The staff members of the German mobile computing magazine Palmtop-Pro were asked by a group of scientists to suggest the most efficient data collecting tools for their next trip to the Arctic, scheduled for June. The magazine proposed the Palm platform together with a handful of top Palm programs for the research expedition, including BugMe!, TinySheet, and WordSmith.

Acer Communications is developing two new mobile keyboards for the Palm V series. The G300 is a tiny keyboard that clips onto the serial port of the Palm. It is only 3.9 x 2.8 x 0.6 inches and weighs a paltry 1.4 ounces. The G300 runs off power from the handheld so no batteries are needed and power consumption is very low. This keyboard has rubber/plastic keys and features programmable hot keys. It works with OS 3.3 and 3.5 and will be available June 1 for $50.

Several Palm powered handhelds have just been released or announced. For many people, the actual handheld is just the beginning. A complete setup requires accessories, like keyboards, modems, and cases. The handheld manufacturers themselves and third party companies are already rushing to produce these peripherals for Palm's m500 series and Sony's N710C. The HandEra 330 has the same shape as Palm's venerable III series so there are already dozens of add-ons for it.

The Rand McNally GPS for Palm III series is now available at PDA Controls.com for only $50, while supplies last. Factory sealed. Includes, GPS for Palm III (not for use with IIIc), carry case, CD's for Eastern and Western US, cig lighter adapter, AC adapter, and windshield mount. -Drew Rossman

To celebrate reaching 2 million hits, Brando is giving away one Sony PEG-N700C and more than 50 other items. The only condition is you have to sign up in Chinese.

At least one webstore has begun shipping preordered HandEra 330s. Transplant Computing expects some of their customers to get theirs as early as Tuesday. Unfortunately, they have a limited supply. Company president Steve Emery said, "They (the 330s) are constrained right now and I am shipping on a first-come first-served basis. I expect to ship to all of my pre-order customers by the end of the month." He has already shipped all the units he has in stock and doesn't know exactly when he will receive more. "HandEra has not provided any specific dates for further shipment."

If anyone knows of webstores that are shipping the HandEra 330, please let us know. -Ed

It turns out the University of South Dakota program to provide Palm handhelds to all first-year undergraduate students as well as first-year law and medical school students is far from alone. Harvard Medical School is setting up a handheld-related program for its students and so is Consolidated High School District 230 of Orland Park, Ill and East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. A high school in Seattle is running a test program, too.

In m500 series news, the week started out well with the proof that they could use applications designed for Sony's Memory Stick, including MSMount. On Tuesday, Palm finally began to fullfill some of the orders that it had taken on its webstore. Later, we published a followup review of the m505.

Not to ignore the other new handhelds, on Monday we gave a list of applications that will support the HandEra's and N710C's high-resolution screens.

The Cannes Film Festival is going on now and Palm OS handhelds are there. Several companies have also released new content to mark the occasion.

Palm's chief marketing officer Satjiv Chahil, said, "The worlds of technology and film are converging. The film industry has continually embraced and enhanced new technologies, from the advent of sound and color, to video and DVD. Palm is now taking the Palm platform and the entertainment industry to the next level with the latest wireless and media technologies. With the new SD and MultiMediaCard expansion slot on the m500 series we're laying the foundation for the day when the latest Cannes film hit could be available on an SD card, ready to watch on your Palm handheld."

This Saturday is the next meeting for the Nashville Palm Users Group. They’ll have the new Palm m505 and the Kyocera QCP 6035 Smartphone on display, plus Tim Warner from PDALife.com as their special guest speaker. Tim will be covering a gambit of mobile solutions from databases and reports to backing up your Palm on the fly. Courtesy of PDALife.com, they'll be giving away a whole bunch of goodies. -Michael T. Ashby

Palm resellers were sent an e-mail yesterday saying that, effective today, the price for the wireless Palm VIIx has been reduced to $200. Amazon has already dropped their price. So has Office Depot and CompUSA.

Even better, when signing up for a year's Palm.Net service plan, a $100 rebate is applied, bringing the cost down to just $100.

Seiko Instruments is developing the next version of its SmartPad. The original SmartPad is a carrying case for the Palm with a built-in digitizer pad larger than a Palm's screen that allowed notes and drawings to be entered into the the Palm via infrared. A regular sheet of paper rests on top of the digitizer and a drawing can be put on the paper and in the Palm at the same time.

The SmartPad2 adds a keyboard to the digitizer pad to make typing easier. It also has a movable infrared port which allows it to be used with handhelds that don't have their IR ports at the top. It will cost $200, though the company hasn't released a date yet.