PDA Apps for After Hours
Find the best movies, TV shows, and restaurants.James A. Martin
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Feature: Best After-Hours PDA Software
You know that a PDA is great for reminding you when your next meeting is, what the client's address is, what the client's spouse's name is, and so on. But did you know your PDA can also tell you that tomorrow on The Young and the Restless, Phyllis is going to catch Diane and Jack together?
With the right software, your PDA can be just as useful during playtime as it is during the workday. Here are a few worthy programs that can enhance your goofing-off time.
DoubleBit Software Pocket TV Browser
What's on the idiot box tonight? Instead of endlessly surfing through 5 million channels, you can just use DoubleBit Software's Pocket TV Browser to get the scoop about what's playing now (or days from now), who's in the show, what the plot is about, and more.
I compared the listing reviews in Pocket TV Browser to the on-screen program info supplied by my cable company (Comcast); this PDA program provided more info by far. Plus, you can easily search program descriptions by keywords, add program reminders to your PDA calendar, and filter TV listings by program type such as news or sports. Very cool.
Pocket TV Browser doesn't allow you to remotely control your television or other home entertainment gear. For that, you need a program such as ConnectedTV. However, I've found that remote control programs don't provide as much program detail as applications like Pocket TV Browser.
Though you can try Pocket TV Browser for free, and the program costs only $5 to buy, you must subscribe to the Evolve Communications TV listing service to receive content after the free trial period. A yearly subscription is only $10, however.
Leonard Maltin Movie and Video Guide for Palm OS
For years I've been a fan of Leonard Maltin's movie/video guide, which is released in a new edition every fall. The paperback's tersely worded, starred reviews are just enough to tell you if a film's worth your time--without giving too much plot details away. There are plenty of competitors on the market, but I tend to agree with the reviews in Maltin's book more often than not.
As it turns out, Maltin's concise summaries are perfectly suited for a PDA screen. And taking a PDA to the video store is much more practical than lugging a thick paperback.
I'd be satisfied if this were nothing more than an electronic edition of Maltin's paperback guide, which contains reviews for about 19,000 films. But the Palm version of Maltin's guide lets you search for films using multiple criteria. You can quickly get a list of four-star-rated crime films of the 1940s, for instance. And a "top lists" function provides roundups of the most popular films by decade and genre.
The PDA program also provides current DVD release dates, which are updated during HotSyncs performed wirelessly or on a PC with an active Internet connection. Reviews are only as current as the published guide, however, so don't expect critiques of films playing at the multiplex at any given moment. For that, there's Vindigo.
Vindigo 2.0
In one program, Vindigo gives you helpful, updated details on local movie listings, restaurants, nightlife, shopping, museums, the music scene, services such as car rental and ATM locations, bathrooms (yes, you read that correctly), and weather.
For example, restaurant listings include addresses with cross streets, phone numbers, and reviews. You can get directions to a restaurant and see it on a map. Restaurants can be sorted by distance from your location, cost, rating, and name. Vindigo information is updated wirelessly or during a HotSync on your Internet-connected PC.
Vindigo could use a few minor improvements, however. For starters, you can only configure the program to download one content provider's information in a given category for your city. In the Movies category, for example, you can opt to download movie show times and plot synopses. Alternatively, you could download show times and movie reviews from Time Out New York and other publications. But you can't download more than one of those options at a time for the same city. The problem is, the reviews don't provide plot synopses, and the plot synopses don't provide reviews, so you're not getting the full picture either way. I work around this limitation, however, by downloading movie reviews for New York and show times and plot synopses for San Francisco, where I live.
Another weakness: Vindigo provides directions for walking, but not driving. In a few places, such as Manhattan, walking directions are great. If you plan to arrive by car, though, better get your directions elsewhere. Also, I'd love to see hours of operation listed for restaurants, shops, and other establishments, as well as listings for local theater productions.
But these are nits. Hands down, Vindigo is the best, most essential lifestyle/entertainment application for your handheld that I've seen.
What Turns You On?
Is there a lifestyle/entertainment PDA program you can't live without? Share your story with me.
Notebooks & Accessories
Hands On: Dana Wireless
The original AlphaSmart Dana, a Palm OS-based device with a built-in, full-sized keyboard and a monochrome display larger than most PDA screens, is one of my favorite notebook alternatives. So I was eager to test the Dana Wireless, a version of the device featuring Wi-Fi connectivity.
Unfortunately, the Dana Wireless had difficulty recognizing my home Wi-Fi network's DNS server. The net result was that it took several attempts with AlphaSmart's help to achieve a wireless connection. An AlphaSmart product manager said my problem was the first of its kind that he had heard of. Future firmware updates should correct the problem, he said.
While e-mail worked fine on the Dana Wireless, Web pages loaded very slowly. But in all fairness, PDAs are notoriously sluggish when it comes to Web browsing, unless the sites have been optimized for viewing on a PDA.
My recommendation: If you want a lightweight notebook alternative with a full-sized keyboard and long battery life, consider the original Dana ($379). The extra $50 that the Dana Wireless costs is worth the investment only if you need to check your e-mail wirelessly.
For more details on both models, go to AlphaSmart's Web site. For my review of the original Dana, read "Ideal Notebook Alternative."
News: Upgrading Your Hard Drive
Is the 20GB hard disk that came in your notebook getting crowded? Maybe it's time to replace it with a larger drive. Apricorn's new Xtreme Upgrade is a notebook hard drive and upgrade kit that lets you transfer data from your old drive to a fast new 7200-rpm Xtreme Drive, then use your old drive as an external backup drive, according to the company. For more details about the Xtreme Upgrade ($449), go to Apricorn's Web site.
Tip: A Strategy for Disaster Recovery
What happens when you're on the road and your notebook's hard drive won't boot? One strategy is to create a bootable CD using SystemSuite's Recovery Commander utility. The CD lets you restore from any previous Recovery Commander backup on the hard drive. You can also copy files from your hard drive onto a CD-R or to a USB drive for access on another computer. For more information on SystemSuite 5 and for other backup and disaster recovery tips, read "The Trouble-Free PC."
PDAs & Gadgets
News: Wi-Fi Card for Palm OS Devices Delayed
Still waiting for a Secure Digital card that connects your Palm OS 5 device to a wireless network? Originally announced about a year ago, SanDisk's Connect Wi-Fi SD Card for Palm OS 5 gadgets is now expected to be released in the second quarter of this year. This Wi-Fi card even made Wired magazine's infamous vaporware list for 2003; it ranked fifth out of ten missing-in-action products.
According to a SanDisk spokesperson, a driver for the Palm Zire 71 should be available early in the second quarter, followed later by drivers for other Palm OS 5 devices. The delay has resulted from "business and technical issues," the spokesperson said. Meanwhile, SanDisk has been shipping a $130 similar card for Pocket PC devices since the fall. For more info, go to the SanDisk site.
News: Latest Sony PDAs
Sony recently showed off its newest Palm OS-based Clie PDAs. Among the new offerings: the top-of-the-line PEG-TH55 ($400), with integrated Wi-Fi, a VGA camera, and a spacious 320-by-480 display. The Clie also includes lots of proprietary software, such as audio and video players and enhanced personal information management programs.
News: Dell Adds Bluetooth
Dell is apparently planning to release an Axim X3 PDA model with both 802.11b for Wi-Fi wireless networking and Bluetooth for short-range wireless connectivity, according to the Web site of the Federal Communications Commission. The PDA would be Dell's first with Bluetooth. Details about pricing and availability weren't available at press time.
Wireless
News: Comparing Wi-Fi Rates
How do Boingo's Wi-Fi rates compare to T-Mobile or Verizon Wireless? You could go to each of their Web sites and check their rates. Or you could go to a new site, Wi-fiRates.com, that offers detailed Wi-Fi rate and service plan information for some 150 providers in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. This site lists Wi-Fi rates in a table format, providing a handy at-a-glance view. But the table is long, making it difficult to directly compare providers not displayed near one another. Still, it's a good place to start your search for a service provider.
Suggestion Box
Is there a particularly cool mobile computing product or service I've missed? Got a spare story idea in your back pocket? Tell me about it.