.KEYWORD travel
.FLYINGHEAD TRAVELER’S SURVIVAL GUIDE
.TITLE Traveling with your Palm organizer
.FEATURE
.SUMMARY If you travel with your PalmPilot, especially if you travel to other countries, you owe it to yourself to read this incredibly helpful article from contributing editor Bob Freud. In this detailed article, Bob provides some handy "dos" and "don’ts" (you’d be surprised at the simple mistakes that could derail your entire trip!), helps us find the coolest add-on hardware that will make the trip easier, and even helps us understand the language like a native. Bon Voyage!
.AUTHOR Bob Freud
A friend of mine, in an attempt to recapture some of his youth, got himself a Triumph TR7. It is an incredible car, full of attention to detail. While it handles very well around town, it really shines when he takes it out on the road. The same could be said for my Palm III. Veteran of numerous short trips and an extended sojourn to China last summer, my Palm III is always one the first items on my packing list.
The whole point of the Palm III is that you leave your home or office but still have information with and computing tools with you. Many Palm III users spend a lot of time traveling, often in foreign countries. This article suggests some tips and makes some software and hardware recommendations to make your trips more productive and enjoyable.
.H1 Nothing new
Don’t install new software right before leaving on a trip. Otherwise, there is a good chance that the interesting program you just downloaded will cause you to do have to do a hard reset and erase all your data while you are en route from Frankfurt to Poznan. My own rule of thumb is that nothing new gets added to my Palm III for at least two (and better three) weeks before a trip. I have learned this lesson the hard way. Maybe I do need two Palm IIIs.
.H1 Backup to avoid the blues
Backup your Palm device frequently and learn how to do a remote HotSync. A remote HotSync will let you restore the data to your basic applications over a modem. You’ll need to teach someone in your office or home how to turn on your computer and set it up for a remote HotSync, but if your data is lost and you won’t be back home for several weeks, you will be glad you took the time to do this.
.H1 PilotMail
Consider using the services of PilotMail while you are away. PilotMail
provides a convenient way to access your email just by doing a modem HotSync from your hotel room. There are other ways to get your email, but this solution has worked well for me.
.H1 Bring a battalion of batteries
Bring several sets of AAA batteries with you. You may not need to change batteries while your are away, but few things are as annoying as not being able to HotSync because of low battery power.
.H1 Be prepared with a paper clip
For people who don’t have a Palm III stylus, paper clips are a must! If your unit locks up, sometimes the only way to reset is by doing a soft or hard reset, which requires a paper clip. A useful PalmPower tip which appeared a few weeks back suggested that users tape a paper clip to the back of the Palm device for handy access in the event of a reset.
.H1 Go fax yourself!
If no printer is available and you need a hard copy, use the useful traveler’s standby of faxing a document from your Palm III to yourself in your hotel.
.H1 Modem add-ons
If you plan to send email from your Palm device, you will probably be using a Pilot Modem. This modem will do you very little good if you cannot plug it in to an outlet in your hotel room or when you are in non data-friendly airports. Frequent travelers should consider getting themselves a device called an acoustic coupler. An acoustic coupler uses the telephone handset to connect a computer with a network. An acoustic coupler connection is not as reliable a normal modular telephone connection but in a situation where you cannot plug a modem in directly to a phone line it is very useful. The Telefast Plus acoustic coupler from Teleadapt, shown in Figure A, also contains a handset so that you can make sure you are dialing correctly. Email driven road and jet plane warriors should make a point of checking out Teleadapt’s US or UK site for a range of products to assist with connectivity in around the world.
.FIGPAIR A Here’s a picture of the Teleadapt coupler.
With an acoustic coupler you also need not worry about plugging your unit into digital phone systems, which are capable of frying your analog Palm modem. In addition, you can use it to connect from almost any phone that you will come across while traveling. I have successfully used one to download my email from a hotel room in Shanghai and a public pay phone in Canton (Guangzhou), China. Although you may attract some attention as you strap the device onto whichever phone you have chosen, what is connectivity worth to you? The acoustic coupler is also another fun addition to your James Bond toy set.
.H1 Keyboard
A traveler with an external Palm keyboard may be able to leave the heavy laptop at the office. Landware’s GoType keyboard (shown in Figure B) which should be out this month, is a wonderfully compact solution. I had a sneak peak at the other day and a chance to take it for a test drive recently and now I can’t wait to get my own. Although a fuller review will be available in PalmPower soon, I can tell you that the GoType keyboard is quite impressive. It even includes a shortcut key on the keyboard and a holder for the stylus. It is slightly smaller than a standard or Newton keyboard and had a good, sturdy feel when I typed on it . The optional leather case holds a keyboard, a Palm device, and the modem. Slick!
.FIGPAIR B Type on the go with the GoType keyboard.
Why should you bring a keyboard with you? With a keyboard you will be able to wordprocess, as well as connect to email. You can type directly into the Memo Pad and later transfer your documents to Word or any other word processor. Documents which exceed the length Memo Pad can handle can be typed into one of many add-on applications like the QED large document editor. When I don’t have a keyboard with me, I tend to limit the length of my emails or other documents that I create. With a keyboard, I can type comfortably for as long as I need.
As an alternative to the GoType keyboard, it is also possible to use a Newton keyboard and the PiloKey software adapter. The Newton keyboard is a wonderfully comfortable keyboard and Landware will continue to support this solution in the near future. However, Newton keyboards will not be around forever.
.H1 Language
For those who are not gifted linguists, Small Talk from Concept Kitchen can help you get your message across. While the hefty (by Palm software standards) $79.95 price tag may deter some people, Small Talk is a graceful implementation of interesting idea. Small Talk translates what you want to say into the language of the country that you are visiting. It also provides potential answers in the foreign language . People you need to communicate with can read a translation of your question or idea. They can then choose from several potential answers in their language and tap a "translate" button so that you will understand their response.
This seems like 2001 stuff to me. I wondered if Small Talk would work in the real world. Oddly enough, PalmPower’s editor-in-chief, David Gewirtz, was unwilling to fund my trip to Japan to try out the software in action, so I went down to my local gourmet Japanese fish store. I showed the staff the Japanese language introduction to Small Talk and within seconds we were tapping away at each other. Later I explained that I was doing field research for this review and asked the staff’s opinion of the product. They wanted to buy a Palm organizer with Small Talk,of course, and all thought it was genuinely helpful. They were convinced it would really work in Japan, a country in which they explained to me that, "Everybody studies English, but few people feel comfortable speaking it." They also said that the Japanese translation was quite well done–that it was "good Japanese".
Small Talk Deluxe includes English, French, Spanish, German and Italian modules at present. The Japanese language module (shown in Figure C) which I had a sneak peek at, is due to be released very shortly, and will be included in all future versions of the product at no additional cost. Current owners of Small Talk deluxe will be able to download the Japanese language portion of the product without charge once it is available.
.FIGPAIR C Here’s a preview of Small Talk’s Japanese language module.
Another interesting piece of software is LinguaFranca from StandAlone. LinguaFranca’s goals are not as ambitious as Small Talk, but the sticker shock is substantially less, too. LinguaFranca is a phrase book with about 250 phrases in each language, This may or may not contain what you are looking for, but with a little resourcefullness it will help you in many situations. What tickled me about this program is the sheer variety of different languages available. From Arabic through Hawaiian and Yiddish, your choice of 34 of languages is available.
.H1 Conversion utilities
Just how much in American dollars (or any other favorite currency) is that genuine antique ceremonial mask that you’re just dying to buy? The menu price in lire is in the thousands, but how much will the filetti di halibut con funghi you are about to eat really cost you? If it’s three in the afternoon, should you call the office back home or not?
Questions like these can by answered by a number of different pieces of Palm software, but my current favorite is a program called Abroad, shown in Figure D.
.FIG D Going abroad is easy with Abroad.
Abroad contains a suite of three applications: Currency Exchange, Unit Conversion and World Clock. In addition, Abroad contains a database for most countries listing information like currencies, local area codes, and international operator information.
.H1 City and restaurant guides
Although many travelers will want to download information from an on-line city guide, such as http://www.olcg.com, savvy PalmPilot travelers should point their web browsers to http://www.palmtastik.com. This site contains the largest collection of city guides in Doc format as well as large collection of TealMeal databases. TealMeal, shown in Figure E, is a program which contains restaurant databases (up to 1,000 restaurants!) to help you answer every travelers eternal question, "Where can I get a good meal in this town?" It is searchable by category. The adventurous may even use the "Wheel of Food" option to generate an interesting random choice.
.FIG E Find great restaurants with the help of TealMeal.
As G.K. Chesterton might have said: To travel hopefully is better than to arrive. To travel with your Palm organizer is better than to travel without it. Bon Voyage!
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
Acoustic Couplers are available at http://www.teleadaptusa.com/nme/order_solutions.htm.
GoType Keyboard will soon be available at http://www.landware.com.
QED (large Document editor) is available at http://www.visionary2000.com/.
Small Talk is available at http://www2.conceptkitchen.com/products/smalltalk/.
LinguaFranca is available at http://www.standalone.com.
City Guides are available at http://www.palmtastik.com/.
TealMeal is available at http://www.tealpoint.com/.
Abroad is available at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Peaks/9768/Pilot.html.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
.DISCUSS http://www.component-net.com/webx?13@@.ee6c310
