Sony has posted details on their site for the program to upgrade the N710C from Palm OS 3.5 to OS 4.1. For the most part, this confirms the information the company released earlier on the upgrade.

In order for a N710C to be upgraded, it will need to be shipped to Sony who will install the new OS and return it, along with the same CD of apps that comes with the N760C. This program will be available on Nov. 20 and cost $50.

Tony Rudenko's PalmPilotUpgrade.com is the very first to introduce a 16 MB RAM upgrade for the Palm m500/m505 and IBM WordPad c500/c505. It costs $140 for the m505/c505 and $130 for the m500/c500.-Tony

Circuit City is now selling the N710C for just $300. -Mike Cane

One of the factors slowing down wireless handhelds in the U.S. is the fractured state of the networks. There are at least three major "standards": GSM/GPRS, CDMA, TDMA. Earlier this week, Cingular announced it was doing its part to clean up this mess by installing GSM/GRPS on top of its TDMA and analog networks. AT&T is doing something similar. Though this change is likely to create millions new GSM users, most mobile phones in the U.S. still connect with CDMA.

Portable Innovation Technology is now taking pre-orders for its MemPlug MemoryStick, which it says will be available in the middle of this month for $70. This is the first Memory Stick Springboard module to be commercially available. It comes with seven applications that make use of the Memory Stick, all of which become available as soon as the Springboard is inserted.

NOVASIB, LLC has released the new version of their on-screen mini-keyboard, Silkyboard II. This is a small overlay for the Graffiti area that has a full keyboard printed on it. The new version fixes some of the limitations in the original one, including buttons for Space, Backspace, and Enter and replacements for the Silkscreen buttons. Graffiti can still be used, too. Silkyboard II is $30.

The Samsung I300 smartphone is no longer listed as "Out of Stock" on the Sprint PCS webstore and appears to be available for immediate delivery. They are offering it for $500. Sprint also has a variety of accessories available, too.

While the I300 has had some limited availability in stores, until now it hasn't been available online.

Palm's CEO Carl Yankowski told the attendees of the Prudential Securities Technology Conference yesterday that his company is still committed to buying the intellectual property and technology assets of Be, Inc., despite Be's stock dropping almost 70% since the deal was announced. Mr. Yankowski repeated what he has said before about the deal, Be's talent will help add new features to Palm OS 5. This is currently scheduled for delivery near the middle of next year.

PDA Offers is a new site created to help handheld software and hardware developers reach customers and offer them discounts. People can register at the site to receive regular email updates on the latest special offers. Those who have registered can also browse the site for discounts, which will range from 10% to 50% off a vendor's regular retail prices.

Palm has officially dropped the price of the m505 by $50 to $400. This is the first time this handheld has had a price cut. The new price has already taken effect.

The company is also offering a mail-in coupon for a free 16 MB SD card to all purchasers of the m505, m500, and m125 between now and January 7.

Even though most people tell themselves they are buying their handheld to increase their productivity, in the back of their minds is the thought that they can also play games on it. For the game player in all of us, Ludigames has recently introduced a collection of five games for just $15 and Pepper brings us this review.

Sony Japan has announced that they are preparing to fix the Windows XP compatibility issue that prevents older Clié models from performing a HotSync and using OpenMG Jukebox. Details are very sketchy at this point. It is not clear if this will simply be an upgrade to Sony's version of the Palm Desktop and OpenMG Jukebox or if any of the software on the handheld will have to be updated. No date for when this fix would available was given.