PalmAddicts

I go to Starbucks for you - ATT/iPhone wireless

I am one of the few people in the US who doesn't like Starbucks coffee.  It always has sort of burnt taste to me. In any event, I read about free AT&T WiFi being available to iPhone users so I thought I would check it your for you and I braved some Starbucks coffee on your behalf. (In the future I'll have tea.)

Yes, it's true.  I can get free WiFi at my local Starbucks.  My shop is in a pretty rural area so maybe it wasn't working because of this as the WiFi didn't automatically recognize my iPhone.  I had to tap on the AT&T icon to make a connection.  TMobile is still working at all the stores and you can choose which one you want.  When I did enter my phone number I connected to AT&T WiFi for free, but the connection took a long time to get established.  As I said, I'm out of the way, but it certainly seems that the service is working here, albeit slowly.  I would guess you would have no problems in a major city - and that is what I seem to be reading on my RSS feeds. Neat! I would never pay for WiFi so now I can go to Starbucks and have some tea, not coffee, and check my email.

Iron Man unleashed!

For you who loves sci-fi movies and who loves to indulge yourself into the world of futuristic gadgets & technologies; I'm pretty sure you haven't missed a single news on Iron Man the movie. And this most buzzed about movie, ever since it's still in the making, Iron Man the movie has been released to the world at May 1st, on 8PM.

Most today blockbuster movies are relying heavily on computerized shots (CGI), and I've noticed that we; the audience, have become more and more hard to be impressed anymore with simple plain CGI. And so that's why those guy at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), who worked on Iron Man for the visual effects, have put a lot of effort to blend in the CGI shots with the real movie shots. Their main purpose is to make us can't tell the difference of the lines between the real Iron Man's suit, with the computerized one. So far whenever I see the trailers and teaser clips, they've done it very well indeed.

If you haven't seen the movie, or even if you have (you lucky you!), it's always interesting to watch the behind scenes of the movie. Aside from the previous Iron Man's Mark III suit assembly video clip from Gizmodo, this time C|Net News have brought us a video about challenges of crafting the Iron Man's suit. Enjoy!

Don't forget to tell us here at PA, if there's any Palm smartphones seen in the movie. ;-)

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Lightwav 2 day Sale

[From danny wong] LightWav for the Treo® 600/650/680/700P/755/Centro is packed with cool features such as MP3/WAV/OGG ringtones, full screen JPG callerID, GIF and Animated GIF and Live! video callerID, callerID blocking, Announce call with many different languages, ringtone volume boosting, do not disturb, call notes, Missed Call, powerful Simple Profile and many more features. For the next two days you can purchase LightWav for only $14.95 from our website

http://www.toysoft.ca/lightwav.html

Another set of games go freeware!!

Following Pdamill's great free games for palm Os (and other devices too) we found that another developer released freeware games, I'm talking about Ellam's Software who today released 16 games... wow with included the super fun game Air Hockey (i love it).

I good reciving great software for free, but you can donate some money if you like it, remember that.

The past weeks had been amazing 'cause we get SkinUI (wich it's awesome) and PDAmill's library (love Snails) and now this,  i just hope this is not because the PalmOS is dying and the developers can't see profit from it, i'm really looking forward for the next palm OS... please... some news about it could be nice!!

see you soon!!

The real reason why White House email system crash

Have you been following the strange and yet funny dramas on how White House lost their email archives? If you never heard this before, then it’s understandable. Because this kind of news are just too silly to make it into the headline for the mainstream press, and it’s not like we ever use White House email service right? But for gadgets geeks & technology addicts, especially IT admins & those who take care of the email system; you should hear these out.

As I’ve been digging deeper for more information from the past, it seemed Exchange Server 2007 was once offering viruses bundled with its email system solution! I gasp with breaths of awe, maybe those viruses meant to be a surprise presents for hackers who got into your Exchange Server or just a bonus from Microsoft; either way it’s definitely what is written on the promotional banner (on picture - words in red rectangular). Could be this is the hidden culprit that eats away those missing emails from White House?

Actually, I’m just pulling your legs there ;-D I don’t dislike Microsoft or have too much fondness with their products as well, but that promotional banner was real. And according to Mark’s (a.k.a. meyerweb) page, who took the screenshot, Microsoft changed it into “Anti-virus” later. It’s very hilarious, you don’t have to wait for bad people to send viruses to you anymore. Oh sorry, you still want to know the real reason?

It’s because Bush’s administrations have changed the email system, from IBM Lotus (which installed and used by Bill Clinton’s administrations) into Microsoft’s Exchange Server. So technically, it’s impossible to store all of those emails systematically according to the previous categories & settings; there are simply some compatibility issues that needed to be taken care of first before they made the transition. As fast as they promised to fix it, and not even with a federal magistrate judge’s order & two lawsuits; they wouldn’t finish it until the next presidential election. Right now they must do it just like back in the old days at the post office: manual collecting or in the White House lingo called “journaling”.

But really, I’m wondering where those smart IT guys in Bush’s administrations have got their diploma; every IT admins know it’s important to test things out first before make an overhaul changes. And at least they should’ve a backup plan when everything went wrong, which obviously they don’t.

So it all come back down to human resources again, just like Lao Tse’s saying: “No matter how smart & easy you’ve made a device, there will always fools who can’t use it…” (Okay I know. Lao Tse didn’t exactly mentioned “device”, but more like “plan” or something like that ;-p)

Sources are from Ars Technica via ValleyWag, the Exchange Server screenshot is courtesy of Mark (meyerweb).

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Identity 'at risk' on Facebook

If your a Facebook fan user like myself [here is my facebook profile for those of you who wish to jump into my friends list] then the BBC have been talking about a Facebook flaw that you may wish to read up about and could affect your privacy. "The BBC's technology programme Click has exposed a security flaw in the social networking site Facebook which could compromise privacy." The BBC after the jump.

Mobile Coolness

[From J. Williams, Knoxville, TN] While depend on my TX and, increasingly, my iPhone, for calendar, email, and entertainment, the moments that always elicits a “wow” from me are the times, once a month or so, when I use the device to connect to my home PC and send a file to myself or run a native program remotely. This always feels totally cool!! Thanks for the great site!

Par-centro-ty

[From Justin From San Jose, CA] I used my Centro today to text everyone I know about a party I am throwing this weekend. A few people did not know how to get to my house so I asked for their address, launched GoogleMaps, and texted them back directions. Easy as 1-2-3.

Things I did NOT do with my PDA today..!

My saga of the dead TX continues...yes after over 21 hours without power to my TX, when I do plug it in I still get the dreaded reset loop. But, I managed to purchase a used TX from eBaY which MAY be with me tomorrow, fingers crossed.

It's really not until you are without your PDA, whatever your current choice or flavour may be, that you realise how much you rely on it. Here are the things I have NOT been able to do with my PDA today. This morning I was NOT able to check the weather with 4Cast. Lucky for me (being a window cleaner) we have had glorious sunshine all day. I was then NOT able to check my Gmail, which meant I had to boot up my PC which took roughly 74 times longer than using my TX - boo. Then at coffee-break I was NOT able to do a bit of reading with Isilo. For someone that reads as much as I do, that's a biggie. After work I was NOT able to try any of the free games from Ellams Software or PDA Mill, which I had really been looking forward to. I was also hooked on Haxagon Labs (and in the midst of writting a review for it) and am NOT able to play that any more. I also had to book my car in for a service (and could NOT find the garage number) and book a doctors appointment (ditto)....I hate having to go back to notepad and pen and the phonebook...I really miss my TX :-(

The iPhone: Absolutely Awesome to Obsolete

[From Brad Green, Raleigh NC USA] Rumors are flying that Apple and AT&T are breaking up for the next iteration of the iPhone. Some say they may even release two versions of the phone, one unlocked from Apple, and a locked phone from AT&T. I don't have a clue whether any of these rumors are true, but the big one in the bunch is that AT&T is supposedly going to highly subsidize the new iPhones, making them $200 with a 2-year plan. This is a normal price for a smartphone, but not a normal price for an Apple smartphone. Have they saturated the market, have they filled their niche to the point that now they are just, "some other phone" in the AT&T store? With new phones based on Google's Android software coming around the bend, it will not be long until we are seeing another worthy competitor in the smartphone arena. The question is, who will arise victorious, and will the iPhone be left in the dust?

PalmDiscovery Minute

New from PalmDiscovery a minute overview of the world of technology in the PalmDiscovery Minute.

OLEDs, why aren’t they catching on…

[From Brad Green, Chapel Hill, NC USA] Sometimes I wonder when I see a new and exciting piece of technology when its going to go mainstream. Well, one such technology is OLED, and I have to wonder whats up? I am hearing rumors of 30in OLED screens, and have seen Sony make a screen so thin, it has to run around in the shower just to get wet. Why oh why then do we not have OLED screens in our mobile devices? Are they too good for us. They have perfect contrast and use less energy than current screens. Essentially, they are perfect for mobile use, but aside from a few niche items, like the Sony VZ-90 and Creative Zen Micro Color, there are few mobile devices with OLEDs. This seems like a product that Apple would at least embrace for their ipod or iphone, but apparently not. Instead they spring for cheap components to cut costs, while claiming to have top of the line tech. Oh where oh where are you OLED???

PhoneFavs

Another reminder for the ever so excellent PhoneFavs which is a great utility for accessing mobile friendly web pages from your Palm or smartphone device. When you get time, and providing you have an internet connection go and take a look - http://phonefavs.com/

Update for The Missing Sync for Palm OS

[From MarksSpace] The Missing Sync for Palm OS 6.0.3 update provides several enhancements, including better synchronization with Bare Bones Yojimbo 1.5, improved handling of recurring tasks, and enhanced support for custom field synchronization with Entourage. Also, the Call Log application now allows for deletion of individual or selected calls from the call log archive on your Mac. Similarly, the SMS Log application lets you delete all incoming and outgoing text messages for a single contact.

This update is free for all owners of The Missing Sync for Palm OS 6.0. A direct download and release notes for this update are available from our Product Updates web page. The update includes all changes and fixes included in previous updates to The Missing Sync for Palm OS 6.0, including Leopard compatibility.

Qualified owners of older versions of The Missing Sync for Palm OS can upgrade to version 6.0.3 for $24.95. Version 6.0 introduced many new features, including: the ability to encode video for viewing on a Treo smartphone, access to Treo Call Log and SMS Log on the Mac, Notes synchronization, and more. Learn more about The Missing Sync for Palm OS 6.0.3.

Details emerging on the 2nd generation iPhone

[From Hans] Some details are emerging about the 2nd generation iPhone and according to iLounge, "esterday, a Taiwanese newspaper claimed Hon Hai/Foxconn was making an iPhone with a 2.8” screen, which would present certain major interface challenges given the way the current iPhone works, and might well be a “mini” iPhone rather than a full sequel to the current model. Additionally, like you, we’ve heard about another model that is supposedly coming soon, and sounds more like a true next-generation iPhone. Companies overseas have already started working on products for this one, which is basically the same size as the current iPhone, but has slightly different curves, coloration, and materials. " iLounge has all the deets on this which you can read after the jump.

Tmobile says 3G Voice Network good enough...... for now

For all of you faithful Tmobile customers out there, looks like you could be waiting a bit longer. Sources have it that Tmobile IS rolling out 3G in New York City May 1 and other major cities are soon to follow. But get this, Tmo is rolling out VOICE 3G ONLY (for the moment?!?!?!? I really could care less about 3g voice for the moment. I want faster data. Faster, Faster, faster, fast......errrrrrrrrr. Hello EDGE, for now. (via www.tmonews.com)

Echo for the LG Viewty

[From Hannah at Proporta] The new Echo – Mirror Screen Protectors from Proporta have gone down a storm and so next on Proporta’s hit list for the most suitable recipient of such a stylish form of protection is the LG Viewty.

The Echo - Mirror Screen Protector protects your LG Viewty a treat and offers more than meets the eye. When your LG Viewty display is switched on, the Echo acts as a simple (yet brilliant) screen protector, but as soon as your display backlight is switched off, the screen protector acts as a mirror meaning you can look just as beautiful as your Viewty surely will.

P.S. Fancy a stylish leather wallet that holds space for SD/MMC and phone SIM cards? Check out Proporta’s Leather Memory Wallet, perfect for any occasion :o)

The Boy Genius Report reveals the clamshell flip Blackberry

[From Hans] The Boy Genius Report reveals the clamshell flip Blackberry. Whilst some are not happy with the design, I think it looks pretty cool. "Are you ready, people? We’ve been holding this info for a while now trying to confirm it, but no more! We have here pictures of a new BlackBerry device. It is a BlackBerry clamshell — a flip phone and codenamed the Kickstart! Let me repeat this. This isn’t fake, this isn’t a hoax. We’ve known RIM is planning to launch a flip phone within the year, and we now have the pictures to prove it!" BGR after the jump.

Get Kinoma Player free with Mother’s Day flowers

[From Eric Mann] Here is some good news to treat Mother on Mother's Day. "Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 11 — that’s less than two weeks from now! Know what you’re getting her?

If you’re considering flowers, we’re currently offering a special that lets you get Kinoma Player for free with the purchase of flowers from FTD.

How? We’ve partnered with a company called TrialPay that lets you try or buy an offer from some of your favorite brands — including FTD — and in return get Kinoma Player for free." Kimoma for all the deets on this one.

iPhone is a lousy phone?

That title must've stung a little bit to iPhone owners & fans, but that is exactly what Sascha Segan (PC Mag) has said about Apple's shiny mobile phone: "But nobody's talking about what the iPhone needs most of all: It needs to be a better phone. The iPhone's fair-to-poor phone-call quality is a well-known problem among phone reviewers."

Read on his intriguing article at PC Mag, where he also pointed out that "top blogger Erica Sadun doesn't seem to talk on her iPhones much either, though she shies away."

How about you, do you use your iPhone more often for making calls or something else?

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

You can't hide anymore from Windows Live in WinMob 7

Another attempt of monopolization from Microsoft is on the rise again, after an intern memos leaked by Mary Jo Foley (ZDNet); which basically the contents revealed that the author of the memos wanted to better connect the next version of Windows Mobile with the next version of Windows Live. This means the Windows Mobile 7 will integrate Windows Live accounts into its system, much like the type of monopolization that EU has been fighting long time ago with Microsoft about IE in Windows OS.

This is the lines taken from the peculiar 'Windows Live Wave 3' memos: "We have an opportunity to make it much easier for customers to ‘get started’ with Windows Live. Our goal should be to have customers log in, type their Live ID, and then they are automatically ’set up’ with Live. For new machines, we want Windows Live to come with the experience and will consider investments to make this experience easy."

I'd say this is just another Microsoft's struggle to fight GMail dominance, because everybody are using Gmail even with their WinMob mobile phones. Source is via Gizmodo.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Tweet directly from Treo's Today Screen

If you're a Twitter-addict and an avid Twiiter user, you know how annoying it is to update your Twitter account from mobile phones. Usually you must open the Twitter mobile website to do so, but Dale Lane, who's calling himself as an 'IBM code monkey"; has created a light C++ application for Pocket PC (Windows Mobile for touch screen).

Here is Dale's reason on why he made the app: "When posting a tweet, the key is speed. I don’t want to wait to launch an app, I don’t want lots of features. I just want something to take my message and post it."

The app called TwitToday, and will be placed at Windows Mobile's Today Screen. Where from there you can type in and post directly to your Twitter account, and if you click the the TwitToday logo it'll take you to Twitter mobile website.

Just go to Dale Lane's website, or download the TwitToday from this link. Source is via MyToday Screen, thanks to Tariq Bamadhaj for the head up.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

More Free Palm Software

Ellams Software has jumped on the free palm software bandwagon. I haven't tried any of their games or utilities yet myself, but some of them look fun and interesting. Ellams is offering their PalmOS software free of charge, but they do ask for a donation if you like what you get. Perhaps this is the new model for Palm software sales? Thanks, Ellams!

Smartphone contest

I love reading PalmAddicts every day and learning about all the new gadgets that are around. Thanks, Sammy. I just found out about a contest the American Airlines is doing. It's called The American Airlines On The Move Sweepstakes. The grand prize is a trip to Los Angeles for a red carpet event, but I am more interested in the first prize... a Nokia N95 8GB Smartphone! AA will be giving away 61 of the smartphones during the contest with started April 17 and ends June 16. You get 2 chances to enter, one when you supply your name, email etc, and another chance if you give the name of up to 3 friends. You don't find out if you won until July 30th :-(   There is also an instant win sweepstakes you can enter with your mobile phone, you will need an Aadvantage Frequent Flyer Number because you win Frequent Flyer miles. Here is the link, don't forget to read the rules. www.aa.com/promo

Google doesn't know how to make money out of YouTube

I can't actually believe to hear Google CEO Eric Schmidt was saying, that the acquisition of YouTube that worth $1.65 billion can't produce worthy income for the big spender like Google. But hey, if the lines are coming from Google CEo himself; we got to trust that right?

Here's the exact lines as quoted from Greg Sandoval's (C|Net News) blog: "We're working but have not yet in my view gotten a breakthrough around monetization. We're working on that. That's our highest priority this year."

I think it's time for Google to open more YouTube for mobile phone users, not just through with their limited mobile YouTube website version. But a real easy to watch YouTube videos in RSS feeds or mobile web sites...

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Nip/Tuck-Facebook app will rate your face for fun

I have another good laugh this morning when I read this news, it looks like there have been many funny application in Facebook nowadays. This time the application is taken from the tv series Nip/Tuck, which can tell how perfect is your face according to them. ;-p

Josh Lowensohn (Webware) has reviewed the Nip/Tuck app: "Users can pick any photos they've uploaded to Facebook and simply map out points on their face for the app to run its algorithm. The end result is a 1 percent to 100 percent scoring scale, with 100 being absolute perfection. The entire process takes about a minute from start to finish, and when you're done, you can see how you stack up with your friends who have used the app, or the general public."

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

New Yahoo Messenger 9 Beta for Vista

It doesn't matter whether Yahoo right now is in tail-chasing situation with Microsoft, but Yahoo still updates their Messenger into version 9 Beta for Windows Vista. Stephen Shankland (NewsBlog) is reporting there has been tremendous new updates in this new Yahoo Messenger 9 Beta, they are:

• Voice chat, from computer to computers & from phone to phones.
• SMS to mobile phones.
• A Windows Sidebar gadget version.
• Integration with Yahoo address book.
• Integration with Flickr.
• Ability to view videos and photos sent as Web page links in the chat window.
• Customizable skins.
• Tabbed converstaions.

Looks very solid new IM application to me, especially if it can make calls & send SMS to mobile phones. Interested? Get it at Yahoo download page here.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Unlocked iPhones in New York

I was in New York to day and took a picture of this iPhone sign with my iPhone.  If you can't read it it says:  Apple iPhones Unlocked In Stock. (Click on the picture for a bigger image.)

I'm seeing these signs on more and more stores every time I go into the city.  Also, it seems to me that I'm seeing more and more Blackberries and fewer and fewer Treos.  Blackberries seem to be the business phone of choice in New York.

RANDOM THROWAWAY - MacBook Air is now open

I have just published a new throwaway where I will choose a winner at random to win a MacBook Air. It is open to both readers and associate writers and could end at any time.

As always the details are in this post which remains a sticky at the top of the page.

"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 APRIL29 in the subject line and IMPORTANTLY give your mobile thought a title, or it will not be entered. Let me know your town/ country too as that's always interesting to post where people are based. 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. Readers and Associate Writers all welcome to enter and please note I'll choose someone at random and mine and Lindsey's decision for a winner is final."

Regarding the death of the Palm OS.

[From Carolyn Houston, Texas] Regarding the death of the Palm OS. This just adds to my confusion about the tech world in general. After my recent use of a Windows Mobile Smartphone and disappointment of that system it makes you wonder why a company, with the success and innovation that Palm had with it's handhelds, why they would abandon that OS in favor of manufacturing hardware in an already saturated market. I can understand, if they are branching into that hardware market, having phones with the Windows OS too but to completely abandon such an easy to use system for one with so many flaws? Not to mention the hundreds, probably thousands of programs that have been developed to run on the Palm OS. Who's in charge?

BlackBerry and Palm

[From Ian Collins] I use both, to the diehard users of either device this may be a sin. I work in health care and both prove to be of great importance. I use the BlackBerry as a pager and can send messages to fellow clinicians. I also sinc with the healthcare system through enterprise server. I use the Palm for bed side functions. All of my medical programs such as drug references and clinical notes are done with Palm. Palm has a greater diversity of medical software, and the cost of said software is less then that of BlackBerry. I have used Palm to literaly save the life of another soul. Not a lot of people can say that has been done with other PDA devices.

Billable Hours

[From Jim Baldwin Southfield, MI] I recently took on a new job that requires billable hours record keeping. Billable hours is not a new thing for most but is new to how I have done business in the past. I am real pleased to have discovered Advanced Time Reports with a Palm component that apparently has been discontinued but can still be found and downloaded online. The Palm piece makes syncing to the desktop application easy. I am not sure why the Palm component has been discontinued. It certainly has made my transition to billable hour calculations on multiple project a whole lot easier.

Handy Handheld HTML

[From Joe Baughman] As I sat thinking about writing this post, it dawned on me how many different ways I use the Palm to keep my website up to date. I use a combination of the Palm Desktop, Dimex and HTML Calendar to keep a nice formatted calendar up to date for my family. I use DragonEdit to update and change my main page, it has many handy shortcuts for formatting HTML. I then use VSFTP+ to upload it. I use the Desktop version of HanDBase's excellent HTML output to keep various list up to date, such as movies or games I own. It would be nice if the Palm version could export as well! I can use Snappermail to email pictures to my personal site, something I have not done too much of though. I also keep several HTML templates and tips in MemoPad for when I can't quite remember how to do something. One free app I have been keeping an eye on is MassDL, it lets me grab several files from my website automatically to keep my sd card versions up to date. I use MoTwit to update Twitter which I also have on my main page. Finally I use Xiino and Blazer to check out my changes.

DDH Software Announces New Mobile Database Design Contest

[From Kevin Doel] Company offers the chance to turn ideas into commercially viable mobile applications

DDH Software is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its acclaimed HanDBase mobile database application. To mark the occasion, the company announces it is reviving its "HanDBase Applet of the Year" contest, seeking the most innovative uses for its popular HanDBase mobile database program for PDAs and smartphones.

The goal for this year's contest is to demonstrate how easy it is for anyone to develop a mobile solution for either work or personal use. The company will reward the Best Commercial Applet and Best Personal Applet with "HanDBase Runtime" licenses (a US $1,000.00 value) which will enable the winners to turn their entries into commercially-available standalone mobile applications.

DDH Software's website, www.ddhsoftware.com, currently offers the largest online gallery of free custom applets for mobile devices, including Access (Palm) OS, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Symbian handsets. More than 2,000 HanDBase applets are currently available in DDH Software's gallery, including solutions for a variety of industries, professions and personal uses. Examples include diet managers, travel expense logs and report generators, personal finance managers, and dictionaries for medical terms and pharmaceuticals.

No purchase of HanDBase is required to enter the contest. A free, full-featured 30-day trial version is available at the company's Web site. Contestants can use this demo copy to create their entry, and can create as many custom applets as they would like in order to improve their odds of winning the grand prize.

"We're excited about this year's contest, especially with the recent release of HanDBase 4.0 offering more features for creative users to incorporate into their entries," said David Haupert, DDH Software's president and CEO. "Through this contest, we hope to demonstrate how easy it is for anyone to create any kind of mobile information management tool. Which HanDBase applet will rise to the top this year and could potentially become a commercially successful mobile application? We're anxious to find out!"

Submissions are due before June 30th, 2008, and the winners will be announced on July 31st, 2008.

Birdwatching

[From Ivars J. Krafts Circle Pines, Minnesota, USA] One of my many hobbies is birdwatching and nature photography. Since I'm more interested in photography than birds, I carry National Geographic's "Handheld Birds" SD card for my Treo 700p. That way, not only do I have a complete field guide on my Treo, it also includes the songs/calls of all of the birds. Wouldn't go out without it. Great blog, Sammy. Wouldn't use my Treo without it.

GPS Vs. My Wife's Intuition

[From Craig Summerville, SC] I've got a new Moto Q9h. It's really nice to have built-in GPS capabilities, even if it does take a while to get a good lock. I'm discovering, however, that using GPS in conjunction with Live Search can put me at odds with with my wife.

Sunday we were on our way to visit someone we had only been to see a couple times, in a city a couple hours from home. Neither of us was sure how to get there once we got close, so as we approached our destination I turned on my GPS and got directions from Live Search. "Great," you say? The problem is that Live Search was clearly taking us a different way than the way we had previously taken. Once we got off the interstate, I wasn't about to start guessing as to how to get there "the right way." I stuck to the GPS directions, confident that we'd get there despite our unfamiliarity with the route. My wife kept insisting that it had to be the long way around. We got there just fine, but the whole way I heard about the fact that we really should have tried to go the other way, even though we didn't have directions with us. Next time I'll use my wife's built-in directional intuition and see which way gets us there faster.

Treo Wake Up Call

[From Mike Lemieux Paulding, Ohio ] My wife make fun of me because I use my Treo as an alarm clock to wake up in the mornings. She tells people I love my Treo so much I even sleep with it at night. While this is true I think her days of make fun of me are over. Last week she asked me to set an alarm for her to wake up on time. Hmm.. I guess the Treo does make a handy little alarm clock after all.

Ipod Touch Working Away

[From Scott & Celeste Latter] The pleasure of using the interface of the Ipod Touch is apparent. Awesome screen with very good sound, 32 Gb of memory and a decent sync system built into ITunes. I have all but forgotten my T3 and Palm exposure. I had used one for years (Palm III/505/T/T3) and finally I have moved to the Touch. I do regret the loss of use of many programs that I bought licenses for (Datebk, Contacts , Bejewelled), etc.) I now wait for all trusty developers to build Apple versions for us to enjoy. Regardless, I am not looking back.

Treo 680 works for me

[From Jim Perry] I have many colleagues who have gone to iPhones and Blackberries, but I still like my 680. I sync it with my mac using MissingSync, so I always have my calendar and addressbook with me. I probably check email on my 680 5-10 times a day, but only respond on the Treo if it is time sensitive as I prefer to have a full record of incoming and outgoing emails on my laptop. I purchased the Palm GPS solution for this phone, and use it on every business trip – it is one of the biggest reasons I am not tempted by the iPhone. The other is that I value the real keyboard and touch screen, which knocks out the iphone and blackberry.

What's Missing from my Mobile Life?

Quite simply put it's an affordable data plan. Cell phone service is expensive here and the data plans are absurdly expensive (cents per cell phone page!). Otherwise when I'm on the road, I would be using it frequently just to check weather or for an important e-mail.

My Palm Addiction

[From Richard Williams] Hi Sammy, I love this sight! Keep up the good work. I live in Vancouver, Washington and it amazes me how few people I run into who have the same rabid interest in things Palm as I do. I mean, isn't everybody supposed to be addicted like I am? I carry 1500 books in my pocket wherever I go. Not that I can read more than one at a time. It's just that I can.

Where are the Palm Maps?

[From Darcy in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada] Hi Sammy! I've been browsing through the old Palmaddicts archives to see what I've been missing out on, and it's been quite enlightening!

I had been using a hand-me-down Treo 650 for about a month, but can't use it anymore (long story, maybe for a future post). I'd quickly gotten myself hooked on the always-on Internet, with frequent searches for information. The one thing I'm finding I really miss now is instant access to Google Maps.

So I have been looking for a replacement of some kind, and JUST when I thought I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, somebody turned off the switch and I'm back in the dark again. They have discontinued Handmap! The demo is still there for download, but you can no longer register it and you can not download any other maps.

I do have a handheld GPS unit, but I don't always carry it with me, as I'm already carrying two other devices (my phone and my Palm). If there's any winning argument for convergence for me, it's my lack of belt space!

mRSS

[From David from Newbury Park, CA] I just found the latest update to the already insanely great app mRSS and it has become even more insanely great. What was first a nice reliable interface has become a very modern elegant and just plain easy to use interface. It makes reading all of my daily feeds easy and fun and keeps me informed when I am stuck waiting in line at the grocery or post office. I use mRSS with my TREO680 and advise all you news junkies out there to use this fantastic application for palm.

Treo typing at last!

[From Jon] Howdie Sammy- Reporting from Krakow, again. A couple months ago, or more, my Tungsten died, so I bought myself a cheap, used Treo 650. When it came, I discovered that the keyboard was shot. I could use some of the navigation buttons, but none of the letter keys. I installed Graffiti Anywhere, and got used to that--as awkward as it was--and ordered a couple replacement keypads. They finally came, and upon installing one, I discovered that they didn't fix my problem. Apparently, the problem was something deeper than a worn out ribbon. I opened my Treo again, and discovered that the plug on the circuit board had had _all_ of its pins sheared loose from the circuit board! Fearing the worst, I pulled out my soldering iron, fluxed up the board, and started to work. A couple minutes later, it all looked fine through my loupe, so I re-inserted the keypad, put the Treo back together, and fired it up... ... And it works! I have never even touched a Treo before this one, but having the keyboard working makes the Treo an entirely different device to anything I've ever used before (coming from Newtons)! I must say that while the Treo 650 is ancient technology nowadays, I find it an amazing device, even now. I have a hard time believing, now that I have it working, that the iPhone could be any better for typing.... but I guess someday I will need to try that too. ;-)

Thanks again for allowing us to blather on about our technology, and yes, I'm _still_ a PALM addict. :-)

RANDOM THROWAWAY - MacBook Air

So Lindsey will draw the winner of the iBook on Tuesday May 6th [Winner - Kyle Breen - Purcell] when she returns back to work, in the meantime I am giving away my MacBook Air, about 3 month's or so old and in perfect condition, and the reason being is that I am happier with my MacBook Pro and so as opposed to me selling it on ebay it forms a throwaway I will end at any time.

To enter the random throwaway, send me a user thought on how your using your mobile device or a thought that is mobile technology related. Put APRIL29 in the subject line and IMPORTANTLY give it a title, or it will not be entered. Add your town/ country location so we can post your country. As mentioned previously I appreciate the people who add kind words to me in their email, a small percentage just send their thought without even saying hi or how are you, so your thoughts with add on messages are always welcome and certainly entered.

Again, no self website, podcasts or software mentions as they will not be posted or entered and keep thoughts positive. If you don't see your user thought posted DO NOT resend, I receive so many but all eligible thughts are entered. Personal plea's to win are trashed immediately as are user thoughts with no title. Associate Writers post directly to the site and I'll let you know when to inform me of your post count. Email me your mobile thought to - sammymcloughlin@gmail.com

End this Sunday at Midnight US PT, so hurry

Drinking Cooking and Shopping Suite 3.6

Drinking Cooking and Shopping Suite 3.6This seems a great program if you hosts lots of partys and feel you require more information or help".The Drinking, Cooking and Shopping Suite contain 3 applications from Lakshmi Solutions LLC giving the user many options for hosting parties, preparing meals and dinners, and managing their shopping activities. With eQuickRecipes you can store your favorite and most often used cooking recipes. With this application you can easily carry the recipes for your favorite appetizers, dessert, entr��e, etc. everywhere you go from your kitchen at home, to a friends house, to a party or reunion, and all the way to the store."

Expense Tracker 1.0

Expense Tracker 1.0This seems a very handy program to help you plan your budget and track your expenses."Expense Tracker is the most comprehensive Personal Accounts suite available for the Symbian device, with full multi-currency and multi category support. Expense Tracker is useful for various business purposes.Using Expense Tracker, it is possible to know at each and every stage at what price merchandise was purchased or sold in the past and to whom. It is possible to compare prices that are given in different currencies and to choose the preferable option when there are different options open for the purchase of merchandise. Track your spending, and have the complete picture of where your money goes. Support multi categories and currency, it makes a great reference tool for all mobile users."

Shopping List Deluxe 4.0

Shopping List Deluxe 4.0This seems a very useful program to help you organize your shopping."Shopping List will help you to organize, plan and manage the purchase of all the different items that you need to buy. No longer need to use paper notes that can be lost in any store or thrown away by mistake, the application will not only maintain the list of items you need to purchase but will also help you calculate the total amount you are about to expend at the store."