Quickies: Tungsten C Mic, Apple Emu, Pendragon Forms & More

SplashPhoto v4.0
SplashData has announced SplashPhoto 4.0. The new version includes a desktop catalog feature with two-way synchronization, all images are stored as JPG files and images can be transferred via Bluetooth, infrared or e-mail between different types of devices, support for built-in cameras and the Palm Photos file format and a new Pan and Zoom feature. SplashPhoto 4.0 is available for $19.95. Registered owners of previous versions of SplashPhoto can upgrade to SplashPhoto 4.0 for $5.00.

Tungsten C internal Mic
Audio Storage Technologies is now offering a internal microphone upgrade for the Palm Tungsten C. The upgrade costs $69 for a 3 day turnaround or $120 for one day overnight service. The upgrade voids the manufacturers warranty, AST offers a 30 day warranty.

Apple ][e Emulator Updated
v0.62 of the Apple ][e Emulator, previously covered here, has been released. The updated adds 80 Column Support, Low Res Graphics, and some sound support. The developer is looking for help to bring OS5 high resolution support.

AeroPlayer 2.7
AeroPlayer 2.7 is now out. It has been updated to run on Palm Tungsten T2.

Pendragon Forms 4.0
Pendragon Software has released the latest version of its devekopment forms software. Among the new features, Pendragon Forms 4.0 makes it possible to attach photographs to database records, a feature that is ideal for documenting inspections or distributing real estate listings. Photos can be imported or captured seamlessly via the camera built into the Palm Zire? 71. Other enhancements in Pendragon Forms 4.0 include more powerful scripting, record beaming, GPS data acquisition and extensibility via custom controls.

Repligo vrs Acrobat for Doctors
Mohammad Al-Ubaydli writes, I have written a review of RepliGo, comparing it with Adobe's Acrobat reader. Needless to say, Adobe needs to improve. He concludes, RepliGo is software that should be on every clinician's handheld but it is a little tricky to understand its significance at first.

mySchedule for NCAA football
Toysoft, Inc. has announced the release of mySchedule for NCAA 1A football. mySchedule? NCAA is a sport scheduler and stats tracker for the NCAA Division 1A college football. The software is $14.95 US.

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Kewl

RhinoSteve @ 8/6/2003 4:09:01 PM #
You think an internal microphone would already be in the T-C. My guess is that it was yanked out by accounting to get more margin. In the meantime, nice aftermarket retrofit. Hope he is making some nice side bank from it.
RE: Kewl
Rolando @ 8/6/2003 5:05:33 PM #
Too bad you can't just buy something like this...

http://www.rundel-d.com/palmtop/zaurus/microphone.htm

Rolando

RE: Kewl
Token User @ 8/6/2003 5:32:38 PM #
Not owning a T|C (more than happy with my NX70 whch already has the mic :), but why couldn't the Zaurus option mentioned above work in the T|C? It has a standard jack doesn't it??

~ "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." - DV ~
RE: Kewl
Rolando @ 8/6/2003 6:34:00 PM #
It should work. But, you have to make it. The picture was of a mini-microphone that someone built themselves.

Rolando

RE: Kewl
Bartman007 @ 8/6/2003 10:47:37 PM #
Correct me if I'm wrong, but...
I think the T|C uses a 2.5mm plug, a cellphone size jack.
So it is somewhat standard, but not as much as the normal 3.5mm jack

Peace,
-Bartman007

RE: Kewl
gotogo @ 8/7/2003 9:07:09 AM #
A mini plugin mic would work on the TC, but when you plug anything into the 2.5mm jack it disconnects the internal speaker. This means you have to unplug the mic to listen to what you recorded, which is a real annoyance.

This upgrade is mainly for doctors and lawyers that do dictation and don't want to be bothered with a cell phone headset to record and playback. However it is good for anyone who want to use their TC to do quick voice memo's also. Having to plugin a headset really detracts from using the TC for any type of voice recording.

Tom - Audio Storage Technologies

RE: Kewl
Tuckermaclain @ 8/7/2003 10:33:32 AM #
Can you imagine if Palm made cars? The first ground breaking model would come with a 5 gallon gas tank and the stereo would have 300mw output with 20% THD at rated power. The headlights would have 3 candlepower output each. You would have to complain constantly as they unhurriedly bring out successive "new" models that each fix 1 problem. Every other manufacturer would have turbo V-8s when Palm introduces its finally perfected Quad-4, which would have a bunch of accessories that sap power from the underpowered motor. At that point, most people wouldn't be interested in those things. Don't we all tire from these "beta" releases like the 505, 550, when the model should have been the 515 and T2 in the first place? The 505 was a step backwards in some ways: the screen was dim, battery life was poor, databases could not be stored on the card until somebody figured out how to use McFile, PowerRun, and that program that was like an early version of PiDirect. It was really as slow as a 3-legged turtle then. How many times to we have to ask for memory, battery, processor power, VG ? All of this is available now, if they wanted to integrate it into a new product. I guess Palm sells more this way, by trickling improvements into each new release.

RE: Kewl
fleegle @ 8/7/2003 1:18:51 PM #
"I guess Palm sells more this way, by trickling improvements into each new release."

Trickling improvements?!? Palm?!? If you want to see trickling improvements, look at Sony. How many slightly different models have they released in the past two years?

Sony's version of a car:
Take the best of what is out there, but then muck it up by having to "unfold and twist" the entire car to get into it, change the steering wheel to three inches in diameter, and change the gear shift to some useless buttons. All to make it look cool. They'd also make it so you had to use some special proprietary fuel... GasStick.

Oh, but it would have cool little digital camera integrated into it. ;-)


RE: Kewl
twocents @ 8/7/2003 2:13:29 PM #
"Can you imagine if Palm made cars?"...
No need to imagine. GM has been pulling this kind of crap for years. :) Sorry for starting a car tangent, but I couldn't resist. ;)

RE: Kewl
hotpaw4 @ 8/7/2003 5:33:44 PM #
>> "Can you imagine if Palm made cars?"...
> No need to imagine. GM has been pulling this kind of ... for years.

And both still manage to produce some of the best selling models year after year.

RE: Kewl
aguy @ 8/15/2003 5:33:45 PM #
Well, let's look at the headlight, your example.

The first mass produced car was the 1896 Duryea Motor Wagon. It had no headlights. Supposedly, some owners of the earliest cars took the candle lamps off their horse buggies and put them on their horseless carriages. They served as beacons to warn other drivers of an approaching vehicle, but they were not bright enough to light the road.

Oil lamps were the next innovation, but, as far as I can tell, were sold only as accessories.

The model-T had acetylene headlights, which also became standard equipment on all Cadillacs in 1910. Acetylene gas was generated by the reaction of calcium carbide and water in a generator that was typically mounted on the running board. The acetylene flame was not as easy to blow out as candle flames or oil lamp wicks.

Electric head and tail lamps were introduced on the 1898 Columbia Electric Car but did not come with the Model-T until 1915.

The lamps were blinding, but I'll spare you the history of the dimmer, you get the idea.

OPIE's Qpdf for Linux, Is It Better than PalmOS and PocketPC

ggeoffre @ 8/7/2003 12:52:37 AM #
I always thought that the Qpdf Application built for handheld linux devices was absolutely top notch. I used it with a Sharp Zaurus, and have yet to find anything on the Palm to match its support of raw/native PDF files (no conversion).

http://www.softforge.de/qpdf/
http://opie.handhelds.org/wiki/index.php/OpieQpdf

I must agree that RepliGo is a much better solution on the Palm than Adobe Reader for the Palm.

A Shame On Palm

dhchung @ 8/7/2003 2:48:43 AM #
If their products satisify customers' need, why is there a Tungsten C Mic upgrade service?
A failure of the marketing dept.

RE: A Shame On Palm
bradleyboy @ 8/7/2003 8:46:19 AM #
Your statement, in my opinion, is silly. There will always be a segment of the population who wants to enhance good purchases with some after-market upgrades. It doesn't make the purchase, or the product, a failure. It simply means you want to do more with it than it was originally intended for. Sort of like buying your car cooler hubcaps, or installing nitrous. It's an upgrade.

No shame.
RAMdŽd @ 8/7/2003 11:25:15 AM #
Your statement, in my opinion, is silly.

You're being kind.

The"if Palm is meeting the needs..." statement is very presumptious and simplistic, at best. It remains to be seen how many T|C owners upgrade to an internal mic, compared to how many T|Cs are sold..

And there is always somebody who is not satisfied with a given product as it is shipped, whether or not they were the intended market.

Just look at this board. Many here whine when a product lacks a feature they wanted, even though it's clearly inappropriate for the device/purpose/demographic Palm is aiming for.

You just can't please everybody, any of the time.

______________________________
An armed society is a polite society.

RE: A Shame On Palm
jjsoh @ 8/7/2003 12:46:28 PM #
RAMdŽd, I agree.

I used to record voice notes on my T|T often in the first few months I had it, probably because it was there and I felt as though I wanted to get the most out of my new toy. Now I rarely, if ever, use it. Nice to know it's there in case I ever need it, but if it wasn't included from the start, I probably wouln't miss it.

There's not doubt people out there use it heavily, but for others, like me, I'd be happier with a lower price point.

Jim

RE: A Shame On Palm
dhchung @ 8/7/2003 1:49:16 PM #
RAMdŽd:
I agree with you too. But your agruement, in my opinion, is naive.
may be only 1% or less of T|C users eventually add a mic to their T|C.
What if you go to ask some T|C users whether they prefer to have a voice recording function on their T|C? Probably a *lot* more than 1%.
What if you go to ask some non T|C Palm OS 5 users why they didn't buy T|C? In my opinion, some of the reasons would be "because T|C doesn't have a mic".

Understand?

RE: A Shame On Palm
atrizzah @ 8/11/2003 7:00:09 PM #
Although, you've got to admit that Palm could theoretically have made a killing by making the T|C the killer device it could have been. It's pretty clear to me that the reason Palm didn't is because it would kill sales of other existing in future handhelds, not to mention aftermarket upgrades.

Peace Out
Alan

Os 5

sonylover411 @ 8/8/2003 7:05:02 AM #
YOu'd think that by now Palm and Sony would have gotten all of the business features and would be moving on to gaming and multimedia. From the original Pilot to now, the organizer has not really evolved significantly but look at the hardware and multimedia capabilities and how they've changed. RIght now I think that there isn't anywhere to go in organizing so they could just keep the application for that and add more for a better multimedia experience. I have an NX80v and I love it. It can do so much. It is a huge improvement over my NR70v and I love how it is so capable. Tapwave is right though. There is no handheld but the Gameboy(I still have my original one along with the others that have come since but gave up on it) and Palms should be geared more towards that I think. Wouldn't it be great to just be able to pop in a movie card you got one day and spend a cross country flight watching that? Currently, a 11 minute spongebob segment on my NX80V at max quality with image converter is about 20-30 mb. With kinoma it is lower quality for 4 times the memory. Having the camera is nice, but it is more of a commodity or a status symbol. By the way, I am 14..

Sony's product cycle is in dog years!
RE: Os 5
ggeoffre @ 8/8/2003 10:16:18 PM #
Actually there is a company by the name of "Innovation Technologies" that created a PDA cartridge for the GBA titled "Gameboy Advance Personal Organizer". There is not much information online about it, but you could hunt around and perhaps you will find more info on it...

http://www.playerschoicegames.com/gbapersonalorganizer.html

I can also recall hearing something about a WiFi cartridge for the GBA that was supposed to bring e-mail and a web browser to the GBA. But I cannot remember exactly who was working on it or what it was called. I seem to remember that it was going to have more of a G rated interface for the Pokemon crowd.

RE: Os 5
ggeoffre @ 9/26/2003 8:28:29 PM #
Recently there has been a lot of 'buzz' surrounding X-TraFun's Wireless PDA Gameboy Cartridge. You can wirelessly access the internet, play games interactively, send and receive e-mails, perform chat messaging, read e-books, etc...

http://www.x-trafun.com/home.htm

It is as if manufactures and vendors in Nintendo's GameBoy market are taking a look at the PDA market and taking notes.

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