PalmAddicts

Patience

Many of us addicts sit at our computers for hours a day sifting through websites searching for the utopia of devices; that one device that will meet all of our needs and desires. I spent a few of those hours today going so far as to search devices released only overseas, those that are up and coming, and even a few that lay in the dust to see if that which I am truly searching for is out there or if it is just a figment of my imagination. I currently own a 16GB iPhone and all of the features that I am searching for are out there on other platforms, my problem is that I need to sit tight and wait for the final SDK rollout and wait for Apple and other developers to break my bank. So in an effort to spur on those that are developing and maybe a few listening ears at Apple, here is what I want for my iPhone: 1. Bluetooth support for HID, A2DP, AVRCP, DUN. 2. A "to do" application with alarms. 3. Exchange is already on the way... I know this is a tall list of demands, but this would make my iPhone experience perfect (for now, at least). I'd also like to see a native GPS application, but Google Maps with the location feature will work in a pinch. Wouldn't it be nice for Apple to surprise us with an early release instead of a push-back date? I have been working diligently with webapps, even tried my hand with a jailbroken iPhone (restored it to its locked version), and I am pheening (did I spell that right?) for some certified, guaranteed to work, native iPhone Applications!

In the mean time my iPhone serves as my alarm clock (I have so much stuff piled on my dresser that I can't even see my alarm clock anymore.), handtop computer, ipod, and child entertainer.

First New Post from Associate Writer in Monterrey, Mexico

Hello my fellow palm addicts. This is my first post as associate writer and I thought that I might as well brief you a little bit on who I am.

First of, I live and am a citizen of a beautiful country just south of the border with the US; Mexico. I live in the northeastern part in a small town of four or five million inhabitants (hey, we even have our very own PUG). Regarding age, I am probably on the higher end of the scale (50+), but that hasn’t stopped me in being device friendly. I believe my family would still be considered of traditional structure; wife, four kids, etc. and we intend and work hard to keep it like that.

I have been using Palm devices with Palm OS for over five years now. I started with an m515 that my wife gave me back then. Later I upgraded to the fabulous T3 that was my constant companion for almost four years, and now am the proud owner of a Tréo 680. As you can see, I have Palm OS written all over me.

I make a living working in industrial sales where I have been using all along my Palm devices, where they have shown to be in many ways excellent tools to be more productive and organized; making sales calls, as recorders of key bits of information during calls, travel organizers, expense recorders during business trips, and the standard entertainment that many of you already know of.

I hope to bring added value to this excellent blog by sharing with you miscellaneous Palm related thought, and when the time comes I am sure some of you will find yourselves nodding to some of them. At least that is what I would like to think.

So, see you later right here. Stay tuned.

Staying Connected On The Road: A few of my Favorite Ways

I've mentioned a few of my favorite mobile applications in previous posts. I wanted to expand on that with a list of some of the mobile applications that I use On-The-Road to stay connected via my Crimson Red Treo 680.

• Foxmarks - Foxmarks is a bookmark sync for Firefox that is great to provide access to all your bookmarks from your mobile device, described in more detail in a previous post
• Google Reader - I use Google Reader on my laptop to keep up with all my favorite RSS feeds. GR allows you to organize your feeds into folders. A mobile version of Google Reader can be accessed with your phone's browser at http://www.google.com/reader/m
• Google - It is hard to go a day without needing to look up something in Google, also available as a mobile version at http://google.com/m
• Facebook - While I am not as addicted to Facebook as some, it is nice to be able to access my Facebook page while on the road at http://m.facebook.com
• MoTwit - Formerly TreoTwit, this little Palm OS application allows you to update your Twitter from your Palm smartphone. It also has a menu to easily access the various features of your Twitter Account; also mentioned in a previous post
• TypePad - TypePad's mobile application allows you to post to your TypePad blogs from any smartphone

I have tried various mobile websites/portals that are supposed to make being on-the-road easier, such as Mtrvl (http://mtrvl.com) and  PhoneFavs, but I find that using my own direct links to websites is more efficient than going to a web portal site. I use SharkLinks to create application icons that launch my mobile browser directly to my favorite websites and store those applications together in a separate tab using the application launcher, Launcher X.

Well, that is enough about that for now. Until next time . . .

Twooced ot Tweeted?

There are great blogs posted by Daniel Terdiman, one of my favorite blogger, he has been always able to find intriguing subjects to talked about. His first post is about his new term of result from over-Twitter-ing activity: get fired from your job. Let me quote Terdiman own words: "If you've been around the world of blogging for a while, you probably know what being "Dooced" means. If not, it means being fired for blogging, and the term comes from the real-life firing of Heather Armstrong, otherwise known as the mega-popular blogger, Dooce." From there, he got the idea to called it "Twooced" for getting fired because of Twitter. Or perhaps we should use what Heather Armstrong called it in her own blog: "Tweeted" instead, what do you think? This could become a reality since more and more people are actively doing Twitter while working, and even with the help of their mobile phones.

Terdiman next posted that someone in Twitter-land is using U.K. Prime Minister's office address: 10 Downing Street, and it's been doing what appears to be the activities from Prime Minister's own press office. For an example: "No10 news: Sarkozy arrives at Number 10: The Prime Minister has welcomed French President.. http://tinyurl.com/36ghab."! So far there has been no official statement or news from the UK Prime Minister office about this Twitter account, what would you suspect is this just a prank or for real? Perhaps someday a paparazzi capture U.K. PM Gordon Brown when he's twittering with his mobile phone, then we'll know what mobile phone he use.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

A Good Review Article about DateBk6

Heather Wardell has a nice review article about DateBk6, " DateBk6 has advantages over the built-in Palm Datebook," over at Computing Unplugged. I have been using DateBk from Pimlico Software for many years and find it quite useful. I like the ability to float appointments, assign icons to events, easily duplicate appointments, pop up the contacts list, and other features. Some day I will have to try Agendus and compare the two. Has anyone seen a side-by-side comparison of the two?

iPhone look alike

With all the news/ hype out there about the iphone out there, I came across this software and I have had a whole lot of fun today turning my TX into an iphone lookalike (kinda). Imitation is the highest form of flattery!?

IPhone till June in Mexico

The mexican newspaper El Universal published that the IPhone will arrive to Mexico until June. That's so far... I know a lot of friends who got IPhones unblocked and activated them in Acapulco, or other cities in Mexico. Apple was so slow in bringing the IPhone to Mexico... on december 2007, when I bought my Treo 755p, the company who sold it gave it so cheap and with a lot of disccounts... They were preparing to the arrival of IPhone and to win market to the other cell company (remember the Treo is CDMA and the IPhone is GSM)... the same newspaper said that whit all taxes, the IPhone's final price would be 700 US dlls in Mexico! Let's see what happen on June.

Detect car speeding traps with your mobile phone

I have to admit this one is quite an interesting idea that no one has ever thought of before, an application named "trapster" can help you know where are the policemen and hidden traffic cameras at. The application works by downloading data from its server, and shows the area you've requested on where are those car speeding traps located. The data is collected from fellow trapster users, which means there should be at least 10 persons who are at the same area as you; and they've reported those traffic traps. The trapster use what they called "karma" points to determined whether the information from trapster users are legit or just a prank, and this is done also by the feedback input from other users.

The technologies behind trapster are include WiFi and wireless mobile towers, if your mobile phone has GPS then you could get more precise position of your where about. Plus trapster works with Google Maps & Jott.

If you're interested, you could go to trapster website here to download the application and to sign-up; you need to sign-up in order to use trapster service. Or download it directly from your web browser mobile phone here. The currently supported mobile phone OS are Symbian 60, WinMob 5/6, BlackBerry & Java enabled mobile phones. According to WebWare; iPhone will be included into their next roadmap, and because the application is still in beta phase you should be aware if there are any glitch or errors encountered while using it. WebWare cover the complete review of trapster, so read on here to dig more infos.

Personally I think that trapster works almost feel like social networking, and it has the potential in the future to be as famous as Facebook or Twitter. But nevertheless even with trapster in your mobile phone; drive save all the time!

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Packing the Gadgets

Each time before a trip, I always want to make sure I have enough of my mobile devices and their related chargers packed in my backpack. While it tends to get heavy, especially if I am lugging it through airports, it's always nice to open it up and find my Jornada 728, MacBook Pro, Nintendo DS and various accessories.

I used to have a habit of leaving something behind when I left my travel destination. It was frustrating to have to track down what it was and where I left it. Most of the time, I got it back, but I've donated my fair share of cell phone chargers to the lost and found box at several hotels.

I find that if I use a check list of what I packed, it's easier to scour the room to make sure I've got everything I came with. To keep track of everything, I use ListPro from Ilium Software. I have a list called "Items Packed" and I have each item with it's own check next to it when I pack it into the bag. Then once I arrive, I remove the checks. At the end of my stay, I then re-check each item as it's verified that I packed it.

This may seem like a lot of work, but honestly, it's not. And it saves the headaches of leaving behind something I need and use.

So if you use a Windows Mobile or Palm device, there's a version of ListPro for your PDA or smartphone.

1001 Uses in my daily life

Last night and this morning another shining example of the 1001 uses my XV6700 has. 2:30 AM - awake (again) and can't sleep so I open up ereader and make some progress in the book I'm currently reading as a attempt to get back to sleep. 3:30 AM decide that's not working so I quietly get up and go downstairs to exercise (might as well since I can't sleep) - when I'm done I log my exercise into MyPersonalDiet (a software I've been using for the last year or so to track overall fitness progress). Finally feeling as though I might be able to get a bit of sleep before I need to get ready for work I lay back down, but not without setting the alarm on the XV6700 to wake me up at the proper time. When the alarm goes off I see on the TV that the kids school is on a 2 hour delay. Wanting to know what's going on I connect to home wifi and update Pocket Weather to view the latest forecast and weather conditions. Next I'm off to get ready for work, a quick check of Agenda Fusion to see what's in store for the day (appointments and tasks). After a quick breakfast open up MyPersonalDiet again to log it in. On the way to work use the XV6700 to check my desktop voice-mail. Throughout the day I continue to consult my handy-dandy for various pieces of information and to make calls. When I get home this evening I'll jot some thoughts and notes in my journal using My Diary for Windows Mobile. At the end of the day when I lay my head down I'll once again go to sleep reading a few chapters using ereader.

A simple day, but an example of the countless ways my XV6700 makes helps me keep it all together.

And a Hearty Welcome to ME!

Good Morning Addicts!  My first official post as an associate writer, and my oh my am I excited!  A hardcore Treo 755p user, with a host of other gadget goodies stashed in the geek bag for any emergency (i.e. downtime).  I thrive on the mobile life, as I'm sure many of you folks do as well.  Just back from eggs, bacon, and Smallville  via the Slingbox/Treo, I wanted to post a little nugget from last night.  My wife and I were having a small disagreement (we never fight ;)), and only Google can solve it...nothing major, but it did involve Lee Van Cleef.  Anyways, thanks to the Treo, and its superfast interweb connect-ability, we had our answer and I was knee-deep in "told-ya-so".  I have much more to say, and over the coming weeks I'm sure you'll get your fill, but for now I just wanted to stop by, say hi, and thank Sammy and the PA team for giving me the opportunity to write a few words about my mobile life.

The dangers of tweeting while driving

My friend Kee Hinckley sent me this cautionary, true tale  about the dangers of tweeting while driving. Tweeting, for those who don't know, is what they call it when you submit a post to your Twitter account. This funny, true story has a little bit of a twist. I won't spoil it by giving it away.

Source: TechnoSocial Blog

WMExperts - Treo 800w Watch: July on Sprint?

[From Mark Hamilton] Mark spotted this over at WMExperts it seems the Treo 800w could be now coming as soon as July. "Thanks to Vyruz Reaper via SprintUsers, we have what appears to be the release chart for upcoming Sprint devices and lo and behold, the Treo 800w is smack on there for a July release (crosses fingers)." WMExperts after the jump.

eReader discount for the weekend ahead

[From eReader] Here is your eReader discount for the weekend ahead. "Punch in this week's Promo Code ERM325 to receive a 10% discount off any eligible book that you purchase. Offer good through April 1, 2008 on all books. This discount cannot be used with any other special offers" eReader after the jump.

Codewallet

[From David McDana] Hey Sammy, This is David from Miami, FL and I hope your week is going well. Something I thought about today that is extremely helpful is Codewallet. My memory is terrible and that app should be mandatory to all smart phone owners. Can't tell you how often it has saved me, since I couldn't remember a certain number or code. Have a great day

Undercroft

An RPG that I want to review today is Undercroft, a game by Rake in Grass. If you like oldskool first-person step/tile-movement RPGs from the days of DOS, such as Eye of the Beholder trilogy, Anvil of Dawn, or Lands or Lore, and hope to play such a game in your Pocket PC, then Undercroft is definitely for you. You can play it on Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 5. A Desktop PC version is available too.

The story starts out about a wager your game character(s) made while he/she/they were drunk. You made a wager with bar patrons that you are brave souls not afraid to venture into some haunted crypt filled with skeletons and other monsters. One thing will lead to another, and later you will go up against some cult. Well, the story is not really the strong point of the game. The gameplay is. That is, of course, if you are fans of those DOS games I mentioned above. The movement is step/tile-based, so do not expect fluid movement like in FPS game. You move one step at a time. The game screen provides cursor buttons for movement. You just use your stylus to tap those buttons to make a move.

The combat system however, is turn-based, not real-time like the combat system in those DOS games mentioned above. I supposed this is good, because otherwise you might have to use your stylus to repeatedly tap your device fast. With the turn-based combat system, you can take your time deciding the best move against the monster. Whether you conjure up a spell, heal yourself, or simply bash the monster is entirely up to you.

You can have a maximum of four player characters in your team. You can choose from five character classes: warrior, mage, priest, summoner, and assassin. Warrior is the main fighter of the group. Mage is the offensive magic user, although Priest has offensive magic too (but a Priest's role is more on healing magic). Summoner can summon friendly monster to aid or transform into animal. Assassin is the stealth-based figher who also relies on range attacks.

Money is quite important in this game for you to buy equipments and potions from vendors. The monsters drop money you can collect, but since they do not respawn, you need to find other monetary sources too, such as quest rewards, etc. You can find money and other pickable objects inside drums, boxes, etc. You can sell unused and unwanted items to vendors to earn some money.

Automap is available for your viewing, so you can see which paths you have been to and which you have not. The world map is quite big, so the website claim that it will take 20 hours to play is quite probable. All in all, it is a great RPG I want to recommend. The ending is a cliffhanger though, and a sequel is definitely necessary. Unfortunately there has been no word on when the sequel will be out or even whether it is being developed.

Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with the game company. This is purely a short review.

Chating or taking notes

I'm studyng a degree in Education in the Universidad Interamericana para el Desarrollo. Today I have a disscusion whit a professor, because almost all of my partners have a laptop, but I just carry my Treo. She thinks that in class, I was using my Treo for chat and send SMS, but I was taking notes! I have four years using my Treo for take notes whit speed fingers, so I can follow the class and grab almost all. Well, the professor don't believe me, so I show the program for write in Word, and how I can send it by email or keep it in the memory card. Even I play some minutes of the class that my Treo record. I think she get satisfied whit the fast presentation of the abilities of my Treo. Inmediatly she returns to her desk, I open a program for chat in the Treo, put it in Busy mode, and return to the Word similar program, jejeje. Finally I have to take advantage of the multiple resources of my Treo, whitout distraction in the class. Of course I put it on vibrate mode too :)

Symbian UIQ gets more exciting

It’s been a rare sight of news on Symbian UIQ devices, but this time there are two juicy solid news for you; not just mere rumors anymore like the unofficial yet of WinMob 6.1 (set to be announced at CTIA on April 1st / April Fool?). First is the OS getting updated into UIQ v3.3, which is only a minor tuned up & enhancement from the Symbian 9.3 foundation. The newest features include support for Opera Mobile 9.5 and Opera Widgets, the SDK kit for this new UIQ v3.3 is already out; that’s pretty fast compared to the slow iPhone’s SDK kit. See the user interface screenshots at Engadget Mobile here.

Second, according to BGR news here; Sling Player has announced their support to put the Symbian UIQ into the next stop for Sling Player, set to be released on summer this year. The designated Symbian UIQ devices will include these existing mobile phones:

• Sony Ericsson P1i
• Sony Ericsson P990i
• Sony Ericsson W960i
• Sony Ericsson W950i
• Sony Ericsson M600i
• Motorola MOTORIZR Z8

Indeed Symbian UIQ devices market is not as big as its sibling; the Symbian 60 & 90. So those news would bring fresh air to those who own Symbian UIQ devices, don’t worry you’re not left behind at all. And if you have a Wiimote along with your Symbian UIQ handset, then check this blog from BGR here which says you could connect them altogether with the help from mobiPad application.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Another Old Fashioned User

[From Nancy (Michigan)] Hi Sammy! I guess I'm another old-fashioned user. I use a Palm TX daily and I do not want a converged device. Unlike most people, I rarely use my cell phone. In fact, I don't even have a cell phone plan, I just do pre-paid. My husband even refuses to get a cell phone! I love my TX just the way it is and do not plan to upgrade to a converged device any time soon. My newest obsession is with podcasts. It is so great to be able to load a few podcasts and listen whenever I have a free moment. There's such a wide variety of options out there and I look forward to exploring more podcasts as time goes by. Thanks, Sammy for all you do!

Safari bookmarks on the iPhone home screen...

[From Ken (Atlanta, GA)] Sammy, Just a quick mention and thumbs up on one of the newer functions with the iPhone, the ability to add Safari bookmarks directly to the home screen. Some of the websites are even adding new iPhone friendly icon graphics which show up nicely as the bookmark icons. Of course, one of first I added was for PalmAddicts. Others include FoxNews (which has a iPhone formatted site) as well as Google and iNetwork Test. What a great "tweak" for the iPhone...it makes me look forward to the next update from Apple!

Palm catches attention, inspires conversations

[From Ederic Eder Quezon City, Philippines] Last Monday, I accompanied my girlfriend to the hospital for a check up. I was reading an e-book on my Treo, while she was online on her phone as we were waiting for her turn to talk to the doctor. I heard one of the people who passed by in front of us say something about her PalmPilot. I asked my girlfriend what the woman just said, and she replied: "Huh, you just heard someone say PalmPilot, eh." Obviously, "PalmPilot" is like a keyword that is very effective in catching my attention.

A little later, while I was still reading on my Treo, the older man sitting beside me suddenly talked to me. He said we have the same phone and showed me his Treo 650. I told him our phone is complete and has a lot of useful features. I think most of us Filipinos use Nokia cellphones so I was surprised to learn that I wasn't the only person in that floor who had a Treo. He told me his Treo was from the US. It didn't have a memory card yet.

He asked me how to activate the radio feature, and I told him he needs Internet connection to use it. I personally haven't tried any streaming radio on my Treo, but I use it to listen to MP3s and watch videos. I noticed that his battery indicator is already red -- meaning the phone will run out of power soon -- and that his Bluetooth was active, so I showed him how to turn the Bluetooth off.

Indeed, great gadgets like the Treo 650 inspires conversations even among strangers.

Two devices

[From Scott Brooklyn, NY] I am an frequent visitor to the PalmAddict website and enjoy reading about how other people use their device. I've owned a Zire 72 and for several years found it very useful for money management, language study, periodic connections to internet and photo capture. I recently received an ATT Tilt as a gift and experienced the WOW factor. What an amazing device! It does everything I wanted the Zire to do; full time and speedy wi-fi (and 3G) internet connection, a fine digital camera, MS office. I recently loaded LogMeIn onto my Tilt to connect to my PC and find it extremely useful. Google Maps is an exceptional tool on the Tilt and much better than the palm version. I also like the fact that I can open more than one software at a time; I can have contacts, calendar and the web browser all open and functioning at the same time. I've found the phone and data network excellent and have yet to experience any trouble.

With all this glowing about the tilt I still carry my Zire and use it frequently each day. I haven't found a suitable replacement for my financial software and I have good dictionaries on the palm which I have not been able to replace on the Tilt. Like most other readers, I am happy with all my tools but still looking for the ultimate handheld device. Thanks for the consistently enjoyable read.

My Treo saved Easter

[From Howard Beleiff] Ok...Technically, my Treo 755p did not "save" Easter, as Easter itself was in no immediate danger as far as I could tell. The combo of my treo/Slingbox/sligplayer software for my treo did, however, save my sanity and made a 2 1/2 year old little boy (my son) very happy. You see, the family left the house and headed to my in-laws for our annual Easter celebration. As usual, I packed up a few necessities (Treo, PSP, Zune, Archos...hey..no judgments...I get bored easily), and we started off on a 2 hour tour to the country. We arrived, my son started eating candy immediately, and I settled into a game when my wife gently probed as to whether or not I had set the Dish DVR to record Peter Cottontail (circa 1971...the "good" version). I had to admit, in my mad rush to pack my gadget-bag, I forgot to set the show to record. NO WORRIES! I grabbed the Treo, logged into the Slingbox, and VOILA! Set to record so that in days to come, my son (and my wife and I) could watch, re-watch, and view again and again that classic tale from Rankin/Bass. Once again my Treo saves the day. Too bad it couldn't help peter stop ol' Irontail!

Just The Basics

[From Dan Dicker] When I started college down here in Atlanta, I bought myself a Palm Z22 to help stay organized. It was a pretty inexpensive investment but the result has been three years of never forgetting an appointment or assignment. It has my to do lists and gives me my calendar at my fingertips. Want to have a meeting on the 22 at 3 o'clock? I whip out my Z22 and see that I've already got meeting with a professor. I've also been pretty impressed with how it's held up for the past few years. It has certainly outlasted my expectations for which I am grateful. I haven't had the need for a big all-in-one device so I've been satisfied with just having the basics. That's all I need.

My old T3 beats the pants off my newer Lifedrive

[From Paul San Jose, CA] After a couple of months I went back to the T3. I purchased a used Lifedrive so as to accommodate my expanding music collection and to add more video to my daily entertainment. Little did I realize that I wouldn't be able to listen to music and update my "to do list" without constantly accessing the hard drive causing pauses in my music - even when the music was on an SD card! And the Lifedrive let me count for 5-10 seconds sometimes when opening my Shadow application! What's up with that?! So I'm back to the T3 that never leaves me hanging when I hit a button. ...

Shhh! Don't tell them it plays music!

[From Judy B. - Ohio] Last summer, I bought "birdJam" for my iPod. It's a program that rips a "Stokes Field Guide to Birds" CD that you purchase separately, then it adds pictures (stored as album art) to the .mp3s it creates. It creates a number of playlists of different groups of birds. I go hiking with my son's Boy Scout troop, and I planned to have it handy so if we saw any interesting birds, we'd be able to figure out what they were.

Well, I don't take my iPod hiking with me very often, mostly because we discourage the kids from bringing their own music devices on these excursions. Also, the pictures on my video iPod, while lovely, are teeny tiny. I copied some of the birdJam created .mp3s over to my LifeDrive just to see what they looked like, and they were amazing! CoreMedia displayed the pictures while the .mp3 plays (I had problems with other software I tried). The bird songs sound great, and the pictures are large and clear. Also, because there are speakers, people around me can hear the bird songs, too. My cat is confused and can't figure out how I've stuffed all those birds into my LifeDrive.

I'm all set for the first spring excursion. We just won't tell the Scoutmaster than I can listen to music on this thing, too.

I Can't Believe that I Never Realized how Helpful Text Messaging is

[From David McDanal] Hey Sammy, something I have thought about a lot lately is how polite text messaging can be. I know that might sound a little crazy, but I got a Tmobile Dash a year ago, and now that I have a full keyboard, I find myself send texts a lot more as an alternative to calling. One thing that has gotten on my nerves in the last couple of years is that when people's cell phones ring, they answer them no matter where they are! The great thing about texts is that you don't have to respond right away, so it doesn't interrupt your dinner (this really grates me when people pick up their cellphones when I am having a meal with them). I have heard a lot of people say that technology is breaking down personal relationships, but I think that using text messages actually helps them, since you don't have to interrupt your conversation to take a call. You can respond to the person when you get a free moment, especially since most calls and messages arn't an urgent matter. Also, I can use my PDA to replace a lot of stuff I used to do on the computer (email and RSS mainly), so I am using my computer less.

This week I came to the realization that I have become "addicted" to the short stories that you post on PalmAddicts. Now its one of the main RSS feeds I read, and I always read the user submitted stories first. Thanks for your hard work

And my iPhone has an alarm too

[From Ken (Atlanta, GA)] Sammy, Is there anything worse then setting up a "hotel wake up call" that doesn't come? Yep, happened to me, once. But once is all it took. After experiencing the missed call and almost missed business appointment, I decided to rely on my iPhone for yet another function, waking me up in the morning while on the road traveling. Not sure why I didn't before, perhaps just an old habit. But now, while plugged into my travel charger, I just set the iPhone alarm and sleep peacefully knowing I don't need to rely on a sleepy hotel clerk to be sure to log in wake up call request.

Am I mobile mad?

[From Bill Beavers] Sammy I would like to start off by thanking you for a wonderful site that still informs about all things Palm. I currently have a Sprint (HTC) MOGUL and thought that this would satisfy my lust for tech gadgets. Unfortunately living with it day to day has disappointed me. I have owned a 700P, a Blackberry 8703e, and even a Compaq Ipaq 3975. The one thing that I notice is that as far as things have come, the more I want in the mobile world. I use my Mogul currently for e-mail, surfing the net, keeping a contact database, and games. I use it daily and it serves me well. I have enjoyed this device, but as I said before I want more. I am looking for a device with a screen that is at least 4” and not square I want the tall screen like on the old Compaq 3975. Yes I want a built in keyboard as well, these virtual keyboards just do not do it. I want push e-mail like Blackberry does it on this device and I want it to be HTML. I know that WinMob has the ability to be pushed but I have bellsouth at and they cannot or refuse to make this work on my account. I cannot for the life of me understand why in 2001 when I bought my Compaq 3975 it had a 400MHz processor and the Sprint Mogul only has a 400MHz processor? It seems to me we should be at least at 800MHz by now. I guess Moore’s law does not apply to mobile processors. I would like a QVGA screen or better. It DOES NOT have to be as thin as a credit card. I would like GPS and be able to choose which company. Let me explain, if I wanted to use Garmin software on my device I should be able to do this (I think they will soon offer this), or if I wanted to use TomTom then I should be able to load them on there as well. I should not be subject to Google Maps. RAM and ROM should be substantial, no less than 256MB of each. No sliding keyboards. 3 plus mega pixel cameras, with optical zooms. I would like to see a device that will be able to load multiple OS’es on it (Much like I will do if I win the MBP) like the new Palm software that will be coming out next year, and Windows Mobile 7. I want to operate the device and be able to make upgrades to it. I want a laptop desktop replacement in the palm of my hand. Am I out of my mind or what?

My Wish

[From Ernie in Milton, Florida USA] I just love my Garmin iQue 3600. I use it everyday, some days almost all day long. I read in the mornings when I get to work early to convince myself that I really have to be there, I read again at lunchtime, and in the evenings before I go to sleep. Whenever the wife and I go someplace new, I just load in the address and drive right to where we want to go. Now, what would really be great if it would have had a built in FM tuner. I work at a golf course and spend a lot of time mowing and I love to listen to the radio. As it is I had to buy an mp3 player with a built in FM tuner so that I would get a decent radio that would not loose the station all the time. I could have just loaded mp3's on my iQue, and listened to them, but here in FL, we are always having thunderstorms with of course lightening... and as everyone knows, lightening and golf courses don't really mix, and I want to know when a storm is coming, and not have to wait for someone else to come out to where I happen to be mowing and tell me to get to cover! So, I guess if any pda developers are out there reading, an FM tuner would be a great addition!

How I use my mobile device

[From Neal] I use my mobile device mainly for work-related purposes... WHEN I'M AT WORK hehe When I'm at home, I just play games, games and more games - SMS chat my friends and family members I also use it to check/send emails from wherever I happen to be, so I don't need to confine myself to the rather cramped (at times) quarters of my home office.

While I love my Centro, having an actual laptop would make things a bit easier - such as a larger display screen, keyboard that my rather large hands can type on without hitting two or more keys at once, and just an overall larger sense of involvement compared to a smaller, hand-held device such as my Centro.

Thanks, of course, for generously offering such 'prizes' when you can spare them, as I'm sure they are blessings to those who are chosen to win them! I have been pondering as of late on how I could best plan to purchase a laptop, and if I'm chosen to receive this, then all that pressure is lifted!!!!! (j/k of course.. well, about the pressure)

Discovering new things with my TX

[From James Lee (Riverside, California)] It's always a pleasant surprise when I discover something new that one of my gadgets can do. For instance, I had been thinking about getting a launcher for my Palm TX just so I could jump between programs without having to go back to the home screen each time. Until one day, when I accidentally held down the home button and discovered a pop-up window with links to the last six programs I used. Bingo! Now I could do my Bible reading in MyBible and then use the launcher to type in some notes in Memo. And I didn't have to pay the $20-25 it would have cost to get one of the third-party launcher programs out there.

Palm TX hits the sweet spot as PDA for non-business, moderate-tech user

TX has been my centerpiece electronic device for 2 years now, and though it has its problems, I'm still impressed how it does it all --- well, A Lot. Yes, it has no phone or camera, but I prefer to keep those separate from my PDA functions (and I like to keep my cellphone Simple). An author out there on the web called the Apple iPod Touch more of a PDA than just a music/video player, but I think that's an insult to the Palm TX and to most PDAs in general. There's more to PDAs than just PIM. I'm still waiting for Apple to allow 3rd party apps (of which there is an Abundance available for Palm) and editing of documents. Palm allows so much For Free: e-books being top on my list. And Apple seems to hold pricing as part of the cache' of its product line --- sort of like colleges raising tuition so that they don't seem cheap, "ergo" of lesser quality (there was a news blurb about that years ago). Well, I'm not an Apple/Mac hater; I do have my eye on Mac if they choose to make something Palm-like (TX-like!) --- and I just don't have the extra dough for "design".

NUTS -NUTRIENT TRACKING SYSTEM

NUTSThis seems a great program because you can see a database to help with your diet."Every one of us is unique, different things make us happy and sad, fulfilled and empty, strong and weak. Learning about what works for us is an absolutely essential part of every aspect of 'successful living' and never more so than when it comes to understanding the impact of what we are using to build and re-build ourselves out of, the often used phrase 'you are what you eat' is a statement of the blindingly obvious. What we choose to provide our bodies with has the capacity to make us strong and fit for a very long time, but it can so easily perform the exact opposite, making us feel uncomfortable, lethargic, it can lead to weight problems, internal damage and ultimately to the shortening of life itself."

CALCULON

CALCULONThis seems a useful tool because its a unit/currency converter and a standard calculator."The latest currency rates can be updated from the internet either wirelessly (Treo, LifeDrive, TX, etc) or via your desktop's connection with the provided conduit. Calculon is optimized for one-handed operation on the Treo phones. Up to 15 conversion categories can be defined with 200 items in each. Any category can also serve as a group of constants. Easily convert between Celcius and Fahrenheit, miles and kilometers, gallons and litres, and much more."

YOGA FOR MIND SOUL (HI RES)

YOGAThis seems a great program for relaxing and calm thoughts." Calm your Mind and Soul. Yoga for Mind and Soul- adapted from the famous The Yoga Deck by Olivia H. Miller is now on your mobile. Progress along your path of emotional balance and spiritual growth. Lead your own way of life. Feel and experience here everything from Meditation to Spiritual Yoga and many more.Allow yourself to be aware of what is before you. Be present to the flow of one moment to the next. Let things be without denying them, judging them, or trying to change them."