Dedicated Palm OS fans will probably hate this article–but given recent sales figures of Windows Mobile smartphones, plus the dwindling number of available Palm-based handheld releases, Palm OS updates, and new software programs, a lot of customers are considering the switch to a phone running Microsoft’s mobile OS.

Recently, Windows Mobile has exploded in popularity, with slim and sexy devices like the Q, the Dash, and the BlackJack, not to mention touch-screen Pocket PC handsets such as the Cingular 8525. And despite misgivings, Windows Mobile 6 looks to continue Microsoft’s domination of the smartphone market. With this in mind, here are some tips for the Palm OS faithful who are thinking of buying a Microsoft-based handheld.

Lenovo is revamping several of its ThinkPad notebooks, including a tablet PC, to include Intel’s new Centrino Pro mobile platform plus features to improve security and battery life.

Lenovo, which acquired the ThinkPad name when it bought IBM’s PC division in 2005, plans to roll out the new versions of its ThinkPad X61 and X61s notebooks and its X61 tablet May 31, company executives said.

The additional features in the X61 and X61s are meant to appeal to a wide range of enterprise customers who work from the road for long stretches of time, while the X61 tablet is geared toward customers in specific vertical markets such as those in the education and health care markets, said Mike Hagerty, a worldwide segment manager for Lenovo.

iO UPG announced the release of Pocket Heroes–a step-by-step strategy game with RPG elements. Pocket Heroes keeps abreast of the best traditions of both RPGs and strategies and is a real gift for admirers of King’s Bounty and Heroes of Might and Magic. The development team has created this game taking into account various demands from players all over the globe.

Pocket Heroes is an unrivaled project in the handheld software market. It is an outstanding strategy featuring a classic fantasy world, colorful graphics, and amazing gameplay fit into a stunning intuitive interface. The game has 5 difficulty levels and offers the player 37 maps, 36 heroes, 73 unique artifacts, and more than 50 constructions.

The main points of the game are development and battle. Use any of the 7 resources to improve your castle. Don’t forget to establish your army both to protect the castle, the mines, and conquer new lands. The so-called Heroes–troop leaders–play the key role in the game. In most cases, it is crucial to have a skilled hero in order to win the game. Each hero can have up to 4 primary and 22 secondary skills. In addition to this, a hero can learn more than 40 spells.

Fans of multiplayer games will enjoy the hot-seat mode, which allows several players to play together using one device.

BeeJive announced the release of JiveTalk Mobile Messenger Version 1.0 for BlackBerry smartphones. Users worldwide can download JiveTalk for BlackBerry and enjoy the full benefits of communicating on multiple instant messaging communities while on the go, using select BlackBerry smartphones from Research in Motion.

JiveTalk supports real time communication on the major public IM networks, including AOL/iChat, Yahoo!, MSN/Windows Live Messenger, GoogleTalk, ICQ, and Jabber.

Apple is recommending that all QuickTime users–both on Windows and Mac OS X–download its update for Version 7.1.6 to fix a pair of security glitches. The company posted the updates on May 29.

One of the first two problems, in QuickTime for Java, can lead users to having their systems hijacked if they visit a malicious site. The flaw can allow instantiation or manipulation of objects outside of the bounds of the allocated heap. If a user gets lured to a site containing a maliciously crafted Java applet, an attacker can trigger the vulnerability and take over the target system.

The second glitch also is related to QuickTime for Java in that a Web browser’s memory can be read by a Java applet. Like the other problem, a user has to visit a site with a maliciously crafted Java applet. Upon luring a victim to such a site, an attacker can take advantage of the vulnerability and thereby may be able to read sensitive information off the victim’s system.

A 27-year-old man described as one of the world’s most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk email.

Robert Alan Soloway is accused of using networks of compromised “zombie” computers to send out millions upon millions of spam emails.

With features such as text capturing, Agendus toolbar, contact networking, driving directions, address lookup, weather forecast, voice recording, sketching and much more, you’ll love the many new choices you’ll get with Agendus for Windows.

This update addresses a few stability issues recently discovered around the Contact History functionality, while bringing in performance improvements implemented in the contact history generation process for increased usability.

Google’s rumored and real romp through mobile space continues with the announcement of its Google Calendar application’s support for mobiles. The calendar seems to work perfectly, displaying a day by day view of your world and your plans for it, though, sadly, we couldn’t find any way to remove events one they were added. Events can be added by typing a description of your appointment in the “Quick Add” box at the bottom of the screen.

Opera and Palm announced that the new Palm Foleo mobile companion will use the Opera Web browser to provide customers a user-friendly Web experience. Based on Opera 9, Opera for the Palm Foleo offers intelligent navigation features and support for advanced Web 2.0 applications using Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). Opera’s Software Developer Kit proved to be a quick-to-market solution in tailoring a browser suitable for the cutting edge of mobile technology.

DataViz, provider of Microsoft Office compatibility solutions, and Palm, announced their continued alliance with the latest addition of ##Documents To Go for the Palm Foleo mobile companion.## The mobile Office suite, Documents To Go, will provide Foleo customers with the ability to create, view and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint compatible files on their mobile companions.