Palm Tungsten Blog |
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Thursday, August 22, 2002
I propose to start a collection of good sigs (like collecting bumper stickers, but easier). To start the ball rolling, here is one from a newsgroup: Ever noticed how fast Windows runs? Neither did I.
I have been reviewing a compression utility (FlyZip) and it occurred to me that there is a big hole in Micro$oft's plan to run the world's computers: they have not produced a WinZip clone. As far as I can make out, their startegy is that computers should be sold with a full set of MS software pre-installed, so that the end-user never even finds out about rival products, let alone buys them. Unless you are a game player or a graphic designer, it is quite likely that a PC with Winndows, MSIE6 and Office will do everything you could imagine wanting it to do (even if not very well). EXCEPT open zip files. And zip files are pretty standard on the net - so what is going on?
Well, I have had the Clie as my main squeeze for a week now, and am just about to expire my first set of AAAs. The backlight is better than my last B&W PDA (a Vx) and the screen is sharp and clear in daylight, but refreshes slowly giving a ghosting effect and slight delays when changing apps. I tried FAstCPU, but that just caused an irritating flicker. Likes: Extra functionality related to jog-dial. Tiny footprint. Dislikes: Fiddly buttons, sluggish screen. I will do a proper review for Foxpop soon. Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Did you know that the Palm OS4.0 Security does not understand uppercase characters? I don't suggest that you try this, but if you set a password like 'TS', neither 'TS' nor 'ts' will unlock the handheld! What a recipe for disaster! I could (almost) forgive them for having case insensitive passwords, but this is ridiculous. And I cannot find any reference to it in either the UK or US Knowledge Base. Monday, August 12, 2002
I am getting a Clie SL10 to find out if I can go back to using a B&W PDA. Why? Because colour screens need rechargeable batteries and that is how we get ripped off. A travel charger for the m5xx series is currently £37.60 and an in-car charger £30.55. The profit margins on these products must be >200%. For £37.60 I could buy over 100 alkaline AAA batteries. Suppose, as a heavy user, I get through one set per week. That is a two year supply. Two years is the maximum life expectancy for one of my PDAs anyway, and if I am worried about the environment, I can buy NiMH AAA batteries (with the security of knowing that alkalines are readily available). Friday, August 09, 2002
Here is an interesting, partial, but probably accurate history of Micro$oft. Unfortunately the Blogger software I am using for this is not very Opera-friendly, so I am in MSIE6 at the moment :-(
I have been using LifeBalance for two months now and find that I am spending time every day fiddling with the program rather than doing the tasks it lists. Should I give up and go back to ToDo+? No, I still love the way that LifeBalance puts gentle pressure on you to do the things you have been shying away from by moving them up your to-do list. Thursday, August 08, 2002
As a birthday present to myself back in May I bought a fancy flip cover from www.paralleldesign.com and it has broken already. Well, not broken exactly, but the small ridge of plastic which acts as a sort of brake to stop it flipping open too easily has broken off. Not impressed.
Have you downloaded the latest version of Palm Desktop (4.1) yet? I am slightly embarrassed to admit that my favourite feature is the
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