Meeting #3
November 4th, 1998 | November 7th, 1998 |
General
Sam here. Since Sean is getting busier and busier - handling both Wednesday and Saturday meetings, maintaining the Website, getting sponsors, etc. - it looked like he needed a hand with something! Doing the meeting synopses for the Saturday meetings looked as good an area as any to volunteer for (so hopefully Sean can enjoy the meetings without having to take a lot of notes down all the time). So here it is! In any case...any problems with lateness, omissions, oversights, misspellings, incomprehensibility, etc in this edition...they're not his fault!
Attendance
We had 6 member join the Wednesday meeting and 9 members join the Saturday meeting this time around. The following is a list of those members who attended:
Some attendees forwarded membership and partial membership fees.
Topics of Discussion
As usual there were many topics of conversation in addition to the scheduled topics. The following gives a flavor of some of the discussions which elicited general interest, as well as scheduled topics.
Handspring
Many were interested that Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky have gone a step forward in their new company. They have obtained venture funding and are beginning to put together their development team. Handspring will develop a product based on the PalmOS platform but geared towards a more consumer-market orientation.
Topic #1
Applications on our PalmPilots
One of the scheduled topics was a survey of what applications people had on their PalmPilots that they found that they were using. This gives others an idea of what software is useful and has stood the test of time.
The Amortization (Loan Wizard Pro) program was mentioned as useful. As its name implies, it is a small app that enables you to calculate loan payments and thus make decisions based on principal, term, interest rate, frequency, and other loan variables.
AvantGo is being used by a few people to download WebPages. The application is free for personal use, but is commercial-grade for enterprise-wide use. In the second mode, a company's intranet may be accessed for use by mobile workers. The Desktop-to-Go application is linked to a network server, in addition to the Internet.
PhoneLog was mentioned as a good application for keeping track of telephone messages and discussions.
While testers at the last meeting thought of Actioneer for Palm Desktop as not too intuitive, one member mentioned that they were using this program regularly now and loved it! This just goes to show that each person has individual likes and dislikes, and that it may be worth trying a piece of software out in case it fits you to a "T". It was noted that version 2.0 of Actioneer for PalmOS fixes a lot of the problems pointed out at the last meeting. Canada's Premier PUG members are reminded that version 2.0 of Actioneer for PalmOS is now in Beta testing. Members will receive registered copies of this version if we want to beta test for them. Those who are interested should download the demo version from their website and e-mail Sean to let him know you are testing it. You must then give Sean a synopsis of your findings of the product. Those that give Sean their thoughts will receive the full registered version.
**UPDATE** Unfortunately, this deal with Actioneer seems to have fallen through. My contact with the company has since left and no further information has been given to me. For those of you who participated in this, I sincerely appologize that we will not be receiving registered copies of Actioneer for PalmOS.
Hourz Pro was touted as a good application for time tracking management
A supplement to the standard calendar program is Datebk3. This program takes up a large amount of space, but many people found that it was very useful. It uses a variety of page views and icons to provide at-a-glance information about schedules.
While there doesn't seem to be very many good full project management applications for the PalmPilot, it was pointed out that Brainforest, from Aportis, was an excellent outliner that could be used to support project management.
OmniRemote, an application turning the Palm III into a programmable remote control, was tested by several people, who found it interesting but limited in practicality versus regular remotes on the market.
Finally, Backup Buddy was touted as a must-have for everyone, to supplement to standard HotSync function on the PalmPilot, which backs-up primarily only the standard applications. This utility backs-up all information on the PalmPilot, including all third-party applications and databases.
Hackmaster was another utility that many of us use. Some specific hacks used by our members include:
GlowHack: allows the backlight to be turned on automatically at all times or only during the hours you specify.
Middle Caps Hack: allow you to write graffiti strokes on the middle line between the alpha entry and the numeric entry fields to type a capital letter.
Others included Private Hack, Logo Hack, Popup Calculator, and Case Toggle.
Web Site
Another reminder that Canada's Premier PUG’s website is up and running (I guess you already know that since you're here now!). Members are encouraged to use it and the accompanying Discussion Board for all issues.
Topic #2
Maximizer Program for PC Desktop
Dean Willems had agreed previously to do a demo of Maximizer and had brought his laptop for this purpose. Maximizer is a desktop-based program that can sync to the PalmPilot, and is touted to be better than the Palm Desktop, Microsoft Outlook, or other similar programs.
Maximizer is essentially a contact organizer, but can also be used as the central point for launching other applications such as e-mail, fax, and so on. All of these can then be tagged and integrated into Maximizer's database for future reference. Dean's set-up is organized in a "Rolodex" format, but Maximizer can be set up any way you choose. The client-address format can then be used to find the history of contacts with the client, link to all notes and documents associated with that client, including mail, faxes, and even telephone calls! Voice messages left by a client on your answering machine can be saved as .wav files and linked to the client as with any other document. In addition, Maximizer can be used as a network tool. Several people using Maximizer on a network can use the software to link to each other's schedules, to find out, for example, when a common free time exists in order to set meetings. Maximizer has its own sync conduit, which offers a lot of configuration freedom. This freedom is necessary because the data can be very large, and sync time can be long, if one is not careful to specify things carefully. As an example, Dean's Maximizer database takes up two 100MB Zip disks. Finally, Maximizer is developed in Canada, a big plus!
Thanks to Dean for the very well prepared demonstration.
Prizes
Since the meeting went on a bit longer than usual, a few people had to leave meeting early, but everyone who stayed on went home with a prize this month. Each prize was won by answering trivia questions selected and presented by Sean. The following is the list of prizes, sponsors, and who won them:
Scott Currie Sam Peralta | PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide by David Pogue and a T-shirt |
A reminder that Handheld Interfaces is giving all Participating Members free shipping on anything you order from them...so that $20 membership fee can sure stretch a long way!
Membership numbers will be handed out soon, on full payment of the membership fee. HandHeld Interfaces needs this number at the time of purchase to receive free shipping. A big thank you to HandHeld Interfaces for the consideration!
Also, it was noted that putting together good trivia questions is tough! So...would all members consider some possible questions/contests/etc. that can be used to give away prizes at future meetings? E-mail any ideas to Sean.
Future Topics
For continued reference, the following topics have been suggested for us to cover in the future:
If you have any further suggestions of topics you would like to discuss, please don't hesitate to ask.
Next Meeting
The two meetings per month format - one on a weeknight and the other on a weekend, with exactly the same topics for each meeting - still looks useful, and gives more people the opportunity to join us...so the tradition continues.
The next meetings are:
Wednesday, December 2nd @ 7:30pm.
Saturday, December 5th @ 12:00pm
Pizza Hut on Appleby Line in Burlington is still the meeting location. Beginning with the November meeting, Pizza Hut offered current and new members attending the meeting 10% off their bill! Now that's another inducement to attend. Our web site will always contain the time and directions for each meeting so be sure to check it out if you forget.
Our topics for next meeting will include:
"Programming languages for PalmOS applications" and the ever-popular "What applications are you using on your Pilot right now and why?"
Respectfully,
Sam Peralta,Scribe, Canada's Premier PUG
Sean D. Evans, Co-ordinator, Canada’s Premier PUG