Alan sent in word that the WSJ got a sneak peak at the new Sony handheld. The Register has the details on the device taken from the Journal (without having to go and get a subscription). Sony's as-yet-unnamed device will ship in a blue and silver color scheme (VIAO). "The device will weigh a light 5.3 ounces, be narrower than the stylish Palm V and thinner than the Palm III, and come in black-and-white as well as color versions," explained an unusually gushing Journal. It also boasts a "JogDial scrolling and highlighting button that allows users to manoeuvre the screen with one hand". Also Bob sent in this story with a few more details from ZDNet.

Want to see a 192MB MP3 player that uses the Palm screen for play lists and song/band info, supports ID3 tags, and also stores Palm DOC files! The unit will have a USB port, DC-In for charging batteries or to run from, standard stereo headphone jack, MMC/SD flash card slot, an expansion port connector, and a powerful DSP providing full CD quality stereo MP3's. Check out the PocketPyro at the Palm booth (#3404) at PC Expo this week, there will be live demos! Here's some sneak peek photos of the most anticipated Palm audio add-on of the year...

Palm.Net will be available in Europe later this summer and Palm is omitting the monthly fee for Europeans. Instead of the U.S. pricing scheme, a flat fee for a certain amount of data transferred to the Palm VII and a charge per kilobyte of data for all use beyond that, Europeans will be charged entirely on a per use basis.

Gambit, the long awaited Palm Nintendo Gameboy emualtor is finally nearing a release! A new company called Gambit Studios sent out this simple press release:

Coming July 4th...

I N D E P E N D E N C E D A Y !!

"With Liberty ... for All"

Be watching: www.GambitStudios.com

Gambit Studios, LLC

"It's coming..."

Remember to check beck with the PalmInfocenter for the latest developments on Gambit.

Thanks to Austin Burns for letting me know that Omnisky is the latest member of the Palm economy bound for Wall St. Omnisky offers wireless internet service on the Palm V line of handhelds and has plans for other pda platforms in the not to distant future. You can read an article on their ipo forecast here. If you're into large legal documents you can browse through their S-1 filling on Free Edgar.

Palm has planned a press conference on Tuesday, June 27, at 5:30 PM Eastern Time at the PC Expo show to announce a new product that will allow current Palm users worldwide to connect wirelessly to the Internet.

Alan Kessler, chief operating officer, platform and products, and Barry Cottle, chief operating officer, content and access, will introduce and demonstrate the product at the press conference. This will be followed by demonstrations by more than 25 Web brands whose content is available via wirelessly enabled Palm handheld computers.

A company called Henzi is working on porting the Linux desktop environment GNOME, to a linux pda platform. They have some nice screenshots of the prototype interface. Kyle Poole writes, PDAGames.com has just posted an exclusive preview of the upcoming game Dark Haven 2 by Gasgorf Software, makers of the award winning Ackeron: Dark Sun, and an interview with co-founder Geoff Hulten. Psion released a universal PDA IR modem that works with all major handheld devices, including Palm, Handspring Visor and Windows CE. You simply plug the device into a phone jack and point your PDA at the Travel Modem and you can connect to the web at up to 56K bps.

While the Visor has been available over the Internet since last year, it has only been in stores a few months. That's what makes it such a coup for Handspring that they are the number two handheld seller in retail for the second month in a row.

In May, Handspring had 25% of the retail market while Palm had 67%. The previous month, Handspring had 18% to Palm's 72%.

Capital District (of New York) Palm User Unite! Announcing the formation of the Capital District Palm User Group (CDPUG). CDPUG seeks to create a diverse network of Palm users drawn from the New York Capital District's business, legal, academic, governmental and residential communities. We encourage folks with all levels of Palm knowledge and experience to join. Membership is free.

Our first meeting will be held on Thursday, July 20, 2000 at 7:00 p.m. at Franklin Covey in Colonie Center Mall, and we intend to hold meetings on the third Thursday of each month thereafter. Please visit our web site at http://interpug.com/cdpug, or email CDPUG's founder, Scott R. Almas, at cdpug@interpug.com for more details.

The next meeting of the Los Angeles Palm User Group (LAPUG) will be this Saturday, June the 24th, at 1030am. The LAPUG meeting will be at the American InterContinental University (AIU) in Los Angeles at 12655 West Jefferson Blvd in rooms 516/517. Check out the LAPUG web page for directions and a map to AIU.

Unfortunately we won't be able to have the hardware demonstrations mentioned in my earlier message. Look for them at the July meeting. The June meeting will be a chance for the members of our group to demonstrate their favorite applications for the group on our video camera. And, of course, we'll have our raffle as always.

Individual Investor reiterated their BUY rating on 3Com (Nasdaq: COMS) as the July 27th spin-off date for 3Com's remaining 94% stake in Palm nears. The record date for the spin-off is July 11. That is the date on which an investor must be a shareholder of record in order to receive shares of Palm at the ratio of 1.5 shares of Palm for each 3Com share. Also, wired has an article on Handspring's first day on the market. Analysts say that Handspring came in well ahead of expectations and is likely to be more sustainable over the long term.