08-04-2004, 08:00 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 559
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A Fresh Look: Journal Bar Reviewed
Product Category: News/Weather Software
Manufacturer: OmegaOne Mobile Solutions
Where to Buy: Handango [Affiliate]
Price: $19.99 USD
System Requirements: Pocket PC 2002 or Windows Mobile 2003 only.
Pros:
- All information appears right on the Today screen;
- Customizable Auto Scroll setting;
- No wireless connection needed;
- Free lifetime updates.
Cons:
- No way to filter news stories for content;
- Settings screen can be sluggish;
- Limited information available to users outside the United States.
Summary:
Journal Bar provides quick and easy access to weather, news, sports scores, finance and links right from the Today screen of your Pocket PC.
Read on for the full review!
Overview
OmegaOne Journal Bar is a weather/news/sports/finance/entertainment center for Pocket PCs. Everything is displayed on the Today screen in a scrollable format which keeps its footprint relatively small. The program can display: weather for up to five different cities; news (national, local, sports, finance, etc.) from up to 14 sources; up to 11 customizable stock symbols; and up to six links (movie times, TV listings, etc).
Today Screen
Journal Bar displays all of its information right on the Today screen. It can scroll through the various information topics automatically at a user-defined time limit, or it can stay on one topic until the user manually scrolls.
Figure 1: The Today Screen.
The scroll buttons are displayed on the far left side of the screen and above them is the icon for the current topic: sun for weather, house for local news, flag for national news, globe for world news, $ for financial news, baseball for sports, etc. Each information source has its own icon. When Journal Bar is updating itself, the icon flashes and a vertical status bar appears on the far right side of the screen. All Journal Bar text colors are set by the current Today screen theme.
Figure 2: Scrollable Information Options.
Getting More Details
Everything displayed in Journal Bar is a link to more detailed information. Tapping on a given day�s weather will bring up an explanation of the forecast.
Figure 3: Detailed Weather Forecast.
The same goes for news stories, stock quotes, sports scores, movie times, TV lineup, etc. It only shows the headlines on the Today screen, but details are only a tap away. The details are opened in Internet Explorer, but are stored locally so an Internet connection is not required to view details.
Figure 4: News Details.
Setting Preferences
Almost everything can be customized in Journal Bar. Users can set which items they want to appear on the Today screen, which news feeds to use, what stock symbols to display (and whether to color gain/loss in stock prices), etc. Journal Bar doesn�t have an icon in Programs or Settings, but requires users to go into the Today settings. Options can be changed from there.
Figure 5: Today Screen Options.
Figure 6: Journal Bar Options.
And although the main program cannot be installed to a storage card, users can define where they want Journal Bar to store the downloaded content cache.
All Journal Bar needs to keep up-to-date is a ZIP/Postal code (for US/Canadian users) or the closest city (for other countries). With this, the program is able to find everything from weather to movie times at local theaters.
Downloading New Content
Journal Bar can use any available Internet connection to update the weather/news content. If the only connection available is when docked to a computer, it will only update during these connections. If a permanent connection is available (through WiFi, Bluetooth, GPRS, etc.), Journal Bar will update itself on a user-defined schedule.
Figure 7: Update Schedule.
International Use
According to OmegaOne, Journal Bar can supply weather information to over 600 cities in 117 countries. It can provide over 100 news sections for 25 countries in 18 languages. However, at the bottom of the page, the fine print says, �most countries give excellent forecast information, but not all countries weather displays 5 days of information [sic]. Some countries are limited to reporting temperatures.� They suggest trying the demo version first to make sure the information is satisfactory.
Updates
The Journal Bar Website says that buyers get free lifetime updates. It doesn�t specify whether this means content updates or software version updates. However, when questioned about this, OmegaOne said, �This refers to upgrades to new versions of the software itself.� They also gave very specific instructions for downloading and installing the updates. Very impressive and professional, don�t you think?
Conclusions
For anyone who wants to keep up-to-date with the news or have the five-day forecast constantly available, Journal Bar is the answer. Even without a permanent Internet connection, as long as it is synced with a Internet-connected PC, the information stays current. It is certainly worth twenty bucks to always have the latest information at your fingertips. And although some countries may get less than ideal information content, the all-in-one news/weather/sports/finance nature of Journal Bar could outweigh the negatives. Best of all, they provide a fully-functional demo that expires after two weeks. Give it a try, you�ll love it!
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08-04-2004, 08:07 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 52
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The free lifetime updates work the same as their Battery Pack...the updates are free until they add Pro to the end so they can get away from the free updates.
Alt
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08-04-2004, 08:07 PM
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5000+ Posts? I Should OWN This Site!
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 5,133
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Hmm. Back when I got WeatherToday, Journal Bar didn't support weather for multiple cities. Maybe I'll have to take another look now. 
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08-04-2004, 08:29 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 559
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Kati Compton
Hmm. Back when I got WeatherToday, Journal Bar didn't support weather for multiple cities. Maybe I'll have to take another look now. |
Yep, that's a very cool feature. When I went to Orlando a few weeks ago, I just entered that zip code and temporarily unchecked my home zip. It gave me Orlando's weather for the week I was there and when I returned I unchecked Orlando and rechecked Home.
A very useful feature. :mrgreen:
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08-04-2004, 08:32 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 318
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Quote:
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The Journal Bar Website says that buyers get free lifetime updates. It doesn�t specify whether this means content updates or software version updates. However, when questioned about this, OmegaOne said, �This refers to upgrades to new versions of the software itself.� They also gave very specific instructions for downloading and installing the updates. Very impressive and professional, don�t you think?
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History Tells us that OmegaOne will not stick to this. I think there will be more than one reply about this
It was also failed to mention how much of a memory and processor hog JB is. Having said that it is a good app that works but with a few issues
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08-04-2004, 08:51 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 68
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I think JB is a pretty good product but all my news links are blank for some reason...anyone have this happen to them?
I seem to get a "very low memory" warning when I pick up my PPC off the cradle in the morning...I'm wondering if JB is the culprit?
Rick T.
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08-04-2004, 08:52 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 329
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It would seem to me that one must wonder at the thoroughness of this review.
No mention of large display. Where Journal Bar displays 4 lines of text on the Today screen. Or the City name above the weather, with temperature
Not one word about radar images.
Nothing about the satellite infrared images.
Life time free upgrade.......
Well most users have already paid once for the program, and again for the expansion pack. Life time has a way of meaning different things. To bad it doesn't mean LIFE TIME anymore.
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08-04-2004, 08:55 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 212
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by dhettel
It would seem to me that one must wonder at the thoroughness of this review.
No mention of large display. Where Journal Bar displays 4 lines of text on the Today screen. Or the City name above the weather, with temperature
Not one word about radar images.
Nothing about the satellite infrared images.
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That would be becuase you are talking about the Beta release not the latest Official release.......... not eveyone has what you and I have.
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08-04-2004, 09:14 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 18
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ricktakagi
I seem to get a "very low memory" warning when I pick up my PPC off the cradle in the morning...I'm wondering if JB is the culprit?
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I have JB and had it installed on my Siemens SX56. Now, understanding that the Siemens is about as anemic a unit as I've ever seen, it was unusable on that device. I got constant out of memory messages. I now have the PPC4100 and have not installed it on this unit yet, but read on the Audiovox forum that someone who did racked up several hundred dollars of internet connection bills due to JB constantly connecting itself.
So just be sure you have the memory capability to run the software and that you have it set for only manual update.
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08-04-2004, 09:35 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Apr 2002
Posts: 329
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by ikesler
Quote:
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Originally Posted by dhettel
It would seem to me that one must wonder at the thoroughness of this review.
No mention of large display. Where Journal Bar displays 4 lines of text on the Today screen. Or the City name above the weather, with temperature
Not one word about radar images.
Nothing about the satellite infrared images.
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That would be becuase you are talking about the Beta release not the latest Official release.......... not eveyone has what you and I have. |
The "Beta" release is a public release, and this article claims to be a new and fresh look. I have no idea what "new and fresh" means to you. From the included screen shots 2.0.3-7 the software reviewed is not "new" or "fresh" IMHO. The Official release is at 2.0.5-13 if that is the only version one may review, why someone would care to review an outdated release and call it new and fresh is beyond me.
When words cease to have a common meaning, they become worthless. The computer industry seems to be really pushing this. Words no longer have much meaning in the computer industry. Just as lifetime has come to mean as long as I feel like it. A rz1715 can be more powerful than a h5555, that 32MB of Flash ROM can hold more OS than 48MB of Flash ROM. That a device with twice the speed, 4 times the SD Memory, and 1.5 times the Flash ROM does have enough memory or power to contain the Windows SE Image.
Words only have value when we hold people accountable for what they say. I am simply pointing out what I see as an inconsistency.
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