Friendly's envy
This letter was written in response to the same August 2000 article in which Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz described how he set up office in a Friendly's diner booth thanks to the mobile computing power of the Palm V and the Palm Portable Keyboard.

As a former Connecticut/NYC person and now a Northern California one (12 years: I must be getting soft) I have extreme jealously at the very mention of Friendly's. Having the Palm Pilot Vx and the Palm Portable Keyboard at a coffee cafe serving gelato is just not the same, but then again the weather is better.

I am a Palm device user with ACT installed-1,875 contacts to date--and paper free calendar user since February 2000. Making the transition was a mental and emotional challenge. Perhaps you can address this issue for your readers.

Terry Prince

Editor-in-Chief David Gewirtz responds
Terry, it's so funny. I spent nine years in the Bay Area and being able to be at a nice coffee cafe with gelato is something I think I'd about kill for. To us, Friendly's (or what we generally call Surly's... as well as something else I won't reprint here) is just that moderately nasty restaurant next door. But it's funny, when I was in California, I missed diners and NJ pizza. Now that I'm here, I frankly can't stand diners, and I barely tolerate the pizza, but dream of homemade Mexican food in a real Taqueria. The grass is always greener.

As for moving to calendaring on the Palm device, we're always looking for great article concepts. I invite all readers to share their experiences of the emotional traumas and triumphs it takes to become paper free. And for that matter, if there's a Palm device-wielding psychologist out there with the professional information on such a thing, please write and let us know about it.

Questions about the Palm m100
Thanks for your review of the new Palm m100. Two weeks ago I bought a Seiko SmartPad to use with my old, still reliable, Palm III. Two weeks in the real world demonstrated my $200 could be better invested...so in returning it, I purchased a new m100. Loved your article, hit all the right buttons for me...so I bought one. Couple of quick notes you might maybe know the answer to or could use in a follow up:

Where is Expense? This is a very useful application for those of us who travel. Did they not include it to save a few dollars? I'm having immediate crashing problems (already sent email to Palm for help). Anyway, remember the wonderful little pointy end hidden in the Palm stylus so you could reboot? NOT with the m100. Having had to reboot three times already today, I miss that little pointy thing. (Is this yet another case of keeping it under the $149 retail price?) You were right on target about the Note Pad feature. It's cool (about the same as SmartPad but for $200 less!) The clock window feature is super cool. I don't wear a watch often and am getting tired of looking at my cell phone to know what time it is. Thanks for the heads up. I've now put your magazine in my favorite places and will look for more articles by you.

John Durkee