Two independent sources have sent information that Palm is close to releasing a new handheld model. The Palm m125 is going to be part of the m100 series but will bear little in common with the m100 and m105.

It will be a monochrome model with an SD/MMC slot on its left side, finally meeting Palm's promise last year that all Palm models would have the expansion slot. It will also abandon the m100 form factor to instead use the Universal Connector from the m500 series, fulfilling another promise. However, it will have a different-sized stylus that only it can use. One of the sources described its redesigned faceplate as being "more classy".

MatchBook Products LLC., maker of the MatchBookDrive CompactFlash SpringBoard, has just announced that effective immediately it is liquidating its inventory and will then cease operations.

MD-001 (long) adapters will sell for as little as $8 and MD-100 (flush) adapters will sell for as little as $20 until they are gone. MatchBook has only 20 MD-100 adapters in stock, but about 300 MD-001 ones.

A lawsuit filed in California says that Palm handhelds can "damage or destroy the motherboards on certain PC brands" when placed in the HotSync cradle, according to an article put out by the Associated Press. The suit doesn't list which models cause this but one of the lawyers involved said, "our investigation has uncovered that it involves more than one (Palm) model and we know it's more than an isolated problem." The law firm also alleges that it affects PCs made by Dell.

Carl Yankowski, Palm's Chief Executive Officer, said today, "We haven't been as aggressive as we need to be in terms of marketing." He admitted that one of the reasons Palm is losing market share to its competitors is those competitors, lead by Compaq, have done a better job of selling their handhelds to corporations. He went on to outline what measures his company is doing to remedy this situation.

Blue Nomad has released an upgrade to WordSmith. The new version 2.01 allows monochrome handhelds to use their high-resolution FineType font technology. They have also increased the speed of the app in high-res mode, which will be especially beneficial to Sony Clié users. It also has improved rich-text printing abilities via InStep Print or Bachmann PrintBoy. This is a free upgrade for registered users. WordSmith costs $30.

Land-J Technologies has announced the release of the JFile 5 database app. Among the new features are the abilities to encrypt a database inside of JFile itself, movement to and from VFS memory cards, Handera 330 high res screen support, enhance Jog Dial and keyboard support, calculated fields, and more extensive use of color. It sells for $25.

HandStory Suite v1.1 beta testers are needed. If you would like to participate in making HandStory Suite a better solution for your palm, send an email to beta@handstory.com. -Ed

GlobalSync Enterprises is holding a contest in which the prize is a free IIIc. -Ed

Motorola has teamed up with Webhelp to offer individuals access to all the information on the Web. With Motorola's iSKETCH , users write or draw requests for information in their own handwriting directly onto their handheld's screen. Those requests are then sent as an instant message to Webhelp, where a web-based support agent receives the request and responds -- sending answers to the Palm device in the form of dynamic multi-media messages.

STNE Corporation now has replacement screens for broken Palm V/Vx/C3 screen. STNE can replace broken glass or a damaged LCD. The cost installed is $75 + Shipping. These are new screens not used ones. -Will Stillwell

PalmUser issue 9 is now out, with an in-depth appraisal of the Palm m500 and m505, their first roundup of Visor Springboard modules, and much more. -Steve Litchfield

Toshiba America Electronic Components has announced a 128 megabyte Secure Digital (SD) memory card. It is capable of storing up to four hours of music or forty minutes of video. It is not yet available and a price wasn't revealed.

This brings the size of the largest SD card up to parity with the largest Memory Stick. The 128 MB MemStick sells for $150.

DataViz has released Documents to Go 4.0 Professional. This new version includes Slideshow To Go, which allows users to view, but not edit, PowerPoint slideshows on their Palms. It also adds SD card support and improved spreadsheet functionality. Of course, it allows users to create, view, and edit Word and Excel documents

It is available now from DataViz's website and will be in stores by the end of this month.