10:33 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Looks like SanDisk, flash memory data storage specialist, is planning to win a share of the e-book market with the introduction of its BookLocker USB Stick. BookLocker is a flash drive that aims to securely stores electronic textbooks. Reading electronic textbooks with BookLocker is supposedly as easy as plugging the BookLocker device into any PC and opening the reader application. No installation or software download are required.

SanDisk claims that the BookLocker offers "unparalleled safeguards" to protect publishers' content from being replicated. How does it work? BookLocker devices are divided into two distinct memory areas: An open zone for the student's files, and a secure zone, which is used to store copyrighted content. The secure zone cannot be accessed by the student or operating system. Content is stored on a trusted BootLocker server network using AES encryption. When the content is downloaded to a BookLocker device, it is encrypted with that device's unique hardware key. The server also keeps track of the number downloaded electronic textbooks. Publishers can get up to date reports on the number of electronic textbooks available and sold. When deployed at schools, school administrators and librarians can see how many books are in use and how many are available for lending to students. Unlike software only DRM solutions, BookLocker's patented security measures utilize both hardware and software elements to protect the publishers' IP.

SanDisk is running several pilots at the University of Denver, College of Law. In fall 2003, a BookLocker pilot was launched with students for a Corporations Law course. The BookLocker devices were loaded with course materials such as textbooks, case studies and statutes. The next semester, another class was added to the pilot. This time, students were given laptops and BookLocker devices with textbooks for a Trial Advocacy course. In fall 2004 the third BookLocker pilot was launched with additional students in 2 courses – Torts and Lawyering Process. The BookLocker devices were distributed with textbooks from leading publishers such as Lexis Nexis and Aspen.

My personal opinion: this is not really what we were looking for - another proprietary DRM solution to further alienate potential e-book customers.

10:12 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Found this interesting link today: Maxipedia.org is a free proxy for mobile WAP access to Wikipedia. Simply type in wap.maxpedia.org into your phone browser and get access to the world's largest Encyclopedia.

09:09 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

I have great news for all (mobile) news junkies!

PalmGear & PocketGear Feeds
Our exclusive PalmGear & PocketGear feeds now feature full screenshots in the description of each news item. The feeds conform to the RSS 2.0 standard, and you can access them as usual via the following links:

PalmGear Updated Software: https://www.mobileread.com/feeds/pgupdated_rss20.xml
PalmGear New Software: https://www.mobileread.com/feeds/pgnews_rss20.xml
PocketGear Updated Software: https://www.mobileread.com/feeds/pogupdated_rss20.xml
PocketGear New Software: https://www.mobileread.com/feeds/pognews_rss20.xml

If you don't know what RSS feeds are (or how to use them), make sure to visit our RSS section which has a good first overview.

PalmGear & PocketGear Mobile
Also, the mobile editions of PalmGear & PocketGear are now available with full screenshots. To access them with your favorite online or offline browser, use the following links:

PalmGear Updated Software: https://www.mobileread.com/avantgo/pgupdated_mobile.html
PalmGear New Software: https://www.mobileread.com/avantgo/pgnews_mobile.html
PocketGear Updated Software: https://www.mobileread.com/avantgo/po...ed_mobile.html
PocketGear New Software: https://www.mobileread.com/avantgo/pognews_mobile.html

Suggestions are always welcomed.

02:41 PM by Bob Russell in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

MobileBurn has a report based on a conversation with Albert Chu, the Vice President of Business Development for PalmSource. Palm Addicts is also pointing us to an MS Mobiles interview with Chu.

It seems that PalmSource has interest in Linux based PalmOS for more than just PDAs and smartphones. Your basic mobile phone of the future may look like something with PalmOS, even if the similarty is just on the surface. Apparently there's a difference between Americans and Asians regarding what kind of user interface people like. PalmSource has expertise in user interface design that would apply very well to mobile phones. It's an uphill battle against some pretty significant competition, but you never know!

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

Yeti 3D Pro is a small, fast portable 3d game library written by Derek Evans. There are ports for the PocketPC, GBA, Windows, Nokia phones, PS1 and Gamecube. Porting of the Yeti 3D engine to the Pocket PC was done by Sean Cross.

Dell Axim X50v users can cheer up, because now there is also an Intel 2700-OpenGl ES optimized version available for download. The demo is a technical preview. As such, it is not complete (no sound, limited game logic and the like). It may do hideous things to your system such as delete files, randomly change your appointments and send rude emails to your mum. I doubt it, but you have been warned! Make sure to read the included readme.txt file first.

06:17 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

KBattery is a tiny (19Kb) application that displays a battery meter and the memory/storage card status for WM2003 and WM2003SE PocketPC devices.

I installed it and will probably keep it on my device!

04:47 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

According to preliminary data released this week by Gartner, worldwide PDA shipments increased 6.6 percent to 12.3 million in 2004 compared with 2003.

According to the analyst firm, increased average selling prices drove worldwide PDA revenue to a record $4.3bn in 2004, a 16.7 per cent increase on the year before. In the fourth quarter of 2004, the average price of PDAs reached $353, up 9.4 per cent from 2003.

"The PDA market has shifted from unconnected organisers overwhelmingly purchased by consumers to a market in which 44 per cent of the devices shipped in 2004 offered integrated wireless and/or wireless Lan connectivity," said Todd Kort, principal analyst at Gartner's Computing Platforms Worldwide group.

The fourth quarter traditionally has seen large shipments of PalmOS devices, but Windows CE licensees have taken a substantial lead, and Research in Motion is poised to become the leading PDA vendor in 2005. Windows CE steadily gained share in the PDA operating system market, accounting for 37.7 per cent worldwide in 2003. In 2004, Windows CE became the top PDA operating system when it accounted for 43 per cent of shipments. Palm OS has slipped from 50 per cent in 2003 to 36.3 per cent in 2004.

"Microsoft-based PDAs have gained favor mostly due to their affinity with the Windows PC market and Microsoft's ability to attract more than 30 licensees around the globe," Mr. Kort said.

Additional information is available in the Gartner Alert RIM Sparked PDA Market to Grow 6.6 Percent in 2004.

04:34 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Do you remember Minimo ("Mini Mozilla")? Minimo is a trimmed down version of the open-source Mozilla web browser to fit in mobile and embedded devices. The current Minimo 0.3 CVS tree is based on Mozilla 1.8b.

Doug Turner, one of the Minimo project leaders, is now looking for people with expertise in Windows CE programming to help him working on a port for Windows CE devices:

Yes. I am currently working on a Windows CE version of Minimo. I should be posting builds in a few weeks.

So, here is a general call for Windows CE developers! If you are interested in Mozilla on Windows CE and have time to help me with some of the work, please drop me a line.

You can contact Doug at dougt[at]meer[dot]net.