Mobile computing has improved exponentially in the last few years to the point that, today, you can make phone calls, receive and send emails and instant messages, take pictures, update your calendar, browse the Internet, download and review documents, and play music, all from that one small device. There are models that have WiFi capability, 3G technology, and video recording ability. With some, you can even figure out where you are with GPS capabilities.

With older handheld devices, when you were away from home base and your PDA’s synching cradle, you had to depend on email or a phone call to let you know about a schedule change. No more. The newer handhelds have push technology that doesn’t wait for you to ask “What’s new?” Changes to your calendar, tasks, and email in Outlook take only seconds to automatically synch to your BlackBerry, Windows Mobile or mobile phone calendar.

Sometimes what you need is a quick look at a document or spreadsheet. No problem now for the newer handhelds. With small screen readers much better than they used to be, you can receive Acrobat, Excel and Word documents on your phone and read them easily. This capability becomes even more powerful coupled with the latest version of MOSS (Microsoft’s Office SharePoint Server) intranet software. Now, handheld users can see mobile versions of their KPI data, those all-important measures of performance.

Imagine you are at a client’s office an hour away from your office. How much would it be worth to know that the prospect you’ve been trying to get in to see for months can see you today if you can be there in two hours? That’s when you can quickly see the value of making a full-featured handheld part of your every day business outfit.

With these new mobile computing options there is no longer any question about whether we can be connected anytime, anywhere.

Should we always be connected? Ah, that is a topic for another day.

*Mark Buckingham is an IT specialist with a successful career spanning almost 30 years. To learn more see: www.chillit.com.au

“The social networking community is not longer satisfied with logging on once a day, from their PC. Twitter and Facebook aficionados are updating their status and getting their fix of information in real-time, on the move,” said Jessica Forrest, PR Manager at VHA.

Vodafone and 3 customers wanting to sign-up to Twitter will be able to do so directly from their mobile phone by typing in http://m.twitter.com into their web browser. Previously Tweeters had to sign-up online before being able to access the site from their mobile phone.

Tweeting etiquette
1. Tweet regularly – we want to know now!
2. Be relevant to your audience – no one wants to know what you had for brekkie
3. Don’t be a spectator – participate in conversation
4. Think before you tweet – don’t brag about your sickie
5. Know your acronyms – LOL doesn’t mean “lots of love”

Top mobiles for twittering

1. iPhone 3G S 16GB is $929 up front for Vodafone prepaid customers. Vodafone Prepaid Flexi Caps give customers the freedom to spend their included Flexible Credit any way they like – on Twitter, calls, txt, IM, games, music or mobile TV.
2. HTC Magic with Google, free on Vodafone’s $59 Cap (24 months)
3. Nokia N97, free on Vodafone’s $79 Cap (24 months)
4. BlackBerry Storm, free on Vodafone’s $56 Cap (24 months)

How much does it cost?

Vodafone Prepaid Flexi Caps^ give customers the freedom to spend their included Flexible Credit any way they like – on Twitter, calls, txt etc. They start at $29, which includes $300 total value ($150 Flexible Credit plus $150 for standard calls within Australia to other Vodafone customers). Data is charged at $2 per MB and is billed per KB.