Microsoft has a roadmap for the future, and it shared that roadmap with attendees at a recent meeting. This week I’ll point you to Jason Dunn’s summary of that meeting, which included discussion of the successor to Windows Vista, as well as note a couple freebies and some useful tips.

Your web browsing experience is the main topic this week, as we note more information on the imminent Pocket Internet Explorer 6 and an update to the very impressive KeyToss mobile portal. Also this week we have a couple freebies, including the ever-popular game Snowed In.

This week’s column highlights significant updates to several of the major free applications/services for Windows Mobile devices — Windows Live services, Google Maps, and Skype. Plus, I’ll point you to a page that lists devices that have received Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrades.

More reviews of the latest devices are appearing, in this case the Verizon Omnia and Sony Ericsson Xperia X1a, and this week I wanted to point you to them. Plus I want to talk briefly about Live Mesh, Microsoft’s foray into the exciting arena of cloud computing.

The big news last week was Verizon’s release of the Samsung Omnia and the HTC Touch Pro. The Samsung Saga, announced in mid-November, should also now be available in stores. It’s great to see that the hottest new phones are now generally available in the U.S. This week in addition to noting Verizon’s release, I’ll point you to some reviews of these and other new devices.

Proporta, a leading vendor of quality cases for Windows Mobile devices, is offering an exclusive 20% discount to all customers who place orders on Black Friday. Simply enter the promotion code BLACKFRIDAY at the cart page to receive your discount.

I was pleased to see that two new Celio REDFLY models were announced last week. Basically, the REDFLY is a small laptop that uses your phone as its brain. In addition to covering that, this week I want to pass along a how-to on syncing your device with the DVR recorder you use with your TV. And we’ll note an offer of free multiplayer games on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile TotalAccess web site.

The HTC Touch line is one of the hottest in the Windows Mobile world, and it’s great to see the carriers coming out with their versions of the HTC Touch Pro, now including the AT&T Fuze. Again, this device has the popular TouchFlo 3D interface and a slideout keyboard. This week we’ll also mention the HTC HD and Pharos phone/GPS devices.

I enjoy keeping tabs on the latest and greatest, and this week we’ll note a new Windows Mobile phone, the T*Omnia, which includes a satellite TV receiver. I’ll also point you to reviews of some of the most popular new devices — including the new Samsung Epix from AT&T

I’ve rounded up some freebies that I’ve heard about in recent weeks for this week’s column, including Facebook interfaces, an open beta of the Skyfire web browser, and services such as free GPS route recording and free mobile blogging.