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by Joseph Caputo, NYCDAUG Scribe & Secretary and Peter M. Fine, President
(and with help from all of our members)

Links and Names: We strive to check for dead links so please let us know if you find them.  However, since this is an archive of things in the past,  we normally do not go back and modify "history". Company and product names reflect what they were called at the time the minutes were first published, thus giving a proper sense of evolution. We do try and kill dead links though.

Product Reviews: Opinions represented are those of the individuals credited and does not necessarily represent those of NYCDAUG.
Content submissions grant non-exclusive reproduction rights to post on our web pages & in other forms of our media. Special thanks to all members for their submissions.

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Most Recently Posted Minutes or Reviews

Palm OS Meeting Minutes for Thursday, April 27, 2006
by Peter M. Fine with additional content from Laurence Koret, Jerry Gluck and Dennis McCunney

Peter, Larry and Jerry showed a number of the following software packages and Dennis McCunney added post meeting comments.

VolumeCare 5.35
This inexpensive and indispensible program makes the Treo 650 "usable" and without it, Peter said he could not hear the caller or the phone ring at sufficiently loud volume. If you add Pro features for extra $5 adds even more control over configuration of applications.

TimeCopy - Synchronizes your Palm time to that of your deskstop computer (which one assumes syncs to a NTP time server).
TimeCopy is also included in The Missing Sync for Palm OS 5.x.

NetClock 1.3 - does the same kind of functionality as TimeCopy.

FindHack 4.06 - One of the best Built in Find replacement programs for the Palm OS. Now an application for compatibility.

FindWiz 4.2 - A very in-depth Find application that goes deep into files and databases to find text strings and Not just a Find replacement.

KeyCaps600 - Automatically capitalizes sentences and words based on an adjustable time delay.

MobiTV -

Watch selected TV channels on your PDA!  Subscription is needed but if you are
addicted to news , weather or other programs, this is for you.

 Go to their site for a list of all the station offerings

Mundu IM 3 - an IM client that gives you access to a number of Internet Messenger services in one package like MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AIM and Mundu's own service. Feature rich with a reasononable subscription fee . One unique feature is ability to cross conference from one IM service like AIM to another like Yahoo or ICQ. As it runs in the background, you can stay connected easily while on the go .

Pocket Tunes 3.x- A wonderful music playing application with more features than Real Player.  Reviewed in the past in more detail.

WiFile Pro -  Lets you access both SMB directories and your .Mac iDisk storage are via wireless connectivity in a refined updated product.

Directory Assistant 3.22 - Look up and do live searches of telephone numbers on your Treo and Kyocera PDAs wirelessly.

Vindigo 2.0 - Major City Guides including Movies, Where to Eat or Shop, etc - A must have Subcription service!

Leonard Maltins 2006 Movie Guide - If you are a movie fan, this "argument ender" carries not only past film info but also DVD and new film premiere info.

SanDisk Ultra II Plus SD Card w/USB - Smallest self contained Fast SD card with built in USB connection.

MobiPocket and the New York Public Library -  MobiPocket Reader lets you read ebooks from the NY Public Library's collection.

CardReader - Lets you use your PDA and SD Card combination as a USB "thumb drive" for file exchange.

Card Export II v2, reviewed in the past does the same and
The Missing Sync for Palm OS 5.x incorporates this kind of functionality

Super Wild Wild Words - Astraware's Western-themed comb of word search and hangman, based on the popular game.

Card Speed 1.2 - SD Card Testing program

VFSMark 1.1 - SD Card Testing program

Minutes Plus - Tracks your PDA phone call usage in detail and calculates rates with peak, off-peak and
weekend rate considerations.

DocPrint (part of PalmPrint)  - Printing directly from your Palm OS device via Infrared or BlueTooth.

ReachThem.com - Send messages to devices of all types

x-Weather - Give you weather conditions and forcast along with radar and satellite maps.

4cast 1.65 - Another program to give you weather and forcast along with radar and satellite maps.

Backupman 2.03 - Back up your Palm OS manually or automatically. 

Peter personally uses CardBackup 2.1 and there are still other options as well.

BatteryInfo 1.3 - The name says it all.

Diddlebug - Sticky note with alarm and sketcher for your Palm OS device.

FileZ 6.8.3 - Freeware file utility that does more!

TrackerDog - Track software version information on your PDA.

Salling Clicker 3.01 - Remote Control tool for your PDA with interconnectivity to either a Mac or a PC.

How to Add Graffiti to the Treo 650
How to Add Graffiti to the Treo 600
Follow the instructions carefully and use at your own risk!

Dennis McCunney added following information:

SMBMate is a WiFile Pro style freeware alternative - SMBMate Info
This is the basis for the Hands High offering, and was the last freeware version.

SMBClient, is another possibile open source Samba client for PalmOS

Card Testing Utilities :The problem with stuff like this is that they tend to assume you have a single card slot. As it happens, my Tapwave Zodiac 2 has two SD slots, and the issue is how I test card speed on either card. Card Speed only sees the first slot, so I must swap cards. For various reasons, this is a PITA (Pain in the arse).

VFSMark sees both, but isn't obvious about it. When I run it, it asks if I want to run the tests. If I say yes, it tests the first card. If I say no, it asks again, If I say yes here, it tests the second card.

VFSBench tests everything it sees, so running it gets me results for the first and second SD cards, and the Internal "virtual" card Tapwave implemented. (It's essentially a dynamic RAMdisk, designed to allowTapwave users who don't have actual cards to sync JPG and MP3 files. It helps if you have the Zodiac 2 with 128MB of RAM if you try to use this.)

The meeting ended with our usual member/instant member raffle and about six attendees joined or renewed upon winning their prizes.

The Missing Sync for Palm OS 5.1 by Peter M. Fine, $40 download price

Created as a replacement for the Palm Desktop Macintosh software, version 5.1 is now Universal Binary, so it works native on both new Intel Macs and Power PC Macs as well. In addition to all the functions of the Palm Desktop software, this product adds a host of additional benefits and features including:

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger Sync Services Support, Syncs Address Book groups and iCal calendars with Palm categories, Support for multiple addresses and other Palm database fields, Contact photo synchronization, Syncs iPhoto albums, iTunes playlist synchronization , Folder synchronization, Synchronization Setup Assistants, Supports multiple Palm OS 4 & 5 devices, Bluetooth Sync, Network sync over Wi-Fi, Compatible with existing Mac conduits, Conduit Profiles - Multiple configurations for different desktop sync needs, Connection-aware Conduit Profiles, SyncMinder™ - Reminds you when it's time to sync,
Standalone MemoPad application with Spotlight searching, Mark/Space Conduit for AvantGo, iPhoto plugin, iTunes plugin, USB and Bluetooth Internet Sharing with automatic detection, Enhanced Backup conduit - including those not indicated or caught by the HotSync Manager. Complete Features Link

As part of the suite of services, you get TimeCopy which synchronizes your Palm time to that of your computer (which syncs to a NTP time server) and same kind of functions of Card Reader or CardBackup II which lets you use your PDA and SD Card combination as a USB "thumb drive" for file exchange.

There is no product on the market that incorporates so much connectivity to both past and present Palm OS and the Macintosh OS features. Palm has also stated that The Missing Sync for Palm OS will be the solution going forward for Macintosh support and enhancements to the aging Palm Desktop software.

Documents to Go Premium Edition 8.003 by Dataviz, $50 download - by Peter M. Fine

Continuing the long tradition of well integrated support for Microsoft (and other) desktop applications with the Palm OS, version 8.x of Documents to Go Premium Edition still offers Word Processing (MS Word), Spreadsheet  (MS Excel), Presentation (MS PowerPoint), Pictures (jpg, pict, gig with bmp on PC) and Spell Check functionality but now adds native Adobe PDF support. It seems to do this as good as any other solution out there but there is a caveat that I am not confident that any product handles PDFs as well as it should. Smaller files open fine and can be navigated but larger PDFs don’t seem to be handled well on the Palm OS device and that may due to the Palm OS itself.  I have found your success will vary with each PDF but this is not a reflection on this product as such.

Synchronization between the PDA and your Macintosh or PC desktop works very well and the fact you can edit on the Palm is a nice perk.

This is the definitive – all in one portable product for the MS Office software user. Not reviewed as I primarily use a Macintosh is the Documents ToGo Total Office version at $90, adding MS Outlook groupware support which might be nice to have.

Pocket PC Meeting Minutes for Thursday, March 16, 2006
by Jerry Goldbaum & Sanjay Srikonda, current Pocket PC SIG Co-Chairs

After a small hiatus, the PPC SIG resumed its meetings and Jerry started the meeting introducing himself and Sanjay as the PPC SIG co-chairs taking over for Sam Wagner who has pursued educational and job opportunities in another state. We all thank Sam for his years of volunteer work.

Jerry began the meeting by demonstrating his new Imate K-JAM which is a Windows Mobile 5 phone edition device. The K-JAM is based on the HTC Wizard design that sports an efficient dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP 850 processor running at 200mhz, 64mb of RAM, 128mb of ROM. The K-JAM also includes both Wifi B/G and Bluetooth 1.2. The storage card is based on a Mini-SD specification.

The K-JAM is a quad-band device that includes support for 850/900/1800/1900 MHz. 
As a GSM phone, the K-JAM uses both GPRS and EDGE for data connections.

One of the unique features of the Wizard devices is the full querty slide-out keyboard that when it is extended out from the body of the device, automatically places the screen into landscape mode.

The Wizard design comes is two flavors which are the Wizard 100 and Wizard 200. The K-JAM and T-Mobile MDA are based on the Wizard 200. Cingular also now sells the 8125 which is based on the Wizard 100 series and is basically the same device except for the more boxy appearance and support for WiFi B only.

Jerry also discussed the performance of the OMAP processor and its effectiveness at performing most pda tasks as well as helping to provide great battery life of the device. If Wizard owners want to tweak as much speed out of the device as possible, a free application called OmapClock, which overclocks the OMAP processor, is available at xda-developers (<http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=40284>http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=40284). The OMAP 850 has been safely overclocked to 240mhz without adverse effects by many over a span of a couple of months. Of course, if you choose to use OmapClock, please do so at your own risk.


Jerry also demonstrated the new version of Spb Pocket Plus. Pocket Plus provides today screen functions for tabs and program launching, a task bar battery meter displayed at the top of all screens, a safe mode option on soft reset, a true close button and shortcut icons to many popular functions. Version 3.1 of the application also provides the ability to uninstall any function that you choose not to use. - $24.95

Tube 2 NYC, a subway, LIRR railroad, and Manhattan street mapping application by Visual IT was demonstrated. Tube 2 allows you to enter a starting point and destination and Tube will display the subway route in animated fashion. Fellow member Charlie Ridgeway pointed out a routing issue with application when traveling from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Apparently, the developer at Visual IT was made aware of this issue but has not issued an update for this problem.


As an alternative, Sanjay recommended Metro, a freeware application that provides subway routes
and is constantly updated by the developer. Metro has over 300 cities' subway and bus and tram lines.
Route information maintained by everyone and anyone with the time. Source code is accessible and integrates with Pocket Outlook.

SBSH's suite of products was also demonstrated. PocketBreeze, a PIM management application that allows calendar and tasks PIM items to be displayed on the Today screen was shown. ContactBreeze was also shown running as a tab within PocketBreeze was also shown and allows contact lookup and d-pad dialing of phone numbers using a phone edition device.  Pocket Breeze, Contact Breeze, Pocket Weather are all part of the suite.

Jerry concluded by mentioning that he has invited David Ciccone of Dave's Ipaq and now Mobility Today to come speak at a joint Palm/PPC meeting. David is now also Director of Strategic Alliances for the DualCor Corporation, which is now promoting its breakthrough device called the DualCor cPC.

The cPC is an ultra mobile device (not related to the Microsoft Ultra Mobile PC‚s under the moniker of Origami) which implements a small device with a full version of Windows XP with Windows Mobile 5. The real cool feature of the DualCor aside from the sheer small size and power of the device is the ability of the XP and Windows Mobile systems to automatically synchronize with each other.

The specifications of the cPC include: 800 x 480 resolution, 40gb shared hard disk drive with 1GB of DDR2 Ram and 1GB NAND Flash Memory, 3 USB 2.0 high speed ports, Mini-VGA port, Stereo headset, Telephone Headset, Compact Flash slot Type II

Sanjay then showed his new Palm Treo 700w purchased from Verizon Wireless.
While some in the media seem to think that the device is flawless, he has real-world experience with it, so in his words:

Pros:
Fast EVDO network for Websurfing, Good keyboard (for my fingers any way, fatter fingers will have issues)
Expandable (SDIO slot), Camera takes pretty good pictures
Bluetooth is not disabled nor crippled, I often times ActiveSync using Bluetooth

Cons:
Wireless Sync from Verizon is a useless push application that does not save attachments and actually has the feature disabled "by
design" (according to VZW technicians I spoke with although they didn't know why), which means you can't get attachements using Wireless Sync. To really delete emails, you have to log into the Wireless Sync site and page through (25 at a time, non-configurable to show more/screen) to delete emails or else they'll continue to be pushed to the device on every new sync.

When you get the device, you only have 28Mb of RAM left. That is not near enough and you can't change this with a memory slider like
you could with previous versions of Windows Media

SDIO slot is VERY sensitive. I lost one card out of the slot when one popped out. You'd do well to tape the card in.

Cheapness of Verizon. You are spending quite a bit of money for this smartphone and you don't even get a case for it.

Screen brightness: in direct sunlight, no matter how much you turn up the screen, it's hard to read

Compatibility of software: This is a total mystery to me. The way MS titles it's software releases and what is compatible, is hard to
figure out. There should be a "certified for WM5" sticker somewhere on every site that is compatible with WM5.

Resets: Massive multiple resets all the time. This is now my third unit the first two kept hard resetting.

NO Persistent Storage: If you hard reset the device nothing is backed up, all your data is lost. This was not the case in previous PDAs from what I remember.

Camera software works very strange, you take a picture, click back and you go to a black screen and have to restart the camera software.

No voice dial over bluetooth, although this may be coming with the ROM update.

IR is useless. No range at all with it.

What hardware is this thing compatible with any way? Again, like the software there should be a "Compatible with..." sticker somewhere on hardware.

Proprietary headset port. Come on, why? Why not just use a standard port? Why make us buy new headphone adapters?

Sanjay also demonstrated the following:

Boxwave Versacharger:

A new revolutionary charger, VersaChargerT eliminates the need for multiple chargers! Whether you're in the car, on an airplane, at the
office, or at home, the VersaChargerT is the single charging device capable of providing you with power across these different environments.
We've combined the car charger, wall charger, and airplane charger through an optional converter, to create the all-inclusive charging
solution for your handheld.

Boxwave Minisync:

With the two of these products I can travel anywhere in the US. I can charge my Treo 700w from a car cigarette lighter as well as from a wall outlet. Plus, if I have access to a computer that has ActiveSync 4.1 installed on it and my device can be read, I can use the Minisync cable
to charge and sync should a computer be available.

I also use on my Treo 700w:

Phases:  (Freeware) If you want nothing more than a Today screen plug in that shows you the current moon phase.

Pocket Controller Professional ($34.95): Controls your PPC in a skin even, from your desktop.

Pocket Informant ($24.95) Very good PIM although it depends on taste, as there are others out there.

About Links and Names: We strive to check for dead links so please let us know if you find them.  However, since this is an archive of things in the past,
we normally do not go back and modify "history". Company and product names reflect what they were called at the time the minutes were first published,
thus giving a proper sense of evolution.

About Product Reviews: Opinions represented are those of the individuals credited and does not necessarily represent those of NYCDAUG.
Content submissions grant non-exclusive reproduction rights to post on our web pages & in other forms of our media. Special thanks to all members for their submissions.