In March, Spectec showed off renderings of a digital camera that connected to Palm handhelds by the SD slot. The company is now showing off an updated design. Spectec is a manufacturer but not a distributor. -Ed

There are five new tombstones in the Palm Graveyard. -Ryan

It may come as a surprise to many readers that Acer makes a Palm OS handheld. The reason it is so little known is it's available only in China. However, someone who is really persistent can usually get one. In this select group is Pepper, who brings this review of the Acer s10.

Despite the fact that Handspring has never advertised it, TreoCentral and Brayder Technologies have discovered that all the wireless Treo models have 4 MB of Flash ROM in addition to the 2 MB of Flash ROM for the radio. This means that the operating system on these smartphones can be updated and they will work with apps that allow users to store additional files in the ROM.

MessagEaseST, from EXideas, is a new overlay that goes on the Graffiti area and allows the user to enter text by tapping on keys. The developers have used Fitts' Law to reduce keyboard size and minimize movements required for text entry. MessagEaseST includes all ASCII characters plus Palm OS commonly used commands, Macro capability, and text shortcuts.

Kinoma Producer 1.1 and Kinoma Player 1.1 will be available on July 17. The new versions will include integrated widescreen encoding, improved audio synchronization for long movies, and a number of bug fixes. Kinoma Producer 1.1 will sell for $30 but is a free upgrade. Kinoma Player 1.1 will be a free download. -ClieSource

pilot-link 0.11.0 has been released. This app allows users to synchronize their handheld with a Linux desktop. The new version is more stable and includes new conduits. It is freeware. -PR

In March of 2001, computer system maker NCR Corp. sued Palm Inc. and Handspring on the grounds that their handheld computers infringed on two NCR-owned core patents. These are for a "Portable personal terminal for use in a system for handling transactions," and for a "System for handling transactions including a portable personal terminal." Yesterday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware issued a summary judgment, ruling that neither company had infringed on the patents.

Pocket PC Thoughts has what it claims is a leaked image of a new Palm model that runs OS 5. Named "Oslo", it appears to have a Graffiti area that can be hidden by physically sliding the bottom of the handheld up over it. This is quite similar to the Sharp Zaurus, except that model has a keyboard that is hidden in the same way. According to Pocket PC Thoughts, this model will be coming out within 60 days.

Update This image may have actually originated at the Thai Palm Users Group, as they have a copy that includes the serial number that is missing from the Pocket PC Thoughts' version.

Handspring has announced that the Treo 90 is now available in Canadian retail stores. It can be found at Compusmart, Future Shop and Staples Business Depot. -PR

The FCC information on the not-yet-announced Treo 300 has been updated to include external photographs. -Ed

PC Magazine has released the results of its 15th annual Service and Reliability reader survey, which covers handhelds for the first time. The three top Palm OS makers, Palm, Handspring, and Sony, all scored above average for satisfaction with reliability. The Pocket PC manufacturers didn't do so well. Hewlett-Packard had an average score while Casio and Compaq are worse than average.

One of the most long-awaited software releases has finally happened. Palm Inc. has released an updater to flash Palm m500 and m505 models to Palm OS 4.1. This update is free.

The update includes several patches that have already been available separately, including one that prevents OS 4.0 models from using SD cards larger than 32 MB. It also includes Copy Update, which lets the Launcher's Copy function copy user data associated with an application.

The Visor Edge appears to have been discontinued by Handspring. The company now lists it as "No Longer Available" on its company webstore.

The Edge, which debuted in March of last year, was Handspring's first attempt at making a slim handheld. However, it was never as successful as Handspring hoped it would be.