"Journal Bar" From OmegaOne. Does it deserve a place on your Today Screen?

[Peter Traugot]

There a number of Today plugins available for the Pocket PC 2002 operating system. Most of them offer a single feature - whether it be a calendar, a currency converter, or a system monitor. Omega One has something a bit more ambitious for you. It's called Journal Bar and it packs a day's worth of global information into a half inch on your screen. Has anyone ever asked you what's on TV tonight? Or, what's the weather going to be this weekend. Well, maybe you can be Mr. or Miss know-it-all. Check out what else this plugin puts in your pocket . . .<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/traugot-jan03-jb-00.gif" /> <br /><!><br /><span><b>Introduction</b></span><br />Journal One is a Today plugin that offers a large palette of informational views, each of which is reached by scrolling the up-down navigation buttons on the left side of the box. There are four categories of information that are displayed. They are: Weather (two different locations can be displayed), News (there are four sections), Stocks (up to 11 entries), and Links (six user definable entries). <br /><br /><span><b>The Setup</b></span><br />As with most Today plugins, the configuration is accessed through the "Today" settings dialog. Each category can be updated at different time intervals which are user definable at the bottom of each page. Once configured, all the user has to do is enter his or her zip code and sync his or her device. I found that the program takes about a minute or two to download all of the information. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on how much information you want to have available. Once all information is downloaded (you will know this because the little category icon in the top left will stop flashing) your Today screen will resemble Figure 1.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/traugot-jan03-jb-01.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 1: Default view on your today screen. You can see the navigation arrows on the left side of the Journal Bar section.</i><br /><br />And here is what each of the modules look like when you scroll through them. Note: Each of these modules REPLACES the current display, it doesn't open additional sections. This image is used to quickly show what each module looks like in one image :)<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/traugot-jan03-jb-02.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 2: This is a break-out of most of Journal Bar's modules. News is actually broken out into as many news sections as you select in the configuration.</i><br /> <br />There's a setting in the configuration that will cycle the information fields in regular intervals. You can override this by manipulating the up and down navigation controls. The configuration controls can be reached a couple of ways. You can open the Today app through Settings, or, you can navigate to the Links portion of the Journal Bar plugin and access the configuration icon there. The numerous tags in the configuration window are self explanatory and are as follows: General / Weather / News / Stocks / Links. See images below:<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/traugot-jan03-jb-03.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 3: "Weather" tag</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/traugot-jan03-jb-04.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 4: "News" tag</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/traugot-jan03-jb-05.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 5: "Stock" tag</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/traugot-jan03-jb-06.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 6: "Links" tag</i><br /><br /><span><b>Likes and dislikes</b></span><br />I immediately liked this plugin. The weather display is great. I've looked at many other weather-only plugins and this one has the best display with the smallest footprint. The information is offered very without clutter on the Today screen. When you click on a day, you are taken to a custom screen where details of the day's weather are displayed. (See image below.) The headlines are clear and stock infomation is well laid out. However, unlike the weather screen, once you select a headline, theater location, or stock quote, the plugin launches Pocket Internet Explorer. In some cases it takes a while to render the page, especially the theater location page. It also, obviously, starts another application on your device. You need to jump back and fourth between your Today screen in order to select another article. For some this might be minor, for others they may have expected a more integrated approach.<br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/traugot-jan03-jb-08.gif" /> <br /><i>Figure 7: The Weather screen that opens when you click on a day from the main Today screen</i><br /><br /><span><b>Gotchas</b></span><br />This information is from OmegaOne's Web site:<br /><li>Journal Bar will not sync over 802.11 networks, although it will sync via bluetooth connections.<br /><br /><li>Currently, the application does not sync over the cell phone on phone edition units.<br /><br /><li>Due to the fact that a great deal of information is gathered from Web sites, there is the chance that your device will not be able to gather all up-to-date data if those pages become unavailable.<span><b>Where To Buy</b></span><br />You can download a trial version of this application, or you can purchase it for $9.99 by visiting <a href="http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2&productType=2&catalog=0§ionId=0&productId=52103">Handango</a> (affiliate).<br /><br /><span><b>Specifications</b></span><br />The application requires 155 KB of storage memory and takes up approximately one fifth of the Today screen when active. Like all Today screen plug-ins, it should be installed to main RAM, not a storage card or Flash ROM.<br /><br /><span><b>Conclusions</b></span><br />I like this application - for $9.99, you get a great plugin that doesn't take up much space at all. That's a big plus. The navigation is simple, though the controls are a bit small for quick navigation. I'm not too thrilled with the combination of a built-in viewer, like the weather panel or the Movie Reviews, and the use of Pocket Internet Explorer for all other information. Load times aren't great given the information is already loaded on your device, although this may simply be a rendering issue with the Pocket PC. There are also many times when a link, embedded into the article leads to the inevitable "Connection not available" dialog. For example, if you select the Movies link from the plugin, Explorer opens up and you are shown the theater listings. Clicking on a theater brings you to that theater's listings. However, if you click on the movie, it tries to connect. Why not have it link to the movie review data that is also downloaded to the device in the Reviews section? I don't know how you would filter out or otherwise eliminate those dead links, and I don't know if you would want to, but I found the line between offline and cached data to be fuzzy.

[Ed Hansberry]

I really like the concept of this app, but it isn't tweakable enough for me. It kept hogging my GPRS connection everytime I connected via bluetooth to my t68, including updateing stock prices repeatedly on a Saturday. :confused totally:

[JMountford]

I have been using this app for a week or so now, maybe a bit more. I really enjoy having it. It is nice to have all of the information at a glance.

[ploeg]

For me, the weather part is well done and worth the $10 admission price in itself. So if you're mainly interested in the weather, go for that. The news is generally OK too. (The "Local News is for a town about 70 miles from where I live, but then I live in the boondocks, too.)

Everything else is done pretty haphazardly, though. This app has been out for about a month, and they've already issued two or three revisions to fix issues that have cropped up.

[slugnut]

Does anybody know if Journal Bar will work with Dashboard?

[pdajunkies]

I don't find the other panels to have as much value as a 5 day outlook on weather. I used to sync with AccuWeather on Avantgo. I prefer this well over AvantGo.

The news I can do with out. I can browse CNN mobile and BBC mobile if I need news. I would like the option to turn off the other panels so that I can get space back.

The arrows are a little hard to navigative being so small. This could also be because I have a e740 and the screen is sometimes irratating and inaccurate.

I haven't been prompted for the $10. If I do, I would probably keep this app but it would be a hard decision.

[MixTracks]

I love this little app. Not perfect, but for such an early version (with free updates), I think it has great promise. A "must buy" in my book.

[obarnes]

This would be great IF it had UK selections :idea:

[jhorman]

I have been using this app with Dashboard for about a week. Works fine. You need the Dashboard Today Module for it to work.

[Bearjaw]

Has anybody downloaded this from handango? If so how do you get version 1.3. I downloaded it and it was ver 1.0. Whats the deal? Can someone help me. Jeff

P.S its worth the 10 bucks just for the weather report! I was at dinner last week and me and my group were able to check movie time at the restaurant. I may have made my friends PPC converts just cause of this one app!

[MLO]

This app doesn't work at all on my Toshiba e335. It displays the Links page, even though I don't have it selected, and won't scroll at all.

So, basically its stuck on the Links page, tries to download links that I don't want, and won't display the weather...which I DO want.

MLO

[jmbneaf]

I liked the whole idea up until the part where:

"will not sync over wireless 802.11 networks" - I rarely sync via USB with my e740.

Has anyone confirmed this?

I don't have the $10 to pay for a useless experiment.

JB

[Kati Compton]

This app would be worth it to me if I could set up that it would download weather info for several different (configurable) cities, and let me cycle through them with a small button on the today screen.

Also - on the TV listings - what is able to be displayed? Can you say "I live in Denton, USA, which is in the Central time zone, and I have DirecTV"? Or is it just networks?

[djdj]

I've been having problems with this (and Omega One's Battery Bar) causing my iPAQ 3830 to do random resets and lockups.

Anyone else have any problems with this?

[ploeg]

Bearjaw: It seems like they don't update the demo nearly as often as they update the paid app. If you buy it from Handango, you can download 1.3.

kati42: I agree that having multiple cities would be good. However, at this time I can't figure out how you're supposed to get even two different cities to display. (It seems to be somewhat common that things that are supposed to work don't. I'm supposed to get sports scores, but no leagues display when I access the scores function. And I have the latest version (1.3) installed.)

[ppeltier]

Unfortunatly does not provide Weather for Canadian cities....probably caused by need for different web site link
To bad it is a nice little app, but that omission makes it a no go for me. :( :roll:

[JoshB]

I tried this the last time it was posted on the PPCThoughts front page. ;)

It didn't work on my Jornada 568. It got stuck on the "Links" page, and wouldn't let me go anywhere else (especially weather - that's what I really wanted).

It didn't seem to be downloading stuff correctly - no flashing icon. However, I know it was at least downloading movie times, because I could get to that part. Unfortunately, that was the only thing that worked, and I uninstalled it after a day or two.

I figured it had something to do with my unusual sync/connectivity situation. I sync to my PC using a 10Mbps wired NIC. I have "pass through" internet access enabled in Activesync, and I can browse directly using the NIC on my corporate network (I'm behind a proxy, and this is configured in Connection Mangler).

I wonder if it doesn't like being behind the proxy? I would have concluded that this was the problem, but it was successful in downloading at least the movie times.

Anyone else have issues on a corporate network, behind a web proxy, or using a wired NIC to sync?

I'd really like for this app to work - the weather on the today screen alone would make it worth the $10 for me. As for the rest (movie times, news, etc.), that's what I have my Hiptop for. :)

JoshB

[ChrisW]

This app would be worth it to me if I could set up that it would download weather info for several different (configurable) cities, and let me cycle through them with a small button on the today screen.

If several = 2, you can do this. The Options dialog in the Today settings allows you to enter a 2nd Zip code. When viewing in the Today screen, one of them is denoted by a house icon, the other by an airplane.

It didn't work on my Jornada 568
It works great on my 567.

[Sanjay Srikonda]

Ok, I tried using this app. Tried 3 separate times. Emailed their tech support no less than 3 or 4 times, and each and every time I was told that there is a new version coming out and that the IE pages not syncing was caused by a problem downloading/sycing the sports scores. I never even knew I was syncing sports scores. I don't think this app is ready for prime time. It needs to be a lot clearer in setup to let users know how to sync specific pages and sites.

Granted, i was using the trial, but still it says it's a fully functional trial for 15 days. However, it was far from so.

The app was great, worked as said, but not a SINGLE page would sync on my PPC. The weather was fine, as was other information, however, the default WSJ and The Onion did not sync no matter how many times I tried. I couldnt' find any information about what was going wrong and finally after emailing their tech support gave up.

I've been assured that a new version will be coming out soon and that I should try that one instead.

Ok, this was the voice of dissension. (sp?)

[Kati Compton]

If several = 2, you can do this. The Options dialog in the Today settings allows you to enter a 2nd Zip code. When viewing in the Today screen, one of them is denoted by a house icon, the other by an airplane.

I was thinking more than that, as sometimes I travel between cities and won't want to sync. Such as my whilwind San Jose, Monterey, Santa Cruz trip coming up. But I suppose I could pack my heavy cradle...

[Programmer]

The number one thing about this app is that it will EAT ALL YOUR MEMORY if left unchecked. I added this site as one of the links along with another and left my iPaq 1910 pluged in for a few hours syncing.

I started to get an out of memory error.

And how do I turn off the syncing of webpages and stocks? I would love to be able to remove that whole part of the app.

Robert

[normaldude]

The 5-day weather hi/lo on the today screen is great. In fact, it's the only thing I really use, and worth the $10 price alone.

I did notice one bug on my PDA: if you blank out a section like News or Stocks, the next time Journal Bar automatically updates info, it can get "stuck", and the download icon will blink forever.. and you'll have to do a soft reset to get back to normal.

It's a bit lengthy, but my full explanation of the "endless blinking icon" is explained here:
http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=456914#post456914

To make a long story short, if you get the endless blinking icon, try these settings: 1) set all the intervals to their maximum (6 hrs for weather, 180 min for stock quotes, etc), 2) don't completely blank out any section (ex: keep at least 1 or 2 news boxes checked), 3) don't bother displaying the "links" section; it takes a lot of memory. 4) Do a soft reset, and it should work.

[Dan Vystrcil]

Love this app. Have a e335 and have no problems or memory leaks.

[normaldude]

The number one thing about this app is that it will EAT ALL YOUR MEMORY if left unchecked. I added this site as one of the links along with another and left my iPaq 1910 pluged in for a few hours syncing.

I started to get an out of memory error.

And how do I turn off the syncing of webpages and stocks? I would love to be able to remove that whole part of the app.

Robert

For the reason I listed above, I don't think you should blank out news or stocks.. even if you don't use them.

To turn off the Links/Webpages section:
1) Start > Settings > Today > Items > (Highlight Journal Bar) > Options > Links > UNcheck the box 'display this page'. Press ok, ok.
2) Open Pocket IE > Tools > Options > Delete Files (Temporary Internet Files). This will clear the old accumulated files.
3) Soft reset.

I think that should work.

[Bearjaw]

I just got an Email back from OmegaOne and they said that ver 1.1 will be out by tomorrow. He said that they are uploading the new version as we speak! It supposedly fixes all the bugs and memory issues. Yeah!!!

[yawanag]

This is the greatest app. I've been looking for a Today Page Weather app. since I got my T-Mobile. ADB Weather was great for my HP Jornada but I couldn't get Chicago weather on the TM. I've been searching for something like this ever since. And to think it's being upgraded as I type. I just wanted the weather but all the other features are definitely a plus.

Don't you just love being out somewhere and somebody ask for what's on TV or the weather or something and you pull out your stylus and tap the Today Screen. I've got all the guys at Best Buy droolin' every time I walk in there 'cause they know I'm gonna be showin' off again. :D

[ploeg]

Here's the stuff on the new version 1.1, straight from the OmegaOne website (http://www.omegaone.com/PocketPC/JBVersionInfo.html). Note in particular the 802.11 support.

v1.1
Gets weather for over 70 countries, and hundreds of cities around the world.
BBC International, UK, Business &amp; Sports news.
Canadian National &amp; Sports news.
Local stock listings for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands &amp; the UK.
Movie times for Australia, Canada, France and the UK.
TV listings for France, Germany and the UK.
New improved sports scores for the NBA, NCAAB, NHL.
UK Premiership, Italian Serie A, France Ligue 1 &amp; German Bundesliga soccer tables.
Works with 802.11 &amp; cell connections.
Fixed problem when sometimes setup Options would not be stored.
Improved accuracy of US Weather forecast data.
Link icons can be individually removed if required (just use a blank URL).


They have the demo version posted on Handango (this page (http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&jid=9781ABD1B4183B9D7CD4X1253D9F8DDE&catalog=0§ionId=0&productType=2&platformId=2&productId=52819)):

[pdaknut]

The number one thing about this app is that it will EAT ALL YOUR MEMORY if left unchecked. I added this site as one of the links along with another and left my iPaq 1910 pluged in for a few hours syncing.

I started to get an out of memory error.

And how do I turn off the syncing of webpages and stocks? I would love to be able to remove that whole part of the app.

Robert

I had the same experience. I tried for two hours to get the thing to work at my work location. Never could get it to sync (I don't think it knows how to deal with proxies). I took it home and did get it to work. However, it took forever to download all the data and after a couple of hours it proceeded to chew up 20 meg of memory! 8O In addition, it does not work with 802.11 networks. :cry: I think it would have eaten more except after the 20 meg my Pocket PC was down to less than .1 meg available. They have supposedly fixed the memory problem but I am not going to risk it again.

I have been looking for a program which did weather for multiple cities and thought this one would do the trick. I am actually looking for one that tracks several cities. Anyone know of one out there that does this? :?:

[bucho]

Same here... 802.11 and memory leak problems. So, I got the v1.1 update and still no go on the 802.11. Installed it through WiFi and it doesn't want to get any data. I unistalled the old one before upgrading. Anybody else tried the update?

[WallyS]

The number one thing about this app is that it will EAT ALL YOUR MEMORY if left unchecked. I added this site as one of the links along with another and left my iPaq 1910 pluged in for a few hours syncing.

I started to get an out of memory error.

And how do I turn off the syncing of webpages and stocks? I would love to be able to remove that whole part of the app.

Robert

I had the same experience. I tried for two hours to get the thing to work at my work location. Never could get it to sync (I don't think it knows how to deal with proxies). I took it home and did get it to work. However, it took forever to download all the data and after a couple of hours it proceeded to chew up 20 meg of memory! 8O In addition, it does not work with 802.11 networks. :cry: I think it would have eaten more except after the 20 meg my Pocket PC was down to less than .1 meg available. They have supposedly fixed the memory problem but I am not going to risk it again.

I have been looking for a program which did weather for multiple cities and thought this one would do the trick. I am actually looking for one that tracks several cities. Anyone know of one out there that does this? :?:

If you want weather for multiple cities then you might want to look at Weather Today. I have been using it for months and it works great. In addition to current weather you also get forecasts and dangerous weather alerts. I paid $4.95 for it but I think it is now selling for $7.95. Go to Handango or Pocket Gear and search for weather.

If you can't find it then respond to this and I will look up their home page (it is not an obvious URL).

[racerx]

Don't know about v1.3, but the demo (couldn't find where the demo version listed its rev level) eats memory BAD. :evil: 28MB of program memory available when I start off fresh from a soft reset. A few hours (no more than 3) later, I'm down to 10MB 8O ! And that's with me only having it sit in the cradle. I'm running 3870, in case that matters. Also, simply unselecting it from the Today screen doesn't help - you need to uninstall it to keep from devouring your memory.

[racerx]

Here's the stuff on the new version 1.1, straight from the OmegaOne website (http://www.omegaone.com/PocketPC/JBVersionInfo.html). Note in particular the 802.11 support.

v1.1
Gets weather for over 70 countries, and hundreds of cities around the world.
BBC International, UK, Business &amp; Sports news.
Canadian National &amp; Sports news.
Local stock listings for Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands &amp; the UK.
Movie times for Australia, Canada, France and the UK.
TV listings for France, Germany and the UK.
New improved sports scores for the NBA, NCAAB, NHL.
UK Premiership, Italian Serie A, France Ligue 1 &amp; German Bundesliga soccer tables.
Works with 802.11 &amp; cell connections.
Fixed problem when sometimes setup Options would not be stored.
Improved accuracy of US Weather forecast data.
Link icons can be individually removed if required (just use a blank URL).


They have the demo version posted on Handango (this page (http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=1&jid=9781ABD1B4183B9D7CD4X1253D9F8DDE&catalog=0§ionId=0&productType=2&platformId=2&productId=52819)):

I don't see anywhere that it states that they fixed the memory leak problem. I see on the web site that v1.3 address a memory problem, but if they won't release a demo of the CURRENT version, I'm not buying until I KNOW that it fixes the memory problem. I don't think I reset my iPAQ as many times in 6 months prior to installing Journal Bar as I did in the 15 days I used the demo of this product.

[Ekkie Tepsupornchai]

This app would be worth it to me if I could set up that it would download weather info for several different (configurable) cities, and let me cycle through them with a small button on the today screen?
Yup, I'm with you on this Kati. Visually, this looks like a terrific plug-in. It certainly displays better than any of the other Today weather apps I tried out. ...but alas, I'd like weather on at least 3 cities (preferrably 4 or 5). For now, I'll stick with the Mobile Favorites method that shows me weather via Yahoo mobile.

[pdaknut]

Don't know about v1.3, but the demo (couldn't find where the demo version listed its rev level) eats memory BAD. :evil: 28MB of program memory available when I start off fresh from a soft reset. A few hours (no more than 3) later, I'm down to 10MB 8O ! And that's with me only having it sit in the cradle. I'm running 3870, in case that matters. Also, simply unselecting it from the Today screen doesn't help - you need to uninstall it to keep from devouring your memory.

When I first tested Journal Bar and found how bad it eated memory and how it didn't work with 802.11 networks I posted a negative review on both Handango and PocketGear (I was really ticked that it screwed up my device and that I spent two hours trying to get it to work with a Proxied network).

Somehow, they proceeded to get the negative reviews removed from both and, I suspect, had a friend basically call me a liar in a subsequent review (which was posted before they got my bad review removed).

If Handango and PocketGear would have left my reviews up, perhaps some of you who have been experiencing such problems could have been aware of these issues and saved some aggravation when all your memory vaporized. Of course, this assumes you downloaded the application via Handango or PocketGear

I am thinking about sending both Handango and Pocketgear an email asking them why they removed my review and directing them to this thread. Seeing all these articles about how bad this thing chews up memory makes me feel vindicated

Also, it appears that my device now takes a lot longer to perform a soft reset than it used to. Is it possible that the memory got really fragmented when the device ran out of memory and now everytime I do a soft reset it has to move memory around? If so, any idea on how to fix this? I really don't want to do a hard reset on my device. I don't know if this is related to JB and its memory problems, but it seems that is when I started noticing the really slow soft resets.

[Yorch]

It would be the best if it would handle RSS feeds, In that way I would have PocketPC thoughts wherever I go!!! and some other feeds that I read often!

[barky81]

Great looking eye candy, but it didn't work. I got it to sync *some* stuff ONCE, then it was toast, endless blinking....

Multiple restarts, horrible memory issues, etc., finally just uninstalled.

Sorry, will look at it again when a better demo is available.