We just got an interesting (and to our twisted view, amusing) announcement from Belgian software developer AIM Productions. According to the announcement AIM’s products had been distributed through Handango, but because of a new “family-friendly” policy, AIM’s products will no longer be available through Handango.

Now, family-friendliness entering the handheld world is, itself, newsworthy, but what makes this entire story terribly amusing (again, just because we’re twisted) is that AIM is using Handango’s services to provide its own online store. As a result, although AIM’s products have been banned from Handango’s store, AIM will be distributing their products through a service provided by Handango.

For the record, we don’t know all that much about AIM’s products (not through righteousness or anything, we just weren’t paying attention in class that week), and have enjoyed our interactions with the folks at Handango. Even so, the irony is precious. Hey, AIM, send us some stuff. Maybe we’ll review it. — DG

Phonex Broadband TM Corporation unveiled a new addition to its NeverWire product line–the NeverWire USB with sleek wall-mount design. The NeverWire USB provides a USB connection from the PC to the home electrical outlet. By placing a second NeverWire device into another electrical outlet in the home, an instant powerline data network is formed. Customers can share a broadband connection, share files, share printers, or play games with broadband speed.

Neoware Systems and privately-held Pericom Holdings PLC announced that Neoware has acquired the host access software product line and the business currently operated under the name Pericom Software for approximately $9.8 million in cash. Under the terms of the acquisition, Neoware has acquired all assets of the software business, including intellectual property and technology, customer lists, customer contracts and distribution channels, and a non-competition agreement. Neoware expects to retain the employees involved in the software business, which will be operated as Neoware’s Host Access business unit through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Neoware Systems, Inc. The new operation is expected to be profitable immediately following the transaction.

We’ve long been aware of a fine software publisher, Casady & Greene. They’ve been in business for 19 years, originally as an independent Mac publisher and more recently a provider of Windows software. Sadly, the company is closing down. We’re posting this to tell the C&G folks that they’ll be missed and that they should be proud of the fine work they’ve done over all these years. Nicely done, folks. Sorry to see you go.

Palm celebrates the American spirit this week by posting the Palm OS application Solidarity on its homepage for free download. Palm handheld users may download the color application, which features the American flag and the option to play “America the Beautiful,” “God Bless America,” or “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Solidarity works on any Palm branded handheld–even grayscale models. It can be beamed and received by any Palm handheld, and the application keeps a count of how many times it has been beamed since you downloaded it. Since its creation in 2001, Solidarity has been downloaded by more than 14,000 Palm handheld users and beamed to countless additional thousands.

Pen&Internet, LLC and Seiko Instruments USA, Inc., developer of InkLink Handwriting System, announced a co-marketing agreement to offer riteMail to Seiko Instruments USA, Inc., customers. Under the partnership, Pen&Internet is introducing a new version of riteMail for Windows, which supports the Seiko InkLink file format and instant data input.

Air2Web’s 2Notify Solution is powering Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle Wireless Sweepstakes being offered by Cinguar, Sony Ericsson, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. The TXT 4 Thrills Sweepstakes is running in conjunction with the worldwide release of the film which opened on Friday, June 27, 2003. Cingular customers have the opportunity to win one of thousands of prizes every time they send a text message to short code ANGELS (264357). The contest runs through July 31, 2003. Prizes include a 2003 Maserati Spyder.

For those of you curious about why you couldn’t place orders in the ZATZ Online Store, we’re done with the next round of upgrades and the store’s back online. Go forth and buy stuff.

It looks like most of the new rendering code is now working (yay!) although there are still some bugs we’re hunting down. For example, even though we’re running July’s content, the home pages of the magazines still insist we’re displaying the June issues. Weird, but it’ll be fixed shortly. As Hannibal Smith once said, “I love it when a plan comes together.”

We’re doing an upgrade to the ZENPRESS rendering code. After more than five years of use and updating, our core code got kinda “crufty,” so we’ve been working for the past few weeks on a rewrite and began generating pages using the new code this weekend. As you’ll no doubt notice, there are some holes, which we intend to fix over the next few days. There are over 500 routines that have been cleaned up, rewritten, deleted, or consolidated and when you’ve got that much code, there’s bound to be some residual gunk that’s got to be found and removed.