Redefining the Definitions of the Palm Podcast

Moaz from PalmDubai sent me an email with an article he wrote about Palm podcasting and was nice enough to let me post it here at Canuck PDA. Before you read it, you'll want to listen to Jeff Kirvin's 38th Podcast here. Anyway, here's what Moaz wrote:

Here in Dubai, and I'm sure in many part of the world, we live in a very competitive and fast life, and many of us find it very hard to find the time to give back or hang out in our favorite Palm forums and websites. The best thing is that no matter which site or forum you are at, we've always been, and still are, one community united by a definition of simplicity and elegance in a single word, Palm.

Jeff and I believe Tyler especially (in his early Podcasts) talked a lot about if he can call his Podcast a 'Palmcast'. And recently, Lance Wehrung adopted the name 'Palmcast' for his Palmfocus Podcast, so I don't see why we can't call it a 'Palmcast'.

I believe that the Palm community needs to redefine the Podcast definition and come up with our own definition, and that will be the birth of the Palmcast (I have a lot of thought here that I think it'll take me a month to write it all down. Jeff and everybody reading this, I hope you guys are reading between the lines).

The new definition of a Palmcast is on everyone's mind and everybody just keeps going around it in circles and back to the Podcast, and I absolutely won't try to figure out how it all started, but the short time we have in a 24-hour day is the reason why I listen to Jim Mahon's weekly Podcast, and why I think that a week is too long to wait for a Jeff Kirvin Podcast, and why I'm frustrated that iTunes is not downloading Sammy's PalmAddict Podcast. It's very hard to find the time, and with reading becoming very difficult these busy days, I absolutely miss chilling out in a cafe reading Palm editorials and reviews.

This the time for the Palmcast. Where Tyler, Jeff, Lance, Sammy, Jim, Carl, and of course Alan can record a short thought of what they thinking about a particular news or hot topic like Jeff said "Breaking news", and it'll go with the name Palmcast 'cuz of it simplicity, and it's easy to download to our wireless enable handhelds or smartphone. Especially if we are on the move most of the time, and that will make the Palmcast very much appreciated. A short Palmcast will also make more sense to download wirelessly via RSS readers (like Quick News) for people who have no unlimited plan (I believe most of Europe, Asia, and Africa have no unlimited GPRS plan like in the US) to download a full 20-40 minute Podcast.

As much as I love the idea of the Palmcast, and I wish everybody will adopt it soon, I still think that one weekly Palm Podcast should continue, alongside the 3 or 7 Palmcast's weekly (depending in the week news), 'cuz the Palm Podcast is very much fun and entertaining, and of course very informative and I absolutely love it even the out of topic discussions are very much appreciated.

Personally I like the lengthy radio-talk style podcasts. They always come out at the same time each week and it's somewhat comforting to look foreword to. However, with the major or urgent topics, a 5-minute podcast might be necessary. But those are just my opinions, and to each their own.

Due Yesterday Updated!

Thanks to FredPC for the tip:

NoSleep Software has just released Due Yesterday version 6.3. You can get it here.

This is an exceptional program, only made more exceptional by it's Freeware status and excellent support.

Brief Description:
Due Yesterday is the premiere classwork, class information, and grade tracking software for Palm OS devices. Since it's start over two years ago, Due Yesterday has combined an extensive feature set with an easy to use and intuitive user interface. It remains the most useful and user-friendly of any student software available for the Palm OS; for any student, from middle school to grad school.

Cleanup Your Palm Wi-Fi Drivers

Recently I discovered a software gem that is pretty much a necessity for anyone owning the Palm wi-fi SDIO card. It's called WiFi Cleanup and it's available as freeware at http://www.whizoo.com/bt_setup/WiFiCleanup.zip. If you've ever had problems with the Palm wi-fi card drivers, such as Fatal Alerts, or the alert saying, "DNS lookup timed out. Please check coverage, and try again. [comm. 8]", then this program will help you out.

Once you've entered the program, you're presented with a variety of useful options. The "Check and List WiFi Files" button will check your palm and list, in a memo file, which of the required wi-fi driver files have been found, and which are missing.

If you're missing any files (which is very likely since there are 100+ files), then you'll have to remove the drivers. Palm Inc. would have you believe that you would have to do a hard reset, then start from scratch, but WiFi Cleanup provides an alternative. First, you'll have to preform a no-notify warm reset, which is when you hold the page up button while prssing the reset button, and don't release the page up button until you see the Palm OS screen come up. Then, right after the warm reset, go into WiFi Cleanup and tap the "Remove ALL WiFi Files" button. All of your wi-fi driver files will be deleted and a log of the deletion will be in a memo file. From here, you can install the latest driver from http://palmone.r3h.net/downloads.palmone.com/palmOneWiFiCard_v1_2.zip.

One other, really useful feature of WiFi Cleanup is the ability to remove the non-english files. Just tap the "Remove Non English Files" button and all your non-engligh wi-fi driver files will be deleted, with the details logged in a memo file. It'll save you about 200KB of memory.

I hope WiFi Cleanup helps you, I know it's helped me ^_^

Starting Up

Well, I've just got the website up and running. This website, Canuck PDA, is commited to bringing you the latest in Palm news, from the newest marketing decisions, to the gritty rumours. In addition, our forums will serve as an online Canadian PUG, so come on in and check it out!