[Tfug] PDA non-usage

[John Gruenenfelder]

On Sun, Feb 03, 2008 at 01:05:02PM -0800, Bexley Hall wrote:
>Do you "carry it" or, like me, do you just keep it in
>a desk drawer (despite "maintaining" it religiously)?

I carry it with me everywhere.  It's only a few ounces, so it's not really a
bother.

>Yes, there are apps for the Palms, etc. that do that.
>I had occasion to use a Newton as a piece of scratch
>paper one day while driving (without having a pen
>*or* paper handy).  But, that wouldn't motivate me
>to carry the thing -- especially something as large
>as a Newton! -- all the time.  :>

I am something of an unusal case... though perhaps not so unusual on this
list.  :)
I can't stand cellphones.  I have one, yes, but it spends nearly all of its
time turned off in my bag.  As a consequence, I don't store any useful
information on it.  My Clie (Palm OS 5.1) stores all that.  It's address book
has all my contacts with photos, numbers, addresses, etc.  I even keep a few
birthdays in the "notes" that you can attach to an individual entry.  Also
stores their IM names, should I need them.

The doodle/notepad stores info that I just want to jot down quickly that I
won't need to save.  For more permanent information, important notes, even a
script or two, I use the standard Palm OS notepad application which stores
plain text.  In addition to the standard Palm Graffitti, the Clie actually
supports some basic handwriting recognition and it works surprisingly well.

>> My main use for it is, no surprise, reading books. 
>
>For *visually* reading them or as an "audio book"?
>(sorry, I've not looked at your "Weasel Reader" to
>figure out what it does)

Visual reading.  Here's some screenshots, if you're interested:
  http://weaselreader.org/screenshots.php

If I wanted to listen to an audio book, I would just use my MP3 player instead

>> It's also got wifi and I
>> frequently use it to SSH and check my email. 
>> Sometimes I'll use it to browse
>> the web, but the included browser is really awful.
>
>OK.  As I mentioned to Jude, I'm discounting these
>features.  I'm just trying to figure out why the
>PIM-type features aren't used more readily.

Well, as you (or maybe it was somebody else) mentioned, age might have
something to do with it.  I had an summer internship with the NSA just after
finishing my second year at the UA.  I was exposed to Palm PDAs for the first
time (a Palm III).  I liked it a lot and also thought it would make a great
ebook reader so I purchased a Palm Vx that same summer.

Since then I've always had one.  At the time, I had not spent many years with
*any* particular filing/organization system so the cost of changing at that
point was rather small.

>Yes, I do a couple of Soduko puzzles on each of
>my two daily 30-minute walks.  But, that gets boring
>pretty fast.  I would imagine crosswords might be
>a better "investment" for me but that would require
>a friendlier user interface.

When I still lived in Tucson, I had a 30 minute bus ride across town to the
UA.  I usually spent those trips reading on my PDA.  Now my bus ride is very
short so I usually just read the newspaper.


-- 
--John Gruenenfelder    Research Assistant, UMass Amherst student
                        Systems Manager, MKS Imaging Technology, LLC.
Try Weasel Reader for PalmOS  --  http://weaselreader.org
"This is the most fun I've had without being drenched in the blood
of my enemies!"
        --Sam of Sam & Max