03:08 PM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | News

Teleread's Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti continues to amaze us with her ability to accurately describe how reading e-books differs from reading paper books. In her latest editorial she stresses the importance of keeping sentences and paragraphs short in order for e-books to be easier on the eye and easier to read. An audio podcast is also available.

This is, ideally, what we want when writing for the Internet, an easy sort of read so that our eyes don't cross as we try to get into a book. After all, what use is the Internet or an e-book if you have to print it out to read it? In the final account we come full circle, converting our e-books finally into p-books, the very thing we had said we were trying to get away from in the first place.

02:40 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

ScummVM allows you to revive old-school LucasArts adventure games such as Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island on your Windows Mobile handheld. Due to copyright restrictions, the game data itself is not included, but surely you'll find ways how to get around this. Click here to download ScummVM for WM.

New features in 0.8 include:

• New improved launcher and in-game GUI
• Support for Inherit the Earth and Gobliiins
• CGA and Hercules rendering modes for some games
• Preliminary support for NES and C64 LucasArts games
• Much improved support for Humongous Entertainment children games (Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam, Putt-Putt, Spy Fox, Fatty Bear, Backyard Sports and Buzzy)

02:28 PM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

Isn't it great when a company takes an aging product and updates it with all the modern trimmings? After spending over 1-1/2 years in a coma, Cerince finally decided to silently upgrade their popular PDF reader RepliGo. Not exactly sure what's new, but PalmGear says that the entry was last updated in Oct 31, 2005, and the note on Windows Mobile 5.0 compatibility cannot be too old either. Common guys, we know you can do better to impress us!

12:11 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

If you are tired of all the positive blurb for Palm's latest Tungsten TX, check out this editorial appearing in the Washington Post today, telling us why the Tungsten TX comes three years too late.

[Palm's] best chance of success may lie in continued mistakes by Palm's competitors -- not just vendors of devices running Microsoft's Windows Mobile software, but also wireless phone companies and MP3-player manufacturers... It may require a minor revolution to get the cell phone vendors to seize this opportunity, but it should not take much more work to turn an iPod or other MP3 player into an effective, reliable way to carry around a Mac or PC's address book and calendar. Once either event comes to pass, Palm risks finding itself with even fewer potential buyers to impress.

11:20 AM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

It hit me when I saw the good news over at PalmFocus today about Lance expecting a baby this weekend. (Congratulations Lance!)

Most amazingly, as I thought about his new baby, it suddenly occurred to me what Palm's third business is. You know, the one that Jeff Hawkins alluded to in somewhat mysterious terms. Actually, I think it's pretty clear to me now... didn't he say very plainly that this new business was an infant? How in the world did we miss the clues? He was laying the whole thing out right before us.

There's a sophisticated line of Tungsten, LifeDrive and Treo devices for the older business people, the Zire line for the youngsters, and I'm convinced now that the soon to be announced line of mobile computing devices is "Baby Palm!"

It makes a lot of sense. He said to think about a world where you have constant connectivity and servers available wherever you go. When you are an infant you are always connected to someone... 24/7. And there are servers available all around you ready to play choo choo every time you are hungry. And like all of Jeff's creations, the Baby Palm line is sure to cause a fuss. When the little tyke throws his new gadget against the wall, that is!

Finally the mystery is solved!!!!

11:10 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

PalmAddicts reader Rimez managed to interview Gabor "Picard" Kovacs, the smart mind who revolutionized video playback on Palm OS and Pocket PC handhelds by introducing The Core Pocket Media Player (TCPMP). In case you've missed it somehow, TCPMP is an open-source video player supporting various popular formats including DivX, XviD, MPEG2.

10:47 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Sam of PalmAddicts put in some nice words for us, and on behalf of Mobileread I'd like to return the compliment by saying how much I enjoy conversing with and learning from everyone at PalmAddicts. Whether you are interested in Palm handhelds and the mobile phone industry, or just love to interact with friendly individuals, PalmAddicts is a wonderful place to visit, and it will always stand out of the crowd.

09:19 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Over at Aximsite numerous people are reporting that their Windows Mobile 5.0 Upgrade CD from Dell began shipping yesterday. I guess you could call me old-fashioned, but Windows Mobile 2003SE is still sufficient for my needs and I'll stick to it until various apps important to me (such as OzVGA to switch to 640x480) are upgraded to work with WM 5.0.

In case you want to restore the ROM image from WM 5.0 back to WM 2003, you can download the appropriate tool free from Dell's Website:
Downgrade for X50v, Downgrade for X50