OPAL Session Outline: Getting the Most From Your PDA

Draft of February 3, 2005

Overview of Personal, Portable Information/Communication Devices

“Traditional” Personal Digital Assistants

Example: Palm Tungsten E

http://www.palmone.com/us/products/handhelds/tungsten-e/

Smart Phones

Example: Treo

http://www.palmone.com/us/products/smartphones/treo650/

Ultra Personal PCs

Example: OQO

www.oqo.com

MP3 Players

Example: Creative.com

http://www.creative.com/products/welcome.asp?category=213

Personal, Portable Information/Communication Devices That Have Been Designed to Increase Accessibility

First Example: Book Port from APH

http://www.aph.org/products/bp_bro.html

Second Example: Maestro from Visuaide

http://www.visuaide.com/maestro_en.html?CDN=0

Scope of This Online Session

The focus of this session is on how to use a “traditional” PDA to read and create digital documents. The primary interest here is on the PDA as device to read, listen to, create, and edit information, not to communicate with other individuals via voice or to access the Web.

Reading E-Books and Other Digital Documents on Your PDA

Reader Software

First Example: eReader (formerly PalmReader)

http://www.ereader.com/product/browse/software

Second Example: Mobipocket

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/default.asp

Third Example: Adobe Reader for Palm OS

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readerforpalm.html

Sources of E-Books for the PDA

First Example: Free e-books from eReader

http://www.ereader.com/free/ebooks

Second Example: Blackmask

http://www.blackmask.com/

17,400 public domain ebooks for download. Formats for the PDA include Mobipocket and Adobe Acrobat.

Third Example: FictionWise

http://www.fictionwise.com/

Fourth Example: eBooks.com

http://www.ebooks.com/

Text-to-Speech Software on Your PDA

Example: AffordaSpeech

http://www.affordaspeech.com/PD100.htm

Newspapers and Magazines on Your PDA

Example: AvantGo

http://www.avantgo.com/frontdoor/index.html

Listening to Digital Audio Books and Digital Music on Your PDA

Software for Listening to Digital Content on Your PDA

First Example: RealOne Player

http://www.realnetworks.com/industries/mobile/operators/products/player/palm/

Second Example: AudiblePlayer for Handhelds

http://www.audible.com/software/

Audible.com

The PDA or other device you use must be “AudibleReady”. See http://www.audible.com for a list of compatible devices.

Transferring MP3 music files to Your PDA

Example: Use the Palm Quick Install desktop software.

Creating, Editing, and Presenting Digital Documents Using Your PDA

First Example: Documents to Go from DataViz

http://www.dataviz.com/

Second Example: Wordsmith Word Processing Software

http://palmsource.palmgear.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=software.showsoftware&prodid=11205

Third Example: Margi Presenter-to-Go

http://www.margi.com/products/prod_ptg.htm

Accessories

Wireless Keyboard

Fun Multimedia Stuff

Software Example: Kinoma Player

http://www.kinoma.com/

Content Example: Shynola

http://www.shynola.com/