Semtek announced the availability of PDA Swipe, a three-track magnetic stripe card reader for Palm OS devices. Targeting industries requiring m-commerce, age/ID verification, mobile point of sale, or lead retrieval, PDA Swipe is designed for large and small organizations alike. Specific industries include restaurant/bars, professional consumer services, law enforcement, and healthcare among others.

ZATZ has achieved another milestone. We are now being tracked by a clipping service. Clipping services are companies hired, usually, by PR firms to scan publications for certain keywords and clip out any coverage about those keywords. For example, if we did a press release, we might want to subscribe to a clipping service to tell us if “ZATZ” appeared in any publications after we did the release. Well, our magazines are now being tracked by WebClipping.com, which is just such a clipping service. This is just one more example of our online magazines being treated with the same respect as traditional print publications!

Frequent PalmPower contributor, Jen Edwards, has just launched her own site, at PalmGoddess.com. Already she has an exclusive interview with Iain Barclay, of BugMe! fame, in which they talk about a new feature being announced. You’ll also find some news items as well as links to all of her previous web articles.

The PDA Company Inc. announced the launching of their new PDATECH Support Service. This service offers 24 hour tech support seven days a week. It allows PDA users to submit their inquiries via on-line form ($4.95), call service ($5.95), or phone call ($6.95).

Electric Pocket Limited announced new versions of its BugMe! and BugMe! Messenger applications for Palm OS handheld computers that add BugMe! NotePack stationery templates, enabling users to enhance the style and impact of their handwritten reminder notes and messages. The first BugMe! NotePack is Comic Notes, a series of humorous message packs from Handtap Communications that features popular comic strip characters such as Garfield, Bizarro, Cathy, and Ziggy. Electric Pocket is also offering a developer tool to provide other application developers with the ability to create BugMe! NotePacks for commercial or personal use. Electric Pocket will give BugMe! NotePack authors the opportunity to upload and share their content via the BugMe.net Web site.

Cutting Edge Software, Inc. and Macmillan Software announced that during July 2001, Cutting Edge’s Quickoffice suite became the number one selling title among Palm OS applications based on unit sales figures compiled by market research firm NPD INTELECT.

Ever since we heard about Palm’s plans to acquire the assets of Be, famous (or infamous, depending your your perpective) makers of the BeOS, we’ve been quite curious about the reasoning. We asked Marlene Somsak, senior director of corporate communications at Palm, Inc. to give us some insight into their thinking. Here’s what she told us (and it makes good sense):

First, just to clarify, we didn’t announce plans to buy Be. We’re just planning to buy some of the assets–the IP [intellectual property], Internet tools, multimedia technology, etc. Plus, we have the opportunity to attract a contiguous group of people who have worked well together on the BeOS, who are productive and cohesive, and who can help us advance the Palm OS into the important adjacent areas we’ve long spoken about–smartphones and communicators, to name a few. And these people share our design philosophy of a fast, sleek OS that delivers great performance on a small base.

Expect Palm to remain true to its strategy and to evolve it wisely over time. The asset acquisition we announced is all about Palm OS and working to maintain the market leadership the Palm OS has today in the handheld industry. Be developed some very strong multimedia and Internet-related tools and technologies. We can provide greater service to our customers when we buy the technology than if we develop it from the inside, which could take longer.

BestNet Communications Corp. announced a new conference calling service designed for handheld devices using the Palm OS. The free software allows Palm handheld users to initiate low-cost conference calls from any convenient phone, such as their home, office, or cell phone. The conference calls can be scheduled to take place at a pre-selected time, or be made on demand.

Yahoo has an article reporting MTV and wireless marketing company SkyGo said that they signed an advertising deal in which SkyGo will create a wireless promotional campaign for the network’s Video Music Awards, scheduled for September 6, 2001. According to the article, the mobile advertisements will augment the online, print, and broadcast campaigns leading up to the event. SkyGo will run television ads across mobile sites on wireless networks, including those of AT&T, Sprint, Palm, and OmniSky.

Ever since we heard about Palm’s plans to acquire the assets of Be, famous (or infamous, depending your your perpective) makers of the BeOS, we’ve been quite curious about the reasoning. We asked Marlene Somsak, senior director of corporate communications at Palm, Inc. to give us some insight into their thinking. Here’s what she told us (and it makes good sense):

First, just to clarify, we didn’t announce plans to buy Be. We’re just planning to buy some of the assets–the IP [intellectual property], Internet tools, multimedia technology, etc. Plus, we have the opportunity to attract a contiguous group of people who have worked well together on the BeOS, who are productive and cohesive, and who can help us advance the Palm OS into the important adjacent areas we’ve long spoken about–smartphones and communicators, to name a few. And these people share our design philosophy of a fast, sleek OS that delivers great performance on a small base.

Expect Palm to remain true to its strategy and to evolve it wisely over time. The asset acquisition we announced is all about Palm OS and working to maintain the market leadership the Palm OS has today in the handheld industry. Be developed some very strong multimedia and Internet-related tools and technologies. We can provide greater service to our customers when we buy the technology than if we develop it from the inside, which could take longer.