Complete listing of all news stories posted on Dave's PDA Place in the month of March 2002.  Some stories linked to could have been removed or changed since their original posting.

AvantGo Changes Policy
Friday 03.29.02 at 3:10 PM PST
After an uproar months ago due to AvantGo's policy change of only eight users per custom channel, AvantGo has decided to change their plan (most likely due to the bad publicity). Now up to 1,000 people can subscribe to a custom channel before a site must pay for extra users. After a channel has 1,000 subscribers the sigh would be forced to pay an annual fee to keep their mobile service running.
More Information | Dave's Comments

Even More iPAQ Updates
Friday 03.29.02 at 2:49 PM PST
Compaq is doing their part to make sure your iPAQ is working like it should with even more updates released this week. One fix is for the 3800 series devices and fixes SD format message, LED reminder bug, and a batter gauge bug. The second fix is for 3600 series devices (ROM editions 1.69, 1.77 or 2.41) and fixes the "Unrecognized Card" error.
3800 Series Update | 3600 Series Fix

Secure Digital Cameras
Thursday 03.28.02 at 2:17 PM PST
Two new SD based cameras are on the was for Palm devices. Spectec is a Taiwanese company that is working on two products, one of which is specifically for the Palm m505. Both cameras capture pictures at a resolution of 640x480 with 24-bit color. They both also include onboard rechargeable lithium batteries. No work yet on a release or price
More Information | More Information

Wireless Keyboards
Thursday 03.28.02 at 2:12 PM PST
Soon, the first wrieless keyboard will be making to to the market. The Pocketop is "the world's first fully functional wireless PDA keyboard. Its design is so compact that even when carried together with your PDA, it fits in your breast pocket. When unfolded, it offers traditional keyboard functionality."
More Information

Brainstorm and Mobile Chess
Wednesday 03.27.02 at 4:47 PM PST
I received word of two new game releases today. Normally I don't post software, but both sound interesting. Brainstorm is a "completely insane action-puzzle game will change your mind forever...in a world which consists of 4 gravity directions, colored bricks, black holes, transporters and much more." Mobile Chess is a chess is the first ever "multi-player [chess] game for both PDA's and PC's." It includes many special features and a real-time chat client.
Brainstorm | Mobile Chess

New Sony CLIE's in the USA
Wednesday 03.27.02 at 4:40 PM PST
Sony is doing just what everyone said they would and is bring the NR-70 and NR-70V devices to the US. These two products set a new standard for Palm OS based devices. Each has a 66MHz Dragonball processor, 16mb of RAM, 16-bit color screen, 320x480 resolution, not to mention an onboard keyboard and virtual graffiti pad. The NR-70V also has a camera embedded just below the display and allows you to take color 320x240 pixel pictures. The NR-70 has a price tag of $499, and adding the camera brings the price up to $599 (NR-70V).
Hardware: Palm OS: Sony | Sony's Site

Animated Today 2002 Released
Saturday 03.23.02 at 11:04 PM PST
"Take your Pocket PC 2002 device to the next level with fully animated and dynamic Today screens. Animated Today 2002 (AT2002) is a revolutionary new application for the Pocket PC which transforms the Today screen into a gateway for rich, interactive applications and animations." This long awaited product if finally here. Pocket PC users should check this one out.
Flash Enabled Animated Today Store

Sony Discontinues N760
Friday 03.22.02 at 11:59 AM PST
Sony recently discontinued their N760 device. Up until now, this has been Sony�s �flagship� CLIE device on the market. Removal of this device leaves no N-series products left on the market. The N610 was replaced a few months back with the T615 and the N710 was replaced when then N760 was released. Could this be news of something new coming to the US? A NR-series device perhaps?
More Information

HP-Compaq Merge Update
Thursday 03.21.02 at 10:03 AM PST
Shareholders of Compaq stocked voted nine to one to approve the HP-Compaq merge even though this merge would cut up to fifteen thousand people from Compaq.
Compaq Press Release

Sharp Zaurus 5500 On Sale
Thursday 03.21.02 at 9:59 AM PST
Online retailer Amazon now has the Sharp Zaurus 5500 on sale for $500. This device should be the first widely available Linux based PDA. It comes with standard features of other devices including StrongARM processor, 64mb of RAM and both a CF and SD slot.
Hardware: Linux | Amazon.com

iPAQ Bluetooth Service Pack
Wednesday 03.20.02 at 7:30 PM PST
Compaq has released an update for any users of any iPAQ with a bluetooth expansion pack or users of a H3870. The update fixes 3Com ActiveSync interoperability issues, fixes interoperability with Digianswer devices and file transfer, and fixes Status Dialog feature.
Get the SoftPaq update

CompactGPRS CF Card
Wednesday 03.20.02 at 7:25 PM PST
Pretec released information about a new CF Card that has a GPRS solution embedded in it. The card is dual band (900/1900 MHz) and can be used in the US, Europe and Asia. The card will work in Pocket PC's and can also be adapted to fit in a PCMCIA slot.
More Information

Animated Today Screens
Tuesday 03.19.02 at 10:05 PM PST
PT over at Flash Enabled said that the Animated Today Screens for Pocket PC are really just around the corner. This technology has been held in front of our faces for quite some time with screen shots and videos, but PT says it is finally coming...next week.
More Information

Invair's Filewalker
Monday 03.18.02 at 8:35 PM PST
The FileWalker is an interesting new product that was shown off at CeBIT. The device is toted as a "one-hand" PDA. All operations of the product can be controlled by one hand. The device is only a little bigger then a pack of cards, has a 160x240-grayscale screen, and runs Linux. No word on a US release, though the device should be available in the UK.
ZDNet Story | Company Site

New Web Browsers
Sunday 03.17.02 at 3:35 PM PST
Both Palm and Pocket PC have new web browsers on the way. Palm's Web Browser is scheduled to be available April 8 for $20. "The new Palm Web Browser gives our Internet-connected customers yet another great option for accessing web content on-the-go." This browsers will be in direct competition with the Blazer browser put out by Handspring. Bitstream's ThunderHawk Web Browser is currently in the beta testing phase, though should be available soon. "It will shrink a 640x480 web page to fit a 320x240 PocketPC screen in landscape orientation...and contains some support for JavaScript and CSS along with the special font."
Palm Web Browser | Bitstream ThunderHawk

CE .NET Device Emulator
Sunday 03.17.02 at 3:25 PM PST
Microsoft released a Windows CE .NET Device Emulator for their next generation embedded operating system. "The Device Emulator provides a viewer that allows you to run the Windows CE .NET OS on your desktop computer without specialized hardware." Using the emulator you will actually be able to see and use CE .NET, though don't expect so see this on your PDA anytime soon.
Get the emulator

iPAQ Sound Driver
Sunday 03.17.02 at 3:20 PM PST
Compaq has officially released a driver update for all Pocket PC 2002 based 3600 and 3700 series devices. The update is suppose to fix loud volume issue and popping noise heard between files. If you are seeing this issue, it is recommended that you try the update, though some users have reported that it did not solve their problems.
Get the update

Thursday 03.14.02 at 12:13 AM PST
The FlyCAM-CF from Animation Technologies is the first CF Pocket PC camera that will be compatible with all Pocket PC's with a CF type I slot. The camera takes pictures at a resolution up to 640x480 as well as full motion video. Unlike other cameras, the FlyCAM-CF has support for a three-function (start, stop, snapshot) remote control and an internal battery. No word on a price or expected release date.
More Information

VKB - Virtual Keyboard
Wednesday 03.13.02 at 12:22 PM PST
Using VKB's virtual keyboard, users no longer would need to have a physical keyboard, but just a small projector to create a virtual keyboard on a flat surface. "VKB has developed a highly efficient method for projecting an optical image of a keyboard onto a surface. In addition, VKB has developed a detection method through several proprietary developments for the accurate and reliable detection of user interaction, such as typing or cursor control functions."
More Information

Palm Bluetooth SD Card
Wednesday 03.13.02 at 12:14 PM PST
Palm recently released its own Bluetooth SD Card. The card is compatible with all Palm devices with a SD slot and will allow you to connect your Palm to any other bluetooth-enabled device within 30 feet at a connection speed of up to 1mbps. The Bluetooth SD card is retailing for $130.
More Information from Palm

Pocket Loox in the US
Tuesday 03.12.02 at 1:24 PM PST
A spokesperson for Fujitsu said the Pocket Loox will be making it to the USA as well as Canada and Europe. The Loox is a Pocket PC device based around the new XScale processor (400MHz), 64mb of RAM, 16-bit color screen, CF and SD slots, and possibly bluetooth. The Pocket Loox will probably be priced at between $500-600 in the US (around $470 in Japan, $600 in Germany). The first Loox's should be out around Q2, though Fujitsu hasn't said where this release will take place.
PC World Article

New Sony Products
Monday 03.11.02 at 3:31 PM PST
Back at the recent PalmSource conference, Sony's CEO held up a new product. It was unknown at the time when we would see this device, but today Sony has released the NR70V (and a grayscale version, the NR70) in Japan. This device presents many firsts to the Palm world including the use of a 66MHz Dragonball processor, a screen resolution of 320x480, the inclusion of a camera, and a whole new style to the case.
Sony Japan: CLIE | Club CLIE Pictures

Audiovox and Toshiba Update
Sunday 03.10.02 at 1:19 AM PST
Audiovox Maestro and Toshiba Genio users should note that there is a Pocket PC 2002 Update now available for their devices. This update is similar that released for other PPC 2002 device.
Audiovox Update | Toshiba Update

Sony Bluetooth Memory Stick
Sunday 03.10.02 at 12:43 AM PST
The long awaited Sony Bluetooth Memory Stick (Infostick) has recently become a Qualitfied Bluetooth Product. That means it is one step closer to a release. The Palm Bluetooth SD card was recently released, so if Sony wants to stay competitive, the Infostick should be coming out March 23rd.
Qualified Product Notice (PDF)

Flash for the Palm OS
Sunday 03.10.02 at 12:22 AM PST
Many have searched for the Flash Player for the Palm OS, but Macromedia has never released one because they felt 33MHz was to slow to support flash. This does leave it that Macromedia has a Flash Player for the Palm OS but won't release until they feel the device can support it. Can we say 66MHz Palm OS device? ARM based device?
More Information

WMP for PPC 2002 Update
Thursday 03.07.02 at 9:39 AM PST
Microsoft released a Windows Media Player update for any Pocket PC 2002 devices that come with Windows Media Player pre-installed. This upgrade is not available for iPAQ users that upgraded to Pocket PC, only for users that have a device that came with PPC 2002 on it.
Get the update from Microsoft

New Sony Ericsson SmartPhone
Tuesday 03.05.02 at 2:55 PM PST
Sony Ericsson announced a new smartphone today, the P800. This "multimedia communicator" has tri-band GSM/GPRS, integrated bluetooth, a built in digital camera, and a color screen. It runs version 7.0 of the Symbian OS and includes many PIM applications found on other smartphones and PDA's. The P800 should be available during Q3 of 2002.
Sony Ericsson Press Release

Visor Platinum Selling Again.
Tuesday 03.05.02 at 2:10 PM PST
After discontinuing the Visor Platinum last year, Handspring has decided to bring it back because it "proved popular with consumers." For a limited time, the Visor is available again on the Handspring website for a price of $169. All Handspring's Visors that are currently for sale are all priced until $300 with three of the five priced under $200.
Visor Sales Online | Hardware: Palm: Handspring

Sunday 03.03.02 at 11:48 PM PST
Both these devices are now officially released and should be hitting shelves soon. The m130 is an upgrade to the m125 and features a 16-bit color screen and a price tag of $280. The m515 is really nothing new, though it is said to have a better screen then the m505 and also packs 16mb of RAM ($400).
Hardware: Palm OS: Palm | C|Net Article

Feel free to email me about your own PDA, questions, comments, articles, rumors, and reviews.  I can be reached at dave@davespda.com.