.KEYWORD ppeditorial0800
.FLYINGHEAD FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
.TITLE I have a secret
.DEPT
.SUMMARY Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz has a secret, and he’s not going to share it. At least not yet. In the meantime, he discusses the tools he’s been using that allow him to work from a booth at Friendly’s and momentarily channels Tom Brokaw for a Fleecing of America bit.
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
I have a secret.
Do you remember how it felt to say that as a kid? That curious feeling of pride from knowing something your buddies didn’t; the desire to lord it over them, and, yet, at the same time…that almost unbearable desire to tell them. Then they’d know just how cool the secret was that you were privileged to know.
Well, I have a secret. Actually, I have many secrets, most of which are not at all germane to the topic of Palm devices and would probably be completely inappropriate to tell. But I do have one particular secret in mind right now, and while it’s kinda cool being the editor of a magazine and getting to know the secrets ahead of the general public, I’m not really lording it over anyone. I’m simply stating that I have a secret. And I can’t tell you yet.
But I can tell you that I will tell you. Someday. Someday, maybe even soon. So if you want to know what secret I know (and no, I will absolutely not talk about the second gunman or the real story behind the Roswell weather balloon) go to the PalmPower home page and sign up for the PalmPower tips. Then, sometime soon, as soon as I feel ready to tell you my secret, I’ll send you some email and sing like a canary. Or, maybe you could come back regularly this month and check in on PalmPower…and maybe you’ll learn about the secret. But not now.
‘Cause I know a secret.
.H1 Comments on other topics
Onto other topics, I have a few short takes. First, I’m writing this article at the local Friendly’s restaurant on my Palm V using the Palm Portable Keyboard, and it’s honestly quite usable. Surprisingly so. I mean, I know we’ve already run articles in PalmPower about how great it is. But now I’ve had a chance to use it and I like it. The keys don’t lay exactly flat on the table, and I’d prefer it if the whole keyboard were tilted, but writing is doable on this thing. Kudos to the developers. Your editor-in-chief has spoken. See? When you send me cool toys to play with…you might get some good press! If you have a product you want reviewed in PalmPower, be sure to send email to steve_niles@palmpower.com.
The only thing annoying about the keyboard is really Palm’s fault: I can’t use this thing with all my Palm devices. Since the HotSync interface is different from machine to machine, I need to use either a different keyboard or get The Bridge. But it’s still cool.
Next, I’ve been tinkering with the OmniSky modem and the Palm VII. Both are pretty amazing, although network wireless connections in Central NJ, in a word, suck. Now that the Palm VII has an all-you-can-eat subscription plan, it begins to make more sense as a working tool. One plus of the OmniSky device is that it has a TCP/IP stack, so you can do real browsing. The Palm VII doesn’t. On the other hand, the Palm VII uses much less RAM; the OmniSky is best used on a Palm Vx.
Now, for my last comment of this editorial: the US Navy recently announced that the USS McFaul has bought 115 Palm V devices for use on-board the ship. I applaud the Navy for choosing these very portable and very inexpensive computers. However, I have to wonder whether they could have gotten by with the functionally identical Palm IIIe devices and saved us taxpayers some bucks. Was it really necessary to have the sexier Palm V devices aboard a warship? Couldn’t the ten or twenty thousand tax dollars saved by purchasing the less expensive model been better used elsewhere?
That’s it for now. See ya next month and on the PowerBoards.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on the Palm Portable Keyboard, visit http://www.thinkoutside.com/palm.html.
For more information on the OmniSky modem, visit http://www.omnisky.com.
For more information on The Bridge from Midwest PCB Designs, visit http://www.midwestpcbdesigns.com.
To read Claire Pieterek’s review of The Bridge in the September 1999 issue of PalmPower, visit http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199909/bridge001.html.
.H1 Bulk reprints
Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?13@@.ee6e627
