Evans Data Corporation, a market research firm, has released the results of a survey of wireless developers. The survey shows that 39% of developers are working on e-mail apps, while 38.6% are working on consumer e-commerce apps. It found that over 34% of developers will be working on location-based services.

When asked what platform they are developing for, the survey found that 57.5% of developers are currently deploying or planning to write wireless apps for PDAs. Mobile phones are targeted by 56.8% of developers. In addition, 44.2% already deploy or plan to deploy to notebook PCs.

S3 Epoc Handheld
S3, owners of Diamond Multimedia Systems, announced the Diamond Mako, another entry into the EPOC PDA market. This is their first entry. It is based on a 30MHz ARM processor, monochrome display, and weighs in at $399. it will be sold at retailers such as Best Buy, CompUSA, and online at Amazon and Buy.com. -Raishe Abdul

Motorola Earnings
Motorola, maker of the Dragonball chips that power all Palm handhelds, reported an 18% increase in sales during this last quarter over the same quarter last year. Earnings were 26 cents per share, up 66%. -Ed

Today Palm launched its Campus Developer Program, which offers Palm-developed curriculum materials at a greatly reduced cost to colleges and high schools teaching students how to develop software for the Palm platform. The program is available to any college or school offering a for-credit Palm OS class as part of their computer science curriculum. Participants pay $1,000 for a one-year license.

Coola has released a new Windows Internet Explorer plug-in that allows you to easily copy any piece of text from IE onto your Palm, or e-mail it to a friends' Palm. Right clicking on a bit of selected text will allow you to use Coola Right-Click to put it in your memo pad. It is free and requires Coola and Win IE 4.0 or higher.

Weissmann Travel Reports and neohand are now offering guides to 57 travel destinations around the globe, with 29 from the Caribbean, 11 from the continental U.S., 5 from Hawaii, 3 from Central America, and 9 from Mexico. They cover topics like attractions, dining, recreation, resources, shopping, transportation, culture notes, and port information. Weissmann Ports & Resorts profiles cost $9.95 each and are downloadable from neohand and Handango. They vary in size from 80 to 100KB.

TRGPro Users Group
The TRGPro Users Group has been created for discussion of anything/everything related to TRGPro hardware, software, and modification. If you have any concerns or questions about any aspects of your TRGPro hardware, software or use, please feel free to post a message in the e-group. -TRGPro_Users_Group

Los Angeles
The next meeting of the Los Angeles Palm User Group (LAPUG) will be this coming Saturday, October 14th, at 10:30am in our new location, Border's Books + Music at 1360 Westwood Blvd. Topics will include PDA Toolbox, Vindago, and Pendragon Forms Starter Kit. Check out the LAPUG Web page for directions and a map. -Ted Arlauskas

For many power users, a modem is a necessary part of their handheld. Whether just doing a HotSync from the road or taking it to the next level by handling your e-mail and surfing the Web, the ability to connect directly to the Internet with your Palm without going through a desktop can make life much simpler. Palm Inc. is attempting to make this even better by introducing a new, faster clip-on PalmModem.

One of the biggest limitations of the Palm OS is you can run only one application at a time. For example, when I'm in the middle of an e-mail in MultiMail and want to check the Calendar app to find out what date next Tuesday is, when I switch back to MultiMail, my e-mail has been saved and I have to go dig it out of the right folder to start editing it again. This gets to be a pain after a while.

But all that is behind us with a class of mini-apps called Desktop Accessories.

Novatel Wireless has cancelled all plans to to make a wireless modem for the IIIc. David Vincent, a Technical Support Specialist at Novatel, said, "We were developing a modem for the Palm IIIc, but due to a lack of demand, this project was cancelled. As of now, there are no plans to continue this project."

Novatel is the maker of the Minstrel wireless modems for the Palm III series, the Palm V series, and the Visor.

On Tuesday, Palm Inc. demonstrated the Porteson, an MP3 player that will function as a backup device and a digital voice recorder. The device, with versions for the m100 and Palm V, was demonstrated at the Interactive Music Expo and is expected to be officially introduced at Comdex in November. It should cost about $179 for a version with 32 MB of memory.

On October 11, Palm Inc. and Delphi Automotive Systems will hold a press conference to announce a "new mobile communications initiative in the automobile". An in-vehicle demonstration will take place. Also included is the Mayfield Fund, a venture capital group.

The world's largest maker of auto parts, Delphi is a spin-off from General Motors. Delphi makes virtually everything mechanical or electrical that goes into a car, including the brake, chassis, engine, and thermal, electrical, and steering systems. They also make the Satellite Digital Audio Receiver Service, which allows cars to receive music by satellite.