PalmAddicts

iPAQ hw6900 May Not Be Coming to the U.S. Any Time Soon

According to Brighthand, Cingular might not be getting the iPaq hw6900 for a couple of months.

"There have recently been rumors Cingular Wireless planned to begin offering a pair of Pocket PC phones from HP in the near future. However, good evidence has just emerged that the iPAQ hw6940 and hw6945 won't be out for some time."

"A source familiar with Cingular's product roadmap has told Brighthand that HP's latest smartphones won't be available for at least 6 to 8 weeks."

A Unlocked Version

"Last week, HP began taking orders for unlocked versions of these two hw6900 series models. Those who placed orders at that time were told that the estimated shipping date was September 13, five days ahead."

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How do I use my Tungsten E2

I liked to read Sammy’s post about the daily use of his Treo so I decided to do something like that.

I own a Tungsten E2. It’s not a state-of-the-art Palm PDA but is sure one of the best relation price/functionality pda of the market. For the Palm Addicts that are unknown to this device, the PalmOne TE2 is a mid-range PDA with a 200 MHz Intel XScale CPU, 32 MB of NVFS RAM (only 26 MB user accessible), 320x320 65K TFT screen, Bluetooth and IrDA for communication. The design factor, allied advanced Office and PIM functionality, makes the PalmOne TE2 a perfect office PDA straight out of the box.

So, here it is my today diary:

08.00am: Waked up with my alarm-clock (I used E2 for that, but a few months ago I had a reset at night and the alarm didn’t trigger. Never more I’ll trust my pda to handle my wake up alarm);
08.10am: Turn on my E2 to check my to-do’s and agenda;
08.35am: Bus to University, read the rss feeds and favourite websites on the go with iSilo;
09.00am: First Lecture of the day, schedule homework/project updates on Due Yesterday;
11.00am: Check my agenda while at coffee with my colleagues, show some pictures with Resco Photo Viewer and I listen to some mp3 music;
11.30am: 2nd Lecture, take some notes on my E2 and arrange a work meeting with my project partner by BT (BlueJack);
01:30pm: Lunch time, use my E2 and my cell phone to check my email and chat with friends on Verichat;
02.30pm: 3rd Lecture of the day, BORING (the professor just talk and talk and they call that a “pedagogical method”), use my E2 to play Chess and Monopoly;
05.30pm: Telecommunications laboratory class, use Excel to introduce variables data and plot a XY graph, less a thing to do on the report; Take a few pictures of the circuit montage with my cell phone and transfer it to Palm by BT. I just need to open PDS at home to drag the picture to the report (Word);
08.30pm: Talk to some friends before going home; Listen to some mp3 music on bus;
09.00pm to 10.30pm: Personal things, bath, dinner, etc;
10.30pm: Study, use Due Yesterday to check the subjects that need more attention;
11.30pm: Hotsync Palm on my computer, update iSilo, work on reports/projects;
12.30pm: Turn on my alarm clock. Sleep.

This is a typical day, some times I have no classes in the afternoon so I use the extra time to be with my girlfriend or meet with my colleagues and work.

In the weekend, Saturday I work in a Planetarium all day long and I use my E2 to check my email and to “beep” every 20min (TikTok) to end the planetarium presentation (there is no light inside it so this “beep” is my time reference). Before each presentation, I check the Planets/sun/moon position with Planetarium application.

On Sundays, in the morning I have a program on a local radio and I use the Checklist application to check the questions that I ask to my guests.

How do you use your PDA?

Handango Rewards Best Mobile Applications

From Palm Boulevard:

"Handango, one the largest providers of mobile software, today handed out its annual Handango Champion Awards. Winners were chosen for BlackBerry, Palm OS, UIQ, Series 60 and Windows Mobile-based Pocket PC and Smartphone applications in the following categories: Best Application for Work, Best Application for Play, Best Application for Life, Best New Application and Best Industry Application. Handango, which has over 16,000 content partners, also selected seven "Developer of the Year" winners for outstanding software development."

"Winners receive a prize package that includes a $5,000 marketing stipend, placement in a special edition of the Handango Champion Newsletter and a variety of other promotional opportunities. Software was nominated by Handango customers and judged by a panel of industry experts and media."

Here's how Palm OS did:

Palm OS

Best Application for Work - MobiSystems Office Suite Professional 7 by Mobile Systems, Inc.

Best Application for Play - Multiplayer Championship Poker Texas Hold'em by RealDice Inc.

Best Application for Life - Pocket Quicken by Landware

Best New Application - Pocket Quicken by Landware

Best Industry Application - PocketLingo Wall Street Dictionary by HLCSoft

Go check out the other winners.

Play the Classics on your Palm

From Mobility Site:

Do you run the PalmOS on a device running OS5?

Do you have an SD card and a lot of memory available?

Then you can run MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulation)on your Palm-based device.

Pocket Dimension has a FREE software that lets you run the classic arcade-style games (available as ROM images) that are out there on the web. This is pretty cool if you are a fan of some of the old classics....

i-mate JAQ and Palm Treo 700wx Pictures

Mmmm, Mmmm, Pocket PC Thoughts has some juicy pics of the i-mate JAQ and the Palm Treo 700wx.

"We managed to score a few pictures of Frankenstein's monster the i-mate JAQ and the Palm Treo 700wx, which were both on display at CTIA in Los Angeles. So, it's no secret. The JAQ isn't exactly flash-looking from the front, and from the side, we're going to have to say that it's not that much better."

Head over to Pocket PC Thoughts to see all the pics! I'm floating in a sea of my own drool after looking at them! Boyhowdy, that i-mate JAQ is one huge device. The keyboard should be easy to type on as big as it is. And of course that Palm Treo 700wx is sleek and sexy looking and I hear that it's lightning fast too.

Microsoft Zune In Action: Real Video of The UI

Mike Cane sent me an e-mail today telling me about a video over at Gizmodo of the Microsoft Zune in action.

"You can see the the textured/stylized backgrounds with the white text on it, the huge album art—we love that—the browsing, and video playback. The videos are viewed horizontally, so you'll have to turn your Zune sideways."

"Also shown is the FM playback, where you can see what station and what artist and track are playing, something that's quite useful. Then there's the Zune to Zune connection, where this unit is receiving 8 pictures from another Zune. How soon is this phrase "Man uses Microsoft player to harass women on subway with pictures of his genitals" going to show up on in the NY Post?"

Go check out the video and pull up your drool bucket! ;-)

The Edge of Justice

Special Agent Antonio Burns--climber, cop, brother, son, risk-taker--knows the hunger that drives climbers up the faces of mountains. It's a hunger that has shaped his life and pushed his brother, Roberto, onto the wrong side of the law. A climber by nature, a cop by trade, Anton has come to Laramie, Wyoming, to investigate a young woman's deadly plunge. But as he digs deeper into the case, Anton is certain he has found a murder ... and a stunning connection to the trial of two men about to be executed for a crime they did not commit. But Anton is running out of time. As two lives hang in the balance, another woman is killed, and Anton believes the answers he seeks are hidden amid a dangerous group of climbers ... and in the towering shadows of jagged peaks. Suddenly, Anton knows he has only one option. With a beautiful reporter sharing his investigation, he must make a harrowing ascent: up a forbidding mountainside--to bring a killer down from the deadliest kind of high.

"McKinzie knows his wild Wyoming, and also how to keep things moving briskly?. [The Edge of Justice] gets good marks for ringing a change or two on the chase thriller, and we're now promised a prequel, starring the same gutsy hero."--Publishers Weekly

"An adrenaline-pumping, heart-pounding thrill ride with a terrifying climax that left me clenching for a handhold."--Tess Gerritsen

"One of the strongest debuts of the year."--Chicago Tribune

fictionwise

I will most definately be getting this ebook soon! It sounds like a real page turner! I've got some money in my fictionwise MicroPay account and I'm going to use some of it on "The Edge of Justice" for sure.

All He Ever Wanted

Ebook Special Feature: Includes essays written by Anita Shreve and chapter excerpts from Sea Glass, The Last Time They Met, and Fortune's Rocks.

A man escaping from a hotel fire sees a woman standing beneath a tree. He approaches her and sets in motion a series of events that will change his life forever. Years later, traveling from New England to Florida by train, he reflects back on his obsession with this unknown and ultimately unknowable woman -- his courtship of her, his marriage to her, and the unforgivable act that ripped their family apart.

Spanning three decades from 1899 to 1933, All He Ever Wanted gives us a tale of marriage, betrayal, and the search for redemption. It has the unmatched attention to details of character, place, and emotion that have made Anita Shreve one of America's best-loved and bestselling novelists.

eReader

Lake Braxton

Grieving widow Jesse McClain didn't kill herself, no matter what her diary says. Michele Jenks, about to end her seven year marriage to top private investigator Ethan Jenks, goes undercover as an amateur investigator in the Tennessee resort town of Lake Braxton, obsessed with proving her cousin Jesse's suicide was finely orchestrated murder. The amateur goes toe-to-toe with the professional as Michele and Ethan work together to unmask the killer. Only, the killer is waiting for Michele, with different plans. Plans that include a five-million-dollar land deal, no questions about the death of the woman who had been about to expose him (Jesse) and one final murder ... Michele's.

fictionwise

TREO EDITOR'S CHOICE: INITIATE LAUNCHER

I'm in the fortunate position of being supplied with most of the software I test on my Treo devices. One of the most personal choices in customizing any personal electronics device is your launcher. This is your UI...the first thing you see, and your personal expression of how you want your device to look and behave.

After using virtually every 'generic' Palm OS launcher, and those specialized for the Treo, I still have to endorse Hobbyist Software's INITIATE as my Treo Editor's Choice. The reasons are very simple:

1) Initiate was conceived, developed and produced specifically for Treo Smart Devices

- it leverages the Treo's 1-hand operation better then any other launcher

- it connects to all facets of the Treo's connectivity (Phone, PIM, Browser, eMail client)

2) Initiate is one of the best non Palm-produced expressions of "The Zen of Palm" that I have ever seen; featuring a simple UI that allows intuitive and easy management of the powerful functionality hidden inside

3) It is economical...both in terms of the small memory footprint, and the multitude of included, full-power features:

- Voice Command (dial a number, launch an app, send an email or SMS, play an MP3)

- Skinnable interface

- Support for most major 3rd-party apps (FunSMS, Dialer, Any Palm Smartphone, SnapperMail, Iambic Mail, VersaMail, Xiino, Blazer, WebPro, Contacts5, Agendus, Pocket Tunes, AeroPlayer)

- Full File Management Functionality
* Drag and drop for beaming, deleting, move to SD card, etc
* Full category support to arrange applications
* Move applications to and from the SD card
* Run applications directly from the SD card
* Plus type-to-search to find what you want instantly

So, how does this work in real life? Glad you asked.

Start by looking at the graphic on top. It shows 2 views of the Initiate main UI (using one of the skins you can find at the Hobbyist website). The top view is showing everything on your Treo: main memory and SD card. The bottom view shows one of the custom screens that can be set up in seconds. It just shows the apps, contacts, docs, MP3s, files, etc. that you use on a regular basis. It can be changed in a flash, depending on your current need (are you going on a business trip, a vacation, will you be on a special assignment?). The icons on the bottom control the movement of apps between main memory and SD, trash, beaming, search, etc.

To give you an idea of how easy it is to manage the power of your Treo with Initiate, let's go the the lower graphic. If you look at the top image, you'll see that I simply started typing in "McLoughlin," and Initiate brought me right to our own Sammy's contact file. When I opened the file (still in Initiate), it shows me Sammy's phone #'s , email addresses, and URL (you didn't think I was going to post ALL of Sammy's contact info...did you?). I can select any of the contact information, and make a call, send an email, or go to the Palm Addict website...all from within Initiate.

If I'm a lazy person (and, I am...) then I use the terrific VOICE COMMAND that is included with the purchase of Initiate. It allows me to quickly train Initiate to voice-launch phone calls, music, applications, bookmarks, you name it. Like the rest of Initiate, it is simple to use, fully integrated into the complete Treo functionality, and packs power-to-spare.

Now, even though I stress how simple Initiate is to use, you don't have to take my word for it.
First of all, Hobbyist Software provides a terrific multi-step online tutorial for Initiate. This is just one aspect of the fantastic support they provide to their customers. This support embraces constant enhancements (many suggested by customers), education and snappy tech support.

I also stated that Initiate was easy on your memory and wallet. How about Initiate...with Voice Command...taking up less then 600kb? How about all of this simplicity and power for under $25?

Like anything else, some folks will want to stick with the launcher they've been using most of their Palm-lives. However...every person that I have ever demonstrated Initiate for has migrated to it. The biggest shock they get is how something that does so much, can be so simple to use. Isn't that the very definition of a Palm device? Hobbyist had Zen in mind when they designed Initiate, and I challenge any Treonaut to take it for a test drive, and not love it.

PJA