Palm has made a couple of major announcements: #1.) A new subsidiary that will control the Palm operating system making it more streamlined and focused on licensing to 3rd party manufacturers; and #2.) The purchase of all intellectual property and technology assets of Be for US$11 million. The CEO of Be - Jean-Louis Gassee - will become a special advisor to Palm to help integrate Be capabilities into Palm. [More info: InternetNews, ZDNET, CNET]

Semperaptus is reporting that Compaq is advertising that their current iPAQ handheld product line will be upgradeable to the next version of Windows CE. However, the expected implementation of the upgrades may not be very seamless and easy-to-do for end users.

Recently updated Palm OS solutions:

1. Bachmann Software FilePoint
2. iambic TinySheet v4.0 & Mail v2.0
3. NS Basic/Palm v2.0 developer kit with support for the new Kyocera QCP 6035 smartphone
4. ePhysician Practice
5. DataViz Documents To Go v4.0
6. R & D Associates SpeedSync
7. Blue Nomad WordSmith 2.01
8. Synergy Solutions SlideShow Commander
9. BugMe! v3.6
10. Kaspersky Anti-Virus
11. MobiPassword

Recently updated Handspring Visor solutions:

1. Dataget's Gap Flush Cartridges
2. Nexi an HandyPro GPS module
3. PSC's Momentum II bar code scanner module
4. Arkon Networks Parafone Cordless Telephone Springboard module
5. Audible Advisor module
6. Pocket Express dbNow Deluxe v2.0
7. Sierra Wireless AirPath 300 wireless adapter
8. Portsmith Ethernet Cradle

Recently updated Microsoft Windows CE / PocketPC solutions:

1. Pocket Controller
2. Phatware Corporation CalliGrapher 6.0
3. SYWARE Visual CE Database Development Toolset
4. Idruna Software Photogenics
5. Advanced Merchant Solutions Pocket Verifier
6. CNetX Pocket SlideShow
7. Multipass
8. Maptech Pocket Navigator

Other recently updated mobile products:

1. Lightware Scout and Scout XL projectors
2. InFocus LP630 projectors
3. CMS Peripherals Desktop Automatic Backup System (ABS) with support for 100-GB and USB v2.0
4. Lexar Media 512-MB 12x USB-enabled Type I CompactFlash digital film
5. Fujitsu PC Corporation updated LifeBook E Series laptops
6. LaCie 48-GB PocketDrive

-Steve Holden (sholden@pencomputing.com)