HackMaster
I'll admit it. I was skeptical about this one to, since it patches the PalmPilot operating system in ways that its creators had not intended. Mac users will be familiar with extension manager, which allows the user to choose which extensions to the operating system you choose to install, and in which order you wish to install them. HackMaster does essentially this, and it has never caused a problem on my machine, but it has helped me locate problems. More importantly, there are many cool programs, known as "hacks" which extended the functionality of the PalmPilot operating system which require HackMaster to run. We owe Edward Keyes, the author of HackMaster, big time for this one. Thanks, Ed!

Favorite "hacks" of mine include the following:

AppHack
AppHack lets you redefine which programs the four hardware buttons will launch. With two button sequences you can choose from up to 24 different programs to launch, but this seems like overkill to me. [I love it and use it all the time. --DG]

BatteryHack
BatteryHack provides you with a digital display of how much battery power you have left.

CorrectHack
CorrectHack, allows you to set up a list of abbreviations to automatically change. For those of us who write "teh" but mean "the" this can be a great timesaver. Think of these as being automatically inserted shortcuts. (For more on shortcuts, (see "Maximize your Graffiti with shortcuts" in the January issue of PalmPower).

MenuHack
You need this one. With MenuHack installed you can activate an applications menu by tapping on the title bar, instead of having to use the silkscreened menu button. Using this made menus seem much more intuitive to me.

SelectHack
SelectHack enabled me to select a word by double tapping on it and a paragraph by triple tapping.

Non-essential but cool software
So now you know what I can't live without. In the next few sections, I'll tell you about some not-quite-essential goodies.

Memo2Web
I love this program (although as people who know me will contest, I love anything that will convert something else into Web format). Memo2Web is a Windows 95 and 3.1 program which will take your collection of Memo Pad files and turns them into a web page. You have freedom to choose which Memo Pad categories you want to include, as shown in Figure C.

If you want to get creative, you can add your own HTML code or specify a picture for a background. Doug Case, the creator of Memo2Web, has also written Book2Web, a program which will turn your address book into an HTML file.

FIGURE C


I'm going to create a web page using my Business and Applications PalmPilot Memo Pad categories. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Doktor Badura
I couldn't believe this one when I first saw it. Doktor Badura, shown in Figures D and E, is an adventure game with very cool animation. It also has a real live soundtrack! Although only the introduction and tutorial are available right now, this one definitely extends the limits of the PalmPilot. If you have ever played Zork, this is Zork with animation on your PalmPilot!