Meeting Feb 1999

February 3rd, 1999
7:30pm - 10:00pm

February 6th, 1999
12:00pm - 2:30pm

General

First of all, I would like to make a sincere apology to taking so long in getting this digest written. Sam Peralta, our usual Scribe, was unable to attend the meeting in February and the digest responsibility fell to me. One week after this meeting, however, my second daughter, Ezri Rayne, was born. As you can imagine, life has been quite hectic lately.

Before I knew it, the month was over and it was time for the March meeting. Yet this digest had yet to be written. Here it is, March 21st, and I am finally writing the digest for February!

Because of the tardiness of this digest, some items mentioned will already be outdated. I will report on them nonetheless since they were indeed discussed at the meeting.

Future meeting digests should not take this long to be written since our usual scribe is on the case again and I don't plan to have any more daughters any time soon!

This month, we had 7 members at the Wednesday meeting and 11 members at the Saturday meeting.

During the month of January, I had the opportunity to use a Palm Modem to test a couple Web browsers and an e-mail program. The following is what I found.

HandWeb is a web browser for the Palm by SmartCode Software. HandWeb has the ability to accept cookies and will keep a cache for offline viewing. Frames and SSL pages can not be viewed with HandWeb.

HandWeb is used with your existing Internet connection and receives its contents directly from the web. Graphics can be turned on or off, but if left on, they will display similar to a thumbnail view. Pages will also take much longer to load this way and will also consume more of your Palm's memory. For quicker viewing of pages, I suggest turning the graphics off.

Not all web pages can be viewed using HandWeb, however. If any pages check your browser for compatibility first, you will not be able to view that page. For example, if a page checks to make sure you are using a version 3 browser (IE 3 or Netscape 3) or higher, it will believe you are using a lower browser and will not allow you to view the page.

If you ever visit message boards on the internet, HandWeb will also view these pages properly and will allow you to respond to messages on the board.

All in all, HandWeb is a very good browser for use with the Palm Connected Organizer.

ProxiWeb by ProxiNet is another web browser for the Palm. Unlike HandWeb, ProxiWeb does not read information directly from the Internet. While you still connect to the Internet through your internet provider, you must then log into a Proxy Server in order to use ProxiWeb.

Like HandWeb, ProxiWeb will also accept cookies and will keep a cache for offline viewing. Frames and SSL pages are also unviewable with ProxiWeb. In my experimenting, I found that message boards could not be viewed as they could with HandWeb. However, sites that require 3 browsers or higher can still be viewed with ProxiWeb.

Of the two browsers, it is really a matter of preference as to which one to use. I would suggest trying out both browsers before making a decision. Another factor in your decision will also be the price. ProxiWeb is a free browser while HandWeb has an SRP of US$49.95. That alone may make your decision for you!

One-Touch Communicator (now called One-Touch Mail) by JP Systems is the e-mail package I tested for the month. I found it very easy to use. It has all the features of your best e-mail package such as Microsoft Outlook Express. It will manage multiple e-mail accounts and will allow you to view the headers of your mail and choose which messages to download into your Palm. This allows you to save memory by not downloading large messages.

While PC file attachments can not be downloaded using the Palm, One-Touch Communicator will allow you to send and receive Address, To Do, Appointments, and Memos with your messages.

MultiMail by Actual Software is another mail application that is being used by a member of the group. While this member had nothing bad to say about Multi-Mail, it does not have the ability for multiple accounts. MultiMail has a cost of US$39.95.

Throughout the meeting, our conversations moved to other software as usual. Using the beaming capability of the Palm III was thoroughly discussed, as a couple new members were unfamiliar with how to do it.

There is a small tool called A-Tool that I beamed to a few people. This is a useful little utility that will give you an accurate voltage of your battery as well as plot the voltage over the life span of that particular set of batteries. As well, it will also keep track of how many days life you received from your batteries and will keep a record of your last 5 sets so you can see what your average battery life is.

A-Tool has several other small utilities, such as a "Paperclip" tool that will perform a soft reset of your Palm instead of using a real paperclip. Other small utilities are built into this neat little application. Check it out if you are interested by doing a search at PalmPilotGear H.Q.

The new PalmParrot by Pilot Island was briefly discussed. The Palm Parrot is an add-on device that looks like the Palm Modem. With the device attached, the Palm Organizer can record voice messages or play Midi files. For more information on the Palm Parrot, visit the web site at www.pilotisland.com.

Finally, Chris Tychansky of Handheld Interfaces mentioned that he had the opportunity to see a Palm IIIx. The new device [which is out now] has 4mb of memory, a much improved screen and an upgraded OS. Chris mentioned that the new screen has a white background as opposed to the current green screen. This is probably what aids in making the screen clearer. The Palm IIIx was released to the public on February 23^rd, 1999.

As always, prizes were handed out to everyone present. Of course, they had to answer skill testing questions, win coin flips, guess secret numbers, do a dance around the restaurant (well, not really), in order to win. The following are the prizes won:

Ron Apperley	PalmPilot The Ultimate Guide by David Pogue courtesy of Qvadis Corp.
David Spencer	Quicksheet by Cutting Edge Software
Bob Lang	Throttle Stylus/Pen by ttool.LLC []
Russell Scheer	Backgammon by Stand Alone, Inc.
Steve Mandula	Workout Tracker by Stand Alone, Inc.
Jim Tibbals	Euchre by Seahorse Software
Kevin Maynard	Choice of software by Evolutionary Systems
Mark Misener	Uboat by Pumpsoft
Bryan Glaholm	Choice of SketchPad, Ted-Truss, or TuningFork by arcosoft
Bill Mackay	Choice of software by Evolutionary Systems
Patricia Cooper	Password Store by Stand Alone, Inc.
Rick Stasiak	Choice of application in the Int'l Traveler or Trade Advisor series by Aramis Communications, Inc.
Barry Cooper	Throttle stylus/pen by ttools, LLC Scramblet by oopdreams Software

Please e-mail any ideas for trivia questions, contests, and so on that can be used to give away prizes at future meetings to Sean.

For continued reference, the following topics have been suggested for us to cover in the future: