Sony has said something official for the first time about an upgrade for the N series. The statement is on the Sony Japan site so it only mentions the N700C, and it is in Japanese, but at least it says that there will be an upgrade before the end of this year. It will cost 10,000 yen, approximately $82. They will release more details in November.

November is also when Palm is scheduled to release a version of OS 4 for its older models.

The Sony PEG-N750C has been officially announced in Japan. This is the successor to the N700C, which was released only in Japan. Functionally, it is the same as the N700C except that it comes with Palm OS 4.1 instead of OS 3.5. This means its screen can display 16-bit color. It will be available September 22 for an as-yet undisclosed price.

The N750C can play both MP3 and ATRAC3 encoded digital music. It comes with the same headphones that all N7xx models do.

While handhelds are incredibly useful tools, they can also be a lot of fun. Games are one of the most popular categories of applications and Pepper brings us this look at LandWare's latest, 9-Ball Pinball, an interesting combination of pinball and pool.

Copytalk is a new service that lets users create e-mail, appointments, contacts, to-dos, memos and expenses by calling a toll-free number and dictating the item. A Copytalk staff person types in the info which is entered onto the handheld either wirelessly or during the next HotSync.

It will be available in October and offered on a subscription basis with a variety of service plans, starting with a $25 per month plan that supports any combination of up to 60 short emails, 100 to-dos, or 25 contacts.

According The Register, the developers of the iPaq are so unhappy about Compaq's upcoming merger with Hewlett-Packard, the entire group has put themselves up for auction on the job search site The Vault. -John and stonemirror

IBM has dropped prices on the Microdrive. The 1GB version is now $380, the 512MB version is $260, and the 340MB version is $200. The Microdrive is a Type II Compact Flash card that works with the HandEra 330 and TRGpro. -Mike Cane

iambic has released FastWriter, a word processor that allows users to create, edit, and sync Microsoft Word, text, HTML, and rich text files directly between a Palm OS handheld and a Windows PC. FastWriter also supports Palm DOCs and memo records, integrates with Memo Pad, and allows for conversion between file types. It is now available at a special release price of $20 but is regularly $30.

Red Mercury has released Atom Smash 2.0, a game which harks back to one from the dawn of computer gaming, Breakout. The player moves a paddle back and forth at the bottom of the screen, bouncing a ball up to remove all the bricks. Each level has four brick types arranged in different patterns. Some of the bricks contain one of six Power-Ups, like one that splits the ball into three.

This new version of Atom Smash has built-in support for the 320 by 320 resolution on the Sony N series. It is in full color but also works on monochrome handhelds. It is available now for $15.

Palm m500 series models sold outside the United States come with five languages intalled in their ROM. These are English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish which is why they are referred to as EFIGS models. This allows one model to be sold in many different countries but takes up almost all the ROM.

Brayder Technologies has introduced JackSprat, which can remove the languages that aren't being used. It is available now and costs $9.

Despite being a week that Americans traditionally go on vacation, there were several important news stories. First off, SanDisk will be working with Sony to develop the next generation of Memory Sticks. Speaking of Sony, their wireless Web service, called MYLO, is now available. Also, there were finally some figures showing how the various handheld makers are doing in the U.S. retail market. Palm cut the price of the m500 for the first time.

In the rumors category, the Sony clip-on MP3 player is expected soon and so are new handhelds from Sony and Palm.

While many colleges are trying to get students the computer equipment thay need to succeed, issuing all students laptops is an expenisive proposition. Instead, many colleges have turned to handhelds to their combination of portability and low cost.

Earlier this week, more than 1,300 students at the University of South Dakota became the first in the United States to receive Palm handhelds authorized by a university for all first-year undergraduates, law, and medical students. The Palm m500 and m505 handhelds came with a dozen education, productivity, and communication applications.

TechSmith Corporation has announced Camtasia 2.2, which is a Windows screen camcorder and video production tool that allows the user to record, edit, and publish videos.

Palm users benefit in two ways. First, they can make movies of Palm applications for display on a Windows PC. Second, they can make movies of Windows apps for viewing on a Palm device using a Palm media encoder/player like TealMovie.