Smaato free newsreader

From palmgear…this free RSS reader has just been updated

Application Description

   
      

Smaato News:
  RSS reader  for your smartphone

The internet is full of information. Nowhere else you can find so
much up-to-date knowledge. And the best: most of this is free. Wouldn’t
it be great, if you could access all these resources from everywhere,
every time, via your smartphone?

Now you can! Smaato news gives you access to thousands of free RSS
channels. RSS is a format offered by nearly all bigger websites, which
delivers the websites important contents without graphical overhead.

Other than mobile web browsers, it delivers only the text and
important pictures and not megabytes of formatting images etc. which
are useless and out of place on your mobile device.

Smaato News embeds these pieces of information into a great
intuitive interface and gives you access to them – from everywhere.

Features:

• Default  channels for starting out-of-the-box
• Custom  channels for adding your favourite news-sources
• One  handed navigation
• Channel-updates  via conduit or over-the-air
• Services  like weather-forecasts (more coming soon)
• Great  intuitive user-interface
• Free  (ad-supported, only one small banner at top of the screen)

PS3 swopped for Wii’s

Oh dear…looks like quite a few PS3 owners have had enough already…

"Yes, it’s true. Some of those mad people who queued outside big retail
stores in the US for more than day for their precious Sony PS3s are now
reported to be trading them against Nintendo Wiis. Even worse, some of
them are willing to do so at a loss.

The main forum for such blasphemy seems to be craigslist.org,
where disaffected PS3 owners are sorry they ever caught pneumonia in
the first place and want to trade (up?) for a Wii. According to this report, there were 48 PS3-for-Wii trades going on in San Francisco alone while the story was being written"

tag tag tag

Ouch…I have been "tagged" not once but twice…see the link for further details! May C from palmdiscovery tagged me and now Shaun from pda 24/7 has added to my woes on the basis that I am Scottish "and thus deserves to be tagged" !!
I will need to think of 5 interesting things to say about myself…might take a while.

new video ipods to be announced?

I was thinking of treating myself over xmas to one of those video ipods but then remembered that there is one of those MacWorld Expo thingys in early January.
It seems people in the know-ish are expecting a "true" video ipod, whatever that means. I would hope it would mean a normal sized ipod with a larger screen for better viewing, if so that would be a tempting device for me. I could then stick loads of films on it for watching on the go, so to speak. This would be preferable to watching them on a treo in several respects:
– the video ipod would be able to store a heck of a lot more films than my 2gb sd card. At the moment, space is tight on my card so if one film goes on, another has to come off, which frankly is a pain.
– the larger screen would make it more enjoyable to watch.
– a video ipod would be likely to have a far more powerful battery in it that my treo 680 so I could watch for longer.
– knowing apple, it would make the process of getting the films on and off the device a bit easier than my present 680 method.
– they’re bound to start getting more films and stuff that people actually want to watch on the itunes music store.

CheckBalanceFree 1.3

Freeware and available to download at palmgear..

Application Description
   

Reconcile your bank statements painlessly with CheckBalance.
CheckBalance saves you time over using a calculator to reconcile your
bank statements – you don’t have to start all over if you make a
mistake or miss a transaction.

–CheckBalance has a simple spreadsheet like interface for entering transactions.

-New transaction rows can be inserted at the end, or above or below an existing row.

-Transaction rows can be moved up or down to change the sequence. 

-Balance is calculated for each transaction. 

-Transactions not yet cleared can be marked as pending and removed from the balance calculations.

CheckBalance lets you create multiple accounts. It can store
unlimited transactions for each account. (Limited by the memory on the
PDA ofcourse). All transactions are backed up to the PC during hotsync.

CheckBalance can also be used as a simple register for recording account activity.
   

 

   

almost 2007

Another year zooms by almost nonchalently….looking back on 2006 as we will inevitably do, will we remember it as a good, excellent, disappointing or downright poor year for all things palm?

It’s been a pretty poor year for palm pda only handhelds, that has to be undeniable…I can’t remember whether the TX was brought out this year or at the end of last, even so I think I’m right in saying it was the last new handheld in the last 12 months. Much as I like it, and I have one myself, I was sort of hoping that palm would kick on from it and introduce something a bit different with the same effect as the T3 had in terms of form factor. But it wasn’t to be sadly..
The TX is a top-class pda but is really just a warmed over T5 with one or two extra features, such as wifi onboard. I’d love palm to bring out something pretty radical in this segment for 2007 but am not holding my breath.
Treo-wise it has been a mixed year…we’ve seen specced up treo’s for the US market and the first (and last?) windows mobile device but nothing really outstanding in terms of form and specs for UK palm based ones. The 680 was announced to a somewhat muted fanfare but seems to have garnered quite a bit of positive reaction since, especially from those who changed from a 650.

One thing that has surprised me about it is the price…around £280ish. This is a device that is similar in spec to the 650 but has more memory and a nicer form factor yet is much cheaper. Up until quite recently, you’d have had to fork out around £400 for a 650. So, how have palm managed to make the 680 so much cheaper? Is it less well built in comparison to the 650 or was the 650 just over-priced? If it’s the first factor then I guess we’ll find out pretty soon.

Treo’s are great to use but still seem to lack that wow factor and the features that most power-users demand in a smartphone. Palm have been very quiet since the 680 was announced as to whether we will see any future palm based treo’s and if we do, how long we’ll have to wait.

Perhaps all will be revealed in 2007…I certainly hope so.

console wars…

So, the big three all have their consoles out in the US and the sales stats, according to this site, are interesting.
You have to bear in mind that the xbox 360 has been out a lot longer than the Wii and that the PS3 has been out more or less the same length of time as the Wii but seems to be getting humped sales-wise. This is down partly to the hefty PS3 price in comparison to the Wii.
It’s good to see the relative underdog, Nintendo, holding its own against the big Corporate giants such as Sony. It has probably sold more since it launched than the 360 console too so that is pretty damn impressive and will give microsoft some food for thought.
Sales and success can be down to a lot of different factors – hype, price, features and most importantly playability and games. Nintendo seems to have the knack of making their devices supremely playable (DS Lite) and also provide quirky, fun to play games.
The 360 has the huge advantage of on-line playing and this seems to be its saving grace as the games to date have, on the whole, been nothing special with a few notable exceptions such as Oblivion and Gears of War. Online gaming is growing at a huge rate with the result that developers now see it as almost as important as the single player game itself…if you look at adverts for new xbox 360 games you will see how much the online multiplayer aspect is featured.

pda 24/7 software store discount

The kind chaps at 24/7 are offering a 15% discount on store purchases for both windows and palm stuff using the special code found here..

MadZ video converter

MadZ Software has announced the release of version 2.5 of its DVD to iPod/PSP Video Converter software. DVD to iPod/PSP Video Converter rips DVD video files and converts them into the appropriate format for uploading to and viewing on an Apple iPod Video or a Sony PSP.
Just connect your player to your computer as you normally do, and instantly the converted video files will be uploaded.

Samsung’s new memory chip

From Computing Unplugged
Samsung Electronics said it has developed a new mobile memory chip that is thinner and uses less power than previous generations of chips, a development that could affect a wide range of portable consumer electronic devices. Samsung claims it has developed the first 1-gigabit DRAM (dynamic random access memory) chip for mobile products, using 80-nanometer process technology. The new chip is at least 20 percent thinner than existing chipsets that use up to two 512-megabit chips, and it uses about 30 percent less power, the company said in a press release.

zune sales

I was reading this over at PC World and I just thought…how ironic is that? After all, it’s what’s been happening for years in PC World stores when you ask about imacs….that sort of "why would you want one of those" attitude from their "knowledgeable staff"..and now the boot is on the other foot with regard to ipods v Zune!!

"According to a research note published Tuesday by PiperJaffray senior research analyst Gene Munster, only 8 percent of 40 retailers surveyed by the firm recommend the Zune to customers, while 75 percent recommend Apple’s iPod.

Moreover, some MP3 salespeople hadn’t even heard of Zune, even though the players are being sold at their stores, he wrote in his report"

apple reveals stock option errors

From the BBC….

"Computer and electronics firm Apple has filed its financial reports on the last possible day, following delays linked to the backdating of stock options"

Less-risky notebook batteries

Stung by product safety outcries, notebook manufacturers are showing signs of willingness to experiment with new types of batteries and suppliers. Lithium ion batteries have been the de facto standard for powering notebooks and consumer electronics gear for years. But recent battery-induced accidents and fires have prompted massive, multi-million-dollar recalls and tarnished the reputation of giants including Sony and Dell. One start-up looking to get its foot in the door is Boston-Power, which has designed what it says is a safer and potentially more efficient lithium ion battery. The company, says CEO and founder Christina Lampe-Onnerud, is on the verge of signing a deal with a large notebook maker–she won’t name it yet–that’s expected to come out with a portable PC using Boston-Power’s battery in mid-2007

from Computing unplugged.

Iambic EasyNotes

Has recently been updated and is available at a discount, currently 30% until the 15th January.

"With EasyNotes, text, sketching, and voice recording thoughts all come together to let you take the most comprehensive notes possible.

Furthermore, assign icons, alarms, and customize your preferences to make this digital notepad come to life as completely your own."

Palmaddicts Reader “survey” & awards

Some interesting results in the 2006 polls that caught my eye.
Firstly, 50% of people also own a windows mobile device. Also interesting was that 45% of readers are actively using both platforms. I had no idea the figure would be that high.
Mobileread was voted best palm blog whilst Palmgear absolutely trounced Handango as best online software store with more than 70% of the votes compared to a rather pathetic 2% for Handango.
Favourite palm software was Datebook, which I’ve personally never used. Treonauts came out as the favourite treo blog site.
Most importantly however, best new palm blog (as chosen by the Palmfather) went to a fantastic new site called Palm-Mac…apparantly its really quite special.

favourite palm apps thread

Desperately seeking some inspiration about what apps would turn your palm into a killer device? Well, seek no further…here is a useful thread from 1src about what apps have been of particular benefit to palm users.

Spectec SD/SDIO GPS Receiver

This sounds like a pretty nifty little gadget…

"Even the most jaded gadget hound must acknowledge the amazing bit of technology presented here: a 20 channel GPS tracking device in an SD card, with a slot to hold up to a 2GB microSD!"

It works apparantly on windows mobile and palm devices..

BBC tech “hot picks” of 2006

Various writers on the BBC site have chosen their favourite new tech stuff to emerge in 2006.

changes for microsoft and apple during 2006

BBC technology pages have a review of the 2006 year in which they claim that there were major changes for both microsoft and apple…

"Both Microsoft and Apples’ years have been dominated by major changes. In Microsoft’s case it was the release of its new operating system and for Apple the big change in 2006 was integrating Intel chips in its machines"

tubesock for mac

I mentioned this excellent app a while back but feel it is worth doing so again…

"TubeSock grabs YouTube videos from the web and copies them to your video iPod, Mac, or PlayStation Portable. TubeSock knows how to convert the video using the codecs and bitrates best for each device. It can even add the video to iTunes for you"

It also works for getting videos onto palm devices but the process is slightly more "scuttery" as we say in Scotland…I had to save the downloaded video then convert it via Kinoma to make it playable. There’s probably a simpler way but I couldn’t think of it..