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Today I used my treo to call myself

Images_2 ATT has this cool function called voice dial. It lets me call into the system and set a time to call me back. Its all voice automated so its really easy to use. Now I just say "wake up call at 7am" and it confirms. Once confirmed it will call me tommorow at 7am. So I use my treo to give me wake up calls becasue sometimes i forget to set the alarm.

What I have been doing with my mobile device

[From Vinit Mumbai, India] Dear sammy, Hi. I have used by Blackberry 8700 for sending a couple of quick mails. I also installed a few themes on it today. And downloaded a free bowling gamed called "Disco Bowling" from mobile.blackberry.com. I also upgraded the firmware of my ipod touch to 1.1.1.4. On my jasjam, I took some notes and added some songs onto my wifes tungsten E.

SplashMoney is now available for Windows Mobile

[From Keith] Keith lets me know that the excellent SplashMoney is now available for Windows Mobile. "We are very proud of the release of SplashMoney for Windows Mobile. Now the personal finance manager that you have grown to love can be used on your Pocket PC or Smartphone device.

SplashMoney features:
Desktop application with two-way sync -- allows you to view, edit, and print transactions on your desktop computer
Online banking -- download transactions from your online bank directly into your SplashMoney register on your desktop and internet enabled device (using Direct Connect)
Budgets and reports with charts
Print registers and reports
Scheduled transactions with reminders"
You can read all the deets on this one at the SplashData Blog.

Demand for iPhone SDK Brings Down Apple’s Servers

It seems that people have been having problems downloading the iPhone SDK from Apple as iPhoneBlog has experienced. "Response to Apple’s release of an iPhone SDK has been overwhelming; literally. Since it became publicly available yesterday, Apple’s developer website has been swamped with user registrations and download requests. I personally have made numerous attempts to download the SDK, all unsuccessfully." Read in full.

There was a beta release of TealAgent introduced this week

[From Eric Mann] There was a beta release of TealAgent introduced this week adding preferences option to turn off fancy fonts. "Get news, movie times, stock quotes, driving directions, web pages and more without need for a wireless connection. TealAgent fetches and formats web-based content for offline viewing on your handheld. When installed on an Internet-capable PC, TealAgent and the TealAgent Desktop makes any PalmOS handheld web-aware without the cost or hassles of wireless. The TealAgent Desktop runs under Windows and supports connection to the internet through automatic modem dialing or direct connection with or without proxy. TealAgent comes with built-in support for unzipping and installing PalmOS-format files, downloading restaurant listings, browsing news, weather, movie times, driving directions and clipping text from any specified web page. TealAgent outputs files in Doc, TealDoc, TealInfo, and TealMeal format, and includes the TealDoc Lite document viewer."

Alarm It

[From Eric Mann] Eric spotted AlarmIt whichn looks a good Palm OS program and may well be worth checking out. "AlarmIt is an easy-to-use alarm software. You can export any alarm to Datebook and ToDo."

PDF Viewer

I get asked this one on a frequent basis from people who are looking or a PDF program and I always recommend PDF Viewer. It's full of features and it's free but we recommend donating of course. In the meantime features include: Native PDF on almost every Palm OS 5 device File Browser to pick up your PDF file from anywhere on your card Handles received PDF files from EMail, Bluetooth or WWW Very small on-device memory footprint by moving the renderer to the card "Find" support in your PDF files Scratchpad and personal bookmarks Support for links inside the PDF. There are many other features and you can download and get more info at the Metaview website.

THROWAWAY- Tungsten E2 and Wifi Card, The first person that emails me can have it it

Right my PalmAddict friends I will part with a Tungsten E2 and Wifi Card today, I think this is about 2 years old and we have all the packaging for it too plus it's barely used and is one two E2's that I have at home and in work doing nothing. If you want it then it's the first person to send me a couple of lines on how your using your mobile device, importantly please put FRIDAY in the subject line and email me - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

By the way I will have two "straight off the mark throwaway's" over the weekend so stay tuned.

PowerDigi review over at The Gadgeteer

Mark Adkins writes up a review of PowerDigi over at The Gadgeteer. "A while back, I posted an article about my beloved Palm T/X and how it was doing after a couple years of use. (See the article here.) One major finding was the loss of calibration that was driving me crazy- I had to literally tap the very bottom edge of the screen to access the lower row of buttons.

A few years ago, there were several calibration tools, but time and newer operating systems has whittled it down to... well... pretty much this one- PowerDigi by PalmPowerups. The $16.95 program is small (a tad over 200K), and runs well on any Palm OS 5.0 and higher device. Which is OK since I never had anywhere near this much problem with calibration loss on older Palms anyway!)"

Proporta Mix it up Dual Skin Colour Pack

[From Hannah at Proporta] Enjoy up to eight different looks for your Apple 3G iPod nano with the Proporta Dual Skin Colour Pack (Apple 3G iPod nano 4GB and 8GB).

Not only will these funky packs give your 3G iPod nano a facelift, the Dual Skin Silicone will also keep it comfortably safe and sound, offering twice the protection of a normal silicone case and allowing you to match the protection you chose to your mood.

The Proporta Dual Skin Silicone Case consists of two tough, protective skins to prevent scratching and limit impact damage, keeping your 3G iPod nano safe from whatever life decides to throw at it. The complete pack includes two outer skins and four inner skins giving versatility and style, whenever you and your 3G iPod nano need it most.

As if that wasn’t enough choice for you, Proporta also provide two variations, the Belize (turquoise blue, green, white and orange) and Hampton (red, pink, purple and white), both with black and clear outer skins.

Cut aways give access to ports and controls so that you can continue to use your device while it’s in the case, and the upper layer offers cut outs along the side of your Apple 3G iPod nano for anti-slip confidence.

P.S. Now two people can listen to the same music on almost any portable audio device with a Proporta Stereo Y Splitter – just plug them in and listen :0)

PalmaryClock is updated to v.3.5

[From Eric Mann] PalmaryClock has been updated to v.3.5.
"New Alarm Manager with completely new design
World Time window is redesigned
Time Utilities window is redesigned
Events Bars is redesigned
Application Preferences are regrouped into new window for more easy access
All new devices support
Misc bug fixes""

"PalmaryClock is a multifunctional clock of variable design. It can be transformed into either classical, digital or alarm clock, watches or calendar according to your wishes. Our aim was to develop stylish clock which will be «gratifying to the eye». And it seems to us, we have succeeded. It is dead certain you have never seen such graphic on the Palm platform! The great numbers of skins we have developed for PalmaryClock allow you to design the clock according to your likes. You can also create new skins by yourself. It is possible to use digital photos for creating skins, including those taken with your digital camera. We have worked a lot to make the advanced graphics not slow down the program. PalmaryClock reacts immediately to all your commands. Even on the old devices not more than a second will pass from the program start, and clock will appear on your Palm-organizer screen showing the current time." Make the jump to Palmary Clock.

Resco Explorer 2008 has been updated

[From Eric Mann] Look for an update to Resco Explorer 2008 and fixes the following: Automatic associations restore could copy associations valid for one drive to another drive. Particular problem: Launcher uses different app directories for the BuiltIn drive (/Applications) and for the card (/Palm/Launcher). Above bug redefined the card app directory to /Applications, which in turn caused that card apps became "invisible" for the launcher. As a side effect it is possible to override (for example) Media associations in the Control Panel.

So what is Resco Explorer? Many say that Explorer is the most versatile Palm application, a true Swiss knife for Palm OS. Well, here are additional arguments: Secure storage of sensitive documents Access to Palm OS internals, RAM analyzer All kinds of network connectivity - LAN, FTP, Bluetooth Front-end tool for VPN clients Ideal for learning FTP (using the free FTP account) Http downloder Text file editor Document launching — automatic opening of the tapped document

Winners

Hans, who sent in so many emails over the last month or so and Martin Bailey are winners of the MacBook Air Giveaway and the LifeDrive Throwaway respectively. Your goodies will be sent out on Monday by Lindsey Dyson or Tuesday at the latest as we have a huge storm supposed to be hitting us. As always I have the MacBook giveaway running at the moment and I could end this at any time and it's the same guidelines as always which you can find at this post.

Palm Astronomy

[From David Ross] A few weeks back my daughter Tegan who's 6 had some homework that involved finding 6 constellations and following the moons phases. We got a few clear patches on a couple of nights and I used Planisphere to help me find the constellations for her to see them. I do a bit of astronomy myself and find Planisphere good for just placing things and getting my bearings. There was not that many nights clear for the moon and just how it happened it was either side of a new moon. This made it really hard The point of the exercise though was recording what was observed and that's what we did. I still wanted Tegan to realise what was happening so I used both the freeware app Moon Phase and Astromtrics Lunar to show the movement of the phases. It showed Tegan very clearly that on certain days there really was nothing to see. That's the beauty of the Palm OS and a lot of the apps. They are clear and staight forward. There is a range of apps in subjects such as astronomy that cater for a range from the nildly curious to the diehard fanatic hobbyist. As planispheres go it ranges from the freware such as Sky Chart to Astronomist.

Tx no longer available in Canada!?!?

[From Arny (Toronto, Canada)] Was cruising around trying to figure when the Centro might be coming to Canada. Dropped by www.palm.com/ca and low and behold, under the drop down menu for handhelds they only list the Z22. Similarly, they only list the Treo 680 and the 700p in the drop down menu, After my collegues picked me up off the floor, I had another look at the sight. The whole PDA & SmartPhone lines are still available. The splash screen highlighting the new (to Canada) Treo 750 overwrites the area of the drop down. False Alarm! Didn't find any clue on the arrival of the Centro. Canada is a bit of a wasteland when it comes to cellular. I guess we're too big a country and a lot of it isn't covered by any network - and we are always up to two years behind on phone releases. You can now get a Treo 680, 700p, 700wx, 750, & 755p, but no Centro - yet. Maybe I'll just wait for an iPhone.

The long & slow plan for iPhone

It's not going to be a simple fight no more between iPhone & BlackBerry, with the release of "special by invitation" tester users for iPhone Enterprise Beta Program; iPhone firmware v2.0 is going to rock the BlackBerry's comfortable position for enterprise favourite device. Although still planned to be release on June this year, the firmware v2.0 is definetely Apple's first step to broaden iPhone users to corporate level. Even by the announcement of iPhone SDK kit, Steve Jobs still wishes that iPhone to be sold exclusively through mobile carriers contract; no sign of unlocked iPhone in the horizon yet. I still hadn't understand what exactly Steve wants to achieve by limiting iPhone sales, until I read on the news announcement of Apple's new App Store; a little shed of light has been revealed. If you haven't know what is that, please read on Paul Biba's summary of iPhone SDK kit release here.

Some say this App Store is going to hinder the innovation progress of iPhone applications, but others say good things about it. Basically apps developers are suppose to report every products they made to Apple, get e-sertificate for those apps, and only allowed to publish them through Apple too. On the customers point of view, this is a great idea! Now, we can have a peace of mind every time we download an app & install it into our iPhone; there'll be no such incompatible issue that often the main source why we have to reset our device. And we could buy apps directly from iTunes to the iPhone, which it's a built-in native app in it so no more hassle to find new apps on the web.

All of those I've just mentioned above can't be done if you own a bricked iPhone, the Apple shareholders would love to have more income with the sales of unlocked iPhone. So that's why Steve is so determined not to quickly boost iPhone sales just by releasing unlocked iPhones, but the revenue could come from iTunes / App Store as Apple's second biggest income apart from the sales of their devices (Mac, iPod, iPhone, etc). The iTunes / App Store can charge fees directly to mobile carriers of the iPhone in the future, this way Apple won't have to deal with fraud & delayed payments. Those above reasons are probably his long plan for iPhone & iTunes to dominate the mobile market.

Sure, like many of you, I also have doubts if this news from Apple is good thing or bad? But it have been many times that every of those doubts had turned out to great ideas instead, time will tell my friend...

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Using my treo at the post office

Images Today was a big day for me due to the fact that I picked up a new part time job. Today would have been a lot harder had it not been for my treo 750. I had to go to the post office and drop off some items while waiting for an important email and expecting an important phone call. Once at the post office I used opera mini to look up and address and jott it down. Then on my way out I got the call I was expecting followed by the email. All this possible because of my treo.

Checking my Tungsten TX every day

[From Freda] Every morning I check my TX for today's schedule, appointments, and to-do's. Today was no different. Somehow the TX's datebook keeps my very hectic life organized. The color coding feature of the calendar is a lifesaver to distinguish between the business and various family activities. I am looking to switch to a different datebook with even more capabilities though. More power! And TGIF everyone!

What my Tungsten TX is doing

[From paul] At the moment my TX is carrying my tasks and appointments for the next few months, my current shopping list, two or three alarms, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe and, as I've started a new job, all the data I need to fill the HR paperwork. All this to keep me on track and appear much more together than I actually am.

Third Grade Spelling Words

[From Freda in San Francisco] Third grade homework with my son keeps me jumping. Weekly spelling words and the dictation sentences are entered on my TX every Monday. I have the words with me at all times as my TX is always with me. I can pull up the words/sentences and quiz him anytime-anywhere in preparation for Friday's test. Sigh...

TMP vs Datebk6

[From gr. Edwin Duiverman, The Netherlands] I've been a long time user of Palm, bought my first one in october 1996 (it was a US Robotics Palm Pilot Personal, if I remember it well). At first I was sceptical because I considered the Calendar on my old Psion 3a a lot better. After a while I got used to the Palm OS and I started to like it. Later on I discovered DateBk, a Calendar substitute with some nice extra features like Large fonts, Colored fonts, Bold fonts, Floating (rollover) appointments and tasks, etc. etc. So I used DateBk for a lot of years. Lately I've been using Tasks a lot for personal improvement. Most tasks are daily tasks like exercise half an hour, eat a piece of fruit, take vitamine pil, relax-time (read book, listen to music, etc.). This helps me a lot because normally I mostly forget to eat fruit every day or excercise and all those things. And when I do not do some tasks this day I try to do them tomorrow twice.

So I was looking for a way to use tasks in this specific manner and found that DateBk6 was able to transfer tasks to the next day and adding them to the tasks of that day. The only problem there was that it filled up my Calendar completely, I hardly could see my normal appointments anymore. Then I installed a trial version of TMP and after trying out the features of TMP I came to the conclusion that it serves my needs very well. It has a nice way of handling tasks in a subscreen wich can quickly be switched between not visible, half screen and full screen. Also the font and color coding of categories are very usable. I'm very happy with it, my trial period is almost over and I'm going to purchase it one of these days.

How mastering my Palm has helped me master myself

[From Jeff Pulice] My Palm 700P is always with me. When something is that omnipresent, it's got to have an effect on you. As a screenwriter, I used to lose ideas before I could get to a pen and paper. Last week, I found myself driving home and dictation a note on new plot complications for my latest rewrite. As a teacher, I enter EVERY deadline into my Datebook- I don't miss meetings any more. Dangerous conditions or vandalism in my building? I take a picture of the problem with the camera and take it to the administration. Finally, as an athlete, the Palm lets me plan my workouts. I don't have to guess- I know that tomorrow night is Chest and Biceps with stability exercises mixed into Supersets. Could I do this with a notebook? Maybe...but a notebook isn't always, ALWAYS in my pocket. A notebook doesn't chime every time a deadline or appointment is here (that little sound; it's so quiet, but I never fail to check and see what SHOULD be happening now, at this moment). Once you know how to use a Palm as a tool, there's no going back!

The iPhone and 3rd Party Software

[From David Binnion] Since even before the release of the iPhone people have been screaming, begging, and pleading for Apple to open it up to 3rd party software. One of the most exciting events after the iPhone was released was to see who would be the first to hack it open for software from sources other than Apple. By all accounts, thousands, of not hundreds of thousands of iPhone users have risked creating $400 bricks to do just that. Now we all know that as good as the iPhone is, it lacks certain niceties - necessities even. So why don't we have third party programs and why, after half a year, are we now eagerly awaiting the announcement of what rumors tell us will be a beta release of an iPhone SDK and very restrictive access? This weekend I was reminded why - I was hit upside the head with why - my wife made certain demands and threats that make the why of it obvious. Stability.

My wife hasn't added any new software to her (my old) Treo 680 since I handed it over to her in November but this past week it started spontaneously rebooting or locking up. Monday it was once, Tuesday a couple times and by Friday late morning she turned if off, put her SIM back into her battery dead RAZR and tethered it to her charger. Saturday I was told to fix it. I won't go through all my travails; let's just say that I quickly confirmed there was nothing wrong with the phone and that in the end a slow reinstallation of her software, a resync of her data, and re-entry of her serial numbers did the job. And I don't have a clue what went wrong or why I couldn't quickly resync from one of two of her backups to fix the probem.

This is why Apple has been so slow and why it is going to be so restrictive. Palm has been given a pass it doesn't deserve about how brittle its OS has become. The Palm press should be all over the company about it. Perhaps the fact that we aren't all yelling and screaming is because we sense the senselessness of beating a dead horse. But Apple won't receive that kind of pass. The first time someone has to do to their iPhone what I had to do to my wife's Treo it will be blogged, it will be YouTubed, and it will be reported in the nightly news. Jobs knows they have to do this right.

My new iPod Touch is great!!

[From Vern Pierce Huber Hts Ohio USA] Well, I did it. My boss, Dan Hyland bought one for himself, showed it to me and you can guess the rest.

This is a nearly perfect device, I so wish Palm had built it. All my podcasts, email is a BREEZE, movies, even rental movies, plus music of course! Apple Inc has raised the bar for all new devices!

In closing, Now I can't wait to see what new devices Palm will be building with their new OS next year!

Wake Up Call

[From Freda in Daly City] We all have different uses for our mobile devices. The day has only just begun, but today I've used my TX to check my schedule, read emails while in bed, play a few relaxing games of Solitaire, and...walk into the children's room with the alarm ready to go... to "gently" wake them up and get them ready for school.

I love my Treo 650

[From Lauren Blake] I love my Treo 650 because I can read books on it! I love to download free books for eReader (the pro version is also free now), and have them at my fingertips whenever I want them. And I can bookmark my page too -- which is way better than dogearing pages in a book.

Using a Tungsten E2 for work

[From Jeff] I’m using my Tungsten E2 with Street Atlas 2008 for mapping the routes to my customer’s site. I have a Mobile Detailing Business and the Tungsten does a great job of getting me there. Along with the wireless SD card, I can check my email for new appointments. All the user manuals and product guides for the various chemicals and equipment are accessed via Documents to go. I would be completely lost with out this little guy.

Snapper Mail thoughts

[From Mauricio Tanzi, Costa Rica] By far I think that Snapper Mail is the best email client for the Palm OS. I wrote to their customer service email to see what new features where going to be added and he said “Push Email”. That´s great news guys, and keep doing that great work.

Can't get enough

I keep watching as more and more new PDAs and smartphones are released and yet I can't find anything that's worth switching away from my old reliable Palm TX. Yeah, it doesn't have a jog wheel and it's a bit clunky to hold but it still works well and now that I've added FontSmoother the text is crisp and a joy to read.

My World

[From Pastor Steve Hahn] My Treo 750 has been an amazing companion not only for personal use; (playing games in my down time, in the doctors office) I also keep up on ESPN news and the weather channel and live TV. But the biggest way I use my 750 is using it for my sermon preparation. I absolutely love to be able to step out of the office and take my trusty 750 and as ideas come to me I am able to use my 5 different versions of Bibles and well as my commentaries and my bible dictionaries to complete my sermon prep even when I’m away from the office. I have Microsoft office and I use Word to create my sermons and then I cruise on over to the internet and copy and paste pictures and illustrations that pertains to my sermon, into a PowerPoint presentation. So in short, I have been amazed at the capabilities that I have in something so compact as a Treo, so welcome to my world, for those of you who don’t have a Smartphone of some sort, I encourage you…make the change and know that whatever your use is, business or pleasure, I guarantee that your productivity will increase by a minimum of 20%. So make the switch and take your Smartphone into YOUR world!

Treo World

[From Pastor Steve Hahn] I love my Treo 750, it has transformed my life, I use it for everything I do. I have every sermon I have ever preached on it, with easy access so I can print it off at any given time, I use it to check my email, auto sync every hour, I have my entire Bible on it, with all my commentaries and bible dictionaries, and I can pretty much do all my studying from my Treo at any given time. Welcome to my Treo World!

Today I used my Palm’s alarm to wake me up

Today I used my Palm’s alarm to wake me up, and updated my birthday list after I thought of something else I wanted on the way in to work this morning, updated my shopping list for a trip to the hardware store at lunchtime, and I played PictureLogic while waiting for a meeting to begin.

Palm is my sticky notes - DiddleBug

[From Miro, NJ] I am 26 years young but I already have huge troubles remembering stuff. I can't remember what I was told to do 30 min ago. That was a problem until I bought my Palm TX. Now whenever I am assigned a task, or just decide to do something later I scribble it quick, add an alarm, and that solves the remembering problem. I strongly advise it to all of you that have trouble remembering those small tasks every day. That does help. P.s. And that is before I even add all Birthdays and Anniversaries :)

My Ubiquio 503G as a TV Guide

[From Lulu- TX, USA] It doesn't seem like a big deal, but I like to know what's going to be on TV each evening. Using the TV Guide mobile site has been a big help with that. I can check out the site while I'm out and find out whether or not there will be a fresh episode of my favorite shows on. With the writers' strike over now, its hard to figure out what shows are in reruns. I'm glad I have a wireless pocket pc to give me the info so I don't have to be disappointed when I finally settle in front of the TV.