PalmAddicts

Snappermail Updated

My favorite email program for the Palm, Snappermail, was updated today.  Version 2.4.0.01 was released.  It's a free update for version 2.x owners.  A free trial is available for all those that want to take it for a test run. 

The latest update include the following "Major changes":
- Database re-write to reduce corruption issues
- Alarm code re-write to work on latest phones
- Comms stops when a phone call is received
- Navigation of message view now uses left and right to get to URLs, and up and down only scroll

Additional details on the release can be found here: http://www.snappermail.com/support/history.cfm .

Evernote Beta open only for today so you need to be quick

[From Hans] OK guys your going to need tobe quick on this one and thanks to Hans for sending me the link to this. "The new Evernote closed beta is about two months old and we’ve just passed an important milestone: our first one million notes! During this time, we’ve made lots of improvements to the service and we’ll be announcing a few more big things in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned. To celebrate (and to do some stress testing on our registration servers), we’re giving away instant beta accounts to everyone who clicks on this secret url " Evernote after the jump and be quick.

Could Palm revive the Foleo as another Eee rival?

[From Stephen Shorting] Read SlashGear's editorial, Could Palm revive the Foleo as another Eee rival? As always the rumor mill is certainly in motion and the community are certainly speculating. "Intended as a companion device for Palm smartphones, the Foleo project was cancelled in September last year after serious and ongoing doubts that there was a market for a web and messaging-centric ultraportable. Critics pointed at its inability to run mainstream apps and its relatively high price ($599), and Palm decided to take their money and invest it in their next-gen mobile OS instead." SlashGear for the full read and thanks to our writer Stephen for sending me the link via his 750.

Sony mylo Personal Communicator COM-2 Review

I've always kind of been interested in the Sony mylo, I think it has quite a cool form factor and Antoine at Brighthand has given it a review which you can read here after the jump.

My iBook Throwaway ends this forthcoming Monday at Midnight US PT so you need to hurry to get your thoughts into me

Heads up I am going to end the iBook Giveaway, this Monday at midnight US PT so you only have a couple of days to get your last entries in to me and as always the guidelines are in this sticky post so hurry my PA friends and open to writers and readers.

mRSS from MotionApps

I personally use QuickNews on my Centro but there is another good RSS reader from the guys at MotionApps and it's called mRSS. "mRSS has a new look and an advanced user interface - it brings you the experience of immediacy and connection to your device. It will respond to your hand gestures thus making it all more intuitive and time saving. With mRSS you can download and read the latest news and content from numerous sources of your choice from around the world - right on your smartphone and with a single click. Because, who has enough patience and time to search and manually type in all favorite links for RSS feeds on a smartphone? Or, wouldn't it be convenient to get them to your device with one click, while surfing the net on your desktop computer? mRSS makes it possible. Sports, weather, politics, business, science, health, technology... the latest world headlines were never as easy to access on your smartphone as they are now with mRSS! All you have to do is surf the net and find interesting stuff. And click. Leave the rest to mRSS." mRSS website for the deets and to get the download.

So Version: 0.60 of Weather Beta has just been released and as always this program keeps on getting better

[From Eric Mann] So Version: 0.60 of Weather Beta has just been released and as always this program keeps on getting better. "Make your own weather station at Palm now! Current condition for the entire world (and for specific regions) updated every 15 minutes. Before making travel plans for a hotel or flight it can be useful to check the current conditions for where you want to go. Auto update mode helps to keep the weather data timely. "Weather-guard" will improve Palm's standard KeyGuard and get access to the current weather condition in easy way. " Make the jump.

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

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

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

Too Many Apps

In the past week or so, I've found myself asking the question, "do I have too many apps?" I think it's safe to say that I am a Palm Power User. The number of 3rd party apps that are installed on my Centro is pretty huge. But what really concerns me are the number of 3rd party apps I have that are running in the background. Off the top of my head, I know that I have Snappermail checking mail hourly, Versamail syncing my calendar every two hours, Butler doing a million things all the time, Reset Doctor watching my back, and PowerHero closing my idle network connection. CutPaste5 augments the tiny Palm clipboard. BackupMan does a backup after every hotsync and once each night. Every morning, Agendus Pro grabs some weather data to stick in my calendar. And I'm sure I've forgotten something.
In the past week, I've seen articles about SkinUI going freeware and the terrific-looking Weather Beta. I love all this eye candy, but I've thus far resisted them. Do I already have too many apps running all the time? Would adding even more bells and whistles to my Centro leave me in an unstable mess? Would my battery get sucked dry with all those extra auto-updates? Will I be fighting through them for the right to use my Centro when I want to, rather than waiting for it to finish all its automated tasks?
No seriously. I'm asking. 'Cause all this stuff looks so cool!

SacBee Kindle Review

My local paper, the Sacramento Bee, recently did a review of the Amazon Kindle. It's fairly basic, but might be interesting to some of the ebook fans out there, or those that want to learn a bit about the Amazon Kindle.

US readers, a Centro for a $0.01

[From Hans] Our good Hans just let me know about this little nugget of information especially good if your after getting your hands on a phone for cheap. "Our buddies at Consumerist have discovered that all AT&T phones other than the iPhone (of course) are selling for a single red cent on Amazon today (with a two-year service plan, duh). Looking to grab a Blackberry Curve or Pantech Duo? You're not gonna find them any cheaper than this. " The Gizmodo had the deets if you want to read further but quite a cool little bargain and you can thank Hans for the heads up. And by the way, there is a Centro on AT&T contract for your $0.01 too. Amazon for the direct link.

USB 3-Port Hub + Mini-USB Cable

[From Brando] Hi, USB 3-Port Hub + Mini-USB Cable
http://usb.brando.com.hk/prod_detail.php?prod_id=00486
USB 3-Port Hub + Mini-USB Cable allows you to connect 3 different
USB devices and charge or sync data for any electric devices(Mobile Phone, PDA or Digitial Camera) at the same time. In addtion the Hub Cable design, let you more convenient to use.

Features:
- 3-port hub + Data
- USB 2.0
- Plug and play
- Support Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Mac OSX and Linux
- Weight: 60g

Package Content:
- USB 3-Port Hub + Mini-USB Cable

iPhone Alley which is one of my favourite iPhone websites does a good review of the Vaja i-Volution & Top SP Holster

iPhone Alley which is one of my favourite iPhone websites does a good review of the Vaja i-Volution & Top SP Holster. "Have you been holding out for the perfect iPhone case? Ask any iPod aficionado what the best cases are and Vaja will likely be mentioned as one of the best. The same now holds true for iPhone cases, as well. If you're looking for a case with class and quality, a Vaja case is likely the best choice." iPhoneAlley after the jump.

Computerworld asks is Motorola the next Palm?

[From Hans] Computerworld asks is Motorola the next Palm? "In the mid-90s, Palm and Motorola revolutionized mobility. Now, both are staggering. While their circumstances are vastly different, they have one important thing in common: They've failed to produce a consistent stream of innovative new mobile devices over time."

HandTube utility to users of YouTube

[From Silvia Strufaldi] Handcase launched a freeware that users of Palm using YouTube will enjoy. The HandTube is a tool for users or visitors of YouTube. It is possible to organize information from videos, channels, subscribers, favorites, rate and more. It also offers search for title of video. In English. He is to for all models with Palm System and is 102 KB. To download simply visit the website of Handcase www.handycase.com/eng and access the session Freeware.

I used my Treo to lose 40 Lbs in 56 days...

Going on vacation to the French and Italian Riviera is a strong motivator to lose weight, but I couldn't have done it without my Treo and a little program called "Diet & Exercise Assistant".

I am not saying this would work for everybody, because one has to find out what motivates him/her to lose weight, but for me, knowing how well I was doing every day really helped. Every day I used the program to find out how many calories I "lost" compared to how much my body used, and I knew for sure that I would lose weight. It's just simple math, really; if you eat fewer calories than you burn by just sitting all day (I work in an office), than those calories have to come from your "reserves".

Diet & Exercise Assistant has a food database that you can use, and you can customize it to add the foods you eat on a regular basis. Inputting all this becomes really simple and fast once you have entered your favorite foods in there. And you can make sure you get enough protein, fiber, etc. Very Good!

Just tell it what you wanted to know

I’m not trying to tease you with that subject line up there, because with a help from Tellme application in your mobile phone; you now can actually speak up what you wanted to search & your gadget will do it by itself. Sounds like those future gadgets we see in the movies eh?

Simply by holding down an assigned button (or just the Talk green-button) and say “coffee” or “movies”, and then Tellme will search the closest matches according to your GPS position. After you’ve given the available options and choose one, you may share the links with friends or call the location directly if a telephone number is provided. Another further search is also possible, let’s say you wish to watch “Dumb & Dumber” movie because it suits up with your current mood; speak up the movie title and then Tellme will search again for the details such as which theaters & time that still play (*cough* dumb *cough*) movie…

The whole process of voice recognition & searching, are all done at Tellme servers. So as far as your mobile phone has fast data connection, you’ll get faster results too. Here is the list of what Tellme right now can do when you tell it what to do:

• GPS directions
• Traffic information
• Maps • Business
• Weather & more

Visit this address with your mobile web browser, or visit here for video demo before getting one.

But wait up! I forgot to tell you from the start, that BlackBerry is the only mobile phone that Tellme supported right now. Yeah, that’s right. I did meant to tease you after all ;-D Gotcha!

What gives? Maybe you even saw that little line under Tellme logo there, that says: “A Microsoft Subsidiary” right? So why Tellme doesn’t provide Windows Mobile version of it? I’ll let Mike McCue, CEO of Tellme, to explain as to what he said to Rafe Needleman (Webware): “Tellme had the BlackBerry app well into development when Microsoft acquired his company. But why BlackBerry at all? Because it's a better platform for Java, which the app is built on, than is Windows Mobile.” If you don’t believe so, just visit their About web page which says Tellme has joined Microsoft Business Division.

And as if I haven’t finish teasing with you, the non-BlackBerry mobile phone owners, here’s another one to add to your drooling bucket. McCue is planning to develop a simpler user interface for road warriors behind the wheel, which he called it the “60 mile-per-hour interface”.

Well, looks like another reason why you should warn your mother-in-law not walk on the street without those American-football protective gears you’ve bought for her (yeah, right… like you even gonna warn her). But seriously McCue, you should make Tellme that works with Palm’s smartphones first. Don’t you agree Palm addict-ers?

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

A foxy music player to tune up your web life

Are you an internet junky whose life is only around web browsers, and of course you also love to listen musics to sway away your feet while surfing? Then don’t miss to install this free ad-on for FireFox & Internet Explorer web browsers, called FoxyTunes.

It’ll provide you with a quick and easy panel full of usually found in music players like play, pause, next, hide, search, skins, mini player, and many more. FoxyTunes already supported several players such as iTunes, WinAmp, RealPlayer, XMPlay, Last.fm, etc. But that’s not all, it can automatically inserts the “Now Playing” song into your blog posts & Twitter feed.

For the finale review, allow me to quote Seth Rosenblatt (Download Blog) own line: “FoxyTunes' strengths are in the depth of available features plus the level of customization. Its weaknesses? Only that you'll wish all add-ons were this good”

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Google ads invade our mobile world

There is no safe place anymore for us, mobile users, because Google has decided to bring banner ads to mobile internet world. Not even with the small screens and the slow wireless data transfer of our mobile devices, not to mention the uprising of our mobile phone bills for uploading those additional ads images. Sergey Brin, Google co-founder, has insisted that: “The mobile ads work very well. There's nothing to dissuade me it would be any worse than traditional desktop search."; during last week Google quarterly financial conference call.

As you know, previously companies that advertised in Google were only given AdWords which is just a simply text advertisement. So now Google has been offering to show mobile image ads in different sizes, as you can see at the picture on the left. The web surfers will be acknowledged of these banner ads with a small text line underneath it, to distinguish it from other images.

But not this entire invasion from Google new ads is sound deterring, especially not for companies who wish to take advantage from Google’s pay per-click term on the banner ads. Many other mobile web pages such as Yahoo, AdMob, MSN, etc. have charge the banner ads based on per-view. Where in mobile business industry this price can be considered too steep & discouraging many companies, who are not certain yet on advertising in mobile world. While with Google, those doubtful companies can test their ads with images first.

Obviously we can’t avoid banner ads like what I’ve described above, that’s just how it works for the internet industries in order to survive their business. So, now what I would like to have in my mobile web browser’s feature; is for it to block any unnecessary images (like above banner ads) not to appear in the web pages I wish to view. Don’t you think so too?

Sources are from News Blog & PCW Business Center.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Random Throwaway: A 4GB SD Memory Card

Jon Hunt was the random winner of the lovely little throwaway, the HTC Advantage from yesterday, well done Jon who resides in Australia, I think he is the first winner we have had from Australia. Now it's a quick one for today I have a 4GB SD Memory Card, we always have loads of these kicking about because we all use them, and so if you want it then it's the usual.

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 THURSDAY 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 entered. Associate Writers please post directly to the site and drop me an email if your interested on Friday morning. Email me your mobile thought to - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

I'll choose a winner at random for the 4GB Memory Card at the end of today 12 am US PT.

HeroCraft announces the forthcoming release of an amazing logic game Hexxagon Labs for PDA & Smartphones.

[From Alexander Polukord] HeroCraft announces the forthcoming release of an amazing logic game Hexxagon Labs for PDA & Smartphones.

Hexxagon Labs is a classical puzzle game which will provide not only fascinating entertainment, but will also give much interesting information. The game suggests launching intellectual battles on 17 various arenas. The main goal of each party in three different game modes is to occupy as many cells on the field as possible by repainting opponent's chips and not loosing your own. Rules simplicity turns unlimited profundity of tactical manoeuvres and artful tricks. At that you can play both against a computer and also the two or even three together on the same phone device!

Do you want to make a show of your erudition and strike imagination of your friends and buddies? Hexxagon Labs will help you: after every level you have passed you will learn just another interesting and unexpected fact from a scientific world.

Game features:

- Play with one or two friends
- 17 complicated levels / 3 bonus tutorial levels
- 3 game modes
- Original set of amusing facts from the scientific world
- Stylish music
- Attractive and bright graphics

The detailed information about the game, including screenshots and trailer is available on the HeroCraft PDA site - http://smart.herocraft.com/hexxagon-labs.

Will You Return to Palm?

[From Eric Mann] PocketNow asks will you return to the Palm fold?

Interesting editorial entitled Is Palm Dumping Its Current Stock of Unlocked Treo 750s? over at the TreoCentral

Interesting editorial entitled Is Palm Dumping Its Current Stock of Unlocked Treo 750s? over at the TreoCentral. "And this coming just a day after Dan reported the current ongoing smartphone shortage. One phone that apparently is not in any type of shortage is the aging Treo 750. Buy.com sent out a mass email today advertising unlocked Treo 750s running Windows Mobile 6.0 for only $259.99. What??? No contract, brand new, no strings attached AND free shipping? If this isn't a clear indicator that Palm is readying its inventories for the upcoming Treo 800, I'm not sure what is." Treocentral for the full read.

Tributaries T12 Turns on the Power

Power consumers like myself will know what it is like with all those power plugs they get somewhat untidy but I read over at the Gear Diary this interesting solution which may come in handy it's called the T12 from the guys at Tributaries. This is what GearDiary says about it. "Tributaries, makers of high-end audio-visual equipment, have put out their latest power management product, the T12. This power strip offers a massive 12 outlets! Now assuming you aren’t drawing so much power that you are blowing circuit breakers, this power-strip has one extremely helpful feature: 8 of the outlets have the ability to rotate 90 degrees to make managing those goofy AC adapter blocks by allowing to to stagger them or rotate them out of the way of their neighbors." Deatails and where to purchase from the GearDiary website, which is looking mighty neat after it's revamp.

Is Apple unstoppable?

The BBC reports healthy sales for Apple. "Profits at US technology giant Apple have jumped 36% as consumers snap up its MacBook computers and iPods. The firm made a net profit of $1.05bn (£0.53bn) in the quarter ended 29 March, compared with $770m in the same period a year earlier. Apple shipped 2,289,000 Mac computers during the quarter, a rise of 51% from the year before. International sales made up 44% of Apple's revenue, which totalled $7.51bn in the quarter. "We're delighted to report 43% revenue growth and the strongest March quarter revenue and earnings in Apple's history," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO." The BBC news for the full read.

Free42

Someone is going to find Free42 useful I am sure. "Free42 is a complete re-implementation of the HP-42S calculator and the HP-82240 printer. Free42 was written from scratch, without using any HP code. You do not need any ROM images in order to use it, yet it is fully HP-42S compatible" Freewarepalm after the jump.

Mike Rohde

Mike Rohde who has designed PalmAddict over the years has a couple of good editorials written up one he talks about his Moleskin which I enjoy his drawings very much and the second editorial talks about a new job venture which we wish him of course all the best. Here is an extract of what he has been saying about his moleskin "The hacked Moleskine book photo, with it's myriad hover notes is the most popular image of my Flickr collection, currently at 53,484 views, with and 344 people calling it a favorite. The post on my blog is regularly the highest hit page of my site, which after nearly 2 years amazes me. It would seem logical that creating a custom planner to suit your own needs is striking a chord with people on the net." Make the jump to Rohdesign

Open vs. Gated Software Development latest editorial at 1src

Open vs. Gated Software Development is a new editorial from Alan Grassia of 1src this morning. "Palm and Apple have different views on third-party application developers; which approach is best for consumers?" 1src after the jump.

iPhone SDK Beta 4 Now Available, Comes with OpenGL ES 3D Graphics Support

[From Hans] Thanks to Hans for the heads up. "The latest iPhone SDK is now available, and unlike last time, it actually comes with an awesome new feature: OpenGL ES support! Now the iPhone simulator can render OpenGL ES that "mirror behavior on the iPhone and iPod Touch." " The Gizmodo has the deets on this one.

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.

Look for a beta update to TAKEphONE

[From Eric Mann] Look for a beta update to TAKEphONE with the following changes: Clock: fix for “Show clock” option display. Clock: added a built-in clock (on hi-res devices). ”Remember last search”: changed default to false (so you can see the clock on launch). ”Remember last search”: if configured to 'forget last search' (clear search when starting TAKEphONE) - pressing SPACE restores the last search. ”Remember last search”: if configured to 'forget last search' (clear search when starting TAKEphONE) – do not 'forget' numbers.

Clickris for PalmOS

[From Eric Mann] Eric has let me know about a great looking game called Clickris for PalmOS. "The goal of Clickris is to earn as many points as you can by deleting groups of same tiles. You can delete tiles by clicking on group of identical pictures. If you click on such group, they will vanish and all tiles that placed higher will move down to pack puzzle. Game is finished when any tile reach the top of game field. For any vanished groups you earn points. You earn more points for bigger group. You eran more bonus points for more vanished tiles."

Palm + Celio Redfly = Mystery Device?

[From Mike Cane] Mike Cane has let me know that he has posted some thoughts on Palm's mystery device. "peculation in various quarters is that this is Foleo II. I don’t think so. For Palm to even have that in alpha test form (never mind the beta this is announced to be), they would have to be waaaaay ahead of schedule with their code-named Nova Linux-based Palm OS." Read in full via Mike Cane's Blog

Sena Tan Leather Skin Case, No Belt Clip

Sena Tan Leather Skin Case, No Belt Clip on offer $18.95 Retail Price: $39.95. "Sena is known for manufacturing luxurious cases from the finest leathers in the world. The company has a deep appreciation for the Treo smartphone, and designs their cases to complement your lifestyle by adding style and protection without sacrificing funtionality. Sena cases are perfectly stitched. The borders line up flush with the screen and keyboard areas and do not interfere whatsoever with tapping, typing, snapping and talking. With Sena, cutouts for things like power cords and earphone plugs always line up perfectly."

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."