop which is a really good idea. And I've included a couple of screen shots of the calendar and mail gadgets. Not a lot to see here but it is mostly because I don't have good data to see it shine on this machine.
Hmm, I couldn't resist I had to try the Microsoft Office PowerPoint Remote for Windows SideShow.
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| Office PowerPoint Remote | Session 5 Mobile Data.pptx | Next Slide | Presenting: Session 5 |
Wow, this gadget is just awesome. People pay really good money for PowerPoint remote and how many can show the PowerPoint deck on the screen. It even works from the Today screen, and you can just use the hardware buttons to control the presentation. This is going to be really popular.
Feedback Wanted:
If you decide to give Windows SideShow for Windows Mobile a try, please consider posting what you think, or maybe even do a Screenshot Tour of your favorite SideShow gadget.