Writing On Your Palm

Tweaking WM5

Jeff Kirvin — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 03:28:00 +0000

Now that I've switched over to a Windows Mobile 5 device, is it possible to duplicate the Treo's famed ease of use? Sure, with a little help.

We've all heard it. Windows Mobile devices are more powerful than Palm OS, but they're harder to use. I'm actually not sure how true either half of that statement is. My switch to Sprint's PPC-6700 had more to do with screen size and syncing with Vista 64 and Office 2007 than any disenchantment with Palm OS. PC Magazine's review of the Treo 700w said, "No perfect smartphone solution is available right now, in our eyes. For power, we'd recommend the Sprint PPC-6700 or its Verizon cousin. Both are smaller and lighter than the Treo and have Wi-Fi, a faster processor, and a bigger display than the Treo's, but they aren't quite as usable one-handed."

Now that I've had a few weeks to tweak my new phone, I can tell you that with the modifications, a Pocket PC Phone can be just as usable one-handed as the Treo 650. Let me show you how.

The first thing you've got to do with a Pocket PC to make it more usable one-handed is install Dynamo. This freeware gem is essentially Mac OS's Expos� for Windows Mobile. When run, it shows you thumbnails of each of your running applications, which you can then select via the d-pad or close by pressing and holding the d-pad over the selected thumbnail. This gives you a quick, easy and visual way to manage your running applications and close stuff you're no longer using. The secret to one-handed use? Assign Dynamo to a button on your device. On my PPC-6700, I have Dynamo set to the "Internet Explorer" button on the side of the unit just below the volume slider and I can not only manage my applications one-handed, but switch between them far faster than I ever could with my Treo 650.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject of button assignments, if your device doesn't have dedicated buttons for Start and OK, assign them. Even if you have to give up whatever those buttons were originally mapped to (Calendar, Messaging, etc.), you'll get far more use out of having physical buttons for Start and OK.

The second thing to install, also freeware, is the ETEN dialer. Obviously, this only applies if you're talking about a Pocket PC Phone, but like all stand-alone PDAs, non-cellular Pocket PCs are a vanishing breed anyway. The most prolific Pocket PC maker these days isn't HP or Dell, it's HTC.

The ETEN dialer is a program that skins and remaps your dialer program. Not only does this make your phone look a whole lot cooler (check out www.paulya.com for some awesome skins) but it-- and this is the important part-- makes your phone buttons a lot bigger and easier to press with your thumb while holding the phone in one hand. By moving the speed dial and other buttons from the side to the top and having the three number columns span the width of the phone, dialing becomes dramatically easer, and I find I no longer miss the dedicated if very tiny dialpad on the Treo.

You're also going to need a good file manager. Resco is great, but so far I've been very happy with Total Commander. Not only is it priced better than Resco (it's free), but it's also smaller and lighter, without sacrificing power. It's controllable via the d-pad also includes a great little registry editor.

And you're going to want to do some registry hacks. Not too many, don't go crazy, but most Windows Mobile devices could do with a little fine tuning. Here's a list of some good starting points. If nothing else, here's one that really improves one-handed use: remapping the two soft keys on the Today screen. With Total Commander, open up "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Today\Keys\112". This is the left soft key on the Today screen. Change the Default key to change the label, and change the Open key to point to the program or URL to open. Instead of Messaging, I have my left hand soft key called "Gmail" and it opens the basic HTML version of Gmail in Internet Explorer Mobile. You can change the right hand key the same way, but you have to create the registry keys yourself, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Today\Keys\113\Default and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Today\Keys\113\Open.

If you're too squeamish to edit the registry on your Pocket PC yourself, you could always get a program to do it for you. I prefer SKTools for this, as it's a great little Swiss Army knife of a program. Not only does it make suggested optimizations for you, but it also uninstalls programs that give the standard Remove Programs screen trouble, it cleans up both memory and storage space and in the latest beta, backs up your device to your storage card. Not free, but certainly worth $9.

Now let's really dig into your Today screen. Like the Home screen of a Treo, this is your central control point for your Windows Mobile device, and the more you can do with it via just the d-pad, but more effective you'll be on the go.

The first plug-in I have on my Today screen is TodayTime (just download it, you don't have to speak Portuguese, but do scan that page for configuration syntax). This gives you the same info as the stock Date module, but in one line instead of two and with an optionally smaller font. Freeware, still links to the alarms screen and clears up more precious Today screen real estate for other stuff.

Next is a bit of cheating. I have the picture speed dial module from the Treo 700w. I downloaded the .cab file for this from a discussion board from someone who had extracted it from the Verizon ROM. I'm not linking to this one but if you were to do a quick search on the forums at PDAphonehome.com you'd be pretty likely to find something interesting. Credit where's credit is due, this does give you a fast and easy way to dial your most common contacts.

Next is something else you're gonna have to pay for, I'm afraid, but don't worry, it's under $10. iLauncher from SBSH Software (the same folks that make the acclaimed PocketBreeze plugin) is worth it for three reasons. First, it puts nice little battery bar across the very top of the screen, giving you at-a-glance power status from any application. You can get this functionality for free from a program called PowerStatus, which also gives you storage memory status, but iLauncher provides two other key functions. It provides a nice little collection of application and document shortcuts on your Today screen (even tabbed if you want, although for I find the Start Menu is the better place for a lot of shortcuts, I just but the quick access stuff on my Today screen) and allows you to put some of those shortcuts in your system tray at the bottom of the screen just above the soft buttons, space that would otherwise be unused except for a couple of things put there by the manufacturer of your device. I put commonly used apps in a thin row just under my speed dial buttons, and put system meters (RAM, storage space, card space) and system applications (SKTools, IR Keyboard driver) down in the tray.

Speaking of the Start menu, web-based "applications" aren't just for the Palm folks. You can use Total Commander (or the built in File Manager, sheesh) to copy .url files from \windows\favorites\ to \windows\start menu\programs\. The reason I don't have a dedicated weather plugin on my Today screen is that I have a shortcut to the mobile Accuweather page for my zip code on my Start menu, just between Today and Audible. Gets me my weather forecast just as fast, and doesn't take up any extra RAM.

Now, let's talk about the big dogs. The biggest purpose of the Today screen, the reason it's called the Today screen, is to display your calendar and task items. The two heavy hitters in making your Today screen the only planner you need are SBSH's PocketBreeze and SPB Software House's Diary. Which one do I use?

Actually, neither. Oh, I've registered them both, as well as Pocket Weather, SPB's Pocket Plus and other associated plugins, but I ultimately found them to be more trouble than they were worth. They worked fine, and PocketBreeze works exceptionally well one-handed, but they're big. Keep in mind that Windows Mobile is a multitasking operating system and because the Today screen itself is always running in the background while you use other apps, any Today screen modules are also always running in the background while you use other apps. The sheer size of these plugins, and thus the related slow-down of my system as a whole, just turned out to not be worth it.

For the calendar stuff, I use the stock Calendar plugin and it works just fine. It only tells me my next appointment but that's fine, that's all I really need to know in most cases.

For tasks, I go a little further. While the task handling in PocketBreeze is overkill for me, the simple count provided by the stock plugin isn't enough. I split the difference by running TasksPlus, a freeware plugin that greatly resembles the stock plugin but optionally lists up to 20 tasks under the count. This is enough to remind me of what I need to do and I can move down to a task and click on it with the d-pad to open that task in the Tasks application, where I can reschedule it or mark it as complete without ever touching my stylus.

Almost done. In addition to what's listed above, here are a few other plugins I've found useful enough to keep on my Today screen. Remember, you don't want too many because each one not only runs constantly but also is at least one more down click on your d-pad to get to or get past.

Phone Profiles. Freeware, allows you to create and set profiles from the Today screen with the d-pad. I have three: General, Meeting and BT Headset, from which I can quickly set volume and turn Bluetooth on and off.
Bluetooth Audio Today. Freeware. Redirects audio output from the speaker to my Bluetooth headset, something that even the great Tyler Faux found impossible to do on Palm OS.
Pocket Player. Once I've redirected audio to the headset, it's time to listen to podcasts, Audible or streaming radio. Not only is Pocket Player the best MP3 player I've found for Windows Mobile when it comes to remembering your place in podcasts, but Pocket Player's Today plugin lets me see what I'm listening to, how much time is either elapsed or remaining and you guessed it, I can control playback with just the d-pad. I only display the track, not the position slider or buttons, in order to save space.

And that's it. Everything you need to make your stylus obsolete, even on a Windows Mobile device.

Every time I think I'm out...

Jeff Kirvin — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 23:25:00 +0000

Alright, dammit, I'm back. I tried to leave mobile tech behind. I even started a new blog, the unfortunately acronymized Kirvin On Writing, to review desktop size writing tools. And then I went and bought a Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC Phone. And wow, there's a lot out there to learn again. I've missed a bit in the my most recent three year stint with Palm OS (if you actually do the math, I've switched every three years). I'm still using a desktop for most of my writing, but I must admit I'm writing more on my HTC Apache than I was on my Treo, and I might start to take mass transit to work soon, giving me more opportunity to write on the go. So what's next for WOYP? I'm working on a how-to on making a WM5 Pocket PC just as usable one-handed as a Treo, I'll probably have software reviews (TextMaker 2006 is in late beta) and other tips and tricks. I'm also going to focus more on writing, including the desktop stuff. And for now, at least, I'm going back to the original publishing schedule I set down in the very first WOYP column, back in 1999 (last century, wow). That is that I'll post new content to WOYP whenever I darned well feel like it. That said. Welcome back. I hope I still have something worthwhile to say.

Tor, the Universe, and Everything Baen

Chris Meadows — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 02:15:00 +0000

It's no secret that I've long been fond of Baen Books and what they've been doing for electronic publishing. By publishing all of their new releases in inexpensive, DRM-free open-format ebooks, I feel that they've been doing a great thing for promoting the usefulness of ebooks, and promoting general readership of science fiction while they were at it. And I'm certainly not the only WOYP columnist to feel this way. But Baen has not been content to rest on their laurels. In just a couple of months, they'll be launching a new science-fiction e-zine called Jim Baen's Universe. Planned to come out six times yearly, it will feature stories from both established writers and newcomers, and offer significantly better payment rates than other SF 'zines are able to offer today. Jim Baen and Eric Flint describe it in terns that border on hyperbole as possibly being the last chance to save written science-fiction from becoming irrelevant as its primary audience gets older and the young readers are attracted to computer games and movies and other diversions instead. I don't know if I'd go quite that far, but it does look like an interesting opportunity for new writers�part of each magazine is explicitly set aside for stories from as-yet-unpublished new talent. But a more exciting development has taken place in the last couple of weeks: Tor Books, a substantially larger and broader publisher of science fiction and fantasy than Baen, has taken notice of Baen's success. Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Tor's senior editor and manager of their SF line, has said:

We've tested a lot of e-book waters, including various cockamamie schemes involving overpriced e-books laden with DRM. Oddly enough, a lot of those "books" didn't even sell enough copies to pay for their file-conversion costs. Meanwhile, it hasn't escaped our notice that Jim Baen has been doing something that works, that people like, and that makes money. I'm delighted to be doing this pilot program; I think Jim has been clueful on this issue for a long time, while almost everyone else in publishing has been staggering around on stage hitting one another over the head with inflated pig bladders.

And so it has come about that Tor is going to be publishing a number of its SF and fantasy books through Baen's Webscriptions�and they will be, like Baen's own works, both unencrypted and reasonably-priced. The list includes works by up-and-coming writers John Scalzi and Charlie Stross, and SF vet Vernor Vinge's works including his newer Rainbows End and his classic A Fire Upon the Deep. The news has many Webscription old-timers on Baen's Bar excited, Scalzi and Stross are both quite positive about it in their weblogs, and so are other blogs that have picked up on the story. And you can list me among those excited webscribers. While I enjoy Baen's books, they do tend to be predominantly military and political SF and fantasy, and that is not everyone's cup of tea. But Tor, on the other hand, has a much greater breadth of titles, and even more popular writers; it's not as "nichy" as Baen, and it publishes about 300 new titles per year to Baen's 50. This means that it is possible that a much broader readership will suddenly discover just how much fun it is to read unencrypted, inexpensive ebooks�and a much larger publisher will learn first-hand how profitable it can be to sell them. Will more publishers sign on eventually? Will this only be the first step toward Baen's world domination of the electronic publishing industry? Only time will tell. It should be noted, however, that this move did not come about in a vacuum; Jim Baen worked with Tor founder Tom Doherty at Ace Books in the 1970s, and then founded Tor's science fiction line himself before moving on to start Baen Books. Also, some Baen writers, such as David Drake, write for both publishers. (This is also not the first time a Tor book has been released electronically by Baen; David Drake received permission to put some of his Tor-published Lord of the Isles series on the freebie CD-ROM bound into the first printing of Lt. Leary, Commanding.) Still, it is a hopeful sign that such a big publisher as Tor has come around to the same point of view as Baen�that leaving off annoying DRM and pricing ebooks reasonably is not just friendlier to customers but more profitable as well. With Tor on board, it might not be so easy to dismiss Webscriptions as an experiment by a niche publisher. Meanwhile, I'm going to be looking forward to the chance to have, at long last, an unencrypted, device-portable version of A Fire Upon the Deep�the first ebook I ever bought (and also the first one I bought twice). And it will be exciting to read Scalzi and Stross, two writers whom BoingBoing's Cory Doctorow has been pushing for some time. Perhaps it is too soon to be optimistic, but hopefully a bright, DRM-less ebook future, where ebooks can be freely read on any hand-held device of the user's choice, has just come a little bit closer to reality.

Poll - Would you be willing to donate towards a Tungsten X review?

Jeff Kirvin — Fri, 15 Apr 2005 19:24:00 +0000

Solo Media Forums :: View topic - Would you be willing to donate towards a Tungsten X review?: "I love doing reviews of new PDAs, and my readers seem to be happy with the results. My Tungsten T5 review was the longest article I've yet written for Writing On Your Palm, but it went into more depth than anyone else. That said, I'm not on PalmOne's list of people they send review units to. So would you be willing to PayPal me a buck or two towards the purchase of a Tungsten X I can review? If the poll results are positive, I'll set up a donate link on the main page, but in the meantime, you can use your PayPal account to send me a donation at jeff@writingonyourpalm.net"

Pocketfactory on the Tungsten X

Jeff Kirvin — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 22:21:00 +0000

Okay, I have to go on record first by saying that I think the Tungsten X moniker is very cool. Makes me want one of these even more. As I was reading all the comments about the X today, I came across this at PocketFactory: Pocketfactory: LifeDrive Isn't LifeDrive After all: "On the downside, Brighthand is also reporting the new product will likely ship with NormSoft's Pocket Tunes media player, which is a horrible piece of amateurware if I do say so myself, in place of Real Network's RealOne Player. What a shame." Kent, are you serious? Pocket Tunes is miles ahead of Real's lame "mailed in" Palm OS player. Pocket Tunes supports Ogg, WMA, playlists, bookmarks, streaming, skins... Need I go on? Bundling Pocket Tunes is the first real sign I've seen that PalmOne is taking media seriously with the X and it gives them a built-in way to handle streaming media the way RealPlayer should and doesn't.

1SRC Podcast Nineteen

Jeff Kirvin — Thu, 14 Apr 2005 03:57:00 +0000

1src - The One Source for all things Palm-powered related. :: Podcasts : 1SRC Podcast Nineteen: "This week, we cover: * The brand new Tungsten E2! * More stuff on the LifeDrive. For details, see yesterday's Maximum Geek Podcast * G1 now works on the T5! * Got a Zire 31? Got a orange line of death? Here's how to fix it. * The point of the PalmOne/PalmSource breakup * Why a WM Treo won't kill Palm OS"

PCWorld.com - PDA Pundit: A New Palm for the Unconnected

Jeff Kirvin — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 18:23:00 +0000

PCWorld.com - PDA Pundit: A New Palm for the Unconnected: "The connected PDA may be the next big thing, but for hundreds of thousands of people, the ability to easily access e-mail or browse the Web from a handheld simply doesn't matter. Did I say hundreds of thousands? Try nearly two million. That's how many Tungsten E handhelds PalmOne has sold since the model, which doesn't offer any wireless capabilities, was introduced in the fall of 2003. No wonder: At $199, the E was the entry-level model in PalmOne's business-friendly Tungsten line (as opposed to the more multimedia-oriented Zire handhelds). The E delivered a fair amount of bang for the buck, including a decent color screen, a Secure Digital Card slot, and the latest versions of the Palm address and datebook software." Finally, someone in the mainstream press gets it. The E never was about innovation or blowing your doors off. It was about value, and the E2 is an evolutionary successor.

Tungsten E2 Handheld Officially Up at PalmOne

Jeff Kirvin — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 04:22:00 +0000

palmOne - Products - Tungsten E2 Handheld: "New long-life battery has significantly more longevity than the original Tungsten E handheld battery, so you don't have slow down when life speeds up." Interesting... Battery life was one of the things I didn't completely love about my E. The E2 also sports Bluetooth, non-volatile memory and a brighter screen. List price of $250.

Maximum Geek, Episode 19

Jeff Kirvin — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 04:00:00 +0000

Maximum Geek: Maximum Geek, Episode 19: "Maximum Geek 19 is out for your listening enjoyment. This time, we cover: * More details on the PalmOne LifeDrive: Hitachi 4GB microdrive confirmed, Pocket Tunes and Rhapsody instead of RealPlayer * The pros and cons of media streaming * Solo Media and community building: Please don't feed the trolls * Robotech!"

FontSmoother Tip

Jeff Kirvin — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 19:28:00 +0000

ZLThemes - Product Listing I had noticed that FontSmoother made things very slow in some applications. In particular, rendering was so slow in Agendus that I had to just disable FontSmoother for that application. Then I figured out it matters what order things go in with YAHM. When I disabled both FontSmoother and Force16 (FontSmoother works much faster in 16-bit color) so that FontSmoother is listed first, then Force16 second, everything sped up. I can keep FontSmoother on in Agendus with no penalty now. If you've tried FontSmoother and found it slow, check your hack order in YAHM.

Graffiti 1 for TT5/Treo 650 works for now

Jeff Kirvin — Tue, 12 Apr 2005 00:44:00 +0000

1src Forums - Graffiti 1 for TT5/Treo 650 works for now: "If you wan to use Graffiti 1 with your PalmOS 5.4 device (TT5 or Treo 650), try this patched version: http://yahm.palmoid.com/G14OS54.zip It's slightly tuned G1 libraries." Igor Nestorov, the man behind YAHM, has done it again! If you just can't abide Graffiti 2, Igor has patched G1 to work on the devices running Garnet 5.4. I'm installing it myself to try it out. Look for comments in the forum...

Smart-phones lining up to be the next big thing

Jeff Kirvin — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 05:19:00 +0000

The State | 04/10/2005 | Smart-phones lining up to be the next big thing: "These are not your average, everyday cell phones � but someday soon they will be. Smart-phones � the mobile devices that let you do far more than just make calls � are going mainstream. That means the Internet-connected, wireless gadget that can do pretty much all the things a personal computer does is finally becoming a reality."

PalmInfocenter and Astroturfing

Jeff Kirvin — Mon, 11 Apr 2005 03:13:00 +0000

PalmInfocenter Detailed Comment View (7748) It's sad when good web sites go bad... I'm never reading PalmInfocenter again, Ryan. You can't keep the trolls from engaging in personal attacks, and frankly, I've had enough and have better things to do with my time than deal with those wingnuts. I don't mind dissenting opinions, in fact I love them. I love a good debate. But these people aren't debating. They're engaging in personal attacks. They're trolls, pure and simple. For those of you that don't read PIC (and you ain't missing anything), I've been personally attacked quite a bit recently by cowards who won't use their real names. My crime was saying nice things about PalmOne and PalmSource, which can't be allowed by this group of sad, bitter people. However, I do feel compelled to state, for the record, my relationship with PalmOne and with PalmSource. I doubt the bitter will believe me, but for those you that still have open minds... My relationship with PalmOne is purely that of a happy customer. I don't work for PalmOne in any way. I don't even get review units from them, although I'm certainly going to ask when they announce the Life Drive. My relationship with PalmSource is a little more complicated. I have done some consulting work for them, for which I collected my one-time fee. I have also interviewed to replace Chris Dunphy as their Director of Competitive Analysis, and didn't get the job. They recently filled that position with someone from Transmeta. I no longer have any financial dealings with PalmSource at all. I am on an invite-only mailing list populated with PalmSource employees and folks that run Palm-oriented websites. There is no financial impact from being on this list. That's it. I'm not being paid to shill for either company. In fact, if anything, losing out on the job at PalmSource could have made me bitter and antagonistic towards them. But I'm better than that. I say what I say about these companies because I believe it. I'm a big fan of Palm OS and I'm a happy PalmOne customer. And anyone who doesn't like that is entitled to their opinion, but I just don't have time to listen to them anymore.

Netfront for PalmOne devices?

Tory — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 13:44:00 +0000

Yep. It's for real. Tam Hanna's made an application so that Clie-only applications will run on other platforms. Not everything is stable or working properly, but Netfront seems to run pretty well. I've not tried it myself, as I have Zodiac and we have that lovely digital signing DRM thing to work around (which, BTW, I'm dreaming about how to stop it). Hop over to Tam Hanna's blog and give it a try. Post your results in the comments.

Netfront for PalmOne devices?

Tory — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 13:44:00 +0000

Yep. It's for real. Tam Hanna has developed an application that will allow Clie-only applications to run on other PalmOS devices. Apparently it's not perfect yet, and not all applications run well, but Netfront seems to work. I've not tried it yet as I have a Zodiac, and one has to work around the digital signing issue for system-level applications. Hop over to Tam Hanna's blog, and give it a whirl. Post your results in the comments.

1SRC Podcast Eighteen

Jeff Kirvin — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 04:17:00 +0000

The new 1SRC podcast is up. I'll warn you, I've got a sinus headache, my email is down and I'm cranky. I only got through it by channelling a little Marc Maron. Those of you that listen to Morning Sedition on Air America will know what that means.

Emailing the Kirvin

Jeff Kirvin — Thu, 07 Apr 2005 03:33:00 +0000

In case anyone needs to contact me, my main email account is seemingly permanently broken and my tech support is off the grid. Any emails to the Kirvin should go to jeff.kirvin@gmail.com. Thanks ever so much.

More info on the LifeDrive

Jeff Kirvin — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 16:25:00 +0000

Mobile-review.com New PDAs by palmOne Good stuff here. It looks like the LifeDrive will not only support Drive Mode like the T5, but also add a new feature: FolderSync. Cool. Also, it will be able to sync with Exchange servers via Bluetooth or WiFi, explaining why PalmOne licensed ActiveSync.

Size Matters

Jeff Kirvin — Wed, 06 Apr 2005 16:12:00 +0000

There's an old Chinese parable. This rat and an ox get into a debate over which of them is more impressive. The rat bets that he's far more impressive than the ox. They end up going to a wizard to settle the bet. The wizard decides they should let the people decide. "That sounds great," says the rat. "But can I ask a favor? Since the ox is so much bigger than me anyway, can we double my size?" The ox says, "Fine by me. You're puny either way." So the two animals walk into the city square, the ox and the rat, now twice his normal size. The reaction is dramatic and immediate. Everyone's already seen an ox, there's nothing new there. No big deal. But the rat! A three-foot freaking rat! "Look at the size of that rat!" people shout. "That rat is enormous!" The rat won the bet. It's all about perception, people. I've seen a lot of wingnuts complaining recently about the size of the PalmOne LifeDrive. Assuming this thing materializes as the pictures have shown, it's thicker than a modern PDA should be. But you know what? That's okay. It's not a PDA. The LifeDrive is a media player. It competes with the iPod, Archos players, etc. It's far, far smaller than Creative's brick of a personal video player, and smaller than most of the devices that compete with it. It also has double the screen density of the QVGA players (and more pixels than the Sony PSP, too). In short, as a media player, it's very well positioned to attack the market, doing things no other single device can do. But while it has PDA functionality (the same PIM apps as the Tungsten series, and Documents To Go), it's not really a PDA. All the crap that the wingnuts complain about is completely irrelevant if you look at this as a media player that can double as a PDA rather than a PDA that can double as a media player.

Another Happy T5 User

Jeff Kirvin — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 03:08:00 +0000

Hatch or Go Bad: The Move is Over: "I have a new toy. I typed the first draft of this on my new Tungsten T5. It came with the free PalmOne Universal Wireless keyboard. I have been reading reviews and lurking in techie and (I don't think anyone would be offended if I say this) geeky message boards. Looking for info on new PDA's. Many, many posters trashed the T5 because it lacked WiFi and because it doesn't use the new Cobalt OS. But, those things don't matter to me. I am not a WiFi kind of gal. I don't need to be connected ALL the time. The internet is distracting enough on my PC. Emails can wait. If anyone needs to reach me URGENTLY, they know how. As far as Cobalt is concerned, I haven't seen it yet. I don't know if my third party software faves will be developed for it quickly. I like the Palm OS and version 5.whatever is good enough for me. Besides PalmSource announced they would develop the new Cobalt and the current OS (I think this is Garnet) simultaneously. I don't want a new learning curve, I want to write. The T5 is the perfect PDA for me because of the storage capacity. I can carry three to four books (or more) for eReader. I can have at least 2 Audible.com books. I can write in Word thanks to the DocsToGo 7.0 software that came loaded. The thing also works as a USB drive or memory key - so the file transfer back and forth from PDA to PC is easy schmeasy. Way cool! This is the one for me and I am in love with it. I am obsessed with it. Also did I mention that I can listen to music on this puppy while I am writing? No? Okay, I can listen to music on this puppy while I am typing. I am in Memorial Union surrounded by students some with laptops. This little teeny weenie thingy is my laptop replacement. I don't need a laptop. I don't want one. This thing is sleeker and sexier than any laptop I have ever seen. Yes, my geek factor is showing. I think technology is sexy."

I give up

mcc — Sat, 02 Apr 2005 02:59:00 +0000

I quenched the flame of my pride, and I bought not one, but three self-help books on productivity. I bought David Allen's Getting Things Done, Rita Emmett's The Procrastinator's Handbook, and Tony Jeary's Life is a Series of Presentations. The impetus for this is that recent events have shown me that I work inefficiently. I work hard, but now I feel that, even though I need to do this work eventually, some time can be spent on reading scientific literature or writing or making figures for presentation. Except I blindly (now I see) plod forward doing experiments. It's not a smart move. So I sucked in my pride and bought a few books WOYPers have recommended. We'll see if I do better.

Fitaly Zodiac Skin update

Josh — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 16:50:00 +0000

Solo Media Forums :: View topic - Fitaly Zodiac Skin - Landscape enabled: "Fitaly Zodiac Skin - Landscape enabled" Velo posted this on our forums this morning, and I just wanted to make sure to draw attention to it. I'm about to go download it and get it setup right now. There are screenshots in the forums and you can download it here.

FontSmoother Updated

Jeff Kirvin — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 03:54:00 +0000

ZLThemes - Product Listing: "2005-03-30: Version 1.20: Include simple built-in global font substitute (no need for Fonts4OS5/ FontSubst/FontHackV if you want the same font in all enabled applications). Include FontSubst compatible fonts. Added DataCute, Devotions and DailyReader to freebie list. Reduce memory usage for fonts in flash. Fix shortcut character for menu entries (and related problems)" I've tested this out and it's even better than before. Since I always want the same font system-wide for consistency, I no longer need Fonts4OS5 at all (I've got a copy on my SD card, just in case). Not only do I get a really smooth, readable Times Roman font everywhere in the system, but without the overhead of Fonts4OS5, it's much, much faster, displaying almost as fast as the default system font on my T5. Sweet.

Maximum Geek Episode 17

Josh — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 03:37:00 +0000

Maximum Geek Episode 17 is up. In this episode we go off topic every few minutes but still manage to talk about. -The PSP, The bad mostly, but some of the good. -Writer Responsibility -Why it's ok to make money as an artist. -The importance of deadlines. Then Jeff's computer goes crazy and things get really funny. So take a listen and let us know what you think over on the forums.

1SRC Podcast Seventeen

Jeff Kirvin — Thu, 31 Mar 2005 02:40:00 +0000

1src - The One Source for all things Palm-powered related. :: Podcasts : 1SRC Podcast Seventeen: "This week, we cover: * 1SRC Chat! Mark your calendars! * Tungsten E2 and Zire 73 * Life Drive * Why is Graffiti 1 such a requirement for some people? There are lots better ways to enter data. Believe me, I know."