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 I
can say I'm very proud indeed to be involved with the world
of the Pocket PC and I'm certainly not ashamed or embarrassed
to own one, well only on one occasion.
This took place a few weeks ago after undergoing
a hard reset. As is usual during this process I never have
the time to fully install all my essential applications before
I have to go out somewhere, whether it be to work, or on a
social occasion with the family. This time round it was a
trip to the cinema to watch The Lord of the Rings. Great anticipation
was experienced before the film started which was marred only
by some of the younger members of the audience playing with
their mobile phones - I hate ring tones being played in what
should be a quiet environment......
I was in the middle of making certain comments
to my good lady wife about the distraction when my beloved
iPAQ decided to join in the fun emitting a very loud and insistent
notification reminder.
Very embarrassing indeed as it took me a few
seconds to withdraw it from the pouch and cancel the repeating
alarm which was being maintained by SuperAlert.
Why did this happen? Simple I'd not installed
the next essential application of my install list..... MeetingMute
from PocketConcepts.
MeetingMute (MM) was designed originally to
simply mute the alarms on the Pocket PC for a given time period,
but had now evolved in to so much more, offering you the ability
to:
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- Mute the sound until the next power
on
- Mute for X minutes
- Mute until a given time
- Mute during appointments within a
given Agenda category
- Extend existing muting times
- Protect the sound settings on your
PPC against interference by rogue applications
This is the initial screen presented
to you when MM is opened (either via the start menu,
programs tab, or it's today icon) which offers you immediate
control over your muting.
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The settings dialog allows you to configure
almost every aspect of MM to allow you to modify
- How often the sound protection is
activated / checked
- How long the user activated mute
will run:
- Next Power on
- 15 minutes
- 30 minutes
- 45 minutes
- 1 hour
- 1.5 hours
- 2 hours
- 4 hours
- Allow user restore:
- Never
- When user muted
- Always
- Default option:
- Restore volume
- Next power on
- Mute for X min
- Mute until time
- Where to place the shortcuts for
running the program
- Whether to run at startup after a
soft reset
- And even where the PPC2002 volume
icon is located on the menu bar
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The Meetings tab allows you to activate
linking to the Pocket Outlook database which allows
MM to automatically monitor appointments within a given
agenda category.
I have a special category (Silent) which
I assign to appointments where I do not wish to be disturbed.
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The Sound tab deals with Sound Protection
which gives MM the ability to monitor my desired Sounds
& Notification settings and ensures they remain
as I wish them to do.
No more concerns over rogue Pocket PC
applications changing my settings at all.
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A rather 'clean' about screen
gives the version of the application together with the
registration key data. |
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Here you can see the  (silent)
category icon I've set within Pocket Informant being used
to indicate MM monitored appointments. |
My current today screen showing
the MeetingMute status indicator (bottom right) |
Pro's and Con's
Pro's:
- Gives you incredible muting control
- Sound protection
- Integrates well with both SuperAlert and
Pocket Informant
Con's:
Suggestions:
- Add the ability to support being a plug
in within the Calendar to allow tap and hold muting for
the selected appointment.
Conclusions
MeetingMute is an essential application for
any Pocket PC user who is concerned about sound notification
control, for those involved in business with a busy appointment
book it quickly becomes invaluable. For those with a heavy
social calendar it is also of benefit.
When Microsoft next update the PPC operating
system they could do well to approach PocketConcepts and get
MeetingMute built into ROM - it's that useful!
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