Shaun McGill All Around Gadget Guy

Technology enthusiasts come in all types. You have the cutting edge technofile, the must have the latest no matter what it is, the slow adopter, and others. Each group has it's own opinions and reasons for using and loving their devices. Every now and then you come across a person who really understands these groups and reaches out to them. Shaun McGill is one of those people.

Shaun runs several Web sites and contributes to many. If you have not yet visited these Web locations you are in for a treat. Take the time over the next few days to check them out. My favorite is WindowsMobile24/7.

Writer- PDA Essentials: http://www.pda-essentials.co.uk/
News Editor- Palmtop User: http://www.palmtop.co.uk/
Palm247: www.palm247.com
WindowsMobile247: www.windowsmobile247.com
Symbian247: www.moremobile247.com
E61 Blog: http://stmcgill.wordpress.com/

Palm Addict Supplies Great Palm Info

I love my Palm device. I am excited about the Treo 680 coming out this week at Cingular and I plan to be one of the first to buy. But how did I learn that Cingular will be selling it this week? Palm Addicts. Where do I get the latest news? Palm Addicts. Where can read rumors of things that might be? Palm Addict.

Purchasing a Treo is not cheap which is why I want to take full advantage of it. Palm Addicts is reviewing and discussing software, hardware accessories, and tricks on a daily basis. For me, my day is not complete without reading their articles.

I subscribe to their RSS feed using Yahoo.com news reader. That way I can glance at the latest postings, which change constantly. I encourage you to visit them. It is worth your time and will help you take full advantage of your Treo.

Porting Word Monaco to Windows Mobile - Part 3

There are 4 key areas that need to change when porting Word Monaco Solitaire from Palm to Pocket PC / Windows Mobile devices. These areas are critical as the audience is used to navigating and interfacing differently than the Palm.

Menus - Window Mobile OS displays a universal menu at the top of the screen for global navigation and a menu at the bottom of the screen which is controlled by the launched application. Many games take over these areas to gain back precious screen real estate. Microsoft provides links to third party developers who have published code to take control of these areas. Plus a developer can create their own code. I saw two risks in taking over the menus. The first is as new devices are released there is no guarantee that the application will be compatible once you stray from Microsoft official code structure and second, many Pocket PC owners are professionals and we wanted to make sure the could quickly navigate away from our games and back to work without anyone noticing. :) Thus, all of our games leave the global navigation at top alone and create an appropriate and helpful menu on the bottom of the screen.

Help - Windows Mobile OS supports a reduced version of HTML. Which I think is fantastic. This means the WM users can easily and quickly navigate my long and thorough help. Plus I can then post the same help file on my web site.

Different Orientation - With the exception of a few square Pocket PC's most of the devices running Windows Mobile are rectangle while most Palms are square. This new ratio results in additional real estate for our players and I think Pocket PC players expect gamers to take advantage of the space. On Word Monaco Solitaire we will allow users to make longer words and my tips can be slightly longer, if necessary.

Fonts - Windows Mobile has a greater variety of fonts and sizes than the Palm. Pocket PC players are use to this variety and expect information to be presented clearly. In Word Monaco we were able to fit more information into a smaller area because of this. For example, the tips that pop up use a smaller font than on the Palm, this resulted in a smaller dialog box, which means more of the game can be viewed when the tip is being read.

These four areas were the ones the rose to the top for Word Monaco Solitaire. Other games will have different concerns. If you have a question or comment, please feel free to contact me.

WordPop! Winning Strategies - Part 2 of 5 Hard Letters

Use difficult letters early. Letters like Q, Z, J, X and V are harder to use than other letters because there are fewer words that use them. For example, how many words can you think of with Q. Now compare that to words starting with B. Plus 99% of the time the letter Q is followed by a U. You have to work to get a U next to the Q to make a word like QUOTE or QUICK. However, if you get stuck WordPop accepts the word QAT (which is a type of shrub). If you see the letter Z, check to see if there is another one. If there are two Zs you can make high scoring words like BUZZING.

Having difficult letters near the end of the round is very difficult because there are few 2, 3, and 4 letters words with Q, Z, J, X, and V in them. Often you are forced to use a blank tile.

Use those difficult letters as soon as possible. WordPop! is available for Palm and Pocket PC. Look for tip #3 coming soon.

WordPop! Winning Strategies - Part 1 of 5 Vowels

WordPop! is our most popular game and as a result I receive many positive comments about the game. One popular theme is how to be a better player. I will address this question over a five part series. Here is Part 1 of 5.

Assess the number of vowels. The number of vowels per round is random, although the code maintains a minimum and maximum count to guarantee the round is solvable. After the letter tiles have fallen into place look for the vowels to get a general sense of how many there are. If there are very few, then you know that you must make words that use several consonants but few vowels. Many words with blends fall into this category, such as black, flint, spring, strips, etc. In each of these words 4 - 5 consonants were used but only one vowel. When the grid is half empty you could easily find yourself with too many vowels. If you do have too many, develop a list of words that use several vowels, such as, iota or ion.

Good luck clearing the round and keep an eye on those vowels. WordPop! is available for Palm and Pocket PC.

Look for tip #2 coming soon.

Porting Word Monaco to Windows Mobile - Part 2

I had a great conversation with Surur Davids from Window Mobile 24/7 in his email he says, "Your note about the profusion of resolutions in the windows mobile world is an interesting insight in itself. Who knew the market has already become so fragmented, and now with the new prominence of the smartphone platform things will become even more confusing for consumers and software developers." I agree with this. My team will have to work very hard to make the process of installing easy and error free. Fortunately, Microsoft has provided a nice suite of products to help developers.

I also received a request asking who the team members are. The team is made up of:

• Jim Patterson - Artist, animator, and designer. Jim will create every piece of art. He is 100% dedicated to his work and the results are fantastic.
• Wyatt Webb - Engineer, technology expert, graduate of MIT. Wyatt is the type of engineer who instantly grabs concepts and runs with them. Wyatt also programmed WordPop and Farkle for Pocket PC.
• John Winston - Sound engineer. John is the owner of Sound Audio Solutions, and has created all the sound and music for all our Palm and Pocket PC games. If you ever need sound or music for your games, applications, video, electronic toy, etc. his company is excellent.
• Todd Sherman - Producer, designer, and QA tester. Author of this blog.

I was hoping to cover features that need to be changed so the game feels like a Windows Mobile game, but will cover that in the next blog.

Porting Word Monaco to Windows Mobile - Part 1

Over the next several months I will provide updates and some of the thought processes involved in porting our new game Word Monaco Solitaire to the Windows Mobile platform.

One of the first choices I had to make was what versions of the operating system to support. Our framework was designed to work with Windows Mobile (WM) 2003 and 2003SE. Should the framework be updated to take full advantage of Windows Mobile 5 but possibly be WM 2003 incompatible? The team consensus was clearly no and I agreed. Since my game is a 2D puzzle, it would not need the full power of WM 5.0

The next question to answer was which screen resolutions to support? I can't support them all, as a privately owned company, I need to watch to bottom line carefully. After reviewing device sales data and pulling out the old crystal balls, several predictions were made on what might be released. Thus Word Monaco Pocket PC will support 240 x 320, 480 x 640, and 240 x 240. If the Motorola Q is a huge hit, 320 x 240 might be added to the mix. The art needs to be tweaked for each one of these resolutions, which increases costs. And the game code has to be modified too as the relative input changes (more on that later). Installation becomes more complex as the installer will need to detect the device type and install the correct files and technical support issues become more varied.

My next blog on Word Monaco will list out features that need to be changed so the game feels like a Windows Mobile game.

If you are interested in signing up to be informed when Word Monaco Solitaire for Windows Mobile is click here.

Scrabble Players Love their Words

I love making games. My team and I released our 5th game last month, Word Monaco Solitaire. It is our 3rd word game. After creating WordPop! I realized that I really miss creating word games. I use to create language arts software for children and it was so rewarding watching a child make the reading connection.

A few days ago an upgrade for Word Monaco Solitaire was released. This release was the result of urging from the Scrabble community. Scrabble players are VERY competitive. To be great players they've learned to make very abstract words. Many players rely on those words to get out of a jam or to get some really high scoring words. The word list used in our games has 83,000 plus entries but the majority of the words are classified as common. Words you would see in the newspaper, best selling fiction novels, and in movies. Scrabble players pointed out to me that sometimes the key for getting out of a jam in my games is often making a 2 or 3 letter word and they felt more were needed. So this last month, I gathered all the suggested words and expanded upon them.

Here is the work involved. If a word is suggested I check it first against several dictionaries to make sure the word does not conflict with several rules I have for adding a word.

1. The word can't be a name or any word that would require it to be capitalized.
2. It can't be an abbreviation or hyphenated, for that matter the word cannot have any punctuation associated with it, such as can't.
3. It is a real word or spelled correctly

Once it passes my test, I then need to locate all the forms of the word, such as its plural, inflection, tense. For example, if the word 'help' was suggested, I don't just add the word 'help' but I also add 'helps', helped', 'helping', 'helper' etc. Thus it is a lot of work to add each word.

Adding over 300 new words to Word Monaco Solitaire was a tremendous effort but a lot of fun. Many of the words being suggested are so unusual that I get a big kick finding out the definition of the word. Plus I really like being able to change my games based on user feedback. This is the best way to improve the game.

All in all, I hope all you Word Monaco Solitaire players really enjoy the new version. Try making some 2 and 3 letter combination and see if the letters stick. I think you will be surprised on some of the words you can make.

Keep those suggestions coming.

Great New Blog about Mobile Devices

I love gadgets, especially mobile devices. It fits my active lifestyle and makes me feel connected to my family especially when I travel. I am always on the lookout for new information sites that provide well written and cool information. I am a huge fan of Palm Addicts and PDA 24/7 and now I have a new site to look forward to, Matt Miller's, The Mobile Gadgeteer on ZDNET. Matt had already made a name for himself at Geek.com so I was not surprised to hear that ZDNET wanted to hire him.

This weeks articles cover secure data, which is important if you ever lose your phone or PDA, a review of the Motorola Q which is challenging Blackberry, and ThunderHawks web browser. But don't take my word for it. Go to The Mobile Gadgeteer today.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Being a gadget guy and loving technology, I am always trying out new application and devices. Below are a few of my favorite things from the last several months.

Favorite Palm Applications

Vindigo City Guide - Vindigo supplies great information about cities, such as places to eat, museums, hot spots, directions, bathrooms (LOL), weather, etc. I use it mostly for finding places to eat and finding cab companies. I never travel without first adding the city I will be visiting.

QuickTips - A FREE application that quickly and easily divides a dinner tab and figures out the tip. It has preset amounts like 15% or 20%, or you can customize it to a preferred percentage.

Destaller - This application makes trying new programs safe. It will thoroughly remove an application and its associated files.

Facer 3 - Replaces the Palm OS look and feel with a fantastic launcher and home page. The home page presents to-do lists, appointments etc., and the launcher page makes navigation a breeze. I like the program so much I plan write a complete review of it in the near future.

Favorite Pocket PC Applications

SPB Weather - Not that I can't look outside, but great for planning outdoor events, especially with the weather finally turning nice.

Broken Sword - What a fun game! It has s a great story line with fun, integrated puzzles that propels the adventure. The Pocket PC version is very faithful to the PC version.

Favorite Windows PC Applications

Skype - I use it all the time to "call" my artist in Japan or to setup conference calls. With a good headset and microphone the sound is excellent and it is free.

PC-Cillian - When I upgraded to Norton 2005 my machine took a nose dive in performance. I removed it and machine speed came back. I did this three times until I was convinced it was Norton. After trying several other virus protection software I selected PC-Cillan for its ease of use, speed, and integration with online and offline email.

Dreamweaver - Makes web site building a breeze. I do recommend taking a class to get full use out of it.

Favorite Gadgets / Hardware

Synching / Charging Cables - They are great to travel with. Compact and light. They use the USB Port to charge your device, so a little slow but gets the job done.

Porporta Crystal Clear Case - Not only does it protect my PDA's but I can check a date, to-do item, etc, without having to open the case. I understand the appeal of the other cases but I am most efficient with a clear case.

Logitech USB headset and microphone.- I bought this to use with Skype and it is great. The advantage of having a USB headset is that you can continue to have music playing while using the headset to talk. Also it is very cool to use on multi-player games.

Don't Wait! Enhance your PDA Today - Part 2 of 2

Part 1 covered ebooks, launchers, and clubs. Today I'll cover gadget news sites, games, and memory cards. Each one of these ideas are geared to giving you a new perspective and enthusiasm for that great PDA you use to organize your life.

4. Visit Gadget News Sites - If you own a Palm and you have not visited Palm Addicts or Treonauts, then you are missing out daily on great advice. For Windows Mobile try iPAQHQ, WindowsMobile24/7, and PDArcade. For all types of gadgets try engadget or Geek, they both cover a broad spectrum of gadgets that influence our lives with a great sense of humor.

5. Play Games - "All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy". There are thousands of games appealing to all types. My games at Smart Box Design are strategy and puzzle based, with an emphasis on easy and quick to learn. Astraware, PalmGear, PocketGear, or Sniderware all have a variety of fun games. And since most games have a trial period, you have little to lose but the time to try them.

6. Buy a Memory Card - A 256 MB SD card at Amazon is around $20.00. Imagine how much you can add to your device. Dictionaries, games, references materials, spreadsheets, pictures of your children, music. Skip going to the movies one week and buy a memory card! Once you have it you will wonder why you didn't get one earlier.

There's a lot to try in this list, and any one of these items will enhance your experience and justify the costs of your Palm, Treo, or Windows Mobile Device. Try each one and see where it takes you. If you have additional ideas, post your ideas or send me an email. I look forward hearing from you.

Don't Wait! Enhance your PDA Today - Part 1 of 2

I love starting a new year because everything feels possible again and it seems that everyone has an open mind (at least until they return to the office). Make a decision to try someting new in 2006 with your PDA. Here's a list of three great ideas to start you off with three more coming tomorrow.

1. eBooks - If you have not tried eBooks, then make this your top priority. It is both fun and engaging to fill your device with books on a variety of subjects. It feels like you have your own personal library available at any time. While waiting in line or taking the bus you could be learning Russian, How to Start a Business, Investing, Hang Gliding, etc. Screen resolution has become so clear that I find it very comfortable to read a book on my Palm for extended times. To get started, try eReader which has a huge collection and includes a free reader or your local library (Seattle has thousands of books ready to be downloaded.)

2. Launcher - Both Palm and Windows Mobile come with a decent launcher and navigation system, but there is room for improvement. There are several great 3rd party launchers to try and one of them will be geared towards how you think and organize data. Do a search on Launcher at PalmGear or PocketGear and give them a try. For my Palm I'm going to give ZLauncher another look and WinLauncher. For my Windows Mobile phone I'm going to try PocketPlus and AgendaFusion. If you try one that you think is fantastic, let me know.

3. Join a Gadget Club - I belong to both SEAPUG and PSHUG. They both meet monthly and I always walk away learning something. Plus the attendees are bright and enthusiatic and want to help. You can find a local Palm Group here and a Windows Group here. If you don't see one near you, then start one. It's 2006, anything is possible!

There's a lot of information above and any one can significantly enhance how you use your PDA. Look for Part 2 where I discuss, News Sites, Games, and SD Cards. Send me an email or post a comment if you have an idea to add to this post.

Fewer Palm Games More Pocket PC

Maya Rozenshein of Palm Addicts makes several excellent observations in her post in regards to fewer Palm games being developed versus the number of Pocket PC games. To add to her post I thought I would give a brief developers point of view. My team creates both Palm and Pocket PC applications, although the majority of our games are on the Palm. Lets compare Palm and Pocket PC development.

Graphics

• Palms started out with 4-bit, then added 8-bit, and finally 16-bit support. And is available in 160x160, 320x320, or 320x480 resolutions. Along the way color was added, crudely first then better in OS 5.x. For games to look great you need to customize the art for color and non-color devices. To further improve the art you should also redo it for 160x160, and 320x320. The Palm wants the art in a unique format. The tools for converting the art to work on the Palm are still very crude and cannot be larger than 64K. Yes, 64K! Most of the top game developers have had to develop their own game engine to run onto of the Palm OS to break away from these limits. Creating your own engine means maintenance for each new device releases and each iterations of the OS. Although, Palm works really hard to keep things backward compatible.
• Pocket PCs on the other hand have predominately been 16-bit, do not have a 64K limit, and easily support PNG, BMP, JPEG, etc formats. Plus Microsoft posts code to help developers use art in their games.
  

Sound

• Palms had limited sound support and to this day does not natively support WAVE or MP3 files. By natively, I mean that game developers have to convert the files to a special format for them to play. And sounds are also limited to 64K.
• Pocket PCs easily run WAVE and MP3 files. Which means no extra steps for my team.
  

Message Boxes

• Palm font support is very limited. To improve readability game developers often have to create their own fonts.
• Pocket PCs are OK on fonts, offering a few more sizes.

Programming

• Palms are straight forward to program for. Engineers coming from a Mac background usually have an easier time. However, developer tools are limited.
• Pocket PC has Microsoft behind it, and they update and offer new tools frequently including newer compilers. I will say, until Windows Mobile 2003 came out, it was much harder to develop for the Pocket PC. Many of these tools though are very expensive. Microsoft Pocket PC development environment is similar enough to PC development makinf the transition for PC engineers easy.
  

Compatibility

• Palms really excel here. We've found most of the issues are differences between 4.x and 5.x. Button / Key mapping are inconsistent across some devices.
• Pocket PCs started out well enough but with new resolutions being announced regularly it will be an added expense to keep up

In my opinion, it is getting easier and easier for Window Mobile developers to create games, while the Palm game developers have several hoops to jump through. So why develop for the Palm? Easy to answer, the screens are beautiful, the devices are fantastic, and the community is loyal and enthusiastic. I am optimistic that Palm and Access will update the tools and improve support for the engineers. But it is easy to notice that there are fewer and fewer Palm games being released compared to 1 - 2 years ago. Also, my team and I enjoy developing for the Pocket PC. The newer devices with 640 x 480 resolution are stunning but expensive.

Best of 2005 Lists

I love end-of-year 'best of' lists. There is something fun about seeing the top products in an easy to read list with explanations on why they are the best. I use these lists to buy end of year products or to find holiday gifts for friends and family. Since most software can be tried before purchases I will often try the recommended software to see if it is better than what I currently have. Last year I switched from Norton Anitvirus to PC-cillin based upon an end of year list. This morning, one of my favorite sites Geek.com, and one of my favorite writers Matt Miller, presented his list. I especially like his list because although he is a techy, he shares his computer with his wife and kids, which means the software he purchases and recommends has to be really great and practical. Also, his list is not limited to software, he includes headsets, chargers, furniture, travel bags and more. And if he recommends it, you know he is using it. You can find his list here. I've added Geek.com to my list of links so you can always find it by visiting my blog.

Old or New Games

I was recently asked if I prefer to redo old games or create only new one. When designing a new game I look at old PC games, board games, arcade games, sports, etc. for inspiration. I've released Farkle and Triples, both based on older games but reinterpreted for the Palm and Pocket PC. I gave them a new twist by adding additional strategies. My two original games, Word Watch and WordPop! were both inspired by older games that I think did not go far enough or offered limited replayability. WordPop! was actually thought of after I was playing a math game. I liked some of the strategies and believed they could translate to a word game. I am interested in creating games that have several strategies whether they are original or based upon an older game. I still feel challenged and motivated by both scenarios.

How are inspired? Would you rather play old games or try new ones? Drop me line as I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Traveling with a PDA Part 2

I find using the built-in camera on the Zire 72 one of the most convenient features when I am traveling. I always have my Palm with me which means I will always have a camera handy. The snap shots are 1.2 mega-pixels which works great for me. The quality is perfect for a quick capture of people, places, and events that I want to remember. Plus the Palm has the added feature of letting me add notes to the picture for future reference. Since my Palm is already setup to synchronize with my computer no additional steps are needed to copy the pictures from my Palm to my computer. After synchronizing, I review the pictures, organizing the ones I want deleting the ones I don't like.

Here are three samples of pictures I took. The first is of a great vegetarian friendly restaurant near Bath, Maine. Their yam salad was worth the detour. The next is of a Civil War memorial. Many of the towns I have visited have these which lists the name of fallen soldiers from that town and surrounding areas. After seeing several memorials you really take to heart how widely the Civil War effected these areas and the country. With the population significantly less over 100 years ago I can't help but to think how many people must have known these men before they died. The last picture is of Camden taken from Mount Beddie. The fall colors are beautiful and the coast line is stunning.

Traveling with a PDA Part 1

What's it like traveling with a PDA? How can it add to your experience? Over the next few days while I am traveling in Maine, USA I will be posting my experiences and observations. I am using a Palm Zire 72. My original idea was to connect to my blog using my bluetooth Ericsson phone but I had some problems with setting up GPS with AT&T. I am switching to Cingular in a few months as they claim this will resolve my problems. I am optimistic that it will. In the mean time I am posting using my laptop using my travel cable that I purchased for the trip.


If you have not used a travel cable before I highly recommend trying one out. Not only does it connect my Zire to my computer but it also uses the USB port to charge it, making one less charger to pack. It has worked flawlessly. You can buy some pretty nice retractable versions from companies like Proporta.

History of Dice and Farkle

Daryl Seager wrote an engaging booklet on the history of Dice and Farkle. It's a fascinating read that takes the reader around the world and through time. It starts with the Romans and their knuckle bones and takes the reader to Greece, Persia, Korea, and China where "21 individual domino pieces represent the possible throws with 2 dice". I love the list she provides of other names Farkle is known as. Farkle is odd enough, but "Pass the Pig" is even better. Download this fascinating and well worth the time booklet. In addition to the history, it thoroughly covers all the rules plus several variations. Download here.

What new version?!

As a software designer at Smart Box Design I use a lot of software. Some of it is very inexpensive and others more that I want to admit paying, but if it does the job, then it was worth every penny. The internet and mobile connectivity has made purchasing software quick and easy and receiving updates even easier.

There are several mechanisms to learn about updates of which I use them all.

• News Sites
• Subscriptions Services
• Newsletters
• RSS Feeds

News Sites
We all have our favorite news sites to read about the mobile industry. A few of my favorites are Palm Addicts, PDArcade, and WindowsMobile24/7. Palm Addict does an incredible job posting update notices they find during their daily trolling of other web sites or posting updates sent by developers. What is great about Palm Addicts is they usually have a comment or two about the update or where to get more information. PDArcade specializing in games, and Windows24/7 posts without all the Microsoft marketing hype.

Subscription Services
A great site to subscribe for updates is versiontracker. In addition to covering Palm updates, they also send out update notices on Windows and Macintosh software. Subscribing is easy, give them you email, tell how often you want update notices and voila, you're done. Every major developer I know uses versiontracker to post update notices including my company.

Newsletters
I am a big fan of newsletters, as long as they do not come more than once a month. I love hearing about new features, tips, and maybe a way to save on my next purchase. My web site has a newsletter and I enjoy writing it. New subscribers receive a coupon off their next purchase, I get to point out some really cool features in our games and I announce all new upgrades. Our newsletter uses a third party system that guarantees we are adhering to all spam laws. If you have not already signed up for your favorite company's newsletter I highly recommend that you do. You can always unsubscribe if you find yourself not reading it.

RSS Feeds
Many sites now include an RSS feed. My site includes one, Palm Addicts I mentioned above has one, Time magazine has one, etc. The nice part of about RSS feeds is you can customize what you see. You can set your reader to just see the headline, or headlines and the synopses, or the entire article. I typically just read the headline and if I want more information, I click the headline to read the full article. Setting up a reader can still feel a bit clunky, but once you have it done for one site it is easy to add more. I use Yahoo news when online. I paste in the URL to the RSS feed and Yahoo takes care of all the rest. This is all done in the MyYahoo section. There are also many fine RSS readers for the Palm and Pocket PC.

A nice trend is having the software check for updates when connected to the web then informing the owner. This is not practical on my phone or my PDA as I don't like my connection fees being used in this way, but as connectivity prices fall and more devices have Wi-Fi I can see this method becoming very popular.

All in all, I love getting updates. The new features are fun to try, it reminds me to see if my favorite developer has anything new, and when the upgrade is free, I really fell like my initial investment is paying off. If you have any sites you use to keep your software up to date, please let me know.

PDAs and Emergencies

Los Angeles experienced a rather large black out yesterday.

The power outage got me thinking about how helpful a PDA would be during a blackout.

If you were in Los Angeles during the blackout with your PDA you would have access to a host of data.

• Phone numbers to call and let everyone know about the black out or numbers for your spouse’s work to make sure all is well.
• You could still work on documents while your computer is down.
• You could listen to music while waiting for the bus that will be very late, especially with traffic signals not working.
• You could become a photojournalist and take pictures with your Treo 600 or 650 and email them to the news agencies or your blog.
• You could catch up on that book you downloaded last week or listen to Palm Addicts latest Podcast.
• You could review emergency procedures you downloaded to your PDA.
• You could review the list of emergency supplies you inventoried and added to your PDA.
• You could keep a journal on how to be better prepared for the next time this happens.
• You could play games to relax.

All in all, the power might be down, but with your PDA you are still up and running (at least until the battery dies).