How to Do Everything with Your Palm-Powered Device Book Review
By: Kris KeilhackJanuary 2, 2007
One of the few constants in the world of Palm OS-oriented print media has been McGraw Hill/Osborne Press’ How to Do Everything series. I was pleasantly surprised to learn of the release of the sixth edition of this volume, How to Do Everything with your Palm Powered Device, given the general hasty retreat by most industry heavyweights from the handheld and PDA segments. I ordered my own copy from Amazon, not wanting to wait around forever to try and acquire a press review copy. I had previously purchased the second, fourth, and fifth volumes in the series so I pretty much knew what to expect from this latest revision.
History and Content Relevancy
Published in annually updated editions since 2000 (the first ever volume featured a Palm V on the cover), the How to Do Everything books are essentially voluminous instruction manuals. Seeing as how Palm has not seen fit to include printed documentation of any quality since their m500 series (Palm’s Treos are notable exceptions to this, likely only due to carrier mandates for printed manuals) this is not at all a bad thing, especially for novice users. Of course, in addition to the basics, additional sections are present throughout the book and touch on topics Palm themselves would not see fit to address.
Dave Johnson and Rick Broidia have authored each volume in this fine series (as well as a few other books on digital cameras and MP3 players) since day one. This latest volume has the Palm Z22 and Palm TX handhelds adorning its cover, making it the first volume that has not had “dated” models on the cover upon its release. The mere fact that this book exists can give the dedicated PDA faithful some cause for cautious optimism that Palm may continue their PDA line past these final two models. If not, then this tome at least makes a fitting partner for the last men standing in the classic Palm PDA line.
The book is actually quite up to date on the hardware front, with the Treo 700p and its EVDO capabilities being mentioned throughout the book. Only the Treo 680 and 750 are absent due to their relative newness. Further mitigating the instant obsolescence factor of print media is the fact that Palm’s own Now You Know line recently released a guide dedicated to the Treo 680. Another recent HtDE guide, with a 700p on the cover, was recently released specifically for Treos and is written by different authors.
Writing Style and Language
I found the book, like all of its predecessors, to be written in a very friendly, informative, and easily digestible style. Johnson and Broida (or, as they prefer to be called, Dave and Rick) come across as two writers with a strong familiarity with not only the Palm OS, but the legions of devices released over the years as well as each others’ particular likes and dislikes. Sometimes the authors’ humor lapses too much into the realm of silliness and a few badly misplaced political opinions creep into the text but for the most part the book is very well written.
The book continues the standard set by previous editions of an oversized, heavyweight paperback. The book has clear screenshots and product photographs and is comprised of a monochromatic color scheme aside from the garish purple middle section.
Two Halves + A Center Section
I especially like how the book is split into chapters highlighting the standard built-in functions of most (if not all) Palm-powered devices. The basic PIM apps are covered in succinct detail and I even learned a few tricks in regards to calendar appointments and the long-neglected Task app. I actually feel that this “super duper instruction book” section of the book is the most informative, as many of the Palm OS PIM apps have a greater degree of functionality that even long-term users such as myself forget about or possibly never even knew existed.
Separating the two halves of the book is the purple “handy guide” mentioned in the previous chapter. This installment gives explicit and very useful information on maximizing the audio playback capabilities of modern Palm devices. I’ve long thought that Palm has under-represented their devices’ capabilities as far as media playback and entertainment capabilities. Even unsupported solutions like Bluetooth A2DP headphones and Softick’s Audio Gateway software are mentioned here, as are the non-spec 4gb SD cards. Kudos to Rick and Dave for venturing where Palm’s tech support staff and marketing department fear to tread! For the record, chapter 5’s purple middle section was a list of nine killer apps for Palm OS devices. I personally feel the “Turn Your Palm into an iPod” how-to is much more relevant to a wider variety of users as memory card prices continue to tumble.
The second half of the book deals with adding enhanced functionality to the Palm, either from installing additional hardware and software or by simply jumping through more hoops. This sections covers topics like multimedia, Documents To Go (and similar apps) wireless printing, e-mail and web browsing wirelessly or via AvantGo, Plucker, and Handstory. The book even concludes with a token section on Palm-related hardware such as wireless full-size keyboards and the like. My favorite part of this chapter was the overview of Multi-Connector-enabled 3rd party cradles. While I knew about Brando’s cradles, the guys even have the audacity to knock Palm’s OEM cradle for its high price and recommended a nifty little $9.99 Alpinetop cradle I’d never even heard of!
Chapter and Content Highlights
A nice touch found throughout the book are the little grey “tip”, “shortcut”, “note”, “how to”, and “caution” boxes scattered throughout the book highlighting specific issues not addressed in the main body of the text. While this is a customary practice often seen in these sorts of how-to tech guides, it’s still a welcome nod that makes the book more like first-hand guidance and less like a textbook.
For the most part the authors take a realistic, “tell it like it is” stance towards the capabilities and shortcomings of the various Palm devices. I was, ahem, “thrilled” to see the sluggish nature of the LifeDrive brought to attention in the very first chapter. Unfortunately, a tantalizing hint on a way to resolve the LifeDrive’s lag issue was promised in Chapter 12 but I never found it. Is it a hack to replace the MicroDrive with a 4gb CF card? Is it a tip on installing the LifeDrive’s 2.0 update from Palm? Who knows! Guys, this isn’t a Choose Your Own Adventure novel…if something is worth mentioning, just state it then and there! This quibble brings us to the following issues…
Shortcomings and Overlooked Information
While passing references are made to PalmInfocenter, Brighthand and TreoCentral, the book generally defers to Handango and/or PalmGear for any online recommendations. A comprehensive listing of all developer URLs at the end of the book in addition to the end of each chapter would be handy. Perhaps a good idea for future versions would be to give a gentle encouragement to readers to support struggling Palm OS software developers by purchasing directly from them whenever possible? The book actually has a number of plugs of questionable nature—for example, are the authors plugging Panera because of the free wi-fi and the great coffee and pastries or are some surreptitious advertising dollars at work?
My actual criticisms of the book as far as overlooked or incorrect information are really very few. The book generally does a superb job of covering a wealth of topics in a rather meager 466 pages. However, a few sore spots do linger after reading the book cover to cover.
First, to this long-time single-stroke diehard, I feel that the book should make a greater clarification as to the litigious factors behind the removal of Graffiti 1. In addition, page 322’s “tip” that Graffiti 1 can be restored via TealScript is, at best, a drastic understatement.
Another onerous issue that is basically glazed over is the section of chapter 10 dealing with pairing a Palm device and a Bluetooth-enabled phone to perform dial-up-networking. Rick and Dave could have made a more emphatic statement on the very fickle nature of this process, seeing that Palm’s PhoneLink Updater app has not been updated in over eighteen months and BT DUN support via CDMA handsets has been completely removed by Palm on the LifeDrive and TX. The statement “Even if your phone isn’t in the list, it’s pretty likely to work” leaves much to be desired—does “work” suggest that the devices can be paired (very likely), or that the Palm can dial contact through the phone (possibly) or that a dial-up connection can be established (quite unlikely)? This is a huge grey area that no one—especially Palm—wants to touch. Giving this sore subject the attention it deserves would only help the community at large.
Finally, some device-specific recommendations would be helpful. The huge improvements made to the Treo 650, Tungsten T5 and LifeDrive via ROM updates are no great secret. Yet many neophyte users might not know that their devices can be updated for free by downloads on Palm’s website. A device table showcasing the most current bundled app versions and any available system updates wouldn’t be much effort and appreciated by some users.
Conclusion
How to Do Everything with your Palm Powered Device is the perfect companion for someone new to PDAs or, if the many Palm OS-related message boards are any indicator, the user finally replacing an old OS 3 or OS4 device with a newer model with added functionality. While I’d like to see some of the off-topic “rants” and humor shelved in favor of additional Palm-related content, the book for the most part is an exceptional value.
Between Palm’s off-again, on-again “Now You Know…” books and the How to Do Everything series Palm users of all skill and experience levels have a solid set of printed guides that cover nearly topic, whether rudimentary or rather esoteric. This sixth volume in the HtDE series maintains the irreverent humor and info-packed chapters and should really be a must-have for any Palm user who doesn’t have time to troll through endless web site and forums compiling all of this information for his or herself.
Let’s cross our fingers and hope for a slew of new Palm products in 2007 and the seventh volume from Rick and Dave in the next year or two!
Pros:
- Reasonable price for the amount of information presented
- Easy-on-the-eyes typeset, layout, and print size
- Useful for Palm OS of all experience levels
- More timely information contained within versus previous editions (due to Palm’s stagnant PDA line)
- Easygoing, informal tone and language used by authors
Cons:
- Some “how to” areas are superfluous (example : “How to use a Palm device as a compass”) and/or no longer relevant (AvantGo) for many users
- Key issues are often overlooked or not stressed strongly enough, such as clarifying that only GSM phones can do BT dial-up network with recent Palm devices.
- Much of the information in this volume seems especially canned and reused from previous volumes. There’s little incentive for users to replace their 4th or 5th edition books with this one.
My Rating: 
4 / 5
How to Do Everything With Your Palm-Powered Device is available with a suggested MSRP of $24.99 at osborne.com. Amazon.com currently offers the book for $16.49 + shipping.
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RE: Nice to see a good review of this, but...
First of all, thanks for the compliment about the review. No villification being offered here, just a counterpoint and a clarifiction of my review methodology.
As you well know, past installments of most of these "How to Do" books have been dated and/or rendered obsolete as soon as they hit store shelves. If you'll recall, someone tried to release a print guide to Sony Clies back in the heady days of 2002-2003 amidst a flurry of new handheld releases . I would not want to be the author tasked with summarizing the various connector types/specs/quirks of each Clie, only to have a slew of new models released and the models adorning the cover of the book immediately discontinued. At that time I really questioned the value of publishers (and, to the consumer, the value of purchasing such a tome) even attempting to summarize an entire segment of the mobile computing industry within the pages of a single volume updated every 12 to 18 months.
That said, the facts are as follows: The TX and Z22 are on the cover of the latest HtDE guide. To date here are no indications any new handhelds are coming anytime soon from Palm. By simple virtue of the now-static status of Palm's remaining PDA models (E2 is 2 years old & Z22/TX are over 18 months old), the information presented in this book is still 100% up-to-date and extremely relevent (aside from Treos and the 3rd party services and apps mentioned within the books' text).
It is undisputable that Palm's PDA line is entering into something of a "holding pattern". I would like to humbly defend my position that since Palm's PDAs are, at best, entering a period of very infrequent updates or, at worst, have already reached their end, this book actually has ENHANCED value as a result. If anything can be called a a "definitive" guide to "modern" Palm OS devices, then I'd give this book that title.
While I could possibly have worded the excerpts you quoted a bit better, I think the nature of the Palm PDA line in 2006/2007 is much different than it was several years ago and, in this light, that brief bit of opinion does merit inclusion.
As you may have guessed, I'm not Ryan and my opinions do vary from time to time from his. PIC is HIS site--I'm just a contributor, not a professional journalist, and I'm always open to criticisms, compliments, suggestions etc. As always, Ryan and I welcome any and all guest reviews/contributions/editorials/prediction columns etc.
P.S.
David, don't forget that the article *is* a book review the inherent nature of any product-oriented review entails a lot of individual opinion of whomever is reviewing it. In my case, that's an experienced, somewhat jaded, and still fiercely POS-loyal "casual power user". There are many in the PIC audience who would think it a travesty to plunk down $20 for a book when a wealth of information is available online. Then there are others who wouldn't dare of buying a "Palm Pilot" without a companion book such as this one. Ultimately, due to so many uncertainties in the market and Palm's future plans, I'm more likely to recommend the 6th version of this book in 2007 than I would have been to recommend the 4th edition of the book in 2004 or 2005.
On a personal note, I'm going to sell or give away my older books in the series, and keep this one as "the" bible for Palm OS, no matter the direction or future plans of the company and the OS. I don't anticipate any additional entries in this series nor any future handhelds from Palm. I hope that I'm proven wrong and, as always, I'll be here with dollars and opionions alike if anything new appears on the horizon!
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: Nice to see a good review of this, but...
David do you still need that list of Treo 700p "issues" you mentioned a while back?
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: Nice to see a good review of this, but...
Since Palm has filled out the Treo line with a solid line-up this year it's pretty clear to the Palm faithful that the decks have been cleared for Palm to return their attention to their neglected PDA line in the coming year. This makes one wonder if it might be better to wait for the 2007 edition since you'll probably be playing with a shiny new Palm PDA soon.
I'm not saying you can't have opinions or that a review doesn't necessarily involve personal judgment, just that speculative opinions of this sort have their place, and this kind of review hasn't traditionally been it on PIC. Especially when those speculations are stated in a way where the author seems to assume everyone--or at least the "faithful"--share them. I presume you'd feel a little funny about the assumption above that the "Palm faithful" are more that "cautiously optimistic" about Palm's plans. I'm practically implying you're not "faithful" if you don't share these high expectations, right? Why do this?
Bah, I really don't want to detract any more from the review on account of a minor point that's admittedly my own opinion. And to underscore my compliment to you, I'd just like to say that it convinced me to buy a book I probably wouldn't otherwise have looked at all that seriously. So, again, kudos on a very informative review.
David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog
RE: Nice to see a good review of this, but...
...do you still need that list of Treo 700p "issues" you mentioned a while back?
Definitely. I deal with having to make device recommendations to clients all the time and don't necessarily have every device in my office or trust only my own judgment about what constitutes an "issue."
David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog
Kudos
Great Review!!!
I like fact that your review is very honest and it truly feels like feedback from Palm Superuser rather than a colorful marketing brochure.
Reviews like yours are exactly the reason why I keep coming to PIC. From your signature, I can see that you pretty much have owned every single product produced by Palm. You went the extra mile and bought the book yourself. That is exactly the kind of reviews I read before spending my money. I see your comments about the PDA line as an educated guess from an experienced loyal customer. I see no problem with an author giving his personal insight about the future of a product line relevant to the review. This is done pretty much everywhere in the technology industry.
If I wanted to see only one side of the coin, I would just visit the product website directly.
I always read your reviews carefully. Please keep them coming.
RE: Nice to see a good review of this, but...
Really? I purchased my TX the first week of launch in October 2005. By all calendars I can locate, that makes it just over 14 months old. The E2 was launched in April 2005, so it hasn't quite had a second birthday.
Investigate new possibilities...
Great review hkklife. Beersy can go **** himself
Reviews are by their very nature subjective and I hope you don't allow pathetic complaints from Beersy to badger you into toeing the Palm company line. Say it like you want to - people are smart enough to spot B.S. artists (like our "friend" you-know-who) a mile away.
If Beersy doesn't like the tone of your reviews maybe he should get off his fat a$$ and write something for Ryan to publish. Then we can all sit around and rip his efforts to shreds.
TVoR
Still waiting for TVoR's first PIC article
I have two theories:
He doesn't have the self-control to write something that in Ryan's view doesn't read like it was written by a mental patient.
He'd have to be brave enough to give his name, thereby taking a modicum of personal responsibility for behavior that privately embarrasses even himself.
What I enjoy about Kris's tireless contributions--including his informal comments--is that he's more interested in conveying helpful, detailed information than trying to compensate for low self-esteem, a small penis, or whatever TVoR's diagnosis is. Nice to see Tim Carroll's spirited and thorough product reviews, too. Looking forward to seeing more of the same from both of you guys.
As for me, you're right, Voice: it's probably time for me to write another article myself.
David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog
RE: Nice to see a good review of this, but...
Sigh....stop being pedantical ;-)
I forgot to put a ~ in front of those dates. I too purchased my TX in October '05. And the E2 has gone through three packaging designs, a change of branding, and had at least two "essentials" bundles in those not-quite-two years.
At any rate, Palm's devices are having longer lifespans than they used to. Everyone knows how long the Treo 650 lasted--launched in Oct '04 and still being sold new in many places. The E2 and LifeDrive are *approaching* two years of age with no replacements in sight nor an official EOL announcement.
But look how different things were just a few years ago: Sony's barrage of new Clies every few months from '01 to '03, the now-mythical T3 barely lasting a year before the T5's arrival, and then the TX replacing the T5 exactly a year later. The T|T didn't even make it to 10 months before the T2 came out.
Voice;
42 reviews since April of '06. ;-)
And every one of them was actually "reviewed", not just a regurgitated press release or a handful of screenshots taken from the web.
You don't have to worry about me being in Palm's--or anyone else's--pocket. Palm wouldn't even give me a press/reviewer discount on the GPA Navigator kit I reviewed a few months back. After sending the review unit back, I ended up having to buy the damm thing for myself at full price simply because I think it's a solid product and, all things considered, a good bundle for the price. With the exception of the microphone modules from TCL, every bit of hardware (and much of the software) reviewed on PIC has been purchased with my own money.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: Nice to see a good review of this, but...
Thanks for the review man. I appreciate all your contributions lately.
Pat Horne
You talkin' to me? You talkin' to ME?
Actually Beersy, Ryan has "published" several articles by TVoR (under various noms de plume) over the past 6 or 7 years. In fact, at one point if you typed "Palminfocenter" into Google and did a search, the first hit was a TVoR-sourced article here. So if you wanna get into a pi$$ing match about credibility, you're gonna get yor a$$ whooped, Son.
Stick with what you do best, Beersy: BROWNNOSING every Palm/PalmSource employee on the face of the Earth and making pathetic excuses for the interminable
Palm Company SNAFUs. You're damned good at that.
As for me, you're right, Voice: it's probably time for me to write another article myself.
Can't wait. YAWN.
TVoR
RE: Nice to see a good review of this, but...
And every one of them was actually "reviewed", not just a regurgitated press release or a handful of screenshots taken from the web.
You don't have to worry about me being in Palm's--or anyone else's--pocket. Palm wouldn't even give me a press/reviewer discount on the GPA Navigator kit I reviewed a few months back. After sending the review unit back, I ended up having to buy the damm thing for myself at full price simply because I think it's a solid product and, all things considered, a good bundle for the price. With the exception of the microphone modules from TCL, every bit of hardware (and much of the software) reviewed on PIC has been purchased with my own money.
That's why you've got the credibility you do here, hkklife. We know we can trust what you write. (As an example, I bought a couple of Seidio accessories solely based on what you had written about them. This is precisely the kind of hands-on, no-bull info that users want to find but is so lacking in most sites.)
Like Consumer Reports, there's something to be said for reviewing items you BOUGHT rather than were given by a company. Personally, I think that's the only way to do an honest review.
TVoR
RE: You talkin' to me? You talkin' to ME?
But since you didn't provide a date (1998?) or a link to any of these "famous" articles and admitted that you wouldn't publish one under your real name even if Ryan did find one acceptable, I take that as an admission that I was right.
As for "brown-nosing," since you define that as any statement that points out you are missing a clue or even flat-out intentionally wrong, then I'll gladly wear that epithet. You give me endless opportunities!
Have a nice day. Hope you enjoyed the attention. :-)
David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog
RE: Nice to see a good review of this, but...
I like to keep the news just as news and leave the personal opinions and conjecture out. I like to keep the reviews more open and opinionated.
I only know of one "Voice" article that has been published here. That was his sony should stick with the Palm OS editorial:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/7519/
I thought it was well done at the time and decided to post it. I don't think I would post any future articles or editorials without at least a real name attached to it.
Good job, Beersy.
That's fine, Ryan. I won't be submitting any further articles to Palminfocenter since this is your new policy.
I hope you don't let people like Beersy wreck your site by badgering you into catering to their own (not-so) hidden agendas. Take care.
TVoR
Why all this hassle about pen names?
I don't think I would post any future articles or editorials without at least a real name attached to it.
With that policy we never would have seen anything from these authors either:
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and Eric Arthur Blair.
They were better known as Mark Twain, Lewis Caroll and George Orwell.
RE: Why all this hassle about pen names?
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson and Eric Arthur Blair...
...none of which used this anonymity as a way to defecate in public with impunity.
It's a shame, really. The guy is capable of writing some decent stuff with a critical light on the topics that PIC covers. He obviously has a decent mind, loads of energy and boundless humor. Imagine what PIC could be like if he applied them in the interest of sincere critique instead of infantile self-aggrandizement, paranoid delusion and scatological personal attack.
Personally, I don't have anything against Ryan publishing a well-written article by the guy. Maybe it would be encouragement to clean up his sorry act. And, golly, I wouldn't want Ryan to "wreck the site." :-o
;-)
David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog
RE: Nice to see a good review of this, but...
If I am sent in a well written article from a "pen name" that is something I think the PIC community would enjoy, I'd certainly still post it.
I just wonder about the motivations of someone who constantly makes personal attacks, insults and mocks anyone else who comes here and actually uses a real name instead of a handle.
Anyway, David put it very well...
...none of which used this anonymity as a way to defecate in public with impunity.It's a shame, really. The guy is capable of writing some decent stuff with a critical light on the topics that PIC covers. He obviously has a decent mind, loads of energy and boundless humor. Imagine what PIC could be like if he applied them in the interest of sincere critique instead of infantile self-aggrandizement, paranoid delusion and scatological personal attack.
From the author...
Thanks for the very kind review. Dave and I appreciate the depth of your coverage (except for the part where you misspelled my last name :). For what it's worth, we really overhauled a lot of the content this time out.
As for stuff that seems "canned," keep in mind that many aspects of the Palm OS simply haven't changed over the years. There's only so much updating of, say, the calendar chapter that we can do. :) But we have updated the stuff that counts, like sections on GPS, utilities, troubleshooting, wireless connectivity, etc.
Anyway, as longtime fans of PIC, we'd like to offer an autographed copy of the book for the owners to raffle, give away, or whatever. They can reach me via my blog: www.broida.com.
Thanks again!
Rick Broida
Co-author, "How to Do Everything with Your Palm Powered Device, 6th Edition."
P.S. All the mistakes in the book are Dave's.
RE: From the author...
I didn't misspell your last name. That's Ryan's fault when he posted the review on the site ;-)
Thanks for the giveaway offer. I'm sure that'll come in handy for the next PIC giveaway.
And I just wanted to again give my compliments on the book, especially the fantastic purple center section. Whomever is in charge of marketing at Palm should be taken outside and flogged and forced to read that section of your book 100x in a row. Since the release of the T|T I've maintained that Palm has not done *enough* to emphasize the media capabilities of its devices. From the poor audio quality of the T|T to the low volume of the early OS5 devices to the lame bundled RealPlayer to the lack of a 3.5mm stereo jack on all Treos, Palm's multimedia missteps continue. It's good that you guys are doing whatever you can to make people aware of the fact that indeed, there's a little iPod inside many of those "Palm Pilots".
I still meet people at conferences/airports/bars who are on their third or fourth Treo/Palm device and have no idea that their devices are capable of any kind of multimedia functionality and/or have no idea how to go about handling media. Palm should've integrated some kind of rudimentary music manager/mp3 transfer capability into Palm Desktop years ago for the n00bs.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
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Nice to see a good review of this, but...
Ryan's been really good about refraining from injecting his personal perspectives in the articles on PIC (though I'm sure he's been tempted) so I'd like to suggest the rest of us who contribute articles try to uphold the same standard, unless, of course the article is an editorial or speculation piece.
I know I'll be villified for saying it, but this kind of statement is appropriate in the comments at PIC, but not in the text of an article of this nature:
It doesn't add anything to the review and it presumes an assessment about Palm's plans that is purely speculative and likely not to be shared by many readers (outside the tiny minority of regulars that post in the Comments).
Otherwise, a really nice job and a review I'm happy to see showing up here.
David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog