Quickies: Germany, AcidImage, Cradle Mod, Facer, X-Master

Posted By: Ed Monday, August 5, 2002 9:34:05 AM

Handspring has announced that debitel, Europe's largest network-independent telephone company and Germany's third largest mobile communication provider will begin marketing the Treo 270 throughout Germany. -PR

AcidImage 2.03 beta is now available. New features and enhancements to this image viewing app include support for more file types and thumbnail types, and overall speed and user interface improvements. -PR

TechTV's The Screen Savers has instructions for making a cradle that fits inside a 5.25-inch bay on a PC. -Eli

PocketCraft has released Facer 1.2, an update of its application launcher with integrated "Today page". It now offers support for memory cards. The company also released Theme Maker, which allows users to create themes to use with Facer. Facer cost $13 and the Theme Maker is free. -PR

LinkeSOFT has released X-Master 1.5, an updated version of its hack manager. -Ed

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Bay cradle

IanJD @ 8/5/2002 10:27:07 AM #

The PC bay cradle looks fun to make, but I can't help thinking a hotsync cable is simpler. Also, I suspect any Universal Connector folk might find themselves in need of a crowbar to pry their Palms out of the maw of one of these. :-)

RE: Bay cradle

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 11:03:31 AM #

I agree, I say just get a hotsync/charge cable.......

RE: Bay cradle

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 12:03:09 PM #

There isn't a picture that I could find of the completed project. Makes me wonder if it's really that easy. It sure sounds cool!

RE: Bay cradle

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 12:07:13 PM #

there is a picture....

RE: Bay cradle

Nismo96 @ 8/5/2002 1:35:22 PM #

The links to two different pictures are on the third page of the how-to.

RE: Bay cradle

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/7/2002 12:27:17 AM #

You can't use a hotsync cable cuz to remove a hotsync cable you much hold it by the plug to release the hooks. Thus you can't make something like this where you can just slide it in and slide it out.

AcidImage

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 11:00:04 AM #

Kewl, finally have the thumbnail view. they could have added that on the v2.0.

RE: AcidImage

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 11:06:13 AM #

I'm pretty sure the thumbnail view for JPGs was in 2.0.

RE: AcidImage

IanJD @ 8/5/2002 12:39:13 PM #

There were thumbnails in 2.0, but they didn't work for all JPEG file types, just those with embedded thumbnails created by e.g. cameras; 2.03 creates thumbnails on the fly.

RE: AcidImage

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 1:00:31 PM #

"2.03 creates thumbnails on the fly."

I just tried this and its really COOL! JPGs open slowly on my m505 and knowing I've got the right one before I open it is excellent. Thanks RedMercury!!

RE: AcidImage

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 1:22:03 PM #

Did anyone else notice that the Thumbnails open really slowly?

RE: AcidImage

IanJD @ 8/5/2002 1:48:27 PM #

Yeah, but for the slow images, AcidImage is having to load in and decompress each complete image (though it may not have to for progressive encoded) and rescale it to thumbnail size.

RE: AcidImage

Red Mercury @ 8/5/2002 8:45:05 PM #

If your JPEGs have embedded thumbnails (like an EXIF-format JPEG from a digital camera, or a JFIF-format JPEG from Photoshop), the thumbnails will load pretty quickly.

AcidImage scans through the images and shows "fast" thumbnails if it can (EXIF/JFIF), and for JPEGs with no embedded thumbnail, it loads the JPEG at reduced size and generates the thumnnail on the fly.

We'll be working on the speed and layout of the thumbnail displays. We can now show thumbs for all image types, including JPEG, BMP, and GIF.

Scott

RE: AcidImage

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 9:58:34 PM #

Why don't they just save the thumbnails in a database so they would load slowly only for the first time (when they have to be generated on the fly) and load fast everytime after that? Sort of like what ACDSee does on the PC.

RE: AcidImage

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 10:04:38 PM #

I think Splash Photo also uses this technique of keeping the thumbnails in a database for faster loading. Each time the application is launched it compares the database to the files on the PDA to see if anything is changed. It will only generate thumbnails for new files.

RE: AcidImage

Galley_SimRacer @ 8/5/2002 11:46:31 PM #

Yeah, many image viewers use this technique. It's called a "cache", and yes, that would be a nice option.

--
"Life is what you experience between racing games"
Galley

RE: AcidImage

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/6/2002 10:03:29 AM #

I agree, caching the thumbnails would be great to improve the speed.

End of X-Master?

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 12:09:14 PM #

I really like the hacks. I keep hearing that hacks are not going to be used in Palm OS 5 devices. That's really too bad. I wonder if there will be other ways to get hacks to work (like Desktop Accessories?)?

RE: End of X-Master?

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 12:29:46 PM #

Yes, OS 5 will not allow hacks. However, many hack can be converted to work with OS 5. For example, I have converted my hack, McPhling, to work with OS 5 using notifications instead of traps. It will launch DAs in OS 5 as well.

Mike
http://MikeMcCollister.com/palm/

RE: End of X-Master?

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 1:13:21 PM #

yah right. dont' worry. OS5 will provide more functions eventually

RE: End of X-Master?

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 3:08:07 PM #

Although OS5 doesn't support Hacks, many Hacks can be modified to use the new OS5 notifications instead.

However, I think some sort of management tool still would be necessary; I don't think most people would want each pseudo-Hack to have its own icon in the Launcher.

I would hope that X-Master still has a future yet.

RE: End of X-Master?

Altema @ 8/5/2002 6:00:28 PM #

"I have converted my hack, McPhling, to work with OS 5"

Great, I was concerned about losing some great hacks like McPhling.

What is with Handspring

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/5/2002 7:13:08 PM #

Treo 300 still not out and not sure if I would want one anyway. Still Treo's cost to much and offer to little. Need to work out some contracts to get some more software with the Treo.

How long must Sprint customers wait for Handspring?

Also seems to be some product problems with the flip cover and backlight. Who wants to spend $600 send it back to get a refurbished Treo.

Just checking

RE: What is with Handspring

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/6/2002 10:09:22 AM #

The Treo 300 is supposed to be released (per rumor) in conjunction with Sprint's new network announcement. It's also rumored that they'll be available in at least some areas next week.

RE: What is with Handspring

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/6/2002 10:10:23 AM #

"Treo 300 still not out"

Is Sprint's high speed CDMA network available yet? I haven't heard anything about it. There's not much point of releasing the T300 until Sprint is ready for it.