When choosing a remote email solution there are a number of approaches that you can take: you may have decided on a client device type and wish to know what solutions are compatible; you may have a specific feature set you need to be available to your users; or similarly a set of features you don't want to be available. You may have specific security concerns or may have a policy regarding which manufacturers you are able to consider.

Using the Google Android SDK, if your Android device does not support USB storage mode, you can transfer files to and from the Android device as well as any inserted memory card. In this post I shall only be dealing with MacOS, but similar instructions apply to both Linux and Windows.

The SDK can be downloaded from the Google Developer web site - http://developer.android.com

Once you have downloaded the SDK ZIP file, extract the contents. In the Tools folder, double click the "ddms" file:

With the release of Android 2.1 SDK it is possible to play with Google's support for Exchange ActiveSync which is included with the SDK emulator package.
It is important to note that just because the build of Android supports it, it is down to individual device manufacturers as to whether they choose to implement Exchange support - presumably due to licensing costs - and they may develop their own client software.
This post is for general geek interest only.

Google have made version 2.1 of the Android SDK available on their developer web site. If you have a previous version installed already, you can update it by running the Android SDK Manager.

With the release of Google's Nexus One handset, the Android platform has had a lot of publicity recently. Offering high levels of user-customisation, social networking integration and a 'desktop-like' mobile browsing experience, the device is very attractive to consumers...but is the operating system ready for the Enterprise?

What is meant by an 'Enterprise-ready' operating system? Ideally the platform should offer the features required by a mobile user as well as conform to the security policy defined by the IT department.

Augmented Reality (AR) is the term for technology that presents the user with a 'mixed' view of the physical world combining a video image of a location together with an overlaid computer-generated view providing information about that location.

A simple example would be the practice of artificially defining pitch lines during sports television broadcasts to enable the viewer to better appreciate team territory possession or possible penalty offences.

Google have released version 2.0 of Android (codenamed "Eclair") to the public developer SDK. Rather than a separate download, if you are running version 1.6 of the SDK already, the 2.0 AVD image can be downloaded within the AVD Manager.

To run the AVD Manager on Mac OS Snow Leopard, you may have to edit the 'android' script file in the Tools directory to force the system to use the 32-bit Java VM rather than the default 64-bit one. Locate the section starting:

Excitor (http://www.excitor.com) is a Danish software development company specialising in remote device management and cost control solutions for the enterprise.
The DME Mobile Solution Suite is Excitor's modular framework that provides a feature-rich, multi-platform device management solution combined with state of the art security tools as well as an optional mobile email and PIM manager.

Release 1.6 of the Android platform, aka Donut, included support for PPTP, L2TP and IPSec-based VPN connections.
This article will give an overview of where to find the settings governing VPN connections, what connection settings are required, and how to install and select certificates.

VPN settings are located in the Settings menu under Settings --> Wireless Controls --> VPN Settings:

The following types of VPN connection are supported:

If you can't wait to get your hands on the HTC Tattoo (http://blog.brightpointuk.co.uk/sneak-peak-htc-tattoo) to see the new features that will be available in Android 1.6, aka "Donut", then Google have released an update to the Android SDK, including an updated emulator.

The Android SDK can be downloaded free of charge from http://developer.android.com/

The SDK will download as a ZIP archive file. Extract the contents of the ZIP file to a location on your hard drive.
On the Mac platform, open the Terminal and browse to the Tools folder within the extracted ZIP file contents.