This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

We are happy to find out that one of our partner sites, palminsider.com, celebrates one year of operation.

Enjoy mobility news & reviews now on a faster host, easier to remember URL, and make sure to participate in the Treo 650 giveaway!

Learn more at http://www.palminsider.com

Posted by adriano on April 30, 2006 at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: Home / Office, Reviews

Are you a Palm junkie like me?  Do you sometimes find it inconvenient to stop your work on the PC to pick up your Palm and work on it, independently of your PC work?

I know both of those apply to me.  Sure I have my desktop PIM application running for my Calendar, Tasks, Email, etc.  But what about all those other Palm applications I paid precious money for?

TapSmart HandShare has resolved this issue.  

I use my Palm continuously.  I also spend most of my day in front of my PC, so having to stop to work on my Palm isn't always very convenient.

With HandShare, you have access to (as far as I can tell), 100% of the Palm's functionality via your computer's  keyboard and mouse.  

This includes using the hard buttons, the 5-way navigator, enterering data, launching apps, and for smartphone users, even making phone calls.  Of course making the call, does require you pick up the phone to speak, or have a headset connected.  I DO have a bluetooth headset connected, so this is super convenient.

If you need to create screenshots of your Palm images, this is an extremely simply way to do it.  Just right-click-->Save Image.

Additionally, you can record a series of actions just as easily, which are saved as bmp files.  This is a great way to quickly prepare images for a presentation, or there is actually a presentation mode that blacks out the background, hides the hardware skin and shows only the Palm screen.

You can  also access your Palm's database list and view the file's attributes.

HandShare will connect to either USB, Bluetooth or Network.  Personally I use the USB, because I hotsync via bluetooth and use a Treo, which has no built-in WiFi connection. 

There is a very small delay between your action on the computer image vs that action happening on the device.  This delay is irrelevent with serial connection, and hardly noticeable with Bluetooth

The only other negative comment I have is I wish you could set it to be "Always on Top." 

I strongly recommend HandShare to anyone who is at their computer a lot, yet need their hanheld a lot as well.  Or if you have difficulty seeing the text on the Palm's screen, this greatly improves the legibility of text.

A similar product that MobilityWare offers is KeyLink.  It's very similar to HandShare, but gives you more PC functionality on the comuter image. 

TapSmart HandShare requires Palm OS 4® or OS 5 (Garnet), such as PalmOne Tungsten, Zire, and Treo 600 models, SONY Clie models, and other specialized handhelds such as the Garmin iQue 3600.

I can't believe I haven't tried this before now.

Posted by mcapehart on April 29, 2006 at 7:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: mobilityware tapsmart handshare treo screenshot keylink | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

Via: Palm Blvd

Orb Networks has become the first of several expected companies to announce a collaboration with Kinoma on bringing video streaming to the Palm OS. With Orb that means it is in the process of enabling its popular placeshifting application for Palm's Treo 650 smartphone. Placeshifting enables you to watch and listen to content from your home computer, stereo or television elsewhere than its originally intended place, usually via an Internet connection.

The free Orb software will let Treo 650 users select home or Internet TV, music, or video content of any media format to stream to the Kinoma player from their WindowS XP PC when the next edition of the Kinoma media player is released.

“With Orb on their home PCs and the Kinoma Player on their Palm handsets, the millions of Treo 650 users will be able to play any song from their home music collection whenever the mood strikes them or to watch the crucial moment of a FIFA World Cup match wherever they are," said Ian McCarthy, Orb Networks VP of product marketing, in a statement.

Kinoma announced the intention to ship a Palm OS 5 software product that would allow you to stream media over a Wi-Fi or cellular connection using the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RSTP) last May, and it did a technical proof-of-concept demonstration at the PalmSource Developer Conference with a Treo 650 at that time as well.

Real Time Streaming

RTSP is the streaming media network protocol mandated by the 3GPP cellular phone industry consortium for delivery of streaming audio and video to mobile phones. It is commonly used by Web sites today.

Kinoma VP of business development Mitchell Weinstock told PDAStreet his company's RSTP streamer is like QuickTime Player for the desktop, "where you could - if you had a QuickTime streaming server or a Helix streaming server or any of those servers that use the RSTP protocol - stream either files or do progressive downloads or do live streaming of something like a webcam and be able to receive it with the software and special networking stack that we've provided for the Palm OS 5 device."

RSTP is really good solution for devices where storage space is limited, such as with a cell phone or smartphone. You play a movie and it's gone. There's no file left to delete, such as what's required with the Treo 650 today.

Over the last several months, Kinoma has worked with content providers and network server companies to validate and make sure the upcoming version of the player works as advertised. "Because this product will function on carrier deck and off carrier deck (off carrier is the wild west), you can click a link and variety of things can go wrong. So it's taking an agonizingly long time to work through all the issues to have as much compatibility as possible before we ship," Weinstock explained.

Weinstock said Kinoma has done enough validation testing with Orb and is satisfied that the new RSTP-enabled player works very well in the Treo 650 environment to allow Orb to discuss they're collaboration on this project, although they've been under NDA.

But the company is still guiding the product through an intense period of pre-beta certifications with providers. Weinstock said to us, "We're doing a lot of testing. The testing is going a lot slower than we anticipated because so many people are not following the standards that are published, putting in their own little tweaks and requirements and changes and how they want things done. And we have to continue to modify the player for each of these particular special cases that we come up with in order to have customers avoid running into something that may not work. "

While there may be some streams that don't work when they do ship, Weinstock said the company is going make sure there are plenty that do. In addition to the Orb announcement this week, there will probably be others as the player update moves further along to give people a better idea of the product's capablities.

Multimedia Helper

Kinoma acts as a helper app. So when you click a link in the Treo 650's Blazer browser, for example, the player launches and the video streams to the player. At the conclusion of the clip, Kinoma returns to the page in the browser; just like it would in a typical Web situation on desktop, except that browsers in Palm OS devices don't allow embedded playback.

You see, the aging Palm platform is not multithreading, so you can't have two applications running at the same time; unlike with Windows Mobile and Symbian. As Weinstock said to PDAStreet, "So we're doing the best we can, and designing the best UI possible under the circumstances that we have to work with."

The current version, Kinoma Player 3, isn't bundled with any OEM's. Although earlier versions used to come with devices from Palm OS licensees like Sony and GSPDA products.

"When we get a design win and we're out of the NDA period we'll announce it," he declared.

Posted by mcapehart on April 28, 2006 at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: orb kinoma video palm treo | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

With promises of security, stability and tabbed browsing, Web users have been eagerly anticipating Internet Explorer 7. Microsoft released Beta 2 this week with great fanfare, but does IE7 deliver a next-generation browsing experience?

Read on for a selection of reviews from BetaNews readers and tell us what you think.

Posted by mcapehart on April 28, 2006 at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: internet+explorer ie ie7 firefox mozilla | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: Home / Office, News

Via: BetaNews 

Responding to customer demand, TiVo on Tuesday introduced its first standalone digital video recorder with dual tuner capability. The new model will be optimized for cable households and features built-in Ethernet and a refreshed look.

The company said the first shipments would arrive at Circuit City, Best Buy, Amazon.com and its Web site on May 1. The dual-tuner model will offer 80-hours of recording time.
"We've been hearing from our subscribers that they wanted a TiVo DVR that could record two shows at once," said Jim Denney, Vice President of Product Marketing at TiVo. "With the TiVo Series2 DT DVR, we've delivered that capability to our customers at a very affordable price."

The TiVo box will retail for $99.99 USD after rebate and service activation. TiVo would also give consumers the option to purchase the unit bundled with service from tivo.com, the company said.

All the standard features of the Series2 systems would be included, such as TiVoToGo transfers, the capability to schedule programs to record through the TiVo Web site, and online services provided by Yahoo and other sources.

Until Tuesday, the only dual-tuner DVR with TiVo capabilities was available through DirecTV. However, since the satellite operator began promoting its own DVR, it has stopped selling the popular units. Those wishing to obtain the box have had to turn to eBay, shelling out $100 or more

Posted by mcapehart on April 26, 2006 at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: tivo comcast dvr pvr | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: Reading List

Yahoo! News offers up their top 10 Windows XP tips of all time. They've covered a wide range of topics from display tips to bits on how to increase disk space and performance.

Below is the list of topics they cover.  Read the entire story at YahooNews.

• Halt background services to improve performance.
• Increase available disk space by scaling back System Restore.
• Scrub your hard drive clean.
• Run two displays on the same PC.
• Force unresponsive applications to close at shutdown.
• Automatically optimize your hard drive.
• Set a custom resolution.
• Stay on top of registry changes.
• Recover lost data.
• Automatically log when and why shutdowns have occurred.

Posted by mcapehart on April 26, 2006 at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: windows xp tips microsoft | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

Via: DigitalTechNews 

eBay Express

The fixed priced products found on eBay Express makes the service more like traditional ecommerce sites and online stores, the difference being that hundreds of thousands of sellers from the eBay Stores affiliate program will have the opportunity to list their own product inventory on eEbay Express.

eBay Express features items from U.S.-based eBay merchants who sell items at fixed prices and accept PayPal. Only sellers who have a history of selling successfully on eBay with a positive feedback score of 98 percent or greater, and total accumulated feedback of 100 points or more, are eligible to sell on eBay Express.

Merchandise from many of the most popular categories on eBay.com are available on eBay Express, including Apparel, Books, Computers, Consumer Electronics, Health & Beauty, Home & Garden, Jewelry & Watches, Sports Memorabilia, and more.

Posted by mcapehart on April 26, 2006 at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: ebay amazon | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Reading List

Students at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, TX now have to use computers outside the school's system if they want to visit the popular Web site MySpace.com.

The community college has blocked the site in response to complaints about sluggish Internet speed on campus computers.

An investigation found that heavy traffic at MySpace.com was eating up too much bandwidth, said August Alfonso, the school's chief of information and technology. Forty percent of daily Internet traffic at the college involved the site, he said.

"This was more about us being able to offer Web-based instruction, and MySpace.com was slowing everything down," President Carlos Garcia said.

MySpace.com — a social networking hub with more 72 million members — allow users to post searchable profiles that can include photos of themselves and such details as where they live and what music they like.

Paul Martinez, 20, is a frequent visitor to MySpace.com and finds the site to be addictive. Restricting access to the site could be a good idea, he said.

"The library is pretty much full with people on MySpace, and with them banning it you won't have anything to distract you," he said.

Some though, disagree with Del Mar College's decision.

"We pay for school and the resources that are used," said Zeke Santos, 20. "It's our choice, we're the ones paying for our classes. If we pass or fail, it's up to us."

Via: YahooNews 

Posted by mcapehart on April 25, 2006 at 5:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: myspace my+space del+mar corpus+christi | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

It is possible that we can expect to see a task list implemented into Google Calendar, and hopefully it will be soon. This has been a highly requested feature of the Google Calendar that took everyone by storm when it was released. The number of people that use this Calendar have to be extremely high and we can expect to see some software utilizing it with the release of the API for the Calendar.

Garett Rogers was digging through the Google Calendar code when he saw some javascript calls that reference ‘completable events’. These references lead us to believe that Google is working on implementing tasks into the Calendar.

On a side note, he also found a performance screen (pictured above) that the Google employees must use to watch the performance of the Calendar. If you would like to see the performance screen simply open up your Google Calendar, and enter javascript:_ShowPerf(); into the address bar.

Via: CyberNetNews 

Posted by mcapehart on April 25, 2006 at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: google google+calendar yahoo yahoo+calendar outlook | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

If you are getting addicted to your Google Calendar, then this is perfect for you. TelegramSam.com has figured out a way to send a text message to Google and have them schedule an appointment in your calendar. It is pretty simple but does involve using SMS text messaging and you might get charged for your text message if you do not have a SMS plan with your service provider. Okay, here are the steps:

1. Send a text message to 48368 and let them know what and when to schedule: dinner at Zupas tomorrow 7pm
2. Google will then create the event in your calendar and send a message back to you saying that the event was created.

This is pretty cool especially for those people with unlimited text messaging plans. Remember, Google has not officially released any information regarding this type of service so if this does not work for you then they will be unlikely to respond to your complaint.

Via: CybernetNews 

Posted by mcapehart on April 25, 2006 at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: google+calendar google outlook gmail yahoo+calendar | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

From Geek.com:

The worldwide mobile phone market is continuing to show strong year-over-year growth. The latest Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker released by CDW showed signs of a strong first quarter: 226.7 million units were shipped worldwide, which added up to growth of 26% compared to the same time last year.

Posted by amyz on April 25, 2006 at 12:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: News, Web services

Microsoft has released the full (non-preview) of Interenet Explorer 7 beta 2. If you previously had the IE7b2 Preview, you won't notice much.  However there are some speed improvements and added security features.

For Download instructions, go here. 

Posted by mcapehart on April 25, 2006 at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: ie internet_explorer firefox mozilla | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

The Treocentral forums is one of the best places to find out about rumored Treos.

Forum user jimmybamma has posted more pictures of the rumored Verizon Treo 700p.

You will notice the new keyguard, and the ACCESS logo on the battery cover.

As a Verizon user and Treo 650 user, I find this "Vewee Intawesting!"

Posted by mcapehart on April 25, 2006 at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: treo verizon 700p sprint | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: Mobility, News

The Blip TV channel will offer clips from 30 seconds to three minutes in length. These clips include shorts, video, spoofs, and animation specially selected from around the world. The Comedy Time channel offers stand-up comedy split up into 6 categories, allowing a viewer to select the stand-up comedy they want when they want it. Saturday Morning TV brings back the days of Saturday morning cartoons. Cartoons from the '60s, '70s, and '80s are featured. Some titles include Mr. Magoo, Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends, Dick Tracy, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Little Lulu, and Roger Ramjet.

Each channel is available for US$4.95 a month.

Posted by amyz on April 25, 2006 at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: | | |

This entry was posted in the following categories: Entertainment, News

Posted by amyz on April 25, 2006 at 6:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Technorati Tags: | | |