Route is a road map and route planning application. The Europe version offers maps of Western European countries. The USA version offers maps of all American states. It can display the major road networks on many different scales, and show you how to get from A to B. Users can also attach a GPS device.

Check out this article from InfoWorld about the new agreement between Palm Computing and PeopleSoft. Under the agreement, PeopleSoft will release PeopleSoft Expenses, which lets users enter their expenses onto a Palm device and then synchronize with their company’s master instance of PeopleSoft.

The Edmonton Journal has this article which explains why the mobile phone/PDA combination will not work. The writer says that sometimes it’s easier to use two devices than to have everything on one device.

Club Photo, an Internet photo sharing and finishing community, and PalmGear H.Q. have launched a co-branded Web site that gives PalmGear H.Q. customers access to Club Photo’s new Album To Go software for PalmOS connected devices. The free software lets Palm device users share entire photo albums, in four or 16 shades of gray, with friends, family or business associates directly through their organizers. The co-branded site also offers Club Photo’s free, downloadable Living Album 99 desktop software that creates, organizes and shares controlled access to image albums via a free personal photo Web site.

The New York Times has this article on teenagers who not only use handheld devices, but also write programs for them. Registration is required to access this article.

USAR Systems announced its implementation of the Smart Battery System Manager (SBSM). SBSM, as defined in version 1.1 of the SBS specifications, is the component responsible for managing the battery subsystem of notebooks. USAR integrates this component into many members of the USAR ACPITroller family of ACPI-compliant notebook keyboard embedded controllers for the ISA and LPC interfaces. The integration of many features necessary to notebooks on a single IC reduces costs and saves real estate.

Sierra Imaging announced the inclusion of Image Expert in Epson’s Flexible Software Package bundle on the PhotoPC 850Z camera. Image Expert supports several Epson digital still cameras, including the PhotoPC 750Z and PhotoPC 800. Sierra also offers Image Expert CE, the image acquisition, management and viewing application for PC companion products powered by Microsoft including Handheld PCs and Palm-size PCs.

Photo Access announced that Microsoft has acquired portions of its digital imaging intellectual property, as part of Microsoft’s development efforts in digital imaging. Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Ilium Software announced the release of ListPro for Handheld, Palm-size, and Desktop PCs. New in 2.0 version are hierarchical (multilevel) lists, user defined columns, new column types (including date and yes/no), direct editing of list items, a global find option, as well as infrared transfer of individual lists between Windows CE devices.

Last week we ran an open letter from the San Jose Mercury News to 3Com CEO Eric Benhamou, which was critical of Palm Computing. In response to that letter, Palm Computing President Alan Kessler says that Palm Computing is strong due to the 18,000 independent developers and a growing groups of licensees.