Last Day of Work, a top producer of real-time games and simulations for handheld devices, has released Village Sim for the Palm OS platform. Village Sim, the company’s first product in almost five months, continues the long tradition of life-simulators and true real-time games that continue to play even when the device is turned off.

Village Sim allows a player to care and nurture a displaced tribe of people by teaching them the basics of survival - whether or not the device is turned on. Players will test their ability to help a small village live and prosper, depending on the frequency that they monitor their village’s needs. Do the villagers need food, housing, or technology to help ward off disease? In addition from guiding the villagers’ day-to-day lives, the player helps them explore and restore their island oasis, as the villagers become curious about the mysteries of their tropical home. But should a player turn off their device, or set it aside for too long, sickness and death can sweep through the village. Only setting this real-time game to pause can truly make time stand still.

The real-time feature of Village Sim is unique among mobile device games. Other handheld device games let the action die or freeze once the “off” switch is hit.
“We are very excited to launch Village Sim on the Palm OS platform. We hope to please our existing fans with another complex life simulation game, while exploring some new game ideas outside our traditional breeding sims like Fish Tycoon and Plant Tycoon,” said Arthur Humphrey, Last Day of Work chief executive.

From Adrian’s RojakPot:

“I realized how important a PDA can be on a journey abroad. In fact, the usefulness of such devices cannot be denied.

During my previous backpacking adventure to Europe, my Sony NX70V PDA kept me company with MP3s, allowed me to store critical information, take short video clips of interesting places as well as record voice messages and interesting sounds that I came across along the way. The integrated keyboard made it easy for me to enter large amounts of data although it still cannot replace a good PDA keyboard.

My NX70 has since been sold off and replaced with the Sony TH55 PDA. While this article is based on my experiences with the Sony TH55 PDA, it is geared towards providing information to ALL PDA users (regardless of device make and model). I want to show you how you can fully utilize PDAs on a trip like mine.”

http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=3&var1=209&var2=0

When you look at the excitement that Dolby Digital and dts 5.1-channel soundtracks from DVDs can generate played over a good home theater system, it’s not surprising that Sony/Philips and the DVD developers decided that an upgraded multichannel audio format was overdue. After all, the CD is stereo, limited to two channels. And despite Sony’s original claim, in 1983, of CD’s “Perfect Sound Forever,” complaints have surfaced over the years about certain limitations in the CD’s technical standards.

For example, some audiophiles grumbled about the 44.1-kHz CD sampling frequency, which limits its high-frequency response to 22 kHz (the assumption being that we humans can hear beyond 22 kHz, a dubious claim at best and not supported by any scientific data). Others complained that the CD’s 16-bit digital “words” (which yield 6 dB of dynamic range for each bit, for a total of 96 dB), don’t capture the dynamic range of human hearing, which can extend to 130 dB or higher.

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/130868.html

MobileTechReview has published an in-depth review of palmOne’s new Tungsten E2 PDA. In case you are interested in posting a news, here isthe info:

“palmOne Tungsten E2: The follow-up to the extremely successful Tungsten E adds two features every PDA owner will appreciate: non-volatile memory that won’t lose your data if the battery runs dry, and double the battery life of the original E. Throw in a brighter, more color saturated display, SDIO, integrated Bluetooth and the ability to work with native MS Office documents and you’ve got the reasonably priced mid-range Tungsten E2.”

You can read the review at:

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/palmOne_Tungsten_E2.htm

Building on the popularity of the Tungsten(TM) E handheld, which has sold nearly 2 million units worldwide, palmOne, Inc. (NASDAQLMO) today announced the Tungsten E2 handheld. With the additions of a brighter color screen, flash memory, Bluetooth(R) wireless technology and a more powerful battery, the Tungsten E2 provides upscale, premium features at a budget-conscious price—$249 (estimated U.S. street price).

“This sleek, stylish device is the perfect handheld to take into the boardroom or the classroom,” said Ken Wirt, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for palmOne. “With the versatile Tungsten E2, customers get more of what they want—Bluetooth, and a brighter, richer color screen that brings calendar, contacts, documents, photos and videos to life. Plus, flash memory to keep important information safe, even when you forget to charge the device.”

- Companies now have a choice between several solutions for devices (laptops, PDAs, smartphones etc.) and complementary network technologies (GPRS, Wi-Fi, progressive advent of 3G etc.)

- Generalist software vendors are expanding their nomadic applications, while new players are providing specialist offerings

- Integrators and service companies are relying on Internet technologies to provide mobile extensions and back office integration

Mobility projects focus on connectivity offerings, messaging solutions and

Falanx Microsystems, Inc., the developer of complete mobile graphics semiconductor intellectual property (IP) cores for system- on-chip (SoC) semiconductor manufacturers, today announced that its Mali IP(TM) 100 core is the first hardware-accelerated 3D solution for handhelds to be certified by the new SPMark(TM)04 smartphone benchmark’s 3D game test from Futuremark. The Mali 100 delivered outstanding 3D graphics performance—a full five times that of a baseline smartphone with non-hardware accelerated 3D capabilities.

Futuremark’s SPMark04 benchmark product is a growing presence in today’s handheld market with over 30,000 copies distributed. The benchmark provides a comprehensive application for measuring and comparing the performance and power consumption of increasingly complex mobile platforms, enabling objective comparisons among various smartphones based on Symbian OS.

Funk Software, a leading provider of network access security solutions, today announced the shipping of Odyssey Client v4.0, an upgrade to its secure 802.1X access client that includes support for Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2). WPA2, the next generation of Wi-Fi security, offers the strongest available security in the form of AES-level encryption (Advanced Encryption Standard), plus faster roaming between access points. Odyssey Client v4.0 also adds support for the WLAN protocols EAP-FAST and EAP-SIM and Microsoft machine credentials.

“WPA2 is helping speed deployment of WLANs with the strongest security encryption the industry has seen, and Funk Software worked hard to ensure Odyssey Client would be the first supplicant to support WPA2 and fulfill this growing need,” said Joe Ryan, vice president of Funk Software. “The Odyssey Client supports virtually any wireless computing device, continuing Funk’s market leadership in secure network access, and easing the security pain of customers implementing wireless initiatives.”

WPA2 is based on the encryption algorithm AES; its predecessor, Wi-Fi Protected Access(TM) (WPA(TM)), uses the encryption algorithm TKIP (Odyssey Client has supported WPA since July 2003). In addition to AES-based data security, WPA2 permits 802.1X authentication in either ad-hoc mode or in traditional infrastructure networks, and accelerates re-authentication using key caching and pre-authentication techniques.

WeatherBug, the leading provider of up-to-the-second live local weather information services, announced today it will bring the company’s exclusive weather data to Microsoft Windows Mobile-based Smartphone customers. Users will now have access to WeatherBug’s live local weather, severe weather alerts, forecasts, radar, camera images and international weather conditions from 200 countries, right on their phones.

WeatherBug’s Windows Mobile-based Smartphone application also connects wireless customers with over 1,000 live cameras from around the U.S. and opens them up to an active community of WeatherBug users who submit photos of their outdoor experiences and severe weather, as it’s happening.

WeatherBug Mobile for Windows Mobile-based Smartphone is available for a one-time charge of $14.95. A three-day “try before you buy” offer is also available. For more information or to subscribe to this new service, visit http://www.weatherbug.com/wireless, Windows Mobile Smartphone, http://www.handango.com/ or http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile

iPass Inc. (NASDAQ:IPAS) today announced that it has expanded its Policy Orchestration capabilities to permit companies to quickly bring remote and mobile devices into effective compliance with enterprise software policies as soon as they touch the Internet. The new Endpoint Policy Management—Enterprise service allows organizations to automatically distribute and upgrade software packages, as well as remove unauthorized or “rogue” applications, as soon as the device establishes an Internet or network connection. Now, network administrators can more quickly enforce required security policies by delivering software and OS patches that address critical vulnerabilities before a threat compromises the endpoint and risks infecting corporate network assets.

As corporations embrace the necessity of an increasingly distributed workforce with many employees working on their notebooks or PDAs from home, traveling across town or around the world, or roaming the corporate campus on the wireless LAN, keeping devices secure and up-to-date has become a significant management challenge and business risk. iPass addresses this need with an agent-based solution that works as soon as a notebook is connected to the Internet. This Internet-based approach means the IT department can manage deployment of software and software updates even if the user is only surfing the Internet and never intends to log into the corporate network. The service includes performance features that seek to ensure updates are delivered promptly when the user accesses the internet, and it works to optimize downloads over slow or unreliable links.

TradeWind Technologies LLC is pleased to announce the availability of the world’s first commercially available RFID reader in the SD card form factor. The patent pending card enables many handheld devices to read or write standard and proprietary RFID 13.56Mhz tags and labels.

The reader fits into any standard SD/SDIO slot and extends outside the slot for a small external footprint of 28mm x 28mm. The reader also has a low 11mm profile and a read range of 7cm.

“The availability of affordable, low-power, plug-in SD RFID readers for palmOne handhelds and smartphones allows companies to begin supporting this exciting technology while maintaining the flexibility to adapt to new application and user requirements as implementation progresses,” said Paul D. Leeper, director developer programs for palmOne.

Qiao Xing Universal Telephone, Inc. (NASDAQ:XING) , one of China’s largest manufacturers and distributors of telecommunications terminals and consumer electronics products, today announced that its subsidiary CEC Telecom Co., Ltd. has kicked off its Spring Marketing Campaign by launching 16 models of high-end mobile phones.

Mr. Wu Zhi Yang, Chairman of CECT and Vice Chairman of XING said, ‘’The Spring Marketing Campaign was launched on a much bigger scale than the Flame Storm Marketing Campaign, which was launched in September 2004. That campaign resulted in the firm’s fastest growth in terms of market share and by the end of 2004 CECT had ranked itself among China’s top six local mobile phone brands.

‘’The 16 models of high-end mobile phones mainly fall into these three categories:

—High-end multi-media mobile phones embedded with 1.3 million or above pixel digital cameras and software that can play MP3, MPEG3 and 3D games.
—PDA mobile phones, among which, the model T868 was assessed as the Best Commercial Mobile Phone in a poll organized by SINA.com and Beijing Youth Daily.  The market share of the T868 is second only to a similar model from Motorola.
—Other trendy models.

Qtek and Palm are taking the top positions on the list for top 10 selling phone cases in March. Sony Ericssons models are well represented on the list. This is probably just the beginning, says Ulf Sandberg, Marketing Director at Krusell. We predict a great demand for the coming Walkman serie from Sony Ericsson. We keep on forecasting for a rapidly increased growth for Krusell cases globally.

1. (1) Qtek S100/MDA Compact
2. (7) PalmOne Treo 650
3. (4) Qtek 9090/O2 XDA III
4. (2) Motorola Razr V3
5. (3) Sony Ericsson K700i
6. (8) Nokia 6630
7. (-) Sony Ericsson F500i/K500i/K508i
8. (-) Sony Ericsson S700i
9. (-) Qtek 8010/i-mate Jam SP3
10. (6) Sony Ericsson T630/628/610/637

( )= last months position.

The Swedish manufacturer of carrying cases for portable electronics, Krusell, has released their “Top 10"-list for March 2005. The list is based upon the number of pieces of model specific mobile phone cases that has been ordered from Krusell during March 2005. Krusell’s list is unique due to the fact that it reflects the sales of mobile phones on six continents and in more than 50 countries around the globe.

More information about Krusell is found at www.krusell.se

The list of March shows us as many as eight different brands, which differs a lot from previous top lists. Previous lists has from time to time being dominated by brands like HP and palm. In March Mio Mitac 168 is still number one, but a guess is that PalmOne Treo 650 will beat Mitac 168 next month, says Ulf Sandberg Marketing Director at Krusell. This month we see some new brands that are coming strongly, for example Acer, Blackberry and Fujitsu Siemens. It will be a very hard fight to stay on top the coming months, he ends.

1. (1) Mio Mitac 168/Yakumo 300 GPS/Navman PiN
2. (2) Qtek S100/MDA Compact
3. (6) PalmOne Treo 600/650
4. (4) Hp Ipaq hx2100/2400/2700
5. (3) Qtek 9090/02 XDA III
6. (-) Acer N35 GPS
7. (5) Hp Ipaq hx4700
8. (-) Blackberry 7100t/7100r
9. (8) Nokia 9500
10. (-) Fujitsu Siemens Loox 720

( )= last months position.

The Swedish manufacturer of carrying cases for portable electronics, Krusell, has released their “Top 10"-list for March 2005. The list is based upon the number of pieces of model specific PDA- and Smartphone cases that has been ordered from Krusell during March 2005. Krusell’s list is unique due to the fact that their sales of cases reflect the sales of PDAs and Smartphones on six continents and in more than 50 countries around the globe.

More information about Krusell is found at www.krusell.se

Intellisync Corporation (NASDAQ:SYNC) , a leading developer and marketer of wireless email and mobile software and CREDANT(R) Technologies, a market leader in enabling organizations to control the security of their mobile workforce, have jointly collaborated to enhance the mobile experience by making their respective flagship products, Intellisync Mobile Suite and CREDANT(R) Mobile Guardian, interoperable.

Compliance regulations, such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and HIPAA, are mandating protection of sensitive data wherever it is stored—including mobile devices. Some enterprises have been hesitant to secure these devices because security software can be incompatible with the productivity software used to power mobility. The interoperability of Intellisync software and CREDANT Mobile Guardian virtually eliminates that concern.