Admittedly, there are some options for folks who don't carry handbags, of course. Some are:

• Belt clips (for those who still think that Batman's utility belt is really cool);
• Fanny packs (for those who are happy with the notion of drawing attention to their fannies);
• More traditional cases or "packs" that (although most of us won't admit it) will serve generally the same purpose as a purse;
• The inside jacket pocket for those who wear a -- gasp! -- suit (this also works when you're wearing a winter jacket).

Unfortunately, if you're in the suit-and-tie, dress-for-success corporate world, a cool case just won't cut it. Sometimes, you just gotta stick your Palm device in your shirt breast pocket.

Call me rigid, but the last of these was the only acceptable option for me. Happily, the Palm device is deliberately designed to slip easily into a shirt pocket. Unhappily, it is also designed to slip out of a shirt pocket. I learned this fact a few days after I bought my first Palm III.

Like most of us, I don't always follow the advice of mothers and gym teachers everywhere: "Bend at the knees, not at the waist." When I have to pick something up from the floor, my tendency is to bend over at the waist. This action has a predictable effect upon the contents of my average man's breast pocket: everything falls out -- sometimes landing on unyielding concrete surfaces.

A few of days (and $100) later, my Palm III had a new screen and I was a poorer but wiser man. I realized that I had to find a solution for this hazard to my Palm III, one that was a little more certain than attempting to instantly correct a lifetime of bad bending-over habits (sorry, Mom).