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Talkin' Treo
Fri Mar 3, 2006 - 12:26 PM EST - By Annie Latham

Week ending 3 March 2004

Mobifest Seeks Tiny �Shorts�

Oscar-nominated �shorts� were screened in New York City last weekend, giving moviegoers a rare opportunity to see the nominees prior to the 78th Academy Awards� telecast on Sunday, March 5. This was also great news for filmmakers who had their work viewed by a much bigger audience.

Now imagine if your short film could be seen by millions of viewers via their Treo, cell phone, smartphone and other handheld devices. That seems to be where Palm Canada is going with Mobifest, which was announced this week. This is Canada�s first mobile film festival. The producers are looking for extremely short films (maximum running time is 60 seconds). Filmmakers have until the end of April to get their submissions in.

One of the entries already featured at the Mobifest site is "Brokeback Chicken", a timely spoof of Oscar-nominated �Brokeback Mountain". Official rules are available at www.mobifest.ca. There is no limit to the number of entries per person. Winners will be announced on May 17.


And the winner is� Treo!

According to Canadian research company Brandimensions, Treo scored 3.61 out of five for customer satisfaction compared with BlackBerry's 3.31. Their methodology included scouring almost 100 net forums, blogs and discussion boards to assess product buzz. According to a published report, �The survey may signal trouble for RIM, which sold 645,000 BlackBerrys last quarter compared with Treo's 602,000.�

"BlackBerry seems to be lagging behind," the Brandimensions report's author Mark de Paoli says.

According to FTN Midwest Research, RIM's share of the market for handheld communicators may drop to 50 per cent by 2010, down from 71 per cent.


BlackBerry Switch May Be Expensive

There were two stories that appeared this week, one in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) and the other in eWeek that talked about how much it would cost per user, for a company to switch wireless-email service from BlackBerry to other devices. The number being kicked around is $844 per user, according to a report by Telwares, a telecommunications consulting firm. They surveyed 17 Fortune 500 companies across a range of industries (financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing).
Not only are corporate IT managers losing patience with RIM�s ongoing legal battles, but is seems that the federal judge at last week�s hearing was as well. �The case should have been settled but it hasn�t,� said Judge Spencer, of U.S. District Court. He also noted that the battle has put �a cloud over RIM�s business.�


But it�s Not All Love & Roses for Treo Users

Over at ZDNet, David Berlind talks about Treo horror stories in his blog. But what he�s referencing is a previous blog entry that focused on the Treo 700w (�� marred by flaws�). Too bad the headline lumped all Treos together.

Anyway, the review and comments by MobileTrax�s Gerry Purdy are worth reading. For example, ��If Palm had introduced the Treo 700w first and then introduced the Treo 650 later, most people would conclude that the Treo 650 was a significant improvement over the 700w.� I�m sure that�ll put smiles on the faces of Treo 650 users.� Click here to read Gerry�s complete review.

By the way, the �horror story� saga continues in a subsequent blog entry by Berlind.


Palm News: A Good Corporate Story

On Monday, Palm announced that employees at Ariba are using Palm Treo Smartphones and Good Technology�s Goodlink wireless messaging system for real-time connectivity to customers and colleagues while away from the office.

According to the release, �Treo smartphones can be quickly and cost-effectively connected to Ariba's network and easily maintained on an ongoing basis. Employees can be up and running in 10 to 15 minutes; and if an employee leaves the company, or if the device is lost or stolen, the IT group can disable the device and remotely wipe it clean in minutes using Good Technology's Secure Over-The-Air (Secure OTA(TM)) feature.�

Today, the Treo and GoodLink solution has been deployed in more than 8,000 organizations around the world.


And Palm Executives Are Speaking to the Financial Community

On Thursday, March 2, Palm�s senior vice president for worldwide marketing, Ken Wirt, presented at the RBC Capital Markets M-Evolution Conference in New York City. The 30-minute presentation will be available via audio webcast for 30 days.

On Monday, March 6, Palm's chief financial officer, Andrew Brown, will be presenting at Morgan Stanley's Annual Semiconductor & Systems Conference at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point, Calif. The 45-minute presentation will begin at 11:15 a.m. PST. The audio webcast will be available for 30 days.

Palm to Showcase Treo Smartphones and Wireless Palm Handhelds to Government and Civilian Agencies at the Federal Office Systems Expo (FOSE)

Next week, Palm will be demonstrating enterprise-strength mobiles solutions using Treo smartphones and Palm wireless handhelds at the FOSE show (March 7-9). The emphasis will be on security, communications, data access and continuity of operations. Palm�s solutions partners will be showing a range of tools that include: enterprise-wide wireless email, security-management software for real-time communication across the chain of command, and communication tools for emergency responders.


Elsewhere in the World of Palm...

Listen to your Palm Wirelessly with the Softick Audio Gateway

This week, Softick announced the availability of the Softick Audio Gateway, the first Bluetooth audio streaming solution for Palm OS handhelds. It allows you to connect your Treo 650 or other Palm OS handheld to Bluetooth stereo headphones and listen to digital audio played by Palm OS applications.

Softick Audio Gateway implements Bluetooth Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP), which defines the distribution of high quality audio content, in either mono or stereo modes.

"I finally can throw away A2DP dongle and connect my Treo 650 to Plantronics Pulsar 590A and enjoy high quality music on the road. I hate wires �said Dmytro Pohromskyy, a Softick founder and developer.


Earthcomber wants to be the Treo 700w User�s Personal Navigator

Treo 700w users now have a new way to shop, travel, and comb the surrounding area for anything they want, anywhere they are. This week, Earthcomber touted as �the ultimate personal navigator� the availability of their free service for Windows Mobile users.

The power of Earthcomber is its unique exploration ability. Unlike search-box style, web-dependent mobile search programs, Earthcomber�s trademark and patent-pending service lets people set up and automate the equivalent of �play lists,� and then searches constantly for vast and diverse personal interests as the user moves around the local landscape or distant destinations.. It works with or without a GPS receiver.

The new Windows Mobile version of Earthcomber includes a point-to-point direction feature that requires a phone or Internet connection. Earthcomber makes it easy to connect from a mobile device via the "WiFi hotspot location" data set included with every Earthcomber map.

If you want to learn more about Earthcomber, check out this article by AP�s Brian Westley, and look for our review of The PalmOS version of Earthcomber, online shortly.

SanDisk Doubles Capacity of Innovative USB-Flash Memory Combo Card

The radically cool and popular folding SD Plus Card (which eliminates the need for a separate USB card reader) just got bigger. This week, SanDisk introduced a 2-gigabyte (GB) SanDisk Ultra � II SD � Plus card, that doubles capacity of its award-winning storage card that combines USB connectivity and flash memory storage. The card looks and functions like a typical SD card and its high speed makes it ideal for digital cameras, camera phones and digital video cameras. Folding the unique card in half reveals a high-speed USB 2.0 connector that plugs into any USB port. 512MB and 1GB versions are currently available. The 2gb version of the SanDIsk Ultra II Plus SD will be available in June. It is expected to retail for $134.99.

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NoviiRemote Now Available for the Treo 700w

NoviiMedia, software developer for handhelds and smartphones, announced that their best-selling NoviiRemote Deluxe for Palm and NoviiRemote Deluxe for PPC software is now compatible with the recently released Palm Z22 and Treo 700w, respectively. This new technology allows the PDA user to get control over their home entertainment system by means of NoviiRemote applications.

With Novii�s remote control software a Treo 700w user can now have a powerful and versatile, high-end universal remote control. The NoviiRemote Deluxe for Palm and PPC features unlimited user-defined options, allowing the consumer to design his own remote control and operate all of his home entertainment equipment with a few taps of the stylus, or hold your Palm like a normal remote and punch its onscreen buttons with your fingers.

Yet Another �Skin� for the 700w
RhinoSkin has unveiled a new case for the Treo 700w that �protects as well as it looks.� Treo 700 Leather Flipcase (00619) sells for $34.95.

Talkin� Treo Follow-up � Part 1
Following up to last week�s entry (Treo 650 Community is Talkin�), there are several new installments in the series Chris Leckness is doing (at Mobilitysite.com) on giving the Treo 650 a shot over other Windows Mobile devices.
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7

Talkin� Treo Follow-up � Part 2

I STILL want my MobiTV�for baseball. I can�t wait until the season starts to see what kind of MLB package they�ll offer this year.

That�s a wrap for this week�s Talkin� Treo!



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