Sony is offering refurbished versions of two discontinued models. It is selling the S320 for $150 and the N610C in the metallic purple casing for $320.

These will be available until Sony sells out of them. They are units that have been returned to Sony for one reason or another. Sony has fixed whatever is wrong with them and reinstalled all original software. They have a 90-day parts and labor warranty but technical support is not free.

Two new technologies could bring big changes to handhelds.

Last week, Microvision demonstrated a prototype of a miniature display. As the user holds a cell-phone-sized device near one eye, the tiny display scans a single beam of multi-colored light through a small lens to project a full-color video image of the apparent size and resolution of a laptop display screen directly onto the eye.

Sony has posted an update to fix a confliction with the Memory Stick camera and Jog Dial in its N series. Visit Sony's Support site to get the correct version of each model. -Robert

Sony's Support site also has a new update for the T series that fixes a SCSI driver problem with Windows XP. There's also an update for the World Alarm Clock that's on the T series. -Nicos

Starting sometime this Sunday, Handspring will drop the price of the Visor Pro from $250 to $230 and the Visor Neo from $200 to $170. This follows on the heels of last week's $50 price drop in the Edge.

As usual, Handspring didn't give any reason for these changes. However, the company has been involved for most of the past year in a price war with Palm and Sony that has seen steady drops in the costs of mid-range and low-end models.

TokenWorks Inc. has released the CardTool 3-track magnetic card reader Springboard module, intended for mobile point of sale, age/ID verification, health care, law enforcement, and trade show lead retrieval. It has 2 MB of flash memory and ships with a demo program that configures the magnetic card decoding algorithms, displays the decoded track data on the screen, and stores track data in a database.  The app automatically loads on insertion and demonstrates the capabilities of the module.   The CardTool module sells for $190.

Best Buy is selling the Sony T615C in silver and blue for $380, down from the regular $400. -Harley

Circuit City is offering a $25 mail-in rebate on any handheld till February 16. -Anon

Target is offering the Visor Neo for $170, down from $200. -Doug

The SnapNPlay from TT Tech is a game pad that attaches to the bottom of a Visor and enhances gameplay by adding a GameBoy-type set of buttons. It can also do "Rumble Pack"-type vibration. Robert Zach has this review.

HandEra has dropped the price of the TRGpro to $220, down from $250. The company also offers a bundle that includes a TRGpro and 16MB CF Card for $225.

The TRGpro has held its value surprisingly well, considering it was released in October of 1999. Contributing to this is the fact that it's one of only two Palm OS models with a built-in Compact Flash slot. CF is the most frequently used type of flash memory and is significantly cheaper than most of its competitors. The other Palm OS handheld with a CF slot is the HandEra 330.

Rumor: Piensa en Palm is quoting unnamed sources that say Handspring is considering releasing a modified version of the Visor Edge with a TFT color screen and 16 MB of RAM. -Jose Julio Ruiz

Cutting Edge Software is nearing the end of its celebration of Quicksheet's 5th birthday. Drawings for several Palm Powered products, including a HandEra 330, will be held on February 18. Other prizes were donated from Bachmann Software, DDH Software, Electric Pocket, Trust Digital, and Astraware. -Kevin

For years, IBM has sold handhelds that were basically Palm Inc. models except with an IBM logo and a black casing. The company has decided to stop this practice, according to Cnet. A recent IDC shows IBM's WorkPad line was never very successful, accounting for only 2% of the handhelds sold worldwide in 2001. IBM will still sell WorkPads until it runs out of stock. Thereafter, the company will continue to sell Palm-branded handhelds both online and to its enterprise customers.

TT Tech Limited makes SnapNType mini-keyboards for several types of handhelds. The T101 is for the Visor series. It clips onto the bottom of the device, covering the hardware buttons as it does so, and allows the user to type with their thumbs. It doesn't require a battery. Long-time reviewer Rob Zach has this review.

Tomorrow we'll have Rob's review of the SnapNPlay from TT Tech, which gives the Visor GameBoy-like buttons.