Welcome to this week's roundup! Let's dive right in and get started with what's new in Palm OS...

Palm OS New:

Apt

Dieter and Mike talked about a great new app during the lastest TreoCast. There is a lot of talking going on about this program, Apt, in the TreoCentro forums. Apt replaces much or all of the functionality of: button launchers, profile managers, screen configuration utilities, general utilities and many more, as well as having loads of other amazing features never before seen on Palm OS.

Here are just a few uses for Apt:

• set IR always off except in apps where you need to beam
• have on-screen graffiti only where you need it (it can get in the way other places)
• turn off those annoying system sounds, except for in your speaking dictionary app
• keep prying eyes away from particular apps, but access them quickly yourself
• have different colour themes for different apps
• change your hotsync name and keep using those apps registered with the old name
• calls up your most-used apps and functions extremely quickly
• different macros for differet programs
• launch apps extremely quickly by letter. Just start writing whenever a field does not have focus (see 'list menu' above).
• enable all apps that require it after a soft reset
• dim brightness slowly down in some apps to save energy when you're not using them. As soon as you tap, restore brightness to normal.
• scroll with pen strokes either in a fixed position or anywhere on the screen
• use your 5-way navigator with older games that only read hard keys usually.
• disable buttons when you don't want your palm accidentally turned on
• make a little diagonal stroke in the corner of the screen to rotate it
• call up different applications depending which SD card you insert
• setup a 'loop' of applications: use the same button to cycle through the applications in the loop.
• clear a fields text with a single swipe through the middle
• have a star menu with your most used apps always on the 5-way navigator and the most recent apps handy below
• turn on onscreen graffiti when command bar comes up, turn off when it's gone
• I could go on and on…

Whoa! That is one sweet app to have on your Treo! You ought to check it out! Apt Lite is a Free version. You can get the full version for GBP 10 (10 British Pounds).

Rampart Illustrated First Aid Guide v1.0

Do you know what to do if your child is choking, or how to tell if a loved one is having a heart attack or stroke? How do you revive a drowning victim, or help someone suffering from heat stroke? These and hundreds of other questions are answered in the Rampart Illustrated First Aid Guide by Rampart Games.

Well organized and easy to use, the guide containes step-by-step instructions for handling all sorts of emergencies: breathing, cardiac, injuries, burns, poisonings and much, much more, and with lists of worldwide emergency telephone and poison control center numbers, it makes an indispensable gift for parents, grandparents, family and friends.

Did You Know?
The best way to remove the stinger from an insect bite is by scraping the skin with a credit card, pulling the stinger out can actually release more venom.

To read the Rampart Illustrated First Aid Guide on your Palm, you must first have eReader installed. If you don't already have it, it is widely available for free on the Internet. Then, use your desktop software to install the guide to your handheld, and start eReader. It's that easy!

Features:

• Symptoms of over eighty medical emergencies
• Treatment instructions for each emergency
• Numerous illustrations including CPR, Heimlich maneuver, using an AED
• and poisonous snakes, spiders and plants
• Disaster preparedness including earthquakes, floods, wildfires, hurricanes,
• tornados and tsunamis
• Lists of worldwide emergency telephone numbers and poison control center numbers
• Items to include in a home and travel first aid kit
• The ability to bookmark pages, automatically save your place, and change text sizes and colors.

This really sounds like a useful program and could come in handy for quick access to vital information.

Get it here for just $9.95.

Ringtones Deluxe 250 Volume 4! v1.0

Ringtones Deluxe Volume 4, by AIM Productions, is the latest in the series, with over 250 high-quality realtones and notification sounds for your phone, including over 100 VOICE realtones of all styles: business, funny, cartoon, scifi,weird, fantasy, horror.... Let your Phone/PDA come to life with and impress your friends and family with these unique realtones!

All sounds are exclusive material, recorded and mixed in the studio with the highest possible quality and perfectly sized for your device!

The sounds can be used for individual and global ringtones, alarms, reminders, new email, new sms, new mms, new instant message, new voice message and all other customizable notifications.

With this original collection of 250 high quality ringtones, your phone will sound absolutely fabulous! Stand out of the crowd and personalize your phone with Ringtones Deluxe Volume 4!

Features:

• free super easy ringtone browser for your PC!
• The sounds can be used for individual and global ringtones, alarms, reminders, new email, new sms, new mms, new instant message, new voice message and all other customisable event sounds.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

• ALL Windows Mobile Pocket PC & Smartphones
• Most of the recent Palm devices (capable of playing realtones*)
• Most of the recent Symbian devices (capable of playing realtones*)
• Most of the recent RIM devices (capable of playing realtones*)

With people paying for ringtones, this package actually sounds very complete and fun!

Get it here for $19.99.

Webbie v1.0

Webbie, by Handcase, is a suite of 10 programs integrated in an only interface with Photologs, Blogs, Newsgroup, Murals, Videologs, WebSites, Foruns, Searches and Notations. With it it is possible to organize all the information on the communication channels of web. With it is possible organize and remember the update of its Blog.

Features:

• 10 programs integrated in an only interface

2Cool4U v1.0

Speed up your work with one of the most matured contact applications for Palm/Treo/Centro. Impress your friends with 2Cool4U, by MetaViewSoft.

What is 2Cool4U?

A new way to access your contact list: a thumb-orientated user interface with a the amazing slide-and-scroll feature and full keyboard support for very fast contact access.

To have the contact pictures displayed, please install the pnoJpegLib.prc, which is included inside the zip-file.

Features:

• Wipe through your contacts list with your thumb/stylus.
• Press a key and have it jump directly to the first matching contact, use incremental search to filter your list of contacts.
• Tap the contact entry and be able to easily choose all numbers with your thumb/stylus.
• Have special buttons to call up the browser, email or message app.
• Full-text search in the whole contact list.
• Display SIM contacts in your contact list.
• Export your contacts as CSV to your memory card.
• Some eye-catching skins are also included
• Have an organized access to your call history.

Get it here for $15.00.

Softick Audio Gateway v1.21

Softick Audio Gateway: Listen Palm wirelessly! Softick Audio Gateway, by Softick, is the first Bluetooth audio streaming solution for Palm OS handhelds which allows to connect Palm OS handheld to the Bluetooth stereo headphones and listen to digital audio played by Palm OS applications: MP3 players, audio book readers, games - and has been updated to version 1.21.

Softick Audio Gateway can operate with any Bluetooth audio device which supports Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) designed to transfer a high-quality stereo audio stream wirelessly.

Softick Audio Gateway captures digital audio from Palm OS audio subsystem and redirects it to the Bluetooth A2DP device: stereo headphones, desktop PC, car audio or A2DP speakers.

Features:

• Advanced Audio Distribution Profile support (A2DP)
• Audio/Video Remote Control Profile support (AVRCP)
• High quality stereo streaming, up to 304Kbps audio bitrate
• Wide-range players and audio software compatibility
• Easy setup and usage Support for Mono and Stereo sound stream
• Automatic upsampling/downsampling depending on blueooth headset capabilities
• Built-in audio post filter to improve low bitrate audio quality

Sounds like A2DP made easy!

Get it here for $19.95.

Lightspeed v3.1

clievideo has updated its Lightspeed to version 3.1.

Lightspeed lets you change the CPU clock frequency of your Palm OS 5 device.
Overclock and increase Performance!
Underclock and increase Battery Life!

These settings can be changed individually for each software application.

For processor intensive applications - such as Games, Emulators, Image Viewers, Movie Players, Database applications, Map Viewers, 3D Graphic Renderers etcetera - the CPU clock can be set as high as possible to maximize the system performance and user experience.

For less processor intensive applications - such as PIM applications, Launchers, Ebook readers etcetera - the CPU clock can be set as low as possible to maximize the battery life!

The different CPU clock settings have been tested thoroughly with each of the supported devices. The possible settings in Lightspeed are the ones that have been found very stable during testing and are somewhat different depending which of the supported devices Lightspeed is used with.

Lightspeed supports virtually all Palm OS 5 devices. Clocking support exists for multiple processor types - Intel XScale, Texas Instruments OMAP, i.MX1/i.MXL and Samsung processors.

New in this version:

• Performance optimizations in the code that changes the CPU speed. Changing the CPU speed now takes considerably less time!
• User preference added which decides action taken at device wakeup.
• GUI updated for Zire31, Z21 and Z22 devices.
• Minor device specific changes related to icon drawing in the list of applications.

Supe up your mobile device!

Get it here - Standard License is $14.95 and a Lifetime License is $24.95.

Initiate 3.56 beta

Hobbyist Software has updated its Initiate to version 3.56 BETA.

Initiate 3.56 is now in beta. It fixes an old and annoying bug. A very few folks have been posting about problems with applications failing to stay in the right initiate category, but until now I have never been able to replicate the problem.

Now one of the forum folks managed to get me a copy of device with this problem and it should be finally fixed!

So if your apps have been jumping, get Initiate 3.56!

Initiate Fast, Powerful launcher, with fantastic extra features

Initiate offers most of the useful features from launchers that cost much more. And it offers a host of features that you won't find in any other launcher. Features like Type To Search, Contact integration and Views. You can try it for free until the nags wear you down!

Features:

• Incredibly fast search (including SmartSearch)
• Launch applications
• Launch applications from the sd card
• Category Support
• Drag and drop capability
• Sd card support
• File Management (Beam, Rename, Sd-Ram,Delete)
• Jpeg Backgrounds, Skinning, Customise Colors
• Views & Favourites
• Open Contacts in preferred contact application
• (Initiate Pro Only) Launch Calls
• (Initiate Pro Only) Launch E-Mails
• (Initiate Pro Only) Launch SMS
• (Initiate Pro Only) Play Mp3
• (Initiate Pro Only) Open Bookmark
• (Initiate Pro Only) Full Customer Support

Get it here for $9.95 for the Standard edition or $24.95 for the Pro edition

KeyLight 2 v2.3

Fabian Heuwieser has updated his KeyLight 2 to version 2.3.

This program allows you to save batterylife on your Treo 650/680.

About the program:

• Easy to use
• Inexpensive
• Allows you to set the keylight of the keyboard for different programs. Lets say you don't want the keylight to be active in the Launcher, but in the SMS-Manager.

Many other options included, like switch off the keylight during a call, or disable the keylight after a reset
The program also allows you to set a function that the keyboard will flash when you receive a SMS
The keylight can also be enabled through a timer
The new version offers an easy brightness-set option

Not all functions are available in the demoversion. The demoversion runs for 7 days.

Features:

• Works on Treo 680 and 650
• Many new functions for the Treo
• See SMSs and Mails easier through the green LED
• Blinks the Keyboard when a mail or SMS is received
• Set the brightness of the screen easily

I like the option to disable the key lights during said programs.

Get it here for a mere $6.95.

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