I think it's safe to say this: with The Missing Sync, Version 4, Windows Mobile has better Mac syncing than it does with either XP or Vista. ...There's a caveat with that, of course, in that the Missing Sync is forced to use Apple's horrendous Sync Services (so there's some weird bugs sometimes) and device support is sometimes a little tricky since Microsoft and their many manufactures don't exactly document all their custom changes. Mark/Space does a great job overcoming those hurdles, though, and I've been pretty happy with the Missing Sync overall.

If you're new to the world of Treos you might be wondering what a launcher is and do you need one? A launcher is a graphical interface that allows you to run programs without having to use a DOS or Linux style command line text based interface. All Treos come with a default launcher pre-installed. It's the screen that pops up when you press the home key and lets you choose to start a program by clicking the icon.

The Palm OS launcher is a pretty good basic launcher, it allows you to view your installed programs and navigation is fairly straightforward. But it is limited in its capabilities and there are few options to customize its appearance. This is where 3rd party launchers are useful: they all offer the ability to alter their appearance through the use of skins and/or through manipulation of various program settings. Most also offer additional features like an improved ability to run programs from the SD card or the ability to manage files as well as programs.

Spectec's SDG-812 2-in-1 Bluetooth GPS Receiver with a memory slot is new in the PIC Accessory store. This interesting device combines a Bluetooth GPS unit with a microSD memory card slot. The GPS portion uses a Bluetooth connection while taking its power from the host device. The memory card slot provides you with expansion memory access while occupying in the usual SD slot. The SDG-812 includes the most recent 20 channel ultra highly sensitive SiRF StarIII GPS chipset.

If you've got a Palm Treo, you probably bought it because you spend a fair amount of time editing or creating e-mail and other text documents on the road. The Treo's QWERTY keyboard makes that much easier than pecking away at an on-screen keyboard or resorting to predictive text technology, but even the Treo's keyboard is no match for a "real" keyboard for heavy typing.

For times when your typing volume makes extended use of the Treo's internal keyboard inefficient or uncomfortable, (after all, you don't want to come down with degenerative thumb disease), you might consider the $99 Palm Wireless Keyboard with Bluetooth Wireless Technology.

Palm has posted on its web site a public beta of an upcoming version of the Palm Desktop that supports Windows Vista.

This version of Palm's software for synchronizing its Palm OS-based devices with a desktop or laptop is the first to earn Microsoft's "Works with Windows Vista" designation, but it has done so by removing some features that were in previous versions.

Smartphones are great. But you often have to make sacrifices in battery-life to gain all those amazing features in a single device. To make up for this, a number of third-party companies sell more powerful batteries for users than the one bundled by mobile device manufacturer.

One of the missing features in the Treo 680 smartphone is a decent call log. You can use the standard one to verify when certain calls where made, received, or missed but there is no way to see the duration nor to have some basic overview reports. Some people need to know, for example, how many calls they made with a certain person during a month, and how long to declare this as billable time for the project they are working on.

There are various third party tools available filling this gap either on the device or the desktop side (some covering both) but there is also a freeware alternative provided by payalba.

Owners of Treo 680s and the 700p with the 1.10 ROM update have a new reason to celebrate. Despite the presence of integrated SDHC support (4GB officially and 8GB unofficially) on these Treos, few desktop or laptop PCs are compatible with SDHC cards without requiring the user to carry along a cumbersome USB, PC Card or Express Card reader. Thanks to the latest (albeit pricey) release from Sandisk, it’s possible to combine a 4GB high-speed SDHC card with an integrated USB plug. This enables the card to be inserted into any PC with a standard USB port allowing files to be written to or read from the card with the need of any additional drivers, software, or clunky external adapters.

Sandisk’s release is notable indeed for being the first SDHC card to date from any manufacturer with an integrated USB port. With industry support lagging in regards to adding SDHC support to the card slots of PCs and printers, this is certain to be welcome news for users requiring more than the 2GB afforded by conventional SD media but concerned about the inconvenience factor of SDHC cards.

Portable boom boxes conjure up images of beach parties, basketball pick up games, tailgate merrymaking, and poolside gatherings. Looking at the picture of the Blue ant Wireless speaker system, one gets the impression that this is a reasonable sized portable music player. Looking more closely at the specifications, you discover it is actually quite diminutive and is designed for the desk, not the outside world.

Keeping your notebook computer or PDA safe from hackers should become easier with the help of the SafeWord MobilePass, launched today.

The SafeWord MobilePass from enterprise gateway security firm Secure Computing is a piece of software that authenticates users via a one-time password process. After registering online and downloading a piece of software, you'll be able to use the software to produce passwords that are more secure for your devices.

Following up on last month's release of SplashID v. 4.0, SplashData has posted the first new version of their SplashWallet Suite in nearly 16 months. SplashWallet 7.0 brings the new SplashID 4.0 version onboard alongside carryover versions of SplashMoney, SplashPhoto, and SplashShopper from last year's version 6.1.