I’m not talking about the Bluetooh Stereo Headphones, I’m talking a normal BT headset. acbPocketSoft has a great utility that will pipe all the system sound to your headset/earpiece. The great thing about this is you can finally listen to some music through that bug in your ear in case your forget your headphones or don’t enjoy the speaker.

The great news is that it just works. Bad news is that it will eat up your battery on both your Shadow and headset, so if you aren’t listening to music turn it off.

Install acbToggleBT and to turn it on just simply select it from Start > acbToggleBT and it will activate with no further annoyances, to turn it off simply select it again. It’s that easy. Be careful with that battery life though

 acbToggleBT.cab

What Was Wanted:

I wanted an easy to use Podcast application for the T-Mobile Shadow smartphone that was simple, worked all the time and had some great features. It had to have an auto-update feature, a way to simply add podcasts, be RSS compatible, and work over the many different connections on the Shadow. The interface had to be intuitive and easy to learn but still provide full functionality. Audio wise, it needed to work through the built in speaker, the headphones and on bluetooth headphones. I checked out AudioBay from AcroDesign Technologies, to find out if it was what I was looking for keep on reading.

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Congratulations to the Shadow community! We have broken 1000 posts covering everything from minor questions to in depth tricks and hacks for the T-Mobile Shadow in the forums.

The more popular topics are about:

• New themes for the Shadow
• Battery life
• GPS Navigation Software
• SNES games for the Shadow
• Customising the NEO interface

Now, let’s see if we can reach 1000 registered users!

Navizon makes it possible for those without GPS to find their way. It works great on the Shadow. I used it recently during a holidays trip after my GPS battery died (yes I lost my charger :(… ) In the most cities the coverage is awesome. So Shadow owners that want to know where they are on trips or get better directions go ahead register and download Navizon. If you own a GPS already then you can earn some points and money while helping the Navizon network improve.

“The Navizon network is based on a collaborative database. Members with a GPS device can use Navizon to map the Wi-Fi and cellular landscape in their neighborhoods. Once they synchronize their data, it is made available to all the other users of the network. This way, users who don’t have a GPS device can benefit from a positioning system. And it’s free for personal use!”

The great thing is that once you set up your phone and home area on Navizon’s site you won’t need constant internet access from the phone. This enables Shadow users without a data plan to still enjoy the benefits of GPS. There is also the ability to save trails so you can see where you’ve been or even send your location to your friend’s! If you like to see your trip’s progress in Google Earth you can download a .kmz file to view it.

For those with a GPS, if you log a Cell Tower you get 10 points, a Wifi Access Point you get 2 points, if you rack up 10,000 points you can trade them in for cash wired directly to your Paypal account.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up and get found.

From time to time I find myself needing a quick copy of a file from someone and many times it is too large to email and would take to long to upload to a server. One solution is the thumb drive, memory stick, removable storage or what ever you would like to call it. Many people carry them around religiously but how great is it to not have to worry about misplacing one extra gadget?

Enter WM5torage 1.8 by Igor V Bozhko. This brilliantly simple application makes it possible for your Shadow to become removable storage without the need for Active Sync. The only thing you need is a cable like the one that came with your Shadow. Since these are standard cables, and nearly every device uses one, they should be simple to find or you can carry a short one in your bag/case for those special occasions.

It’s very simple to use. After installing, just select Activate and your memory card will become readable by any PC as removable storage. I wouldn’t suggest trying the other two choices as it will just make the Shadow hang. You can also choose to make your LED’s blink on read and write access so you can tell if data is being transferred.

Once activated you can drag and drop as you would with any other removable storage. You can also choose to set your memory card as read only if you fear the viruses. To switch back to normal operating mode just select Deactivate.

Note: If you have opted to use encryption on your memory card then your files will show up as encrypted with WM5torage. If you transfer a file when in WM5torage mode onto your phone then it will not be encrypted. However, if you only view a file on your phone after transferring it then it should stay unencrypted. Unless you make a change and save it. I tested this out with a word doc and the Shadow only encrypted it after I saved it but did not when I only viewed it. So if you just need to move some files or view them WM5torage will still work but doesn’t encrypt.

There is a rumor going around that the Shadow is on backorder until February. I just called T-Mobile to verify this and they said that it is indeed IN STOCK. I asked the nice lady to double check and she said there was no indication that it was on back order.

I am going to assume that a store that says it is on backorder is not a true T-Mobile dealer and possibly just an affiliate vendor.

So everyone that is wishing for a T-Mobile Shadow you can rest easy.

With the Holidays here, many of you are traveling to different destinations and might be using Live Search, Google Maps, or Yahoo Go on your Shadows to help out with directions and traffic. One item that makes the mobile map applications on Windows Mobile much more functional is a bluetooth GPS.

If you are receiving a new bluetooth GPS sometime soon. Click Read More for a short walkthrough on setting it up on your Shadow so you can enjoy the full range of benefits of knowing where you are.

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We have been working to make interacting with AllShadow.com as mobile friendly as possible. We are proud to present the ability to view the forums in a mobile friendly format. We are still working on the ability to post from the Shadow in a convenient way so stay tuned.

In order to see the mobile friendly forums point your Shadow to http://www.allshadow.com/forum/mo

You should see a screen similar to the above image, select “T-Mobile Shadow Forums”

The next screen should look like this. Select “Everything Shadow”

This third screen is the one you want to add to favorites. Select Menu > Add to Favorites > Add. Now you will be able to check up on your most recent posting in the forums!

 Enjoy!

Many wonder if Facebook and MySpace can be accessed from the Shadow. The answer is a resounding ‘YES’. Both MySpace and Facebook have a mobile site that gives limited functionality but still allows you to post updates and blog postings from your phone.

For Facebook go to m.facebook.com

For MySpace go to mobile.myspace.com

The MySpace mobile page has more functionality but the Facebook interface allows for immediate status update and a summary of your friends’ activities right on the front page. Enjoy!

For those of you with a Bluetooth GPS unit that want to see how well it is working, or just want basic information, there is a freeware available from Chartcross Ltd called GPS Test that works very well on the Shadow. You can download it from their site. Setup is easy, just transfer to your device, install and open the application.

I used it to determine how well my GlobalSat BT Gps was working before getting Live Search to connect. GPS Test shows signal strength, satellite view, current location, heading, speed, etc.

There is a webservice, called scanR, that allows you to send/upload pictures via email and it automatically converts to PDF, performs word recognition and creates txt and doc files as well. One of the requirements is a camera phone with at least 2MP camera, which the Shadow has! The service is free for now and is very handy for students and professionals that need to capture those lengthy notes on whiteboards or to copy a friends notes or business card.

To use it take a picture of:

• a whiteboard
• a document
• a business card

If you want to check it out right away, fire up the camera on your Shadow, make sure the resolution is 2MP and your send resolution is ‘full size’ (Start > Pictures and Video > Menu > Options > General ) In a well lit room, take a picture of a document and send it off to doc@scanr.com . You don’t need anything in the subject or body of the email. After a moment you will get a message back with further instructions.

Bwana the Iguana provides a helpful fix in the forums for the native Task Manager on the Shadow hanging, as well as the Shadow itself hanging. If you experience this problem or just like modding your Shadow be sure to give the post a good read.

AMALA, one of our fellow Shadow users, had the unfortunate experience of dropping their phone into water. Luckily they did the smart thing and saved their Shadow and themselves a lot of money.

If you have soggy Shadow:

1. Immediately pull the battery cover off and remove the battery. This takes away the power source, and we all know electricity and water do not mix.
2. Using a lint free cloth, dry as much of the water as possible. 
3. Pull out your SIM card and Memory card, put them on a paper towel in a safe place.
4. Open up all the little covers: memory card, power/mini-usb.
5. Open the slide (dry this off too).
6. Get a nice big gallon Ziploc and fill it part way with rice (uncooked ).
7. Put your Shadow in it.
8. Fill up more with Rice
9. Set it somewhere safe. Every couple of hours or so shake up the bag to get dry rice next to the Shadow.
   1. If you live in an arid (dry) environment it is okay to leave the bag open, it will help dry faster.
   2. If you live in a humid environment I suggest leaving the Ziploc closed so the rice only has to deal with the moisture in the Shadow.
10. For best results keep the Shadow in the rice for about 48 hours for maximal effect.
11. Put the battery back in, cross your fingers and power it on.

This method is a lot safer than the oven method which ends up cooking a lot of phones because we all have attention problems

You can post your images or own creations in the forums and help the community grow stronger. If you find an interesting piece of freeware, try to link to the author’s page. Now the doors are opened for all kinds of goodness. Enjoy!

Arno tipped me off that Paul over at MoDaCo has published a utility that enables you to enable/disable and reorder the panes on the Neo homescreen. Very cool. One of the first changes I made was to move notifications to the top followed by MyFaves and the Internet.

Simply download the .exe to your device and run from file explorer (he will write an install cab later) From the next screen you will be able to enable/disable/reorder as you wish. Once done, exit and then change your homescreen to any but the Neo and then back again. To do that go to Start > Settings > Homescreen and change it from T-Mobile Default to something else. Click done and press the home key. Go back and select the T-Mobile Default and select Done. The changes should show up now.

This gets me to wondering, if I could add any NEW pane to Neo what would it be? What is your choice?

Download neoOrder by Paul at Modaco.com