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.