Palm Boulevard reports Skyscape has inked a deal with Pearson Prentice Hall to bring nearly 50 medical and nursing references to the Skyscape handheld platform. According to the article, “In the initial stages of this eight-year partnership, Skyscape said it will introduce some of the most popular Pearson Prentice Hall titles to PDAs, such as Photoguide for Nursing Skills; Prentice Hall Nursing Drug Guide 2003; Drug Guide for Paramedics; Pocket Reference for EMT-B First Responder; Hogan Series/Prentice Hall Reviews and Rationales in Nursing.”

Elegant Algorithms announced the public beta release of FlyZip XR 2.5 with ARM-native support and unique functionality of memory card usage. Using speed mode on Palm OS 5 device Tungsten T, the compression/decompression speed is close to 1Mbyte/sec for typical applications or even exceeds 1.7Mbyte/sec for selected applications. Advanced functionality of memory card, using FlyZip XR 2.5, gives to Palm OS handheld user not only more space on the extension memory card, but also allows running applications fully function from the memory card unlike Palm OS built-in memory card support. Thanks to extremely high speed of compression engine, many of memory card operations can be done 2-3 times faster using FlyZip XR 2.5.

The boards of directors of Palm, Inc. and Handspring, Inc. announced that they each have unanimously approved a definitive agreement for Palm to acquire Handspring to form a new, stronger market leader in mobile computing and communications. The Palm board also gave final approval for the spin-off of PalmSource, Inc. Palm, Inc. consists of two businesses–PalmSource, a subsidiary responsible for developing and licensing the Palm operating system, and the Palm Solutions Group, a business unit responsible for designing, making, and the handheld devices. Immediately following the completion of the spin-off, Handspring will be merged with Palm, and the merged company will be renamed later in the year. The transaction, encompassing the spin-off of PalmSource and the merger of Handspring with the remaining Palm Solutions Group of Palm, is expected to close in the fall, subject to certain conditions. Under the proposed terms of the transaction, and following the spin-off of PalmSource, Handspring’s shareholders will receive 0.09 Palm shares–and no shares of PalmSource–for each share of Handspring common stock owned. Palm, Inc. will issue approximately 13.9 million shares of Palm common stock to Handspring’s shareholders on a fully diluted basis. As a result of the merger, Handspring’s shareholders will own approximately 32.2 percent of the newly merged company on a fully diluted basis, and Palm’s shareholders will own approximately 67.8 percent.

MARGI Systems announced that HP is the first company to license its next generation wireless platform–Wireless Presenter-to-Go. This complete hardware and software solution is designed for licensing by projector, notebook computer, and handheld manufacturers, to enable wireless delivery of presentations to projectors. HP will utilize MARGI’s Wireless Presenter-to-Go to incorporate wireless presentation capabilities into its new HP Digital Projector xp8010, and xp8020, which will be available this fall. MARGI’s technology is designed to enable users to conduct high-quality presentations wirelessly via any 802.11b-enabled notebook or handheld device, and will provide organizations of all types another avenue for maximizing their investment in wireless devices.

Developers of smart handheld devices now receive Motorola, Inc.’s Semiconductor Products Sector (SPS) high performance, low-power applications processor as part of Metrowerks’ advanced CodeWarrior Development System for i.MXL. The release bundles the Motorola, i.MXL processor with Metrowerks’ comprehensive CodeWarrior toolkit. The offering is designed to help to free developers from the time consuming tasks of synchronizing software versions and managing multiple applications and interfaces.

PocketMind released a Smartphone version of its Crazy Bubbles game for Pocket PC. Crazy Bubbles for Windows Powered Smartphone devices is available in 3 languages: English, French, and Spanish. Key features include two modes–Classic and Extreme, unlimited number of levels, graphics and sounds, and addictive gameplay.

MARGI Systems has introduced Wireless Presenter-to-Go, a complete hardware and software solution designed for licensing by projector, notebook computer, and handheld manufacturers, to enable wireless delivery of presentations to projectors.

Palm announced North Carolina State University (NCSU) College of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh will provide Palm Tungsten C handhelds to all first-, second-, and third-year students starting this fall. The handhelds will be used in classroom instruction and to prepare students to use the technology during their fourth-year clinical rotations.

MobileWeek announced a new service for investment banking firms and companies considering merger or acquisition as part of their corporate financing strategy. MobileWeek’s M&A Assist program is designed to provide the tools, research, and knowledgebase to effectively facilitate M&A transactions in the mobile and wireless sector. MobileWeek has entered into strategic alliances with two investment banking firms thus far: Agile Equity and C.E. Unterberg Towbin. MobileWeek matches the appropriate investment bank with the client considering a buy or sell side engagement based on experience, estimated size of the transaction, and specific market sector and geographic targets.

CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES announced that Banner Health has selected the CREDANT Mobile Guardian security management software platform to protect the integrity and privacy of patient information stored on mobile computing devices used by its physicians, interns, and nurses. CREDANT Mobile Guardian will help Banner Health to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations well in advance of the April 2005 federal mandate while maintaining its high standard for patient care and data integrity.