Wired's Chris Oakes is reporting that 3Com's Palm Computing has announced the release and shipping status to select locations of their new Palm V (US$449) and Palm IIIx devices. The key new features for the Palm V: new attachable modem, thinner form factor, and rechargeable battery. The Palm IIIx comes in the Palm III form factor but offers an expandable 4MB of RAM and a better display, along with a new "expandability" capability that should make the Palm IIIx a good choice for corporate enterprise applications. You can also learn more via this PC World article entitled "3COM RELEASES TWO NEW PALM PCS".

The online newsletter "INNOVATION" (15Feb99) has an article entitled "CUTTING THE CORD ON THE WEB" that examines some news of Cyrix's WebPad that was originally reported in an article entitled "Unleashing the Web" (written by Chris O'Malley, Popular Science, Feb99). This new wireless savvy "enterprise" device is expected by the end of 1999 and should sell for under US$500.

Oliver King-Smith reports that Tescina has released a "data collection" solution for Palm OS devices that will be ideal for use with the new Palm VII and the Symbol SPT 1500.

QUALCOMM has announced a new "3000-generation chipset for an IS-95A or IS-95B Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) compliant handset, a MSM3000 Mobile Station Modem (MSM), and IFT3000 and IFR3000 fully integrated Intermediate Frequency (IF) chipsets."

Franklin Electronic Publishers has announced a new US$30 rebate program for customers who buy "any Franklin REX PC-Card organizer from a retail outlet before 15Apr99." Items covered by the offer are the REX-3 (US$100), REX-3 with docking station (US$130), REX PRO (US$200), and REX PRO with docking station (US$230).

Sean Luke reports the freeware release of Hemlock v1.0 for Newton devices--with "full source code" also released. Hemlock is a "Internet meta-search program for the Newton which is compatible with plug-ins originally made for the Apple's Sherlock search tool for MacOS 8.5." You can learn more via Sean's Newton Website.

-Steve Holden (sholden@pencomputing.com)