Spungle is a very new news service for gadget lovers(in fact, it has just one post yet). Their opening post is a good review of the Treo 700p, which can be found online here:
To cut a long story short-I like Spungle. Their reviewing style is cool..a good add to plucker!
Update: As this review was published, Igor Kanel updated this program to version 2.0. Version 2.0 supports the backgrounds of the Favourites and Calendar apps; and also allows you to change the background color of your notes.
The Palm Tungsten T5 was the first handheld to ship with Palm’s new background-capable launcher. This was a funny gimmick feature back then, as a background image only eats up contrast on a mobile device(imho). But PostIt will change that!
PostIt is a small program that works on all Palm OS 5 handhelds that have Palm’s enhanced launcher with background capability(no T3/TC, sorry). It then allows you to create little yellow notes that are drawn over the background image, sort of like a sticky wall:
The program is very easy to use. You get a single screen that is used for cycling between notes and editing them.
You can position the notes on the screen freely by dragging them around in edit mode:
Overall, this is a great little program if you need to keep an annoying fact in mind! A sticky yellow note is very hard to ignore, and it has no Snooze key, either. However, the program is a bit expensive(15$ at PalmGear’s, 9.95 for the next two days).
About two and a half months have passed since I received my Fossil FX5008 WristPDA from David Zucker(thank you, buddy). Here are answers to a few questions that readers sent in:
Do you wear it as a watch every day?
To be perfectly honest, I wear it about 25% of the time. I never really was a watch person, so the milage that the WristPDA gets is actually very high. However, you should add in that it is empty 50% of the time I carry it around!
What apps do you run on it
Um, the built in ones. I sometimes use the WristPDA as a handy little calculator, and of course as a watch. The integrated watch faces to a very good job for me btw, so no extra software on the machine!
However, text entry or longer work is a real pain, as the screen is way to small and has a very weak contrast! In fact, the WristPDA didnt even get HotSynced yet! Ah, and I played The Prison on it once!
How is the screen
Dim, rather bad contrast. It is pretty usable, but you shouldnt put one of your homemade screen protectors on it…
Would you purchase it again
At 60$, probably yes. The watch is a funky acceccoire to show off at parties and um, having a computer on your wrist is just insane.
What mileage did you get out of your WristPDA?
Sudoku is one of the most popular games at the moment. You can find Sudoku puzzles in newspapers, in the internet – and with Astraware Sudoku you can find it on your Palm.
The idea of the game is quite simple: you have to fill in the numbers from 1 to 9 into the empty fields. Every number is allowed to appear only once per line, column and square of 3×3 fields.
So you have to test which number may match for a certain field. At the beginning there might be several possibilities, but only one of them is really the right one. Astraware Sudoku helps you with that: you can note down the possible numbers by tapping on the buttons on the lower side of the screen. By doing that, you don’t really fill in a number, it’s just a note for yourself. If you’re shure you found the right number, you use the buttons on the right to definitely fill in that numer into the field.
Astraware Sudoku can make the game easier for you: The possible numbers can be filled in automatically. If you want, the right numbers are filled in by the computer. This may help you when you’re new to this game or if you cannot find the right solution. And there’s a secound view where one can paint on the screen to make individiual notes.
The game offers 6 difficulty levels. Registrated users can download a “puzzle of the day” for free. So one doesn’t have to solve the same puzzles on and on…
When I first thought about Sudoku, I was sceptical if I would like this kind of game. But when I started to play, I found out that it can make a lot of fun. What I like most about this game: you don’t need luck, you just need your brain 
If you like to test Astraware Sukoku, you can download a trial version from Astraware’s homepage. The price for the game is $19,95.
NMokia created a web browser for its Series 60 smartphones about a year ago. The browswer was based on opensource technology in order “to save cost”, according to Nokia.
Now, Nokia had released the code for their browser under a BSD-Style licence for everyone to use. Nokia officially say that they want to reduce the diversity in mobile internet software-but if you ask me personally, this is just a move to get cheap mainstream media attention.
Because, um, Series 60 is like no other platform. It has no touchscreen support and has a very proprietary API that no other OS can emulate. So, the released code will probably never ever be ported to other platforms, and will remain only on Series 60, which is-if we all recall correctly-property ok Nokia. So, any developer fixing a bug in the released code is basically doing Nokia’s job without receiving a salary from them!
The availabiolity of a good web browser is what makes a mopbile platform stand or fall IMHO. The Palm OS would be much farther by now if PalmSource had backported their Web Browser 3.0 from Cobalt to Garnet, or if the Minimo porting project started a bit of time ago would have succeeded.
To cut a long story short. Cool. Another sourceforge project. But I don’t really care!
Get the news release here:
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,125867,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp
Many TamsPalm readers recently began using GMAIL(thanks to our invite giveaways, for example). Yahoo and Mocrosoft recently fired up two competing services, and CNET now took the three into an arena:
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-9239_7-6526615-1.html?tag=nl.e404
Definitely makes a good read if you aren’t sure yet about where to create your email account!
1src has a page where you can buy microphones for your Tungsten T5 / TX. You put them into the multiconnector:
I’m manufacturing External Microphones for the Palm T5 and the TX. Simply attach to the bottom of the unit and you now have recording capability. $20 US plus $6 shipping (US) $12 shipping (International). I use Priority Mail (usually 2-3 business days) and Global Priority for international shipments.This also enables your Palm to use Mobi VoIP for making voice calls to telephones around the world!
Email me at: markspdaplus [a t] yahoo.com for info.
WyreNut
With a microphone, you can use your T5/TX as a voice recorder, or as a telephone with an IP phone software.
We all hate it: spouses, buddies, parents, shrinks, etc-all ntelling us to leave our beloved (Palm OS powered) smartphone at home when partying/eating/etc.
Anyways, a scottish student may be our hero. He went to a party, drunk himself, climbed on a pine tree and fell asleep there. When he woke up, he didn’t know how to get down-but luckily, he had his mobile phone and could call the fire fighters to pick him off the tree. So much on leaving that Treo/qool/GSPDA/foo at home, buddies!
And just in case someone wants the URL of the source of this story:
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=731962006
P.s. Anyone has such a story for a regular PDA..I mean, anyone knows a tree next to anopen wireless network? Owners of regular Palm OS PDA’s need such an example, too!
Yours truly loves to eat at the vienniese yume restaurant every now and then. The core of the restaurant contains the kitchen:
I always wondered about the organization of the kitchen. It looks interesting, but not like a site I would like to work at. Too crowded, too tight…just not my style.
To cut a long story short-much has been written about the ideal booth(e.g. David Weiss). But please-don’t style your Palm DevCon or Palm user meeting booth like the Yu-Me kitchen. Avoid generating the following thoughts in visitor’s mind’s please:
Feedback?
tejpWriter is one of my favourite text editors for the Palm OS. It is fast, free and has loads of funky features. Version 3.0 was a strike of genious(tejpWriter 3.0 review), and version 3.01 was a maintenance release. But Peter Thorstenson probably still didn’t read The Art of beta testing 
. He just released version 3.02 of tejpWriter with a minor fix. As always, lets quote him:
Only after having released tW v3.01, I remembered to test it in my old T|T.
Of course, I found a bug in the Toolbar skin update. So, if you have
problems when swithing between skins, install v 3.02. Otherwise no need to
do anything.So, now I’ve learned: Never test after releasing!
Just in case the program’s homepage ever goes down, we archived version 3.02 here.
What editor runs on your Palm OS handheld?
Please don’t get us wrong – we love each one of our readers. We are happy to have you all visit TamsPalm, and are happy that you all enjoy your stay. If we may ask you all for one thing(it will really make our life easier)-stop bugging us for foo’s email address!
Most bloggers/analysts get to know many people in their market sector over time-don’t ask me how many Palm related email addresses Outlook contains. They need those contacts for gaining news, samples and other stuff. The “owners” of the addresses or phone numbers usually contact the blogger, give them their contact data, and that’s it.
This is all a-ok for everyone. The blogger benefits from the news source, and the soure benefits from extra media exposure. It is a win-win situation. But now imagine what happens if a random person gets access to the data and does junk with it. Or, to be personal-would you like it if I gave away your personal phone number to someone you never met before?
In fact, I recently tried to hire a graphist. In order to decide on the meeting time, I wanted to phone her-but no chance, her contact man had srtict orders not to distribute her mobile phone numer to ANYONE, regardless of who he may be. Even the king of china would need her approval before getting the number, as to quote her employee… .
So, if you like a blogger, make his life easier by not permanentely asking him for x/y/z’s email address. If he is responsible, he won’t give it to you anyways. Asking to establish contact is ok, but please-no direct vcard requests…
What do you think?
Some of you may still remember Atari-they were producing loads of computers in the 80ies. Anyways, this link(dig up on Wikipedia) looks interesting for all Atari afficionados and everyone else interested in 1983 ideas on how portable computers will look:
http://www.atarimuseum.com/computers/CONCEPTS/concepts.html
To be honest, I wonder why they never realized such a concept. They had a “data pad”, a “notebook”, a “foldup pc” and many more…
Dallas Maxim’s iButtons are very popular. For example, they protect the door to the IT room of our school from unauthorized access. But adoption for small projects has been a little slow-and this, Dallas Maxim just released an excellent application note that explains more about what an iButton really is.
Basically, an iButton is a Dallas Maxim 1wire machine that is enclosed in a very sturdy, round metal tin. But Dallas Maxim probably can explain that much better:
The application note starts off at how an iButton is constructed, and then goers on to sturdyness ratings and also gives a short overview of what functions are available in iButton format.
Palm users have been discussing the Motorola Q for quite some time now(actually, for over a year, but many delays kept Motorola from releasing the Q). Verizon now begins releasing the machine for 199$, and CNET already has a full review online:
The machine scires 8/10ths by the way…
I am not sure about the Q myself, knowing that it does not have a touchscreen. A keyboard is definitely helpful, but when it comes to navigating web sites and documents, the lack of a touchscreen can and usually will be painful. And one last hint to all Treo bashers: it just has 60MB of RAM, too….
Will you get a Motorola Q for yourself?
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