Web Access on Handhelds

An anonymous reader sent in: "According to The Register, AvantGo is shutting down unregistered (unpaid) "custom channels" with more than eight subscribers. Until now, AvantGo has been free (as in beer). What alternatives are there for Web sites that wish to distribute free information to PalmOS devices? Blazer and Eudora Internet Suite require wireless connections; Plucker is open-source and almost does the trick but doesn't automatically synchronize and the installation is way too complicated for the average user. Is there an alternative to paying AvantGo thousands of dollars? All I want to do is give away information, not charge for it."

Comments

Idea.

[Renraku]

I dunno much about the current state of netaccess on handhelds, so ignore this if its already been done. Web access on handhelds should be allowed by two methods. Ethernet, and wireless. Wireless being the easiest to impliment. Although why you'd actually want to view the twisted, mangled WWW on a handheld is beyond me. I'd just say get a laptop or use another computer, but I know some people have uses for internet capable handhelds.

What about *real* net access?

[RevAaron]

I admit I'm largely ignorant of how Palm and PocketPC users get web content, but we Newton users just access the *real* network over *real* TCP/IP using *real* ethernet cards and modems. I 've been told that to get internet content on a Palm and (but less so) a PocketPC, you have to use something like AvantGo and get is from your desktop PC when you're syncing! Ha! Is that really true?

Maybe I'm spoilled, but I don't have to connect with a desktop for anything. I use Newt's Cape on my Newton MP2100u, and have scheduled pages downloaded every morning before I catch the bus to go to school. Yes, a *real* web browser downlading *real* web pages (IHT.com, slashdot, lambda.weblogs.com) over ethernet behind my router.

Can PalmOS devices not do this? Are they intentionally crippled because of the lack of resources and tiny screen, or just because someone decided you should always be tied to your desktop? I know PocketPCs can grab stuff over ethernet in Pocket IE, but is it very common?