If your company has posted information on the status of your business, employees, family, and friends in this crisis, please send us a link to news@ZATZ.com. All of us are deeply concerned for our friends and colleagues throughout the industry. As we get your news, we’ll update the information we have here.

For the last two days, we’ve been living in shock. Everyone I know has been affected deeply by this tragedy. I’ll see a new image on the screen, read a new personal story in someone’s online Web log, and it’ll set me off. It’s been tough to focus, to concentrate. It’s been a huge challenge just to come to work.

Here at ZATZ, we’ve been struggling with the issues that must be facing businesses everywhere. First, we need to come together as members of the human race and as a family. We need to talk, comfort each other, and continue to reassure each other that we’ll be ok, even as we question whether this horror marks the end of the tragedy or the beginning of a new phase of terror. In that context, it’s been virtually impossible to find importance in the minutiae of our daily jobs. How, for example, could we possibly publish industry news and press releases when all this was going on? How could we possibly even care about editing articles? And, certainly, we couldn’t make sales calls. It’s not only poor taste, it’s just not something we can bring ourselves to do.

We love our company and what we do. But ZATZ and, frankly, the whole technology/Internet thing becomes inconsequential in the context of what we’ve just seen. When you get up in the morning out of your nice, warm, soft bed and you realize that a bunch of just plain folk did that same thing on Tuesday and they’re still trapped, maybe even still barely alive, it’s really hard to care about LotusScript, XML, doing a HotSync, or downloading that new cool app.

Tuesday at ZATZ, we sent everyone home to be with their families. Thankfully, we’re all fine. Our staff members include myself (David Gewirtz), Denise Amrich, Heather McDaniel, Theo Durst, Emily Lopizzo, Steve Niles, and Anastatia Levari and we’re all fine. It also looks like our family and friends seem to be out of harm’s way. Yesterday, we came into work. Honestly, not a hell of a lot got done, but we took our first step towards reclaiming our lives. And we’re back again today.

Today, we’re going to resume limited news coverage. You’re reading this, and if we have any press releases or other industry news stories, we’re going to post them. Some of you might think it’s callous or too early. It’s not. We need to regain our lives. We need to stand up and show the world that while we were deeply affected by the recent events, we were not broken. It’s not the industry news that matters. It’s that we’re still here. We don’t shut down that easily.

DominoPower’s September issue was due out on Tuesday. Obviously that didn’t happen. Although we’re still having a tough time focusing, we’re going to do our best to get the issue out today, just like we normally would. Normally, we’d send out an issue announcement and, of course, every Friday we send out tips. This week, we’re holding those mailings until Monday. But they will go out Monday. We were not broken. We are still here. And we, like so many of our fellow citizens, are going to make sure the world knows it.

So when you see the new issue of DominoPower, when you see today’s news, and when you see, next week, our regular tips, appearing as if it’s business as normal, know it’s because it will be business as normal. It has to be. Anything else would be a victory for the dark side.

I’ll close with a few final thoughts. You should know that the question of how and when we move on has been hotly debated inside ZATZ. It’s tough deciding between moving forward and grieving. Sometimes, though, you have to put a stake in the ground and declare your right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That stake goes in the ground now. We’re moving forward. — DG

“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

What an emotionally trying day it has been for us all! It’s 3:23am on Wednesday and I’m just getting home after spending the evening with good friends, trying to make sense of this tragedy.

As I walked up to my front door from my car, I met my neighbor, who’d just gotten home as well. Completely out of the blue (this is a guy I might pass on the way to my car once every three or four months) this neighbor of mine decided to tell me that I should work out more and that he’d whip me into shape. When I told him I exercise regularly with a trainer, his response of “Well, then he’s obviously not doing a good job,” nearly sent me over the edge.

I was livid — and bummed. I didn’t want to be angry at my neighbor today. I wanted to be able to say kind things and reinforce our little sense of community. Instead, I did a “Yeah, Freddy, whatever you say,” shook my head sadly, unlocked my door, and fed my elderly cat her thyroid medicine three hours late.

These little vignettes are being repeated across the nation. Everyone’s freaked. Some react in kindness and some are striking back out of their own pain. And some just say the wrong things. Because I was so stressed, I had the urge to slug the guy. Fortunately I’ve got a good deal of self control and I was way too drained to get into a silly battle with a neighbor.

I can’t really say anything here to soften the shock and horror we’re all feeling. There are people still trapped under the rubble, calling out with the few precious remaining minutes of cellphone battery juice. It’s so unsafe to approach what’s left of the World Trade Center that hundreds of firefighters are still missing and presumed dead. So the only lifeline these trapped people have is a possibly final call for help on their phones.

As you know from our coverage, our own Heather and 2,800 other cyclists completed the Canada/America AIDS Vaccine Ride this weekend. Heather got in on the train yesterday (she saw the World Trade Center for the last time out her train window just before she got home) and we’d wanted to celebrate her return today. Instead of celebrating the beautiful triumph of those riders, Heather spent a good part of today trying to find out if any of her fellow riders were on that plane from Boston. She thinks some were.

The evil some men do does not diminish the greatness of others. What the cyclists did on their 400 mile trek was great. The dedication of the rescue workers and our government has been what we expect from fellow Americans in crisis: exceptional. There was a man on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania who managed to call his mom from the plane telling her about armed hijackers. A media personality, Barbara Olsen, called to her husband and reported details of the hijacking, just minutes before her plane was used as a weapon of mass destruction. The U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, held a press conference in the Pentagon to tell the world the building was operational. An American Airlines jet had just crashed into his building on the other side of the courtyard from his own office and yet he was able to pull himself and our military together to respond to this threat.

Some readers, including one Roger Cobb, have told me I haven’t given President Bush the credit he’s due in this crisis. They’re probably right, and for that I apologize. This is the sort of event that truly seasons a man, and the president has a very, very difficult job just now. Our best wishes go out to him, his family, and all the brave, scared, hard-working, dedicated public servants even now looking out for our well-being.

It’s frightening. Roger tells me that Barbara Olsen was a friend of his oldest brother. Daniel Lewin, the 31-year old co-founder and chief technology officer at Akamai, was on another of the doomed flights, traveling from Newark to San Francisco, a route I’ve often traveled myself.

It’s going to take days to even begin to determine the death toll and by the time the work is done, there will likely be thousands of other Barbara Olsens and Daniel Lewins whose names will become part of this sad, sad story.

Right now, mostly, we need to absorb. Then we’ll need to grieve. Our government will need to punish. And eventually, we will rebuild. Now, today, as citizens, we really need to get along. Wherever possible, give your neighbor kindness. He or she is as frazzled and freaked as you or I. That’s why I forgive my wacky neighbor his lack of judgement. It was probably simply his way of connecting with a neighbor. Let’s all try to connect with our neighbors, be supportive, cut each other slack, and pull together.

There is no politics right now. Just pain, sorrow, and the wonderfully American traits of determination and resolve. We will overcome. — DG

P.S. For our international readers, I know this is a very U.S.-centric piece. But you need to understand just how personal this is. The World Trade Center is just up the highway from us. Most of us know people who worked at either the WTC or the Pentagon. And to all of you all across the world, thank you so much for your good will. It’s very important for us, right now, to know that other peoples feel the same pain we do and send us their love.

What an emotionally trying day it has been for us all! It’s 3:23am on Wednesday and I’m just getting home after spending the evening with good friends, trying to make sense of this tragedy.

As I walked up to my front door from my car, I met my neighbor, who’d just gotten home as well. Completely out of the blue (this is a guy I might pass on the way to my car once every three or four months) this neighbor of mine decided to tell me that I should work out more and that he’d whip me into shape. When I told him I exercise regularly with a trainer, his response of “Well, then he’s obviously not doing a good job,” nearly sent me over the edge.

I was livid — and bummed. I didn’t want to be angry at my neighbor today. I wanted to be able to say kind things and reinforce our little sense of community. Instead, I did a “Yeah, Freddy, whatever you say,” shook my head sadly, unlocked my door, and fed my elderly cat her thyroid medicine three hours late.

These little vignettes are being repeated across the nation. Everyone’s freaked. Some react in kindness and some are striking back out of their own pain. And some just say the wrong things. Because I was so stressed, I had the urge to slug the guy. Fortunately I’ve got a good deal of self control and I was way too drained to get into a silly battle with a neighbor.

I can’t really say anything here to soften the shock and horror we’re all feeling. There are people still trapped under the rubble, calling out with the few precious remaining minutes of cellphone battery juice. It’s so unsafe to approach what’s left of the World Trade Center that hundreds of firefighters are still missing and presumed dead. So the only lifeline these trapped people have is a possibly final call for help on their phones.

As you know from our coverage, our own Heather and 2,800 other cyclists completed the Canada/America AIDS Vaccine Ride this weekend. Heather got in on the train yesterday (she saw the World Trade Center for the last time out her train window just before she got home) and we’d wanted to celebrate her return today. Instead of celebrating the beautiful triumph of those riders, Heather spent a good part of today trying to find out if any of her fellow riders were on that plane from Boston. She thinks some were.

The evil some men do does not diminish the greatness of others. What the cyclists did on their 400 mile trek was great. The dedication of the rescue workers and our government has been what we expect from fellow Americans in crisis: exceptional. There was a man on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania who managed to call his mom from the plane telling her about armed hijackers. A media personality, Barbara Olsen, called to her husband and reported details of the hijacking, just minutes before her plane was used as a weapon of mass destruction. The U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, held a press conference in the Pentagon to tell the world the building was operational. An American Airlines jet had just crashed into his building on the other side of the courtyard from his own office and yet he was able to pull himself and our military together to respond to this threat.

Some readers, including one Roger Cobb, have told me I haven’t given President Bush the credit he’s due in this crisis. They’re probably right, and for that I apologize. This is the sort of event that truly seasons a man, and the president has a very, very difficult job just now. Our best wishes go out to him, his family, and all the brave, scared, hard-working, dedicated public servants even now looking out for our well-being.

It’s frightening. Roger tells me that Barbara Olsen was a friend of his oldest brother. Daniel Lewin, the 31-year old co-founder and chief technology officer at Akamai, was on another of the doomed flights, traveling from Newark to San Francisco, a route I’ve often traveled myself.

It’s going to take days to even begin to determine the death toll and by the time the work is done, there will likely be thousands of other Barbara Olsens and Daniel Lewins whose names will become part of this sad, sad story.

Right now, mostly, we need to absorb. Then we’ll need to grieve. Our government will need to punish. And eventually, we will rebuild. Now, today, as citizens, we really need to get along. Wherever possible, give your neighbor kindness. He or she is as frazzled and freaked as you or I. That’s why I forgive my wacky neighbor his lack of judgement. It was probably simply his way of connecting with a neighbor. Let’s all try to connect with our neighbors, be supportive, cut each other slack, and pull together.

There is no politics right now. Just pain, sorrow, and the wonderfully American traits of determination and resolve. We will overcome. — DG

P.S. For our international readers, I know this is a very U.S.-centric piece. But you need to understand just how personal this is. The World Trade Center is just up the highway from us. Most of us know people who worked at either the WTC or the Pentagon. And to all of you all across the world, thank you so much for your good will. It’s very important for us, right now, to know that other peoples feel the same pain we do and send us their love.

We’re posting this as of 11:45am EST. As most of you no doubt know, America has been hit by devastating terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and, according to some reports, the State Department. Hijacked domestic aircraft have been used, in part, as the instruments of destruction.

We’ve closed ZATZ today. We had two of our people travelling this weekend, Theo and Heather. Both have returned safely and are at home. Obviously, we’re postponing publication of the September issue of DominoPower for a day or so.

We can’t bring you all the latest news. For that, CNN and the other on-site news reporters are your best information source. But we can share with you the sense of shock and horror everyone seems to be feeling. If you’re like me, you probably want to curl up under the covers and hide, but that’s not something we, as a society, can allow ourselves to do. Americans, on the whole, are an amazing people. We route around destruction, often pull together, and we do live past crisis. Yes, there are the few bad apples, but in the main, we’re able to move on.

This story, and the pain, fear, and horror of the incredible loss of life will be with us for quite some time. Whether you’re a fan of George W. Bush or not, be aware that the American government has command-and-control processes in place to deal with disasters of just this sort. And, while some of us may question certain values of our current administration, the key staff members are quite seasoned and quite capable and are responding in appropriate ways.

We must never forget and we must find and avenge these actions. But that’s a task best suited to our government. There will be rumors for days about who is responsible. It is possible that members of certain ethnic groups will claim responsibility. But we must ask you to remember that most members of these ethnic groups are just regular people and please remember that most of your neighbors are just as scared, or more so, than you are.

Right now, we’re all a bit freaked. Our economy’s been troubled and now this has happened. We must take our time to grieve for our fallen citizens. But we must not allow those responsible to permanently affect us. In a day or so, we’ll all go back to work. As a society, we must pull together and keep our heads up, recover, rebuild, and move on. Our best wishes go to everyone, and of course our deepest condolences go to those who fear for their loved ones.

For those of you reading this from outside the U.S., please send your good thoughts to those in American who have been impacted by this tragedy. It has not been a good day for the United States, but the courage and dedication of emergency management personnel has been incredible. Also, we have many readers who are involved with the various news services. Our thanks to those of you who are going to extraordinary lengths to keep us informed. Hang in there, everyone. We’ll survive this. — DG

One final note: there has been some fear that Wireless World 2001 was at the World Trade Center today. This is NOT true. Wireless World 2001 will not happen for a few weeks (and it’ll obviously be somewhere else).

We’re posting this as of 11:45am EST. As most of you no doubt know, America has been hit by devastating terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and, according to some reports, the State Department. Hijacked domestic aircraft have been used, in part, as the instruments of destruction.

We’ve closed ZATZ today. We had two of our people travelling this weekend, Theo and Heather. Both have returned safely and are at home. Obviously, we’re postponing publication of the September issue of DominoPower for a day or so.

We can’t bring you all the latest news. For that, CNN and the other on-site news reporters are your best information source. But we can share with you the sense of shock and horror everyone seems to be feeling. If you’re like me, you probably want to curl up under the covers and hide, but that’s not something we, as a society, can allow ourselves to do. Americans, on the whole, are an amazing people. We route around destruction, often pull together, and we do live past crisis. Yes, there are the few bad apples, but in the main, we’re able to move on.

This story, and the pain, fear, and horror of the incredible loss of life will be with us for quite some time. Whether you’re a fan of George W. Bush or not, be aware that the American government has command-and-control processes in place to deal with disasters of just this sort. And, while some of us may question certain values of our current administration, the key staff members are quite seasoned and quite capable and are responding in appropriate ways.

We must never forget and we must find and avenge these actions. But that’s a task best suited to our government. There will be rumors for days about who is responsible. It is possible that members of certain ethnic groups will claim responsibility. But we must ask you to remember that most members of these ethnic groups are just regular people and please remember that most of your neighbors are just as scared, or more so, than you are.

Right now, we’re all a bit freaked. Our economy’s been troubled and now this has happened. We must take our time to grieve for our fallen citizens. But we must not allow those responsible to permanently affect us. In a day or so, we’ll all go back to work. As a society, we must pull together and keep our heads up, recover, rebuild, and move on. Our best wishes go to everyone, and of course our deepest condolences go to those who fear for their loved ones.

For those of you reading this from outside the U.S., please send your good thoughts to those in American who have been impacted by this tragedy. It has not been a good day for the United States, but the courage and dedication of emergency management personnel has been incredible. Also, we have many readers who are involved with the various news services. Our thanks to those of you who are going to extraordinary lengths to keep us informed. Hang in there, everyone. We’ll survive this. — DG

One final note: there has been some fear that Wireless World 2001 was at the World Trade Center today. This is NOT true. Wireless World 2001 will not happen for a few weeks (and it’ll obviously be somewhere else).

HandeKeeper Enterprises has announced the expansion of its products and services to include custom software design, mobile technology consultative services, and handheld computer training solutions. HandeKeeper Enterprises wants to acknowledge the growing reliance of individuals and businesses on mobile computing technologies and to address the software and training needs of this new generation.

Palm Buddy is back under the name of Sync Buddy, with the new version 1.3. All registered users are entitled to a free upgrade to the new version, which you can download from their site. The new version has several changes, including many bug fixes and support for USB connections.

AnySchedule has announced that they provide schedules for the 2001-2002 National Hockey League Season. With AnySchedule, a free program, installed on your Palm handheld, you can load several schedules, including the Olympics, baseball, golf, football, basketball, and hockey.

CNET News.com reports that the Senate voted to rewrite export control law to make it easier for American companies to sell powerful computers and other high-tech items abroad.

The Senate’s action revises the 1979 Export Administration Act in recognition that the end of the Cold War and the dawn of a new era of rapid advancements in the capacities of computers readily available to consumers worldwide make imposing export barriers difficult.