<$BlogRSDUrl$> Wireless Accessories

Sunday, November 30

Nokia Is Giving Away Free Phones and Cash !!! 


Special Offers Only at the Palm Store!

Nokia is running a sweepstakes where they're giving away one of 10 phones - winner's choice - including the 3650 camera phone, the 3300 music phone, and others. Winners also get 3 months of service and the chance to win some cash... $1000 to the grand prize winner.
This is that contest's URL: https://www.nokiaconnections.com/PickAPhoneSweeps/PickAPhoneSweeps.aspx
Only open to US residents, I am afraid, though.
Here are the other phones being given away in the contest: 2285, 3300, 3560, 3586i, 3595, 3600, 3650, 6800, 6610, 7210



Friday, November 28


Special Offers Only at the Palm Store!


Send and Receive Any File Type with Mark/Space Mail 2.0 for Palm OS
New version also adds Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Support, Rotated and
Expanded Screen Size Support, Ledger View, and Auto-Purge
WRITERS NOTE: I was fortunate enough to be involved in MarkSpace's BETA for this product.
I thought it worth mention that they do a very well run and comprehensive BETA, keeping the participants informed and abreast of changes. A good sign that their product development process is thorough and efficient, thus resulting in a quality release to the end user. MarkSpace Mail 2.0 is worth a look-see, try out their DEMO, AVAILABLE HERE


November 24, 2003 - Los Gatos, California - Mark/Space, Inc., makers of
the award winning Missing Sync software and multiple Palm OS(R) software
titles, is proud to announce Mark/Space Mail 2.0. Version 2.0 allows the
sending and receiving of any file type as an attachment. Also new is
improved security with support for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).
"Users want to be able to send and receive attachments" said Brian Hall,
President and CEO of Mark/Space, Inc. "Whether sending photos that I
take with my handheld camera, or being able to open Excel and Word files that
people send me while I'm on the road, my handheld is a better tool with
email attachment support."
Mark/Space Mail 2.0 is a feature rich POP3 email client for Palm OS
boasting features specifically designed for Palm OS handhelds. Some of
the compelling features include:
Attachment Support - Send and receive photos, voice memos, Word and
Excel documents, faxes and more. Send or save any file type to or from an
expansion card!
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) - SSL support ensures your data is secure
between your device and the mail server. (This feature requires Palm OS
5.2 or higher).
Large Screen and Rotation Support - View more text by using all of your
handheld screen's real estate! Supports screen rotation and expansion on
the Tungsten T3, Tapwave Zodiac, Sony CLIE UX50, AlphaSmart Dana
Wireless, and others.
Quickly address e-mails - Enable "auto-complete" and Mark/Space Mail
will complete the address as you enter characters, based on previously
entered addresses. Tap to the left of the "To:" field to pick from the last 10
addresses used. You can also define mail groups.
Custom Show Options - Color options in the ledger view helps organize
your mailbox. You can also choose a 2-line display, view only read or unread,
and resize and sort columns.
Auto Purge Deleted Messages - Keep your server clear of unwanted deleted
messages. Settings allow for purging deleted messages after a number of
days or based on memory used.
Filters - Manage incoming or outgoing mail by creating filters based on
content. A great way to control unwanted SPAM.
Five-Way Navigation - One-handed ease of use navigating email on those
handhelds with five-way navigation buttons!
Predefined Phrases - Save time by creating and reusing common phrases!
Insert Memo, Address, To Do, or Sketch - Unique to Mark/Space Mail is
the ability to insert handheld Memos, Addresses, and To Do's in the body of
your email.
Product Availability
Mark/Space Mail 2.0 is available for purchase and electronic software
download at store.markspace.com for $29.95. Previous users of Mark/Space
Mail, or Mark/Space Mobile Office can upgrade for $14.95. A 30-day demo
is also available @ http://www.markspace.com/mail.html HERE

Product Requirements
Mark/Space Mail runs on any Palm OS device running Palm OS 3.5 or later
with an internet connection via modem, mobile phone, WiFi card,
Bluetooth and/or Palm OS smartphones that support a TCP connection. Palm OS 5.2 is
required for SSL support. Files available for install on both Mac and
Windows computers.

Mark/Space, Inc.
Founded October 1990, Mark/Space focuses on mobile and wireless software
and solutions for Palm OS, Mac OS, and Pocket PC. Products include The
Missing Sync for Sony CLIE, Missing Sync for Samsung, Missing Sync for
Palm OS, Missing Sync for Pocket PC, Missing Sync for Garmin, Mark/Space
Mobile Office and Online VT100/Telnet. For more information on Mark/Space,
Inc., please visit www.markspace.com.
-Ron Pendleton Associate Writer, PalmPlace and Wireless World


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Thursday, November 27

Starting Monday, you can keep your wireless phone number when you switch carriers. So why can't you keep your wireless phone?  


Special Offers Only at the Palm Store!


Attached to That Phone? It's Time To Move On
As millions of disgruntled cell-phone owners begin to take advantage of a new federal wireless number portability policy, in virtually every case they will have to buy a new phone or at a minimum go through the hassle of moving names and phone numbers over to a new free handset.
It would hardly be impossible for most carriers to take in an old phone from another carrier, update some software, and swap out certain microprocessors and radio chips to make it work on their service.
In fact, many charitable organizations that remanufacture phones for sale in the Third World expect to collect hundreds of thousands of phones in coming weeks, which they will then run through assembly lines to install new electronic innards.
But for carriers, to rebuild phones one by one as consumers come into stores would be far too complex and costly to make economic sense. As much as it may offend frugal Yankees, like so many other pieces of hand-held consumer electronic devices today, from Palm Pilots to digital cameras, it is almost always cheaper to replace a cell phone than to fix it, industry experts say.
"It could be done, but it would require a lot of work and a lot more technological hand-holding than you would expect to find at a typical wireless retail outlet,'' said David J. Aldrich, chief executive of Skyworks Solutions Inc., a Woburn-based company that makes most of the electronic components for a range of cell phones, grossing about $600 million a year.
When you really look at what would be involved, you the consumer come out ahead by just getting a new phone. There's no question it is much less expensive.''
Most of the six national carriers serving Greater Boston offer at least some phones for free for consumers signing up for a two-year contract. Cingular Wireless, for example, currently offers three free phones, so "we don't think this will be a big deal for consumers'' to get a new phone, spokeswoman Alexa Kaufman said.
Two big issues driving the need for wireless consumers to get new phones are conflicting radio frequencies and network operating systems. Those are further complicated by the economics of how cell phones are sold in this country compared to most of the rest of the world, with heavy subsidies from carriers that insist on phones that work only on their network.
Carriers such as AT&T Wireless, Cingular, Nextel Communications, Sprint PCS, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless have purchased licenses to use different swaths of "spectrum," or airwave channels, to carry voice calls and data packets. Many carriers have "roaming" arrangements letting customers of rivals use their network for a premium price.
But someone moving from T-Mobile to Verizon Wireless, for example, might own the cell-phone equivalent of a television set that receives only channels 50-59, while Verizon locally operates on channels 30 to 49, so a T-Mobile handset would not be able to connect to the Verizon network without having all its radio gear replaced.
A much more more complex issue involves the alphabet soup vat of network operating standards used by the national carriers, which have names like CDMA, GSM, TDMA, and IDEN, as well as 1980s-origin "analog'' channels still used by millions of Americans who keep an old phone in their car's glove box, or as a fallback service for many digital phones. These standards, comparable to different languages, involve how conversations are converted to digital packets and encrypted to thwart unauthorized eavesdropping.
CDMA, which stands for Code Division Multiple Access, a technology developed by San Diego-based Qualcomm, is used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS. GSM, "global system for mobile,'' is the dominant standard across Europe, and is used in the US by T-Mobile exclusively.
AT&T and Cingular are most of the way through converting their networks to GSM, but they also still have millions of subscribers on TDMA networks, or Time Division Multiple Access. GSM is more closely related to TDMA than CDMA.
One simple way of comparing CDMA with TDMA is to envision 100 people in a room, 50 of whom want to have a conversation with 50 others. With TDMA, each pair of people is allocated a certain fraction of each second to be the only ones talking, and their speech is digitally compressed to be transmitted during that instant. With CDMA, everyone more or less talks at the same time, but in a special code that only the one other person they want to have a conversation with can understand.
IDEN is used alone by Nextel. It stands for Integrated Digital Enhanced Network and was developed by cell-phone giant Motorola, which owns part of Nextel and is its exclusive provider of handsets. IDEN supports conventional telephone calling as well as Nextel's walkie-talkie-style "DirectConnect'' service, the "push to talk'' feature that Verizon Wireless and Sprint PCS are now trying to match with rival services.
Someone switching between two different network operating standards who wanted to keep their old phone would likely have to swap out almost everything in the phone between the keypad, screen, and battery, and potentially the antenna as well. The electronics involved might cost $15 to $25, but that would be only a fraction of the labor cost.
Even making a switch within the same network communications family -- taking a GSM phone from T-Mobile to AT&T, for example, or a CDMA phone from Sprint to Verizon -- would still require extensive reprogramming of the phone's memory. Aldrich said one carrier he does business with found such a switch took a top-notch technician 55 minutes of work with the phone connected by cable to a personal computer.
"It's a lot of code,'' Aldrich said. "These are like little PCs.''
The kinds of information that come baked in to the phone memory include everything from the order in which various services and features are listed in directories to complex algorithms that govern how phones can "roam'' from one network to another to get coverage.
Carriers insist on having handset vendors such as Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung include software that effectively prevents consumers from taking their phone to another wireless provider because under US market models, carriers may absorb $200 or more of the cost of the phone when a new customer signs up, which they count on recouping over the term of the service contract.
In Europe, by contrast, most consumers buy a GSM phone for full retail price at an electronics store, then when they sign up for service with a carrier get a stamp-size card they slip under the battery that contains their phone number and other service information. That means they can move to another carrier just by buying a new "subscriber identity module'' card.
"You paid full price for that phone, maybe 350 pounds in London,'' Aldrich said. "When you or I buy a phone for $50 or $99 in this country, however, the carriers have made a big investment in you to subsidize that phone. So there's never really been any incentive but to make it hard for you to move it from carrier to carrier.''


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FCC Warns Telemarketers Not To Use Autodialers To Call Mobiles 


Special Offers Only at the Palm Store!

Nov. 25, 2003 1:06 PM EST

WASHINGTON—The Federal Communications Commission Monday told telemarketers that they must make arrangements to obtain mobile-phone numbers because it is illegal to use autodialers to call wireless phones.

“A telemarketer may make appropriate arrangements with a user to obtain the data in a manner that best meets its business needs. Consistent with the approach adopted by the commission to rely on the telemarketing industry to select solutions that best fit telemarketers’ needs, I anticipate that you will review the Nov. 21 letter from NeuStar Inc. and the options it presents to make available the information required to determine that a wireline number has been ported to a wireless service,” said K. Dane Snowden, chief of the FCC’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, noting that NeuStar had sent a letter that better explains the options available to telemarketers to ensure that mobile-phone numbers are not called by autodialers.

Snowden was responding to concerns of the Direct Marketing Association. It has been illegal for nearly a decade to place telemarketing calls to mobile phones but it became harder for telemarketers to comply once the FCC ruled in favor of wireline-to-wireless portability.

“DMA’s current Wireless Suppression Service list will continue to function as it does currently for new numbers that are issued to wireless carriers. That will not eliminate the problem that arises with intermodal porting,” said Jerry Cerasale, DMA senior vice president, in a letter last month to the FCC. “It will become a very real problem if marketers are unable to identify numbers that are newly ported from wireline to wireless service. In short, our members will not know—and they will have no way of knowing—that they not place autodialed calls to such numbers.”
--
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Tuesday, November 25


Special Offers Only at the Palm Store!



First Day of LNP Sees Few Porting Requests, Fewer Successful Ports 


Special Offers Only at the Palm Store!

Nov. 25, 2003 1:04 PM EST
Despite wireless carrier-generated public-relations hype surrounding the success of initial number porting, which was helped by only a slight increase in customer traffic, a number of analysts questioned the first day’s success of the Federal Communications Commission mandate.
Wireless industry research firm Mobile Competency reported that less than 100,000 people attempted number porting yesterday, and of those attempts, carriers reported failures in the 40-percent range. A similar report from RBC Capital Markets found that of the porting samples it obtained from a variety of carriers, none of the porting requests were completed on the first day.
Bob Egan, president and founder of Mobile Competency, noted that based on telephone surveys and executive interviews, overall store traffic was up between three and four times across all operators Monday with peak traffic about eight times higher than normal. In-store observations and interviews conducted by RCR Wireless News found carrier-branded retail outlets experienced the most customer traffic early Monday compared with indirect channels that showed little foot traffic.
“We have not done a port yet today so we have not seen any problems yet,” said an employee at a Denver area independent retailer, who said he expects to see more requests later this week.
Egan added that of the nationwide operators, Verizon Wireless and Nextel Communications Inc. came out as the winners on the first day of number portability, Sprint PCS and T-Mobile USA Inc. were neutral, and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. and Cingular Wireless L.L.C. were the day’s losers. Both Mobile Competency and RBC noted AT&T Wireless is still suffering from back-end porting delays that could be related to its GSM software system, which has affected the carrier since the beginning of the month.
RBC also reported only partial porting success in caller identification and text messaging services, including ported numbers not appearing correctly displayed on a recipient’s handset and the inability to send or receive text messages from a ported number.
Back-end fraud management provider Lightbridge Inc. said it saw only a handful of porting bottlenecks at its call center operations, with the largest coming from markets in Puerto Rico, which the company attributed to routing calls to Spanish-speaking agents and a local promotion from Cingular Wireless touting a boxing hero porting his number to Cingular.
Lightbridge General Manager Kevin Bresnahan said the company did not expect a huge influx of porting requests Monday, but it is predicting at least a 30-percent increase in requests for the day after Thanksgiving, which is usually one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

A1 Wireless

Cell-Phone Customers Are No Longer On Hold, But, Number Portability Starts Off With Whimper 


Special Offers Only at the Palm Store!

Cell-Phone Customers Are No Longer On Hold.
After years of delay, new rules approved by the Federal Communications
Commission took effect yesterday, allowing consumers to switch cell-phone
carriers while keeping their phone numbers.
Fewer than 1 million people probably switched cell-phone companies
yesterday, said Ed Evans, chief executive officer of TSI Telecommunications
Services Inc., a Florida company that helps move consumers from one carrier
to another.
"We've been monitoring the volume all day, and I'll say it will probably
be at the low end of the estimates. It will be in the hundreds of thousands,
not in the millions," he said.
Most of the nation's leading cell-phone companies said consumers had
only moderate interest yesterday in dumping their current wireless provider
for a new one. But they expect more people to switch carriers as the busy
holiday shopping season begins Friday.
"So far activity is light, which is not surprising given that we're just
a few hours into the process. We were prepared for anything," said Mark
Siegel, spokesman for AT&T Wireless, the nation's third-largest cell-phone
company with 21.8 million subscribers.
The Yankee Group, a technology research firm, expects 10 million to 12
million of the nation's 152 million cell-phone subscribers to choose a new
carrier in the next year. About 40 million cell-phone subscribers already
switch carriers each year in search of better deals, better customer service
and better reception.
The new regulations also let consumers transfer a land-line phone number
to a cell phone, a move local phone service providers tried to prevent
Friday when they asked a court to block the rule.
An appeals court is scheduled to hold a hearing on the appeal.
Verizon Wireless spokesman John Johnson said about half of the customers
in its Washington-area stores yesterday asked about canceling service with
other cell-phone carriers.
Industry analysts said Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA Inc., formerly
VoiceStream Wireless, appeared to gain the most new subscribers yesterday.
The FCC has said cell-phone companies should switch consumers to their
new carrier within 2½ hours.
One glitch that surfaced yesterday occurred at AT&T Wireless, which told
some new subscribers who wanted to sign up with the company that it may not
be able to complete the conversion for up to three days.
Cell-phone carriers are aggressively marketing services to attract new
customers.
Yesterday AT&T Wireless began two marketing initiatives. Under the terms
of one plan, the company will give subscribers a new phone each year when
they sign a two-year service agreement.
Cell-phone companies routinely declined to disclose how many subscribers
they gained or lost. None knew what to expect on the first day when
disgruntled consumers could dump them and search for better deals.
"I think we're all in the same boat. This is the big unknown," said
Chris Doherty, spokesman for Nextel Communications, the Reston cell-phone
company that is the fifth-largest carrier with 12.3 million subscribers.
The FCC extended the opportunity to switch cell-phone providers to the
top 100 metropolitan areas first. Consumers in the rest country will be able
to switch carriers in May.
"No longer are consumers constrained by artificial barriers when
[switching] their telephone numbers between wireless providers or wireless
and wire-line providers," FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy said.
Cell-phone customers are no longer on hold.
After years of delay, new rules approved by the Federal Communications
Commission took effect yesterday, allowing consumers to switch cell-phone
carriers while keeping their phone numbers.
Fewer than 1 million people probably switched cell-phone companies
yesterday, said Ed Evans, chief executive officer of TSI Telecommunications
Services Inc., a Florida company that helps move consumers from one carrier
to another.
"We've been monitoring the volume all day, and I'll say it will probably
be at the low end of the estimates. It will be in the hundreds of thousands,
not in the millions," he said.
Most of the nation's leading cell-phone companies said consumers had
only moderate interest yesterday in dumping their current wireless provider
for a new one. But they expect more people to switch carriers as the busy
holiday shopping season begins Friday.
"So far activity is light, which is not surprising given that we're just
a few hours into the process. We were prepared for anything," said Mark
Siegel, spokesman for AT&T Wireless, the nation's third-largest cell-phone
company with 21.8 million subscribers.
The Yankee Group, a technology research firm, expects 10 million to 12
million of the nation's 152 million cell-phone subscribers to choose a new
carrier in the next year. About 40 million cell-phone subscribers already
switch carriers each year in search of better deals, better customer service
and better reception.
The new regulations also let consumers transfer a land-line phone number
to a cell phone, a move local phone service providers tried to prevent
Friday when they asked a court to block the rule.
An appeals court is scheduled to hold a hearing on the appeal.
Verizon Wireless spokesman John Johnson said about half of the customers
in its Washington-area stores yesterday asked about canceling service with
other cell-phone carriers.
Industry analysts said Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA Inc., formerly
VoiceStream Wireless, appeared to gain the most new subscribers yesterday.
The FCC has said cell-phone companies should switch consumers to their
new carrier within 2½ hours.
One glitch that surfaced yesterday occurred at AT&T Wireless, which told
some new subscribers who wanted to sign up with the company that it may not
be able to complete the conversion for up to three days.
Cell-phone carriers are aggressively marketing services to attract new
customers.
Yesterday AT&T Wireless began two marketing initiatives. Under the terms
of one plan, the company will give subscribers a new phone each year when
they sign a two-year service agreement.
Cell-phone companies routinely declined to disclose how many subscribers
they gained or lost. None knew what to expect on the first day when
disgruntled consumers could dump them and search for better deals.
"I think we're all in the same boat. This is the big unknown," said
Chris Doherty, spokesman for Nextel Communications, the Reston cell-phone
company that is the fifth-largest carrier with 12.3 million subscribers.
The FCC extended the opportunity to switch cell-phone providers to the
top 100 metropolitan areas first. Consumers in the rest country will be able
to switch carriers in May.
"No longer are consumers constrained by artificial barriers when
[switching] their telephone numbers between wireless providers or wireless
and wire-line providers," FCC Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy said.



Special Offers Only at the Palm Store!

HARDWARE: PROPORTA'S InfraRed PRINTER ADAPTER : Well, as one that is always ready to devote the time and energy to keep the Palm Addict site readers abreast of the "Latest and Greatest", I recently volunteered to test the PROPORTA InfraRed Printer Adapter. In short, a little plastic InfraRed eye run by a 9 Volt Battery that is connected to your printer's Standard Centronics Connector. (I am willing to say that 99.9% of commercially available printers has a Centronics Printer Connection) Once connected, it makes your printer a IrDA compliant printer, allowing your Laptop computer, Palm Device, Pocket PC, Certain Wireless Phones and Pagers, to print directly to your printer without a printer cable. If you are unsure about your particular equipment being compatible, feel free to drop me a line with your equipment specifications and I will look into it for you. Also, remember PROPORTA'S "No Questions Asked" Warranty, Should it not work, return it for a full refund. Ok back to business. After opening the box I was pleasantly surprised how small it was. Even with today's technology I was expecting something at lease cigarette pack size but it was much much smaller. If you stacked 5 Half Dollars on top of one another and put a wire comming out of it, that is about your size. It also comes with a little holder that allows you to use the provided double stick tape to place it where you want it, yet be able to take it with you should you desire to do so. At the other end of the wire is a oversized Male Printer connector (has to be larger then normal to hold the included DuraCell 9 Volt Battery) Unplug your existing cable and plug in the InfraRed adapter and the hardware installation is complete. After that you must configure your device that you will be printing from to print to an InfraRed Printer and you are Off and Sitting. In a matter of 20-30 minutes I had configured and had working my Laptop, My 2 Palms and an IBM z50 WorkPad and my Motorola PageWriter 2 Way Pager. I just point whatever I need to print from, at the InfraRed Eye sitting on my printer, and JOILA, it prints out my document.
It is important that I mention some points of interest. Your device will probably require a software program that will enable it to print by InfraRed. (laptops with most later versions of Windows should be OK, but, require configuring) Also, the InfraRed adapter's connector is NOT Pass Thru.(You can only connect your IrDA Adapter to the printer, no cable at same time) Last but not least, InfraRed tends to be slower then printing conventionally by a cable. So you may sit holding your laptop for a minute or so while the document is being beamed.
In closing, I recommend PROPORTA'S InfraRed Printing Adapter to anyone and everyone. To not have to scrounge around for the cable to plug into my laptop, or a special adapter for a PalmTop Device, is a real treat. Because it is basically universal, it enables you to print with most of your portable computing devices by purchasing this one device. Not a bunch of different cables and adapters for each device to use. If you want to make working at home (or the office) easier with your portable devices, an InfraRed Printing adapter is a must.
From PROPORTA'S Site:
The Proporta IR Print Link is easy to use, simply connect the plug into the normal Centronics port on the back of your printer and install the supplied software driver.

Please note that this product is NOT supplied with the driver for your mobile device (handheld, phone etc.) and you will need to buy this separately if you plan to use it with your handheld. We recommend PrintBoy printing software from Bachmann Software here. NOTE: For PALM there is many programs available. InStep Print, PrintBoy and TealPrint are just a few of MANY. Also, if you feel that Bluetooth is in your future, make sure your printing solution will support Bluetooth as well. (Great Point Ron!!!!)

Technical Details:
Works with all standard IR Ports on all handhelds and computers
Powered by a standard 9V (PP3) battery (supplied)
Requires a Centronics port (standard with all PC printers)
To Purchase The IrDA Adapter or See More Details CLICK HERE
All purchases are covered by our "never argue" money-back guarantee.
If, for any reason, or no reason, you are not completely happy, we'll refund you in full.

-Ron Pendleton Associate Writer, Palm Place and Wireless World



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Monday, November 24


Special Offers Only at the Palm Store!

HARDWARE: SANDISK WiFi Card Delayed AGAIN As I have taken it upon myself to closely monitor the SanDisk WiFi Card and it's Palm driver release, here is my latest release on the continuing saga. The interesting part will be when they finally do release the drivers, will they even be right? So, here's the latest scoop from SanDisk:
SanDisk's highly-anticipated Palm OS drivers for its Wi-Fi SD card will not now ship until Q1 2004, the company has confirmed.
A recent report on PDA-watching web site InfoSync World suggested that the drivers had been delayed until December.
Originally scheduled for a summer release, SanDisk's Palm OS 5 drivers were in August put back to November. The card is already shipping with Windows Mobile 2003 and Pocket PC 2002 drivers.
At the same time, the card's Palm OS 4.1 drivers were earmarked in for an October release - they have now been canned altogether, a company spokesman told The Register.
"We still plan to offer a driver for Palm OS 5.x but we've had to move it back to Q1 timeframe due to a number of technical and non-technical reasons," he added.
When the drivers ship, they will be available from the SanDisk web site. ®
Ron Pendleton Associate Writer, Palm Place and Wireless World


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Saturday, November 22


Special Offers Only at the Palm Store!

NEWS: BLUEJACKING STILL IN THE NEWS A little while ago I had posted a little piece about Bluejacking. Well the piece doesn't seem to be "little" and it is not going away. And with the explosive growth that Bluetooth is experiencing recently, you will be hearing more about Bluetooth as well as "Bluejacking". Everywhere I turn I see another article or editorial about it. Well, Palm Addicts is here to keep you posted so here is another one I just read and found "enlightening". Wait Im getting a message on my phone " Go Back and Turn The Lights Off In The Kitchen". I've been Bluejacked!! But wait, I live alone..................weird.

Cell Phone Messaging Turns Mischievous
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) _ The group of lanky tourists strolling through Stockholm's old town never knew what hit them.
As they admired Swedish handicrafts in a storefront window, one of their cell phones chirped with an anonymous note: "Try the blue sweaters. They keep you warm in the winter."
The tourist was "bluejacked" _ surreptitiously surprised with a text message sent using a short-range wireless technology called Bluetooth.
As more people get Bluetooth-enabled cell phones _ both sender and recipient need them for this to work _ there is bound to be more mischievous messaging of the unsuspecting.
It's a growing fad, this fun with wireless.
Already, Web sites are offering tips on bluejacking, and collections of startled reactions are popping up on the Internet.
One site, www.bluejackq.com, was set up a British teenager.
"I bluejacked three or four people," said 13-year-old Ellie of Surrey, who runs the site and makes bluejacking a daily affair. "But one of them was particularly memorable. He was with his wife and I bluejacked him in a coffee shop. The look on his face!"
Using Bluetooth, which has a range of about 30 feet, she sent him a note asking how his coffee was and noting that she liked his wife's glasses.
Ellie said he looked and high and low and tried to figure out where the message came from, even sending text messages back and forth with his wife, but to no avail.
Bluetooth is fast becoming a standard on new cell phones, though Forrester Research says only 9 percent of phones in Europe currently feature it.
The technology is handy for those who want to use wireless headsets with their phones or, for example, send data from the phones to Bluetooth-enabled printers. Wireless keyboards and computer mice also employ it.
In bluejacking, the provocateur takes advantage of a built-in feature in Bluetooth-capable phones that allows people to send each other their contact information.
On most phones, that service is switched on by default.
When Bluetooth is activated, it automatically seeks out other equipped handsets and sets up a link.
Bluetooth phones can be configured to block anonymous messaging, but people who carry them don't necessarily know that.
A bluejacker could even send someone a photo taken with a camera phone using Bluetooth. It doesn't cost a thing since the message isn't being routed through any phone company.
Ellie, whose parents asked that her last name not be used, likes how the Bluetooth messaging feature lets her buzz a large crowd of people. Everybody in range gets the message.
"In the e-mail field I always write 'You've been bluejacked by jellyellie," said Ellie.
She combs shopping malls with her friends, seeking recipients of unsuspected messages. But she has yet to be bluejacked herself.
"I'm still waiting for that day," she said. "That would be great!"
-Ron Pendleton Associate Writer, Palm Place and Wireless World


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Friday, November 21


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NEWS: PDA MAKERS PONDER.. WHATS NEXT? COMDEX The underwhelming customer response to handheld computing has PDA makers trying to figure out what to do next. Compared to wireless phones, which -- according to figures from Gartner -- are expected to hit 470 million units shipped this year, PDAs are on the decline, and only 11.3 million are expected to move worldwide.
In his Comdex keynote address earlier this week, PalmSource CEO David Nagel said that handheld computing was the focus of innovation. He suggested that sometime soon, everyone on the planet would be within reach of such products. Nagel described it as "a new era in computing."
The CEO yielded the stage to two employees, each with a Tapwave Zodiac 2, who proceeded to perform the expected high-tech wizardry by playing a video racing game.

The Ones People are Using There is an old Apple TV commercial in which two executives wander through the offices asking which computers are the most powerful. Coming upon an obviously abandoned PC, one answers, "the ones people are using." Apple does not espouse that slogan anymore.
But when it comes to PDAs, the same forces are at work. At best, says research firm Gartner, PDA shipments will be flat. "We're expecting mobile phones -- including smartphones -- to continue to erode the PDA market," Gartner analyst Todd Kort told NewsFactor.
The consumer handheld market has been declining rapidly since 2001, while the enterprise market, bolstered by the Pocket PC, has been growing steadily. "Because the consumer side is 70 percent of the overall market," added Kort, "the market in general has declined, because the enterprise side has not been growing as fast as the consumer side has been declining."
Born To Talk, Not Type
PDAs are undoubtedly a great idea, and the Palm model -- striving for usability and simplicity -- seemingly should be a huge winner. But the form factors of a PDA do not appear to satisfy one particular form-follows-function principle: People love to talk.
This is one reason that devices that emphasize data first are not holding up to voice-centric ones. Kort mentioned several examples -- the Blackberry, the Palm Tungsten W and Pocket PC products like the O2xda. "Those products have not done very well," he said, "which kind of shows you that not only in the U.S., but on a worldwide basis, there's just a much greater demand for voice-centric than data-centric devices."
PalmSource is not staking its future on PDAs. The company intends to be a major player supplying its operating system to the smartphone market. But PalmOne, the maker of Palm handhelds, may have a hard time ahead.
Still, Kort believes PDAs are here to stay. But he says they will change -- most likely toward business applications. When that happens, the industry may get its second wind.
Thanks to WIRELESS NEWSFACTOR by Jason Lopez
-Ron Pendleton Associate Writer, PalmPlace and Wireless World

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Wednesday, November 19

AT&T Wireless Services Inc. launched its nationwide EDGE network 

AT&T Wireless Services Inc. launched its nationwide EDGE network at this
year's Comdex technology show in Las Vegas. The carrier said the network
would provide customers with average data speeds of between 100 and 130
kilobits per second.
The carrier noted the network technology is now available in areas served by
its existing GSM/GPRS network, which AT&T Wireless said covers approximately
215 million potential customers across the United States, as well as in
Puerto Rico and Bermuda. The carrier plans to deploy EDGE technology
throughout its Caribbean properties in the near future.
Pricing for the high-speed data service will be similar to AT&T Wireless'
current GPRS pricing, including an unlimited access plan for $80 per month.
EDGE-enabled devices currently include the Nokia 6200 handset and a recently
launched Sony Ericsson GC-82 modem card that is also compatible with the
carrier's GPRS network. AT&T Wireless said it expects to launch additional
handsets early next year, including the Nokia 3200 model and Motorola Inc.'s
T725 handset, and plans to unveil EDGE-enabled smart phones by the middle of
next year.
Concurrent with the AT&T Wireless announcement Canadian operator Rogers
Wireless Inc., which operates under the co-brand Rogers AT&T Wireless, said
it has begun trials of EDGE technology in the Greater Vancouver area, and it
expects to begin rolling out EDGE service across Canada next year.
During the EDGE technology announcement, AT&T Wireless also reaffirmed its
full-year 2003 guidance, noting it expects annual service revenue growth to
exceed 8 percent for the year and operating income before depreciation and
amortization to grow in the low double digits to high teen percentages,
depending on the amount of any restructuring charge it may take during the
fourth quarter.

In addition, AT&T Wireless said it remains comfortable that it will generate
operating free cash flow of more than $1 billion this year and that it
expects to report total capital expenditures of around $3.1 billion for all
of 2003.

In an unrelated matter, AT&T Wireless said it is making "good progress" in
solving its current GSM/GPRS network software upgrade issues that have
plagued the carrier since Nov. 1, and daily activations are at near-normal
levels.

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Eavesdropping-proof phone hits market 

Eavesdropping-proof phone hits market
Reuters
November 18, 2003
A German company launched a new mobile handset on Tuesday targeted at business executives that ensures lines are free from eavesdroppers, sparking criticism that it could also make criminals harder to catch.
Berlin-based Cryptophone, a unit of privately held GSMK, developed the phone by inserting encryption software inside a standard handheld computer phone. This ensures that calls can only be decoded by a similar handset or a computer running the software.
But the phone is seen as a mixed blessing in some European countries. While the benefits for business managers exchanging sensitive information are obvious, such a device could potentially have the side effect of helping criminals.
Security specialists in the Netherlands said the device could threaten criminal investigation by the Dutch police, which is one of the world's most active phone tappers, listening in to 12,000 phone numbers every year.
But privacy lobbyists say the new handset is a "freedomphone" much more than a "terrorphone."
Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, said: "It's a tremendous step forward, because the level of surveillance by authorities is breathtaking." Cryptophone says unlike rivals such as Sweden's Sectra, Swiss Crypto AG and Germany's Rohde & Schwarz, it has no ties to national security and defence organisations and that there is no back door for government agencies.
Rop Gonggrijp, from Amsterdam-based NAH6, said: "We allow everyone to check the security for themselves, because we're the only ones who publish the source code.". Gonggrijp, who helped develop the software, owns a stake in Germany's GSMK.
The Microsoft-based XDA handheld computer phone made by Taiwan's High Tech Computer is selling for €3,499 per two handsets.
At that price it is targeting executives, lawyers and bankers who regularly swap market sensitive information on mergers and lawsuits, and for whom privacy is worth paying for.
Eavesdropping equipment, available for around €100,000, is officially only available to government agencies, but suspected criminals have also been able to obtain it, Gonggrijp said.
The strong encryption standards used by Cryptophone can already be applied in emails and other computer applications. The advent of more powerful handheld devices such as the Microsoft-based handheld computer phones has allowed Cryptophone to offer the same level of security on mobile phones.
But the high price of the device means few will be able to buy it.
Ian Brown, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, said: "Not many average consumers will pay that kind of money. The people who will be using it are in businesses."
If the high security phones become popular, however, governments could well clamp down on them, Privacy International's Davies said. "I would not trust governments to leave it alone."
Cryptophone says on its website that exports of the device were unlimited within Europe and to several large economies around the world, but that customer credentials would be checked for a criminal records.
SOURCE silicon.com

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CYBER Bullies Prey On 12 Year Old Girl 

By MARTIN KAY
A 12-year-old girl has become the victim of a hi-tech and very public form of bullying which Internet watchdogs fear could become more widespread.
A schoolyard spat between two Lower Hutt girls led to one taking her revenge by setting up a website encouraging abuse of the other.
The home page contained foul comments about the victim, and included a guest book filled with similar comments from fellow students. The messages included various threats to "bomb" the victim's computer with viruses.
The site came to light after a girl at the school – not the victim – showed it to her mother. The mother approached the school, which is investigating.
The case has been identified by a leading Internet watchdog as one of New Zealand's nastiest examples of a developing phenomenon known as "cyber bullying".
Internet Safety Group director Liz Butterfield said it was becoming increasingly common for children to abuse each other through cellphone texting and e-mail, but she had not previously heard of someone devoting a website to such attacks and encouraging others to join in. "It is cyber bullying. I think it's the nastiest kind of thing that you could throw at somebody. I would call it at the very high end of bullying."
She said the practice was becoming more common as technology advanced without teenagers being given guidelines on what was and was not appropriate.
"We talk a lot at the Internet safety group about how in our society we are lacking a code of conduct or a code of social behaviour for the cyberspace environment, because the technologies have had their impact so rapidly and are evolving so quickly.
"Many young people view the cyberspace environment as one where you do have the kind of freedom to say what you like, and they say things they would never say in normal situations.
"My guess would be a lot of the kids who participate in the bullying would not say these things to that girl face-to-face."
She said people needed to realise that cyber bullying could have unforeseen consequences, especially when people were identified.
Nobody knew who was accessing the information, and comments took on a whole new meaning when they were globally available.


Tuesday, November 18

WEBSITE: www.MyMail.ie A frequent topic of conversation amongst the PDA/WAP Phone crowd is the ability to check our web based EMAIL accounts. HOTMAIL, MSN, AOL, and YAHOO have always required some special software or "technique" making it difficult for the average day to day PDA/WAP Phone user to just simply check their messages. Anyway, while on assignemnt for Sammy, I came across this site which looks like it may be a good way to check those web based accounts. The site , www.MyMail.ie, is FREE (One of my personal qualifying criteria) and looks like it is a well thought out operation. The following is taken from an area on their site, called "What Can It Do?" and can give you an idea of, well, What Can It Do !!:
INBOX: Primarily you can use it to log into your web based email account to check for mail and browse through your inbox.
COMPOSE: You can compose emails on your phone and send them from your email address.
REPLY: You can reply to emails that you receive in your email account.
CONTACTS: You can set up a contacts address book which you can access from your phone.

For further details check out www.MyMail.ie by CLICKING HERE or you can go directly to their SIGNUP PAGE
-Ron Pendleton Associate Writer, PalmPlace and Wireless World







Friday, November 14


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