Year: 2003

Decuma has just announced its new OnSpot Handwriting Recognition Software for Pocket PC and Palm OS 5 devices. [Brighthand]

Looks good, but for 30 bucks, I’d really like to see a demo before thinking about buying.

Update – Thanks to a Post and comment by Steven I learned that Handango has a demo of the app. i have it a shot last night and while it looks nice I was not please with how it works on screen. You select keyboard ( shortcut – /K) and you then get the Decuma screen which takes over whatever app you were in. I was hoping it would replace the virtual graffiti area on my T3 while it was running.

Harold Gilchrist is working on an RSS-based protocol for audioblogging. I want to be able to subscribe to audioblogs and other audio delivered by RSS, but I want an RSS reader that automatically downloads the audio into iTunes folders for one-click downloading into my iPod. I want to just pickup my iPod as I’m running out the door, and discover all the blogs and programs I subscribe to already neatly organized, ready to listen to. (I also wish the iPod had a way to mark tracks as having been read, so I could tell it to just play or show new material.) [Doug Kaye: Web Services Strategies]

The maker of operating systems for mobile devices and Research In Motion announce plans to collaborate on software that will enable Palm OS-based handhelds to use RIM’s BlackBerry wireless service. [CNET News.com]

I am not exactly sure what the connectivity is on T-Mobile’s site, but it lets you get Enterprise mail directly on a device – Phone or PDA. The Palm/RIM deal is interesting, and helps those corporate users get true support from IT. My setup was not officially supported by my (former) company’s IT group. For the small or solo user, I can’t see how this announcement helps. You can easily get email now, just not “push.”

I am not sure how much push really matters… I get plenty of email on a daily basis. When I am out and want to stay connected I simply set SnapperMail to auto-check every XX minutes – usually 30 minutes. This automatically initiates a bluetooth connection to my phone, which then connects via GPRS on the T-Mobile network and then allows my Palm to POP into my mail server to send and retrieve messages. I can always override this schedule with a manual connection as well. This is a very practical and relatively simple set-up that works VERY reliably.