08:51 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Using a cell phone without protection is like having sex without any form of contraception: It may lead to catching a virus and to birth of unexpected (and usually unwanted) life forms. The Mobile Usage Survey 2005 conducted by Pointsec (who happens to sell mobile security solutions) found that a third of professionals using mobile devices do not use passwords or any other security protection:

According to the survey, corporate personnel now store huge amounts of corporate data on their mobile devices, including customer contacts, email details, passwords and bank account details as well as personal and private information. Pointsec warns a lost PDA or smartphone with no protection makes easy pickings for common thieves, opportunists, hackers or competitors. And the company says turning a blind eyes to mobile security could have a huge impact on customer confidence, cause an organisation to breach the data protection act or do untold damage to a company's reputation. On a personal level, it could expose users to fraud, embarrass friends or wreck personal lives, the survey revealed.

[via EETimes]

06:59 AM by ebookimpression in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

This one is sent in by Carey Metelerkamp, director of eBook Impressions:
Do you want to promote your ebook? We're looking to build our free ebook category and hope you will submit your PDF title to eBook Impressions.

For further information please visit http://www.ebookimpressions.com/main...ges=FreeEbooks.

We look forward to promoting all ebooks submitted!

06:21 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

We didn't have any serious reason to believe that the PalmSource-Access deal would come off (nor did investors with PSRC stock trading at 80 percent premium), and today it's official: Japan's Access has acquired PalmSource. C|Net comments:

Finalization of the $324.3 million transaction means that PalmSource is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Access and will no longer be a separate publicly traded company. PalmSource traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol PSRC. "As a result of the acquisition, each outstanding share of PalmSource common stock has been converted automatically into the right to receive $18.50 in cash," the company said in a statement. Additional financial details were not available... Ultimately, Access said it will combine its Linux-based NetFront browser with the Palm OS version 5x--also known as Garnet. Access may even revisit the Palm OS version 6, known as Cobalt, which was not broadly licensed by PalmSource, executives have said.

06:07 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Danger hasn't even made a peep about the forthcoming Sidekick III, so Engadget and some other folks took it upon themselves to release some juicy details. Rumors have it that the new Sidekick will have EDGE, a memory card slot, and a built-in music player. Not much, but I can feel the anticipation rising. Oh, it goes without saying, the Sidekick III won't be out until next year.

[via PalmAddicts]

05:55 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Take the premier Office suite for Palm OS, Documents To Go 8, add native Adobe PDF support to it, and you're ready to substitute your office with a handheld.

Alternative: PalmPDF - also adds native PDF support to your Palm device, and it's free.

[via Download Squad]

05:43 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Bits and pieces flying in from PDAMill this morning:

• We've just updated our Palm OS titles to add support for the latest crop of the devices, including improved compatibility with the LifeDrive, Treo 650, Tungsten T|5, TX and the Z22.
• Anthelion 2: Celestial Vigilance is our upcoming sequel to Anthelion. The game consists of even more action, easier controls, superior full-3D graphics, and VGA support. That's right! The game also runs smooth on VGA devices (such as the HP hx4700, the ASUS 730, Fujitsu's LOOX 720 and of course Dell's X50v and X51v), making full use of the fantastic displays and being the first 3D VGA game not dependant on HW acceleration. You can download the Public Beta version for free this week and try the game before it's released.
• Don't forget to log in to our community site, My PDAmill to save 10% or more on our titles.

05:33 AM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | News

According to the guys at WSJ, eReader & Co might soon face a new challenge: Google. It is rumored that Google has approached at least one book publisher to measure interest in a program for consumers to "rent" an online copy of new books for a week.

While the exact shape of any rental approach by Google doesn't appear to be final, the current discussion with the publisher is a strong indication the Internet-search company plans to head in the digital book-renting direction. "Google Print is exploring new access models to help authors and publishers sell more books online, but we don't have anything to announce," a Google spokesman said.

Though before you indulge in that fantasy, note that the publisher said that at least for the beginning, books wouldn't be downloadable or printable; in other words, better get comfortable with your 24" computer screen sitting on your lap when you curl up on the couch with a glass of wine, a bowl of fruit, and a good book in mind.

[via ars technica]

05:11 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Miracles of modern science allow us to transfer huge volumes of written content into digital bytes to be then consumed in various ways on pocket-sized handhelds. E-books, e-news, RSS feeds - we've heard it all. The sheer amount of available tools and formats is awe-inspiring and often intimidating:

Tools: Adobe Acrobat, eReader, Microsoft Reader, Mobipocket Reader, iSilo, Plucker, Egress, HandRSS, et al.

Formats: Adobe Acrobat (PDF), Palm Doc (PDB), eReader (PDB), Rocket/REB1100 (RB), Microsoft Reader (LIT), Franklin eBookMan (FUB), hiebook (KML), iSilo (PDB), Mobipocket (PRC), OEBFF Format (IMP), et al.

PalmAddicts' Jeff Cole made a list of his favorite reading tools for which I am grateful since it helps to shed some light into the format mess. Like Jeff, I use eReader for reading commercial e-books. On the other hand, when I have access to an open-format like HTML, I prefer using iSilo or Plucker. For reading e-news, I used to work with offline tools such as Avantgo or iSiloX. Since wireless Internet has been on the march for some time, I found it easier and more convenient to switch to online solutions, using tools such as Egress, to browse the latest news via subscribed RSS feeds.

Now it's your turn to share with us how you organize your reading habits!