What use of your PPC gets the most looks from others?

[EyePAQ]

What is the funniest or strangest thing you use your PPC for? What gets people around you to look at you with that look of "You are definitely a geek."

For me, I use it sometimes to take my kids orders at a restaurant (McD's, Wendy's, etc.) I walk up to the register and read it off. I have 8 kids, so I can't remember everyone's different order. The order taker looks at me like I'm brain dead. Makes me laugh.

[Jason Dunn]

I have 8 kids...

EIGHT KIDS??? 8O

Wow - I think you win the "Pocket PC User With the Most Children" award. ;-)

[JonnoB]

For me, I use it sometimes to take my kids orders at a restaurant (McD's, Wendy's, etc.) I walk up to the register and read it off. I have 8 kids, so I can't remember everyone's different order. The order taker looks at me like I'm brain dead. Makes me laugh.

I have 6... and sometimes I cross their names.... I know that is bad. 8??? Two more than I'll ever have - I commend you.

[handheldplanet]

Initially I got the most looks while looking up scriptures in Sunday School. Although, now there are at least six others in the congregation with Pocket PCs (somewhat due to my influence I might add :) )- so it's not so different anymore!

[EyePAQ]

My pastor and 5-6 other pastors in our group of churches around Florida use iPAQs. They read scripture during their sermons from them. It's great. We call our pastor "Pastor Gadget".

[Dave Conger]

I got a lot of looks when I busted out my iPAQ to use as a Bible for my Jesus Tradition class at University. I think everyone thought I was playing games and such, but for so reason reading from Reader made me remember things better then from paper (...maybe that just makes me a geek). If the campus bookstore only sold ebooks...

I also get a lot of looks in my car. When people get in, they are never quite sure what the Arkon mount I have is. I guess a random goosneck in my car is kind of odd.

[Zero101]

Emulation always seems to get a big reaction. Sitting on a plane, or in the lobby of some office playing Super Mario 3 on PocketNES usually turns a few heads :)

[Thinkingmandavid]

I have used my pda at starbucks which always gets looks and glances. When they pass by my table they always makesure to look at the screen to see what i am doing:)
In class at HBU it gets looks as well. I use mine for everything so it is something that comes wiht it, people see it and it always gets their attentions.

[Tom Eichers]

Sitting in boring management meeting, while watching Jay and Silent Bob Movie on my iPaq (sound off). Then quickly task over to word, where I am taking notes when the boss walks by. The people next to me keep trying to chatch a look. Without being seen. :D

[Gallivant]

Okay, so I'm still stuck in Palm IIIxe-land, but things won't change much when I finally get the cash for an iPaq or a Jornada.

Pulling out the Stowaway and tapping out an essay or take notes while my classmates trundle along with pen and paper always gets onlookers. Everyone's used to a laptop being clunked down from a bag, but a slim and sexy PDA slipped from a pocket?

Running second but definitely ranking higher in the Geekiness category is when I fire up my planetarium program and start pointing out constellations.

It doesn't catch people's eyes as much, but I get the biggest reaction of all when I comment that I read almost exclusively on my PDA; if I had a dime for every "You can get books on that thing?" I hear, I'd have a Jornada already. And a Wifi card to boot.

[draiken]

Well, I believe gaming takes most of the ahh's and ohhh's, but also reading e-books.

I'm an IT manager, so I keep a huge list of software keys, administrator passwords and IP addresses on a code wallet encrypted list, so when someone has problems or doing tech support, everybody gets jealous when I pull out my Jornada and have all the info I need on the tip of my stylus instead of going to look for it on the storage room (where we keep all our software licenses)

ZIOSoft Metallion and Golf2 get a lot of looks, maybe for the sound, graphics and excitement... hehe

[Weyoun6]

The most common thing for me is pulling out my stowaway. Everyone askes: what is that? is that from this earth? etc... Gets really annoying. Other than that, other frequent comments are when i am using ebooks, my bible, or pocketDivx.

I wish pda were more common so i wouldnt have to answer all these questions and just do what i want to do. I have had various pdas for 4 years and i still get all these questions.

[Steven Cedrone]

For me, the thing that got the most looks: When the Pocket PC was in the cradle on my desk, I had Dockware Pro showing the date with pictures of my kids changing every 10 seconds. I can't tell you how many people thought they were going crazy when they looked up and a different picture was being displayed! They didn't realize that I had about 50 pictures set up to scroll through........

Steve

[spg]

Initially I got the most looks while looking up scriptures in Sunday School. Although, now there are at least six others in the congregation with Pocket PCs (somewhat due to my influence I might add :) )- so it's not so different anymore!
It was kinda the same thing for me. I have PocketBible from Laridian and I use it as my bible all the time. I've had people come up to me and ask what I was doing with it. :-) (one person actually went out and bought one after talking to me)

[Dave Conger]

When the Pocket PC was in the cradle on my desk, I had Dockware Pro showing the date with pictures of my kids changing every 10 seconds....

Cool idea!!

[topps]

Biggest wow factor I get is when I am doing remote control presentations wirelessly from the iPaq - being able to wonder around the room, control the presentation, run other software in parallel, such as Windows Media Player and then annotate the slides/scribble/highlight etc ...all from the device...all pretty cool...even better when you have a complex set of bullets or pics that are animated serially onto the screen - I get to see them before the audience so it helps remind me what is coming next. Lastly, I can finally make use of the speaker notes in PowerPoint - always seemed a bit pointless before because you had to lug around a separate set of paper notes...now I can see them on the iPaq screen as each slide is displayed.

[EyePAQ]

Biggest wow factor I get is when I am doing remote control presentations wirelessly from the iPaq - being able to wonder around the room, control the presentation, run other software in parallel, such as Windows Media Player and then annotate the slides/scribble/highlight etc ...all from the device...all pretty cool...even better when you have a complex set of bullets or pics that are animated serially onto the screen - I get to see them before the audience so it helps remind me what is coming next. Lastly, I can finally make use of the speaker notes in PowerPoint - always seemed a bit pointless before because you had to lug around a separate set of paper notes...now I can see them on the iPaq screen as each slide is displayed.

You have got to put together a white paper on how you do this. That would be invaluable.

[Jason Dunn]

You have got to put together a white paper on how you do this. That would be invaluable.

Indeed - we would certainly be interested in publishing content like this. :-)

[Dave Beauvais]

The thing I've done that gets the most attention is watching episodes of Farscape (http://www.scifi.com/farscape). I "acquire" episodes in MPEG format, convert them to Windows Media format using Windows Movie Maker in Windows XP, then copy them to my SD card to play back in Media Player on the Pocket PC. The average 42-minute episode takes about 46 MB on the card. The only real downside is that the framerate is really low at that size. :? Yes, I'm sure there are better ways of doing this, but it's relatively painless and requires no special software on the PC or Pocket PC.

Others include reading e-books in Palm Reader (http://www.peanutpress.com/product/reader/browse/free), and playing a game of Argentum (http://www.ionside.com/).

... I can finally make use of the speaker notes in PowerPoint ... I can see them on the iPaq screen as each slide is displayed.
Do you mind if I ask which presentation software you're using? I've been considering trying a couple apps, but I don't know which one is the best. I likely won't be doing remote-controlled presentations as you're doing, but I can see me using it on the Pocket PC alone. Can you see both the notes and small version of the slide at the same time on the PPC screen?

Has anyone ever seen a review/comparison of the various PowerPoint viewers that are out there?

Thanks!

--Dave

[topps]

... I can finally make use of the speaker notes in PowerPoint ... I can see them on the iPaq screen as each slide is displayed.
Do you mind if I ask which presentation software you're using? I've been considering trying a couple apps, but I don't know which one is the best. I likely won't be doing remote-controlled presentations as you're doing, but I can see me using it on the Pocket PC alone. Can you see both the notes and small version of the slide at the same time on the PPC screen?


For presentations on the iPAQ, I like Pocket Slides by Conduits - only one that allows you to edit the presentation on device.

For remote contol, I use a variety of stuff in combination. I'll put together a white paper as soon as I find out how to do it.

[spursdude]

I "acquire" episodes in MPEG format, convert them to Windows Media format using Windows Movie Maker in Windows XP, then copy them to my SD card to play back in Media Player on the Pocket PC. The average 42-minute episode takes about 46 MB on the card. The only real downside is that the framerate is really low at that size.

same here. the frame rate is quite low, but to me, it's bearable. the ability to watch smallville or the old ninja turtles cartoons (that's right!) during long trips, etc, is very nice.

[refugee]

my HP 568 with the thumb keyboard is so impressive that all i have to do is pull it out & it usually draws a small crowd BEFORE I DO ANYTHING!! LOL! :D :)

[DrtyBlvd]

Interesting answers - my cent's worth is 'for just about everything' ! I look up accurate prices others wouldn't know where to find; I offer accurate directions using Navigator; I have assistants phone numbers and personal details enabling sales calls leverage; I have schematic drawings I can zoom into the max to show items / gears / shafts and their part numbers; I have the latest photos of my wonderful daughter; I have the latest financial/music/movie news; I have a map of the tube(!); Copies of emails; Inet access using GPRS; etc etc etc.

People who still have filofaxes are always a little envious.

[ECOslin]

My primary PDA is an IBM z50. Looks very much like a sub-notebook class machine. I just use it for documents and notes.

The normal battery for this device is an 8 hour lithium battery pack. I have the extended 16 hour pack on it all the time. Runs really 14 hours, generally.

People have looked twice when I mention that.

Edward

[Jason Dunn]

As far as light text entry and Excel docs go, HPCs were poised to be laptop killers - my wife uses one (a Sharp Tripad) for school and she loves it. No danger of the battery running dry in the middle of the day. Too bad the OEMs priced the units way too high...they killed the market.

[Mike Temporale]

I used to get a lot of looks playing MS-Pacman on the subway / train while riding to and from work. Of course, I would always find a seat next to some palm user who was busy entering addresses into their new palm. 8)