Rococo Software recently returned from Japan with news that the Bluetooth market in Asia is shifting into gear. They site a new end-user survey from Frost and Sullivan saying analysts are also predicting growth potential in Asia for Bluetooth, the emerging short-range wireless technology. While in Japan, O’Sullivan and Ross O’Crowley, Director of Business Development, demonstrated an instant messager using Rococo’s Impronto Simulator and Impronto Developer Kit, sending and receiving messages on a Palm handheld over a Bluetooth connection.

Fossil has introduced the FOSSIL Wrist PDA, a companion to your Palm OS handheld. The Wrist PDA lets you download and store personal data from your handheld using infrared beaming.

Palm, Inc. issued a press release stating Palm Digital Media and OverDrive, Inc. announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding outlining their intention to expand global digital distribution and retail marketing of ebooks in the Palm Reader format. OverDrive plans to integrate Palm Digital Media’s DRM technology and ebook catalog into its suite of eCommerce solutions, including MIDAS and Digital Kiosk–turnkey retail systems for the secure distribution of ebooks through the Internet. OverDrive would be the first distributor to offer and support ebooks in the Palm Reader format through Content Reserve, OverDrive’s B2B digital content network serving more than 400 publishers worldwide.

Forbes.com has an article on how Redmond Burke, chief of cardiac surgery at Miami Children’s Hospital, is using Palm handhelds to track the progress of babies’ hearts.

Palm Infocenter reports Mark/Space is currently working on an OS X version of The Missing Sync, its application that allows Sony Clies to work with Macs using Palm Desktop 4.0.

Sellyourpalm.net announced it will buy your old Palm handhelds. You can also use the value in your current handheld towards the purchase of one of their handhelds.

Palm anounced that when the Russian Soyuz rocket launched yesterday, bound for the International Space Station, South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth, the first African to venture into space, took with him a Palm m125 handheld–the only handheld computer to be approved for space travel on the Soyuz. Because Mark’s activities in space are scheduled down to the minute, a special scheduling application was needed to meet the unique requirements of the project. Palm South Africa worked with the “First African in Space Project” coordinators and a South African Palm OS developer company, Rafale, to create a customized Date Book application so that Mark’s events could be programmed on a minute-by-minute basis.

AvantGo, Inc. announced that UCLA School of Medicine has deployed AvantGo M-Business Server to best equip its already highly mobile medical students. UCLA School of Medicine has tapped AvantGo to put critical information in the pockets of its students without having to invest additional resources in recoding existing applications, redesigning content, or purchasing new devices.

Bachmann Software introduced FilePoint Pro, a file management tool that allows Palm OS device users to manage their data from their PC. FilePoint Pro takes all the features of the handheld version and makes them available on the desktop as well.

Palm anounced that when the Russian Soyuz rocket launched yesterday, bound for the International Space Station, South African entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth, the first African to venture into space, took with him a Palm m125 handheld–the only handheld computer to be approved for space travel on the Soyuz. Because Mark’s activities in space are scheduled down to the minute, a special scheduling application was needed to meet the unique requirements of the project. Palm South Africa worked with the “First African in Space Project” coordinators and a South African Palm OS developer company, Rafale, to create a customized Date Book application so that Mark’s events could be programmed on a minute-by-minute basis.