PalmAddicts

New associate writer

Hello, as this is my first post I will introduce myself.  My name is Pat Burke and I come from Limerick in Ireland. Sammy has kindly invited me to become an associate writer.

I have been using Palm devices for 10 years now.  My first device was the M105 which replaced my paper diary and address book.  I couldn't believe how easy the pda was to use and I have been hooked ever since then. I have gone through several devices since 1998.  The M130, T3 (I will never forget the WOW factor of opening the T3 and discovering the multimedia capabilities), T5, Lifedrive, TX and I have bought the Z22 and E2 for the kids.

I have always had an interest in technology and my latest purchase was the ipod touch. It is an incredible device but not yet ready to replace my trusty TX whcih I use on a daily basis both for personal and professional reasons.  I have just started a new job in the west of Ireland with an an internet start up company so it will be interesting to see how useful my TX will become in the next few weeks and months.

I look forward to contributing to Palm Addicts.

Posted by Pat Burke

Active Corp. Releases ActiveCaptain Mobile for Palm OS

[From Karen Siegel] Dear Sammy, ActiveCaptain Mobile is the first fully integrated boat navigation system for Palm OS. It's like TomTom® for your boat! Users can display real nautical charts, plan and navigate routes, and overlay points of interest from the ActiveCaptain website. It's three applications in one -- a chart archive, a portable chartplotter, and an electronic guidebook. With thousands of NOAA charts provided free of charge and always available, it makes your Palm smartphone a critical part of being on the water. ActiveCaptain Mobile is available now for Palm OS. A free trial is available from the ActiveCaptain website (www.activecaptain.com) in the Going Mobile section. The software can be purchased for $49.95.

Palm shares seem to be a falling according to Forbes and will miss Wall Street's estimates for the third quarter which will be reported on Thursday

[From Hans] uh urrrrr Palm shares seem to be a falling according to Forbes and will miss Wall Street's estimates for the third quarter which will be reported on Thursday. "Palm Inc.'s shares are trading lower than other handset makers as an analyst predicted the Treo maker will miss Wall Street estimates for the fiscal third quarter, which it is set to report on Thursday. Citi Investment Research analyst Jim Suva said in a client note Monday that he expects Palm (nasdaq: PALM - news - people ) to fall short of consensus estimates for the quarter and stop providing guidance. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect an adjusted loss of 14 cents per share on $315.3 million in revenue. The company projected an adjusted quarterly loss of 14 cents to 16 cents per share on $310 million to $320 million in revenue. Suva believes Palm is "seeing modest success" with its lower-priced Centro handset, but said this is partly at the cost of higher-margin Treo handsets." Read in full at Forbes.

A sports fans treo 755p usage

[From pshannon17] For all of you palm users in the United States who are sports fanatics, a must have application is Get Sportz. This application gives you up to the minute sports news -stats-results-schedules-and live scores.Get Sportz covers all professional and college sports includeing baseball-basketball-football-hockey-nascar-golf-and tennis. The treo 755p comes preloaded with On demand. But is totally inferior in my opinion when compaired to Get Sportz. If you are a sports fan this application is definitely for you. And best of all it's FREE.

"GetSportz is primarily designed for wireless smartphones with a data service. If you have a recent model Palm handheld like the Palm Tx, or LifeDrive with WiFi GetSportz will work great."

Foleo-like Devices Bringing Back the Foleo Itch

Interesting editorial over at TreoCentral entitled Foleo-like Devices Bringing Back the Foleo Itch. "Many people were excited when the Palm Foleo was announced back in May of 2007. Man alive, that seems so long ago now. The excitement grew as developers began announcing 3rd party apps that they'd made for the Foleo. Then Palm shocked us all by announcing on September 4th that the Foleo had been cancelled. Palm wanted to move forward in working on their next generation platform, but Ed Colligan did write that Palm still planned on developing the "Foleo II" and releasing it sometime in the future, based on the new "unified platform" We're hopefully expecting to see Palm's new Linux based platform in early 2009. And yessiree, it would be great to see a Foleo II with that new platform running on it! By the time the Foleo was cancelled, I was all worked up and was wanting one, high price or not. Carrying around a 2 lb. subnotebook that would perfectly coincide with my Treo seemed like a great idea. I recently upgraded my Acer laptop to a Dell Inspiron 1520, the Midnight Blue model of course! ;-) As much as I love my laptop and still drool each time I open the lid and see that beautiful glossy widescreen, it's a hefty device to haul around. It weighs 6.4 lbs. Ugh. And with all the options I loaded on the laptop, the price tag was also mighty hefty. Heck, I could have bought three Foleos for what I forked out for that Dell. And yes, that makes me feel a little very dumb after complaining about the price of the Foleo awhile back. **blush**"

Vacations!!!

Today is my first vacations day... so my Treo change his functionallity. First I disable all the Butler alarms, but I put a TV control in it, jejeje even I have TV in my Treo so my son can see cartoons and I see movies or series... I just take some pics to my liitle son who is beginning to walk and always is smiling... anyway, I put in a Minicard a lot of music so I can hear and hear and hear, and forget all the work!!!

Cracked BlackBerry Curve 8310

There are simply people who love to crack open the devices they have, and whenever I see the pictures posted on the internet; they really are breaking my heart... But hey, at least those guys gave us the real deal of what are the inside look like under the shiny shell on the outside, right? The latest victim from the cracked-open ritual by CNET Networks is BlackBerry Curve 8310, where it was merciless opened up and torn apart from pieces to the last pieces they can peeled. See the whole pictures step-by-step at their site here, John Lee (TechRepublic) made an interesting story you can read while looking at what those savages have done to the beautiful Curve 8310.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Flash Lite

[From Neil S. Patrick (FL USA)] I can't even begin to tell you excited I am at the thought of Microsoft licensing Adobe Flash Lite. The thought that we will finally have true Flash support on a handheld is definitely something to break out the champaign for. As hyped as I am though I have to admit I'm a bit surprised as I thought Microsoft would be putting all its eggs into the Silverlight basket. But whatever the thinking is at Redmond I'm now feeling like a happy camper.

More income for bloggers!

Make money on the internet or while you're blogging? Sounds like the usual talk shows or newspaper advertising that I see everyday, but this one seems true enough for just a fake appetizer to get our attention. The CBS Television Station launched a new program called CBS Local Ad Network, where basically you put their "widget" at your blog site and they'll share the ads revenue. But you can't just ask and put the widget, you're going have to pass screening process by 3rd party (Sindigo Networks ) company; hired by CBS Television Station to do the dirty job. So far there hasn't been any details on how the revenue split works, and the important question is how much...? One of the approved weblog is SFBayStyle, which resides at the same host of our beloved PalmAddict: TypePad. Read Caroline McCarthy article here for further infos.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

[From Freda] I've enjoyed reading everyone's articles and jewels of wisdom on their mobile/Palm usage. It truly is difficult to imagine life before all this wonderful technology. I visited a dear friend in the hospital this weekend while hubby waited in the car with the children. Of course, the directions to the hospital were already in my TX in case we got lost. After the visit, we went to lunch with a friend. Service at the restaurant was unbearably slow. As many of you with kids know, when young children are hungry, they are hungry! My friend (who happened to be the person who introduced me to PDAs with her hand-me-down Palm IIIc years ago) is always on the cutting edge of technology. She is now on an I-Phone. She took out her I-Phone and started taking pictures of the children to occupy them until the food arrived. Thankfully, this kept them entertained for the duration of the wait. Another example of mobile usage to the rescue!

Second and final throwaway of the day - Samsung Blackjack i600

OK so for the second throwaway for St Patrick's Day, that I promised you earlier today and it's my personal Samsung Blackjack i600. I have not used it for a while it's only 5 months old and not doing anything.

Please remember do not send material that you have already sent in. No self site or software promotions and please do not send any blank emails or plea's for the device or I trash them immediately.

Please put Monday2 in the subject line [notice there is a 2 after word Monday] and email - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

Super Names for Palm OS

[From Eric Mann] If you have not seen Super Names for Palm OS then take a look it's by the guys at Standalone. "Supercharge the Address Book on your Palm Powered™ handheld! Super Names™ for Palm OS® adds over a dozen new fields to each name card, along with the ability to link names to one another. You can also link to appointment and to do tasks, access your recently accessed names, and make use of a host of other Address Book enhancements. Super Names now supports ToneDial! DateMan and Super Names for Palm OS are now available in the Productivity Pack Bundle! Order the Productivity Bundle here!"

Some mobile thought's from the weekend, keeping tabs of tunes

One quick use of my Centro, hearing tunes that I hear on the radio or in clubs and making a note of them so I can purchase and download or that they give me mix idea's. I have so many tune thoughts listed down on my Centro and I sync them with my iPhone so that I have note of the tunes that I wish to download. My list came in handy this weekend when I was DJ'ing when I made a note of the tunes that I wanted to mix and I had them listed on my Centro. I can even sample the tunes and I can upload them to my iPhone so I can get used to them, play them and see if I am happy with the tunes.

17% discount at Handango

[From Eric Mann] It seems that Handango have a special St Patrick's Day promotion on at the moment where you can get a 17% discount providing you use the promo code LUCKYDAY. Handangop after the jump.

Expense Tracker

[From Eric Mann] Eric noticed that we were mentioning financial programs a couple of days ago and sent me the link for Expense Tracker. Expense Tracker is the most comprehensive Personal Accounts suite available for the Symbian device, with full multi-currency and multi category support.

Expense Tracker is useful for various business purposes.Using Expense Tracker, it is possible to know at each and every stage at what price merchandise was purchased or sold in the past and to whom. It is possible to compare prices that are given in different currencies and to choose the preferable option when there are different options open for the purchase of merchandise. Track your spending, and have the complete picture of where your money goes. Support multi categories and currency, it makes a great reference tool for all mobile users.

It allows you to record and manage your everyday personal and business expenses from anywhere. With Expense tracker a great tracing tool, which allows you to see where your money goes with convenient tracking by types. User can track the expense by category and by date.

If you get to the end of the month and wonder where the money has gone then this application is just for you. Expense utility has simple and intuitively understandable interface, which makes the program easy and comfortable to use. It offers you a wide range of sorting and viewing options of your expenses. You can view expenses by date and category. It supports different currencies. Track Transport expense, Food, Health, Business , Personal, Tax etc...

By knowing exactly what are your resources and on what you are spending them on you will be able to save money every day and month!

BugMe Notepad

[From Solarmar] Hi Sammy I want to recommend BugMe notepad. It's such a great program for jotting down quick notes and I use it to compile shopping lists or make a note of numbers or other key information and means that I can totally dispose of post it stickers. Love the site!

BugMe Notepad is available from electricpocket where you can download a free trial and is even available for Windows Mobile.

Good reason for no iPhone background applications

Craig Hockenberry is a well known developer and his latest blog post on furbo.org discusses why background applications on the iPhone are a bad idea.  Here are some excerpts:

"As someone who has been involved in iPhone development for the past six months, please let me offer you a healthy dose of reality.

Twitterrific on the iPhone could definitely make use of a background process to gather new tweets. In fact, a prototype version of the software did just that. And it was a huge design failure: after doing XML queries every 5 minutes, the phone’s battery was almost dead after 4 hours. In fact, the first thing I said after giving Gruber this test version was “don’t use auto-refresh.”

The heart of the problem are the radios. Both the EDGE and Wi-Fi transceivers have significant power requirements. Whenever that hardware is on, your battery life is going to suck. My 5 minute refresh kept the hardware on and used up a lot of precious power.  ...

And right about now, you’re thinking “But I’ll be smart about how I use the hardware.” Sorry, bucko, but you’re the exact reason why we don’t have background processing in the current SDK. You’re living in your own little dream world.

What happens when App A uses the network at 5 minutes past the hour, and App B uses it at 10 minutes past, and App C uses it at 15 minutes past, and so on? There’s no way for you to know what other apps are doing is there? And yet the battery is still taking a pounding.

In my opinion, such a scenario is quite likely. As a satellite device, the iPhone requires contact with other machines to do interesting things. Periodically hitting the network is the primary reason that developers want to run in the background.

Some have stated that Apple is limiting innovation. My opinion is that they are helping us from collectively shooting ourselves in the feet."

You can read the full post here.

MacBook Giveaway ends this Thursday

My PalmAddict throwaway to win the MacBook ends this Thursday at Midnight US PT so it's time for you to hurry if you wish to be entered into the giveaway. And as we have a wide number of entries it could be anybody who could win my throwaway item, so you only have a couple of days left to be entered so you need to hurry.

As always the guidelines are in this post and its easy to enter - make the jump.

Keyring 1.2.3

[From Morris Herman] Morris Herman wrote in with a good software recommendation, always nice to hear what Palm OS and Win Mob programs you use and he mentions Keyring 1.2.3 "Good morning to you Palmaddicts, I am using keyring 1.2.3 it is a free program to store usernames and passwords, and it's just nice to be able to put them somewhere in an organised way."

It's quite a neat little program it is also free too. Keyring for PalmOS lets you securely store secret information on your PalmOS (PalmPilot, Visor, WorkPad) handheld computer. Many people use Keyring for PalmOS to store. Download after the jump.

Talking To Sir Tim

I enjoyed reading the interview with modern day world wide web pioneer Sir Tim Berners-Lee about what is right and wrong about the internet. "As you can see, he gave us a great story with his views on the importance of privacy and choice for consumers on the web. And , as we sat in the slightly incongruous surroundings of the Millers Association in a lovely old St James's building (getting the wi-fi working almost proved too great a challenge for the web's creator), he delivered a fascinating 25-minute tour of a whole range of issues." The BBC has the full read on this one.

Butler 4.71 with keyguard slide to unlock

[From Rob at HobbyistSoftware] New version of Butler is out putting the new unlock slider into the release version along with a handful of fixes. Inspired by the ever-so-pretty iPhone, slide the button to the right to unlock!

Here are the changes:
10/Mar/08 updated code for handling LED switch (night to day, day to night)
10/Mar/08 added launchcode to reset LED
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
17/Mar/08 fixed issue with selecting features in Butler when 'Lefty' mode is on.
17/Mar/08 fixed issue with speedy keys causing inadvertent select in Butler.
17/Mar/08 increased area of sensitivity for slider unlock
17/Mar/08 Butler 4.71 released
Download at the Hobbyist Software download page

Haul your favorite TV shows to Hulu

Entertainment is a fast pace business with many surprise elements that can't be predicted, unlike the old times where TV companies used to dictate their viewers on what & when to watch. Now we can choose on wide range of options to enjoy entertainment, from monthly subcription TV cable to free ones on YouTube. Here's a new option emerged in the world of internet; a streaming video service called "Hulu". It's not actually new, when NBC Universal and News Corp. made this joint venture back in 2007, many anylists have doubt whether Hulu can be delivered or not. The name itself "Hulu" has caused a debate among NBC Universal executives to prolong it's release, in Swahili language means "cease" and "desist". At last Hulu officially launched their website at the start of March, equipped with the latest & most popular TV series such as Desperate Housewives to Saturday Night Live (SNL). Two big media moguls: NBC & Fox are for starter, following includes 15 cable channels; Sony & MGM will follow through soon.

But what really makes Hulu stand out is their vast features that enhanced our experience from watching traditional TV, for one example you could cut the scenes into several clips and share them with email or embedded them into other websites just like YouTube. And like Google attraction's: simplicity in their web services, is another factor why Hulu can be so quickly popular. All you need is a web browser with Adobe Flash Player installed, no other apps installation is needed. Even with only web enabled media player, according to Hulu CEO Jason Kilar; you'll have plenty of media features and more to come. All thanks to his great technology teams, lead by former Microsoft engineer: Eric Feng. But without search capability to find the movies you want to watch, people will leave and get bored easily. That's why with Hulu's big library collections and the simple user interface design, members will have plenty of good times watching streamed entertainment online. An important question regarding for how long Hulu will keep older archives, still remains unknown for now. I've tried to access Hulu, but it seems their slogan: "Anytime, Anywhere" doesn't apply to other countries beside USA. If anyone is able to play Hulu on their Windows Mobile or any handsets' OS, please inform us of the results; I guess for WinMob users should install Flash Lite first.

I can see how those stock holders & executives of SlingBox are feeling etchy on their seats these days, this mostly because Hulu is completely free! Currently Hulu is relying their main revenue from ads, which we'll watch during or after the movies; it all depends on how the duration of the movie you're watching. If Hulu's concept really is successful and keep on improving; soon enough we'll be watching movies on our mobile phone's screen, everywhere anywhere. Sources taken from TechCrunch & Fortune magazine -an article by David K. and Adam L.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

The first person to email with a few lines on how they have used their mobile device can take my i-mate KJAM off my hands

OK so as promised here is the first of today's throwaway's and as usual the first person who emails me with a few lines on how they are using their mobile device can take the i-mate KJAM off my hands. It's a neat little device about two years old, perfect condition with a 2GB memory card and leather case to go with it.

Please remember do not send material that you have already sent in. No self site or software promotions and please do not send any blank emails or plea's for the device or I trash them immediately.

Please put Monday1 in the subject line [notice there is a 1 after word Monday] and email - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

Sammy's Monday Thoughts

Good morning and welcome to your Monday, I feel a short week coming with Easter on the way and with that in mind lets get the new PalmAdict week going. Firsly I had a great weekend and I hope that you guys did too. I was in Blackpool for most of the weekend and that was quite fun and I took my trusty Centro and iPhone. You know it is pretty cool when people take a interest in the Centro. One of my friends was very impressed indeed to the point that I think he's heading to the Expansys website today to get his hans on one of the devices. Indeed because of it's small size and added keyboard it's turning it into a talking point, in fact more than any other Palm device that I have used to date and I guess that's good. What always sunrises me is the fact that people get impressed when I show them that it can play tunes with a little help from Pocket Tunes and even though I would guess 9 times out of 10 mobile phones can play music it seems to be a selling point. They are equally impressed when I show them that it can also play You Tube video's that I have downloaded too, I love using Kimoma Player to show off the video's I have downloaded.

I'm still inspired by the Centro design, it seems to be great that there is a lot of positive eedback based around the Centro and I'm equally looking forward to the rumored Treo 800w which I first heard of over at the Morning Paper blog. Although it is running Windows Mobile the very fact that this device has integrated wifi excites me. I just hope that the battery levels on the device are just as equally leasing. All to often I see devices with wifi with shabby battery levels and I need a dsevice that I can rely on and not one where I haver to keep lugging around an extra battery. The battery on the Centro is fine, in fact I dont think I have had a problem with it to date and so that pleases me I just hope the rumored Treo 800w is equally as good. However one has to remember that this is just a rumor and nothing more than that.

So this is Easster week and I am going to be serious for a second too and it's important whatever faith you believe in to remember the true meaning of Easter and if there is ever one website that will bring this message home it's Mobile Ministry Magazine which does a good job and combining faith and mobile technology together and now is a good opportunity to check the site out, so if you have a few minutes go and check it out.

Back to all things PalmAddict I am ending the MacBook giveaway this Thursday so that means you only have a couple of days to get your user thoughts into me, so if you want to be in it to win it you know what to do and as always the guidelines are in this post.

Additionally, today, Monday is St Patrick's Day and I want to thank the following for sending me in SPD greetings: Lucas, Dev, Hans, Eric Mann, Marcel and shush82. Thank you to you guys for the St Patrick's Day greetings sent in on email and instant message, I think I have covered everyone and if not my apologies.

As it is St Patrick's Day I am going to have two throwaway items for you today, and the first one will be in a few minutes so stay tuned and the second one will be mid morning US so again stay tuned for that one. As always it will be based on first come first served so stay tuned. In the meantime I hope that you all have a great Monday.

PalmAddict Official Podcast 106

[From Tyler Faux] The PalmAddict Podcast 106 (17 March 2008) Show Notes
-PA MacBook Giveaway
-PJ Arts Dark Thoughts
-GoTreo introduces SafeGuard
-iPhone SDK Announced

[MP3] Download Palm Addict in the usual mp3 format or just listen through streaming normal.

[RSS] You can subscribe to the Official Palm Addict Podcast RSS feed here and have the Podcast delivered to you in your RSS aggregator.

[SUBSCRIBE:] Remember you can subscribe via i-Tunes and never miss an episode.

Silverlight coming to Windows Mobile 6, 2nd Quarter of CY 2008

[From Hans] Thanks to Hans for the heads up on this one and it seems that Microsoft will release Silverlight for Windows Mobile.

"Q: When will Silverlight 1.0 be available for mobile?
A: We will have the First Developer CTP for Silverlight for mobile available in 2nd Quarter of CY 2008 targeting Windows Mobile 6."

Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform, and cross-device plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web. By using Expression Studio and Visual Studio, designers and developers can collaborate more effectively using the skills they have today to light up the Web of tomorrow.
http://silverlight.net

iPhone to the Rescue

[From David Binnion] Hi Sammy - this story is too good to be true - but it is totally real. Edit as you see fit but please identify me as DWB for this one. I think you'll understand why.

My wife had total hip replacement surgery Thursday morning and is doing very well; we should get word later this morning that she's cleared to come home this afternoon. Its been an emotional roller coaster for us; the first day post-op was not good and then yesterday she had a complete turn around. When Beth called me yesterday morning that she was feeling really good and had completed all her physical therapy without pain (and without the heavy meds) I rushed out of the house with my keys, iPhone, and nothing else.

About 50 minutes later, just 10 minutes from the hospital, I realized I didn't have my wallet. No problem, right? I always keep an emergency $20 hidden in the car and I could grab my wife's credit card just in case I needed it for gas or to pick up something at the grocery on the way home. We had a good visit and I learned how to help Beth out of bed and various other sundry things she'll need help with in her first week of recovery. Then we put her into the hospital chair and I suddenly realized that we had no chair at home that was appropriate for her; the overstuffed chair we thought would work with a pillow or two wasn't going to cut it.

So on Saturday, at about 4PM I rushed out of the hospital to find a chair for her. We needed something that had a tall but not very deep seat and sturdy arms to help her leverage herself up. Beth's orthopedic nurse recommended an occasional or dining room chair. Finding the perfect chair turned out to be no problem, but remember, all I had was my wife's credit card and my iPhone. (I had a backup plan, a friend who lived just 10 minutes away, but as you'll soon see, I didn't need it.) When the salesman took me back to the office to pay he handed me over to the office manager asking her to expedite my sale, explaining the situation about my wife.

So now we are all chatting about doctors and hospitals as the office manager does up the paper work and calls the warehouse to put my chair together for me (if it needs to be assembled) and to bring it out front so I don't have to go around to pickup and get soaked in the rain. Then I hand over the credit card. "I'll need to see some ID," she says. Naturally I was dreading that moment.

I explained about my wallet and told her I'd call my friend to come pay for it. At that moment my iPhone rang and I pulled it out. Seeing Beth's name and picture on the screen I suddenly had a thought. I showed the screen to the office manager and said, "Look at my wife's picture and name here, then compare it to the name on the credit card." Then I flipped to iPhoto and showed her a picture taken on our 25th wedding anniversary.

The woman smiled at me and said, "No one would possibly put together such an elaborate scheme just to steal one dining room chair. That's ID enough for me." Is that not cool? (And perhaps a little frightening. Keep your credit cards close.)

Yep, I can see how important Tracker could well be

Yep, I can see how important Tracker could well be. "Born out of a need to keep abreast of what the latest tropical depression/tropical storm/hurricane is doing, I created Tracker, a Palm OS application for keeping up with the whereabouts of the latest storm. Being that I am a Florida resident, the map covers the Atlantic basin with a displayable area of 10 - 50 degrees latitude and 60 - 100 degrees longitude. You can enter wind speed using MPH or knots and pressure using either inches of mercury or millibars. The category of the storm can be automatically determined from the wind speed. On the map, the different category strengths are repesented by different colors." Tracker after the jump.

1src reviews Astraware Westward

Another good Astraware Westward review and this time it comes from the guys at 1src. "Astraware Westward is an excellent game for anyone who enjoys real-time strategy games. Astraware has done an amazing job of capturing the original Sandlot Games desktop game and brining it to the Palm OS and Windows Mobile platforms. If you only buy one adventure game for your mobile device, you need to get a copy of Westward. The game play is fast moving, the graphics are outstanding, and the hidden and unlockable items and levels will keep providing you with hours of entertainment." 1src after the jump.

F1 Season 2008

Every year for as long as I have been running my site, F1 Season is updated and 2008 is no exception. "F1 2008 gives you detailed information about the F1 championship Season 2008. It contains information about the circuits, drivers and teams. It also possible to fill in the race results or update the race results on-line (new!)"

Destaller Pro

Looks like a good program to rid your Palm device of all the left over's from programs deleted from your Palm device. "Destaller Pro is an application oriented uninstaller. Applications store many different files that often cause resets and the necessity to do a hard reset when not removed properly. Destaller removes this danger and headache. In addition Destaller allows you to maximize the memory of your device by allowing to safely remove single files, 'a68k' Files, saved and unsaved preferences and more. If you ever had problem with an application and were told by tech support to gather specific information about your device plus a list of all installed applications and Hacks, you will greatly appreciate why Destaller Pro is an excellent tool for trouble-shooting problems. It can export or copy a list of all applications found in RAM and on memory cards, has an extra screen for important device information, and lets you delete an application's data files separately."

My TX comes through in the clutch

[From James (Riverside, California)] I must admit that I don't use my TX as much as I used to, now that my job issued me a Blackberry. I end up using the Blackberry so much to check my work e-mail that my TX seems to get limited to games and the occasional web surfing when the computer isn't handy. But every so often, I'm reminded why my Palm is so useful.

Today, I was waiting to get a file via e-mail that I needed to edit. My Blackberry buzzed to let me know I got the e-mail, but it wasn't clear whether the file was in there or not. I was out running errands, so I wasn't going to be able to check my computer for a while. I was worried that I might have to chase down the file, when I realized that my TX was still set up to get my work e-mail too. I went over to a local free wi-fi spot, got online, and pulled up the e-mail again. The file, as it turned out, was embedded in the e-mail and while I couldn't see it on my Blackberry, I could download it on my TX.

Just one more reason to keep that TX handy!

How I Use My Mobile Device

[From Jon Arcilla - Wilmington, NC] I've been using mobile devices since the days of the original Palm Pilot and even still have a Philips Nino 305 (original PocketPC OS)! After recently switching back to Mac OS from Windows, I found that my Dell Axim x51v wouldn't sync without buying additional software. So, I switched to a Palm TX which cost half as much as I sold my old Dell on eBay and have found that I have increased functionality as a result. I use my Palm TX for keeping my calendar and contacts in sync with my Mac and also to keep up with my news using an RSS reader, and keep in touch with the built-in e-mail. In a pinch, I can even use the web browser. After carrying a Blackberry for many years, I switched to the strategy of having a separate phone and PDA since I found that the functionality and battery life of a standalone PDA is much greater! I still have contact dialing through the PDA via Bluetooth, and I find that the added battery life allows me to use my PDA as a media player and entertainment device as well. Plus, the larger screen as compared to the Treo's and other smartphones allows someone with "not-so-good" eyesight to use the device easily.

GOOD USER INTERFACE IS NECESSARY

[From Ronald Abadi Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia] Despite the rapid advance of technology nowadays, not all features with all the bells and whistles are crucial for the consumer. Some relatives of mine, for example, only need to make phone calls, send SMS, play a few games and that is all about it. They do not really care with other features. They do not browse the net, not read any e-book, not watch any videos, not keep photo albums, etc. on their device. For taking important notes, schedules and tasks, they often rely more on a good old paper notes.

Buying expensive Palm/PDA/Cellphone will not be cost-effective for them. For them, what is important are not really the feature, but the User Interface (UI). Hence why good and easy UI is very necessary. Since they do not really depend on their mobile device for daily activities, so chances are they will not tinker their device for hours. Much less will be the chance to learn more about UI. If the UI is bad, they will not buy the product. I myself have come across some cellphones with difficult UI. The UI are badly designed and difficult to navigate. Let's hope the mobile device manufacturer and software designer will focus more attention on UI in the future.

A Little Clean Up

[From Ronald Abadi Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia] Today I did not use my O2 Xda IIi PDA Phone for anything serious. Instead I decided to do some clean up, since the number of SMS, call history, and unused old documents were really accumulating to an alarm rate. I looked at the messages and files one by one, decided which ones should be kept still and deleted the rest. For the ones I decided to keep, I compressed them into a backup copy, and afterwards I also deleted them. In order to save some more byte space, I then moved the compressed backup copy into my laptop. Finally I rebooted the PDA, and it runs a bit faster now (or at least it feels that way). I really should start making this activity into a periodical habit.

Photo Album On Ipod Touch

[From Vinit Gupta, Mumbai, India] Dear Sammy, I have just finished digitizing our old family photos. I made a complete family album and put it on my Ipod Touch. Yesterday I showed some very old photos to my grandmother on the Ipod as a slideshow in the landscape mode. She was really impressed and was marveling how ”sweet” she looked when she was young. The ripple effect in the slideshow was really soothing on her eyes, and I even showed her how she could zoom in by pinching in and out.

Here is how I have been using my Tungsten TX

[From Philoscript] This morning I awoke to an alarm on my TX remining me I was extremely running late for work. After hopping out of the bed quickly and running around the house to get ready, I worked myself into an asthma attack. I needed to take it slow to calm down the breathing and document it (I'm on a new drug). I took out the Tx and documented the event for the next doctor's visit. Once on the train, I pulled out the TX and started to listen to some tunes to calm my brain. Ah...relief....I felt like I could breathe again even with several people around me. Then, I exited the train at Times Square and was pushed while going up the stairs. All I remember was falling and feeling a pain in my foot, wrists and shoulders. I quickly fired up the TX and looked up signs/symptoms for a dislocation. Okay, it's not that. I am fine.

I must say it was a hectic morning filled with a lot of pain, but the TX has kept me sane today. I'm even listening to music now as I type this taking a break from the load of papers starting at me on my desk. It may not be the most creative way to use my device, but it sure kept me calm in what appeared to be mini-problems

Momma’s Centro

[From Melanie, Covington, Louisiana] Our school fair is now less than 30 days away. The schedules are getting tighter. Emails and texting are getting a little ridiculous, but at least the communications are happening. Might have a corporate sponsor for a great event for the kids. Keep you’re your fingers crossed.

Downloaded Agendus “free trial”, very appealing. Now I’m trying DateBk6, a little too much. Agendus is going to be the one. Still on a free trial of AppShelf, what a great compact program. Easy to manipulate, visual design is clean. Not to much stuff. Love this program called Weather by Deluxeware, works on my key guard. Here in the south you never know what the weather will be. Downloaded a trial of TextPlus. To compare with Messaging by Palm that came with my Centro. This is ten times the program. Just read about syncing with Outlook and Google. Don’t know about all this tweaking this guy did, but I’ll give it a shot.

I use my mobile device-Treo 750

I use my mobile device-Treo 750 to check the weather each morning. Living here in Cleveland Ohio we are known for unpredictable weather. One minute it is raining and the next a snow blizzard. Therefore, my trusty Treo 750 comes in handy to check the weather and it lets me know how to dress for the day.

GIVEAWAY [Could end anytime] - 12 inch MacBook Pro

OK as we are replacing MacBooks in the office with MacBook Pro's I have a spare 12 inch MacBook [pictured left] and the giveaway could end ant time.

All you need to do is send me a user thought on how your using your mobile device or a thought that is mobile technology related. No pleas informing why you should be the winner or what will you do with the prizes if you win. Please put MARCH in the subject line and IMPORTANTLY give your mobile thought a title, or it will not be entered. Let me know your town/ country too. No self sites or software mentions and keep your thoughts positive. If you don't see your user thought posted then please do not resend, we receive so many but all of them are entered - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

Virtual Laser Keyboard (Bluetooth)

Virtual Laser Keyboard (Bluetooth) on offer $129.95 (Retail Price: $204.99). "Announcing the world's first commercially available Bluetooth Virtual Laser Keyboard! Roughly the size of a disposable lighter, the Virtual Laser Keyboard leverages the power of laser and infrared technology to project a full-size qwerty keyboard onto any flat surface. As you type on the projection, optical recognition detects your key presses and transfers them to your Treo 650/700w/700wx, complete with realistic tapping sounds."