Metal Styli will no longer be manufacturing styli and will be closing very soon. Prices have all been slashed. These styli won’t be available in the future so if you want one, now’s your chance.

A spokesperson with palmOne’s operations in China announced their representative office in Shanghai has been shut down. The spokesperson confirmed that PalmOne will temporarily withdraw from the Chinese market. palmOne’s frustration in China had something to do with its unfavorable cooperation with Chinese manufacturers.

MTN and Research In Motion announced plans to introduce BlackBerry to mobile subscribers in South Africa. BlackBerry is a wireless communications solution that provides an always-on connection to a wide range of applications including email, phone, intranet, Internet, text messaging and organizer applications. BlackBerry will operate in South Africa on MTN’s GSM/GPRS network.

The security problems that dog modern computing won’t be much different from those that could plague the cyborgs of the future. If humans were networked, the implications of being hacked would be far more serious, and attitudes toward hackers would be radically changed.

Microsoft has a firm grip on the handheld software market, winning the lead in shipments for the first time, a new report from Gartner shows. Shipments of handhelds that use Microsoft’s Windows CE operating system rose by about 33 percent to about 1.4 million in the third quarter, compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, shipments of handhelds that use the Palm operating system shrank by 26 percent to 851,000.

Apparently, AOL is deep-sixing the rest of the Nullsoft/Winamp project. So sad and such a waste.

The winners of the Fourth Annual Pocket PC magazine Best Software Awards have been announced. Over 80 of the Pocket PC magazine Board of Experts judged 581 Windows Mobile products in 100 Pocket PC, Smartphone, and Developer categories to determine finalists and winners.

Good Technology and palmOne report milestone enterprise customer adoption of the Treo 600 and GoodLink combination. In the first year of availability of an integrated GoodLink and Treo wireless messaging solution, more than 3,000 enterprises have selected the combined solution for its superior form factor, intuitive ease of use, manageability and security.

Keyspan announced that its new USB infrared remote control includes support for Apple’s AirPort Express. The Keyspan Express Remote is a convenient infrared remote that enables users to control media applications on a PC or Mac just as they control their TV or VCR. And it can also control Apple’s iTunes over an Airport Express wireless network.

EverNote Corporation’s (previously Pen&Internet) handwriting recognition software has been bundled with Sony’s new Vaio U Ultra Portable PC announced just this week. EverNote’s ritePen allows users to intelligently navigate the tablet’s desktop, write on the full screen in smooth electronic ink — and their handwriting is automatically converted into text and entered into target applications. Built on an advanced handwriting recognition engine, ritePen understands any handwritten style, does not require learning or training, and allows users to write continuously, in whole sentences, automatically segmenting handwriting into words and lines.