CardScan Executive from Corex
Imagine going to a trade show. You've met five hundred interesting people and have collected business cards for each one. Cool. Lots of opportunity there. Now, you want to get all those business cards into your Palm computer's Address book. You could hand write the information with Graffiti (no chance!), you could hand type all the names in (foggetaboutit!), you could assign the task to your secretary (what secretary?), or you could use the CardScan Executive from Corex. This little box hooks up to your PC. You drop your business cards into it. It scans in the cards, OCRs the data (OCR is optical character recognition), enters them into its own little database, and then connects that data to your Palm Desktop. Lots of time is saved.

PocketFlash by PowerMedia
I gotta admit that I'm not a big fan of email on the Palm computer. I get hundreds of emails a day, and I'm fumble-thumbed with Graffiti, so the idea of handling email on my Palm computer seems a bit, well, crazy. But many people swear by their Palm-based email clients. While there are many excellent clients, we felt we should single out PocketFlash because it allows you to access your AOL mail directly from your Palm computer. It even allows multiple screen names.

Extreme cases
Normally, a Palm case just wouldn't be interesting enough to win an Editors' Choice Award. But there are two cases that just went over the top in terms of design that we felt they needed an award.

Titanium Hardcase from Rhinoskin
This is a hard act to follow. The Rhinoskin Titanium Hardcase is a Palm device case made out of titanium. It looks like something out of a spy novel. Stick your Palm computer inside this case and you've got a great way to safeguard your device.

Peel-It from Orang-Otang
If you can get over the silly feeling that comes from saying "Orang-Otang", you should consider the Peel-It! Case. In normal, walkabout mode, the Peel-It case wraps about the Palm device, moderately securing it inside it's padded cloth. But, when it comes time to use the Palm computer, you wrap the Peel-It case around your arm, and suddenly you're wearing the world's largest digital watch. While the Peel-It's not for everyone, it is quite useful for those times when you need your Palm computer and both hands.

Stylish stylus
This year marked a number of new and innovative styli, both in terms of design and material. But we only found one that truly stood out from the crowd -- and had the quality and robustness to stand the test of time.

Fingertip Stylus from Concept Kitchen
Looking more like jewelry (and designed very artfully indeed), is the Fingertip Stylus, shown in Figure B. We've found that it makes a great alternative to the normal pen-style stylus (and used in combination with the OmniRemote, makes you into a channel-changin' demon).

FIGURE B

Style is at your fingertip with the Concept Kitchen Fingertip Stylus.

Fun and games
The products that won the award in this category are a ton of fun. In fact, it can look like you're hard at work on your Palm device, when you're really having a great time sinking your enemy's UBoat.