PalmAddicts

Portable Solar Charger for Mobile Devices

I just found out that there is new eco-gadget called Powermonkey Explorer Portable Solar Charger for your mobile phone, which is a portable solar charger for any portable device which can include: mobile phone, camera, iPod, MP3 players etc... You can use this device to charge your mobile device, when your in an area that has a lot of sun, yet no power outlets. Now you can take your cell phones or other portable devices with you, when your on a vacation and need to make call when your battery life is low. I know this could be helpful for the traveling business people that find themselves traveling constantly and need to find a quick way to charge their phones or mobile devices for communication between work and home. The features of the phone are: Features:     * Compatible with the majority of mobile phones, including Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, etc.     * 2 USB connectors, one mini, one standard, which can charge iPods, Bluetooth headsets, and PDAs. Connector cable for digital camera     * Re-usable power pack     * Includes a mains travel charger for use in 150 countries, from 110V to 240V     * Output voltage of 4.5V to 5.5V     * Compact size and stylish silver casing     * Black carry case Pack Contents     * 1 x powermonkey-eXplorer unit     * 1 x solar-slave     * 1x universal mains charger which will work in over 150 countries and has interchangeable heads for UK, US, Australia and Europe     * Nokia, Mini Nokia, Motorolla V66, Samsung E900, Siemens C25 and Sony Ericsson wide connectors     * 1 x Mini USB for smart phones, PDAs and other devices     * 1 x iPod connector     * 1 x connector for Sony PSP and most digital cameras     * Black travel pouch     * Storage case It has everything you need, to charge your mobile device by the sun so it's time to get eco-friendly and start using the renewable energy that is healthy for the environment and might even save you some money on your electric bill.

Treo Pronunciation

Written With A Palm Lifedrive I've never been around anyone else who owned a Treo. So when I downloaded the PalmAddicts podcast, and heard whoever was speaking, (sorry, whoever) I noticed that he said TREE-OH. Well I've owned a palm device for two years and always pronounced it TRAY-OH! I guess that's why palm always puts that little line over the E!

Only with a Centro.

Well, I just spent the past 3 days in San Diego with my Palm Centro only. It felt great not having to carry my laptop everywhere. I was able to get everything done I needed to without using my laptop. Using the web and email was a breeze, and using the small keyboard wasn't that bad. GoogleMaps came in handy a LOT. If I had to do it all over again, I'd leave my laptop at home and take only my Centro still.

A new founding of facts about iPhone

A recent survey conducted on 460 random selected iPhone users in the USA by Rubicon Consulting, have discovered what are the impacts that iPhone has on its customers and other mobile companies as well. Here are the quick rundown of the survey results:

• iPhone users are mostly young, half of the surveyed users are under age 30 & 15% are students. And all of them are tech savvy, where they’ve reported great satisfaction using iPhone plus they all are using its features extensively.
• Reading emails is the most primary activity in using iPhone, but not writing email.
• The top notch Safari experience in iPhone has lead more than 75% to do more mobile browsing, although 40% said it can’t open correctly the websites they wanted to visit.
• A shocking 50% said they’ve replaced their conventional mobile phone with iPhone, which Motorola RAZR was the one that often replaced. But then about 40% have also replaced their Windows Mobile smartphone & RIM BlackBerry with iPhone.
• An anecdotal report, as Rubicon called it, that iPhone users tend to carry second mobile phone for telephony and composing emails. (Isn’t this report contradicted with above point?)
• Like what Sammy has done, 28% of surveyed users have strongly said they carry iPhone rather than their laptop.
• Customers loyalty and the liking to Apple’s image/brand, not to mention Apple’s fine delivered products, are the reason why 75% of iPod & Mac computer owners choose iPhone.
• iPhone users are seeing their monthly wireless bills have gone up averagely to $228 extra per year.
• Above news will surely widen that happy smile on AT&T board members face, not only those bills report but also people are changing their wireless carriers to AT&T because they wish to own an iPhone. So by that Rubicon have predicted $2 million gross revenue that AT&T can gain only by iPhone sells. (what a scary numbers there!)

Read on Rubicon whole article here for deeper insight on mobile industries since the arrival of iPhone, or just download the PDF version of their survey report here. Thanks to Dan Farber (outside the lines blog) for the heads up on this one.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Pocket Informant 8 Rocks on the Smartphone Platform

[From Craig Yoho] I have a cooked Win Mo 6 ROM on my old Cingular 3125. Win Mo 6 adds extra features to the PIM software which make things like task management much, much more useful, but getting the information from my brain to the smartphone on a standard numeric keypad is another issue altogether. T9 sure beats Multi-tap in my book, but it can still take an inordinately long time to enter the names of people, places and things, especially when T9 hasn't yet encountered a particular word and needs to be taught.

That's where Pocket Informant 8 comes in. Not only does it add some really useful views, which can combine both calendar and task entries together, but it can be set up to remember all of your most-used subjects, locations, notes, etc. Do you have a bunch of meetings in a particular meeting room or at a particular restaurant? Do certain events occur on a semi-regular basis during your work week? Add the required text strings to the "My Text" or "My Location" fields, and they'll be ready for quick selection any time you need them. Without PI8, I don't think I could continue using a standard numeric keypad smartphone, and I'd have to find a way to broach the subject of spending big bucks on a QWERTY device with my wife!

Review of TAKEphONE on Treocentral

[From Eli G] There is a great review of TAKEphONE on Treocentral, that I think you should mention, this is THE software program every Treo owner should have. Keep up the great work, love ur site.

"I liked what I read about TAKEphONE, downloaded the trial version from TreoCentral, installed the program and then registered the program - all within a span of about 1.5 hours; I like the program that much! After reading the .pdf that comes with the program and familiarizing myself with the menus and sub-menus, I contacted the author of TAKEphONE to let him know how much I already liked his program. He suggested I test and review the latest BETA version of the program; hence, I'm reviewing the BETA version 7.55 (045), which I believe is slated to be an offically released version in the near future."

Free as in freedom

[From JB Budapest, Hungary] It seems inevitable. As our devices become more and more versatile, and as their software becomes more like a desktop OS (Android, even iPhone), big service providers like AT&T and Verizon will be forced to open up: they will only provide the service itself, and you decide how and with what you use it with. You don't make a contract, you don't need a SIM card, all you need is a credit card and a compatible device. With time, the barrier betwen WiFi and cellular service will become less and less evident, and it will eventually disapear. It is still a long way to go, of course, but it has already begun.

The Gift Of Life

[From Mark Schutt Nebraska] Greetings Sammy, Thank you for giving us PalmAddicts. It is a regular stop for me each day. I appreciate your hard work. On December 5, 2007, a young man walked into a Von Maur clothing store at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska. He had a rifle hidden under his coat. He went to the third floor and began to shoot. Before he took his own life, he also took the lives of several other people. For those of us who live near Omaha, the story transfixed us. We were shocked, horrified and frightened. The day was an apparent disaster until my oldest daughter called me on my cell phone. "Dad, I am going to the hospital, it is time." At 11:05 PM, my first grand daughter entered the world. With my TX in hand, I wrote down her weight, height and name; Kendal. I also wiped away my tears as her arrival washed over the rest of the heartache from that day. Her birthday will always be a sign of hope for me and a reminder of how much we need to love each other. The days go by too quickly and can change without notice. Thanks for the chance to share Sammy.

Bar Boost

[From Rob at HobbyistSoftware] Hi Sammy, thought you might be amused by this thread on Bar Boost..

OtterBox Sponsors the Sea Otter Classic: A Celebration of Sport

[From Kristin Golliher] Otter Products LLC. will participate in a “celebration of sport” as sponsors of the 18th annual Sea Otter Classic in Monterey, Calif. April 17 – 20, 2008. The event is one of the largest and most celebrated cycling festivals in North America and includes the world’s biggest outdoor consumer bike tradeshow. Exhibiting cases for technology and valuable protection, offering special discounts and contributing 300 prizes for race winners, OtterBox looks forward to attending the 2008 event.

Click here to read more.

Turn your Gmail into a media browser

As Gmail has been so famous among the internet users & also used daily by mobile users all around the world, you can enhance your Gmail account with this new service from Xoopit. Right now Xoopit is in private beta, and to use it you must install a small plug-in software into the web browser and you needed to entrust it with your Gmail account's credential infos. Which I think could become a barrier for Xoopit growth, since there are growing numbers of people out there who won't be handing over easily their sensitive infos to a new company like this one.

But as what Josh Lowensohn (WebWare) has tested out Xoopit service here, Xoopit will "crawl" over your Gmail and shows thumbnail pictures of your photos & videos available in a photo slide mode on the top of your Gmail. Best of all Xoopit enables you to share these media files with your existing social network services, plus you can view them off-line through Xoopit itself. Josh has put a very promising comment for Xoopit future: "It succeeds in two major areas: one in speed, ... and the other in ease of use. The user interface is incredibly intuitive and provides a far better media viewing experience than Gmail does on its own." But when I tried to access Xoopit, the web page said it's currently updating its private beta server and told me to play a classic Tetris game instead... Anyone who succeed installing Xoopit, please post a review; and as I would always say: spread the knowledge.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Pinger: mobile messages that talk

A Californian based company called Pinger have offered a free service that lets you record your own audio and then send it to the subscribers' mobile phone numbers. It's like broadcasting your very own podcast, but only limited up to 5 minutes max of lenght. Where you can dial a Pinger number according to where your country reside, record the audio and Pinger will send out SMS notification to the subscribers. The way Pinger required you to subscribed first in order to use their service; remind us of Twitter, Seesmic & Tumblr.

But Rafe Needleman (WebWare) was reporting that the reply by voice message in Pinger, doesn't have an easy set up as a back & forth audio chat. And Pinger is giving away the subscribers' full mobile phone numbers in the report to the publisher, although this will give a more thorough report on who is hearing what in Pinger; but still we're mostly worried of wrong usage from this kind of practice. Read on his full review here. But if you're still confuse and wish to make a straight jump to Pinger website for an animated video on how Pinger works, don't miss the Pinger's Learn More web page where you could find hilarious reasons why you should use Pinger service; all are made by Pinger team.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

THROWAWAY TODAY ONLY - Motorola MOTO Q 9h

We often get review device to play with and one of the devices we have that we received which we are giving away is a Motorola MOTO Q 9h. I'm doing things slightly different, instead of the first person to email me, I'll choose a winner at random at the end of today. Now I really liked the form factor of the Motorola MOTO Q 9h as regular readers will have remembered but saying that it was just short of some of the excellent features that make this a winner for me. So with that in mind, I want you to send me a couple of lines on how your using your mobile devices and again it doesn't matter what device that you are using. Don't send something you have already sent and no personal plea's or self software or website mentions allowed. As I have mentioned in the past I really appreciate the people who add kind words to their me in their email, a small percentage of people just send their thought in without even saying hi or how are you, so your messages are always welcome. As always I will choose someone at random at the end of the day, email me at sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

If you haven't already sent your thought please put WEDNESDAY for me in the subject line

Nominate for the PalmAddict Reader Awards 2008

Obviously our PalmAddict Reader Award for 2008 are well and truely open. 2007 winners can be found here. For 2008 we are looking for who you think are the best in the mobile community and categories include, best Palm device of the year, best Palm Website / Blog, best travel program for Palm OS and best multimedia program for Palm OS amongst others. The category list is here so please go and nominate. As per years previous results published periodically with final winners announced in December.

eReader discount for the week

eReader discount for the weekend is here. "Punch in this week's Promo Code ERA412 to receive a 20% discount off any eBook that you purchase at eReader.com. Offer good through April 8, 2008 on all eBooks. This discount cannot be used with any other special offers" Make the jump to eReader.

Be a more serious mobile photographer

You love taking pictures with your expensive mobile phone's camera, but not satisfied with the lack of zoom capability in it? Then a Japanese company named Green-House hear your whining plea and they have just released a package for mobile phone camera accessories; for paying around US$88 you'll get a mini tripod, a universal handset holder & an 8x optical zoom lens. Green-House released two color flavors, black (as seen in the picture left) and silver. But as PhoneMag pointed out here, you'll first need a decent mobile phone with camera and a keen instinct of a pro photographer to be able to get the most of this Green-House product. Otherwise, don't blame on the camera accessories if your friends & relatives are still making a joke on the results.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Sprint's glossy Samsung Instinct

One new mobile phone that has been attracting attention & crowds at CTIA 2008 event is Sprint's Samsung Instinct (SPH-M800), set to be release this year summer. By a quick glance over Instinct, it'll easily remind us of the famous iPhone design; and even dubbed as "iPhone competitor" by a Sprint spokeswoman. Here are the rundown on what we'll be expecting inside it:

• 3.1 inch display screen with 262,000 colors
• CDMA\EVDO network
• 2M pixels camera
• stereo Bluetooth
• audible caller ID
• voice dialing & commands
• full HTML browser
• digital music player that shows album art
• phone modem capability
• threaded text conversation
• microSD expansion slot
• Microsoft Live Search
• Sprint Music Store
• Sprint Radio & TV
• integrated GPS with Sprint Navigation
• Visual Voicemail feature alike

Sprint only released a press statement that their Instinct mobile phone will be sold under $300 on June, the price tag is just another appealing factor besides the additional 2GB microSD & 3.5mm headset jack that come along in the package. But it seems like the glossy exterior of Instinct doesn't resemblance the power-features it has, Gizmodo have been reporting of a hang situation where they needed to do a hard reset on Instinct while browsing with Sprint Music Store. Sources are from C|Net Reviews & Gizmodo, watch a video hands on Instinct at Gizmodo here.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

N810 WiMax is official

After much of rumors whether N810 WiMax enabled was going to US or not, at CTIA 2008 event Nokia announced the availability of this internet tablet scheduled for summer. The N810 WiMax will bear these features inside it:

• updated OS2008
• 4.13 inch touch screen
• Sliding QWERTY keyboard
• Built-in webcam
• Mozilla powered web browser
• Integrated GPS & media player
• 2GB internal memory
• microSD expansion slot
• Chinese character support in the web browser
• RSS feeds

No words yet on the price to bring home this N810 WiMax, but as Engadget Mobile here has reported that the owner of N810 & N800 can get OS upgrade for free around Q2 2008. Take a look on more pictures of N810 WiMax on Gizmodo gallery here.

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Who's the Boss Here, You or Your Treo?

[From Eric Mann] I enjoyed reading this editorial entitled who's the boss here, you or your Treo? "Technology is both a blessing and a curse. It can definitely improve your productivity, but having to deal with email, voicemail, the Internet, Blackberries, PDAs, cell phones and pagers can make you less productive if you're not careful. Here are a few suggestions on how tame your technology." Read the full editorial.

PalmAddict Podcast 108 (1 April 2008)

[From Tyler Faux] PalmAddict Podcast 108 (1 April 2008) Show Notes:
-Happy April Fools
-1 million Centros sold
-New Treo rumors
-My BlackBerry thoughts

[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.

AT&T is the first to launch Surface

It's strange indeed to hear that AT&T is the one that will launch the first ever Microsoft's Surface product into retail market on April 17th, just like what Engadget Mobile have reported here. Apparently AT&T is planning to use Surface to promote their mobile phones line-up, where AT&T's customers can place their mobile phone on Surface and then they'll get the mobile phone specifications. Not just that, AT&T also plans to put a drag & drop capability for ringtones, graphics and video into their Surface. The lucky AT&T stores to hold on to this all new Surface are New York, Atlanta, San Antonio, and San Francisco. And update news indicated that AT&T's mobile phone flagship: the iPhone is not among of those phones demonstrated on the Surface, strange don't you think?

(blogged with my Treo 750v)

Treo is my sick companion

Just when CTIA 2008 is starting up, I’ve been struck with high fever for three days that left me lying on bed for most of the time. When I checked, my body temperature was at 38.8 degree Celsius! I couldn't get up cause my body feels so tired and in pain, and I felt sleepy for most of the time. Lucky enough I always put Treo next to the bed, so when I woke up I still could follow up the RSS news with it. Some friends & business matters called in, and with Treo as my mobile phone in bed; I still be able to stay in contact with them. I heard some interesting news on the CTIA 2008 event, such as WinMob 6.1 & Nokia’s WiMax-enabled N810 which are now have become official, and many other exciting news. I’ll be bringing some of those news to PA, hopefully my fever will go down soon; it’s already down now at 37.1 degree Celsius.

(blogged in my bed with my Treo 750v)

Seidio 2 in1 InEar Noise Isolating Retractable Headset

Seidio 2 in1 InEar Noise Isolating Retractable Headset on offer $52.95 Retail Price: $69.95. "Seidio's InEar Isolators sport a sleek, low profile, yet elegant design. The InEar Isolator combines Seidio's integrated headset technology with a sound isolating design to deliver rich, detailed sound while blocking outside noises. The high quality, dynamic frequency response speakers are another plus. Comfortable sound isolating rubber inserts contour themselves to your inner-ear. The InEar Isolators are available in two versions, standard and retractable, giving users the option to customize based upon their preferences. You'll have the ability of blocking out annoying distractions and immersing yourself in a sound filled world of YOUR choosing!"

PIM Backup

Chances are you need to backup data on your PDA at least once or month. I myself do it weekly, and I am sure there are many people who do it even daily. Otherwise, your PDA can get full in no time at all, especially if you depend a lot on your PDA for daily activities. Hence, a good backup software is quite necessary.

My O2 Xda IIi PDA Phone comes with Windows Mobile 2003SE as the operating system, and xBackup is included as the backup software. For some reasons, though, I never quite like it. The PDA Shop staff from where I bought the device installed Sprite Backup as one of few bonus software thrown in during the purchase. It is nice, but I do not particularly like to have to reboot everytime the software finishes the backup process.

So began my search for another backup software. As an advocate of open source software, at first I tried to find an open source backup software, but I did not quite find one. Okay, I thought, no open source is alright, as long as I still could find a free one. And I did find a free one: PIM Backup.

PIM Backup is a free backup software for Windows Mobile 2003SE, 5, and 6. I found it several months ago. I do not exactly remember when, but it was version 2.5 back then. The latest version is 2.8. As can be seen from the animated picture, the layout and user interface is quite straightforward. I believe no explanation is necessary. In any case, the website also provides the user guide.

As of version 2.8 there are still a few bugs, like for example when I set the software to remember the backup path, the next time I use the software the path is automatically set but there are some funny characters on the back of the path, and if I do not remove these characters the backup process will fail. Otherwise, however, the software works nicely. At least for me it fulfills my backup needs.

I would suggest to backup the data in text, not in binary, so that if an edit is needed you can do so over the backup file.

As usual, disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with the software maker.

Today I used my treo to plan for tommorow

Today I used my Treo to check my email through my treo 750 with the Gmail download. I was able to mark items as read and keep them in sync when I get back to my computer. I was able to add stars and search for emails with certain info on them. Then I used Jott to remind me in my emails to do things like find a local paint shop and find a place to do my oil change. I then check my Google maps to map the local spot I need to find and save them as contacts for tomorrow. So today I used my Treo to plan my big day for tomorrow.

My Man Bag - Part One the Bag.

In this techy world, I have come to a realization. Man cannot live on one gadget alone....... What do I mean by that? Its not that I can do everything with my Centro, I can. I can fax, email take decent photos, phone calls, text message, watch tv, videos, surf the web, manage bank accounts, the list can go on and on.
So, I went on a bag search, I looked on ebags.com, searched Army Surplus stores and this weekend I went to REI and I found the perfect one. Timbuk2.
I got this bag because it was small and environmentally friendly too.
The bag overall is very flat/thin. Which means it is light. It has three internal pockets and a few pen shaped pockets. There are no back or outside pockets. Which I view as a good thing, nothing can fall out while walking around and such.
The bag also, has plenty of pockets inside, all of different sizes, for cables, iPods and all your gadget needs.
Best of all, its all a Complement to my Centro. More to follow tomorrow.

Freebie- (Sort Of) Palm OS Scrabble Players Dictionary

For those of you who play scrabble, I have found a way to have the official Scrabble players dictionary on your Palm OS PDA- FREE! if you have not used up the demo of the palm version of scrabble, Then don't!  go to the 'view' menu and then select 'look up word'. Then type in the word and it will tell you the definition.

NOTE: I'm not sure, but since you can do this without starting a new game, you may be able to do this even with the expired version!

Wakefield series of programs for storing audio, book, games, and video lists

I wanted to tell you about the Wakefield series of programs for storing audio, book, games, and video lists (http://www.wakefieldsoft.com/). I have all four of these programs and find them invaluable. Simply put, they are lists of the books (etc) that I own, but there's much more to them - they are searchable by various fields, and data can be entered either on the palm or on the desktop program. If you use the desktop program you can search the internet databases for ISBN number, or put a CD in and audiolist will automatically look up the information and put it into the correct fields. These programs have saved me from buying duplicates on a number of occasions!!

Parking solution?

Since I live in a typical busy city, everywhere I want to park has a parking meter. We don't have to feed the meters cash anymore - just dial a special phone number, punch in the meter number and the number of minutes I want to park and that's it! I still have to remember to come back to the meter before it runs out (we're not allowed to do repeat metering - we have to move the car). Since I use a Treo 700p, it makes sense to me to have both the phone process and a timing program all in one place - I use a little free program called "1 touch timer" (http://freepalmtools.com/?p=15) by Juergen Bermann. It's very simple, can be used with a finger, and does exactly what I need!

What don't I use my treo 755p for?

I suppose the question I should be asking myself is , what don't I use my treo 755 for? My treo promptly awakes me at 5:30 am. Then I check the weather with my favorite weather app.( X Weather).it is configured to automaticaly update itself at 5:00 am so I have up to the moment 5 day forecast includeing alerts, radar and satelite info. While I have a couple cups of coffee to wake me up I like to use freerange rss reader to check up on the latest news. Throughout the day I constantly use versamail to keep abreast of my email accounts. When I have a little free time on my hands I enjoy surfing the web. I primarily use opera mini as my web browser as I find it to be a more pleasureable experience rather than useing the built in ageing blazer browser. When I feel like listening to music or podcast i'l pop open either pocket tunes or kinoma player, both of which are excelent media players. I even use my treo 755 to do some online shopping at sites such as amazon.com and buy.com. One of my favorite web sites is google product search .It saves me a lot of time and effort trying to find the best deals. So much easier and less time consumeing than driveing all over town trying to find something that the local stores probably dont even have. I almost forgot that the 755p is actually a phone and an excellent one at that. When you think about it , the palm treo is a pretty amazeing piece of technology that you can just throw in your pocket and use any time you want. I guess I answered my own question. I use the treo 755p for almost everything.

Symbiotic devices

[From Eric Thomas Winnipeg, MB, Canada] Why have we not seen more symbiotic devices? By symbiotic, I mean devices that don't need their own 3g radio. This type of device would use the radio the user's existing cellphone. Perhaps bluetooth or some other low power networking technology would be used in sending the data across to the phone, and out to the world. Perhaps these devices DO exist and I'm just unaware. Perhaps they are on the horizon (in the form of Intel's MID platform). I think that the Foleo touched on this. It showed promise. I think that one hurdle in this type of device is educating the consumer. It may be a class of device that is difficult to categorize and for "average Joe" to be able to get his/her head around.

Loose screws

[From Derrick C Memphis, Tennessee] I noticed a screw fell off from my 650 a couple of days ago when I was changing my out battery. I looked at the back panel and noticed I have two other screws missing. No wonder my Treo felt rickety. I tighten up the screw that fell out. It needs a tiny, less than 1mm, Allen wrench. What!? None of those in a standard jeweler's screw driver set. I had to use a flat head, not tight but better. I check out the other remaining screw and it also was about to pop off. Another week or so, the entire back of my phone could fall off. My conclusion as to why the screws could have loosen itself is from the vibrate function on the phone. It literally shook the screws loose. Hmm...I wonder if there are other things inside that could be shaken loose.

Gateway to Gutenberg

[From Tom Maszerowski , NY] You've probably heard about the Kindle eBook reader from Amazon. Sure, it's slick but you don't need to buy a separate device to read eBooks if you already have a Palm (or WinMob or other device). Step one is to visit http://www.plkr.org/ and pick up Plucker, the offline web and eBook reader. Plucker consists of two parts, a "distiller" you run on your desktop (Windows, Mac or Linux) and a reader than runs on your handheld. Plucker was originally more of an offline HTML reader but thanks to various contributors to this open source program you can take documents in RSS, RDF, text files, HTML, PDF, and many other file formats and format them for reading on your handheld. Plucker allows images to be included, along with high-res fonts and you can alter the handheld display format in a number of ways.

Once you have your document (or URL in the case of HTML), you "distill" it using the desktop client. The resulting file (a .pdb in the case of Palm devices) is then sent to your handheld. Once loaded on the handheld the document will then be available in the directory listing of the Plucker reader. While Plucker offers a number of reading features the one I use the most is the bookmarking. Plucker has a % indicator along with a drop down with presets at every 10% but you can set a custom bookmark anywhere in the document, making jumps to favorite parts a simple process. You don't need either, of course, since Plucker remembers where you are in the eBook. That's great if you're like me and tend to read more than one at a time.

For me, Plucker really paid off with Project Gutenberg. In case you haven't heard about it, Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page (named after the pioneering printer) has over 120,000 eBooks available for you to download and read. They're all in the public domain and they're all free (as in beer). New books are being added every day.

Back in the day, most of the books were in a plain text format with some simple markup to distinguish italics and other formatting. You could either run them through a word processor and reformat them or simply use them as-is. But now most books are also formatted in HTML and some even in the Plucker format! In the latter case you just add it to your handheld and it's ready to go. In the case of HTML, you can either instruct Plucker to go to the URL or download the file and tell Plucker to use it instead. Now a vast library of classics is available to you as eBooks, free of charge. I find some of the classic Science Fiction quite enjoyable, if for no other reason than to see how many predictions of the future they got wrong :)

If you like and use eBooks from Project Gutenberg, you might consider donating or even volunteering your services. All that storage and all that bandwidth isn't free. Your donation helps keep this valuable resource free and available to everyone.

Tax Time

[From Freda] Happy April 1st...April Fool's Day. Today is always a reminder for me that I have approximately two weeks to prepare and file my federal and state tax returns. Yes, even though this is an annual event like Christmas and Thanksgiving, I still do have reminders set on my TX. And, the various notes jotted down on my PDA during the year do make tax season a little "less taxing."

I recently upgraded to a Treo 755p

[From Russell] Hi Sammy, I recently upgraded to a Treo 755p. Very happy with the device. However, I'm still looking for a simple way to capture info in the "offline" world for reference at a later time. I know I can send myself an SMS, an Email, or some other bookmarking mechanism, but none seem to do the trick. Would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this.

Space 42, on the green level

[From Frank Tano Spokane WA] I use my Palm on a regular basis to keep track of where I park my car. No longer am I at the mercy of multi-level, multi-hued parking structures. I just need to whip out my Palm, a few quick strokes of the stylus and bingo, I know exactly where to go. I can even keep time on the parking meter with my Palm.

Bookworm from Astraware

Bookworm is the addictive and creative mind game from Astraware that can be played on your own or with the help of some friends and family. In fact, why not teach the kids how to spell using this game? An educational tool collaborated with a hypnotising game, what more do the youth of today need?

Overall first impressions of the game show that Bookworm is not for the faint hearted. At first the game seems as though your mind will surely explode with frustration as you try to find as many words as you can within the puzzle, however try and be a smart Alec and get rewarded for the genius within as you receive more points the longer the words!

Whilst playing the game; on the screen is of an overview of a list of 7 columns of letters, imagine the letters you get when you play scrabble, on the squares…well that’s how the game itself is. Through this table you must connect adjoining letters in order to create words which will help you get onto the next stage, it doesn’t matter how short (min 3 letters) or how long (didn’t manage to get past 5 letters!) your words are, you get recognition for them, so long as the game recognises them as words. So for example, you cannot put in swear words, or short hand, or abbreviations. I should know as I tried most of these!

The overall graphics of Bookworm are a lot like the Bejeweled game from Astraware, simple but colourful and lets the player concentrate on the game at hand without being distracted by fancy displays. The reaction speed is up to scratch and does not hinder the game. The concept is really clever, with Lex the worm as your guidance, to teach you about the different coloured letters, and the power that they have.

Let me tell you about those that I encountered whilst playing the game. The letter which presents itself with a fire background; you need to be careful of these ones and get rid of them as fast as you can do. If the letter gets to the bottom of the page you will have burned down the virtual library that you are playing in. Another coloured square was the green one, which when used within a word increased the points you received for creating the word. So no matter what length the word was, you were guaranteed to get a high score. Then there was the gold letter, which increased you score astronomically. They were undoubtedly my favourite ones!

As you create a letter the other letters move down so that you can have new ones appear at the top, a lot like Bejeweled in that respect. This is when the coloured squares were introduced and should you run out of options to create new words you just need to tap Lex the worm and he will bring new letters to the top of the screen. Be wary to use this option though as he will also bring with him the fire letters, best not to play with fire (a wise old proverb).

This game is both enthralling and entertaining, with the mind working hard to find the letters you can’t help but continue to play this game, no matter what the distraction. Another A class performing game from Astraware. Bookworm can be downloaded from the Astraware website.

Hacks, don't be afraid of them

[From morris herman] I guess I should just speak for myself. Hacks are little tiny apps that make 'calls' to the system. So while they add more functionality they can also cause some instability. One hack I have recently started to use is: clipextend. It allows for copying large amounts of text. No longer does the system throw up a window: 'clipboard limit has been exceeded'. But rather than having it on all the time with the fear of added instability. I use YAHM (Yet Another Hack Manager). YAHM can be turned on only when needed. It does not even need to be on the Palm after a reset. And YAHM controls clipextend. So I have Accessorized (with accessorizor) YAHM, which means I can activate it from any application, as and when needed. Turn it on to copy large amounts of text, and turn it off afterwards.

Excuse me while I kiss this guy

[From Alejandra Ramos, New York] Growing up, my friends constantly teased me about my ridiculous inability to properly sing along with songs on the radio. It's as if lyrics just won't stick in my brain properly. They will enter my head and then twist and turn themselves up into something completely unrecognizable. ("It's 'think about you in bed' not 'bean sprouts bread' you weirdo!") This quickly became a common joke among my friends and family, and they would take to regularly lowering the volume randomly while I was singing along just to better hear whatever nonsense was coming out of my mouth. I pretty much learned to accept it.

That is until I got my Treo!

Suddenly I realized that with a few quick dashes on my QWERTY, I could pull up the lyrics to just about any song via mobile web! I now casually hold the Treo in my hand, as if I'm checking text messages or reading e-mail, pretend to nonchalantly sing along with the songs. It's all about the technique, an affected air of aloofness is key. As is prudence; one naturally can't go from "bean sprouts bread" to all the words of Bohemian Rhapsody without arousing suspiction. I make sure not to sing *all* the lyrics and stay away from any complicated raps. My friends have noticed my marked improvement and the teasing has stopped. A final bit of advice, though. Never, EVER, sing along to any part of REM's It's the End of the World As We Know It besides the chorus. Nobody knows all the correct words to that. Seriously, nobody. Not even Michael Stipe.

My LifeDrive

[From Alejandro from argentina] Hello, my name is Alejandro from Argentina, I am an enthusiastic user of a lifedrive, since more than 3 years and is undoubtedly an important part of my life, she is the than i have woken up all the mornings, she is the makes me remember things I have to do in the day, birthdays, meetings, etc. Because I am very bad recalling dates and commitments, she too me provides entertainment in moments of boredom, ask me Do they want to see a film, play a game or perhaps listen to music? She is the than recalls the phone number of my contacts, she is the than recalls me than not forget me something, goes with me to all parties, to work to school, she is the than keeps me working until late and the than allows me advance in the work for take time free. When I am on holiday, is one of my most enviable partner, which allows me to see my post and to be up to date with things that happen, and the few moments of tranquility that I have, me allowing read a good book. For my the lifedrive is my faithful companion adventures, I am profoundly grateful because my life is getting more organized and I have time to share with the people I love, my friends and my family. Thank you for allowing me know you lifedrive and be a member of my family.

My Palm TX and me...

[From Mike H] I use my TX to help schedule out my day, from the alarm that wakes me at 5am until a reminder at 9pm not to work too late. I have alarms for school, picking up the wife and kids, reminders for tasks, etc. When it's not nagging me to go there or do that, I use it to track my Weight Watchers Points, play Text Twist, listen to MP3s, and read ebooks. I really don't know why everyone does not have a Palm! Oh, before I forget... Hi Sammy! I love the site. Please keep up the good work!

TREO enables communication for hard of hearing

[From Wanda Umber] I use my Treo for many things on a daily basis, including appointment reminders and those all too frequent password lookups in Splash ID. (I feel like a contestant in a game show--she who has the most passwords wins!)

However, my Treo has recently allowed me to communicate with a profoundly hard of hearing friend who has limited access to e-mail. Our friendship had stagnated since we were unable to see each other very often, and our communications were limited to in-person visits where she could lipread. I hadn't really thought of text messaging, but she started text messaging me, and so now we communicate much more frequently, thanks to my handy Treo!

If you have friends who have trouble hearing on the phone, consider texting as an alternative!

Don't know if you will actually publish this, but please remind people that our text messaging capabilities may be a way to reach out to those in the hearing impaired community.

Life Long Learning: Mobility Day In/Day Out

[From M.R. Circe Kingston, N.Y. USA] As an elementary school teacher from Upstate NY, U.S.A. I see the connectivity of our mobile devices adding greatly to our own learning each and everyday. As I work daily to inspire my own students to extend their thinking beyond the walls of the school I think of how I use my mobile device to seek answers to my own questions while I am on the go. I think of how I use my phone to read national and local news via mobile websites, and receive notifications of school closings (we have snow days around here) via SMS. I utilize my phone as a means for responding to email directly from parents who are seeking help or who are sending words of encouragement and praise. Having a camera on the phone allows me to snap quick shots and send them direct to be shared on Flickr. Most important to me is the calendar and data organizer where arranging meetings with parents and administration does not require fumbling through stacks of papers crammed into my lesson plan book. My phone is more than just a device. It is a powerful tool which helps me stay connected to the world, my community, my school, and my family. Thank you for taking time to read my thoughts!

Never Miss

[From Dave W. Gretna, Nebraska, USA] I use my mobile device as an all-in-one, anytime device. Phone, addresses, GPS, camera for taking pictures of random things that happen wherever I am, music player (I can hold a lot of music on my memory card), calendar, to-do list, and reminders. I also have quite a few word documents on it in case I get bored, and if I'm near a WiFi hotspot I'll use it for the internet. It allows me never to miss anything that happens in life, which happens so fast and never slows down!

Launcher X

[From Harold Arnold Berkeley, CA U. S. A] A few days ago, following the suggestion of another contributor to this web site, I downloaded and installed Accenter by Alex Pruss. This is a program that makes it much easier to write accents in Spanish, German, or French. I use it to write long marks over Latin words that I enter into the flash card program QuizWiz, using the circumflex, and to enter French and German books into BookStuff. When I tried to beam it to a Trêo using friend who lives in Mexico, the program showed up on her Trêo, but not the individual language files. When I tried to beam them using the built in Applications program, I was only offered the option of beaming applications, not individual files. Then I tapped the small beaming icon in the Launcher X tool bar, and it offered to beam just about any file on my Tungsten T3. So I beamed her the Spanish accents file, and she started to emend many of the Spanish names in her Contacts while we ate lunch in Vik's, in Berkeley.

LauncherX is available here.

I have been using a pda since the first Handspring Visor came out, and have been an addict since

[From Sherif] hello Sammy, love your website; I go there at least once a day and have it RSS'd to my TX (via Opera mini) and my Google homepage. I have been using a pda since the first Handspring Visor came out, and have been an addict since. Currently I'm using a ~2 year old TX and it goes with me everywhere. In addition to the PIM functions, I use it to browse the web, listen to music, play games, work on documents, watch movies, wake me up, take notes at work, get directions (Mapopolis or Google Maps if wifi is available), and as an ereader. It is truly my second brain, in fact some who know me may say it is my primary brain. I have often considered, and been tempted, to move to a smartphone and carry one less device (my phone is a Nokia 6682), but I haven't found anything that has/does everything that my trusted TX does paired with my phone... if only palm would offer a smartphone with wi-fi and a big screen. Maybe someone will develop a visorphone-like SD module for the TX (I loved my visorphone!). Thanks again for palmaddicts... simply the best site for us addicts on the web,

Ball Rush Aqua

BALL RUSHThis seems a great game program."You can now travel through the underwater world. This game excels in it’s diversity — from the form and features of the bat through to the large variety of tasks involved: you don’t need to destroy all of the blocks, just open a way to the upper part of a screen to pass the level, and then to pass the next ones until you reach the top where you can really have fun and smash everything in sight! Over a hundred original locations are included alongside two levels of difficulty and a huge number of bonuses, which make the game even more captivating and attractive to play! Throw in 13 types of blocks which all have different margins of safety and you are ready to tackle the rewarding and absorbing experience that is Ball Rush Aqua. Some blocks restore after being crushed and some are almost indestructible. But don’t worry, your arsenal is ready for these trials because you can use fire and ice balls, missiles and bombs, which will hall help you to make your way to freedom."

Frogger

FROGGERThis seems a fun and fab game."The smash arcade hit is back! Jump past cars on the road and hitch a ride on logs and turtles while crossing the river. Perils await a careless frog and not all turtles are helpful. Guide 5 frogs to safety and move to the next level.HOW TO PLAY 2 - Move Up 4 - Move Left 6 - Move Right 8 - Move Down OK - Menu * - End Key/ Exit FEATURES Original classic levels and gameplay. 2 different versions allow user to choose between cute or arcade Frogger®. Easy controls makes it fun for all ages."

Magic Fishing(Hi-Res)

MAGIC FISHINGThis seems a great fun game."User drive a boat in the sea for fishing,boat stop at left side of screen at beginning,remember you can't move boat when fall down your fishing thread for certain fish. The fishhook is at the bottom of fishing thread, you can catch the fish when the fish happens to swim beside the fishhook. But be careful the fishing thread will be broken when fish collide into the middle part of it. Stylus or Keys Function:Press the pen ahead or behind the boat or direction key to control the drive direction of boat. press under the boat to fall down ur thread,and release the pen or direction key to pull back thread."

Bookworm

BOOKWORMThis seems a great addictive game for all. "Feed Lex the Worm's endless appetite by joining letters on the library wall! Use up burning letters before they reach the bottom and set the library on fire! A superb word game for beginners and experts alike and a great way to increase your word power".

London DK Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guide & Map

LONDON DK EYEWITNESS GUIDE This seems a great program if your new to london and seems to help you around the great capital of london. "From the top 10 ways to experience Royal London to the top 10 shops, pubs and hotels - this guide features the insider knowledge that every visitor needs, plus London maps and metro maps. Capture the essence of London, from shopping in Harrods to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Discover the most fascinating buildings, beautiful parks and gardens, unmissable museums and galleries, traditional pubs, unforgettable live music and West End performances, special events, most fun places for children, and best restaurants to suit every budget and much more."