Is it just me or since I upgraded to Internet Explorer 7 have a lost the ability for the mobile favourates to be scheduled to download and update?

I can't find the Synchronize option in IE anymore, the Synchronize application shows nothing and the Create Mobile Favourite option crashes IE7 if you set it to schedule to download the page..

Anybody else having the same problem?

Go to the " >> " to the right of 'Tools,' (bottom bar, far right" pull down menu shows:

Create Mobile Favorites

At least that is the way it loaded on my machine.

I've got the Create Mobile option, but the Synchronization menu option is no longer available.

If I choose Create Mobile option and set it to synchronize at 4pm then crashes..

ARRRRGHHH! I read the small print and MS have removed it!!!

So how do we get the same functionality so I can view web pages on my PDA synchronized with Pocket Internet Explorer or what comes natively with Windows Mobile 2003 SE?

I periodically export my FireFox bookmarks as an html file and use that on my PDA, both in PIE and in NetFront. I manually copy it over to my SD card, but it could sync via the file sync of My Documents.

www.AKAJohnDoe.com

"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible" - Frank Zappa

  

I too have noticed this. I don't like it.

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I just tried Newsbreak - is there anyway of it downloading everything and even *shock horror* viewing images as well offline?!

Thanks John for the workaround - just seems crazy why they would remove one of the features of Pocket Internet Explorer - what's the point of synchornizing just the mobile favourites!?

Not yet.

I have tried (and bought) other RSS Readers (e.g.: PocketRSS; Spb Insight; A6Times; ...) and of the RSS Readers currently available, I still like NewsBreak the best. A close second is Egress, which I believe, can download images for subsequent off line viewing.

You really should try them to see which one you prefer, though!

www.AKAJohnDoe.com

"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible" - Frank Zappa

  

When I tried them a while ago, NewsBreak was the nicest one - just kept with PIE synchronization due to wanting images and not having to 'click here for more information' to go to a web site requiring online access. Not something you can do on a train (in a tunnel!)

FeederReader is very clunky but does do attachment downloading, just wish NewsBreak did.

Thanks for your research John!

Hi,

Attachments (enclosures) are certainly something we're looking at. As for caching pages (that is, grabbing the page that the 'read more' links to) I'm not expecting that to get added any time soon.

Besides the issue of memory (many people have 100+ feeds they read...cache 100+ pages and the associated images and you start talking about a big chunk of memory) there are two other problems.

First, part of the reason RSS works for the content providers is that when a person finds an article they like they then visit the page. This generates hits, puts ads in front of the consumer, and thus makes RSS a good tool for the provider. If you eliminate that by pulling the pages down, you reduce the value of providing the feed to the content provider.

I'm not saying that if Ilium Software pulls content we'll break the system but we do feel a responsibility to doing the 'right' thing and helping to keep the system working.

Second, there is a very real concern about copyright. Displaying copyrighted material in a format other than how the creator intended it (in this case, web pages intended to be viewed live online) and you start to tread the thin line of what is convenient and what is legal. I'm not aware of any test cases yet but I've read a number of discussions on this topic. As a software developer, copyright violations are a very real concern for us and something we don't mess with.

SO, for those of you hoping we'll add full caching to NewsBreak, I'm afraid it probably won't happen anytime soon. As for enclosures...that's one that is definitely one we're looking at.

Marc Tassin
Ilium Software
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marc@iliumsoft.com
+1 (734) 973-9388
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http://www.iliumsoft.com

And be sure check out our new blog! http://blog.iliumsoft.com/

Iliumsoft,
I can't disagree more with your reasoning here. I appreciate the desire to be 'appropriate' in the industry but I think it is misplaced here. First, many PC RSS readers already have this feature with MS Outlook 2007 (beta) introducing it as well. PocketRSS has this feature as well for the Pocket PC. HubDog comes close. The consumer wants (demands?) this feature. Many people are still not connected 24/7 - or don't wish to be even when it is available. I won't purchase any reader that doesn't allow me, the consumer, to make the choice. I don't want the software maker or the provider to decide what I would enjoy for me. I'm intelligent let me decide. I won't subscribe to a feed if I can't get the details for offline viewing.

As a feed provider, I can hardly object with that. If I don't support offline viewing, then I lose that customer completely. If I do support it, then I gain another customer. If I have any business sense I'll get them to my site in many other ways and I will build brand as the 'place to be' dedicated to my topic of interest. Therefore let them download my product completely, ackowledge my site as the owner, and I'll deal with my content so the customer knows there is more where that came from.

I always get sad when companies make decisions for the customer on what their experience should be. Sony is king at that. (You must have Beta, not VHS! Memory Stick, not Compact Flash! iLink not FireWire! etc). If enough consumers want complete offline viewing you will be left cold. It will get done (already is done) and the providers will adjust with little concern. Those that embrace the consumers will be hailed as industry leaders setting the standard, those that push the customer aside in favor of the provider "status quo" are in real danger of being forgotten. Your eWallet software is great and I have used it since I had a Jornada 430. It would be great to see your NewsBreak reach the same level of convenience to the consumer with the features that we demand.

Chris

So does an inline image class as an attachment?

At the moment Newsbreak and other providers will only show a blank box where the image should be if you are offline, it will cache the images if you go to each one but that defeats the purpose of offline reading.

Fair enough for the 'read more' comment - but one example is PocketPC Thoughts - it has a specially designed web page that you can synchronize. It's all available on one page scroll up and down and it has advertisements (and compared to some newsreaders to view it is very fast). Now I can't do that the next available option is RSS which makes it longer to read and doesn't always give the full article (I'm assuming this is the providers decision not the readers) In addition if you don't cache the images immediately doesn't that mean your stopping the advertisements potentially going to the client?!

The space taken up on the device to download - I can get a bigger memory card for that purpose - I would just like to read the material on the train whilst in the tunnel and not have to read each article before hand to get the images?! By all means give an option to limit how much can be downloaded per feed/article/attachment or space to use for everything and let the program decide how it should break down if too much space is taken.

I only have 3 or 4 test feeds at the moment and can't imagine going anywhere as near to 100?!

I have over 50 feeds currently active on NewsBreak. The channel data (feeds) go to my SD card. Fully populated, these 50+ feeds occupy a little over 1MB.

www.AKAJohnDoe.com

"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible" - Frank Zappa