(Take it from me, you should not wait 6 months before typing your notes - who wrote this stuff down, anyway? ;-)
We had two Handspring Visors for every two Palm IIIx machines and every one Palm V.
David Pogue's PalmPilot the Ultimate Guide, O'Reilly & Associates remains the most frequently referenced book in our meetings.
We had the opportunity to reflect on our experience with Yodlee's product that allows you to organize your credit card information, frequent flier miles, stock holdings, bank accounts and whatever on the web with a download to your PDA.
We have obvious concerns about security with this information being transmitted over the net, but this is not primarily a criticism of Yodlee's product. We note that any item that has been updated is not clearly distinguished as such when it is changed in the Memo application.
Overall, we think this is a very potent, that is high potential, product, but our reservations about net security probably will deter us from using for more than FF miles and other less consequential accounts.
AVANTGO again surfaces for its ability to transfer web information from the desktop to the pda for later review. Two articles from ComputerWorld (9/6/1999, 11/15/1999) also detail enterprise applications that connect corporate databases to business handhelds (Palm) for inventory tracking and accessing patient pharmacy information. We agree that this is a great application.
One member noted that subscriptions to Tap Magazine (now HandHeld Computing Magazine) are available through the Barnes&Noble website.
We note the availability of Gotype (http://www.landware.com) and Stowaway (http://www.thinkoutside.com) keyboards for Palm devices and hope to review them in more depth.
We also note a cradle adapter that allows more interchange between Palm III and Palm V enabled devices (like keyboards).
A "six-pak" module for the Visor by http://www.innogear.com was mentioned.
Along the lines of security, Gene mentioned his idea for a cable lock that would secure the PDA to a desk while you are temporarily away -- Kensington has responded favorably and we anticipate a model available in June. The downside of mobility is loss of physical security!
Memory upgrades are available "third party" but breach warranty (such as it is). Palm Vs are phasing out in favor of Palm Vx. Color screens soon! Xerox suing Palm/3Com over grafitti. Yeah, yeah, Xerox invented everything and copied nothing......
PROGRAMMING INTERESTS
Wademan has a very good section on programming the Palm OS - check it out for links to free programming tools. Cygwin is a linux based set of tools that runs under Windows and lets one use the many programming tools freely available under the linux/Gnu license structure. You can also download this from the Handspring site (although you may have to register a name and email address). Pugsl found a C++ add-on to the C set for Palm OS called "teenee", but hey, we are out of our depth here, let's face it.
PendragonForms remains a great favorite for "programming" the Palm OS. What you do is write a simple application on the desktop for handling data, using a pretty straightforward description and some graphics, and the desktop app generates a PRC file you then download to the Palm. This really works well for quick and dirty "programming" of the sort most of us really need. Try an evaluation copy! Pendragon-Software has an extensive web site with case studies and downloads. The full version is relatively inexpensive ($99-$149).
See you in May.