MatriXOracle writes "PalmOS 3.3 is now available for download for users of the Palm V, Palm III/IIIx, IBM WorkPad c3/30X/20X, and older Palms with the 2MB upgrade card. Palm IIIe users can't upgrade, due to the lack of a flashable ROM on those systems, and Palm VII users will have to wait for an upgrade compatible with those devices to become available. New features include a doubling of the maximum HotSync speed, HoySync-over-IR, Euro support, and network logon enhancements. "

hornerj asks: "I was just reading the highlights on the 2.4 kernel and I see that Linux currently has support for more than 4 IDE devices. I have always been told that multiple controllers was a thing of the past and that finding a good controller was impossible. Where can I find more information on installing a second IDE controller, for my 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th devices, and where can I find out which IDE controllers are supported? I haven't seen the HOWTO for multiple IDE controllers yet. Is there one? Thanks. "

PDA Buzz writes "Looks like we may see a color PalmOS device sooner than later now that Motorola has released the Dragonball VZ which supports 256 color LCD on-chip and runs at 33MHz. " One Word: Yum.

hal-j writes "Ed Keyes, author of HackMaster for the Palm, has a hands on review of the way cool Qualcomm pdQ Palm/cellphone combo (which is now available)." For those who aren't paying attention, the pdQ is that half Palm III half Cell Phone mutant thing that actually looks quite interesting. Worth a gander.

Thanks to Janice Wright for returning with a review of O'Reilly's PalmPilot: The Ultimate Guide (2nd Edition). It's the 2nd edition, written by David Pogue and Jeff Hawkins - click below to learn how to make the most of your PalmPilot.

snack writes "Hey guys, I was surfing around, and somehow I came across Panasonic Tough Book. These things look uber cool, magnesium casings and all. They've also got shock resistant lcd's and hard drives. Water proof, and dust proof. Very very kick ass." Okay. Finally I'm gonna jump on the Slashdot "I gotta have one of these!" bandwagon. (My tongue is hanging out as I type.) Update: Yes, we know hardened laptops aren't new, but this is an exceptionally slim, light, and cute one. -Roblimo

~fly~ writes "Tom's has a detailed review with benchmarks of Nvidia's new GeForce256 'GPU'. " The synopsis: High expectations, but it appears to meet the demand.

Flood writes "The Washington Post has a front page story today about Xybernaut, billed as one of wearable computing's 'pioneers'. Interesting bit about the ups and downs of starting a cutting-edge company. " Wearable computing is something that will definitely come - but I still don't have a good feel for when. What do you folks think?

Anonymous Coward writes "There is an interesting article on building a dual Celeron 550 (overclocked 366) computer by David Green; he goes a bit into the theory of SMP computers, what components he chose, and shows some benchmark results (under Linux) for the system. His computer could really crank through RC5 blocks..." Us hardware tinkerers love this sort of stuff; the rest of you can feel free to ignore it. (AboutLinux.com is where this cool scoop came from, BTW.)

Gryff writes "Victorinox, makers of the fine Swiss Army line of knives, has just announced a Cybertool version. It has 13 different screwdrivers and a total of 34 functions including, according to the pictures on that page, tightening peripheral cables, pulling chips and setting dip switches. And - hey! - it's see-through to match your iMac and Visor. "

arban writes "According to this article on CNET, Philips is discontinuing the Nino, their WinCE base machine. " Phillips is citing lack of sales and consumer response to WinCE machine. On the other side of the coin, Handspring has begun taking orders from their new Palm-OS handheld. Nice and cheap.

krp writes "Psion has lauched it's new Revo, a kind of cuter 5mx, but with better Internet/comms software and a free ISP specialising in content for handhelds called psion.net (see an article at Yahoo). Also Palm have released the Palm Vx, a Palm V with 8 meg memory and bundled with AvantGo. See a V series comparison and an article at Yahoo. Prices of older Palm models have dropped accordingly. " The Palm VII has also had a higher rollout, with the push on for more sales.

John Reder writes "Here is a way to get the most out of your PC's monitor for a few bucks. This link will take you to a page that will show you how to build a Fresnel Lens Box with common easy to find items. A Fresnel Lens Box will double the size of your screen making playing things like 3D first person shooters more enjoyable!" Lots cheaper than a new monitor. Wonder what the image quality is like tho. An amusing hack if nothing else.

Tor Arne writes " Gamecenter is doing a preview of the Nvidia GeForce 256. Not as amazing as it initially sounded, it's still pretty amazing looking."

Yet Another Anonymous Coward (that will be an acronym, someday) asks: "I'm tired of trying to cram my 17" monitor, keyboard and case on my desks. And I'm tired of compromising having a nice-looking writing desk for a genero OfficeMax pressboard-desk for my computer. Does anyone know of, or have any personal experience with more creative and ergonomic solutions for their computer? I have investigated quite a few monitor/keyboard arms, but they all require that you mount them on a desk or wall or something. Does anyone know of a free-standing monitor/keyboard swivel-arm mount that actually LOOKS GOOD? "

Amphigory asks: "I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro 400CS with a Pentium 75 Mobile Processor and am trying to find out if it's possible to upgrade the processor. The problem is that I can't find any information about this processor in the obvious places. What piques my interest is that the processor reports itself as a "Pentium Mobile 75 - 200" -- does this mean I could pop a Pentium mobile 200 in the same slot and have it work? "

EverCode asks: "I have seen the nano-servers in a few stories here on Slashdot, and in a way, the idea of those little things are part of my question. I need a server that does not suck electricity like a full blown computer does. It would run 24/7, not need to be very fast, quiet, and be CHEAP. 10baseT is all I need for NIC speed. Operating system is not an issue here. I figure one option may be to use my Windows 98 PC with some power management options turned on, but I imagine that would create slow response time and a lot of other problems, obviously. Ideally, the power savings would come from the hardware, not from the software. I am not against building something from scratch myself if necessary. Would it be possible for me to build a little/power saving server? Thanks. "

We recently covered the possibility that 3Com would spin-off their PalmPilot division. There's been an increasing amount of confirmation about this move, and C|Net has done an indepth look at the story. From the perspective of how business operates, it's an interesting story alone, but it's even more curious in light of the recent announcement regarding the Handspring. Where do you folks see the PalmPilot ending up?

Greg Lindahl writes "The Forecast Systems Laboratory, a divison of NOAA, selected HPTi, a Linux cluster integrator, to provide a $15 million supercomputing system during the next 5 years. The computational core of this system is a cluster of Compaq Alphas running Linux, using Myrinet interconnect. Check outwww.hpti.com for information on the company. "

Justin Ng writes "CNet reports that the 8MB Palm Vx is due October 4th, and as a result Palm V and Palm IIIx models will be slashed in price. Read about it here. " Seems like it will be what the the Palm IIIx was to the Palm III. Wonder what sort of upgrade path will be provided...