For almost a year now, I have been using the Palm Treo 650 as my cell phone-PDA device. This is not the latest and greatest Palm PDA, having been superceded by the 700, then the 750, then the 680, but it serves me very well. It can browse the web with data connection over the air (which I not actually do), but it lacks wi-fi.

I will be traveling overseas this fall, so I was pondering how to blog while gone. The very small QWERTY keyboard on the 650 is suitable for messaging and email, but not much more. As for writing blog posts, fuggitaboutit.

Enter a new class of PCs or PC-like devices, so new that the industry press is still figuring out what to call the category. Pocket PC won’t work since there is already a class of devices with that name. I’ve seen the new class called mini-notebooks, which may stick, and that is what I’ll use for now. Other names I’ve seen are “handheld notebooks” and “pocket notebooks,” the latter being an exaggeration since these devices won’t really fit in a pocket. This class of devices is smaller and lighter than the class Amazon.com call “thin and light,” the smallest of which is the Sony VAIO VGN-T140P, which sports a 10.6-inch screen.

That makes the Sony’s screen marginally larger than the new Palm Foleo, to be available on the 22nd of this month, according to reports. Palm calls it a “mobile companion,” intended to bridge the gap between the Palm PDA phones and a full-size notebook or desktop computer.

The Foleo is equipped with built-in wi-fi. Where wi-fi is not available, you connect via Bluetooth to your browsing-capable cell phone (and apparently not just Palm brands). With a 10-inch screen and nearly full-size keyboard, the Foleo would seem ideal for trip blogging. Using Documents to Go software, you can also view and edit MS Word and Excel documents, though not with the full editing range of the actual MS apps found on Windows-based systems (my Treo 650 also has Docs to Go, but I never use it. One, I hate Word and use WordPerfect and two, I don’t need to write away from home, except for blogging, and I do that online rather than with a word-processing program). The Foleo also comes with a native email program.

However, the Sony VAIO computer costs $1,999 while the Foleo’s introductory price will be $499. For my purposes, the Foleo does everything I need when traveling. Brighthand.com got enough of a look at the Foleo to post a review. Palm’s site says,

Email—use its big screen and keyboard to type longer emails and see more of attachments. Connect wirelessly with your smartphone and sync email with the touch of a button.

Attachments—edit and create Word and Excel® compatible docs, view PDFs, and deliver PowerPoint® presentations, all on its stunning 10-inch wide color screen. Plus, open and view photos you receive from frieds and family.

Web browsing—get a bigger look at the web pages you’d normally view on your smartphone. You’ll see maps, images, news and more, only now in widescreen.2 Plus, get Internet access in more places—anywhere you have cell phone coverage, or when you’re within range of a Wi-Fi hotspot.

But Palm is not the only company in the mini-notebook game. Asus is also supposed to release this month its new EEE 701 mini-notebook. Originally announced at a $199 price point, the price has crept steadily upward and now it is said to be coming out at $250 - still dirt cheap.

Unlike the Foleo’s Palm OS, the EEE uses a Linux OS. Like the Foleo, the EEE has built-in wi-fi. Notebookreview.com reports,

Combine a small Linux footprint OS with a flash based hard drive and what results is this speedy startup that the device has. Just because the OS is light doesn’t mean it doesn’t do much. There’s a ton of software features on board that will most definitely serve all of your basic needs. You can browse the web using FireFox, use Skype with the built-in web cam and microphone, open Word and Excel docs and edit them, view photos, listen to music files, use AOL IM, MSN messenger or just about any other major chat client via Kopete. In other words, all the basic functions you perform on a PC you can do on the Eee PC.

What the Foleo and EEE alike lack is a large hard drive - the Foleo’s capacity hasn’t been announced and the EEE’s will top out at 16 GB, though both units accept additional storage via USB ports or dedicated card ports.

The EEE’s screen is 7 inches, three inches smaller than the Foleo’s. Other basic specs of the EEE:

Display: 7″
Processor: Intel mobile CPU (Intel 910 chipset, 900MHz Dothan Pentium M)
Memory: 512MB RAM
OS: Linux (Asus customized flavor)
Storage: 8GB or 16GB flash hard drive
Webcam: 300K pixel video camera
Battery life: 3 hours using 4-cell battery
Weight: 2lbs
Dimensions: 8.9 in x 6.5 in x 0.82 in - 1.37 in (width x depth x thickness)
Ports: 3 USB ports, 1 VGA out, SD card reader, modem, Ethernet, headphone out, microphone in

I have not found anything about the EEE that indicates it can connect via Bluetooth to my Palm 650 where wi-fi is not available.

For my purposes, the Foleo seems to be the better choice. I don’t need an actual computer for my upcoming travel. My HP notebook, sporting a 15.4-inch widescreen, is too big, heavy and power hungry for tourist-type travel. I certainly wouldn’t lug it around during the day! But either the Foleo, at 2.5 pounds, or the EEE, at 2 pounds, would be just fine. Both also claim long battery life - three hours for the EEE and five for the Foleo, and both feature instant-on booting. Those features combine for all-day availability for me. The Foleo’s ability to browse via my Treo’s Bluetooth connection is a big plus over the EEE, as it will enable me to browse and post during ground travel.

I am aware that small, notebook-style computers have been around for awhile, such as the NEC Mobile Pro 900 or HP Jornada, but they are older technology and lack essential features such as wi-fi; the Jornada has a built-in dial-up modem, but that’s it.

The Nokia N800 Internet Tablet PC is price competitive at $359. It includes both wi-fi and Bluetooth browsing, but is really made for only browsing rather than both browsing and writing - it has no keyboard and is very small with only a 4.1-inch screen. (Actually, it has keyboard that pops up on its touchscreen, but I’d rather not try to write a post with a stylus.)

Here’s Brighthand’s Youtube video of the Foleo:

… too much time on his hands?

… more money than sense?

… to get the latest gadget, any gadget?

… wants to be the first on her block to own a USB-powered can cooler?

I kid you not.

KnoxViews carries a user review of the Garmin Nuvi 650 GPS, a fairly high-end unit for driving.

I use the Mio c310x GPS. The Mio went on sale a few months ago for $199, about $150 off the list. So I pounced.

As I researched GPS units before buying, I concluded two things:

First, the main difference between high-cost units and lower-cost units is mainly features other than the mapping and driving usefulness. That is, lower-cost units have basically the same mapping and driving usefulness as high-cost units. The extra money buys other stuff such as enhanced MP3 playing, bluetooth integration with cell phones, more points of interest, picture viewers, mpeg viewers, traffic updating, etc. But the basic maps are the same. More expensive units also often feature text-to-speech (TTS) so that the GPS tells you,”Turn left on Maple Street in 100 yards,” rather than, “Turn left in 100 yards.”

TTS was a feature I wanted, but none of the units within my budget offered it. My Mio doesn’t have it. However, I’ve found I’ve never wished I had it. The directions without it are still so precise that I’ve never gone wrong without TTS. Moreover, the Mio - and I’m sure any other non-TTS units - displays the name of the next street at the top of the screen. Yes, you have to take your eyes off the road to read it, but I place the MIO atop the dash, anyway, so it’s minor.

One review I read of a TTS unit pointed out that the street names are, well, synthesized, so unusual names can get mangled to the point of incomprehensibility. The reviewer said that street names derived from American Indian words especially stumped the TTS, but other unusual names did, too.

Second, brand does matter. The Garmin reviewer says that Garmins are probably the best and I agree, based on my own research. But Garmins are also the priciest - often by quite a lot. It’s seems true that with GPS units, “you get what you pay for.” I was pretty leery of the Mio because it was relatively cheap, but extensive research persuaded me that almost alone among low-cost units it was a good buy. I’ve never been disappointed.

Generally, units made by audio companies (Pioneer, JVC, Sony) didn’t fare well in user reviews. Those companies’ units were heavy on things like picture viewing and MP3 playing, but their mapping and drivability features were lacking, sometimes badly so, according to the reviews I read.

Power management is also something to consider. Most units are rechargeable and come with a in-car power adapter. My Mio has that and a USB adapter that recharges it quicker than the car adapter. Because all the maps are stored internally in the unit, the USB connection just recharges it. It will play MP3s loaded on an SD card, for which there is a port in the unit, but I have never done that. The unit has a headphone jack, which I suppose I could rig to play through my car’s audio system. I don’t see the need, though, since the unit’s own speaker is plenty loud for its spoken directions, even for my artillery ears. Back to power management, the Mio has a setting that reduces screen backlighting by about 90 percent after a few seconds. It returns to full lighting when the unit gives new directions. Very useful for extending battery life. Also, you can use the GPS connected to the in-car charger without exhausting the battery at all.

I recommend doing hearty research before buying, and don’t run out and buy the first thing that looks like a steal - vendors almost always charge a restock fee for returns that can be pretty hefty.

Another tip: the more POIs a unit has, the better. Before you ever use a GPS, POIs available might not seem important, but they are. I have also found that entering custom POIs is very handy.

… of Macintosh users.

… press CTL-ALT-DEL to restart.”

These are dreaded words for Windoze users and they appeared on my machine this morning. This message is a brick wall to booting the machine. I spent 50 minutes chatting with HP’s tech support to no avail whatsoever. The techie was very nice and genuinely interested in solving my problem, but neither he nor the second techie I spent another 30 minutes with gave me any useful solutions at all. They did keep asking whether I wanted to buy a new hard drive and I kept answering that that was option number last.

However, Mr. Google was great. I did not retain all the links I perused, but here’s the skinny. The NTLDR file is a key boot file, along with BOOT.INI and NTDETECT.COM.

This post specifically applies to Windows XP, but a similar (maybe identical) procedure applies to other Windows OSes. What you have to do to fix this error is boot from the Windows CD. If you have a Windows boot floppy, you can boot from that. Start the computer and start pressing the ESC key right away to divert the bootup to the Master Boot selection screen. Use the up and down arrow keys to select either your CD drive of floppy drive, depending on which you want to boot from. Your original Windows installation CD disk is fine. If you have a recovery disk or set, then use the first disk of the set. My HP recovery CDs include eight Windows install CDs and one “recovery” CD, which is the one I used.

Anyway, boot from your selected boot drive and the screen will go through some hardware-checking gyrations. Let it continue until you are given the choice of directories to select for DOS command-line. Choose C:\Windows (selection 3). Then type these commands in sequence. Be careful since DOS commands are error intolerant! Include the spaces.

Type cd \ then press enter; this returns you to the top directory, the C:\ drive itself. CD .. does the same thing.Then type the following commands exactly, pressing enter after each one in sequence:

ATTRIB -H NTLDR
ATTRIB -S NTLDR
ATTRIB -R NTLDR

ATTRIB -H NTDETECT.COM
ATTRIB -S NTDETECT.COM
ATTRIB -R NTDETECT.COM

Then type exit and press the enter key. The computer should start to reboot. If it doesn’t, press CTL-ALT-DEL and when the machine starts to reboot, remove your CD from the CD drive (or floppy from the floppy drive) and let the conputer boot normally.

This procedure completely fixed my computer. I presume this error is pretty rare since I have never suffered it before, and I’ve been computing with Windows machines since 1991.

I discussed some features of Palm’s smartphones, focusing on the newly-announced Treo 680. Some more useful information is here.

Early last month I ditched my very conventional LG VX6100 cell phone and transferred my nmber to a Palm Treo 650 smartphone.

Converting to the 650 was one of those “why-didn’t-I-do-this-months-ago” moments. It was always a pain trying to yank out my Palm Tungsten while driving, look up a number, then dial it on the cell phone. Obviously, it’s not very safe, either. My habit was to wait for the car to be motionless when manipulating the devices, but sometimes that wasn’t possible. The real nuisance, though, was answering while driving, since the 6100 isn’t bluetooth enabled, requiring me to take a hand off the wheel and open the clamshell to answer.

The Treo is bluetooth enabled. I use the Plantronics Voyager 510 bluetooth headset, which I bought on Amazon cheaper than I could find on eBay. To answer, you merely press the button on the side of the mike, same to hang up. I hear callers more clearly using the headset than wthout, and they seem to understand me better as well.

The advantages of having my PDA and phone combined in one unit are enormous. Before I switched, I never forgot my cell phone but forgot the Tungsten more than rarely. I don’t have that problem now.

There is a later, more expensive version of the Palm smartphone called the Treo 700, available in either Palm or Windows OS. While the 650 has 32 MB of native memory, the 700 has 64. Both take an SD card (I have a 1GB card in mine). Apps can be installed onto the native memory or the card in both. Other than native memory, there’s little difference between the two models.

But wouldn’t you know - now Palm just announced a new model, the Treo 680, that sort of splits the difference between the 650 and 700. While both the older models were designed expressly for business users, the 680 is meant for a wider market.

During the DigitalLife show in New York this week,

CEO Ed Colligan emphasized … Palm wants to capture what Palm labels the mobile accomplisher market, which it said is 9x the size of the traditional smartphone target audience.

Palm defines mobile accomplishers as college-educated cell phone owners who are frequently on the go and away from their PC, but still want to strike a balance between their work and personal lives. They’ve thought about getting a smartphone before, but haven’t because of fears it would be too complicated to use or expensive.

Although Palm didn’t give any price specifics, Colligan said that when the 680 starts to enter the market in a month so, it will be the company’s lowest-cost Treo yet. It will also be the easiest to use.

“Suffice it say, with more functionality and more capabilities, it will be very competitively priced in the market than any other smartphone product today, relative to the kind of capabilities this product will bring,” Colligan asserted. “We really tried to push the design to make it more phone like too, so that after using the product, [you’ll find] it’s really a no compromise phone as well as an incredibly powerful computer.”

At 0.8 inch thick, the 680 is less bulky by a tenth of an inch than the 650 or 700. The WaPo reports,

The Treo 680 targets today’s media-hungry consumers. It comes with music, video, and photo slide-show players, and Palm says for a limited time it will sell unlocked versions of the phones with a Yahoo music bundle that will include a 1GB SD Card, a stereo headset, and a 30-day free trial to Yahoo’s music service. Colligan said Palm expects 20 or more carriers around the world to offer the Treo 680 by the end of Palm’s fiscal year next June 1.

Fashion-conscious Treo 680 buyers will be able to choose from four colors: copper, arctic, crimson, and graphite. The Treo 680 has an internal antenna and is smaller and sleeker than previous models. The phone runs the new Palm OS 5.4.

Like the 700, the 680 will have 64MB of native memory, vice 32MB for my 650. Except for the lack of an antenna, though, all the capabilities mentioned above are available, though not all standard, on the 650 or 700, and most of that with freeware. There is a freeware download, VEMode, that converts computer movies or DVDs into small files sizes that can be viewed on the Treo using another freeware download called TCPMP. MP3 playing is standard on the older models.

Among other bells and whistles is the ability to respond to an incoming call with a preset text message such as “I’m busy now.” The bundled Dataviz Documents To Go productivity software now supports viewing Adobe PDF files as well as editing and creating Microsoft Office files.

Okay, the response by text message back to a caller is pretty neat (but an extra-cost service on most carriers). As for PDF docs, there is a freeware program called PalmPDF that works extremely well. Documents To Go is not freeware, but is often included in software kits - I used to use a Sony Clie PDA and DTG was part of the package. I never used it myself, since editing files on my PDA isn’t something that I need to do or that was much fun when I did try it.

All three Treos can browse the web using an extra-cost data plan from carriers. I don’t use such a service because I’m never so far from home, office or notebook computer that I need to. Also, the screen is so small that when trying the demos in the Verizon store I found it pretty impractical.

There are other smartphones out there, of course - Blackberry, HP and Nokia make their own versions using their own OS’s. Cingular offers the 8125, Windows OS model that features a sliding QWERTY keyboard and a screen that displays either landscape or portrait. I may convert to Cingular in April, when my verizon plan expires, because Cingular offers deep discounts to students, staff, faculty and alumni of my alma mater, Wake Forest University (where my son, Thomas, is a freshman, as well).