Gadgets for the Palm
Gene presented us with a few unique items we have received for review.
First, Kensington followed through on their development of the locking mechanism for the Palm. They are the people who make locks for notebooks that allow you to attach them to your deskspace. The lock for the Palm fits into the stylus opening, and allows you to secure the Palm to the deskspace in a similar fashion. This is a good idea, and the PDASaver may just do that for you in the workplace.
We do have a few concerns about the amount of pressure the lock exerts on the case, though, and you probably could "rip off" a PDA just by a hearty yank! This is not a total security solution, but could provide just enough deterrent to keep lightfingers from walking by your desk while you are away "just to borrow your PDA for a while".
Gene also brought by a few of the "StingerStylus" gadgets for us to try out. This a fairly clever little gizmo that attaches to your finger and works like a stylus.
At $4.95 for a pack of three, you cah hardly go wrong with this. They say you either love it or hate it right away, but most of us found this an intriguing idea. It does limit the fatigue you get from holding a narrow stylus between thumb and forefinger, and it is very easy to use. We had a little problem figuring out where to store it though, and maybe that's why you buy three?
We also found it a little hard to write with a pen on paper while wearing the StingerStylus, but this is a trivial point.
We digressed into free servers, ISPs, cable versus DSL at this point, as we tend to do. We do discuss issues besides Palm OS at meetings!
None of us yet own the M100, but several had tried out samples at local computer stores and compared it favorable with the balance of the Palm lineup.
John raised issues regarding the TrojanHorse found in the "Liberty" game recently. This trojan was widely dismissed in the press since the enitre Palm memory is erased easily by leaving the batterys out (or letting them lose their charge). John correctly pointed out that the Palm system does have some weaknesses, however, and since flash memory is used, and can actually be used by addon programs to expand the available memory for programs (*like FlashPro), it is conceptually possible to produce a trojan that would enter flash memory (hence "permanent") or even a CIH like virus. None of this is very good news, but we are told that the usual anti-virus companies are working on solutions (for a problem that doesn't yet exist?).
Palm prefs are like the Windows registry in some ways, a prc's are available that allow you to snoop on the content of your PDA. John demonstrated one for us called PrefEd.
We continue to have questions regarding PIMs and the Palm, particularly Outlook/Outlook Express. Someone mentioned Excite as a PIM (?), Franklin Planner, and ACT! It was restated that when you install the Palm OS Windows software, you do not have to install the Desktop, and it affords you options to install for other managers.
David Pogue's PalmPilot the Ultimate Guide, O'Reilly & Associates remains the most frequently referenced book in our meetings. We look forward to examining a copy of Palm OS Bible, in hope that it sheds some light on the inner workings of the OS.
See you in October. I remind you all that "a local computer store - a branch of a national chain" conducts courses entitled "Palm Pilot Introduction" and "Palm Pilot Tips and Tricks", but charges $89 for EACH. As always, our meetings are free and open to the interested public, and we hope at least as informative.