TAPIT

New place, more focus!

2011-08-29T14:30:00.003-04:00

We have moved around quite a bit over the ten years we've been meeting. Fom bookstores to coffee shops to the alehouse where we've been for the last few years. One thing we've never really had was a place where we could easily share a presentation. We've done it a time or two, at a Panera or at the Bear Rock, but having to lug in equipment, find an outlet, and compete with the overhead loudspeaker and piped in music has made for less than stellar sharing at times. It was easy when the group was 5-10, but with the high visibility and growing popularity of mobile applications and hardware, we've got a lot of potential members who just won't get much from sitting in a restaurant chatting over pie. They want information, they want and need to concentrate and actually learn something. And, despite my love for sharing over a pint in a loud, public place, I enjoy this type setting, too.

Chuck Nall mentioned a few meetings back getting into the McKinney space at American Tobacco in Durham, and I encouraged him to follow up. He met with the folks there, and we're now on their calendar on the third Monday at 7 pm for the foreseeable future.

Ch-ch-ch-changes
So, what does this mean for the group? Well, first off, we won't need to poll the group about whether or not we're meeting. Unless there's a weather-related emergency or actual armed insurrection in progress, you can safely assume that we will meet. You are still encouraged to bring any and all manner of gadgets to share, but, due to the overwhelming success and requests from friends and members of other groups, I am changing the focus of the group, yet again, to be more iOS centered. It's been moving that way for a while, and I can't think of many meetings in the last few years where everyone there didn't have some type of iOS device - either iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.

Don't think that we're not interested in other tablets, phones, or the oddities we find on craigslist or eBay, though. While the main focus will be iOS, we (and by we, I mean I) will still encourage and bring in folks who have any type of portable tech. It's too rich a field to not keep up with it.

While we still have a presence on yahoo groups and this blog, I have added us as a meeting attached to the Triangle Macintosh Users' Group on meetup.com. This was not strictly out of a financial thing (it costs $12 a month to host a group on meet up, but additional meetings are free for existing groups), but also to bring those members more into contact with TAPIT. There are a lot of iOS users in TMUG who do not avail themselves of the resource that TAPIT is, and I want to change that.

Also, being able to have a real presentation means we can start getting more input from others who really want to get into iOS in a big way. By this I mean developers and programmers, and by that I mean swag - something that used to be a part of every meeting but died with the tech bubble back in the early '00's.

So, rather than heading to the Carolina Ale House next month, grab a white bag of grub from a fast food joint and head over to the new location, ready to be involved in discussion and actually learning, rather than shooting the bull. We'll do some of that afterwards at Mellow Mushroom or Tyler's or something, I'm sure!

New Toys!

2011-05-17T15:42:00.005-04:00

In last night's meeting, we had several fun items that different folks had brought to share. Here is a partial listing, which Alan sent this morning (thanks, Alan!)

Toshiba Mobile Monitor
This is an 14" DisplayLink flat panel that folds into a sweet padded carrying case. It attaches to your computer via USB. It's not supposed to support Macs, but Alan had no problem connecting it to his MacBookPro using the generic DisplayLink drivers.

Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS
This health monitor will show your heart rate, altitude, GPS location, and other metrics, allow you to post to Facebook, the Garmin site, and many, many other things. Works when running, cycling, or even during interval exercises.

Downcast and Podcaster
These two iOS apps allow you to manage your podcasts independently from iTunes and the iPod app. You can download, delete, playback (at various speeds), create playlists, and otherwise access your podcasts without having to sync with your computer. Pat is using Podcaster, and has for several years, and Smythe is a new Downcast user.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Some new wireless goodies to share

2010-08-15T02:52:00.002-04:00

I recently bought an iSpot from Clear. I've been trying it out in various places around the Triangle, and have come to really enjoy having it. I may just drop my unlimited iPhone data plan and go to $15 and use this everywhere. The iSpot, as the name implies, only works with Apple's "iDevices" - the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. As many as eight can access Clear's "4G" network (WiMax) over a single connection.

The second item is the Tunebug Shake. This is a BlueTooth speaker that attaches to your bike helmet (or skateboarding/snowboarding helmet), creating a resonating chamber that fills your world with music, but allows you to hear sounds from outside, like traffic and such. I've tested it a little with my bike helmet, and it's pretty nice.

See you folks at 7 PM Monday at Carolina Ale House in Briar Creek.

February 15th is App Night

2010-02-13T01:21:00.004-05:00

I've not posted here in quite a while. The group is still meeting monthly, as we have since May of 2000. We've moved back to the Panera at Briar Creek, due to the excessive noise at Carolina Ale House. We still have about half-a-dozen folks each month. About half are iPhone/iPod Touch users. The rest are equally divided between Palm and Blackberry models.

I'm seeing much more interest in people wanting to get together to share apps. This is the way it usually happens: I am talking with a friend or two, and one of us mentions a new app they like. Another one then chimes in that they have one, and soon, other folks have joined the conversation, and everyone is on the app store, downloading a new treat. I've seen it happen over and over.

So, I'm wondering if we should all rally together and have an App Night. Since all smartphones are now app phones, the floor is open to all platforms. We'll be meeting this coming Monday (15 February 2010) at the regular place (Panera Briar Creek) and time (7 PM), and will just all share different favorite apps. Don't think your favorite isn't cool enough - everyone will have one that someone else will think lame, so don't worry about it. If it's useful or fun for you, we need to see it!

See you there!

Oh, and if you're a Twitter user, we're tweeting at @TAP1T.

Summer on the Patio

2009-08-18T04:36:00.004-04:00

For the last two months, we've been meeting at Carolina Ale House in Briar Creek. The change of venue has been a lot of fun. Panera food and Wifi is OK, but the vibe at CAH makes for more one-on-one and smaller breakout sessions. It's truly a user-helping-user group.

Tonight, we had quite a cross section of the industry. A new person came, who is an iPhone developer, but there were only two other iPhone/Touch users! The rest were Windows Mobile, Palm Pre, and Symbian. Later, a couple of CrackBerry addicts wandered in as well. There was a Kindle DX, we looked at Presto, a Linux quick-boot install. Alan showed how you can actually shell into a teathered Pre from the Mac terminal. We showed Mark/Space's Fliq and QuickOffice for the iPhone as well.

Pat mentioned that, since May will start our tenth year, we should think about a celebration of some kind. We'll have to discuss what kind of geekery we can get up to in the next few months. It's sure been a lot of fun!

If you've not been to a meeting in a while, you need to check out the new venue - with Monday Night football starting up, though, we may have to give it a pass. We'll see in September. See you then!

Moving locations

2009-06-16T02:06:00.007-04:00

Tonight's meeting was great! Even though it was a bit smaller than it's been of late, we looked at a wide variety of software and hardware of interest to everyone there. Phi showed Bento, both on the Mac and the iPhone. Thwarted by an unfriendly network, he couldn't show syncing, but we found out many of the features of this syncing database. The interest in syncing data lead to talks of lists. I re-visited SplashShopper (which everyone thinks has a limiting name: it's so much more than a shopping list minder!). We also looked at three iPhone battery/case solutions: The Mophie Juice Pack, the Case-Mate Fuel, and the Tekkeon myPower. We also looked more closely at the WiFi settings, and how to sync when the infrastructure works against you.

We've been fighting the wireless at Panera for a while, so I've decided to move the meeting across the street to the Carolina Ale House. For those coming from I-540 or from Raleigh via 70, pass the exit into Briar Creek proper, and go to the very next street west on the right, Skyland Ridge Parkway, just beside the Best Buy. Turn in, and you'll see the Carolina Ale House immediately to the right.

For those coming from Durham on 70, turn in at the light, and turn left across the traffic at the first break in the median. You'll see it on your left.

We'll try to grab a table in the non-smoking section, immediately to the left inside the door, at least until January when the new NC SmokeFree law goes into effect and the whole place will be smoke-free. Every time I've been there, that's the most full section already.

Our July Meeting will be at the Ale House, and will hopefully feature a demo of the Palm Pre. Seven PM, 20 July 2009. Be there.

July Meeting called off - see you all in August!

2008-07-21T01:26:00.002-04:00

There were many folks who could not make the July meeting for various reasons, so we're putting it off until the third Monday evening in August, which is the 18th! See you all there, with all your shiny new tech toys!

New iPhone OS, New Apps, much to discuss

2008-07-16T23:53:00.002-04:00

With last week's release of iPhone 2.0, the second generation hardware, and the iTunes AppStore, much has changed in the handheld universe. Exchange syncing and push email is a shot squarely across RIM's bow. Apple is already outselling Palm and Windows Mobile devices (although in terms of active market share, it is just starting to show up as a niche player).

This month, we'll have to go through many of the things that have changed with the iPhone, and I am purposely inviting the TMUG group to visit our meeting. There was quite a lot of buzz generated during last week's upgrade, and this past Monday's meeting brought a few questions to the surface as well.

I will not be there, due to business travel, so I wonder if there is someone who would pinch hit for the "leader" role? (While I'm not nearly so formal as in the larger meetings, I do try to get everyone involved in the conversation. It's a tough job, but someone has to do it!) Let's discuss on the list.

June Meeting

2008-06-17T02:47:00.000-04:00

An interesting, if short, meeting at Panera in Brier Creek. We chatted about the new iPhone and whether it would overtake the Blackberry. We pondered getting an iPod touch and keeping a Palm-based cell phone for PDA/phone, with the Touch covering eMail and iPod tasks. (Feel free to continue that discussion on the list.)

Alan brought some new toys for Fred, duly paid for per the terms discussed on the list. Alan also had his new full-bore 300mm lens. Quite a hossy piece of glass - but fun! We discussed point-and-shoot cameras, convergence, and using bluetooth or IR to connect a keyboard to your PDA. We looked at EverNote, and were impressed that you can take a picture of text, email it to your account, and then search on the text pictures, and it will find that picture. Pretty spiffy. The better the picture, and the less "design-y" your type, obviously, the better the OCR is, but it's a fine service for free at this point. Don't trust your bank statement to it, at this point, since we're still not sure how, if ever, this puppy could make money.

So, see what you missed by not coing to the meeting? We'll meet once again on 21 July, and you're more than welcome to bring out your digital toys and impress us all. See you then?

We are still going strong

2008-05-15T01:40:00.000-04:00

We have been meeting at Panera in Briar Creek, with up to 7 people each month. We've seen MacBook Air, the One Laptop Per Child machine, various jailbroken iPhone apps, and more than a few web apps that enhance your mobile productivity. As far as the machines used by the group, they still range from various Palms, iPhones, and Windows Mobile, with the occasional Linux machine. If you're into handheld or otherwise portable technology (even if it's just a camera, a mobile phone, and your street bike), it's worth the time to come by or at least post a question to our listserv. We may have good insight into good body armour for motorcycles, or the best pannier system for a commuter to use carrying their laptop to work each day. If nothing else, we'll offer strident opinions.

New folks on the scene?

2007-12-17T01:20:00.000-05:00

Last Monday night at the TMUG holiday party/meeting, the Q&A discussion centered around the iPhone. After about 10 questions, I finally stood and mentioned to the group that this group now had a broader charter, and iPhones were perfectly acceptable topics of conversation here. Matter of fact, there is a greater chance for sitting around a table and actually using one, watching it sync, and hearing firsthand whether or not it lives up to the hype.

Since then, I've had a few folks join our mailing list, and a few others request info on this site, so we may have some visitors to our meeting tonight. (This is not to scare away those not interested in iPhones - just to let you folks know what to expect. (Given the change in the weather and the proximity to Festivus and other holidays, attendance may not show a sudden surge, but you never know.

Change of Focus

2007-08-20T15:19:00.000-04:00

This post is long overdue. For many months, we have slid by with just one or two folks attending. Some have suggested privately that I disband the group. I started this out of a love for community and for mobile technology. It was a heady time, back in 2000. The Palm platform was taking off, nurtured with the ashes of the Newton community. Air travel was relatively painless. There was venture capital flowing like water through Silicon Valley, which brought vendors bearing swag to our doors with astonishing regularity.

Those days are long since passed, but we have kept meeting, milking the ether for scraps of topical interest. On June 29th, I bought an iPhone, and I see my need for the Palm waning more by the day. I still carry it, still have sentimental attachment to it, but, functionally it is dead to me.

TAPIT is effecting a change today to the Triangle Advocates of Portable Information Technology. We've been moving this way for some time, but with a formal change in our focus, I think we can capitalize on the excitement in the air resulting from Apple's re-entry into this market. There is much going on around portable technology, and for whatever reason, Palm is now more of a bit player than ever before. Yes, it's sad, but it's been their market to lose and they have done an excellent job of it. Apple has long been a leader in portable computing, but there is some stuff of interest from across the aisle.

No meeting Monday, 19 June 2006

2006-06-18T22:35:00.000-04:00

Due to scheduling conflicts, there will be no meeting tonight. We will pick back up in July with our meeting on the third Monday, the 17th. That meeting will be at the Panera in Brier Creek (odd month). One of the things I'll be showing may be this nice new blogging software I'm testing. Blogging software doesn't exactly have anything to do with handhelds, but something cross-platform that lets you work from anywhere definitely fits into the "mobile" interest area. Give it a shot and see what you think.

New Palm review site

2006-01-24T18:41:00.000-05:00

Recently, I found a great site that has a lot of Palm flash demos. It was started a while back by a new user to help other neophytes, but she’s far past that stage now. The site is http://maceyr.blogspot.com/ and is worth your time, no matter what level user you are. For the inexperienced, you’ll learn quite a bit. For the old hand in the Palm world, you may learn some tips that you’ve forgotten over the years, and remember why you chose a Palm in the first place. You’ll also get some great points to remember the next time some uninformed person says “Why in the world are you still carrying that Palm around?”

Yard Sale/Swap Meet, anyone?

2005-12-31T23:26:00.000-05:00

The regional Mac user group has a swap meet every year or so, to allow members to shift their equipment and software from one person to another. They're kind of fun, if you're geeky enough to enjoy that sort of thing. (What am I saying - this is the website for a group of PDA users!)

So, I'm proposing we do the same at our next meeting - look through your basement, closets, or the Dead PDA Drawer and pull out all the stuff you no longer use or want, and bring it out. We'll set up tables, have "show and tell" of the strangest devices and software, and I'll have a few t-shirts and maybe some more stuff to give away.

It's a central meeting month, but instead of lugging stuff into Panera, perhaps I can arrange to get a different location with a bit less public face. More as details become known.

New post of interest to Mac folks

2005-10-30T01:27:00.000-05:00

I have posted an article about Mac apps for Palm over on my personal blog. Thought you folks might be interested.

October Meeting

2005-10-15T00:09:00.000-04:00

The October meeting of TAPIT will be at the Panera in Patterson Place. This is the new shopping center on the Durham side of 15/501 from I-40. Here is the google map page.

We have lots to discuss: the selling of PalmSource, the Windowization of the Treo, the Palm® TX handheld, the Palm z22, and other news. Plus, there's the new portability options from Apple in the form of the video iPod, downloadable TV shows at $2 a pop, and I'm sure bunches of other items of interest. See you all there, 6:30, WiFi at the ready.

Tonight's meeting location - Panera in Centrum on Walnut in Cary

2005-08-15T17:02:00.000-04:00

(I can't think of a way to add more prepositional phrases to the title.)

Centrum is the shopping center just past Crossroads on Walnut on the right. They have WiFi, and it's a good sized store for a meeting.

I apologize for not getting this updated sooner. I have been out of town working over the weekend, and my plane was diverted and the flight cancelled last night - long story.

Directions:
I-40 to Hwy 1 South, Get off immediately at Walnut Street.

Turn Left onto Walnut Street, go through 4 lights. The 4th
light is at Dillard Drive, just past the Lowe's Home Improvement Center on yur right.

After passing through the light, take a right into Centrum Center.

Take the very first right, and you'll pass by Carolina Ale House. The next group of buildings is anchored by the Panera.

New HotSpot directory

2005-07-20T10:38:00.000-04:00

I just had to pass this along. Alan Hoyle just sent me a link to the best HotSpot directory I've seen yet. It's very complete, fast, and uses something we've not seen in a while - straight HTML. No funky Java, Ajax, or Flash to trip up your Palm's browser, just pure, sweet HTML, the way the Web was meant to be.

http://www.wi-fihotspotlist.com/browse/us/2000252/

That's just the NC hotspots. The searching and such is pretty easy to find spots in other states and countries.

Go forth and surf!!!

4-18-05 Meeting Links

2005-04-18T18:51:00.000-04:00

Aeroplayer now has an AAC plugin, which allows you to play songs encoded or purchased with iTunes. They recommend using JHymn to remove the Apple Fairplay DRM from your store-bought tunes, enabling them to be played with Aeroplayer. Aeroplayer is free, but the AAC plugin is $14.95.

Aeroplayer at Aerodrome.us

Blog upgrades

2005-02-21T18:23:00.000-05:00

This blog now has a working syndication feed (you'll find a link in the sidebar). It's an Atom feed (because Blogger no longer supports RSS), but it should work with most aggregators. Let me know if you have problems with it.

I also gave the blog a makeover with a new template because the original one was really primitive and ugly. But I've saved a copy of the old template, just in case everyone hates the new one.

This is my way of making up for missing three meetings in a row.

Directions for the 2005 February meeting

2005-02-13T22:48:00.000-05:00

I have re-directed the "Directions" link on our main web page here to the Weaver Street Market's own directions page. Rather than try to re-do what they have up, I figure I'd just point to it.

See you folks at 6:30 PM, on Monday, 21 Feb. Bring your pod-cast-able handhelds, of whatever stripe they may be. Or, if you don't know what that pod-casting stuff is all about, bring questions. See you all there! With game discount coupons as swag!

Podcasts

2005-02-09T11:00:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to add a note. Not only will Podcasting work on iPods (and other, greater digital music players) but many people load podcasts onto PDA's and smartphones. It is even possible to stream some podcasts to wireless devices. I'll do my best to cover these bases as well at the meeting.

Chris

Ever wonder what a podcast is? Never heard of the term?

2005-02-08T23:28:00.000-05:00

Well, for those of you who have heard of it and wonder what the heck it is, member Chris Owens will share not only the what's and why's of this new method of staying up to date while being mobile, but he'll go through the process step-by-step, so that you can know how to play along at home. Or, better, bring your laptop and iPod (or other, lesser digital music player), and follow along from software download to install to setup to sync. Sweet Cracker Sandwich!

We're meeting at the Weaver Street Market in Carrboro this month, remember, so we should have no trouble with the town-wide internet service there, right? We'll see.....

Smythe

Acid-Spider

2005-02-07T19:56:00.000-05:00

Things continue to get better in the doorprize sphere. Our friends at Red-Mercury, makers of the phenomenal Acid-Image, have offered us a wonderful deal: a full copy of their newest game, Acid-Spider, plus 3 copies at $5 off of the same program. I'm offering the free copy to the first person who submits a review of the product. If you've never played Spider solitaire, I recommend you don't start if you have anything that needs doing in the next few hours. You'll be - um - involved with testing the app for at least that long, maybe longer.

Sedio Retractable Sync"N"Charge USB Cable - a review by Phi Sanders

2005-01-20T04:16:00.000-05:00

I recently purchased the PalmOne Treo 650, which has the "new universal" connector slot, and is thus incompatible with all previous charging and syncing cables. The cable that is included with the Treo is a hydra-style cable: there is a USB-to-Treo section and a power-to-Treo section, the latter of which plugs into the back of the former so that you charge as you synch. It's a clunky, multi-headed affair. As of this writing there is still no cradle from PalmOne for the 650. But there is a more elegant solution: the Sedio Retractable Sync"N"Charge USB Cable.

This compact cable allows your Treo (and presumably other "new universal" slot devices) to charge from your computer (laptop or desktop) while you are synchronizing your data. The cable, when fully retracted, is about two inches long, making a much smaller addition to the clutter in your bag.

One morning, I realized my Treo was dangerously low on juice after several days without a charge, and I slipped this tiny cable into my jean pocket on the way out the door for a busy day. I stole minutes here and there while roaming the building to plug it in to randomly available USB ports as I hurried about my inter-office travels. By the time lunch came around, and I finally had the chance to sit down and do a proper charge, I no longer needed to worry about my Treo shutting down due to low power, as I had managed to charge it up beyond the 25% "red zone" in the 650's battery indicator!

The only drawback I can see to this accesory is the common weakness of all retractable cables: the flat, thin wires required to compactly spool the cable means that if feels fragile. Past experience with a similar retractable headset cable taught me to deliberately and steadily pull the two ends of the cable away from the center spool at an even rate to avoid jamming or tangling while extending. Also, you should remember with retracting these sorts of cables to make a slight tug and then allow it to spool up casually. Tugging the cable harshly may effect a snappy retraction, but is more likely to result in a tangled cable, or even to break it. The tradeoff for this compact single-thread cable, then, is a requirement to take more care in how you extend and retract it.

I have had no problems synching with this cable, and it is now my exclusive way of charging and synching when away from my home office. Whether you work in an office, or carry a laptop and move about, I recommend you buy the Sync"N"Charge before a car charger or cradle - you may find, as I have, that you really don't need anything more.

Updating the website....

2005-01-20T04:03:00.000-05:00

I hate having to update things. I can't deal with To Do lists well because they have to be checked off, updated, and otherwise manipulated to keep them current. (Task 1 is now 25% complete. Task 2 is 50% done. Task 3 is finished.) But they do serve a purpose. I am learning more and more that I can let my Palm manage my lists - which it's done for the 6 years or so that I've had it, like the Newton before it. But I'm far from being a project manager type, with mile stones and charts and such. Seems more time is spent updating the lists than doing the work.

And so it is that months go by without an update to the web site. (You knew there was a relationship between this article and the title, didn't you? Thanks for staying with me.) I was reminded Monday night that the web site was a bit out of date. He was being nice. Most of our information sharing takes place in meetings, and they are very random events, for the most part.

This month, however, we have a bit of a surprise. Phi Sanders, member, Treo 650 user, and erstwhile co-worker of yours truly, has written a review of a cable that one of our vendor sponsors sent for that purpose. We've had some swag off and on in the past 18 months, but nothing like in those halcyon days of the dot-com years. So, to do justice to the nice folks at Seiko, who in December came out with a retractable sync cable specifically fitted for the "new universal" connector of the 650, Phi's review will appear as a post here.

But I would like this trend to continue. Are there folks out there writing about topics that we should share here on the TAPIT page? I think so. If you'd like to assist me in managing contributions to the web site, please drop me an email, either here or through the yahoo group link. If you have a blog that covers PDAs and other mobile tech, let me know and I'll make sure I add a feed to your posts here.

A users' group, after all, belongs to the users, not just to the founder of the group. And, who knows? You may benefit from a nice piece of software or the next sample to review.

Started out at the meeting.....

2004-12-20T22:28:00.000-05:00

This is a live post from the meeting. I am typing this into the AvantBlog posting area.

The above was part of showing how AvantBlog works. If you've got a Blogger Account, as well as an AvantGo account, you can blend the two and post quickly and easily from within AvantGo. The single problem I have found with this channel is that syncing requires secure authentication, which sometimes is not available from a public hotspot over AvantGo's wireless sync utility.

We also had a chance to get our eager hands on a Treo 650 (thanks Bill!)

2004-12-09T20:50:00.000-05:00

Wow! Here I am posting to our blog from my Palm through AvantGo! You just won't believe how clean this is. I'll show it at our meeting on the 20th, where ever we wind up meeting at.

Smythe

Panera Bread in Brier Creek

2004-11-16T00:36:00.000-05:00

The November 2004 meeting of TAPIT found more than a dozen happy handheld enthusiasts gathered in a formerly quiet corner of this purportedly WiFi enabled restaurant. There was an access point somewhere nearby called PANERA, and everyone got a fairly strong signal, but there were huge gaps in connectivity. Several Palms and laptops never got online at all. A few got on sporadically, but none really enjoyed what I would call full wireless connectivity. I guess this was due to the fact that this place is just on the fringes of the known part of the Internet. Does anyone REALLY live out this far!?!? Sheesh!

That being said , we still had fun. Several folks from Motricity were there, and even brought swag! The main subject of the meeting was a presentation on Facer, a very versatile application that can be downloaded from the link in our listserv for a 25% discount ($15, rather than $21). It's a launcher, a to-do list and appointment reminder, and a file manager all in one. And, as Jeff, our presenter said, it's got some nice eye candy going as well! And that's not always a bad thing.

In addition to Facer, we again went over the requirements of Margi's Presenter Pro. Since we couldn't get online reliably enough to check the web sites, however, we had to rely on what we each had experienced. Guess that's why they call these things user groups!

Report from September meeting

2004-09-22T05:26:00.000-04:00

Leave it to us to arrive at Bear Rock on "Teachers Eat Free" night! The line was out the door. For over an hour! Amazing. We did manage to find a corner in back with a power outlet, and finally got Patrick's 15" flat panel connected to my Tungsten|C. Then came the "D'oh!" moment - I had only loaded a single test slide over from my laptop, and didn't bring a sync cable! I had planned to show the Margi Presenter-To-Go, and we all had the right pieces, but, as noted in earlier posts, I had experienced crashing in one of the apps. I had put in a message about this to Margi, after I had checked all versions on their website, of course, but was still having problems. (What I forgot was that I had registered the software using my new gmail account, and since I rarely give that one out, I had forgotten to check it! They had sent back an answer and updated .prc files almost immediately. I tried it tonight and it works perfectly, just like it did with Alan's T|T!)

Getting back to the meeting, I did show that slide, which had been "printed" to the software included with the Presenter-to-go device from AppleWorks. I showed how you can draw on slides by drawing on the Palm, then remove those marks. I later hooked up the laptop and showed how to create a slideshow from any app using the virtual printer-type driver Margi gives you. It's quite a slick little package, all told.

The Mirror app was still crashing, however, even with this smaller monitor. (Previous tests had been with a 19 inch CRT.) This program is supposed to allow you to turn on the display and show any Palm app through the Presenter-To-Go. As a teaching or presenting tool, this is what I had really bought the Presenter-To-Go package for. If I want to run a slideshow, I'm gonna pull out Keynote. I asked Alan (sitting across the table) if he was up to giving the Mirror app a try, and, surprisingly, he accepted. ("This program crashes my Palm every time I run it with the PtG device in it. How about trying it in yours?" That's right up there with "I think this milk is sour. Smell it and tell me what you think.")

I beamed the Mirror app over to his T|T. he pulled out his SD card (very reluctantly), plugged in the Presenter-To-Go, launched Mirror, and - BAM! - there was his screen, larger than llife! He then showed off various little items - graphics in Plucker, the launcher he's using, the datebook, and a cribbage game or two. Cribbage started a rabbit trail that may still be going on - I was the only person there, I think, who did not know how to play. Everyone else not only plays, but had their own favorite cribbage game, and they started beaming them back and forth, and discussing the AI in this one versus this other one. Really high geek factor for a while.

We did come back to earth for a few mintues to talk about moving the group from place to place within the Triangle. Several places were tossed out, and we finally decided on the Bear Rock at University Mall in Chapel Hill for the October meeting. More info will be sent out or posted later, and we may have another couple of places chosen before the next meeting, so we can send out the schedule for several meetings ahead. Hopefully we can dodge the next Teacher Feed!

'Atta Girl, Margi!

2004-09-17T04:50:00.000-04:00

I have a new Margi Presenter Pro that works pretty nicely with the presentation package. Having a few issues with the mirroring, but I still like it. (Of course, mirroring is the main thing I wanted it for.....)

We also have some swag from PalmSource, since we're officially recognized as a Palm User Group. We'll draw for several items over the next few months.

Also, two review opportunities. First, I have some Palm anti-virus software by a rather well-known anti-virus company. It's the corporate pack, but would probably work for just a single installation as well. Unless we want to get a server set up and consider ourselves a corporation and all test it. Now THAT would be a review!!

Second review item is a PC TableTote. It's a portable desk that folds down to about two Powerbooks stacked together, but only weighs 3.5 pounds. (For comparison, most modern full-featured laptops are in the 7-10 range.) It's pretty interesting, and I'd like to get several opinions. After we've had a chance to use it, we can raffle it off or have a drawing for it.

And I'm still having problems with the network at Bear Rock. Not that we always need it, but I was there last weekend and couldn't get on, but the help desk was closed. Anyone know of a better free network somewhere in the general area? Anyone interested in becoming a mobile group and traveling to various hotspots from month to month? That would certainly make for some variety, as well as reward those Durham/Chapel Hillians who have been driving over lo, these four+ years. I'll post online so we can start the discussion there, then maybe have a poll after the meeting, if we still need one.

Meanwhile, stay dry, and stay within reach of something tall and solid.

Smythe

Birthday Greetings!

2004-05-08T14:29:00.000-04:00

Just noticed some info on the main page to this group. I started this (as an eGroup) in May of 2000, so, with this May meeting, we will celebrate four years of being a club! I kept no records of who was at the first meeting, how many came to each meeting, etc., but it might be fun to talk about that, and to dream about the future a little more - not just for the club, but about what the handheld space is doing.

I have a little money left in the kitty from the raffle we had a few years back, so I'll get some gift certificates or software or something fun for an anniversary party. (Maybe we should have one entry per year the person has been attending?)

See you folks in a week!

Smythe

A varied collection

2004-04-21T23:07:00.000-04:00

After our discussion on the list about broadening the scope of TAPIT to include more than just Palms, we didn't see a huge influx of PocketPC devices or Newtons this past Monday night. But Jim did break the tie (half PalmOne, half Clie) by bringing out an Acer convertible tablet computer. What a cool little device! It was about three times the size of my old Newton 2100, and, when folded screen-out, was almost all screen. Too bad it runs XP! (Just kidding, Jim!) It's not something you're going to haul around in your pants pocket, but I could see it being a whole lot more at home in a university student's bag than a 10 lb. laptop and charger.

Here's an interesting article about Microsoft's CTO and his love for gadgets. I found it interesting that not only does he not seem to eat his own dog food (why is that funny when talking about PPC?), but he flies in the face of the folks who insist that convergence is the way of the future. Rather than depend on a single device that does all things poorly, David Vaskevitch choses instead to haul around an iPod for his music, a BlackBerry for PDA functions (and by that, I'll assume mobile email), and a digital camera. No camera-phone with organizer aspirations, no PDA/phone that does dial-up connection to a server somewhere for loading email 20 words at a time to a screen where you'll have to respond using T9. Just the best mobile email unit, the best digital music unit, and a dedicated camera (one would assume with more than e-mail resolution and an actual glass lens). What a Luddite!

Steve Ballmer, of course, demands more from his devices by settling for less. ("The thing I put in my pocket has got to do more for me.") I am not surprised by such from the ape-man, but this question looms large for proponents of convergence: do you want to emulate someone who has the strength of character to forge their own path, even though it is not what is expected by their direct boss (who happens to be the richest person in the world and a known hothead about people using his technology)? Or do you want to follow someone who tries to force the universe into his mold to the extent that he is universally ridiculed as less civilized than your neighborhood zoo resident?

I am putting together a few polls to get the general feeling from TAPIT about your feelings on convergence. Are you all for it? Do you have certain things that you just won't fold into another device, but want all the others combined? Are you of the seperate-but-excellent school? Check the discussion board and let us know!

If you're not on our listserv, know that this list is tightly controlled to prevent spam. The only mail you'll get is mail from other members, and you can control that by getting daily digests or just reading the messages on the website, if you please. There's a subscription form on the upper left. Use it. And bring your PocketPC (or cameraphone/PDA/mp3 player) to the next meeting!

PalmOne Resource Site

2004-01-20T22:05:00.000-05:00

I mentioned a new website during the meeting, but didn't have a chance to wholy explain what it is. PalmOneCity is a forum based website concentrating on the PalmOne branded handhelds. PalmOne handhelds seem to dominate the meetings, so I wanted to post a link to this great online community. I suggest anyone who needs help, or likes to share information, sign up for a member name (totally free) and become a part of this great website. The people who run PalmOneCity (Joel and Reggie) are top-notch guys. They founded Cliesource.com, which has grown to be the largest Sony Clie online community in only a couple years. They are well on thier way to do the same thing with PalmOneCity.

PalmOneCity.com
Cliesource.com

Tools for a New Year

2004-01-15T01:12:00.000-05:00

Well, I hope everyone is over the holidays and settled into a great new year! As I've been pondering TAPIT, my resolution for the year is to have a little more planned structure for meetings. Not that they won't turn into free-for-all beam-fests, but I'm going to have a plan for a topic or two, and try harder to get some corporate support (read: Door Prizes!) While I've enjoyed the meetings and have gotten good feedback from some who have been attending, I feel the total lack of a planned agenda (well, not total, but almost. :D) has put off some folks who thrive on structure. So 2004 will be the year of planned programs. (Yeah, right.)

Speaking of Topics
So, for January, you decided to drop a few pounds, exercise more regularly, or otherwise change and document your life? You're probably not alone, even within TAPIT. So I thought we could share the programs you've found for your Palm to track or inform your diet and/or exercise plans. I've spoken to several of you about specifics, but if you've got one that you like, bring it on! We'll all benefit from seeing the whole gamut.

So, this holiday, were you one of the eight bazillion folks that got a new digital camera? And now you're dealing with how to turn your PalmOS device into a digital brag book? Well, other have been there as well. If you've solved the picture-to-Palm problem, bring your program ready to show off. I have one that I've loved for a while, but had to get a really nice Palm before finally buying it. And am I glad I did! Come on out and see what my Minolta has been up to!

Last month brought out yet another couple of new folks to our midst. We've had at least one new face for a few months now. We keep scaring them off, however, so we need to work on that. We could fill the place if we tried! So let's see what the new year has brought to TAPIT! We'll meet at the same place, time, and day. See you all on Monday, Jan 19th (third Monday) at 6:30 PM at the Bear Rock Cafe in Crossroads Plaza. (Wifi is good!)

End of Another Year!

2003-12-13T19:53:00.000-05:00

As this Holiday season gets into full swing, come warm up at the Lodge with a hot cuppa Joe and some freshly beamed goodies from your friends! If you're looking for anything special under your tree, let the other members of the group know - it won't help you get any closer to that goal, but you'll find some good company in your commiseration!

One of the things I'm really wanting to see is better wireless options around town. (And by town, I mean the Triangle.) If you've happened onto any good free WiFi spots that others of us might like to check out, why not come with a beamable list ready to share. Name the memo something like "Smythe's WifiFavs" or something, so we won't have 7 different "My favorite Wifi spots" or anything.

Other than new toys and new places to check out, is there anything anyone else would like to talk about? Any pressing issues? How about how you'd improve the state of the Palm community? Or your guess at the next really big thing that PalmOne will spring on the licensees?

I was at an Educational conference last week and was able to harass two different PalmOne employees with how irritated I was with the lack of BlueTooth on the T|C. I mentioned the mono phone plug, but I don't listen to music on mine, so it's not that big a deal. No BT is really irritating, now that everything else I use that's digital is. Anyone find research into 2.4 GHz radiation poisioning?

So, Happy Holidays, see you this Monday night, and stay warm, either through traditional means or thru radiowaves. We'll see you there, 15 December, Bear Rock Café in CrossRoads Shopping Center in Cary, 6:30 PM.

Tempus Fugits

2003-11-15T23:54:00.000-05:00

We had 2 great meetings in September and October. The contact management meeting in September turned into a beam-fest, with groups of 2-3 sharing trial version of all the different contact managers, and each person defending and explaining their own favorite. It was great!

October was great, too, in that we had 3-4 new (or long-ago revisitors) folks, each with a new device or two. Things started off quietly enough, with everyone ordering their dinner and chatting about the news of the day. After a half-hour or so (during which most folks munched down sandwiches), things got really serious and out came WiFi laptops, keyboards, and GPS units. Besides a T|3 and a few T|2's, there were several new phones, many BlueTooth-equipped. We did a count at one point and found that there were more than 3 gadgets per person!

I think November will probably be similar. I don't really have a planned program, unless anyone has something new they'd like to show. I'm sure there will be some more new devices, and I've talked with 2-3 new folks that may or may not happen by. One of the guys at work got a Treo 300, and, although that's well over a year old, I must say it's a killer little Palm. Sprint has a $10/month all-you-can-eat data plan, and he's getting more than his money's worth. He has a class on Monday and Wed. for the next 4-5 weeks and can't make it to our meeting, but I think he'll get back eventually and we'll do a comparison of WiFi v. Sprint internet. Should be fun.

See you at Bear Rock!

September Meeting Topic - Contact Managers

2003-09-15T02:15:00.000-04:00

Talking with a few different TAPIT members over the past few days, I thought we'd once again visit the subject of contact management softwre. A new contender Contacts 4 - joins powerful rivals SuperNames and Agendus. All three have at least 15 day demos, so checking them out shouldn't be a problem. They each also use your existing Addressbook's data file, so you may want to do a hotsync or two, and lay one of those aside somewhere before you start running them back to back. Although, that warning being given, I've yet to have a problem going back and forth between these very stable and well-written programs. I still find myself wondering, however.... What happened to Contacts 1 - 3?????

We'll be meeting at the Bear Rock Cafe, our new favorite spot. Word is their espresso machine is fixed now. (Priorities must be kept, right?)

Speaking of meeting places (what a segue!), I stopped into our former multi-year domain a few weeks back and they now have WiFi! They have become, along with several other regional Borders stores, part of the t-mobile syndicate. Um, club. Well, you know. I found a coupon code on some Tungsten|C board (yahoo groups, maybe?) that gives you 300 minutes free for 30 days. I've used it a little, and would like to have that type of account, but, alas, they don't offer that type plan. The only ones they offer are buy an hour +, or buy the next 24 hours. ('Course, they'll sell you an all you can eat package for $30 or so a month, but who needs a second ISP, when I'm not in enough t-mobile places to need that?) Go figure.

See you folks tonight, ready to have a contact-management war!

Smythe

August Meeting Report

2003-09-05T02:43:00.000-04:00

About a dozen hearty souls ventured into the great unknown of the Bear Rock Cafe in CrossRoads Shopping Center on 18 August. Most bought provisions from their array of sandwiches and salads. Some (this writer included) mourned the passing of their espresso machine, and pray for a speedy recovery or replacement of same. (Why aren't there emergency espresso repair trucks?!? Don't they realize people DEPEND on this stuff!?!?!?!)

OK, leaving that for the moment, the other news of the day was - WiFi! Not just okay signal, but wall-to-wall high bandwidth. We had several laptops and at least two Palm Tungsten|C's online pretty much the entire time. We were joined by Chris Owen who had no transportation, but IM'd in to create our first remotely broadcast TAPIT meeting! Several folks joined up behind the screen as he entered his comments, suggesting pithy repartès and suggesting questionable comments. In general, a free-for-all.

There was some order at several points during the meeting. Alan shared a TELNET/SSH tool (ptelnet) for PalmOS and we shelled into several Unix hosts at various locations, just because we could. I asked about a RSS client for Palm, and although there were many interested looks and suggestions, no true solutions were found. I'm still interested, by the way, and feel that I can get this used in a rapidly growing operation at several universities, if we can make it work easily. (Check out the configuration of Syndirella on PC or NetNewsWire on the Mac. That's how easy it needs to be!)

This led us onto the topic of websites that were specially formatted for mobile devices. Several were mentioned, and a list was later posted to our yahoogroup site. It is reproduced below. (We encourage you to join and participate in the listserv. It's a great place to ask questions, share your experiences, and find out about FREE espresso! OK, not really, but I can dream, can't I???)

Mobile Web Sites (from http://www.pdaportal.com)

AccuWeather - http://www.accuweather.com/pda/pda_5dy.asp?
CNN QuickNews - http://wireless.cnn.com/avantgo/cnn/index.html
compu2go - http://www.compu2go.com/mobile/news.html
Computer World - http://www.computerworld.com/avantgo
Geek.com Daily News - http://geek.com/portable/index.htm
Gizmo Gadget News - http://www.gizmodo.net
infoSync - http://www.infosync.no/pda/epoc/
MovieMinder - http://www.movieminder.com/palm/index.html
Palm Infocenter - http://www.palminfocenter.com/palm/
Pocket PC Life - http://www.pocketpclife.co.uk/mindex.asp
PocketPC Throughts - http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/mobile/index.php
pocketPCpassion - http://www.pocketpcpassion.com/mobile.htm
Techbargains - http://www.techbargains.com/pocket/index.html
USA Today News - http://pocket.usatoday.com/avantgo/index.html
WRAL - http://www.wral.com/mobile/?type=palm
Writing on Your Palm - http://www.writingonyourpalm.net/index.htm

The links below are much older, and there are some dead ones, I'm sure. But I'm just going to throw them up here and let the reader sort it out, 'cause it's late and I'm going to bed. Maybe this wekend, I'll find time to mark them up as links like those above, but don't hold your breath!

Bible
Study......................www.vii.com/~bowserd/bible/palm/index.html
CNNfn............................www.cnnfn.com/services/fntogo/avantgo/chann
el.html
Cruisin News.....................home.stlnet.com/~cruisin/palm/index.htm
Fort Wayne News Sentinel.........www.news-sentinel.com/ns/avantgo
Harbus Online - Palm Edition.....www.harbus.org/PalmEdition/palm.cfm
Mercury Center...................ww5.mercurycenter.com/breaking/avantgo/
Palm Stuff at Studio
Nibble......www.studio-nibble.com/palmpilot/index.html
Pen
Computing....................www.pencomputing.com/palm/avantgo/palmmain.html
PioneerPlanet News...............www.pioneerplanet.com/avantgo/news/
Showbiz Scoop Mobile.............www.showbizscoop.com/mobile/index.html
Star
Tribune.....................www.startribune.com/stonline/html/palm/palm.shtm
l
The Economist - Mobile
Edition...select.economist.com/partners/avantgo/current/
The
Net..........................www.spe.sony.com/tv/shows/thenet/pda/index.html
The Sun News.....................www.myrtlebeachaccess.com/AvantGo/
USA Today........................www.usatoday.com/palm
WRAL OnLine......................www.wral-tv.com/handheld
Yated Ne'eman....................www.teleport.com/~baruch/palm/News-I.htm
ZDNN
Business....................www.zdnet.com/zdnn/feeds/palmpilot/business
ZDNN
Computing...................www.zdnet.com/zdnn/feeds/palmpilot/computing
ZDNN
Internet....................www.zdnet.com/zdnn/feeds/palmpilot/internet
ZDNN Rumors & Comment............www.zdnet.com/zdnn/feeds/palmpilot/rumors
ZDNN PalmPilot Software..........www.zdnet.com/swlib/avantgo/index.html
ZDNN Top
Stories.................www.zdnet.com/zdnn/feeds/palmpilot/pageone

Another move - Let's give it a shot....

2003-08-02T23:14:00.000-04:00

The discussion on the list recently tells me two things - there's a lot of interest in having some internet connectivity, and there's a lot more interest in keeping the meeting nearer to the I-40 corridor. The suggestion was made that the Bear Rock Cafe in Crossroads would be a good spot. It's just across the highway from the Borders we used to meet in, but had free WiFi. Let's meet there this month and give it a shot. I'll get the directions modified and posted this weekend, hopefully.

I did take the opportunity of the Sales Tax Holiday and Best Buys having the Tungsten|C on sale for 25% off and picked one up. I'm enjoying the ability to get online where ever I am. I feel like a WarDriver - always hunting for a signal....

See you all there on Monday, 18 August 2003, 6:30 PM, WiFi at the ready....

Smythe

BrainForest

2003-05-19T01:38:00.000-04:00

Just downloaded the new version of BrainForest. This app was one of the first outliners that had an actual desktop app that moved data between the handheld and the desktop. It was originally programmed by Aportis (of DOC fame) but when they went under, UltraSoft bought the program.

The current version works a LOT better than the original, even in the first five minutes of use. The original had modal editing and a three-line limit on screen, with no scroll bars. That means if your note took more than four lines, you had to select and drag down, then deselect and edit in the lower parts of that item. Irritating, to say the least. And it was useless, too, since only three lines would display. And the conduit required a lot of convolutions, too.

The new version, however, appears to be a total re-write. There's a nice new OS X desktop version. (The old one came out four or five years ago - when I had a Palm III and that was the top of the line. I don't think even HandSpring was out at the time! OS X wasn't even thought of, since OS 8 was current. On the Windows side, we're talking Win98.) The conduit still requires the "install" back to the handheld (at least as far as I can tell), which is still one step removed from true integration. But it's a great deal improved than the first version was.

You may want to download it before the meeting and play with it beforehand. You can do that here. Or, if you're WiFi equipped, download it at the meeting. I'll have the handheld trial version to beam around, and we can all see what other new capabilities this little gadget has.

Remember, Dakota Grill, not Border's. Directions over on the left. CU there!

SlideFree update

2003-05-14T17:38:00.000-04:00

Went to the URL given, and it's not there, only this cryptic message:

The selected product has been removed from our database by its developer!

Actually, it's been updated, and the new URL is:

http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=49103

2003-05-14T14:10:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to share this with the group. I have seen that we have quite a few new Tungsten T owners (excellent choice guys!) and I wanted to share this exciting looking app with you. SlideFree lets you access the functions on the silkscreened graffiti area that are hidden while the slider is closed. With this app you are able to access things like the menu button, home, brightness, the clock and more without having to open the slider. I havn't tried it myself (I'm using a NX70V) but I have read good reviews. The program gives you a full 14-day trial. It's only $6 after that, so I don't see how you could justify not registering it if it works like they say it does. You can check it out at Palmgear.com at this url: http://www.palmgear.com/software/showsoftware.cfm?prodID=49103

Also... to those of you who may still have an older unit and feel like you can't resist the urge to upgrade any longer (Doesn't the Tungsten C look nice? 400mhz and 53meg of RAM!) try to hold out until May 21st. On this day Palm should be announcing a nationwide upgrade plan. Trade in your working or non-working Palm model and get $50 off a new unit. This includes any unit... so who still has a Pilot Professional lying around? Look for it on the Palm.com website on the 21st.

Everyone take care. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the next meeting!

- Chris Owens

April Showers

2003-04-26T03:18:00.000-04:00

The rain let up for a day or so earlier this week, and a half-dozen or so Palm users made their way to Dakota Grill in Park Place. Buffalo tenders (whaddyamean, you're out of wings!?!?!), and an assortment of electronic goodies to play with. There were games like Triclops (http://www.iscomplete.org/Store/Triclops.asp - guaranteed to kill a day per week for even the most dedicated worker), and Gravity Ball (http://www.handarea.com/products/gravityball/gravity_ball.htm - another time suck), as well as productivity enhancers like WiFi software that works with Sony's Clie to allow wireless email or chat wherever you can find a loose network.

Speaking of which, our new location allows us to surf while we meet and eat, and this benefit allowed us to download, look up information, and chat back and forth between Chris' Clie and my PowerBook. As usual, the topics of conversation ranged far afield - Apple's interesting concepts for software, and wouldn't it be great if they had PC versions, OS X on Intel hardware, TiVo nuggets, new jobs, new Titaniums for a few, and the realization that last year's state-of-the-art is WAY behind Moore's law by this time! With Palm's announcement a few days later of a Zire (http://www.palm.com/products/handhelds/zire71/) with a 640X480 camera and 16 MB of RAM, things have changed quite a bit of late!

Altogether, it was a fun evening, and everyone there agreed that the benefits of the new location were worth the slightly off-the-beaten-path location.

New Location....

2003-03-29T16:55:00.000-05:00

For our April Meeting, I've found a new spot to meet that I think will allow us some variety in what we can do. It's called Dakota Grill, and it's in Morrisville, at the corner of Hwy. 54 and Cary Parkway. It's a bit small, and not as easy to find as Border's, but it's closer to those coming from Chapel Hill and Durham, and it has **FREE WIRELESS INTERNET**!!! As a matter of fact, I am entering this article from a table there right now.

For those who can't get a bite before the meeting, they have burgers, "barkers" (hot dogs), and salads, in addition to various SouthWest fare. And, for the Atkins dieters, Michelob Ultra, the world's only low carbohydrate beer.

Chris Owens has promised to make up for bailing out on last month's presentation by showing off two utilities, one a PC-only DOC converter, and the other a Clie-only program. (He's into proprietary stuff. After our last open-source oriented PluckerFest, it's only fair.)

So, we'll see you there, Monday, 21 April, 6:30, Dakota Grill at Park Place shoping Center. It's at the corner of 54 and Cary Parkway, right down from the Food Lion. Be there or be square.

Ice ice baby

2003-02-17T17:54:00.000-05:00

Due to the risky road conditions caused by the winter storm, tonight's TAPIT meeting has been canceled. It may be rescheduled -- watch this page for further updates.

notes from Alan (from the Yahoo list)

2003-01-26T23:50:00.000-05:00

For those of us who can still use an offline web browser such as Plucker (my first choice www.plkr.org), iSilo (my second choice www.isilo.com), or AvantGo, I recommend http://www.movieminder.com/palm/ with a link depth of 3.

The hires version Plucker works fine on OS5 (with occational, largely avoidable crashes, it's still pre-beta), and iSilo works great. The newest iSilo beta includes 5-way Nav support for the Tungsten.

Finally, here's something that I've been using lately that other Windows users might appreciate: Pilot Install - http://pinstall.envicon.com/ It's a Windows app that allows you to bypass the normal HotSync procedure and simply install .PRC and .PDB files. In addition to allowing me to quickly install programs on my regular PC at work, it also allows me to install programs with other PCs. For example, I set it to use IRDA and install apps with my laptop at home, without the risk of having it double up all of my addresses, appointments, memos, etc. The doubling up has happened to me in the past when I've hotsynced with multiple systems, at its worst, I had 4 copies of all everything in my addressbook, datebook, and memopad (I don't use ToDo's).

And before anyone gives me any static about being a Windows user, I only use it because it has the easiest to find Palm conduit support. My primary PC at work is a Linux desktop and my other one serves largely as a HotSync machine. If there existed a Linux conduit that talked to the central calendar server at UNC, I could abandon Windows entirely. At work at least.... Still too many games to abandon it at home ;-).

-alan

Hey everyone. A few links here.

2003-01-21T14:15:00.000-05:00

- Brando Screen Protectors -

First, many people have seen or heard about the Brando screen protectors. These screen protectors are made of a stiff plastic and use adhesive to hold to your screen. They are, however, washable and reusable. They are sold in packs of one, but one will last you at least a year of heavy use. The Brando has a slightly textured surface to reduce glare and give a paper feeling to the stylus, without causing any distortion in the screen at all. I have used Brandos on my Visor Pro, Sony Clie T-615, Sony Clie NR70V, and now my Sony Clie NX70V. There are two places to get them:

Direct from the source: shop.brando.com.hk
Shipped from Hong Kong. $9 per protector with $3 shipping for any number. (1 is $12 shipped, 2 is $21 shipped, 3 is $30 shipped... etc)
While they cost a few more dollars and take a few days to arrive, Brando's site offers every model they make.

Third Party US: http://www.glblsrc.com/shop/customer/home.php?cat=10
Shipping is cheaper, but they only carry Sony Clie models, iPaq, and Palm m505. Visor, Handera, and non-M5XX users will need to go to Brando's site.

- Cheap Sonys -

For anyone looking to get a color PDA for super cheap, I strongly recommend they check out the now discontinued Sony Clie T-615 and T-665 models. The T-615 was my first color PDA, and my first Sony. It is a 33mhz PalmOS4.1 model with 16 meg of RAM and flashROM. It has a polyphonic speaker, "enhanced IR port", MS slot, and a 320x320 color screen. Half inch thick aluminum medal casing, you can pocket it without any trouble. The colors are a bit washed out, and the unit does not have MP3 audio, but it can be had as a refurb-model direct from sonystyle.com here for $199, and I have seen them going for as little as $120 on ebay. I just can't help but bring this to your attention.. I paid $420 for my T-615 back around May of 2002.

The Sony Clie T-665 was just discontinued this week, so it is not offered as a reburb from Sony yet, but you can find some great deals in stores. The T665 has all of the same features of the T615 (same casing as well) but adds a 66mhz chip and built in MP3 playback. Also, it has the same screen as is in the NR70V (sans virtual graffiti area, still just 320x320), so colors are vivid and true. However, the battery life on the 665 is much worse than the T615, so the T615 still reserves my first choice for a cheap color PalmOS PDA.

The Sony SJ20 (monochrome hi-res) and SJ30 (color hi-res) have also been discontinued this week to make room for new, slimmer, color replacements (The new SJ33 will have MP3 playback) so look for great deals on these two units in the near future. Buying a Sony PDA is like buying a winter coat... if you do it out of season you can get some amazing deals!

Showtimes

2003-01-20T21:41:00.000-05:00

At tonight's meeting, Chris mentioned that the one thing he missed about AvantGo (which he no longer uses) is the ability to have movie listings for local theaters on his Palm. I suggested that he look at Showtimes, which provides this capability without using AvantGo. Showtimes comes in two pieces: a desktop program (Windows, Mac, and Unix are all supported) and a Palm application. The desktop program downloads Yahoo movie schedules for the theaters you're interested in, builds a Palm database, and queues it to be HotSynced to your Palm. The Palm application is a viewer. I've used Showtimes, and it worked just fine for me. I'd be interested in what other folks think of it.

Slap! and a few new pieces of hardware

2003-01-20T01:02:00.000-05:00

This month's meeting will feature a new program from an old friend. Slap! is the name given to Hands-High's latest offering. It's a small program that captures notes and other items you enter, and lets you decide later exactly where you want to put them. Think of it an a portable in box. You enter notes from a meeting, an address, the date of a training session, and some more notes. After the meeting, you can send each of these pieces of information to the proper application: the address to the addressbook, the appointments to the datebook, and the notes to memopad - or whatever applications you have that are handling those data types. It's actually a sweet little program, and we'll be raffling off a free copy!

We will also have "Show and Tell" for everyone that got something new during the holidays. I know about a few, but you're welcome to bring your new goodies and let us drool on them! Following up on that, is there any interest in having a Swap Meet? I have some older items I'd like to get rid of, and I am sure there are other folks wo have keyboards that go with a Palm they lost, or a case they no longer use or whatever. Be thinking about what stuff you'd like to bring, and let's brainstorm places for a meeting. (I don't think they'd let us set up shop in Borders!)

See you there Tomorrow (Monday, 20 January) at 6:30 PM!!!

End of Year update

2002-12-23T14:08:00.000-05:00

Last week's party with TMUG was a lot of fun. For those not there, the Palm segment was a big hit. Chris Owens showed off his Clié with the built-in video camera to great reviews. The AlphaSmart Dana (as well as the non-Palm 3000 keyboard) were also topics of much interest. Since the party, I know that Alan Hoyle has picked up a Tungsten T, which he says will be available for jealous ogling at the next meeting. If little elves bring you any new stuff, let me know, so we can start the anticipation! Meantime, have a happy holiday, and we'll see you next year!

Holiday Party with TMUG

2002-12-09T14:47:00.000-05:00

The Triangle Macintosh User Group (of which I am president) has decided to postpone it's meeting due to ongoing effects of the ice storm. They will meet in Durham at the Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship building on Monday, December 16th at 6 PM.

Does that time sound familiar? How does this effect TAPIT?

Well, they've invited us to participate in their party, so we're NOT going to be meeting at the usual location at that time. Just come on out, identify yourself at the entry desk and pick up your door prize ticket. The entry fee will be handled for you. Help yourself to the buffet, and the drawing procedure will be explained to everyone. I will be presenting a Palm update, and may get a few of you folks to sponsor some "showoff" stuff at a table during the free times. Directions can be found at the TMUG website. Please come on out and we'll make sure the evening is worthwhile. You may win a new mouse, a carrying case, or some software (some of which is PC-compatable.) The drawing system at this party lets you enter only those drawings that are of interest to you!

I will have a Dana, from AlphaSmart. This is a really cool device, although not as portable as most Palm OS units! It has an integrated keyboard, and a screen that's 5 times as wide as a regular Palm! It comes with it's own special version of WordSmith, and can be rotated 90º at a time. So you can carry it around like a clipboard and make checkmarks on your list. You'll have to see it. Very cool!!

November 2002 Meeting

2002-11-15T00:49:00.000-05:00

One of this month's topics will be the new version of SuperNames. For a mere $5 upgrade, Stand Alone has packed out this address book replacement, making finds faster, buttons better, and lists lustier. They did nothing to create alliteration, that was my idea. :-D

Two of the younger members wanted to share some games, their new Clie's, and their general bouncy nature with the club, so, being of Tigger's kin myself, I agreed wholeheartedly. No telling what this will be like, but I do know it'll be full of fun-fun-FUN!

See you all there.

Smythe

Sony Buys 6% of Palm Source for $20 Million

2002-10-08T16:20:00.000-04:00

Something pretty big in the handheld computing industry happened today. Sony Electronics has bought a 6% stake in Palm Source, the company that develops the PalmOS. Palm Inc is being split into two companies, Palm Source and Palm Solutions. Palm Source will write the software of the PalmOS, and sell it to hardware developers. Palm Solutions will be a hardware company, making the Palm brand handhelds.

Now, Sony owns a small part of Palm Source. Sony invested $20 million into the PalmOS, and now owns about 6% of the company. Many believe that Sony is giving Palm Source a financial boost to help keep the PalmOS alive. Others feel that Sony will eventually take the entire company over.

Personally, I think this is great. It shows that Sony is really going to stick with the PalmOS, and isn't just making toys. It also shows that Sony isn't trying to form a monopoly. I feel that they could have very easily bought the whole company if they wanted. Instead, they are helping Palm Source through hard financial times, and thus aiding in the continued development of the PalmOS.

Email post

2002-09-26T01:18:00.000-04:00

So, here I am, posting from my Handera!!

2002-09-16T22:32:00.000-04:00

Great meeting tonight, folks! Thanks for the participation.

July sponsor:

2002-07-09T00:11:00.000-04:00

Wow, have we got a cool program for you this month! The folks at WebVisia sent me a handful of licenses to their powerful WordWizard data entry aid, which we'll be drawing for during the meeting. What a cool application! Here's how it works: Enter data using Graffiti, just as you usually do. As you type, WordWizard tries to guess which word you're going to enter, based on the text you've entered so far. It's a great help for long words, but it's pretty nice even on those 5 and 6 letter words as well. The software is configurable, so you can set it to guess after two to ten characters, use a different dictionary (several come with it, including three English ones!), keep a history, and other options. I have found only one program that it won't work with, and that's WordSmith on my Handera. Given what they have to do to get this display working at hi-resolution, I'd say it's amazing that this is the only problem! Other hi-res programs (ThoughtManager, ToDo+, and DateBook3 among them) work without a glitch.

May sponsor:

2002-05-07T00:17:00.000-04:00

Hands High, a longtime (at least in this market!) producer of Palm OS software, has agreed to sponsor our May meeting! During the meeting, we will give away two pieces of their software. I will show several packages, including ThoughtManager, ToDo Plus, and MemoPlus. These last two apps use the built-in database from the regular Memo and ToDo apps, so there is no problem if you view or edit things in the ROM-based programs. We'll go over the additional benefits during the presentation.

March sponsor:

2002-03-08T00:35:00.000-05:00

The nice folks at Handmark sent us a great goodie box, filled with games and gadgets. I am still wading through the MobileTools collection. It's ten pre-released apps, but they are all together on one disc, and have the same registration code. This makes it easy to try out one or all, then keep only the ones you wish to. At $20 retail (I checked at local stores), it's quite a bargain. Programs contained in the set include:

BackUpBuddy
BackUpBuddyVFS
CheckList
FilePoint
PrintBoy
SuperUtility
SuperClock
AutoSync
TimeSync
MobileSafe

Normally, these would sell for a total of almost $150. Quite a bargain, and more convenient as well. I'll have a full demo and we'll raffle off a few things from their product line as well. Currently, there are other PalmOS folks testing Scrabble and Monopoly, two games that they have for Palm. If you're a golfer and interested in testing and showing GolfTracPro, you can pick up your demo copy at the meeting, and we'll schedule you to present your full golf record at the next meeting, as well as your opinion of the program.

January sponsor:

2002-01-05T00:37:00.000-05:00

The nice folks at Silkyboard donated several copies of their Graffiti enhancements to TAPIT, which we raffled off during the meeting. The gist of the device is a bit of software and a Graffiti area overlay printed with a keyboard. Once the software is installed and the overlay is in place, you can either continue using Graffiti as usual, safe in knowing that there will be no scratches to your screen, or you can tap on the keyboard. While I don't personally have a problem with Graffiti, I know plenty of folks who do. They're always asking things like, "What's the stroke for the @ sign again?" or "Is the extended shift where I can find the curly brackets?" Maybe it's my music background. Symbols are easy for me to remember. But, judging by the number of people who whine about it on newsgroups and listservs, there must be a good percentage that this is NOT true for. If you're in that majority, check it out and see the possible end to your frustration. Or ask for a personal opinion from one of your TAPIT buddies on our yahoogroups area.