GoType! Keyboard from LandWare
The buzz on the GoType! keyboard was intense. We kept getting reports of a keyboard for the Palm device months before the company officially announced anything. Readers were constantly asking about it. Even though LandWare had, for quite some time, offered PiloKey, a link between the Newton keyboard and the Palm device, clearly it wasn't enough.

PiloKey wasn't a great solution for a number of reasons. First, you needed to get your paws on a Newton keyboard, and they're in short supply ever since Apple booted the Newton into oblivion. Second, you needed a HotSync cable or a crandle. And you had to hook it all up, prop up the Palm device, and so forth. It worked, but it was a kludge.

But then came the GoType!, shown in Figure B. GoType! is simple and well designed. You just open the clamshell case, plop the Palm device into the keyboard's own cradle, and type away.

FIGURE B


You can type anything you want on the GoType! keyboard. Roll over picture for a larger image.

There are a couple of minor quibbles about this product. First, many readers report that the right shift key and the tab key should be reversed, and others suggest the up-arrow and shift key should be reversed. Second (and this could be an issue), there doesn't appear to be an easy way to use the GoType! keyboard with a modem or wireless solution, so one of the more obvious uses -- connecting to the Internet for email and such -- might not be aided by the keyboard.

But these criticisms are quibbles. GoType! is a fine device and definitely worthy of Product of the Year honors.

UniMount from Revolve Design
The day the UniMount arrived, we were like kids in a candy store. Here was this box with all sorts of cool little plastic mounting brackets and connectors and doohickeys of all varieties. It was like getting an Erector Set for the Palm device.

Simply described, UniMount, shown in Figure C, is a universal mounting system for your Palm computer. It makes it possible to mount your Palm device so it's visible and reachable from the driver's seat of a car, from the dashboard of a golf cart, or even nicely displayed on your desk.

FIGURE C


With UniMount, you can mount your Palm device just about anywhere you want. Roll over picture for a larger image.

What impressed us most about the UniMount was the care taken in its industrial design. It's a modular system that fits with the standard modular mounting systems available for automobiles. It can be easily reconfigured for different vehicles and uses. The Palm device easily snaps in and removes without any fuss or difficulty. Also, it's possible to quickly release the entire mounting assembly and move it to a different location.

All in all, the UniMount is flexible, sturdy, and very well designed.

Earthmate from DeLorme
OK, so you've got your Palm device mounted all nice and pretty-like in your car using the UniMount. You've your cellular phone to call your customer to tell him you'll be a bit late because you're lost. Your customer can't help you get there, because he doesn't have any idea where you are right now. What do you do? What do you do? (Our sincerest apologies to Keanu Reeves and the producers of "Speed" for overusing those lines, but we just love 'em.)