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PRODUCT REVIEW
SyncTalk: beaming across the OS chasm
By Michael Compeau
Imagine the scene. Two pairs of eyes lock across a crowded train car. No words are exchanged, but both know they have found the person of their dreams. The train slows as it approaches the station, and soon the man will be swept away by the crush of anxious commuters. The beautiful brunette lifts her Palm V in a desperate attempt to beam her phone number to this man she knows is her soul-mate. He lifts his handheld to accept the transmission, and a moment later, he finds himself on the station platform as the train whisks her away. He looks down at his PDA, only then remembering the awful truth-he uses a Casio E-100.
The two computers don't beam using the same protocol. Incompatible computers in this instance mean there's no romance in the air today (and no phone number in the beam).
What we have here is a failure to communicate
If you're like me, and you're among the estimated 80% "Palm OS Inside" majority of the PDA-toting crowd, then you're beaming and receiving information with nary a thought to operating systems.
However, while you and I have been tirelessly proselytizing colleagues with the "zen of Palm," a small firm in Charlotte, NC with the unlikely name SoDeog (pronounced "so-DAY-oag"), has been trying to extend the olive branch of peace to the remaining, non-Palm OS beamers out there. Their product, SyncTalk (which comes in "Companion" and "Professional" versions, details to follow), aims to tear down those walls between the battling handheld device operating systems and let you and I beam all manner of data seamlessly from Casios to Palm devices to Psions to mobile phones and back. Most importantly, it works (though not exactly how I wish it worked). More on that later.
"We'd crossed the operating system chasm and undermined 'closed standards' in one bold 30-second act."
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Ideally, SyncTalk intends to give us the freedom to choose the best handheld device and still communicate with the folks who didn't. Or, for the Windows CE crowd, it finally gives them the ability to share information with… somebody. Joking aside, if the recent interest surrounding Microsoft's gaggle of Pocket PC devices entering the market turns out to be justified, we may all encounter the need to share our information more frequently in the next year.
Professional and Companion versions
SyncTalk Professional was released in March following the posting of a public beta of SyncTalk in November of last year. The latest release of SyncTalk Professional will allow beaming of contacts, appointments, and meetings between handheld devices via the infrared (IR) port. A free version called SyncTalk Companion is also available for download from their Web site (see http://www.synctalk.com), but it only allows you to send three items before disabling the send function and trapping you in the passive receiving mode.
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