In this issue of the Palm Tipsheet, I'll share some of my own techniques for supercharging your handheld's built-in Address Book. I'll discuss ways to make the fullest use of its built-in features, highlight third party Address Book replacement applications and cover several methods for entering and modifying your contact data.

We did a little reorganizing in the Download section and while we were at it, 3 new downloads were added as well!
New Desktop:
Since our web site underwent a makeover, we decided there needed to be a new desktop to go with it. It's available in 1024x768, 800x600 and 640x480 resolutions.
New Icons:
* Hide is at it again! He's created two new icon sets and we have them. The first is "Hide's OS Icons" and includes a wide array of Operating System icons, including the Palm Computing logo.

The Dallas/Ft. Worth Palm Users' Group is proud to announce the launch of the Dallas/Ft. Worth's first and only Palm Users' Group. The purpose of the group is to assist users and promote the PalmOS in handhelds.
The DFWPUG's first meeting was held on June 27th at 7 PM at the Golden Corral on N. Hwy 360 in Grand Prairie. Our next two meetings will be held at the same location on July 25th and August 29th at 7 P.M., with future meetings to rotate at yet to be determined locations around the Dallas/Ft.Worth Metroplex. In attendance were representatives of PalmGear H.Q. (www.palmgear.com), Handango (www.handandgo.com) and Cutting Edge Software, Inc. (www.cesinc.com), all local companies and leaders in the Palm Handheld industry.

allNetDevices is reporting that Verizon Wireless has launched $24.95 per month unlimited wireless access for users of Palm III and Palm V handhelds through wireless modems. They don't, however, report what modems will be used or the cost for them.

Verizon is the collaboration between Bell Atlantic and Vodafone AirTouch.

It hasn't escaped the folks at Metricom, the Ricochet wireless ISP, that they are missing out on a lot of customers by providing access to only laptop users. Currently, their modems are about the size of a handheld but they do provide wireless access at 28.8 Kbps.

All that is going to change, eventually. Chipmaker National Semiconductor is now designing a special Ricochet chipset that will allow devices with a much smaller form-factor to access the Ricochet service.

Mike Walter of TRG announced today on PalmStation.com the release of AutoCF, the long-awaited software add-on to the TRGpro that allows you to access databases and programs directly off a CF card. TRGpro users can get the free download here. It requires that you have already upgraded to OS 3.5.1, which TRGpro users can do for free here.

Exclusive to Palm InfoCenter

Palm InfoCenter reporter Mike Cane attended the PC Expo in New York this week and this is the third in a series of reports from the show floor. If you haven't already, you should read the Day One amd Day Two reports.

Click the read story button for a few new pictures of the Sony Palm Prototype PDA on display at PC Expo. A few of the pictures came out a little dark and blurry, it was tough just trying to get a decent angle with the large crowds around the display. In person I though the device was roughly the size of a Palm V but a little thicker. Sony had 2 units on display behind glass; one with a black screen (color display) and the other had the traditional Palm gray/green screen. Keep in mind that this is a prototype right now and may go under revision prior to reaching store shelves "before Christmas." As Mike Cane noted in his Expo report Sony was extremely tight lipped on details. The only thing they would confirm is that it will run the Palm OS and come in grayscale and color models.

Palm reported their fourth-quarter profits yesterday and the company's net income was $16.3 million or three cents a share for the quarter ended June 2. Wall Street had estimated profits of one cent a share. Their fourth-quarter 1999 profits were only $6.8 million. The stronger profit was helped by a doubling of revenue to $350.2 million from $174.3 million the prior year. These profits don't reflect costs brought about by the split-off from 3Com. Including those costs, net income for the fourth quarter was $12.4 million, or two cents per share.

Palm shipped more than 1.1 million devices in the quarter, bringing total shipments to more than 7.1 million.

Palm is making available a software patch to address a faulty 8MB DRAM component identified in a limited run of Palm IIIc, IIIxe, and Vx products manufactured between the period of October 1999 through May 2000. Palm uses multiple sources for these DRAMs in the manufacturing process. One of the suppliers of DRAM components provided Palm with a faulty component that can cause random data to be written on the Palm device. If a unit is determined to have the faulty chip, the software patch will provide a complete fix.

A majority of Palm handhelds are free of the defect, including all 2MB, 4MB and most 8MB units.

TRG is also acknowledging that some of their units are also affected by the defect and suggests that all users affected upgrade to Palm OS 3.5.1, which is free. If you don't want to upgrade, TRG will soon be offering a patch for OS 3.3.

And now Visor has stepped forward to state that they, too, are affected. The majority of Visor handhelds are free of the 8MB DRAM issue, including all 2MB Visor Solo and most 8MB Visor Deluxe units. Only a limited number of Visor Deluxe handhelds shipped between the period of January 2000 to June 2000 may be affected with this faulty chip. Visor is offering a test app to look for the defect but currently just suggests you contact tech support if you discover your Visor is affected.

Exclusive to Palm InfoCenter

Prelude: Ryan attended PC Expo on Wednesday and might file his own report. It was a pleasure to finally meet him in person.

I did not, it turns out, miss much from my very limited survey on Day One. The most important item -- which I did miss yesterday -- leads this story. The remainder are curious odds and ends of general appeal, which even PalmOS owners would find of interest.