09:55 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

PalmAddicts comes with the news for us this morning that Picard has updated his top multimedia player TCPMP V0.66e. Changelog:

+mjpeg gray-scale support
+minimal jpeg file format support (no progressive support yet)
+better support for enhanched podcasts (m4a with jpeg slideshow)
-avi files with ogg vorbis stream fix
-palmos: external launching fixes (auto fullscreen playback)
-h263 decoding fix

Related: Don't tell anyone, but a South American server is the new host for the AAC plugin which was recently dropped due to copyright issues.

04:50 AM by Laurens in Miscellaneous | Lounge

The World: Technology podcasts. Well-produced and always interesting. Check out the recent podcast about UK hacker Gary MacKinnon.

02:15 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

EDN wrote an interesting article explaining technical issues between simultaneous WiFi and Bluetooth operations. Because both WiFi and Bluetooth wireless technology operate within the 2.4 GHz band and will often be located in close physical proximity to one another, there is concern for how they may interfere with one another.

One problem with interference is that it can cause significant dropout in throughput and possible disconnects when the WiFi AP is located really far away from the receiving system.

[via Bluetooth Weblog]

05:48 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

More photos posted in this thread.

Looks like it might be for real. Palm Addicts points us to an Engadget article with video. I couldn't get it to play on my pc, but am curious what people think about it. Can it be a fake video?

Very interesting...

roc a fella is the source and Engadget credited him rightfully. The folks over at Engadget should have pointed to the real source of the scoop: Howardforums -Alex

05:30 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book Software | Reading and Management

Remember Misha's post of last month regarding the e-book reader FBReader? Further down he mentioned that he had plans to spend some time on porting the reader to Gtk+ and subsequently add support for the Maemo platform.

Teleread picked up the story today welcoming the fact that the reader is being ported for the Nokia 770.

05:09 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

The Herald Tribune explains the best way to make money through e-books: to give them away for free download.

The idea is not to give away e-books instead of selling what Doctorow calls "treeware." The aim is to generate buzz that will promote sales of hardcovers and paperbacks - either the book offered for download, or the author's other books.

04:21 PM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

We admire Princeton not only for its beautiful campus and its myriad of creative minds, but also for its courage to embrace new technologies. Starting in the fall semester, the school will offer digital textbooks to its students in partnership with Missouri-based MBS Textbook Exchange Inc and various textbook publishers. The student only needs to pick up a barcoded textbook card (see attached screenshot), activate it at the cash register for usually 33 percent less than the new-book price, and go online for a one-time download of the textbook in PDF format.

Alas, the e-books are encoded in DRM which pretty much spoils the potential success of this pilot project:

• Textbook is locked to the computer where you downloaded it from;
• Copying and burning to CD is prohibited;
• Printing is limited to small passages;
• Unless otherwise stated, textbook activation expires after 5 months (*gasp*);
• Activated textbooks are not returnable;
• Buyback is not possible.

If this hasn't scared you off already, click here to read the rest in the press release.

12:57 PM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

We just received a nice note from Jen, the Pocket Goddess, who I also had the pleasure of meeting at the last PalmSource DevCon. Here's the scoop...

"Hello everyone, I hope you're having a great summer. Things have been really busy on the site lately, and if you haven't visited recently then come back and take a look at all the new articles. I've posted reviews on the palmOne LifeDrive and accessories, as well as reviews of products from Brando, Proporta, and much more. The RSS feeds for the reviews and news areas are also running now, and I hope to have email notification for individual articles soon.

I'm also having an online "garage sale" to find good homes for some great handheld accessories. If you need a case for your LifeDrive, iPod, PSP, or other handheld device, you’ll find some great bargains. I’ve also got some software and assorted other stuff, including a Crumpler bag, a T1 camera case, and noise-canceling headphones. All prices are at just half of retail or less, and proceeds help pay the hosting bills so I can keep the site running.

Use the Contact link on the site or reply to this message to request a copy of the list and I’ll send it right out to you. PocketGoddess Garage Sale veterans know the good stuff goes early, so don’t delay. Payment by PayPal (will consider Amazon certificates) and shipping is just $3 in the US unless you buy a lot and want to upgrade to UPS. Good luck, and happy shopping!

I hope to "see" each of you online, and if you have any comments or suggestions, please don't hesitate to use the contact form and let me know what you think or suggest product reviews and articles you'd like to see on the site.

--
www.pocketgoddess.com
Handheld News & Reviews With a Feminine Touch"