09:14 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Alex Pruss released an update to his great FontSmoother 1.10 application for Palm OS 5 devices.

FontSmoother decreases the "jagginess" of bitmap fonts and allows you to use smooth fonts in most applications on your OS 5 PDA (except for Tapwave and Treo 600) with Fonts4OS5 3.21 (some applications, e.g., eReader and Mobipocket do not even require Fonts4OS5!). It includes several smooth fonts and you can generate more from TrueType and Type 1 sources on your desktop with the free PalmFontConv utility.

Whats' new in 1.10?

- Activated for free even after expiration of trial in many Bible-type applications (still needs paid Fonts4OS5). Smooth highlighting support (in some apps).
- Included some Bitstream Charter fonts. Fresh trial period to users who exhausted the trial period on previous version.
- Better trimming of text boxes.
- Bug fix to font switching code, to improve preview in Fonts4OS5.
- Fix wordwrapping for text with tabs.
- Workaround for Fonts4OS5 small Sony bold, Hi-Launcher, AppShelf and JackFlash problems.
- Fixed TH-55 incompatibility.

09:07 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | Deals and Resources (No...

Fictionwise has some nice deals for this weekend, including a 100% Micropay discount on Dragonsblood, a new fantasy book from the annals of the popular Dragonriders of Pern.

Other weekend specials:
Fairy Tale by Jack Dann
Tracks by Libby McKinmer
Teacher, Teacher by Barbara Cary

11:32 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Ted Clark, general manager of mobile computing, Hewlett-Packard, gave an interview according to which HP plans to become #1 not only in the notebook market, but also in the smartphone market. How very interesting considering that HP has not released a single smartphone yet! Bloomberg News is citing the manager saying that

The company is experimenting with designs for a smart phone that will be smaller than the iPAQ handheld computer it sells to businesses and consumers, Clark said. He declined to provide any other details. The smart phone is part of the evolution of Hewlett-Packard's iPAQ line as the market for traditional pen-based handheld computers declines, Rick Roesler, vice president of handhelds, said in an interview.

10:14 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Today PalmSource announced the completion of its China MobileSoft (CMS) acquisition. Bits and parts from the press release:

Few management changes
Jiping Wang will continue as CEO of the acquired company and will report to David Nagel, PalmSource president and CEO. In addition, Madeline Duva, CEO of China MobileSoft, joins PalmSource as vice president, silicon and ODM partners, and John Ostrem, founder, chairman and CTO of China MobileSoft, joins PalmSource as lead scientist.

The strategy
PalmSource acquired CMS as part of its strategy to further extend the Company's leadership as a software provider for phones and mobile devices worldwide. [...] Over time, PalmSource expects to leverage the work CMS has done with Linux to provide a new version of Palm OS based on Linux. The Company will continue to support the Palm OS® Garnet and Palm OS® Cobalt operating system software lines.

Everything is about money
PalmSource issued approximately 1,570,000 shares of PalmSource common stock in exchange for the outstanding equity and rights to acquire equity in CMS for a total purchase price of approximately $16 million. In connection with the acquisition, PalmSource's compensation committee approved the issuance of restricted stock, with a two year vesting schedule, and stock options, with a four year vesting schedule and exercisable at fair market value, totaling 219,966 shares to a total of 141 employees and consultants as part of the incentive plan to retain their services following the acquisition.

10:09 AM by Colin Dunstan in Miscellaneous | Lounge

AP brings the sad news that according to research firm IDC worldwide shipments of PDAs declined for the third straight year. Shipments of basic handheld PDAs lacking telephone capabilities shrank to 9.2 million units in 2004, down 13 percent from 10.6 million units in 2003. palmOne sold 3.7 million units in 2004, down by 9% from 4 million in 2003.

David Linsalata, an IDC analyst, urges PDA makers to evolve their devices beyond standard PIM applications. I wonder if she had ever seen a geek doing his tricks on a Tungsten T5 or Dell Axim X50v device. I own several PDAs, but certainly not for their PIM functionality!

10:01 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

No, contrary to what many believe, palmOne is not dead yet! In fact, the company can show off with a relatively strong balance sheet according to its 2005 fiscal second quarter, ending Nov. 30. The Motley Fool explains step-by-step how you would have to evaluate a company's balance sheet, and is taking palmOne as an example:

Overall, then, palmOne has a relatively strong balance sheet. With a current ratio of 1.57, it can more than fund its current liabilities with current assets. Long-term debt has remained stable while cash is growing, and investors should take comfort in a ratio of almost nine times cash-to-debt, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.4% that represents an improvement since the May quarter.

09:28 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

c|net reviewed Avantgo 2005 and - believe it or not - gave it a whopping 8 out of 10!

Powerful phrases jump out of the review such as "must-have", "virtually painless", "clearly spelled out directions", "without a hitch", "a nice touch", "real excitement", "it was refreshing", "was a cinch", "pretty intuitive" -- making Avantgo 2005 look like THE winner app.

The reviewer's bottom line: AvantGo makes handheld Web surfing a breeze, and it doesn't cost a thing. Need we say more?

I leave it up to you whether they should say more. I deleted Avantgo two years ago from my PDA and never looked back - thanks to Plucker and other Avantgo alternatives.

06:30 AM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

British software maker Symbian yesterday announced the latest version of its smartphone operating system, Symbian OS 9. Key enhancements in Symbian OS 9 include: Bluetooth stereo headset support, USB, Audio mixing/playback (MP3), MPEG + OMA DRM, 3D graphics, graphics acceleration, enhanced e-mail client support, ARM-processor support.

The first phones with Symbian OS 9 will be introduced in the second half of 2005, with volume sales expected by Christmas, said Symbian spokesman Peter Bancroft according to Reuters.