05:23 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Lindsey from PalmAddicts found this gem for us: Get $50 off if you purchase a new handheld from Palm. The deal currently only applies to Tungsten T5 (my personal favorite), Tungsten E2, and Zire 72.

04:40 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

It's easy to corrupt a PDA device during a ROM update, especially if a power loss or software error occurs during the flash update. Most PDA vendors including PalmOne release ROM updates on a regular basis. While they usually provide detailed instructions for the upgrade procedures, the chance of ROM corruption is a known risk.

PalmSource addresses this risk with increased security through a fault-tolerant Flash ROM update procedure. In the recently received US Patent 6,918,017, the company describes the procedure as such (see also attached drawings):

1. The PDA contains two reset-resistent memory areas, whereas one (memory 1) is used to hold the actual Flash content that is normally used to startup the PDA, while the other (memory 2) is used for temporary storage;
2. during a Flash upgrade the content of the new Flash is copied from your desktop to memory 2;
3. upon the next reset, the device verifies the content in memory 2 and ensures that it is safe to load the information into memory 1;
4. upon a positive verification, the content from memory 2 is copied to memory 1 and the device is resetted to load it with the new Flash content.

02:44 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

There are less and less mobile device users that don't also use a memory card. But we've also learned that it's usually much slower if you use your device synch to move data between a desktop computer and a memory card.

So a card reader becomes the natural choice. Personally, I'm very happy with my Sandisk ImageMate 5 in 1 Reader. Be careful of older card readers because the old firmware can cause cards to be corrupted or even rendered unusable. (I've experience this myself, and ended up throwing away the old card reader.)

Palm Addicts is pointing us to a nice review of SD card readers at TreoCentral..."I hate performing HotSync operations. Back in the day, Palm users did not have fancy NVRAM that prevented data loss when your battery died, so a daily HotSync was almost a necessity. Since a daily sync operation took less than a minute, it wasn't too bad. However, with the Treo's multimedia features, syncing can be a real pain. It can take 10-20 minutes to transfer a few sound or video files to the Treo's SD card. With 1 GB SD memory expansion cards prices are coming down, it can really take a long time to get your multimedia files over to the SD card."

02:04 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

There's a new Linux PDA on the horizon. The market is certainly not standing still while PalmOS is being prepared for Linux.

LinuxDevices reports "Taiwanese pager maker Unication demonstrated a Linux-based PDA at Computex last week. The Magpie offers unique and sophisticated features, including an integrated FM transmitter, WiFi, and full Opera browser. However, the device has a low-quality plastic case reminiscent of handheld gaming devices, according to BargainPDA."

This joins the most exciting product announcement I've seen yet, which is the Nokia 770 Linux pda. Even though a calmshell device would be nice, this one from Nokia may win a lot of early adopters who just can't bear to wait any longer.

The future is starting to look really bright for the consumer, soon to be flooded with choices of PalmOS for Linux, improved versions of Windows Mobile, and all kinds of Linux PDA devices! I think I'd better start saving a few dollars...

12:06 PM by Bob Russell in Miscellaneous | Lounge

I hear people complain and argue all the time about how studios are forcing people to pirate. It's definitely not a clear cut and simple issue, and people are writing about it all the time. But no one on either side has made it this "cute" before!

How Bob The Millionaire Became a Pirate

Winning the hearts and minds of the people on this issue (and therefore shaping the law) is how I think this will be determined. With all the creative skills and resources on the motion picture and recording artist side of the world, one has to wonder why they aren't making use of it to sway our opinions. How about a few blockbusters with messages about content piracy? Hollywood has never shyed away from a message before.

But what I'd really like to see is Mark Cuban use his resources to make some clever multimedia spots on the side of "DRM is stupid, and stop treating your customers like criminals." How about it Mark!? You could even simply host it on your website and it will spread like wildfire!

11:40 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

PalmAddicts has been recommending All About Palm as a new resource for daily news on everything related to Palm computing including handhelds and smartphones. I would like to share this view. All About Palm is a great site run by friendly people and it is definitely worth a daily visit! They also offer an RSS feed for the news junkies among us.

06:00 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Week in Review

Missed some of our big mobile stories this week? Time to catch up:

Announcements
Database outage
Happy Birthday hacker!

Current E-Books Trends
Harry Potter 6 e-book already being pirated!

E-Book Readers
Matsushita demonstrates next Sigma e-book reader
More on Matsushita's next Sigma e-book reader

E-Book Webstores
eReader Promo done wrong?

General Chat
CBS News Chooses Broadband Over CableTV
Fujitsu's new color E-Paper in perpetuity
Is Google just about food?
Longhorn DRM Will Demand "Approved" Display Devices
More money for Motricity
Multiple PDAs
New Harry Potter book "accidentally" leaked
Palm or Pocket PC: Which to choose?
The .mobi domain wins ICANN approval
With Pina Colada on cruising technology conferences

Link Swap
Odeo podcast service opens to the public

Other E-Book Resources
Free Programming Resources
Manybooks adds support for iPod Notes

Other Gadgets
Solar Charger for Gadgets

Other Readers
FBReader e-book reader for Sharp Zaurus
Free MS Reader eBook Creation Tool
OpenBerg Milestone Release 1 alpha released

Palm
A corporate timeline of Palm company
Lots of new Alethe font sizes for FontSmoother
Palm Addict Podcast #4
PalmAddicts Summer contest
PalmFocus Monthly Newsletter
PalmSource Guide To Interactive Fiction
PalmSource Mobile Summit photos
Rumors of a new Treo in December
The Once and Future Palm
Today PalmOne becomes Palm again
TraxItAll

Pocket PC
NewsBreak V1.1 released
SideWindow 1.01 virtual desktop for Pocket PC
Unlocking tool for HTC Pocket PC phones

Sunrise
Sunrise with Opera integration

WiFi / Bluetooth Technologies
In-flight WiFi = major security risk?

09:09 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

It's always fun to keep up on rumors of new devices, but it's good to take the earliest ones with a grain of salt. Here's the rumor being reported by Engadget based on a post at TreoCentral.

"It reads more like a Treo fanboy wishlist than a completely convincing spec sheet, but someone posted up some details about what is supposedly going to be Palm’s next Treo (and we won’t even get into the completely dubious pic of a 'Treo 700' that popped up on HowardForums the other day). It all sounds a little dubious, but this dude claims that the next Treo will have the same form factor as the Treo 650 but run on Palm OS Cobalt 6.1 (okay…..) and have Bluetooth 1.2, WiFi, 64MB of RAM, and EV-DO. Oh, and supposedly this new Treo should be out sometime around December or possibly early next year."

The same form factor makes sense because it's very popular, and Ed Colligan of Palm has made it clear in the past that it doesn't make much sense to go to completely different designs when you can build on successful products instead. EV-DO or any high speed connectivity is a big improvement if the usage fees are not too steep. And 64MB of RAM sure beats the 22MB I have on my Treo 650.

I'm suspicious about the WiFi because carriers want your cash for themselves every time you connect to the internet. But it's fun to dream.