Slashdot Mirror
Slashdot On Palm, No Wires Required
A number of people have asked about getting Slashdot on their Palm VIIs and such -- now the people at DigitalPaths have put together a Palm Query App. Download, install, and soon you too will be able to better justify your wireless Palm bill and test your provider's capacity. The best part of the app, IMHO, is the ability to specify the amount to download, so no nasty throughput surprises with an 800-comment story.
And as completely unbiased source jamie says, that makes it better than Slashdot's light mode, but "of course, a starved, feral orangutan with razor-sharp claws and a taste for blood let loose in a daycare would be better than light mode." Thanks to DigitalPaths for their work.
Why doesn't someone setup an AvantGo channel for those of us who don't have Palm VII's? I have a IIIc and would love to be able to take my Slashdot with me
Except you can't post with it. I used to use that as well, but it's a compltely one way experiance. And really, what's the fun of using slashdot if you aren't flaming people to a crisp. :)
Down that path lies madness. On the other hand, the road to hell is paved with melting snowballs.
I read the internet for the articles.
Palm has the Mobile Internet Kit, which lets you get PDQ content on any Palm. Check their website.
--
WolfSkunks for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.keenspace.com";
--
# Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
Now you yuppies with your Palm Pilots don't have to miss "POSSIBLE GPL VIOLATION?!?!?!?" stories even when you're away from your computer.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Never mind proprietary, inflexible semi-solutions like DigitalPaths's Palm Query App (which works only over the grossly overpriced Palm VII Internet-access service). Nor do you need the equally proprietary and inflexible AvantSlow (AvantGo). How about some open-source software, for a change?
Justin Mason's SiteScooper and David A. Desrosiers's Plucker are the options that come immediately to mind.
Both of those, and hundreds of other open-source packages, either for PalmOS or for other OSes working with PalmOS, are also carried in my repository of PalmOS open-source code and information.
Rick Moenrick@linuxmafia.com
But Hemos, this is just light mode we're talking about... Not necessarily all modes. The point of Light, AFAICT, is to go as fast as possible with as little clutter. I'm in favor of any solution that will aid streaming and not require downloading the whole shebang before viewability.
Thanks for all the work, man,
-l
Help cure AIDS, cancer, and more. Donate your unused computer time to worldcommunitygrid.org. Join Team Slashdot!
Here's another vote for Light Mode. I've been using it for years, and complaining every time they forget to close an tag.
The Mobile Internet Kit includes web clipping for the rest of us. It requires (and includes) OS 3.5 so it's no good for IIIe users, but it works with all the other III, V and m series Palms. Palm sells it for $39.95 + S I got it for £18 (about $26) at an airport shop.
But as you can see, they don't really have claws (they seem to have nails, just like we do).
They are the only so-called "great ape" from Asia, living in Borneo and Indonesia. They are endangered (duh) and if clear-cutting continues, you may live longer than this species does.
All about orangutans.
Jamie McCarthy
Jamie McCarthy
jamie.mccarthy.vg
Complaints about BLOCKQUOTE? I wonder why? That's a fundamental tag... Using UL as it is being used (i.e. without a LI item) is more likely to break browsers than BLOCKQUOTE...
If it's the distance BLOCKQUOTE indents the text, that's why God and Tim gave us CSS.
For wireless... I dunno. I don't have a WAP phone. I use iSilo to grab slashdot.org/palm/, which works wonders. I wish it was a bit more configurable, but then I wish the same thing for ALL of the Web. Come on, XML, make all my dreams come true!
"Beware by whom you are called sane."
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
The only way Slashdot is barely tolerable is via light mode! Grandted, it'd be nice if all the comments in light mode weren't all contained in one big honkin' <TABLE>, and nested comments were delineated with <BLOCKQUOTE> like God and Tim-Berners Lee intened, rather than the rather brain-sick <UL> tags.
HTML hint of the day -- if you contain 192K of comments in one big table, most browsers in use today can't see bupkis until the whole mess is downloaded and rendered. Whereas, if it's not contained in one big <TABLE>, it streams out to the browser all nice like.
"Beware by whom you are called sane."
Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
If you look at the Digital Paths product page now, you will see a tongue-in-cheek apology:
(Please pardon the random buzz words. Marketing just can't help it.)
btw, if someone will not express themselves clearly, they are either ignorant or purposely attempting to deceive.
cpeterso
I've been reading /. on AvantGo for a while (cos no PC's are convenient to my bed or bathtub) and it's kinda unsatisfying:
Here's how configure my slashdot channel in AvantGo:
?title=slashdot&url=http://slashdot.org/palm
&max=1600&depth=4&images=0&links=0&refresh=hourly
&hours=2&dflags=127
I welcome tuning suggestions
Es.Damn, looks like my StarTac 7797 isn't on the list of supported phones. (It Can do SMS messages though... makes you wonder.)
Now, if just someone would come up with a good interface for those of use who are still stuck with regular palms/visors.
Avantgo gets the job done, but frequently leaves stories hanging...and you can hardly ever access the comment sections.
Any ideas?
I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
Yeah, and ultramode does absolutely not shit!
I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
Dude, that's so cool. Now I can kill time better when stuck in some gawd-awful boring place! Thanks!
Now that hasn't worked for months. What happened?
Are PQA files only for Palm VII's or can I use them from my Visor/Handspring? I could never seem to find an app for using the PQA's.
Do you realize that it's been exactly 8 months since Taco Hell has been updated?
--
"HORSE."
"HORSE."
-Flaming Carrot
Mike.
--Ask a silly person, get a silly answer.
how many slashdoters need wireless browsing? arn't we the geeks that are chained to our desks all day? and how much does it cost to browse the net on a Palm? Yes, I know, I'm PDA illiterate, but I've been assigned to give companionship to desktops my entire professional life ...
Garret
"Old man yells at systemd"
== slashdot-reading bliss. I don't know what jamie's problem is...
--
"A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has lost an eye." -- Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Turns out that the three bytes in hex) are:
E1 EE 77
Go figure. CT is threeleet... I mean, duh.
Can your IM do this?
Gah...as if my Palm doesn't already go slow enough...
so you're going to let some corporate entity that isn't profitable yet and is still running on venture capital and willing to sell their soul to the devil to get more money tell you what content you can or cannot receive?
i think not.
forget that, I change my mind.
Their CTO is named "Linus"
that makes everything all right by me.
Great... now I can have goatse.cx in my palm.... uggh
- passion
--
--
E2 IN2 IE?
I see no mention of enriched integration or of robust environments. This is not for me.
hm. will the /. effect take down /. itself?
go palms go!
mini-fp?
woo-woo you can make a http app which screen scrapes
step up or step off.
yeah. if we're lucky $10,000 worth of 'em will have the compting power of my $700 desktop.
been using it for awhile now...
It's way too slow (text entry and download/upload speeds) to have ANY chance of getting a First Post in. ;)
-- Jason Lefkowitz
Read my blog.
I know there are many people out there who have been using teh AventGo software which will allow you to sync the slashdot page, as well as some of the links. This makes it nice for those of us who have no need for a wireless organizer. Although most people are not going to go buy a Palm VII/x just to view slashdot on the fly, it is a very cool feature for those who already have them.
I infinitely prefer light mode to full slashdot. I find it so much more readable in light mode it's untrue. I'm tempted to say that if light mode disappeared it would probably mean that I'd spend less time reading slashdot. That's not a threat, I'm just stating how I feel.
:)
I should probably point out that I have a broadband connection so speed isn't really an issue.
It means that I can tell if I'm logged in or not as well - if it's all black and green or whatever, I'm not
oojah
--
Do you have any better hostages?
More entertaining, to be sure.
--
That's funny. Last I checked, Rob Malda disliked the original Slashdot PQA because it didn't show ads. Does this one? Incidentally, a lot of other people liked it, for lots of other reasons (first third-party PQA, demonstrated at Palm's NYC rollout of the VII, it was pretty to look at, etc.) and I got lots of emails when I retired it a few months ago.
You know, retired it because Slashdot has their own official Slashdot PQA.
I'm confused.
--Vito
You can always use MobiReader and convert the .html to .prc i suppse...
But seriously, The day /. decides to up-grade, and use usefull things like CSS, is the say that MS decided to make a 100% standards complient browser.
The cool thing with CSS, is you can compleatly control the entire site, including achived stuff, with one (or more) CSS file. /.
And of course, there is no need for a slashdot, light version, since lynx and other stuff ignores style sheets. A CSS system would be godsent on a site like
And when I mean, change the look, I mean everything, not just the fonts. I think alot of people think that CSS is just a font thing. But you can easly make a page with no tables, and have it look just the same, probably better. As well as put the code for the content before the other stuff, so it appears first for people not using CSS, and they don't have to scroll though the entire left menu to get to the content every time.
But untill browsers support these things properly, people let go of old browers, and people change there web-design practices, it ain't gona happen.
Hey what's the deal with the "triple buzzword" effect?
... re-assess their ability to deliver timely and important data to their employees, partners and customers.
...
For example:
-
- Digital Paths is your partner with the technology, performance, and vision
But the triple buzzword rhetoric is everywhere. Look at any "mission statement" and you'll see this. These companies cluster groups of words together in "threes". It's always subject verb buzzword1, buzzword2, buzzword3.
The other thing I always notice about these so-called mission statements is the fucked-up rhetoric. Mission statements are usually pretty standard:
1) Acknowledge the general complexity of the current market
2) Point to specific tools company X provides
3) And then conclude that because of (1), if you allow (2) to be deployed, then you'll profit from (3).
Something along those lines, anyway.
But my question is this: do these mission statements persude anyone of anything? Or are they empty rhetoric?
I'm also curious about the rhetoric -- triple buzzwords notwithstanding. Why use such complex rhtetoric? Why not just do the Elmore Leonard approach (an approach that got him fired from his long-time writing job as a PR person at Chevrolet) and say, "We make kickass trucks?"
(Elmore Leonard, you'll remember, is the author of _Get Shorty_ and _Rum Punch_ among many, many others.)
Are these statements so complex because they're simply expected to be complex? (Complexity, in other words, is how they've always been done, so we want our to be complex, too!)
Or are they complex because they're presenting thoughts and ideas which demand complex rhetoric?
Do these mission statements -- especially from web consulting companies, but most every company is guilty of this -- really say absolutely nothing?
I had just finished writing a custom PHP-parsed Slashdot page from the slashdot XML file for use with AvantGo on my Palm..
I switched the file location in the script from a local copy to the real slashdot one and this was the first thing that showed up!
And Palm III's maybe even something that will down load the data to PC then HotSync it to the Palm. I unfortunatly live where there is not wireless and I have not sprung for a palm modem yet
Gives you something to do when you're stuck in a hotel! Have fun.
-Pat
...but "of course, a starved, feral orangutan with razor-sharp claws and a taste for blood let loose in a daycare would be better than light mode."
Sounds like somebody needs a hug.
-----
-----
"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad." - Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
There is no reason why this company (which makes Palm apps, for heaven's sake) can't state clearly why we should buy their stuff. It's harder to say something clear and brief, and this company was lazy.
sulli
RTFJ.
The new e-conomy is growing at warp speed and companies are being forced to re-assess their ability to deliver timely and important data to their employees, partners and customers. Digital Paths' comprehensive array of industry-leading wireless products can ensure your success. Our mobile software solutions can meet your every business need. Digital Paths' server and client applications are strategic to your business. Digital Paths is your partner with the technology, performance, and vision to enable you to continue to scale and enhance your product and service offering capabilities, globally.
Through its use of patent-pending Pathway Technology, Digital Paths extends the reach of web resources to handheld electronic devices and Internet appliances such as PDAs and the new generation of smart phones. Browse Digital Paths' product offerings here:
1. DPWeb Server Application
2. DPWAP Server Application
3. DPWeb Client Palm Application
4. DPWeb ASP Services
Globally, I say. Globally!
sulli
RTFJ.
After an early flurry of concerns during the mid Nineties about the impact of microwave Cell Phone radiation on public health, interest in the topic seemed to vanish during the late nineties and early years of the third millennium. Interestingly, this trend continued despite numerous studies in various countries which found that Cell Phone radiation had many unexpected effects upon biological systems. While connections to Cancer were found to be tenuous, short term exposure to Cell Phone Radiation was found to have significant impact upon other aspects of the mind and body.
Following are points from a number of studies.
Lab rats were found to have their short term memory impaired after being exposed to radiation at frequencies and amplitudes common in portable phones, markedly affecting their performance in a maze after 1 hour/day periods of EM exposure. In a second experiment designed to measure the time needed to complete a maze task, it was estimated that exposed animals required approximately one third more time than the control rats. {2}
A study by another lab, using an apparatus which tested for object recognition, it was found that exposed rats suffered observable memory loss after EM radiation exposure. This test was done in 1994 specifically testing the effects of portable phones. {3}
The blood-brain barrier in test animals is made permeable to foriegn substances in the blood which would not normally be allowed to pass through the cell walls of brain cells. This, according to one group of researchers, was discovered in a test where dye was injected into the blood stream of test animals and found to be absorbed by brain cells in exposed rats after twenty minutes, but not by those in the unexposed control group.{4}
The general effect of EM on the endochrine system, (the system of glands throughout the body, including the adrenal, thyroid and pancreatic among others,) is also noteworthy. The results from a variety of studies were lengthy and, frankly, difficult to briefly document as it seems different glands react to different frequencies and power levels in a wide variety of ways, sometimes having opposite effects simply by changing the pulse rate of a given wave form. Research only scratches the surface, and it seems that the potential for further study is enormous.
Essentially, EM radiation as spit from Cell Phones, pagers, wireless computer hardware and computer monitors does a whole mess of strange things to the human body. One researcher simply summed up the overall effect of EM on the glandular system as resulting in, 'general stress disorder'. {5}
Delta Wave sleep patterns of test subjects were found to be inhibited after regular exposure, (one hour per day), to frequencies and power levels commonly emitted from computer monitors and in other tests, higher frequency portable phones. {5-2}
--With a drive for faster, cheaper and higher power wireless digital equipment, the general public might be well advised to be remain cautious of the possible health hazards associated with the increased use microwave active devices and take measures to avoid unnecessary exposure.
In the few instances where the large telecommunications companies have been challenged regarding the safety of their products, it is interesting to note that their public relations stances have been remarkably similar to those once employed by the cigarette industry concerning tobacco use. It will be interesting to observe the direction and ultimate outcome of these trends.
References:
2. Henry Lai, 1998. Neurological effects of radio frequency electromagnetic radiation" Presented to the Workshop on possible biological and health effects of RF electromagnetic fields. Project team: Mobile Phones and Health, Symposium, October 25-28, 1998, University of Vienna, Austria. http://pages.britishlibrary.net/orange/henrylai.ht m
3. James C. Lin, 2000. Effects of microwave and mobile telephone exposure on memory and memory processes. University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, USA http://www.eecs.uic.edu/eecspeople/lin_ieee42_3.ht m
4. Frey A.H., Feld S, Frey B. Neural function and behavior: defining the relationship. Ann NY Acad Sci 247:433-438
5. Dr. Robert Becker & Dr. Andrew Marino paper, "Electromagnetism & Life" http://www.ortho.lsumc.edu/Faculty/Marino/EL/ELTOC .html
5-2. Drumanskiy, Yu.D., Sandala, M.G. 1974. The biologic action and hygenic significance of electromagnetic fields of superhigh and ultrahigh frequencies in densely populated areas. In Biologic effects and health hazards of microwave radiation, p. 289. Warsaw: Polish Medical Publishers.
So is this Palm query app also going to be of use for those of us with the illustrious Handspring Visor Deluxe (now with 8 mb of RAm...ooo...aaa)? I know that if I want to upgrade to the newest Palm OS (3.5), that I essentially just have to go and buy a Palm as the OS is burnt into the circuitry of the Handspring, so I figure that perhaps this Palm query app won't work either. Any thoughts?
Fruit flies like bananas... Time flies like the wind...
I do know that you can install programs and applications without flashing the memory however I am still slightly peeved that you cannot upgrade the OS on the li'l fellas, you know what I mean. I guess that I feel like I was dooped...
Fruit flies like bananas... Time flies like the wind...
"of course, a starved, feral orangutan with razor-sharp claws and a taste for blood let loose in a daycare would be better than light mode."
Seems like jamie has been getting heavily into the black and white of late, training your creature to eat at the nursery is one surefire way to turn your villagers into a shower of lazy slobs who mope around all day
Slashdot: Proof that a million monkeys at a million typewriters can create a masterpiece
Its better than Slashdots own effort in the following ways:
There are probably others but I've forgotten them now. Avantslash would have been listed on slashdots links page but I've emailed the url to them three times so far and they seem to have forgotten to do it.
At some point I'm going to completely rewrite it so that it copes with external sites and is even more customisable. However as it is, it still is IMO better than slashdots own.
--
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
can't we get a web clipping app for palm m100's????
"Madness has no purpose. Or reason. But it may have a goal" -Spock
What would be really cool: running (a mirror of) slashdot on a palm. Ow, it exists... Now let's wait for UTMS, and I can turn my palm into a mobile warez-site :)
Slashdot on my Blackberry is much easier. I don't have to load any special application and waste memory. I just open my web browser and hit my bookmark that sends me to:
http://www.slashdot.org/palm
I have been doing this forever now.
WooHoo! Now I can get First Post on every story no matter where I am!!!
Well, you can't really complain about being duped because it is clearly mentioned on their website on a FAQ. If you are even interested in rewriting the ROM that the OS sits on, you in the minority. Most users of the handspring visor don't even know what flash memory or an OS is... So basically, I think that as a consumer, you have to read the technical specs on these things if you want to do things like upgrade the OS that lives on ROM. This is one of those things you can not learn from most reviews of the product by various companies such as CNET or ZDNET. Also, you probably won't find this type of technical information on the box as well, so your only option is to check out the specifications on the website, before you even consider buying one.
Wow, just, wow...
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
I don't know what's up, be it a pre-emptive downing to weather a slashdotting or what, but when I try to pull up the link to d/l the app, I get the good ol' 404. Does someone have a correct link here, or have I just been thrown into the twilight zone?
If god had intended you to be naked, you would have been born that way.
This is going to kill my batteries for my Palm VIIx!
Help find a cure for cancer!
"of course, a starved, feral orangutan with razor-sharp claws and a taste for blood let loose in a daycare would be better than light mode."
It's called prozac, jamie.
Several people have asked how to use a Handspring or other device with PQAs. It is very possible, and I use them on my Palm Vx and my Palm III. All you need are the proper libraries, which install like regular apps. The ones I have are v3.2 on my PalmVx running OS3.5 and were acquired through a friendly self-help website. Before I found that website, I used the Omnisky software (which flashes the ROM though). You can either find a self-help source of the libraries (search: "woggledog"), download one of the software packs for the Minstrel modems (Omnisky or YadaYada I think), or pay $47.90 to Palm for their Mobile Internet Kit software. Of course, PQAs will only be useful if you have some sort of network connection, either by an attached modem, an infrared phone, etc... I use an Ericsson CF888.