What you do is plug in the Earthmate GPS receiver, shown in Figure D, into your Palm device, wait a few seconds, and then follow the directions shown on your Palm organizer's screen.

FIGURE D

Like the Palm computer, Earthmate is small enough to fit in your pocket (although, where did he hide all that wire?)

Earthmate is a GPS system that plugs into the Palm computer. You download trips into the Palm's memory and then, as you're driving, the Earthmate constantly updates your position. The next leg of your trip is automatically updated as you drive.

The Earthmate receiver is just about the same size as the Palm device. A (long) cable runs between the two. Once plugged in, with trip routing downloaded, your Palm computer becomes an instant homing pigeon.

This is quite an impressive solution, although, honestly, we had reservations about granting it Product of the Year honors. Although we've had numerous happy reader reports and our authors also reported very positive results, here in our little patch of Central New Jersey, we've never been able to get the Earthmate to work, even after sent us a replacement device. However, the highly enthusiastic reader letters swayed us, and it is a truly transformative solution -- so we granted the award anyway. Some time soon, we'll figure out how to make the thing work for us.

OmniRemote from Pacific Neo-Tek
It was on the front page of USA Today. The Palm computer was intercepting keyless entry codes and making it possible to break into cars. And the culprit? The enabling technology? The software was called OmniRemote, a product that turned the Palm computer into a learning remote control.

Well, USA Today (and all the other press who jumped on the bandwagon) blew things way out of proportion. Certain keyless entry systems use IR beams to open door locks. But capturing the IR signal requires line of site, a steady hand, and a few, very obvious seconds. It's not something you're going to do in a stealthy way. Also, this is not a unique feature of the Palm device. Instead, any learning remote control can learn an IR signal. Sometimes our esteemed fourth estate needs to do some more homework.

That said, OmniRemote is cool beans. This little chunk of code turns a Palm III or a PalmPilot with the Palm III Upgrade Card into a highly programmable remote control. For those of us with large home theatres, this is super slick. Granted, it's pretty expensive to use a Palm III as a remote control. But there are competitive solutions, such as the Pronto, shown in Figure D, that cost even more.

FIGURE E

The $399 Pronto sure looks a heck of a lot like a Palm III, doesn't it? Click picture for a larger image.

In any case, with OmniRemote, you can draw out buttons on your Palm organizer's screen. Different categories mean different controls. You can record macros, resize buttons, and even have buttons that switch between categories. It's a gadget geek nirvana.

Interestingly, the company tells us that the IR signal in the Palm III Upgrade Card, installed in the older PalmPilot devices, is stronger than that in the Palm III device itself. Also, if you've got a Palm computer that doesn't have an IR signal, you can buy a little IR dongle from Pacific Neo-Tek.