PalmAddicts

Hotsync in Classic

I know it's probably a little early to speculate about complicated work-arounds for unreleased software that runs on a device no one can acquire, but... everyone else is doing it...
MotionApps, developer of the Palm OS emulator Classic for WebOS, said in an interview recently that Hotsync support is one of the most requested features for future releases of Classic. I, for one, agree. That functionality is essential to me. I regularly use software that syncs with my desktop (Natara Bonsai, Pocket Quicken) and the software would be rendered almost useless to me without the ability to sync. So count me in for an elegant solution.
However, if I can't have an elegant solution, I'll take any solution. With that in mind, we already know that apps and data will be loaded onto Classic using the USB Mass Storage mode in the Pre. So why not automate a degree of synchronization with a tool like SyncToy, which automatically keeps two folders in sync on a Windows PC?
Of course, just copying files between the PC and the Pre won't solve all the syncing problems. Hotsync conduits often perform more complicated sync tasks, like adding and removing database entries in my PC and Palm versions of Quicken. Would it be possible to force the PC to perform the business end of a Hotsync? How about with the Palm OS Emulator/Simulator available in the Garnet SDK? Food for thought (or rampant speculation).
Or we could just wait for them to release the Pre.

The Goosync Experience

Longtime PalmAddicts readers will probably remember my experiments using a hosted Exchange account to keep my Centro in sync with my wife's Centro. While I'd have to consider Exchange to be a near flawless solution to my syncing problem, I decided to migrate my calendar to Google.
Since seeing the way the Pre natively handles Google Calendar, I knew it was only matter of time before I jumped to Google. Google certainly has an excellent price point (free), a robust suite of tools, and with just one login required, it's easy to try out 'just one more' product. However, what finally pushed me to switch was (my Exchange host) Mail2Web's decision to make Activesync support a premium service. Left with the decision to pay $30 a year to Goosync for Google's sophisticated shared Calendar and Google Contacts (I'm already using Gmail, so synced contacts would be handy), or pay $5 a month for the same jury-rigged Exchange solution I've been using. The choice seemed obvious.
My first challenge was migrating my data from the Exchange server to Google. I thought of several methods to do this and, unfortunately, chose the worst way to do it. I intended to use Outlook to sync the calendar data to my PC, and then Companionlink to sync the data to Google. Problem 1: Outlook Express doesn't sync with Exchange, so I'd need Outlook proper. Problem 2 (discovered after solving 1): Activesync only works on smartphones. Outlook uses MAPI. MAPI is an additional premium service on Mail2Web, not available on my current account. First plan scrapped (after a lot of cursing).
The solution I actually chose was to let Goosync sync +/-365 days of data with Google Calendar. Since I'd already tested out Companionlink for Palm Desktop about a year ago, this solution worked adequately. What I should have done was delete the Exchange account on my Centro, Hotsync to Palm Desktop, then use Companionlink to sync with Google. At the time, I wasn't certain my calendar data would survive the deletion of the Exchange account (it will). Ultimately, though, problem solved.
Goosync provides synchronization of the Palm Calendar to Google Calendar, Palm Contacts to Google Contacts OR Goosync Contacts, and Palm Tasks to Goosync Tasks (not Google Tasks, as apparently the API isn't available yet). By contrast, on a Palm device, Activesync synchronizes email, calendar and contacts data to the Exchange server.
The first, and most obvious difference between Goosync and Activesync is the seamlessness of the conduit software. Activesync uses Versamail, which is already installed on recent Palm devices and was coded by Palm. It works entirely in the background (syncing usually doesn't require stealing focus on the device), and it is generally very stable. Goosync, however, must be the active app when a sync is in progress, and the sync can take as much as five minutes (though, usually, about one minute). The app provides the option for manual syncs, timed/scheduled syncs, and push, though push is disabled (it'll connect fine, but it won't actually do anything). Unfortunately, Goosync isn't very stable and routinely crashes my Centro (probably about once daily). This would be less of a problem if the software automatically reloaded after a reset, but it doesn't. So timed/scheduled syncs have proven to be very unreliable.
Considering that the Goosync service is less seamless and reliable than a hosted Exchange account, what advantages does it have? Well, it syncs to Google, but I'll cover that in more detail in a second. Let's start with the Goosync service itself. Each Goosync account supports up to 4 different devices. These devices can be configured to synchronize different calendar, contact and task categories. So, for instance, if I didn't want my wife's daily agenda items to clutter up my Centro calendar, I could opt never to sync them to my device. In order to have a similar level of control with Activesync, I'd need to have 2 separate Exchange accounts with a linked calendar. This level of service starts at $15 per month per account with Mail2Web. Incidentally, all Google Calendars can be linked across Google accounts, for free. Goosync definitely offers more bang for the buck. Goosync also gives you more control over which of the three services (calendar, contacts, tasks) you'd like to sync. Choose any or all. Activesync really is an all or none proposition on Palm OS.
Google Calendar really is a terrific service. I'm so pleased with Google Calendar, in fact, that I'm willing to forgive all of the qualms and compromises Goosync has presented. Props to Google. The Google Calendar interface is clean and relatively intuitive. You can enter new appointments using plain language ("Dinner with Joe on Friday from 7pm to 8pm at 123 Somestreet, Somecity). New calendars are easy to set up, and all calendars can be shared between accounts. My agenda can easily be displayed in my Google Desktop sidebar or on iGoogle (if I used it). It runs fast and is available anywhere. It even interfaces with Google Maps. And Goosync has given me next to no problems syncing Calendar items. Almost no duplicates. Calendar items always sync correctly. And both my Centro and my wife's Centro are staying accurately in sync with each other. Yay!
Google Contacts, on the other hand, has really revealed itself to be the weak link. Goosync provides the option to sync to either Google Contacts or Goosync contacts (a proprietary service hosted by Goosync), but not both. I opted for Google Contacts. Google Contacts appears to be a work in progress. Google recently added a merge contact feature (very handy), and has been making small changes to the system for some time now. I'm optimistic that it will improve in time. At the moment, though, it kind of sucks. My chief complaint is that Google Contacts uses far fewer fields than Palm Contacts or Exchange Contacts. The address field is one field (instead of a street address field, city field, state field, ZIP field), and as such, your address entries will get a bit messed up by the sync (all city, state, ZIP data gets added to the street field). You are required to have a contact name, and if you only have a Company name, 'unnamed' will be added to the contact field. Also, contact names are contained in one field, not two plus a title. There are no birthday or anniversary fields. And, at present, category data is not synced. Everything will appear in the unfiled category in Google Contacts, and anything new from Google Contacts will appear unfiled on the Palm device. Sigh. Google Contacts also lacks the robust sharing features of Google Calendar. Unlike on an Exchange server, it's impossible to share a group or category of contacts with another user.
Goosync Tasks, like Goosync Contacts, is a proprietary service offered by Goosync to synchronize your tasks. I haven't felt compelled to play with it. The Goosync website does mention an iGoogle gadget for it, though. So, you wouldn't be totally unable to implement Goosync Tasks with your other Google apps. Still, it really isn't the same as syncing directly with a Google product.
The Goosync service is pretty simple to set up. About the only problem I encountered came when I set up the rules for which category mapped to which Google calendar. Don't forget to check the box that enables syncing. I also really wouldn't mind if there were a feature that allowed me to name the different devices I've associated with my account. Both my Centro and my wife's Centro are listed as "Palm Device" in my account settings. It's up to me to remember that the first one is my Centro, the second my wife's.
Overall, I think there's a lot to recommend about Goosync. But it's definitely not for everyone. If your synchronization needs require push updates, or even very regular updates, Goosync probably isn't a good fit. If a sync once every day or two is plenty good enough, Goosync can easily accommodate. If you're a fan of Google Calendar, or want to be, Goosync does an excellent job at providing over-the-air sync from your device. And I have had no problems with the accuracy of the calendar sync. Without a doubt, you get a lot of bang for your buck. A family of four (or a small business with 4 users) could maintain all of their Google-to-device sync with just one Goosync account, while still maintaining a separate Google account for each individual (by leveraging Google's free calendar sharing features). That's a much more cost-effective solution than an Exchange server.

With Google

I caught this fantastic editorial on Android Central the other day. If, like me, you've ever been mystified by the phrase 'with Google' that's attached to the Tmobile G1, this goes a long way to clear it up. And maybe also to explain why it's taken so long to launch another Android phone.
"In the same article where Samsung revealed their plans for Android, they dropped a very interesting nugget regarding the status of Android. Samsung gave a clear distinction between the Android OS and "Google Experience" devices, lining themselves more with Android than with Google...This whole time, we've been lumping Android and Google together, believing that they were one and the same. Android was Google and Google was Android, the lines were blurred, there was no difference. Could we have been wrong?" Read in full.

The iPhone Gold Rush

I caught a reprint of this NY Times article in my local paper. It makes for an interesting read: "IS there a good way to nail down a steady income? In this economy? Try writing a successful program for the iPhone. Last August, Ethan Nicholas and his wife, Nicole, were having trouble making their mortgage payments. Medical bills from the birth of their younger son were piling up. After learning that his employer, Sun Microsystems, was suspending employee bonuses for the year, Mr. Nicholas considered looking for a new job and putting their house in Wake Forest, N.C., on the market. Then he remembered reading about the guy who had made a quarter-million dollars in a hurry by writing a video game called Trism for the iPhone. “I figured if I could even make a fraction of that, we’d be able to make ends meet,” he said." Read in full.

Mail2Web changes

For anyone taking advantage of Mail2Web.com's free hosted Exchange account, I just received notice of some important changes. The bad news: Free Activesync is no more. The good news: plans with Activesync start at $5/month. Check out the press release below for more info:

Dear mail2web LIVE Customer,

We have some very important changes that will affect your account that we want to let you know about. We're very glad that you've found your mail2web LIVE account useful. It has always been our intention to provide high quality and affordable Exchange solutions, and we have done our best to keep the mail2web LIVE service free over the years. However due to our planned upgrade to Exchange 2007 and to changes in our licensing agreements with Microsoft, there will be some changes to your service.

If you no longer want to keep your account, do nothing and it will be cancelled on May 1, 2009. If you want to keep your account, please read on...

Choose Your New Plan

If you want to keep your account active, you will be required to log into the Control Panel before May 1, 2009 and choose the new plan you would like to upgrade to. Here are the available options:

1. Our new free service is called mail2web LIVE Basic and includes an ad-free Outlook Web Access 2007. Please note that the ActiveSync and BlackBerry services are not supported with mail2web LIVE Basic.
   
   
2. The new Exchange 2007 version of mail2web LIVE will be available for $4.95/month and will include Outlook Web Access 2007, ActiveSync, POP3, IMAP4 and SMTP Service and more. We are also offering a 60-Day Free Trial of this service that includes ActiveSync, allowing you to try out the new platform before you commit to buying!
   
   
3. Our new mail2web LIVE Pro service will provide full access and include all the mail2web LIVE features plus a free copy of Outlook 2007 or Entourage 2008 as well as the MAPI access and RPC over HTTPS service required to configure the account in Outlook. The new mail2web LIVE Pro service is available for $9.95/month and we are offering a 60-Day Free Trial with full functionality!

Update Your Settings

Before you choose your migration options and your account is scheduled for upgrade, please note that the web address for Outlook Web Access will be changing to:

https://ex7.mail2web.com/live/

You can start using this right away! After your migration is complete the old address may not work, so please update your bookmarks or favorites now. And if you are using ActiveSync or have configured your account in your iPhone, Windows Mobile device or on any other device that supports ActiveSync or RoadSync, we suggest updating your settings immediately:

1. Browse to https://support.mail2web.com and log in with your email address and password.
2. Under Active Free Services click on mail2web LIVE.
3. Click GO to the right of the account you want to access.
4. Click on Migration Instructions. Here you will find instructions for various configurations.

Get Started Now!

You can get started right away with your account upgrade by reviewing your Migration Instructions and Choosing Your New Plan. Just log into https://support.myhosting.com and click on mail2web LIVE under Active Free Services!

If you have more questions, please continue reading...

---

Why are you discontinuing FREE ActiveSync?
Our free mail2web LIVE service with ActiveSync based on Microsoft Exchange 2003 was a very popular service, and we're glad that we were able to provide this for so many years. We have done our best to maintain the service and the platform for as long as possible. However we remain committed to offering the latest and greatest services to our customers, and in order to do that the best way is to upgrade our platform to Microsoft Exchange 2007. And unfortunately due to some licensing changes that come along with Microsoft Exchange 2007, we're no longer able to provide ActiveSync for free.

Will there still be a free service?
We are still committed to providing a free version of mail2web LIVE, and as such will be launching our new mail2web LIVE Basic service which includes a vastly improved Outlook Web Access. Also, the mail2web LIVE Basic service will be completely ad-free!

Can I synchronize my mobile device with mail2web LIVE Basic?
No. Unfortunately the ActiveSync Service, BlackBerry Add-On and RoadSync Add-On are not supported with the mail2web LIVE Basic service, and therefore you will be unable to synchronize your mobile device. We recommend that users who require this try our free 60-Day Trial of the new mail2web LIVE service.

Why should I stay with mail2web.com?
We certainly hope you will! We appreciate that you've found the service useful for as long as we've offered it. One of our primary commitments is to serve our paying customers to the best of our ability, and we feel that the free mail2web LIVE Basic service still offers value for those users that need it. And for users who need ActiveSync, our hope is that you find the monthly fee to be satisfactory along with all the service improvements that come with Exchange 2007.

Why do I have to upgrade if I'm happy with my current service?
Unfortunately, due to a number of changes we are unable to maintain any existing users on our Exchange 2003 platform. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope that you will find value in our new Exchange 2007 based services.

I'm ready to go! What can I do to get started?
If you are choosing to migrate to our new mail2web LIVE services, you will need to log into your control panel and confirm your upgrade. You can do this by visiting this web address and log in with your email address and password. Then click on the Click here to migrate your account link to get started. Please note that your account will be queued for immediate migration, so make sure you update your settings first!

---

If you have any additional questions or comments, we welcome you to contact us at live@mail2web.com. Thank you for choosing mail2web.com!

Best Regards,

mail2web.com Customer Support
live@mail2web.com

http://mail2web.com
http://myhosting.com
http://softcom.biz

SplashShopper Review

After reviewing SplashID some weeks ago, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to review another title from SplashData's SplashWallet suite: SplashShopper. SplashShopper is a shopping list manager that's available for PalmOS, Windows Mobile, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows, and MacOSX. If you haven't tried out a shopping list on your smartphone, why not?! There just isn't a better, more convenient place to put your shopping list, and with SplashShopper available for so many platforms, you've just run out of excuses. Go grab the 30-day trial, then come back and finish my review.
SplashShopper is a one-stop-shop for all your list making needs. To get you started, SplashData has included a handful of example lists ranging from Books, Movies, and Music to the all-important Groceries. They've even populated these example lists with a number of items to get you started, which is especially helpful with a grocery list. Now, anyone who's been reading my PalmAddict posts long enough probably knows how much I like making lists. Natara Bonsai is pretty much my favorite piece of software. But for handling shopping lists, you go to a dedicated shopping list app. And, remarkably, SplashShopper has more features than this compulsive list-maker can use.
Each item in your list can contain a name, a store, a category, two custom fields (for groceries, Splashdata has suggested a description and an aisle), a quantity and unit of measure, a price and a note. Considering the number of fields in this database, Splashdata has wisely incorporated both an auto-fill feature, and a customizable fly-down list for each field. Despite this complexity, adding new items to your grocery list is pretty quick and easy. If you are an even more compulsive person than I am (astounding, really, but possible), you might actually track the price and aisle information of every item on your shopping list. By doing so, SplashShopper can give you a quick total cost estimate, or even organize your list by aisle, so you can shop more efficiently. That greatly exceeds my needs, but it's terrific to see that sort of attention to detail.
The shopping list screen is separated into two tabs: all and need. The 'all' tab lists every item in your database, while the 'need' tab contains only the items you've selected for this particular shopping trip. You can quickly type-to-search to add items to your list, and the list fully supports the five-way. The layout of your list is totally customizable, so you can easily remove fields you don't use (no sense in keeping a bunch of empty aisle and price fields on my tiny Centro screen). Lists can be sorted by store or category, and organized alphabetically by any field. I've opted to display the item name, description, and quantity. Because the type-to-search only searches by item name, I've opted to put all the item details in the description, instead of in the item name. So I have an entry for Bread, with the description containing Wheat. That way I can search for bread, then select the type I need, rather than having to try and remember exactly how I entered the item (was it Bread comma wheat or Wheat Bread?).
Hands-down, my favorite feature of SplashShopper is the Quicklist. From the 'need' screen, the user can tap the Quicklist fly-down and create, update or select a Quicklist of items. This could have quite a number of uses, but I like it for recording recipe ingredient lists. For instance, there's a particular salad that my wife and I often make. I created a list of ingredients for the salad, and then made a Quicklist with the name of my recipe. Now, when we want to make the salad, I need only tap the appropriate Quicklist, and all the ingredients appear in my shopping list. Adjusting the Quicklist is a breeze. If I made a mistake or changed the recipe, I just have to adjust the list in the need view and hit the update list button.
SplashShopper also supports synchronizing lists with a desktop component. You can even use the desktop version to import your old shopping lists from competing software (like HandyShopper). This also goes beyond my personal needs, but speaks to the level of sophistication in SplashShopper.
About the only feature I'd like to see in SplashShopper is a more robust type-to-search. The current implementation only searches on the beginning of the item name. If I type 'tom,' it'll skip down to 'tomato.' It won't produce a list of items containing 'tomato, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, cherry tomatoes...' Considering my item name/description work-around, this is a relatively minor gripe about a very robust product.
Go out and try this software! Having your shopping list on your smartphone is the way to go. It's always handy, so you never forget it at home. Any time you think of something you need, you can add it to your list, because your phone is probably in your pocket. And no more wasting paper on one-use shopping lists. With a 30-day trial, what do you have to lose. I know I certainly can't live without my shopping list in my pocket.

Regular Firmware Updates

Until a few years ago, firmware updates for smartphones were few and far between. The norm was probably one or two updates during the lifetime of the product, often massively delayed by the cell carrier. And then the iPhone apparently changed the game. With a quick Google search, I turned up about a dozen updates to the iPhone over its less-than-3-year lifespan. I notice that the Google G1 is enjoying similar regular updates. And even more amazing is the fact that these regular firmware updates are being pushed to users and installed pretty much automatically. I've only ever installed about 1 firmware upgrade on my devices (I've owned a Kyocera 7135, a Treo 650, and two Centros) out of fear that the minor rewards of the update came at too great a risk of bricking my device.
While I'm certainly not complaining about easy regular updates to these, and future, devices, I wonder what the trade off is. Is this merely an example of the awesome power of Apple to force AT&T (and other carriers by example) to provide better support of their devices? Or is it as RIM has suggested, an ecosystem designed to support increasingly complex and buggy smartphones that require constant attention?
Whichever the case, I certainly hope we'll see Palm release the Pre bug-free and with constant updates.

SplashID Review

In this day and age of countless login names, passwords, email addresses, PINs and ID numbers, how anyone can survive without some sort of password manager is a mystery to me. In fact, until a year or so ago, I did squeak by without one. Probably because I wasn't very clever. I know I certainly forgot my fair share of login names and passwords. And I'm definitely guilty of committing the ultimate sin of using the same password/username for multiple services, in an effort to remember my info. I finally tried out one of the countless password keepers available for PalmOS, and I was much happier (and more secure) because of it.
At the time, my choice was motivated primarily by a desire for a free solution. Therefore: YAPS. YAPS is an encrypted database for storing login data on a PalmOS device. And that's it. It gets the job done and not one bit more than that. And occasionally, it would reset my device.
But Pre is coming, and with it webOS, and probably no support for old freeware apps like YAPS. It's time to consider my options for smoothing my transition from PalmOS to webOS, and one developer that'll definitely have my back is Splashdata. At CES, Palm showed a short list of special developers already on board for the webOS, and Splashdata was there. I'm certainly hoping that we'll see titles released by those developers at the time the Pre launches. (Speculation warning: Splashdata has not, to my knowledge, acknowledged that they are actively developing any webOS applications.)
Splashdata develops probably the best known password manager on the market, SplashID. It's already available for PalmOS, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows, Mac, and iPhone. And with the hint of webOS development soon to come, jumping into SplashID certainly seems forward thinking. But how does it stand up as a product?
Suffice to say, this product is how a password manager should be done.
As with most any password manager, SplashID provides an encrypted database (it uses Blowfish encryption, which sounds plenty safe to me) to store your data. Each entry provides 9 line items, an icon, a category (much like the native Contacts app) and 4k worth of notes. What really sets SplashID apart from something like YAPS, though, is what Splashdata calls a 'Type.' A 'type' is basically a template that provides an icon and descriptions for any or all of the 9 line items. You can use or edit any of the pre-existing 'types' that come with SplashID or create your own, or even tweak the type slightly in one particular entry. Additionally, you can search your database by type, making it very easy to pare down a long list, or get a good idea of what sorts of data you've recorded.
Honestly, this alone would be enough to recommend SplashID quite heartily, but the good stuff keeps on coming. SplashID provides two views for sorting through your data: a list and a tree. The tree view makes it relatively easy to see how your data is sorted without wasting a lot of screen real estate spelling out categories and types. But I'm definitely more of a list view guy, for the most part. And the list view is totally customizable: you can change font, columns, colors, and sort order, as well as pare down the list by type or category. You can type to search or use the 5-way. Tapping on an entry pulls up a card with all your info, and optionally, you can have passwords masked. Tapping the card opens the entry for editing.
When you label the line items for your database entries, SplashID reveals a couple of other nice features. Line items you choose to mask get a quick link to a password generator. You specify the criteria for your password (number of characters, lower case, upper case, numbers, special characters, etc.) and it starts making passwords for you. It's fast and easy to use, and even has an option for a 'pronounceable' password. If you label a line item with the word 'date,' tapping the line will open the date picker (that calendar-styled screen that pops up in many other PalmOS apps). Very handy.
As a former YAPS user, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that SplashID can import my YAPS database. The imported data didn't quite match up with the Web Login template (type) in SplashID, but a quick tweak and I was home free. After a few minutes sorting through my old data, changing types and categories, everything was clean, accounted for, and easier to deal with than it ever was in YAPS.
With a couple of small adjustments, I'd say SplashID would be perfect. I'd love to see a few refinements made to the tree view. The dotted lines connecting the entries in the tree don't extend beyond the last item on the screen, giving a false sense of being at the end of the list. And there aren't any quick ways to expand or collapse multiple levels of the tree (like in Bonsai-style outliners). The password generator provides a graphical representation of the strength of your password, but doesn't really explain what it means. Some of the interface icons could be a little clearer. Instead of OK, Cancel and Delete, the icons present a floppy disk, an undo arrow, and a red X. And actually, they aren't in that order. They go OK, Delete, Note, Cancel, which seems a little counterintuitive to me.
All in all, this is great software. If this app is close to as good on other platforms as it is on PalmOS, you really can't go wrong. Jump on over to Splashdata and try it out. SplashID sells for $29.95, or for $59.95 packaged in the SplashWallet suite, which contains SplashID, SplashShopper, SplashMoney and SplashPhoto.

HotSync-less

You can hardly find a summary article about the Palm Pre that doesn't mention the lack of a desktop client. And a pretty fair share of writers and commenters are pretty upset to see Palm Desktop disappear. Honestly, it really makes no difference to me if Palm Desktop vanishes.
I've been syncing my Centro with a hosted exchange server for almost a year now. A major side effect of that choice is Palm Desktop won't sync your calendar data anymore. This really didn't bother me much because I hardly used it anyway. My wife often viewed my schedule on the desktop, but once it synced to her phone automatically, she didn't need it either.
At the moment, I don't usually mess with my calendar and contacts from the desktop (via the web client for Exchange). I might do it a bit more if I used Google (I expect to switch once my wife and I are transitioned to the Pre). As for a desktop client... Meh.
But Hotsync. That's another matter entirely. I have a lot of data that I'd rather keep on my PC. Quicken, Bonsai outlines, my documents. I don't really need those floating out in the cloud. But I definitely need them to stay in sync.
Here's my wishlist: I need a sync conduit that lives on my desktop and lets me sync my files. I want it to work via USB, LAN, Bluetooth and Internet. I want it to know the difference so it won't take forever if I'm not at home (and therefore using cell data). Who needs a full backup at every sync if it'll cost me 20-30 minutes of sync time when I'm away? It'd be pretty cool to have the Pre automagically sync when it sees my home Wifi. And what's stopping it? The Pre can multi-task, so I really shouldn't feel a hit.
This is the sort of experience Palm wanted us to have with the Foleo. Everything on your smartphone always in sync with your Foleo (netbook, desktop, the cloud?) So here's hoping that Hotsync hasn't vanished along with Palm Desktop, and that it got the webOS upgrade treatment.

Palm Pre and the Family Calendar

The Palm Synergy component of the new webOS and Pre is probably the single most compelling aspect of the new platform, at least in my mind. By seamlessly and invisibly leveraging cloud-synced PIM data, tremendous possibilities for collaboration are unlocked.
Collaborative calendars are nothing new. Microsoft Exchange has been around for ages, and Google calendar has seen its fair share of action. But for many new smartphone users, the idea of a collaborative calendar is probably completely unheard of. I have my Centro set up to synchronize with my wife's Centro using a hosted exchange server. There are other ways to go about this (most notably Google calendar and Goosync), but the more sophisticated the setup, the more likely it is to cost money.
More significant than cost, creating your shared calendar requires a fair bit of knowledge and savvy. If my wife represents a typical new smartphone user, I feel confident that she, and others like her, would never have configured a collaborative calendar, no matter how pressing the need.
The Pre has a huge advantage over the Centro in this regard. It was designed from the ground up to leverage the power of cloud PIM data, like Google calendar. And it can do it for free. But the average user isn't going to use it if they don't know it's there or how to set it up.
This is a huge opportunity for Palm and I really hope they exploit it. They need to create a wizard for setting up a collaborative calendar, make an icon for it front and center on the Pre launcher, and then advertise the hell out of it. What better way to sell a Pre to every member of the family?