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Palm Pilotin’ Hardcore.

Man, it's been a busy few weeks and there are only so many scratch-off Lotto cards available to help me cope, but I'm almost over the hump. In this case, the "hump" being too retardedly exhausted to even consider writing anything of substance after finishing up writing other things of substance more strictly correlated with checks that arrive with my name on them. In times like these, when there's too much to do to ever really feel organized, I turn to technology and buy tickets for bandwagons two years too late. In other words, I got a Palm Pilot.


It's a Palm Pilot Treo 700wx, or some shit, I dunno. The woman's sister had one, and it took me all of five seconds to declare that it had to be mine. It's ridiculously expensive if you just buy it outright, but in my case, I was just upgrading from my crappy Sprint phone, and was thus privy to all sorts of discounts. In the end, it was still pricey, but not so much that I now have to kick my beloved scratch-off Lotto habit. Did I mention that I hit $50 on one card last week? I did!

I'd been looking into getting a PDA for a while now, for a variety of reasons. Like, if I want to bolt out of the office early and not tell anyone, I need to at least be accessible through e-mail to cover my ass, and now, I can be. Moreover, I just want to be able to read about elephants and Scoville ratings and other Wikipedia shit on my long bus ride home. By the time I figured out that I could download Tetris and Bejeweled, I made a halo out of construction paper and stapled it to my head.

Truth is, I'm an idiot when it comes to tech trends. I go through at least one computer every two years, and that's conservative. And, when I buy a new computer, it's really just about driving to Best Buy and picking the tower in the coolest shade of gray. When I bought the Palm, I knew I'd be able to use it as a phone, to send e-mails and to vaguely browse the Internet, but I didn't realize just how much of a "minicomputer" the thing actually is. I foresee grand times ahead, assuming I don't fumble and drop it in the next week, which is entirely possible.

My favorite Palm-related revelation has been its inbuilt Microsoft Word Mobile program, which, at least for argument's sake, would let me write articles and finish assignments from pretty much anywhere. Sure, I can't type very fast on a tiny, thumb-buttoned keyboard, but I can type, and save, and send, and maybe even print if I look around hard enough. Fun!

Posted by Matt on 01/29/2007. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 147 comments

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Did you write this entry from that thing?

Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 01/29/2007 12:38 AM


I didn’t, but I wrote a couple of sample paragraphs on the Palm just to see how it would work out. Verdict is: It would work.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 01/29/2007 12:41 AM


I’m reminded of Douglas Adams typing from his bathtub :D

I’ve tried in the past to do things to increase my productivity while I’m away from the womb/house, like always owning laptops and never desktops, but it never works. The only thing I can successfully pull off when I’m away is playing video games. And even that requires me to lug around a strategy guide at all times.

Still, DS rules. Even if the novelty of the touch controls has wore off.

Chestnuts roasted by K- is grateful FFIII can be controlled traditionally @ 01/29/2007 12:46 AM


Now you have your own mobile GPS system. Probably useless but it’s nice ta know you got it.

Chestnuts roasted by Laughs a Lot @ 01/29/2007 12:48 AM


Hey, cool! I’ve still got the 650 and it’s great, though I’d love to upgrade. You’d be surprised at how fast you can get with that keyboard after a bit of practice. I have a picture somewhere of mine with the shrimpy version of the blog loaded up, but I can’t find it. I did find a Star Wars scratch-off that I scanned (a loser :( ).
Bejeweled is great, of course, but I like anything from Astraware too, especially Candy and Fruit Frolic. Get plenty of screen protectors, extra stylusssesss (I like the ones with a hidden pen inside) and consider getting a case. It takes away some of the sleekness, but if you’re as apt to drop things as I am you’ll be grateful for it.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 01/29/2007 12:56 AM


First thing I did was run out and get a case, knowing myself all too well. Unfortunately, they only had what is obviously a lady’s style case. (Black leather with that dotted white thread around the edges.) It looks so dumb, but I’d rather look dumb than have a broken Palm.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 01/29/2007 12:59 AM


I wanted a palm pilot a few years ago. Then I got a cell phone and a laptop and the need passed. I’d LOVE one of those Envy phones, though. Oh yeah, aptly named, they be.

Argh. Pain in the brain pan. I think I have cockroaches eating through my beehive into my brain. That must be it.

Chestnuts roasted by LemonWitch @ 01/29/2007 1:06 AM


Wow, I had a wicked bad dream last night involving those demon things from the movie House. I haven’t seen that movie in years so I rented it and House 2. Not so disapointed with the sequel. I still am disturbed from those random demon things.
Nice PDA Matt. I have finally found an old Blackberry because all the new ones in the past year have made typing clear emails impossible. Fat thumbs.

Chestnuts roasted by Bill @ 01/29/2007 1:06 AM


LOL that doesn’t sound so bad. I got a big clunky metal one that I eventually took the door off of, but it looks like they have a better variety nowadays.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 01/29/2007 1:11 AM


K, have you tried Elite Beat Agents? It actually got me back into playing DS and is all about the touch screen. It’s also one of the best games ever for DS…

Chestnuts roasted by Shuanfu @ 01/29/2007 1:11 AM


God bless technology — now you can get all the latest news on the CGI TMNT film on the go! Come on, I know you’re going to be there opening weekend..

Chestnuts roasted by Review the World @ 01/29/2007 1:20 AM


Shaun: Nope. Everyone I’ve heard about it from rave about it, though. What bothers me the most is that I see too much of my ham-fist when I use the stylus to move my party around in III. In battle, I’m better off than most as the menus are on the left side and I’m a lefty. You can switch your “main hand” in the Config menu but that just reverses the icons for menu and camera at the top of the screen, not the position of the battle menu, so I know righties are going nuts.

I just found myself looking at my hand more than the screen. Though I may be prematurely writing it off. When you learn to drive the majority of what you remember is looking at the speedometer, so maybe in time it’ll get better–with a different game of course, I know traditional RPGs weren’t what were in mind when they designed the DS. In that respect, I know I am shortchanging them as I bought it specifically for III and the spin-off of XII

Chestnuts roasted by K- @ 01/29/2007 1:24 AM


Man, I feel so un-techie. I am worried that the lottery tickets, martinis, Wiis and palm-pilots are representing the bold new X-E where I just can’t relate… :(
Lot of gizmos but not a lot of Gizmo. (boooo Manimal boooo :thumbsdown:)
Off to bed. LATER X-Ers!

Chestnuts roasted by The Manimal @ 01/29/2007 1:37 AM


Don’t worry, Manimal. I also spent much of tonight taking pictures of Ring Pops and Warheads candy. More soon…

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 01/29/2007 1:43 AM


If you want to see the DS touch screen in action at its best, I suggest Trauma Center.

Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 01/29/2007 1:48 AM


(hey Matt if you haven’t had the chance to catch Rome they’re replaying the first 3 eps on Friday)

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 01/29/2007 1:59 AM


Of course you know that now there’s no excuse for not giving us an article or at least a blog update EVERY SINGLE DAY. And if that thing has GPS, I’ll be stalking you like… I dunno… but I wanna insert a Rob Liefeld joke here.

ROB LIEFELD’S SHAFT! 7 INCHES, FULLY POSABLE!

Chestnuts roasted by TRUKK NOT MUNKY @ 01/29/2007 3:14 AM


Should have waited for an iPhone!

Chestnuts roasted by Jordan @ 01/29/2007 4:23 AM


At least he didn’t buy a Zune.

Chestnuts roasted by Mars @ 01/29/2007 4:29 AM


“Should have waited for an iPhone!”>/i>

I might be the only person in this boat, but after getting past the initial “AWESOME!” factor of the iPhone, I’m starting to think, outside of a few neat little gimmicks, it’s really not all that impressive. I’m probably wrong, but I’m becoming extremely wary of tech hype these days. Between announcement and release your imagination can come up with so much and the product can deliver on so little.

Anyway, my mp3 player died tonight and I’m heading to Best Buy to pick up a new one tomorrow. Anybody got any reccomendations that don’t invovled the phrase “iPod”?

Chestnuts roasted by Wukong @ 01/29/2007 4:42 AM


after getting past the initial “AWESOME!” factor of the iPhone, I’m starting to think, outside of a few neat little gimmicks, it’s really not all that impressive

Apple in a nutshell!!!

*Gets stoned by a thousand 200 dollar iRocks.*

Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 01/29/2007 4:53 AM


Sorry I missed the SNT. I seem to have lousy timing. That palm pilot looks like it could be very useful. I was excited when I got a Casio handheld organizer from the drug store bargain bin last summer. Who knows what kind of crazy stuff cell phones will be able to do in the future? At the rate things are going we’ll have cell phones that allow you to watch cable tv in HD and have a built-in TiVo program, as well as a lie detector, radar detector, miniature microwave generator, and can opener. Eventually they won’t even bother including the phone feature.

Chestnuts roasted by Hoverbored @ 01/29/2007 7:17 AM


Manimal:

Don’t worry. It’s ought-seven, and I’m still the only kid on my block without a cellular telephone. I did have an atomic watch not too long ago, but the combination of an irate Dutchman and the reeking waters of the Gulf of Mexico put paid to that gallant little gadget. So if you need someone to help you keep disrespectful youths off your lawn, I’m just the man to do it. PLUS: Candy article coming up. Awesome.

Chestnuts roasted by Jedoc @ 01/29/2007 8:20 AM


Let’s try this again…

I

Chestnuts roasted by Ragnarok @ 01/29/2007 8:21 AM


Fun fact: the blog software has issues with the less than sign.

I love technology. I don’t have a fancy phone, but I did have a RAZR before everyone and their grandmother and their unborn children did…
For any of those wondering for whatever reason, Windows Vista runs like a dream. :)

Chestnuts roasted by Ragnarok @ 01/29/2007 8:22 AM


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