If you would like to contribute or send in an article please do- hopefully I will be able to produce versions that run on your PDA over time. Doc and iSilo versions will be available for each article and you will be able to read them direct from the web site but it would be nice to bundle them together in a PDA friendly format so that you can carry articles with you. PS. Watch out for my book 'PDA' which will be released soon. Thanks Shaun McGill
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articlesOooooh. Nasty Technology!(06/08/03)
I had a discussion the other day with a colleague at work about the harmful effects of technology and how it has changed people- needless to say we did not agree.
If you are reading this page then you probably own a PDA and have almost certainly experienced comments from people such as nerd, geek, techie etc. etc. It is likely that you have also been reluctant to use it at meetings because of this and have had to use paper to conform to the masses. I have been in the position of actually being advised not to take mine into meetings as it 'just didn't look right'. Feel free to guess my answer at the time:) It's interesting that the people who make such comments have almost always never used a PDA- I find it hard to understand where this fear of technology comes from. Many people buy a cheap PDA and don't get on with it, at which point it either ends up on a shelf in the study or on eBay and this is understandable as it is not a natural step to try something new when there is no compelling need to do so.
There are two points I would like to make- firstly I don't believe technology has changed people, I believe that people have changed because of technology. A lot of us complain about the overuse of email, text messages and the like and that we are becoming less social because of them. Well, there are a few ways to look at this:-
1/ Lots of people use email and text messages as a way to deal with situations they are not comfortable with (almost like a mask) and that is not always a bad thing. At least they are dealing with the situation- the problem comes when the individual finds themselves using electronic communication all of the time. My experience is that one phone call builds more trust and understanding than 100 emails between two people.
2/ By using email someone can communicate with ten's of people every day- before email and the newer forms of communication I suspect the average person communicated with only a handful. Whether email communication can be classed as truly communicating would require another article.
3/ The English Language is a wonderful thing and I have heard many, many complaints concerning people's use of 'text speak' (examples include gr8 (great) and b4 (before)) and that we are losing our skills in that department. Again, this is a perception and a wrong one at that- just because people use this 'slang' does not mean they have poor English skills. I use them a lot in emails and text messages to save time but I still have good qualifications in English Literature and Language and have also written a few books. Of course, younger people will tend to use them more but that's because they will always be the first to do so no matter what the invention- games consoles, mobile phones, the wheel? If someone has poor English skills then their education and parenting need to be looked at before we blame a piece of circuit board.
Blaming technology for social and educational problems is a myth and ultimately the individual still has the ability to use that technology in a positive way. They can use email when needed to communicate with many people at once, when time is short and text messages when they are in a meeting and need information quickly. The individual has the responsibility to vary their usage depending on the situation and it is very important that face to face and verbal communication are used if at all possible.
If someone decides to use a PDA then that is their choice and you will probably find that they are far more organised than the average person- I do wonder if the average PDA user is that type of person anyway. Personally I am a bit or an organisational obsessive and rarely miss appointments, am never late and tend to only feel comfortable when I have either completed what needs to be done or have it listed down ready to do the next day (on my PDA, not paper:)) The point is that when you do get derided for using a PDA (and it will happen if it has not yet) just read the next paragraph and construct our answer from that.
The second point is that when people mock the humble PDA they are following the example of many generations before them.
Computer
Mobile Phone
Calculator
Television
Radio
Printing Machine
Wheel
No doubt all of the above have been seen as unnecessary and in some cases not good for the human race. The first mobile phone users were mentally beaten up time and time again, PC programmers were classed as almost sub-human in the seventies and eighties (to be fair they did all have beards and wear sandals) and I guess that there were a few who had issues with the first televisions.
People who mock you for using something they do not will conveniently forget the discussion in five years time when they own one and it is considered perfectly normal to do so. Progress is unstoppable and happens everyday- some of it is good, some bad and some natural. Technology falls into the third category because human nature is to invent things to help us do things quicker and the PDA falls into that.
These inventions do not kill our skills, they just take them to another level- take the calculator. Why do children need to know how to add up when they live in a world where it is not needed? In thirty years kids will not be taught how to add up- they will be taught how to calculate the radial distance of a planet using a TX1003 scientific/plasma radiated calculation machine.
We are a product of our surroundings and we have to adapt to a degree without losing social and communication skills. My son (3 years old) will probably not be half as good at Mathematics as I was and his son will be half as good as him but they will both be twice as good at something else that we don't even know about yet and Mathematics will relate to them as much as washing clothes by hand does to me.
Final unrelated point: the person who I had the intial discussion with dropped my Clie today- there are 3 reasons why I did not kill him:-
1/ The Clie survived
2/ He's a Senior Manager
3/ He's 4 inches taller than me and plays Rugby:)
Palm 'and' Pocket PC (05/08/03)
I have been playing with an iPAQ 1910 for the past week with a view to writing the old classic article (Palm v Pocket PC) and basically giving the Pocket PC it's usual slagging off:) The fact is that splitting a Pocket PC and Palm is becoming more difficult and they really are very alike in many ways.
Here's my impressions of the first Pocket PC to impress me (and I have tried over 10):
Design / Build Quality
Without doubt the best looking PDA I have used- the design is just perfect as is the size and weight. Having it sat next to my NX70V on a desk was an interesting challenge and I found myself wanting to pick up the iPAQ more often than the Clie!
Performance
Yes it only has a 200Mhz processor which in Pocket PC terms is small but I have to say that in reality this machine is not slow at all. I was just a bit sad and opened up various applications on both the iPAQ and the Clie and could see no difference. I guess benchmarks would prove the difference but I'm not quite sad enough to bother:) Battery life could be better though and on a heavy day at work a second charger or spare battery would be advisable.
Operating System
This is every Palm users favourite subject- just how bad is the Pocket PC operating system? Actually it's OK. The problem lies in the developers of the Third Party software that runs on it.
I found two main problems with the available third party applications- no decent launcher and no programs available that could replace the built in contacts and calendar programs. The nearest I could find for a decent launcher was Dashboard which looks fantastic and actually make organisation a lot easier. It's main failing was that it's launcher part was very basic and not really up to quick access to a lot of programs. As for replacing the contacts and calendar I personally found that products such as Agenda Fusion were just too cluttered and could make the whole process much longer- no one has produced a medium level organisational tool along the lines of Agendus for the Pocket PC.
There are also some issues with other programs. For example Mastersoft Money is a full featured finance/bank account application but is just sooooooooooo slow. I have seen this in a couple of other applications as well and it can give a bad impression of the OS in general.
Entertainment
Now this is where the Pocket PC jumps ahead of a Palm but not necessarily a Clie. The games available are on the whole way ahead of anything the Palm OS can offer- examples are Fifa 2002, Links, Tennis Addict and Interstellar Flames which are very addictive and include months of longevity for the user. It's a long time since I tried new programs on a PDA and was amazed that they could run on a machine so small.
Where the entertainment falls down in comparison to a Clie is mainly down to audio quality with MP3s which does not compare to the quality in an MP3 enabled Clie. The Clie sounds like a proper music player whilst the PPC sounds like an 'attempt' at music reproduction. Video playback is also much better on a Clie than a PPC (smoother by far- to be fair I only tested this in an NX70V).
Nice Touch
With the iPAQ comes a brochure with a 5 point voucher for www.ipaqchoice.com. These points can be used to purchase software such as Sim City 2000 (2 points) and Fifa 2002 (3 points). You can also buy points for extra software (£18.49 for 4 points)- not only does this give a good discount on the normal cost of software but it's a very good way of making a new user look at 3rd party applications. 95% of Palm OS users still never download a 3rd party application whist 60% of Pocket PC users do!
Conclusions
This is not meant to be a review but rather a summary of the differences, or lack of, between the Palm OS and Pocket PC 2002. The whole iPAQ experience has been a bit of a revelation and whilst it was brief I was surprised by just how usable the machine was and the fact that it stands head and shoulders above all Palm machines when it comes to mobile gaming etc.
Personally I still cannot live without the sound quality and video recording capabilities of my NX70V and it would cost too much to replace it whilst retaining the same functionality. To be fair the camera spec of the NX is poor but I guess that's not the point- when you have an integrated device you can take those snapshots and video clips when the moment occurs as you will most likely have your PDA with you (not many of us carry a camera with us all of the time).
If I wanted a PDA without the bells and whistles such as a camera and quality MP3 playback then it would be a difficult choice between the iPAQ and a standard Palm or Clie PDA. Yes, the organisational abilities are not so good on a PPC and the Palm OS is generally easier to navigate but you do get a lot in addition such as quality gaming and, in my opinion, MUCH better syncronisation. I know people give ActiveSync poor feedback but I found it to be faultless and it's integration with Outlook is excellent- it's also a lot quicker than Palm syncronisation.
I never thought I would say this but if I had to list my current crop of favoured PDAs it would be as follows:-
1/ Clie NX series
2/ iPAQ 1910
3/ Palm Tungsten C
4/ Palm Tungsten T2
5/ Clie SJ series
6/ Palm Zire 71
For a dedicated Palm user I am finding it hard to understand the sudden change of heart regarding the Pocket PC format but I have to report the facts and I believe that the hardware is becoming more and more important in deciding which PDA to buy. Form factor and hardware functions such as music and photography seem to be more important than the operating systems- it's all about usability and a form factor like the iPAQ 1910's makes it more usable (in my opinion) than most of the Palm OS range…
More chips (04/08/03)
I had another quick search for some very early PDAs and came up with these:-
ZI-COM HANDHELD PC
I know very little about the Zi-Com but the specs are as follows: 56 KEY FOUR ROW KEYBOARD/ 24 CHARACTER X2 LINES 5X8 DOT MATRIX SCREEN/ BACKLIGHTED SCREEN/ BAUD RATE 45 BAUD ,1 BIT START,5 BIT ,2.0 STOP BIT / AUTO TILT ACOUSTIC COUPLER. Must say it looks horrible but is so rare that one day may be worth something. I found one on eBay and missed out as I was 8 seconds too late- it sold for £2.42!!!
GEOFOX ONE
The Geofox is based on the EPOC 32 operating system found in the Revo, 5MX, series 7 etc. It was groundbreaking at it's time for details such as a touchpad, huge screen for a PDA and it's expandability. Many people loved these machines but sadly the company went out of business. FoxPop came out of this machine's ashes though:) None on eBay at all.
APPLE NEWTON
Most of you will know these machines and they were probably the very first mass marketed PDA. Very big and heavy but incredibly clever and way ahead of it's time- terrible handwriting recognition did not help though. But they are very popular and I spotted one on eBay (a MessagePad 2100) which is at £122 with over 2 days to go!
TANDY ZOOMER
VERY rare indeed! RAM: 1 Mb. ROM: 4 Mb. OS: GEOS 2.0. Applications in ROM: Date book , Address book, Notebook, Pocket Quicken, AOL, Calculator, Dictionary, Form calculator, World clock, Language translator, Games (Solitaire, Pyramid, Uki), File Manager, Consumer, US, World Information. I/O: RS 232 C, infrared port, PCMCIA Card slot, Earphone jack. First produced: 1993. Can't find one anywhere.
Cheap as chips! (31/07/03)
Many people are into antique furniture and artifacts and there are a few people who collect 'antique' computers such as the ZX81, Spectrum, BBC Micro etc. etc. It got me to wondering if there was such as things as an antique PDA? Sounds rediculous but there are some real bargains to be had and if the PDA industry ever does take off then it may be worth buying a couple now and leaving them in your loft for a rainy day.
Here's some examples I found on eBay:-
Sinclair Z88
Launched in 1987 this machine was without doubt one of the
VERY first portable computers (close to being a PDA)- it had 'task switching',
was expandable from 32K to 3.5Mb!, the software on board included a diary, VT52
terminal emulator, full version of BBC BASIC and a very good combined
word-processor/spreadsheet package. It can be connected to desktop computers
and printers and could also accept third party applications. If you want one I
could see only this
one on eBay (currently £14.51 with over 4 days
left) or you could contact rakewell who STILL supply the machines (second user
machines are £47). I think you would agree that this machine was WAY ahead
of it's time...Psion MC Series
Psion launched the MC 400 in 1989 and this was also way ahead
of it's time. Specs included a full travel keyboard, 4 (yes four) SSD slots,
256k RAM, a supertwist LCD display and it even ran an early varient of EPOC.
The problem with finding these machines now lies in the fact that they were
very unpopular and with a price of £845 they were never going to sell in
big numbers- there was an MC 200 which had a half sized screen and this managed
to be even less popular and an MC 600 which...wait for it... had 640k RAM, a
1MB internal disk and 256k of flash which included MS DOS 3.22. This machine
had a battery life measured at up to 30 hours! If you find one anywhere let me
know:)Atari Portfolio
This is the machine nearest to a PDA in this first
selection. The Atari Portfolio has 128k RAM, 256k ROM, a high contrast LCD
display, 4.9Mhz processor (woahhh!) and a lot of included software such as word
processing, spreadsheet, time manager, address, phone book and a DIP DOS 2.11
(MS-DOS & PC BIOS compatible) system. I was surprised to find
three on eBay with an expected closing price of
approx £40.I will be looking at 3 more machines over the next few days and expect them to be much more PDA like- it really is amazing how many portable computers were developed and disappeared without trace- the PDA market would be a different place now if only one of them had suceeded.
Free web? (27/07/03)
I recently had a look around the various web sites which cater for PDA users and there seems to be three main camps out there.
1/ The site owned by a company which will have the finances to keep it running but which will usually have an agenda in order to make a profit
2/ The site owned and run by a PDA manufacturer which is designed to promote their products and give access to tech support etc.
3/ The site run by a single person which gets maybe a couple of thousand hits a day
There are inherent issues with the sites above- I cannot understand why the big PDA manufacturers such as Sony, HP and Palm have not developed sites purely for users of their products. A community site with a personal approach would only help build brand loyalty and would also cut down dramatically on the need for technical support as the visitors would tend to help each other out. I guess their is a danger of negative feedback regarding the products reaching the site and thus this may be the main reason why none of them have used this approach yet.
A PDA site run by a company can work well but when push comes to shove the business side will always win. The best example I can think of is PDABuzz and the much missed Wes- this site will never reach the dizzy heights it did a couple of years ago and that's a real shame as it was without doubt the BEST multi-platform PDA site out there.
The poor guy who runs a site on his own can have a rough time of it- he will usually have to spend hours keeping the content fresh and trying to attract more and more people to his online home. This is a long process and can take months, if not years to do. There are some benefits- you get to chat to some great people, the ocassional thanks and if you enjoy it then the motivation is there most of the time:)
I have seen people moan on forums about the lack of good PDA sites still going- well, only those people can change that. There have been many which have started up and dissapeared quickly (Sonipa etc.) and even some of the BIG sites are starting to slow down (Palm Infocenter, PDABuzz)- these sites will tend to follow one of two paths: they will either become 'corporate' and be at the back and call of their owners or advertisers or they just cannot see any way to make a profit and ultimately have to take the site down.
I looked at advertising and the revenue from Seidio, Toysoft and wirejunkie has helped the site but I have a concern that by increasing the number of advertisers further (if there are any more around:)) PDANews24 will lose it's personal touch which many people have commented on and said it is one of the best features of the site. So, I have decided to have one last push at donations (button added to left hand column of main page) as a way of keeping the site personal and covering the costs incurred with running it. Many of the sites you visit each day will eventually die and, to be frank, there will be no point in complaining about it if you have not tried to help them carry on.
Think about how many sites you visit daily and take a look to see if they have donation buttons- FoxPop is one that I visit often and they have to rely on people's good will to keep going. The ironic part is that sites such as PDANews and FoxPop are just trying to fund hosting, bandwidth etc. and are not looking to make a profit. Sites such as PDANews grow out of being a hobby site and gradually take more and more resources as time goes by. It's interesting that I have received 15 donations this week totalling $89 and that over half of them have come from people who help the site regularly by providing news articles, reviews etc.
I suspect many others do not realise that their help is needed to keep the constant stream of web content alive- it's incredible to think that if each person who visited PDANews24 donated $3 I could give up work for a year! Yet we end up with $89:)
Don't get me wrong- I am not begging for donations in this article, I just want to make you aware that at some stage in the future many of the sites you know and love will disappear unless you help them... Imagine your online PDA viewing without PDANews24, ClieSource, FoxPop etc. etc.
Final thought: would you expect to get your Daily Newspaper for free?
If you would like to discuss the merits and bad points of web sites asking for donation visit here.
Too Clie-like (18/07/03)
The announcement of the UX50 yesterday actually excited me for a small moment. I received an email describing it and thought that Sony had finally made the PDA of my dreams. I think I was wrong.
I wrote in a previous PDAThoughts article called The Perfect PDA (dated: 01/05/03) the following:-
Here's my ideal PDA (at the moment):-
Sony Clie NX height and width dimensions
Palm OS 5.2.1.3.2.5.6 (whatever the latest one is) or Epoc- both in one machine would be nice.
A twist and flip screen, MP3, TV Tuner, Camera etc.
A choice of landscape or portrait screen orientation in text based apps
A landscape keyboard (Sony would do well to buy Psion's design)
My NX is a fantastic PDA but I just don't understand the logic of a PDA with so many features that includes a tiny keyboard that is barely useable when a simple (almost) design tweak would increase it's useability ten-fold.
Well, the first thing I need to do is sue Sony for $10,000,000,000 for stealing my idea:) The second is to wonder what the hell they are playing at? It seems to me that they have done half a job with the UX50.
The main reason is shown in the picture below.
Just how silly do those keys look to you? For the life of me I can't understand why they would make a landscape keyboard and utilise keys like that in it. Maybe the keys are fantastic to use but it would seem unlikely (take a look at the Psion 5mx keyboard below)
The difference is pretty clear to see and I remember a time when I could get 50 words a minute out of my Psion and to this day still use a Psion 7 for articles like this, responding to emails and for serious writing.
You may think I am just having a moan (admittedly it's not been a good week) but whilst I applaud Sony for having pushed the Palm PDA market with their innovation and original design features for me personally they are going the wrong way. I love the multi-media features such as MP3 and the Movie Recorders etc. but feel that the usability of the machines sometimes gets lost in the process.
Sony's history in the PDA market shows an amazing lack of thought when it comes to usability- the Jog Dial is fantastic and it's hard to move away from once you are used to it, the hi-res screen (and hi-res+) is perfect for the PDA form BUT look at the software that has been bundled with the Clies to date:-
AudioPlayer- no way to sort tracks, playlists etc. (a 3rd Party developer has now solved this though)
MoviePlayer- no way to sort movie clips
Clie Launcher- very, very slow when you have a lot of programs loaded on a Memory Stick
Clie Camera- up to the NX series there is a delay when taking pictures which is a real hassle
UX50 3D Launcher- amazed by this. You wouldn't want a 3D launcher on a PC and I can't understand the reason for it in a PDA?
Maybe I am just frustrated that after 4 Clie release since my NX70V I will be sticking with the same machine because Sony has not made it worthwhile to upgrade yet. Of course that could all change today:)
Magazine (14/07/03)
After the recent articles detailing how I am trying to release myself from my PDA just a little I turned my attention to the next issue of Syncronized Magazine and have decided to end the publication before the next issue is released.
Was it successful? Yes, sort of
Was it well written? At times it was extremely good reading
Was it fun to do? Not really
It was fun at the start but after about issue 5 I realised that there is only so much people can write about a PDA and the related software and accessories. Imagine having to edit the bloody thing:) The majority of people who contributed to the magazine obviously have talent and I suspect this is somewhat wasted when writing about PDAs. I myself have started to write about other things and my eBook, PDA, is coming along but now deals with many issues besides the humble PDA- it deals with life. I used to write a lot and have hundreds of poems and a couple of novels lying around which will probably never see the light of day but they were fun to do at the time.
So, I have had another one of my legendarily stupid ideas. Let's make a magazine to read on PDAs and computers which is not solely about PDAs. A lot of you have given feedback on how you have made a deliberate effort to release yourselves from your PDAs and maybe it's time for us to strike a balance. A PDA is a great tool for organisation, reading and for some like me, listening to music. I am one of these people who can only write with music being pumped into my ears at a ridiculously high volume (currently listening to Grandaddy's latest album- if you do not own it trust me, it is the best album I have heard in years!). Anyway, I thought it would be nice to do something with more variety which would appeal to a wider audience.
I'm sure many of you reading this have written stuff in the past. It could be a short story, some poetry, jokes, your life story, a review of your toaster or really anything that relates to whatever you like.
If you have something that you would like to share please send it to me at webmaster@pdanews24.com and I will look to publish it in the first issue. All articles sent in for the next issue of Syncronized Mag will be published in the first issue of ? Magazine (no name yet so your ideas would be useful).
It can be 20 words or 2,000- if it's well written and interesting it will be published so I expect to receive many, many submissions from the 1000's of people who visit PDANews everyday:) I may even fish out one of my old novels and publish a couple of chapters each issue- should be good for a laugh...
There will be lots of prizes for the best contributions as I have a few accessory distributors and many software houses lined up to donate to the winners:)
Still Growing Up... (13/07/03)
I mentioned Clark Fralick in a recent article and he has now completed a piece called K.I.S.S. it Good-bye which looks at how he has simplified his life and also the way in which he now uses his PDA. If you want to read it just go here.
I have been very surprised at the reaction to the Growing Up article and it has generated more emails than any other so far (all positive:)). Some people have asked if I will give on PDAs altogether and the answer is no- I'm just working on ways to use it to help my life, not dominate it. As I look aroud the various PDA sites and forums there are some very strange things going on, here's a few examples:-
1/ Skins, themes and icons- there is an almost obsessive desire by some people to spend hours getting the perfect skins, status bars, virtual graffiti skins and themes etc. for their PDA. Now there is nothing at all wrong with this but it's an example of using the PDA for the sake of using a PDA- I have done it myself and now use a plain MegaLauncher skin with my own icons (which took quite a while to make- doh!)
2/ I must download it because it's new- an example of this would be Decuma which is the new handwriting recognition system bundled with the very latest Clies. Over on Clie Source there has been a lot of discussion about how to get this program loaded and working and people have risked hard resets and all sorts to get it up and running. Decuma is a good program (watch out for an interview with the developer's top man soon) but it's interesting how suddenly warez becomes legitimate in some people's eyes and the need to have the latest thing loaded wins out.
3/ I hate you because of your PDA- this is probably the most extreme but how often have you seen people really have a go at someone else on a forum because of their PDA- there used to be loads of this on PDABuzz and the 'Palm v Pocket PC' debate would often cause some very strong emotions to come out which always made me laugh- it's just a piece of plastic!!!:)
So, I will come up with some ways to make the PDA compliment out lives and will post these in the next article:)
I have received some more nice emails- I'm posting these because it's sometimes really nice to hear people's 'life' stories in a technology dominated web site:-
"I just came across your previous article and would like to extend my condolences on your loss. I recently lost my Father-in-law who was such a great grandad to my daughter. For 10 years, he would without fail be there to bring her fruits during her breaks and will be there again after school to see that we (parents) safely fetch her home. He does this on his small motorcycle rain or shine. In fact, her school mates used to tease her that her grandad's attendence in school is better than hers. He would sometimes be there not knowing it was a holiday or that she's off on a field trip. My daughter is in college now and how she sometimes misses him.
We do sometimes takes such act of kindness for granted till they are gone. What you wrote struck a familiar chord in me, how I can sometimes be so engrossed with my "toys". Sometimes, we trade what we need for what we want. I am fortunate my wife finds the Clie so necessary in her life and we get to share things but she has a better perspective on its purpose than me. To her it's just a tool to help her get things done, while I am obsessed with having the latest.
You have served the Clie community so sacrificially and I know the amount of time needed must sometimes be overwhelming. That is why I always smile when you say there will be no updates cos it's family time. Those are time off you and your family need and deserve. Just to let you know your honesty is really appreciated and understood. Take care buddy."
"I just wanted to share a different perspective from one who greatly wishes she had MORE time to spend using her NX70V. My bosses still view PDA's as toys so it's not something I can be seen using much at work (though it sure gets me to meetings on time and with all pertinent data at hand) and my friends give me the 'GEEK' routine if I use it around most of them (though without it they would probably never get any greeting cards ;c). I'm actually starting to have a bit of a hard time keeping up with all the new, neat features/programs I'd like to try so to help put an end to that struggle I have vowed to carve out a little MORE time to use and learn.
Over the last short while it seems that you have done a bit of a '180' in regard to your PDA usage views but I have a personal hope/suspicion that in time, you may come full circle and feel better about how they have enriched your life after all. I know mine has, and will. Maybe a little abstinence will make your heart grow fonder? Thanks for being there - I appreciate you!"
"How do we have fun and passion without becoming obsessed? How does one find that fine balance? I think those who love us and allow us to love them provide that balance for those of us lucky enough to know it. Bless your Gran.
And bless you for the difference you have made for many you will never know about- I have faithfully followed Clie World aka Clie Planet aka PDA News 24 for the last year and a half, and it's given me some good often useful company.
So please don't go all ascetic on us. We don't have to give up what's fun as long as we keep perspective on living and life. Thank you for your labor of love."
Growing Up Again...(12/07/03)
Having tried the Tungsten T I realised that the amount of time I would need to spend re-loading programs etc. etc. and the small learning curve would go against the idea of not spending so much time with my PDA so at this moment I will probably keep my Clie.
WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO JOIN ME ON A CHALLENGE?
CAN YOU SPEND 2 WEEKS AWAY FROM YOUR PDA- YOU WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO TOUCH IT (EXCEPT FOR CHARGING) AND YOU WOULD NEED TO DOCUMENT THE EFFECT IT HAS ON YOU
Drop me a line if you want to try it:)
Here's some replies to the last article:-
"I was so sorry to hear about the loss of your grandmother. I still miss both of mine dearly and they have been gone 40 yrs and nearly 30, respectively.
Growing up is hard and losing someone important does make most of us do some reassessing of what is important in life. A new baby on the way certainly adds to it.
I am a registered nurse in the USA so I am very sympathetic to all the issues in healthcare. It can be argued that in at least some areas we still have more choice in our healthcare but after 30+ years in the system I can say that things just seem to get worse. My own health went caphooey in the last year and being on the receiving end of the endless battles with healthcare insurance I can only imagine how horrible it is for those with less knowledge of the system. I won’t go into my own rant but wanted to let you know someone hears your distress. Even with me being, supposedly, in the know about how the system works, I find myself beating my head against the wall many times.
I can’t say I was as PDA obsessed as some but over the last year I have become less so. Looking at the real possibility that I am not going to live as long as I had once thought, it became clear to me that spending inordinate amounts of time and money playing with my Clie was just not the way I wanted to use my time. I have been greatly underwhelmed with my NR70 and really regret the amount of money I spent on it last summer. Of course, I was still working a good deal of overtime and bringing in a nice paycheck. Things can sure change in a heartbeat.
I admire what you are doing. If you have any doubts, take a look at some of the people who “live” on various PDA/Clie forums. How does one experience the fullness of life while making 20 or 30 posts a day?”. I thought maybe I was an oddball for not “getting” why one would need to have WiFi access to an in home network when one only needed to walk a few feet to get to one of what is apparently many desktop PCs in some of those folks houses. Have we all become that lazy? Or have people so lost touch with the value of having face to face contact with people that the vast majority of their social interactions are spent in “on screen” relationships?
When this Clie dies, I will probably go back to a more basic Palm handheld, too. Storage space is a factor for me as even in my new job I use a lot of medical/nursing references that would be a real pain in the back to carry around in hard copy form. Even a paper notebook can get pretty hefty J.
When I got the NR I thought that having music on it was going to be such a great thing. Come to find out I have never loaded even one MP3. Maybe it is because I am older now, lol, but having earphones stuck in my ears all the time and being tethered to my PDA just didn’t turn out to appeal to me. I am lucky that I have a small digital camera that takes much better pictures than any PDA currently can accomplish. I take a lot of pictures so it is nearly always with me. For more serious stuff I take along my SLR.
I guess it all does depend on ones priorities. Who am I to say that someone who makes their Clie their primary focus of life is wrong? Maybe that is all they can manage out of life at this particular time. It isn’t for me, tho.
I guess my point to writing you in addition to sending my heartfelt sympathies was to let you know that although we may not be as vocal (who likes to be slammed in a forum for having an opposing view? now me) there are many of us who view our PDAs as a tool to make life go a little smoother and not something that is the core of our existence."
"Just came down to charge up the Clié after an extended e-book read tonight and decided to fire up CliePlanet... Oopps PDANews24. ;-)
Saw that PDA Thoughts had a new article and had a read... I am so sorry to hear about your Grandmother passing away. I know the feeling myself, losing my last grandmother a few years ago.
It's tough and I don't know what to tell you... Just that your Gran would I'm sure encourage you to go on and not be discouraged but to take away the good lessons she taught you and make your own positive mark on the world and others' lives from them.
As to selling your PDA and excessive time spent on them, I applaud your honesty and courage to step away. I felt a bit the same just before ending and then selling Palm Tipsheet. It's been a good thing for me to step back a bit and relegate PDA stuff to a more proper perspective.
I still love PDAs and fiddle with them, but in the last few months I've been much less worried about having the latest stuff -- I just want a reliable machine that does the job consistently and my old Clie N610 does so very well. So I think in this regard you may be on a similar path as I was all those months ago. ;-)
Anyway, just a little message of hope my friend... Remember that your Gran was counting on you to carry forward her memory and her lessons on life so that you can give them to others -- family, friends and your kids.
If you ever need a chat, always feel free to contact me -- glad to be here if you need an understanding ear or some encouragement."
"My deepest condolences on your loss. I don't know what I would do if I lost my Gran. It's funny how it takes the loss of someone (and sometimes something) to force us to sit down and reconsider where we're going in life. Every now and then I find my self sitting down and wonder what I'm doing. I like to make a lot of fuss over my toys. Making sure I have the best, religiously washing my car once a week, trying to keep it spotless. But yet I don't take the same pride in my house, and dare I say it, sometimes even my marriage. Maybe it's time that I put the technology to good use and with myself some reminders to take the time to appreciate life. Thank you for forcing me to look at life, before I lose someone."
"Sorry to hear about the passing of your Grandmother. It does make us take a step backwards and think about ourselvess and our lives when a close one passes on, or a traumatic event happens in our lives [soppy stuff over - almost] I'm glad you're getting your priorities straight [were they crooked before?] and letting go of some of the obsessions of HiTech. Make sure you live with a clear conscience before God - and then follow it. ... as to the Tech changes in your life - Good Luck and Enjoy. Share your experiences with us so that us still-addicted-and-clutching-our-toy folks can see if we would be better off letting go a bit."
"You really do miss your Gran:( I've recently had to pull back on the PC usage and been dumping a TON of programs out of my Clie for the same reasons. They are too easy to get obsessed with and miss out on life and the ones you love! How much are you looking for, for the 1BG stick and the speaker cradle? Oops, there's goes my obsession again! Anyway, really I'd like to look into buying those:) Time really does heal all wounds:) Remember that we are all there with you:)"
"Sorry to hear about your gran mate. My Gran died about ten years ago and i still miss her. She played a big part in my life when I was growing up...I used to trot over every saturday and she'd make a pasty, and we'd play cards and she'd tell me stories about her and my grandad (also departed) and plymouth during the war. she had a dodgy heart valve but refused the operation, after my grandad died she kind of gave up...they were married for 64 years and knew each other for about 15 before that....some achievement that you just don't get anymore. what really upsets me still is that she fell ill on a tuesday and I was contracting in Weymouth and didn't get home til friday night and i went to see her in derriford. I was the last person to see her alive i think as she passed away later that night...it's odd but there's a saying that 'the candle burns brightest just before it goes out' but for an old lady of 84 she looked beautiful, all that grey hair and her little old lady wicked smile. We 'talked' for about an hour but it was weird because she had a tube in her throat and couldn't talk back but i remember every word and she was as lucid as ever and i asked her if she wanted to go and she just raised her eys and smiled. still cracks me up. i miss them. tears on the keyboard now, see!
My granddad died a few years before and this i also remember, the day he died he was lying in bed at home (massive brain tumour, he died six weeks after diagnosis of a 'blocked sinus', i don't think much of doctors i'm afraid)...but, when he was lying in bed, he was talking to 'workmen' in his room and we asked him what he meant, and he said that the room was full of people dressed in white overalls painting all the walls and cupboards white.......angels? I still remember that to this day...it really makes you wonder.
ps: i remember reading somewhere that nobody really dies until everybody they talked to and knew them dies as well because until that day they are not truly 'dead'. my bhuddist tendencies are also becoming stronger now, strange i know but one day i think i may well 'give it up' and join a monastery or go into serious training or something. the older you get the more aware of your own mortality you get, i am 38 this year and i realise now that i am not going to be a word champion surfer, mega-rock start dude, porn king, business dot com millionaire or genius inventor. i am just me. the hard part is coming to terms with that fact! i have george and joss and that is great, and once i get these silly notions of 'wannabe-dom' out of my head i am sure the world will be a better place."
The emails above made me realise why I spend so much time running this site- there really are some truly nice people on this Earth (not many but a few). I was also touched by a small sympathy card and a packet of my favourite biscuits left on my desk by the only 2 people at work who knew my Gran had died. It's not often that human kindness is shown but it's strange that when it happens it's usually in a quiet way which very few other people would see.
The last email is from a guy whom I have exchanged many emails with over the past year- he has some issues that he is currently dealing with but is always there to help out and offer a kind word at precisely the right time:) and I think the email from Mike of rohdesign really does show what a true gentleman he is (he will probably kill me for publishing it!)
Thanks guys:)
Growing Up(11/07/03)
I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about grown up things such as family, politics and the priority I give to the things that really matter. Needless to say one of the things I give too much priority to is my PDA. A view which is shared by Clark Fralick in a forthcoming article.
On Tuesday morning my Grandmother, Bessy, died after a month in hospital. Originally they thought she had had a stroke but this turned out to not be the case- the Doctors said they found something on her brain but were not sure what it was and wanted to perform an operation. The chances of survival were low and thus we refused to give consent- strange how it was not pursued by the hospital. The care she received over the four weeks in hospital was, to be frank, a disgrace. Unfortunately we could not go private as this was not something any private hospital could cover which is a shame because that's the only way to get decent care when you are old in this country (or young for that matter). There is a big gap in how the elderly are treated in comparison to young adults and especially children- I guess that there's a formula attached to it:-
Example 1) 78 years old: on a pension, won't pay anything else into the health system- don't spend too much on care and if we can manage a very risky operation and save some more money let's go for it. Let's not worry about the money she has already paid in decade after decade.
Example 2) 12 years old: will pay into the health system for a good 40 years- worth the investment- let's give them some good care.
The people who work in our health service are fantastic but are sadly governed by people without hearts who look at statistics and their own personal wealth above all else.
I was going to talk about all of the recent tax penalties which have been applied to the UK population and the state of our political representatives in this country but will get back to PDAs now:) Will mention one thing though- over 500,000 people have not completed the new forms to get their child tax benefit which they are rightfully supposed to receive and thus will lose all benefits for a whole year due to a cut off date. Without sounding arrogant I am fairly highly educated and not stupid but this form took me over two weeks to complete and I had to refer to 8 personal documents to complete it properly (over 20 pages!). How on earth will the less educated cope with this? I've done well here not to mention Iraq (oops!)
Anyway, whilst thinking of other things I realised just how much time and money I waste on my PDA(s). I have spent a good few years religiously downloading any new application which is of vague interest to me and now have over 50 games and 60 applications filling up my NX70 and 1GB MS Pro. It's a ridiculous amount of software to carry around with me when all that is really needed are my contacts database, calendar, photos and daily news. I also have over 100 MP3's loaded and about 50 short video clips- nice to have but needed with me all of the time- no.
So, it's time to get back to basics- I purchased a Tungsten T from a fellow UK webmaster and will be using it for an extended period. Yes, the screen is smaller than the Clie, the MP3 quality is no way near as good and there is no camera but it is a good tool to help me focus on what really matters (or what should matter to me). When I sell the Clie I will also purchase an iPod and a lowish spec digital camera via eBay to give me all that I had, albeit in 3 packages but with possibly better results. The fact that I also now have a Psion 7 has helped me make this decision- in the past few weeks I have found myself using it more and more for emails when away from home, spreadsheet and of course my eBook 'PDA' (which coincidentally explores the way in which technology affects our lives in a good and bad way).
Anyone want to make me an offer for all or bits of the following?:)
Clie NX70V
(US model)- boxed, all manuals, CD software etc. Very good condition with
slight marks on casing from over obsessive use:)
1GB Memory
Stick Pro with box and receipt for warranty
64MB blue
'Sony' Memory Stick
Bluetooth
Memory Stick
Sony NX Speaker Cradle (includes connection power lead)
Covertec Brown Leather Case
Clie
Game Controller
USB Folding CradleAll offers to webmaster@pdanews24.com
Apologies for the rant at the start of the article- I just miss my Gran...