Now, for my last comment of this editorial: the US Navy recently announced that the USS McFaul has bought 115 Palm V devices for use on-board the ship. I applaud the Navy for choosing these very portable and very inexpensive computers. However, I have to wonder whether they could have gotten by with the functionally identical Palm IIIe devices and saved us taxpayers some bucks. Was it really necessary to have the sexier Palm V devices aboard a warship? Couldn't the ten or twenty thousand tax dollars saved by purchasing the less expensive model been better used elsewhere?

That's it for now. See ya next month and on the PowerBoards.

Product availability and resources For more information on the Palm Portable Keyboard, visit http://www.thinkoutside.com/palm.html. For more information on the OmniSky modem, visit http://www.omnisky.com. For more information on The Bridge from Midwest PCB Designs, visit http://www.midwestpcbdesigns.com. To read Claire Pieterek's review of The Bridge in the September 1999 issue of PalmPower, visit http://www.palmpower.com/issues/issue199909/bridge001.html. Bulk reprints Bulk reprints of this article (in quantities of 100 or more) are available for a fee from Reprint Services, a ZATZ business partner. Contact them at reprints@zatz.com or by calling 1-800-217-7874.

Stephen Vance is a Contributing Editor for Computing Unplugged Magazine. His Web site is located at http://www.vance.com. He can be reached at steve@vance.com.