Palm is offering discounts to its registered shareholders. The m505 is $380, the m500 is $280, and the Palm Portable Keyboard is $85. Each shareholder can buy one handheld and one keyboard at these prices, which are good until the end of October. -Jim

Bahsoft has released a retail boxed version of its personal finance tracker, BankBook 3, which sells for $20. -Jon Hartung

SoDeog Technologies has released SyncTalk Professional FX, which lets Palm OS and PPC handhelds and Windows 2000 computers wirelessly exchange files of any type. While files of many types can't be opened on the handheld, it can be used as a portable hard drive. This is on top of SyncTalk's previous ability to wirelessly exchange Address Book, Date Book, and Memo Pad entries with handhelds and laptops with Pocket PC or Windows 2000 that are also running the app. SyncTalk Professional FX is $50.

Pocket Express is offering Midway Arcade Classics, a bundle of five popular games: Spy Hunter, Joust, Defender II, Sinistar, and Root Beer Tapper. The company worked closely with Midway to ensure that these games are true to the originals. All five are available as a bundle for $30, and each game can be purchased separately.

One of the most eagerly awaited new handhelds is the Samsung I300 smartphone, which runs the Palm OS. The company has recently posted some more information on this device, including the user's manual. This answers several questions people have been asking.

However, it can't answer the most important question, when the I300 will be available. It was originally scheduled to be released in August, and later bumped back to September. Late yesterday, the company's web site began listing the smartphone as being available now. However, it doesn't yet appear on the Sprint PCS webstore that Samsung lists as the place to buy it.

Pine Tree Software has unveiled a custom development section. Developers can be contracted to develop custom applications using the latest Palm OS technologies. -Eston Bond

Brando has announced four new products: a Clié Serial HotSync Cable, a m500/m505 Serial HotSync Cable, a m500/m505 Battery Charger, and a Clié Travel Charger. All of these are $22 each. -Ed

Bachmann Software has updated FilePoint. Version 1.5 extends the application's file organization features to external Secure Digital (SD) and MultiMedia cards. It allows users to organize applications and documents into a hierarchy of folders and subfolders and includes the ability to drag and drop documents among folders, plus the ability to browse or search for documents by title or file type. FilePoint's browse and search features helps users to find data stored either in RAM or external memory cards. It is available now for $20.

While many people are familiar with the VisorPhone, a Springboard which lets the Visor be used as a mobile phone, a less well known Springboard is the Parafone, which turns the Visor into a cordless phone for short-range telephone use. Long-time reviewer Robert Zach brings us this review.

Portable Innovation Technology has unveiled PiDirectVFS, which allows Palm OS devices with VFS support to directly run applications and read-only databases stored on removable memory cards. It costs $30 but is available until December 1 for $20.

Visor users now have a couple of options for clip-on keyboards. The SnapNtype is a small keyboard that attaches to the bottom of a Visor and is intended to be used with the thumbs. No battery is required. It includes a Qwerty keyboard, cursor and enter keys, and replacements for all the built-in and silkscreen buttons.

It is available now and costs $40.

A current trend in gaming is porting old PC games over to handhelds. Generally this works well because current handhelds have close to the power of desktops from just a few years ago. Rayman is a side-scrolling action game that has been around for a long time on different platforms. LUDIgames has just released a version for the Palm OS and world-class gamer Pepper brings us this review.

ToySoft has released Avantage, a small application that allows AvantGo to be run from an expansion card. All AvantGo's files are stored on the card and moved into RAM whenever the application is launched or HotSynced. This saves space in RAM when the app isn't being used but enough space for AvantGo and its files must be available in RAM in order to open the app. Avantage is $10 and a 15-day trial is available.