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Pocket PC and SmartPhones :
Pocket PCs : If you own a wifi (802.11) Pocket PC you can use its MSN Messenger,
Web, and Email Capabilites to fully monitor and control X10Dispatcher. Therefore
you could be in the back yard and be alerted to when someone rings the doorbell.
Or you could, rather than sit down at the computer, pick up your pda in the morning
and review weather alerts, images (like a forecast weather image), or start a countdown
timer for cooking your typical breakfast... all while drinking your morning coffee.
The built-in X10Dispatch web server has been tested on PocketPC and it seems to
work
well. Since the web pages are simple in design, the pocket pc is more than
capable enough of displaying that information in a way that does not seem cramped
by its smaller display. If you allow security to be disabled for users 'within'
the home, you can execute remote macros as if your pda were a remote (without entering
password), while still requiring remote web users to enter a password if they want
to execute any macros. Naturally MSN and email work just as you would expect,
and if you visit a starbucks or other wifi hotspot (or you have a modem in your
pocketpc), then you can access you home
from anywhere.
Smartphones : I do not own one of these but my cell phone does support MSN and email
(texting). I assume the main component of smartphones (at least the microsoft
smartphones) are MSN Messenger and possibly improved data entry mechanisms.
All the MSN commands are available using this method. Some phones now support
real Web browsers... while i haven't tested this on any of those, you should in
theory be able to use the web site as well (since it uses simple HTML layout).
The main issue some of these browsers might have difficulty with is the non-standard
port
which X10Dispatcher is configured to use by default. But since most ISPs block
port 80 (what you typically run a web server on), you may not many alternatives.
There is hope, however, if you have such a browser... accessha forum member philliec
has passed on information about a service called http://no-ip.com which can 'forward'
internet requests to another internet address. You can probably forward a regular
looking no-ip.com address to your non standard port web server.