Most of us use the Palm device’s serial port every day — but don’t know it. A little-known secret is the HotSync port on the bottom of the Palm device is a standard RS-232 serial port. In this informative article, programming technology editor Alan Jay Weiner shows us how the serial port works and how to write programs that use it. Even if you’re not a programmer, you’ll enjoy learning about what makes the serial port tick.

This month, contributing editor Fredlet shows another great mapping product. This month, Fredlet reviews the interestingly named Quo Vadis, a great tool for finding your way to Grandma’s house (or an important business meeting) using the Palm organizer.

We at PalmPower Magazine believe that wearing big, floppy clown shoes and being a semi-professional clog dancer is ideal preparation for this month’s PalmPower Book of the Month Club column. Our intrepid book editors, Craig Froehle and John Swain, make helpful suggestions of politics-related documents you can download and read on your Palm device. And, unlike our elected politicians in Washington, Craig and John managed to keep the entire discussion out of the bedroom.

The leaves have turned and fallen, the bonfires have turned to ash, and we’ve all had our fill of Thanksgiving turkey. Our thoughts now turn to football, Christmas, and getting the holiday cards out on time. In this helpful article, contributing editor Clair Pieterek shows how you can speed up the latter task by printing labels based on the names in your Palm Address Book.

Every so often an add-on product comes along that seems totally obvious. So obvious, in fact, that you might wonder why Palm Computing didn’t create it themselves. One such product is the GoType keyboard, a device that looks like the strange offspring of a Palm cradle and a laptop keyboard. In this detailed review, our intrepid contributing editor, Fredlet, takes the GoType out for a spin. Should you rush out to buy your very own keyboard? Read Fredlet’s review and find out.

If you’re a golfer (or you have a friend who is), you should read this comprehensive survey of golfing goodies for the Palm organizer. Golfing enthusiast Fred Cox looks at software for managing game play, wagering, and scoring, plus two very interesting hardware add-ons that mount your Palm device to a golf cart. If you want to win your next game, read this article.

Welcome to the December 1998 issue of PalmPower Magazine. Amazingly, this issue marks the completion of our first year of publishing PalmPower! And what a year it’s been. In this heartwarming, holiday editorial, Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz talks briefly about the first year of publishing PalmPower and then shares an uplifting story about how members of the Palm user community come together and help each other. Happy holidays to all!

Jeff Carlson, author of the Palm III & PalmPilot Visual QuickStart Guide, clocks in with another very helpful article. In this immediately useful article, Jeff helps you get the most out of the built-in Date Book application. There are some little-known, top-secret tips in here that you’ll be able to use right away to save time and help make you much more productive.

If you make lots of phone calls for business, eventually you’ll need to keep track of who you called, who you need to call back, and on whose machine you left 9,247 voicemail messages. In this detailed product shootout, Ted Casey examines a number of Palm built-in and add-on products in search for the ideal call management solution.

Some people love their Palm devices so much, it’s almost like they wear their hearts on their sleeves. Now it’s possible to wear your Palm organizer on your sleeve. In this helpful article, contributing editor Claire Pieterek reviews the Peel-It and Outrigger Palm cases. Both allow you to strap your Palm device to your sleeve and wear it like an oversized wrist watch.