Quickies: Treo, Cables, Acid Image, PalmUser, SFPUG

Posted By: As Listed Thursday, April 18, 2002 9:26:39 AM

Handspring has launched the Treo 180 and 180g in Australia. They will sell for around $230 AUD with a service plan. -PR

Purple Data Cables is now in production with a new line of cables for Visor. These cables directly connect your Visor with a Garmin GPS. -PR

Red-Mercury is working on a version of Acid Image for the NR70 Series. -Alan

Issue 11 of PalmUser magazine is now out, with articles on the different types of expansion cards; RAM, ROM, and flash memory; spreadsheet applications; the Palm m130, m515, Handspring Treo 180, Sony T615/625/415/425; and more. -Steve Litchfield

The SF Palm User Group is meeting tonight at 7:00 pm to debut GEORDI, General External Operator's Remediation and Diagnostic Interface, which provides an environment for nomadic systems administration from a Palm OS device. They're also giving away some HandMark software. -Tony

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Acid Image $10

big_raji @ 4/18/2002 9:37:42 AM #

Looks like AcidImage is still $10. Good deal...

Question though, I'm interested in picking up a Sony digital camera (DSC-P30) since it's on sale right now (CDN$249). How well does Acid Image work with pictures taken from this digital camera? I assume that the Sony camera will take pics in 1600x1200 in JPG format. Will Acid Image allow me to view these easily?

My main motivation for buying a Sony camera is for sharing memory sticks with my Clie... but I want to make sure there's a program out there that will view pics directly from the same memstick I use to take the pics.

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What's Wrong With This Picture?
http://raj.phangureh.com/picture.html

RE: Acid Image $10

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/18/2002 9:45:48 AM #

I take pics with my Sony DSC-S85 and view them with AcidImage on my T615C. Works fine, just takes a while for the pics to load. My cam takes pics at 2272X1704 and it takes about 2 minutes to load each pic though.

RE: Acid Image $10

big_raji @ 4/18/2002 9:53:29 AM #

Yikes. 2 minutes per picture? Oh well, maybe I should rethink this.

If I'm going to have to convert the pictures to a smaller format on my PC before viewing in Acid Image, I might as well buy any camera I want that uses Compact Flash...

Of course, this Sony camera IS at a good price, and I already have one extra memstick I don't use with my Clie... choice, choices...

Any Palm software out there that's faster than Acid Image?

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What's Wrong With This Picture?
http://raj.phangureh.com/picture.html

RE: Acid Image $10

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/18/2002 9:55:16 AM #

Hhm, well it's nice that they will support this new device, but how about a new version with some improved features that they keep saying they are working on? Like some way to organize all your images (rather than one giant long list).

RE: Acid Image $10

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/18/2002 9:56:41 AM #

It's not the Palm software that's the problem, it's the Palm processors that are just not fast enough for fast rendering. I personally just use a compact flash camera and resize the photos I want to carry with me on my Clie.

RE: Acid Image $10

cykalan @ 4/18/2002 11:55:13 AM #

if you are a NR70 series owner, you maybe able to have much better experience...
expect 10 seconds to load a jpeg .

Alan
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Read your manuals before you ask!!

RE: Acid Image $10

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/18/2002 12:16:28 PM #

The speed will vary depending on image size - The sony cybershot cameras can all take several image sizes from 640x480 to 1600x1200 and beyond depending on model.

The speed will also vary depending on processor speed of the clie - as mentioned by a previous poster.

Then there's overclocking your Clie.... -)

Dave R.

RE: Acid Image $10

Red @ 4/18/2002 1:33:15 PM #

Hello -

For users of Sony digital cameras, try turning on "email" mode. I'm not sure if all of the Sony cameras have this, but our P5 has it. It will save a 320x240 version of each picture along with the high-res version. You can then view the 320x240 version in AcidImage in a few seconds, and then view the high-res version if you want to see the gory details. This mode is also handy when you want to email some pictures (without having to shrink them yourself) while still keeping the ability to make high-res prints.

Also, as one user above mentioned, we are working on a ton of enhancements to AI but none have been confirmed or announced. We didn't even announce the NR support yet, but word got out anyway...

AcidImage is currently on sale for $10. The actual price is $19.95. We have the pricing set this way because we feel the current version is worth $10. When we release a version that we feel is worth more money, the price will go up (and current users will be able to upgrade for free). We have mentioned features such as better organizational options, but we haven't yet announced any release dates or commitment to any of these features. If you like the current version and feel it's worth 10 bucks, everyone is happy. If AI is missing some features you need, don't buy it now, wait until you see a version that works for you.

A free trial of AcidImage is available at http://www.red-mercury.com if you want to check it out before buying.

Take it easy,
Scott

RE: Acid Image $10

wintermute @ 4/18/2002 8:28:17 PM #

I assume since it will be in high-res, and most sony cameras allow you to take pics in monitor high res mode, it will probably be quite good.

big_raji, I hate to go off-topic (even though I do it alot) But that link you have in your sig is funny. That picture almost scared me to death when I heard the "you know" and saw that "you know" (I don't want to spoil the suprise). My heart was beating like hell.

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http://pdan.has.it
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You don't want to grow old but you don't want to die young!
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RE: Acid Image $10

big_raji @ 4/18/2002 11:32:08 PM #

Red: Thanks for the tip about the e-mail mode. I just tried it in a Future Shop store, and it works great with the Acid Image demo. I'll be buying a full version of Acid Image next. :)

wintermute: shhhhh. :) I can't believe what an effect having that link in my sig has. My site's getting hammered. Makes me wish that I actually did some work on it. :)

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What's Wrong With This Picture?
http://raj.phangureh.com/picture.html

RE: Acid Image $10

fireman54 @ 4/18/2002 11:56:03 PM #

The Sony camera can also resize the picture after it has been taken. It will create a new image at the different resolution, i.e. 640x480. Therefore, you can use the full size image for printing and the smaller size for viewingon your Clié.

HElloooo?

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/18/2002 10:03:21 AM #

I think you should do an article on this:
www.allnetdevices.com/wireless/news/2002/04/17/mobile_device.html

That harddrive can change handhelds in a huge way.

Just a heads up :)

-b

RE: HElloooo?

Ed @ 4/18/2002 10:09:57 AM #

Yes, I already saw it but I have it marked down to talk about later. It's one of those news items that fall into the "Might change the handheld world... someday" category that I like to write articles about on weekends.

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News Editor

RE: HElloooo?

cykalan @ 4/18/2002 11:54:48 AM #

that's quite cool..

Alan
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Read your manuals before you ask!!

RE: HElloooo?

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/18/2002 4:25:35 PM #

This is the same line of Toshiba drives that Apple has used in its iPod since last October. The maximum capacity of the drives is now at least 10GB. Here's a link to a cool take-apart of the iPod.

www.anandtech.com/audio/showdoc.html?i=1575&p=1

It's my hope that with Palm OS5 and it's support for fast ARM processors, we'll see Palm or some of it's licensees release new high capacity PDAs with MP3 and video playback capabilities by the end of the year. I know Palm OS handhelds can already play MP3s, but their limited storage (even with the expandability provided by SD and MM cards) doesn't make them terribly attractive for this, and rules out meaningful video playback. I think that with very little work Apple could mod its existing iPod (which already runs on dual ARM processors) and put out a truly impressive PDA, replacing its current Pixo OS with Palm OS5 running under an emulation of its current interface. At the very least Palm could take a cue from Apple on how to backlight a grayscale LCD properly. While I'm on my soap box, I'd also like to see some Palm OS devices with a more game pad control interface (directional pad to the left and button to the right) ala early Casio Pocket PCs.

$230 AUD!

Davy @ 4/18/2002 10:33:54 AM #

$230 AUD? That's like a hundred bucks over here! The exchange rate is only 0.536999 Aussies for an American. Hmm..... wow, they really do have more fun down under.

RE: $230 AUD!

Boze @ 4/18/2002 10:48:31 AM #

No, the .536999 exchange rate means the treo would cost about US$430, which certainly seems more reasonable...

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Boze
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RE: $230 AUD!

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/18/2002 11:11:39 AM #

No: Australian dollars are worth less than US dollars. $230 AUD is less than $125 US.

http://www.xe.net/ucc/

RE: $230 AUD!

Boze @ 4/18/2002 11:32:28 AM #

Yes, you're right. I just did the math based on what the original poster said. He had it backwards--you get about 1.8 AUD for US$1.

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Boze
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RE: $230 AUD!

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/18/2002 12:38:13 PM #

They're not $A230 with just any service plan, only with the most expensive ($A400 per month) service plans.

The price without a service plan is $A1400, or about $US750. And the discount from that is going to be strictly less than the amount of money you give Vodafone or Optus over the next two years.

RE: $230 AUD!

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/19/2002 12:47:24 AM #

This is more expensive than what you can get in Singapore with S$1100 (with a 2 years service plan with Singtel). (S$1.83=USD$1)

GEORDI

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/18/2002 12:09:13 PM #

Is there a similar application to control windows based servers?

RE: GEORDI

RoadKnight @ 4/18/2002 6:19:28 PM #

Sonic has a product called SonicAdmin at http://www.sonicadmin.com that will let you admin your M$ boxen but it's a proprietary commercial application.
The plus to it is that it runs on most WinCE and PalmOS handhelds whereas GEORDI runs only on the Palm.

I'm not directly opposed to doing an WinCE version, I haven't had the time or $$$ for the necessary Windows dev environment. I wrote GEORDI on my VAIO laptop running Linux last summer/fall while waiting out the .crash here in the Bay Area.

Hope that helps,