Things are looking up for my iMate JasJar, which has gone largely unused due to it not doing anything I really need it to do.

First off, real "push" email is finally available with the latest firmware update from Club iMate:

Microsoft™ Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP): • Addition of the MSFP allowing Direct Push email, remote device wiping, security policy enforcement and Global Address List Lookup for customers using a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 with Service Pack 2. Note that Push email will use GPRS connection even when connected to a WiFi network.

Not that I have anything to connect to at this point (the free Club iMate Exchange server doesn't seem to support DirectPush). I may have a look at one of the hosted Exchange providers if I can find one that seems reputable and supports Direct Push. Promising development though; it seems we've been hearing about this and waiting for it for years...

Secondly, The Missing Sync now supports Windows Mobile 2005 units in the new alpha version. It works very well (at least for me) and I'm now happily synching and installing from my PowerBook.

On a side note relating to the JasJar, I read the Business Week article regarding HTC with a some interest. Certainly they're pretty much single-handedly saved Microsoft's ambitions in the Smartphone market (and by Smartphone I actually mean Pocket PC Phone Editions). For all their self proclaimed passion though, I really do wish someone in the company would actually read some of the instructions that they give people:

(Hint: only one of the conflicting directions for resetting the unit actually work)