Speck Products has announced a pair of cases for Palm branded handhelds that will be available soon. It will also offer a cradle that helps keep handhelds safe from theft.

When the clasp is released, the FlipFlop automatically opens and a stylus holder angles up to present the stylus to the user. There will be versions for the Palm m500 series and V series.

Kingston Technology has released the USB 6 in 1 Flash Card Reader, which hooks up to the USB port on a PC and has two slots which allow it to read SD, MMC, Memory Stick, CompactFlash, SmartMedia, and Microdrive memory cards. It is available now for $60.

Qvadis is developing Lexica, a Palm OS app that will do translations between English and several other languages. It's now in final beta tests, and will be launched in May. -PR

Handspring will announce its most recent quarterly earnings later this afternoon. -Ed

A Japanese company named Xigma has begun selling what are possibly the first cases for Sony's NR series. Both are flip cases, one with the hinge at the top, the other with the hinge on the right side. They don't interfere with the NR's ability to switch between clamshell and tablet forms. These cases are made of leather and cost $60.

The May issue of Scientific American has an article on Ultrawideband (UWB) wireless networks, which have the potential to greatly speed up short-range wireless networking, while requiring less power than current options. Rather than sending its signals within a narrow frequency range as current technologies do, UWB sends out very short pulses of radio waves spread over a wide range of the spectrum.

Though the Graffiti system for entering text is an integral part of the Palm OS, there have been numerous signs recently that this relationship might be coming to an end. With lawsuits and Palm OS handhelds that don't use any form of handwriting recognition at all, are Graffiti's days numbered? News Editor Ed Hardy gives his opinion.

According to NPD Intellect, Sony's U.S. retail sales during February took a big jump, increasing to its highest percentage of sales yet.

Palm Inc. remained in first place, with 45.7% of sales. Handspring was second with 18.9% of retail sales and Sony is running a close third with 16%. That means the Palm OS platform made up over 80% of handheld retail sales that month.

Power On Software has released Now Up-to-Date & Contact 4.2 for Mac OS X, which lets this calendar and contact manager synchronize with a Palm. -Ed

heFontMapper, a new app that allows some standard resolution programs to work in HandEra's high-resolution mode, will let the Kodak PalmPix camera work with the HE330. -Brock

Several weeks ago, Palm announced that it would begin replacing an early version of the cradle that shipped with the m500 series as it contained insufficient protection from static electricity. Palm has begun taking requests for replacements through its support site.

When Palm first made the announcement that it would replace these cradles, the program applied only to the U.S. Now, customers in many European countries can get replacements, including the U.K., France, Germany, and several others.

According to Evans Research, 71% of handhelds sold in Canada last year were made by Palm and 85% of all handhelds shipped in that country ran the Palm OS. An IDC Canada study showed that 84% of Canadian corporations surveyed are currently using Palm-branded handhelds. -PR

Roughly 10 million smartphones will be sold this year, according to a study by In-Stat/MDR. It goes on to predict that sales will grow slowly, to 16 million in 2006. -PR

Several groups have recently announced design contests to allow developers to show off their talents and win cool prizes.

Sony is sponsoring a contest for developers to come up with applications that make use of both Clié handhelds and the Sony Aibo robot. The winner will receive an Aibo ERS-210 and a T615C handheld.