Rick Cooper, The PDA Pro

Complimentary Teleseminar - Drive Safe and Talk Safe – Mobile Headset Tips

 

Do you use a mobile phone while driving? How do you stay productive while driving, but avoid the risk of DRIVING DISTRACTED?!?

Join me for a complimentary teleseminar where I will interview Mobile Headset Expert John Waller on tips to use your phone safely (and legally).

Drive Safe and Talk Safe – Mobile Headset Tips
(And Learn about California’s new Hands Free Driving Laws)
(Complimentary Teleseminar)

Thursday, July 3rd
12pm Pacific / 2pm Central / 3pm Eastern

Special Guest: John Waller, Mobile Technology Consultant

Register Now!

Click Here to Register for Complimentary Teleseminar

John Waller

Owner of Mobile Connectivity

John has been involved in technology since 1987. He started out in alpha numeric pagers, cell phones and digital pagers. He has been selling headset for over 13 years. He is a technology consultant and helps people to be more productive with technology and is a sought after speaker and consultant. He is the Founder of the Silicon Valley Palm Users Group and has been hired by Palmsource to train their employees on their devices.  He is currently writing a book on "How to be More Productive in the New Millennium". For more information about Mobile Connectivity, visit http://www.mobileconnectivity.net/

CALIFORNIA HANDS FREE DRIVING LAWS ARE NOW IN EFFECT!

New cellular phone laws went into effect July 1, 2008 in California. The changes are intended to reduce accidents caused by distracted drivers.

VC §23123: Drivers 18 years of age or older are prohibited from driving a motor vehicle while using a wireless telephone unless a hands-free device is used.

SOURCE: California Department Of Motor Vehicles Web Site:
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/cellularphonelaws/

 

Treo 755P Requires You to Remove Battery for Soft Reset

The Palm Treo 755P requires you to remove the battery in order to perform a soft reset. Amazing! I have the Treo 650 and you have to open the case and then use the stylus tip to reset it. It looks like for whatever reason, Palm engineers figured it would just be easier to have you remove the battery. Okay then.

Palm describes three processes to reset your PDA in the user manual on pages 288 and 289. The soft reset is the least invasive. Then there's the system reset. And finally the hard reset.  A hard reset on a Palm PDA will erase all of the data. It's a last resort. If you are not using backup software on the smartphone itself, you may lose data and not be able to recover it.

I haven't had to perform a hard reset on my PDA in a long time. I occasionally have to perform a soft reset. It happens a few times a month. It's not that annoying. But, I worry about having to keep opening the case and removing the battery. It just doesn't seem like the most desirable process.  I guess that's another reason to switch to an iPhone (although I have not explored what if any process is used to reset an iPhone).

Celicase Designer Lisa Rodrigues Joins us May 7th on Attracting Ideal Clients Radio Show

How do you carry your PDA or smartphone? Men often carry them on a holster or in a pocket. Women drop them into a purse and often struggle to find them when they ring.

Celicase Designer Lisa Rodrigues created a solution for that problem. She created the Celicase, a carryall designed to hold a PDA or smartphone and keep it accessible.

Lisa will join us on our Internet Radio Show Attracting Ideal Clients on May 7th at 3pm Pacific Time. Tune in every Wednesday at 3pm Pacific Time.

Sync your PDA

When was the last time you synced your PDA or smartphone? Most people don't sync often enough and they're asking for trouble. Connect your device to your computer and sync it daily. It only makes sense.

And also be sure you backup your computer. Hard drives have a limited life. You need to backup your files daily to an external media device or back it up online. It's quick and easy to do.

Clean Up your PDA

Your PDA or smartphone contains a lot of information. Over time, you have probably created word processing documents and spreadsheets. You have taken photos and downloaded files. Your PDA is getting cluttered and clogged. It’s time to clean it up. Here are some tips to clean up your PDA.

Before you clean up your PDA, make sure you sync it and back up the files to CD or DVD. It’s always best to make sure you can retrieve information before you delete it.

Calendar – It’s a good idea to clean up your calendar periodically. But, first consider how much history you need. Some people like to be able to refer back to prior appointments with clients. If you use ACT! or some other contact management system, you may be able to simply filter the data being synced to your PDA. That way, your contact management system will still allow you to see the complete history of contacts with a client.

Task List – Some tasks will never be completed. So, why worry about it. Take time to prune your task list. Copy old tasks somewhere else if you want to. Life is short. You need to be realistic about what you commit to. Eliminate tasks if there is no longer a need to do them.

Email – Make sure your email settings allow email to remain on the server so it can be downloaded to your computer. Purge the email messages on your PDA or smartphone every now and then. You will be able to check messages more quickly.

Contacts – It’s a good idea to review your contacts every year and archive records that you no longer need to access.

Applications – If you download software onto your PDA, you should consider how beneficial the software is and delete unneeded applications. Shareware and freeware applications can cause problems. If you have to reboot your PDA frequently, it’s time to remove old apps. When you upgrade to a new PDA, reinstall your applications rather than syncing everything over. Your new PDA may have a more current operating system. Incompatible software can cause problems.

Audio and Video Files – Nothing will eat up your storage faster than audio and video files. Archive them and delete them from your PDA. Enough said.

Taking time to clean up your PDA will reduce your headaches and simplify your life. It takes time, but it’s worth it in the long run.

Palm Treo 500V Ready for Europe

What's Palm up to these days? According to Engadget on 9-12-07, Palm is releasing a new model for Europeans.

"Palm's European wing announced today that the Treo 500v was really real, and headed onto the monolithic Vodafone network in October. As expected, the new model will be coming in two colors, a bright white and gray finish (called Glacier White), as well as a muted charcoal tone (known as, surprise, Charcoal Grey), and will be running Windows Mobile 6."

The device has a new look and feel although it lacks a touchscreen.

For more information, visit Palm's UK website.

Photo courtesy of Engadget.

Is Foleo the Perfect Companion for your Smartphone?

Palm is launching a mobile companion device, the Foleo, designed to work with their smartphones. It looks like a laptop, but is much lighter and has a more focused purpose. It is designed to provide a larger graphical user interface for your smartphone, along with a larger keyboard.

It's probably one of the more exciting innovations in smartphones, responding to the increasing needs of mobile computing. I have my doubts whether Palm will be successful in finding a market for this device. There will be early adopters who will see improved productivity as an added benefit. But, I don't think it's a perfect solution for most people.

What are other people saying about the Foleo? Palm fanatic Russel Holliman states:

"I'm an early adopter, a Palm lover (I'm talking about the devices here people), and a mobile gadget freak. Seems like a 'no brainer' that I'd be out buying a Foleo right now. I'm not."

I applaud Palm for taking a chance and trying to address the needs of the marketplace. Only time will tell whether people see the value or whether the Foleo will end up on the technology junkheap.

Treo 680 Smartphone Available in New Colors

The Treo 680 Smartphone is now available in four new colors:  Artic, Copper, Graphite and Crimson. Palm is making an effort to compete with other devices that are more fashionable.  So, if appearance is as important as function for you, this may be the ticket. At this time, the Graphite model is available through Cingular. The other models are only available Unlocked, meaning you need to contact a cellular carrier directly to set up service. This may end up costing you more money, but will give you more flexibility to switch to another carrier later.

Beam your Business Card

You're at a mixer want to exchange business cards with someone you just met.  Of course, you can offer your printed business card. You can also beam your business card.  If you have a Palm PDA, simply open the Address Book and select your own contact record. Then, select Menu, and then choose Select Business Card.  Voila! That's it.

Palm Treo 750v Debuts in Europe

The Palm Treo 750v is now available in Europe, offered through Vodafone. It's similar in many ways to the Palm 700w and 700wx, available in North America. All run on the Windows Mobile Platform, have a 1.3 megapixel camera and similar memory and features. There don't appear to be too many differences between the North American and European models.  Note that the 700w is available through Verizon and the 700wx through Sprint.

For more details, read the datasheet on each model: Palm Treo 700w, 700wx and 750v.

Thanks to my good friend, Andy Gray at Conselleo, for passing along the information.