Compiled HTML books are growing in number–from manuals and help files to eBooks (including many from Microsoft Press). CHM eBook Reader from MicroOLAP Technologies allows you to view these books on your Pocket PC, with the advantage of supporting full-text searching, bookmarks, and much more. To kick the new year off in style, MicroOLAP Technologies has kindly offered ten copies of CHM eBook Reader to give away, each valued at $14.95 (each copy includes a single user license with a one-year update subscription). To take part in the contest, all you have to do is post a reply in the thread linked to this story stating your favorite book, including both the book’s title and author.

The Picsel Proviewer, a document viewing application that was previously only available for Sony Clie models, is now available for Palm devices. The application is a rich documents viewer that supports many image formats, Microsoft Office files, html, and PDF files. Compatibility with the Palm LifeDrive, Treo 650, Tungsten E, and the Palm TX is listed on the company site.

eMagin Corp. has developed a wearable headset system that plugs into Apple Computer’s portable media device and displays video in front of one eye, using optical technology designed to give the picture a higher resolution and make it appear larger than on the iPod’s screen. Scheduled to debut in the first half of this year, the EyeBud is expected to retail for as much as $599–$200 more than the cost of a 60-gigabyte iPod. But eMagin’s executives are betting that the notion of a virtual big screen will win people over. With the proximity of the screen to the eye, and the magnifying effect of the company’s optical technology, the company says that using the headset is akin to watching a 105-inch display from 12 feet away.

City News, a just-the-facts wire service that covered Chicago’s cops and courts 24 hours a day, seven days a week for more than 100 years, was about to file its last story on Saturday night. As they waited for the bulletin to appear, more than 100 current and former City News staffers crowded into the Billy Goat Tavern, a nearby bar popular with journalists ever since it opened in 1934, one year after Prohibition ended. Yellow crime-scene tape hung from the Billy Goat’s ceiling, substituting for black crepe. Against the wall, the mourners draped a banner bearing the wire’s hard-bitten motto: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” The shuttering of City News comes as the newspaper industry grapples with the challenges posed by the Internet, which has transformed the way consumers get information and turned upstarts like Google Inc. into feared rivals. Indeed, the Tribune Co., the wire’s owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune, said it was closing the wire and laying off its 19 employees, in part because competitors were using it to get news to readers hours before the Tribune published its paper editions.

The Britannica Concise Encyclopedia 2006 Handheld Edition, with nearly 25,000 entries ideally suited for PDAs, covers key topics that you encounter everyday, such as Arts, Business, Geography, History, Literature, Medicine, Philosophy, Politics, Science, Sports, and more. Key features include full-color cover page, storage card compatibility, multiple entry search, 2,305 photos, maps and illustrations, adjustable font sizes and styles, cross reference links, and more. A Palm version is available as well.

While 2005 will be forever seen as the year the US government managed to keep unilateral control of the Internet, everyone failed to notice a related change that will have far greater implications for everyday Internet users and for the Internet itself. That change will see greater state-controlled censorship on the Internet, reduce people’s ability to use the Internet to communicate freely, and leave expansion of the Internet in the hands of the people least capable of doing the job. It is also another example of where the US government’s control has–in real, verifiable terms–had a direct, unchecked impact on the Internet, despite constant assurances that it takes only a benevolent and passive role. And it has come as a result of the US administration’s hugely controversial decision to invade Iraq.

Photo Contacts Pro is a contact, ring tone, phone profile, call filter and photo caller ID manager for your Pocket PC. This full-featured contact manager lets you assign distinctive ring tones to contacts and contact categories on your Pocket PC phone. Intelligently add photographs to your contacts then browse, create, and edit your contacts with photographs utilizing the four intelligent contact browsing views. Photo Contacts Pro also lets you send email, SMS messages, and share photos with other users.

MobiTV, a live internet television service for mobile devices, is now available for the Palm TX handheld and the Treo 600. The service allows you to watch live TV anywhere with a WiFi or wireless connection. The Palm TX version features 12 channels, including ESPN, Fox News, C-SPAN and the Weather channel. The version for Treos supports over 20 channels.

BlackBerry email service provider Research In Motion said on Friday the U.S. patent office has ruled against two more NTP patents in their fight over the popular service. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued “non-final actions” rejecting claims for two NTP patents involved in the dispute with RIM, which has faced a shutdown of its service in the United States, RIM said.

Google’s search features will be included within the Opera Mini, a new browser for cell phones due next month from Norway-based Opera Software SSA. The one-year agreement with Google, unveiled Thursday, also calls for Google to be the default search engine for Opera Mobile, a cell phone Web browser now available from Opera.