According to Gizmodo, the same guy who designed the UI for the popular Sidekick will be working on the interface for the next generation of Palm phones. Gizmodo presents this as the saving grace for Palm
Solar Powered Handheld Computer
I am a software guy- my dad has always been the hardware guy. When I cam across this little hack, I wish I would have beocome an electrical engineer, like he wanted.
Here's a video that shows you how to make a solar-powered battery charger using some parts you might have laying around the house. It's pretty awesome.
I don't know if this will work for a handheld computer- so don't complain if it fries yours- but it might just be worth a try.
Save Power on your Palm Handheld
There are a couple things I think everyone should know about in order to save that precious battery power on your Palm handheld. There are a couple tricks you can do to make sure your battery lasts a little bit longer.
First, adjust the brightness on your handheld. During the daytime, when most of us do most of our work, we don't need the brightness maxed out on our device. Turn it down- I find that half way is still very usable without even noticing.
Second, turn off the wireless services when you are not using them. This includes the bluetooth and the infrared. One time I was on a long trip and talking with a friend over my bluetooth headset. While we talked I had my car-charger plugged in to my phone. Despite this, however, my battery was draining faster than my charger could replace the charge. This surprised me because my car charger seems to charge my phone faster than my wall charger. If that's how much energy is being wasted by having my bluetooth on, think of how much I can save by simply turning it off when I am not using it. It's simple- just tap the bluetooth icon on the top right corner of your screen and you will be brought to the screen where you can turn off the signal.
Since its not used as often anymore, the infrared transmitter can be easily overlooked on a Palm handheld. The thing about this is that even if you aren't using it, the Palm OS is searching to make sure no one is trying to send you an infrared signal- and that search can draw power without you even knowing it. To turn this off you have to go to the Prefs program and go to "Power." Choose "Off" where it says, "Beam Receive." While you're there turn your "Auto-off after" feature to a shorter time.
There's a couple things you need to know about the infrared on your Palm handheld. First is that it is easy to turn the infrared back on whenever you want to beam something- if you tell a program (such as the Contacts) to beam your business card to someone, if the infrared is off, it will ask you if you want to turn it on from within the Contacts program. This is convenient, but don't forget to turn it back off when you are done. Second is that there is a sort of glitch in the Palm OS that seemingly randomly turns the Beam Receive feature back on. That's why a developer has written a freeware program called "IrOff. This little program alone can save you a lot of power.
Speaking about programs that can save your battery life, another program I use is LEDOff. This program allows you to control the little LED at the top left of your Treo by telling it when you want it to blink and when you don't. For instance, since I have great coverage in my area, I tell it not to bother indicating whether or not I have coverage with the LED. If I didn't disable the LED for this service, it would regularly light up telling me the status of my signal. Not only is this a real waste of energy, but it can be quite annoying in a dark room.
With these few, small changes to the settings on your Palm handheld, you can begin to see some real power savings.
How to Write a Sermon on a Handheld
As a Pastor people often ask me how I go about writing a sermon. Well, it isn't an easy process but my Palm handheld is very useful in the process.
Ideas come to me all over the place, so I need a convenient place to write them down when they come to me. I have a Memo in my handheld that is just used to store ideas- usually a sentence or two- that I can come back to later.
In down times, like when I'm waiting for an appointment, I can take a look at the Bible. I use the open source Bible+ program. Not only are there many Bible translations available for this program, but it also allows me to read the greek and hebrew. The greek version (with morphology) is particularly useful.
With an idea and a passage from the Bible I create a more specific Memo where I can put some specific ideas for a series of sermons or a particular message. When I later sync my handheld to my desktop system I can cut-and-paste things around and start writing more specific notes.
Of course, preparing a message is more than writing a speech. I have to contact people and get the music for the service that matches the message and make sure the volunteers know they are needed and when and where to show up. All this I can do from my Treo as well.
It use to be that a pastor had to spend time in his study to prepare a sermon. Thanks to my handheld, that is no longer true. I can be out with people and still be working on my message. In fact, I think its more productive to take a book with me to the coffee shop and write than alone in my office.
And that's how a 21st century pastor writes a sermon on a handheld.
My Handheld Garage Sale
Not long ago we held a garage sale, and I found my Treo 650 to be an indispensable tool.
It woke me up in the morning to get to my in-laws for the sale, using the alarm feature. I use the alarm any time I don't want to reset my notoriously difficult regular alarm clock.
At the sale I was able to calculate totals for each sale using the calculator.
I was able to call my wife and get her out of bed and place an order for sausage biscuits and coffee.
During the slow times I played PocketCiv- my latest addiction, thanks to this blog telling me about the program.
When the weather started turning sour, I was able to check it allowing us to make an informed decision of whether to stay or go. We got everything into the garage just as the first drops of rain started falling.
At the end of the day I was able to document the unsold stuff in the Memo so I could deduct the donations for tax purposes.
How can you have a garage sale without a handheld computer? I can't imagine.
Never Say Goodbye to an Old Friend
A few weeks ago my family held a garage sale. As the geek I am there was a lot of tech for sale, some of which was obsolete, but you never know what people might buy.
One of the items for sale was my first Palm handheld- a Handspring Visor. This was the device that changed my world.
Not only did it help me keep track of my life- from phone numbers to things I needed to do- but it helped me waste time with games. It also called me into Palm programming- which I had to teach myself. I have rarely spent a day without a Palm device since then.
At the end of the sale, there my little handheld sat- unwanted and under appreciated. It was black and white. It ran on AAA batteries. It couldn't play an MP3 (or even hold more than a couple of them if it wanted to).
These features might seem limited by today's standards but that's exactly what I like about the device. Lets face it, a handheld device is supposed to supplement, not replace, your computer. It should be used for simple tasks not complex calculations. Why do we need so much space on our handhelds? Do we really need our entire CD collection in our pocket? Why do we need color displays? Do color displays really help lessen the strain on our eyes more than staring at any small screen? With the small size and processing power a set of batteries would last me a month, rather than having to remember to charge my new handheld every night. If I ever ran out of power and was away from home, I could easily buy a couple batteries, rather than not make any phone calls until I get to my charger. It was simple but still a great device. It was sad to find that it did not find a new home.
I told my wife that anything we didn't sell at the sale would be donated to charity. We don't have space for 20 old t-shirts and stinky candles we won't ever burn. I was a real jerk about this rule- until it came to my Visor. I couldn't part with it. It's too good a device.
So here it sits collecting dust.
Read or write palm DB files on your desktop
According to Another Techblog you can use a free, open source program called, ABIWORD to create PDB files which you can read on your Palm handheld as well as read the PDB files you've created on your handheld.
As a programmer who's worked with the PDB file format, this is an incredibly useful feature. It might mean you can view and edit databases that don't have conduits to your desktop system (as long as the backup the program to your desktop). Just search your computer for a file ending with ".pdb" (without the quotes) and these would be viewable by this program.
That Satisfying Checkmark
One of the most common programs I use on my Treo is the "To Do" list (what used to be called, "Tasks"). I think I really like to use this because of the sense of satisfaction I get from seeing a bunch of checkmarked items that I finished throughout the week.
Recently, however, I have found a problem. I will have checked off an item only to forget an important aspect of that task. It's not a problem with the Palm program as much as it is in the way I use the program. I realized that I was approaching the To Do list with too big of a picture. For instance, my task might say, "Organize Fishing Tournament." What I found myself doing is checking the item prematurely (perhaps seeking that satisfying checkmark) before everything for that task was completed. What I realized I should be doing instead is only having specific matters, no matter how small, as an item in the list. So, for instance, rather than the above example, I now have to break that down into its various components: "Find location for fishing tournament," "Buy trophies for fishing tournament," "Create sign-up list for tournament," etc. As the week goes on I feel free to add other steps that I realize I neglected earlier.
I have found this to be very helpful. Not only does it cause me to plan ahead of time, but it gives me even more satisfaction because I have even more items to check off.
A Palm Full of Treo Helps the Meetings Go Down
Once a year my church gets together for an annual meeting. That starts today. As I packed for the trip I cannot forget my Treo.
First of all I plan on using my Treo to keep track of the mileage to the meeting. Gas has just reached $4 a gallon here and I will be reimbursed at $0.505 per mile. I can't afford not to keep track of my mileage at this rate.
To pass the time on the way to the meeting I hope to call a couple friends, using my bluetooth headset. I might even listen to a couple podcasts I have stored in there.
My Treo really begins to shine when I get to the meeting. It is my alarm clock to make sure I get up in the morning. It is my link to the outside world, in case there is an emergency at my church. During the slow parts of the meetings I can even use the Bible I have installed to plan a couple sermons. I might use the calendar to plan some events and keep track of my progress toward these events using the to do list. During the really slow parts I might play a game or two.
If I used a data plan on my Treo, things could even be better. I could follow a map to my hotel. I could check my RSS feeds throughout the day. I could keep up with my e-mail too. That would be nice- maybe someday I will pop for it.
I don't particularly like these meetings but I think my trusty sidekick- Treo- will make things go a little better.
About the New Palm OS Coming Out Next Year
You might be interested in reading this article about "Nova" the new PalmOS that is coming out next year. A couple things of note: it will be more web-based than the curent OS and they won't be abandoning their old OS completely.
That article is based upon an interview with Ed Colligan (Palm's co-founder and CEO) which goes into more depth about the current state of affairs of Palm and its future.
