Pacific Microinstruments, Inc. has announced the immediate release of the Extra*Digit Workforce Manager. The product is a Web server extension that allows a company to manage the workflow of operators using handheld instruments and to utilize the information gathered. It is designed to reduce the total cost of instrument ownership and operation in more than 50 distinct enterprise settings such as telecommunications testing, automotive servicing, manufacturing, HVAC, food processing, and electronics testing.

Heathers Big Adventure, our own Heather McDaniel’s quest to bicycle 400 miles from Montreal to Maine in the Canada/America AIDS Ride, has begun. On Saturday, Heather took a train from New York’s Penn Station to Montreal and has spent the weekend sightseeing and mingling with the other athletes who’ve arrived from all around the world. Today is “registration day,” a period of time where all the athletes register with the ride organizers. They’ll get some orientation training, and the final count of athletes will come in. Expectations are that some 2,000 individual cyclists will make the ride, which begins early Wednesday morning.

It’s important for us to tell you that this adventure is all Heather’s, we at ZATZ are merely cheering her on. That said, we know Heather would like us, on her behalf, to thank all of you who contributed to AIDS research by sponsoring her ride. She’ll have more to say on her return, but all of our support, love, and best wishes go out to this courageous young woman and her thousands of co-adventurers.

Stay tuned each day for ride updates. Heather’s traveling light and camping with the other riders at night, which doesn’t give her loads of time to phone home. However, we’re sure we’ll get updates throughout the week, and when we do, you can read about it right here. Tune in tomorrow for more of Heather’s Big Adventure!

Palm has introduced the Palm Mobile Mentor software. This software is comprised of three CDs of organization, productivity, learning and teaching applications for educators, high school students and college students.

The CDs were unveiled during orientation at the University of South Dakota, whose 1,300 first-year undergraduate students and first-year medical and law school students received Palm m500 and m505 handhelds and the Mobile Mentor collegiate edition.

Palm has a press release stating that more than 1,300 students at the University of South Dakota have become the first in the nation to receive Palm handheld computers authorized by a university for all first-year undergraduates, law and medical students.

President James W. Abbott demonstrated a key element in the university’s plan to integrate Palm handhelds into the curriculum by illustrating how information can be beamed from one handheld to another, and used to collaborate and share. Using the Palm handheld’s infrared capability, Abbott pointed his handheld at a student’s handheld and beamed his telephone number, and then watched as students beamed the information from handheld to handheld in a matter of minutes.

HandHeldCrime has announced the release of Issue 22 of their eZine, which is available on the Web, in PDF, as a Palm Doc, and through AvantGo. HandHeldCrime has also released their first eBook. HandHeldCrime offers crime fiction for you to read on your Palm OS handheld.

Palm has a press release stating that the medical community is increasingly turning to Palm OS-based handhelds to obtain better-quality research data. Three initiatives currently underway in Irvine, Calif., Toronto,Canada, and Chattanooga, TN, demonstrate the use of these devices in medical research.

eBay is auctioning off a butter PDA beginning today. Proceeds from the auction of the 50-pound Palm VIIx sculpture will benefit the 4-H Foundation.

IDG.NET announced that Palm pulled its proposal on the i705 to correct an error made in its documentation. Palm will be required to seek FCC approval again.

RED-M and Palm will work together to provide seamless mobility for handhelds, according to palmgear.com. The two companies will work on the advancement of Bluetooth, a Red-M m-dev Program that gives Palm handhelds access to a global solution development program.

A new Web site called JurisPDA has just launched. The site is intended for law students and lawyers who have just gotten a Palm OS handheld and are asking the question, “How can I use my handheld to be more effective and efficient?” The site was designed by New York Law School professors Denise Morgan and Tanina Rostain, and Grace Lee, the school’s Electronic Services Librarian. They have gathered an inventory of what they think are the most useful Palm OS handheld applications for lawyers. In addition, the we’ve put together some legal reference materials, like the U.S. Constitution, Federal Rules of Evidence, and assorted Supreme Court cases, available for download.