ZDNet News has an article on Palm’s announcement of PluggedIn\@Palm with its new incentives for developers to create a broader range of consumer products.

Palm, Inc. announced the PluggedIn\@Palm Program designed to help developers quickly create and launch new accessories and add-ons that further expand the capabilities of Palm branded products. PluggedIn\@Palm will lend assistance during every phase of development, from early concept and development through distribution and marketing.

SolutionPlanet Ltd. has released the new version of planet.CIM – The Contact Information Manager.

The mobile software company First Hop is acquiring additional expertise to enhance its international operations. Starting immediately, Professor Hannu H. Kari will participate in the company’s product development. A new mobile software product line will be launched at the end of November. Additionally, Stratos Ventures CEO Kai Karttunen has been appointed as the Chairman of First Hop Board. Professor Arto Karila continues as a board member.

CompanionLink Software, Inc. has made a number of announcements. First, the company announced it reached an agreement with patent holder, William J. Warman, for the rights to manufacture and distribute internationally a line of touch-screen screen protection products. CompanionLink announced it also reached an agreement with TrueTip LLC to be the exclusive distributor of the patented TrueTip stylus in the United States. It announced that it has begun manufacturing the CompanionLink PDA Screen Cleaning Kit, and finally, it announced the introduction of its latest product for the handheld computing market, the CompanionLink PDA Starter Kit.

ShowMeLinux.com has an article discussing which PDA is best for talking to a Linux machine. Devices using the Palm OS or Windows CE are the top candidates, according to the article.

SunSpot.net has an article on a pilot program in Howard County, Maryland in which the students at River Hill High School in Clarksville began using PDAs for various class assignments.

fusionOne announced a partnership with MP3.com, Inc. allowing MP3.com visitors to instantly synchronize their audio collection and event listings from MP3.com to all their devices, including PCs, PDAs, and mobile phones.

ifcRANT, a magazine from The Independent Film Channel (IFC), is now offering wireless access to Palm VII users, allowing them to connect directly to content from ifcRANT Online specially configured for wireless Web clipping PDA service, while other Palm device users can add ifcRANT to their AvantGo service.

ART, Advanced Recognition Technologies Inc., announced that it has been chosen by Pegasus Technologies Ltd. to provide the handwriting recognition solutions for its new product, the PenCell.