04:11 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

One of my all-time favorite Palm games, Space Trader, has been updated. Space Trader is a strategy game, inspired by David J. Webb's PalmPilot game SolarWars (which in its turn is based on Matt Lee's game DopeWars) and the 80's classic 3D strategy game Elite (though it does not have Elite's 3D flight mode).

The game is available as freeware; click here for download.

[via PalmAddicts]

02:16 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

If you want to take a break from Palm and Pocket PC, I recommend you to read this review of the Nokia 9500 Communicator. 3-Lib concludes:

The 9500 won't appeal to the typical smartphone user, it's true. It's too big and there's simply too much here to confuse the novice. For them, there are a wealth of Series 60 smartphones, some now with stereo audio and matching Bluetooth qwerty keyboard. But for the ex-Psioneer, for the professional on the move, for the OPL hobbyist, and indeed anyone else who fancies a real keyboard and serious applications, this is the consummate communicator.

I still haven't had the time to fully explore my Nokia 9500, but at least I did manage to fill it with all my contacts and datebook notes.

09:50 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Mobile Sites

I found out about Loband.org first at Teleread, but it also appeared in an article at Slashdot, which is the reason why the site is currently inaccessible: "Aidworld, a Cambridge (UK) based organisation specialising in ICTs for the developing world have created a free internet service to speed up web browsing in low bandwidth environments: loband. Using server-side compression and by filtering images, scripts and plugins while retaining content and basic formatting, loband reduces bandwidth requirements by between 5 and 50 times."

Example: MobileRead Loband'ed.

The idea behind Loband.org isn't exactly new. Skweezer offers a similar proxy tool optimizing the formatting of Web sites for PDA users. If you are using your PDA to surf a lot, you might want to try one of these two tools.

09:11 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Treonauts reviewed the new open-source media player 'The Core Pocket Media Player (tcmp)' for Palm OS. Picard has once again done an amazing job; among Pocket PC users he is already something like a God for developing BetaPlayer, without doubt the best media player for Pocket PCs.

I've spent the better part of my day demoing this to anyone within eyesight to make sure that I haven't been dreaming the whole thing up. I admit that I'm still a little overwhelmed. TCPMP is absolutely a_m_a_z_i_n_g and following my post yesterday I guess that now our Treo can also be considered among the best portable video players that money can buy.

Click here to download tcmp V0.63-unstable.

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

There's been a whole heck of a lot of stuff happening this week. Purvey the below for your pleasure.

Current E-Books Trends
Amazon buys Booksurge and Mobipocket
WSJ Electronic Version More Profitable

E-Book Readers
Next generation e-book hardware by Microsoft?

eReader
eReader 2.61 for Pocket PC released!

General Chat
Group cuts mobile antipiracy software royalties
In love with the kid cell phone Firefly? Think twice!
The End Of An Era -- The Desktop PC

iSilo/X
iSilo/X 4.26 beta 2 available

Link Swap
BooksPrice - free book price comparison tool
German WikiPedia Spring 2005 DVD for download
Linkswap: What's Your Favorite Online Image Archive?

New Links
Google's "Local Search" for mobile unveiled

Other E-Book Resources
Physics textbooks for free download
Slashdot: Good Online Sources for Free Books

Other Gadgets
Methanol fuel cell battery presentation
Microsoft uses E Ink to promote XBox games
Seiko's 'Future Now' watch uses e-paper technology
USB 2.0 Hi-speed Flash drive roundup

Palm
Core Pocket Media Player for PalmOS pre-alpha
eReader 2.61 for Palm OS released
Graffiti 1 hack for Treo 650 and TT5
History and Future of the Palm Pilot Handheld
Inside PalmAddicts
MyUAE 0.5 - Amiga emulator for Palm OS 5
palmOne LifeDrive RIP - Tungsten X emerges
palmOne Tungsten E2 now official - first review
palmOne Zire 73 is just a fantasy
Treo 650 vs. Sidekick II - a user's perspective
Tungsten E2 and accessories at Amazon

Pocket PC
CABInstl V1.03 for Pocket PC released
Making the move from Palm to PocketPC Part II
Police Use IPAQ PDAs to Issue Speeding Tickets Faster

Smartphones
Motorola DynaTAC 8000X - the world's 1st cell phone

Sunrise
Sunrise 0.41j released

WiFi / Bluetooth Technologies
Attack Bluetooth with a rifle

10:56 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | iSilo/X

Darren has just released V4.26 beta 2 of his popular e-book reader iSilo and companion tool iSiloX.

Highlights of iSilo V4.26b2:

• Support for the Motorola A1000 and Motorola A925 in iSilo for Symbian UIQ.
• Addressing of miscellaneous issues.

Highlights of iSiloX V4.26b2:

• Added support for id attributes in all elements as link targets.
• Added support for displaying images of input elements.
• Addressing of miscellaneous issues.

If you are new to iSilo make sure to visit this thread for more information.

10:42 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

TankerBob wrote the second part of his essay "Moving from Palm to PocketPC" (part one) in which he compares memory, syncing, fonts and offline readers for each platform. His second week bottom line:

This adventure has provided unexpected amusements. Folks at work have started to visit my office simply to see what I think of the PPC vs. Palm issue at this stage of the game. Some aren't even techno-geeks. So far, I like the Axim X50v a lot, but I'm also starting to re-appreciate some of the advantages that the Palm OS holds. No device or system is perfect. I assure you, though, that only one device will end up in my pocket at the end of it all. I'm not willing to put money on which it will be at this point.

If you are willing to make the transition, remember to also check out Bob's related essays (I Took The Plunge, PalmOS to Pocket PC: Part I - Intro and PalmOS to Pocket PC: Part II - Conversion).

10:34 PM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

The Tungsten E2 is only a day or so old, and there are already a lot of related items you can buy at Amazon.com:

Tungsten E2 Handheld
Tungsten E2 FlexiSkin and miniSync Bundle
Tungsten E2 FlexiSkin Starter Kit (ClearTouch Anti-Glare)
Tungsten E2 FlexiSkin Starter Kit (ClearTouch Crystal)
Tungsten E2 FlexiSkin - The Soft Low-Profile Case
Tungsten E2 ClearTouch Anti-Glare Screen Protector
Tungsten E2 ClearTouch Anti-Glare Screen Protectors (3-Pack)
Tungsten E2 ClearTouch Crystal Screen Protector
Tungsten E2 ClearTouch Crystal Screen Protectors (3-Pack)
Tungsten E2 DirectSync Sync and Charge Cable
Tungsten E2 DirectSync - VersaCharger with Airplane Option
Tungsten E2 DirectSync - Car Charger Bundle
Tungsten E2 DirectSync - Complete Essentials Kit (European outlet plug, ClearTouch Crystal)
Tungsten E2 DirectSync - Mobile Charging Kit (US outlet plug)
Tungsten E2 DirectSync - Mobile Charging Kit (European outlet plug)
Tungsten E2 DirectSync - Complete Essentials Kit (US outlet plug, ClearTouch Crystal)
Tungsten E2 DirectSync - Complete Essentials Kit (European outlet plug, ClearTouch Anti-Glare)