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

I don't think so. Yesterday I read a Brighthand article claiming that PalmSource had now the chance to pick up and jump ahead of Pocket PC by finding licensees for new and better Palm OS-based VGA handhelds. I think Ed Hardy of Brighthand makes it too easy for himself by comparing technology that currently only runs in an emulator (Cobalt) with technology that has already made its debut (Windows Mobile 2003 SE) in real handhelds months ago.

Instead, Ed should have also considered Windows Mobile 2005, which, among other things, promises better graphic support (Direct3D Mobile built on DirectX), and is only due in a few months. And where is Palm OS by then?

09:01 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

The Register is taking a closer look (via Trustedreviews.com) at the Dell Axim X50v. The reviewer comes to the conclusion that this "fast and powerful" handheld with a "truly remarkable" price is the best PDA he has ever used. How could anyone resist buying this device after such praise?

06:05 AM by Alexander Turcic in E-Book General | News

The Financial Times is running a story on e-book piracy and online intellectual property theft in China. Scholar Digital, a Beijing company, has been found guilty of offering unapproved digital versions of eight books written by Prof Zheng, one of the country's leading experts on intellectual property rights.

Ironically, one of the pirated e-books was entitled Knowing the Enemy and Yourself; Winning the Intellectual Property War.

According to the article, Scholar Digital was ordered to apologize publicly but is appealing the verdict, said it did not publish the volumes itself and only offers technology and services for others to operate online libraries.

05:56 AM by Alexander Turcic in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

Seth Jayson of Motley Fool offers some wonderfully wicked words about Apple's latest two products. An excerpt: "Oh yeah, the famously opinionated CEO derided the need for a display and visual user interface on this model, saying that it would be too small to be useful. Need I point out the irony in that point of view? It comes from a guy who expects people to pony up $500 or $600 for the privilege of squinting at their photos on an iPod screen that's smaller than a credit card."

Very funny read and definitely recommended to every Apple stock holder!

06:51 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Handhelds and Smartphones

Msmobiles.com reviewed the latest incarnation of AvantGo and came to the conclusion that "contrary to common beliefs, AvantGo is a very effective way of browsing information in mobile device and it is possible to browse (not just synchronize) web page fully wirelessly."

While I don't share the very positive sentiment of the author -- I find AvantGo way too slow and restrictive for my every day use -- I am still grateful for the review which offers a lot of screenshots

12:03 PM by Colin Dunstan in Archive | Portable Audio/Video

iPod2PC is a small Windows tool that enables you to copy MP3 songs from your lovely iPod back to a PC's harddisk.

You can download a trial of the latest beta which is crippled by copying only ~50% of your checked songs.

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

Ok kids, time for the weekly roundup of what we've covered this week:

Announcements
Wanted: MR Editors

Avantgo
Just out: AvantGo 5.7 build 35!

Current E-Books Trends
Pain threshold on e-book prices
Readers turn towards e-books

E-Book Readers
FlatLrf: Web-to-Librie conversion tool

E-Book Webstores
Free at Fictionwise: SciFi novel "Time Ablaze"

General Chat
ClieSource (Clie) -> 1Src.com (Palm) -> All Tech!
Fitaly vs. Atomik - PDA text layouts compared
Handango forcing activation models upon developers!
Low Tech "Hipster" PDA (Humorous)
Mac Mini and iPod Shuffle; iLife '05, iWork
Sammy on why he prefers Palm OS to Windows Mobile
Time of evil: a brief history of mobile malware

Link Swap
Yahoo! Finance News through RSS feeds

Other Readers
Overview of CHM readers for Pocket PC

Palm
Handango freebie: Passwords Plus for PalmOS

Pocket PC
BetaPlayer 0.096 RC unstable released
Handango freebie: SlashPhoto for PocketPC
Illium NewsBreak RSS reader reviewed

Portable Audio/Video
iPod Shuffle - the iPod juggernaut will roll on

Smartphones
First Windows Mobile 2005 Smartphone from LG?
Wear a Pendant Cellphone
Worlds Fastest 3D Gamer Phone

Sunrise
Sunrise 0.40 released
Sunrise 0.40 scheduled for January 17th

WiFi / Bluetooth Technologies
A dream come true: 802.11g (54Mbps) WiFi for handhelds

08:30 AM by Alexander Turcic in Miscellaneous | Lounge

Msmobiles.com runs a story this morning that made me practically climbing up the wall: "Handango does not allow a trial software to contain a link to the developer's web site (e.g. for trial activation), and they want the trial version to only provide a link to handango.com for purchase of the full product. Links to the developer's website in the product activation dialog are now forbidden."

In other words, if developers do not want to offer a handangonized version of their trial software, they have to remove the download link of the trial from Handango. Now have a close look at the photo depicting the vice-president of Handango (thanks to Msmobiles for revealing his face). Is this person out of his mind when he asks developers to use an activation system for their software that can only be used by Handango?

Handango please tell us: are you ready to pay the thousands of dollars of damage claims in the potential case someone is cracking your standardized activation method?