Yet another handheld!

Yes, another Palm handheld. This was a deal I just could not pass up on eBay. I'd always wanted a Tapwave Zodiac. Instead of the more expensive Tapwave Zodiac 2 I got the Tapwave Zodiac 1. The only difference is the color and that the Zodiac 2 has more RAM, almost 100MB more.
The Tapwave Zodiac 1 handheld - it calls itself a "console" - has a different default launcher from standard Palm launcher. Its slightly easier to understand than Sony's Jogdial driven one on the Sony NX60, but you don't have the option of switching to the default Palm launcher. As well as being a Palm computer the Zodiac has a dedicated graphics card and features gaming console type controls.
If I hadn't played Ridge Racer on the Sony PSP before playing Stunt Car Extreme on the Tapwave Zodiac I might have been more impressed. Then again this game comes free with the Tapwave Zodiac.

Handheld of a different sort

Okay, so now I got me a Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable).
The morning after I got it I went through buyers remorse. Since I bought it on eBay I couldn't return it. What the heck am I doing with this gaming device (the value pack didn't come with any games, just demos)? It can play music sure, but I got 2 other devices which do that too. As for movies - a movie is something I want to sit and enjoy watching with someone.
Anyway, I also got the "Ridge Racer" game - also on eBay and for an extremely good price, and it arrived today. After 5 minutes with that game I don't feel so bad. The gaming experience was incredible - graphics, sound, speed.
Even though I'm not really a gamer (the last PC game I bought and played was "Redneck Rampage" - I enjoyed it more than Duke Nukem 3D), and I don't fit into the target demographic for the Sony PSP, I'm hooked.
So what if it can't sync with my contacts or appointments..

Too many To Dos

Last night I spent some time on PalmGear looking for enhanced ToDo apps. I started to have so many ToDos that sometimes one of them slips through the cracks. There are a number of them out there. Not to long ago I discovered that as part of its HandSpring heritage, the Treo 600 has an enhanced DateBook - called Calendar, which can be configured to show certain Tasks (ToDos) and has a number of additional features like appointment templates. Apparently this is a stripped down version of Pimilco's DateBk3. Anyway, I was looking for an enhanced ToDo List, not an advanced DateBook. There are numerous ones out there - from the promisingly named ToDo Plus to "CanDo". Then there are the hierarchical information managers like Bonsai (expensive, but from Natara who make the excellent DayNotez), BrainForest (recently acquired by DataViz?) and ShadowPlan (which, according to user reviews appears to be a powerful product with a steep learning curve). I downloaded two freeware hierarchical data managers to try out - IdeaPad and HandOutline.
Also found an updated version of the freeware "HotDate", which now has a red icon instead of the mono-looking black icon. I need to read up on it as it has some features which may be useful.

Treo unexpected use!

The lights (*electricity) went off and my Treo was close at hand (with the battery level at 70%).
I turned the brighness up and what a great flashlight (*torch) it made!

(*English English as opposed to American English)

More I use it the better it gets...

Innuendos aside (after all, this is a technology blog, not a sex blog), I'm referring to peditPro [the capitalization being the authors].
As well as excellent support - when I had a problem while I was still evaluating the trial version the author of the program responded promptly - I'm continually pleasantly surprised by the powerful features of this text editor. Actually it's almost a disservice to call it a text editor. I've just discovered that I can change the case of a word or selected text - a function that I would normally have to fire up Microsoft Word to perform on a PC Desktop.

Palm and Microsoft, together?

According to My Way News, Palm has teamed with Microsoft to create a Windows-based version of the Treo smart phone.
Aaargh, no it can't be, it's unnatural!

Opera Browser now totally free

According to My Way News, the Opera Browser is now free, with no advertisements.
This free version of Opera can either be downloaded from Opera.com or Download.com.

Contrast in Sizes

The Abacus PDA Watch is a contrast in sizes. It is a large watch (although not as large as I'd feared), but often the tiny text on the 0.9 x 0.9 inches (24 x 24 mm) grayscale screen is almost impossible to read. You also need ample lighting to read the screen as in dim lighting the screen becomes unreadable. The backlight sometimes just seems to make it worse. This is going to limit the programs I can (usefully) run on it. I already have my Address Book loaded - beamed from the Treo - that should be useful. The multiple watch faces are great - what do I feel like today: Analog, Digital or wacky?

Wait, and wait some more

I finally received the Abacus Wrist PDA. It needs to be charged for 4-6 hours before use according to the manual.

Palm software bargains

I have been evaluating pedit32 - one of Paul Nevai's excellent Palm programs. Pedit32 is a Palm Memo and doc editor - among its numerous features it can export and import to and from the MemoPad and Palm doc files. It stores 32KB memos in its own database file. I quickly got used to features like "Restore Memo" - the standard Palm undo feature is very limited, and if you mess up a memo by overwriting some information you didn't mean to, the only way to get it back is with a restore from a backup. Anyway, prior to buying it I thought I'd have a look at peditPro, the flagship of the pedit family. It combines pedit04 with pedit32.
Pedit04 puts powerful editing features on top of the standard Palm MemoPad. Of course peditPro is quite pricey - selling for $32 at PalmGear.com, (excluding a 10% discount valid until the end of September).
I found a bargain elsewhere though. Like a small percentage of Palm software, you pay less if you buy pedit directly from the developers site. What I didn't notice at first was that if you buy pedit32 through PayPal, you get a free registered version of peditPro. This said "Buy Me!".

Out of interest, PalmGear.com (and Handango.com) take a substantial cut for each application sold (with a minimum of several dollars). In comparison, PayPal or other payment processing methods only charge a fraction of this. Don't get me wrong, I've bought a lot of software through PalmGear - they have a wide selection. I'd also use them to sell any Palm software I may write. On the other hand, if I can get software cheaper directly from the developer, why not? This doesn't just apply to small developers like Paul Computing, but also to software companies like TealPoint. With a large selection of programs (just check out their TealPoint's site), I'd also rather deal directly with them. Actually I can't think of any other developers who sell directly, other than upgrades: SplashData and the developer of ZLauncher, zzTechs.

Abacus for me!

Well, I finally caved in and bought the Abacus Wrist PDA on special - even though I'd just read that Fossil had discontinued them.
Now I'm waiting for it to arrive - hopefully it's not Ginormous (gigantic & enormous).
What sold me was this user review of the watch.

Up, up and down...

On a flight to Los Angeles recently, the Linux-based onboard entertainment system just wouldn't work after a number of reboots. Maybe they should have used Windows!

CASL is now freeware

The latest version of first Palm programming language I used to write Bible Promises, CASL, has been released as freeware.
After Bible Promises version 1.5, I switched to PDA Toolbox Professional, and haven't looked back.

Free Edit takes space

I have been tempted to delete SiEd off my Treo since I realized that it's taking 152 KB of valuable memory. I have a number of freeware Palm Doc Editors loaded, like Zdocj - which is also Open Source and only takes 51 KB of memory. Unlike SiEd, Zdocj can edit compressed Palm doc files. However, SiEd has a macro feature. Oh well - I'll compromise and run SiEd off the Memory Card. Good old PowerRun!

So Long, Zodiac

From My Way News:
"Zodiac Handheld Game Device Is Halted"
This really is a pity..

A Palm on my wrist?

I recently received a special offer to buy the Fossil Abacus Wrist PDA.
After many delays, Fossil had finally brought out a Wrist PDA with decent specs several months back (see engadget.com). It has 8MB RAM and a 66MHz processor - which is plenty fast for the Palm OS version it runs: 4.1 This Palm OS version is a bit outdated but will run most Palm programs.
The thought of a Palm on my wrist was quite tempting initially, until I thought about the practicality. Firstly, due to circumstances I don't wear a wristwatch often - I carry a pager and a cellphone which tell me the time, plus at work I sit in front of a computer which also tells me the time - so I've totally got out of the habit of wearing a wristwatch. Then
I'm squinting enough with the small screen of the Treo, so the 0.9 x 0.9 inches (24 x 24 mm) screen of the Fossil Wrist PDA would be even worse. Grayscale is supposed to be easier to read, but that's pushing it. Oh well...

No Calls?

One thing which took getting used to was the Palm computer plus Cellphone thing. Although they are well integrated, it gave my security software (TealLock) a headache. I had to update to the latest version of TealLock, and then follow their instructions in the manual. Basically they advise just to lock the Palm handheld computer part with TealLock and lock the Phone part separately. The main reason for this is that no calls will come through if the phone is locked with TealLock.

Treo 600, 22 days later...

One of the first things that I noticed when I started using the Treo was how well the keyboard has been integrated into the device. Unlike the Sony NX60 where you could type on the keyboard but had to reach for the stylus for most dialog boxes, you can do almost everything using the keyboard and the 5-way navigation button. I say "almost everything" because you can't select text without a stylus unless you have a third party utility like FieldPlus.
In fact there is no graffiti by default, although you can use onscreen graffiti with the help of third party apps like TealScript or the freeware Graffiti Anywhere. I haven't done this yet as there has been no need.
As for the 160x160 screen resolution, it was a pain getting a compatible Theme for ZLauncher, but otherwise I only notice it when I look at the high resolution screen of the Tungsten E.

So why the Treo?

A couple of reasons:
1. Built-In keyboard/thumbboard - after using a Palm with a keyboard for over two years, going back to just using Graffiti (especially Graffiti 2) as input just wouldn't cut it. That tipped the scales between the Treo 600 and the (otherwise much better equipped) Tungsten T3
2. Size. It wasn't until I actually held a Treo in my hands that I realized just how small it is.
3. Merging of handheld computer and cellphone - just carrying one device beats carrying two.

And of course the Treo 600 has 24MB RAM free, as opposed to 11MB on the Sony NX60

What I finally got

So what did I finally get?
I’ve been so busy playing with it, and a picture is worth a thousand words (or so they say):

Temptation, aaargh!

I'm still tempted by the Tapwave Zodiac 2 for $299.
I've just got to remind myself that can get the Palm Tungsten T5 for not much more ($349 after mail-in rebate ending July 16 & price includes free Wi-Fi card, plus another $50 Palm Exchange rebate) - deeper discounts are available elsewhere - $302 on PriceGrabber), which has double the RAM (256MB RAM) & processor speed (416MHz) although it also doesn't have a voice recorder (like the Tapwave Zodiac but unlike the Tungsten T3 which does). The T5 also comes with a more appropriate software bundle for me, including Docs To Go 7 Pro.
As I think about it logically, I'd even prefer the Tungsten T3 to the T5.

Sidetracked

Sidetracked by a special at CompUSA for a Tapwave Zodiac 2 for $299. This is a PalmOS based gaming device with 128MB RAM, Bluetooth & 2 SD slots (yes, two - could use one for Wi-Fi card & the other for extra memory) , 320x480 screen with portrait and landscape mode.
But it doesn't have a keyboard
It also doesn't have a voice recorder.
But after actually looking at it I realized I had forgotten one of the main reasons for new handheld - smaller size. The Tapwave Zodiac is at least as big as the Sony Clie NX60, although it is not a clamshell, and weighs less.

Treo 600 instead of Tungsten T3?

Thinking of a Treo 600 instead of Tungsten T3:

- The Tungsten T3 is nice but pricey, sort of a major upgrade from the NX60, but doesn't have a keyboard - and that is a major concern. After 2 years of using the NX60, with a short break for a couple of months while I used the works Tungsten E primarily (which ended when I had battery problems with Tungsten E along with losing some Blog and Journal entries between the 2 PDAs), my Graffiti writing skills have diminished and I got used to "ThumbBoard" type data entry on the NX60. To spend around $300 on the excellent T3 but then find inputting my blog entries using Graffiti slow and tedious would be a real downer
- The chance to try a smartphone (PDA/phone combo), something I've really wanted to do. The Treo 650 with its 16-bit (65K colors) 320x320screen & faster processor, as well as (presumably) updated PIM Apps is tempting, but at $449 its a bit steep (and well over $300), and I'd be tied to Cingular for 2 years - whereas if I don't like the Treo 600 I can just sell it Although the Treo 600 has a smaller and lower resolution (160x160) screen than I'm used to, the extra $150 plus a 2-year contract for a (320x320) hi-res screen (and faster processor) doesn't seem worth it. The idea is to see if the smartphone (PDA/phone combo) is as useful as reported, for a reasonable price.

A budget!

A special day is coming up and after negotiation with my family, I have a budget for $300 . Now I need to decide between Tungsten T3 or Treo 600. My earlier research had found an unlocked GSM Treo 600 for less than $300, so I had added it to my short list.

Some additional research about the Treo 600 raises these questions:
1. Is screen 65K/16-bit color - No it is 12-bit CSTN (less than 4000 colors) - hopefully this will only be noticeable with graphics.
2. Can Treo 600 be turned on without turning on Cellphone part (for use on planes) - yes, according to user manual
3. PowerRun-compatible? Must check
4. JackFlash-compatible? (not essential)
5. TextPlus-compatible?
6. Onscreen Graffiti? (not that important)
7. Keyboard backlight? - yes
8. MP3 playback capability? - possibly

Frustration

Frustrated, partially due to the hot weather, but mostly due to my PDA hunt - not seeming to find the bargain I was looking for. This is mostly due to changing expectations (looking at Tungsten T3 or Treo 600 instead of Tungsten T2). My ideal Palm handheld is not out there - or at least it is not out there for a "lower 100s" price - the Tungsten T3 is close & only lacks a keyboard, which I just may be able to do without (or not?) The Treo 600 has a keyboard and more memory than the NX60, but its screen resolution is much lower - could I really go from 480x320 screen down to 160x160? (even with gaining a combo PDA/cellphone). The Treo 650, although with a 320x320 screen, has less memory available than the 600, and for $100 to $150 extra adds Bluetooth & some input/interface enhancements - I already have a cellphone with Bluetooth - and have never used the Bluetooth, nor the email features. As for the Tungsten C which has a keyboard & lots of memory, it is on the bulky side. Admittedly the Tungsten C's keyboard is a lot more intelligent than the Sony NX60's - it was designed so that everything could be done from the keyboard. On the NX60 whenever there is a dialog box you have to reach for the stylus. There are some freeware apps (like OKey) which try to help but they only go so far. But would I really use the Wi-Fi? - it is quite aggravating trying to browse the Internet on the Tungsten C's browser.- It is more expensive than the Tungsten T3 , which has the plus of enhanced built-in apps.

Rewind:
So what happened to my initial idea to buy a used Tungsten T2? - I can still do so for around $120, or less than $100 for those rare ones - the problem is that apart from an increase in memory it is more of a step down than anything else - the CPU is slower, and it came out just a month after the NX60. The only real advantage is that it is a (real) Palm, and uses the faster SecureDigital Cards.

Low Budget, No Budget

While I've been thinking about what I want, I've been doing some "research" on eBay for prices.
It seems like Tungsten T2's sell for around $110+ used or $160 refurbished, and Tungsten T3's for about $230 to $300 used.
Then there are some Tungsten T3's which only come with a charger and no software CDs, and sell for $160 plus - I view those suspiciously.

For an extra $120 to $200 (used), the Tungsten T3 has double the memory of the T2, more than double the CPU speed (400MHz vs 144 MHz), 320x480 Screen with portrait or landscape mode and Virtual Graffiti (vs 320x320 Screen), updated PIM Apps, (and a newer version of Documents To Go than the Tungsten T2's. Since I've got used to the convenience of Virtual Graffiti on the Sony NX60, the Tungsten T3 is appealing.
Tungsten T3's seem to be in high demand though, as there don't seem to be many refurbished models around - on places like PriceZilla.com. Even the PalmOne Outlet store doesn't have any "Open Box" specials for the Tungsten T3. When I first started my search, the Tungsten T3 was available at the PalmOne online store for $349, now it's nowhere to be seen.

Zire 72's are going for between $179 to over $200 on eBay. Even though they have acceptable available memory, I just seem to prefer the styling of the Tungsten T2/T3's to the Zire 72.

As I'm working a "non-budget" of less than $100, my options are severely limited. I've seen the occasional Tungsten T2 for less than $100, but usually it was "blemished" in some way. But the hunt continues...

Keyboard or Stereo, No?

In my hunt for a new PDA, I had a built-in keyboard (or thumbboard) as a "nice to have". This was because very few Palms have one. At the moment the only one on my 'possible replacements' list with a keyboard was the Tungsten C.

When PalmOne released the Tungsten C, they decided that since it was a business handheld computer, the audio jack on the Tungsten C would be mono, not stereo (see the Brighthand.com review here and the Mobile Tech Review here).
I don't listen to music on my Sony NX60 that often, but when I do I want to listen in stereo.

This is making my choice difficult - a PDA with keyboard (Tungsten C) or one with stereo audio output (others)...

Possible Replacements

I found some possible replacements my Sony Clie NX60:
Either the PalmOne Tungsten T2,T3 or C or the Zire 72.
All of these are smaller and lighter than the Sony Clie NX60.
The Zire 72 has only 24MB of RAM, which puts it at the bottom of the list, whereas the Tungsten T2 has 29.5MB, the Tungsten C 51Mb and the Tungsten T3 52MB. Here I'm referring to actual free RAM, which is sometimes significantly smaller than the RAM advertised for the handheld. My Sony NX60 was a prime example of this. On the box it says 16MB RAM, but actually only 11MB of RAM is available for programs. In reviews like the Brighthand.com review of the Tungsten T2, the reviewer says "The Tungsten T2 comes with ...32MB of SDRAM, 29.7MB of which are available".
The actual available memory versus specified memory is mucho important!

The hunt begins...

Replacing my Sony Clie NX60 handheld computer is long overdue. It avoided being replaced last year when I got a Tungsten E from work. I used the Tungsten E for a few months, enjoying the freedom of having 28MB of RAM instead of just 11MB. Then I went back to the NX60 after a mishap with data I was sharing between the 2 PDAs.

The Tungsten E's main advantage over the Clie NX60 is its portability - I know that sounds strange for a handheld computer, but the NX60 is more than an inch longer than the Tungsten E and weighs 8 ounces. In its protective case it doesn't fit in anything smaller than a coat pocket. I also was running into memory constraints, even using JackFlash and PowerRun to save RAM.

Quick photo from my Cellphone camera of the two PDAs together (Tungsten E on the left and Sony Clie NX60 on the right):



and with the NX60 open:



I know the pictures are a bit blurred, but they are just to give an indication of the actual difference is size. The NX60 can also be used with the screen twisted around to cover the keyboard, but then the Hard Buttons (Datebook, Memo etc) are not available.

I drew up requirements for the new PDA:
Required:
1. Must be lighter and smaller
2. More memory - at least as much as Tungsten E
3. Preferably not another Sony (SD cards seem to be a lot faster than Memory Sticks)

Nice to have:
1. Keyboard
2. MP3 playback capability

Why there wasn't a Tungsten T4

According to a review on Brighthand.com, the reason why there wasn't a Palm Tungsten T4, it's for the same reason you seldom see product numbers -- or hotel room floors in Las Vegas -- with the number 13. In much of Asia, the number four is considered bad luck of the worst kind. Turns out the word for four sounds a lot like the word for "dying" or "death." It's pervasive enough that an urban myth persists despite contrary medical evidence that there are more heart attacks at work on the fourth, fourteenth, and twenty-fourth of the month, so some stay home on those days. Thus it's more common to see major product numbers skip from three to five. Canon, the camera company, took their PowerShot G3 straight on to G5 for the same reason, and Palm, Inc. itself skipped the Palm IV in favor of the Palm V.

Hello LifeDrive, goodbye T3

PalmOne's LifeDrive mobile manager has officially been released. Noticeably missing from the Tungsten Series section of the PalmOne online store is the Tungsten T3 - I would have thought that the LifeDrive would have replaced the Tungsten C, especially with WI-Fi support.

Firefox bug fixed

Mozilla has released Firefox version 1.04, which fixes the "Code execution via javascript" bug. Pretty quick fixing!

Firefox bug

Mozilla recommends turning Java off in Firefox until a patch is released for this Zero-Day Bug, according to eWeek.

Yahoo! Mail up to 1GB

Online storage space is increasing in leaps and bounds. I've just noticed that my Yahoo! Mail account is up to 1GB of space. Okay, that's less of an incentive to clear out my Bulk Mail folder....

CNET Admits PDA not Dead!

CNET finally admitted that "The PDA is not dead" in their On-the-Go Weekly newsletter of April 14, 2005 (okay, I know this is old news, but I only got to that piece of email now)

Wireless phone for my land line

Okay, so it's a cordless phone for my land line, not a wireless phone ;)

I've been looking for the ideal cordless phone. This has really turned out to be a challenge.

My requirements were simple:
- It must have an answering machine
- must support multiple handsets
- should not interfere with my home wireless network.

The solution to last point would appear to be a no-brainer - just get a 5.8Ghz phone, since wireless networks run at 2.4Ghz - right? Well, an number of so-called 5.8Ghz phones also run at 2.4GHz. To quote an excerpt from the owner's manual for the AT&T E5865 5.8 GHz Cordless Speakerphone/Answering System:

"RF Frequency Band (Handset to Base) - 2400 MHz ? 2483.5 MHz
RF Frequency Band (Base to Handset) - 5725 MHz ? 5850 MHz"

Um, why do I see 2.4GHz there? I must confess that I would not have picked this up if it wasn't for the excellent Consumer Reports magazine and website.
To quote from Consumer Reports "Cordless phones: Sound distinctions" dated October 2004:
"Some phones are dual-band, which means they transmit between base and handset in one band and receive in another. You can't switch the frequencies. One of those bands might cause an interference problem"

One of the true 5.8GHz phones I came across was the Uniden TRU 8885-2. The only problem with this combo is that it does not have a battery backup. A newer model, the Uniden CLX485, does have battery backup, but is a lot more expensive, and - as yet - unproven.

Cordless phones also seem to be getting closer to cellphones with features like:
- downloadable ringtones
- picture caller id (in color!)
- synchronize phonebook (yes, they have phonebooks!) with Outlook
- handset-to-handset talk
- lighted keypad
- multilingual menus

Other resources which proved useful during my research were:

CNET Product Reviews and the websites of stores like Circuit City, both of which have customer reviews. Manufacturer websites like AT&T and Panasonic are wonderful places where you can download owner's manuals.

Couldn't resist...

Okay, so I wasn't going to review Desktop Search engines, but since I'm trying another one I'll give my views on it...
After uninstalling the Yahoo Desktop beta in disgust, I looked around at the other ones out there. I decided to try Copernic Desktop Search, even though it doesn't index ZIP files. Version 1.5 had just come out of beta, so I installed that one. The machine that I intended to use it on wasn't a fast one (a 500MHz AMD K6), so I was interested to see what it would do. For comparison, I also tried it on a 1.7GHz Pentium 4. Of course the indexing went much faster on the newer machine.
Copernic Desktop Search indexs in the background, just like it's competitors. There are settings to make it pause when you are using the machine and resume when the machine is idle (default is 30 seconds). There are also settings for when to scan folders, contacts, emails, etc. It is easy to pause the indexing, or to see the indexing status.

I must say that I'm impressed with the search engine's user interface. It clean and well thought out. Under the Search box are dropdowns to refine search by file type, size, date and even folder. Okay, so even Windows 2000 and XP have this. It's the options that Copernic gives you for building the search index which are so powerful. There are options to include or exclude folders and file types from the index: C:\Program Files was excluded by default - which makes sense - but you can remove this exclusion. You can add folders to be searched for documents, pictures or music. In the advanced options is where it really gets fun - you can add new file types to index (as text).

The search results features a preview pane, something that Google Desktop Search is missing.

Copernic Desktop Search is staying on my machines (for the moment anyway).

Tungsten E - the sequel

PalmOne has just released the Palm Tungsten E2
Here is the PC Magazine review

So long YDS

Well, after running Yahoo Desktop Search on my new machine for almost a week, I decided to install the latest beta of Yahoo Desktop Search. The support forum for YDS has no search facility (it makes the Yahoo newsgroups look good) so I emailed support to find out if I should uninstall the previous beta first.
No reply, what a surprise!
So I installed the new beta over the old one. It asked for my Yahoo signon so it could index my Yahoo IMs - I don't have any, but the program insisted it wanted a Yahoo userid and password. So I gave it but blocked YDS from connecting to the internet with Norton Firewall when it tried. It came back with an "Invalid userid or password" type message and then it began rebuilding the search index. This was a marathon process - much longer than the first one. When the re-building was finally over I started up the Desktop Search and discovered that they had tweaked the interface for a larger search results pane, so a button had to pressed to show the "Refine Results" section.
All of this aggravated me so much I uninstalled Yahoo Desktop Search completely. Maybe I'll try it again when it's out of beta...

Naked Launch

I decided to uninstall ZLauncher and use the Default Palm Launcher on my Sony NX60.
The default (Standard View) Launcher screen definitely looks naked after ZLauncher.
I also really miss ZLauncher's File Manager.

Google Mail 2Gb!

According to
My Way News: "Google Doubles E-Mail Space"

Well reviewed

With all these reviews of Desktop Search utilities in PC Magazine and Blogs, I've almost been tempted to join in the fun and trying them all and reviewing them. But it's been done. Instead, I'm using the Yahoo! Desktop Search Beta, simply because it's based on a highly recommended commercial product, and can search within ZIP files.
Of course, that doesn't mean that I haven't already downloaded the Copernic Desktop Search for testing on my other machine...

Mozilla Updates

It seemed that I just blinked and there were updates to the Mozilla products:

Firefox 1.02 with several security fixes.

Thunderbird 1.0.2 mail client

The Mozilla Suite version 1.7.6

I must have been sleeping, because I've only just heard that the Mozilla Foundation plans to stop further development of the Mozilla Suite, according to an article in PCWorld, as well as this mozillaZine posting.
Also, the official "Transition Plan" from Mozilla.

1.5 million TEs

That's 1.5 million Palm Tungsten Es.
Among all the verbiage of PalmOne's Financial results is the interesting point that 1.5 million units of the Tungsten E handheld computer have been sold in the 14 months it's been on the market and it has consistently been the best-selling handheld in the United States since its introduction.

Links...

Yesterday I mentioned the Facer and Today launchers without giving the links
Facer Launcher can be found at Pocket Craft.
Today can be found at FreewarePalm (beware - popups)
Of course that's the freeware Today, not to be confused with the shareware TodayPLUS, which is at this Flashy website

Shareware Launchers

For the uninitiated, the idea of a replacment Application Launcher may seem strange, but in the Palm world a good Launcher program can really improve the user interface.
LaunchPlug has some good tips about Launchers, although it is a bit outdated - most of the products it mentions now support PalmOS 5.x.

I've used ZLauncher for quite some time, I initially bought it for the sheer utility - it was about the same price as PowerRUN at that stage (PowerRUN enhances launching programs from a memory card, saving precious RAM on a handheld), and as well as doing what PowerRUN does ZLauncher has a decent File Manager and numerous other features. I can't say that I'm really into Background pictures and customized icons on my Sony handheld, but if I wanted to ZLauncher would allow me to go to town.

Yesterday I tried MegaLauncher 5.5 from Megasoft 2000, just out of curiosity, and I was very impressed, It has an intuitive interface, and I really liked the way the To Do and DateBook items can be displayed. Unfortunately it seems that it uses a lot more RAM than ZLauncher, which is really a pity.

The latest generation of Launchers give the PalmOS a "Windows" interface, like Hi-Launcher (check out their awfully colorful website here) and Win Launcher

Others, like Facer, and Today, emulate the Today screen of PocketPCs

Free Palm software

I tried out some other freeware Palm programs:

DES Journal
According to the program documentation:
"DES Journal is a small PalmOS application that is designed to aid in keeping a journal".
The program stores its journal data in the Datebook, which is a fairly good idea for getting data to the desktop. Other than that, there's not much else to it. I prefer eDiary though, which allows the Journal to be protected with a password.
Of course, IMHO, the best Journal/Diary type program out there is DayNotez. It's not free, but is incredibly versatile.

Maximus
Their description:
"Maximus is a Palm supplement - personal organizer for home and business use. The wide choice of icons, colors, groups, etc. presents only few of the features that will help you better organize and visualize your daily activities."
Hard to nail this one down. It has a very pretty interface, but it seems awfully difficult to enter anything into the program. It stayed on my handheld for a while (because, it's so pretty and colorful) before I finally deleted it.


Pretty Maximus

Well done

I've just been trying out a freeware Launcher for the Palm called iSpin. If for some reason you want your Palm to look like Windows XP, iSpin will do it.
Unfortunately I installed some other freeware programs just afterward, one of which is clashed with iSpin and caused my handheld to crash (Fatal Reset - Soft Reset). Kudos to the developer(s) of iSpin though, as the program detects that it crashed last time it was run and asks if you want to continue. Of course if you say yes it crashes again, but if you say no you get out of what could be a nasty loop-de-loop situation.

Free Clipper

After looking at The Basic to C Translator (BCX) the other day, I was wondering about Harbour - which I had last seen sometime ago.
Harbour is a free software compiler for the xBase superset language often referred to as Clipper (the language that is implemented by the compiler CA-Clipper). Clipper is a one of the myriad of "4GL" (Fourth Generation Language) xBase compilers that grew out of the now defunct Ashton-Tate's dBase III and dBase III plus. Ashton-Tate was bought by Borland in 1990 or 1991 (depending on which source you look at)

Clipper was also the second programming language I was trained to use after mainframe COBOL (Unfortunately I never got to really use it, but that's a different story).
Clipper's main failing was that there was never a Windows version. Richey's Delphi Box has a quote that "Clipper would be the greatest dBASE-Compiler (if it were Win-able..)"
Instead of "Clipper for Windows", CA in all it's wisdom re-designed the language from scratch, calling it "Visual Objects". Now this was a great idea in theory, because with this powerful new Windows Development tool you could do OOP (Object-Orientated Programming). If fact, if I remember correctly, you had to do Object-Orientated Design as well. This was great, but unfortunately Clipper for Windows this wasn't. All DOS-based Clipper programs had to be completely re-written to run on
Windows. This was no good. Now it appears that CA has dumped Visual Objects

Unlike Clipper, Harbour compiles and run on MS-DOS, MS-Windows, OS/2, GNU/Linux and FreeBSD. There is a variant of Harbour called xHarbour (extended Harbour). To confuse things, although xHarbour is an Open Source project, there is also a commercial version of Harbour, called xHarbour Builder.

Can't beat the price

I was looking at some free/freeware programming language compilers on freeprogrammingresources, and came across XBasic which I'd tried but given up on - even though it's a multi-platform Basic.
XBLite, which only runs on Windows looks a bit more promising, but I haven't tried it yet.

One I have tried is BCX, the Freeware Basic to C Translator. I wrote a utility for myself in BCX (you write in Basic, and then in one step the code is translated into C and compiled with a C compiler). At that stage I was too spoiled by Visual Basic's visual design environment, and got frustrated when I needed to create a user interface. So I rewrote the utility in Delphi 3 in less than half the time. (Delphi is similar to Visual Basic except for the language, which is Object Pascal).

The original BCX is available here, and there is a newer "GPL'ed" version on SourceForge, as well as the BCX DevSuite Pro which includes a C compiler and some Form designers.

Of course BCX is free, and Delphi isn't.

DVD Burned

As I'd mentioned in February (see "Backwards and forwards in tech" and "Yer lyin'" here), the combination CD/DVD writer on my main PC Desktop machine was playing up. I could write to CDs, but re-writable CDs and DVDs gave me weird burn errors.
There were three possible reasons for this.
The first being a hardware problem on the CD/DVD writer, especially since the machine was no longer under warranty.
The second, and one I initially thought was more likely, was a conflict in drivers.
I had a problem if that was the case - I'd lost my original Restore CDs, so I had to order them from support (for $20!).
That was well and good, but I really don't want to restore my PC to it's original out of the box state, and then re-install all the software. I could apparently restore the original OS to another partition - but that wasn't foolproof. I needed a backup first...Catch 22.

Then I tested writing to a DVD from a clean Windows 2000 partition with Nero, and it failed. This was on media recommended by the DVD drive manufacturer (up until now I didn't realize there was such a thing as recommended media lists). That meant one of two things - the hardware was failing, or the firmware needed updating. I looked for firmware upgrades, but there weren't any official ones. For a while I limped along with a DVD writer which sometimes could write CDs.

Then I began thinking of replacing the DVD writer. An Internal one would be cheaper, but would only work on the machine I installed it into. Why not an external DVD writer, which could work with both my desktop and Notebook. Why Not!

After looking at the Mad Dog MegaSTOR 7-in-1 8X Dual Layer DVD Writer (which was on special at CompUSA for $99, but was a NEC drive like my current one and had a so-so review in buddhaslanroom.com), the Lite-On SOHW-1633SX External Dual Layer DVD±RW Writer, and then the Plextor PX-708UF External Multi Format DVD Burner. Based on the review of the Plextor PX-708UF, I bought the I bought the Plextor External Dual-Layer DVD Burner:


Plextor PX-716UF DVD±RW DL Writer

NotMail

Hotmail Glitch Snarls Pay Service according to My Way News.
My account still appears to be working...

Hello Norton

Okay, I'm only one day into using the Norton Internet Security Suite 2005, but so far it is miles better than McAfee. Configuring Anti-Spam for Outlook was a breeze compared to McAfee. In McAfee I had to set the localhost in the Email client - Norton just asked "Do you want to configure this email client?", and then went and did it.

Okay, maybe I'm biased, but this is despite a bad experience with Norton Internet Security 2003. After being on my PC for a for months, MS ActiveSync suddenly stopped working. When I uninstalled NIS 2003, it worked again. I only decided to try Norton again after reading that Symantec have changed the way their firewall rules are created since the 2003 version. I've also had the Norton Personal Firewall 2004 running on my old Desktop PC for several months without any problems.

Bye bye McAfee

My McAfee Internet Security update subscription only expires in 2 days time, but I just couldn't wait, so I un-installed it and installed Norton Internet Security Suite 2005 about half an hour ago.
NIS only needed one reboot during the updates!

Stumble-surfing

I've mentioned this before, but it bears mentioning again:

StumbleUpon is a great way to surf the Web.

It's main component is a downloadable toolbar which works with most Browsers (Mozilla, Firefox, Netscape and even Internet Explorer) and on a number of Operating Systems.
Basically, once you've downloaded and installed the toolbar, you choose topics which you are interested in (the more the better).
Then you just click the "Stumble" button on your browser to begin channel surfing - and give a "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" to the websites you like or dislike, and surf on.

It's really great fun.

Just re-install

Hopefully this is the last stupid update message from the McAfee Internet Security suite I'll see (like I'm really going to re-install McAfee VirusScan):



On Monday I'm planning to uninstall it and install Norton Internet Security 2005.

Given Up

Okay, that's it. The non-booting Windows 2000 Partition on my Desktop computer just wasn't responding to any TLC. I tried editing the boot.ini file, copying a new Ntoskrnl.exe, but to no avail. I've wasted enough time on it, and since all I had on that partition were programs, I have deleted it with Partition Magic.

Now I just have to re-install a few dozen programs...

IE 7 to beat Firefox?

The Buzz Report: CNET.com: "IE 7: so much for Firefox"
I don't think so!

Online bookmarks

They're not new, but this one has an interesting name Spurl
- rhymes with hurl but has some really cool features AND works with Opera, Mozilla/Firefox, Netscape and Safari across Windows, Linux and MacOS.

Oh, and Internet Explorer as well.

P.S.
This
post
is
to
move
the
previous
one
down
a
bit
so
it
doesn't
interfere
as
much
with
the
links
on
the
right
(until the next post, that is).
->

Yer lyin'

It's a writable multisession CD you stupid piece of software!

Tagging for Teens

RFID (radio frequency identification) badges for students at a Californian school cause an uproar - see My Way News

Backwards and forwards in tech

Yesterday I had more CD burner woes - I could not continue writing to a multisession CDR started with Nero 6.6 Ultra Edition.
A few days ago I could do this with a CDR started with Nero 6.3 Ultra Edition. No amount of rebooting would help Nero recognize the CD as a multisession CDR

Now today, it worked!

Technology gets me down

Even a technophile can get dumped on by technology.
The mangled Windows 2000 partition on my eMachines Desktop is still mangled after almost 3 weeks (okay, I was on vaction for one of those weeks).
Now the combination CD/DVD writer on the aforementioned Desktop machine has been playing up. I can write to CDs, but re-writeable CDs and DVDs gives me weird burn errors.
Now that's something else that needs to be fixed...

Dumb Palm flies smarter

On a recent flight to Miami while I was blogging (off-line of course) into my Sony NX60, it hit me. If I had the current handheld of my dreams, the Palm Treo 650, I wouldn't be able to use it during the flight, at least with the current FAA regulations. That is of course because the Treo 650 is also a cellphone. That's something to keep in mind when buying a Palm Smartphone...

So long DSL...

Well, I really needed to get online this evening to take care of some last-minute finances before heading off on vacation. Of course when I needed it most, the DSL service was not working. I had reset the modem, rebooted the computer, switched the modem off for 45 seconds, but it still wasn't working. This was the last straw. I had been putting up with the speed getting slower and slower until it was only double or triple dial-up speed. Today I had planned to cancel Cable Internet service and switch to DSL. Instead I hooked up my main Desktop PC and was online in a reboot, speed somewhere above 3500 Kbps - yesterday DSL was down to less than 200 Kbps. Thank the Lord still I was still within the 30-day trial period, so I phoned them up to cancel. Understandably they wanted to dissuade me - could they transfer me to tech support? No, I was finding it difficult to be civil, I wanted to cancel. Apparently un-installing and re-installing the software would solve my problem. I was adamant and canceled the DSL service. It was quite a relief actually. After the relatively trouble-free cable internet service with fairly constant line speed, DSL just didn't cut it.
The free MSN Premium (soon to be switched to Yahoo Premium) and wireless access in New York City were non-essential perks.

Well, I've tried DSL, but the old adage seems to apply: "You get what you pay for".

A cheap Mac

According to ExtremeTech, in an article "The Mac Mini: Less Than You Think" the Mac Mini is not a cheap Macintosh. The premium on the prices of Apple Macs is for the cool factor, I guess. As for the iPod, that's ultra-cool.

Partitions Mangled

I feel so bright. Not satisfied with having my eMachines Desktop dual-booting between Windows XP and Windows 2000 Professional, I decided to add an extra instance of Windows XP as well.
Partition Magic 8 made it a breeze to create the extra partition between Windows XP (the first partition) and Windows 2000 (the second partition).

Unfortunately when the Windows XP setup rebooted the first time during the setup, I got this error message:

Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt.
Windows root\system32\hal.dll.
Please re-install a copy of the above file

Fortunately for the Partition Magic bootable rescue disks, which let me set the Windows XP partition active again, and boot into it..

An Internet search found numerous solutions for this, even a blog. I didn't get far with the solutions, and decided to leave it for later.

Then I though I'd check that my Windows 2000 partition was still working. It wasn't, so I moved the windows 2000 partition back (forward?) so it was the second partition on the hard disk, where it had been before.

Then it gave this error message:

Windows 2000 could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:
\(Windows 2000)\System32\Ntoskrnl.exe

Okay, now I'm going to have to fix this one first...

Trojan Exploits Windows DRM

According to InternetNews.com, Anti-Virus and security vendor Panda Labs is reporting the discovery of a threat that takes advantage of Windows Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Microsoft Abandons Passport

According to Speed Guide, Microsoft is abandoning Microsoft Passport, one of its most controversial attempts to dominate the Internet.

Microsoft Offers Virus-Removal Program

From My Way News: a Microsoft executive confirmed the company's plans to sell its own antivirus software, which would compete against programs from McAfee, Symantec and others.

DSL working

I finally got DSL working on my old Desktop PC. I needed a longer CAT-5 UTP (Unshielded Twisted-Pair) cable which bought from RadioShack. Apparently DSL won't worked with "Patch Cables" - which works with Cable. I also had to change the static IP address that I had assigned to the machine in Windows XP Networking

DSL for the New Year

For the New Year I'm trying DSL, or at least trying to try DSL. For a total of 4 hours over 2 successive nights the furthest I've got is installing the DSL software and setting up the account. That may sound good, but it took less than an hour to set up my Cable modem connection the first time.

So, if I have cable internet (fast cable internet I might add), why am I bothering with DSL?. Simple Economics: The DSL should save me over $100 per year.
I have 30 days to decide whether to keep the DSL. So far the prognosis is not good. Unless it goes smoother I'll be returning the DSL package...

Less Spam?

AOL Reports Drop in Spam Messages.
Good advertising for AOL - join AOL, get less spam?

Top 10 List

Well, here's my top 10 list of Tech products for 2004, in no particular order. I'll limit this list to products I've actually used or own - how can I put the Palm Treo 650 on my top 10 list (as much as I'd like to) if I don't have one?):

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 browser

Fedora Core 3 Linux

BackupMan PalmOS Backup software

StumbleUpon downloadable toolbar - channel-surfing web-style.

Google Mail - Free 1 GB - say no more!

Windows Ultimate Boot CD and Bart Preinstalled Environment (BartPE)

Scite4AutoIt3 - freeware editor for AutoIT scripting language downloadable here

Xandros Desktop OS Version 2 OS Open Circulation Edition, a free version of their excellent Desktop linux

Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 - yes, I know it's a Microsoft product, but it's still pretty neat.

Motorola V600 quad-band GSM phone. Although it's not really a smartphone, it has excellent reception, and some really cool games.

Linux has fewer flaws

From ZDNet: Research finds Linux has fewer flaws.

The Linux operating system has many times fewer bugs than typical commercial software, according to an upcoming report. Read the complete story.

Fedora re-installed

Well, I re-installed Fedora Core Linux. This time I did a Custom install, and excluded Open Office which takes up a lot of space. After that the updates went through without a hitch.

Fedora Core gone

As I thought, Partition Magic would not let me resize the Linux ext2 partition. I took one look at the Linux command line tool for resizing partitions, GNU Parted, and decided that deleting the partition and reinstalling Fedora Core 3 Linux would be my best option. Then Partition Magic gave an error when I tried to delete the Linux partition Error 510: "The version of the file system is not supported". Great. The Partition Magic support site says:
"Norton PartitionMagic 8.0 and PartitionMagic 8.0 may not work with Linux Ext3 partitions when the dir_index file system attribute is enabled. Recent Linux releases from Red Hat and Fedora set the dir_index file system attribute by default. To prevent the error, disable the dir_index attribute, perform the partition modification, then re-enable the attribute.
To disable the dir_index attribute
1. Boot into Linux single-user mode."

Okay, now I first had to figure out how to "Boot into Linux single-user mode"
A quick web search picked up the answer "How To Boot Linux (Red Hat Fedora) Into Single User Mode Using Grub".

A few minutes later the linux partition was gone - I had to re-format it in Partition Magic before I could delete it, but it worked.

Now I need to reinstall Fedora Core 3 Linux.

What would Windows do?

That's what I wonder: What would Windows do if I tried to run some major updates and I didn't have enough disk space? This is all in defense of Linux of course. The Fedora Core 3 Linux I installed on Saturday gave a lot of confusing error messages when I tried to apply 63 updates. It didn't take too long to figure out that it had run out of space. I wish it had warned me beforehand, like Windows (hopefully) would have done. I since its space on a partition that it ran out of, it can be fixed - my Linux knowledge isn't enough to quickly figure out how to move some Mount Points, which would solve the problem. Instead I'll first try to increase the size of the Linux partition using Partition Magic, but I suspect that Linux might object to that. If that doesn't work, its a case of increasing the size of the Linux partition from 3 GB to around 4GB (once again with Partition Magic), clearing it and reinstalling Fedora Core 3 Linux. Its time-consuming - but since its not my primary machine I can do it in the background.
For anyone who really likes multitasking, I would highly recommend running two (or more) Desktop computers with a KVM switch - I was able to check e-mail and update this Blog on my newer machine while installing Linux on the older one.

Fedora Core 3 Installed

Well, Fedora Core 3 is installed (and saying that there are 63 updates available). Let's just hope my Windows XP still boots!

Just call me...

A sucker for new technologies.

I'm just starting to install of (Redhat) Fedora Core 3 linux on my old PC...

Almost bought a Mini Mouse

I almost bought a Mini Mouse, sight unseen. That would have been a big mistake. Have you ever seen any of those mini mice? (hey, obviously I'm not talking about Mickey's main squeeze here). Fortunately I decided to go to a real store and check them out. Some of the mini mice looked like they would be more at home on a keying. A good compromise seems to be a "Notebook mouse", which is about two-thirds the size of a normal desktop mouse. An optical mouse was a must have - maybe because it's the in thing - I've still got an old mechanical mouse at home, and it works fine. Being wireless as well was a nice-to-have, especially when I saw the prices - I don't expect to use my Notebook that much to justify a wireless mouse.

Back in the USA

Well, after 2 weeks of rushing around in sunny SA, it's back to sunny but chilly New York.
Apart from the temperatures, the prices of technology are a lot lower here. At a computer chain store - The Incredible Connection - I saw the PalmOne Zire 72 on Sale for R2500 (about US$ 440! - normal price in the US is about $299!) The Treo 600 costs over $1000, the average DVD movie costs between $30 and $40; and Windows XP Pro costs around $590. But apart from technology and cars, lots of other things are cheaper in South Africa...

Us and Them?

Linux and Microsoft - from eWeek Enterprise Wars: Linux vs. Windows

Less confused

My assumptions about the Intel Celeron M and Intel Celeron processors appear to be right, according to this article about the Compaq Presario 2210us at ExactChoice.com.

Guide to Laptop Processors has even more information.

Processor confusion

While doing research for a new Notebook, I came across what can only described as processor (or CPU) confusion. I know about some of the differences between Intel and AMD Processors for Desktops, but this was confusion caused by Intel-only Processors:

Mobile Intel Celeron
Mobile Intel Pentium 4-M (or Mobile P4)
Intel Pentium M
Intel Celeron M

The Intel Celeron and Intel Celeron M confused me because of vastly different clockspeeds. A notebook with a 2.6GHz Intel Celeron chip costs about the same as one with a 1.4GHz Intel Celeron M chip while they have similar specifications (like Memory and Hard disk size) Only when I read this article on PCMag.com did it sort of make sense, with the performance of a 1.4 GHz Pentium M being roughly similar to a Mobile Intel Pentium 4 running at 2.4 GHz.

So I assume the same must apply for Intel Celeron M and Intel Celeron processors...

Refurbished PDAs cost more than New

I spotted this:
RefurbDepot.COM - PDA's
SONY CLIE PEG-NX60
Palm OS v. 5.0, Built-in MP3 audio player, High resolution TFT color display, Swivel LCD design, Voice recorder function, Wireless expansion slot,

List Price: $699.00 (interesting - It was $399 to $450 max in May 2003!)
Our Price: $269.95
You Save: $429.05 (61.4%)
RefurbDepot.COM - PDA's

I really must have got a good deal when I bought my Sony Clie NX60 brand new for $299 in May 2003!

The winner is

The next Backup Utility I tried was the $20 BackupBuddyVFS Professional from Blue Nomad software. Now I have read a lot of good reviews about this software, but installing it crashed my handheld - Fatal Errors during install, and Fatal Errors while trying to run it. So much for that...

I finally decided on BackupMan. One of its features is that it creates the Backup as a single file, which helps me when I'm searching the Memory Stick for a particular file. The Restore feature works - I know - I've used it several times already.

Next Up: TealBackup

TealPoint Software has a good reputation, and I use two of their other software titles.

TealBackup has a host of features:
Backups though HotSync, manual backups (a feature?), incremental backups, dual-timer scheduled backups, optional encryption and compression, exclusion lists and inclusion lists.
With these features it costs around $17 .

When I tried it with the compression option it was incredibly slow on my Sony NX60. I tried to cancel the backup, but it just ignored me. Over ten minutes later the backup was still running, still on the same file, so I had to soft reset my handheld.

To give it a good test, I also tried it on my other handheld, a Tungsten E, without compression this time.

Like MSBackup, it backs up as individual files, I guess so you can manually restore individual files. The two different Backup Schedules seemed useful (one can be full, and the other incremental), but overall it was slow when populating file lists for inclusions or Exclusions.

Need a Backup

I've been having a number of hard-resets on my Sony handheld recently. Fortunately I haven't lost any important data, as I've been backing up my whole handheld every couple of days with the MSBackup software which came with the Clie, as well as copying files to the Memory Stick. So far I've been lucky, but sooner or later I'll forget to do a backup. Backups done with MSBackup have to be manually started, so a Backup Utility with scheduling capabilities would be ideal.

The first one I tried (or second, if you count FlyBackup, which really wasn't a contender), was BackupMan. This simple $10 software does scheduled backups, but lacks advanced options like selecting files to exclude, compression and encryption. Despite that, it works well.

Backup doesn't fly

While I was looking on FlyZip's website yesterday I came across FlyBackup.
Aha, backup utility with compression and encryption for $10. I really need a backup program which has scheduling capabilities, let me try it.
The first backup didn't complete, possibly because TealLock interrupted it, and a second backup ran for 2 minutes alternating between displaying either 17 minutes or 14 minutes to go. (It DOES compress though!)

Several minutes later, with 9 minutes to go the stupid program ran out of space on the card (there was only 6MB left on the SD Card). Why couldn't it have told me beforehand?
Maybe the simpler BackupMan will be better.

Fly "Zip"

The name sounded intriguing, so I'm trying FlyZip on my handheld. This little Palm Utility "Zips" programs in memory to save RAM. It can also "Zip" programs to a Memory Card & create a shortcut to run the "zipped" program, like PowerRun. I use Zip in quotes because the format is not compatible with programs like WinZip. For that you need a program like Resco Explorer or LightNzip.

FlyZip has some really cool animation, the first when it starts up and the second when it "Zips" or "Unzips" an application:



If I didn't already have JackFlash and Resco Explorer I would have serious considered buying this utility.

Treo 650 smartphone is here!

Well, officially anyway.

The differences between the Treo 650 and the Treo 600 are:

Bluetooth wireless technology.

320x320 pixel screen

Built-in MP3 player.

Removable battery.

Nonvolatile memory (Like the Tungsten T5).

Camera now captures video too.

Big download

Finally managed to download Knoppix Linux, which is a bootable Linux. I had tried a few months back, but given up. After the second FTP site said it would take 22 hours I almost gave up again. I decided to try Bit Torrent, which is a P2P download method (see Brian's BitTorrent FAQ and Guide) requiring Bit Torrent software on the local machine. I started the download and left it to run all night. It took just under 7 hours for the 700MB ISO Image, but it worked. One advantage of broadband is not having to worry about the line dropping, although I've downloaded a 700MB ISO Image in less than 20 minutes. I had actually downloaded 5 CD images of varying sizes in a couple of hours earlier the same day.

Oh, and Knoppix Linux - it looks cool!

First Sony, now Sharp, this sucks!

FresnoBee.com: Technology: Sharp to stop selling PDA in U.S.

The Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 was on my shortlist of PDAs when I was hunting for a PDA last year. Although it's Linux based, it can run the Palm OS Emulator, and has a slide out keyboard.

Channel..I mean Web..surfing

I've discovered a new way to surf the Web.
StumbleUpon is a downloadable toolbar which works with most (Explorer, Netscape, Mozilla, Firefox) Browsers and on a number of Operating Systems. Basically, once you've downloaded and installed the toolbar, you choose topics which you are interested in (the more the better). Then you just click the "Stumble" button on your browser to begin channel surfing - give a "Thumbs Up" or "Thumbs Down" to the websites you like or dislike, and surf on. Really great fun.

Gimme space

What's happened to the extra space promised by Hotmail?
In June there were reports all around like this one in USA Today in June: Hotmail and Yahoo to offer more email storage space and another at CNET Hotmail to offer 250MB of free storage

Yahoo increased its space within days of the announcement. So did a number of other free web-based email providers like Myway.com.

So Microsoft, where's the increase in Hotmail space?

YAIEB!

Yikes!, Another Internet Explorer Bug

[Secunia - Advisories - Microsoft Internet Explorer Disclosure of Sensitive XML Information]

What, no Tungsten T4?

The new Palm Tungsten T5 PDA is here. With 256MB of flash memory (215MB available, of which 160MB is an internal flash drive), 416MHz Intel XScale processor, stereo headphone jack, Bluetooth but no Wi-Fi, and NO slider!

What's in a name

I was curious about the multiple name changes for "the browser now called Firefox".

First, it was Phoenix.
Then, it was Mozilla Firebird.
Now it's Mozilla Firefox

According to Geek.com, the Mozilla Foundation had to change the name the first time because the name Phoenix was already trademarked. The second change has come in the wake of unhappy words from the Open Source Firebird relational database development project.

Mozilla's FAQ about the name Firefox

Found PrefBar

Well, I found a version of the Firefox extension "PrefBar" which works with Firefox 1.0 Preview version for download at www.extensionsmirror.nl