02:37 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Remember Fossil's Wrist PDA, the tiniest incarnation of a PalmOS handheld which had hit markets earlier this year? Well, BargainPDA received word that watch maker Fossil has lost faith in its mini-handheld and already began phasing it out. I could wax poetic here about the reasons of its failure (outdated system, small display, little RAM, high price), but perhaps it's best if I just leave it alone and we all remember Fossil as yet another brave Palm OS licensee of the past.

[via Engadget]

11:09 AM by Colin Dunstan in E-Book General | News

VitalSource has launched what it calls the VitalSource Bookshelf, a software available for Mac OS and Windows which you can use to buy your e-books online and to archive them on your computer. Despite our fervent hopes that it wouldn't happen again, they created yet another proprietary and DRM-"enhanced" e-book format, called VitalBook (.vbk). So far VitalBooks include around 1,000 titles, among which you find public domain classics such as Shakespeare and reference works from various textbook publishers. We wish you guys good luck with your ambitions, but please take our advise to try it with a more widespread e-book format next time.

10:15 AM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

"College Students Trade Textbooks for Pocket PCs" is the title of an article at Pocket PC Magazine describing an interesting new course offering at Bentley College.

"Students in Bentley College's experimental 'IT 101 intensive' course have traded their textbooks for a Pocket PC. This introductory course uses leading-edge technology in a creative way to engage self-proclaimed computer wizards fresh out of high school. It challenges them to think creatively and to discover how mobile computing devices can solve a myriad of challenges. In the process they learn about wireless technology, programming, web logs and other technologies they will be using throughout their academic careers."

"The idea for using handheld technology for this course came to Frydenberg when he realized that for not much more than the cost of the required textbooks, students could purchase a handheld computer and learn about technology by experiencing it rather than by reading about it. Bentley purchased Dell Axim X30 Pocket PCs because they were the most cost-effective"

Well worth a read.

08:58 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night and mistaken your mom for a zombie flesh-eater? Then it's time to put the games away and instead grab a book. The guys at joystiq run a story on the first full-length graphic novel released for the Sony PSP. The book NYC2123: Dayender is released under a Creative Commons-License and you can download the first issue from here. Quote from the authors:

"While traditional comic book publishers have tried to capitalize on the PSP's popularity by scanning in their books and resizing them for the PSP screen, they're basically impossible to read at that size. "NYC2123" is the first graphic novel that's designed specifically for the PSP display and it looks fantastic as a result."

[thanks to Angel from Digitaltechlife]

08:30 AM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Nothing definitive yet, but I think we've finally seen a plausible explanation of that secret third line of products from Palm Inc mentioned by Jeff Hawkins as being in its infancy.

We've seen many PDA-related sites claiming that it was the LifeDrive. I was reluctant to accept that because I believe that Jeff Hawkins is more creative than that. When he comes up with a concept like that, it's going to be revolutionary. And he's going to have no trouble selling it as revolutionary. So just tying the LifeDrive line to his third business line wasn't enough for me.

But now, putting together all the clues, we see via Palm Addict an article at Schestowitz.com talking about how portable tiny computers can become hosts to a regular computer, using the regular computer simply as a display and keyboard, etc. Not a new idea, but what is new is to link it to the LifeDrive. (I don't know if he's the first, but it's the first I've seen.)

The clues were all around us... for example the post recently on MobileRead about the BlackDog Linux product that does exactly that. However, linking it to LifeDrive is big news. Can you imagine your PalmOS pda also driving your full computing experience everywhere, whether undocked on its own, or docked via USB and making use of another keyboard and display?

If true, then it fits Hawkins' description, and it means that Palm will be investing heavily in the LifeDrive line. That sounds like big news to me, and a very promising turning point for PalmOS, because when it's not docked, everyone is going to want it to run a nice pda OS! It's good news for Windows Mobile also, because they can do the same thing with Windows. Well, sort of. It might take longer to run full Windows on a portable device and get decent battery life and price points. Sounds like a big open opportunity for PalmOS and Linux!

05:37 PM by Bob Russell in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Also from Palm Addicts, there is news that Fictionwise is having a summer sale.

"Fictionwise is my favorite 'pay for' ebook site. I just got an email that they are running a sale: 'We do a big back to school sale every August but this year we've created even bigger specials that you will want to study, even if you are done with your homework! First, all Classics, Education, History, and Reference eBooks have huge discounts or Micropay Rebates.

Second, if you want to build your own digital library, now is the time: we've bundled ALL Classic eBooks published by Fictionwise into two packs and discounted them almost 90%.'"

05:33 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

We cannot confirm the legitimacy of this release, so please download at your own risk.

Palm Addicts is reporting that the Opera web browser is now available here. "Opera, one of the best browsers on earth has FINALLY released a version for our Treo. We now have Opera Mini for both the Treo 600 and the Treo 650. I downloaded and installed it on my 650, and have to say I am liking what I see so far."

03:43 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Check out all the mouth-watering screenshots in this first hands-on preview of the HTC Tornado aka Qtek 8300 smartphone. Specs: WM 5.0, TI 200MHz CPU, 64MB RAM, 64MB ROM, miniSD, IrDA, Bluetooth 1.2, WiFi (!), USB, GSM 900/1800/1900, GPRS class B, TFT 2.2" 240x320 65K, 1.3MP Camera.