PalmAddicts

Will I Ever Be Satisfied?

Since my early days utilizing mobile devices, I have always found myself longing for more in my mobile companion. It all began innocently enough with the Sharp Wizard in the early 90's. I soon outgrew it's limited capabilities and purchased a Psion Series 3 handheld. Wow, I loved that device. I could not put it down. It probably contributed to my soon to be weakened eyesight as I tried to use it in dim light situations. I soon upgraded to the Series 3c which added a cool green backlight to the screen. No keyboard backlight, however. It had a phenomenal battery life running for weeks on a couple of AA batteries. However enamored, I was still not satisfied with the chicklet keys. I then upgraded to the Series 5 when it was released. With the slide out keyboard, larger keys and larger keyboard I thought, this is the device. Unfortunately, the stylus had a tendency to break and the rubber coating of the device wore off rather quickly. I also found myself longing for a color screen. It did not seem as though Psion was going to make a color screen Series 5, and Microsoft had began making handhelds as well as the Palm Pilot. The first to come out with a color screen I was going to jump on their bandwagon. HP was the first with the behemoth 620lx. Sharp followed suit with the Mobilon. Not to long after I got tired of lugging such a large device and jumped to the Palm IIIC. I loved having the color screen in a small package! I was still not satisfied as I wanted expansion abilities to add more memory. Hence, my switch to the Handspring Prism. I loved the springboard modules and beautiful color screen. I still have a few springboards lying around. I soon moved back to Microsoft's palm devices, the HP 420. It was a purple, color screened clunky device. I enjoyed it, but not enough. Then came the Casio Cassiopeia E-100 and E-200 palm pc. I briefly moved back to Palm with the Palm VII. The easy connection for web clippings was cool. Again, I was dissapointed in the meager memory. Compaq took things to another level with it's iPAQ series and their expansion modules. I have always had an affinity towards devices with keyboards so I bought 2 devices, the HP Jornada 680 and the Sony PEG Clie UX-50. To this day, that Sony device is one of my all-time favorites! Unfortunately, I had to move on when the phone devces came out. Since then, I have had the original HTC XDA pocket pc phone, Treo 600, XDAii, I-Mate JAM, HP 6515, Motorola mpx300, Motorola mpx200, I-Mate JasJar, Cingular 8125 and 8525 and now the Apple iPhone. Through it all, the incremental improvements have always left me wanting more. There are few devices on the horizon that may satisfy my lust. Time will tell. Until then, I enjoy using my iPhone, but miss many programs that I used on my Palm and Pocket PC's. Thankfully, I do not have the same criteria for my wife whom I love completely as she is! Will one device finally do it all? I doubt it, but it is fun being on the edge as technology advances.

eBay and my Palm m500

I was just curious to see how much a Palm m500 goes for on eBay. Not that I would ever sell my Palm! Most of the prices ranged from about $40.00 to $55.00 US. Some were much cheaper too. It got me thinking about buying one for my kids. My 4 year old has already shown alot of interest in mine, so maybe it's time he has one of his own (if I can get it cheap on eBay!)

Get some colour happening in your calendar

Colour is an effective means for getting a grasp on a lot of information in one place.  When it comes to your calendar, it can really help you get a handle on your schedule and commitments.  For those people who synchronize with Microsoft Outlook, there is an easy way to add some colour to your life.  This works with Outlook 2003 and 2007, and the built-in Palm Calendar on modern handhelds.  It could also be implemented on other Palm calendars like DateBk6.

First of all, get your Palm and open the calendar application.  In the category picker, choose Edit Categories.  At the same time, open Outlook, select the Calendar, and choose the menus Edit => Label => Edit Labels.  Choose Colours that match on both Outlook and the Handheld, and edit the Labels text to match the category you're using on the handheld.  In this example below, I'd edit the "Phone Call" label to match up with the colour I've chosen on the handheld. Finish choosing colours for all the Palm categories, and edit the corresponding Outlook labels.

Now, here's where the magic really happens.  In Outlook, choose the menus Edit => Automatic Formatting.  Add a new rule, and call it one of your categories.  Choose the same-named label in the picker below, and then click the condition button.  Click on the More Choices tab, then type in the name of your category in the Categories field.  Click OK when you're done entering your rule.  Add rules for each of the categories you wish to colour code.  You can also add rules to look for specific text if you tend to use keywords in your appointments.

Now, your desktop and handheld calendars are just as colourful and co-ordinated!

The Joy of PDA Cookbook

                                                   

A program I use everyday on my T|X is PDA Cookbook.  It not only stores all of my recipes on both my palm and my desktop, it also allows me to make menus, grocery lists and has an amazing filtering system.  I have been using PDA Cookbook for over 5 years and I have amassed a large number of recipes.  It is great to have them with me while grocery shopping.  If my daughter all of a sudden decides she is craving my special chocolate bar cake, I can quickly click over to PDA Cookbook, find the recipe and know exactly what I need to make it for her.  I also like the ability to make a menu. I like to plan ahead for at least a week worth's of menus. When I use PDA Cookbook, I can make the menu and import the shopping list into SplashShopper (one of my other favorite programs). Then I have not only my menu, but also my shopping list planned for the week.

The desktop program is wonderful. It is very easy to type out the recipes. Another great feature is the "Smart Ingredients Paste."  If you find a recipe you like online, you can just copy the ingredients, go over to PDA Cookbook and click "New" for a new recipe and then "Smart Ingredients Paste."  It is intuitive enough to paste the ingredients into the right columns and format it correctly for you. Then you just go back and copy the instructions into the instruction section. It is easy, quick and works great!

When you don't know what to make for dinner, but know you have a chicken in the freezer, you can use PDA Cookbook's filter feature to choose the ingredient or the category. It will then list all the recipes you have which use chicken. I also categorize my recipes by how long they will take and how we cook them. If my husband wants a quick meal to grill, I can filter those categories and give him a list of some great dinners.

Last year I printed out all my recipes from PDA Cookbook so I could have a hard copy of them all.  (In case anyone else in my family wanted to cook while my PDA and I were away from home) The formatting from PDA Cookbook looked wonderful and gave my recipe binder a very clean and professional look.

If you like collecting recipes at all, I recommend PDA Cookbook as a great way to store and access them!   

Mensa Here I Come....

For a long while I was looking for something for my palm similar to my "Dell Pencil Puzzles" magazines.  I had no luck until I stumbled upon "Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzles on the Palm."  Here is a little blurb from the page: "This is the home page of the Palm port of Simon Tatham's portable puzzle collection. The palm port was written by James Harvey; it's not in the main code because of the horrors required to get it building for the Palm (see HACKING.palm in the source archive for details).

For an introduction to the games, and individual instructions, please see Simon's page; this is primarily a download page. Currently supported puzzles include Black Box, Bridges, Cube, Dominosa, Fifteen, Filling, Flip, Galaxies, Guess (a Mastermind clone), Inertia, Map, Mines (a Minesweeper clone), Net, Netslide, Light Up, Loopy, Pattern (or Nonograms), Pegs (peg solitaire), Rect, Samegame, Sixteen, Slant, Solo (or Sudoku), Tents, Twiddle, Unequal, and Untangle. "

I love almost all the games.  Most of them you can play with your stylus (once you realize that a long tap = a right click) but I have not figured out how to play Guess (the Mastermind clone) with my stylus.  Simon's page explains the rules and techniques for each puzzle.  I am amazed how many games this one program has and how it can keep everyone from my 6 year old to my 37 year old self busy and happy. He has custom levels availabe on many (if not all) the games which makes it fun for every skill level.  All the games require some kind of logical thinking and give my brain a fairly good workout.  Definitely the most played game on my palm.

Keeping Song Lyrics in My Pocket

English is not my native language, and so when I listen to songs in English, sometimes I cannot catch the words. If I am curious about a song, normally I will then google for the lyric on the net. Since I occasionally listen to songs on my O2 Xda IIi PDA Phone, I also keep the lyrics there. That way whenever I listen to songs and cannot get the words clearly, I just read the lyric to get it right.

I have yet to find a Pocket PC lyric manager software, so I keep the lyrics in text format. I suppose I can use any outliner software to do it in a more organized way, but a specialized lyric manager will be nice.

GoogleReader on my Treo 700P

[From Nathan] Hi Sammy, I enjoy reading PalmAddicts via GoogleReader on my Treo 700P. I also use GoogleReader on my desktop so I don't have to keep seperate lists of what I'm reading. I just spent 2 hours in a surgery waiting room and I passed the time by catching up on my blog reading. When I get back to my office and read from there I won't be rereading anything I've already read. Very convenient!!!

My wife and BlackJack II

[From William] I just got my wife a new phone the BlackJack II with all the bells and whistles including internet access. It seems really awesome by my standards, I am more of a geek than my wife. So far she is enjoying the phone and learning about all of the features. Using google maps and chat on the phone is my wife’s favorite. Her previous phone was an old flip phone that we both have had for about 5-6 years. We are in Tinley Park Illinois. Keep up the good work!

TX and Bluetooth

[From Eric Richland Center, WI] Hi Sammy! Just the other day a friend and I were working at local bookstore and he expressed interest in having a PowerPoint slide I was working on. At this particular bookstore the wireless access point required a subscription. No problem. I pulled out my TX and sent the file to him by Bluetooth. Afterwards, we both sat there wondering why we hadn’t thought of that sooner.

I often use my treo as a substitute for a flashdrive

[From Anton (Bratislava, Slovakia)] I often use my treo as a substitute for a flashdrive, because i have it on me all the time. I use an usb charget/sync retractable cable to connect it to my computer at home and at work, and also to ma usb enabled car stereo.

I use CardReader from Mobile stream (www.mobile-stream.com) to transfer my favorite mp3 files and eBook on a 2gb SD card in my Treo.

Anyway, yesterday i encountered an unexpected problem. I reinstalled windows xp on my home computer recently and because of some mysterious reason the CardReader application was not able to connect.

I wanted to start reading a new e-book desperately, so i used the Avvenu sharing service (http://www.palm.com/us/software/avvenu/) and downloaded the needed file from my computer to my Treo with the help of the integrated Blazer browser. The evening was saved. ;-)

Memorization made easy(er)

[From Alan] Good morning, well it is morning here, to all PA's today. How is life at HQ Sammy? As I quickly prepare for seminary I just learned I will be tested on the first 54 questions of the Westminster Shorter Catechism next summer. I decided the best way to learn this is repetition. I now wake up every morning, pull out my TX and repeat these questions and answers out loud. I think by next summer I will be able to ace this test.

How I used my palm last weekend

[From Darcy in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada] Hi Sammy! One of the best things I like about your site is the ideas. This post is about an old idea made new again (at least for me!).

One app for PalmOS that seems to be missing is a decent bus schedule. All those tables can be a mess to figure out: hmm, is it between noon and six right now -- oh wait it's the weekend now and ... -- but there's two coming here soon so ...

Anyway, it's always complicated. Something that knows what time it is and where you are could be a great help. I've seen some apps that are good for, say, subway travel in major cities but so far nothing I can fill in the databases myself and share with other users.

In the meantime, I've got to make do with what I've already got. My local city's bus service has its own dedicated website with all the schedules posted (as scans from their printed map/schedule), but my Palm doesn't have a net connection. So what to do?

Plucker! I used it to mirror their entire website, with the home page set to the schedules. So now I'm one whole click away from any bus's route information! Since everything is a digital scan, it comes to over 9 Meg, but it all fits nicely on my SD card.

Random Throwaway just for today - HTC Advantage

Rossah won the Motorola MOTO Q 9h from Monday so congratulations and so for today I have another throwaway for you from a promo product that we received a little while back and it's a HTC Advantage and this is going to be a random throwaway ending at midnight US PT tonight. It's a little too small for me to use and we have had it for about 3 month's and everyone has played with this in the office but I think everyone is happy using their powerbooks or desktops rather than this cool little device. The handset is unlocked.

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 WEDNESDAY in the subject line. 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.

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. Remember no personal plea's as they will go straight into the trash can and if your user thought has no title then you cannot be enetered. Associate Writers please post directly to the site and drop me an email if your interested by the end of play on Thursday. Email me your mobile thought to - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

This is a random throwaway and ends at midnight US PT tonight so hurry and send me your thoughts [keep them positive]

The Official PalmAddict Podcast 111

[From Tyler Faux] The PalmAddict Podcast 111 (21 April 2008) Show Notes:
-PA iBook Throwaway
-Do we really need 3G by Andy JS
-ATT Pogo Browser
-My TMobile @Home Review

[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.

SplashNotes for Palm OS 1.1

SplashNotes for Palm OS 1.1This seems a great program for helping you organizing meetings etc. "Whether you are taking notes in class or a meeting, planning a project, keeping track of vehicles or health, or just outlining your ideas, SplashNotes is a very powerful assistant. Create outlines of any size and complexity, and turn them into checklists if you wish. Attach notes and drawings for quick reference. Use it on a Windows desktop computer or on your Palm or Treo handheld, and synchronize your notes between the two. The possibilities are endless for how you can employ this application. Get organized with SplashNotes. Key features: A drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to organize your ideas into a cohesive plan Automatic line numbering, alphabetizing and bullet points Sharing of outlines by email, infrared beaming or WiFi Attachments of sketches and notes The ability to save commonly used outlines as templates, making it easy to begin a new note without starting from scratch Nearly unlimited "Undo" capabilities, making it simple to eliminate bad ideas and simple mistakes from an outline Support for importing and exporting to Microsoft Word."

Rough Guides Map San Francisco (Palm OS) V2.05

Rough Guides Map San Francisco (Palm OS) V2.05This seems a very handy tool for your trips around San Francisco. "Rough Guides Map San Francisco... Discover and explore San Francisco using full colour interactive linked maps, in this simple to use PDA version of The Rough Guides San Francisco Map. Find all the top tourist spots and key attractions with ease, information on the city and its sights can be quickly displayed with links to photographs and map locations. All in a superb easy to use interface. If you're travelling to San Francisco, be sure you don't leave home without this guide on your PDA. The Rough Guide city maps includes: Fully scrollable and interactive maps of the city. Tap any location to display information and available links. Intuitive navigation bar meaning you are never more than one click away from the information you require. Map links allow you to directly link to other maps, photographs, or detailed views. Categorised Find feature allowing you to quickly find any street, place of interest or station. Categorised Information feature providing a wealth of information on the city, places of interest, etc. 1-Click Home feature, keeping the Home map always at hand."

Netter's Anatomy Flash Cards 1.2

Netter's Anatomy Flash Cards 1.2This seems a very useful and handy tool."Netter's Anatomy Flash Cards 1.2 for PDA is the first product of its kind and contains over 350 high resolution anatomy images, covering all body areas. This is a wonderful tool for both the experienced healthcare provider and student alike. Experienced practitioners will find this to be a useful reference and a great instrument for showing patient's anatomical representations during the patient - clinician interaction. Students have found this to be a invaluable tool for learning and reference. We have added a Quiz section making anatomy study, review, and test-taking even easier. Using the same anatomy illustrations found in Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy, this program contains cards that include bones and joints, muscles, nerves, vessels, and viscera. Each card has a full color Netter illustration, plus concise text which details the areas of origin, insertion, action, innervation, and anatomical relevance."

Phone Technician 4.04 beta

[From Rob at HobbyistSoftware] Hi Folks, Phone Technician 4.04 is now up in Beta. It's a step closer to getting Magic Tones to work properly for everyone. Magic Tones will let you have per-contact ringtones without needing to have an application hold up the call while it tries to figure out what ringtone to play...

21/Apr/08 added ability to enable/disable Phone Tech
21/Apr/08 added new method for Phone Tech to manage Magic ringtones
21/Apr/08 refactoring of preference handling
23/Apr/08 beep when call ends will also vibrate if ringer switch is off.
23/Apr/08 switch to new display format for main page
23/Apr/08 (magic tones) updated logic to handle situations where non-standard tones libraries are installed

OtterBox Revamps Website: Smart, Simple, Creative

[From Kristin Golliher] Embark on the latest OtterBox experience with a completely redesigned website. Easily navigate to find the latest in protective cases for technology and valuables through an interactive, creative interface at www.otterbox.com.

Combining customer feedback and expertise from a new team of website development and optimization specialists, the revamped OtterBox site ensures even first time shoppers have the optimal online experience. Product pages include clickable drawers to showcase product photos, videos, reviews, PDFs, specs and related accessories so visitors understand the products to find the perfect solution for their needs.

Click Here to read more...

Use your iPhone to check in at the American Airlines desk

Use your iPhone to check in at the American Airlines desk, great story which Hans dropped me a quick note about and you can read in full via the TUAW website. Another great way to use our mobile devices.

Treonauts 20% discount off Palm software

Here is a special offer for you to take advantage of Palm software, Andrew at Treonauts os offering you the opportunity to get 20% discount off your Palm software purchases, just use the promotional code BESTSELLERS to retrieve your discount at the Treonauts software store. More details after the jump.

TealLockTM for PalmOS

[From Eric Mann] Another one from Eric this afternoon and it's TealLockTM for PalmOS, the new beta adds automatic lockout of hardware buttons when 'wrong password' dialog is open. TealLock after the jump.

"Secure and protect your handheld with TealLock, the automatic locking program with data encryption and SD card support. Completely redesigned for version 6, TealLock has unmatched features and customization options for personal or corporate use. TealLock uses technology so powerful it was adopted by Palm as standard equipment on Tungsten C and Tungsten T2 handhelds. Security features include serial and infrared lockout, 128-bit data encryption for both memory and external SD/MS/CF cards, and optional data self-destruct modes to deter brute force attacks. New features in version 6 include protected applications, alarm blocking, activation via SMS text message, screen shortcuts, button shortcuts, persistant card encryption, password permissions, emergency calling, self destruction of card based data, jpeg import capability and an all new streamlined interface. Numerous configuration and activation options include timed activation, custom locking screen, graffiti shortcuts, hardware button passkey entry, masked passwords, on-screen keypads, lock screen images, animated backgrounds, and both quick and guest passwords. TealLock is PalmOS 5 compatible, and is an ideal part of a health care organization's HIPAA compliance program."

TealMovie 4.12 has recently been released

[From Eric Mann] TealMovie 4.12 has recently been released. "Play and convert high-quality video and synchronized sound with the TealMovie multimedia system. TealMovie includes a handheld audio/movie player and a Windows AVI/MPEG/Quicktime converter program. Offering features previously unavailable, TealMovie supports smooth playback up to 60 frames per second, high-quality full screen TrueColor or grayscale imagery, high resolution support, WAV file playback, and synchronized sound playback capability. TealMovie also fully supports external VFS-compatible expansion devices, including Memory Stick, compact flash, MemPlug SmartMedia and SD and MMC flash cards. An included Windows converter program easily creates compact TealMovie-format files from standard AVI, MPEG, Quicktime, and WAV files. In addition to providing entertainment, TealMovie greatly extends the usefulness of Palm handhelds for sales, marketing, training, service, and maintenance operations for a wide range of industries. Sound playback is available on all Palm handheld models above a Palm III. TealMovie files can be easily created from using the TealMovie Encoder, which runs under Windows. The TealMovie Encoder supports AVI, MPEG, Quicktime, and WAV files, and supports automatic scaling, cropping, sound compression, and filtering. PalmOS 5 compatible." TealPoint after the jump.

Brighthand did a good overview of Windows Mobile 6.1 which I enjoyed reading

Brighthand did a good overview of Windows Mobile 6.1 which I enjoyed reading and if you want the deets then take a read. "The whole interface is done out in a kind of transparent glass look, with animated sliding transitions, and a clear background that doesn't interfere with your ability to see the desktop image. The only thing that I've noticed it's lacking is an option to change the color of the text for the Home screen: if you pick a background image that's too light, the white text can be lost. The speed of the new UI tends to drag a little bit on slower smartphones. My 3125, which is nominally clocked at 180 MHz, fared the worst, and while the 216 MHz BlackJack did better, it too tended to bog down if there was too much going on in the background. Using OmapClock to speed the devices up to 252 MHz made all the difference in the world: even with 4-5 applications open in the background, the tiles flipped and slid smoothly and easily. In actuality, I'm kind of impressed with the speed and responsiveness of such a visually appealing UI on relatively modest hardware." Read in full via Brighthand.

May at PalmDiscovery has done a review of Proporta’s Standard Capacity Battery

May at PalmDiscovery has done a review of Proporta’s Standard Capacity Battery. "Anyone who has ever owned a mobile or portable electronic device will tell you that having an extra spare battery is very handy and in many times, a lifesaver. That is especially true if you are a heavy user and rely on that electronic device for work or to stay connected to the rest of the world in the case of our Treo smartphones. A dead Treo battery may mean a lost contract or worse, a job. So getting a spare Treo battery is something that most people should consider." Good advice from May and you can read the full editorial at PD.com

Kinoma Player and Pocket Tunes are my favourite multimedia players

My favourite multi media players are both Kinoma Player because it allows me to play my You Tube video's using my specially adapted Enfora Wifi Sled which is working great by the way and Pocket Tunes is my favourite mp3 player as it allows me to listen to my fantastic tunes without any problems and sample my DJ mixes from my Centro.

mOcean works great with the Centro

[From Eric Mann] Eric has let me know that the excellent mOcean works very well with the Palm Centro and is an excellent program. "mOcean is a truly portable multimedia player that you can use in many different ways guaranteeing maximum flexibility and entertainment." Personally, it's good to see so many Palm multimedia programs available.

Phonefavs

Remember Palminfocenter has that Phonefavs thang which is pretty cool displayed on your Centro or your Treo and even gives your favourite site a mobile friendly feel. Try it and even gives a mobile feel to the PA site. Make the jump to http://m.phonefavs.com/

An exciting Windows Mobile app is on the horizon

It seems like iPhone is taking all the spotlights for mobile phone news & discussion lately, but I just got a new beta testing application for Windows Mobile from “you-know-who” mobile software developer (a courtesy from Sammy). Which I’m not allowed yet to disclose both of them at the moment, so I hope for you who own Windows Mobile devices to get ready for an exciting news about it around mid-May next month (hint! hint!). Where hopefully I’ll be able to deliver a review for the app I’m currently much fond of.

In the mean time, you can try out a new useful Windows Mobile app called ‘ceSnipURL’. It’s a tiny free app for WinMob platform, that basically shorten any URL that you typed into it. Which can prove to be very helpful whenever you need to send a website address link in an email or text message, just write it down at ceSnipURL app, hit Enter and voila; you’ll get a snipped URL to copy & paste it to wherever you wanted it to.

Works well with Treo 750, I’ve tried it. And also works very well for your money pocket, as you’ll be shortening the text messages that use snipped long URLs. Sources are from jkOnTheRun here, and also from MyTodayScreen here.

And lastly I almost forgot to say: “Happy Birthday to Proporta!!” on their 12th years of producing great products that help us to protect our beloved gadgets & Treo/Centro smartphones. We all here at PA, are hoping for the best and prosperous years to come for you guys. Congrats!

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Ditch your old ways of using text message & use these tricks to enhance it

Oh no, I’m not telling you to cut-off the QWERTY keyboard of your Treo or Centro smartphones. But you need to check out these useful tricks that can leverage the ways you used to click your smartphone’s keyboard for text messaging, where usually not very suitable for road warriors who are behind the wheels all the time:

1. Get an automatic assistant to remind you & make new schedules

Use your Google Calendar to alert you when the next meeting is about to take place, just click Edit> Event> Details and then Add a Reminder to it. You have to choose SMS and including the time it will send the notification to your mobile phone, and don’t forget to enable the Mobile Setup settings in your Google Calendar.

You also can retrieve every meetings schedule with text message, write “next” and send it to GVENT (48368); where you’ll get back a text message reply containing the time & details of the next event. You even can get a full list of today’s appointments by sending “day”, and “nday” for tomorrow.

Making new appointments is as easy as above, just write it in plain English language like "Lunch with Joe at Panera Bread tomorrow at noon.", and send it to GVENT too. Google will add it to your calendar, along with the time of the appointment mentioned: noon!

2. Speak up to compose your text message

I think you’ve guessed this one; it’s Jott. The web service that lets you speak up the receiver name in its contact list (in your Jott account), and then transcribed everything you say into text message before sending it. But be careful, it’s dangerous to make phone calls while driving!

3. Google-up your directions

Another great free text messaging service from Google, but first you must decide your starting point and destination at Google SMS. After you’ve hit the road, just send “GOOGLE” text to 466453, you’ll get Google Maps in text messages form. You can even get an actual map if you write "map” & your location.

4. Beam up my files, Scotty!

Forgetting something is a natural brain disease, just joking I didn’t mean to scare you. But you do know how it feels when you forgot to bring important files to a remote client in a place where no internet rental cafés can be found, then this ‘Beam it up Scotty’ (BiuS) web service will save your day.

Instead of emailing the needed files to your own email address, just upload them to BiuS. After entering you mobile phone number, you’ll get a text message containing a link to download the file. Best of all, BiuS can automatically compress any video & audio files that are uploaded by you, so they’ll be optimized for mobile phone playback usage.

There are many other tricks mentioned by Rick Broida (The Cheapskate) at his PC World piece here, he found 10 useful tricks. Which among them I’ve picked the ones that are using the most of text messaging feature, where IMHO is the cheapest way than using the more expensive data connection. I hope you’ll agree, enjoy & happy text messaging!

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Easy widgets for your iPhone

Another useful tool for iPhone has been created by WidgetBox, it’s a directory widgets that can be installed on the home screen as mini “widgetized” web apps on your iPhone.The WidgetBox looks amazingly gorgeous; its user interface blends in with the iPhone’s directory screen.

WidgetBox main use is to lessen the time load you get on iPhone’s EDGE connection, when loading such huge & full web page. Josh Lowensohn (Webware) has given an example where he managed to open three times faster of BART’s QuickPlanner tool, than from loading the entire BART home page itself.

Aside from easy to use for end-users, WidgetBox also has a widget-building wizard to help users who have minimum knowledge of web experience at all. If you’re interested, pin-point your Safari to this address to get it for your iphone or iPod Touch.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Rate your pictures with FaceStat

I have a good laugh when I read the news of this new tool to rate pictures of you, called FaceStat. It’s the same idea as the Hot or Not web service, which lets you upload your pictures from your computer or Facebook photo albums; and let the mass people in the internet to rate pictures you uploaded with any categories.

The categories can be like basics such as cool, handsome, pretty, gorgeous, cute, etc. Or something more funny like doofus, intoxicated, drunk, public enemy, etc. It maybe fun for awhile, but it won’t be anymore when you keep getting bad categories instead of good ones. ;-p

Now you can check out other people unique faces, along with the attached strange categories... Just upload your pictures here, and read more of this web service at Josh Lowensohn (Webware) blog here.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Use Twitter to track your packages

Hey, now this is actually a very good idea. It’s very simple and uses the web service that you always use every day; it’s called Trackthis. For you who want to know what’s happening with your packages you’ve sent, just tell the web service the tracking numbers from your regular specialized delivery companies (FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.). After that you'll get the updates on whatever is happening on your package through Twitter.

I bet many of delivery wokers, who have smartphones at their arsenal belt, can use such easy to use web service like this. Thanks to Rafe Needleman (Webware) for the heads up.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Live Mesh looks very promising

Still in the craze-ness of Web 2.0 Expo, Microsoft has introduced their premature Live Mesh web service. It’s an ambitious move by Microsoft to fight back Google dominance in web service market, and also to compete as well with Adobe. Live Mesh uses Microsoft’s SilverLight engine and apps, giving it the edge it needs to stay up-to-date with nowadays web service offerings: widget.

You’ll find widgets inside the Live Desktop, which can be use as quick access to settings & tools for building up your mesh networks. But this is not Live Mesh main attraction, its most notable feature is to share directories & along the way sync with your PC / laptop. This means it’ll become an on-line backup when you’ve uploaded important files into Live Mesh account, or simply stream media files from it.

Is that all? Well, as to live up to its name “mesh”; you’ll also able to share the uploaded files with other people that you’ve given access. No further info whether others should have Live Mesh account first to access yours or not. It would be great though, if Microsoft able to implement their Windows based security into Live Mesh. Like you can give a certain person who accessed you files to just enable to read them, but not able to modify or even delete them. This would become a huge network, where the whole people in the world as the clients.

Another useful feature from Live Mesh is that Microsoft has integrated Windows’ built-in Remote Desktop function to it, so you can access your computer from remote areas or to access other people’s computers (who have give you the permission to do so). So you may even access your computer at home with your Treo/Centro while on the go, Microsoft's definetely going to add Windows Mobile as one of the supported platforms in the future.

In the spirit of “open-platform”, and to show the world that Microsoft can be better than Google; Live Mesh reportedly will be free of charge web service offering. Plus you’ll get 5GB web-based storage account of Live Mesh. But Microsoft still hasn’t added Mac support (and iPhone too!) to Live Mesh, hmmm…. I wonder why?

It all sounds interesting, and I can see you’ve drooled already to jump start using Live Mesh. Alas, this web service from Microsoft is not yet ready for public. But according to Rafe Needleman (Webware), Live Mesh is still buggy & it dragged his computer performance pretty badly. Read on his full review here, and while you’re here at PA you can watch the video demo below.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Random Throwaway just for today - HTC Advantage

Rossah won the Motorola MOTO Q 9h from Monday so congratulations and so for today I have another throwaway for you from a promo product that we received a little while back and it's a HTC Advantage and this is going to be a random throwaway ending at midnight US PT tonight. It's a little too small for me to use and we have had it for about 3 month's and everyone has played with this in the office but I think everyone is happy using their powerbooks or desktops rather than this cool little device. The handset is unlocked.

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 WEDNESDAY in the subject line. 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.

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. Remember no personal plea's as they will go straight into the trash can and if your user thought has no title then you cannot be enetered. Associate Writers please post directly to the site and drop me an email if your interested by the end of play on Thursday. Email me your mobile thought to - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

This is a random throwaway and ends at midnight US PT tonight so hurry and send me your thoughts [keep them positive]

The Official PalmAddict Podcast 111

[From Tyler Faux] The PalmAddict Podcast 111 (21 April 2008) Show Notes:
-PA iBook Throwaway
-Do we really need 3G by Andy JS
-ATT Pogo Browser
-My TMobile @Home Review

[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.

eReader discount for the week ahead

[From eReader] Here is some lovely eReader discount for you to start your Wednesday with. "Punch in this week's Promo Code ERG422 to receive a 15% discount off any eBook that you purchase at eReader.com. Offer good through April 28, 2008 on all eBooks. This discount cannot be used with any other special offers." eReader after the jump.