PalmAddicts

Palm Periodic Table with ChemTable

Do you remember everything in the periodic table of the elements from high school chemistry?  Neither did I!  But my daughter needed to know some things about particular elements the other day and I found this great periodic table application for the Palm OS.  ChemTable not only shows you the periodic table, it contains a lot of additional information about each element.  It's an ideal reference for when you don't have your chemistry text book handy.  And it's free!

Save 25% off Palm Accessories at palm.com

Might as well make myself useful, so I want to point out that until March 19th you can obtain 25% discount off all Palm accessories. "All accessories at the Palm Store are 25% off , which means you can splurge on a wireless headset or keyboard, a new case or that GPS system you’ve been eyeing. Don’t wait. This sale ends 3/19!" Nice promotion Palm and as Sammy says all the details are after the jump.

PalmAddict Greetings from Australia from someone who uses a Treo 680

Thank you to Sammy for allowing me to be an Associate Writer, my name is Karen Lindop and I have written for Palmaddict before back in 2001 and again in 2004 so it is nice to be back. I am currently using a Treo 680 but I am looking at trading for a iPhone or a Centro so very uncertain but my unconditional love for all things Palm has been with me since my first Palm device in 2000 and since then have switched from Pocket PC to Palm, Pocket PC to Palm, so I am unsure of what my next move will be. What I do know is that I will post my mobile experiences on Palmaddict for all to read. Over the years I have learnt so much from Sammy and the crew and reading your user thoughts has also been educational, so thank you for writing and I look forward to writing my own experiences and hope to give something back to the community in due course.

T303 is a low budget mobile phone from Sony Ericsson

I actually had a cold shiver at the back of my neck when my girlfriend said she likes the T303 (from the picture I've shown her), and she wished I’ll exchange my bulky & old looking Treo with it! But anyway, aside from that little personal story of mine there; the T303 is indeed aimed at lower budget market. With price starts ranging at $200, this slider mobile phone is more relying to sell on the exterior design rather than the features inside it. It has that “chick factor” those female users usually fond of and the 93 gram weight is supposed light enough to be carried in their ridiculously-smallish purse.

But for those who used to stare at big screen of Treo or iPhone, T303 screen at 128x160 pixels is going to be a torture; it’s limited only at 65K colors too. Others features are standard: 1.3MP camera, FM radio, MP3 player. But for low budget mobile phone like this, Sony Ericsson only injected 8MB (shared) memory which is too small for MP3 lovers. The most disappointment is T303 doesn’t have EDGE or even 3G network, the owners must be satisfied with GPRS class 10.

After reading above infos and you’re still interested, perhaps for a present, expect it on stores in the middle of this year. Two colors will be available: Shimmering Silver and Shadow Black. Read the whole specs at GSMArena here.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

AT&T offers upgraded BB Pearl 8120

With recent BlackBerry (BB) popularity ousted with grinded teeth from it’s customers around the world, which mostly because of service outage; AT&T is yet to slow down their sales of BB devices. Trying to catch up with Sprint & Verizon who have offered Pearl 8130s, AT&T released Pearl 8120 with more features such as: microSD slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, 2 megapixel camera, and WiFi connection. The price after rebates and a two-year contract is around $199.99, a very tempting offer for business users. -via EngadgetMobile

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

iPhone, almost one month and counting

Programs I'd like to see from the SDK:
1. To do list with alarms
2. AudibleAir
3. A multi-service IM application that supports MySpaceIM, GoogleTalk, Yahoo, AIM, etc.
4. eBook reader

While I was in Corpus Christi yesterday on business I finally got a chance to really use Google Maps on the iPhone and I loved it! I love the fact that after you select a venue you can call, go to their website, get directions to/from, and add to contacts or bookmark it. After deciding to watch a movie and getting directions (Google Maps) and show times (Safari), I was able to make a few calls before going into the theater and then communicate via SMS after the movie started. The great thing about the iPhone is that there wasn't any noisy key presses while SMS-ing. While waiting between interviews and feedback sessions I kept up with RSS feeds through Google Mobile and played around with Facebook. On the trip down and back I listened to a few songs pipped through to my cars speakers and came close to finishing an audiobook from Audible. I will say this about audio books, it's cheaper to get a subscription through Audible than buy the book through iTunes.

One of my favorite things to do lately is purchase new music through the iTunes WiFi store. My favorite feature of the iPhone is being able to watch or listen to things with the built in speaker. The two things I miss from my Treo are the alert LED and tasks. What does the iPhone desperately need? A2DP!!!

Overall I'm pretty happy with my iPhone, although June can't come fast enough!!!

Butler Beta 4.70 - Keyguard Slider...

[From Rob at HobbyistSoftware] Hi Folks, New Beta out for Butler. The main addition is the sliding keyguard unlock gadget. Inspired by the ever-so-pretty iPhone (though they could learn a thing or two from Palm when it comes to handling a contacts app!)

Slide the button to the right to unlock !
12/Mar/08 fix for bug where keyguard + attention grabber + alert was giving a black bar across the screen
13/Mar/07 added sliding keyguard option
13/Mar/07 improved keyguard display on treo 600

Download at the Hobbyist Software download page (bottom of the page)

I hurt my Treo today...

I knew there would come a time when I drop the Treo of mine, because I used to just slip it into my jeans pocket. This all happened when I had a conversation with one of the staff, busy from explaining her how to carry out the order from our director, another staff came in and ask about other subject. As I was on fire explaining things to work around the obstacles to finish the works, I felt like I've slipped my Treo into the back of my jeans pocket like usual. But suddenly I heard it dropped on the floor, seemed I didn't put correctly. Lucky enough it’s not broken, just a very small bump on top of it. It's all because of those questions that took away my attention to my beloved Treo, I couldn't blame anyone else but myself for the fell. I've always wanted a holster for it, but no stores here sell such holster made for Treo. O Palm, when are thou will open a Palm Store here, in Indonesia?

(blogged with my -dropped- Treo 750v)

Acces Requests to Withdraw Opposition at USPTO Against Hop-on

[From Hans] PALM NASDAQ: PALM and Hop-on, Inc. PinkSheets: HPNN announced today Access Systems America, Inc. (ASA, formerly known as PalmSource, Inc.) on March 4, 2008 "Requested to Withdraw Opposition" from the USPTO with prejudice. The Opposition No. 91169665 is a major victory for Hop-on. The confidential settlement agreement, signed on February 26, 2008, ended a three-year litigation in the United States District Court, Central California in regard to the use and registration of the GRAFFITI trademark.

The settlement addresses Hop-on's sole rights to mobile and wireless use of the GRAFFITI name. PalmSource, Inc., a global provider of advanced software technologies to the mobile and beyond-PC markets, brought the action against Hop-on in 2005 citing trademark infringement and sought to prevent Hop-on from using the GRAFFITI name in any mobile phone products or wireless services.

Peter Michaels, President and CEO of Hop-on, Inc. stated, "With the financial settlement of this case, we now have the resources to go after other companies who are infringing our Design and Utility Patents. I am extremely confident that we will be signing multiple license agreements for our technology, and litigating others who do not pay our company for use of our Intellectual Property rights. It is estimated that there are over 50 companies who are infringing our patents. This is a great opportunity for our shareholders to reap the benefits of license agreements and other potential victories in court!"

Michaels further stated, "This kind of law is extremely complicated. We had to settle the US Federal Court lawsuit in California, while simultaneously PalmSource requested to withdraw its opposition at the USPTO in Virginia. We were fighting two distinct battles in two states with different judicial formats with complicated procedures. We were fortunate to have one of the best Patent attorneys, John Welsh, on our side."

For additional information on the case settlement, go to the United States Patent and Trademark Office website at www.uspto.gov.
Read the full press release

Multitasking on the iPhone - Please, NO!

I have be quietly worrying that the iPhone would get multitasking and am actually pleased that Apple has said "No" to the idea. 

Daniel Eran Dilger has an excellent article at Roughly Drafted Magazine about why this is a good decision.  He said it far better than I could, so I will leave it to him:

The idea that the iPhone should let apps decide what they’re going to do when asked to leave, rather than setting an enforced system policy, might sound good but isn’t well thought out. Apple’s decision is to do with third party apps exactly what it does to Safari: when the user hits the Home button, the system saves the currently running application’s data, quits the app, and presents the Springboard menu of apps. When the app is next launched again, it starts up from where it left off.

Because the launch time is so rapid, there’s really no difference for users between trying to leave an application running in virtual memory and simply quitting and then relaunching it again later when needed again instead. The technical difference is that quitting apps results in better use of resources, including better battery life. Users will notice that.

...

WinCE proves that the general idea of having no limitations on third party background processes and concurrently running applications on a handheld device is a bad idea for a number of reasons. The first relates to the resource issues I already raised. In the words of WinCE Enthusiast Chris De Herrera:

“There are times when having multiple applications running at once causes the foreground application to slow down noticeably. This slowdown is due to the amount of time that the operating system is spending servicing background applications. In these instances, I recommend that users consider performing a soft reset.”

The article is fairly lengthy, but I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in the issue.  Unlike a lot of the commenters we see on the net, he has the technical expertise to understand what is going on with OS X and the iPhone.

You can find the article here.

Anyone want to take this 2nd hand but in excellent condition Toshiba Satellite Pro A100 Laptop off my hands

OK my PalmAddict friends onto today's throwaway and can you believe that here in the office we still haven't replaced all the PC laptops with Apple Mac's yet and with that in mind if anyone wants to take off my hands a slightly used but working fine Toshiba Satellite Pro A100 running the latest Windows operating system, which also has wifi and can also play and record DVD's. We have used these laptops for design work so they are pretty powerful.

To get your hands on the laptop I need a couple of lines from you on how your using your mobile device. Please no personal plea's or blank emails. No self software or website promotions allowed and you must send something new to us. Everyone welcome, please put THURSDAY in the subject line and then first person to email me following the correct rules gets the Toshiba laptop - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

The iPhone is Now THE Platform for the Future of Mobile Computing

[From Ben Dermott] Thanks to Ben for sending this link into PA Towers this morning. Ben let us know of this editorial written by J2ME developer Don Babcock who feels the iPhone is the platform of the future for mobile computing. "I'd go so far as to say that the iPhone is THE platform for the future of mobile computing. I loved the combo of Netbeans and SDK's until I ran into the "brick wall" fortifications that the telcos have erected to deny the ability to develop for their platforms for all but the most well heeled "partners." Steve Jobs has wonderfully liberated us with the advent of the iPhone SDK. From my perspective, Java has always been "hampered" by the degree of difficulty in building robust and intuitive UI's. You can easily invest the MAJORITY of your development time in the UI as opposed to the actual application code proposition. Any of the J2ME emulators/debuggers that I've looked at and used don't hold a candle to the ones built into the iPhone SDK." Read the full editorial.

Daily Gadget turns off the lights

It's a shame to see the excellent Daily Gadget turn off the lights, the site is and was one of my favourites and has been a site that we have mentioned on a periodical basis on PA but at least you can access the archives and as always one has to remember that writers and editors associated give up their time freely, so go and make the jump to the Daily Gadget, check the archives and even add a comment....the site will be missed.

Morning Paper reviews FlipSide for the Blackberry

I have to say that I tried FlipSide for the Blackberry and it is very good and now Sheldon at the Morning Paper has come in with a review of it so if you have a Blackberry device then take a read. "Unfortunately I have yet to find a screenshot app for my Blackberry 8830 like "Quicktake" which I use on my Treo 755p. The main reason is out of the ones that I have found, they all require a PC to operate. If anyone knows of one that does not require Windows, please let me know. Anyway, if I had such an app for my BB I could show you screenshots of what I believe to be the coolest, slickest piece of mobile media playing software outside of the iPhone and iPod Touch. I use those two by comparison because they are what "Flipside" is based off of." Read in full.

6 things that I have done on my Centro this morning

Here are just some of the things that I have done on my Palm Centro this morning
1/ The alarm went off
2/ Checked my email with a little help of Chattermail
3/ Used GoogleMaps to check the address of a restaurant in NYC that I am booked into next week
4/ Used my Centro to send a friend of mine in NYC a instant message with a little help from Toccer.
5/ Listened to Pocket Tunes whilst in the gym this morning
6/ Received an email from a editor wanting me to proof read a editorial, I did this easily from my Centro

MegaLauncher 6.45 (Apache) has now been updated and fully supports the Centro

[From Eric Mann] MegaLauncher 6.45 (Apache) has now been updated and fully supports the Centro. "MegaLauncher is a multipurpose application manager that can work on all modern Palm OS platform devices. Easy, intuitively understandable interface and the program philosophy enable you to study and accept this program in no time. Designed for considerable facilitation and time saving this program also enables you to effectively control all your applications and databases taking minimum steps. MegaLauncher comprises a set of multimedia and communications managers, which enclose the entire service package both for office and home use. Storage and information restore managers will help you in no time and without any difficulty restore the whole information on your device. Adjustment managers allow you to customize the view, color schemes and accompanying sound to your liking and requirements." Make the jump.
[moblogging from Drip Bar from my Centro]

ScummVM recently updated

[From Eric Mann] Recently ScummVM was updated to version 0.11.1. "ScummVM continues to leap forward in a leap year, and we are pleased to announce the next shiny bugfix release of the project. As usual, it holds a number of improvements, it's more stable, and it should bring you even more fun than 0.11.0. We fixed the digital iMUSE system (better COMI experience), King's Quest 4 bugs were squashed, and support for fanmade AGI games has been improved; Lure of the Temptress, Inherit the Earth and I Have no Mouth all work better since we fixed several crashes, lock-ups and all such buzzwords. As a special bonus we are glad to announce the return of the BeOS port and the deeply missed Playstation 2 port. For a more comprehensive list of improvements you are welcome to visit the release notes, but for those demanding to play, the latest and greatest version of ScummVM waits for you right on our downloads page!" Make the jump for the full deets.
[moblogging from Drip Bar from my Centro]

AOL To Acquire Global Social Media Network Bebo

[From Hans] Interesting tech news and AOL is buying the social networking site Bebo for $850m (£417m). "“Bebo is the perfect complement to AOL’s personal communications network and puts us in a leading position in social media,” said Randy Falco, Chairman and CEO, AOL. “What drew us to Bebo was its substantial and fast-growing worldwide user-base, its vision of a truly social web, and the monetization opportunities that leverage Platform-A across our combined global audience. This positions us to offer advertisers even greater reach and marketers significant insights into the desires and needs of consumers.”" The full press release is here and thanks to Hans for the heads up.
[moblogging from Drip Bar from my Centro]

PA Reader Meet-Ups for New York City & Dubai

A little while ago I was talking to you about possible PalmAddict Reader Meetups and as usual we have a good reception for the provisional New York Reader Meet up that we may have to organise a second meet up for NYC as we have done previously, we have enough readers now to organise a meetup in Dubai which is great and we will start looking for a location soon ready for a meetup at the end of May beginning of June so if you want to be put down as interested in either meetings then send me an email with either NYC or DUBAI in the subject line and we will add you to the list, as always with all my reader meetups places will be reserved on a first come, first served basis. I'll do a periodical repeat post on this one. - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com
[moblogging from Drip Bar from my Centro]

Mike Cane hopes two of Astraware's games get ported to the iPod Touch / iPhone

Mike Cane hopes two of Astraware's games get ported to the iPhone / iPod Touch and I have to agree with him especially regarding TextTwist which remains one of my favourite games as regular readers will know. "The iPhone and iPod Touch promise to be full-out pocketable computers with more power than any PDA ever offered. Yet even with all that power, when it comes to games, I’d like simplicity — even a chance of winning. So multi-level games with skateboarding acrobatics, fast-paced jet fighter simulations, and twisty submersive mysteries are just too involved for my tastes. I’d get frustrated fast. Knowing that, I won’t buy them. But there are some games I’d really, really like to have for the iPhone/iPod Touch. Astraware has some word games for PDAs that look interesting: What Word and Text Twist." Mike Cane's Blog for the full read.
[moblogging from Drip Bar from my Centro]

GearDiary on the Evernote Beta

Wayne at the Gear Diary reports what he thinks about the beta of Evernote. "There’s more to the latest Evernote Software beta release than simplifying the process of taking notes. As all future software will, Evernote runs smoothly on three platforms: Web, Windows and MAC OS. But… as they say on TV - “that’s not all” - find out below how to and why you’ll want to download this very cool software." Read in full.
[moblogging from Drip Bar from my Centro]

New! Over 1,000 audiobooks from LibriVox

Caught this over at the Kinoma Blog, "Do you like audiobooks? I’m happy to announce the addition of over 1,000 audiobooks — over 20,000 chapters! — to Kinoma Media Guide. This represents the complete catalog of LibriVox, whose mission is to make all books in the public domain available as audiobooks." Kinoma Notes for the full deets.

Sammy's Centro Diary

Thanks to the following for dropping me a instant message over the last couple of days, Testaff, Eric Mann, Jolie, Laurents, Mike Parker, Xristoff, Leewart, Simon Higginson, Kyle and Daniel Jordan. I know that there are a couple of you that I have missed off due to me not taking a note of your instant messenger names. So with regards to my enfora wifi sled, Laurents IM'd me this morning and asked would I say a couple of words with how I am getting along with my Centro and I have to say remarkably well. Now of course it is not ideal and it is just a fix rather than a solution but the fact that it does work is great. I can listen to my favourite radio stations online using Pocket Tunes. I can watch You Tube video's thanks to Kinoma Player. I have managed to glue the casing that I removed back in place so the internal elements of the Enfora Sled are not as exposed as how they were when I presented it in my last PATV. The only negative element is the power button was damaged, when I took it out originally so I have not managed to get that fixed but if I have difficulty I just gently use the stylus of my Centro and gently press the power button. Yes the solution is not ideal but at least it allows me the option to be able to get wifi on my Centro. The Enfora Sled is great, the battery on it is pretty good and a quick recharge normally does the trick if the battery runs down. So there you go Laurents my Enfora Wifi Sled fix is no real solution but if I need wifi then it does the trick. I actually carry the sled in a pouch leather case that I used to keep my Jornada 720 and it does a good job to protect it. By the way if you wish to instant messege me then you will find me most of the time on AIM at sammymcloughlin and if I am busy I will let you know but feel free to say hello.

TMP

[From Dominic Strause] Sammy I wanted to say thank you for pointing me in the right direction of TMP, it's easily the best program that I have used. I have tried for a long time to find the best diary / to-do application and I think I found the winner.

[SAMMY: TMP is a great PIM and full of great features including:]
Unique layout with smooth scrolling makes managing your agenda and getting the overview more intuitive and faster.
Main agenda view showing event description and time/location information, with multi-line support and selectable fonts.
Integrated task list capable of expanding fully to almost the full screen for maximum viewing, or collapsing completely out of the way when not needed.
The task list display includes optional check boxes, priority and days-to-due-date columns. It can be filtered by priority, category, whether a due date was assigned, and threshold proximity to the due date.
Integrated monthly calendar showing up to six months (virtual graffiti devices; four months on standard devices) and providing quick, convenient date navigation.
Note/alarm/repeat symbols with selectable symbol styles/sizes (hi-res devices) and colors. Each symbol type may optionally be hidden.
Optional clock with selectable styles including a unique binary clock.
Self-updating display across date changes. When midnight is crossed, the display updates in real time or on device power-on.
Up to ten user-selectable fonts (OS5 double density devices; up to eight fonts on Sony hi-resolution devices, up to 5 fonts on standard resolution devices) for most display elements.
Fully configurable colour-coding of specific display elements and item types improves at-a-glance differentiation of days of the week and event and task item types.
Flexible hard button control of view switching, scrolling and secondary pane position.
Item selection and navigation using hard buttons including the 5-way navigator and jog controls.
Direct operation with Calendar and Tasks databases for performance and stability.
Supports sampled sounds and vibration in Treo 600/650/700 devices.

TMP is available from lilspider website and retails for $17.95

PalmDiscovery reviews the USB Fever’s 4-In-1 Stylus

May at PalmDiscovery has written a review of the USB Fever’s 4-In-1 Stylus. "Ever find that you're scrambling to find that infrared pointer for your presentation and the presentation is in a few minutes? Or, you can't find a pen or need a stylus when you're pressed for time? Well, this may be something that can help. USB Fever's 4-in-1 Stylus is, as the name implies, a 4-in-1 stylus with four different uses or features for one item. At first glance, you'd think that it was simply a regular ball point pen with a clip. But, there's more to it than that. Twisting the tip end of the stylus counter clockwise will bring out the stylus tip. To retract the stylus and bring out the pen tip, twist it clockwise. So, you can use this stylus for PDA or other touchscreen devices and also write down a note if needed. Near the top end of the stylus along the side are two sets of buttons. The button closest to the top end will turn on the infrared pointer light." PalmDiscovery for the full read.

TreoCentral TreoCast Episode 39 is now available for your viewing pleasure

TreoCentral TreoCast Episode 39 is now available for your viewing pleasure. "In today's TreoCast we discuss the implications of the iPhone Software Roadmap on the world of Treos, as well as some other news. Plus: your emails and the community! " Make the jump.

Bejeweled 2

I have to agree with what Sammy said about Bejeweled 2 it's such a great game. Personally I get frustrated because I can never seen what move is next. If you have never played Bejeweled then you should do but I will warn you when you start playing it gets very difficult to put the game down.
(Bejeweled 2 - http://www.astraware.com/all/bejeweled2/)

Flight Status

Having read yesterday about FlightView I wanted to point readers to FlightStatus which is a free Palm program but does a great job at keeping you up to speed on all domestic US flights, providing information on departure and arrival.

"This is the first program that I have written. It is for getting live flight status for all recent flights. If you know the flight number for your flight all you do is type it in and it returns the information for your flight. (Usually within 10-20 seconds.) However, if you do not know the flight number you may also fill in a small form and it gives you a list of flights for that airline. (Again, usually within 10-20 seconds.) You may then click on one and it tells you information about that flight. The information it gives you is: Departure City, Arrival City, Departure Time,Arrival Time, as well as airspeed in knots, equipment and altitude. This version has Independence Air as well as other new airlines as well as security wait times for the Atlanta airport. (The only airport that has real-time posting of their security waits.) "
(http://andrewsoft.net/palmhome.html)

Multitasking

[From Shawn Stroud] Hi Sammy, fantastic site keep up the great work. I am proud to tell you that I am the new owner of a Ruby Centro and I love it. My Tungsten E was never going to seer the year out, it had too many digitizer problems and I wanted a new phone so the Centro was the perfect choice. I am blown away with the size, it's so small and I love the Palm OS because it is so reliable. Multitasking is one of Palm's weaknesses but I read recently that the iPhone / iPod Touch will also not support multitasking so it goes to show that you may think you have the best operating system on your iPhone but in reality it is no different than that on a Palm device. Keep up the great work Sammy.

Winners

Rabir Singh won yesterdays Tungsten TX, I have another throwaway both today and the last one will be tomorrow. Today's throwaway will be a little later today probably lunch time US ET. Well done Rabir.

GoTreo Releases SafeGuard for Palm OS

Software news this hour and GoTreo Software has released a new application for Palm OS. SafeGuard is designed to troubleshoot, prevent and help diagnose software problems with Palm OS devices, namely the Treo and Centro. The program aims to identify misbehaving 3rd party applications in order to remedy system crashes, software conflicts and device reset issues. It can maintain a history of application usage and all device crashes and resets, and can show you detailed information about what processes are running in the background. You can quarantine troublesome apps and GoTreo even claims it will help stop the dreaded "Reset Loop of Death" scenario. Palminfocenter has the deets on this one.

Opera Mobile 9.5. Preview

Brighthand in it's usual detailed fashion previews Opera Mobile 9.5. It looks good but can it match the iPhone's Safari experience, I very much doubt it.

"Opera Mobile 9.5 introduces a full screen preview mode as the default way of browsing the Web -- effectively shrinking the entire page to fit the screen, then letting you zoom in and out, as has become all the vogue since the iPhone came out. (Although technically, Nokia was the first one to mobile device maker to truly implement this. Not that anyone cares.) Normally, I've not been a big fan of this sort of approach because it tends to result in a lot of panning and scrolling, rather than trying to reformat the page to fit the screen. And it is a bit tiresome on a small QVGA display."
(Source: Brighthand)

BlackBerry boss lacks tact

In a analyst meeting last week RIM President Mike Lazaridis didn't do himself any favors as he brushed off questions about the recent Blackberry outages, competition from the Microsoft and Apple and disapointing Blackberry users in the audience.

"One attendee who ditched out about halfway through the hourlong presentation jostled away with his buddies, calling it the stupidest keynote address he had ever seen. And for the next few days, just mentioning Lazaridis around the conference brought smirks and eye-rolling. One high-level IT manager recalled the trouble he went through just trying to convince RIM, maker of BlackBerry, to let him know when scheduled maintenance was coming. Others just didn't see why the man couldn't open up a bit. He was addressing a room full of IT personnel, after all. These people are very familiar with the feeling of being blamed for something that isn't their fault."
(Source: Midmarket CIO News)

I'm looking for Associate Writers for PalmAddict with some perks thrown in

I have been running PalmAddict since 1999, amazing to think my website is now approaching it's 9th birthday and have a great team of writers based worldwide and with that in mind I am looking for new Associate Writers to join the site. The Associate Writer role is a voluntary one but there are always great perks to be had from free software to gadgets. In the past a number of Associate Writers have had some great goodies given to them from Hannah with a MacBook to Simon who has received a Treo 680 and Tablet PC and Andy who only last week was given a HTC Touch which he should receive soon. So if you have some spare time to write for my website then drop me a line and give me a couple of sentences oin why you wish to become a AW for PalmAddict and as always I don't mind what mobile device you use. We are looking for writers worldwide who can spare as little or as much time as they wish. As always send your emails with AW in the subject line to sammymcloughlin@gmail.com. I'll repeat post this throughout the week.

(No experience necessary and you do not ned to have your own blog but we look for writers to post their thoughts on how they are using their mobile device, software they see, anything that takes their fancy. As always all entries are entered into contests etc...)

A "Centro" Birthday

Happy birthday ME! I just hit the big 1-9. I'm about to call it a night because I got a big day ahead of me today. My Palm Centro is literally going to be the "center" of my day... It's going to handle all the incoming birthday calls/texts as well as keep me organized with what time and who I will be meeting with to celebrate such a glorious day. I hope everyone has a great day because I know I will be having one [=.

The Register Reviews the Centro

The site with the best logo in the world has reviewed the Centro.  (As an aside, for some reason I stopped reading The Register and I am sorry about that.  This is one of the best sites on the web.  I'm back as a regular reader.)  Let me quote the Verdict of the review:

We like the Centro. We've always preferred the Palm OS to Windows Mobile, but it's the form-factor and the styling that make the Centro a winner. Feature-wise, it's not bad either. The apps Palm has bundled are good, though they're largely the ones it's always included with its Palm OS devices. The company really needs to be more imaginative to catch the eye of the target audience. And include earphones. And a memory card.

The trouble is, we reckon those folk will be more interested in the much sexier iPhone, which is only £70 more up front yet has a much better web browser, a far superior music and video player, generally better apps and features, and Wi-Fi. It seems pricey but if you figure you're buying a new iPod into the bargain, it's not so bad.

All of which may make the Centro, good though it is, a tough sell.

You can find the full review, which is quite comprehensive, here.

Thursday mobile thought's

I sit here on a Wednesday evening / Thursday morning writing this editorial on my Centro actually what makes this even more interesting is the fact that I cannot be bothered opening up my laptop hence why I am typing this from my sofa. Pretty grueling day, and I have just come from the gym where I spent an hour and ten minutes, running and rowing, doing crunches whilst listening to my playlists via Pocket Tunes. This week has been pretty manic, my office has been refurbished hence so I have been working in a construction site so internet access has been limited but I have managed to, where possible, update my sites via my Centro.I love the fact that I have the keyboard on this thing so it allows me to type away without too much problem. Not sure if the keyboard is as good as that on the TC but it's equally as good as that on my Treo 680 which I have given to one of my associate writers. It's good to know that if I need to fire away an email or respond to an important message or fire some quick updates to PalmAddict I can do so via the Centro. The camera has also come in handy this week, taking images of fittings and furniture, sending on via email to the relevant people. I am equally impressed with the call quality, personally I have never noticed too much of a difference but with the Centro I have to say that the quality of my calls is very good. I was on holiday a little while ago and I left my iPhone at home and took the Centro, the calls back to the UK and NYC from South America where very good even to the fact that I could joke and say the person on the other end sounded like they were just in the other room. So yes a few weeks in and the Centro is great to use. Do I miss the iPhone? Of course I do because its so slim and I cannot beat the user interface and I am equally looking forward to seeing the many applications that developers are going to unleash n to the consumer from June but in the meantime I am happy using the Centro, it's a device that I think Palm have 90% right and to make it complete just give me wifi but for the meantime my modified Enfora Wifi Sled will do the trick no problem. In the meantime I hope that you are all having a great week and thank goodness I can see the weekend just on the horizon. Take care everyone.

Staying Sane with PDA

[From Brennan Leathers] My Palm m130 organizer is a lifesaver. I used to keep dates and phone numbers written on all sorts of notebook paper, constantly losing them or leaving them behind. I didn't have the discipline for non-electronic organizer, probably because it too was easily lost. Using a PDA, because of its value, makes me hang on to it and at the same time is much more convenient due to the ability to enter and sort names, dates and todo lists and sync them up with my computer. Being able to play the occasional game of Yahtzee or Blackjack in between working and travel has been a bonus, too. Having a PDA has made my life much less stressful.

Game on Apple

[From Neil S. Patrick (Florida, USA)] Now we all know the Apple iPhone is an extremely powerful cell phone, or maybe calling it a multi-purpose device might be more appropriate. Whatever you choose to call it, there’s no denying Apple crammed in way more power than was needed for the iPhone to simply operate smoothly. The abundance of power became quite clear at Apple’s SDK unveiling event that was recently held.

Now I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that Apple from the start of development on the iPhone would have wanted to capture a slice of the multi-billion dollar cell gaming market, I mean who wouldn't. But what I saw at the SDK event was a company that wanted more, a company that wanted to take on the big boys of portable game...Sony and Nintendo. Why else would Apple shoehorn in 3D capabilities that at the very least top Nintendo’s DS and seem to match Sony’s PSP, at least from what I could see on the admittedly small web videos that are circulating the web right now.

The inclusion of hardware-accelerated 3D graphics suggest to me that Apple was secretly lusting after the portable console gaming market and figured the best way to get into the game would be to plant a Trojan Horse (of sorts) into the consumer electronics market, which at first glance would only have the cell phone giants worried, but once shown for the powerhouse it really is would have even the boys and girls at Nintendo and Sony looking over their shoulders.

At the SDK event Apple had asked both Sega and EA to show off some early versions of Super Monkey Ball and Spore. Both titles looked extremely good, in particular Super Monkey Ball, which at its stage of development looked like a fully fleshed out game where as Spore still seemed to have a ways to go. Graphically they both looked great and definitely wouldn’t look out of place on home consoles such as the Sony PS2 or Nintendo Wii. In fact other than maybe the Nokia N95 I can’t really think of another cell phone that could have pushed either of these games the way the iPhone did. The funny point of the iPhone is that for the most part is has no buttons that are suitable for controlling either of these games, and yet both games seemed to operate with a silky smoothness that is rarely seen on either the PSP or the DS.

I think in the coming months gaming magazines and website will have a new console to talk about when they’re talking about portable game systems. Apple’s iPhone, like Sony’s PSP is a multimedia powerhouse, but now it seems the iPhone is ready to be a gaming powerhouse, and I for one can’t wait to see how this all ‘plays’ out.

Picture Capture

[From Michael Brown] Hi Sammy! Not long ago I used my trusty Treo 650 to capture a few pics of our trip on the Disney Wonder, a Disney Cruise Ship where our little ones had the chance to meet some of their favourite Disney characters and Princesses. It also did my usual functions of clock/alarm clock, repository for travel and medical information, and emergency contacts. It was an un-connected holiday, as I didn't look at the calendar at all until the trip was over, and both the phone and Bluetooth radios stayed off for the whole trip. I miss the beach already; since coming back to Ottawa, we've had a meter of snow in the last couple of weeks.

It keeps on time and more

[From John DeBay] I use my LifeDrive to wake me and get me going each day. I set two alarms. One to wake, and another to remind me to go to work. I do not have the same schedule each week. Or work the same days each week. I use it also to check the weather and for important emails.

Online Recipes on my Treo

[From Alex Mathews at Treobits] The other day I wanted to cook something from a recipe I found online. Typically I would drag my desktop replacement laptop to the kitchen, but this past weekend I decided to use my Treo instead.

I launched Opera Mini and navigated to the site. I was able to successfully find the recipe I wanted, as well as zoom in to the recipe details without a problem. A lot easier than lugging my laptop to the kitchen. There are some good mobile sites for recipes as well that I have used on occassion.

http://www.epitogo.com (Epicurious Mobile) / http://mobile.allrecipes.com

My Very First Treo

[From JJ] Hi everybody! This is JJ from Espoo - Finland again. I've been Palm user since 2002 when I got m100. After that I've have had m105, m500, m515, Tungsten T, Tungsten T2, Tungsten T3 and LifeDrive. Yesterday I got my new 'toy' Treo 680. I think it's very nice device, good looking, but unfortunately not UMTS phone. As phone I think is good and I like to use it just becouse I've been Palm user so long time. I'm gonna use my Treo in my work as karaoke dj. I have MobileDB where is karaoke lists. I can always find easily songs people want to sing. It's nice and practical. Sometimes I like to play Rummy or Sudoku. I use also WordSmith with my documents and it's WorldMate in my Treo too. Very beautiful and nice spring

Playing Games

[From Ronald Abadi Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia] I like playing games. When I go out I rely more on my PDA, because I do not always carry my laptop around, but when I am home it depends on my mood on which device to play games with. Sometimes I will play games on my PDA, but other times I prefer the bigger screen of my laptop. What I like about games on Windows Mobile is that I can also play them on my laptop, by using the Windows Mobile Emulator program (freely downloadable from Microsoft website). Usually I can also move the save game files back and forth, so that when I am outside I can continue playing games with the save game files played on laptop. That way I get the best of both (mobile device) worlds.

In like a lion, out like a tribble

[From Howard : in Philly] My treo 755p haas definitely become my podcast catcher of choice, and with a 2.5-3.5mm conversion cable, now I can play all the TWIT, tech5, and other gadget goodness on the road. I split the Sirius feed-line (sorry Stern), and more than half of the weeks commute is now dominated by podcasts. With a 2gb mini sd I never run low on space. I used to be tethered to the PC or my MP3 player, but now I can grab the newest 'casts from anyplace. I love my Sirius, but there's a distinct lack of tech-talk, a hole now filled by, once again, my favorite mobile device. As a child of the 70's and 80's, it almost feels like I'm living in the future...I wonder how "8-track" all this gear is gonna feel to my 3 year old son when he hits his inevitable age of "gadget pr0n". I certainly remember my dad's reel-2-reel sounding good, but looking like a relic from some long-forgotten kingdom ruled by Gnomish wizards wielding Bronze-age staves.

Using my Tungsten T3

[From Robin C. Greene, NYC] I always use my Palm T3 for reading (Mobipocket and Ereader), keeping my schedule and phone book (using Phone Magic and Datebk 5) as well as keeping track of Jewish Holidays (Chagim, a freeware program). I just booked several theater tickets and had to check my calendar to make sure that I didn’t double book myself.

Misty Water-colored Memories

[From Frank H. Tano Spokane, WA] One of the many hats my Palm T2 wears is that of a Journal (okay, "Diary"). It's password protected and with me everywhere. When it's time to become famous and write that autobiography, I'll be set with a near complete collection of notes from every day of my life. Well, except for that small period of adjusting from Graffiti 1 to Graffiti 2. That was a slow day. Let me tell you.

System BIOS Settings

[From Jim Baldwin] Sammy, I recently had a hard drive go away on me causing a nightmare of situation. I had to start all over from scratch. Thank goodness I keep a copy of all my BIOS settings on my T3 just in case what happened, actually happened. My T3 continues to save my bacon in so many situations. I cannot imagine being without it.

Recipes

[From Freda in San Francisco] I am always looking for new recipes for those quick dinners, but it isn't easy with two picky eaters. I see or clip a recipe, but then forget it somewhere. I've starting putting the recipes I want to try on my TX, and this has helped incredibly. I have the recipes with me when I am out shopping, and the shopping list for the needed ingredients is right there. Another way my PDA helps make my life a bit easier.

EZ-Convert on my M500

[From Linda, Oak Hill, WV] I have used EZ-Convert, which came with my M500, so many times and for so many different reasons. I used it when I was working as an Engineer for weights, lengths, times, etc. Now as a stay at home mom I use it for weight, lengths, times, etc. I guess working at home is just as hard as at the office!

My Treo Is My Brain

[From Lauren Blake] I don't know what I'd do without my Treo 650! It is my brain, literally. I use AirSet to sync my Google Calendar with Palm Desktop, which of course syncs with my Treo. I also use it to send emails to myself when I'm out and about and want to remember something when I get back on my computer at home. By creating a shortcut, I simply have to press and hold "N" (for "Note to Self") and my messaging application comes up with my email address already entered. Then I just have to send myself the note and I can empty my mind. It's nice having 2 brains! :-)

Dim your screen

[From .Rui de Castro] I think I have a nice tip for everyone. Normally everyone has the Auto-off turn on in your power tab in your Palm preferences or any other Mobile operating system, because this way if you leave your screen on, your battery won't been drain after a while. I use another third party app to give me a bit more features. One app for the Palm OS that I use and its free and very good, is "Energy Dimmer". It has profiles that is very useful for times you need to change your screen brightness, like when your outside or at night reading, etc... But the tip I have use for some time and for me is very useful is to dim the screen after a certain time and after that turn off screen. Why this is useful? First its like a notifier that the screen will turn off after a few seconds. For example, how many times you were reading and the screens turns off? With the dim feature before it turns off, it would dim and I would just press the 5-nav to the left or any other directions and restore the screen to normal. Another advantage is for does apps that take to long and disables the auto-off setting like "Card Reader" but with the dim feature, screen dims and not drain your battery.

Customizing Treo

[From Jakub] Don’t you think that Palm Treo 650 have a rather boring casing? The GSM-version has almost the same color as the silver plastic round the screen and when you hold Treo in you palm it’s quite smooth. That’s why I bought a new black casing over eBay. I got it some days ago and it’s very nice and feels rugged.

Slowly coming around

[From Jon Glass] Before I had my Treo, I never really considered its online potential for connecting via my mobile provider. I figured, and properly enough, that I would not be very interested in downloading my email or reading web pages on the tiny screen, however, I really underestimated what the Treo can do in other ways! My cell phone operates on a pre-paid plan, and I never expected to be willing to pay for online time via GPRS. However, after getting my Treo, I discovered that I could but chunks, either 20 or 50 megabytes at a time (valid for 30 days). I decided to give it a whirl, since it was so cheap, and at the end of the 30 days, I had used up just about all my data! After my time was up, I tried to go without it, but I lasted, maybe three days. I love, love, love Google Maps, and find it a fantastic substitute for GPS. I also use it heavily for weather (especially in this season of constant change), but surprisingly, I find myself using both Blazer and Opera more than I ever expected. Typically, it's to do a Google search, but sometimes, just to read something I was curious about, or to prove a point. In the end, I'm very happy with what it can do.

School, Gymnastics, and Swimming OH MY!

[From Jay Bennett Lansing, MI USA] I use my Centro to keep track of the many schedules and responsibilites that come with being a stay at home dad, online educator, PTA Board member, and husband. Keeping track of who needs to be where when is important and so much easier with my mobile device. My wife has also "found" herself recently with a new smartphone and absolutely loves it! I had been telling her for almost a year that she needed it and now that she does we can text, she can email, etc. She doesn't know how she lived without it.

Traveling 90mph through the desert in the wrong direction sucks

[From Eduardo] I am a traveling professional... Literally I am on the road 9-11 months out of the year, most of the time crisscrossing the country by car, or truck , or RV, or what ever else I am supposed to be driving. My treo is probably the most important thing I travel with, without it I am lost. It has all of my contacts, I track expenses, emails, random notes and comments about the day, occasionally when batteries on my camera dies pictures, and recently since my co worker doe not know how to pay his bills, it has also served all those purposes for him to. So yeah traveling the USA without a phone like this would probably be possible, but no where as easy as it is with the treo by my side.

Latin study aids for Palm

[From Harold Arnold, Berkeley, California] Recently I found a website that has several useful aids for the Oxford Latin Course, with which I have been learning Latin. One of them is a series of PDFs of vocabulary and grammar notes formatted for printing onto business card stock. I was about to print these out, when it occurred to me that I could simply transfer the PDFs to my Tungsten T3 and refer to them with the excellent freeware program Palm PDF. Although QuizWiz is better for testing myself, the PDFs are excellent for studying vocabulary and grammar and don't involve typing in all those words. Then it occurred to me that I could use my HP printer to scan the pages I needed of any grammar book, save them as a PDF, and transfer them to my Palm. This lets me study my Latin anywhere, since I would never go anywhere without my T3.

Using my iPhone, well, as a phone...

[From Ken (Atlanta, GA)] Sammy, In this time of multimedia/multifunctional phone devices all claiming to do more than the other guy, it seems strange to actually use my iPhone as, well, a phone. I really do like the interface. The GUI is really simple to navigate and once you get used to the functionality, it becomes second nature. Very simple options, including Favorites and Recents allow quick access to those numbers you need most as well as recent calls. Contacts has become very easy to navigate through with easy access to assigning specific ringtones to each contact. The keypad, as expected is cleanly laid out but my favorite function is the voicemail. It really does allow for effective management of your voicemail, giving you the ability to jump around because it identifies and list voicemails clearly. It also saves and list your deleted messages, giving you the option of permanently deleting them or handing on to them for awhile. It really is fun to use and discover all the different functionality with my iPhone!

Better Battery Please

[From Ronald Abadi Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia] One of my rants regarding my O2 Xda IIi PDA Phone is that I need to charge the battery like every other day, and that is during *normal* usage. If I take more notes, play more games, make phone calls or send short messages during the day, then I will most likely have to charge the battery at night. What is *worse* is that I cannot really turn the PDA off. I can conserve power by adjusting backlight, turn on the flight mode, etc. but I cannot really delay charging more than two days. If I go to places where telephone signal is weaker, my PDA Phone will search for the network more vigorously and hence spend the power faster. I sometimes really wish for solar battery charger, or perhaps wish for battery that acts like a dry alkaline cell so that I won't have to charge it for weeks. Oh well... *sigh*

Transfer Blues

[From Ronald Abadi Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia] Yesterday I needed to transfer some files from my laptop to my O2 Xda IIi PDA Phone. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my Lexcron USB Card Reader/Writer, and hence I could not transfer the files into the MMC Plus card on my PDA that way. My laptop is such an ancient machine that it does not support bluetooth (and I do not even have a USB bluetooth device anyway), nor does it support infrared beam. That left me with the only remaining way, which was to use the USB cradle. Luckily I happened to bring it in my office bag. Transferring the files that way really took forever it seemed, especially since the files had to go through ActiveSync. Worst still, the ancient laptop only supports USB 1.1, but since I really had no other choice I just had to be patient. Finally I managed to complete the transfer. Next time I'll make sure the USB Card Reader/Writer is safely tucked in my laptop bag.

San Francisco's Connected Bus

[From ThingyT] Hi Sammy, I had the "pleasure" to ride this bus last Thursday. While my TX found the Wi-Fi network, it was locked and there was no indication of the security code to access the network available anywhere on the bus. Nor were any of my attempts to use easily guessed codes successful. I doubt this test bus will be made a permanent addition to San Francisco's rolling stock. We're barely able to get 74% of transit on time, the infrastructure is crumbling, and the transit agency's finances were raided last month by our Mayor for special advisors in other areas, such as Global Warming. Our mayor is rumored to be running for Governor of California.

Medis 24/7 Power Pack Fuel Cell

Medis 24/7 Power Pack Fuel Cell on offer $19.95. "The Medis 24/7 Power Pack is the worlds first UL listed Fuel Cell for consumers. The 24/7 Power Pack is a portable fuel cell charger for Cellphones, Smartphones, Pocket PCs, MP3 Players, Hand Held Gaming Systems and other similar portable/wireless devices. When a devices battery is running low or is discharged, The 24/7 Power Pack allows continued use of the device for up to 30 additional hours without the need for a wall outlet. Its inexpensive, convenient and portable. Just Squeeze it! Plug it! Power it!"