The latest Windows version of BackupBuddy adds a tremendous number of new features, including virus scanning, color, and automatic syncing. Other new features include more reliable connections to Driveway.com, automatically copy the backup directory to a network file server, beam or delete any file, automatically exclude AvantGo files, back up apps put in ROM (JackFlash, FlashBuilder, and FlashPro supported), and more. If you are a registered user, this upgrade is free. New, it costs $30 and is available now. A 30-day demo is available.

The just announced Palm Education Pioneers program will award grants of Palm handhelds to K-12 teachers and their students, which will let the teachers incorporate Palms into their lessons and give them to every student in their class. More than 100 classrooms nationally will participate in the program.

Palm Inc. will, obviously, provide the hardware and SRI International will conduct a research program to determine best practices and to assist teachers, hardware and software designers, and policy makers in considering the future widespread use of Palm handhelds in the classroom.

Sony has now shipped more than 10 million devices that use its 2-year-old Memory Sticks and predicts that sales of devices using them worldwide will surpass 100 million units by March 2004. These devices include the Clié, digital camcorders, Walkman music players, and its robotic pet Aibo.

The Memory Stick is just one of the players in a ongoing struggle to see who will make the standard for memory cards for small electronics. Palm has joined the Secured Digital (SD) memory card camp and will begin shipping SD devices soon. However, Palm has decided to support multiple standards for expansion slots in future versions of its OS, including Secured Digital, Memory Stick, Compact Flash, Springboard, and others.

Pendragon Software has announced Pendragon SyncServer, which allows Pendragon Forms, a database app, to be synchronized securely across TCP/IP networks and the Internet. The SyncServer client software operates as a conduit during HotSync. A free, single-connection server will be available soon for small offices, a Standard server license for five concurrent connections will be $695, and the Enterprise server license will be $3,995.

PDA Toolbox 2.0 Released
PDA Toolbox 2.0 has just been released with the following features available to registered users: Digital Ink, Database Sorting, Record Beaming, and the long anticipated Calculated Fields (Evaluate and display sum/avg/etc. of other fields). PDA Toolbox allows the creation of simple apps with no coding.

Palm Keyboard for $20?
According to PalmStation, Office Depot accidentally listed the Palm Portable Keyboard for $19.99 instead of $99.99 in a print ad this Sunday and one user reported that, when they went to buy one, $19.99 is the price that rang up.

Lonely Planet has just launched CitySync USA, its first Springboard module. It comes preloaded with guides to New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. You 'll get a bonus city of your choice to load on your Visor when you registering the module. It is available now for $50.

Entourage and Palm Synchronization
Palmac has a review and instructions for how to successfully set up Entourage, part of the new Microsoft Office 2001 package for the Mac, for synching up with a Palm. -Dave Krug

Nashville PUG Needs Beta Testers For PQA
The Nashville PUG has created a PQA version of their site and they are looking for beta testers for it. -Michael T. Ashby

Inprise/Borland has released an updated preview version of JBuilder Handheld Express, an extension to Borland JBuilder 4, targeting Java development for handhelds. It provides wizards that guide developers through the process of developing applications using the Java 2 Micro Edition. JBuilder Handheld Express requires J2ME SDK Version 1.0, a Java runtime environment for devices that have a small memory footprint. Both are free but JBuilder 4 starts at $50 and goes up to $3000.

Palm, Inc. has expanded its European enterprise service and support offerings by add a new support service, the Escalation Support Programme. It includes the Palm Help Desk Training Programme, resources for trouble-shooting via phone, e-mail and fax, on-site service exchange units and in the near future, access to the secured Palm Enterprise Support Web site.

Palm will also begin selling the Mobile Internet Kit in Europe for approximately 31 Euro in mid-November. This is the software kit to allow users to connect wirelessly to the Internet using a GSM mobile phone. It allows users of any upgradeable Palm to use Palm's Web clipping service (PQA), WAP, and MultiMail. It also contains an upgrade to OS 3.5.

Palmtop has announced the release of V-Rally, the 3D car racing game in colour for the Palm. You can race on 20 original tracks and various terrains and choose from 4 Official World Rally Championship Cars. It requires about 390k to run the grayscale version and about 880k for the colour version. V-Rally is now available for $30. There is a free limited demo version available, too.

According to the Web site for the new movie Bedazzled, the Devil is a Palm user. And she has a really cool-looking Palm, too.

Funny, I always though Satan had some kind of exclusive agreement with Microsoft. Maybe even eternal damnation doesn't keep you from knowing good technology when you see it. -Ed