One of the most exciting promises of the Palm OS handheld is its ability to provide mobile users immediate access to critical information resources. In the past, selecting and converting that information from PC based programs or the Web to a Palm OS accessible format has been somewhat laborious. We at Blue Squirrel, a Utah-based software developer, have sought to change that. We created a program called BluePaste for Palm that's designed to allow you--with just one click--to grab, title, convert, and route text information from PC based programs or the Web to your Palm OS handheld device.

As Vice President of Business Development at Blue Squirrel, I was asked by the editors of PalmPower to provide some information on how, exactly, BluePaste for Palm works and how you can get the most out of it. You can find more information at http://www.bluesquirrel.com/products/bluepaste/.

How it works
BluePaste for Palm is a Windows-based program that allows you to specify a hot-key combination or to click on an icon in the Windows or Internet Explorer toolbar in order to instantly grab, title, convert, and route highlighted text. The size of document or article you can highlight is limited only by the available memory on the Palm handheld. Once you have selected text and either clicked the BluePaste icon or hit the selected hot-key, a blue splat of "paste" appears immediately on the screen. This confirms that the operation has been successfully completed, as shown in Figure A.

FIGURE A

A blue splat of "paste" signals the end of the operation. Click picture for a larger image.

Headers and footers are attached automatically to the text, and the text is converted to either a memo or Doc file as specified in the set-up options. The Palm OS accessible file is then automatically routed to the Palm Desktop's install application directory for download to the Palm OS device during the next HotSync operation.

BluePaste set-up options
During program set-up, there are a number of options to help you customize the program, as shown in Figure B.