Pocket Tunes 5.0 for Palm OS and Windows Mobile

NormSoft has just announced the release of the new Pocket Tunes 5.0 for Palm OS and Windows Mobile

Experience your music like you never have before with the new Pocket Tunes™ 5.0 for your Smartphone or PDA. But, don't take our word for it; try it for yourself or read this review from WMExperts.


What's New

Podcast Download and Catalog
Subscribe to your favourite podcasts and automatically download them every day. To make it easy to find your favourites, we've added a catalogue of over 1,000 of the most popular podcasts, or you can add your own. This catalogue will continually be updated as podcasts come and go. Also new in 5.0, you can set an option to automatically delete your podcasts after you finish listening to them. And, we've dramatically improved automatic bookmarking of podcasts and audio books so you'll never lose your place ever again, even if you switch between playing music and books or podcasts.


Last.fm Scrobbling
Every time you listen to a song on your Palm OS or Windows Mobile Smartphone using Pocket Tunes Deluxe 5.0, this gets tracked to your Last.fm music profile - it's called scrobbling™. Based on this profile, Last.fm creates customized radio stations of music you'll like. Plus, Last.fm also uses your music profile to give you: New music to listen to, Concert listings in your area, Music videos, Free downloads, Neighbours (people who like the same music you do), Charts based on your listening history. For more information and to start using Last.fm, visit www.last.fm


Sync with iTunes
You can now synchronize your playlists from iTunes on your PC or Macintosh with your Smartphone or PDA. Simply connect your device, and the Pocket Tunes Sync software can automatically synchronize selected playlists, including album art, with iTunes. Never again will you be without your favourite tunes. (Pocket Tunes Sync for Windows works with both Windows Mobile and Palm OS devices. Pocket Tunes Sync for Macintosh works only with Palm OS devices.)


WMA Internet Radio
Pocket Tunes 5.0 adds support for the most popular Internet radio format, WMA. With this addition, the built-in catalogue contains many more of your favourite stations, and makes it much easier to find a compatible station. Many popular AM/FM radio stations broadcast in WMA format, making it easier for you to listen to local radio from anywhere around the world.

PowerSDHC Stops T|T3, iQue, Zodiac Development

Back in June I told you that "Dmitry Grinberg of PalmPowerUps fame, is at “it” again, and has created a new blog: Palm SDHC – “The status of creation of an SDHC driver for PalmOS” to document his progress on development progress."

Then in September I told you that Dmitry had released his PowerSDHC driver (it seems Palm forced Dmitry to change the name of his driver and his blog away from "PalmSDHC" so it's now called "PowerSDHC").

I also stated in that article that I would be posting a review of PowerSDHC once I had time to review it. Sorry it's taken so long to get this posted, but it took me until Christmas to get my own copy of PowerSDHC for my PalmTX and a high-speed 8 Gig SDHC card to go with it. Once I jumped through a few hoops in order to get Dmitry's registration worked out, PowerSDHC was installed, registered and working like a charm. They say that the best thing you can say about low level software like Dmitry's driver is that it just works. Well, PowerSDHC just works! It's been running flawlessly ever since. I have kept a standard SD card with PowerSDHC (and it's key file) handy at all times. I've just never needed it.

I can highly recommend PowerSDHC to anyone wanting to add SDHC capacity to their supported device.

Which brings me to the next bit of news: On Valentines Day, 14 Feb 2009 Dmitry posted the following entry to his PowerSDHC blog

PowerSDHC on T|T3, iQue, Zodiac
PowerSDHC on T|T3, iQue, Zodiac has been canceled due to lack of time to spend on the project (T|T3) and needlessly complicated driver installation requirements (Zodiac, iQue).

I can only hope that you weren't one of the people waiting for PowerSDHC to add support for your device, because, while it's a real shame, it doesn't look like these older devices (T|T3, iQue, Zodiac) are going to be supported any time soon.

Palm Pre 26 Minute Video Live Demo

Chris Davies has posted a 26 minute long video of a live Palm Pre demo at both precommunity.com and YouTube. Taken at Mobile World Congress 2009 this is suppose to be "the most complete demonstration" available to date.

I was impressed with how deep the answers went: for example, when the_hands mention that the back cover comes off allowing you to change the user replaceable battery, Chris? asks, "can you show us" and the_hands proceed to remove the back cover of the Pre and show the battery pack (BP1) as well as the Vodaphone SIM etc. Very cool. (Yes, I know I truly am a geek).

aldweb is the new home of "Alternatives to C" page

aldweb, home of Speedy (the freeware benchmark utility for PalmOS based devices) among many other fine programs, is the new home of the "PalmPilot Software Development - Alternatives to C" page. I'll let aldweb explain why this popular developer resource has moved to their site.

The "PalmPilot Software Development - Alternatives to C" web page has always been a reference for me, and for many other Palm OS developers.
Michael Winikoff who created and maintained this reference page decided to no more host it on his web site.
But, before quitting, he fortunately dropped me an e-mail for offering me to host it.
Since I did not want to see this historical and valuable contribution disappear from the web, I decided to upload it to my web site.
I am not sure that I will succeed to maintain this page on a regular basis like Michael did, but, at least, his job is kept alive.
Thank you Michael for all of what you have done to the Palm developers community.
aldweb

While it's true that I'm a little behind the times with this announcement, since this move occurred last July, I feel that this is an important enough move / resource that I wanted to make sure any Palm developers out there, especially those new to the platform, are able to easily locate this valuable site.

Palm® Centro™ Now Available on Bell Mobility

Here's some good news from Bell Mobility, and it's a darn sight cheaper than what Rogers wanted for a Centro last summer! If you're curious, my "rant" on Rogers' price gouging is here: "Rogers Cell Phone Pricing Madness!"

Palm® Centro™ Smartphone
Now Available on Bell Mobility for as low as $49.951
(with 3-year service agreement)

learn more

The Palm® Centro™ smartphone gives you voice, text, email, and web,2 all with the power of a touchscreen and full keyboard. Which means it’s easy to keep up with friends in so many ways. Touch the screen to quickly share a photo. Use the keyboard to send a text. Even find friends using Facebook® for Palm.3

Centro. Let’s go.

Revolutionize Note Taking with LocaNote for S60 Touch

Our good friend Tam Hanna, founder of Tamoggemon Software (and the TamsPalm blog) is announcing the release of a new software product for the S60 (Symbian OS) called LocaNote. Here is the press release with the first details and photos we've seen of this new product:

Revolutionize Note Taking with Tamoggemon LocaNote for S60 Touch

Man has always had the desire to create written proof of his existence:
every (ancient) culture has left behind documents detailing their achievements. Cutting a long story short: writing is the most natural thing in the world…

The Director of Carrier Relations at Tamoggemon’s, states the following:
“Touch screen technology can tear down the border between users and their data – if it is applied correctly. At Tamoggemon’s, we have years of experience creating top-notch Palm OS applications. We know what makes a good app – and look forward to helping S60 touch users with our knowledge and experience! Touch screen is in our bloodstream…”

Tamoggemon LocaNote is the best, fastest and most efficient note taking application for S60 touch. It is designed to stay out of your way and let you focus on what really counts: your notes.

LocaNote Lite, which will be released on the 1st of April, will feature the full note taking engine, along with a variety of features like folder support, advanced filters and on-the-go printing, which allows customers to print their notes at any OBEX-capable photo booth or photo printer.

LocaNote Professional, which will be released at an unspecified time in the future, will offer location-aware note taking. Your data will finally become location-aware – with amazing results for your personal productivity!

Our long-term roadmap sees a variety of LocaNote-derived services along with a variety of other S60 touch applications. Stay tuned!

Last Day to Save - Handango's Valentines Deals

Just a quick reminder about "Handango's Valentines "Apps We Love" Deals"



Today is your last day to save!

Samsung Announced "Blue Earth" Solar Powered Eco Phone

Samsung Blue Earth Solar Powered Eco Phone

While it's a far cry from a smartphone, at least in the traditional meaning of the term, Samsung might really be onto something with it's new eco-friendly Blue Earth phone. It has quite a few interesting features, from it's integrated solar cells, built-in eco-calendar, built-in pedometer (with the nifty CO2 saved calculator), and the amount of care and attention that went into selecting the materials it's made from and even the box it's packaged in. I know quite a few "non-smartphone" users that care enough about the environment to consider switching, should this phone ever become available here in Canada.

Here's a quick blurb from the Samsung Mobile World Congress / Blue Earth Dream site:

You can see the example of Samsung's activities in eco-friendly products such as the Samsung Blue Earth.

Samsung Blue Earth is the first solar powered full-touch screen phone

• Solar Panel on the back of the phone
  
• Eco-friendly phone made from recycled plastic extracted from water bottles
  
• Free from harmful substances such as Brominated Flame Retardant, Beryllium and Phthalate
  
• Eco-UI: Eco-mode / Eco-calendar / Eco-walk
  
• 5 star energy efficient charger which uses standby power lower than 0.03W
  
• Small and light package made from recycled paper

Be sure to click through to the Samsung Mobile World Congress / Blue Earth Dream site to learn more because they have two animated video clips showing the Blue Earth phone "in use".

Here's the Blue Earth eco phone press release:

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. today unveiled the innovative solar powered full-touch screen phone “Blue Earth”, alongside Samsung’s vision for environmental sustainability. Under the slogan: “The Blue Earth Dream: Eco-living with SAMSUNG mobile”, Samsung reinforced its commitment to protect the environment through the design of eco-friendly products and a programme of activities for its customers. It will be showcased at Mobile World Congress 2009 for the first time.

Designed to symbolize a flat and well rounded shiny pebble, Blue Earth is the first solar powered full-touch screen phone. By charging with the solar panel located on the back of the phone, users can generate enough electronic power to call anytime anywhere.

Blue Earth is made from recycled plastic called PCM, which is extracted from water bottles, helping to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions in the manufacturing process. The device, including charger, is free from harmful substances such as Brominated Flame Retardants, Beryllium and Phthalate.

The latest in a series of eco-friendly products, Blue Earth comes with a unique user interface which is designed to draw attention to preserving our fragile environment. Simple to set screen brightness, backlight duration and Bluetooth to an energy-efficient mode, this new user interface allows the user to be energy-efficient with just one click of ’Eco mode’. Through the ‘eco walk’ function the user can count their steps with an in-built pedometer, calculating how much CO2 emissions have been reduced by walking as opposed to motor transport. This unique function allows user to calculate the value of this footprint through the number of trees that have been saved.

The packaging for Blue Earth is designed to be both small and light, made from recycled paper, and comes with a 5 star energy efficient charger which uses standby power lower than 0.03W. As part of the Voluntary Agreement of European Commission IPP (Integrated Product Policy) pilot program, Samsung has agreed to start using rating on energy consumption on the no-load mode of the mobile device charger.

“Samsung’s ‘The Blue Earth Dream’ demonstrates our small but meaningful commitments for the future and our environment,” said Mr. JK Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Mobile Communication Division of Samsung Electronics. "We are committed to achieving the highest eco-status with our customers and business partners by providing the best eco-products and promoting eco-activities.”

Get in touch with Samsung Mobile! Learn more about ‘The Blue Earth Dream’ and other eco-friendly initiatives at www.samsungmwc.com (The site will be opened on February 16) and visit us at Hall 8, Stand 8a139 at Mobile World Congress, Barcelona.

About The Blue Earth Dream

The Blue Earth Dream conveys hope and sets goals for sustainable growth and life. In increasing environmental awareness, Samsung is developing ways to reduce CO2 emissions and to save energy at every stage of the product life cycle, as an effective response to climate change. Milestones have been put in place to eliminate hazardous substances from handsets and packaging will be designed from recycled materials. Samsung will encourage its customers to recycle handsets at a growing number of special take-back points worldwide.

About Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2007 consolidated sales of US$105 billion. Employing approximately 150,000 people in 134 offices in 62 countries, the company consists of two main business units: Digital Media & Communications and Device Solutions. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

The Press Responds to Microsofts New Windows Phones Announcement

Well, the press (generically) are responding quite rapidly to Microsoft's recent announcement of New Windows Phones and a new version of their Windows Mobile OS.

The majority of the press articles I've read agree with my personal opinion: Windows Mobile is the ugly stepsister of all the smartphone OSs! It's clunky, slow, resource intensive, and ugly. Microsoft is still in the same position they were in when they entered the smartphone race: way at the back of the pack, busy trying to play catch-up with both their software (OS and apps) and hardware. While Palm spent many years putting Windows Mobile (in all it's various names and incarnations) to shame, currently it's the iPhone that's taken on that position. This latest announcement is just another "look, see what we have (copied)" gambit by Microsoft.

One of the more interesting responses is in an article entitled "Microsoft still has no iPhone answer" on Digital Noise - a blog about music and technology by Matt Rosoff for cnet news.

In part Matt says:

Most of Microsoft's announcements Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona were leaked weeks ago, so there weren't any big surprises.

• There's a new mobile OS, Windows Mobile 6.5, that's supposed to be friendlier than the notoriously clunky earlier versions.
  
• There's a set of cloud-based services for synchronizing data like contacts and photos.
  
• There's a marketplace for Windows Mobile apps.

Assuming that any of this makes you want to run out and buy a Windows Mobile phone, too bad. None of it's available until late this year.

I found Matt's article quite interesting, so click through and read the whole thing.

Microsoft Reveals New Windows Phones

Microsoft announced today at the Mobile World Congress that they have a new Windows Mobile operating system (version 6.5) and that their partners have several really neat new phones.

Microsoft Reveals New Windows® Phones With Marketplace and My Phone Services

Microsoft mobile partners fly the Windows flag: HTC, LG and Orange preview first Windows® phones.

BARCELONA, Spain — 16 Feb. 2009 — Today at Mobile World Congress 2009, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer along with key mobile partners, HTC, LG and Orange, unveiled new Windows® phones featuring new user-friendly software and services. The next generation of Windows® phones will be based on Windows Mobile 6.5 and feature a new user interface and a richer browsing experience. In addition, Windows® phones will feature two new services: My Phone, to sync text messages, photos, video, contacts and more to the Web; and Windows® Marketplace for Mobile, a new marketplace that will provide direct-to-phone mobile applications and can be accessed from both the phone and the Web.

“Windows® phones bring together the best of the Web, the PC and the phone so you can connect instantly to the experiences you care about, no matter where you are,” Ballmer said. “We’re working with partners across the industry to deliver a new generation of Windows® phones that break down the barriers between people, information and applications and provide great end-to-end experiences that span your entire life, at work and at home.”

Windows Mobile 6.5 Delivers New User Experience

The new Windows Mobile 6.5 home screen keeps people up-to-date on important information by providing a dashboard-like experience to items such as new e-mails, texts, missed calls and calendar appointments. It also includes an improved touch-screen interface, making it easy to take action with a finger, and an updated version of the latest Internet Explorer Mobile browser, which in a third-party research study sponsored by Microsoft supported execution of up to 48 percent more assigned tasks than the other browsers and phones studied.

My Phone Service Connects the Phone to the Web

The free My Phone service will enable people to access, manage and back up their personal information on their device to a password-protected Web-based service, making it easier to upgrade phones without the worry of losing important information. With automatic syncing and backup, users can count on their contacts, appointments, text messages and other information being kept up to date and easily restored should they lose or upgrade their phone. Consumers also will be able to automatically upload photos and video from their Windows® phone directly to the My Phone service, making it simple to preserve content that, in the past, would have lived and died on the phone. The My Phone service is currently available in a limited invitation-only beta.

Rich and Integrated Marketplace Service Will Offer Easy Access to Mobile Applications

The new operating system features Windows® Marketplace for Mobile, a rich and integrated marketplace for searching, browsing and purchasing mobile applications from Windows® phones or from a PC by simply using a Windows Live ID. The new marketplace will be included with all Windows phones based on Windows Mobile 6.5, which will help consumers to easily find, install and experience those applications that fit their needs and make the phone truly personal. Developers, who have already built over 20,000 applications for Windows® phones, will be able to offer applications to customers through the marketplace via a simple security and compatibility check from Microsoft.

O'Reilly & Palm to Release 1st Official Resource for webOS Programming

Here's some exciting news from Palm and O'Reilly -- they're collaborating to release the first Palm Pre webOS programming book. Read the press release for all the details, and follow the links to learn even more!

O'Reilly Media and Palm to Release First Official Resource for webOS Programming

First Chapter of "Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo Framework" Now Available Online

BARCELONA, Spain, 16 Feb 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- On the heels of the enthusiasm that has greeted the debut of the Palm(R) webOS(TM) platform and the Palm Pre(TM) phone, O'Reilly Media and Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) today announced that they're collaborating to create the first official resource for programming the new webOS platform. Written by Palm Vice President and Software Chief Technology Officer Mitch Allen and members of the webOS development team, "Palm webOS: Developing Applications in JavaScript Using the Palm Mojo(TM) Framework" is being edited and distributed by O'Reilly Media, a leading publisher of technology resources.

The first chapter of the Rough Cuts Version of the book is currently available online for free from the Palm Developer Network at http://developer.palm.com, and is scheduled to be available on the O'Reilly website Monday by 7 p.m. CET (10 a.m. Eastern). Rough Cuts is a service from Safari Books Online that provides early access to books on cutting-edge technologies prior to publication. Programmers eager to learn how to develop applications on webOS can literally read the book online as it is being written or download it as a PDF. And with Rough Cuts, readers can participate in an ongoing discussion about the book and technology. The complete book will be published upon release of Mojo, Palm's webOS software development kit (SDK).

"Palm webOS is unlike any mobile platform available today," said Mitch Allen, vice president and software chief technology officer, Palm, Inc. "Because it leverages several industry-standard web technologies, including CSS, HTML and JavaScript, it enables them to build native JavaScript applications and provides a rich open development environment that's familiar to tens of millions of web developers. I'm excited to be working with O'Reilly to show the developer community just how easy and satisfying it is to develop applications for webOS."

Unveiled last month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, webOS has won enthusiastic praise for giving users what other mobile platforms can't: cloud connectivity and data-integration, bringing users' information from the many places it resides -- on their phone, at work or on the web -- into one simple, integrated view.(1) Palm Pre, the first phone to run on the new platform, has a sleek design that offers a large touch screen and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

The Palm webOS book offers developers concise information about the application model and framework, and how to use Palm's Mojo SDK to build applications to run on webOS, along with best practises, considerations, and guidelines for design and development.

Palm has stepped up to the plate in terms of working with open standards and delivering a platform the mobile community can embrace," said Executive Editor Steve Weiss, O'Reilly. "Mobile application development has emerged as one of the guiding themes in tech for the foreseeable future, and O'Reilly is pleased to be working directly with Palm to create the best learning resources for application designers and developers as quickly as possible."

Check here for more information about the book, including table of contents, index, author bio, and samples: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596801816

Mitch Allen will also present a free webcast on 25 Feb. at 10 a.m. PT to offer developers a rare preview of the webOS operating system and development environment, followed by a Q&A session. More information will be available from the O'Reilly website and the Palm Developer Network.

About Mitch Allen

Mitch Allen is vice president and software chief technology officer at Palm, Inc., where he provides executive-level technical leadership for Palm's software strategy. His primary focus is the establishment of Palm webOS as the leading mobile platform for web developers. As one of the earliest designers of webOS, Mitch has been a principal architect of Palm's new OS and application development framework. He is currently leading the design of the Mojo developer SDK and toolsets, and working with initial developers in their use of the platform and SDK.

About Palm webOS

The groundbreaking Palm webOS platform, designed exclusively for mobile use, introduces Palm Synergy(TM), which brings your information from the many places it resides into one simple, integrated view.(1) webOS also lets you keep multiple applications open and instantly flip from one to another, so you can flow easily between activities without losing your place. It's designed to be so in sync with your needs that it feels like it's thinking ahead for you. More information about Palm webOS and Palm Pre is available at www.palm.com. Information about the Palm Mojo Framework and SDK is available at http://developer.palm.com.

About O'Reilly

O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.

About Palm, Inc.

Palm, Inc. is a leading mobile products company, creating instinctive yet powerful mobile products that enable people to better manage their lives on the go. The company's products for consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm(R) Treo(TM), Pre(TM) and Centro(TM) phones, as well as software, services and accessories.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).

More information about Palm, Inc. is available at http://www.palm.com.

Link Your Mobile and Home Phone Services

Here's a really neat product line from a Canadian company that links your mobile (cell) and home (wired) phone services. I'm definitely intrigued and I'll have to do more research into the XLink. Read on to learn more:

XLink Communication Hubs -- The World's First and Still the Best Multiple Cellular Bluetooth Gateway

Finally your cell phone can be accessed from anywhere in your home or office!

The XLink family of products makes it possible to send and receive cell phones calls using regular telephones. No more searching for your cell phones; just use regular phones at home or in the office.
Any cell phone with Bluetooth wireless technology will work with XLINK™.

The XLink can simultaneously connect to three different cell phones; one for each family member! As many regular telephones as desired can be plugged into the back of the XLink. Whenever any of the connected cell phones ring, all the telephones ring also!

XLink can be used with or without landline phone service. Now you can decide whether or not to keep your landline. Either way - all your telephones can keep functioning!

XLink products work right out of the box. There are never any extra cables or modules to buy. You get everything you need in this one cost effective solution.

There are two models in the XLink family, the XLink BT and the XLink BTTN. The XLink BT can connect to three cell phones. The XLink BTTN can connect to three cell phones and a regular telephone line or Voice Over IP adapter box.

XLink BT - $99.99 CDN
If you have already abandoned your traditional phone line and currently use one or more cell phones then the BT model is for you. It will connect your cell phones to as many regular telephone sets as you wish. Connect up to THREE cell phones.

XLink BTTN - $129.99 CDN
If you want to connect one or more cell phones to your regular telephones but want to keep your standard telephone service or want to use a VOIP adapter box then the BTTN model is what you need. You can connect up to THREE cell phones to the BTTN model, as well as, one regular telephone input. This input can come from a regular phone line or from a VOIP (internet telephony) box such as Vonage or MagicJack.
Save Money with XLink

XLink was created for your convenience and to allow you to save money!
If you have a cell phone that you use almost all the time and a landline, it might be possible for you to cancel your landline and exclusively use your cell phone. This will save you money every month.

One reason people do not like to cancel their phone line is because then all their phones throughout their house stop working. The XLink BT was created to address this issue. Now you can cancel your phone line but keep on using your telephones like nothing has changed!

Coming Soon: Skype Link
Receive incoming Skype calls with your cell phone or regular phone.

Do you also use Skype to communicate with people? XLink will shortly connect your Skype calls to your home phone system as well.

Incoming Skype calls will ring your house phones and you will be able to dial your Skype speed dials from any phone connected to the XLink.

And best of all this will work with your exising XLink hardware!

About Xtreme Technologies
Xtreme Technologies is a Canadian (based in Calgary AB) electronics design and manufacturing company and the leader in Cellular Gateways and Bluetooth Docking Stations.

Sweet Valentine's Savings from PalmGear

PalmGear gives you Sweet Valentine's Savings


Celebrate Valentine's Day with 20% off any order at PalmGear, now through February 19th. Just use coupon code SWEETSAVINGS at checkout.


http://www.palmgear.com/


BONUS Lovin' - Right in your Back Pocket

Download games and apps directly from your Palm Smartphone. Just visit m.pocketgear.com from your device to view our mobile catalog of over 2,500 Palm apps! Use coupon code MOBILESHOP and receive 25% off your first download from the PocketGear App Store for Palm OS. http://m.pocketgear.com/

Valentine's Day Specials from Skyscape

Here's a Valentine's Day Special announcement from Skyscape. Be sure to click through to read all the details on their specials.

Valentine's Day is around the corner. Give your loved one the gift of knowledge!

Spend $75 or more and get 10% off your entire order* or spend $100 or more and get 20% off your entire order*.

Using mobile medical information at the point of care has been proven to reduce errors, save time and improve patient outcomes. With over 500 trusted resources covering more than 35 specialties, Skyscape provides healthcare practitioners with an unlimited selection of titles from the most expansive mobile medical library in the world!

To see Skyscape's entire portfolio of resources for physicians and nurses, and get your Valentine day gift, click here.

Hurry - offer ends February 20, 2009

Win 1 of 7 Palm Centro Smartphones from Sync

Win 1 of 7 Palm Centro Smartphones

sync, "the tech and gadgets blog" has added a new feature to their blog, and to celebrate, they're giving away 7 (count-em seven) new Palm Centro's!

You will have to provide your email address when you subscribe: "You will receive a daily email from Sync with the latest stories and you can unsubscribe anytime." but they state "We don't sell email lists."

Here's an excerpt from their blog. Be sure to follow the link to read the whole article and don't forget to read the entry rules etc. eh!

Win 1 of 7 Palm Centro Smartphones
Posted by Simon Cohen at 11:59 PM

Today we launch a new feature on sync - the option to have our RSS feed delivered automatically to your in-box. To help us celebrate, Palm Canada has kindly given us 7 of their new Palm Centro smartphones to give away.

[snip]

. . . if you sign up between now and March 3, you'll automatically be entered into a draw to win 1 of 7 Palm Centro smartphones.

[snip]

The Palm Centros up for grabs are:

• Black in colour
• Exclusively for the Bell Mobility network. Check rate plans.
• Equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard and a touchscreen interface
• Preloaded with apps like Google Maps, Facebook and a web browser
• Perfect for capturing images with an on-board 1.3 megapixel camera, with 2x digital zoom and movie capture
• MP3-friendly with 128MB of internal memory and expandable with MicroSD cards up to 4GB
• Bluetooth equipped

Pretty sweet huh?

Handango's Valentines "Apps We Love" Deals

Shop handango.com and check out what our on-staff experts have to say about their favorite apps. Save 20% on staff picks and 15% on everything else. Now through 17 Feb.

Shop now.

PreCentral - Palm Pre Articles

There's a wealth of interesting Palm Pre articles over on PreCentral, including:

Palm CEO Ed Colligan Talks Pre with Investors

Hands On with the Palm Pre -- with Lots of Photos

and

First Impressions on the Palm Pre

Palm pulls the plug on Palm OS

John Cox over at Network World has an interesting article based on comments made by Palm CEO Ed Colligen at a conference this Wednesday.

Here is a brief excerpt. You'll want to follow the link to read the entire 3 page article.

Palm pulls the plug on Palm OS, bets the future on Pre's webOS

Palm CEO Ed Colligan this week confirmed that “there will be no more Palm OS products.”
By John Cox , Network World , 2009/02/11

Palm has pulled the plug on its Palm OS operating system.

Instead, the company will bet its future on its newly unveiled but still mysterious Palm webOS, built to power the new Pre smartphone, according to company CEO Ed Colligan, who spoke Wednesday at an investor conference in San Francisco.

The current Centro smartphone will be the last to use the Palm OS. “There will be no more Palm OS products,” Colligan said. “We will transition to webOS as our core OS, in addition to supporting Microsoft Windows products in the enterprise segment of the market.”

Palm is working hard to convince some 30,000 Palm OS software developers, who have created over 100,000 applications, to move to the new operating system, even as it reaches out to “more than 10 million Web developers” globally, Colligan said

[snip]

Though the name “webOS” can suggest a browser-based program, webOS applications install and run on the Pre itself.

[snip]

The Mojo SDK, due out later in 2009, will have sample code, documentation, and development tools, including an Eclipse-based IDE. Developers can choose what tools they want to build the webOS programs.

[snip]

Despite the fact it supports widely used Web standards, webOS is not open source, and Colligan confirmed Palm has no plans now to license it. “We’re completely focused on delivering an integrated solution to consumers,” he said.

The Pre will be the first in a series of webOS-based products, for which Palm does have a roadmap in place, Colligan said. He didn’t offer details, and made it clear there won’t be a flood of products soon. “We’re relentlessly focused on getting this [the Pre] out the door, and our platform and SDK,” Colligan said.

RIM Executives Fined $77 Million Dollars

The top executives of Research In Motion, the hugely successful Canadian company of Blackberry fame, have been fined $77 million dollars! This story is all over the news, but most are treating it as some minor slap on the wrist because, I guess, it's been labelled as "negligence" and not "fraud". I don't know about you, but if I was one of the 3 people who have to pay the majority of this fine (roughly $20 million dollars each), I doubt that I would consider it as a slap on the wrist, or some bit of minor news!

Here's an excerpt from a CTV article. Be sure and follow the link to read the whole story.

RIM executives slapped with $77 million in fines

TORONTO -- The leading executives who helped create the internationally renowned maker of the BlackBerry smartphone will pay the brunt of about $77 million in fines and restitution to settle allegations they participated in a practice known as stock option backdating.

The settlement Thursday is one of the biggest in the history of the Ontario Securities Commission, and marked a rare occasion where some of the country's most prominent executives appeared before the commission for alleged wrongdoing.

Under the settlement, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, co-CEOs of BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd., as well as former chief financial officer Dennis Kavelman will contribute the bulk of the fines.

Also included are several other executives and directors from one of the most successful companies in the history of Canada.

The allegations surround stock option backdating, a practice that was once commonplace in the technology sector. The provincial stocks regulator said the executives were negligent in overseeing the option backdating, but did not commit fraud.

Astraware Releases Fun New Word Game

Astraware Releases Fun New Word Game For Multiple Smartphone Platforms

We just received this new Press Release from our friends at Astraware. The've released another new game. This one's called Bubble Shuffle and it certainly looks like it's worth checking out, especially since it supports so many different platforms, including Palm, Windows Mobile and iPhone (iPod Touch). We'll let you know more in our up coming review.

STAFFORDSHIRE, UK - 6 February 2009 - Astraware(R) - the Handmark(R) Games StudioTM has today released a fun new word game featuring ever-friendly, fishy host, Wordsworth Smartygills. Bubble ShuffleTM follows on from Bubble Babble in the 'Bubble' word game series.

Bubble Shuffle is a simple undersea-themed word-building game that challenges players to create words from a given set of bubble letters. Perfect for adults and children, the game begins with 4 letters to work from and increases over multiple levels to 7 letters. To progress from level to level players must create at least one word from all of the letters. Players can shuffle the bubbles as many times as they want, to help them find more words.

The game features 4 fun game modes - 2 timed, and 2 more relaxing untimed games, each with a variation on the basic gameplay. Wordsworth Smartygills guides you through how to play, and can provide hints and clues throughout the game just by tapping him. Bubble Shuffle includes 4 levels of difficulty, and advanced anagram-anglers are rewarded for finding more unusual and esoteric words, with the option of requiring rare words from the inbuilt extended dictionary!

Players can earn a collection of colorful seahorse pets for Wordsworth by various achievements, from reaching new difficulty levels to the challenge of finding all of the possible words within the time limit.

Bubble Shuffle is available for Palm OS(R), Windows Mobile(R), iPhoneTM and iPod(R) touch. For more information, visit http://www.astraware.com/bubbleshuffle.


About Astraware - the Handmark Games Studio

Founded in 1994 and incorporated in 2000, Astraware Limited develops, publishes and distributes games for mobile devices. Some of Astraware's best known handheld titles include Astraware Sudoku, Zap!, and Astraware Solitaire. Astraware is a Microsoft(R) Certified Gold Partner, and a Palm(R) Select Developer. Mobile gaming enthusiasts have downloaded more than 55 million copies of Astraware's products, and the company has customers in more than 100 countries.

Visit Astraware at http://www.astraware.com.

(C) 2008 Handmark, Inc.; Handmark(R), Pocket Express(R), and the distinctive hand design are registered trademarks of Handmark, Inc. in the U.S. and other territories. The Handmark(R) Games StudioTM, Handmark(R) StudiosTM, and HandmarketTM are trademarks of Handmark, Inc. Astraware(R) is the registered trademark of Astraware Limited in the U.S. and other territories. All rights reserved. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Palm to Present at Investor Conference

Here's the latest press release from Palm Inc.

SUNNYVALE, Calif., 5 Feb 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM) today announced that Palm's Chief Executive Officer Edward T. Colligan is scheduled to present at the Thomas Weisel Partners Technology, Telecom & Internet Conference 2009 in San Francisco on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009 at 9:10 a.m. Pacific Time.

The company invites investors to listen to the live webcast at http://investor.palm.com/events.cfm.

About Palm, Inc.
Palm, Inc. is a leading mobile products company, creating instinctive yet powerful mobile products that enable people to better manage their lives on the go. The company's products for consumers, mobile professionals and businesses include Palm(R) Treo(TM), Pre(TM) and Centro(TM) phones, as well as software, services and accessories.

Palm products are sold through select Internet, retail, reseller and wireless operator channels throughout the world, and at Palm online stores (http://www.palm.com/store).

Mobile Phone Companies Must Upgrade 911

Digital Home (Canada’s leading independent source for CE News and discussion) has a good article on the new demand from the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Television Commision) who are demanding that all Mobile phone companies must upgrade 911 services to ensure that emergency services can actually locate the caller. For phones that don't support GPS, the new system must use triangulation etc. in order to provide as complete a location as possible.

Here's a preview, but please be sure to follow the link to read the entire article:

Mobile phone companies must upgrade 911 services

The CRTC announced this week that it would give Canada's wireless phone company's one-year to implement new technology which would allow emergency responders to determine the location of a person using a cellphone to call 911 with much greater precision.

The new regulatory policy would require Canadian wireless companies to deploy "wireless Phase II E9-1-1 service" by 1 February 2010.

In an emergency situation where the caller is unable to speak or cannot identify his or her location, the ability to provide emergency responders with more accurate information of the cellphone’s location can make the difference between life and death.

Pre to come to Bell Canada?

PreCentral is reporting that the highly anticipated Palm Pre may be coming to Bell Canada.

We've confirmed that Palm is already meeting with employees from Bell Canada to fill them in on the Palm Pre, and Treo Pro. Our source tells us that a Palm Pre launch "about the same time as Sprint" in "about two weeks" is definitely the current plan and -- get this -- there will be additional phones from Palm later in the year.

Centro Now Available on Bell Mobility

Here's the latest news on Palm smartphone availability here in Canada:

Palm Centro Now Available in Canada on Bell Mobility's High-speed Mobile Network



Centro for Bell Offers Power of a Smartphone at Very Affordable Price

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, 02 Feb 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Palm, Inc.'s (Nasdaq:PALM) small and lightweight Palm(R) Centro(TM) smartphone is now available in Canada on Bell Mobility's high-speed mobile network (1xEv-DO).(1) Centro, which has sold more than two million units worldwide, comes in soft-touch Midnight Black with 128MB of available memory, Facebook(R) for Palm(2), and Google Maps(TM) with the My Location feature(3).

"Centro is the best example of a user-friendly smartphone that's both fun and easy to use," said Brodie Keast, senior vice president of marketing for Palm, Inc. "Centro's sleek and lightweight design makes it perfect for first-time smartphone users who want voice, text, email, web, contact and calendar capabilities all wrapped into one compact device."

"Bell Mobility is pleased to add the Palm Centro to our industry-leading lineup of smartphones, all of them with access to the fastest and largest network across North America," said Adel Bazerghi, Bell Mobility's senior vice president of Products. "Clients who choose the affordable Palm Centro will love the instant access to great mobile applications like Facebook for Palm and Google Maps."

Centro has a stylish look that feels comfortable in the hand, and discreetly fits in a pocket or clutch. It helps users manage email and text messaging, keep track of their schedules, stay up-to-date on the latest news, capture and share pictures, and get maps with Google Maps with the new My Location feature(3) - all in one small smartphone. Facebook for Palm lets users connect with friends, respond to messages, upload photos and videos, receive status updates, browse friends' profiles and send out new friend requests.(2) Centro's full keyboard also makes it easy to quickly type text messages and emails with complete thoughts and ideas.

Additional Centro Features and Benefits

• Superior Phone - Centro's touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard make it easy to use, with key features such as one-touch speakerphone, conference calling, ignore a call with text messaging and Bluetooth(R) connectivity.
  
• Easy Messaging - Centro's full QWERTY keyboard with comfortable gel-soft keys makes typing complete messages fast and easy. Plus, Centro keeps all conversations in a chat-style view, just like Instant Messaging, so users can see the entire conversation unfold.
  
• Personal and Work Email - New users to the smartphone world now have an easy mobile email solution. Personal email is simple to use and, if users have to check their work email, Microsoft Direct Push Technology gives users access to their corporate email, as well as the ability to automatically update work calendars and accept or decline meeting invites, all on the go.(1)
  
• Web Browsing - Centro offers web access over the largest and fastest network across North America. The full keyboard and touch screen make navigating, reading, and viewing pages easy.
  
• Multimedia - Pocket Tunes(TM) on Centro lets users manage music, audio books and videos easily.(4) Users can also shoot pictures or videos with the built-in digital camera. The Midnight Black Centro from Bell has 128MB of available memory and the ability to add up to 4GB more with a microSD card (sold separately), so there's plenty of room for playlists, photos and videos.
  
• Productivity - Centro enables users to easily create, edit and view Word and Excel compatible documents, as well as view PowerPoint and PDF files. Get one touch access to your phone, applications, calendar and email with four dedicated shortcut keys.

Palm Centro for Bell also comes with a variety of out-of-box software, including Bluetooth, Calculator, Calendar, Camcorder, Camera, Contacts, Documents To Go(R) Professional Edition 10, Email (VersaMail(R) 4.0), HotSync(R), Memos, Messaging, My Centro, Phone, Pics and Video, Pocket Tunes(TM), Quick Tour, Tasks, Voice Dial, Voice Memo, Web (Blazer 4.5), and World Clock.