Rafe Needleman at Business 2.0 has an article on Starbucks’s latest experiment, “a new relationship with T-Mobile (a.k.a. Voicestream) to give its customers Wi-Fi (wireless LAN) access in 2,000 stores by the end of the year.” The article goes on to talk about how the entry of major national cellular companies into the Wi-Fi market could be trouble for upstart data-only Wi-Fi service providers and aggregators.

Palm Solutions Group and BEA Systems, Inc. announced a long-term, strategic relationship to bring Web services to Palm branded handhelds. Palm will develop tools and a device-side software suite to simplify development and deployment of mobile Web services to extend enterprise applications on Palm handhelds. Palm and BEA will work together to integrate this solution with BEA WebLogic Server 7.0 and BEA WebLogic Workshop products as server-side controls. This Palm SG solution will be the first WebLogic Workshop control developed for a handheld device.

A key element of this agreement is the use of Palm’s new Reliable Transport technology as a core infrastructure component for this solution. Reliable Transport will provide a robust, secure, and usable platform for sending XML data back and forth between the server and Palm handhelds. The solution will be designed to easily allow Palm developers to use BEA WebLogic Workshop as the server-side programming framework, while WebLogic Workshop developers utilize Reliable Transport to send messages to and from Palm handhelds.

Saunders, manufacturer and marketer of the RhinoSkin brand of protective PDA cases, announced the pre-sale of RhinoSkin cases for the Sony Clie PEG T665 starting Monday August 26, 2002 and running through Sunday September 8, 2002 on the RhinoSkin Web site. The cases will ship on or before September 9, 2002 with a suggested retail price of $34.95. For all orders placed before September 9 all three cases will have a special pre-launch price of $29.95. For an additional $5.00, a RhinoSkin ClipPak, valued at $24.95, can be added to the order of an Aluminum case for the T665.

Fictionwise.com announced that it has launched Secure Palm Reader formatted ebooks, including best selling titles from many major trade publishers. As part of Fictionwise’s launch of the format, all Secure Palm Reader ebooks are eligible for a 30% Micropay Rebate promotion. When members purchase Secure Palm Reader eBooks using a credit card, 30% of the purchase price will be rebated to their Micropay account. The promotion runs through September 8, 2002.

Seiko Instruments Austin, Inc. (SIAS) announced it’s offering a special online promotion of its series of ThumBoard products. Beginning this month, all ThumBoard models are available for $19.99, including free UPS ground shipping and handling, when purchased via the company’s Web site.

Mobility Electronics has acquired Cutting Edge Software, Inc., makers of Quickoffice. Under the terms of the agreement, Mobility Electronics will acquire Cutting Edge Software for a package of $3.0 million, split evenly between cash and Mobility’s common stock, plus potential additional consideration based on future performance. The cash portion of the transaction will be financed through Mobility’s existing working capital.

FrontField has been making and selling their Lumitector for the Palm handheld liquid crystal display in Japan and has just announced they’ve started global sales. The Lumitector is a sheet that’s placed over the Graffiti area of your handheld to give it a paper-like feel. However, it’s also helpful when using your handheld in low-light conditions, as the ink on the sheet is capable of glowing in the dark.

VizMotion Inc. announced the premiere release of VizSync’s complete suite of conduits. With the debut of conduits for VizSync To Do List and VizSync Memo Pad for the Mac and PC, and the release of new v.1.5 of of VizSync Date Book and VizSync Address Book, VizMotion’s complete synchronization solution is now available. All conduits are also offered for Mac OSX. The VizSync solution is designed to simplify the database synchronization process into one easy-to-perform step. Pairing FMP and native Palm OS applications, it runs on existing Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems and requires no new installation on Palm OS based handhelds.

Mobility Electronics has acquired Cutting Edge Software, Inc., makers of Quickoffice. Under the terms of the agreement, Mobility Electronics will acquire Cutting Edge Software for a package of $3.0 million, split evenly between cash and Mobility’s common stock, plus potential additional consideration based on future performance. The cash portion of the transaction will be financed through Mobility’s existing working capital.

Palm Infocenter has a review of the tDevice Q-Pad for the Palm m500 series, a combination of a leather flipcase and keyboard. According to the article, “The Q-Pad is a flipcase, though it is upside down from a typical one. The clasp is at the top and the hinge at the bottom so when it is open, the cover is below the handheld. This puts the keyboard, which is inside the cover, in the correct place for typing.”