Dmitry Grinberg has just made public a beta of his long awaited SDHC driver. While it is still considered beta, you can get a full license for well supported devices:
The current version supporst only those devices, and has been tested on them, but still is considered a beta.
The beta costs 34.95$ US, while those of you who are patient enough will be able to pick up an official release for 20$ US at a yet unannounced later date.
You can read all about it or download the driver.
Last week the iPhone 3G was released to much fanfare. Along with the new 3G speed and features comes the ability to install applications via Apple’s iTunes store and GPS. Why does it seem like I am the only one steamed about the new phone?
Let me start by saying this: I don’t own, nor have I ever used an iPhone or an iPod Touch. My belief is that there is little behind all those fancy interfaces worth playing with. And the kid in my French class wouldn’t let me toy with his.
The phone itself is definitely one of the better phones on the market without a doubt. It’s spawned more carrier rivalry knockoffs than there are brands of LEGO Knockoffs, especially from LG as of late. The device is just plain cool. So why is lil Ryan so hot under the collar?
Two things: The company and the company’s supporters. Yeah, I expect a lot of, er, wonderful comments from you “Apple can do no wrong” people. You’re the ones I’m writing about, so open up and listen for a while. Apple keeps screwing you boys over and over and, for some reason or another, you welcome it with open arms and shouts of praise!
First it came with the initial release of the iPhone and Touch. Apple delivered a solid phone on time but they told developers they would not be able to develop native applications and would have to rely on the device’s webkit based browser, programming in ajax or another web app language. This limited the devices’ usefulness throughout the first “generation” (more on the quotes later) yet very few people seemed to mind, for some reason. Past that, the devices were solid, albeit fairly overpriced, and the blogosphere and geeks alike went mad over the thing, even over the imo gimmicky multitouch interface (I see that being more use on a larger screen, a la the Win7 demoes people have been throwing around)
Then came the price cuts. Within three months of the phone’s monumental release Apple slashed prices by 200$ with much public outcry. The blogosphere was practically up in arms, the major media, even, had something to say on the matter, yet the fanboys were strangely silent. Apple tried to make amends with the mainstream by giving the early adopters a 100$ credit to the Apple store. Why not? It makes Apple look like the saints they seem so keen on portraying themselves as and they still get to keep all the money they made on the deal. All it did was screw over the early adopters who were brave enough to step out.
And now the latest chapter in what I’d like to term iMania (please don’t sue): the shiny new iPhone 3G. Why isn’t anyone mad about this device? Apple’s “first generation” (I am quoting this because I hardly consider sticking a 3G radio in the first iPhone constitutes a generation) iPhone was, lack of third party SDK withstanding, with one notable fault: it ran on AT&T’s slower 2G network rather than their superior 3G network. So, Apple one-upped themselves with the 3G’s ads proclaiming a better-than-iPhone iPhone and light years ahead of the, what, six month old “first generation” iPhone? And, hey, made it even cheaper! 200$ with a two year contract gets you an iPhone 3G. Maybe the 4G will be free… <_< How bout those early adopters, Apple?
And best of all, the world loved it. The 3G is one of the most talked about things on the market. Hell, it completely dwarfed the release of a new colored Centro, also on AT&T. We can blame Palm for picking a bad release date, but isn’t a new color on a nice stable device about as noteworthy as Apple putting the screws to their user base? Am I wrong in thinking there is a problem with how Apple treats their hardcore user base? Should they be able to get away with defecating on the people that made Apple what it is, and get rave reviews for it, no less? Would Palm get even a fraction of the slack Apple’s been cut?
This is just a quick hit to any members of the ACCESS Palm-Dev-Forum subscribed by email.
My inbox has been hit with 500 “new” messages from the palm-dev forum dating back to September 2000.
I suggest that all users who subscribe via email and have a limited inbox* temporarily unsubscribe from email IMMEDIATLY until this issue can be sorted out.
I will do my best to let you know when this issue is fixed (ie, my inbox is done being flooded)
*If you want over six gigabytes of storage, filters and loads of useful crap, get a gmail account 
! My GMail is currently automatically archiving the “new” palm-dev forum posts.
Dmitry Grinberg, of PalmPowerups fame, has just released SkinUI, version 2.2.0.0 as freeware.
SkinUI is now freeware, as a little treat to all you guys. You’ve supported me and my programming for five years now, and I only hope that you enjoyed this time at least as much as I did. Thanks.
This is a soft of a farewall post, just a bit ahead of its time. nuRom for LifeDrive is done and SDHC driver for Palms will be my last official project. I will, of course, continue to fix and update old projects, but unless something changes dramatically do not forsee many new ones. I’ve done all I wanted, and I’ve had plenty of fun along the way.
Long Live PalmOS!
SkinUI has recieved rave reviews in the past. Now this wonderful skinning app can be yours for free!
I’m not doing a fullsized review, but poke around 1src freeware for some great skins!
Dmitry Grinberg of PalmPowerups fame has just released his latest application: PowerDrive, a utility that will allow you to use ANY Compact Flash card as a replacement for your MicroDrive.
Ever wanted to use huge CF cards in your LifeDrive? How would you like 4GB of RAM and a 28GB internal drive…? Well now you can…
PowerDrive promises to become an essential tool for any LifeDrive users out there, and Dmitry has stressed that, besides hardware risks (shorts as you remove the microdrive, etc) the software is completely safe.
As I’ve not got a lifedrive, or a card for testing, this isn’t a review so much as a public service announcement. 
Feel free to browse the readme.
PowerDrive is available from the PalmPowerups store.
As of February 11th, ACCESS has taken down the old ADN located at http://access-company.com/developers. The site, which previously hosted everything from the PalmOS Developer Suite, to the knowledge base, to the creator ID database has been replaced by the new ACCESS developer network at http://accessdevnet.com.
ACCESS writes:
The newly created ACCESS Developer Network Portal is a community-driven website designed to stimulate development of mobile applications for ALP. In addition to technical tools and documentation, ADN provides new social networking features to facilitate developer community interaction via discussion forums and feedback mechanisms that include a bug tracking and feature request system.
Upon further inspection of the new site, the forums do not, as previously, link to the palm-dev-forum, which is mirrored as NNTP, email and via lyris, but they link to a new FireBoard Powered web forum. There is no mention of this on the palm-dev-forum and, hopefully, the FireBoard one will not become the primary board. There are, however, over 1400 registered users on the new forums, so there may be some data imported from the palm-dev-forum, but I cannot figure out how to log in, and, as I’ve just tested with a post to the email forum, the two are not mirrored!
More information will come as we dig it up, folks!
As written earlier at TamsPalm, Dmitry Grinberg is working on a T|X ROM reflasher… Well, he has finally finished and released version 0.9.9.5 of NuROM.
Since my last post on NuROM, there have been a number of changes, the biggest being that NuROM will NOT work on every T|X. It seems that Palm, for some reason or another, changed the type of chip they use from the flash chips manufactured by Intel to strictly ROM chips manufactured by Macronix. So, many T|X users (and nearly definately all recent adopters of Palm’s latest handheld) will be out of luck — NuROM will not work on their devices at this point.
I’m afraid to say that I, and every other active TamsPalm author with a T|X, has a T|X with the nonflashable chip manufactured by Macronix, so there will be no NuROM review until I manage to get a flash device somehow.
So, on to the big stuff – How can you tell if you’ve got a Flash T|X?
During the early phases of testing, Dmitry created a small application called ROM checker that would tell you if you had a flashable device. You can get this application from here. Simply run it and it will say ROM or FLASH according to your model and exit.
Getting NuROM -
NuROM’s latest version can be downloaded here. The trial version limits you to make only 2 changes to our ROM, be it two insertions, removals or one of each. Dmitry has not yet set up PalmPowerUps to allow you to purchase NuROM from the main site, and you will need to email him for full directions on purchasing. NuROM will cost 18.99 with free updates, as with all of Dmitry’s applications.
Getting NuROM support -
So, you are about to make your first flash, and want to make sure everything goes OK. You have a few options for support:
Thanks to NuROM early adopter Pgr, NuROM has created a wiki at WikiDot. Though there is not much there currently, with any luck other users will be willing to put their experiences into the wiki to help new users.
If your issue is not in the Wiki yet, consult this thread at 1src forums (search before you post, please!). This thread is really active, so you should have no problem finding help, either from Dmitry, or from one of the other NuROM users.
In closing -
Altogether, NuROM looks like a stellar application, from the screenshots, and reading other peoples’ posts at the aforementioned 1src thread. But please keep in mind that the application can be incredibly dangerous in inexperienced hands so edit with the mindset of “If I don’t recognize, I’m not going to delete it” and you should be just fine!
Happy Hacking!
We seem to be having technical difficulties at the moment… Comments will be up again soon! ~ Ryan
Last time on our Launcher Review Series, we reviewed Propel, the awesome launcher by Iambic (whose other products have scored rave reviews on TamsPalm in the past). In part II we will be taking a look at AppShelf, by Hiroaki Imazeki.
AppShelf is a launcher with a balance that many others may fail to achieve. While the application has tons of features and possible customisations, it still manages to keep the ease of use that simple launchers, such as the OS’s default, have. When you first install AppShelf you may not be impressed by the graphical ‘wow!’ factor.
However, in about five minutes you can transform the launcher into a whole new creature by adding a custom background, frame (which controls all visual aspects of the launcher besides background images) and even custom sounds.
One of the biggest wow factors, once you’ve completed your customizations, is that AppShelf supports alpha channel in categories icon and semi-transparency in your frames. This is a feature sorely missed from PalmOS; seeing an application like AppShelf implement this is a wondeful feeling…
While the categories found in Propel (like the listing of memoes, contacts, etc) aren’t in AppShelf by default, it has support for adding a huge amount of custom categories, anything from autolaunching PocketTunes, to viewing files using PalmFileBrowserLib (if present, of course) and so much more. Though quite a few of them are clie only applications, there are still plenty of options for the newer Palm devices.
For example, the DA auto-category will scan your device for any DAs installed and list them. While this is not incredibly useful in many cases (DAs are mostly meant to be launched on top of other applications, rather than just being on the launcher) I enjoy having noOffDA (allows the auto-off timer to be disabled) and sound DA (providing advanced sound management) at my fingertips, should I need to enable them without launching MetaDA.
AppShelf has an extendable interface that can easily be customised through the addition of modules, small widget like sub-applications that run on the launcher, in a pseudomultitasking environment. The modules that ship with AppShelf are mostly PIM related, but some are pretty cool. I had trouble finding third party AppShelf Modules on the internet but was able to find a few. For example, HotTimeAS is a nice clock that is unique in that it allows a user to create their own fonts for the time right on the device by drawing each number on the screen.
Pros:
Cons:
a 30 day trial of AppShelf can be
downloaded here, and AppShelf can be purchased at Handango for around $13.
Just a quick newsflash from the Palm blog.
As of January 12th, Palm will no longer be offering the Java Virtual Machine for download on their website.
“As of Jan. 12, 2008, we will no longer be providing this as a downloadable application from our website”
This is a free download for all Treo 600, Treo 650, Treo 680 and Treo 700 P smartphones, T|X, Tungsten T5, Tungsten C, Tungsten T3, Tungsten E2, Tungsten E, LifeDrive, and Zire 72 handheld users so, if you don’t have the JVM, make sure you download it as soon as possible!
TamsPalm is not sure why the JVM will no longer be available for download, but we will forward any information as it becomes availabel!
BGR has been asked to remove the posts, so the image is mirrored from PalmInfoCenter and the links to the posts are dead… Thanks PIC! 
From the unconfirmed rumours department, Boy Genius Report has seemingly got its hands on a Vodafone Product lineup for 2008 which sites, among other new devices, a new Palm device codenamed the Drucker.
According to the posted image, Palm will be releasing a new Windows Mobile 6 device. There was no info accompanying this post besides the image, so I begin to wonder if the device is real, or just some hoax.
The main thing drawing one towards this conclusion is the fact that the device has wifi, a first for a Palm smartphone and the fairly large 1500mAh battery.
No more information was given, but if any is released, you will be sure TamsPalm will be there to pick up the slack!
SplashData has written some pretty cool apps before (some scoring rave reviews on TamsPalm in the past: SplashNotes, SplashID and SplashMoney) but I think I’ve found my favorite.
SplashShopper is a list manager on steroids. SplashShopper, unlike other shopping list managers around, allows you to keep multiple lists, say a weekly shopping list, a birthday wish list, and a family Christmas list. Each list can have a number of items from multiple stores, and the list can be sorted by treating the stores as categories:
The application allows you to create lists that can be reused over and over again, using a template function called QuickList. QuickList allows you to define certain lists as templates that can be created on a moments notice. So if, for example, you always get milk, eggs and butter on your shopping trips, but always managed to forget at least one, you’d simply create your QuickList before you go shopping and not need to worry about forgetting them.
By clicking on the icon of an item, you can mark the item as Unneeded and easily continue shopping. By switching to the ‘needed’ tab, you can easily see what you still need to shop for and you are given a checkbox to mark the item as unneeded, which seems more intuitive than clicking the icon in the ‘all’ tab.
A cool feature of SplashShopper is the ability to assign multiple stores — or whatever you’ve defined your first category to be — to each item.
Choosing -MULTIPLE- allows you to select any stores you wish, up to eight.
To make a Treo user’s life much easier, SplashShopper has a feature called ‘No stylus mode.’ This mode, as it implies, replaces the stylus’s use with the hardkeys, allowing easy navigation of your shopping lists. The only downside to this mode is that it effectively locks you into the application by not allowing you to use your hardkeys to exit the application.
Altogether, SplashShopper is a wonderful application for anyone from a stay at home mom, to a busy businessman. The ease in creating lists and adding items is only trumped by the ease of viewing the list you’ve created. If you’ve ever had to go back to a store multiple times to get toiletries or food that you’ve forgotten (I know I have) this application is a must have.
There is even a desktop syncronisation tool that, which though I couldn’t use (My hotsync is badly borken on Vista) looked like a great way to create your lists and easily sync them to your device. You can easily import and export to and from your favorite formats to make the switch even easier. SplashShopper import/export supports cvs, and various HandShopper formats. It can also Import files from PDA Cookbook, perhaps one of the coolest features.
And even better! To celebrate the holidays, you can purchase SplashShopper at the TamsShop for 20% off by entering the discount code “SPLASHCHEAPLY”at the checkout screen. This discount is only available until the end of January so urry up!
Foreward — This is just a guide containing a few hardware mods I’ve seen done over time. I’ve talked with the folks who’ve originally done these mods for more info than their original posts, so hopefully I don’t cause too much chaos
This one focuses on the modifications that can be done to the official Palm hardcase available for the T|X, T|E, T|E2 and the T|T5.
—
– The Magnet Mod –
My quest for the perfect hard case started in May. I was dissatisfied with the state of my T|X’s hard case, and was looking for an alternative. My main problem was that the chintzy little clasp that held the case shut had snapped loose and would not keep my T|X safe. After a bit of discussion, we decided that replacing the clasp with magnets was a viable alternative.
The first step is to drill out the holes. Since I never really figured I’d be doing this sort of post 7 months later, I have no “in progress” shots, sorry .
Make sure you choose magnets before you drill the holes so that you don’t end up with a big gaping hole in your case. The best thing I have learned is that if you make the hole a tad bit smaller than your magnets, then slowly file it out with anything fairly sharp (Hell, a small flat-head screwdriver works) you will have a nice snug fit that will never require reglueing.
After you drill the holes (I did four, two on each half of the case) you can drop the magnets in. The best ting to do is use a pair of tweasers and coat the magnet with gorilla glue then you simply wedge the magnets in the holes and you are done!
– Anti Rattle Mod–
“So, uh, Ryan, why do you have pieces of dish towels glued to your case?”
Good question! (I’m sorry, I know that’s bad ) The case is designed just kludgingly enough so that there is a very smaller, probably less than 1mm gap between the T|X and the case lid, just enough to have it rattle around and scuff up the front of the the T|X. Jays333 originally gave me the idea to do this in the above 1src thread, however I didn’t have any of that foam lying around, so I simply cut up a dish towel.
Jays333 did a nice job on his however:
This effectively cancels out any rattling that may occur, keeping your T|X unscathed for years to come.
– Headphone Mod –
So, what else can be done to our T|X cases? Well, I have done a few other things to the case in the time I’ve owned it. When I performed the Magnet Mod I also decided to cut away a hole for the headphones so that the case would latch shut when I was listening to music, rather than mashing up my headphone jack.
The first step is to mark where you want to get the cuts. You can plug in the headphones and put the device in the case so that the headphones are where the cuts will be (at which point, you know where the cuts need to be, or you can wing it with a sharpie cap, like Chris Tengi did.
—
That’s all of the mods I could come up with in regards to the Palm Hardcase. Next time we will take a look at alternatives to the Palm Cradle: the design, construction and customisation of our own Cradle kit!
Also, if you try any of these mods please note that I cannot be held responsible if your case is permanently damaged! Perform these mods at your own risk!
And now for part two of TamsPalm’s review of, arguably, one of the most awaited PalmOS apps to date (sort of)
For those of you who missed out on Part 1, by Brent Chiodo you can read it here.
The widgets are the most important part of a widget engine. The widget engine may be the workhorse, but without widgets what can it do?
PDA Performance has done a good job on creating its widgets; my only problem so far is that there is not an SDK available to allow third party developers a chance to create LineUp Widgets.
At any rate, here is a preview of a few of the widgets I found cool:
–CNET–
Everyone’s second favorite (who doesn’t love /.?) geeky news source, CNET, has a widget in LineUp.
At this point, the widget only displays headlines, and not the full story, but it is my hope that sooner or later it will be able to retrieve the full story rather than opening up the default browser to the rss’s url.
At any rate, the widget is very well done, and its animations are smooth and fluid. Again, the roots of Saguaro are very obvious in every aspect of LineUp.
The widget is customisable and you can choose what category news you want to see headlines:
The other option that is customisable is font size. You can adjust to be more legible or have more information available depending on your needs.
–Fortune Cookie–
The fortune cookie as an interesting widget to say the least. When you switch to the widget you are greeted with an eerily realistic image of, you guessed it, the fortune cookie.
Usage is pretty much self explanatory. The big “Open Cookie” Button will crack open your fortune cookie and reveal your fate:
The results of your fortune vary wildly. A quick hex dump of the PRC tells me that there are at least 372 sayings in the fortune cookie, some of the coolest being:
–CNN News–
The CNN news widget looks like a gray-ish version of the CNET news widget. The widget displays the headlines and opens up the browser when you click on them. All widgets contain a warning that you will be leaving Saguaro to launch the browser:
–Weather Widget–
This was the widget I’ve wanted to see the most. The weather widget is a configurable weather widget that, when connected to the internet, gets data for virtually anywhere you could want weather for. I was able to get Vienna, Austria, Phoenix, Arizona, some random African capitals, basically anything that the Weather Channel has data for.
The widget delivers all the stats you could expect from a full weather program: Current Temperature, Barometric pressure, Humidity, wind speed and direction,and a 5 day forecast with stunning images.
The weather widget can also display temperatures in Farenheit or Celsius, depending on your personal preference.
PDA performance has just sent out an email to all the folks who had signed up to be notified for new news (if that’s correct grammar) on Saguaro, the multitasking widget interface for PalmOS.
The Email was “lacking” (it was simply a giant image saying ’2 days’) but I guess that’s enough.
So, in two days we will finally see Saguaro, and expect full coverage on TamsPalm!
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