Symbol Technologies, Inc. has announced that it will soon be releasing an IEEE802.11b wireless Compact Flash card. The Spectrum24 CF wireless LAN adapter will originally be released for the Pocket PC but Symbol said it plans to add support for the Palm OS, which means the TRGpro or HandEra 330. It will be available sometime this Summer for an as yet undisclosed price.

One week ago, we published a review of the Palm m505 that was produced in a minimal amount of time. It was intended to be a sort of "first look", giving everyone an overview of the new device. A week later, here is a more in-depth look.

Motorola has released iSketch, which lets users handwrite notes and make sketches then send them with an infrared or other wireless connection. The messages are also compressed and encrypted. Craig Peddle, General Manager of Motorola's Lexicus Division, said the company is in talks with with Palm to preinstall iSketch on its PDAs. It is available now for $10.

OmniSky is going to provide unlimited Internet service to iPaq owners for $55 a month for those who sign a one-year contract and $60 per month for those who won't. That's much higher than the $30 to $40 OmniSky charges Palm and H-P Jornada users. OmniSky says this is because its initial research showed that iPaq owners tend to use the service a lot more.

MobilePlanet, a reseller of mobile computing products, has announced that it will be selling HandEra's line handheld devices online, by catalog, or by calling 1-800-MPLANET. They say they will have it May 31.

Palm maintained its lead in sales of mobile devices in Europe last quarter but by a narrower margin. Its market share slipped to 41.3%, down from 52.1% for the same quarter last year. According to market research company Canalys, Palm actually increased shipments 61% from Q1 2000 but the market as a whole grew 104%.

Increased sales of the Compaq iPaq cut into Palm's sales, going from 2.2% of the market to 11.9% last quarter. Although, as the Canalys report states, "Compaq still has to prove that this demand is sustainable while the price point remains so high."

Palm has begun shipping at least some m505s to those who ordered from their webstore. It is not yet known how many of them they are shipping nor whether they are also shipping the m500.

By checking Palm's Order Status page individual users should be able to learn if they are one of the lucky ones. The page should list today as the order ship date with a status of "In Process". It has been confirmed with Palm that this really means that the handheld in question is shipping today.

Handheld Computing's annual awards highlight the very best Palm OS products released over the past year, from devices to peripherals to software. Products were judged on a variety of factors, including usefulness, innovativeness, design, accessibility, and appeal. These products should be on the radar of any Palm, Visor, or Clié user.

PalmTec Ltd has released the Internet Movie Database in TomeRaider format. The IMDB is the largest and most current movie guide available. They had to reduce the file size by limiting it to films which had a UK or US cinema release. Still, there is information on nearly 30 thousand films. They will release new versions of the data every two months. -Mat Ripley

Robert Jen is donating two copies of his Trivia game Triv on #palmchat this tonight, May 9. The giveaway will run from 8:30 pm EDT - 12:30 am EDT. You do not have to be present at 12:30AM to win. Full rules are available here. -Janice Karin

Xircom has announced that their wireless Ethernet Springboard module will be available after May 21 and they are taking pre-orders now at $300. -Ed

Issue XV of HandHeldCrime is now available featuring their first puzzle mystery by Tim Kissman along with two other short stories by Adam Nightingale and Ray Nayler. The issue also includes an interview with author Russell James, the final installment of David Kearns' serialized novel THE MUCKRAKERS, and a couple of new reviews. -Jamey Dumas

Both the HandEra 330 and the new Sony Clié offer screens with higher resolutions than Palm's standard 160 x 160 pixels. The 330 has a 240 x 240 monochrome screen and a soft Grafitti area that can expand it to 320 x 240. The Sony N710C has a 320 x 320 color screen. Both of these offer ways to display legacy 160 x 160 apps but some developers are already working on applications that can natively run at the higher resolutions.

While most Palm enthusiasts frequently forget about them, Symbol Technologies is an important licensee of the Palm OS to Palm itself. Symbol has been taking handhelds into vertical industries, such as retail, transportation, distribution, logistics, parcel and postal delivery, manufacturing, healthcare, and other industries that require portable and flexible devices. Palm and Symbol today announced Symbol has extended its license through April 2005.