Evernote fell to the side primarily because I couldn’t find a good way to work it into my workflow but now that I’ve been writing for WalletPop.com and trying to line up some other writing projects I really felt the need to get back on the elephant (get it? their logo is an elephant! Elephants never forget…Ok Ok.).

Here’s how I had been doing things for the past year. I kept a variety of notes and digital stickies if you will in the following locations; sometimes related sometime not.

• Gmail
• Starred items in Google Reader
• notepad files saved to Dropbox
• notes in Moleskin
• notes tucked into a Moleskin
• drafts in Blogsmith
• del.ico.us links
• snapshots on my smartphone
• several other random places where I’m sure my million dollar idea rests unaccounted for

The fact that I use 3 computers, and a smartphone on a daily basis coupled with trying to write a solid post for WalletPop.com and stay on top of a new directive at my day job aptly named “Big ideas” made this system difficult to use and worse inefficient even if I managed it well. If there’s one thing I learned from Tim Ferriss, doing something well doesn’t make it important, so I set out to find a better way.

Now that I’ve dusted off my Evernote notebooks and installed some version of it on my computers and my smartphone I’ve condensed the above system into this.

• Start a new note in Evernote.

That’s it; have an idea, enter it in Evernote. Find a cool story for WalletPop; enter it in Evernote until I can write about it. Have a millionaire infomercial idea while reading an issue of Esquire; enter it in Evernote with a picture of the page. Come up with 5 questions I want to ask Obama; well you get the idea!

I know there are several other ways that I could accomplish the same one place to rule all my ideas result I get from Evernote but the many ways I can start or add to an idea are what really seal the deal. You see, most of my ideas come to me away from the keyboard, whether that’s on a walk, driving with the windows down, having dinner, taking a shower etc. Trying to capture these ideas on a Windows Mobile phone without Evernote is a pain due to the poor note’s app and the fact that syncing notes inside OneNote to 3 computers without a magician is best described as futile.

With Evernote installed on my phone and computers I can enter new information by:

• Evernote Desktop
• Evernote Mobile
• A Firefox extension
• Twittering
• Emailing
• Uploading a picture
• Uploading a pdf

Putting an idea into Evernote using any of these ideas, from any computer, from any location assures me that I won’t lose track of a story or idea. When I need to find an interesting link or notes for a post I just have to go into Evernote and it’s right there; searchable by tags and in text so it’s easy to find.

Here’s a look at the latest version of Evernote:

The base version of Evernote is available for free and for now meets all of my needs; there is also a $5 a month premium version which unlocks better security, more file upload options and other bonuses.

You can use Evernote at your desk or on the go on the following systems:

• Mac OS X Leopard
• Windows
• iPhone / iPod Touch
• BlackBerry
• Palm Pre
• Android
• Windows Mobile
• Web Clippers
• SanDisk U3

For more info on Evernote check out the Evernote Blog as well as Ron’s Evernote Tips blog which is full of tips to get the most out of your Evernote notebook. It will be interesting to see how Evernote evolves over the next year to meet the competition that will come from OneNote which will be included in all versions of Office 2010 and include some form of online syncing.

Have any questions about Evernote or how I use it to stay on top of my life? Ask away!

For the past 6 months I’ve had a major issue with sending email through my gmail account using the Samsung i760 running WM6.1.

While Microsoft hasn’t issued a fix the xda developers have come up with a registry edit and installable cab file to fix the smtp sending failure issue in Windows Mobile.

The issue seems comes up after your smtp server fails once. After that you won’t be able to send email until you delete and recreate the account.

With this new fix the problem should be solved. After I installed it I had to delete the old account that was failing but it appears to be working now.

If you’re looking for how to set up an IMAP connection on Windows Mobile check out my guide.

The “hacked” version works great on my Samsung i760 as well as many other phones although it has issues displaying correctly on VGA screens.

Other phones which work;

• Touch(6900)
• Mogul
• Apache 6700
• 700wx(WM5)
• 800w
• Diamond
• Touch Pro
• Omnia
• Samsung I760
• AT&T Tilt

Hit up PPCgeeks for the quirks that some phones have.

I’m currently listening to one of my favorite pandora playlists and can’t wait to spike my data usage with this! The sound quality isn’t as good as on the desktop, or the iPhone if I recall, but it works fine for on the go Music Genome Project listening!

Here’s to the efforts of Pandora and the hope that they roll out a higher quality stream. I’d plunk down some cash for that!

• Tiny Twitter – A Twitter client for Windows mobile which provides some excellent features and a nice user interface. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to let you check out a time line from an @Josh_Smith or click on links which have been tweeted.
• AIM for Windows Mobile – Currently out in beta the new incarnation of AIM for Windows mobile is leaps and bounds ahead of previous offerings and unlike its many competitors it is free. The design, interface and usability are all elegant.
• Skyfire – This internet browser is leaps ahead of the other mobile competitors despite being in private beta a the moment. You can sign up to get access in the next wave of the beta. I highly recommend you check this out. Though depending on Opera Mobile 9.5, I may have to change my browser, we’ll have to wait and see.
• Mobipocket – This is an excellent ebook reader with a really cool store integration and guess what! You can’t get MobiPocket on the iPhone yet so feel free to give your iPhone toting friends a ” nener nener nener”, the next time you see them.

There you have it, my favorite new WM apps which will at least provide some help to avoid the iPhone jealousy!

UPDATE – Mirrored files on Rapidshare if Samsung links go down.

The files were found by Zachman123 on pdaphonehome.com where many users are reporting success in upgrading. Unfortunately some users have had issues leaving 2 bricked phones by my count and a several users reporting the need to run the update twice.

WM 6.1 doesn’t fix all of the bluetooth issues that have plagued the device but does bring threaded SMS and other items noted below as summarized by djlactose @ pdaphonehome.com.

1. Bluetooth Pairing is automatic doesn’t ask for a passcode (unless you have a custom on set)
2. Customer Feedback to send usage data back to microsoft
3. Getting Started directions added instead of help
4. Remote Desktop Mobile included by default
5. Task Manager changes to show CPU usage and it appears to show all running processes not just programs
6. OneNOte Mobile added to the Office Mobile Programs
7. Automatic detection of Exchange Server Settings
8. Overall Performance seems to have improved a bit, a lot less waiting for programs to open (this may just be due to the reset of my device, but I have done the reset before and I could sware it took me longer in the past to reload everything)
9. Text message threading with Spell Checker
10. Managed programs added
11. Bluetooth issue when in call corrected
12. Domin enrollment
13. Vpn connections now work without wifi
14. Wifi search for networks will now list all networks within range
15. Defalt signicure of Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.
16. You can switch to view processes in task manger

I installed the update and even though it took 2 computers and a few tries to get the update to run I was able to get it up and running. So far I am enjoying the update even though the changes

The Crave blog is reporting that Fennec the mobile version of Firefox is set to be debuted in September with a beta release in late 2008! I am extremely excited by this news since the desktop version of Firefox continues to be the best browser for my needs.

The Surprising news is that due to the licensing and restrictions on both the iPhone and Google’s Android phone, you won’t likely be seeing Firefox running on either! This leaves all of the love to Windows Mobile and Symbian devices which is fine by me!

The only problem I see ahead for the mobile version of Firefox is that it is coming into the game late. Opera should have it’s latest release of Opera Mobile browser out by then and the newcomer Skyfire whose latest update makes for a very robust browser will be even farther along. I’m not saying I won’t be downloading the beta on day 1, I just that I hope Mozilla brings its “A game”. While I was waiting around for Trillian to release Astra, I found Disgby, and unless Astra can somehow print money or bend the space time continuum its release won’t be a big deal.

If you can believe a leaked set of PowerPoint slides from Verizon, they are set to update the operating system on the Samsung SCH-i760 to WM 6.1. I currently own the phone and I am happy with the overall package but I am getting close to the need for a hard reset as well as something shiny to play with. The Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade will bring about both of those for me.

If you want to know what new features WM 6.1 brings to the table check out this handy comparison chart of Windows Mobile features from Microsoft. Unfortunately Verizon may decide to rip out any really cool features but that is the price you pay for going with the big red checkmark of the cell phone industry!

Sorry for the multitude of video posts lately, but I found this to be a fun adventure of “find my past phone” as well as an example of how much phones have changed in the past 20 or so years.

Much to my dismay many of my messages were coming up blank! After checking that the messages were in fact not blank I hit up Pdaphonehome to see if others were having the same problem. Indeed the problem of blank messages when checking Gmail via IMAP is widespread.

I was so excited to finally have this basic and overdue functionality on my Gmail account. After all of the resources Google has poured into the cell phone market and the favor shown to the iPhone with this IMAP announcement, I am saddened by the lack of support for Windows Mobile. It didn’t bother me so much once I saw the IMAP announcement because IMAP has standards and I thought that this meant something. You can’t tell me that Nobody at Google has a Windows Mobile 6 phone.

Even if the issue sits in the Windows Mobile 6 messaging client wanting some “optional” part of the encoding I have to place the blame on not adding this bit to the IMAP service, since the devices have been out there and in use.

I am going to be looking for a way to use IMAP on WM6 devices to check Gmail and I will report back if a solution is found.

In conclusion I understand that Gmail is free, without obligation to me, I can get IMAP from other places, but I am selfish and I want this to work.

Does anyone have an email or support request page?  The best I can find is Google groups and Suggest a feature. I guess I could Suggest that Google not deliver me blank emails but I am thinking this email would be better sent elsewhere.

UPDATE 2: If Gmail fails to send your messages check out this fix.

Google just announced that they are rolling out IMAP support for Google’s Gmail service. The feature will be appearign in different accounts over the next several days. If you are currently using POP3 to get your gmail to a Windows Mobile client or even a desktop client IMAP is a huge improvement. IMAP allows the status to be updated between all of your viewing areas (more on IMAP v. POP3). This means that if you read an email on your Windows Mobile 6 device, when you login to gmail.com the mail will show as read, etc etc for the majority of the functions relating to mail management.

Google Provides a handy list of what Gmail actions correspond to actions on your mobile device.

Find the walkthrough after the Jump.

The first thing you need to do is enable IMAP in your Gmail settings. To do this click on Settings in the right hand corner of your Gmail account. Next Look for the tab that says “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” Click to enable IMAP and Save your settings. Now you can grab your windows mobile device start settign up a IMAP Connection for Gmail.

This guide will work for Windows Mobile 5(WM5) and Windows Mobile 6(WM6). The info should work for most clients but the screens and options menus may be different.

Checking Gmail by IMAP on WM6.

1. Open Messaging: Choose Menu->Tools->New Account

2. Choose Other (POP/IMAP) from the drop Down and pick Next.

3. Enter your full Gmail address.

4. Enter Your Name and your Gmail username and password. You need to use your full email address for the username.

5. Choose IMAP4 for the Account Type and name the Account whatever you would like, I chose ‘Gmail’.

6. Enter the IMAP and SMTP server information.

For Incoming use: imap.google.com:993
For Outgoing use: smtp.gmail.com:465
*If you have trouble sending mail you can also try using: smtp.gmail.com:587

This information is from Google’s Help Center.

7. Click Options so we can set the SSL and other options.

Choose your interval for checking the IMAP account. The more frequent this is the quicker your battery will drain. Choose your connection, for most this will be internet.

8. SSL and Days

You can choose to restrict Gmail to only show email form the past X days in order to save space.

You also need to check the SSL and authentication boxes as shown in the picture.

I don’t need to use separate settings for outgoing mail, though if you need to send mail through a different SMTP server here is where you would configure that. I may revisit this with more info soon.

9. More Options

Choose the rest of the options shown above for your own tastes and connection speeds.

10. Click Finish and enjoy Gmail on your Windows Mobile Phone.

Remember for this to work you need to turn on IMAP in your Gmail settings. I will be trying this out on a few other devices to make sure it works but you should be good to go if you follow the instructions. If you have any questions leave them in the comments.

Screenshots were taken using iLauncher from SBSH.