Here a Treo, there a Treo

First there were rumors of a Windows Mobile-based Treo. Those rumors came true, but will the recent barrage of 'Lowrider', 'Hollywood' and 700p images and rumors emerge into reality?

I hope so.


Treo 700p



'Hollywood'



'Lowrider'

Mobifest - A mobile device film festival launched by Palm Canada

"Palm Canada has announced the launch of Mobifest -- Canada's first mobile film festival, created to recognize excellence and innovation in made-for-mobile films. The international competition is the first film festival of its kind, in that it is exclusively mobile – all film content is shot and created specifically for the "small screen" – either for a mobile phone, smartphone or other handheld device. Online voting will determine the winners in each of three categories from a pool of finalists that have been pre-chosen by a panel of judges.

Call for Entries at www.mobifest.ca."

From Jake on the Toronto Palm User Group.

Heros Return with Gold Around Their Necks

With 13 medals under their belt, the Canadian Paralympians returned home to Canada after the 2006 Paralympics in Turin, Italy.

Not many people follow, or even know about the Paralympics. In fact, the Paralympics are almost forgotten by most people after the main Olympic events are done and over with. However, for a certain croud, these men and women are our heros.

Winning 5 gold medals, our Paralympic athletes placed 6th overall in the medal standings. Our 13 medals may not compare to Russia's 33, but we reached our minimum goal of 10 medals and then some.

Although our Men's Team Canada hockey team didn't make it to the podium, our sledge hockey boys brought home the gold dropping a 3-0 decision to Norway. Even our men's curling team made first place and sang their song as the Canadian flag was raised (well, Mr. Cormack tried to sing the anthem, but it must have been hard to with tears in his eyes).



So CONGRADULATIONS to our Canadian Paralympians, and welcome home.

FlyZip discontinues all their Palm products

When you check out www.fly-zip.com all you get is a blank page with the text, "Sorry, all palm products discontinued!"

It's sad to see them go. They made amazing programs which people use to this day. They will be missed.

VoIP Finally Coming to Palm OS!

The MantraGroup is currently working on a mobile Voice over IP (VOIP) solution for the Palm OS. Their product, mobiVoIP, is currently undergoing a closed beta trial. When ready, mobiVoIP will enable many Palm OS devices to make voice calls over the Internet from a wirelessly connected handheld.

VOIP for Palm OSVOIP, or Voice Over IP (pronounced 'voyp'), is a new technology that lets you make phone calls over the Internet. When you make a VoIP phone call, you use a normal touch-tone telephone and dial the normal phone number just as you would any other time. The people on the other end (usually) can't tell that whether you are calling from a traditional telephone or a VoIP phone. The main difference is that the phone call travels over the Internet rather than through the local phone company's wires. mobiVoip takes it to next step allowing you to use your PDA and make VoIP calls http://ww.mobivoip.net/

The MantraGroup is currently working on stabilizing the product and adding additional features for mobiVoIP including background operation. A list of currently implimented features can be found here http://mantragroup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=212. Listed below are the features available with mobiVoIP 0.9.2:

* Ability to make PSTN calls over IP!
* Caller-ID [via SIP]
* Profiles Settings Dialog [for configuring user Account]
* Secure Account Authentication using SIP MD5 Authentication
* Network Settings Dialog [for IP address related settings]
* Automatic IP resolution [via STUN servers]
* Detecting Dynamic IP [when STUN is disabled]
* Codecs supported: G.711 and GSM 6.10 FR - choose your codec based on your connection speed! [GSM 6.10 FR for low speed connections > 60kbps, G711 for high speed connections > 160kbps]
* Call Timer [should be Enabled from Debug Prefs]
* Audio Configuration Dialog [use to save your bandwidth with voice activity detection]
* Calibration Test - estimate your environment noise and use for noise suppression!
* Noise Suppression - a great feature to save your bandwidth usage - use your connection only to transmit your voice!
* Setting for duration to Keep transmitting after silence [specified in multiples of 20mS]
* Dial, Hang-up & Redial - now with newer and larger button!
* Touch-tones [DTMF]
* Mute Speaker/Mic
* Lookup Phonebook - Dial right from your contacts!
* Bandwidth Test - a simple echo test to get an estimate of your bandwidth! [latnecy = time to hear your voice back/2; (as your voice makes a round trip)]
* Recommended Connections - WiFi, Bluetooth, EV-DO
* Treo 600/650 extras - Easy five-way navigation
* non-Treo extras - No worries of network disconnection on device entering sleep mode

The company has not yet announced a release date or pricing info.

Dataviz Documents to Go 8 Update

From PalmInfoCenter.com:

DataViz today released a free update for Documents To Go version 8. Documents To Go Premium Edition for Palm OS is a mobile Office suite that allows users to open, view, edit and create native Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on a Palm OS handheld or smartphone. The Premium Edition also includes support for native Adobe PDF files, spell checking in word processing documents, Excel-like charting, pictures and password-protected files.

This update to v8.003 includes support for:

- Security-enabled PDF files, password-protected PDF files Support for RC4 (40-bit & 128-bit) encrypted PDF files and attachments. Encrypted PDF files can now be decrypted and viewed on the handheld or smartphone. Similar to the user-experience on the desktop, password-protection support ensures only those individuals with the proper password are able to access confidential or proprietary content within protected PDF files.

- eFax.com PDF format

This web-based service allows customers to receive faxes as PDF e-mail attachments. Now, in addition to MyFax.com, Documents To Go customers can access faxes received from the eFax.com service.

- Support for faxes received as PDFs from eFax.com and RightFax.com
- Chinese character support for native PDFs
- Various bug fixes, including some Word Wrap bugs (in PDF To Go)
- Minor speed optimizations in PDF To Go

Treo 650 as a USB Modem

From PalmInfocenter:

Is your Bluetooth DUN crippled? Or do you not have bluetooth on your laptop and you'd like to use your Treo 650 as a wireless modem? USB Modem is a new application from Mobile Stream that enables the Palm Treo 650 to be used as a USB modem for your desktop or laptop computer. It currently works with Windows XP and the developer recommends you try it first to confirm that it will work with your mobile operator. GPRS/EDGE and CDMA Treo 650s are supported. The program retails for $24.95 and there is a free trial available.