T Bryce Yehl: PocketBlog.com

Sun, 22 Sep 2002 05:59:43 GMT

Polling all Pocket Blog users....

I've added two polls to the pb-support group: What weblog software are you using with Pocket Blog? and How do you connect your Pocket PC to the Internet?

Pocket Blog Support

Sat, 21 Sep 2002 05:04:03 GMT

I've created a Yahoo Group for Pocket Blog users: pb-support. Please use this forum for all Pocket Blog support requests, enhancement ideas, praise, flames, etc.

Wed, 04 Sep 2002 17:46:37 GMT

Problems with Blogger?

I've been receiving occassional reports of problems with "Pocket Blog" and "Blogger", and there are always reports of problems on the bloggerDev Yahoo! Group. Often these issues are fleeting, related to Pyra deploying new functionality. Sometimes they are not.

If you're having persistent problems with "PB" and Blogger, it would be very useful to me if you could capture the XML-RPC / HTTP exchange. tcpTrace is a very simple tool for doing this, if you can understand what that page is talking about then you should not have any trouble using it.

Mon, 12 Aug 2002 10:30:00 GMT

Pocket Blog Beta 1 v0.1.5 Released

See the "pbdl2" page.

Improvements:

Blogger Users: "PB" probably hasn't been working for Blogger sites for some time. Pyra has been silently breaking from the published "Blogger API" spec, and while "PB" will happily ignore data that it doesn't understand, the extensions exposed a bug in my XML-RPC handling. If you've been receiving an "Object Required" error message when updating a Blogger weblog, this update should resolve the problem.

Mon, 12 Aug 2002 10:00:00 GMT

Grrrr...

Pyra has been silently extending the "Blogger API", presumably to support some Blogger Pro features (like titled posts). Why aren't they using the "MetaWeblog API", which supports titles and is designed to be extensible? NIH syndrome?

Unfortunately, the changes exposed a bug in the XML-RPC handling for "PocketBlog". If you're a Blogger user, and you've been getting an "Object Required" error message when updating, "PB" v0.1.5 should provide the fix. Hopefully this will be my last release under eVB...

Sun, 04 Aug 2002 14:00:00 GMT

Life has been keeping me on my toes and away from "PB". To the people who have been patiently waiting for the next release, I apologize. For those that have sent e-mail due to troubles with "PB", I am especially sorry. Unfortunately, I do not anticipate being able to provide effective support for "PB" any time soon (especially for problems with installation or initial configuration). My time is constrained and I have only one Pocket PC 2002 device to test and debug with...

I have begun work on porting "PB" to the .NET Compact Framework. I don't want to comit to any sort of timeframe just yet, but I am hopeful...

Tue, 30 Jul 2002 06:02:14 GMT

Pocket Feed "Pre-Alpha" now available

Pocket Feed is an RSS/RDF news aggregator that runs on the Pocket PC 2002 PDA's. Using OPML for it's blogroll, you can now take your news, blog entries, or any other type of syndicated data with you, sync it wirelessly or read it offline. So yes, you can sit in Starbucks with your PDA and read the latest news over 802.11b.

I've been holding off on posting about this until Steve had something ready for download. A "probably-will-crash-your-device" release is now available, so check it out.

Pocket Feed is a natural compliment to "Pocket Blog", hopefully we can come up with a way to make our programs work together.

Sat, 01 Jun 2002 19:39:51 GMT

A variety of personal issues have kept me from working on Pocket Blog for a while. If things go well, the next release should be ready in two or three weeks.

Sat, 01 Jun 2002 17:39:19 GMT

Chris Hileman: MovableType Warning

Attention ALL MT bloggers! If you havn't [sic] heard already, there is a hacker or group of hackers out there who are getting into MT blogs. It is not a problem with MT but it IS a possible problem with installation. If you did not delete you [sic] mt-load.cgi or your mt-updrade.cgi DO IT NOW! These hackers are running these files which writes the default user back into the user database. That then allows them to access you blog and reek [sic] havoc on it. Again, make sure to delete thoses [sic] files ASAP! [via Chris Prillo]

Wed, 01 May 2002 15:07:08 GMT

It turns out that the Spelling Checker API for Windows CE may not actually exist on Pocket PC devices.

Wed, 01 May 2002 08:33:47 GMT

Beta 1 v0.1.4 Released

It's still Tuesday somewhere...

See the "pbdl2" page.

Improvements:

"Update" button: Forces "PB" to post updates and refresh it's cache immediately.

Error Handling: Some types of errors are handled better, still much room for improvement.

Several minor display bugs fixed: Thanks to Josh Puetz for reporting one of them.

Focus fixes: "PB" tries to set the focus to the proper control whenever it switches screens.

Continuous polling has not been implemented in this release. Error handling needs more improvement before this feature will be ready for use. In the interim, use the "Update" button.

Tue, 30 Apr 2002 01:04:09 GMT

My attention has been elsewhere, "Pocket Blog" v0.1.4 isn't going out the door tonight. Tomorrow, I promise.

Sat, 27 Apr 2002 15:24:42 GMT

"PB" Status Update

Willkommen to readers coming from pocket.at. Ich spreche klein deutsche, and my grammar is scheisse, so bear with me in Amerikanisch.

The v0.1.4 release may be pushed back until Monday.

A kind reader has offered to write a wrapper for the Pocket PC Spell Checker API, so hopefully that feature will be ready for the v.0.1.5 release in a week or two.

The plan at this point is to ship v1.0 very soon and start working towards v2.0 as a port to the .NET Compact Framework. New features like multiple weblogs, multiple servers, and MetaWeblog API support will appear in v2.0. Guess I'll start thinking about localization issues too...

Tue, 23 Apr 2002 14:07:02 GMT

"Pocket Blog" v0.1.4 should go out this weekend. The primary change will be the implementation of continuous weblog polling. Presently "PB" only posts updates and downloads new entries when a connection is initially detected. I will also clean up the Configuration menu and add an "Update Now" button.

I would like to know if anyone has encountered problems with "PB" not detecting an Internet connection. Use the Feedback Button

Tue, 23 Apr 2002 07:53:00 GMT

Will Lechner: I just did a Radio update and I see that the Blogger API is now fixed along with the MetaWeblog API. That means that Radio will correctly upstream archive files when you post with either of these APIs. Thanks UserLand.

Sun, 21 Apr 2002 07:06:01 GMT

The archiving bug in Radio's Blogger API implementation has yet to be fixed. If you are experiencing this problem, please post to Radio's discussion group. I had been hoping that "Will L", the person who discovered the bug, would be able to get Userland to fix it, but his voice alone does not appear to be enough.

Wed, 17 Apr 2002 03:02:23 GMT

Radio Userland appears to have a bug that prevents Blogger API posts from making the archive when initially published. Confirmed with "Pocket Blog".

Sun, 14 Apr 2002 08:56:07 GMT

Beta 1 v0.1.3 Released

See the "pbdl2" page.

Improvements:

Soft Input Panel: The SIP now appears and disappears as appropriate.

Editor: The hyperlink button is now functional. Pasting support is improved.

Sat, 13 Apr 2002 10:53:37 GMT

Beta 1 v0.1.2 Released

See the "pbdl2" page.

Improvements:

Speed, speed, speed: Major speed improvements. Caching 50+ weblog entries is now workable, although the synchronization time would be long.

Reduced peak memory usage: To the tune of several hundred kilobytes. Working memory is barely changed.

Reduced cache file size: The cache file is about 50% smaller.

Fri, 12 Apr 2002 20:11:10 GMT

"pbdl2"

"PBDocs"

"MOB Roadmap"

Short issue list: Errors will occur if you point it to an empty weblog. There are a few actions where a momentary lag occurs. The "Link" button in the editor is not implemented. Sometimes it cannot detect an active Internet connection, the only solution at this time is to reset the device.

"PB" will only poll for new entries when it initially detects an Internet connection. Click Configure -> Down Connection to refresh.

Fri, 12 Apr 2002 07:12:56 GMT

What is "PB"?

"Pocket Blog" extends your weblog to any Pocket PC device. Weblog entries are maintained offline. When Internet connectivity becomes available, such as when your Pocket PC is placed in it's docking cradle or a WiFi card is inserted, changes are automatically posted to your weblog. Pocket Blog also downloads recent weblog entries, enabling you to edit entries that were originally posted from your desktop.

"PB" works with your existing weblog software rather than replacing it. The initial "PB" release implements the "Blogger API", which is supported by many popular weblog packages including "Blogger", "MT", and "RU". A future release of "PB" will also implement the "MetaWeblog API", which is presently supported by "RU". The MetaWeblog API adds support for categorization of weblog entries, and should be supported by other weblog software in the future.

"PB"'s codename was "MOB".

The first public Beta of "PB" is due to be released during the afternoon of Friday, April 12th, 2002. The system requirements include a PDA running Pocket PC 2002 with the Visual Basic Runtime, 100kb of storage memory, and 2MB of program memory, and at least 1MB of free program memory for peak (temporary) usage. Memory requirements will vary based on the size and number of cached weblog entries, which is user-configurable.

The developer's testing PDA is an Audiovox Maestro with 32MB RAM and the PPC 2002 Service Release. Modern PPC 2002 devices have 64MB RAM, and therefore should not have memory issues while running "PB".

Emulator screenshots from Beta 1: