Earthcomber has created Spot Guides, the free technology that incorporates maps and personal favorites with traditional travel, reference, and other mainstream publications. Among the first offerings are city guides from Mobil Travel Guide (the company’s first venture into mobile publishing) and Avalon Publishing’s Moon Metro series. Spot Guides run on Palm OS phones and PDAs, and provide location sensing and area searching with or without GPS. Versions for Windows Mobile, cell phones, and BlackBerry devices are in production.

With so many DVDs featuring letterbox or wide-screen versions of films, consumers’ fascination with larger screen sizes is changing the size and shape of the laptop industry, stated an IDC report. But are consumers ready to lug around a 20-inch laptop? Displays measuring 15-inches and 17-inches on the diagonal–once considered too big to carry around–are now among the more popular versions. Even larger screen sizes are in the pipeline. Samsung has already shown its upcoming 19-inch laptop, expected to ship later this year. And, LG Philips is also touting its 20-inch LCD displays for laptops.

Cingular Wireless is bringing mobile email to the masses. The company announced that it will offer email and instant messaging from America Online, Yahoo, and MSN on cell phones. Using a downloadable email client powered by OZ Communications that converts the email into a format that can be seen on the small screen, Cingular subscribers can access their personal email from their phones. Unlike other email services targeted at business customers that require expensive devices, such as Research In Motion’s BlackBerry or Palm’s Treo, Cingular customers will be able to use less expensive cell phones from Cingular’s current line-up.

Apple Computer faced a lawsuit that alleged the company knew its nano portable music player was defective but still decided to press on with the product’s release last month. The credit card-sized nano, which replaced the best-selling iPod mini and is smaller than the traditional iPod, met with rave reviews. But users quickly started grumbling on Internet message boards that the device’s screen scratches too easily.

Palm announced that PHT Corporation, one of its leading clinical trials customers, is using 1,500 Palm Treo 650 smartphones to collect and wirelessly transmit self-reported data from subjects using PHT’s customized LogPad application in clinical trials across the globe. PHT plans to roll out the initial set of smartphones over a six-month period for use during a series of clinical trials.

Educators attending T+L2 (Technology, Leadership & Learning) Wednesday through Friday at the Colorado Convention Center will get a first look at the new Palm TX handheld from Palm. Sponsored by the National School Boards Association, the annual T+L2 conference is expected to draw thousands of school and district administrators, school board members, curriculum directors and teachers.

Nomadix and Hotel Wireless announced completion of WiFi deployments at Reno’s El Dorado Hotel & Casino, Silver Legacy Hotel & Casino, and Circus Circus Hotel & Casino. The deployments cover over 4,200 guest rooms and 15 restaurants, as well as lobbies, business centers, and over 150,000 square feet of convention and meeting room space across 5-6 aggregated city blocks.

PN Technologies announced RS232 Serial Cable support for Palm Tungsten TX with the PDCT5-M9-6 serial cable. This is significant news for anyone purchasing a Palm Tungsten TX computer, since there are a large number of serial devices that can be readily connected with a RS232 Serial Cable. The PDCT5-M9-6 is the most sleek and compact unit on the market, matched by none in its clean design and rugged construction.

The PetsCell is a waterproof, two-way voice enabled GPS cell phone, with its own private number that clips onto the pets collar. With geo-fence capabilities and an ambient temperature sensor, pet owners can have peace of mind that their most treasured of companions are safe, comfortable and secure. The idea is simple, if the pet is wandering the street and a person finds the pet, they can press the “call owner” button on the PetsCell and it will auto-dial the owners phone. The owner can then speak with the person and make arrangements to pick up the pet. With the geo-fence activated, the owner will be automatically alerted if their pet leaves the designated yard either by, e-mail, text message or voice message to their land line or cell phone.

Microsoft confirmed that devices running its newest mobile software are unable to connect to a PC in some cases. The software maker said some users of ActiveSync 4, the latest version of Microsoft’s synchronization software, are unable to link up to their PC, particularly on systems running firewall or parental control software. The problem occurs in devices based on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5 operating system, including recently released handhelds from Dell and HP, as well as cell phones from Sprint and iMate.