.KEYWORD weirdpqa
.FLYINGHEAD WEB CLIPPING
.TITLE Wacky PQAs that make you wonder
.OTHER
.SUMMARY Kathy Burns has been looking at a lot of Palm Query Applications lately and has discovered that there’s a good number of them that just don’t make sense. In this article, she takes a comical look at some of the weirder PQAs available for you Palm VII series users.
.AUTHOR Kathy Burns
If you read my article "The Best Of The PQAs" in the November issue of PalmPower’s Enterprise Edition at http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200011/bestpqa001.html, you know I’ve been playing with PQAs (Palm Query Applications) recently. With so many hundreds of PQAs cropping up on the scene, it only stands to reason that some might be really strange. I thought it would be fun to list a few of the weirder ones I’ve encountered. These are PQAs that force you to ask yourself, "Who’s this for?"
.H1 Amazon
A PQA called Amazon is the first in our roll call of weird Palm Query Applications. No, this isn’t Amazon the online bookstore, rather it’s Amazon the endangered rainforest. This PQA allows you to view press releases, read fact sheets, and access rainforest reports and publications. Unfortunately, it took several tries before I could get information instead of errors, and in some cases pages didn’t exist at all. If this PQA worked well, it could be appealing to hobbyists and activists, or it could be potentially useful for brief research materials. As a mobile application however, it appears quite useless, and I don’t know of any professions in which immediate anywhere access to rainforest information would be needed. On the plus side, having this information brought to you electronically does conserve paper.
.H1 PlugnPay
I’m putting a PQA called PlugnPay on this list because it’s just so oddly realized. This tool is actually based on a great premise, but as you can see in Figure A, way too much input is expected for a Palm-based application.
.FIG A PlugnPay requires quite a bit of manual input for use on a Palm device.
This product is designed to allow merchants to put order information into their online payment gateway. Unfortunately, it requires all information to be handwritten in, and while there are many blanks to fill, there isn’t a place to include information about the actual product purchased. In addition, the Customer Service link at the bottom does absolutely nothing when tapped. A better implementation of this concept would be to allow merchants to log into their online gateway management area and process orders that are already waiting for them, or allow new order input from a pre-set selection list.
.H1 Cyphotilapia frontosa
Now Cyphotilapia frontosa is a truly weird one in my book. While very nicely designed, as you can see in Figures B, the application is dedicated to a fish I have never heard of.
.FIG B There’s something fishy about a PQA dedicated to Cyphtilapia frontosa.
Apparently there’s a community of people in this world who breed, trade, and sell this fish, and the PQA was created for that community. The various options of this PQA are shown in Figure C.
.FIG C Here’s the layout of the Cyphotilapia frontosa main screen.
It seems quite odd that the information and photos would be available in a mobile application. I doubt that the general Palm public would have a use for this one.
.H1 BeamMP3
BeamMP3 may be weird in my opinion only. I admit that I have yet to figure out what the attraction is for MP3 files, players, and sites, but guess I can understand why other people might. The name of this PQA, however, sadly suggests much more than the PQA actually offers. In reality, if you’ll look at Figure D, you’ll see that all you can do is get a list of MP3 sites (without links) and a list of MP3 player software.
.FIG D BeamMP3 has a very limited set of options.
While MP3 aficionados may find this useful as a type of bookmark resource, I couldn’t divine any other valid use for it.
.H1 Tulix-http
Then there’s Tulix-http. This is a PQA that allows you to input a URL and receive the time it took to connect as well as what Web server software and modules are being run on that site. See Figure E for an example.
.FIG E Here’s the response screen of Tulix-http.
Web-based tools with this functionality are fun for the first few minutes, but I honestly don’t know how this could be useful or interesting to a mobile user. Theoretically, it could be used to monitor a Web server for response time, but even that may be stretching things. [Personally, as a guy with a ton of Web servers, I think this kind of PQA is an early example of a remote monitoring tool I hope to see realized.–DG]
And now for, quite possibly, the weirdest and most useless PQA I have come across to date…
.H1 The ShuttleCAM
A PQA called the ShuttleCAM consists of an entry page and a picture. The program is supposed to allow mobile users access to a live Webcam shot of the space shuttle, but as you can see in Figure F, the picture isn’t even really recognizable.
.FIG F Here’s the live ShuttleCAM picture.
In fact, it’s not even really the space shuttle. It’s an inflatable space shuttle toy hanging in what appears to be somebody’s bedroom. This PQA leaves me with just one thought: Why?
.H1 Car and home buying PQAs
In addition to those listed in this article, I have to mention the car and home buying PQAs. There are quite a few of these available, so I won’t detail each one. However, I’m curious as to what these could realistically be used for. The car and home buying PQAs allow mobile users to search for vehicles and homes for sale on their Palm devices. Now I don’t know about anyone else, but when I’m browsing homes and cars for sale, I want to see pictures. If at all possible, I also want to see floor plans and walk-through tours. Using the mobile applications, you can only retrieve brief information, so what good are they? Maybe it’s just me, but I have a difficult time imagining someone hailing a cab and then sitting in the back seat choosing his or her next new home right from a Palm device.
Finding weird PQAs was more difficult to do than I had originally thought, but I must say, it’s been both enlightening and entertaining. If you haven’t yet taken the time to download some of these applications and try them out, you should do so. Even the weird ones are fun to play with!
Also, if you’ve come across some truly odd Palm Query Applications, be sure to tell us about them on the PowerBoards. Just follow the link below.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Palm Query Applications, visit http://www.palm.net/apps/.
For more information on Amazon, visit http://www.palm.net/apps/users/main/1,1019,,00.html.
For more information on PlugnPay, visit http://pay1.plugnpay.com/palm.html.
For more information on Cyphotilapia frontosa, visit http://frontosa.com.
For more information on BeamMP3, visit http://www.beamshop.com.
For more information on Tulix-http, visit http://www.tulix.com.
For more information on ShuttleCAM, visit http://204.182.115.3/ShuttleCam/ShuttleCam.cgi.
For more information about Palm computers, visit http://www.palm.com.
.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 Kathy Burns has been writing for over 15 years and has columns in a number of publications. Questions, comments and suggestions on her columns are welcome and can be directed to PPENT@palmpilotfiles.com. In addition to writing, Kathy runs a large Palm OS-related Web site. You can browse the site at http://www.palmpilotfiles.com or view additional articles by Kathy at http://www.sasezpublications.com.
.DISCUSS http://powerboards.zatz.com/cgi-bin/webx?50@@.ee6ec9a
