RE: movie ad

["John Locke" <mail -at- freelock -dot- com>]

Let me stand up in defense of the maligned Palm...

I got a Palm V about 3 months ago, not much seeing the point to them until
then.

What finally made me decide to get one was one too many client meetings
without having my schedule at hand. I've never sprung for one of those $100
Day-runner thingies, the cheapo weekly calendars with photographs being more
my style... but when I started using Outlook to track meetings, my paper
calendar soon got out of sync...

So I bought it so that I could carry around an instant view of my schedule.
And found the following benefits:

* Address book. No longer do I have scratched out entries from changed phone
numbers, or ever wonder which number is current. It syncs up to my Outlook
address book, so now that it's all up to date, I'm never looking for the
current address, or using old ones by mistake. No more printing up phone
lists whenever a friend changes their number.

* Categorized task list. I can keep individual task lists associated with a
project, and only see what needs to be done for the project I'm working on.
A couple of button presses away, I see all tasks listed by due date. When I
check off a task, it disappears from view (though I can always find it again
if I need it).

* Memos. Never used 'em in Outlook. Use them all the time on the Palm. Note
down what brand of teak oil I need to buy to take care of the sailboat. Jot
down a couple of ideas as they come to me over a dinner conversation.
Doesn't smear or get lost like a napkin.

* Movie times. Yes, I bring my Palm to the movies. I have it set up to
automatically download 3 days worth of movies, so whenever we're out on the
town, it's easy to find out what movies are playing where, and when.

And there's one huge benefit the Palm has over your day-runner: If I lose
it, all the information is automatically safely backed up on my PC. Get a
new Palm, and within minutes, I have everything back again. Try recovering
from a lost Day-runner.

Even my Luddite father wants one!

--John
http://www.freelock.com
Bruce Byfield writes:

[Palms (like cell phones) are a good example of how technology is
tied to conspicious consumption. Wireless e-mail will be, too. Do
most of the people who buy these things really need them?
Probably not. Most people's affairs aren't that complicated, and
if they can't organize themselves with a Daytimer, they won't
organize themselves with a Palm, either. In my experience, the
majority of Palm owners don't use most of their functions,
either.
<snip>
I'm far from a Luddite, but I don't think that a Palm would make
me any more efficient than my scribbled To Do lists. And Harlan
Ellison, one of my favorite writers, does his work on a manual
typewriter, because that's what works for him, and he sees no
reason to change. I admire this attitude, because it's a refusal
to get swept away by manufactured needs.
]