Lifedrive Essentials: Don't Forget To Download The Palm Update.

Palm has released an update for many Palm devices. The Lifedrive is included. You can download the update from the Palm website or click on the article title to take you there.


LDD.

LIFEDRIVE ESSENTIALS: My top 5 Products for the Lifedrive 2006

So, we are in another year and it's a wonderful time to reflect on the past products that have made the Lifedrive an invaluable tool. Yes, it's true, the Lifedrive is an indelible PIA at times, but I have to admit that last year, without it, I would have been lost.

So, at the end of 2006, I decided to list all of the products that I own, including software, hardware, trinkets etc. related to the Lifedrive. They were not all medical components, but among them I decided to choose 5 products, both software and hardware related and rank them in a top 5 . The Criteria that I used included:

1. My Frequency of use.
2. My importance of use? What happened on days when I did not have the product or the Lifedrive with me.
3. Simplicity in use. Anything that is terribly complex cannot be used on a daily basis.
4. DNC (does not crash). This of course is a major point if you own a Lifedrive.

My final rankings are as follows for 2006 and remember, these are very subjective:




5. TCMP.

There was a scream for a tie between this product and Pennovate's Notes, but this one won out . In the end I had to decide which was used more, my Notes program or TCMP. TCMP won out. TCMP is the program that has made it possible for most Lifedrive owners to not give a darn about the slew of video gadgets (except the ipod video) and MP3 players that have been going around (Although NormSoft's Pocket Tunes is also a screamer for this position, given its deep array of settings). The fact that TCMP has been a free "beta" product for years, gives it the degree of popularity that it deserves. Although its founders are now going on to making a commercial product -The CorePlayer- it has been TCMP that has caught the imagination of just about every Palm device owner.

In August, I purchased one of the first 4 gigabyte SD cards to play movies for my kids and myself while on vacation. During a long drive I was able to view a full 2 hour documentary and a 2 hour movie in addition to a medical lecture that I had postponed watching (Alright, I know I was on vacation, but what else is a geek to do when everyone else is sleeping and you don't have to drive)? The playback was perfect and I have to say that I achieved 5 hours of video time before the Lifedrive gave up on me. Not bad!

But it was TCMP that allowed me to do this without a glitch. This little piece of software was the real ipod killer for me. But that lasted until the ipod video came out. That device created a genre of H.264 videos that just about killed TCMP. The quality of the iPod is superior and has made my TCMP driven Lifedrive somewhat jealous. Attempting to watch video podcasts is next to impossible if "created for the iPod." No such problems with the Sony versions of MP4, but again, the iPod ones do look better.

But I digress! TCMP is a worthy candidate and a must have for your Lifedrive. It is the program that creates a "wow" factor when people look over your shoulder at your "serious" PDA. It was TCMP that I used when I had to show the motions of a joint; and again when I attempted to show a surgical procedure to a patient that one of our local physicians did routinely in his office.


4. Smartlisttogo.

If there was ever a database that had to be bought without hesitation, I would choose this as the database. Smartlistogo has been a GodSend to me and has been responsible for me not jumping to the other side (Microsoft) for a long time. Every time I think that I want something with a little more complexity (ie. Mobisystems Database or Handbase), I am driven back to this simple program.

First you are drawn into its lair of simplicity, by making simple tables of names and addressess, effectively recreating your telephone book. For no apparent reason, other than to say that you can do it! Then, you become fascinated to the point of lunacy as you find new ways to do things. You begin to realize that there is an online manual and you start delving into a tricky arena or relational databases, combining data from one database with another. You then spend 4 hours in complete and giddy geek utopia, discovering that you can set alerts that will show up to tell you that something is due. You salivate at the possibilities: Crossreferencing touchdowns with attempted carries; Number of touches to goal ratio of Arsenal's Thierry Henry; Rating interviewees based on hastily created criteria that you have made up 5 minutes before the interview and then sorting them; creating an app of movies to see; Creating an ongoing bank account app. And of course, listing all of the CME and expense lists that you could possibly create. And then you finally get to the big enchilada. The App to beat all Apps in your mind: The Patient Rounding Application to record not only the patients that you have seen, but to capture all charges while at the point of service. You then create imaginative databases of patients and obstetrical due dates and other things.

So, what happens when you do not have all of this information available? You grind everything to a halt and go back to get your machine. Or you have two machines, an old Palm that has a back up of the smartlist app on it. That is how important this program is. It is the life blood of my Practice for patients that I see outside of the clinic. I can never remember them all and it places them in nice areas that I can recall them.

So what is the downside? The downside to this program is that you must backup everything constantly when you have to rely on it so desparately. But more importantly, it is not encrypted. Thus, you can use real names but you must shut down the entire Lifedrive to protect patient privacy. For myself, I carry an SD card that is encrypted and then decrypted when I have to use it in the Lifedrive.

With the advent of the Desktop App, creation is much easier of a more complex application, although it is nice to see that the application will work on either the computer or the Lifedrive regardless of where the program is made. Although Microsoft Access activity could be better, I rarely use Access and prefer to use the bluetooth method by sending the information to the memos program and printing it out or copying it directly via SD or Lifedrive to the computer and printing it out monthly.

This is a Lifesaver. Literally. I keep equations and formulae, associations and rankings in this product and although I have been looking for more complexity at times and an encrypted file system, the addiction of programming this software is just too much to leave. For the second year running, this is in my top 5.


3. Palm Lifedrive Metallic Case.

So, in July 2005 I received this incredible instrument - The Lifedrive. It is naked! The very next day I went out and purchased an overpriced metallic case and soon find out that this thing is so flawed that I want to bring it back to the store and get my money back.

First, I couldn't get the case to open without ripping the nails of my thumbs apart. I actually had to check my shot record to ensure that I had a tetanus booster. Then, I noted that there was no room for an SD card. Perhaps there was some belief that we did not need one, given the 4 gig hard drive.

So, why on earth would this contraption come in third? Especially since I have now purchased a Rhinoskin case?

Well, I have used this case for almost 15 months and I tried two other cases to see if I could get used to them. I found them all lacking! Even the Rhinoskin is lacking in all of the areas that I want. Secondly, the case now opens easily and readily. But the one thing that this case brings to the table can be exemplified by an event that occurred a month ago.

I was dining at a very nice Japanese Restaurant. While waiting for my table, the kids became restless. The guests who joined us for dinner also had kids the same age. They too were becoming restless. So I took out the Palm Metal Case with the Lifedrive intact and played movies. The case opens up in such a way that the cover molds itself, via hinges appropriately to the Lifedrive. But when the door is pulled all the way back, it produces a stand for the Lifedrive, thus allowing the Lifedrive to stand in Landscape view. PRICELESS.

But this was not the end of the interesting things found with this case. You may recall a piece I wrote called MacGyvering The Lifedrive Jack? Well that came about because of what happened after the playing of Chicken Little. One of my guests, along with my kids decided that once we were called to our table, they would pick up the Lifedrive and hand it over to me. Well, they didn't quite make it! Instead the Lifedrive went to the Floor! A hard, tiled floor. But it was encased and Chicken Little continued unabated. There was not a scratch on my Lifedrive. Oh, the sound eventually died, but the MacGyver tactic worked without a problem.

Protection, Versatility and function all serve to make the Palm Manufactured Metal Case the Number 3 piece of Hardware/Software for me.


2. Splash ID.


So, it's monday morning and I am up at 5am. I go downstairs for a cup of coffee, listen to the morning news and catch up on some office work. I then run for a half-hour and drive to the
hospital. I receive a call that Ms. Sickly is in the hospital while on my way to the office. I detour and sit to check her data on our computers. I suddenly forget my password, one of 7 that I have to remember and it just so happens, one that I do not use every day, having had no admissions in about 3 weeks. I reach into my pocket and find out that I do not have the PRECIOUS !!! It is still at my bed acting as an alarm clock!

I eventually get the necessary data and return to the office. But at the sight of the last patient leaving for the morning session, I am in my car hurrying back to the house! Why? Because without Splash ID, I have a very good chance of running into the same scenario without being able remember the passcodes for the day or getting help from someone.

If you have to run home at lunch time to get a piece of software, then you know that this product has to be listed in the top 2 of all programs for your Lifedrive. It is so essential that I sometimes question how many times I should back up the data. Once, I even questioned if backing up the data, overwriting the preexisting backup file, will corrupt the backup file! ?

Since November, I have had to have a backup plan! I have chosen to use two other encryption programs not found on the Lifedrive, just in case the day occurs and I have no Splash ID to fall back on.

This is again an essential piece of software, not just for the Lifedrive, but for ALL PALMS!










....drumroll, please, the number one accessory, either Hardware or Software for the Lifedrive is:











1. The Sandisk Ultra II 1- gig SD Card with USB.

This, my friends, is my number one pick for the Lifedrive. This product fulfilled all criteria in terms of necessity, ease of use and frequency.
First, before my family gave me an ipod for Christmas, this was my ipod-killer! It actually created a need. I had to purchase an in-car device to keep the Lifedrive charged while I listened to Podcasts, lectures and music.

So, I can hear everyone who does not own a Lifedrive questioning "why would you need this if you have a Lifedrive and 4 gigs of memory on a hard drive?" The answer to this is not quite that simple. But let's just say that trying to play your songs, podcasts etc from the hard drive was quite problemmatic. There are several delay points and eventual hard resets which make this a thankless task. I wrote something about this a while back (Which Memory do you serve?)

The drive of the Lifedrive is good for one thing --- Storage! Take a picture on your 1 gig SD card and transfer it immediately to the Lifedrive or download a file or a podcast directly to the SD card via USB - for those times when you do not have a cable - and voila it is accessible immediately.

There are a few drawbacks to the SD card approach, but this is mainly a problem with older computers. First, there is sometimes a physical limitation in inserting the SD card into the USB slot. This can be thwarted by using a USB extension or hub, but that defeats the simplicity factor. Secondly, it appears that it works best with just about all USB 2.0 and somewhat touch and go with USB 1.0 or 1.1. Other than that, this is a God Send.

I remember when I had to have a document downloaded as quickly as possible, along with a podcast that I wanted to listen to, on my way to a conference. I was able to go to the website and download the podcast to the SD card, drop my windows document, in the space of 2 minutes to the card and away I went, listening to a CME podcast on my way to a meeting and having the document and speech ready to go. No wires. Additionally, no Itunes aggregator to fool around with, just drag and drop.

The SD Ultra with USB card completes an incredible trifecta of download options what I consider a part of the essentials: The usual linked approach with wires , the wireless simplicity of bluetooth and 802.11 and the aforementioned SD/USB approach. This product makes the Lifedrive a very good tool to own.




Lifedrivedoc's Honorable Mentions:

. Epocrates

Sensational program for the Palm, with automatic updates. Reason not listed in the top 5: They now have a desktop copy that is even better than the Palm version. I find myself using that a lot more. But if I am on the road or in the hospital, it is still the Lifedrive version that I use.

. Mobisystem's Office Suite.

I use this as my default word processing and spreadsheet reader and creator. However, it's core products - spreadsheet and word processing are spoiled by the lack of integration of its Database product and drawing program, which crashes the Lifedrive. Additionally, the Database program is not as good at "input" data as it is in comparatively using data. It is pretty and has a lot of "cool" features, but is much better suited as an advanced slide show or picture database program.

I have yet to upgrade to version 7, given the fact that they are using the Opensource PDF maker and viewer which has been notoriously unstable on the Lifedrive. Thus, Mobisystem's Office Suite did not make it into the top 5 this year.

. Googlemaps.

I went gaa-gaa over this product late last year. A brilliant concept and an even more brilliant program, it is unfortunately only useful to you if you have a very high capacity data mobile plan or plan to do your geomapping from inside of a coffee shop or free wifi area. But it is gorgeous.


. Pennovate Notes.

A fantastic application. It allows me to use my crabscratch handwriting and save the finished document as a jpg file. Priceless during CME lectures or for jotting down something very quickly. Why is it not in the top 5? Lack of room. I have no negatives to report on this product. It's worth every penny.


. Rhinoskin Lifedrive Case.

Yes, I do love this case. Infact I am using it now. It has one major asset: A lot of room for saving those SD cards. Additionally, it has a faster access time than the original Palm metal case. So why is the Palm Lifedrive case in the top 5 and Rhinoskin getting honorable mention? On the grand scheme of things, if I dropped the lifedrive in the Rhinoskin, it's goodbye Lifedrive. Beauty gets you only so far.

. Riley's Kidometer.

An amazing database of facts for children's statistics. Is that heart rate normal for a 3 month old? Is that CBC correct in the newborn? All of these questions are answered in the Riley Kidometer. It is one of the best programs ever written for the Palm. So why is it not in the top 5? Well, I use it only about once per week or two weeks. Again, I have no qualms with this program. It is programming at its best.



Disclaimer: As always, all opinions are mine and there was and is no reciprocal reimbursement or commercial endorsement of any product. I have received no financial or other gains from this report. - LDD.

LDD.

The end is nigh.......

Well, It appears that the end is closer than we think for the Lifedrive. PIC is reporting that there is now a shortage of the Lifedrive in brick and mortar stores. We all expected it. But will there be another one made?

I refer you to Khertan . I believe that there is a new model coming out. It may not be called Lifedrive, but it will be in the Mobile Manager category. Remember Steve Jobs in 2005, when asked about the possibility of an Apple iPhone. He denied it, saying that it was just not feasible; not market worthy; no great demand for it. Silently over a 2 year period Apple worked on this device, even getting together with Cingular to market it and operate as a sole carrier. Rewind to Ed Colligan, CEO of Palm Inc. 2005 December during the now infamous conference call where he called the Lifedrive an experiment, he specifically stated that the company would be focused on smartphones. He has gone on to declare in subsequent interviews that the standalone PDA will drop annually in 20-30% increments. He has been telling this story for 2 years. So, what should we expect from this as we see the Lifedrive declining in sales and inventory? Will there be a new T/X? I am predicting a 4 gig version sometime this year. But I think that we may be seeing something else coming.

There is too much silence coming from Palm. Too quiet as they are being attacked left, right and center. I believe Ed Colligan has something up his sleeve and the great experiment that was the Lifedrive is waiting to be unleashed upon the masses. It may come in June to decrease the noise about the ApplePhone; it may come in October/November the usual cycle, but I think that something may be brewing. The fall in inventory and the smokescreen around releases may be a "head-fake."

By the way, I am currently looking for a used or cheap Lifedrive to put a CF card in. I'll let you know how that goes as soon as I can get one for a reasonable price.


LDD.

Stevie J. issues an ace. Oh Garnet!

Mr. Jobs has just rammed his hummer through the gates of technology and changed all of the rules. - LDD

There are few words to describe today's announcement, but my jaw almost fell to the ground when I saw the Apple iPhone. I stood in awe, as did my coworkers, feeling that we have just witnessed something akin to the changing of an era.

With one presentation, Steve Jobs placed the fear of tech into the hearts of just about every cell phone carrier and maker. But the one that we all worried about was Palm!

Today, Palm's stock suffered a major percentage decline on the announcement. RIMM shares also lost muster. However, is there any doubt that Palm had a great advantage that one can only feel has been squandered in a boardroom debacle! Can one have any doubts that the real Palm Software purchaser should have been Nokia?

I grew excited many months ago when Access purchased the software division of Palm. I thought that Linux would be the saving grace for Palm. However, one year later, there is no device running this. There is, and probably will be, no Lifedrive 2. Instead, as expected, Palm chose to go the route of most income, discarding innovation and staying safe with the Treo smartphones. As they announced at an analyst meeting, they would concentrate on this sector of the market. And so they have. However, they decided to concentrate on the business consumer and to forget about the average Joe. Certainly, the advent of the Treo 680 is possibly an appeasement. But what advantage has any of this served?

In the high end market, the area that is the most coveted by Palm, they are about to receive the greatest competition from a company that was thought to be dead in 1997 - Apple. This company has found a way to work around Telcos dictating the rules of the game. Despite a full version of the product not being available at the present time, one can only picture the quality and efficiency that this device will produce.

But let's not digress. The real problem for Palm is not just the product lineup, which for now is still good, but not revolutionary. The true problem here was Palm's insistence on keeping GARNET, the operating system also known as OS 5. It is this antedeluvian OS that has kept Palm safe and also held them back! They sold the software division to ACCESS, only to buy back OS 5 !!!! Am I confused? While they sputtered around doing these interwoven business plays, Steve Jobs and Co. moved right in, stunning not only Palm, but the entire industry!

If anyone ever doubted what you could do with Linux, you can look no further than the Stevie J. presentation today. OS X, the Mac operating system is basically Unix in disguise. It's really a proprietary version of Unix that excels in multitasking, even with the most complex of tasks. Many today were stunned when Steve Jobs announced that the iPhone will be running OS X. I say to those in the know, why are you surprised? Haven't many of you known for some time that Linux (or Unix) carries a small footprint? It has amazing network operability and with the addition of NeXT, the graphics environment is icing on the cake.

From Mr. Jobs presentation, the device can multitask and do graphics, things that we have been craving for in the Palm world. Things that we thought we would receive some time last year or early this year. Multitasking with Linux should have been developed by Palm first! I was expecting to see Palm appear confidently with the must-have device of the year. Instead, Mr. Jobs has just rammed his hummer through the gates of technology and changed all of the rules.

What I fear now is the obvious inroad that will be made by Apple in this space. Even if Palm comes out with a device that can do everything, there will be a lot of yawning because of the keyboard or because it does not multitask or because it does not do bluetooth with 802.11.... And for those of you who think that the Apple phone is just a telephone with an iPod, perhaps you missed the real meaning of having OS X on the device. Just two weeks ago, Apple announced that they will be including an updated version of Dashboard in OS X 10.4.9, aka Leopard - the next operating system for the Mac. This update will include software to MAKE WIDGETS. Thus, software developers will be able to make small apps to run as widgets in OS X on the Mac and automatically transfer those apps to the iPhone. Essentially, this device is no longer just a telephone, but a special type of Smart Phone with access to Apps in the form of widgets. Essentially, if you can upload widgets to the device, you can probably program it, meaning that this may in fact be the early reentrance of Apple into the PDA market (Or as I told a friend this morning, Apple's Newton has become Copernicus).

Again, Apples are in bloom and it's time for Palm to start moving. The rules of the game just changed dramatically and Palm can no longer rely on its old technology to get through.


LDD.

Why the Google "i-link" will be a good thing and tinkering with OS X?

I recently had the opportunity to try out the iMac and I must say that I have been quite impressed by the operating system. It reminds me of the old Unix days and my slight delving into Linux. This system is so flawless and so natural that I had to pinch myself several times to make sure that I wasn't dreaming. It was so unobtrusive.

So, one of the things that I had to do with this great device was to find a spare Lifedrive hanging around - a friend just happened to have one that he hated, but would not give up - therefore sitting on a shelf gathering dust. So I thought, wouldn't it be great to see how this device works with The Precious.

Well, my friend told me that there was no need for the Palm Desktop software for the Mac, simply because it was just useless ( I hinted that he may actually like his Lifedrive a bit more if he followed the directions of Palm once in a while). He preferred to use a program called i-sync that comes standard with the iMac. Well, the program itself was quite nice. It boasted immediate synchronization with a number of phones, including my Nokia. Access via bluetooth or USB was very simple and it appeared to link the iCal (the calendar program on the mac) quite nicely, not to mention the address book.

Mac's iCal
Absolutely amazing calendar program

So, would it work on the Lifedrive? Well, I did the set up on the imac, introducing the machine to the Lifedrive and it appeared to recognize it without problems.

I then loaded up my friends Lifedrive with a number of addresses and a few calendar dates. He already had a full cache of addresses, appointments etc. in his iCal and address book in the mac. So the sync process would be easy to see.

The results unfortunately were not so stellar. Yes, I was amazed that the program actually worked with the Lifedrive. Essentially, any innovative program that works with the Lifedrive is cause for celebration. However there were a number of problems.

Google Calendar
Notice the similarities with Apple's iCal

First, the iCal format is essentially the same as Google's format. You can place several calendars together to form one calendar, with color codes to separate individual appointments. For example, if Jill has a calendar with her appointments and Sam has a calendar with his appointments, you can superimpose the two or separate them with the click of a button. The result on the Palm is no separation of the meetings. So Jill's meetings coincide with Sam's. In addition, the contacts in the address folder are under the title "other," instead of being separated into their respected folders. The system broke down a few times during the syncing process, hanging for a while. Thus, I would say that this was extremely unreliable and not the best for the Lifedrive. But for the Nokia, a totally different kettle of fish.

Now, there is possibly a solution with another Mac program called Missing Sync, but I have not tried this out yet. It is said to be a bit more stable and more intuitive when it comes to separating Contacts and iCal synchronicity.

For what it's worth, I understand that another solution may be around the corner. See the title for further information. This solution would probably be the answer to many Mac owners who have had trouble using the Palm with the iMac and Palms' less than adequate support for the Mac, choosing to stay the Windows route.

Windows Vista Calendar
Notice the resemblance to Google and Mac's iCal

However, even Palm may run into trouble at the end of the month when Vista comes out. Why? Well, if you take a look at the beta version or corporate edition of Windows Vista, you will notice a very interesting thing. The entire calendar program resembles iCal !!!! In addition, the website touts the iCal protocol interoperability (" Using Windows Calendar, you can subscribe to calendars hosted on websites in the .iCalendar format, and then view those calendars alongside your own..."). Thus, a solution for multiple calendars must be found by Palm in their next rendition of Garnet. It is also the reason why the company that has chosen to follow Apple's way of doing Calendars -Google- (Open source people harken that I pay homage to you first - since the Mac and now Windows players emulated your original designs), may end up leading the calendar wars and leaving everyone in the dust. It would appear that they have found a way to synchronize all of the devices, across the board, including Palm and Windows Mobile, using the iCal and open Calendar format. We know that it can be done, because CompanionLink Software appeared to be one of the first commercial companies to do this.

There are others working on this project, albeit more quietly. One programmer who was at one time posting on PalmAddicts (Shawn Grimes) had a project named Syncplicity (Syncplicity.com), but apparently ran into problems with this. His last post on his web site was June 13, 2006 on the subject. Obviously, we all applaud Open source projects, but I think that everyone is awaiting the Google conduit. It won't answer all of the Apple questions, but it should benefit both Mac OS X and Vista owners. One problem for Mac owners remains the dearth of software compatible with Mac for transferring to the Lifedrive directly. But you need to have back up software in the event that everything crashes. This is particularly true for mission critical applications -- Splash ID, OB and Internal Medicine textbooks, ie. The Washington Manual.

But the most important non-third party application is the calendar. It is what Palms do! The idea of being able to synchronize this with any computer or through the air is mind boggling and makes this an essential piece of software. I do not derive inspiration for appointments or calendar events while sitting in front of my computer. It is usually when sitting in front of another computer, walking down a hallway, conversing with someone else or just opening my Lifedrive. This is a conduit that must happen and I am happy to say that we are not too far from its final release.


LDD.

Addendum: No Lifedrives were harmed during the writing of this article :).


Images and quotes taken from Google.com, Apple.com, Microsoft.com and

Could Khertan Know About the Lifedrive Replacement?

Palm Developer, Khertan republished an interesting article from his website, khertan.net on PalmAddicts, bringing one to question what exactly is in store for us from Palm this year.

He harkens back to a prior interview that Jeff Hawkins gave, stating that Palm had essentially three divisions that catered to new products. Essentially, there is a division that does not even get mentioned (Secret Stuff :)). It is this - and not the other two - that is stirring the pot of speculation.

Like Apple Computers, Palm is as secretive as it can be and Khertan is suggesting that with the advent of new processors, namely the Marvell PXA320, the Mother of all Palm products could be announced in June of this year.

If this were to be the case, we would be looking at a device that would make the Lifedrive look like a Nano! It would have to be larger than usual and that could pose a problem for those of us looking for a small solution. Additionally, with the advent of Microsoft's Ultra Mobile PC, would Palm just be following the leader? Or would this be a continuation of the link with Microsoft, producing a Palm UMPC and a Microsoft UMPC?

In effect, if Palm - as Khertan suggests - continues to use a modified version of Garnet to run this device, instead of going with Linux or the long awaited OS, would this be another example of what the Palm CEO stated in an off the cuff moment during an analyst interview - The Lifedrive was an experiment!

Perfection of this experiment - a disk based Palm device - would be seen as what Khertan describes as "A compromise between an UMPC and a PDA." Obviously we all hope that this device will be much smaller than a UMPC.

It's a great read and appears to be a legitimate contender for first rumor of the year on the device front.


LDD.

Google to Release PDA Calendar Program.

Greetings friends,

I am not one to spread rumors, but I have just found out today from a very reliable source that Google plans to release a PDA conduit to their calendar program. My source did not clarify in regards to timing, but that it was coming soon and will be compatible with the Desktop that we are currently using now.

I would assume that it will also work with the Treo, since this is the leading Palm device, but it would appear that the yelling and screaming from the folks at PalmAddicts has had some effect.

Looking forward to this soon.

LDD.

Lifedrive Essentials: MacGyvering The Headphone Jack.

For many of us, the Lifedrive exists as both a work related instrument for finding information and an entertainment device for listening to MP3's and watching Movies. However, the latter usually means watching the movie or video without headphones, using the speakers. But listening to podcasts and music is usually a more private matter and is often accompanied by either headphones or external speakers via the headphone jack.

This latter use has grown over the past year and many people, including myself, tend to listen to podcasts and selected music items in the car via the headphone jack linked to either an fm transmitter or a cassette converter. However, if you look very closely at a lot of these add-ons, you will notice that the size of the adapters are actually a little larger than what the Palm is requesting. In other words, not all small headphone adapters are made the same. This is true for some 3rd party ipod adapters too, but the ipod, over the past 3 years, has almost developed its own standard. Thus it is becoming easier to get the adapter that you need for your palm Lifedrive, since the ipod's adapter works perfectly well with the Lifedrive and nearly all ipod headphone adapters conform to an ipod standard.

However, the use of an oversized adapter can lead to some problems later on. After about a year of use, the Lifedrive will surprise you one day by not playing any sound via the built in speakers. However, it will play if you insert an adapter into the headphone jack and distribute the sound to your car/headphone.

There appears to be an electrical short that I believe is probably caused by some of the larger headphone jacks. However, the cure for this problem is truly amazing!

First of all, there is no need to open the Lifedrive. What I have found is that by using an adapter, placed into the headphone jack and toggling it a little to the left or right, loosens the connection and restores the sound. Now this may not work for every situation, but it works almost all of the time. I have only had this happen to me twice and this solution appeared to correct the problem almost immediately.

A few pointers on preventing the problem:

1. Try to use ipod approved headphones or accessories for the headphone jack.

2. Sennheiser makes one of the best headphones and their convertible jacks fit perfectly.

3. If you find that you are having to push the jack into the Lifedrive excessively, then you probably have the wrong size.

4. If the toggle example does not work, then you may try placing an ipod approved headphone jack half way into the jack and "push" the jack a little to one side. This works also, but you must be very careful not to break the device. See picture below.

This is a little MacGyverish, but it seems to work. I will try to put some more tips on preserving your device as more problems arise. Your feedback on this, as always, is greatly appreciated.

Hope this helps.....LDD.

Lifedrive Microdrive to CF conversion...More.

There is now a wiki available to all who wish to change their lifedrive hard drive to a CF card.
Click on the title or click here .

Remember that your warranty will be void if you attempt to do this. I have not personally performed the change myself, but I am looking for either a used or cheap Lifedrive to do this.

The Wiki is excellent and it details which cards are able to be installed in the Lifedrive. It is a basic instruction set. However, I do wish someone would offer their services for this. That would be more interesting. As soon as someone does, I will post that information here.

There is a report in both Palm Infocenter (PIC) and Palmaddicts that Compusa is selling the Lifedrives that are still in inventory for $199.00. I cannot confirm this at the present time, but this would be a good deal if you sought to make the change.

However, I must say that I am awaiting the Hawkins' Project or a complete drop in the price of a Lifedrive before embarking upon the above. It is risky and you should make sure that you backup your Lifedrive before doing this. Additionally, it will not solve all of the problems of the dated operating system should you decide to embark upon this project.


LDD.

Dr. Bikshandi allegedly creates a new lean PDA.

Akin to the Origami mystique discussion a few months ago, a physician in India claims to have created the first lean PDA for medicine. The device is apparently centered around preexisting hardware and is devoid of the bulky applications and proprietary restrictions that have closed the doors on progress thus far.

The article, published in India's Healthcare Management Express , would seem to be someone's reach for the spotlight if it were not for a few important facts. Dr. Bikshandi is a well respected Trauma Critical Care Specialist. Secondly, he actually presented a working model of the device to the Royal Society of Medicine in London! That's right, no vaporware here! A real, dedicated device. One would think that a picture or two would have evolved from this meeting, but alas, there are no pictures, but a lot of questions. According to HME, the device has the following characteristics:

1. Basic PDA functions: Calendar, Contact/Address book, meeting alerts and e-mail.
2. Wireless connectivity.

When asked if the device can be applied to different operating systems, Dr. Bikshandi replied,

"...I configured a basic palm based hand-held device to run important clinical applications by performing minor tweaks. The configured device is currently operational and capable of synchronising over the internet and even checking e-mail. I have also conceived the idea of providing a SPIX (single point information exchange), which is a blueprint for an elementary network using the built-in infra-red port provided with many hand-helds in a hospital/clinic set up. The design can network doctors and other healthcare professionals in an institutional setting with no specialised hardware requirement or huge investment."



Obviously, until we see a working example, it will be difficult to comment on it. But it is nice to see some innovation still finding its way into the standalone PDA market. The recommended price in June was about Rs 10,000 (Rupees), which was about $220.00 at the time. There is a possibility that the price will be decreased if demand is increased. This could be interesting if it ever comes to life.

(Originally written in June, 2006).

LDD.

Someone Finally Did It!

I have wanted to do this forever, but Vincent Torralba got way ahead of the game by doing the most daring thing ever! Infact, I have been trying to win one of Sammy's Lifedrive's that he continues to put up for grabs on the Palmaddicts website to do just what Mr. Torralba has done. He replaced his Lifedrive disc with a CF card. And as expected, the lag time is nonexistent.

We must find out the long term consequences of this activity. But for now, you must go to Palmaddicts to see how he did it. He has very detailed information in regards to this and I am extremely interested, particularly if this is a stable change.

CONGRATULATIONS VINCENT, a job well done.

http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmaddicts/2006/09/my_lifeflash_fo.html


LDD.

Google Maps for Treo: A Truly Amazing Experience on the Lifedrive.

Googlemaps.prc

Google quietly released its Googlemaps for Treo devices. There is only one thing to say about this program: AWESOME!

It can be downloaded to the Lifedrive without problems and the link given above takes you directly there. If you prefer, you may go to Google and download it directly from the mobile site.

The rendering on the Lifedrive is absolutely superb, not to mention flawless! Directions are stored on your device as are prior searches. You can also see satellite images, rendered perfectly on the lifedrive screen. See my pics below.

This is another example of well written software. No crashes, just responsive, slick software written solely with the user in mind. Of note, this program may also be loaded directly to the SD card and run directly from there.

If there is one program that could make me jump ship from the Stand-alone PDA and venture into the land of the phone-PDA, this would be it. But not for the reasons that you may envision. On the Lifedrive, the program is flawless. It even breaks out to send a message to my bluetooth phone to call a location if I want it to. The screen is beautiful and it is not power intensive.

Where the only problem relating to this well written program lies is with the telephone company. If you do not have a data plan that allows say 10-20 mb/month downloads, you could be in for a nasty surprise at the end of the month. I was able to test the program out on my preexisting bluetooth network and it was flawless. However, I have not ventured to use this on GPRS or EDGE, for fear that it will use up all of my memory for the month in the space of 2 minutes. As it stood, two direction searches used up 2.8mb and its rendering of images as you scroll from location to location requires more download memory.

As of now, Sprint may be the only American Telco that would prove beneficial for the download memory requirements, unless you have an unlimited plan. Herein lies the biggest setback for mobile phones and mobile media in general. A few telephone companies have a locked-in strategy to keep everything in their garden. And they charge a hefty fee for the privilege. It holds back substantial innovation from companies such as Google and even Palm, which must play ball with the Telcos - notice Mr. Ed Colligan avoiding the question of pricing for the Treo 680 yesterday. It is the gorging of the consumer by the Telcos that enables me to stick with my Lifedrive and to use a landlocked machine or intermittently use my bluetooth phone for the data that I need. I cannot justify paying $35+ per month to use a Telco invented PDA based data plan on top of a voice plan.

But departing from this, it is a company such as Google that may show us the way out of this quagmire. If they can open up the lines for free or minimal-charge WIFI, the Telcos will have to drop the price substantially, leading to greater competition.

Google has taken a great step forward with the creation of a portable Google mapping software. Now, if they could only make a universal Calendar program, that would be golden.

Google Maps First Hand Account

Here is a pictoral summary of my unbelievable experience with this software:


1. Select your destination and confirmation will be given in the form of a map display




2. If the address that you enter is valid, you will receive confirmation that the address that you typed in really exists. Sometimes, even a phone number will show up for a business establishment, along with the name of the company. This is followed with the functions listed below. You may choose to go to the location or depart from it.




3. Once you have entered your data, a summary page will show up showing how many miles are between the two points. If you run or bike, this is absolutely amazing.




4. Each colour point indicates a turn or change in direction.




5. Once clicking on a colour point, directions are given for each main turn.




6. You can zoom-in to see more detail and to pick out landmarks. Although not featured here, you can have indicators for restaurants, gas stations and other selected places of interest.




7. You can further zoom-in to see the area in more detail. Notice how the one way streets are also displayed. A very important point if you DON'T live in NYC.




8. You can change the image to view a satellite photo of your location.




9. More unbelievable is the more detailed image shown below after zooming-in again:




10. Alas, the cost of this show of brilliance? A data plan is a necessity if you are using this program. This may be a little difficult if you are using this with a bluetooth phone connection with only a 4 or 5mb monthly account. This is probably why it was originally written for the Treo, which necessitates a special high priced data plan. It is nice of google to put in how much data has been downloaded as this takes the guess work out of doing this.




Again, a truly brilliant piece of software. If you own a Lifedrive or Treo or Tungsten X, you owe it to yourself to download this. Truly Amazing !


LDD.

The Palm Experience......

Sammy and friends have been discussing the possibility of Palm abandoning its base of Palm handheld devices and going for the Treo Model. Certainly, there has been no official word from Palm in regards to this, but it would appear that Palm is embarking upon a road to Treoville. We have heard no word about a stand alone PDA this year. Normally about this time, the Blogosphere is filled with speculation, queries and sometimes smuggled pictures of Palm PDA devices.

Instead, blogs, including Engadget and Palm centered pages are salivating about the probable release of a new Treo. The possibility of another Windows Mobile or Palm OS 5 telephone device. In addition, said pages are now driven to write about phone programs and phone reminder programs with data collection tools and discussions about dropped calls, provider rates for phone usage consumption and antennae-free devices.

But something is missing! Something that has been missing ever since the Windows Mobile Treo came about. With the exception of Palmaddicts, which seems to have a host of stand-alone PDA warriors with separate cell phones, the reporting seems to be about TELEPHONES! It does not appear to be about the PALM EXPERIENCE. In short, does anyone remember the time when they picked up a device (for me it was the Palm V) and stared in awe at the ability to do calculations, store messages and be informed about events? It was an early time and it became a helpful tool for me - being able to practice medicine without having to remember every single piece of minutiae (ie. asbestos lung cancer incidence) or walking around without pockets filled with scraps of paper. It was in short - a revolution!

It was so compelling that even Bill Gates had to emulate the model with a Windows CE product to do just about the same thing. Now, I am not saying that those were the good old days, because the devices in those days were filled with flaws of their own, mainly processor problems, but it was a time when people concentrated on writing good software - lean and productive. The turn of a switch produced the opening menu without the need to warm up. That, appears to be gone now.

What we have is a margin question. What product produces the margins needed to be profitable? What if an experiment was done and a completely innovative device was released, can we - like Nokia - just throw it out there and see if it sticks? And what if that device is flawed, in ways that could be corrected, but in a time and financial frame that destroys our margins? Do we correct it or come out with a second version? Or do we scrap it and go for the product that makes us money? While we're at it, do we scrap the very thing that made us a leader in the first place -- the standalone PDA -- in favor of the device that produces earnings?

I believe that the answer has already been made. I have a wonderful device called the Lifedrive, but I believe that its days may be numbered. The TX was a success, but it too has a few flaws, mainly in its ability to handle the NVFS and so crashes a few times, but much less than the Lifedrive running programs trying to address nonexistent memory locations. The device is not as rich in function as the Lifedrive, but it appears to have caught the fancy of many, with its faster browsing and more rugged build. It does savor the PALM EXPERIENCE and will probably represent the new breed of devices coming from Palm. I would not be surprised to see an 8-GIGABYTE DRIVELESS DEVICE in the form of the Tungsten X, a complete solid state device. A hybrid could be another option, with a large ram of say 512k, immediate program memory of 1 gig continuous and a hard drive to store, but not run programs. Such a device would also be fruitful and probably impress the bottom line.

But before any of this can happen I feel that the one thing that Palm needs to do is come out with an operating system that can manage all of this. If anything, the TREO series of devices has shown that OS 5 .x in its never ending cycle of appearances in new devices is outdated and in need of a complete overhaul. The Palm Media says that Linux is the answer. There is discrepancy as to whether the Access Company will produce this or if Palm will enter the fray and produce a Linux based Palm device alone. The latter would be most appealing after seeing some of the cartoonish GUI's produced by Access.

However, CEO Ed Colligan in a conference call to analysts last year pointed out that Palm's concentration would be on Treo models this year. This would appear to be reasonable given the margins and popularity attained, especially by Windows Mobile devices. However, those of us not ready to jump on the Windows Mobile bandwagon or for that matter own a phone based PDA appear to be left out in the cold, wondering if we are in the possession of an outdated Model-T. There is no mention of a new stand-alone PDA - anywhere.

We are also left wondering if we will ever experience the wonderful feeling of holding a Palm device again that just does its job. It came to me again a few years ago when I picked up a Palm Tungsten. The sliding panel was a joy to behold. The device actually fit in my shirt pocket. To me, I still think that this was the most innovative Palm ever made. Yes, it was flawed slightly, but Palm again ascended to the technological high ground creating a product that few could compete with. Yes, multimedia almost killed the Palm and Windows CE made a run for the money tree, but it was that ability to pull out a Palm Tungsten that drew the most interest. In meetings, people wanted to look at this strange device that had a slider. They were even more in awe when I surfed the web via a bluetooth connection with my phone or sent a contact to my phone to call or transferred data to and from the phone without having to hire my work's IT guy to set up baud rates, string bits and hexadecimal init strings. It was Palm at its best.

So here is a request to Palm. Do not abandon the stand-alone PDA. It is the very soul of your company. It is the rock of Gibraltar that brought you the ability to produce the Treo. I am hoping that the lack of a release of a stand-alone PDA is indicative of a wait for either Cobalt or Linux next year and that our current OS 5.x NVFS devices will be able to be upgraded or better yet, have second editions that are far superior to their originals.


LDD.

Brighthand has Palm Representation

http://forum.brighthand.com/showthread.php?t=228814

I was very pleased to run into a post on Brighthand this week in regards to problems with wifi on the Lifedrive. It seems that any attempt to connect will give a soft reset at least once if you use it long enough. I was very interested to learn that the TX appears to do Wifi a lot better than the Lifedrive.

Seems to be a very interesting board on Brighthand, but perhaps the most interesting feature was the fact that someone from PALM actually answered a post. Heather Cullen, from Palm Inc, answered a question on the board.

They actually do read the boards.

LDD.

Addendum:

http://forum.brighthand.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1097 (Will give you entire Lifedrive forum).
I have added this to my listing on the left.

LDD.

Near Nirvhana with Nokia

Over the past few months I have been looking for a solution to end my relationship with my favorite phone the Nokia 6310i. The phone has been a beauty for me for many years. It could do everything that I wanted and above all else, communicated with my Palm Pilots 'all of the time.'

During the early days, my faithful Palm Tungsten T would surf the web flawlessly using the bluetooth connection and when the memory of the phone was full in the address fields, the Palm was an amicable substitute with its bluetooth connection to dial friends.

When I purchased my lifedrive, I was a little disappointed that the transition was not seemless, but this ended when Palm came out with a few phone updates that corrected the issue and I was satisfied. So, when an unfortunate stool finally broke the faithful Nokia 6310i, a phone that was dropped, flung, stomped-on, drenched and sat-on (accidentally, of course) finally gave its last electronic blurb, I knew that it was time to move on.

Although "The Brick" (as it has been affectionately called) still continued to work and despite the constant berating that took place from my coworkers, friends and family for carrying such a "large" phone, I enjoyed the seemless nature of it. What made matters worse was the fact that I could not find a replacement and carried the broken "brick" around for almost five months before replacing it.


The Contenders

I looked at the RAZR and, with all of the discounts available, thought that this would be a worthwhile replacement, however the RAZR was actually slower than "The Brick." The menu system was akin to starting Windows. Although the bluetooth connection was nice, it felt clunky and slow. Cute, but not practical.

Next, was the Sony Ericsson. There were many model numbers to choose from but even though they were all nice, with a decent menu system, I could not find a bargain among them. And my rule is: If I have to pay a house payment for a phone, I am afraid that it will not do. So, cute but too expensive.

I looked at a few Samsung models next, but could not find any that came close to matching "The Brick." Most did not support bluetooth, but all had magnificent screens. Infact, I would have to say that just about all of the Samsung phones that I tested had magnificent screens and excellent print and video quality. But again, if I couldn't use it with my Lifedrive, I couldn't use it - period.


Enlightenment.......

Then it came! A glow, the parting of the clouds, an angelic sound through the quagmire of despair. Could it be? ..........

I perused the store looking at a small form factor phone. Odd, was the fact that the phone was a flip phone. Why? Because Nokia is not known for making flip-phones. They, and I say this proudly, MAKE BRICKS !!! BRICKS THAT WORK !!!! But this was beautiful. Akin to seeing the girl of your dreams from a distance and not being able to open your mouth to say hello. It flipped, it's menu system was very intuitive. The address book was familiar, the menu system was familiar and of course bluetooth and infrared all in one package. I turned on my lifedrive and in no-time flat was connected to the internet through the phone. I was able to upload my address book to the phone without making any modifications in the address book sequence. It saved vcards accurately. It's bluetooth connection to my Lifedrive, dare I say it, was actually faster than The Brick. And it timed out after lack of use after 3 minutes, instead of randomly as it had done previously on The Brick, while surfing the internet.

The Nokia 6102i is a splendid phone. It has a small form factor and works FLAWLESSLY with the Lifedrive. There is absolutely no need to download any additional software to update the bluetooth connection. Its affiliation with the address book works flawlessly. There have been some reports that the picture quality is not that great, but for me, I bought the phone to speak to others, not to take pictures.

A real plus is that you can send all of your photos or movies taken from the phone to your Lifedrive via bluetooth or via infrared and clear the memory that way. Additionally, the phone comes with software that connects to your computer which can do the same. Additionally, you can transfer multimedia files from your lifedrive to your phone and vice versa all wirelessly. I have even surprisingly surfed the web via a bluetooth connection with my Lifedrive connected to the phone and conducted a call via the speaker function of the phone.

Worth taking a look, I think that this phone is a worthy successor to the 6310i if you are in the running for a new LIFEDRIVE-Compatible phone. There are many phones that are probably better, but for the incredibly discounted prices that are now out, this phone is very hard to beat.

LDD.

Software Review: Riley Kidometer & Shots 2006

Riley's Kidometer is a God-Send for Pediatricians and Generalists alike. If you have ever listened to a child's heartbeat and said to yourself, "Is that normal?" or looked at a newborn CBC and wondered, "Is that Hemoglobin for real #$%* ?" then Riley Hospital for Children's Kidometer is for you.

Edited by Dr. Joel Topf, the Kidometer is a statistically fact based solution that graciously simplifies the obvious. If you are looking for the respiratory rate of a 1 month old, you select the age at the bottom of the screen and select from the dropdown menu on the top right of the page - selecting Basic Vitals. The data is broken down into a range (in this case, 36-64 (awake)) and in parentheses the mean value is also given for the range. Thus in the case of our excited one month old, this is average (Caution to Care providers: Always use judgment with this as you well know, if the kid looks septic don't take the "average" or normal value to mean that he/she is normal - I really trust that everyone reading this would take that into account).

This program exemplifies two things that I greatly appreciate in "the perfect medical program:" SPEED and SIMPLICITY. This program is much more complex than it would appear. Age specific data is not that easy to compile and deliver in a concise format, yet the developers manage to do just that. You select an age and select the information that you are looking for and voila, the information is there.

So, are there negatives with this product? Not really, it works well on the lifedrive but I would like to have seen a simpler presentation of the vaccines, since this is something that is constantly changing. Although it still presents itself well with the information provided, I picture students or early residents looking for a quick response, not appreciating all of the reading that is needed to decide upon the 2,4 and 6 month vaccines. It is a detour from the succinct presentation listed in the rest of the program. Again, this is not really a negative but an observation.

On the subject of immunizations, I cannot recommend the immunization program SHOTS 2006. (http://www.immunizationed.org/) I was going to write a review about the product, but decided against it since I had nothing good to say about it. The product nearly destroyed my LIFEDRIVE. The program, which comes in two versions - a graphically intense version which sports graphic images of the childhood diseases being vaccinated against and one with fewer graphics. Unfortunately both appeared to crash. The "lite" version still appeared to look for pictures found in its counterpart graphics-intensive partner. Since it could not find them, it would crash! The larger version of the program appeared to fall into the vast Lifedrive Wormhole attempting to look for the picture files and not finding them. Even if the picture files were in the same directory (which they were not even during a hotsync), the sound of "ker-Klink" and reset would take hold.Even after I rid myself of the program from the LIFEDRIVE, the device went into a cyclical reset and stopped short of a Hard Reset, resetting all of my files in memory by wiping out the registration info, but leaving the files intact.

It is a shame that I could not get the Shots 2006 program to work on the Lifedrive since the group, The Society of Teachers for Family Medicine (STFM) does such fantastic work. They are driven to providing education and immunizations to children and this misstep in providing software for what I must assume is all NVFS devices appears to be a slip from the norm. I have used their previous versions of Shots in the past without problems, but I surmise that the issue may be in trying to provide these diverse files which the Lifedrive has problems accessing. In regards to their software for other devices, it would appear that there is no problem, but I think that a big Caution should be presented on their download page for owners of Lifedrives, until they have corrected the problems listed.

So, thumbs up for the RILEY KIDOMETER - Living proof that there is still good software out there that is well written. I highly recommend it. The company offers a 30 day trial, followed by a request for $17.95. The information is sent via email.


Disclaimer: As with all of my reviews, this review is independent of any secondary gain. I feel that I must publish this disclaimer with any glaringly enthusiastic reviews that I give.

LDD.

Patriot Memory 4 gb SD Card. First Hand Account,

On friday I found an article in Palmaddicts on a new memory card released by this relatively obscure company. The company claimed to have a 4g SD card (not the new SDHC or USB 2.0 variety reported in my last article) that was capable of being used by just about any SD-available device.

Well, I was somewhat skeptical of course, but I am off on a family vacation this week and I will need all of the free memory that I can muster on layover flights. Last year the Lifedrive was very handy. I kept a series of movies that the kids could watch while at the airport or if they became unruly on the plane. Our usual DVD player had poor battery life and the Lifedrive was absolutely magnificent, especially when hooked up to a car stereo speaker or via joint headphones. However, the machine would need to be recharged constantly, particularly if I wanted to use it for web surfing.

Thus when I saw this article in Palmaddicts, I immediately remembered that during the year, after a few other plane rides, the battery life was magnificent if the movies were being played from an SD card, rather than the disk drive. 1 gigabyte was okay for podcasts and 2 movies, but 4 gigabytes could ensure very high quality playback and a very peaceful plane and car flight. The ability to watch a few movies and my DVD box sets of "24" , "House" and the first season of "Gray's Anatomy" was just too compelling (I do not watch television and I buy the box sets in the hope of watching these things eventually, based upon recommendations by my wife and friends).

I purchased the SD card yesterday for $85.00. I mention the price, because I paid $60.00 for the combo USB/SD Sandisk Ultra card 2 months ago and $80 for the original Sandisk 1gb SD Ultra card a year ago. The price of memory has declined substantially.

My first thoughts upon feeling the card was how thick and heavy it was, compared to the Sandisk cards. The workmanship appeared to be very good, with no dents, paint errors or sloppy misspellings of the labels. I thought it would be good to just place the blank card in the Lifedrive to see how it would respond. Immediately, the Lifedrive informed me that it could not open the card because it was not formatted. It did not offer formatting options. I branched out of this and discovered that the card did not show up in the right upper dropdown display. I then performed a soft reset, remembering that this tends to clear the memory. Not only did it clear the memory, but it formatted the card to FAT-32. I checked the memory of the card, using INFO and found that I had 3.8 gigabytes available. Sounds familiar !!!! I think the Lifedrive Disk had the same amount of available memory when it came out of the box.

I then placed the card in a card reader and began to use it as a regular computer directory, uploading my home movies and the aforementioned programs. I also downloaded a fresh copy of TCPMP and its associated AAC plug-in. I placed this in the already-provided Palm/Launcher directory (appeared after the lifedrive formatted the disc) . If you look at my previous post, you will note that TCPMP tends to crash a lot less often - if at all - if it is run from the SD card.

Voila !!! Success. The SD card runs perfectly on the Palm Lifedrive. There is almost no delay in access times. I can fast forward, reverse, enlarge, rotate and skip as with the Sandisk 1g cards and faster than if I used the harddrive. Access times appear to be comparable to the Sandisk, although I did not do a formal study to test this.

The SD card is a winner in my book. I am thinking of picking up another one to emulate the Ipod nano. Having a full 8 gigabytes of memory at my disposal is very nice. Infact, if you told me that I would have 8 gigabytes of memory on a Palm 5 years ago, I would have asked "what for?" Today, we have programs and files that can access and make useful this type of memory. The new SDHC cards that will be released this year will add even more capacity to these incredible tools of ours. If the Patriot Memory card is a peek at what is to come, hang on to your hats.

In the medical field, I think that the time has come for on-demand medical video. Medical videos are just as tedious to watch for those of us in the medical profession as it is for the layperson. Condensing these down to our small mpeg player formats would be beneficial. Additionally with the increase in memory size, Podcasts should be used instead of CD's. While on the plane, I will actually be listening to and watching 2 medically relevant programs. Something that I could not bring myself to do at home. Both files took up collectively 128mb of the 4 gig space.

Again, the Patriot Memory Card 4g appears to be flawless on the Lifedrive in this initial test. Although a word of caution is needed. I will not place any mission critical information on the device until I have used it for over a month. So for now, I will only place multimedia files on the SD card. I will keep you informed.


LDD.

Is the Lifedrive relevant with the Sandisk and Panasonic 4g SDHC announcements?

Technology stands at the wake of no one. Today, Sandisk joined the SDHC party by joining Panasonic and releasing a 4 gigabyte SD card. The new SD 2.0 cards are designated somewhat differently with the SDHC moniker due to the fact that most SD cards run to a maximum of 2 gigabytes of storage due to FAT-16 limitations. The new SDHC cards look the same, but run on a FAT-32 protocol, driving their potential storage to 32 gigabytes. Additionally, the new classification system further breaks down the cards by classes:

Class 2 2mb/sec*
Class 4 4mb/sec
Class 6 6mb/sec

*Where mb/sec is the minimum sustained data transfer speed. Somewhat better than what preceded it.

What is not known is whether the Lifedrive will run the 4 gigabyte SDHC cards or if other Palms will run them. But more importantly, the question now arises: If there are 4,8,16,32 gigabyte SDHC cards available and are compatible with a powerful handheld such as the TUNGSTEN X, will the Lifedrive be relevant?

Unless Palm comes out with an equivocal Lifedrive, sans the drive, we could be seeing the end of the Lifedrive as we know it. But as I see it, one loss is a gain in another department. This new release of increased memory begs to have Palm deliver on the ultimate experience in my book:

500mb to 1 gigabyte of onboard memory.
4-8 gigabyte Card, interchangeable SDHC format.
Built-in camera.
Built in voice recorder.
Possible attached or retractable keyboard.
Bluetooth/Wifi.
Excellent Battery Life.
And of course, a new operating system with multitasking capabilities.

SDHC USB 2.0 may do to the Palm Lifedrive what Google has done to Yahoo and Microsoft: Force Innovation!


LDD.

Lifedrive Essentials: Bluetooth -- The Other Broadband (The Axis 9010)

A year ago when I bought my Lifedrive, I tinkered around with at least two broadband devices for wifi access. I already had a hardwire router and did not want to change over to a wireless router since I did so very little wireless computing to begin with. I picked up a D-Link router (purchased at a store opening for $10) and tried to use it as an Access Point. This was just plain stupidity and led to a few wasted hours trying to do configurations which would just end up in the router trying to be ...well, a router instead of an Access Point. I then picked up a Linksys Access Point and this, for the most part, worked very well. However, it was not without its own problems. The Lifedrive was very finnicky and crashed on several occasions. Yes it was very fast downloading files and webpages in what appeared to be no-time flat. But along with this wonderful speed came a few problems:

1. The Link was essentially always on.
2. Always on would lead to about a 15-30 minute battery life.
3. Security was a major issue. I found a few names accessing the Access Point that were not mine. A problem resolved when I changed to WPA instead of WEP.
4. The Lifedrive (1.0 OS) was essentially unstable after leaving Versamail and Blazer.

Then, the Access Point would run into other problems. For some unknown reason once I changed the encryption from WEP to WPA for greater security, the Lifedrive would tend to crash or slow down considerably. The longer the WPA key string was, the longer my download times and the greater the connection issues decreasing the battery life.

One solution that cropped up over this time frame was a wireless solution that I had used with my old Tungsten T -- Bluetooth! Just about all advanced Palms link up well with bluetooth phones so I took the logical step of having the machine link with an Access point through a network to print out documents. This was relatively advanced at the time and worked extremely well with the Tungsten T. The device, the Axis 9010 pictured above was originally listed at $400, but I was able to buy one from an auction site for about $40.00. It runs on Linux and is extremely easy to program. The one thing that I liked about it was the fact that its range was supposed to be about 50 feet, but you could get it to about 100 feet and surf without worrying about anyone attaching to the network. Most Wardrivers are not really looking for a bluetooth Lan connection. Additionally the Axis uses RADIUS which is relatively more secure than even a regular WEP or WPA secure connection.

Thus when my Linksys started acting strangely I took out the Axis 9010 Access Point and put it back to work with my Lifedrive. It has been flawless. Infact, although it works at only 1/10th the speed of the Linksys, it provides a consistent and constant data transfer rate. One of my favorite things about the bluetooth access point is the fact that the Lifedrive and the access point stop communicating with each other once the files have been downloaded or the webpage completed. Thus, downloading a 10mb podcast for example will take about 5 minutes, but once it is done, the transmitter for the Access point stops as does the Lifedrive. The Lifedrive will shut off 3 minutes after the completion of the download, but not during it. Thus battery life is conserved rather nicely.

The throughput speeds are not amenable to access SKYPE or anything like that. But if you download, surf or print intermittently the access point is something that you should look at very closely, particularly if you are having problems with WEP/WPA or the 802.x solution. I keep it as a backup, but for the last few months I have been using bluetooth exclusively.

My take on the bluetooth functionality working better on the Lifedrive than on the 802.x solution is that I believe that Palm has been working with IR (Infrared) longer than just about anyone. Additionally, with the introduction of the Tungsten T, Palm became increasingly resilient and aggressive in regards to having communications transmitted over both IR and Bluetooth. I think that the European market, which at the time was very involved in Bluetooth communications, became a major target for Palm. Ericsson and Nokia were phenomenal in this and the ability to communicate with the Palm was instrumental in the success of the early Tungsten products. With Palm continuing to produce three different versions of the Tungsten, bluetooth became perfected over time. Add to this the fact that many, including myself, became increasingly bothered by the hotsync process, the ability to do this via wifi was very appealing. While their competitors concentrated on the 802.x position for wifi access, Palm chose Bluetooth. Hindsight would dictate that the 802.x position won this battle, but in terms of battery preservation and security I believe that Palm was right.

802.x on the other hand, seems to be something of a thorn in the side of Palm for the past few years and a much newer technology to Palm. None of the current Treos, including the new 700 series have native 802.x wireless lan with the Palm OS. The Lifedrive was one of the first products in the Palm line to come out with dual Bluetooth/802.x Lan support. In other words, up to and including the release of the Lifedrive, wireless lan in the form of 802.x is still a work in progress.

The plus for us "old guys" is that if the Wifi link is broken or there are problems with the conventional access points then Bluetooth from home is still an option. With the preservation of battery life one can have a rewarding experience with a bluetooth Access Point. The downloading of web pages is a little slower but reliable.


Setting up the Bluetooth Lan for the Lifedrive is very easy. Just open the bluetooth connection screen and have the machine search for the Bluetooth Lan Access Point (Axis 9010) while it is on. The Lifedrive's software takes care of the set up.


One of the nice things about this set up is that if you have a bluetooth telephone, all you have to do when you want to switch from one to the other is choose (See diagram). In addition, if you can get more than one Axis Access Point, the two can be linked together to produce a relay access point. I have used this once or twice, but there is an obvious delay with response times trying to do this. But again, if you are just accessing small files or doing IM, the delay is not that noticeable. For the most part, for small solutions one Axis 9010 is sufficient. Note that the Axis 9010 as with other bluetooth access points essentially works with any networkable bluetooth device. This means that you can use it with just about any Palm device that has bluetooth Lan, that includes the entire Tungsten line, including the Tungsten T (my favorite device for form factor). It also means that it will work with all other non-palm bluetooth network devices. The device is also very much compatible with up to 5 simultaneous connections. The official document states 6, but your connection speed tends to be untenable with 6 and I have found 5 to be compatible with no appreciable delay in either upload or download times.

Technical:

The Axis 9010 has the following:

1. Axis ETRAX 100 LX, 32 bit RISC, 100 MIPS CPU. With relatively excellent parallel computing and no appreciable degradation in signal with 5 simultaneous connections per my observation.

2. 16 Mbyte DRAM, 4 Mbyte Flash.

3. RADIUS authentication protocol. Of note, Linksys actually charges extra for RADIUS support with its 802.xx products. With the Axis, this is free.

4. Full Spec Sheet

5. Software: Embedded Linux.


Alas, the Axis 9010 is currently unavailable, having been discontinued by Axis, but a used machine can be found with due diligence and I would say that if you are looking for a relatively stable and low-battery consuming access to the internet with your Lifedrive or Bluetooth-Lan device, this product should receive your attention.


LDD.

NEWS: Is This The End Of the Road......?

The Palm Papperazzi is all over the place on this one. Brighthand reports that the Palm Lifedrive 1 may be at the end of its cycle, but the official word is "no." While PalmAddicts is reporting that it may be just dead, with no replacement in site.

Brighthand's Ed Hardy

Palm Addict's Joshua Burdick

Sentiment running high

If it is the end, then this will be a sad day indeed. I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy the overall product, despite its shortcomings. Might we see a solid state version of this device in the wings? - LDD.