With all of this talk about Treo rumors, it is easy to loose sight of what people are doing with the devices they are using today.In this week's editorial, I'll share with you some of the software I've come to rely on daily for work and play.
Starting off the day right
I start my day off early, around .And the first thing I do is to grab my LifeDrive to check e-mail and the morning's news.When using my LifeDrive, my weapons of choice are Palm's VersaMail 3.1 and Bluefish's AddIt.For most people, checking e-mail is a pretty straightforward activity.
In the past, some folks have taken issue with the use of Addit, AvantGo, or Sunrise XP to download their news rather than going directly to a website and reading the news in Blazer.Personally, I find that it is easier to just sync the content wirelessly using Addit skipping all the frames, banners, and other flashie-blinkie stuff that takes up lots of the screen.With Addit, content is perfectly formatted for the PDA screen.
On my Tungsten T5, I also use SnapperMail Enterprise edition and AvantGo.SnapperMail Enterprise edition is truly an amazing e-mail client.I use it because of the no-nonsense support for POP and IMAP, SSL encryption, e-mail foldering, and SD card support for attachments and mail storage.
Working throughout the day
During the day, I find myself switching gears.When I get to the office, I’ll need to know what I have to get done for the day.To meet my task and scheduling needs, I’ll turn to my Treo 600.The company I work for doesn’t use Microsoft Exchange, so I only synchronize to the corporate calendar.Tasks, memos, and contacts all get synchronized to Palm Desktop.
It’s only by this point and I’ll check the feature forecast with TreoAlarm.Originally billed as an alarm application for the Treo 600 and alarm upgrade for the Treo 650, I find that I’ve come to use it more for the weather module than the alarm module.If you travel a lot for business or pleasure, you’ll want to at least try this software out.In addition to alarms and weather updates, you can also program a schedule to turn your cellular radio on and off.That’s an important feature.You might want to use this feature to turn your phone off during the evening hours when you’re done taking calls for the day and back on again when you are ready to start work.
When I have to head into meetings, I grab my LifeDrive once again and pull out my Palm Universal Wireless Keyboard.I know that I can use Documents To Go 8 Premium on my Treo, but Word documents just look better on that large 480x320 (I take notes in landscape mode) display.Folks who are looking for an alternative to Documents To Go will want to try out Mobi-Systems Office Suite.Both applications offer outstanding support for native Microsoft office documents (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).I like to support local businesses, and with DataViz only about 8 miles from my home, I prefer Documents To Go.
During a mid-morning and afternoon Diet Coke ™ break, I’ll do a quick scan of several websites for news stories.If I see a headline that sounds interesting, I’ll use Adobe Acrobat to create a .pdf file and use Drive Mode on my LifeDrive to save them off to the internal hard drive.I’ll read the stories during lunch or while I’m waiting for my afternoon meetings to start.Again, I’ll use Documents To Go’s Acrobat document reader.However, if you don’t have the Premium edition, you can also use PalmPDF which is an incredibly well written free tool for viewing native Acrobat documents stored on an SD card.
If the weather is nice, I might also go for a quick walk around the office park after lunch and listen to some music or podcasts with NormSoft PocketTunes.(I use AeroPlayer on my Tungsten T5.)
After a long day
Once I get home from the office and have tucked the girls in to bed, I’ll unwind with a good e-book or video.If I’m in the mood for a book, I have standardized on eReader Pro (formerly Palm Reader Pro for all you old timers) and books that I’ve purchased and downloaded from eReader.com.
If my wife has gotten to the TV remote control before me and it watching some ridiculous “docu-drama”, I may watch a TV show that I’ve ripped from my DVD collection using the Fair Use Wizard and watch it on my Palm with the Core Personal Media Player (TCPMP) beta.
Before heading off the bed, I’ll do one last check of my e-mail to make sure that the servers at the office have been backed up successfully and to wrap up any outstanding correspondence with friends and family out on the left coast.After that, it’s off to bed so I can get up and do it all over again tomorrow.While I’m sleeping, my Treo, LifeDrive, and Tungsten T5 all back themselves up to SD card with Resco Backup.There are lots of backup utilities for the Palm OS, including Alex Pruss’ new NVBackup, but you owe it to yourself to try Resco Backup.The software engineers at Resco, in my opinion, do an amazing job with their software and documentation.You won’t be disappointed.
Now that you know my schedule and the software I use daily to get my mobile computing done, what software do you rely to get you through the day? In my editorial, But Is It Second Nature, I talked about how Palm should create new software bundle packs. Should Palm be bundling some of this software with their devices?I’d like to hear your thoughts.
