Jason Brooks

Nearly every method for inputting data in a handheld computer requires users to learn a new way to enter the letters and numbers with which they fill their personal digital assistants, but a new Palm OS-based add-on from Matias at least tries to meet them halfway. The Matias Half Keyboard saves space by dumping the […]

Following divergent paths to wireless voice and data convergence, Kyocera Corp.s QCP 6035 Smartphone and Handspring Corp.s VisorPhone Springboard module each do a good job of bringing cellular phone functionality to the Palm OS handheld platform. Both units performed well in eWeek Labs tests. However, we recommend that users evaluating these products decide first whether […]

FileMaker Inc.s FileMaker Mobile, an add-on for that companys popular database application, enables businesses to extend the availability of their data smoothly to employees with Palm OS-based handheld devices. However, although FileMaker Mobile integrates tightly with FileMaker databases on both Windows- and Mac OS-powered desktop PCs, its Palm client application lacks the range of functionality […]

With last months release of mozilla 0.7 for the be operating system—or Bezilla, as its called in the BeOS community—aficionados of the counter-culture operating system are getting a taste of full-featured Web browsing and mail support on their platform of choice. Bezilla 0.7 is the first milestone release of the Mozilla port in more than […]

Part of what has slowed the deployment of Windows 2000 has been the preference of IT managers, many of whose shops still run Windows 9x, to bear operating system ills they have rather than fly to others they know not of. In Whistler, the code name for Microsoft Corp.s next Windows client, eWeek Labs found […]

Recently, while navigating my way through the exhibit halls at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, I caught sight of a large banner for the Infrared Data Association pavilion. Now, Im no master of trade show taxonomy, but the five or so IR companies I found exhibiting on a modest patch of floor space […]

As wireless networking continues to expand across the enterprise, it is important that IT departments evaluate the effects of these technologies on system security and arrive at ways to integrate them into established security frameworks. Companies now face an assortment of wireless networks, including LANs, powered by the IEEE 802.11 standard; PANs (personal area networks), […]

With a touch-sensitive display, new Web clipping capabilities and four times the RAM of the device it replaces, Xircom Inc.s Rex 6000 MicroPDA represents a significant advance for the Rex product line and is a viable competitor in the low-end handheld device market. However, although the Rex 6000s PCMCIA card form factor makes the device […]

In his keynote at the Bluetooth Developers Conference earlier this month in San Jose, Calif., IBM Distinguished Engineer John Karidis impressed me with a display of the companys Bluetooth-enabled Linux wristwatch. Karidis used the prototype watch, which runs a stripped-down version of the Linux 2.2 kernel complete with X11 graphics, to control the slides he […]

Two recently released applications—Cutting Edge Software Inc.s QuickOffice 5.0 and DataViz Inc.s Documents To Go Professional Edition—can significantly extend the functionality of Palm OS-based devices by enabling users to view and edit word processing documents and spreadsheets, including those created in Microsoft Corp.s Word and Excel. Both applications, however, require that these documents and spreadsheets […]

Now that Palm is repackaging itself as a software and operating system company, it is following the leaders by charging for its OS upgrades. A few weeks ago, Palm made Palm OS 3.5 available to users as an upgrade for $15—the first time a new Palm OS wasnt a freebie. Most Palm-based handheld computers are […]

If the concept of extending e-commerce further into the physical world through the use of bar codes is going to take off, bar-code readers will have to be mobile. A few months ago, my colleague Jim Rapoza torched Digital:Convergences CueCat bar-code scanner for several reasons. The scanner is designed to read bar codes placed in […]