Meeting notice/reminder for UK Palm owners: 11th May 2000, from 6pm to 9pm. Venue: Fountains Abbey pub, 109 Praed St, London (100yds North-East of Paddington Station), Tel: 020 7723 2364.

Organised on behalf of the only UK Palm User group, NLPUG, Bring your organiser(s) and have them on the table in front of you. Also look for some PalmUser magazines spread out.

The Indian Palm Users Group (IPUG) has officially launched a new web site! We are looking to bring together all users of the Palm OS, specific - but not limited - to users in India. The purpose of the group is to offer a network through which to share information and resources.
The group intends to schedule informal meetings from time to time, at which to meet other Palm OS enthusiasts. Every meeting provides members with the opportunity to discuss Palm OS hardware and software, ask questions, seek advice, learn tips and tricks, and view demos of products and accessories. For more details on scheduled meetings check out the Meetings Page.

RJPUG has curently a very important poll. It's the one to choose the PUG's Logo. There are 6 possibilities, they all represent something famous about Rio.

• The Christ Statue (Original Logo)
• The Christ Holding a Palm (forgive me the religious people)
• The Sugar Loaf
• The Maracanã Stadium (Largest Soccer Stadium in the world, 150.000 people)
• Samba (as in Carnival)
• The Lapa Arcs with the Catedral behind.

So take a look, a pick, and vote! We are counting on you. You can visit our web site at www.interpug.com/rjpug

Palm's President Alan Kessler, in his Comdex 2000 keynote address today, declared that his company would continue to thrive based on the simplicity and expandability of the Palm platform. He said that Palm remains committed to three key elements: "simplicity, elegance, and powerful solutions."

Kessler doesn't believe that people want a PDA that does everything. He believes people want something that will make their lives easier. "Fundamentally, our customers want us to help them deliver solutions that are unlike a PC: extremely reliable, wearable and simple to use," he said.

As you may be aware Micorsoft has declared war on Palm and has make some very exaggerated comparisons to Palm OS devices. Palm took the time to separate the buzz around the "Pocket PC" and look at the facts. Read the article for an email sent out to Palm developers from Palm's VP of Product Strategy, Michael Mace. "Microsoft's handheld has more PC features than Palm handhelds. And just like last time, when the smoke clears we think Palm will still be on top."

Rolelore, a new leisure software company, is developing an ambitious Medieval RPG for the Palm Computing platform called “Project L”. Gorgeous graphics, real environments taken from Europe medieval sites, unique character development, exclusive realistic combat system based on historical chivalry art-of-fighting, non-linear storyline, that's for a quick glance at the game. The message from the lead developer is clear: "RPG game for Palm deserves better than old PC covers. Time is come for an innovative game considering Palm specifications not as drawbacks to accommodate with, but rather as great advantages."

AvantGo, Inc. has announced that it has secured $31 million in financing from strategic partners and private equity investors. Smaller.com is reporting that some of this money will be used create a wireless service in competition with OmniSky.

UPDATE: Thanks to Andy T for letting us know that AvantGo 3.3 is out. The new version sports support for SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and a few other enhancements for online browsing.

eFax.com has announced that it is releasing a PQA to give Palm VII users access to its Internet-based fax services. Other Palm users can access the same services using an Omnisky wireless modem. Once the eFax PQA is downloaded onto a Palm, registered eFax users can login to their eFax account to view information about received faxes or voice mails, compose a new fax, and configure cover-page attachment and alert notification options. While viewing their message log, users can choose particular messages to forward to an e-mail address or a traditional fax machine for printed output. This creates the opportunity to redirect any message, in real time, from its original destination to one more locations convenient for viewing or printing while on the road.

Microsoft, the company known to abuse their monopoly powers, launched their third manifestation of their windows CE line today. You can check out a press release here. Already, MS is taking cheap shots at Palm. They had the nerve to print a full page ad in the USA Today attacking Palm (Click the read story button to see it). The only new hardware model that is sporting CE 3 is the Hewlett Packard Jornada 545, PDABuzz has a review. Don't expect Palm to take this lying down. They're sitting on a fresh load of cash after the IPO and new devices are expected in the future from 3com, Sony, and Nokia. Palm also has a big lead in the handheld wireless sector an area where Microsoft is still lagging. UPDATE: Mike W has posted a great rebuttal to Microsoft's ad campaign.

Juno Online Services, Inc. today announced the launch of a new version of the Juno software designed specifically for handheld use on the Palm VII. This initial wireless version of Juno supplements the company's popular full Web access service by enabling Palm VII users to send and receive e-mail from anywhere within the extensive Palm.Net service coverage area using their Juno accounts. To access Juno through the Palm VII handheld, users must sign up for a wireless subscription to the Palm.Net service and install the handheld version of the Juno software. Juno's software will be available for download from both the Palm.Net and Juno Web sites at www.palm.net/apps and www.juno.com/junopalm. Based on its total of 9.4 million registered subscriber accounts, Juno is currently the world's largest provider of free dial-up Internet services, as well as the second largest provider (after AOL) of dial-up Internet services overall.

The April 19 meeting at 3Com corporate offices in Conshohocken of the Philadelphia Palm Users group has been cancelled due to a few unseen difficulties. The next meeting (May 18th) and others are still on. Check with the PhilaPUG website for future meeting times and locations.