PC Mall has jumped the gun on Sony and published details on the Sony Clié T415. However, the handheld described and the price given don't seem to match up. According to the PC Mall page, the T415 is exactly the same as the N760C but for only $290, which is over $200 less than the N760C. It seems unlikely that Sony would be able to make a handheld with a 320 by 320 TFT color screen, MP3 playback, 8 MB of RAM, and a Memory Stick slot for less than $300. If they could, they would totally destroy sales of the N760C, N610C, and probably all other high-end Palm OS handhelds.

In a recent SEC filing, Palm Inc. has released more details its plans to spin off the Palm Solutions Group, its OS and software division, into a subsidiary.

Palm plans to have this process completed no later than the end of this year. Also, it might be totally separated from Palm Inc. This process would include "a legal separation, third party investments by strategic partners, sub-IPO and spin-off".

The Vianix SASO is a very unique combination of a high quality personal voice recorder and MP3 player that adds a Palm integration feature. Find out what it's all about in this review by Robert Zach.

Palm will soon begin a program in which old, broken, Palm-branded handhelds can be exchanged for discounts on new ones, according to an anonymous source who says he's a Palm Tech Support Agent. In order to get the discount, owners should call Palm Tech Support and describe to them the broken handheld. They will supply a promo code that will allow the customer to purchase any Palm handheld that does not have an expansion slot at a discount. The broken handheld does not have to be returned to Palm.

Update: Palm has posted the official page for this program onto their site.

Handspring and Visto Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise mobility software, have announced they they will be working together to create a wireless email solution for Handspring's new Treo smartphones. Expected in Spring 2002, it will provide Treo users with automatic delivery and remote management of corporate desktop email, such as that from Microsoft Exchange and Internet-based POP3 email.

ardiri.com has released a demo of their latest piece of work, Lemmings for the Palm OS. It is actively pursuing a license to officially release the full application. -Aaron Ardiri

3-Lib, producers of the world's only Training CD for Palm OS, have upgradedit to include MultiMail SE, including real-time footage of handling POP3 email. It is priced at £20 ($34) each, including worldwide postage and packing. -Steve Litchfield

Sony has quietly dropped the price on its low end model, the PEG-S320, to just $170. In England, the m505 has dropped £60 to £339. The m500 is £270.

This $30 drop is the first since the S320 was announced over the summer. Readers have been reporting seeing the S320 at this price in stores since last week but the SonyStyle webstore has only recently been changed. There are still places on the SonyStyle store where the S320 appears at $200 but $170 is the correct price.

Handspring has posted the full information on the new Treo lines of smartphones on its website. The information that was previously available about these wasn't exactly correct. The names were off and they don't look precisely like the images that were filed with the FCC. There was also facts about them not included in the FCC filing.

The first two models of the series will be the Treo 180 and the Treo 180g. The 180 will have a built-in keyboard while the 180g will use Graffiti for text input. Both of these will have monochrome screens, cost $400 with a service contract, and be available in early 2002.

In mid-2002 there will be a new addition. The Treo 270 will have a color screen and a built-in keyboard. Handspring currently plans to charge $600 for it.

Update: Handspring has announced that the monochrome models will be available to U.S. buyers online in limited quantities during February but they won't be available in large enough quantities for retail stores until March. European customers should begin to see it in stores well before that.

The week started off with a report on the unauthorized OS 4.1 upgrade some Sony N710C owners had performed. Other big stories included Palm's CEO's presentation at the shareholders' meeting and the report spelling out the Palm OS's continued domination of retail sales.

From the rumors department can a report that Palm would be releasing a hi-res handheld before OS 5 comes out and that Handspring is planning on releasing the Treo line of smartphones on Monday.

After a year of development, Lordinium, a Medieval role playing game (RPG) for the PalmOS, is finally available. Each player controls a fighter hero. The game features a dynamic environment which evolves according to the player's acts and decisions. Gameplay involves pitting one fief against another, becoming rich and famous, concentrating on mission fulfilment, and gaining martial arts knowledge. It is $20.

Researchers at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center have been working for years at developing workable speech recognition for Palm handhelds, according to the NY Times. This is based on decades of research by the company into speech technology. Liam D. Comerford, a speech engineer, has a heavily-modified prototype Palm III that has both speech recognition and text-to-speech capabilities.