Diamond MultiMedia is now shipping their "Rio PMP300 Portable Music Player" (US$200) that can be filled with MP3 files recorded from a user's CD collection or from purchases off the Internet. You can learn more via this AnchorDesk news blurb: "DIAMOND RELEASES RIO; CHANGES MUSIC INDUSTRY FOREVER".

Acer is reportedly going to be one of the newest Windows CE Professional manufacturers in the near future. The device will use the Hitachi SH4 microprocessor and come with a "full size liquid crystal display (LCD) screen." Other distinguishing features: large keyboard, two Type II PC Card slots, a serial port, mouse port, connection for an external monitor, and USB port. [SOURCE: Martyn Williams, Newsbytes, 23Nov98]

Xoanan Industries has released a US$10 screen capture utility for Windows CE devices called "SnapIt."

Sybase has announced a new strategic alliance with Korea's Samsung SDS Co. Ltd. to use Sybase's "SQL Anywhere Studio and UltraLite deployment technology" to build custom mobile enterprise business solutions in Korea. [SOURCES: UPI, Reuters, Wired]

PowerMedia is now offering a "Casino Gaming Package" (blackjack, craps, roulette, slots, and poker) for PalmPilot devices for US$25.

John Gehl and Suzanne Douglas' Innovation newsletter had coverage of an Investor's Business Daily story that ran on 17Nov98 about IBM's new focus on wearable PCs. IBM is currently planning to sell a 10.5-ounce wearable PC--Sony Walkman size--equipped with a 233MHz Pentium processor and 340MB of hard drive storage. The unit will also come with an "almost transparent eye piece and audio earplug."

Option International is now shipping their US$159 GSM savvy PalmPilot Snap-ON GSM Modem that will link to most GSM phones for wireless email and Internet connectivity.

Word on the street is that Steve Weyer is preparing to release a new version (g-2) of Newt's Cape 2.0--a shareware Web browser for the Newton. Currently, version 2.0f is available for purchase via Kagi. The new version will have a host of new features including better support for "Authenticate," accented characters, keyboard, view loaded links, and zoomable maps. You may be able to learn more via Steve's primary WWW site at www.kagi.com/weyer.

Andreas Briell reports that there is now a demo (a fully working version that will expire after two weeks) of MobileBackup 1.01 for the Newton available.

-Steve Holden (sholden@pencomputing.com)