PalmAddicts

Pocket Civ v13 Released

The excellent Pocket Civ has been updated to version 13, fixing two bugs that caused crashes and adding a few additional features.  This game is a lot of fun if you ever played Empire back in the day.

Introducing Yahoo Go 3.0 Beta available for you to download

[From OrienMark] Sammy Yahoo Go for Windows Mobile can now be downloaded. "Yahoo! Go is today’s essential solution for anyone with a mobile phone. It’s an all-in-one offering that lets you enjoy the best of the Internet on your phone—for free.* Send an email, upload photos, download a map, search for answers, check stock quotes, or get breaking news—all that and much more is available through Yahoo! Go." Point your Windows Mobile browser to - http://mobile.yahoo.com

Try out mobile phones virtually with TryPhone

The idea of providing a mock-up of mobile phone for the customers to try them out virtually through web browser, isn’t new. Many companies tried to offer this virtual try-out service have failed, the main reason is because the lack of customers’ interest since the virtual mobile phones provided are not close to the real ones. And usually, the companies need to work together with mobile wireless carriers and mobile manufacturers, to put their handsets into their service. Otherwise customers will often not satisfied, and immediately leave the web site if they can’t find what are they’re looking for.

But TryPhone, a pedigree new company (as called by Yardena Arar – PC World), is looking fine. And maybe could tackle those issues I’ve mentioned above, from what I’ve tried to browse through their service and offerings. Still there are some things need to be improved, like what Yardena’s review has mentioned, “Right now you can click navigation buttons to reach top-level menus, but if you try to virtually type an SMS message or enter a new contact, a video demo using canned input kicks in.”

Personally, rather than using this virtual try-out service; I prefer to go directly to an AT&T store that has Microsof’s Surface to play with. But, since those AT&T stores are only available in US; that means I’ll just use TryPhone service to play around with the newest handsets that haven’t arrive here yet. Sigh….

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

New Blip social GPS software for Blackberry

I received the following press release today.  Unfortunately I no longer have a Blackberry so I can't check it out, but it certainly looks fascinating:

Calgary, Alberta – March 26th, 2008 – Today, BlackLine GPS Inc. (“BlackLine”), a leading innovator in location-based services, releases Blip™, a free geo-social networking platform for GPS-enabled BlackBerry® smartphones that allows users to share their location amongst friends, family members, and co-workers. Blip adds a new dimension to social networking through location-based awareness which effectively enhances users’ degree of connectedness, life efficiency, and geographic awareness of their social circle.

“Our Blip platform creates a Geo-Society TM that enables users to share their location to the people they know and ‘Share Your Where TM ’,” remarks Patrick Rousseau, President and Co-founder of BlackLine GPS. “We are confident that consumers and businesses are ready to embrace this unique geo-social tool that unites personal and business networks. With Blip, social networking takes on the added dimension of geographic location. Consumers can spontaneously connect with their friends and family members nearby. Businesses are more efficient when they know exactly where their human resources are located. The response from public beta testing was overwhelmingly positive and we are excited to bring this to consumers and businesses worldwide,” adds Mr. Rousseau.

Blip Users select with whom their information will be published ensuring full control and privacy. Blip allows users to track location history, plus view speed and direction when someone in your social circle is on the move. Blip is also compatible with BlackLine’s flagship product, GPS Snitch®, a wireless vehicle security and tracking product. Blip users can interact with GPS Snitch remotely to provide on-demand tracking, arm/disarmthe device, and monitor security alerts. Blip is available now for a free download at www.blacklinegps.com/blip. Users install Blip over-the-air from their Internet browser on their BlackBerry smartphone. From within the Blip application, the user can create an account, activate their BlackBerry smartphone, share their location, and interact with other devices shared to their account. No computer is necessary

Nokia’s Ovi door is opening for T-Mobile

This is kinda old news, as I’ve found it at PCW Business Center article while searching for news on Nokia. I feel compelled to, since lately all of the mobile news I’ve covered are mostly about iPhone…

Nokia and T-Mobile have announced that they will work together to accelerate the development of Internet services on mobile devices. Ovi is Nokia's portal for Internet services, which amongst other things includes music, maps and games. T-Mobile customers will be able to access all of all to Nokia's Ovi services, and Nokia will also customize its devices to provide T-Mobile services.

Mark Newman, chief research officer at market-research company Informa Telecoms and Media, said that this partnership wasn’t surprising at all: “Nokia has already signed Ovi deals with Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange, so it was expected that T-Mobile fell into line. I think Nokia will have an easier time working with T-Mobile, since it has a more open strategy to services, compared to the other operators."

Nokia and T-Mobile will also work on widgets, web-based applications that give access to information, and the mobilization of social networks. Together they plan to enhance T-Mobile's community-oriented MyFaves service, according to a statement.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

As desired, an old school game

As requested in an earlier post (http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmaddicts/2008/05/a-trip-down-mem.html), here is Crazy Office!  I downloaded this awhile ago and every so often head back to it and play it. It is indeed refreshing to play a game so simple to understand and quick to learn yet can still be difficult to master.  There's no saving here or hacks to enter, you just have to click click and click at the exact right time to win.  I had many of these games growing up, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game comes to mind.

As for this game, your job is to help Fat Chuck do his office tasks like answering the phone before the alarm goes off, getting the mail, and drinking coffee... basically what we should be doing right now instead of reading PalmAddict right?  The game is available from http://www.freeware-palm.com/download-crazy-office-v1-0.html.  Enjoy a bit of retro fun today!

Strength by OtterBox: Pink Cases to Support the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade

[From Kristin Golliher] Imagine the amount of strength it would take to overcome breast cancer? For all the lives impacted every year, Otter Products, LLC. partners with the Avon Foundation to offer limited edition pink cases as a show of support for those fighting, the survivors and those who have lost someone to breast cancer. By purchasing an OtterBox for iPhone or iPod nano Defender™ Series Strength case, OtterBox will donate 10% of the purchase price to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade to support access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer, with a focus on the medically underserved. Click here to read more.

Show off your Asus Eee PC with Crystal Clear Protection

[From Hannah at Proporta] The Asus Eee PC has been so popular amongst the masses. It’s sparked a whole new thinking towards UMPCs. Now everybody wants one :o)

Asus has even turned up the funk and made the 4G, 4G Surf and 2G Surf available in Blush pink, Sky blue and Lush green as well as their original Pearl white and Galaxy black.

To show off these fabulous colours, but still stay protected, Proporta recommend their Crystal Case (Asus Eee PC Series). It’s produced from the same material that is used to make protective eyewear no less, a durable and scratch resistant polycarbonate plastic – only the best at Proporta :o)

So, if you were tempted to go for the Asus Eee PC in these cool funky colours, but were concerned about how to protect it, be safe in the knowledge that you can protect your device and keep its good looks on display, courtesy of Proporta.

P.S. Following the recent cyclone in Myanmar (Burma) and the terrible effects of the aftermath, Proporta would like to give you the chance to offer some relief to those who really need it, no matter how small. Simply follow this link to help survivors of the cyclone and other natural disasters rebuild their communities, and their lives.

Ed Colligan - CEOs Who Don't Get Out Often Enough, And Some Who Do

[From Hans] 247 Wall Street has written an editorial about CEO's who need to get out there to their stores and look and visit their stores and that includes Palm's Ed Colligan. "Palm (PALM) CEO Ed Colligan better hit retail outlets which carry his smartphones today if he can catch a ride. 24/7 visits to AT&T mobile stores indicated that the RIM (RIMM) Blackberry and Apple (AAPL) iPhone are selling like mad by no one will touch the Palm products. This company is falling apart at the seams. Colligan may want to move from store to store and pitch the product himself. It's that desperate." Read more in details.

Nvidia sets to “leap ahead” Intel in mobile processor supremacy race

Looks like Nvidia’s CEO: Jen-sun Huang wasn’t just throwing brawl talks at Intel not quite long ago, because Nvidia is on its schedule this year to release the first high-definition capable processor named APX 2500®. With this, Nvidia will take the first lead in mobile processor market that integrates graphics processor as one single die chip. The idea of this integration is sparked by the evolving usage of smartphone, from a mere mobile phone to make & receive calls, into a mobile entertainment device.

Nvidia is not the sole barista in the processor industry, who has been brewing such flavorous multimedia mobile processor in their kitchen, back in February I’ve mentioned here at PA; that Samsung is also planning to release 3D enabled of ARM-based mobile processor. Intel also has joined in the multimedia processor war; by keep on mentioning the future Moorestown platform that combines CPU, graphics and memory controller into only a processor. Intel is taking its time with the next replacement of Menlow® platform, plans to unleash it in 2009/2010.

But what really separates Nvidia’s APX 2500® from Intel’s Moorestown®, are their destined specs and market targets. In short, the APX 2500® is meant for performing high-definition multimedia up to 10 hours of 720p video. Michael Rayfield, NVIDIA’s GM of Mobile Business Unit, demonstrated a thick APX 2500®-based device to Brooke Crothers (Nanotech) by plugging it to a large screen TV via HDMI connector; and it played high-definition movies with the same fluidity and resolution as you get from a big HDTV box or bigger computer.

Brooke describes the APX 2500®-based device as: “The platform that Nvidia is demonstrating goes far beyond the staid, pin-striped Windows Mobile that is used today. Nvidia is showing finger-flick-and-roll screens and accelerometer-based reorienting 720p video.” Now we know where Windows Mobile 7 gets its title “iPhone-killer” is, but Rayfield insinuated that the prototype device will become a thin final product. Is it just me or does it sounds to you like another reference to as thin as iPhone, or he’s aiming for more?

While the Moorestown platform is somewhat Ashok Kumar, an analyst from CRT Capital Group has projected about Jen-sun Huang’s brawl talks on Intel: “But there is another element that Huang seems to overlook--Intel has not, so far, been interested in the high-end 3D-gaming market, other than as a vehicle to sell their own high-end CPUs." The reason why Intel is only injecting a not-so-powerful integrated graphics juice into its Moorestown® platform, is because Intel is more interested to make mobile processor that can support as much as OS platforms out there. Just like Intel’s graphic integrated PC chipsets that only have mediocre graphics power, such as 945GM or the newest one: X3100. But on the other hand, the Moorestown platform will bring in features that APX 2500® doesn’t have, like: SSD controller, WiMax, GPS, etc.

Secondly, the Moorestown platform will target its market on a broader range of devices. From mobile phones, PDA, UMPC, MID (Mobile Internet Device), etc. That means supported OS will range from Linux, Windows, Symbian and maybe even Mac OS. What a contrast to APX 2500®, because until now Nvidia has made it exclusively only for Windows Mobile. It’s understandable that Nvidia keeps on courting with Microsoft, since the most-used OS around the world plays an important role to support its graphical drivers.

Apple doesn’t sit tight in its comfy sofa while watching these multimedia mobile processor wars takes place, you might have heard that Apple made a surprise by acquired PA Semi. PA Semi is the designer of a 64-bit PowerPC-alike processor chip. It’s obvious that Steve Jobs (Apple’s CEO) is up to something in his sleeves again this time, perhaps we’ll be seeing Apple’s new wonder device sooner than we think.

And how about Palm? Where will Palm Nova be standing when it’s out in 2009? Palm needs to lure hardware manufacturers such as Intel & Nvidia, to support their upcoming Linux-based OS, otherwise Palm will be in another difficult position when the war of multimedia mobile processor is in its peak around 2009-2010.

Sources are from:

• Intel endgame is mobile phones (Nanotech)
• Windows Mobile to get pumped up on Nvidia (Nanotech)
• Nvidia-Intel 'grudge match' unwise, analyst warns (C|Net)
• Nvidia APX 2500
• A PowerPC in your iPhone? (iPhone Atlas)

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Another Palm special offer and you can get a free Bluetooth® headset with purchase of select smartphones

[From Palm Store & Eric Mann] An another excellent special offer from the lovely people at the Palm Store, and you get a free Bluetooth® headset with purchase of select smartphones and this of course includes the Centro. "Now through 5/14, when you buy select smartphones without service activation, we’ll also send you a wireless headset—FREE! With the purchase of a Palm® Centro™, Treo™ 750 or 680 smartphone, you’ll receive a Palm® Wireless Headset 3. And if you buy a 700p or 700w|wx smartphone, you’ll get a Mvox Duo Bluetooth Speaker/Headset. Use your complimentary headset while you’re driving, while you’re shopping or any time you need to be hands-free!" Make the jump to the Palm Store.

A couple of good special offers from Palm today including 50% off accessories

[From Palm PR & Eric Mann] A couple of good special offers from Palm today including 50% off accessories, "Our bestsellers on sale now! At savings of up to 50% off, see for yourself why these items are everyday favorites. Choose from wireless keyboards, GPS navigators, Bluetooth® headsets, expansion cards, cases, chargers, and more! This limited-time offer ends 5/14!" PalmStore for more deets.

The small print

Orders must clear authorization for processing by May 14, 2008 11:59 PM (EST) to qualify.
Offer is not applicable on orders placed through Group Sales.
Offer cannot be combined with any other offer.
Shipping charges may apply for the gift with purchase.
This promotional offer may be modified or terminated at any time without notice.

PalmDiscovery gives you the heads up on free audible books for you to download to your Palm

Free audible files for you to download for your Palm device and available from PalmDiscovery, as always a good reference website for experts and novice. Make the jump to PalmDiscovery.

There is a new beta of TealLockTM for PalmOS available for you to download

[From Eric Mann] There is a new beta of TealLockTM for PalmOS available for you to download and fixes protect mode to allow global find with two-button press (prevously required holding down of option button). Fixed protect mode to allow dialing from third party apps that use system dial dialog. Fixed protect mode to allow callback from attention manager "missed call" dialog (untested) TealPoint after the jump.

TealBackupTM for PalmOS Beta is available for you to download

[From Eric Mann] Another one from Mr Mann this hour and it's a new beta of TealBackupTM for PalmOS which is available for you to you to download and adds special case to include open Launcher X files in backup caused by using Launcher X to run TealBackup from card. "Backup your valuable data with TealBackup, the complete back up, copy, and restore system. With exclusive support for both external card and HotSync backups, you have full control over where and how files are saved. Plus, the combo of manual and automated card backups helps keep your critical files safe, even if you're miles away from a computer. Features include backups to SD/MMC/CF cards and Memory Stick, backups though HotSync, manual backups, incremental backups, dual-timer automatic backups, optional encryption, optional compression, multiple backup folders, exclusion lists, inclusion lists, backup logs, and application-locking for NVFS stability. TealBackUp is PalmOS 5 compatible and works with all popular devices including Treo, Tungsten, Zire, Sony, and Kyocera handhelds."

2day 1.51 is available as a beta download for you

[From Eric Mann] 2day 1.51 is available as a beta download for you with the following changes:

Preferences: fix to allow use of BkSp & arrow keys when editing field in “Operation” preferences page.

- Display: added “Manage” dialog to manage skins in “Display” preferences page. Use 2day skins by default, but allow using TAKEphONE skins, too.

- Display: added time display in new meeting/task dialog and in meeting/task details screens.

- Display: various minor fixes.

- Speed-dial: fixed to support long URLs (256).

Treo is my digital cornerstone

What a busy days I had, from the start of the weekend on Monday until today. I’m exhausted to the last strength of my legs, and often found myself sitting around the corner to relax for awhile. Because I’m helping to build my parent’s new house, I had to go back and forth to check on the project field every day; when I got back I still have to do my works too. At the end of the day, I didn’t have any spirits left to finish up even a single blog.

So this afternoon, when I finally have a break with a cup of my favorite coffee on my left hand, and my Treo on the right hand; I begin to contemplate on what I’ve done from Monday till now. Suddenly I realized that during those busy days, I’ve been using Treo all the time. How I never left it, always in my jeans pocket; and I always recharged it whenever I got the chance. And the best thing is, I’ve been utilizing my Treo in the works I’ve done without noticing it.

Like for an instance when I was at the project field, if the workers needed something for the house I took notes with my Treo. And I also took notes of things that needed my attention, like a cracked wall or need to re-paint the walls, so I won’t forget about them tomorrow. When I was explaining things to the workers and they don’t quite understand what I was trying to say, I use PhatPad to draw it for them; and it’s fun to see when other workers tried to take a look how I did it on Treo.

I’ve never use Treo’s camera so much before, but it comes handy too. If some of the works are not done well enough or needed to be re-build; I took a lot of pictures with it. So later I could show them to my parents, and they’ll be completely understood to what I was describing.

When I’m back to work again, Treo helped me get through the rest of the day as usual. Such as using it to read RSS news, receive/send emails, making appointments & most important is playing games to release some stress load. All can be done either at the project field or at my work place, that’s mobile enough for me. And because Treo is also a mobile phone, which means I still get plenty of business calls; even though I’m hoping not to be disturbed while I finally able to reach level 10 of Bejeweled 2! ;-p

And that’s what most important to me for having a Treo by my side, it can become my solitary place to go to whenever and wherever I need it. Sure, I admit that Treo smartphone is heavier than any other thinner competitors out there. But with the “heavy” Treo always in my jeans pocket, it keeps remind me that I have the foundation of my mobile digital life right next to me. Amen, brother & sister.

[blogged with my Treo 750v]

Thursday Thoughts

So welcome to your Thursday afternoon, I have had a busy afternoon interviewing people today, one of the ways I use my Centro is that I have a number of questions that I ask the candidates and I store these in a memo file and can access these when I need to. Just another way that I use my Centro.

I also check the weather on my Centro especially today as the weather has been great but I wanted to know what the weather is planned for the weekend and use TreoWeather which is an excellent weather program and only retails for $9.95 and thankfully I am planning a weekend away so I needed to know what the weather is going to be like.

Anyway I hope that your having a great Thursday and please please please remember that I am ending the MacBook Air throwaway very soon so as always here are the guidelines and HURRY to get your user thoughts into me please.

IPhone: not June... till November in Mexico

Few days ago I publish a post saying that the iPhone will arrive to Mexico in June, but yesterday, América Móvil the major cell phone operator in Latin America announce the iPhone for almost 16 countries in the region, including the Caribbean. They sign an agreement whit Apple. America Movil has more than 159 million suscribers.

In Mexico a friend who works in Telcel says the iPhone will arrive till November... that's credible since the iPhone is now closely to Latin America.

NBC Streaming Full Episodes of 30 Rock and the Office to iPhones (for Free, No Ads!)

Just caught this from the rockin' guys at the Gizmodo. "Even though there's no love lost between NBC and iTunes, that doesn't mean NBC doesn't love you! At least if you've got an iPhone or iPod touch. They're streaming full episodes of 30 Rock and The Office to iPhones (and touches) in Quicktime, for free, with NO ads" The Gizmodo after the jumpah.

The Secret of Palm

[From Clemens] Hi Sammy, everybody is talking about new decices, new features and complain about no real technology inventions of Palm's devices for the last couple of years (still highres/highres+, BT, decent RAM capacity, etc). The real innovation and diversification came with the Treo - a Handspring innovation, not Palm's idea. Most improvements in HW (highres, virtual grafitti, BT, memory card support, etc) came from Symbol or Handera, MMI improvement from Sony, etc. Where is Palm?

Ok, so much for the cons, let me now turn to the pros. Palm is stable with what they are doing for the last couple of years. A Palm handheld is no entertainment device, it is a working horse and everybody who is hounest to himself, will find using a Palm device being more productive than others. This is due to the great variety of SW, which was and still is available. Real PC synchronisation was the first big change in PDA's when Palm entered the market. So everything, which is PC and working related is Palm centric and it still works absolutely great (Quicken, accounting tools, scheduling tools, address sync, etc). The big jump was made by conduits, which also were able to automatically get data from within the internet (RSS, weather, news, podcasts, Email, etc.).

Palm truely understood at the beginning of this century that they need to change to a data centric device - cell technologies, texting, better design, wireless communication was in focus. That was the first big strategic change in Palm's history - a step away from a PDA. Five to seven years later (after the first Treos hit the market) I may say, that they were right and understood earlier than others what always-on really meant to the masses. The Treo became a great success and saved Palm's existence.

Next logical diversifications will be in operating system (Linux) as well as in device range (Foleo II). The Foleo was something, nobody really expected from Palm, because it was obviously no PDA. To large for a pocket device, too small in features compared to a notebook, which it looks like.

The thing is, that people have not fully understood was, what the aim of this device really is. It was not intended to play games, but is was designed as working horse again for business use and for those who briefly want to check their emails. Life significantly changed to a so-called online life (social networking, email, blogging, texting, online todos, online address book, online memos, online scheduler, etc.) and this is what Palm truely understood - again, far before others even thought of those devices.

I remember early 2007 when people said this device will break Palm's neck and is of no real use, Palm took wrong stratigic devisions, waste of money and time, etc. Those are the people who today owns an EEEPC and gues what for - exactly in order to briefly check their email account, to run a light weight Linux on a fast machine, easy to use, connectivity to broadband, small screen, small specification, short boot time, etc. p.p.

Palm's Foleo was a good idea and a good study. Possibly not ready for that time and market, but Palm learned from it's history, listened to the users/developers and cancelled market placement shortly before rollout. What I am saying is, that an upcoming Foleo will be a great success. A new Foleo? Jeff Hawkins and Ed Colligan always stated that, at its time, there was no good chance for the Foleo on the market and also that there is currently no final decision on a cancellation of this design. Today, first signs indicate, that there might be a redesign in the future, featuring a great bunch of cennectivity, including BT, WLAN, and WiMax - again state-of-the-art technologies!

I just would like to recap some of the PalmOS 5.x devices. Those are still running PalmOS for years and I believe this is on the other hand a great success as well. Sure, time has come for a change in operating system, but wasn't it Palm's success ro tun all SW on any PalmOS platform? Definetively! Well, even aged Palm devices like the Tungsten T3 (still one of the fastest PalmOS devices on the market) are able to connect to broadband and retrieve podcasts, RSS feeds, news, Email, etc. via a Bluetooth Access Point. Sure, it is faster to connect a Palm TX to WLAN and to download 50 MB of data, but is this what we really want? Most of us need regular updates of data. Not instantly, not hourly, but regular. In order to retrieve wheather forccasts, Emails which dropped in over night, RSS feed updates, etc. the amount of data is little compared to huge music downloads for instance. Thus, a Bluetooth Access Point (BTAP) can retrieve all data in the morning before leaving the house. I then have all Palmaddicts news updated by RSS in Quicknews, received my weather updates for the next couple of days, have my latest emails for review on the T3, have synchronised with my Google Calendar, etc.

Palm was great in the past and will be great in the future again. They are currently taking the chance to jump on another operating system and go for new devices. I for one, see the greatest challenge in the cross platform (wireless) synchronisation. In future, nobody really will care about, which operating system is being used on the devices, it simply need to work. The synchronisation platform won't be an ordinary Desktop PC (as nowadays), it will the internet. Future devices must be able to sync with online calendars of any kind, share data with others, be always-on for texting, Email and make particular documents available for collaboration, being flexible enough to allow programmers to develop for new cross-platform interfaces, etc. Palm secret of success was to provide a platform for being productive - nothing more nothing less. If Palm can come back to these roots in a modern way and combine this philosophy with the essence of easiness (instant on/off, broadband access, alway-on), users and developers will follow.

What I can see from an Nokia N810 Internet Tablet is brilliant: Linux, small footprint, connectivity. I do not care that it is a Linux device - it simply works. And agin, I have the freedom to install whatever I want. Palm, this is your way. Come back to your roots.

Defending my faith in Palm

  Hi Sammy and hello to the rest of the Palm Addicts here today. The other day I was thinking about something that happened to me some weeks ago. As most of you know, Palm was instrumental in putting the category of smart phones in the map. And to me that am a Tréo 680 carrying Palm Addict, it is kind of disturbing to see how other newcomers to the category such as Blackberry have been gaining much more brand recognition that Palm.

More to the point, the other day I was minding my own business reading an eBook when a friend of my kids came along and when he saw my T680 he asked if it was a Blackberry. I really took exception to his question, but was patient enough to explain that this was really the brand of smart phones that created the category. But still, this kid is not responsible for the current state of affairs when we talk about Palm. On the other hand, to pinpoint the culprit might not be a simple task either; Palm has been promoting somewhat its products in different mediums, but maybe not enough as others, you also hear often about how “outdated” the Palm OS is or how long it has taken Palm to bring new, fresh and outstanding devices as they used to, and we can go on and on.

Considering that the only mobile devise and OS that I know is Palm and that I confess being biased in its favor, I guess the only thing that I want to do with my comments here is to air my frustration with how many have written off Palm and Palm OS. Call me naïve but I still expect to see exiting new things coming from Palm; like an OS or two and many more devices to crave for. I will sit patiently for when this happens. Meanwhile, I will keep spreading the Palm gospel to whoever inquiries me about the device in my hand, trying to be patient even with kids that want to call my T680 (or whatever iteration of it I might have in the future) a Blackberry. Or maybe not. Please enjoy your day.

A Trip down Memory Lane: Game & Watch

This morning, as I was leisurely browsing the internet, I came across this picture shown here. Anybody remember or recognize that portable gaming device? It is Game & Watch, from the period long before PSP, long before DS. This particular Game & Watch is named Mickey Mouse, where the famous Walt Disney's character is collecting eggs for his girlfriend. It was from 1981 if I recall correctly. Boy... we have come a long way as far as portable gaming devices go. But still, sometimes I long to play this kind of game. It is simple, is only one screen, but is quite addictive. I used to spend hours playing on it in my childhood days. Well, maybe not exactly hours, but still...

I wonder if there is a Pocket PC or PDA version for this kind of vintage games nowadays, hopefully freeware? Time to do some googling :-)

815 TOEIC

Post in this site is a challenge for me. I'm mexican and I speak and write spanish all day. I know you note it because some of my post have terrific mistakes. I take the challenge when Sammy invite me and I began to write some little things, in the majors I ask for help to some "english experts" here in Acapulco... but the springbreakers don't come all year so, sometimes, I need to ask to the english teachers at my university (UNID).

The past week I made a TOEIC exam so I can probe all I know about english... well not all just reading and listening... I was nervous because I'm the only professor between all students -some believe I have the exam  in the Treo- but I finish it in record time. Today I got my results: I got 815 point from 990... I'm so happy!! That gives me more "confianza en mi mismo" so I can write frequently in this great site.

Centro on the Small Screen

[From Karen] Hi Sammy, As smartphones become more mainstream, vendors and carriers are working together to appeal to the “eye candy” factor by offering a variety of colors for consumers to choose from. Further, carrier ads now highlight applications such as MP3 players and Google Search as opposed to business email and Microsoft Office Suite. As you know, Palm has been following this trend closely. Sprint is an example of a carrier tailoring its ads for this new audience; check out its most recent commercial for the Palm Centro.

Is Palm OS the ONLY outdated OS?

[From Josh] I have heard over and over how outdated Palm OS is and how they need to this and need to do that. Well they are not alone. As a power user, I use my devices to the full. I am constantly trying out new applications and deleting old ones, I try hacks and brad all the time. In fact I have jailbroken my iPhone. I have used Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Symbian and I am now back on the iPhone. I have found that all the OSs need a reset at some point. However, I have also found that the amount of resets per device varies greatly. My recently sold Palm Centro and 680 would reset about 1-3 times a day depending on how i used them. The Palm 750 and the Tilt I owned for one day needed reset about the same, 1-3 times a day.. The Nokia E61 and E61i, Symbian devices I have owned. Reset 1 time over the cousre of 1 yr. My iPhone since its June release date has reset once as well. What I a getting at is from my experience it seems that even though Microsoft releases updates, their devices are just as anitquated as the Palm OS, Microsoft just has more antiquated stuff to choose from. Anytime a device needs to have its battery pulled out and reinserted, I think the OS developers have to rethink what old really is. Windows Mobile is old too. I'm happy that it took the iPhone to drop 4gb+ phones for the market to figure out that We have brn settling for subpar devices and what we reallu want are stable, memory abundant functioning devices. Palm, Windows and Symbian have all been given notice. Produce or else. Palm isn't the only "old" OS.

Can't wait for 3rd party apps for my iPhone

[From Ken (Atlanta, GA)] Sammy, I guess I remain a little jealous of all those PalmOS and WindowsOS users with great 3rd party software options. While the iPhone has what I think is the best all around OS/software package, I need real 3rd party options. So here's my wish list; Document editing/creating, hopefully there will be an iWork or DocsToGo option coming soon. File manager and ability to store files on the iPhone, not necessarily to use as an external drive but to support the aforementioned Document creation software and to have some overall file storage option. SplashID, SplashMoney & SplashShopper, anything from this company would be great. Task list please, just add it to the OS already and let's move on. Spell Checker, man do I need this one. RunnersLog or some other workout tracker. WiFi syncing, more of a function request but this would really be nice, even if just for Calendar, Addresses, ToDo's & Notes. A Zip utility. For the fun side of things; A skinning program. Games, and while I'm not a big gamer on PDA's, it would be really nice to bring some of my Palm favorites to the iPhone without relying on the web...Chess, Bejewelled, Billiards & Warfare, how cool would those be on the iPhone screen! I'm sure I could think of more and certainly would buy more but these are some of the programs and utilities that I would get as soon as they were released.

Apple's iPhone coming to Latin America on America Movil

[From Hans] Engadget are reporting that "Just a day after we heard that Vodafone was taking the iPhone on a world tour, in comes word that Apple's darling will be headed to Latin America via America Movil." Make the jump.

Centro Thoughts

[From Megen Duffy] Thanks for taking the time to provide these; the info is to the point and almost always useful, with very little fluff. I have had a Palm since the very first model (a long time ago!) and now have a Centro. I'm a nursing student and use the Centro to keep my crazy schedule and to keep medical information on (drug references etc), as well as keeping up with e-mail, Twitter, and Facebook. I'm also a Mac-head so I like your Mac and iPhone references (although I personally like the Centro better than iPhones!).

My truly mobile office

[From James] A desk-bound friend took a day off work to play golf with me last week. (The weather here in Scotland has been amazing and if you've ever spent any time in Glasgow you'll know you have to take advantage of it whilst it lasts).

Whilst waiting for our tee-off time he was commenting that being away for that day would mean he'd need to go into the office over the weekend to catch up. Just at that point I received a call on my Centro. An enquiry about a job. In the next five minutes I had discussed the client's requirements, agreed a date and price, emailed a contract with terms and conditions, and updated my address book and my calendar to show the new client and day's work.

My friend sat there with his mouth agape amazed at the simplicity of it all. I didn't say a word. I just checked my excel yardage chart I'd saved on Docs to Go, selected my 6 iron and smacked a great shot 6 feet from the first hole. My Centro means I'm in my office even when I'm playing golf (and then three putting for a bogey 4 was a little less painful knowing I hadn't missed out on work.)

Using my Tungsten T3

[From Joshua Ball] Hi Sammy, I'm an elementary school teacher in Toronto and I have been using my PDA in the classroom for years as a teaching tool. Showing pictures, reading articles, etc. It has a great impact on my students and they love when I pass it around with a new picture on the topic we are studying.

The Mobile Life

[From Chris Jennings, TX, USA] Howdy Sammy! I'm a photographer for the local newspaper. Needless to say I use my Treo for scheduling myself and other photographers. But there are so many other features that I use it for that I wanted to share a few of them. Every time I take a picture of someone I need to get their names, the memo pad works great there. I've used the camera to take pictures of breaking news and then emailed them to the web guy so we could have the news up on the website. Sometimes I get assignments that for some reason never start on time. I can use my phone to play games to kill time, or read my RSS feeds to catch up one web stuff, and most importantly check emails and text messages to see if something has popped up. I've even been shooting games and bad weather moves in. The coaches want to know how long it'll last. I just pop up a satellite loop on the web browser and we get up to date info. I really don't know what I did before I had my Treo, and am glad I can't remember much about that dark period of my life.

Mobile Technology and Global Health

[From Dan Dicker and I am a college student here in Atlanta, GA.] One of essential aspects to development is good health. Disseminating and collecting health information to and from rural areas in developing countries has always been a difficult task until relatively recently. With approximately 90% of the world's population having access to mobile networks and just about 50% actually having cell phone service, this has been an area of growing interest in the public health community. Mobile technology has helped to improve communication with remote areas to alert communities of disease outbreaks, disseminate public health information such as prevention messages, improve consultation in rural clinics, and monitor public health data of rural communities.

For example, the United Nations Foundation, the Vodafone Group Foundation, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Ministries of Health of Kenya and Zambia sponsored a pilot program distributing Palm Zire PDAs to in-country health officers. The PDAs were loaded with an open-source program called EpiSurveyor and was implemented in order to monitor data with the Measles Initiative. The initial pilot was designed to keep track of management information in clinics such as monitoring medical supplies. However, health officers ended up going beyond the original goals of the pilot and created surveys to track vaccine campaign coverage and even modify the program for other public health campaigns and initiatives.

As mobile technology becomes increasingly available, it holds tremendous potential beyond just talking to other people on the phone. Innovation like this, which is not limited to field of health, is likely to make a large-scale impact in the future.

Reminder, Great Palm OS Games from Ellams Software

[From Bon (Makati City, Philippines)] Hi Sammy. How have you been? Weather in Manila has been cloudy and wet lately, which is unusual since we are in the middle of our summer season. I am a big fan of Ellams Software's Air Hockey 3D, which put the Palm's touchscreen to good use in simulating one of my favorite penny arcade games. I was surprised to learn that Paul Ellams, the developer, has decided to give away for free all of the great Palm games that he developed over the years, including Agent Z, Heli Rescue, etc. He only requests a donation in return. You can download all of these great games at http://www.ellams.com/palm.htm While I am ecstatic that Air Hockey 3D is now free, I can't help but feel sad that this is yet another sign that Palm developers are giving up on the platform and moving on. i do hope that Palm gets its act together.

Why the iPhone will slow down Palm OS 2

[From John Rowe, Belfast, UK] Last January the goal posts for user experience were moved again and as usual, it was by Apple. The difference here is the goal posts stood on the playing field of phones and not computers. Before the announcement of the iPhone all Palm had to contend with was Nokia, Microsoft and SonyEricsson and none seemed to have what it takes to refine the mobile experience. Nokia continues to pile on features to their 'multimedia computers' while Microsoft and SonyEricsson continue to produce a truly lacklustre user experience. At the time, Palm was still doing a pretty good job of painting over the mess that is Palm OS 5.4. Treo users truly liked using their devices and Palm was making serious inroads; and while doing that they were making enough cash to finance further development of Palm OS 2. Things didn't seem too bad for palm. They were probably even making good progress to Palm OS 2 great. Then the goal posts were moved... Great was redefined. Apple came right out of left field and again showed how they truly understood user experience. For example, try to get an iPhone user to give you their phone in exchange for all the SonyEricsson smartphones in the world... I think the appearance of Mobile OSX was what bought rise to Palm OS 2 being put off for another year (at least). To make a splash Palm has to not just fix Palm OS, it has to out do it's competitors. Apple just made that a lot harder.

Barcode/13

[From Harold Arnold, Berkeley, California] Hi! Sammy and all you other Palm Addicts out there. I don't really know what the procedure is for replying to posts, but I thought that Gerrit G. Bradley might like to know about Barcode/13. He wrote recently: " I use mobile technology for comparison shopping. I have a Treo650 and when shopping I will talk pictures and take audio notes of a product. I will sometimes surf the web to find competing prices in real time. I'll also enter notes in the memo pad. A big mess to be sorted out later! What would be supercool is via a camera's phone, or another device, to take a snap from a store tag (like the UPC symbol or another special mark) to collect product information. It would be like active window shopping, where you keep a list of interested stuff as you move along your shopping experience." Well, this supercool idea has been implemented by treoware.com. Their FREE program Barcode/13 lets you use the camera of your Treo 600, 650, 680, 700p, Zire 71 or Zire 72 as barcode scanner. One of the great things about the Palm is that most of the programs that you think that you might need have already been written.

Caving to the pressure

[From Pastor Steve Hahn, Lewiston, Idaho USA] Hey Sammy, just wanted to let you know that I couldn’t stand it any longer, and even though I just purchased a Treo 750 a couple months ago, my drooling over the iPhone had to stop (the slobber on my computer was making my keys stick!) so I bit the bullet and purchased the ever attractive iPhone. I was not sure I would completely like all the features as I have been a palm user for many years. But I have to say that I NOW believe all the hype. What an amazing piece of equipment. I am simply amazed by the technology of this phone, it’s incredible. Now, my only regret would be that I gave in right before the release of the new 3G iPhone. Now no one has been able to answer my question about that, because I was curious to know if 3G will be an update to the current iPhone or if you have to purchase a whole new unit. My hopes in this, is that if you have to purchase an entire new unit, that maybe apple would give a credit to those that purchased iPhones recently??? Even if it is only an itunes credit, ill take it. Nonetheless, I am very pleased with the capabilities of this phone; I do not regret my purchase whatsoever. I do hope they provide a few more updates that a Smartphone needs, but besides that, I am enjoying my new toy. Once again Sammy keep up the good work, I absolutely love your website, one question I do have, can you call it iPhoneaddicts now? Just kidding, you do a great job of keeping the public informed and I love being able to check on your site several times a day and see new articles every time I log onto your site, its one of my top 5 favs. Another thing I noticed about your website that I love with my new iPhone is that you have made it just the correct size with the margins so that when I am browsing it with my iPhone it all fits into my screen so I don’t have to keep enlarging it and moving the page all over to see it…well done, sure makes it a breeze with my iPhone, keep up the great work!

The future of mobile technology

[From John Butler Minneapolis, MN USA] In your post, you mentioned how the MacBook Pro was better suited to your needs than the MacBook Air. I think that the MacBook Air is ahead of its time, let me explain why. The idea of cloud computing is becoming more and more talked about. The idea that all of our data will be stored in a cloud floating above us, virtually eliminating the need for disc drives, limiting the amount of storage capacity needed on mobile computers, and allowing access to one's data from virtually anywhere in the world (as long as you have access to the internet). Right now, we are not quite at the point of having all of our data in said cloud, but when we get there, computers like the MacBook Air are going to become common place and smaller internet enabled devices (like the palm, blackberry, and iPhone) will be much more prevalent in everyday life.

MSDict Advanced English Dictionary and Thesaurus 8.30

MSDict Advanced English Dictionary and Thesaurus 8.30This seems a very handy program.give it a try."WordNet is a large lexical database of English with up to 140,000 entries and more than 1.4 million words, developed by the Cognitive Science Laboratory at Princeton University. Instead of following the standard dictionary format, the WordNet dictionary is organized with an innovative and convenient approach. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are grouped into sets of cognitive synonyms, interlinked by means of conceptual-semantic and lexical relations. In addition to the straightforward definition the dictionary shows how each word is linked to other words in terms of synonyms, opposites and similar words, but also hyponyms and hyperlinks within the group."

Oxford Handbook of Nurse Prescribing (OHNPrsc™) 10.0.

Oxford Handbook of Nurse Prescribing (OHNPrsc™) 10.0.This seems a very useful program for undergoing training in Nursing."The Oxford Handbook of Nurse Prescribing gives concise, practical and expert advice on all aspects of this new role in nursing. Giving a complete picture of the role of the nurse prescriber, this resource provides evidence-based advice for all nurse prescribers from novice and student level to established prescriber; for all prescribing courses; and following all the competency areas. Helping you achieve the best possible results for your patients, this resource offers a wealth of recommendations, guidance and information. Whatever situation you are in, the Oxford Handbook of Nurse Prescribing will give you the information you need."

NuTS - Nutrient Tracking System 1

NuTS - Nutrient Tracking System 1This seems a great progam to focus on watching your bmi and nutritional intake."Every one of us is unique, different things make us happy and sad, fulfilled and empty, strong and weak. Learning about what works for us is an absolutely essential part of every aspect of 'successful living' and never more so than when it comes to understanding the impact of what we are using to build and re-build ourselves out of, the often used phrase 'you are what you eat' is a statement of the blindingly obvious. What we choose to provide our bodies with has the capacity to make us strong and fit for a very long time, but it can so easily perform the exact opposite, making us feel uncomfortable, lethargic, it can lead to weight problems, internal damage and ultimately to the shortening of life itself."