Just in case someone looks for a lawsuit: I am NOT a tax lawyer! The hints below describe what I did…there’s no warranty that this is the best, correct or whatever way. Follow the instructions below AT YOUR OWN risk!

TamsPalm covered the process needed for MobiHand’s tax system a few months ago here – unlike most other ESD’s; MobiHand originally didn’t demand a so-called ITIN number from its customers.

However, this has now changed – if you wish to kill the 30% tax deduction from your revenue, you now need an ITIN or EIN number. Logging into MobiReach allows you to look at your tax information in the Partners tab.

I am currently in the process of getting an ITIN…stay tuned for further information!

Protective cases for mobile devices usually are made out of leather, metal or silicone – with an oddball sleeve(darn cool) or two thrown in for kicks. Boxwave’s latest creation is completely different. It essentially consists of a slim PVC shell that goes right around the Treo…and changes its color in the process.

This time, Boxwave shipped the case in a cardboard box – in the past, products arrived in envelopes(unharmed). Anyways, no transport damages…no issues here(except that some postal services do not deliver parcels to a mail box and send a postman instead, which usually comes when you aren’t at home…).

Getting the Treo into the case is easy – put the front shell onto it and press the back shell on, causing the latches to lock. Getting the Treo out goes the other way round…and is less easy:
0a BoxWave Slim Rubberized Shell Case for Treo 680   the review 0b BoxWave Slim Rubberized Shell Case for Treo 680   the review

The case has generously-sized cutouts for screen and keyboard – it doesn’t get in the way while using the machine:
1a BoxWave Slim Rubberized Shell Case for Treo 680   the review

The back of the case contains cutouts for the camera, speaker, auxiliary belt clip and stylus silo. Neither audio nor camera operations are affected if the Treo is in the case.
2a BoxWave Slim Rubberized Shell Case for Treo 680   the review

Cutouts at the sides allow you to access all relevant Treo functions:
3a BoxWave Slim Rubberized Shell Case for Treo 680   the review 3b BoxWave Slim Rubberized Shell Case for Treo 680   the review

The cutout at the bottom is well thought-out; as it is perfectly aligned with the Treo’s sync port. This allows you to connect the Treo to almost all peripherals while remaining in the case:
4a BoxWave Slim Rubberized Shell Case for Treo 680   the review

Boxwave used a special type of rubber that stays ‘grippy’ even if your hands are wet – preventing accidental drops…

In the end, the Slim Rubberized Shell Case is a lovely way to change the color of your Treo and make it easier to grasp without getting in your way otherwise. It’s protective effect is negligible, people who reset their Treo often will dislike the complicated removal process. If you can live with the weaknesses above, get this case for a reasonable 28$ from boxwave.com(available in black, green and silver).

Well today when I was checking my Gmail account, I happen to notice Gmail’s storage is now over 5 Gigabytes.

gmail Gmail Now Over 5GB

I’m so glad Google gives this much storage, because at the rate I’m using it, I need it ;-)

A while back a saw a screenshot of the OpenMoko platform, and was greatly impressed by its look an feel. So about a week or two ago, I started trying to make my TX look like this. Now this is a very young project, and it isn’t even closed to being finished, but I wanted to show you all some of the first screenshots, and to hear your opinions on how it looks/if you like it. So here goes:

hrcapt20071117162647prj3 My New Theme Project   OpenMoko

hrcapt20071117162901pmt1 My New Theme Project   OpenMoko

hrcapt20071117162727lup1 My New Theme Project   OpenMoko

When I finish this, I will (most likely) make it available to download. The set will include:

  • PalmRevolt Skin
  • IconPlus Icon Pack
  • DIA skin
  • Launcher Backgounds
  • Maybe More/Undecided

You can follow the development of this theme at this thread at 1src.com

Tell me what you think! :)

Just found this BlueScreen-saver on Sysinternal’s website:

One of the most feared colors in the NT world is blue. The infamous Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) will pop up on an NT system whenever something has gone terribly wrong. Bluescreen is a screen saver that not only authentically mimics a BSOD, but will simulate startup screens seen during a system boot.
•On NT 4.0 installations it simulates chkdsk of disk drives with errors!
•On Win2K and Windows 9x it presents the Win2K startup splash screen, complete with rotating progress band and progress control updates!
•On Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 it present the XP/Server 2003 startup splash screen with progress bar!

Bluescreen cycles between different Blue Screens and simulated boots every 15 seconds or so. Virtually all the information shown on Bluescreen’s BSOD and system start screen is obtained from your system configuration – its accuracy will fool even advanced NT developers. For example, the NT build number, processor revision, loaded drivers and addresses, disk drive characteristics, and memory size are all taken from the system Bluescreen is running on.

Use Bluescreen to amaze your friends and scare your enemies!

Although it doesn’t say, it also manages to perfectly emulate a Vista BSoD/bootscreen!

See this YouTube video I made for a demo

Will you use this on your coworkers/friends?

Members of the Palm OS economy seem to enjoy playing whac-a-mole with one-another(examples: Palm, HackNDev) – and Expansys just joined the pack. As you may recall, I ordered a GSPDA M70 quite some time ago…various quirks in regards to the ATU number led to the order being delayed quite a bit.

For all those of you unaware of what an M70 is – it’s the latest Palm OS powered phone from Palm competitor GSPDA. The image below from Theo Poon shows how the box looks:
m70 Expansys and the GSPDA M70   whac a mole revisited

Anyways, I managed to sort the ATU number crap out last week – and just got an email informing me that Expansys itself does not know when the device will ship(german text below):

leider hat unserer Zulieferer nicht seinen Termin einhalten können, weshalb diese Verzögerung Zustande gekommen ist. Sobald der Artikel eintrifft erfolgt der unmittelbare Versand.

Es tut uns leid, Ihnen im Moment keinen anderen Bescheid geben zu können.

This email states that Expansys’s supplier has not been able to meet his promised shipping date. As of now, Expansys does not know when the M70 will arrive – if it eventually trickles in, it will be sent out to my location as soon as possible.

Do you think that we will ever see an M70?

Access, the new owner of the former PalmSource, has just announced an application that will allow customers to run Garnet applications on Nokia’s maemo-powered tablets(N770 w/o sound):

TOKYO, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ — ACCESS CO., LTD., a global provider of
advanced software technologies to the mobile and beyond-PC markets, today
announced that it will make available a beta version of a Garnet(TM) VM
software for Nokia N770, N800 and N810 Internet Tablets.
Garnet VM will
make it possible for users of the Nokia N770, N800 and N810 to enjoy
thousands of off-the-shelf Garnet(TM) OS (formerly Palm OS(R))-based
applications immediately available to enhance their productivity,
connectivity and play. Garnet VM is expected to be available by the end of
the year free of charge as a download from the ACCESS website.

Garnet VM is a “virtual machine” software application for running
Garnet OS-based applications in a Linux(R) environment, and supports over
30,000 software applications, including some of the most popular mobile
applications on the market, such as Google Maps(TM), Snappermail(R),
DateBk5 and perennially favorite games like Bejeweled(R), PacMan and
Sudoku.
……
“ACCESS is leveraging our work on the ACCESS Linux Platform(TM) which
includes Garnet VM as one of three runtime environments along with Java(TM)
and native Linux,” said Didier Diaz, senior vice president product strategy
management, ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc. “This reinforces the value of
Garnet OS-based applications to consumers and creates an all-around win: it
will allow Nokia users to access the thousands of great applications
running under Garnet OS; it will give our loyal developers a larger
installed base of devices; and it will enable ACCESS to fine-tune Garnet VM
based on customer feedback.”

…….

For more information, visit the ACCESS website at
http://www.access-company.com/products/gvm
…continued at PrNewswire

For all those of you new to Nokia’s Nxxx devices; please take a look at the Nokia N810 over at our sister site TamsS60.

For me, this latest move by Access looks like the company is trying to test ALP component by component. Nokia’s Nxxx devices have always appealed to technology freaks…many of those originally used Palm OS devices. This move could motivate many of them to undig their old apps… . This has two benefits for Access. First of all, the Garnet VM gets tested thoroughly by tablet users(anyone note the prominently displayed feedback form on the web site???) – and as an added benefit, ALP stays in the news and the minds of people.

For me, today’s big loosers are the orange-orbers(Palm). With every new VM/emulator that pops up, there is less and less incentive for people to stick with the hardware produced by the colourful boys. Customer care dipsh*tting(Ryan Rix is currently going through a load of it) and whining screens can now easily be evaded by purchasing a device from another manufacturer like my personal favorite, HP(be sure to avoid Acer though…their build quality is even worse than Palm’s).

What do you think?

Further info:
First look at the VM

Dear Readers,
we have just updated the software powering TamsPalm, TamsPPC and TamsS60. These updates are required to keep our news sites working safe and fast…we apologize for the necessary downtime!

As always, software updates can cause small malfunctions. Should you encounter any, please accept our apologies and leave a comment here so that we can fix them!

Best regards
Tam Hanna & the Tamoggemon analyst team

Megasoft2000 has released a new version of its wireless file manager WLink. WLink allows you to browse folders and files in a Windows network environment, on a Bluetooth device and on FTP servers.

In addition to many bugfixes, the new version has both a scanner for Bluetooth and Wireless LAN devices and a traffic meter for its internet connections.

http://www.megasoft2000.com/product.php?product=WLink&division=palm

By good luck and ill fortune, I managed to visit the vienniese PalmUserGroup meeting last Thursday. As usual, it was held in the Pizza Plus in Alterlaa…good food at affordable prices. There were four of us at the meeting – here are the topics:

Flush
Flush – a small freeware application that flushes the DB cache at power-off, was beamed around. Our Treo 650-users seem to like the application very much…on my Treo 680, it did nothing except slowing down poweroff by approximately 40secs:
0a PUG Vienna met last Thursday

Freedom Bluetooth Keyboard
Freedom’s classic bluetooth keyboard has served me well so far(especially while my Laptop was at Acer’s for an insanely long repair cycle). However, Alex didn’t particularly like it – its response to typing was too slow for his liking(he is an extremely fast typist):
1a PUG Vienna met last Thursday
1b PUG Vienna met last Thursday
1c PUG Vienna met last Thursday

HP ipaq rx4240 and StyleTap
Martin took a detailed look at the TamsPPC rx4240 – and gave StyleTap and the Windows CE GUI a workout:
2a PUG Vienna met last Thursday

Mini Laptops
Asus eee and the OLPC XO were also discussed to some extent. There is an OLPC XO demo in Vienna every Wednesday(expect info soon)… . The main topic of controversy was about the XO’s display…luckily, an ipaq running NotePad makes an excellent conflict resolution tool:
3a PUG Vienna met last Thursday

Treo Torch
Martin, the fearless Treo 650 modder, struck once again. After bringing us , he now integrated a torch into his 650′s antenna:
4a PUG Vienna met last Thursday

Weather applications
Alex and I got into a little quarrel about the best weather app – he preferred KMeteo, while I preferred TreoWeather. While the latter looks better(available in the TamsShop), KMeteo is free and supports a 10day forecast.
5a PUG Vienna met last Thursday

Add in the regular chit-chat about Apple and remote-controlled helicopters and the classically-well-done Pizza Plus food, and you have one happy bunch of Palm OS users…
Overall, I really enjoyed this user meeting. The next one is on December the 6th…not sure if I will make it…

This review has nothing to do with PalmOS but it makes just as much fun though it is not very useful: The Brando USB Misslie Launcher.
The device is shipped with a paper target, 3 missiles and the software for the PC. Once the launcher is plugged into an USB port, Windows recognizes it as a “Human Interface Device” and installs the needed drivers automatically. The software – which is Windows Vista ready – for controlling the launcher can also be installed onto an USB drive so that you can carry the device with you.

The size of the device can be seen in the image below:
100 1692thumbnail The Brando USB Missile Launcher

How the device acts and how the controlling software works can be expressed the best way by a video:
USB Misslie Launcher video on youtube.com

After you have hit the “Fire!” button you will hear an audio warning for three times until the missile launches.
Instead of using the software + mouse to control your launcher you can use the keyboard for:
- moving (left-right-up-down): arrow keys
- fire: space
Even though the rockets are build out of foam plastic, please do not aim or shoot at humans or animals!

In my opinion this little toy is a great way to skip some time when it is getting boring – e.g. in your office :)

You can buy the launcher for 35 USD at the brando shop:
USB Misslile Launcher at the brando shop

This review is available in german, too.

John Wilund has just informed us that SrcEdit has been updated again – the latest update fixes all known bugs in SrcEdit’s Global Find functionality. Additionally, SrcEdit’s Global Find functionality can now be disabled in case it should contain further bugs:
srcedit SrcEdit updated   global find issues fixed

The latest version can be downloaded here.

As always, if you run SrcEdit, please try to update your handheld as soon as possible. Further information is available in #srcedit on irc.freenode.net.

“A quote a day keeps the jackass away” – Tam Hanna

Ever saw a quote and felt like taking it on the road with you? Ever felt like having your handheld greet you with a quote whenever it starts up? Ever wished that 2Day or ZLauncher had a Quote-of-the-day function? Tamoggemon Daily Quote does it all!
daquopenbig Take your favourite quotes with you – Daily Quote 3.0 released

The latest version of Daily Quote gives you access to the following new features:

ZLauncher plug-in
ZLauncher users all over the world, rejoice! Our product can now be integrated into your favorite launcher via a simple plug-in. It then provides a Daily-Quote-powered quote ticker that is available whenever ZLauncher is opened!
zlauncherbig Take your favourite quotes with you – Daily Quote 3.0 released

Quote-a-day mode
Quote-a-day mode configures Daily Quote to update the displayed quote only once a day, instead of choosing a new one from the database whenever a quote is displayed.

Improvements to popup engine
The DailyQuote popup engine has been overhauled completely so that it is now 100% compatible with security applications and incoming call dialogs. Get a call? Daily Quote will not interfere! Handheld locked? A quote will be waiting for you after unlocking the handheld!

Combined with our existing features like 2day integration and quote databases that can be edited on the go, Daily Quote is the most comprehensive quote management/display solution for Palm OS!

A 14day evaluation version is available for free from http://www.tamoggemon.com/pdq/download.php; existing customers get a free upgrade under Tamoggemon’s free-update policy. The full version costs 9.95$ and can be purchased from MobiHand!

In a move astonishing to no one even just somewhat familiar with the sorry state of recent VersaMail releases(being unable to prefix messages while replying), Palm has announced that its VersaMail client is NOT compatible with GMAIL IMAP:

There’s been some discussion around Palm’s VersaMail client being compatible with Google’s Gmail. We wanted to clarify that currently Palm Treo and Centro smartphone customers can access their Gmail accounts using the POP email protocol. While VersaMail supports the IMAP protocol, there are some known incompatibilties and limitations with Gmail. For example, VersaMail does not support IMAP-IDLE, which is used by Gmail to deliver continuously updated email. For Gmail users on the Palm OS, there are aftermarket email solutions that support IMAP-IDLE on Treo and Centro like ChatterEmail.

-Jay Baik, Product Manager, Email

As of now, no further information is available on a VersaMail update – if you are in charge of the app, please get in touch with me for a few suggestions and bug reports(like 100 pages of them, actually).

P.S. Yes – ChatterEMail is owned by Palm…and sold for 40$. SO much about them being motivated to improve VersaMail….

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