Los Angeles
The next meeting of the Los Angeles Palm User Group (LAPUG) will be on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 10:30am at Border's Books + Music at 1360 Westwood Blvd. Check out the LAPUG web page for directions and a map. -Ted Arlauskas

Kansas City
The Kansas City Palm User Group (KCPUG) will hold it's Sept. Meeting this Saturday, Sept. 16. Please check out our web site at for meeting details. -Justin Nolan

As had been rumored, Palm is going to charge for the upgrade to OS 3.5. It will be available for less than $20 in about 30 days. You can get it from the Palm Web site or on a CD that will also have a new version of the Palm Desktop.

This is the first time Palm has charged for an upgrade and is certain to cause a great deal of controversy, especially after Palm announced in February it would be free. "Typically what you have seen in a Palm upgrade has been very incremental," said John Cook, senior director for consumer product marketing. "We think we have added a lot more value."

According to SV.com, Palm Inc. has confirmed that they are no longer making the Palm V and haven't since the beginning of September. They cited the V's limited 2 MB of memory as the reason.

Though the Palm V still appears on the Palm Store, it is listed as backordered. The Palm V was originally released in February of 1999 and has been replaced by the Palm Vx, which offers 8 MB of memory. The V sold for $329, while the Vx goes for $399 and comes in 3 different colors.

PurePalm.com Renovated
For the first time since it's creation, the PurePalm.com search engine has been competely renovated. With more sites than ever before, this directory makes it easy to find a Palm resource. The renovation was necessary to make navigation of Palm content easy, while providing Handspring, Sony, TRG, and other Palm OS content. -Richard Kettner

No Mac OX Palm Support
At this time, there doesn't appear to be a way for users of the new beta of Apple's OS X to sync, though Palm has commited to releasing an version of the Palm Desktop for it around the release of the final version of OS X. If you have found a work-around for this, please let us know.

Fictionwise Signs 4 Top Authors
Fictionwise.com announced today four additional authors have joined its list of contributors: Geoffrey Landis, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Ian Watson, and Damien Broderick. In addition, Robert Silverberg has agreed to grant rights to 10 more of his short stories; all the stories are award winners or award nominated. All Fictionwise.com eBooks are available in multiple formats (Palm, Win CE, Pocket PC, Adobe PDF, Microsoft Reader, and Rocket). -Scott Pendergrast

The Fourth Issue of HandHeldCrime
The fourth issue of HandHeldCrime is now available, featuring the exclusive debut of John Broussard's new series character, as well as new fiction by Jenny Siler and Bailey Mapp. They're also pleased to offer Anthony Neil Smith's interview with novelist Martin Hegwood. HandHeldCrime delivers free short mystery stories and articles by email, through AvantGo, and from their Web site.

After ReadSynchGo! turned out to be not yet available, there is another web site that looks promising, too:
Get all your devices on the same page with fusionOne’s free Internet sync service. This service enables you to synchronize your calendar, e-mail, address book across your Palm handheld, cell phone and personal computers. Synchronize from any cradle, with a PalmModem, or wirelessly. It is available now for free.

Have you tried fusionOne? If so, write in and tell us your experiences.

Philadelphia, PA
PhilaPUG will have a special meeting scheduled for Sept. 20, 2000. This month's meeting will be dedicated to a visit from Ted Ladd from Palm Computing. Check the website for meeting info. They also have a superb review of a few Grinder Gear cases in the news section.

How Much Is Your Palm Worth?
The Nashville Palm Users Group (NPUG) will be hosting it's first chat of the month on Thurs, Sept.14 from 7pm - 9pm central time. Our topic will be "How Much Is Your Palm Worth?" If you'd like to share your thoughts, please join in the discussion. Membership in NPUG is NOT required. -Michael T. Ashby

Albany, New York
The Capital District Palm User Group September meeting will be held on Sept. 20, 2000 at the Callaway Grill in Albany at 7 pm. Special guest speaker Robert Solomon will demonstrate and discuss the newly launched Jungleport.com travel related Palm portal. - Scott R. Almas

Tell Me By E-Mail
Information Builders Inc. is developing Tell Me By E-Mail, an app that will let Palm users access company databases with pre-stored and ad hoc queries using e-mail. Available in mid-October.

RoleLore
Details of the RoleLore Project L are starting to trickle out. Available on their their site are the very first screenshots of the game, first explanations of gameplay mecanisms, and other stuff to help you to get an idea about that ambitious realistic medieval RPG. -antheor

Cnet is reporting that the color version of the Sony Clié, which debuted in stores in Japan over the weekend, completely sold out on its very first day. Sony already had to halt online sales of the color Clié in Japan after less than two weeks because demand was outstripping supply. The monochrome version of the Clié is still available. When available, the color Clié is selling for about $400 while the monochrome version is going for about $355.

Synchrologic announced today ReadySyncGo!, a free synchronization service powered by the company's new ReadySyncGo! Enterprise product. In its initial release, ReadySyncGo! will synchronize PIM information between Microsoft Outlook on multiple Windows-based PCs and laptops, and also with Palm OS handhelds including the Palm VII or Handspring Visor. The Web-based application will work with your Web browser to provide anywhere access to data.

In addition, ReadySyncGo! seeks out information based on your plans. Travel, Weather, Flight, Maps, Local News, and other valuable content is tailored to your travel and appointment plans, and added to your personal master database. This added useful information is available from a Web browser, and is also downloaded to your devices when you synchronize.

There can be little doubt that the battery life of over-the-counter AAAs is important to many Palm users. One of the endlessly debated questions is, "Who makes the best batteries?" Red Mercury has released the results of a comparison study between regular Energizer AAA batteries and Energizer's new e². Read the full results for all the details but the e² batteries do last longer; it is up to you to determine if they are worth the increased cost.